Castlevania: Belmont's Curse: Every Boss and the Arcana System

Rose Belmont has the whip now, and Dracula's castle is burning its way back into the series' spotlight. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse launched October 15 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S (Switch is still "later in 2026," per Konami), and it hands you four confirmed boss fights worth planning around before you ever set foot in the catacombs: Death, Medusa, Carmilla and a corrupted Joan of Arc. Here's what Konami has actually confirmed about each fight, plus how the game's new Arcana system changes the way you should approach them.

01Rose Belmont Picks Up the Vampire Killer

Belmont's Curse is set in 1499 Paris, 23 years after the events of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. Trevor Belmont's daughter Rose inherits the holy whip, the Vampire Killer, and heads into the burning city and the catacombs beneath Dracula's castle to find out what's tearing it apart. Konami, Dead Cells studio Evil Empire and advisor Motion Twin built the game as a 2D exploration-action title for the series' 40th anniversary, and the official Steam page frames the whip itself as the centerpiece: "Crack your whip to move around freely like a trapeze artist" and "pounce on your prey like a wolf in fast-paced combat."

That mobility matters more than it sounds. Every boss here is built around forcing you to use the whip's reach and swing to control space, not just trade hits, so treat the movement tech as a combat tool from the first encounter rather than a traversal gimmick you only use to cross gaps.

Konami's launch-day announcement is also explicit that exploration pays off here: going off the beaten path through the burning city and the castle itself is where the game hides its upgrades and story secrets, not just in boss rooms. If a fight is giving you trouble, it's worth backtracking through side paths you skipped on the way in before grinding the same room over and over — a missed upgrade or Relic is often the actual fix.

02Weapons, Relics and the Arcana System

Konami's own listing confirms Rose can equip gear across seven distinct weapon categories plus Relics that "trigger powerful effects through both offense and defense," and it explicitly encourages combining what you find to build your own playstyle rather than sticking with the Vampire Killer alone. Carry at least one offensive and one defensive Relic into every boss room — which pairing works best for you will depend on your weapon choice, so it's worth testing combinations in a normal room before committing to a fight.

The bigger structural change is the Arcana system. Once you beat a boss, the game seals it into one of Rose's tarot cards, turning it into an Arcana you can equip to cast that boss's own spells and special actions. In practice this means boss order matters: an early Arcana can make a later fight noticeably easier if its spell covers a gap in your current loadout, so it's worth thinking about which of the four bosses' kits you want unlocked first rather than just fighting them in whatever order you stumble into their rooms.

03How to Beat Death

Death is one of the series' oldest recurring antagonists, and Belmont's Curse brings him back as one of its four confirmed boss encounters. Konami hasn't published a move-by-move breakdown of the fight, so don't treat any specific attack pattern online as gospel until you've seen it yourself — but the series' structural logic still applies here: Death fights are built to punish standing still, since his whole kit exists to threaten the ground directly beneath you.

Go in with a weapon category you're comfortable spacing with rather than your highest-damage option, and keep a defensive Relic active. The Vampire Killer's trapeze swing is your best tool for staying mobile through a fight like this, so use the terrain instead of fighting him flat-footed in open ground whenever the arena gives you the option.

Because Death is confirmed as one of the four bosses whose power becomes an Arcana, clearing him early is a reasonable default strategy: his sealed spell is the first tool you can test against whatever the castle throws at you next, and knowing you have it banked takes some of the pressure off the Medusa and Carmilla fights that follow.

04How to Beat Medusa

Medusa is the second of the three returning legendary bosses Konami names on the Steam store page. As with Death, the studio hasn't detailed her specific attack set, so approach the fight by leaning on what the game does confirm: a wide weapon category for keeping multiple angles covered, and a Relic that helps you close distance safely if her kit is built around ranged or petrifying threats, as it traditionally has been across the series.

If you've already cleared Death by this point, his Arcana spell is worth slotting in before you attempt Medusa — stacking confirmed tools from an earlier win is a safer bet than guessing at her exact pattern from secondhand reports. Medusa has shown up across the Castlevania series going back to the original 1986 game, almost always built around a ranged petrifying attack and an airborne presence that forces you to fight at an angle rather than head-on, so plan your positioning with that history in mind even before you've seen Belmont's Curse's specific take on her.

05How to Beat Carmilla

Carmilla rounds out Konami's trio of named legendary bosses, and like Death and Medusa she arrives without a published strategy sheet. Give yourself room to experiment in the fight itself: Belmont's Curse rewards swapping weapon categories mid-run rather than locking into one setup for the whole game, and a boss fight is the fastest way to find out whether your current Relic pairing actually covers your weaknesses.

Keep an eye on your Arcana loadout here too. If Death's or Medusa's sealed power gives you a reliable answer to aerial pressure or crowd control, this is typically where that kind of tool starts paying for itself. Carmilla has historically fought as a vampire countess with magic-based, often flight-capable attacks whenever she's appeared in the series, so don't be surprised if melee-only setups struggle here more than they did against Death — it's a good fight to test a relic swap on if your first attempt stalls out.

06How to Beat Joan of Arc, Belmont's Curse's New Boss

Joan of Arc is the odd one out on Konami's list — not a returning Castlevania antagonist, but a new, "enigmatic" boss built specifically for this game and twisting French history into something distinctly gothic. Because she isn't a known quantity from earlier entries, go in expecting a kit built entirely around Belmont's Curse's own systems rather than Castlevania convention, and be ready to adjust your Relics and Arcana loadout mid-fight if your first attempt tells you she's countering your opening approach.

Setting a new boss in 1499 Paris alongside a corrupted Joan of Arc fits the game's broader pitch: Belmont's Curse leans on real history and the city's own geography as much as it leans on established series monsters, and this fight is the clearest sign of that approach. Treat it as the point in the game where your own build — not series memory — has to carry you through.

07Building Your Best Arcana Loadout

Because each of the four confirmed bosses feeds its own spell and special action into the Arcana system once defeated, the real skill test in Belmont's Curse isn't just winning four fights — it's deciding which sealed powers to carry into the next one. A spell that covers ranged pressure is more useful heading into a boss you suspect fights at range; one built around mobility or crowd control pays off against anything that swarms the arena with adds.

There's no confirmed "correct" order to unlock all four, and Konami hasn't published one — so treat Arcana collection the way you'd treat weapon categories and Relics: as a build you tune as you go, not a checklist you clear in a fixed sequence. The steps below are a reasonable default path through the four fights based on where the series and Konami's own marketing have historically placed each boss, not a guaranteed difficulty curve.

A Suggested Boss Order and Arcana Plan

1. 1Death's reach-based kit punishes standing still; beating him early banks an Arcana spell you can test against every fight that follows.Boss 1 of 4
2. 2Konami's own notes point to hidden upgrades and secrets off the main path — a missed Relic or weapon category is often the real fix to a stalled fight.Between bosses
3. 3The series has historically given Medusa a ranged, petrifying attack and an airborne presence; a defensive Relic and a wide weapon category help you fight her at an angle.Boss 2 of 4
4. 4Carmilla has traditionally fought as a flight-capable vampire countess with magic attacks, so melee-only loadouts tend to struggle here more than they did against Death.Boss 3 of 4
5. 5She's a new boss built specifically for Belmont's Curse, with no series history to lean on — go in with every Arcana and Relic combination you've unlocked so far.Boss 4 of 4
6. 6Each boss's sealed spell only helps if you equip it — check your loadout screen before moving on rather than assuming the newest unlock is active.After every boss

08Where Belmont's Curse Fits in the Castlevania Timeline

Belmont's Curse sits chronologically after Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse and keeps Dracula himself as the story's final antagonist, with Graham McTavish reprising the role for the English dub. The base game runs $29.99, with a Midnight Edition at $39.99 adding a Digital Sound & Art Gallery, Trevor and Sypha costume skins for Rose, and the Family's Grace relic as a bonus item. Full details on editions and platforms are on Konami's official Castlevania hub and the game's Wikipedia entry.

None of that changes how you should fight the four bosses above, but it's worth knowing the stakes going in: Rose is operating in the shadow of her father's victory over Dracula, and Belmont's Curse is explicitly using that history — not just its gothic aesthetic — as part of the pitch for its 40th-anniversary setting.

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Release Date Trailer, posted to Konami's YouTube channel in June 2026, ahead of the game's October 15 launch.