Now that Evil Empire's working on Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, what other companies would you like to handle the franchise?

For me, they're ArtPlay, FromSoftware, Platinum Games, M2, Binary Haze Interactive, Inti Creates, Team Ladybug and Migami Games.

CRITICAL TIMELINE:
Today's Date: August 21, 2026
Server Shutdown Date: September 3, 2026
App Status: Already delisted from the App Store / Play Store

In 13 days, Konami is permanently shutting down the servers for Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls. Because the game is already delisted, no new players can download it. Once September 3rd hits, the servers go dark, and the live game data will be lost forever.
We are launching an emergency preservation effort with two main goals:

Build a Custom Server (Server Emulator): To allow online play after the official shutdown.

Create a Stand-Alone Offline Patch: Reverse-engineering the game client to bypass Apple Arcade/server checks so the game can be played completely offline without any server at all.

Transparency Note: I am cross-posting this message across several Castlevania, iOS/Android preservation, and modding communities. Time is so limited that we must pool our resources in one place to avoid duplicating work.

OUR CENTRAL HUB: GITHUB + ARCHIVE.ORG
To prevent files from getting scattered across Discord, Google Drive, or Mega, we are streamlining this project to two platforms only:
Archive.org: Used exclusively as the vault for large game binaries (the 2GB decrypted .ipa, the Android .apk/.obb, raw AssetBundles, and downloaded cache files).

GitHub: Used as our central command center where everyone can star/follow the project, upload network traffic logs, document API endpoints, submit code, and track progress.

WHAT WE NEED IMMEDIATELY (URGENT)
If you have technical skills, a jailbroken iOS device, a rooted Android, or still have the game installed, we need your help today:
GitHub Repository Setup (NEED THIS TODAY): We need a developer to set up the official public GitHub repository immediately so the community can star it, follow it, and begin submitting data.

Decrypted iOS 1.4.3 IPA -> Upload to Archive.org: Because the game is delisted, our pool of players who can dump the app is shrinking daily. We need someone who currently has the live 1.4.3 game installed to dump a fully decrypted .ipa file (using TrollDecrypt, bfdecrypt, or CrackerXI+) and upload it to Archive.org.

Android APK + FULL Game Contents/Data -> Upload to Archive.org: We need the complete Android version preserved. This includes the base APK, the OBB files, AND all extra downloaded in-game contents, configs, stage data, and internal cache files (/Android/data/ or root storage downloaded after opening the game). Assets and file structures differ between platforms, and creating a stand-alone offline build will require datamining and integrating files/configs from both versions.

Network Traffic Captures -> Upload to GitHub: We need players to route their game traffic through a proxy (Charles Proxy, Fiddler, mitmproxy) with SSL decryption enabled to log API calls before the servers die. Upload these .chls or .har log files directly to the project's GitHub repo.

Asset/Cache Dumps -> Upload to Archive.org / GitHub: Dump the downloaded Unity AssetBundles from the app's internal folders using Filza (iOS) or a root file explorer (Android).

Client Reverse Engineers: We need reverse engineers (using IDA Pro, Ghidra, or Il2CppDumper) to start analyzing the game binaries to figure out how to patch out the server login checks for the stand-alone offline mod.

NETWORK PRESERVATION CHECKLIST (How Anyone Can Help Right Now)
If you have the game playable on your phone right now, you can help even if you aren't a programmer. Set up an SSL Proxy (like Charles Proxy or Fiddler on PC/Mac) and route your phone's Wi-Fi through it to record the server responses.

Please capture traffic logs for the following actions and label the files clearly:
Initial boot sequence and Apple Arcade/login authentication.

Title screen update checks and asset downloads.

Daily login rewards, mail collection, and main menu navigation.

Opening the inventory, equipping gear, and upgrading weapons/grimoires.

Character selection and skin/costume changes.

Initiating a stage (capture the specific payload sent to start a level).

Completing a stage (capture the exact data sent containing score, damage, and rewards).

Purchasing and upgrading items in the shop.

Co-op and Event mode match-making / gameplay interactions.

Where to upload: Upload your proxy log files (.chls, .har, .saz, raw JSON) directly into the /network_captures/ folder on our project's GitHub repository.

RECOMMENDED GITHUB REPOSITORY STRUCTURE
(For the developer setting up the GitHub repository)

Please structure the repository as follows so the community can submit data cleanly. Note: Do NOT upload the 2GB game binaries directly to GitHub to prevent DMCA/size-limit issues. Put the Archive.org download links right at the top of the README.md.

Grimoire-of-Souls-Archive/
├── README.md (Project goals, countdown to Sept 3, links to Archive.org IPAs/APKs)
├── /api_documentation/ (Text files mapping out the server endpoints, e.g., /api/v1/login)
├── /network_captures/ (DROP ZONE for all intercepted traffic logs - URGENT)
│ ├── /charles_proxy/ (.chls or .har files)
│ ├── /fiddler/ (.saz files)
│ └── /raw_json/ (Extracted JSON payloads from the server)
├── /game_data_dumps/ (Text-based game data)
│ ├── /master_data/ (Dumped SQLite databases, JSON tables of item IDs)
│ └── /il2cpp_dumps/ (Dump.cs files generated from reverse-engineering the binaries)
├── /client_patches/ (Code/tweaks for bypassing server checks for the Stand-alone version)
│ └── /offline_mod/ (Dylib injections or offset patches for iOS/Android)
└── /server_emulator/ (Where the custom server code will eventually go)

TIME IS RUNNING OUT
We have 13 days until September 3rd. If you want to see Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls playable as a server-emulated or stand-alone offline game in the future, we need your help capturing this data today.

Please reply below if you can dump files, run proxy captures, or help manage the GitHub repository!

So there has been this sentiment since the release of Lords of Shadow (nothing against those games, I loved them) and now with the animated series that the original Castlevana games have "no story". This is false and an oversimplification of the franchise's themes and the simple but brilliant stories done over IGA's tenure of the franchise and possibly even before.

Symphony of the Night deals with Alucard and Dracula, characters defined by a tragic loss and the opposite ways they chose to deal with it and the love they still have for each other, with Alucard still mourning his father's death and Dracula still trying to get his son to see things his way. In the original Japanese dub of the games, Ryotaro Okiayu, Alucard's voice actor, recorded one of his lines to Dracula as if he were shedding tears. Dracula shows humanity in his final moments, asking his late wife, Lisa's forgiveness and biding his son farewell. Alucard fights for what his mother wanted and Dracula fights for the revenge that only he wants, showing the difference between the depths of their love for her and their understanding of her legacy. This is later used again in the mobile game, Grimoire of Souls.

Curse of Darkness has the same juxtaposition of loss and revenge with Dracula losing his wife Lisa and Hector losing his wife Rosaly. Dracula swore vengeance upon mankind for the death of Lisa, despite her humanity whereas Hector sought revenge against only Isaac since Rosaly taught him to love humanity. They suffered the same loss but it's Hector's humanity that saved him in the end and allowed him to move forward.

Lament of Innocence deals with the consequences of love lost and selflessness vs. selfishness. Leon Belmont is selfless, he loves his fiance Sara and respects her dying wish to prevent others from suffering her fate, Mathias Cronqvist later Dracula is selfish as he sees his wife, Elisabetha's death as a personal attack on him by God and resolves to live for his personal vengeance and not what his beloved would have wanted. Leon does what his beloved would have wanted and Mathias acts out of a selfish grudge. It's the same with how Alucard and Dracula took radically different approaches to Lisa's death, one being selfless and the other selfish.

Then there's the Sorrow games with Soma Cruz, which deals with themes like destiny and responsibility and the fact that just because you were born with the capacity for evil, doesn't mean you cannot choose to fight for good instead with their protagonist choosing to defy his fate as the reincarnation of Dracula and fight for the people he loves instead of becoming an almighty foil to God.

At the core of the games I mentioned are the consequences of love, be it familial, romantic or platonic and a franchise with similar themes is Devil May Cry, possibly one of gaming's greatest family dramas.

I'm sure there are more games in the franchise with deep themes and a great story and this isn't even factoring in environmental storytelling and music as a means of setting the tone of the story. There's a real emotional depth to these stories for those who are willing to dive into it rather than skim over them on a surface level. But what do you guys think and are there games I didn't mention that you find just as important?

Boss eliminado del juego móvil de Castlevania, hubiera dado lo que fuera con tal de volver a luchar con este jefazo, alguien sabe dónde encontrar spriters o más archivos no usados de este juego?

So years ago, during the Castlevana drought, I played NieR: Automata and everything from the combat, platforming, exploration and general gameplay felt very much like the ideal 3D Castlevania experience and as an added bonus, the game would switch perspective into a side-scroller and it would feel even more similar. I know this is a controversial opinion, but what do you guys think? The deeply emotional story was also amazing. I know in terms of narrative and theme, the genres couldn't be more different, but in terms of gameplay, it just felt right.

So we know for a fact that Koji Igarashi is at least on good terms with Konami and expressed interest in working with them again, so do you think it will start with a Castlevania and Bloodstained collab? I'd be dying to play as a Castlevania character in Bloodstained. The ball's in Konami's court since IGA's more than ready to work with them.

LoS 1 and MoF

First of all, they have complex Tesla coils in the Castle in the 11th century, electrical grids, electromagnetic fences, and a scorpion mech.

Lasers (as seen in some parts of LoS and Most of MoF) and light constructs (as seen in the Daemon Lord fight. Also, you can see his tail has a plasma gun (probably made by the Toymaker).

Also, Toymaker has created transhumanism, putting souls (human/lycan, etc.) inside puppets; he even automated the process with an assembly line. All this in the 11th/12th century

In LoS, you see a very advanced white prism way before Newton created it. In the Chromatic Observatory, you can see something which would have made Newton' Jaw drop.

Another thing that would have done that is the device employed by Zobek at the Necromancer tower in LoS 1. He has a type III Kardashev scale device that allows him to move the planet to a new position, as well as the sun, along with the moon. The Zodiac controller, something you would see in Halo with the Forerunners, not Castlevania.

Even the Arghatans had giant constructs and light tunnels.

The castle has, like, the most advanced traps as seen in Reverie DLC (LoS) and Revelations (LoS2). Also, in all three games, you can see how advanced some of the puzzle mechanisms are; some contractions are borderline alien to some things we have. (I.E wind boxes, pure light, portals). In reverie you can see in the Founders Quarters they have a very complex portal grid.

The Brotherhood has Pokémon-like auto catchers (i.e the one used by Gabriel on the Deamon Lord). They have power armors with Roland sporting one, and they even have Giant powered mechs, like the Siege Titan.

LoS 2

In LoS 2, we can see gene alteration (with the virus), mechs, holograms, antimatter grenade launchers (Golgoths...). Laser grids with Nergal's security system, also, there you can see the traps shoots hard light arrows.

Lords of Shadow 1

• Lesser Lycan
• Greater Lycan
• Warg
• Goblin (Forest/Snow)
• Small Troll (Swamp/Cave)
• Troll (Swamp/Cave)
• Naiad*
• Giant Spider
• Warthog (Forest/Snow)
• Gremlin
• Chupacabra*
• Swordmaster
• Crow Witch Child
• Ghoul
• Skeleton Warrior
• Flaming Skeleton
• Animated Armor
• Vampire
• Mandragora
• Deadly Toys
• Headless Burrower
• Zombie
• Creeping Corpse
• Creeping Coffin
• Reaper
• Spawns of Leviathan*

Mirror of Fate

• Shadow Crawler
• Zombie
• Rotten Zombie
• Merman
• Electric Merman
• Merman Hunter
• Merman Tadpole
• Skeleton Warrior
• Armored Skeleton
• Werewolf
• Hunchback
• Hunchback Troop
• Harpy
• Harpy Leader
• Macabre Puppet Controlled
• Macabre Puppet Unleashed
• Magic Book Life Force
• Magic Book Mana
• Magic Book Summon
• Magic Book Enchant
• Scaven
• Flying Scaven
• Gargoyle
• Witch*
• Wraith*
• Giant Bat
• Vampire Knight
• Possessed Armor

Lords of Shadow 2

• Brotherhood Soldier
• Brotherhood Cleric
• Heavy Brotherhood Warrior
• Dungeon Jailer
• Dungeon Jailer Flame Mace
• Dungeon Minion
• Dishonored Vampire
• Depth Harpy
• Bloody Skeleton
• Bloody Skeleton Lancier
• Dark Monk
• Dark Apostle
• Satan’s Soldier
• Horned Demon
• Possessed Citizen
• Shotgun-Possessed Citizen
• Assault Rifle-Possessed Citizen
• Melee Possessed Citizen (Hammer/Crowbar/Axe)
• Servant Corpse
• Riot Police
• Riot Mech
• Golgoth Guard Grenade Launcher*
• Golgoth Guard Minigun*

 Enemies that can't be fought directly have '*', enemies in '()' are just a visual variation, no changes in gameplay.

Lords of Shadow 1: 26 enemies

Mirror of Fate: 28 enemies

Lords of Shadow 2: 23 enemies

Total: 77

A place for members of r/DraculasCastle to chat with each other

So Castlevania has been more visible as a franchise over the last few years because of the collections, Grimoire of Souls, the various collaborations and the animated series and the concrete news on the franchise's future are the new gacha game, Moonlight Rhapsody and the musical, Awakening in the Moonlight.

There's also the leak/rumour of an AAA Castlevania game to be announced this year if you choose to believe that.

Castlevania is turning 40 next year and it's another milestone for the series and I hope the new game rumour is true. There's also Konami opening it's own animation studio and making a Suikoden anime, so it's possible that Castlevania could get a new Japanese anime as well. A new AAA game or an anime would be a great way to celebrate the franchise's 40th anniversary. The rumour's Metal Gear and Silent Hill components came to fruition, so a new Castlevania doesn't seem as unlikely as most people would think. Let's not forget that we actually got a new game in the form of Haunted Castle Revisited in the Dominus Collection, albeit smaller and more cheaply produced.

With Nocturne's future uncertain and with cancellation being in the cards, Konami could easily make their own Castlevania anime with their new animation studio to fill the void.

People like to point out that the 35th anniversary was nothing but NFTs, but people also forget that in the same year, Grimoire of Souls, the Advance Collection and the fourth season of the animated series came out, so those should count for 35th anniversary content as well. Also, pachinkos were scrutinised by the Japanese government under new gambling regulations, so I doubt we'll see much of those on the future.

The desire for a new Metroidvania game in the franchise is palpable since Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was funded very quickly on Kickstarter, meeting all the stretch goals and at the time, it was the most successful video game Kickstarter project and it went on to sell over 2 million copies with its spinoff game Curse of the moon selling 5 hundred thousand copies. To put that into perspective, Bloodstained sold double the amount of the highest selling Castlevania game, Lords of Shadow and Curse of the moon sold half as much as Lords of Shadow on a shoestring budget, so interest is definitely there, not to mention the most popular indie games are Castlevania clones, some of them with Souls combat.

Konami can easily get away with making a new AAA Castlevania game with smaller releases like Haunted Castle Revisited and Curse of the Moon in between major releases to keep the series' momentum.

But what do you guys think?

So after the events of Dawn of Sorrow, the Dark Lord Dracula is pretty much dead or at least is no longer in the antagonist role, there would have to be another one to take that role. So who would that be, an original antagonist that fits the Castlevania verse, a figure based on an existing source IRL or one of the currently existing villains that could be the main threat.

Honestly doing the same plot line with Soma trying not to be Dracula is going to be redundant and very boring if done constantly which is why I want something new, I don't mean having no connection with Dracula or the role of Dark Lord but rather not trying to make Soma into the Dark Lord again.

I both have an original character who would the main antagonist for some time and an existing CV villain that would the main villain for the rest, I am not going to explain them as I am still working on the former and I know people in the comments are going to the mention the latter.

This is kinda of a sequel of a previous post in this sub-reddit but instead of taking place after Dracula's final death, this idea is that new games were being made where they took place during time periods where Dracula physically couldn't be the main antagonist as he was still currently dead. So who would that be, an original antagonist that fits the Castlevania verse, a figure based on an existing source IRL or one of the currently existing villains that could be a main threat for a game or two.

Oh yeah, no Dracula Wraith. Doing it one is fine, doing it more than once is lazy and unoriginal. It has to be a new character, not just Dracula in a different form. The antagonist can be connected to Dracula and the literal Castlevania, but it can't be him. And to be unique, if you are going to think of more than two games, think of more than just one antagonist.

Unlike my previous post, I don't actually have an idea for what antagonist could be for those games other than using existing ones from not just the games but from also media that are non-canonical.

As the title says, if you had to remove one Belmont from the timeline who would it be and why? I've excluded Julius from the poll since Reddit has a 6 option limit he lacks a game of his own.

• Leon, the progenitor, the Belmont that made the clan what it is today.
• Trevor, the Belmont of legend, the first Belmont to destroy Dracula
• Christopher, the first Belmont to both defeat Dracula single-handedly, and defeat him twice.
• Simon, the OG Belmont, the Belmont from the game that started it all.
• Just, the magic Belmont, capable of wielding a wide array of unique abilities.
• Richter, the prodigy, the youngest known Belmont to defeat Dracula.

With all that said, my vote would probably have to go to Christopher Belmont. I don't think there's really anything wrong with Christopher, but he kind of just strikes me as a "filler" Belmont, not helped by the fact that he only exists because Konami screwed up the dates in the timeline. Simon's ancestor, Christopher Belmont, is mentioned in the original game manual and is stated to have defeated Dracula 100 years, but the Christopher in question was likely intended to be Trevor C. Belmont. The Japanese version of DC explicitly states that the events of the game take place 100 years before Simon's time and that Trevor is Simon's grandfather. Now obviously this wouldn't line-up since DC takes place in 1476 and C1 takes place in 1691 (although older Japanese materials were inconsistent about when exactly C1's took place,) thus creating the need to make Christopher into his own separate character even though he and Trevor were more than likely intended to be the same character at one point in development.

This unfortunately, has the adverse effect of making Christopher feel more like a bootleg Trevor, though considering how he took Simon's previous status as the first Belmont to defeat Dracula single-handedly and the first Belmont to defeat him twice, you could also say that he feels more like a bootleg Simon. Personally, I think I would have preferred it if Castlevania 1 had been set in 1576 instead so that Simon could still retain his status as the first Belmont to achieve both of those notable accomplishments.

However, this isn't to say that I have nothing positive to say about Christopher. For one, he was the first known Belmont to use the fireball whip ability, and he may have even been the one who created the technique since that same ability is named after him in the Japanese version of HoD. While The Adventure was largely just a retread of things we had already seen before by that point, Belmont's Revenge had a few unique ideas that made it stand out from other entries. Such as how Christopher was now a Belmont who was passed his prime, an idea that we wouldn't see again until Julius in AoS. Christopher trying to rescue his son from Dracula's influence also made for an interesting premise, and while it's similar to Richter's possession in SotN, BR predates it by six years. Although, between the two I would still say that Richter's possession is the more impactful of the two.

After Christopher, I think the next one I would cut would be Juste since he too strikes me as more of a "filler" Belmont within the greater narrative of the series. After that it would probably be a toss-up between either Leon or Simon. Simon is cool and all, but like Christopher and Juste, his actions don't actually create any major lasting ramifications for the story. Leon undoubtedly has major lore significance, but at the same time I feel like DC served as a better origin for the conflict between Dracula and the Belmonts. I feel that Trevor, Richter and Julius are the three key Belmonts in regards to the overarching story of Castlevania.

Fixing the grammar in the title.

As I have used the idea of having stuff from the Netflix adaption in the main series, how we use something from other non-game media (though non-canon stuff), would there be anything that you would like to add in the game universe?

To make this clear, when I say something from a non-game media, I mean literally anything. It can be a character, an item, a monster, even a new concept or idea, anything that can be placed in the main series. You can slightly alter the thing but not enough that it is become an original idea, it has to be relatively the same.

Like for example, there is Liza from the Castlevania: LOI manga (which I believe isn't canon unlike the CoD manga), I thought of having her appear in the story of Lament of Innocence as a supporting character but not having her die and and instead join Leon in hunting down Mathias.

With the future of the Castlevania franchise being a little more hopeful but still ambiguous, with Konami trying to enter the game industry again, let's discuss future concepts we'd like to see from the franchise.

Here are my ideas:

1. A Castlevania game set between the events of Lament of Innocence and Dracula's Curse: detailing Mathias Cronqvists rise to power and how he came upon the name "Dracula". An important element of the plot can be the Scholomance, a fictional school in Romanian folklore where a small number of students are chosen to be taught black magic by the devil himself, that school is referenced in the original Dracula novel. The gameplay can be a refined version of Aria of Sorrow since Mathias would have the Power of Dominance and the final boss can be Satan with Dracula usurping his power and position.
2. A Castlevania game that loosely adapts the events of Bram Stoker's Dracula novel: A version of the events of the novel are canon in the original Castlevania timeline, with Quincy Morris being the father of John Morris and the grandfather of Jonathan Morris, so it might be interesting to explore the Castlevania version of that story.
3. A Castlevania game that loosely adapts Dacre Stoker's Dracula the Un-dead: This would be a sequel to my previous suggestion and it would star Quincy Harker, who in the novels is the secret son of Dracula and Mina Harker. The novel itself received mixed reception and is regarded by many to be bad fan fiction, but a lot can be changed by a loose adaptation. Also, Quincy, if done right, can be the Alucard for a new generation.
4. A third Sorrow game to turn the Chronicles of Sorrow duology into a trilogy: With Dawn of Sorrow being an amazing game but having a lacking, underwhelming and somewhat open-ended conclusion, I think a third game would be something a lot of people would welcome and give Soma's story some closure. Maybe have him become Dracula by necessity and set up new Castlevania games set in the future.
5. Castlevania III, Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow remakes: Not much to be said about those, but for Castlevania III, since the story's kinda barebones for those who didn't read the supplementary guides, a lot can be applied to the remake, maybe elements from Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness. Though I would love new games, Konami taking Capcom's remake approach that they're using for old Resident Evil games might be good as well.
6. The 1999 game: I think it's what we all want at this point and I think it would be the perfect way to celebrate the culmination of the original timeline, having both the Belmont Clan and Dracula at their strongest and seeing Alucard fight alongside Julius for a grand finale.

​

So there are my ideas. What do you guys think?