Keep in mind that in Lament of Innocence, the entire reason Dracula came to be in the first place was due to alchemy. Don't rule vampirism out just yet
Very true! But all the same, I echo the earlier sentiment that hoped that IGA's new project would veer away from utilizing Dracula, vampires and things of that sort all over again. They have the opportunity to craft an entirely new universe with its own mythos and another unique take on the occult, and I rather not see them waste it.
Curse of Darkness, for example, had the whole "Devil Forgemaster" thing, another cool alchemy-related thing. Which, in hindsight, offered a pretty unique aspect to the CV mythos. Too bad it was never referenced again in any other game in the series, which I felt made its inclusion a bit of a waste. Since there's no "Castlevania timeline" to worry about here, maybe they could elaborate and develop such a concept in a better fashion!