I don't like it either.
Everything looks plastic and cartoony. Where is the evilness? The contrast?
Why does attacking with the sword propel you forward? In a true Castlevania game you're supposed to keep monsters at bay, not use them as grapple hooks or ignore them by sliding under them a la Blasphemous.
Why the fucking Estus flasks?
Why i-frames on a spammable ability (the whip lash)?
Why the constant flashes and screen shake effect?
Also from the wccftech interview (
https://wccftech.com/evil-empire-unites-4-decades-of-fans-with-castlevania-belmonts-curse-as-studio-was-konamis-top-pick-interview/)
Q: About weapons. I saw there are seven categories and I tried two of them: the sword and the cestus. I noticed that within each family, there are multiple weapons. How different are they from one another? For instance, does the whip attack differ per weapon within the same family?
A: No, we designed them as weapon families where each category has its own unique abilities and whip attacks. It’s more about having the gameplay fundamentally shift depending on which family you choose to equip.
So you're telling me there are essentially only 7 weapons in the game, and the tier2-tier3-tier4 just differ visually and do more damage? That's disappointing.
Q: One big addition is the Arcana system. I noticed you’ve incorporated the classic sub-weapons into them, like the Cross. How did you balance this? Did you stick to recreating classic sub-weapons, or did you create completely new abilities?
A: The Cross is directly inspired by the iconic sub-weapon, but the Arcana system is its own distinct setup with its own mechanics. Unlike classic sub-weapons, which you had to find throughout levels as temporary drops, you can freely choose and equip your Arcana at any time. We wanted to give players total agency over their character builds.
Furthermore, while sub-weapons were somewhat grounded, Arcana represent true magic spells that are tightly bound to the creatures you absorb. They can take very different forms based on the enemy soul used to forge the spell.
You could have just added the classic sub-weapon system on top of the Arcana system though? Like in Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance? Why cut Hearts, Axe, Dagger, Stopwatch, etc in a Belmont game. They could have also added the random Rosary drop or temporary ATK buffs to make candle drops more interesting.
From the same interview: the game world is like Order of Ecclesia (smaller maps around the castle), 20 hours playtime, and they haven't denied the existence of alternate character mode.