Curse of the Dead Gods

Brilliant game! Highly recommended for action roguelike enthusiast 👍🏾

Very good game.
I wish I tried it sooner, but this is one of the cases where the game plays a whole lot better than it looks.
It reminds me of Dead Cells circa 1.0. Without all the years of patches and expansions, that is.
Same feel to combat, where you need to keep a cold head and not button-mash like you would in, for example, Hades. In Curse of the Dead Gods, also like in Dead Cells, every weapon and class of weapon is distinct, with it's own advantages and disadvantages. The itemization is excellent-- there is a lot of attributes attached to particular weapons, and all of them provide a noticeable benefit.

The enemies are relatively few, but each one is distinct and they work well both solo and in groups. Locations are also few-- only three, but all three are different enough and fun to play through.

The story and other fluff is present here in a way that I prefer--in written journals that you unlock by killing particular enemies. No voice acting. No cutscenes. A very short tutorial.

I would have loved to have more of this game, but unfortunately developers moved on to the next project (which I didn't enjoy nearly as much). It is what it is.

All in all, Curse of the Dead Gods is a very well put together, complete game. One of the few that I didn't regret buying in quite some time.

I went into Curse of the Dead Gods with no real expectations and ended up liking it more than I thought I would. Visually, the game looks great. The dark, gritty art style fits the theme perfectly and the lighting system adds a cool dynamic to combat, especially when enemies interact with it.

Combat feels weighty and deliberate. Parrying is super satisfying once you get the timing down, and the dodge roll actually feels useful. The weapon variety is solid too, though it does lean a bit heavy on RNG when it comes to finding something that fits your build. I also really like the curse system — gaining corruption as you fight and explore adds a layer of strategy. Some curses are brutal, others almost feel like buffs depending on your playstyle, which keeps things interesting.

That said, the game definitely has some weak points. The biggest one is how repetitive it gets after a while. Enemy and boss designs start strong but eventually just get recycled with higher health pools. It’s not that other roguelikes don’t do this, but the way Curse of the Dead Gods presents progression kind of sets you up to expect new content as you unlock new areas, which just isn’t really the case. You’ll fight the same enemies and bosses multiple times, and the health sponginess starts to get annoying.

The lack of NPCs or any real story progression also makes the game feel a bit hollow. I know not everyone wants to sit through long dialogues, but it wouldn’t have hurt to have something in the hub to break up the grind.

Overall, the game has solid combat, great aesthetics, and a unique curse mechanic that sets it apart. But it runs out of steam faster than it should, mostly due to repetitive fights and grindy upgrades. Still worth picking up, especially on sale.

Rating: 7.5/10 — You feel the corruption creeping in, but you press forward anyway

Fantastic game. If you like games like Hades, this is for you.

Super reminiscent of Hades, and while not as charming, the gameplay is very slick and challenging.

Genuinely terribly done roguelike. The gameplay loop is stilted since after you beat a boss and unlock the next area, instead of progressing, you have to go back to the starting hub. Weapons feel terrible to use since they force auto aim and don't have a variety of combos. Parry system would be satisfying if it actually helped against mobs of enemies. Instead it's pretty much worthless and always better to dodge into attacks in order to conserve stamina. Bosses are boring, not much else to say. No desperation attacks, no patterns to speak of, no interesting mechanics. Aesthetics are well done, but clearly at the cost of everything else. There's almost no story to speak of, it's told through journal entries you get by killing enough enemies. Corruption mechanic could be refined to be something interesting, but the RNG just makes every run likely to be deeply unsatisfying when you get gimped by an unavoidable random curse. By the time you have a good run you realize it isn't even fun because you're mowing down enemies, but the game implements a combo system that its terrible level generation can't sustain to a satisfying degree.
Picture this, you perfectly execute a series of combos, dodges, and parries to clear a room without getting hit. You're feeling good about your combo meter of 11. You rapidly attempt to roll to the next room to keep in going, only to realize it's not possible. You'll never be able to stack it higher than 12 or 13 without grinding 4 to 5 hours for the upgrade that stops combo meter from decaying and equipping it to one of your paltry THREE upgrade slots. Permanent upgrades are gained at a glacial rate that would make a runescape player balk. Weapon unlocks are gained just about as slow, and even when you unlock the cool cursed weapons, you won't get them without wasting most of your rerolls because they're like shiny pokemon for some reason even though they're the only interesting weapons in the entire game.

Truly not worth the 4.99 I paid for it when the genre is somewhat oversaturated. I would implore you to buy any other game that tickles your fancy. This is a bunch of hullabaloo.

Pretty solid game. Plenty of different weapons, and progression power spikes to keep you playing. Very much recommend a controller as the game suggests.

Amazing graphics and story. I love the skill ceiling and the dungeon crawling aspect blends beautifully with the rouge like experience. My only question is how my time played in the last 2 weeks is 10.4 hours and my total time played is 10.3 hours.

This game is basically a lazy copy-paste of Hades, but everything is done worse:

-weapons: You’re given 3 weapon slots, but in reality, you’ll only ever use one massively upgraded weapon of your choice. The weapon effects make it seem like there are some sick combos to pull off, but the chances of things aligning that way are slim to none—and almost entirely out of the player’s control. Then there are cursed weapons, which can only have one (instead of up to 3) "amazing" effect, which supposedly can only be balanced by a bad effect and their rarity. These weapons are generally terrible and badly designed. Like that one sword in particular with above average damage (it kills you if you get hit by anything).

-maps: the maps all generally follow a rigid guideline for how they're structured. There's some variety in between, but nothing really exciting.

-gameplay: repetitive, constraining and gets boring after a few runs. In most games of this genre, you’re supposed to eventually finish a full run in one go after mastering the mechanics and stacking permanent upgrades. Here, progression is artificially gated by forcing you to start over after clearing the first boss of each of the 3 wings. Then it’s the same grind for the second bosses, and so on. In Hades, conquering each biome and overcoming the bosses’ nasty mechanics felt legitimately challenging, but here? I stumbled through every boss (including the final one) on my first try. Most bosses have no more attack patterns than you can count on one hand, and almost none have a second phase to surprise you with. You just execute a full combo, let them attack once, then they pause long enough for you to repeat.

-curse mechanic: generally irrelevant as most curses can either be ignored completely or even make you stronger. A few are annoying enough to make you want to punch the screen, but that’s about it. The last curse will basically end your run, but it's generally easy to avoid and manage.

-console mindset: The game forces you to use aim assist, which is typical for console games these days (I consider this a console game because the game strongly hints at it by encouraging the use of a controller). But here, it’s not just unnecessary--it actively hinders gameplay. You can’t aim at explosives or other objects if there’s a monster nearby because it auto-targets the enemy instead. Want to fire an explosive arrow so that it'd hit in between a pack of monsters? Fine-tune your piercing shots? Hah, dream on. There’s no option to toggle this off, of course, despite player complaints.

-story: There is no story. Just kill stuff.

-some petty picks: The main character looks like a deranged ape, and his voice lines match that description perfectly.

My personal take is that the developers didn’t put much love or effort into this game. Maybe it’s worth picking up at the current 75% discount, but it’s a hard no otherwise.

A low/no effort Hades knockoff disguised under a Legends of The Hidden Temple skin, Curse of the Dead Gods is what happens when a developer without talent attempts to cash in by copying a successful game. All the elements are there, but none are implemented well. Progression is uneven and stilted, combat relies almost exclusively on a poorly implemented (unresponsive) parry and dodge system, bosses and enemies are cheap (with a heavy reliance on a "rules for thee but not for me system), and runs are an absolute slog. Even having picked this up at $5 on a deep sale, I regret it.

Base game is good, hard mode not. Hard mode is just very time consuming and repetetive, however if you do enjoy challenge then you will have fun with it, it just isnt for me. I'd only recommend this game on sale though.

Played this game with minimal expectations. It mostly reached them.
Didnt bother to go for FINAL, FINAL boss, because didnt feel like grinding.I did finish first "temple" (Clovis Pardieux).

Pros:
+ Aesthetics look/feel good
+ Corruption/curse system is unique (as you progress levels or enemies hit you with special attacks, you gain corruption. When reaching a limit, it becomes a curse. It can vary from disabling all healing sources EXCEPT when killing enemies OR something minor, like light sources turning off when you get hit)
+ You can disable weapon unlocks if you don’t want them in your weapon pool
+ Most attacks are telegraphed well enough

Cons:
- Game expects you to grind a lot more than you’d want to (to get upgrades)
- RNG with room rewards/layouts can screw your run
- Enemy HP and damage scaling after a certain point grow too much
- Not a fan that curses are random; if there were an option to pick 1 out of 3, I’d enjoy it more
- Most upgrades feel unneeded/wasteful

Summary:
To be frank, you could call it a less active version of Hades but without story/characters. There is a form of story in the journal (if you bother to read it and get the required kills against enemies to unlock them).

The only unlocks you can get:
~ New weapons in the weapon pool
~ A chance to get unlocked weapons when starting a run (up to 4 sets given randomly IF you unlock all 4 of them. ALSO need to upgrade each slot to increase the chance of actually getting rarer versions)
~ Blessings (the most important unlock)
~ Rerolls for shop items

Overall, I did enjoy this game, but I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece. It loses steam too quickly, most rewards are too expensive or not good enough to use. The combat system doesn’t have enough variation to keep you playing for more than 10-15 hours.

Great deal if you get it on discount.

Rating:
7/10. You gain 20 corruption. Go to next review.

bluntly said, its boring. its well done, just not having played that game is no miss in your life.

I would prefer to give this a "mixed" rating but here we are...
I absolutely love the art style, sound, and themes of the game. It has a very cool "dark temple" feel with a strong Aztec/Inca influence. Each realm of the gods (jaguar, eagle, serpent) has it's own aesthetic and enemies, while still belonging to a greater whole.
Where is falls short, unfortunately, is in the game loop. There is a nice variety of weapons that you unlock but no actual buffs or perks that make your character more powerful. Therefore, the game simply gets harder and less fun as it progresses. Your ability to time parries is the single most important game-play aspect. The only way to understand an enemy's patterns is to face them. Why there is no healing before bosses is confusing. It's very frustrating to get to a boss with little health, and nearly immediately die because you don't know the boss patterns yet.
I think will come back to this occasionally, but only if i'm feeling a bit masochistic.

It's Hades but it's Darkest Dungeon. Excellent in design and execution!

Good game but Bad developer.

Good.

Played this back in 2020 after Hades. Thought it was a good game but didn't think much of it.
Came back in 2025 and realized what a gem this was. The parry mechanic is not easy at first but very satisfying and impactful.
This is not a hades clone. The gameplay is much more deliberate and less spammy than Hades.
The curse element adds a bit of fun RNGness that comes with the roguelike territory, some of them might not even qualify as curses as they actually might positively impact your build.
One bad thing I might say about the game is the lack of NPC in the base. Though I don't really like slogging through NPC dialogues in games nowadays, It does feel a bit lonely at times. It's totally just personal preference though.

This game felt like a mobile game to me, I remember being let down and feeling like this game wasn't even a finished product before refunding it. I had just played inscryption, dead cells, hades and blasphemous before getting this so that may have had a huge effect on my perception but the feeling I got from this game was that it may have initially been built to be a mobile game and was then ported to PC. I think this game would be fairly priced around $2 or free-to-play with minimal advertising that plays between runs or something like that.

A Hades clone that rips Darkest Dungeon art style.

It's another of those games that takes pride in being initially too hard. As you unlock passives and bonuses little by little, it probably becomes too easy, but not before having to painstakingly hit your head against the initial wall over and over. That's what many poorly designed rogue-like do, hiding behind the genre to excuse poor balancing, and incompetent skill-to-challenge mapping. This one added the fun twist of disabling all achievements if you tweaked the difficulty in any way.

So yeah. Nope. I just wasn't in the mood for masochism-until-fun tonight. Refunded.

Kind of Hades, but set in Aztec/Inca theme. That'd be fantastic, but the problem with the game is wonky controls. Forget enjoyable dashing you know from Hades, responsiveness is weird, to the point of being so unplayable I requested refund. Might give it chance after some time, but for now - not recommended.

Unskippable cutscenes.

Great game

Ravenswatch predecessor, that is even more fun in certain ways

7/10

I think this is a good game. It looks beautiful visually. I really like the artstyle. The combat and enemy designs are pretty good. I like that when presented with upgrades/new weapons you can always choose what you want even if you don't have sufficient gold by incurring debuffs.

I just hate how enemies and bosses are recycled. And some may say this is also the case with games like Hades, and while this is true, this game presents progression as new areas you unlock. The novelty and awe wears off after realising the game only has 3 areas and the subsequent areas you "unlock" just provide the same recycled bosses and enemies but with more health. The sponginess of the enemies can get a bit ridiculous. The problem isn't that the enemies are recycled, the problem is the presentation and player expectation. At the start, the game teaches the player that each new area has new enemies, but this rule is broken later in the game and instead you fight to reach the same end-game boss 3-4 times.

Noice

It's a fun roguelike which leans heavily into the "One more run" mechanic to keep you at bay. The combat is fun and the controls usually work quite good. The curses are interesting and can really enhance your run (despite their negative main effects), The Enemies are generally interesting and the art style and athmosphere is great. There are a touch to few biomes for my taste, but I can see beyond that for the price point.

Great game, similar to Hades

great

Obviously not perfect; for me, it's an 8 in the normal walkthrough.
If we speak about the platinum, it's a 5 too much grind.

Very enjoyable experience that became too hard for me to continue in the harder difficulties although for 5 bucks i spend for this game i can say money well spent.

Difficult but fair, took a lot of time for me to work up my skill but was very rewarding in the end. Lore and story is given through codex entries so you only get it if you look for it, beside amazing visual style!

Had to edit my review because the end of the game SUCKS COMPLETE A$$. AVOID THIS GAME AT ALL COSTS. Not even worth a buy ON SALE. One of the final levels the final boss HEALS so you can't even do any fucking dmg to it and it might as well be a 40min boss fight because of it and the boss kills you in seconds AFTER you have to do THREE MAPS WORTH OF ROOMS and get your health sapped from you as much as possible all along the way. I could barely even make it to that horsesh*t boss and after I did I was fucking DONE. Fuck this game I don't EVER want to play it again after seeing this. And to think I was having some fun up until that point. So many things wrong with this game I could write a book over. A complete waste of time and fuck whoever made this game. I wouldn't buy another game from them with a gun to my head. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL GAME! Didn't even think twice before uninstalling this piece of shit

The best things about "Curse..." is that you can master it and has no BS mechanics that will kill you. If you died, it's on you.

The worst thing is that it is bothersome.

Somewhere in the middle of the game you will become spammed with spongy enemies. Full of HP with armors that are easy but time consuming to dispose.

Moreover darkness mechanic is bothersome w/o adding any meaningful layer to the game.

Also RNG is strong in this one. Which again - os bothersome considering that most of weapons is on "meh" or worse side. Some goes for traits etc.

So yeah, most of your runs you will end up with things that aren fun to use, takes time and you will start getting hurt because you tried to cut corners so you dont have to play it for so long... And this. This exactly what makes it thumbs down game.

I hope these dead gods don't curse me

I don't know why I let this sit unplayed in my library for so long. But now I'm glad I did. Much better than I expected. I am really enjoying the pacing so far. Unlike many other games of its genre, it hasn't forced me to die repeatedly to gain miniscule progress.

boring game with monotonous content

good

phenomenal dungeon crawler, solid weapon variety, intuitive; all in all controversial take but CotDG > Hades
main reason I bought it again after switching from console was nothing scratched this games itch.

A great little roguelite, deceivingly simple, incredibly addictive, and fairly challenging.

The combat system is pretty tight, easy to learn but challenging to master. I wish there were a few more weapons to add more variety, but there's already quite a few to choose from, depending on your playstyle and what you're comfortable with.

Admittedly, once you reach the hard mode things start getting a little too challenging fast, and there's no further upgrades to help you push through. You just need to "Git Gud". But if my only real criticism of the game is that its challenge mode is a little too challenging, I think it's pretty safe to say I would recommend it wholeheatedly.

cool as hell, love the art style and the massive arsenal, worth every penny

It's an interesting game with lots of potential but so many poor game design decisions.

For instance the game has a curse system, which is a pretty cool design overall, especially fitting with the themes of the game. They even have some really cool mechanics that can alter the base itself like Hullucination and others. However the completely random way Curse are dealt with isn't a great decision. For instance there are some that can completely cripple builds and you can get Cursed right before boss fights and have literally no options at all for dealing with them since the only ways to remove a Curse are random too.

Again some potential in the game, but many of the decisions made in design were just half baked and need further cooking, hopefully in the designers future games they have more developed concepts to work with.

this game needs tuning...

Dislike the darkness mechanic. There is a whole torch button that just seems like busywork saddled with clunky weapon change animations. Hasn't clicked for me yet as I might not be good enough at these games. I did beat Hades but this seems more unforgiving and finicky. You have to be almost perfect with the dodges and parries. I can see how it would be fun for masochists though.

very fun game

Addictive

A big thumb up to this amazing game. Totally liked it!

It feels like a cheap copy of Hades without any stories.

For me, this game is challenging. At the same time, beating a boss is quite gratifying! I've struggled with dodging and can't parry well, but I am slowly getting better. If this sounds like a good time for, I would 10/10 recommend this game. I am honestly really enjoying it.

yes