Balancing the act of randomization and player control in a game can be a tricky part of game development, but it seems that Passtech Games didn’t flop on this when creating Curse of the Dead Gods. This dungeon crawler puts the RNG (Random Number Generator) of the map and loot into the hands of the player while maintaining plenty of unknown elements when it comes to traps, enemies, and pathways. After being recently released on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch with the help of publisher Focus Home Interactive, it’s time to break down what makes this a good rogue-lite game.

Story

Your search for untold riches, divine powers, and eternal life lead you to an accursed temple with seemingly endless pathways to take. With each chamber that you fight your way through, a little bit more treasure is found to be collected, but to escape each pathway with your collection you will have to face a strong foe. Do you have what it takes to make it through this heavily-defended dungeon with the rewards that you desire?

Gameplay

When you first start out, you will first touch the large alter-wall and pick the first pathway that you want to start with. As you continue to do this, more dungeon options will become available and each one will be filled with its own type of traps and enemies. The main three elements used throughout the game are a fire temple, electric temple, and poison temple, and you can tell each one apart before beginning by examing the mission’s trim color. Red is fire, blue is electric, and green is poison.

Aside from the main missions, you will also unlock event dungeons. These dungeons are larger than the standard mission dungeon, but it comes with its own form of rewards. You will be met with a unique type of challenge for each event dungeon as well, so be sure to read what type of mission it is before beginning because it won’t be the same as the main missions you have been doing.

As you complete dungeons you will collect skulls and jade rings. These can be used to unlock abilities, weapon types, and bonus options. Planning what you want to unlock will help you greatly because it takes a few successful runs to have enough for the best stuff, so you don’t want to just use up what you have as you get them. The bonus options have a more subtle reward to them as well since it is options like Divine Assistance and selecting from four pre-dungeon aids. These help you go into each dungeon with what you prefer for your setup, be it a specific weapon set, stronger abilities, or more.

When you start a dungeon, you will be shown a map with the different types of rooms available along the way to the end of the dungeon where the boss is at. You will have to survive your way through, so planning your route is best since each room offers its own set of traps and enemies. I found the best path options to be Gold rooms for the first two, then an Ability chamber, then a Gold room, then a Weapon Upgrade chamber, then a preference base of Healing, Gold, and Mystery chambers. Since each dungeon resets the abilities, upgrades, and relics you obtain, this is the best way to go through with enough gold not to curse yourself for bonuses and gain the push to get all the way through.

Now, for what the name of the game implies, let’s talk about curses. This was what makes the game interesting and different even if you are an excellent dodger, blocker, and fighter. No matter what you do, you will end up with at least one curse by the end of each dungeon. These can only be lowered by specific aid moments, but you will be cursed a bit more with every door you pass through and by some enemy’s attacks. If you fill your curse meter, the next time you pass a doorway a curse will activate at random and it could be anything from more darkness to locking chests and making them explode on interaction. There is no way to control which curse you get, but with some luck and skill, you can keep yourself from getting multiple curses at the same time.

Combat and traps are all in the control of the player to get through with the least amount of damage taken. When it comes to traps, you will have to have a torch in hand or nearby beacons lit in order to reveal them as they are literally hidden when in darkness. Most traps are avoidable with a simple dodge, but be ready for a few to surprise you. Combat is a mixture of dodging, parrying attacks, and fighting with both melee and ranged options. The weapons you have to use are based on what you chose from the pre-dungeon alters and what you find along the way. Since you can find weapons and relics as you proceed through each dungeon, there is always a chance that you will find your favorite weapon later in the game. Dodging and heavy weapons do take up a notch of stamina and you start off with only five stamina notches. They replenish pretty quickly but still need to be monitored for the most efficient combat moments.

Visuals

The whole game has a 3D comic book art style that makes it seem almost cartoonistic. It’s a pretty nice art style honestly as it is a bit different from the usual rogue-lite without completely removing itself from the crisp art we are used to seeing from most games using this birds-eye-view angle.

Sounds

I like how they liked to keep it somewhat creepy with light or nonexistent music in calm parts of the dungeon and only bringing in more intense music with the combats. Brings focus to the environment you are in without pulling away from the atmosphere. Plus, the sound effects and special moment sounds used were pleasingly fitting.

Replayability

As an RNG-based dungeon-crawler with seemingly endless options and player-controlled pathway choices, this is easily one of the most replayable games out there. There is so much room for skill improvements, enough RNG to give players the challenge of taking more difficult pathways and different weapon types to use, and pretty much enough options available that as long as you feel like dungeon-crawling, you can get a somewhat unique experience with a new run on this game - even after you complete the game’s main story chambers.

What Could Be Better

This game could have easily been a co-op title, be it a local or online feature. Not one with a large party, but a two-player experience would have been an entertaining aspect this title could have included. It doesn’t seem there was any multiplayer considered for the game at all, unfortunately. As a challenging title for the average player, I could see people enjoying it more with a friend trying to run the dungeon with them.

Conclusion

Curse of the Dead Gods is an entertaining rogue-lite that should be on every dungeon-crawlers wishlist! There is enough control given to the player that you don’t feel like it is more luck than skill needed to survive, but enough randomization that you won’t be able to have the same playthrough on each dungeon experience. Definitely a title I recommend to RPG players to check out themselves.