Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Launches October 15, Returns the Series to 2D

Konami is marking Castlevania’s 40th anniversary by sending the series back to its 2D action-exploration roots. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse launches October 15, 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, with pre-orders already open. A Nintendo Switch version is confirmed for sometime in 2026, though Konami hasn’t given it a specific date yet.

Who you’re playing. The protagonist is Rose Belmont, daughter of Trevor Belmont, the hero of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse. The story picks up more than two decades after that game, set in 15th-century Paris rather than the series’ usual Transylvania.

Built with Dead Cells’ studios. Belmont’s Curse is a collaboration between Konami and Evil Empire and Motion Twin — the teams behind Dead Cells — which explains the return to tight 2D action rather than the 3D direction recent Castlevania-adjacent projects have taken.

The whip still does everything. Konami’s framing keeps the whip central to both combat and traversal: swinging across gaps, reaching hidden rooms, and accessing new areas, alongside additional weapons and spells meant to encourage exploring rather than just fighting forward.

Why it matters. A new mainline-feeling Castlevania from the Dead Cells team, landing on the series’ 40th anniversary, is the kind of pairing that earns attention on pedigree alone — Evil Empire and Motion Twin have a strong track record in exactly the genre this game is returning to. It also lands squarely in the crowded pre-GTA-6 release window; see our companion piece on just how packed October 2026 has become.

We’ll follow up with review coverage after the October 15 launch.