Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse endings: how to get all three

SpoilersBoss and area names below are late-game spoilers.

Players who have seen each ending

Share of PC players

1. Bad endingBelmont’s fall48%
2. True endingCurse lifted31%
3. Normal endingThe hunt goes on27%

More players have the bad ending than either other one. It’s easy to reach early, since climbing too high in the Clock Tower before you’re ready triggers it.^1,2

The bad ending

Once you reach the castle, climb to the top of the Clock Tower and walk on past the giant glowing clock.³

If you’ve already seen the other endings, go back to the glowing clock and turn its curse back on with Death’s Magic Arcana. While the curse is on, the climb ends badly.³

The normal ending

1. In the castle, earn the Arcana of Talos in the Clock Tower and Carmilla in the Library, in either order. They give you Slam and Dash.
2. Take Brauner’s Arcana in the Main Hall, which needs Talos’s Slam. With Carmilla’s brush, it opens Notre-Dame.
3. Defeat Death. That lets you past the trap in the Clock Tower and gives you the double jump.
4. Climb the Clock Tower, defeat Isaac, then defeat Dracula.²

If you’ve met the true ending’s conditions, let Dracula finish his move at the end instead of stopping him, and you get the normal ending.⁴

The true ending

Defeat your dark self, the Self, to complete The Cursed Arcana. Find the area in the Cathedral with four trials, one for each Arcana it needs.²

Arcana	How to get it
Joan	On the main path, so you’ll have it.
The Ferryman	With Slam and Dash, find the three eyes, use them in the Catacombs and defeat the Miser for an obol.
Justice	Collect at least half the health and mana upgrades, then balance the scales in the Streets of Paris.
The Queen	Explore the Main Hall and find four mirrors, one of them after you’ve beaten Death. Then clear the Hall of Mirrors, defeat the Succubus and find the Queen in her mausoleum in the cemetery.

Can you miss anything?

Players say no. All three endings work in any order on the same save, and no items are missable.^3,4

The one thing a first save can miss is the achievement for finishing in under four hours, which 5.0% of PC players have. It needs the normal or true ending, so the bad ending doesn’t count.^1,2,4

More Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse guides

See the main path, every boss and how long it takes, or what players say about the game.