[GameSpot] - Cuphead Graveyard Puzzle: How To Solve Riddle With The Broken Relic

[343iBot]

Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course takes players to Inkwell Isle IV, a brand-new little world filled with its own unique bosses. Inkwell Isle IV also contains a mysterious puzzle that players can solve. While it is an optional objective, it's certainly worth figuring out due to what happens after you solve it. If the mystery behind the Broken Relic, Climbing Contest, and graveyard is tripping you up, we've put together a guide that breaks down the logic for solving Cuphead's graveyard puzzle. Let's dive in.

Buy the Broken Relic

Cuphead DLC Broken Relic

First, you need to make sure you buy the Broken Relic from Porkrind's Emporium (the shop). You can purchase it right at the beginning of the DLC, before you fight any bosses. It only costs one coin. Don't bother equipping it, as the Broken Relic charm doesn't do anything in battle.

Talk to the climbers

Cuphead DLC Climbing Contest

There's a podium right next to the shop. If you talk to one of them, they will tell you about the climbing contest. All three of the contestants will inform you how they fared in the race. I recommend taking screenshots of each dialogue bubble. I used my smartphone to take pictures. You'll need to reference these descriptions later.

How to solve graveyard puzzle

Cuphead DLC Graveyard Puzzle

You can't get to the graveyard until you beat Glumstone the Giant and Mortimer Freeze. In the next section of Inkwell Isle IV, you'll see a graveyard with nine headstones. Feel free to talk the NPC standing to the right of the graveyard. He simply gives you a hint about what you need to solve the puzzle, which is the Broken Relic and the dialogue from the climbers.

The climbers were giving you hints in the form of a riddle. Unfortunately, you might not have the same clues or solution as we did. In fact, the two of us here at GameSpot who played the DLC ahead of its release had entirely different clues and solutions. You have to press the action button in front of a headstone to get a ghost to pop up. The center headstone isn't part of the puzzle, so you're left with eight possible choices. You have to call the ghosts in not just the right spots, but in the right order.

The logic for solving the puzzle is the same regardless of which clues you have. Pay attention to the directions mentioned in their summaries.

For example, here are the clues and the solution for the riddles in one of our playthroughs:

• 1st place: There's no way the others could have caught me! I left 'em in the dust!
• 2nd place: I left downtown in a hurry, and forgot my gear. I'll settle for second.
• 3rd place: Worse than last year! Down to third place.

Solutions:

• 1st place: Middle row, left marker
• 2nd place: Bottom row, left marker
• 3rd place: Bottom row, middle marker

Explanations:

• 1st place: You start in the middle, and the only direction mentioned is left. So you stay in the center row and choose the left headstone.
• 2nd place: We're working on the left side again, but this time we also have to go down. So the bottom left corner is where we want to be.
• 3rd place: The only clue we receive here is bottom, so that means we can stay in the middle and choose the center headstone on the bottom row.

What next?

After correctly inputting the solution, a glowing aura will funnel up from the center headstone. You will be asked if you want to take a nap, which kicks off a new challenge.

You can only beat this challenge once. It's not replayable. That said, diehard Cuphead fans should complete it. Once you are victorious, the Broken Relic will no longer be broken.

Go ahead and equip the activated relic--now called the Cursed Relic--and try to fight some bosses. For those who want Cuphead to be more challenging, the Cursed Relic helps with that.

View the full article