Konami has announced a playable demo for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, confirming it will arrive on October 1, two weeks before the game's full release.
The demo will be released on every format the finished game is coming to: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Konami described it as a relatively small download, putting it at around 3GB to 6GB depending on the platform.
Progress made in the demo will not be discarded at launch. According to Konami, players will be able to retain their demo save data and transfer it into the full version, with one condition attached: the demo has to be played on the same platform and under the same account the player intends to use for the finished game.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is set for release on October 15, which puts the demo two weeks in front of it. Konami had previously stated that the October 15 date applied to the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC versions only, with the Nintendo Switch version arriving at a later point. The publisher subsequently revised that position and confirmed that every platform, Switch included, would receive the game on October 15.
Video Games Chronicle, which reported the announcement, has also played an early portion of the game. Its hands-on account concluded that Belmont's Curse does not appear to substantially rework the Metroidvania template, and argued that it does not need to.
There's nothing to say it has to reinvent the wheel.
The game is co-developed by Konami and Evil Empire, the studio behind The Rogue Prince of Persia, with advisory help from Motion Twin, the developer of Dead Cells. Konami has positioned it as a celebration of the Castlevania series' 40th anniversary.
Players control Rose Belmont, the daughter of previous series protagonist Trevor Belmont, and explore locations including Dracula's castle and the catacombs of Paris. The game is set in 1499, 23 years after the events of the NES title Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse.
