Having made your way into Dracula's Castle, Castlevania: Belmont's Curse throws a rather huge curveball almost immediately: a long ascent up the Clock Tower. Now, veterans of the metroidvania series will know making it to the top is no easy feat, with these areas typically housing some fiendish spike traps, flying enemies, and large drops.
The Clock Tower in Belmont's Curse is the most devilish yet, with spinning blades ready to slice you up if you so much as brush past them. On top of that, you've been challenged by the Zealot, a previous boss who says he'll only fight you at the summit. Naturally, you want all of Dracula's minions dead, so here's how to reach the Clock Tower's peak.
How to reach the top of the Clock Tower
From the get-go, there are perils to heading up the Clock Tower. The first room has giant iron fists that pound the ground whenever you get close. They won't kill you, but they do hurt a lot. The first vertical room has some Medusa Heads you can latch onto to get some height, but be careful of the spinning blades in the middle of the giant wheels. You'll also need to duck under the spikes at the top to avoid being sent back to the bottom.
The next room introduces two new things: the iron fists can push switches to rotate platforms (more on that later), and there are many Nova Skeletons blasting full-screen lasers out of their bellies in the latest Castlevania game. The next vertical shaft requires you to leap across the rotating platforms at the top while avoiding the laser beams, but is otherwise unremarkable. When you reach the top of the next room, there is a faint glow leading to the left. Follow it to find a save room and a shortcut back to the bottom.
From this point, you can go east until you reach the Library, but you also have plenty of Clock Tower to climb. Notable obstacles include the wheels of spinning saws in the Eastern Steps that slowly roll down slopes. You can duck under the blades at specific points. You'll also find giant cogs that you can attack to reveal optional pathways in Daedalus's Crossing.
As you cross to the other side after the area with the cog, you'll face the mini-boss of the area: a stone golem. This thing hits like a truck, with the ability to cause earthquakes and throw rocks. It's slow-moving, so use the grapple shots to leap over the boss rather than slide underneath. When it eventually dies, watch out for the rocks that scatter, as they can deal a rather annoying deathblow if you're not careful.
The last section has a bunch of platforms that have iron fists dangling above them, which you can use to swing across to grab the Claymore, one of the many hidden weapons. You can then climb back up the platforms as intended to reach the Clock Tower Bridge, marking the top of the tower. Just head left from now on. Don't worry about that clock face and the swirly stuff around it. Surely nothing can go wrong!
How to find the real Clock Tower boss
So... as it turns out, Death had a nasty trick up his sleeve, but the Ferryman has guided you back to the nearest save point. What can you do? Well, as it turns out, there's a little more to the Clock Tower than meets the eye, and you'll need to start heading downward.
On the way to the bridge leading to the Library, there's a large room with iron fist switches that flip three sets of platforms. Head to the top and flip the third set first so that they are vertically aligned. You'll need to make sure you're on the right side for this to work. Keep going down, making sure that the platforms are vertical as you head down, and eventually you'll trigger the mechanism at the bottom to send the iron fist crashing down. Head into this newly opened area to continue, breaking the lock behind the shortcut just in case you die on the way.
Keep going down, avoiding the iron fists and defeating the enemies until you reach the Smelting Room. This has a lot of grapple points to latch onto as you try to leap between the crushing fists. Just keep your cool, and you'll eventually get the timing down. About halfway through the next room, crack open the breakable wall to eat some much-needed chicken, and after the next trap room (which is relatively easy), head past the Axe Knight through the door on the left to open a path to the rest of the Clock Tower from the bottom.
However, your journey to the bottom is not done. Head back into the previous room and deal with the enemies below. After several gauntlets, you'll reach a room labelled "Final Trap". Head immediately through the door to the right and continue up the elevator to reveal a much-needed save room. You can then go back to the Final Trap and make your way past the last set of crushing fists before you reach the boss fight. Defeat this titan to get the ability to crash through glowing floors and other objects.