In Cursed Golf, you’re a champion golfer mortally struck by lightning who tries to take the hell out of golf. It’s a great spin on roguelike, as you’ll have to clear 18 holes on a monstrous series of courses or be doomed to a scifi nightmare of pouring greens.
The game is laid out like a side-scrolling roguelike, with random holes, items, and prizes, though you only move as you hit the ball instead of using traditional platforming. The maps are wide and multi-level and you have to get your ball to the hole within a set number of swings, lending a satisfying puzzle element to the whole affair. Do you use a barbell and take a few extra swings on the safe route, or break the driver and move through the pool of water ahead? You have five swings per hole, but there are devastating trophies on the map to increase that total. Power-up cards also ease the burden, give you more swing before failure, or let you take practice shots and the like. Some of them go really crazy, causing the ball to manifold or change direction mid-flight.
As the difficulty increases, cards become necessary. The new biomes – there are three primary areas, all with their own themes and constraints – offer ever-increasing challenges, increasing in complexity. You would like to collect as many cards as possible to have a chance. It absolutely backs up from losing all your progress, as a full run can take a really long time. The time to finish a hole generally increases with complexity, and boss holes can last particularly long.
Fortunately, the longer you play, the more comfortable you’ll feel with each club – they all have different power levels and tasks to master. This will allow you to remove air from the opening holes. The randomization that comes with roguelike can burn you out, but the game is generally quite forgiving, and fun enough that it evokes the roguelike feeling of “one more run”.
The game covers just about everything that he sets out to do. The pixelated graphics are vibrant and varied, the writing is witty and macabre, and the music is superb – albeit repetitive. All aspects of the title come together harmoniously, creating an unexpectedly funny and funny roguelike with a refreshingly unique premise.
Source
