Thats a legitimate concern, but according to these guys:
https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1rc4y2y/linkedin_of_castlevania_belmonts_curse_writer_has/ (https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1rc4y2y/linkedin_of_castlevania_belmonts_curse_writer_has/)
Ms. Rouzie has worked on stuff like A Plague Tale: Requiem and Assassin's Creed, so she's not a tyro. I suppose I may be too optimistic--blame that on purifyweirdsoul's influence, if anyone here knows him--but I'm more worried about the artstyle than the story. Still, if it's castlevania even I can stomach Dead Cells artstyle...~_~
After a quick look it looks like A Plague Tale has the Pope himself as a major villain. He's comically evil with no remorse or motivation aside from world domination and gets stoned to death by the main character.
So I guess the Chanoine of Notre Dame wrote that letter to lure Trevor and his daughter into a trap. Gone are the days where we had normal cultists trying to revive Dracula...
The Steam page got an update and this icon leaked.
(https://i.postimg.cc/9MZ3VQG9/bcicon.png)
Could be the same artist as the Lords of Shadow games?
Also State of Play got announced for June 2nd, probably we'll get more news then.
Every 3 days the official Twitter is posting short clips about game contents but it's mostly stuff of little significance, like "Bats are going to be in the game".
The website got updated with character artworks, new screenshots and descriptions. The Steam Page too
https://www.konami.com/games/castlevania/belmonts_curse/us/en-us/character (https://www.konami.com/games/castlevania/belmonts_curse/us/en-us/character)
-Game has Relics and a new system revolving around sealing bosses in Arcana tarot cards to get their abilities
-They have shown some alternate outfits inspired by Alucard/Trevor/Sypha, there's also a preorder bonus (a pendant with young Trevor and Sypha)
-The Japanese cover is going to be different:
(https://i.postimg.cc/DZXmb4nw/1780940877767236.jpg)
Olrox, Golem and Succubus?
(https://i.postimg.cc/52y4CQSZ/1780940582301512.png)
1 Bloodbound
2 Streets Of Fire
3 Oathbreaker
4 Of Ash and Fire
5 Holy Fury
6 Gravefall
7 Fate's Blade
8 Bone March
9 Death Rite
10 Whisper of the Soul
11 Balance of Truth
12 Point of No Return
13 Fanatical Son
14 Bloody Tears
15 Crimson Dungeon
16 Forbidden Archives
17 Black Seal
18 Iron Clock
19 Stone Tyrant
20 Master of Pain
21 Gold and Blood
22 The Stolen Cathedral
23 The Last Blood
24 Shattered Crown
25 Burning Son
26 Mirror Trap
27 Deadly Embrace
28 Ancient Law
29 Dark Reflection
30 Lord's Chamber
31 Lord of the Night
32 Curse Broken
33 Bloodbound - Extended
34 Streets of Fire - Extended
35 Oathbreaker - Extended
36 The Sealed Power
37 Holy Fury - Extended
38 Gravefall - Extended
39 Fate's Blade - Extended
40 Bone March - Extended
41 Death Rite - Extended
42 The Castle Rises
43 The Sacrifice
44 Whisper of the Soul - Extended
45 Of Ash And Fire - Extended
46 Balance of Truth - Extended
47 Fanatical Son - Extended
48 Crimson Dungeon - Extended
49 Forbidden Archives - Extended
50 Black Seal - Extended
51 Iron Clock - Extended
52 Stone Tyrant - Extended
53 Master of Pain - Extended
54 Gold and Blood - Extended
55 The Stolen Cathedral - Extended
56 The Last Blood - Extended
57 The Passing Of Power
58 Shattered Crown - Extended
59 Burning Son - Extended
60 Mirror Trap - Extended
61 Deadly Embrace - Extended
62 Ancient Law - Extended
63 Dark Reflection - Extended
64 Conquer The Darkness
65 Lord's Chamber - Extended
66 Lord Of The Night - Extended - The First Dance
67 Lord Of The Night - Extended - The Night Devourer
68 The Cursed Eternal
69 Shadowed Victory
70 Final Dawn
71 Curse Broken - Extended
-3 Relics can be equipped. No armor pieces apparently.
-the stats are seemingly only ATK and DEF.
-7 weapon categories. It looks like there's 4 weapons in each of them, starting with "Ordinary" weapons, for a total of 28 weapons. Swords, greatswords, whips, rapiers, lances/spears, fighting gloves, and short sword + shield.
-A deeper look into Arcana tarot cards. Only one of them can be equipped at a time. They were given to Rose by Sypha, who is stated to be dead by the authors of the video. The first spell is in fact a burst of fire, and the related card look like Sypha.
For example beating Jean D'arc rewards you with her burnt greatsword, an AoE fire spell, a key to open a portal, and an halo of light ability to break "Chaos Shards" walls.
I'm not sold on the gameplay, having lots of weapon options is cool but is there more depth to the system? Are the 3 relics enough to make different "builds"? Both in systems and in gameplay it looks more similar to Blasphemous I and II than Igavanias.
The writing seemed passable to me, but it is worrisome that not even 2 minutes in and they are already depicting the Bishop as greedy. I hope the Church isn't the villain or a negative force like in the Netflix series. Sypha being dead is also lame, hopefully she appears as a spirit and her death plays an important role in the story.
More videos and reviews from journalists who were asked to play the demo are popping up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v2nOfQiEjk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v2nOfQiEjk)
Konami made them play the game in a deconsecrated church in Paris apparently.
Poor Sypha is confirmed dead.
(https://img.konami.com/games/castlevania/belmonts_curse/s/images/chara/sypha_pc.png)
"Rose's mother.
She fought alongside Trevor against Count Dracula twenty-three years ago, but fell victim to his curse and died soon after Rose was born. Her loss left a lasting shadow over them. "
(Her spirit guides Rose through the Tarot cards probably, so we can get some dialogue from her)
-The game is going to be fucking easy according to what Taniguchi said. "Difficulty modifiers" (according to Kotaku) allow to customize the experience. Note that the journalist used the modifiers because he couldn't beat the first boss (why are you even a gaming journalist?). So we only know that they can be used to make the game easier, but it is reasonable to think that they can also make it harder.
-According to the Famitsu interview it was Konami to ask Evil Empire to use Trevor's daughter as the protagonist
My brain recognized it as a Castlevania game in spite of the different, "soulslike" gameplay. It definitely feels fresh and not just Dead Cells or Blasphemous or [generic 2D metroidvania], even though it's a blend of those influences it works. The UI is beautiful. I like that the slide doesn't give i-frames. I also liked the background details and now I'm worried that they won't be able to replicate that level of quality for the entire game.
It's far from perfect of course. Sound effects sometimes are meh. I disabled the screen shake, but there is no way to tone down the flashing effects which can be overwhelming. I also lowered EXP gains and health flasks and I refused to beat the boss by using them.
Enemies drops, as we already knew from the trailers, are incredibly disappointing. Just meat, coffee or potion recharges. There's no reason or incentive to grind enemies and it's sad. And you need to return to the save point to make them respawn.
I don't like any of the portraits used for dialogue (and those shown on the website). This artist's way of drawing faces is just unfitting for a Castlevania game. Rose's menu picture looks much better.
I also didn't like the English VAs, switched to the japanese voices.
I think the story might actually make or break this game for me. Netflixvania traumatized me for life and I don't want to experience anything remotely similar to that. But as a game, it's definitely a step in the right direction compared to Mirror of Fate.
According to some guy who datamined the demo, Brauner is indeed in the game. So it seems like time traveling sheenanigans will happen even though I wonder why Brauner specifically?
time travel like Resurrection on the Dreamcast
having Circle of The Moon, the N64 games, and Legends have a form of canon, and give IGA's previous inclusion of Saint Germain and Aeon meaning.
Castlevania is way more than that and deserves the Silent Hill treatment where we get to explore more aspects of the series. Lords of Shadow may have been a big misstep, but the idea of being afraid of change, when you had Belmont's Revenge, Super Castlevania IV, Rondo of Blood, Bloodlines, and Symphony of the Night in a handful of years shows that it creatively benefits the brand. As someone who saw the series evolve from the beginning, I always felt that the cons outweighed the pros of IGA being sole steward after 2003. The series tried a few different mechanics, but the overall level design didn't change drastically enough to exploit even that. If you look at what Migami did with The Lecarde Chronicles 1 and 2 (and spiritual successor Chronicles of the Wolf), that is a perfect example of how the format should have been reworked in different ways that were familiar yet fresh.
My brain recognized it as a Castlevania game in spite of the different, "soulslike" gameplay. It definitely feels fresh and not just Dead Cells or Blasphemous or [generic 2D metroidvania], even though it's a blend of those influences it works. The UI is beautiful. I like that the slide doesn't give i-frames. I also liked the background details and now I'm worried that they won't be able to replicate that level of quality for the entire game.
It's far from perfect of course. Sound effects sometimes are meh. I disabled the screen shake, but there is no way to tone down the flashing effects which can be overwhelming. I also lowered EXP gains and health flasks and I refused to beat the boss by using them.
Enemies drops, as we already knew from the trailers, are incredibly disappointing. Just meat, coffee or potion recharges. There's no reason or incentive to grind enemies and it's sad. And you need to return to the save point to make them respawn.
I don't like any of the portraits used for dialogue (and those shown on the website). This artist's way of drawing faces is just unfitting for a Castlevania game. Rose's menu picture looks much better.
I also didn't like the English VAs, switched to the japanese voices.
I think the story might actually make or break this game for me. Netflixvania traumatized me for life and I don't want to experience anything remotely similar to that. But as a game, it's definitely a step in the right direction compared to Mirror of Fate.
According to some guy who datamined the demo, Brauner is indeed in the game. So it seems like time traveling sheenanigans will happen even though I wonder why Brauner specifically?
I remember that Brauners paintings allowed for time travel? Pocket dimensions
Reached late-game and the bad ending, now I'm going for 100%. I liked the early game (Streets-Cemetery-Catacombs) then the game started feeling like torture to me in the midgame (Main Hall-Library-Notre-Dame), now that I approach the end and I have all the movement abilities, it's decent again.
I have no idea why the midgame was so fucking bad, I had to force myself to keep playing it. Enemy placements and platforming puzzles were just obnoxious while the bosses were a joke except Death. Then in the upper half of Clock Tower and the Hall of Mirrors the level design became normal again.
I honestly can't say if I want more games in this style. I think it's a better package than Mirror of Fate overall but just like Mirror of Fate the movement and combat don't feel good, against mobs it feels like button mashing is more rewarding than repositioning. And those damned flashing effects that don't allow you to see shit are just the worst.
I don't even miss the Igavania systems like enemy drops all that much. The problem for me lies entirely in the physics of jumps, combat, movement. The jump not being high enough and feeling "mushy". The attacks feeling floaty and janky and the enemies (including bosses) lightweight and "plastic". Every weapon does combos, even the Vampire Killer, Rose moves forward when attacking, and there are some serious case of "over-animation". There's a beast of a game when it comes to graphics and areas, the game is BIG and looks BEAUTIFUL but I just couldn't enjoy the combat.
Overall the game is fine, but I don't want another product like it. Give a chance to different developers. And next time Konami, please ensure better oversight of the lore because this game touches so many aspects of the lore between LoI and CVIII and is so bold about it that I've noticed many potential pitfalls and I'm not even a lore expert. And Brauner...that's just a mistake, what even was the point of including him in the game if you were going to cut the boss battle.
Speaking of story, I have just two gripes:
1. Why don't Leon and Medusa recognize each other? You'd think they'd have remembered clashing back in 1094.
2. Instead of Brauner, could they not have used Olrox instead? I hear this Brauner's an identical ancestor who just so happened to be a vampire too but that's so roundabout and forced and it takes away from the OG Brauner's one-and-done uniqueness.
Otherwise I'm having quite the blast. Belmont's Curse isn't perfect by any means but it's absolutely above average and a worthy welcome back to our favorite franchise.
Now uh.... can we please make sure a Japanese studio does the next game?