GameSpot gave it a 10 and called it a new high for the series. VGC gave it 3 out of 5 and called it safe. Between those two poles sit 37 more numeric reviews, and together the 39 scores we checked put Castlevania: Belmont's Curse at an NGC Rating of 83. That's a couple of points under OpenCritic's Top Critic Average of 85 (97% of critics recommend it, from 69 reviews) and Metacritic's 86 from 48 PS5 reviews. Scores, aggregator figures and the $29.99 Steam price were verified Oct 13, 2026, at 11:20 a.m. PT.
Most of that spread comes down to taste. The platform warnings are a different story. PS5 and Xbox reviews land in the mid-80s, PC averages 79, and the three scored Switch reviews average 78, but the Switch reviews are where the technical complaints pile up. Two of the critics who played it on Switch 2 advised waiting for fixes or picking another system. Evil Empire's Metroidvania unlocks at 9 p.m. PT on Wednesday, Oct. 14, on PS5, Xbox and Steam, and on Oct. 15 on Switch, as we laid out in today's Daily Console Drop.
Every score behind NGC 83
| Outlet | Platform reviewed | Score | Normalized | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GameSpot | PC | 10/10 | 100 | Review |
| Shacknews | PS5 | 10/10 | 100 | Review |
| PlayStation Universe | PS5 | 10/10 | 100 | Review |
| RPGFan | PS5 | 97/100 | 97 | Review |
| CGMagazine | Xbox Series X | 9.5/10 | 95 | Review |
| Game Informer | Xbox Series X | 9.25/10 | 92.5 | Review |
| TheGamer | PS5 | 4.5/5 | 90 | Review |
| GAMINGbible | PS5 | 9/10 | 90 | Review |
| COGconnected | PS5 | 90/100 | 90 | Review |
| ComicBook | PS5 | 4.5/5 | 90 | Review |
| ZTGD | Xbox Series X | 9/10 | 90 | Review |
| IGN Deutschland | PC | 9/10 | 90 | Review |
| PPE.pl | PS5 | 9/10 | 90 | Review |
| Meristation | PS5 | 8.8/10 | 88 | Review |
| Hobby Consolas | PS5 | 88/100 | 88 | Review |
| Digital Chumps | PS5 | 8.7/10 | 87 | Review |
| Jeuxvideo.com | PS5 | 17/20 | 85 | Review |
| Everyeye.it | PS5 | 8.5/10 | 85 | Review |
| Multiplayer.it | PC | 8.5/10 | 85 | Review |
| Game8 | PS5 | 84/100 | 84 | Review |
| IGN | PS5 | 8/10 | 80 | Review |
| GamesRadar+ | PS5 | 4/5 | 80 | Review |
| TechRadar Gaming | PS5 | 4/5 | 80 | Review |
| Hardcore Gamer | PS5 | 8/10 | 80 | Review |
| Noisy Pixel | PS5 | 8/10 | 80 | Review |
| Screen Rant | PS5 | 8/10 | 80 | Review |
| TheSixthAxis | PC | 8/10 | 80 | Review |
| RPG Site | PC | 8/10 | 80 | Review |
| GameSpew | PS5 | 8/10 | 80 | Review |
| TechRaptor | Switch (played on Switch 2) | 8/10 | 80 | Review |
| Worthplaying | Switch | 8/10 | 80 | Review |
| Nintendo World Report | Switch | 7.5/10 | 75 | Review |
| Push Square | PS5 | 7/10 | 70 | Review |
| Gamekult | PC | 7/10 | 70 | Review |
| GamingBolt | PC | 7/10 | 70 | Review |
| RPGamer | PC | 3.5/5 | 70 | Review |
| Creative Bloq | PS5 | 3.5/5 | 70 | Review |
| Gaming Age | PC | 6.5/10 | 65 | Review |
| VGC | Xbox Series X | 3/5 | 60 | Review |
NGC Rating is the plain average of those normalized scores (83.2), rounded to the nearest whole number. Polygon published an unscored review, and Siliconera's Switch 2 review is quoted below but left out of the math because we couldn't confirm its number on the outlet's own page. Aggregator totals will keep moving as more reviews arrive, but this figure stays tied to the 39 linked reviews above.
Why the 10s and the 7s are playing the same game
Nobody's arguing about the presentation. Even VGC's Chris Scullion, the lowest score in the table, calls the art style outstanding and the soundtrack fantastic. The argument is about whether a very polished, very familiar Metroidvania is enough after a 13-year gap in 2D Castlevania, a stretch VGC fills with Silksong, Ori, Dead Cells and Animal Well.
GameSpot's Steve Watts thinks it clears that bar easily. He singles out a parry mapped to the left trigger that works while you keep attacking, and a tarot system that ties bosses, clues, spells and story together, and he puts the game alongside Symphony of the Night. Push Square's Stephen Tailby gave it a 7 and doesn't dispute much of that. His problem is that it "doesn't do quite enough to really stand apart," and that Rose "can feel a bit unresponsive sometimes," which led to some frustrating deaths.
Difficulty splits the room too. Worthplaying calls it probably the hardest Castlevania its reviewer has played, and VGC says it borrowed from Soulslikes when it should have been watching other Metroidvanias, complaining that every death sends you back to a save room several screens away. Game Informer, which scored it 9.25, found the checkpoints forgiving instead. The difference matters less than it sounds, because both GameSpot and VGC point to the Custom Mode settings: you can respawn at the boss door, carry more potions, change damage dealt and taken, or switch on a "prevent death" option.
The Switch version is the one to wait on
There's no native Switch 2 version. Konami lists the Switch release at 30fps, and both Nintendo Life and GamesRadar+ reported that the free demo runs at 60fps when the Switch 1 build is played on Switch 2. The reviews show what that means in practice.
| Platform | Scores in our table | Our average | Metacritic (Oct 13, 11:20 a.m. PT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| PS5 | 23 | 85 | 86 from 48 reviews |
| Xbox Series X | 4 | 84 | 88 from 6 reviews |
| PC | 9 | 79 | 83 from 19 reviews |
| Switch (incl. played on Switch 2) | 3 | 78 | No Metascore yet, 3 scored reviews |
Nintendo World Report's Jordan Rudek (7.5) was the most upbeat: on Switch 2, the Switch version runs at "a mostly stable 60fps," the resolution "leaves something to be desired," and he still finds it fairly easy to recommend on Nintendo's newer console. He's much cooler on the original Switch, where resolution and frame rate both take a hit. TechRaptor's review copy, a Switch 1 build played on Switch 2, scored 8 for the game itself but came with a separate warning: a noticeable drop in visual quality, a "slight sluggishness" that made precision platforming harder, and four crashes before any day-one patch. Its advice was blunt: if you can, play it on any other platform. Siliconera, also on Switch 2, said it ran into performance problems at times and suggested Switch and Switch 2 players wait to see whether fixes arrive. Worthplaying, playing on Switch, still had a great time but called the port "a little lackluster."
None of the Switch reviews we checked report handheld and docked results separately, so we can't tell you yet whether one mode holds up better than the other. Wait for a day-one patch, or a mode-by-mode test, before buying it on Switch.
It isn't spotless elsewhere either. IGN's 8/10 review notes that one hub transition takes about 15 seconds to return control on PS5, and Push Square's responsiveness complaint came from the PS5 version.
Twenty hours for $29.99
The standard edition is $29.99 on Steam, and the Midnight Edition is $39.99. Reviewers' playtimes cluster in the high teens:
| Reviewer | Platform | Time played | What that covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Informer | Xbox Series X | 16 hours | 92% completion |
| RPG Site | PC | About 16 hours | 100%, including 3–4 hours of backtracking |
| TechRadar Gaming | PS5 | About 16 hours | Much of the map, bosses and secrets |
| GameSpot | PC | 20+ hours | Still had bosses left in the tarot deck |
| GamesRadar+ | PS5 | 23 hours | 2 of 3 endings |
IGN puts the story itself at 10 to 15 hours. At $29.99, that's roughly $1.30 to $1.90 an hour for a full run. It's cheap for a game several critics rank among the series' best, and short enough that it won't take over your fall.
If you've played every big Metroidvania of the last decade and want something new, read Push Square and VGC first. They make the "too familiar" case best. If you just want a new Castlevania with tough bosses and a strong soundtrack, the 23 PS5 reviews make that the safest version to buy, with Xbox close behind. Switch owners should try the free demo on their own hardware before committing, because that's the version critics are least sure about.