Curse Of The Dead Gods – Review

Curse Of The Dead Gods is visually beautiful with unique enemies and fluid animations. Each of the three sections has its own different and unique enemies with none of the enemies duplicated across the areas. They do seem to be limited in sections though, with only six to a possible eight variants for each. That said, the level designs are also unique, with all of them having their own statues, traps, and designs.

Some elements are re-used between levels, but it’s surprisingly few and a lot of objects scattered around are their own unique assets for each.

Labyrinths

The labyrinths are separated, as I said previously, by three different styles. The Jaguar labyrinth revolves around flames, with many of the monsters in the labyrinth being “upfront” hitters. They have a few ranged attacks, but the ones they do have are quick and hard-hitting.

The Eagle labyrinth revolves around lightning and storms, with archers and harpies being the main group of enemies. There are also a few other enemies that will use long, sweeping attacks to inflict damage.

Last, but not least, is the Serpent. This labyrinth is the poison labyrinth, with medusa-style monsters with spears and “plague bringers”. These monsters are heavily magic-focused and summon vermin that are small poison bugs that explode upon death. I love the separation of the labyrinths and each feels very unique from one another.

You also have events that will be open for you to attempt once, with new ones releasing every day. Each event has situations like Stronger where you’re in the dark, losing all sense of direction, and the like. Rewarding you with skulls and treasures to help you unlock weapons and perks to help you reach the top.

Curse of the dead gods review

Items and Perks

The skulls and jade rings you acquire through your runs can be used in the underworld for perks. This includes Blessings, small perks to assist you such as giving you more damage to enemies when hit by a trap, for example.

Forsaken Weaponry, that upon unlocking can now be found throughout the labyrinths, each having a nice perk like lightning or the final swing on your attack won’t use stamina. Then there are the weapon alters you can upgrade that are located in the underworld.

Upgrading their alters will give you a greater chance of acquiring high-grade weapons when you die and return to the underworld. And lastly, divine favors which you unlock and give you the ability to switch choices at one of the sacrifice statues and hopefully find the item you are looking for.

With all that said, none of the upgrades per se really do much to the overall gameplay, to be honest. The blessings seem shallow and really don’t bring too much of a punch to the game. Weapons and weapon alters do hold some value, but you truly don’t get fantastic things very often and you will make many run-throughs before you see something you truly like. The upgrades to me feel more gimmicky than necessary.

curse of the dead gods review

Gameplay And Mechanics

The gameplay is good and the fighting mechanics feel weighty and responsive. I have been tied up with enemies while trying to escape explosions, which can be annoying when in tight situations, but it never seemed to be prevalent.

The curses that are in the game can be very annoying, each door you enter, even when you first enter the labyrinth in the underworld, will sting you with 20 points. Once you get to 100 points you receive a curse. Some curses can be beneficial like enemies exploding upon death when on fire, or traps go off when you’re near them. Then there are the negatives like slowly losing health until you’re down to 1 hp, or slowly gaining curse points. I understand why they put curses in the game as they tend to push a sense of urgency.

Curse points can also be racked up quite quickly, from enemies giving you curse points if they hit you, to blood sacrifices to get items, as well as healing costing curse points. You can easily be maxed to level 5 fairly quickly. The curses are more profound and more useful than the blessings, so you might find yourself trying to be cursed to play the RNG to get one you like.

The labyrinths, by themselves, are not too lengthy in the beginning, taking about 10 to 15 minutes to go through. On the second stack, I was honestly getting bored, running through the same bosses with a lack of any story. I don’t really know why, or how, to keep staying motivated to get to the top. Repeating this over and over again gives me no satisfaction.

Overall, it is a fun game, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t have anything that drives me to return or keep playing the game. If I had to give a score to the game it would be a 6 or 6.5 out of 10. It’s fun but it’s just missing that “drive factor” to keep me coming back.

If you are looking for a game like Hades, this is not it. With no real story to drive you, it can become boring after a few hours. If you like games like this, with minimal story and a lot of grinding, then you will enjoy it. But if you’re looking for that Hades feel, you will be disappointed.

Credits

AuthorIndie Direct
YouTuberMGN TV
ProgramFreedom! Scholarship
PublisherMGN
GameCurse Of The Dead Gods

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