Cursed to Golf | PS4 Review

Thunderful's 'Cursed to Golf' takes club swingin' to the next level, and when I say the "NEXT LEVEL" I mean purgatory. Like that line from the undead golfer in Bill Murray's "Scrooged" you find yourself 18 holes in on the final shot, and the next thing you know you're a worm's feast. Dropped down to the great below in an afterlife of perpetuated golf tournaments against some of history's greats. Through the guidance of the resident Scotsman, and local Eterni-Tee business owner you are given a tour, and how-to before being sent on your repeated roguelike adventure course by course to ascend back to life. Supposing you can master all 18 holes.

As a famed Golfer at the Eternal Champions Golf Tournament you're, at one moment, being cheered on by the crowd of onlookers while shortly thereafter being struck by lightning from an encroaching storm. As all golfer greats do you end up in Golfer's Purgatory. A place run by the Greenskeeper, and governed by Golf God. Here the rules of golf are different though, and apart form the standard sand traps, lakes, and roughs you'll face more obstacles in the form of a more maze-like course. Filled with otherworldly hazards, and bonuses to partake of.

Equipped with your trusty driver, wedge, and iron clubs you set out to get out. Golf mastery isn't gonna carry you through easily though, and that's where things like the Bird View, Ace Cards, and Skills come into play. With the clubs, in particular, comes distance, speed, and arch advantage. With the driver you can hit the longer shots. With the wedge the closer ones, and with the iron the medium range ones. In addition to that you can alter the power of the strike, and gauge the trajectory with a dotted line pointing to where the ball is likely to go. With Skills outside of your club assortment like that of spin you can alternatively cheat by redirecting the ball where you want it to go if it misses the mark. 

Ace Cards, which can be bought with tournament winnings, will afford you bonus perks too. Including more tries, time stops, mulligans, and TNT detonators, among other things. These will help you take advantage of the course's shortcuts. This alone is a big help in that you would have to mind every shot or at least take advantage of the gold and silver statues along the way that gift you extra turns upon being hit. Plotting and planning is the key though, and to do that the Bird View will allow you to pan over the entire course before a shot to find where the final hole lies, and where best to land the ball.

Like any roguelike the randomization of features in "Cursed to Golf" is a thing. The courses themselves are randomly built, and feature a series of branching routes to various stops. This includes the 18 holes, tee offs with boss golfers, shop stops, and other points of interest that will help you get one step closer to where it is you need to be. The Eterni-Tee shop itself is a course shop stop wherein you can buy more Ace Cards, Albums, and even change your golfer's appearance. Something you'll definitely need to be better prepared for considering the increasing challenges that lie ahead. In the end the goal of each run is to obviously beat the 18th hole for ascension sake. There's story to be had though, and twists will likely to be found along the way. Not to mention the fact that you can see how other players fare at the Eterni-Tee's scoreboard.

The Verdict ...

(REDACTED) I honestly could not complete a full run in this game. I got the first skill after the first failure, and could not complete that skill tutorial no matter how much I tried, or how differently I approached the required shot. I think this is a huge flaw in game design, and will likely stump a lot of players when they get to it. 

That aside the game has promise. It is one of the more interesting roguelikes I've seen this year. It's 2D pixel presentation, and animated art style really brings the characters, and world alive. It's a nice looking game, and gameplay is what you'd expect from a quality roguelike experience, but with a lite golf take. It's more akin to what I'd call an Arcade Golf experience than adhering strictly to golfing standards. The mechanics, for the most part, are easy enough to pick up on and understand. Even that roadblock I hit with the spin skill still managed to get it's point across to me even though I could not progress beyond it. I would have really loved to have seen what a full playthrough would have looked like, but I was not able to get past the 3rd hole, and some cart stops. Nor that skill tutorial. Seeing as I experienced what I did I cannot yet recommend this game. It has great potential, but it could use some improvements. Should the developer fix these roadblock instances with a patch I will definitely give the game an enthusiastic recommendation.

UPDATED VERDICT: After having figured out how to handle the tutorial, "Cursed to Golf" opened up allowing me to see it for what it's worth. It's a really good roguelike that is both challenging, and high in replay value. The overall presentation is solid. A true hole in one. Both the visuals, and audio show a level of excellence not usually associated with lesser indies. Dare I say it, but this plays more like a Double A game. Coming from a studio and publisher I've not personally seen much from this is a feat in and of itself. I loved the quirky characters, and the otherworldly appeal as well. Even the randomized world comes to life in notable fashion. A character in, and of itself. While the roguelike elements are not wholly new, it is the golf inspired gameplay that carries this title to greatness. It dares to do something different, and does that something different exceptionally well. While it will take some getting used to the arcade-like mechanics accompanied by the golf mechanics blend perfectly to create something that is properly integrated. Challenging, perhaps, but done in such a way as to be understandable. It's because of all of this that I can recommend, "Cursed to Golf", enthusiastically!!! It put a smile on an old gamer's face.