Abracadabra!

Curse is now complete, final screenshots on show.

By Nathan Davis on 19 May, 2009

Curse is a Half-Life 2 total-conversion mod in which you wander through a house of mummies (among other nasties) and mess their shit up, all the while solving puzzles. You use analogue controls via the mouse to smack them around with a spiky morning star using your own thrusting style. As we’ve previously seen, the mod features some surprisingly polished yet creepy theme music, not to mention the sheer attention to detail in both level and character design. And it’s all created, in large, by one developer – Gabor Dosa.

Easy mode, nightmare mode, and level complete.

Just like Half-Life 2, it’s being produced in the form of episodes, albeit hopefully with more regularity. As of today, the first episode is imminently due for release. It’s expected to hit FilePlanet first, and although an unpopular choice, the developer has stuck to its guns on this matter. “Now, we managed to finish the mod, but we didn’t have any time to promote it,” it explains, implying this was the reason for choosing FilePlanet. “So, while the release date is May 18th, the mod will be not available for download yet, watch FilePlanet for an announcement.”

If you’re slightly crazy and just want to take the scenic route, apparently you can saunter through the entire game without so much as laying a single blow on a mummy, let alone seeing one. The developer has implemented difficulty level options directly into the game-world, itself, in place of a fourth-wall-breaking menu option. If you want more of a challenge, just keep pressing those buttons and pulling those levers.

“The game will not force you to fight hordes of mummies, or to solve all the puzzles,” says the developer. “If you like, you can just wander around and break all the vases and such, through the entire game till the credits starts to roll: that’s the easiest setting. But if you’re looking for action, just push a button here and there… and see what’ll happen.”

Open sesame: One of Curse's door puzzles.