Action RPG (role-playing game) Din’s Curse—and its recently launched expansion Din’s Curse: Demon War doesn’t boast the sophistication or production values of inspirations such as Torchlight and Diablo II, but beneath its rough exterior beats the heart of an equally addictive action RPG rockin’ a strangely retro and even nostalgia-inducing vibe.
The original Din’s Curse was released by indie developer Soldak Entertainment in 2010, with the follow up expansion Demon War releasing in February 2011.
You play the starring role of a godless jackass tasked with serving the god Din to earn redemption. Din apparently has little better to do than hang around a town built over a dungeon and populated primarily by a) starving people; b) vendors, and; c) whiny quest-givers.
Sounds like the perfect excuse to go into dark places and murder monsters for their stuff.
Lots of class
One of the key, differentiating features of Din’s Curse that sets it apart from its peers is its class system. Succinctly, there are 7 primary classes, each with their own skill trees: Warrior, Rogue, Wizard, Ranger Priest, Conjurer, and Demon Hunter (added with the Demon War expansion).
Each base class gives you the choice of 1 of 3 subclasses. For example, if you want to be a warrior you must choose to be a Weapon Master, Defender, or Gladiator, and if you choose to be a Conjurer you must select a Warlock, Sorcerer, or Necromancer, etc.
There is also an 8th option: Hybrid. This option allows you to pick any two classes you want and combine them—such as a Weapon Master (Warrior) / Assassin (Rogue). All in all, this allows for up to 141 classes in the game. The only drawback to making a hybrid is that you get 1 less skill tree (2 total) than you would if you were to play a single class.
Hardcore and Weirdcore
In addition to the ridiculous number of class options, Din’s Curse: Demon War sports an almost equally diverse variety of game modes to increase the challenge. For example, you can play a game in Prima Donna mode, which means your character scoffs at mere uncommon and rare magical items and can only use magic items that are Set items, Elite Items, Artifacts, or Legendary.
Other modes include Hardcore (die and you die permanently), Hunger mode (you must eat periodically), Cursed (you can only use Cursed magic items), and Clumsy (you have ½ the Dexterity of a normal character). There are a total of 13 different modes that can be used in single or in co-op multiplayer.
She has a sparkling personality
Din’s Curse chiefly lacks in its production values, particularly compared to the likes of Torchlight and Diablo II. The graphics are (at best) ‘a little’ ugly and the user interface looks like it was crapped out of 1992. The music is dull and the sound is adequate, but at least it doesn’t get overly annoying.
On the other hand, a lot of these elements give the game a certain retro charm. And the gameplay and core mechanics are still just as addictive as its better looking peers.
A delving we shall go…
As expected, Din's Curse revolves around entering dungeons (most of which look pretty much the same), killing things, taking their stuff, and finding/collecting various things in order to complete quests.
Naturally, along the way you will find tons of randomly generated dungeons, goodies, and a continual stream of quests from the townsfolk fueling your endless drive to find better gear. Yes, it’s an old formula—and yes, it still works pretty well.
Although Din’s Curse lacks some of the deeper elements found in Action RPGs (such as a ‘crafting’ system, gem socketing, and the like), it does include many of the staples of the genre. There are lots of monsters, champion monsters and named ones, and all kinds of randomly generated treasures. There are also some interesting environmental effects. For example, you can find levers to pull that might detonate some barrels, or switches to step on that might trigger a door or chest to open. You can also collapse pillars to bring boulders crashing down on your enemies, and there are plenty of traps, pressure plates, and secret doors all waiting to be triggered (for good or ill).
The game also features some interesting quest dynamics. Granted, most of the quests are fairly repetitive and lack any real quality story elements, but many quests in Din’s Curse can occur spontaneously—such as certain townsfolk who begin starving to death (and they will die if you don’t help them), or the sudden incursion of monsters into the town. In addition, some quests can only be accepted and then finished within a certain time frame.
For example, you might be slogging through a dungeon in search of your next pair of Boots of Butt Kicking when the town comes under attack. You can choose to ignore the alert and quest for footwear, or you can try to get back to the town (through the dungeon’s ‘gate’ or your portal stone, both of which essentially serve as your ‘town portal’).
If you don’t make it back to town on time, you’ll lose Reputation with the townsfolk. And when you return to town you’ll find some dead townsfolk around town. On the plus side, you can search the dead bodies and find loot, and you can always gain reputation by completing more quests. Townsfolk and your Patron Deity Din are a fickle lot.
Other oddities include feisty townsfolk picking fights with one another. For example, for no apparent reason one vendor might start fighting another vendor. In one session a Townsperson (or other vendor) just ran up and started smacking the armor vendor with a sword.
Fortunately, no one was hurt—the loser simply ran away. (A shame, come to think of it. Looting the loser’s body might have been interesting).
Overall
If you’re looking for something to keep you until Torchlight II ships later this year and Diablo III ships…whenever Diablo III ships, Din’s Curse and its companion Demon War are a great and relatively inexpensive way ($30 for both) to pass the time. Ugly is only ‘skin deep’ and a diamond in the rough is still a gem. You can purchase the game directly from Soldak Entertainment’s home page.
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