Devlog: Cursed Items

22 Jan 2018Developer post

Source: Steam Community (opens in a new tab)

Greetings!

In this devlog we will talk about the cursed items, which were casually mentioned in the past devdiaries.

Cursed artifacts are the subtype of rare items. Cursed items are always generated unidentified. Equipping an unknown item is always a risk, and now we will explain why.

Let's start a little from afar. Cursed items are a classic feature of many old RPGs and canonical roguelikes. Usually curses are various limitations, which make the player's life more complicated. Often they cannot be taken off after equipment, which makes the cursed weapons and armor even more undesirable. However, this approach always seemed rather boring to us: in the end, the whole essence of the damned objects is diminished to avoiding them at any cost.

Therefore, it was decided to implement this mechanic the other way, in order to give players the choice and a certain room for maneuvers. We left the impossibility of unequipping the cursed items, but in return compensated it with greatly enhanced enchantments and additional bonuses. The cursed artifacts will always be much better than its usual analogues, which give a powerful incentive to actively use them. However, not everything is so simple: after all, cursed items aren’t called cursed for fun.

So, curses. According to Stoneshard lore, cursed items are the confinement places of evil spirits, defeated in times immemorial. Their souls were shattered into hundreds of fragments, which were reliably imprisoned in many magical artifacts around the world. Each demon had its own unique power. Thus, cursed objects hold a part of ancient powers, which you can use… for a price.

Each curse in the game has a special negative effect, triggered with a chance. With every turn this chance increases until it hits its maximum possible threshold. To slower this process, you have to kill enemies – the more and often the better. When playing with a cursed item you have to constantly blandish your imprisoned demons, engaging in battles and emerging victorious.

Here are examples of different Curses by different Demons:

Deceiver’s curse: up to 15% to obstruct control at every turn. +1 Savvy

Gorelust’s curse: up to 7,5% to lose some health at every turn. +4 Melee/Ranged Damage

Sufferjoy’s curse: up to 20% to increase pain at every turn. +4% Critical Chance

Gnawmaw’s curse: up to 15% to increase hunger at every turn. 10% Lifesteal

Mindwrecker’s curse: up to 10% to decrease sanity at every turn. +2 Psionic Damage

And finally, a small announcement. In the nearest future we will not be able to post devlogs on a weekly basis, since now we are completely focused on polishing the prologue, making balance tweaks and a lot of other important stuff. Due to this our devdiaries are going to be released a little less often – once in 2-3 weeks, when we have enough changes that can be shown without spoilering key prologue features. Hope you understand.

Until next log, see ya!

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