Every Castlevania Game Ranked by Critics and Players: Belmont's Curse Arrives With an 86

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is still the best-rated Castlevania game when critic and player scores are combined, and Castlevania: Belmont's Curse arrives on 15 October with a critic score that would put it in the series' top tier if it holds. Its 86 Metascore, from 53 PlayStation 5 reviews, is the highest for a new Castlevania release since Dawn of Sorrow scored 89 in 2005.

We ranked the 18 Castlevania games that have a Metascore built from at least ten critic reviews, with the same formula as our Gears of War ranking: 70% Metascore plus 30% player score. The player score is the Steam percentage of positive reviews where the game is sold on Steam, otherwise the Metacritic user score on the platform Metacritic treats as primary. Metacritic was read on 14 October 2026 between 07:00 and 07:15 UTC, Steam at 07:09 UTC.

Which Castlevania games are in the ranking, and which are missing?

Metacritic's Castlevania listings show no Metascore for the NES, SNES, Mega Drive or PC Engine originals, so the 8- and 16-bit era cannot be scored this way. Rondo of Blood is represented by its 2007 PSP remake, The Dracula X Chronicles. Legacy of Darkness and the mobile Grimoire of Souls have user ratings but no Metascore, and Lords of Shadow 2's Revelations DLC has only six critic reviews.

Re-releases are kept out of the main table so no game is counted twice. The 2004 Game Boy Advance reissue of the NES original (74) is left out entirely, while Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition on PC (81) and the four collections are covered in the Steam section below. Belmont's Curse is listed but not ranked, because it had no player score when this ranking was compiled; its first Steam numbers are analysed in our evidence-based Belmont's Curse review.

Every Castlevania game, ranked

On critic score alone, Belmont's Curse sits sixth, behind Symphony of the Night (93), Aria of Sorrow and Circle of the Moon (91), Dawn of Sorrow (89) and Harmony of Dissonance (87). No new Castlevania released after 2005 scored higher.

Why is Symphony of the Night still number one?

Symphony of the Night is the only Castlevania rated 9 or higher by both groups: 93 from critics on its PlayStation listing and 9.3 from Metacritic users. Its lead rests on a thin critic sample, 12 reviews, because far fewer outlets were indexed for a 1997 release than for a 2026 one.

The Game Boy Advance and DS games that followed its exploration template fill five of the next six places. Aria of Sorrow (9.04) and Dawn of Sorrow (8.78) take second and third, and none of the six handheld games scores below 8.44.

Lords of Shadow is the highest-ranked 3D Castlevania, eighth at 8.24. Its 83 Metascore on Xbox 360 is backed by 81.0% positive from 10,472 reviews of the Ultimate Edition on Steam, the largest player sample in the table.

How have Castlevania review scores changed by era?

Grouping the games by era shows where critics were most and least convinced. The 2D handheld run from 2001 to 2008 averages 88 across six games; the two 3D eras both average in the 70s.

The Lords of Shadow trilogy is the clearest decline in the table: 83, then 72, then 63 over four years. Belmont's Curse is the first new console Castlevania since Lords of Shadow 2 in 2014 (Grimoire of Souls was mobile-only), and its 86 puts it back in the band of the DS games rather than the 3D ones.

Where do critics and players disagree most?

Players are consistently kinder than critics to the games critics liked least. Lords of Shadow 2 has the widest gap in the series: a 63 Metascore on PS3, but 84.8% positive from 6,543 Steam reviews. Part of that gap is structural, since the Steam score covers the PC version and comes from people who chose to buy a 12-year-old game.

The two oldest Game Boy Advance games go the other way. Circle of the Moon scored 91 with critics in 2001 but holds 7.7 from 198 Metacritic users, the only top-five game with a user score under 8. The data cannot say why; it only shows that its critic score is doing most of the work in its fourth place.

Is Belmont's Curse's 86 really a return to form?

The case for: 50 of the 53 reviews Metacritic lists are positive, two are mixed and none is negative. Of the 52 with a score, 20 are 90 or higher, 29 sit between 80 and 89 and three are below 80. IGN's 8/10 credits its fast, action-first combat, map-tracking tools and new hero, while Shacknews gave it 100 and argued it may be the best Castlevania of all time.

The case against: the larger English-language outlets cluster lower than the average. IGN, GamesRadar+, TechRadar, Screen Rant and Hardcore Gamer all gave 8/10 or 80, and Push Square's 7/10, one of the two lowest scores, says it does not do enough to stand apart in a crowded Metroidvania market. Creative Bloq (70) made the same point, and Noisy Pixel and Game8 flagged repetitive enemies, a talkative story and safe design.

The comparison has limits too. Every review counted so far is of the PS5 version, written before launch, and today's Metascores draw on four times as many outlets as Symphony of the Night's 12. Player opinion starts on 15 October; until then the only community signal is discussion, such as the r/Games review thread opened on 13 October. Our verdict on the data: an 86 is a return to the DS games' level, not yet to Symphony's.

Where could Belmont's Curse finish once players weigh in?

Because the formula is public, the possible outcomes can be worked out now. If the Metascore stays at 86, critics contribute 6.02 points, and the Steam rating decides the rest. The arithmetic has one firm conclusion: Belmont's Curse cannot catch Symphony of the Night or Aria of Sorrow on an 86, because even a perfect 100% on Steam would leave it at 9.02.

For scale, the two most recent Castlevania releases on Steam sit at 94.2% (Dominus Collection) and 91.6% (Advance Collection), so a top-three finish is within the range Castlevania buyers have given before. A rating in the low 80s, like Anniversary Collection's 81.7%, would put it around fifth or sixth. The Metascore can still move after launch as more reviews arrive, and the PC and Switch versions have no critic reviews counted yet.

Which Castlevania games can you buy on Steam, and how are they doing?

The collections are where players are happiest. Dominus Collection has the best Steam rating of any Castlevania at 94.2%; scored with our formula it would reach 9.06, just above Aria of Sorrow. Advance Collection would score 8.56, Anniversary Collection 8.12. Castlevania Requiem, the PS4 package of Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood, holds a 74 Metascore and is not on Steam. Prices moved during the 40th anniversary sale in September; none was discounted on 14 October.

Which Castlevania should you play before Belmont's Curse?

If the ranking is your guide, the DS trilogy in Dominus Collection and the Game Boy Advance games in Advance Collection cover six of the top seven entries for under $25 each on Steam. If you only want Belmont's Curse, our editions, price and release time guide covers what each version includes, and the demo carries its save into the full game.

What this ranking can't tell you

It cannot rank the NES, SNES and Mega Drive games, which many fans would place near the top. It mixes two kinds of player score, and a Metacritic user score from 30 people (The Adventure ReBirth) carries the same weight as a Steam score from 10,472. Sales are not part of the score, and neither is how well each game has aged on modern hardware. One of Belmont's Curse's 53 listed reviews, Polygon's, carries no score, which is why the distribution above counts 52. Belmont's Curse will get its first player numbers after launch; we will update this ranking once it has enough Steam reviews to score, and track it on our Belmont's Curse hub.