Von Online Games VIP Editorial
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IGN’s walkthrough uses Smash to revisit three areas, collect upgrades, solve Cemetery challenges, and reach the Artist in the Main Hall.
IGN’s Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse walkthrough is structured around two jobs: using the newly acquired Smash ability to revisit earlier areas, then reaching the Main Hall for an encounter with The Artist. The video covers the Paris Streets, Cemetery, and Catacombs before moving to that final section.
This is best approached as a cleanup route rather than a simple point-to-point trip. IGN’s guide tracks collectibles by biome and marks several objectives as part of longer chains, including Cemetery challenge rooms and a set of eyeball relics connected to a later door. The source also says the broader walkthrough is pursuing all endings, relics, weapons, heart fragments, clues, and Arcana, although the supplied segment does not confirm every remaining objective or explain the full Artist encounter.
IGN begins the segment in the Paris Streets area and uses Smash to open up more of the previously visited biomes. The first listed stop is the Hospital, where the walkthrough identifies the clue Stolen Oboles, The Whisperer at 3:30. At 4:54, it points to the Thrilling Eye relic in the Hospital, recorded as the fifth relic found there for the walkthrough’s running count. IGN notes that this relic is intended for a later Arcana or boss objective, but the supplied material does not identify that later encounter.
The practical lesson is to treat the ability as a reason to revisit old routes, not as a signal to rush directly toward the Main Hall. The source specifically says Smash is used to open more of the Paris Streets, Cemetery, and Catacombs. Analysis: if you are following the video for completion progress, leaving the Hospital section before checking its newly accessible areas may force another backtrack later. The safest approach is to use the timestamp as a checklist and confirm that the clue and relic have been registered before moving on.
IGN’s parenthetical numbers are another useful tracking tool. They indicate how many of a particular item have been found in that map or biome at that point in the game. Those numbers are not a universal total for the entire game, and they should not be read as a promise that the segment contains every item in the area. They are progress markers for viewers following IGN’s walkthrough series.
The Cemetery section is the most structured part of the route. IGN lists a Defense Up challenge room in the Flooded Crypt at 8:15. At 10:00, the same area contains a chest with the Almace and Hauteclaire weapons. The source records that chest as the third item of its type in the Cemetery tracking sequence.
The next two objectives are in separate areas. At 10:59, IGN visits a challenge room in the Ancient Sewers and identifies it as the third of four challenge rooms required to unlock a chest elsewhere in the Cemetery. The earlier two rooms are said to be in the Mass Grave and Ossuary of the Innocents, covered in a prior walkthrough video. At 12:20, the Ancient Sewers route also yields the Brave Heart fragment.
At 14:10, IGN reaches another challenge room in the Pillaged Tombs. This is described as the fourth room in the chain. One minute later, at 15:00, the walkthrough collects the Nightshade relic there. At 16:00, after all four challenge rooms have been completed, IGN returns to collect the chest in the Serpents’ Lair. That chest contains the Vampire’s Fang relic.
Analysis: the main pitfall here is treating each challenge room as an isolated reward. IGN’s route presents the Cemetery sequence as a linked objective. If the Serpents’ Lair chest is unavailable when you first pass it, the source indicates that the missing requirement is completion of all four challenge rooms, not simply finding another key in the same room. The supplied record does not explain the individual room challenges, their enemy layouts, or the exact route between these Cemetery locations, so those details remain outside this guide.
The order also gives the route a clear decision point. You can collect the Flooded Crypt weapons and the Ancient Sewers fragment while progressing through the area, then finish the final challenge room before returning for the Serpents’ Lair reward. That ordering follows IGN’s timestamps and avoids treating the Vampire’s Fang chest as an early pickup.
IGN’s Catacombs section begins at 20:00 with an experience statue in the Catacomb Entrance. The walkthrough records another experience statue in the Gallery of Teeth at 21:55. These are listed as the twelfth and thirteenth statues in the relevant running count.
At 23:40, the route reaches a chest in the Collapsed Path of Orpheus containing the Gungnir weapon. The same area has experience statues at 24:00, recorded as the fourteenth and fifteenth statues. IGN then lists another statue in the Realm of Old Night at 24:47 and one more there at 26:30, bringing the running entries to sixteen and seventeen.
The key progression clue comes at 27:25 in the Circle of Greed. IGN identifies A Door Made of Flesh and Eyes, The Miser, and explains that three eyeball relics will eventually be used there to open the door. At 29:00, the walkthrough collects the Oozing Eye relic in the Circle of Greed, identifying it as the second of the three required relics. The first is in an earlier walkthrough video, according to the source.
Analysis: this is a good place to separate collectible progress from immediate access. Finding the Oozing Eye does not mean the flesh-and-eyes door can be opened during this segment. IGN explicitly says three relics are needed and identifies this one as the second. The third relic, its location, and the eventual contents or destination behind the door are not confirmed by the supplied source text.
The experience-statue numbers are also worth recording rather than relying on memory. Several are close together in the Catacombs, and the source’s numbering suggests that the video is maintaining a larger series-wide checklist. If you are using this as a completion guide, write down the area name alongside each number. A number by itself does not establish a total for the entire game, and IGN does not provide a complete Catacombs inventory in the supplied record.
After the Paris Streets, Cemetery, and Catacombs cleanup, IGN’s video ends by reaching The Artist in the Main Hall. The source describes this as a fight or encounter, but the supplied summary does not provide a timestamp for the Main Hall section, explain The Artist’s attacks, identify a required weapon, or state what reward follows the encounter.
That limitation matters if you are looking for combat instructions. This record supports the route leading to The Artist, not a complete strategy for defeating the character. It would be inaccurate to claim that a particular weapon, relic, Arcana, or defensive tactic is mandatory. The only confirmed preparation in this segment is the collection work listed before the Main Hall, including the Smash-enabled revisits and the Cemetery chain.
Analysis: players who want to minimize backtracking should finish the listed cleanup before treating the Main Hall as the endpoint. Players focused only on reaching the encounter can use the same timestamps as a map of optional or progression-related stops, but the source does not classify every listed item as optional. In particular, the Cemetery chest depends on the four-room sequence, while the Catacombs door has a three-relic requirement that is not completed by the Oozing Eye alone.
- IGN uses Smash to revisit the Paris Streets, Cemetery, and Catacombs and uncover additional objectives.
- The Paris Streets portion includes the Stolen Oboles clue and Thrilling Eye relic in the Hospital.
- The Cemetery route covers the fourth challenge-room requirement, the Brave Heart fragment, the Nightshade relic, and the Vampire’s Fang chest.
- The Catacombs route includes six listed experience-statue entries, the Gungnir chest, and the second of three eyeball relics for the Miser door.
- The video proceeds to The Artist in the Main Hall, but the supplied record does not detail the combat strategy or outcome.
Several useful details remain unconfirmed in the available source text. There is no complete map route between every timestamp, no explanation of how Smash works beyond its role in reopening areas, and no item totals for the full game. The third eyeball relic is not identified here. The source also does not state whether every listed pickup is required for the Main Hall encounter, nor does it provide the Artist’s health, attack pattern, weaknesses, or reward.
For a completion-minded run, the clearest plan is to follow the segment in order: check the Hospital, finish the Cemetery challenge-room chain before returning for its chest, record the Catacombs statues and Gungnir, collect the Oozing Eye, and then continue to the Main Hall. That sequence is an analysis of IGN’s published walkthrough structure, not an independent OnlineGamesVIP playthrough or combat verdict.