Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse Is Basically A Netflix Castlevania Reunion

GameSpot » All News RSS Feed✍ Darryn Bonthuys📅 August 24, 2026⏱ 5 min read(about 4 hours ago)

Overview & Key Takeaways

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is shaping up to be a good-looking entry in the franchise after a long hiatus, and by the sound of things, it has a pretty stacked voice cast as well. Konami has revealed the roster of actors bringing various characters to life in the Evil Empire-developed game, and when it comes to the franchise's biggest bad, Dracula, they've brought back someone with vast experience to play the lord of darkness: Graham McTavish.

While McTavish is a seasoned actor with voice roles in Killzone, Dragon Age: Origins, and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves--and made a damn good Doctor Doom in Marvel's Midnight Suns--he also voiced Dracula in Netflix's Castlevania animated adaptation. He was only around for two seasons, but McTavish's performance was praised for being nuanced as he flipped between the roles of monster, husband, and father in the show. He also popped up in the second season of Devil May Cry, voicing the main antagonist Arius von Enhrenberg.

It looks like a reunion of sorts for the Castlevania anime, as Alejandra Reynoso returns as Sypha Belnades, and Liam O'Brien, who previously played Isaac in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, is once again cast as the character.

https://youtu.be/EpCS2VPsMd8

Beyond McTavish, the rest of the vocal talent in Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse features a talented lineup. Abby Trot has been active since 2013 and is a prolific voice actor in anime, with her biggest role currently being Momo Ayase in the wildly popular Dandadan. JB Blanc brings almost 40 years of experience to the role of Trevor Belmont, and he previously voiced Brauner in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, as well as several roles in Lords of Shadow. The always-reliable Aaron LaPlante rounds out the cast as Death--and he probably doesn't talk vulgar smack like Malcolm McDowell did in the Netflix series. Here's a closer look at the full cast:

Abby Trott as Rose Belmont
JB Blanc as Trevor Belmont
Alejandra Reynoso as Sypha Belnades
Graham McTavish as Dracula
Ray Chase as The Fallen
Erica Lindbeck as Joan of Arc
Melique Berger as Medusa
Liam O'Brien as Isaac
Dawn M. Bennett as Carmilla
Aaron LaPlante as Death

Launching on October 15 for PC and consoles, Castlevania: Belmont's Curse arrives just in time to celebrate 40 years of the whip-wielding franchise, and it's being developed by The Rogue Prince of Persia developer Evil Empire. The studio has also worked on Dead Cells in the past, and while some of that DNA is in Belmont's Curse, Evil Empire says the classic Castlevania formula of 2D action-exploration is what drives this adventure.

"The upcoming entry in Konami's storied 2D sidescroller series makes use of good ideas from recent entries in the genre, while adding a bunch of its own," Phil Hornshaw wrote in GameSpot's Castlevania: Belmont's Curse preview.

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is shaping up to be a good-looking entry in the franchise after a long hiatus, and by the sound of things, it has a pretty stacked voice cast as well. Konami has revealed the roster of actors bringing various characters to life in the Evil Empire-developed game, and when it comes to the franchise’s biggest bad, Dracula, they’ve brought back someone with vast experience to play the lord of darkness: Graham McTavish.

While McTavish is a seasoned actor with voice roles in Killzone, Dragon Age: Origins, and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves–and made a damn good Doctor Doom in Marvel’s Midnight Suns–he also voiced Dracula in Netflix’s Castlevania animated adaptation. He was only around for two seasons, but McTavish’s performance was praised for being nuanced as he flipped between the roles of monster, husband, and father in the show. He also popped up in the second season of Devil May Cry, voicing the main antagonist Arius von Enhrenberg.

It looks like a reunion of sorts for the Castlevania anime, as Alejandra Reynoso returns as Sypha Belnades, and Liam O’Brien, who previously played Isaac in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, is once again cast as the character.

VIDEO

Beyond McTavish, the rest of the vocal talent in Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse features a talented lineup. Abby Trot has been active since 2013 and is a prolific voice actor in anime, with her biggest role currently being Momo Ayase in the wildly popular Dandadan. JB Blanc brings almost 40 years of experience to the role of Trevor Belmont, and he previously voiced Brauner in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, as well as several roles in Lords of Shadow. The always-reliable Aaron LaPlante rounds out the cast as Death–and he probably doesn’t talk vulgar smack like Malcolm McDowell did in the Netflix series. Here’s a closer look at the full cast:

Abby Trott as Rose Belmont
JB Blanc as Trevor Belmont
Alejandra Reynoso as Sypha Belnades
Graham McTavish as Dracula
Ray Chase as The Fallen
Erica Lindbeck as Joan of Arc
Melique Berger as Medusa
Liam O’Brien as Isaac
Dawn M. Bennett as Carmilla
Aaron LaPlante as Death

Launching on October 15 for PC and consoles, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse arrives just in time to celebrate 40 years of the whip-wielding franchise, and it’s being developed by The Rogue Prince of Persia developer Evil Empire. The studio has also worked on Dead Cells in the past, and while some of that DNA is in Belmont’s Curse, Evil Empire says the classic Castlevania formula of 2D action-exploration is what drives this adventure.

“The upcoming entry in Konami’s storied 2D sidescroller series makes use of good ideas from recent entries in the genre, while adding a bunch of its own,” Phil Hornshaw wrote in GameSpot’s Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse preview.

✈ Read Original at GameSpot » All News RSS Feed ← Back to All News

More in Multi-platform

🎮 Multi-platform

I Can’t Believe I Missed Mortal Shell 2’s Best Item, Silly Me

From awesome Tarstones to exceptional weapons, there are a lot of really good items to find(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-shell-2-best-items-to-get-early/) in Mortal Shell 2(https://www.gamespot.com/games/mortal-shell-ii/). While you can miss them if you're not doing your due diligence while exploring, there's an early-game item that you really don't want to miss because of how it trivializes most fights. Unfortunately for me, I missed it and realized way too late, so let me regale you with my troubles in the hopes that you don't make the same mistake as I did. The first boss you fight(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-shell-2-all-bosses-how-to-defeat/) happens in the prologue. After some light exploration and acquiring your first shell(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-shell-2-all-shell-locations/), Haros, you roll up on the Tar Golem, who absolutely wrecks your stuff. It's designed as a forced loss, so actually putting up a fight is pointless, especially since a cutscene plays showing that Haros saves your life anyway. It's here that you loot your now-dead shell for the Vatra's Seal, which hardens your body to nullify incoming damage and freezes you mid-animation. It's actually a pretty overpowered seal. Not only does it cancel out damage, causing enemies to get knocked back if they attack your shell, but it also acts as an animation cancel, letting you interrupt your attacks by hardening your body to guard. Time the harden just right and you've got a perfect parry(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/how-to-parry-in-mortal-shell-2/), which deals massive posture damage and eventually leads to a counterattack. Vatra's Seal is essentially the main ability from the first Mortal Shell(https://www.gamespot.com/games/mortal-shell/). But instead of it being tied to one specific shell, when you loot Haros' corpse in the sequel, you can harden your body no matter which shell you currently have equipped. It rules. Sadly, I totally missed out on this item. Having played--and loved--the beta, I had the option to skip the prologue and get a handful of goodies, including the Vatra's Seal, for free. My silly self insisted I replay the prologue simply because, and right after the Tar Golem fight, I--for whatever reason--just ... sprinted to the next area. So, boom. Haros goes down, I move on, and before I know it, I'm inside Proxima, hookshotting from enemy to enemy and dealing tons of lightning damage. It rules. Except, hm ... something was missing. I check my seals maybe 10 or 15 hours into the game and see that I don't have the Vatra's Seal. So, I Google, wondering if there's a way I can recollect it despite not looting Haros' body and being too far into the game to restart at this point. And, no. Once you leave the prologue area, there's no way to go back and collect the seal. Cue the biggest, longest sigh you've ever heard. I'm making do with the Untarnished Seal, which is one of four seals (or three, if you missed the Vatra's Seal as I did) in the game. It's ... fine. You get a guard that blocks you from incoming damage until your posture meter is broken, at which point you enter a prolonged vulnerable state. And if you guard at the right moment, you can perfect-parry attacks. But the Untarnished Seal is no Vatra's Seal. And while the Infinite Seal lets you animation cancel, you don't get a guard, so missing your parry means you take damage. The Vatra's Seal really is the best of both worlds, as it negates all damage when used, freezes your body mid-animation, and still gives you a perfect parry. And I completely missed it. So, dear player, I implore you: If you're jumping into Mortal Shell 2 for the first time, make sure you loot Haros' body. Even if you don't end up using the Vatra's Seal the entire game, you'll be grateful to have the option. Because I don't even have that. Anyway, developer Cold Symmetry has released a pretty helpful patch for the game(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-shell-2s-latest-update-alleviates-one-of-the-games-biggest-headaches/) that makes some welcome changes, including nerfing bosses and increasing the amount of gold you find in the world. What's not helpful, though, are the bear traps(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-shell-2-players-really-hate-those-bear-traps-and-so-do-i/), which are getting on players' nerves.

GameSpotNewsabout 3 hours ago