Have you ever booted up a game and felt “I’ve played this before” ? Well, that was the immediate thought when I started up Verho: Curse of Faces for the first time. I knew King’s Field had inspired developers Kasur Games previously, but I couldn’t help but be amazed at how much it actually sent me back in time.

A Story With A Twist

In Verho, people, humanity, have almost been wiped out. 600 years ago, the world was cursed. Faces became a mark of death. If one were to see a face then, boom, gone. All of a sudden, a savior appears. The Maker. The Maker saved and protected humanity from the curse by creating Masks. The Masks shielded faces from being seen, thus preventing people from dying off if you were to look into a person’s direction.

You play as a Masked hero looking for the truth in the Kingdom of Yariv. Why was the world cursed? Was this something that could be reversed? Many traveled into Yariv to seek these answers yet no one came back. It’s your turn.

Gimme That Nostalgic Feel

In Verho: Curse of Faces, you feel like you are placed back into the Golden days of gaming. With an art direction that is styled after those old King’s Field games, you instantly know what you are dealing with. Instead of Skyrim or Dark Souls level realism, we are getting atmosphere and world design based on (my) childhood. Pixelated characters and enemies fill your journey, and the charm of the PS1/2 days surrounds you at every step.

It’s spooky, eerie, and straight up fun. Finding secrets scattered through the levels, or accidentally running up to a new and powerful enemy make exploration a good time. This adds to the world setting because you will come back to certain areas for quests, secrets, or branching paths.

Even the areas you find NPCs waiting for you feel like the older eras and I could not help but smile and grin as I was walking through some of these spots.

But Is Your Combat Crunchy?

Crunchy indeed. Enemies feel good to whack (I went with a Knight on my first playthrough. Because: Big Sword) and fight against. They don’t all have the same patterns and the majority have their own movesets. There is something fun and anxiety inducing when you stumble upon a new variation or brand new enemy. “Will this one kill me?” is a question I asked a bit. The answer was usually yes.

This is not a hack and slash type adventure. Verho rewards patience and timing. Smashing the buttons on your controller will offer weaker hits and have you ending up in trouble more than anything. If you get crushed by an enemy, it’s honestly more on the player than anything else. I love that.

There are a variety of weapons and magic (runes) to choose from. Swords, daggers, axes, you name it. It’s used. You can upgrade and transform these weapons into more powerful versions of themselves and it’s a joy to do so.

One thing I really liked was the ability to add stat points pretty much wherever you wanted. You can even find little stations throughout where you can eventually reset the points if you’re not happy with your current build or just want to try another one.

It’s hard to recreate the souls-like (or King’s-Like?) feel nowadays and Verho absolutely succeeds in that regard. It’s hard but not too hard.

Caution: Some Flaws Ahead

I really did enjoy my time with Verho, but it is not perfect.

Random difficulty spikes can appear at times. You may be pretty overpowered in one area and then get demolished in the next. While it is not completely often, it could throw you off the pacing of the game.

I also feel the audio was a little unbalanced at times. While the voice acting itself was not an issue, the voices were often low and drowned out by the other audio around it. There were a few times when I thought a character was not actually voiced so I skipped the dialogue, only to hear them talk the next time I went up to them.

I did mentioned how I loved the nostalgic feel for the game, that is true. However, I sometimes forget how quests and missions from back then can be convoluted. While discovery is more preferred over guidance in Verho’s case, sometimes I would absolutely forget where I had to go or what I had to do. I ran around quite aimlessly after a few NPC’s requests. While I may be at blame for this, I feel some information to reference without going all the way back could be nice.

Final Thoughts

Verho: Curse of Faces will not be for everyone who looks at it. And it is definitely not trying to be. It IS for nostalgic gamers who want to relive those classics on modern-day hardware. While there were some little issues getting in the way of my playthrough, it was nothing that would make me tell you to skip this game.

However, if you have been aching to jump back into some older gaming with souls-like feel, Verho: Curse of Fates deserves your attention. It may be very clearly inspired, but I consider that a good and actual refreshing thing.

I give Verho an 8/10.

Looking for more Don’t Revive Your Friends? Check out some of the posts below!

• Verho: Curse of Faces Review – A True Blast From The Past
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