Cursed and Fading

Cursed and Fading is a roguelike in which a lich’s curse has scattered the player’s soul across a world of fog and ruin. The player is given a body that is fully equipped from the outset but steadily deteriorating. Each tile moved on the map costs one point from one of six attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma. The player chooses which stat to sacrifice with every step. If Constitution runs out the character dies, while letting the other attributes fall reduces the options available. The aim is to locate the lich’s castle somewhere on the map and defeat it before the character wears out.

Each run takes place on a procedurally generated map, and players can also enter their own generation seed. Runs begin at a Church, with Inns available to restore health, Merchants to buy equipment from, and Chests that contain gold, Soul Shards or gear. Combat resolves automatically, pitting the player’s equipment against the enemy’s abilities. Six classes set the starting stats: Archer, Knight, Heavy Knight, Mounted Knight, Samurai and Wizard. There are more than 400 possible pieces of equipment across Common, Uncommon, Rare and Legendary tiers, covering weapons, shields, armour, accessories and consumables. Inventory capacity is determined by the character’s current Strength and Constitution, so builds shift as stats decline. Death does not end a run: the soul moves to a new body, losing gold, inventory and equipment but keeping knowledge and previously slain enemies.

Soul Shards collected during play go towards permanent unlocks between runs. The game offers a Freeplay mode with Small, Medium and Large maps, and a Daily Run mode in which every player receives the same map and starting point, refreshing at midnight UTC. Daily Run scores on the Steam Leaderboards are based on how much damage is dealt to the lich in the fewest moves. The game supports keyboard and mouse as well as gamepad, with remappable bindings.