Rogue-lites/likes are likely to mix collectively. They usually depend on analogous artwork kinds and hit the identical notes. Though I might admire why they’re widespread, barely any have clicked for me.
Every now and again, nonetheless, alongside comes a gem that I can’t assist however get enthusiastic about. Curse of the Dead Gods is a kind of games.
Curse is, on the floor, a really secure and predictable rogue-lite. It’s an motion game performed from a top-down perspective, with a world that’s basically a collection of similar-looking dungeons you’re meant to retread for hours. It’s difficult and depends on a justifiable share of RNG, that means luck performs a think about your runs. And since we’re ticking all of the packing containers, there are even secrets and techniques and hidden paths for individuals who dare discover.
It’s solely after I obtained my hands-on that Curse’s distinctive qualities got here into focus.
The fight in Curse is the very best factor about it. Not the act of swinging a warhammer or lining up a shot together with your pistol, thoughts you – these are nice, too – however relatively how the game is constructed round interactive and dynamic fight arenas. Dark and light-weight kind the premise of exploration. Rooms begin off shrouded in darkness, and also you’re given a torch that permits you to see simply sufficient round you to keep away from traps and discover your angle of assault.
Perhaps you’ll line up a shot out of your heavy weapon, down a summoner instantly, or cost up your melee assault for a high-damage opening – there’s at all times a motive to survey the perimeters of the room earlier than plunging in. You’re inspired additional with the location of traps you possibly can activate. If there’s an explosive barrel near that group of enemies, you finest shoot it or shortly sprint in to set off it.
Different rooms additionally provide loads of environmental hazards, most of which can be utilized to your benefit. Crucially, although, torches are robotically unequipped as quickly as you pull out your weapon, including a component of threat to those maneuvers since you possibly can now not see these environmental hazards. This arrange part not solely provides the participant room to breathe between fights, it additionally permits for a point of management over encounters. Utilised appropriately, these valuable seconds provide a transparent benefit firstly of every battle.
It’s immensely satisfying to set off one lure after one other as chasers get whittled all the way down to a single straggler.
There’s one other layer to this within the fight mannequin itself. Curse of the Dead Gods’ arsenal encompasses a lot of weapons with distinctive properties, reminiscent of assault velocity and arc. This is additional explored of their animations and combos. The game doesn’t do an awesome job of detailing these results with out you manually attempting every weapon, however that’s a minor difficulty.
Regardless, this introduces some depth to what would in any other case be a numbers game of uncooked injury and affixes. Keeping this in thoughts is important, as it’s good to be considerate about the way you tackle enemies. Committing to combos too usually creates a giant windup that leaves you open. You even have a stamina bar that must be managed, and although it’s largely there to cease you from spamming dodges, it will probably additionally curb your momentum if you happen to don’t listen.
You start by default with a pistol in your off-hand. Pistols and different ranged weapons endure probably the most from stamina drain, and it’s simple to eat up your final chunk of stamina with a determined shot, inflicting you to take a few huge hits. This is probably going a stability consideration, however a greater resolution can be to nerf the injury of pistols or enhance their cost occasions a bit, because the present implementation is usually irritating. Ranged fight might use a bit of labor general, in truth. The aiming reticle ought to comply with the best stick/mouse, not the way in which the character is going through – I would love to have the ability to dodge as soon as and shortly whip round to complete off a chaser, however I can’t. I’ve to dodge twice to create distance, then rotate my character till it’s going through an enemy and shoot. Not fairly John Wick.
Like all nice fight programs, Curse additionally has a satisfying parry. It works as you’d think about: time your block appropriately and also you stagger the attacker. Enemy assaults are largely highlighted with a transparent crimson flash, however timing varies in order to not make them simple to foretell. Pulling off a parry, particularly if you happen to’re caught between just a few enemies, is exhilarating. Enemies stagger lengthy sufficient so that you can land just a few hits. With how extensive your arc is for many weapons, this may additionally interrupt different enemies shut by.
Animations are clean sufficient which you can shortly cancel right into a block, however a slight delay stops you from spamming it. Working parrying into my assault patterns, particularly early on, was all I wanted to ease by the early components of a dungeon and emerge comparatively unscathed.
Saying that, well being injury just isn’t the one factor it’s important to fear about in Curse – there’s additionally Corruption. By default, each room you enter provides 20 Corruption to your meter, which begins out at 0/100. Assuming you don’t take any extra Corruption injury from enemies, it’ll take you 5 rooms to replenish that bar. That’s not plenty of rooms, particularly if you happen to’re comfortable to take a detour for additional gold right here or a stats enhance there. When the bar will get full, your character will get cursed. Any one in every of one 14 Curses can apply to you at that time.
This makes the mechanic a bit puzzling. I get that you just need to punish gamers for taking Corruption injury in fights, however why penalise those that are merely making their method by the game world? Though some Curses can create alternatives, I discovered most to be a burden. Exploding enemy corpses can be utilized to your benefit, however what am I gonna do with the one which causes gold chests to deal Corruption injury? Great, now I received’t open anymore chests for the remainder of the run.
You may additionally be tempted to supply blood – relatively than gold – to acquire sure gadgets as you discover, or heal at a shrine. All of that provides to your Corruption meter, and it will probably generally really feel such as you’re getting cursed each different room. Getting cursed clears the Corruption meter and begins the cycle anew. Random buffs and debuffs are a part of how rogue-lites work, in fact, however I’m not clear on the position of this mechanic right here – it appears to actively discourage exploration, which already has threat and reward baked into it by default.
Progression exterior runs, as with many components of Curse, is incomplete within the present construct. You acquire a foreign money as you play, which may be spent on passives referred to as Blessings. You should buy as many Blessings as you want, however equipping a couple of requires defeating bosses. Out-of-run development because of this is hampered, since you not often really feel such as you’re rising with every botched run.
Curse is extra focused on mechanical development relatively than quantity inflation, which I can admire. Despite its demanding fight, the game is extra forgiving than different rogue-lites from the off, with a big HP bar, the dodge, and the flexibility to start out fights in your phrases. Unfortunately, it’s over all too quickly. Though I used to be always stunned by the extent of polish within the core mechanics, I shortly ran out of issues to do. There’s at present one temple within the game, and I’ve already seen repeat configurations of hallways and arenas in just some hours.
The developer guarantees two extra temples over the course of Early Access, so you could need to maintain off till then. For now, if you happen to’re not too fussed in regards to the quantity of content material, you’ll discover a compelling motion game with some of the satisfying fight fashions in any rogue-lite.
Curse of the Dead Gods is out now in Steam Early Access.
