I will forever support the growing trend of AAA publishers letting indie studios take a stab at dormant IP, and Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is maybe the most exciting example yet. But the whole thing is pretty unexpected for developer Evil Empire – the studio was pretty sure Castlevania owner Konami wasn't even going to get on board with its original idea for Dead Cells DLC.
Dead Cells developer Motion Twin spun off a separate company, Evil Empire, to help build DLC for the action roguelike. Given the obvious inspirations Dead Cells takes from Metroidvania titles like Symphony of the Night, the 2023 Return to Castlevania DLC seemed like a natural fit – at least, from an outside perspective. The devs themselves were a lot more nervous about the pitch, though.
"I remember saying to myself: 'It's too big. They will never say yes,'" according to COO Benjamin Laulan, speaking in the latest issue of the Knowledge newsletter. The original pitch wasn't even as dramatic as the full-scale expansion that we eventually got, as Laulun initially simply asked Konami about including something like an Alucard skin or a rapier weapon in Dead Cells.
Konami was on board with the idea, and apparently that enthusiasm continued as the project expanded into a full-on DLC pack. "They said, 'Let's do it, and would you also be interested in doing the next Castlevania game?'" as Laulan jokingly puts it.
"I'm stoked," he adds. "Sometimes you've just got to ask the question, and you can be surprised by the answer."
It's pretty similar to the story of how Palworld got its gigantic Terraria collab, which involved a Hail Mary DM and ended with a "lesson to always shoot your shot." I guess it's just as true when you're trying to pitch a storied Japanese publisher on letting your small indie team handle a beloved old franchise like Castlevania.
