Rogue elites / likes tend to blend together. They often rely on similar artistic styles and produce the same impression. Although I appreciate why they are so popular, hardly anyone clicks for me.
However, every so often, there is a gem that excites me. Curse of death Is one of them.
On the surface, the curse is a very safe and predictable hooligan. This is an action game with a top-down perspective. The world is essentially a series of dungeons with similar appearance that you need to refurbish for hours. This is challenging and depends on a certain percentage of RNG, which means that luck affects your game. And, because we checked all the boxes, there are even secret and hidden paths for those who dare to explore.
Only when I practice it in person does Curse's unique qualities become the focus of attention.
The battle about curses is the best thing. Please note that this is not a great gesture of wielding a warhammer or aiming a pistol, these are also great, but how the game is structured around interactive and dynamic battlefields. Darkness and light form the basis of exploration. The room begins to shroud in darkness, and a flashlight lets you see everything around you to avoid traps and explore the angle of attack.
Maybe you will raise the lens of heavy weapons, summon the summoner immediately, or double the melee attack for highly destructive openings-there is always a reason to check the edge of the room before diving. Further setting traps can be activated. If you know that there is an explosion bucket close to that group of enemies, it's best to fire it or rush forward to trigger it.
The different rooms also provide a number of environmental hazards, most of which can benefit you. But crucially, the torch automatically cancels the equipment once you pull out the weapon, which adds risk to these exercises because you no longer see these environmental hazards. This setup phase not only provides players with breathing space between battles, but also allows a certain degree of control over the encounter. Proper use of these precious seconds can bring a clear advantage at the beginning of each battle.
When the chaser reduced to a scattered guerrilla, triggering one after another trap was very satisfying.
The combat model itself has another layer. Reaper's cursed arsenal includes many weapons with unique attributes, such as attack speed and arcs. Their animation and combos explore this further. If you don't try each weapon manually, the game won't be able to detail these effects well, but this is a minor issue.
Regardless, this introduces some depth to a number game of primitive damage and additional words. Keep this in mind because you need to think about how to treat the enemy. Trying combos often can create big swings that will make you feel open. You also have a stamina bar that needs to be managed, and although it's primarily used to stop spam evasion, it can also suppress motivation if you don't pay attention.
By default, you start with a deputy pistol. Pistols and other long-range weapons suffer the most endurance, and it's easy to devour last-minute endurance with desperate shells, which can take a toll on you. This may be for balance, but a better solution is to reduce the damage of the pistol or slightly increase the charging time of the pistol, because the current implementation is often frustrating. In fact, long-range combat may require a little work. The aiming line should follow the right joystick / mouse, not the way the character faces-I want to be able to dodge once and swipe quickly to complete the chaser, but I can't. I had to dodge twice to make a distance, then spin the character until I faced the enemy and shot. Not exactly John Wick.
Like all great fighting systems, Curse has a satisfying parry. It works just like you think: set the time correctly and stagger the attacker. Enemy attacks are mostly highlighted by flashing red, but the time will vary to make it unpredictable. Parrying, especially when you are trapped between several enemies, is exhilarating. The enemy's pace is long enough for you to hit a few hits. For most weapons, how big your arc is will also interrupt other enemies nearby.
The animation is smooth enough that you can quickly unblock it into a block, but a slight delay prevents you from sending them spam. Working hard, especially in the early stages, was the best way for me to lighten the early parts of the dungeon and leave it intact.
Having said that, impaired health is not the only thing you need to worry about in a curse-corruption also exists. By default, every room you enter adds 20 corruptions to your meter, starting at 0/100. Assuming you are no longer damaged by the enemy's corruption, you will need five rooms to fill the bar. There are not many rooms there, especially if you are happy to make a detour, spend more money here or add statistics there. When the bar is full, your character will be cursed. At this point, you can apply any of the 14 curses.
This confuses the mechanic a bit. I know you want to punish players who have been harmed by corruption in battle, but why punish those who only pass the game world? Although certain curses can create opportunities, I find most of them burdensome. Explosive enemy corpses can be good for you, but what will I do with the part that causes the golden chest to cause corruption damage? Great, I won't open the box for the next run.
You may also be willing to provide blood instead of gold to obtain certain items for exploration or healing in shrines. All this adds to your "corruption" gauge, and sometimes you feel like you're cursed by every room next door. Being cursed will clear the corruption instrument and restart the cycle. Of course, random buffs and debuffs are part of the way rogue experts work, but I don't know what this mechanism does here-it seems to be actively blocking exploration, as there are already risks and rewards by default.
As with many parts of Curse, the progress of external runs is not complete in the current release. As you play the game, you collect a currency that can be used on passive items called blessings. You can buy as many blessings as you like, but more than one outfit needs to defeat the boss. As a result, progress beyond schedule is hampered, as you rarely feel that every slow run is growing.
The curse is more interested in mechanical growth than digital inflation, and I appreciate it. Despite demanding fighting power, this game is more forgiving than other rogue elites, it has a huge HP stick, dodges the device, and is able to fight on your terms. Unfortunately, everything is too early. Although I have always been surprised by the level of polishing of the core mechanics, I soon have nothing to do. There is currently a shrine in the game, and I have seen repeated configurations of corridors and arenas in just a few hours.
The developers promised to build two more temples during the early access experience, so you might have to wait until then. For now, if you're not too interested in the amount of content, you'll find a compelling action game with one of the most satisfying combat models of any rogue elite.
Curse of the Devil is now available in Steam Early Access.
