In a world full of high-fantasy roguelikes, Curse of the Dead Gods manages to bring a breath of fresh air with a bundle of well-polished gameplay, an iconic setting and art style and a balance that strikes that perfect spot of punishing without being unfair and rewarding when it is well deserved without making the player invincible.

Curse of the Dead Gods is quite appealing just from the looks: A grim looking game in which darkness surrounds you at all times and an artistic direction that feasts the eyes. Another feature that makes CotDG easy to distinguish is his mesoamerican setting instead of the usual medieval dungeons and represents it faithfully at all times. The cel-shading not only makes the game pretty, but it's also used as a tool that improves gameplay in several manners, using the high contrast to make enemies distinguishable in the environment and with easy to read graphic effects that telegraph attacks. Graphics not only make this game look good, but also makes it an experience that is easy to understand and react to, allowing you to learn the signals and cues practically immediately.
Of course, a game should also be fun to play, and this is a department CoTG doesn't run short on. During most of the game you'll be running around the temples in an issometric perspective, keeping your torch up to spot traps for intruders and find your path before switching to your weapons in combat, hoping of course to leave unscathed and fighting against the curses the ancient gods lay upon you. CoTG has plenty of unique mechanics that are relatively simple, but that have depth and have been polished to be meaningful at all times: Fire and light not only allows you to see traps, it prevents you from taking extra damage and can help to deal with your enemies more easily, either by simply setting them alight or by activating traps with it; Corruption will give you curses after it exceeds a threshold, and many of them will limit some of your abilities, but not everything is grim under these hellish influences; Weapons have several classes, and RNG might bless them with buffs that could be simply used to poison your enemies, or that you could build to then deal critical enemies to these poisoned enemies that'll be increased by another 20% if you fight in the darkness. The game also challenges you to obtain more gold by chaining kills together, defending yourself by dodging or parrying and playing risky. If you fail though, you might have to sacrifice your purity for rewards instead of gold. All in all, along with passive perks, a couple variations of the many explorations and a good mix of RNG will make all runs as unique as it can be for a roguelike, and with more content being added, it can only get bigger.
This is what is most remarkable about this little indie gem, and at all times you feel the honest dedication of its team and the love this idea has been nurtured with. The few cons I can think of is how rooms might feel repetitive, but of course there is a limited amount of rooms, even if they can be combined in so many manners and how limited movement feels with a keyboard. Other than that, I dare say this game deserves a 9/10, even when only half of the minimun full-release content is available

In a world full of high-fantasy roguelikes, Curse of the Dead Gods manages to bring a breath of fresh air with a bundle of well-polished gameplay, an iconic setting and art style and a balance that strikes that perfect spot of punishing without being unfair and rewarding when it is well deserved without making the player invincible. Curse of the Dead Gods is quite appealing just from the looks: A grim looking game in which darkness surrounds you at all times and an artistic direction that feasts the eyes. Another feature that makes CotDG easy to distinguish is his mesoamerican setting instead of the usual medieval dungeons and represents it faithfully at all times. The cel-shading not only makes the game pretty, but it's also used as a tool that improves gameplay in several manners, using the high contrast to make enemies distinguishable in the environment and with easy to read graphic effects that telegraph attacks. Graphics not only make this game look good, but also makes it an experience that is easy to understand and react to, allowing you to learn the signals and cues practically immediately. Of course, a game should also be fun to play, and this is a department CoTG doesn't run short on. During most of the game you'll be running around the temples in an issometric perspective, keeping your torch up to spot traps for intruders and find your path before switching to your weapons in combat, hoping of course to leave unscathed and fighting against the curses the ancient gods lay upon you. CoTG has plenty of unique mechanics that are relatively simple, but that have depth and have been polished to be meaningful at all times: Fire and light not only allows you to see traps, it prevents you from taking extra damage and can help to deal with your enemies more easily, either by simply setting them alight or by activating traps with it; Corruption will give you curses after it exceeds a threshold, and many of them will limit some of your abilities, but not everything is grim under these hellish influences; Weapons have several classes, and RNG might bless them with buffs that could be simply used to poison your enemies, or that you could build to then deal critical enemies to these poisoned enemies that'll be increased by another 20% if you fight in the darkness. The game also challenges you to obtain more gold by chaining kills together, defending yourself by dodging or parrying and playing risky. If you fail though, you might have to sacrifice your purity for rewards instead of gold. All in all, along with passive perks, a couple variations of the many explorations and a good mix of RNG will make all runs as unique as it can be for a roguelike, and with more content being added, it can only get bigger. This is what is most remarkable about this little indie gem, and at all times you feel the honest dedication of its team and the love this idea has been nurtured with. The few cons I can think of is how rooms might feel repetitive, but of course there is a limited amount of rooms, even if they can be combined in so many manners and how limited movement feels with a keyboard. Other than that, I dare say this game deserves a 9/10, even when only half of the minimun full-release content is available