Belmont’s Curse: A Test of Skill
Belmont’s Curse is not for the easily overwhelmed. At any given time, the game requires me to track rooms full of arrows, laser beams, axes, icicles, boulders, and birds, any one of which could be hurtling toward my person and often all of them are at once. Thankfully, protagonist Rose Belmont has an arsenal of tools to assist her deadly travels in Casa de Dracula, but the sheer number of options can be daunting. After a certain point, there are too many tools to keep track of, and I fall back on the ones that have worked best for me. Still, the game pushes me out of my comfort zone.
I typically favor a ranged playstyle, using the spear and whip because they let me keep distance while dealing damage. Movement tools like the air dash, thorn whip, and slide help on the defensive side, and I rely on them almost exclusively. My preferred way to avoid damage is simply to get away from it. With this avoid‑and‑run strategy, I’ve been doing well—until the boss Mammon appeared.
Mammon is a massive, biblically accurate angelic figure that looks like a wheel with a single eye. He bounces erratically across the arena, spits fire at various angles, and slams down after tracking Rose’s position. My early attempts failed because running away from one attack often placed me in the path of another, and I couldn’t move fast enough to evade the onslaught.
Frustrated, I watched a speedrun to see how professionals handle the fight. They rely heavily on parrying, a technique I dislike in Belmont’s Curse because timing it amid a barrage of projectiles feels impossible. The game throws everything at you simultaneously, making precise parries feel like a fool’s errand, especially when movement feels more like muscle memory than deliberate timing.
Determined to finish the game this century, I gave parrying a try. To my surprise, it worked brilliantly. After a few attempts, I defeated Mammon, much like Zelda bosses that become themed after you acquire a new item. The encounter served as a test of understanding, preventing the gameplay from becoming stale. While I don’t plan to make parrying a regular part of my rotation, I now know to reach for new tricks when I get stuck.
