Castlevania: Belmont's Curse gates every major movement upgrade behind a boss fight, which means hitting an impassable wall and having no idea which boss to hunt next is a real possibility. Rose starts with a solid base kit, including wall jumps, a slide, and a held jump, but the five abilities she earns through the story are what actually open the map. Here is every one of them, in the order you get them, and exactly how to reach each unlock.
What movement abilities does Rose start with?
Before any boss is defeated, Rose already has a few tools worth knowing. In the Bank of the River Seine at the very start, three basic moves are introduced:
- Held jump: Hold the jump button to jump further.
- Wall cling and wall jump: Jump into a wall to cling briefly, then press jump again to leap off.
- Slide: Press a directional input plus the dodge button to slide through narrow passages, pass through enemies, and reposition during combat.
These are available from the first room and never need to be unlocked. Everything else requires defeating a specific boss.
All 5 movement abilities
| Ability | Boss to defeat | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Arcane Whip | The Fallen | Abandoned Sewers |
| Holy Light | The Warrior (Joan of Arc) | Prison Tower, Paris Streets |
| Smash | The Builder (Talos) | Throne of the Builder, Clock Tower |
| Aerial Rush | The Occultist (Carmilla) | Observation Tower, Library |
| Double Jump | Death | Choir, Notre Dame |
Arcane Whip
How to unlock: Defeat The Fallen, the game's first story boss. He appears during a linear opening section in the Abandoned Sewers and cannot be missed.
The Arcane Whip is the foundation of Rose's traversal kit. After the fight, a tutorial walks you through three distinct uses:
- Hook onto Luminous Anchors to reach ledges that are too high to jump to.
- Swing from round anchors by holding the button to extend the pendulum arc and gain height.
- Grapple enemies on platforms you cannot reach, then press again mid-flight to land a whip attack.
On PS5, aim with the right stick and press R2. On PC, aim with WASD and use the right mouse button. This ability opens up the first locked areas of the map immediately after the tutorial ends.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Guide: All Movement Ability & How to Get Them
Holy Light
How to unlock: Defeat The Warrior (Joan of Arc) at the top of the Prison Tower in Paris Streets.
Holy Light is one of the more unusual abilities in the game. Hold the button (L2 on PS5, C on PC) to project a halo that disperses chaos shards, the glowing rocky formations blocking certain staircases and drops. The ability also has a defensive use: press it just before taking a hit to perform a Light Parade, which blocks the incoming attack entirely. The timing window is strict, but once you feel it out, it becomes a reliable parry option against predictable boss attacks.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Guide: All Movement Ability & How to Get Them
Smash
How to unlock: Defeat The Builder in the Throne of the Builder, found in the lower section of the Clock Tower.
Getting to The Builder takes a bit of setup. Head to the Eastern Access Shaft at the top of the Clock Tower. There is a yellow block on the floor blocking progress. To break it, move the platforms above you to create a path that lets a giant fist smash it open. Drop through the hole to reach an elevator leading directly to The Builder's arena.
Smash lets Rose break destructible blocks, identifiable by their golden cracks, by pressing down and jump while airborne (Down + Cross on PS5, S + Space on PC). The stomp has multiple power levels based on how far Rose falls before impact, so a longer drop breaks thicker objects that a short hop cannot.
Aerial Rush
How to unlock: Defeat The Occultist (Carmilla) at the very top of the Library in the Observatory.
Reaching The Occultist requires working through the Planetarium section of the Library, where you need to activate each globe by solving the specific star pattern for that globe. Completing all of them opens a path upward to the Observatory and the boss fight.
After the fight, leave Carmilla's hall to the left. Rose stops at a ledge with nothing to hook the Arcane Whip onto, and the ability is granted there.
Aerial Rush is a mid-air dash. Press the dodge button while airborne (Circle on PS5, Shift on PC), optionally combined with a directional input to go sideways rather than straight forward. It clears horizontal gaps that are too wide for a standard jump and is the fastest way to navigate the Library's spiked vertical shafts. After testing all movement options against the trickier platforming sections, Aerial Rush is the one that changes the feel of traversal most noticeably.
Double Jump
How to unlock: Defeat Death in Notre Dame's Choir room.
Getting to Notre Dame is not straightforward. You need to:
- Complete The Artist Tarot card quest, which requires Smash to finish.
- Defeat The Occultist to obtain Brauner's Paintbrush.
- Go to the Gallery of Eternal Night in the Main Hall, equip the Masterpiece Arcana, and inspect the painting to unlock Notre Dame.
Once inside Notre Dame, progress requires solving musical puzzles. Find the correct patterns and play them on the Giant Organ in the Great Organ Room to clear Death's magic from the pipes and open his boss room.
After the fight, a cutscene plays in the Choir where Rose stands before a broad gap with a high ledge on the far side above a spike pit. She says she cannot make that jump. The Double Jump ability unlocks the moment the tutorial box closes, letting her press jump a second time at the peak of her first jump to gain the extra height needed.
With Double Jump in hand, Rose's moveset is complete. The Choir itself immediately tests the ability with the spike pit ledge, and the following rooms (Transept, Nave, West Gallery) chain together jumps and grapple rings to keep the momentum going.
How to access your abilities in the menu
All unlocked movement abilities are viewable at any time. Open the menu and select the Journey tab to see each ability's description and control reminder. This is useful if you forget which button triggers Smash or need to confirm the Aerial Rush input after a long session.
For everything else Rose can collect during the run, the complete relics locations guide covers all 36 passive pickups and which ones matter most for different builds. If you are working toward a specific ending, the all endings guide explains exactly what conditions trigger each one, including the True Ending requirements that tie directly into late-game progression.
For more guides covering every corner of the game, the full Castlevania: Belmont's Curse guide collection has everything from boss strategies to collectible locations.
