The 3DJuegos team travelled to Paris to spend roughly three hours with Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, then spoke with producer Tsutomu Taniguchi and the developers at Evil Empire about reconciling the legacy of the classic games with the much broader audience introduced to the series by Netflix.

The French capital was more than a convenient setting for the presentation. The adventure takes place in Paris in 1499, a city where real history, Gothic architecture and supernatural danger can naturally overlap.

Belmont’s Curse is a direct sequel to Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, although it is not being designed as a simple exercise in nostalgia. Konami had already been considering a new game when Evil Empire approached the publisher about the Castlevania expansion for Dead Cells. The DLC taught the teams to work together, but the new title remains an independent 2D action-platform adventure, not a roguelite.

A modern image with a Gothic soul

One of the studio’s most demanding challenges was making the game look contemporary without losing its unmistakably Gothic identity. Backgrounds, enemies, attacks and effects were judged not only for detail but also for readability, because visual richness cannot be allowed to obscure a fast battle. Italian giallo cinema became a major influence through its strong colours, hard contrasts and dramatic compositions. Taniguchi recalled that Evil Empire’s first mock-up impressed Konami immediately and made the proposed visual direction feel like a convincing identity for the new chapter.

Konami also trusted the studio because it does more than understand and admire the licence. Through Dead Cells, Evil Empire demonstrated a precise grasp of movement, timing and the physical satisfaction of an attack. The producer believes that controlling a Castlevania hero has to feel rewarding from the first moments.

An open door for the Netflix audience

The Netflix animated series is not a direct template, since it follows a different timeline, yet its success brought an enormous new audience to Castlevania. The developers see that audience as an opportunity rather than a burden. They want viewers to enter the world of the games without feeling intimidated, while long-time players should still recognise the foundations they value. Isaac is therefore closer to his original video-game portrayal.

“We did not want a war between game players and viewers of the animation.”

Taniguchi’s point is that neither group should feel excluded. Belmont’s Curse is consequently trying to function as a sequel, an accessible entry point and a modern 2D action game at the same time. That balance is the project’s real test: preserving everything that has made Castlevania recognisable for decades, then presenting it in a form capable of welcoming a new generation in 2026.

Source: 3DJuegos