While the new Castlevania game is of course basing itself on the mechanics, visuals, and world of the franchise's past, if you were to speak to a Castlevania fan today, the chance they're an anime-only fan from the Netflix series is fairly high, considering it has been an absolute age since the last Castlevania game. When looking at Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, it's hard not to think of the anime that reintroduced us to the world of Belmonts and vampires back in 2017.
According to series producer Tsutomu Taniguchi and Belmont's Curse's creative director Emmanuel Nouaille, this is intentional. "We know that there are so many fans of the anime series who've never played the games before. So even though obviously we wanted to put the game at the forefront of our ideas when we were directing, we really did want to make sure that everyone felt welcome, especially the anime fans who've never played the games," Taniguchi told PC Gamer in a recent interview.
He added that "there's not a wall between the game and the anime. We're really hoping that people who've only watched the anime also enjoy the game." Nouaille reflected his point, saying that while there's no direct link between the anime and the upcoming game, the visual style, music and more will have anime fans feeling like they're stepping into a very familiar world.
"Through the art direction and through the music and the story, I think we are very close to the cinematographic aspect of the series. This is what we want to capture and want to replicate. I think cinematography is more important than a specific reference to the game," Nouaille said.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse releases on the 15th of October for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S.
