Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Cursed to Golf starts with a wonderfully nervous kind of golf. You are not calmly lining up a putt on a tidy fairway. You are launching a ball through side-view courses full of spikes, TNT boxes, fans, teleporters, and other hazards, trying to finish each hole before the par count disappears. That pressure makes even a seemingly safe shot feel like a commitment.

The smartest twist is that the course is also a route-planning problem. Birdie-Eye lets you look over the whole hole, then decide whether to take the direct line or chase gold and silver Shot Idols that restore precious shots. A missed angle can turn a clever detour into a miserable recovery attempt, but that tension is exactly what gives successful runs their punch.

Ace Cards keep the game from becoming a pure exercise in precision. Powers such as Scattershot, U-Turn, Rocketball, and Mulligans can rescue a disaster or open a new approach, and learning when to spend them is as important as hitting cleanly. With more than 20 cards in the mix, the game has enough room for improvisation without losing its focus on careful shot placement.

The randomly ordered course structure and four biomes help the 70-plus holes avoid feeling like one long, flat gauntlet. Still, the central punishment is severe: fail to beat a hole within par and you return to the beginning of the course. If you enjoy roguelike runs where one mistake can erase a strong stretch of play, that sting will feel motivating. If repeated restarts drain your patience, Cursed to Golf can turn from clever to aggravating fast.

Graphics

The 2D side-view courses make the ball’s route easy to read, even when a hole becomes a packed obstacle course. Spikes, explosive TNT boxes, fans, and teleporters give the golf layouts a playful dungeon-like look, while the changing biomes keep Golf Purgatory from being just a procession of similar greens.

The ghostly caddies and fantasy-golf setting fit the premise neatly. The artwork’s strength is clarity: you can quickly take in the terrain and see why a reckless shot is likely to go wrong.

Story

You play the Cursed Golfer, killed in a freak accident just before the winning shot of an international tournament. That is a silly, effective excuse to make every round matter. The trophy you nearly won becomes a nice bit of motivation, even if the real hook is escaping Golf Purgatory.

Each course is overseen by a ghostly Legendary Caddie who teaches the strange rules of this afterlife. It is a light framework rather than a story-heavy adventure, but the caddies give the trip through purgatory a little personality and make the escalating golf trials feel intentional.

The premise works because it never asks you to take its misery too seriously. You are cursed to golf forever, yet the game treats that fate as a setup for supernatural trick shots and increasingly ridiculous hazards. Anyone wanting a deep character drama should look elsewhere; anyone who appreciates a playful sports-game premise will be on its wavelength.

Overall Experience

Cursed to Golf earns its strongest moments when a hole initially looks impossible, then a full-course look and one well-timed card reveal a route through it. The feeling of scraping through with your last available shot is excellent, and the game is good at making ordinary golf decisions feel unexpectedly dramatic.

Its frustration is not incidental. Starting a course over after falling short is a harsh demand, particularly when hazards and a bad bounce have already consumed a careful run. Yet the game gives you meaningful tools to manage that danger, so failure usually pushes you to rethink a line, preserve a card, or make a more ambitious grab for an idol rather than simply swing again.

This is an easy recommendation for golfers who want their sport turned into a compact action-puzzle challenge, and for roguelike fans who can accept substantial setbacks. It is less welcoming if you want a relaxed round, but its sharp blend of planning, execution, and last-second saves makes the punishment worth enduring. For a straightforward overview of its core ideas, the publisher’s Cursed to Golf description lays out the same trap-filled premise.

Retro Replay Score

7.7/10