The builders of Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse are sporting their love of preventing video games on their sleeves, as eagle-eyed followers have noticed some unmistakable references to basic preventing sport characters in its demo.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse launched a free demo on October 1, 2026, giving gamers a quick style of what the sport’s fight will seem like. On this sport, we take management of Rose Belmont, who navigates the ruined streets of 1500s Paris with a sword and her mom’s magical tarot playing cards.
If the demo is something to go by, this sport might be a deal with for hardcore Metroidvania followers, because it features a wealth of secret areas to uncover. One in all these areas will be accessed within the demo, which supplies you a pair of brass knuckle-style MMA gloves known as Cestus. The weapon stacks on harm to enemies the extra you hit them, encouraging gamers to go on the offensive.
After Rose finishes an assault utilizing Cestus, she is going to strike a pose for a couple of seconds. These poses cycle seemingly at random, however they’re clearly intentional, and every boasts a novel animation. It didn’t take lengthy for gamers to note some hanging similarities between these poses and the preventing stances of basic preventing sport characters, of which there are a superb handful.
Twitter/X person and Castlevania fan StockeTepes compiled these poses in a video, exhibiting Rose settling into the idle poses for Ryu, Chun-Li, Oro, and Sagat, in addition to Mai Shiranui and Akuma / Oni. Even Spider-Man’s iconic pose from Marvel vs Capcom 2 was included. Different followers identified that Rose’s air-to-air combo utilizing Cestus mimics that of Akuma’s in-air fireball assault, Zanku Hadouken (or, in my view, M. Bison’s Hell Assault).
Castlevania is a franchise recognized for tipping its hat to preventing video games; when you’ve performed Symphony of the Evening, you’ll know that the inputs for Alucard’s purchasable spells learn precisely just like the motions for particular strikes in a preventing sport, and the gauntlet-style weapon Fist of Tulkas principally allow you to throw out a Hadouken. And in Portrait of Wreck, gamers can unlock Martial Arts strikes that provide you with particular skills, which require particular preventing game-style inputs to tug off. Konami even launched a Castlevania preventing sport in 2008 known as Castlevania Judgment (although whether or not or not it is remembered fondly is a matter of non-public opinion).
I informed you, Castlevania LOVES preventing video games 🔥 And the custom of calling again to them continues with Belmont’s Curse! So I made a lil edit showcasing how the Demo’s secret weapon, Cestus, homages idle poses for a lot of of it is iconic characters.
MUCH extra coming keep tuned 😈 https://t.co/7UVd7OFSTQ
— 🖤 Stocke ❤️ (@StockeTepes) October 6, 2026
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse formally releases on October 15. Within the meantime, there’s no scarcity of Castlevania video games so that you can play as you look forward to the newest entry within the collection to launch. (My private favorites are Symphony of the Evening, Tremendous Castlevania IV, and the OG Castlevania sport — however there’s actually greater than 30 to select from!)
That’s not all; the enduring soundtrack of the Castlevania franchise is getting its personal stay energy rock-symphony in March 2026, with showings in London, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. It’s a good time to be a Castlevania fan — however a horrible evening to have a curse.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s Information Editor. With ten years of expertise reporting on video games and leisure, she’s bought a storied background within the preventing sport neighborhood, influencer information, and viral on-line developments. Discover her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.