Konami and Evil Empire will launch a free demo for Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse on 1 October, two weeks ahead of the full game’s 15 October launch. The Belmont’s Curse demo covers every platform the game is planned for: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. Anyone who buys the finished game on the same platform they tested it on keeps their save file, so the opening hours won’t need replaying.
Konami’s own demo page describes the download as covering the opening chapter of the game, rather than a narrow vertical slice built around a single boss fight. That page is also where the save-transfer terms are confirmed directly: the carryover is tied to matching platforms, not to an account, so switching from Steam to PS5 between demo and launch forfeits the progress.
Konami confirmed the release date and platform list during a Tokyo Game Show livestream conducted in Japanese, using the slot for technical specifics rather than new gameplay reveals. Details from a company livestream carry more weight than marketing copy repeated secondhand, and here they’re specific enough to plan around: a fixed release date, a fixed platform list and a stated frame rate target per platform.
What the demo includes
Frame rate is where the platforms diverge, and the figures are Konami’s own, taken from that livestream rather than any independent testing: 60fps on PC and on the full-size consoles, but a cap of 30fps on Switch, first reported in English by TechPowerUp’s account of the stream. Content and features are also described as restricted relative to the finished game, though neither Konami nor the outlets covering the reveal have said which systems or abilities are held back for launch.
The first side-scrolling Castlevania since 2008
Evil Empire and Motion Twin built their reputation on Dead Cells, and their first pass at the Castlevania license was a paid crossover pack for that game in 2023 rather than a new title. Belmont’s Curse is the follow-through: a standalone game, and the first new entry in the Castlevania series in over a decade, and the first side-scrolling Castlevania since Order of Ecclesia in 2008.
The genre it belongs to has moved on considerably in that gap. Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight and Evil Empire’s own Dead Cells are among the metroidvanias that raised the bar while the series sat dormant, and that history, more than any marketing line, is the test Belmont’s Curse has to clear on 15 October.
The demo goes live on 1 October across Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse itself launches on 15 October, and anyone who plays through the opening chapter on their platform of choice carries that progress straight into the full release.
