The Curse of Issyos - Thoughts

How Locomalito's Curse of Issyos is both 1) not on Steam and 2) free to download baffles me. It's a Castlevania tribute set in Greek mythology, swapping bats and mermen out for harpies and... well, mermen. The experience lasts a little under an hour on a successful playthrough, and puts up a decent challenge without going overboard on the difficulty (I think it's roughly as hard as Super Castlevania IV). Curse of Issyos isn't as universally approachable as Shovel Knight is, but for fans of NES platformers, the minotaur-slaying adventure is an absolute must-play.

One of the important things to understand about Curse of Issyos is that it doesn't try to do anything ambitious—it's just a really polished game. There are health upgrades to pick up and two different weapons to try out... and that's about all you get for customization. The writing, sprite work, and music aren't super memorable, but they're of a professional quality and serve the game well. The real draw of Curse is its stellar level design, introducing new enemies and hazards with every stage. The levels aren't complex but they're littered with smart (ie dangerous) obstacles, like bouncing rocks in Stage IV and the cycling spirits in the underworld. Personally I find that for old-school platformers, refinement trumps novelty—and Curse of Issyos demonstrates why.

Foes share traits with Castlevania's bestiary but it never feels like Locomalito is copying from Konami's template. The bosses are especially impressive, avoiding the repetitive & easy patterns of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon in favor of simple & randomized attacks. It's likely you'll have to die to a couple to get a proper feel for their attack patterns, but Curse of Issyos rarely throws the player any unfair curveballs; as long as you persevere, victory will be yours in the end.

Althouuuugh that statement comes with a dirty little asterisk. My only real gripe with Curse of Issyos is that reaching its true ending requires a lot of flawless playing, thanks to a notably cruel design decision: you don't get healed after boss fights. I don't think it's a monumental task to beat the game without using continues, but one poor boss encounter can quickly throw a wrench into that plan, especially if you happen to lose your spear. Throw in a couple convoluted tasks required to reach said ending, and I recommend that most people just play the game without worrying about a replay.

I think it speaks to the high quality of Curse of Issyos that despite finding the true ending path annoying, I didn't really mind playing through the game four times to achieve it. Locomalito knows his chops: the controls are solid, the enemies are dangerous, and there's enough randomization that that you can't get through it based on memory alone. Curse of Issyos is an exemplary model of why I love old-school platformers, and it's made me very eager to try out Maldita Castilla EX.