Din’s Curse review

Anyone with a shred of interest in frantic RPG titles should be familiar with Depths of Peril or Kivi’s Underworld, titles that build upon the industry standard set by Diablo and manage to work in their own unique flavors. Soldak’s latest offering is Din’s Curse, which once again capitalizes on outstanding traditional mechanics while distinguishing itself among the crowd.

The story is a familiar one, as well. The main character has been a real jerk in his past life, so a certain deity has plopped him in the middle of a new town to help make amends. Scurrying around and talking to NPCs opens up a variety of quests, which typically require you to venture into the treacherous dungeons full of nasties. There is plenty of loot to be found on these quests, which make for excellent points of gloating when you’re in cooperative mode. In truth, it’s the reward of character progression that keeps your interest piqued as you plod along, facing one danger after the next.

The class sets themselves are standard fare; there’s the heavy-hitting warrior, the stealthy thief, and so on. However, Din’s Curse spices up the playing field with class combinations, so you’re able to develop the sneaky abilities of the thief and combine them with say, the magical talents of the wizard. Admittedly, stealthy moves offer great potential when combined with all sorts of things. Those in doubt need only try wheedling their way into the middle of a crowd of unsuspecting baddies, then blasting them with some horrific spell or other. Each subclass can be further developed with a number of skills, either gradually or by hoarding points until you can afford that one awesome feat you’re dying to try out. Din’s Curse boasts around 140 potential combinations, and experimenting with each one will no doubt extend the game’s somewhat lean campaign.

One major feature of Din’s Curse is the randomization of the world. Whether you have access to a particular villager for a quest, or the layout of a specific dungeon area, is really dependent upon whatever random content the game generates. While possibly intimidating for genre newcomers, most players should not find this sufficient cause for panic. To begin with, you’re still exerting considerable control over your character’s actions – the game even offers you a difficulty setting for each area, if you decide you want to fight an easier or tougher group of enemies. More importantly, the random elements keep the game from become too stale and predictable. You’re not certain when the game will go from calm to messy in the blink of an eye, and much like the real world, there is really no telling what the game world is going throw at your next.

For those with questionable processing power under their belt: Fear not, for Din’s Curse shall bear no heavy burden upon your CPU. True, the graphics are mostly simplistic and perhaps a bit grainy at times, but this just means more of you will get to enjoy it. The developers have clearly focused on the core gameplay, and the final product is one that is brimming with replay value. Din’s Curse strikes a remarkable balance between playability and depth, offering just about everything you’d want from a class-based RPG.