Last year, Hell Clock took us by surprise with its fast-paced blend of action RPG and roguelike mechanics. Now, Cursed War returns with a fourth act that gives us every reason to step back into its brutal world. Since we’re big fans of both Diablo’s heavy-hitting combat and Hades’ run-based structure, we felt right at home from the very beginning. The story immediately caught our attention thanks to its inspiration from Brazil’s tragic War of Canudos, but it was the gameplay that kept pulling us back.
Every dungeon run is timed. You can disable the timer if you want, but doing so strips away much of what makes Hell Clock stand out. With the clock constantly ticking, every decision carries weight. We were always weighing whether to push deeper into dangerous territory in search of better gear or cut our losses and survive. The game rarely lets you play it safe for long, and that’s exactly what makes each run so exciting.
Combat gives you plenty of freedom to experiment. We loved mixing quick knife strikes with heavy swings from the massive bell while combining relics into some incredibly satisfying builds. Even after finishing the three-act campaign, the Endgame Ascension system kept us invested by letting us customize the difficulty with modifiers while chasing new abilities. It became one of those games where “just one more run” turned into several.
Hell Clock: Cursed War arrived on Steam last week with little fanfare, adding a fourth act that expands the experience in all the right ways. Rather than reinventing the game, it builds on the foundation that made the original so enjoyable.
This time, the story dives deeper into Pajeú’s past, exploring how the Paraguayan War shaped him into the person we came to know throughout the campaign. It made us appreciate this overlooked hero even more, while the new abilities fit naturally into the combat system and open up fresh ways to approach battles and exploration.
The new biomes quickly became another highlight. While some environments still recycle visual assets here and there, Hell Clock’s distinct visual style remains unlike almost anything else in the genre. Just as memorable are the enemies that inhabit these twisted landscapes. Individually, most of them aren’t especially complex, but they attack in relentless waves that constantly force you to react. Combined with the ever-present timer, every fight becomes a frantic scramble where hesitation is usually punished.
Looking back over the past year, we often found ourselves wishing for new places to explore and more ways to upgrade the bell. Cursed War delivers exactly that while continuing the story in a meaningful way. It doesn’t try to reinvent an already excellent game, and it doesn’t need to. It simply offers more of what made Hell Clock so easy to recommend in the first place, making it an expansion that fans of the original shouldn’t miss.
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