One of the childhood memories to which I am most attached concerns the moments when I accompanied my grandmother to do the shopping. Like many women of her time, she too had a cult of savings and, for this very reason, she tended to avoid large supermarket chains, finding herself more comfortable with discount offers. Whenever I walked into one of those convenience stores, I was amazed by the huge amount of totally unknown products on those shelves. Biscuits, cured meats, soft drinks, detergents and many other consumer goods, all sharing the same two characteristics: brands never heard of before e more or less evident similarities with the "designer" counterparts, to which they aimed to join or, in some cases, with which they hoped to get confused.
Whenever I asked my grandmother about Pan di Stelle or Coca-Cola, a glance was enough for me to understand that I was in the presence of a pack of “Stelline” or a glass of “Lazinko Cola” (believe me, it really exists! ). All this generated in me the discovery of the "Discount effect“: A mental process by which we mark as“ imitation ”any good that has similarities with a more famous product, automatically downgrading its quality and destining it to oblivion.
Video games are not exempt from the discount effect, and often a distracted glance can make us label a title as a "copy of ..." or "clone of ..." a product that, on the other hand, has excellent qualities, and whose only fault is that to belong to a genre in which there is now only one exponent of the category that dominates, as a neighborhood ras would do. This is precisely the case with Curse of the dead gods and, in the following lines, I will try to explain how hard the life of a roguelike has been since Hades has existed.
Once upon a time there was an ancient temple ...
The plot of Curse of the Dead Gods is truly essential: we will play the role of an unnamed adventurer (but with the features of one who would have many stories to tell) who decides to venture inside a ancient aztec temple in search of treasures, artifacts, power and, perhaps, immortality. Inside the gloomy and claustrophobic rooms of this dungeon, we will find many of the things our protagonist craves, along with a whole series of monstrous creatures, traps e curses. If we can overcome these threats, we will find a final boss waiting for us at the end of our journey.
The title of Passtech Games offers three types of temples, each characterized by a "dominant element" (fire, lightning and poison) that will unite both the enemies and the traps scattered throughout the rooms, and which will only be visible if hit by the faint torch light, our only faithful companion.
What if we manage to complete all three temples? If, like me, you thought the Curse of the Dead Gods challenge ended with this handful of stages, you were completely off track. After winning the first three bosses, I had access to more extended versions of the dungeons, with two final fights to face, the second of which is totally new. After completing this second series of quests, a further "upgrade" of the temples will become accessible, with a greater number of traps, stronger enemies and well three bosses to beat. Those who manage to overcome this challenge will have to compete with the final stage, the "Pantheon", by accessing the dreaded final boss.
The hard life of a roguelike
Raise your hand if you, seeing the Curse of the Dead Gods trailer, have not been impressed by the aforementioned “Discount Effect”. As for me, the video presentation of the game could not fail to recall Hades which, as mentioned at the beginning, has become the reference point of its kind.
I already know what the question is in your heads: is Curse of the Dead Gods the clone of Hades? The answer is a resounding “NO!”. Although the game clearly draws inspiration from the Supergiant Games title, the development team has included rather original mechanics, also drawing inspiration from other dungeon crawlers.
When we enter one of the temples, we will have a 'main weapon, A 'secondary weapon and a 'two-handed weapon; in the opening bars of the game, our arsenal will be rather small, only to expand dramatically in the following runs. Machetes, bows, pistols, spears, hammers, daggers, shields, throwing knives: each weapon will guarantee a different approach to the gameplay, allowing you to find your own personal style of play.
La parade and dodge are of fundamental importance, both to avoid enemy attacks (and the consequent damage) and to reload the Resistance points, a real stamina that those who grew up on bread and soulslike have learned to know and "respect".
Always remaining the soulslike theme, our character will have three attributes: Constitution (linked to life points), Dexterity (linked to the damage we will inflict with weapons) e Perception (which determines the amount of gold and the rarity of the treasures we will find). It goes without saying that choosing which of these three characteristics to enhance will be of fundamental importance.
From my first run, I realized that button mashing was the best way to be defeated. To arrive alive (and in acceptable conditions) to the final boss it is necessary to explore each room (paying attention to its secrets), ringing the right ones combo (which extend to all three weapons), knowing how to dodge / parry, take advantage of the environmental advantages (the traps can hit both us and our enemies) and always try to fight "in the light".
Choosing to venture in the dark will not only not allow us to see the traps, but will also make the attacks of our monstrous opponents more lethal. For this very reason, I strongly recommend you to light the various braziers you will come across, could save your life.
Treasures, powers and curses
Did the flashlight, light and shadow remind you of something? If the answer is Darkest Dungeon, know that the similarities with the title of Red Hook Studios do not stop at the aesthetics alone. Remember the preamble about hidden treasures in temples? Well, know that your greed could cost you a lot.
Each room in the temple will have a reward to offer you, be it a weapon, an upgrade, a relic, or an upgrade to one of your character's three attributes. You will have two ways to make your rewards your own: agold offering or anoffering of blood. Gold will be present in almost all the stages you will face but, needless to say, it may not be enough to buy what you need, prompting you to offer your blood. If you choose this way, you will increase the bar of Corruption and, once a certain threshold is exceeded, a curse will fall upon you.
Le curses they can afflict your character in various ways: by stealing resistance points, making enemies invisible in the dark, making traps more lethal, etc. Some of these anathemas may also benefit you, but mind you: the fifth and final curse will erode your life points rather quickly, putting a tombstone on your ambitions.
Precisely on the basis of what has just been written, it is necessary to face temples with a clear strategy in mind, knowing that doing the "ace catch it all" will almost always be a bad idea.
Gameplay and variety
What is the secret recipe for creating a successful roguelike? As a journalist, I can't give you a precise answer; however, the two elements indicated in the title of this paragraph could not be ignored. If the graphics and aesthetics of Curse of the Dead Gods have definitely convinced me, it is good to dwell thoroughly on the aforementioned characteristics.
Il gameplay of the title of Focus Home Interactive does its duty very well: I literally happened to lose track of time by exploring the various rooms, and each death was a stimulus to improve my approach. The weapons and skills to unlock there are so many, ideal to satisfy the completist in each of us. In this respect, Passtech has succeeded in the not simple task of sweetening the bitter permadeath pill. If, on the other hand, you love challenges with a high degree of difficulty, the daily events and the most advanced temples will be bread for your teeth.
In terms of variety, however, there is something to underline. As happens in practically every roguelike, the dungeons are generated in a procedural way and, precisely for this reason, it is possible to have sensations of déjà vu, especially after a number of runs. The problem with Curse of the Dead Gods is that this feeling comes after a few hours; it often happened to me to observe the physiognomy of the room and to already understand where the enemies were located, where the secret areas were, which path to take to find fewer obstacles and, in some cases, which type of trap I had to prepare for.
Same fighting they will hardly represent an insurmountable challenge. The moveset of the enemies (especially the larger ones) will be easily readable, as will the time windows granted for parades and dodges will be generous.
Even weapons and curses could be dared a little more. If the latter are just over ten (and a few really burden the run), the former, albeit numerous, they don't match the variety and depth seen in other roguelikes, and the game itself does not encourage exploring the entire arsenal. For example, I myself have completed almost all of the stages using only the two-handed weapon (broadswords and hammers), both because it is almost the only one capable of interrupting enemy attacks, and because it allowed me to shatter traps and walls that concealed the secret rooms, greatly facilitating my life.
The speech just made can also be extended to relics. Let's explain well, I certainly did not expect the variety and depth seen in that masterpiece The Binding of Isaac, but a few more ambitions would have allowed Curse of the Dead Gods to emerge from the mare magnum of roguelikes and to get out of thebulky shadow of Hades.
Final judgement
Is Curse of the Dead Gods the carbon copy of Hades? Absolutely not! Although the isometric view and the frenetic action can be deceiving, the creature of Passtech Games also draws inspiration from other noble exponents of the roguelike genre (Darkest Dungeon and The Binding of Isaac above all) not disdaining a light sprinkle of soulslike that never hurts . The game has averted the dreaded Discount Effect but, nevertheless, it lacks in what is often the Achilles heel of this category: variety. After a while, the stages will begin to resemble each other and you will end up easily reading the enemy attacks, almost coming to predict (and prevent) the traps present in the various rooms. What has just been said is not intended to be a rejection of the videogame, capable of entertaining and captivating with its dark and exotic atmosphere; however, there is no quid pluris that would have allowed him to carve out his space in an excessively crowded genre.
In any case, I would recommend Curse of the Dead Gods to anyone who loves the genre and wants something alternative to that huge social life-sucking black hole that is Hades, but beware: you could go from a black hole to a curse. Aztec.
