Village of the Curse Review: A Forgettable Trip to the Countryside

We all know the trope: the quiet, picturesque village that hides a dark, occult secret. It is a staple of horror films and games alike, and it is exactly what developer Leakage Games is aiming for with Village of the Curse. Available now on Xbox, this first-person horror title sets you up as an investigative journalist looking into an abandoned village, but unfortunately, the experience is as hollow as the buildings you explore.

A Predictable Horror Experience

The story relies entirely on environmental storytelling rather than dialogue or cutscenes. You wander through a dark, desolate village, using notes to guide your objectives and warn you of dangers. While the game attempts to build an atmosphere, it leans heavily on overused horror cliches. You will see ghosts zip through you and witness rooms rearrange themselves, but none of it feels fresh or particularly frightening.

The game does attempt to break the monotony with sequences that transport you to a dream-like world. These moments are arguably the visual highlight of the game, offering a brief departure from the otherwise generic building interiors that feel like they belong on an Xbox 360 rather than a modern console. The audio does some heavy lifting here; the unsettling drones and environmental creaks are much more effective at building tension than the visual jump scares.

The Problem With No Stakes

The biggest hurdle to enjoying Village of the Curse is that there is no combat and no way to die. Once you realize early on that the "main villain"—a witch—and her ghostly apparitions cannot actually harm you, the fear factor evaporates. The gameplay loop becomes a series of chores, specifically tasking you with finding three crosses scattered around the map. Because you can only carry one at a time, you are forced into tedious backtracking that serves only to pad out an already short experience.

For achievement hunters, this might be a tempting pick-up given the easy 1000G on offer, but for anyone looking for a compelling horror game, it is difficult to recommend. It tells a functional story that treads extremely familiar ground without doing anything to stand out in an already crowded genre.