Din's Curse
A dynamic action RPG where dungeons fight back.
Din's Curse is an action role-playing game from Soldak Entertainment, released for Windows and Mac OS X on March 31, 2010. A retail version followed on October 3, 2010, published by Masque Publishing. Built from the engine and story universe of Depths of Peril, the game later arrived on Steam for Windows and Mac OS X on August 22, 2012, with a Linux version on April 23, 2014.
The gameplay combines singleplayer and cooperative multiplayer in a point-and-click hack-and-slash style reminiscent of Diablo. It features 141 possible class combinations, procedurally generated towns, and a dynamic world where events unfold based on player actions. Players explore randomly generated dungeons of varying sizes, killing monsters and completing quests to gain experience and better equipment. The game world changes in the background, both in response to the player and independently, leading to events like monster uprisings, plagues, or invasions of the town.
Difficulty settings apply to both game worlds and individual characters. Players can adjust the pace of events, starting monster levels, and modes from Easy (low experience gain) to Hardcore (permanent death). Character-specific options modify gold found, starting stats, and failure conditions.
In singleplayer, each new world level generates a random town and dungeons. The player must enter the dungeons, kill monsters, and solve quests before the monsters gather to attack the town. If quests are not completed in time, an NPC might succeed or fail—potentially spawning a rescue quest—or the monsters may advance toward destroying the town. Monster raiding parties and assassins occasionally strike the town. If too many townsfolk are killed, the player fails the overall quest. Successfully keeping things under control and completing key quests saves the town, rewarding the player with loot and the option to move to the next town, progressing toward gaining Din's favor and redemption.
Multiplayer allows cooperative play on a server hosted by one player, with no limit on the number of connections. Servers can be created over LAN or the internet. As in singleplayer, the world is randomly generated and events unfold over time, but players can help each other complete tasks.
The plot casts the player as an anti-hero seeking redemption.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Din's Curse
- Developer
- Soldak Entertainment
- Publisher
- Soldak Entertainment / Masque Publishing (retail)
- Designer
- Steven Peeler
- Released
- NA · March 31, 2010
- Genre
- Action role-playing (hack and slash)
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Din's Curse is set in the world of Aleria, where players take on the role of an anti-hero seeking redemption. The character has been cursed by Din, champion of the gods, into a second life of service after selfishly squandering their first life and causing misfortune to others. To gain redemption, the player must impress Din by building a reputation for helping others, traveling from town to desperate town to save them from annihilation by monsters welling up from the deep. Failure means the character is doomed to wander alone for all eternity.
The game world is randomly generated before each new world level begins, including the town and dungeons. The player must explore procedurally generated undergrounds of varying sizes and layouts, killing monsters and solving quests while improving their character through experience points and better equipment. The world changes dynamically in the background, both according to and independently of the player's actions, leading to events such as monster uprisings, sudden plagues, or invasions of the town. If the player fails to complete quests on time, other NPCs may attempt them, or monsters may advance their goals toward destroying the town.
Multiplayer allows cooperative play on a server hosted by one player, with no limit to the number of connections. Players can connect via LAN or the Internet. The game also includes a modding SDK released by Soldak Entertainment, enabling players to adjust difficulty, change game dynamics, or even remove spiders for those with arachnophobia.
Reader's Guide
Din's Curse is significant as a dynamic successor to Soldak Entertainment's earlier titles, Kivi's Underworld and Depths of Peril, building on their game engine and story universe. Its key innovation lies in its reactive game world, where events unfold in real time regardless of the player's actions, creating a sense of urgency and consequence absent from many static hack-and-slash RPGs. The game offers 141 possible class combinations, allowing for extensive character customization, and an infinite number of programmatically generated towns, ensuring high replayability. Difficulty options allow players to adjust the pace of events, starting monster levels, and modes from Easy to Hardcore (permanent death), as well as character-specific modifiers for gold, stats, and failure conditions. The game received overall favorable reviews from outlets such as Bytten (94%), Co-Optimus (4/5), GameZone (8.0), AusGamers (7.7), and Gamersmint (3.5/5). One reviewer described it as 'like Diablo, but with dungeons that fight back,' capturing its distinctive dynamic nature. Its legacy includes demonstrating how procedural generation and persistent world simulation can enhance the action RPG genre, influencing later games that prioritize emergent storytelling and player-driven consequences.
Did You Know?
- Din's Curse offers 141 possible class combinations.
- The game world changes dynamically in the background, even when the player is not acting.
- Multiplayer has no limit to the number of cooperative connections.
- A modding SDK allows players to remove spiders from the game for those with arachnophobia.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Din's Curse?
Din's Curse is an action role-playing game developed by Soldak Entertainment that first launched in March 2010. It blends singleplayer and cooperative multiplayer in a point-and-click hack-and-slash format often compared to the Diablo series.
What platforms can I play Din's Curse on?
The game was originally released for Windows and Mac OS X, later expanded to Linux in April 2014. It also became available on Steam for both Windows and Mac in August 2012.
How is Din's Curse connected to Depths of Peril?
Din's Curse was built using the same game engine and story universe as Depths of Peril, meaning it shares its foundational systems and narrative world with that earlier title.
What makes Din's Curse's gameplay stand out?
The game offers 141 possible class combinations and procedurally generated towns, so no two playthroughs feel identical. Its tagline, "A dynamic action RPG where dungeons fight back," captures the reactive, ever-shifting world design.
Who published the retail version of Din's Curse?
Masque Publishing handled the retail release, which hit stores on October 3, 2010, several months after the initial digital launch.
More in Role-Playing Games of the 2010s, Part 2 1-24
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