Castlevania Games in Order: Release Dates and Story Timeline

For a short connected introduction, play Rondo of Blood → Symphony of the Night, both in Requiem for PS4. To explore the full Castlevania series, release order begins with Castlevania (1986), while the older story timeline starts with Lament of Innocence. Lords of Shadow has its own separate three-game sequence.

Which Castlevania should you play first?

You do not need the entire timeline to begin. Choose a route for the kind of game you want to play, then check the collection that contains it.

Castlevania games in chronological order

This table follows the older main storyline, one slot per adventure. Story years are fictional dates, not release dates. It excludes the separate Lords of Shadow reboot and branches discussed below; use release order if your aim is to explore those games too.

For the older dates and continuity distinctions, the Castlevania Wiki’s sourced chronology provides a reference, but its plot summaries contain spoilers. Order of Ecclesia belongs in the nineteenth century; assigning it a specific year would imply precision the game’s official introduction does not provide.

Belmont’s Curse has a confirmed setting of 1499, between Curse of Darkness and The Adventure, but it is not yet available as of September 10, 2026. Its release details are kept in the final section. You also do not need to search for a missing “1999 game”: the Demon Castle War is backstory, not a separate released chapter in this sequence.

Castlevania games in release order

Use this list to follow the console, handheld and arcade series across hardware generations. It includes the principal releases, substantial remakes and selected spin-offs; ordinary ports, regional reissues, licensed handheld toys, pachinko titles and crossovers are not separate steps. Mobile releases and modern collections are identified separately below.

Years refer to the first regional release, not necessarily the first English edition. Konami’s Japanese release history helps distinguish the different games released as Akumajō Dracula. Haunted Castle is shown as 1987–88 because Konami’s regional histories give different dates.

1986–1989

1990–1999

2001–2009

2010–2014

Mobile games and later reworkings

Grimoire of Souls is a separate mobile title, released on Apple Arcade in 2021; it is not a collection of the games above. The older Java-phone game Order of Shadows is another mobile spin-off. Neither is required for the main story route in this guide.

Haunted Castle Revisited debuted inside Dominus Collection in 2024. It reworks the arcade game rather than continuing Dawn of Sorrow. The release years of Requiem, Anniversary, Advance and Dominus identify compilation packages, not four new chapters of the story.

Where remakes and other branches belong

• Simon’s adventures: Super Castlevania IV revisits Simon’s confrontation with Dracula. The X68000 game and Castlevania Chronicles are also versions of that adventure, not stories to insert between Simon’s Quest and Harmony of Dissonance. Vampire Killer on MSX2 and Haunted Castle remain distinct games in the release list.
• Rondo, Dracula X and Dracula X Chronicles: the SNES Dracula X is not the same game as Rondo of Blood. The PSP Dracula X Chronicles contains a Rondo remake plus the original Rondo and Symphony of the Night. For the Richter–Alucard story pair, use Rondo before Symphony.
• The Adventure ReBirth: this is a reworking of the Christopher Belmont game, not a third Game Boy sequel after Belmont’s Revenge.
• Legends, Circle of the Moon and the two N64 games: keep these outside the main chronology above. Published timelines have treated these branches differently; release order lets you explore them without forcing incompatible stories into one line. For the N64 pair, Castlevania came out before Legacy of Darkness, although Legacy includes an earlier story.
• Kid Dracula, Judgment and Harmony of Despair: these comedy, fighting or multiplayer spin-offs are not compulsory links between the main story entries. The Famicom Kid Dracula in Anniversary Collection is different from the later Game Boy game.

Lords of Shadow has its own three-game order

1. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (2010)
2. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate (2013), or Mirror of Fate HD
3. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (2014)

Follow that release sequence for the separate reboot. Mirror of Fate bridges the first game and Lords of Shadow 2; choose the original or HD edition for the same story slot.

Which collection contains the game you want?

No package below contains the whole series. Find your chosen starting game first, then match the package to your platform. A collection’s newer release year does not move its older games forward in the story.

Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness are absent from these four collections. Their original releases are on PS2, with Curse of Darkness also on Xbox. A full older-series chronology therefore needs games outside these packages.

Where does Belmont’s Curse fit?

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is scheduled for October 15, 2026, and is not yet released as of September 10, 2026. Konami’s game page places Rose Belmont’s adventure in Paris in 1499, twenty-three years after Dracula’s Curse. It is a future addition to the older story timeline, not part of an existing collection.