The saga of Castlevania , together with those of Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid , is part of the so-called “sleeping triptych” by Konami .

Although a recent report revealed that new chapters in the series dedicated to Solid Snake and the Belmont vampire hunter family are currently in the pipeline, nothing is official.

Anyway, whips and holy water fans will surely remember that in the early 2000s Konami was at work on Castlevania Resurrection , a 3D chapter in development for SEGA Dreamcast that was unwillingly canceled before hitting stores.

In early April, a new playable build of the title – dating back to before E3 1999 – was “resurrected” from the afterlife, effectively offering 5 locations and a fight against a boss at the end of the level .

Now, the Castlevania Resurrection prototype has been released online, allowing fans to play it for the first time totally free . Below, a video showing the game in action (via VGC ):

Castlevania Resurrection was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 1999 thanks to a build shown to the press behind closed doors.

Now, that demo has finally been brought to light by Comby Laurent, the owner of the Sega Dreamcast Info Preservation Games portal, following a long negotiation process on an online auction site.

The build was then converted to a ROM that can be played on Dreamcast hardware and emulators.

Resurrection allows players to control Sonia Belmont , the first member of the family of historical vampire hunters. As this is a demo of the game at a very early stage of development, there are numerous bugs and problems that players will be able to encounter.

Nonetheless, this is the only way to experience first hand – and completely free of charge – an unpublished chapter of the historic Castlevania saga. Who knows if this will spur Konami from brushing up on the franchise once and for all, perhaps on next-generation consoles.

We remind you, however, that the Belmont will return to action on Netflix, in the fourth season of the animated show dedicated to Castlevania .

But not only that: if you are a lover of the Konami saga, check out The Last Faith , a fascinating illegitimate son of Bloodborne with a classic metroidvania setting .

If you want to take a look at all the Castlevania-themed items offered on offer on Amazon, take a look at this address!