''Din's Curse'' is an action role-playing game developed by
Soldak Entertainment. It was officially released March 31, 2010, for the
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
and
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
platforms. The retail game was published October 3, 2010, by Masque Publishing. This game evolved from the ''
Depths of Peril'' game engine and story universe. On August 22, 2012, the game released to Steam for the
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
and
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
, and
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
on April 23, 2014.
Gameplay
''Din's Curse'' is a
singleplayer
A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...
and co-op
multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
action RPG
An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre.
Definition
The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...
. It is a game in the mold of ''
Diablo'' with a point-and-click hack-and-slash style. It contains additional dynamic elements and events, 141 possible class combinations, an infinite number of programatically generated towns, plot consequences in the game that are directly dependent on the player's actions, and a dynamic game world.
In the game, the player is required to explore randomly generated undergrounds of varying sizes and layouts, killing monsters and solving quests, while improving the character by gaining experience points and acquiring better equipment. The game world keeps on changing in the background, both according to and independently of the player's actions, resulting in events such as monster uprisings in the dungeons, sudden plagues, or invasions of the town.
Players have an option to set the difficulty of the game worlds that get created. Options include slowing or quickening the pace by which events unfold, adjusting the starting level of the monsters, and playing at various modes of difficulty from Easy (low experience gain) to Hardcore (character's death is permanent).
Difficulty options also exist for individual characters. These options modify the amount of gold the player finds, the stats they start with, and the failure conditions of that character.
Singleplayer
The game world (the town and dungeons in which the events are occurring) is randomly generated before each new world level begins. Once into the world (which is essentially a town sitting on top of labyrinthine dungeon levels), the player must kill monsters and solve quests before the monsters begin to gather their forces to attack the town.
If the player fails to accomplish quests on time, a few things can happen: Someone else (a game engine generated NPC) could attempt and succeed, or attempt and fail (in which case a rescue quest might be spawned), or the monsters could advance their goals towards destroying the town. The game's numerous quests are supplemented by the need to ward off the occasional foray into town by monster raiding parties or assassins.
When too many things go wrong, a tide of monsters will surge into town. Once too many of the townsfolk get slaughtered, the player fails the overall quest of saving the town. If the player is able to keep things under control and with enough key quests solved, the town gets saved and the player gets rewarded with loot and the option of continuing onto the next town (the next world level), a step in the direction towards gaining Din's favor and winning redemption (i.e. winning the game).
Multiplayer
The multiplayer feature allows players to play cooperatively on the same server, hosted by one of the players. What is unique to about this feature is that there is no limit to the number of multiplayer connections that can be made; that is, any number of people can play cooperatively.
To connect to a server, one can create a server on a
LAN
Lan or LAN may also refer to:
Science and technology
* Local asymptotic normality, a fundamental property of regular models in statistics
* Longitude of the ascending node, one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in sp ...
, or the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
. Like in the singleplayer game, the game world is generated randomly and events unfold as time passes, except players can help each other accomplish the tasks at hand.
Plot
Players take on the role of an anti-hero, seeking redemption. Din, champion of the gods, has cursed the player's character into a second life of service after selfishly squandering their first life causing misfortune to everyone else. To gain redemption, they must impress Din by building a reputation for helping others. The character must travel in the world of Aleria from town to desperate town to save them from the brink of annihilation by monsters welling up from the deep. Until then, the character is doomed to wander alone for all eternity.
Modding
Along with the game,
Soldak Entertainment has also released a modding
SDK for ''Din's Curse''. The mod allows players to directly impact the way the game is played, from basic things such as raising or lowering the game difficulty to changing game dynamics (e.g. lowering or increasing damage done/taken, removing spiders from the game for those with
arachnophobia
Arachnophobia is a specific phobia brought about by the irrational fear of spiders and other arachnids such as scorpions.
Signs and symptoms
People with arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy in any area they believe could harbour spiders or that h ...
).
Reception
''Din's Curse'' has generated overall favorable reviews (Bytten: 94%; Co-Optimus: 4/5; GameZone: 8.0; The Adrenaline Vault: 4/5; AusGamers: 7.7; Gamersmint: 3.5/5) amongst online gaming sites. Following the successes of its predecessors from Soldak Entertainment, ''Kivi's Underworld'' and ''Depths of Peril'', reviewers appear to see ''Din's Curse'' as a suitable and much more dynamic successor. One reviewer from fidgit.com describes the game aptly with his article titled ''Din's Curse is like Diablo, but with dungeons that fight back''.
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
The ''Din's Curse'' websiteSoldak Entertainment User Forums
Role-playing video games
Action role-playing video games
Multiplayer online games
Cooperative video games
Windows games
MacOS games
2010 video games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games using procedural generation