Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse Editions Compared: Standard vs Midnight, and Which One to Buy

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse arrives on October 15, 2026, and Konami is selling it in two editions: a $29.99 Standard and a $39.99 Midnight. The $10 difference buys a sound + art gallery app and three in-game items, and it’s the only way to get the game on a physical disc or cartridge. Most players will be fine with Standard; collectors, Castlevania diehards, and anyone who wants a physical copy should get Midnight.

This is the first new side-scrolling Castlevania game in 13 years (since 2013’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate on 3DS, per IGN) and a 40th-anniversary release for the franchise.

What the two editions are

Standard Edition ($29.99, digital only) is the base game on your platform of choice: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, or PC. It’s a digital download only. On Switch, the file size is 4 GB; on every other platform it’s 8 GB. Frame rate is 60 fps on console, 30 fps on Switch.

Midnight Edition ($39.99, physical + digital) is the same base game plus a bundled digital-only Sound & Art Gallery application and three in-game items, and it’s the only edition available as a physical copy at retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, GameStop, Wal-Mart, and Target. On Switch, the file size is 6 GB (4 GB for the game, plus the gallery app); on every other platform it’s 10 GB. The Midnight Edition ships in physical and digital formats.

If you want a boxed copy on your shelf, Midnight is your only option, full stop.

What’s in the Midnight Edition (the $10 upgrade)

According to the Konami product page, the Midnight Edition includes four things on top of the base game:

• Digital Sound & Art Gallery (a separate app, not embedded in the main game). It contains 100+ pieces of artwork (concept art, sketches) and a 71-track music list with an in-app sound player. The full soundtrack is included.
• Trevor Style Costume for Rose, the protagonist. Trevor Belmont is Rose’s father in the game’s 1499 Paris setting, 23 years after Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (1989), per Wikipedia.
• Sypha Style Costume for Rose. Sypha Belnades is Rose’s mother, per Wikipedia, and also comes from Castlevania III.
• Family’s Grace, an equippable Relic. Per Konami, Relics are equippable items that trigger powerful effects through both offense and defense, so this is a combat item, not a cosmetic.

None of the three bonus items has a publicly listed effect or stat description yet. If you care about Family’s Grace specifically, hold off on the Midnight pre-order until the full item list lands closer to launch.

Pre-order bonus for both editions

Pre-ordering either edition before launch unlocks the Alucard Style Costume for Rose, per Konami. Alucard is the half-vampire son of Dracula and the protagonist of Symphony of the Night. If you pre-order the physical Midnight Edition, you’ll need an additional download from the platform’s online store to claim the costume; the disc doesn’t include it.

Editions at a glance

Who should get which

Get Standard if: you only care about the game itself, you don’t collect Castlevania soundtracks, and you’re happy with a digital copy. At $29.99 it’s a full new side-scrolling Castlevania for a modest price.

Get Midnight if: you want a physical disc or cartridge (no other option), you care about the franchise’s 40th-anniversary lore (the gallery’s 100+ art pieces and 71-track OST are aimed at exactly that reader), or you specifically want Trevor / Sypha costumes for Rose. If you can name every game in the series’ original timeline, Midnight is the one.

The in-between case: if you want the costumes and the gallery but don’t want a physical copy, you can wait to see if Konami sells the gallery + costume pack as DLC later. There’s no confirmation that Konami will sell the Midnight extras separately; check the eShop / PS Store / Steam store after launch.

Where to buy

The four official storefronts are PS Store, Microsoft Store, Nintendo eShop, and Steam, all linked from the Konami product page. On PC, the IGN pre-order guide notes that Green Man Gaming currently has a $22.49 PC key, which is $7.50 below Steam and the cheapest legitimate option we’ve seen. Fanatical and Steam both list $29.99. The demo (released October 1, 2026, per Wikipedia) is available on all four storefronts and lets you carry your save over to the full game, so try before you buy if you’re on the fence.

The game is being developed by Evil Empire (the studio behind The Rogue Prince of Persia and the Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania expansion), with Motion Twin in an advisory role, and published by Konami. It’s the 26th main entry in the Castlevania franchise.

Our read

The honest answer is that the $10 upgrade is mostly collectible value, not gameplay value. Two costumes and a gallery app don’t change how Belmont’s Curse plays, and the Family’s Grace relic’s effect hasn’t been published yet. The only hard reason to pay the upgrade is the physical copy. If you’ve already decided on a digital Standard pre-order, the Midnight upgrade is a want, not a need.

That said, the 40th-anniversary timing matters. This is the first new side-scrolling Castlevania in 13 years, and Evil Empire, with Motion Twin advising, already made the Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania expansion. If you’ve been waiting for a reason to jump back into Castlevania, the 71-track OST in the Midnight gallery is a real bonus, and the Trevor / Sypha costumes have actual lore weight, not just “alternate skin #3”. With launch only days away, the real decision is this week.

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse release time / Release Radar: our pick of the week / Konami’s ‘second and third waves’ of new Silent Hill games / full release calendar

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report