Photo of the Konami booth.
This September, Castlevania as a franchise turned 40 years old. To celebrate, Konami had a fantastic showcase at Pax West, having one of the strongest booths this year! Down below is a deep dive into the experience we had.
To kick things off, they unveiled an exciting, new “Bloody Tears” trailer at a special panel, which also included the new Castlevania Belmont's Curse voice actors present.
I played a demo of the highly anticipated upcoming release, and after experiencing the new direction the franchise is taking, I welcomed the change. The combat system centering around the collection of new abilities linked to in-game cards felt rewarding. The boss they had for the demo was specifically lowered in difficulty so people wouldn’t spend too much time trying to beat it. This personally excited me, and made me even more eager to see what challenges await in the full release! At first, I was a bit worried the game would feel too similar to Dead Cells since the new team behind it was responsible for multiple expansions for that game. However, after playing the demo, I was more than satisfied with this revival. It takes a unique stand on its own in a long running franchise.
Konami also had the new voice actors for the game present to sign a collectable card featuring the boss showcased in the demo.
A major highlight was meeting with Tsutomu Taniguchi, a producer for upcoming game, at Konami.
Overall, the amount of content showcased this year surrounding Castlevania was astounding! Konami really knocked it out of the park with having one of the strongest presence at Pax West 2026. I wanted to personally give a huge shout-out to the staff, producers, and voice actors for taking the time to meet with us.
If you wanted to see more footage covering the booth, check out our video!
