15 minutes is all you need in this roguelike action RPG to feel like a maxed-out Diablo god laying waste to an entire screen of monsters

A dozen roguelike action RPGs show up on Steam every month, but none of them have grabbed me like Cursemark. I play plenty of these games and know how long of a grind it usually takes to feel like you have a satisfying combination of skills that you could call a build. In Cursemark, I was wiping the screen clean of monsters in just 15 minutes.

That's impressive for a game that's not even finished yet. The early access version of Cursemark—which dropped today—already has enough in it to keep me replaying its first few levels, and developer Clyde Games plans on adding a lot more over the next several months.

The studio's previous game, Into the Necrovale, shares some DNA with Cursemark: Pixel art, skeletons, and hundreds of unique items that combine into devastating builds. Action RPG fans who like mowing down waves of monsters without much difficulty seem to love it. From what I can tell, Cursemark is more akin to a soulslike with dodge rolls and tanky enemies, which means it takes a little longer to ramp up your character into a monster-slaying god.

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I had enough runes stacked onto my fireball in one run that I could barely see what I was fighting behind the trails of fire covering the battlefield.

Every run of Cursemark is about surviving long enough to tip the scales in your favor. Basic spells, like a fireball, can be upgraded with runes that increase their damage and size or weaken enemies with various status effects. I had enough runes stacked onto my fireball in one run that I could barely see what I was fighting behind the trails of fire covering the battlefield.

The longer your run goes on, the tougher the enemies get. It's not always possible to keep up with them depending on how lucky you are with drops. I tried to protect myself from enemies I couldn't see through all the flames with a spell that coated my character in defensive ice, but eventually got shredded by massive sword swipes I couldn't anticipate. If there's anything I hope to see ironed out during early access it's the lack of visual clarity as you accumulate more and more power.

(Image credit: Tyler C. / Clyde Games)

Even though it can be tough with so much on your screen, it's still fun to see how ridiculous all the effects get once you're deep into a run. While you don't need to manage your gear, you can swap around your runes at any point to experiment with different combinations. In my last run, I was saving up some currency to unlock an ultimate ability that summons a cloud of hornets that chase after enemies. The woman in the game's main hub offers an assortment of different elemental spell schools to permanently unlock, like a list of spells that shock enemies and have a higher chance to deal big critical hits.

Much like other action RPGs, Cursemark has a dictionary of keywords to help you understand all the effects to play with. People with a buildcrafting brain will probably catch onto the synergies even faster than me. But even if you're not an expert, you'll start to see how the pieces fit together as you familiarize yourself with the different effects runes provide. It didn't take me very long to realize how broken it is to increase the size of your spells so they repeatedly apply DoTs on everything in the room—which then sets you up to clear them out with spells that deal bonus damage to anything affected by those DoTs.

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(Image credit: Tyler C. / Clyde Games)

Cursemark is the perfect kind of little roguelike action RPG to play on a lunch break

The depth of Cursemark's systems on top of a world filled with secret passages, shortcuts, and optional challenges, changes how you approach each run. And even if you die—and you definitely will—you always have something to bring into your next attempt, be it permanent upgrades or the knowledge of a smarter route to your destination.

Cursemark is the perfect kind of little roguelike action RPG to play on a lunch break or when it's late and all you want to do is smash monsters while chatting with some friends. I'm excited to see what kinds of spells and areas get added over time because it's already a blast.

There's a free demo you can play right now on Steam, or you can pick up the game on sale for $12.74 (from $14.99) until June 22.