Curses & Indulgences

Two Modifier Systems

The game adds variance through two persistent modifier systems:

• Indulgences: buff modifiers applied to your own units.
• Curses: strengthen / debuff modifiers applied by the enemy as a persistent challenge.

Modifier Systems Map

The game layers four distinct modifier systems — don't confuse them:

• Indulgences — buff modifiers you apply to your own units (your build axis).
• Curses — persistent modifiers the enemy applies as a standing challenge.
• Relics (forbidden / cursed) — items you collect between fights that rewrite the run's rules and open new synergies.
• Cell effects — the 18 tile effects on the ritual grid that change unit behavior by position (see Grid Placement).

Sources: Steam Store Page · GAMESCENSOR Beginner's Guide.

How Curses Affect Matches

Curses change unit behavior or grid rules as persistent modifiers, forcing you to leave room for counterplay in your build. Understanding which Curses can be offset by which Indulgence is part of the deeper strategy.

Confirmed Modifier Counts

Per the official "How Much Content Awaits You" announcement, the persistent-modifier economy is fixed at launch:

Example Curse Mechanics (confirmed)

The developer's Indulgences & Curses post names concrete curse behaviors (not just flavor), confirming the design space:

• Steal essence — drains the essence you'd spend recruiting / buying items.
• Lock one of your units — freezes a unit so it can't act or be repositioned.
• Give the enemy a mobility advantage — lets enemy units shift targeting/position to punch through your frontline.

These are examples of the 9 Curses; the full named list is being extracted from the public demo client. Source: Steam Community announcements (unit/item data).

How the Curse System Is Structured (Demo datamine)

The 9 names are still encoded, but the demo client's own string table already describes how the system works. Three structural details are recoverable and genuinely useful:

• Curses unlock progressively. The client ships a curse-locked-until message together with an indulgence-curse-picks-awarded counter — Curses are gated behind play milestones rather than all being live from the first run, so expect the difficulty curve to widen the deeper you go.
• Curses and Indulgences are chosen separately. A Meta_SeparateCurseIndulgencePick flag marks the two systems as distinct selection steps — you are not trading one against the other inside a single menu.
• Part of the Indulgence pool is built around Curses. Three indulgence keys read curse-lock, curse-minus-essence and curse-negative-cell-effect, so some ally buffs interact directly with the Curse layer. Their in-game text is still encoded, so we publish the keys rather than invent wording.

Curses also surface on the ability side: the client carries curse-buff-attack and curse-buff-health descriptions, meaning Curse modifiers can push enemy attack and health up rather than only debuffing you — which is why counterplay belongs in the build, not in mid-fight reactions.

Structural facts recovered from the demo client's string table (AppID 2577030). Names and exact wording remain encoded; nothing above is inferred beyond what the keys state.

Where this lands in play: the build framework treats the Indulgence you draft as the axis of the whole roster, and the game systems page shows how these modifiers stack with relics, items and the shop.

Indulgences Recovered (Demo datamine)

20 of the 24 Indulgences have been recovered from the demo client's own localization keys (AppID 2577030) — real names, first published here. The remaining few sit in the client's undecoded config; all 9 Curse names are still pending (see below).

• Alchemists Crystal
• Attack Transmuter
• Before Battle Do Damage
• Bubbling Cauldron
• Buff Attack on Level Up
• Buff Defence on Level Up
• Buff on Level Up
• Cell1
• Cell9
• Contract
• Curse Lock
• Curse Minus Essence
• Curse Negative Cell Effect
• Defense Transmuter
• Divine Hand
• Mortar and Pestle
• Plus Attack at End of Prep
• Plus Defense at End of Prep
• Shared Pouch
• When Chosen Level Random

Official totals: 9 Curses + 24 Indulgences = 33 persistent modifiers. Names are derived from the demo's localization keys (exact capitalization may shift at launch). Source: Steam Store Page (demo store page).

Curse Names (pending)

The 9 Curses are confirmed official (and 3 concrete mechanics are known from the developer's post), but their individual names are not exposed via localization keys — they live only in the demo's GlobalSystemConfig MonoBehaviour, which current tooling cannot deserialize for this Mono build. Confirmed curse mechanics so far:

• Steal gold
• Lock one of your units
• Give the enemy a mobility advantage

Status — nothing invented: the complete named list of all 9 Curses publishes as soon as the config is decoded (AssetRipper, or a type-tree rebuild for this Mono build). Until that data is in hand this page lists only what is verified, and says so.