As a lot of our readers are no doubt aware by now, I love Roguelikes. However, I must admit that after playing Hades, I somewhat feel spoiled. Why? Because as I have previously mentioned, Hades has become my new gold standard for Roguelikes, thus making many other Roguelikes that I once loved feel less satisfying in terms of progression.

Curse of the Dead Gods is a very different type of Roguelike, but I don’t entirely feel that comparison is fair when it comes to Hades. It is a different type of Roguelike that is more akin to Darkest Dungeon or The Binding of Isaac than a more narrative-focused one like Hades or Children of Morta. Is this a bad thing? No, though as I’ll mention shortly I think this game still has some things to learn from Hades and its ilk.

You play as a man who finds himself exploring a dark temple, only to become cursed and unable to escape. Now he must fight his way through and ultimately confront the gods sleeping within the temple itself. It captures the atmosphere of a Tomb Raider or Indiana Jones-esque exploration, in Aztec-themed temples that are filled with traps.

Combat is simple to learn, but difficult to master. You can dash, use a primary or secondary weapon as well as a two-handed weapon, and you can parry enemy attacks. Parrying is practically impossible in my experience, but I know folks that have the natural rhythm to make it work.

When you die, you are taken to the underworld, where you can upgrade using Crystal Skulls, Jade Rings, and other resources. These are persistent upgrades, but they aren’t easy to get ahold of. The meta-progression of getting these resources is difficult unless you can progress further into the levels, but that in itself is hard.

As you go through rooms (akin to Slay the Spire’s map) you accumulate a stat called “corruption.” If your corruption gets too high you will get a curse. If you get five curses…something bad happens. These curses can change how you play in all sorts of ways, some good, some bad. Like Darkest Dungeon you have to manage light vs darkness, as you take more damage in Darkness.

Some weapons can illuminate the surroundings, but most of the time you carry a torch that will do the job. You can light braziers, light enemies on fire, and utilize fire to uncover hidden areas. Curse of the Dead God’s difficulty is very punishing though. Corruption can accumulate in battle, so you can quickly have two or three curses in a run.

On top of that, healing isn’t something that happens easily. In order to utilize the healing rooms, you have to gain corruption in the process of healing. Personally, I find this difficulty very unfriendly to new players, but I can understand that some people like this degree of tough-as-nails challenge.

It also doesn’t help that the Blessings (permanent upgrades) and overall meta-progression don’t seem to do enough to make you feel noticeably stronger. I’ve managed to clear several levels, but I don’t feel like I’m getting better, more that I’m just getting lucky.

With that said, Curse of the Dead Gods is a fun, challenging game. There are lots of weapon types, enemy types, elemental damage, and plenty of things to keep combat feeling fresh. I just wish that (like Hades) they would offer some options to tailor the experience for players that have a hard time. I can’t play the game for very long in a stretch without needing breaks, because the button mashing is intense.

A nice touch is the journal entries that you acquire through killing numbers of certain enemies. It helps slowly peel back layers of the story, though I do wish the plot was a bit more in your face. If you’re a fan of difficult Roguelikes, then I can’t really dissuade you from this one. The atmosphere is great, the gameplay is fun (at least for a while), and playing it on Switch lets you take it on the go.

I want to like Curse of the Dead Gods more, but I feel like it needs some quality-of-life adjustments here and there. I know a lot of other people that will disagree with that though, so if you’re a fan of Darkest Dungeon or even Dark Souls, then I’d encourage you to check this one out.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Curse of the Dead Gods was provided by Focus Home Interactive for this review.

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Curse of the Dead Gods

$19.99 USD

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Great Visual Style
• Interesting Concepts and Mechanics
• Lots of Weapon Types
• Engaging Combat

Cons

• Difficulty is Steep
• Progression Isn't Noticeable in Terms of Mitigating Difficulty