Golf is one of those sports that most people love or hate. I’m on the fence and watching it bores me to tears, playing down the local pitch and putt with a few mates is far more interesting. When golfing in video game format, I tend to stray away from realistic experiences and go the crazy golf route. Cursed To Golf is a totally unique spin on the sport and brings retro-style visuals with roguelike elements and lots of spontaneous moments. This is an indie that will test your patience but will also sink its claws into you at the same time, you can’t help but like its originality. Can you surpass all 18 holes in this challenging yet frustratingly addictive adventure from Thunderful Publishing AB and Chuhai Labs?

Introduction

I was genuinely surprised to see Cursed To Golf grasp onto a little bit of storyline before you dive into the core game. You’ll be introduced to a cutscene where you play the part of a professional golfer who is about to embark on victory in a tournament when a bolt of lightning strikes you dead. Bit morbid isn’t it? This isn’t the end though, your soul ends up in an abyss away from what you’re normally accustomed to.

You’re greeted by the ghost of the Scotsman who explains that you must work your way through 18 holes of golf before you can resurface back to the real world. Sounds simple knocking a ball around an 18-hole course, doesn’t it? Well here it definitely isn’t a simple feat and I’d like to introduce a video from a friend of Complete Xbox to demonstrate this. Special shoutout to Paul from Thistle Do Gaming for his Paul by Myself video which is well worth a watch and shows the opening sequence of the game and some awesome content throughout.

Gameplay

The gameplay loop on Cursed To Golf works totally different to how you’d operate on a real-life course. Planning and precision are key here as you’re given a limited amount of shots per level rather than an unlimited amount. How you choose to follow each course is totally up to you but you have to be mindful of obstacles that will hamper your run. At the beginning of each course, you’re granted five shots to try and reach the hole and putt. Run out of shots and you’ll be sent right back to the very start again but there are ways and means to achieve more shots and some other cool power-ups that help you on the way to victory.

Take Your Shot & Ace Cards

Playing shots is super simplistic with an easy-to-follow power progression bar and an arc that depicts the angle of the shot you’re about to take. You can switch between clubs at any moment which can determine different angles and get you out of sticky situations.

Before you start each run you’ll also have a deck of ace cards which you can redeem at any given moment. They could be as simple as adding another shot, making some TNT explode in a certain range or freezing the ball mid-air to drop below you. It’s a card system that works really well and without using them, you’ll have a really tough time making it through the round of 18. You can earn more cards randomly as you progress or buy them from the store in-game. Don’t use them and lose them, but you can slot extra cards into a virtual binder to take through to rounds as you please.

Boss Fights & Obstacles

There are of course boss fights throughout your time with the same but they serve more as an extra layer of obstacle. Along the way, you’ll come across the usual sand bunkers and rough but also a plethora of other hazards. Spikes, TNT boxes, pools of water and more will take you a step back from reaching the hole, so take your time and aim for accuracy.

Graphics & Audio

The art style in Cursed To Golf is fantastic and I don’t think the game would have been as great in any other aesthetic if I’m honest. The entire game is illustrated with a cascade of colourful retro 16-bit style visuals that are smooth and sharp in animation. I felt that the fluidity and motion of how the ball moved after a shot on screen were by far the most impressive. I was expecting every shot to be predictable or it to become a bit repetitive when knocking the ball around the courses. It was the total opposite and switching between the different clubs and using the power meter makes for a different play every time.

Whilst I enjoyed the soundtrack and found the music to be very catchy, it also became a constant loop after a while. Whilst it didn’t really bug me, I could see some potentially becoming irritated with it. Some more meat to the music could have solved this. Whilst there wasn’t any spoken narrative throughout, the written text was well displayed. I would have loved to have seen a bit of Scottish accent from the Scotsman but never mind!

In Conclusion

Cursed To Golf is a title that joins the list of indie must-buys in 2022. Whilst the gameplay can be absolutely punishing when it comes to the difficulty, it is super rewarding when you pull off some shots you thought you weren’t capable of. When I first fired the game up I was expecting a short experience as 18 holes doesn’t sound all that much on paper. Not only did the holes that I played through have different paths you can take for each one, but each run of the game can also provide different ones that you haven’t played. After reading into this, there is a possibility of playing across 70+ different courses as you plough through the game. This gives the player reason to dip back into the game at any moment and adds real longevity and replayability.

Cursed To Golf has it all, to be honest, the challenge, humour, variety and the ability to test the gamers’ patience. You don’t have to be a golf fan to enjoy the experience and I love that I have reason to keep going back to tick off holes that I haven’t seen before. If you’re after something that is super casual but will have you scratching your head at times too, then this is a title that I absolutely highly recommend.