Review by: Troy Goodfellow

Din's Curse is not pretty. There is no angle and no resolution at which this action RPG does not look like it stepped out of a time machine from the year 2000. Names of items can obscure monsters you want to beat on, the dungeon's themselves are ugly and even the special collection loot is kind of dull. The ugliness even goes down to the gameplay level. In fact, the problems with Din's Curse are so obvious that it took me a good long while to figure out why I like it so much. There aren't that many monsters and they aren't very interesting. The quests do not vary much from town to town, dungeon to dungeon, and you can dead end in unexpected ways.

It is still one of my favorite games of 2010.

Din's Curse casts you as a hero who has somehow offended the great god Din. Like Hercules, you have to redeem yourself by performing labors, which generally amount to kill this and fetch that. Once you save one town, you are moved to the next one where the monsters get tougher and the loot gets marginally better.

This doesn't sound very interesting until the first time the monsters attack the town. While you are fighting your way through level 6 of the Labyrinth of Despair, you might get a warning that some boss monster has sent a minion or two to destroy the town you are supposed to save. If too many quest giving NPCs die, the town is lost and you must serve Din for a little longer. If you haven't found the gate/portal that teleports you to the surface, you will have to fight your way up until you find a route you can use.

The monsters fight each other, too, which is a great way of winnowing the hordes except for the fact that monsters can gain experience and status, too. A normal zombie is really no big deal; if he fights his way to champion zombie, though—watch out. Occasionally you will be asked to find a townsperson in the depths of peril, and saving them from death is no easy task.

The dungeons then become sort of a chaotic mash-up of wilderness and gladiatorial free for all where you can get overwhelmed, especially at lower levels. The monsters are rarely in high enough numbers or levels to pose a threat to an experienced hero, especially once you've unlocked some of the bigger feats and talents (fireballs, poison clouds, multiple target melee fighting) but it can be touch and go sometimes if you get stuck in a corner, low on healing potions.