Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse exists because Konami loved Evil Empire’s Dead Cells crossover pitch, even though the devs thought the DLC was “too big” and the publisher would “never say yes”

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.