By Aimee Rogers 
You’re three runs deep into Cursemark, the promising new hack n slash roguelite making waves in the roguelike community. The combat clicks, progression feels meaningful, and then you notice something. The rain isn’t just there for show, it’s slowing your character down, messing with your dodge timing, and making that boss fight feel genuinely different from your last attempt.
Weather effects in roguelikes aren’t new, but the execution usually amounts to visual noise and maybe a minor stat penalty. Cursemark appears to be treating environmental conditions as actual mechanical variables. Randomizing them across runs means you can’t memorize a perfect strategy. Each attempt forces adaptation.
The implications are significant. In a genre where player skill and RNG already dance an uncomfortable tango, environmental variables could push the needle toward genuine unpredictability.
The community seems cautiously optimistic, though some valid concerns have surfaced. Will weather effects punish certain build types unfairly? Can a player actually overcome bad RNG, or does a stormy run feel predetermined to fail before you even swing your blade?
Interested to know if the weather system improves the gaming experience? Head over to Steam and download the demo today.
Steven Andrew