Cursed Companions Review

As a general assumption, I imagine that the majority of readers will have (at some point) played a multiplayer treasure-hunting/looting game. After all, this new genre has become increasingly popular in recent years. With that in mind, most of you will know that communication is pretty paramount, so what if there was a game that turned your voice into a threat as well as a tool? That is the basic idea behind Crimson Forge Studio’s long-awaited Cursed Companions. The question now is if this is a speech worth hearing or if it’s time to mute your PC.  

As with most titles that use the team-based formula, there isn’t really a story of note here; it’s more just worldbuilding. You and your friends are a group of small Imps, tasked by the mysterious Lady to gather treasures in several different worlds before the timer runs out. Manage it, and you gain her favour; meanwhile, if you fail, then it’s punishment. Honestly, while it might not be the deepest plot in the world, it’s more than enough to give a reason to go hunting for loot, and that’s all that really matters. 

So, how do you go about gathering said trinkets? Well, on the surface, it’s pretty simple: you have several days to gather a set number of treasures, with the necessary portal only being open for a few minutes on each day. Of course, each of the worlds comes with a variety of threats in the form of strange creatures that want little more than to chomp on the odd imp that crosses their path. These include giant walking braziers, mimics that copy your friends' voices, and more. For the most part, you can only run to get away from them, but you have a wealth of different options to help defend you and your friends.

As I said, one of the main points of Cursed Companions has to do with voice chat. You see, most of the creatures and items can only be defeated with certain phrases, like telling your wand that you love it to heal someone. However, this is a big double-edged sword, as certain phrases can hurt each character. When you start playing, you’ll only get wounded by a single word, like saying “leave”, but as you die and collect everything you need, you’ll get afflicted by more and more words. As such, each conversation can become a minefield as you wound your friends with “accidental” words. 

It’s an interesting mechanic, and it really helps push people to actually use voice chat in games, but as a counterpoint, it makes it much harder for some people to play with strangers. We’ve all got some horror stories when it comes to online voice chat, I’m sure. So when it works with a good group, then it’s great, but if it doesn’t, then the game loses the one unique thing it has. I also quite like the Resurrection Dice mechanic, which has you rolling to see if you come back to life when you die (although in my case I died again a literal second later).

In terms of the visuals and the overall design, the maps themselves look great and exploring them is usually a real charm. There’s a bunch of traps and dead ends that you need to be aware of, and it can be really stressful when there’s a monster on your heels. The only issue is that many of the hallways look the same, but the larger rooms soften that a bit. The monsters and imps both look great, with each player having a wealth of different customisation options to work with. 

Cursed Companions isn’t exactly revolutionary, but at the same time it offers an interesting diversion from titles like Lethal Company. If you love playing these games with your friends, then I would have no issue recommending it. The only caveats are that you have to have voice chat, even in public games, so be warned. The second thing to be aware of is that, for the most part, there’s not a lot of real variety in the game, so you won’t be able to play for hours on end without getting a bit bored, but that’s almost a staple of this kind of title now.