Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is one of the year’s best games, blending remarkable visual style, impactful combat, and balletic traversal. Also, as a bonus, everybody is really hot. It’s not excellent because everybody is hot, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. In that regard, it’s very reminiscent of Hades and its sequel, which figured out that if we’re going to frequently see character portraits for dialogue, they may as well be easy on the eyes.
Right off the bat you see Trevor Belmont and his daughter, Rose, disembarking in Paris. Trevor is a silver fox and Rose is a beautiful (if slightly terrifying) maiden. As you venture further into the castle, you find characters like the Zealot, Isaac–a goth prince if ever I saw one–and the Warrior, whose identity I won’t spoil but let’s just say will appeal to fans of tall, strong women. The Fallen, a corrupted beast of a man, isn’t too bad to look at for those players who came of age with Beauty and the Beast. Even Medusa has a certain kind of weird beauty, if you’re willing to look past the snakes. Do not look directly at the snakes.
