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So, ahead of its full release on 15th October 2026, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse just got a free demo on Switch, so you can try out the opening section of the game and see if it’s up to scratch.
The biggest surprise with this is that if you happen to be playing on Switch 2, the 30fps performance advertised for Switch 1 actually gets a hefty bump up to 60fps. After playing through the demo a couple of times, I can confirm that it mostly runs like a dream on Nintendo’s latest hardware.
That said, I still think a native Switch 2 port will be necessary at some point in the future. Though it runs well enough, I don’t think it looks great, with characters in particular looking fuzzy and lacking detail, especially when the camera is far away.
Similarly, there are weird moments where the frame rate tanks when transitioning into a real-time cutscene. The art style shines, though, and I love how enemies have this coloured outline in certain lighting – a proper homage to the GBA’s Harmony of Dissonance.
As for the gameplay, it’s awesome. It largely plays like a classic 2D ‘Igavania’ entry, albeit with a lot more bells and whistles. Rose Belmont’s ability to slide behind enemies adds a nice layer of strategy to combat, while her basic combos feel satisfying to pull off. Traversal is familiar at first, but gaining the ability to swing from anchors with your whip really opens the game up, and I can’t wait to see how this is expanded upon with the full game.
Special shoutout to the music, too. The theme playing during the opening segment is excellent – catchy yet grandiose; it’s exactly what you’d want from a Castlevania game.
Those are my thoughts, but now it’s over to you. Have you played the Belmont’s Curse demo yet? If so, what do you make of it so far? Is Evil Empire the right developer to shepherd this new era of Castlevania? Make your voice heard by voting in the below polls and leaving a comment in the usual place.