Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse — Opening All 257 Secret Areas and Breakable Walls

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse hides 257 Secret Areas across its nine areas, and each one opens in one of four ways. Rose slips through some, breaks through others, pulls a lever for a few, and crashes through the floor for a handful. Here is how many each area holds, how each type opens, and the named items worth chasing.

Quick answer: Across the game, there are 257 Secret Areas, split into 172 hidden passages, 59 breakable walls, 20 lever gates, and 6 Smash floors. Of these, 126 contain a pickup, while 131 contain nothing.

Every Secret Area and breakable wall is marked on the secrets map, area by area.

How Secret Areas open

Every Secret Area opens in one of four ways. Knowing which one you are looking at tells you whether to swing your weapon, hunt for a lever, or line up a drop from above.

Hidden passages

A hidden passage has no lever, no switch and no wall to break. The way in sits in the wall itself. The game’s “Secret Areas” tutorial card puts it plainly: “Some secret areas are hidden behind walls. Look out for the visual and audio clues.” These make up the bulk of the count, with 172 across all nine areas.

Breakable walls

To reveal a breakable wall’s Secret Area, keep striking its cracked surface with your weapon until it collapses. In the barrel room above the Paris Streets well, whip blows brought down a cracked wall, revealing a nook with the wheel lever that raises the well’s grate. At the Roof of the Tower, a few swings shattered a cracked block on a ledge beside a narrow window, opening the space beyond.

Rose on a narrow castle ledge beside a lit arched window on the Roof of the Tower — The ledge by the narrow window on the Roof of the Tower, where a cracked block breaks open to a passage.

Not every cracked-looking wall breaks to your weapon.

Lever gates

Activate a lever gate by standing next to it and pulling the lever with INTERACT — R1 on PlayStation or E on PC. On PC, Rose sees the prompt “INTERACT E” once she is within range. In all, 20 Secret Areas open with a lever gate.

Rose at a glowing green lever showing the INTERACT E prompt in a castle corridor — The “INTERACT E” prompt appears at a lever when Rose stands beside it.

Smash floors

A Smash floor is a floor you break with Smash, the skill you pick up in the Clock Tower’s Final Trap alongside the Arcana of Talos. The tutorial reads: “Pressing Down + Jump while Rose is in the air will now send her crashing to the ground. The impact can break destructible objects, recognisable by their golden cracks, and can also damage enemies.” Down + Jump is Down + Cross on PlayStation, S + Space on PC.

A thick Smash floor needs the stronger version. The “Heavy Stomp” tutorial explains it: “The Stomp has several power levels that activate depending on the distance travelled during the fall. If Rose jumps high enough, she can break thicker destructible objects!” For a thick floor, jump or drop from high up before you Smash. In all there are 5 thick Smash floors and 1 golden-crack Smash floor.

Tools that help

The Gloomstone relic helps you find them. Its card reads “Gives a hint when Rose is close to a secret.” You find it in a chest inside a Secret Area in the Sanctuary of Solitude, in the Master’s Quarters.

Map markers let you flag anything you cannot reach yet. The map tutorial reads “Placing a MARKER on a secret or an unreachable location allows you to return to it later.” You can place up to 50 at once, shown as “0/50 Remaining Markers” on the map screen. On PC, Space drops one.

Secret Areas by area

Area	Secret Areas	Breakable walls	Lever gates	Smash floors	Hold no pickup
Paris Streets	24	8	0	0	10
Holy Innocents’ Cemetery	20	4	3	0	13
Catacombs of Paris	43	15	1	0	28
Notre-Dame	31	9	5	2	12
Main Hall	37	2	3	0	18
Library	26	7	0	3	11
Clock Tower	36	7	3	0	21
Hall of Mirrors	37	7	5	1	16
Master’s Quarters	3	0	0	0	2
Total	257	59	20	6	131

Paris Streets

Paris Streets has 24 Secret Areas: 16 hidden passages and 8 breakable walls.

Hospital: Thrilling Eye (keepsake), via a hidden passage
Hospital: the clue “Stolen Oboles” (The Whisperer), via a hidden passage
Prison Tower: an elevator, via a hidden passage
Stairs to the Tower Roof: ATK UP book, via a hidden passage
Upper Tower: DEF UP book, via a breakable wall

The rest hold 6 XP statues and 4 pieces of meat between them.

Holy Innocents’ Cemetery

Holy Innocents’ Cemetery has 20 Secret Areas: 13 hidden passages, 4 breakable walls and 3 lever gates.

Mass Grave: Raven’s Feather (relic), via a hidden passage
Pillaged Tombs: Trembling Eye (keepsake), via a lever gate

The rest hold 2 XP statues and 3 pieces of meat.

Catacombs of Paris

Catacombs of Paris has the most of any area, with 43 Secret Areas: 27 hidden passages, 15 breakable walls and 1 lever gate.

Catacomb Entrance: Specter’s Whisper (relic), via a hidden passage
Chamber of Whispers: Wise Heart Fragment, via a breakable wall
Charnel Galleries: the clue “Death Mark” (The Shadow), via a breakable wall
Condemned Mineshaft: an elevator, via a hidden passage
Throat of Hell: Ebony Claw (relic), via a lever gate

The rest hold 8 XP statues and 3 pieces of meat between them.

Notre-Dame

Notre-Dame has 31 Secret Areas: 15 hidden passages, 9 breakable walls, 5 lever gates, 1 thick Smash floor (high fall) and 1 golden-crack Smash floor.

Collapsed Crypt: the clue “The Masters of Music hide from Death” (The Shadow), via a hidden passage
East Gallery: Eldritch Talisman (relic), via a golden-crack Smash floor
East Triforium: DEF UP book, via a hidden passage
Sealed Scriptorium: the clue “Melody Sheet for the Sonata of Notre-Dame” (The Shadow), via a thick Smash floor (high fall)
Tomb of the Chevaliers: ATK UP book, via a lever gate
Tomb of the Chevaliers: ATK UP book, via a hidden passage
Transept: Witch’s Brew (relic), via a breakable wall

The rest hold 9 XP statues and 4 pieces of meat between them.

Main Hall

Main Hall has 37 Secret Areas: 32 hidden passages, 3 lever gates and 2 breakable walls. It ties the Library for the most named finds, with 10.

Abandoned Workshop: Ghostly Pendant (relic), via a hidden passage
Armoury: Brave Heart Fragment, via a hidden passage
Entrance Corridor: Wise Heart Fragment, via a hidden passage
Mirror Rooms: DEF UP book, via a hidden passage
Old Gallery: Jewel Knuckles (weapon), via a hidden passage
Old Gallery: ATK UP book, via a hidden passage
Old Gallery: the clue “Alucard Guides” (The Artist), via a hidden passage
Servants’ Quarters: Banshee’s Wail (relic), via a hidden passage
Wine Cellar: ATK UP book, via a hidden passage
Wine Cellar: Wise Heart Fragment, via a hidden passage

The rest hold 6 XP statues and 3 pieces of meat between them.

Library

Library has 26 Secret Areas: 16 hidden passages, 7 breakable walls and 3 thick Smash floors (high fall). Its Secret Areas pack in the most relics and weapons, with 4 relics and 2 weapons.

Condemned Shelves: Fleuret and Tower Shield (weapon), via a hidden passage
Curiosity Cabinet: Revenant’s Shard (relic), via a thick Smash floor (high fall)
Fine Arts Shelves: Thorn Whip (weapon), via a hidden passage
Fine Arts Shelves: Wise Heart Fragment, via a hidden passage
Natural Philosophy Shelves: the clue “Blood Poem” (The Occultist), via a hidden passage
Poetry Shelves: Brave Heart Fragment, via a hidden passage
Rhetoric Shelves: Lich’s Mark (relic), via a breakable wall
Rhetoric Shelves: Wise Heart Fragment, via a thick Smash floor (high fall)
Rhetoric Shelves: Midnight Tear (relic), via a hidden passage
Study Room: Wraith’s Tear (relic), via a hidden passage

The rest hold 5 XP statues and 2 pieces of meat between them.

Clock Tower

Clock Tower has 36 Secret Areas: 26 hidden passages, 7 breakable walls and 3 lever gates.

Daedalus Crossing: Vile Trinket (relic), via a hidden passage
Daedalus Crossing: DEF UP book, via a hidden passage
Eastern Steps: Brave Heart Fragment, via a hidden passage
Mechanic’s Ascent: Halberd (weapon), via a lever gate

The rest hold 5 XP statues and 9 pieces of meat between them.

Hall of Mirrors

Of the Hall of Mirrors’ 37 Secret Areas, 24 are hidden passages, 7 are breakable walls, 5 are lever gates and 1 is a thick Smash floor (high fall).

Ballroom of Terror: ATK UP book, via a hidden passage
Corridor of Déjà Vu: DEF UP book, via a hidden passage
Delived Level: Dusk Amulet (relic), via a thick Smash floor (high fall)
Looping Hallways: Brave Heart Fragment, via a hidden passage
Looping Hallways: ATK UP book, via a hidden passage
Looping Hallways: the clue “Kneeling is the Way” (The Sage), via a breakable wall
Nightmare Atrium: Brave Heart Fragment, via a hidden passage
Passage of Perplexity: DEF UP book, via a hidden passage

The rest hold 6 XP statues and 9 pieces of meat between them.

Master’s Quarters

Master’s Quarters has the fewest, with 3 Secret Areas, all hidden passages.

Sanctuary of Solitude: Gloomstone (relic), via a hidden passage

The other two hold no pickup; there are no XP statues or meat in this area.

Do Secret Areas count toward completion?

The completion tally tracks explored rooms and the things collected inside Secret Areas—not the areas themselves. Those pickups include XP statues, items, books and Heart Fragments. For every unlock requirement, see the achievements and trophies list.

Secret Areas also feed one spell goal directly. The Artist’s Masterpiece spell carries a Work of Mercy that reads “Find all the secret zones in the Main Hall.” You can see how that fits the wider upgrade tree in the breakdown of Works of Mercy and gifts.