A story driven medieval fantasy adventure inspired by oldschool RPGs of the past. Explore a sprawling open world, converse with its many inhabitants, fight its varied monsters and unravel the story of Rothar Aercrest – the cursed lord to the remote woodlands of Imberthale.
All Reviews:
Very Positive (158) - 94% of the 158 user reviews for this game are positive.
Release Date:
Mar 10, 2023
Developer:
Publisher:

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Early Access Game

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Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Cursebreaker is a large open world game that requires thorough testing, balancing and bugfixing. As we're developing with a small indie team, early access allows us to better receive feedback on such issues from a variety of players with different perspectives. This will also help us consider different playstyles as we balance the game, and to make necessary changes to turn the gaming experience as smooth as possible for the official release patch.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Our current plans are to achieve a fully featured and polished state of the game by early 2024, so in approximately one year.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“During the early access we strive to find and fix as many bugs as possible, flesh out and balance the character progression and crafting systems with player feedback in mind, and increase the amount of side content/questing and rewards that can be found throughout the large open world. We'll also strive to improve the game's performance/stability especially in currently demanding areas.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The Early Access release offers a full main story adventure in a large open world, including functioning character progression and skills systems, as well as some side quests rewarding exploration.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We may consider raising the price once we conclude Early Access, if it seems to us that the added content and improvements in the state of the game warrant it. Naturally those who buy the game in its Early Access state will not be affected.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“We will continue listening to comments and suggestions carefully, as we have done in our development and playtesting thus far. Feedback to us is best shared on our Discord community, the link to which can be found on our store page. But there are also avenues of sending us feedback straight in game, such as bug report forms that can be found in the menu.”
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About This Game


The Black Grimoire: Cursebreaker is a medieval fantasy adventure RPG inspired by the ‘oldschool’ atmosphere of adventure games of the past. Journey through a sprawling open world, converse with its many inhabitants and unravel the story of Rothar Aercrest – the cursed lord to the remote woodlands of Imberthale. Increase your power by advancing your skill levels and acquiring powerful items, unlocking special attacks and spells which will aid your way in defeating the worst monsters that lurk in the remote corners of the world. Choose your own playstyle and take your place as the most powerful adventurer to walk the lands!

  • Variety of quests with deep writing.
  • Numerous weapons and spells to employ in strategic combat.
  • Permanent choices that affect gameplay.
  • Large open world that rewards exploration.
  • Skills & Crafting systems that offer freedom of playstyle.
  • Customizable player houses to rest your weary bones.
  • Social multiplayer - meet other players in towns, taverns etc.



Tired of ‘epic tales’ of ‘world ending proportions’, Cursebreaker offers stories of human pettiness, revenge and greed - all the good stuff. In this game you're not yet another 'chosen one' destined to save all life from impending doom and gloom. Instead, you're Lord Rothar Aercrest - the feudal ruler to the remote woodlands of Imberthale. Or at least you used to be...



One fateful day your path crosses that of a dark wizard, Gabrius, who appears to be both tremendously powerful and frightfully malicious. Consequently you soon find yourself caught within a mortal feud between two powerful wielders of magic, all the while bound by a curse you desperately need to break free from.

If Lord Rothar is to know peace again, Gabrius must surely die. That might not prove to be such a simple task. After all, what is death besides a mere nuisance to the master of the Black Grimoire?


In Cursebreaker there’s no loading a save from a previous point in a playthrough, so the choices you are presented with tend to be permanent and can’t be taken back. Should you die in combat, you will simply continue at the nearest resurrection point, potentially having lost some of the valuables you may have been carrying. However, under normal settings dying should be relatively effortless to avoid - there are plenty of potions and other tools to guard against it. You may also find scavengers out in the world, who might be willing to sell any lost belongings back to you.


Character progression in Cursebreaker is tied to the various skills you can advance. Every interaction in game tends to give experience in some skill area and gaining higher skill levels will unlock appropriate interactions and abilities. While fighting enemies in close combat, for example, you might expect your Offence and Defence skills to increase. As they do, you unlock new passive and activated abilities, can wield more sophisticated weapon and armor pieces and gain access to new traits from the appropriate trainers.



The spellbook offers a large variety of both combat and non-combat utility. Finding and learning new spells may prove a challenge in itself, and casting more demanding spells will require preparation, such as gathering specific ingredients. Feel free to create your own playstyle by using any combination of ranged and melee weapons and spells!



Chopping trees not only gives you crafting materials but also increases your skill in Woodsmanship, which may give you access to hidden areas in the wild and help you fight beasts. Similarly, you can advance Alchemy by finding and picking special herbs and crafting simple potions, but you will also be able to make bombs, poisons and more.

Every skill should provide you with something unique and be worthwhile to practice. Advancing skills may also unlock hidden options when interacting with objects and NPCs in game. Available skills currently in game include Attack, Defence, Archery, Sorcery, Smithing, Crafting, Tailoring, Alchemy, Mining, Woodsmanship, Fishing and Cooking.




We aim to provide what we call social multiplayer in Cursebreaker; this means you will be able to see your friends and other adventurers online in some areas of the game, but the interactions are limited to social functions only. You’ll be able to chat with them and inspect the equipment they’re wearing, but you won’t be able to trade with them or otherwise engage in gameplay-related activities with them. You can also opt out of the multiplayer in settings if you don't care for it.


Two authentic players chatting.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • OS *: Windows 7
    • Processor: 2.0 GHz Dual Core Processor
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: GTX 550 Ti or better
    • Storage: 4 GB available space
* Starting January 1st, 2024, the Steam Client will only support Windows 10 and later versions.

What Curators Say

17 Curators have reviewed this product. Click here to see them.

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