Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Reviews: Metacritic Score and Steam Reception
The aggregate scores, a sample of individual critic scores, the points critics agree and disagree on, and the mixed Steam launch — all timestamped.
Applies to: Critic aggregates and Steam user reception for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse as of October 15–16, 2026, with every figure kept to its own source and timestamp
Quick answer
Critics are positive and players are split. On October 15, 2026 Metacritic sat at 86 from roughly 51 critic reviews on PS5, and OpenCritic at 85 with 97% of critics recommending — the series' best new-game reception in about two decades. On Steam the same week the user rating was Mixed, mostly because of PC launch problems rather than the game itself: at the time of this check the store showed about 2,357 reviews with roughly 1,566 positive. Every number here moves, so treat them as snapshots.
At a glance
Belmont's Curse reviewed well and launched rough on PC. Those are two different measurements of two different things, and both are true at once.
| Measure | Value | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Metacritic (PS5) | 86, from about 51 critic reviews | October 15, 2026 |
| OpenCritic | 85, 97% of critics recommending | October 15, 2026 |
| Steam user rating | Mixed — about 2,357 reviews, roughly 1,566 positive | October 16, 2026 |
The critic scores
On the PS5 critic listings, most reviews landed in the 80–100 range with a small tail of 70s. A sample of the individual scores, taken from aggregator listings rather than re-scored here:
| Outlet | Score |
|---|---|
| GameSpot | 10 / 10 |
| Game Informer | 9.25 / 10 |
| IGN | 8 / 10 |
| GamesRadar+ | 8 / 10 |
| TheSixthAxis | 8 / 10 |
| Push Square | 7 / 10 |
| Siliconera | 7 / 10 |
What critics praise
- The combat and the whip. The whip's dual role as weapon and movement tool is the most consistently praised part of the game.
- Traversal and animation. Reviewers describe the movement as fluid and acrobatic, and built around speed.
- Presentation. The painterly gothic art direction and the environments draw wide approval.
- Rose Belmont. The new protagonist is repeatedly singled out as a strong lead.
What critics criticise
- It plays it safe. Several reviewers argue it is a confident homage rather than an evolution, and some wanted it to take more risks.
- Exploration feels secondary. More than one critic says the action platforming outclasses the Metroidvania side, with backtracking and fast travel that arrive late.
- Visual readability. Heavy use of red in some areas is reported to make enemies and detail harder to separate from the background.
- The soundtrack divides people. It is one reviewer's weakest element and another's highlight — a genuine disagreement rather than a consensus.
The Steam divide
The Mixed Steam rating is driven mainly by launch-day PC problems rather than by the game's design: black screens, menu and map scroll bugs, stutter, and Steam Deck performance. Positive reviews frequently come from players who had to change a setting first. The practical implication is simple: if you are buying on PC, look at the troubleshooting page before you judge, because the "can't launch at all" complaints usually have a specific cause.
What is not settled
- The final aggregate scores. They will settle over weeks, not days.
- Whether the Steam rating recovers. It depends on patches, and no patch schedule is published.
Sources and review scope
- Metacritic — Castlevania: Belmont's Curse — the PS5 critic aggregate and review count, checked on October 16, 2026.
- OpenCritic — Castlevania: Belmont's Curse — the aggregate score and the share of critics recommending.
- Steam store listing and review summary — the user rating and the review totals used above.
- Steam reviews endpoint — the positive and negative counts behind the "Mixed" label, read on October 16, 2026.
Aggregate scores come from Metacritic and OpenCritic; the Steam figures come from Steam's own review summary. Individual outlet scores are quoted from aggregator listings rather than from averaging them, and they are attributed rather than endorsed. The praise and criticism points are themes the reviews share, not this site's own review — this page is a source review, not a play-test. Checked on October 16, 2026.
Checked on October 16, 2026 against KONAMI's official game site (product, character, demo and known-issues pages), the Steam store listing and the public Steam Web API endpoints for this app, and the PlayStation Store and Nintendo listings. KONAMI's own statements and store data are kept separate from third-party guides, which are labelled where they are used. Live figures such as review totals and aggregate scores are timestamped snapshots that keep moving. Anything no source states is written as unconfirmed rather than guessed.
Not independently play-tested. This is not a claim that every platform or game version was tested. Source review: Oct 16, 2026.
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