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"

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse.

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.