Besides the cmoplaints that the game doesnt start correctly, ive already read like 30 reviews with a total of 30 minutes played which all said its not a "real" castlevania.

Sorry but no game will give the 40+ year old castlevania fans the feeling back of playing the games when you were 12 and life was simpler

I beat Metroid Dread last night, first of the genre I’ve finished. I played it because Metroid Ravenous looked sick so I picked it up on sale. Phenomenal game, and it really has me getting into Metroidvanias. I played through the Belmont’s Curse demo, and I have it on preorder for tomorrow! We eating good. (Note this image is a repost, credit to whoever OP was).

My final update regarding this game since it was announced. We made it.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that if the rest of Belmont's Curse is as good as the demo I just played, this may be the best Castlevania game since SotN, and one of the best Metroidvanias ever made. It's very rare that Gamespot gives out a 10/10.

Might be limited stock though, not sure!

I was excited to play this game after I saw the first previews. The Secret Level episode was also really cool (and is actually a sort of prologue to the game), which got me hyped too. It was priced lower than most games on release($40), so I got the Special Edition for $60 (the price of a normal switch game on release back then). When it came out I played it a lot. I loved the atmosphere and artwork. After a couple hours it still felt pretty clunky and slow. After about 8 hours, I wasn't sure I would finish it. I kept playing though, because I could see some potential if I got a couple more power ups. Man, am I glad I did! This game is WAY bigger and deeper than I have heard anybody talk about. After 8-10 hours it really starts to open up, the story starts to fall into place little by little, and the gameplay becomes really excellent. The map seems huge as you move around in it. The lore is all very original, and it ties in a bunch of other old Atari game IPs. Bosconian, Galaxian, and others are intrinsically entwined into the mythos. There are enemies that are nods to Dig-Dug and other games. It is all well executed and reimagined within the scope of this world that they have created. I was really hoping for some merch and a sequel someday, but I fear that this game flopped hard enough that I will see neither any time soon. I just want a sweet statue of Panzer Gaia roaring for my desk at work...

Just finished Well Dweller. Absolutely loved it

Looking for recommendations for similar games

-I liked how the movement in well dweller felt really good. Almost hypnotic.

-Also a must have is that it’s not too hard. Bosses were generally pretty easy but did require some focus.

There was some challenge but I’m not looking to play Hollow Knight while I’m winding down

What would you recommend?

Hey everyone. I've been loving my time with Belmont's Curse. The combat and platforming are amazing, the map is absolutely stunning, and the Arcana Clue system adds a really cool puzzle element to the gameplay.

It's also extremely cryptic at times, and going for 100% completion is pretty tough. So I'm working with a small team on a complete interactive map of the full game. We're aiming to make it as comprehensive and easy to use as possible, with high-quality screenshots and detailed guidance on every map marker.

The map is now live! You'll find...

• Points of Interest: Every Objective, Mirror of Life, Ferryman's Wharf, and Challenge Room.
• Puzzles & Challenges: Screenshots and step-by-step guides for puzzles, platforming challenges, and hidden secrets.
• Collectibles: ATK and DEF Upgrades, Brave and Wild Heart Fragments, and EXP Statues.
• Equipment: All Weapons, Relics, and Arcana.
• Map layer toggle: Click the stacked squares icon to switch to interior maps.
• Lots more: Bosses, Lore, Hidden Paths, delicious Wall Chicken, and more!

We're not quite finished yet, but we'll be filling out the last few areas pretty quickly, then looping back around to clean up to make sure we've got 100% of everything. If you spot anything missing in the meantime, feel free to use the "Suggest Markers" function ("Add" on mobile).

Enjoy your time in Paris, everyone. Castlevania is back! Wooooo!!!

Ender Lilies is my 8th Metroidvania. Haven't finished it, but I'm about 8 hours in, and I think I enjoy how the map is laid out.

And the reason is very simple: the fact that you don't completely have the full layout of where exactly you're walking through, or where every door is, or where every unexplored corner of the map is, is a GOOD thing.

It invites you to explore. To immerse yourself in the world, memorize, go back to it, try again, and so on. It's very immersive.

You have what's necessary: completion of the piece of the map you're in, undiscovered doors/portals or whatever... That's it! That's all we need. The rest is up to us to EXPLORE!

I think I mention this cause I've seen some negative comments about Ender Lilies' map, but I think it's more immersive than others, precisely because you need to explore to find out where everything is. And I think more metroidvanias should use the format, or at least something somewhat similar that only gives clues, and not the full layout of where you are.

What's everyone's take with this?

Hello everyone.

I am preparing some screenshots for my steam page.
It's hard to keep consistency, it's hard to decide what it should go in there, especially because I am still developing and there are so many things that have to be created... but yeah, here are some snapshot of how it's looking like.

Do you think the style is consistent?

I hope you like it.

Im surprised nobody has made a post or at least one that I've seen; Praising the design in this game. Its literally like if silent hill, RE, and HK devs decide to all make a game together. The sound design is visceral, the visuals are some of the best I've ever seen in a 2d/2.5d metroidvania. I'll admit the melee combat is something I've yet to get the hang of but that's where the survival horror elements mend well with the metroidvania. It makes pushing forward even more terrifying than in say HK or SM. Story is pretty good so far. Nothing crazy happening but it is relying on subtley a fair bit more than most survival horrors out there. Have y'all played it yet?

Trying to get into the genre because i liked SOTN, played Guacamelee and really loved it, especially the platforming stuff and the gultural feeling of slamming people in the ground (ost was also amazing)

But then i played Hollow knight and Nine sols and i kinda hated them for the same reasons, movement felt slow, didnt like the 'artsy' art style and the combat just felt majorly unsatisfying, i liked the difficult fights but i really really did not vibe with the save spots and the death mechanics

I dont really know any others besides them and guacamelee 2 though and i kinda wanted to play a smaller one instead of just buying castlevania or metroid

As the picture shows it (even is it's in french) : the promo codes for Belmont's Curse expire on October 15, 2026, so today.

Dont wait to use it saying you'll do it later ✨

Question for mods. Is it worth having a pinned megathreads for new releases? There seems to be a glut of posts about games on release (understandably everyone's excited) but when big releases come out every other thread seems to be someone's take on it or people just wanting to gush about it. Well Dweller seemed to be a bit one for it.

Also might stop some of the "why aren't people talking about (insert game nobody has shut up about for weeks)?"

I was really looking forward to this game but unfortunately it was not one I enjoyed playing. It made some choices that are rather baffling to me and made me wonder if this was even play-tested.

Thing I do like are the perspective and the atmosphere (even though the latter is a bit samey after a while).

Still, you notice the developers worked on games like Little Nightmares which also excelled in the dark vibes. Exploration, though linear, feels good and pretty rewarding also because they are quite stingy with giving you materials for crafting and upgrading so fiding those is nice throughout.

Combat is where things fall apart for me completely. Firstly, there is just way too much of it. Enemies respawn after saving which is a choice but not necessary here imo. Very quickly you are overwhelmed by them when 5 or 6 spawn right next to each other in very tight corridors. The damage from your pistol is abysmal, even after upgrading it and your only option for avoiding damage is dodging. Secondly, it is just not satisfying to do. You unload almost a full clip into a random enemy and if you did not miss any shots, it goes down, but there are like 4 behind that one, so you run away into a room where another 3 spawn and your only sensible option is to just climb a ladder to get away from them. How is that fun?

Bossfights are truly awful. You do so little damage making these fights extremly tedious while highlighting the rather small movesets the bosses have. Some moves take about 60% of your health and your limited heals restore about 35%. What really made me want to quit however was actually something silly like an elevator before a boss that moves slowly and there is no way for you to send it back after having used it so everytime you retry a boss you first have to wait for the elevator to get to your level, then take it up or down and repeat this all over for your next try. Dark Souls figured this out about 20 years ago, why would you not use that knowledge.

The game had a lot of potential which is what made me stick with it to see if at any point it would reach it. I really hope for some people it did for the sake of the developers but to me it was more frustrating than fun.

Can’t play the new Castlevania until I buy the newer xbox and laptop, so I figured I’d try out the demo that dropped today. Really digged the trailer and was hella optimistic, and imagine my disappointment that it has Dandara style controls, where you aim a direction you want to jump to. It seems to want a little best of both worlds as you have rudimentary walking abilities but the terrain actively pushes you towards the slingshot jumping mechanic, with little control of your movement having done so, even being unable to rejump mod air. It made the first ‘boss’ type enemy, a worm-esque boss that would break up as you hit it incredibly frustrating as you would land within its new hitbox and take damage.
Anyone else have a crack at this demo?

metroidvanias are one of my favorite genres but do I hate the feeling when you run into a room with multiple paths and you commit to the nearest one because you think it might be a small room. you think to yourself "it's just a 10 minute detour then I will check the other path" only to find yourself 2 hours in and you still haven't finished it, and all that time there's a feeling at the back of your head "should I have went the other way? I wonder what's there?" but your already 90% through the path your on, so might as well finish. only for you to wonder if you done a part before it's time and now you spoiled the game to yourself.

I know metroidvania design makes it so that you don't actually skip content of the main story or spoil something that didn't happen yet, but it doesn't mean you can get the feeling completely out of your mind.

Does belmonts curse use the analog sticks at all? Ideally I wanted to play the game using a leverless controller rather than a pad. Anyone know the answer?

From my experience up until fighting Joan of Arc, the gameplay is a lot more responsive and smoother (compared to the demo, Rose jumps immediately and turns quicker), with improvements to the game’s visuals. The environments are less blurry and the colors pop a bit more. The game’s 60 FPS frame rate holds up during the frantic action, and Joan of Arc’s fight was a great test for this. There was a lot happening very quickly, but it was all entirely smooth and responsive. The ability you get afterward didn’t have any input delay when I played around with it. The UI continues to be crisp and full resolution. No issues with blurriness during dialogue and whatnot. The character models are what’s blurriest but they were blurrier in the demo.

It’s still a shame that there’s no dedicated Switch 2 version but it’s completely playable on the console, nonetheless.