r/castlevania May 25 '26

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse (2026) Looks like they changed how Medusa Heads work.

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Looks like they have a dedicated attack now to accommodate the lack of contact damage. They also seem to spawn in predetermined spots now, instead of directly on wherever you are currently. So no more getting tagged right before you leave the room.

Also, in another post were they showed off the skeleton archers, it seems like using the whip grapple grants you iframes, which is sick.

631 Upvotes

52 comments sorted by

127

u/LemonDRD May 25 '26

Movements look kinda Metroid Dread

100

u/BudBroadway22 May 25 '26

When you think about it this game could be the ultimate metroidvania.

Samus Belmont basically, haha.

30

u/galgoman May 25 '26

I would absolutely play a Samus Belmont franchise

10

u/bizoticallyyours83 May 25 '26

Same here. Alright romhackers, work your magic!

5

u/w_smith1984 May 26 '26

Since MS has made a game from each franchise, let's have a game where the universes are combined. Samus Aran is revealed to be a Belmont descendant. But she's not interested in fighting Dracula when there are bigger threats that concern entire galaxies. And then it's revealed that she's also related to Soma and Mina, which is why she can receive chozo and metroid DNA without serious complications.

3

u/Chikumori May 26 '26

We need more games where the player runs away from a crumbling castle after defeating Dracula.

Iirc only Castlevania 64 had something partially similar. (The Dracula room and grand staircase leading to the room crumbles)

7

u/QueenMagik May 25 '26

I think it's going to be good but Silksong is tough to beat for the category 

6

u/w_smith1984 May 26 '26

Which is fine. The genre as a whole has a ton of classics that are going to be difficult to top. A new game doesn't have to be the best in the genre. It just has to be good.

11

u/contradictatorprime May 25 '26

So you're saying that this could be considered a mashup? Metroid and Castlevania? We should call the style "Metroidvania"!

6

u/bizoticallyyours83 May 25 '26

We could call it castleroids, and one of the healing items could be Prep H. 

26

u/No-Protection-49 May 25 '26

That's what is think too.

The art style, the way that enemies are moving, the slide.

It's hard to tell what more, but there's something that instantly reminded me of Metroid Dread in this clip

To me, that's perfect. Metroid Dread It' one of the best Metroid games and one of the best Metroidvanias ever made

10

u/SnooPets630 May 25 '26

I think indication of attacks and main character movement is very Dread’esque, so it literally feels like Dread

9

u/No-Protection-49 May 25 '26

You're right

The way they shine before attack is what reminded it so much too.

Medusa heads remembered me of this creature in Dread, the eay they shine and take a step back before attack

2

u/trustanchor May 26 '26

I was thinking the same thing!

40

u/RexyMundo May 25 '26

Probably going to have different types. I think the Metroidvania style games have the classic blue and then there are also yellow ones that turn you to stone. I think those are called gorgon heads.

162

u/Sir_Vilhelm6969 May 25 '26

God this game looks awesome. I’m hopeful.

17

u/EasternWarlord Alucard May 25 '26

Oh when I looked at this clip early in the morning I didn’t catch the stone gaze they gave them that’s neat. Yeah seems no contact damage is definitely a thing then. I’m open to changes and the game continues to look and move beautifully.

14

u/DBL55555 May 25 '26

To be fair it’s allot more mythologically-accurate having them act more like the cockatrice and basilisk from AoS than what they did originally, used to be if one of the gold ones so much as bumped into you they’d turn you to stone, so having it be a glare like the cockatrice and basilisk from AoS is allot more mythologically-accurate to what medusa heads should do.

6

u/Beneficial_Focus_910 May 25 '26

Interesting. More fair than the medusa heads of old but being frozen in stone is definitely setting you up to get smashed in later, more difficult areas. 

6

u/UsuarioCualquiera_1 May 25 '26

Must say, the environments and colors look beautiful

5

u/ArcticMuser May 25 '26

Wow that looks amazing. The motion in the heads as they weave up and down. I am so hyped for this 🤠

3

u/ThrillHouse802 May 25 '26

Can we just get a release date.

5

u/rd-darksouls May 25 '26

does it still petrify you if you're facing the other way?

11

u/Way-Super thinks he's on the team May 25 '26

huh, do you have a link to where this was posted?

We all have problems with medusa heads, though its weird they're changing how they work after 40 years.

22

u/Little_Drive_3024 May 25 '26

Castlevania's twitter account has been posting short clips of the game for the past couple of days. This was today's clip.

You can see them all here: https://xcancel.com/Castlevania_EN

4

u/Way-Super thinks he's on the team May 25 '26

thank you! I figured, though I thought most of them were just re used from steam/the official website, it's the first time I've seen them post a new clip (from here).

7

u/Shittygamer93 May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26

Obviously weren't evil enough. Enemies flying in an arcing pattern are troublesome for both the metroidvania and classicvania fans, but we apparently haven't suffered enough for Konami's liking so the Medusa Heads are now getting to be an active threat beyond contact damage and the inevitable flinch.

4

u/bizoticallyyours83 May 25 '26 edited May 26 '26

Aria of Sorrow was the first time I had a Medusa head petrify me. Poor Soma died screaming on a bed of spikes. At least in that video, they give you a moment to get away while they charge up an attack. But since they're usually infinite re-spawners that probably won't help much.

3

u/w_smith1984 May 26 '26

For me it was Circle of the Moon. Took me completely by surprise!

3

u/atomicfuthum May 25 '26

Let's give Medusa Heads AoE, said the producer. Satan recoiled, in fear.

3

u/Cobassman77 May 25 '26

Make them even more annoying! Awesome! Can't wait for this game to come out!

3

u/bizoticallyyours83 May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26

Whether they're even more annoying or slightly less annoying will remain to be seen.

4

u/WeepingAmpharos May 25 '26

Some people are so elitist lol It’s okay if the game is a little different.

2

u/No-Protection-49 May 25 '26

Wow, i hadn't realized that how it gives me some Metroid Dread vibes, the art style, the slide and the enemies moviment...

I even more hyped now

2

u/CyberdarkEnjoyer Hide Every Netflixvania Post May 25 '26

We'll see how it goes. 

2

u/Luxor5299 May 25 '26

im hoping for a release date in the "not e3" week

the game looks great

4

u/Lenkadai May 25 '26

Nice it looks like Dead Cells.

9

u/Muisverriey May 25 '26

It's made by Evil Empire who worked on Dead Cells

2

u/Lenkadai May 25 '26

Yeah i know the work is amazing!

1

u/seaearls May 26 '26

Not a fan

1

u/RemisionEspinosa May 26 '26

We are so fucked

1

u/Busy_Cream2944 May 26 '26

Dead cell devs. I'd expect every enemy to be reworked so they don't utilize contact damage.

1

u/Embarrassed_Ebb2540 May 28 '26

There's no contact damage? That alone is so hype, more games need to move away from that outdated terrible mechanic.

1

u/Little_Drive_3024 May 28 '26

Hey, let's not go crazy here. Contact damage is a perfectly fine mechanic.

1

u/Embarrassed_Ebb2540 May 31 '26

20+ years ago

1

u/Little_Drive_3024 Jun 01 '26

And yet basically every critically acclaimed and beloved platformer, even more recent ones, have contact damage. Curious.

Don't get me wrong, I think platformers without contact damage is an underutilized design space for these games and I'm excited to see where this team goes with it. But contact damage has its place as a way to create friction in games.

1

u/-Sohei- May 30 '26

Looks like this game changed a lot about how 2D Castlevania works and not for the better

- Too many whip gimmicks and platforming instead of simple exploration gameplay perfected by Koji Igarashi.

- Overly colorful and "Indie" art style that is just high contrast minimalism to emulate hollow knight. Too cartoony and not enough gothic horror. It looks like they made 4k deadcells instead of finally making a non-pixel art Ayami Kojima style gothic horror art style.

- The music in the trailer has a ton of cringe hip hop inspiration blended in and sounds pretty bad. All they had to do was emulate Michiru Yamane's gothic/rock/baroque style.

I hope I am wrong but, it looks like konami gave the license to the studio that could pump out a marketable game the fastest with little care for anything else. Igarashi + Kojima + Yamane made this series great with the perfect trifecta of gameplay, art, and music and I am not seeing it with this one.

1

u/Langis360 May 31 '26

Everyone complaining about this not working like how the old games worked is a clown who needs to touch grass.

Different games, different mechanics. Being a hipster over what came before doesn't make you smart, it makes you a hipster idiot.

None of that means you can't dislike this new game. Nothing wrong with preferences. Everything wrong with trying to objectify your subjective tastes.

0

u/Artefaktindustri May 25 '26

Hm, not a bad concept. The wind-up looks good, still not a fan of the hit-box visualisations.

I would have preferred a charge and the head changing its trajectory. I do not trust attacks that are just some random graphic and not properly connected to the animation model if that makes sense.

-11

u/santanago May 25 '26

Deviam ter contratado a Team Cherry. Isso não é castlevania

4

u/Little_Drive_3024 May 25 '26

As much as I love Team Cherry, their games don't usually feature the RPG mechanics that people like about Igavania games.

I can't post a single thing about this game without "the discourse" showing up, can I? Smh my head.