Vergil

I wish I wasn’t going crazy hearing people talk about how Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse feels like the classic games or the IGAvanias or like Blasphemous and Hollow Knight. Power progression feels uneven, most secrets and exploration rewards you with EXP caches, and most routes are secretly one-way

Bosses are where they took the effort to make unique designs and patterns, and for that, I commend them. However I wish I didn't know how many bosses were in the game via the Tarot system, which gave me a clear sense of how much game I had left.

I wish I wasn’t going crazy hearing people talk about how Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse feels like the classic games or the IGAvanias or like Blasphemous and Hollow Knight. Power progression feels uneven, most secrets and exploration rewards you with EXP caches, and most routes are secretly one-way

The enemy roster also stays entirely within series staples, which is disappointing. 34 enemies would be a good number for some games, but not CV. Eight of them are skeletons, and they very quickly are replaced with recolors that don't offer anything other than higher stats, and fight the same.

I wish I wasn’t going crazy hearing people talk about how Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse feels like the classic games or the IGAvanias or like Blasphemous and Hollow Knight. Power progression feels uneven, most secrets and exploration rewards you with EXP caches, and most routes are secretly one-way

I don't have an inherent issue with games that choose to treat their regions as levels that you go through linearly, but I would rather they be concise and not overstay their welcome. Unfortunately Belmont's Curse makes its areas too large and twisty for their own good, and going back is exhausting

I wish I wasn’t going crazy hearing people talk about how Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse feels like the classic games or the IGAvanias or like Blasphemous and Hollow Knight. Power progression feels uneven, most secrets and exploration rewards you with EXP caches, and most routes are secretly one-way

If they wanted a variety of weapons, they should have given them more effects and have even more of them. If they wanted to focus on the whip, they should have given it a more robust moveset you can upgrade. They chose to give me an OP whip for free and expect me to care about finding the rest.

I wish I wasn’t going crazy hearing people talk about how Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse feels like the classic games or the IGAvanias or like Blasphemous and Hollow Knight. Power progression feels uneven, most secrets and exploration rewards you with EXP caches, and most routes are secretly one-way

I don't see it as a send-up to the genre or a love letter to the series, I see it as coloring within the lines but with garish color combinations. They talked about making it look like Castlevania and feel like Castlevania, but it doesn't, and I know the series has changed identities in the past

I wish I wasn’t going crazy hearing people talk about how Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse feels like the classic games or the IGAvanias or like Blasphemous and Hollow Knight. Power progression feels uneven, most secrets and exploration rewards you with EXP caches, and most routes are secretly one-way

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I wish I wasn’t going crazy hearing people talk about how Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse feels like the classic games or the IGAvanias or like Blasphemous and Hollow Knight. Power progression feels uneven, most secrets and exploration rewards you with EXP caches, and most routes are secretly one-way

If I wanted a grapple game, I'd play Rusted Moss If I wanted a mobility gauntlet, I'd play Hollow Knight If I wanted freeform combat, I'd play Vernal Edge If I wanted parries, I'd play Nine Sols If I wanted Castlevania, I'd play the various collections As it stands, it's not excelling in any field

I wish I wasn’t going crazy hearing people talk about how Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse feels like the classic games or the IGAvanias or like Blasphemous and Hollow Knight. Power progression feels uneven, most secrets and exploration rewards you with EXP caches, and most routes are secretly one-way

I also can’t compare it to the Soulslike Metroidvanias when grappling and attacking are as free as they are. When I die, I don’t have any currency to risk to retrieve, and the only random drops you get are flasks and chicken. After a point I was just mashing my face against enemies until they died