Curses can be strong ways to hurt enemies, a major threat to consider in combat, or an interesting part of a game's lore. Cursed people or objects have been the focus of folklore and religions for millennia, even dating back to the Epic of Gilgamesh and Hindu texts. More modern interpretations of curses often involve witchcraft, bringing bad luck to someone, or turning them into something else.
These curses and hexes have always been a staple of fantasy, and video games are no different. With some turning people into frogs and others subjecting them to eternal torment, the curses players will come across are as varied as the games they are found in. Here, then, are the 10 most dangerous ones gamers will encounter.
10 Dhoulmagus' Curse - Dragon Quest VIII
The Dragon Quest franchise has featured a curse mechanic since the first game back in 1986. While this status effect is certainly a problem, because it prevents players from acting in battles, the most dangerous curse in the series comes from the Kingdom of Trodain in Dragon Quest 8.
Here, the entire population has been turned into unmoving plants and the king and princess have instead turned into a troll and a horse. To make things worse, their only hope of being cured is some random silent guard.
9 Dread Curse - The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
While not the most dangerous curse ever invented, the Dread Curse: Strength effect is certainly the most annoying. Cast by Greater Bonewalkers in Morrowind, this curse does not wear off over time and greatly reduces the strength attribute, which governs carrying capacity and the damage dealt with weapons.
This leaves the player over-encumbered and stranded in the middle of nowhere, ready to be picked off by the next enemies they stumble into. While Morrowind certainly had lots of excellent features, there are few things more frustrating than getting afflicted with this curse with an inventory full of sweet dungeon loot and no restore attribute potions.
8 The Draug - The Witcher II
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
The Witcher universe is full of unique curses and hexes. In The Witcher 3, “Cursed One,” is a category in the bestiary. It contains monsters such as the werewolves in Skellige and Prince Sirvat in the Hearts of Stone DLC, who is cursed into the form of a giant toad. These cursed beings are sometimes the result of a spell, but can also arise out of land upon which a great deal of sin has been committed, as is the case with the Archespores of Toussaint.
The most dangerous of these curses are Draugs. These huge beings arise out of battlefields and command ghostly soldiers. In The Witcher 2, many players struggled in a boss fight against one such creature, and it is certainly true that one would not want to face the Draug without a silver sword on their back.
7 Cursed Enemies - Nioh II
In Nioh II, the most dangerous curse is not one that can afflict the player character but rather one that will affect your enemies. These cursed enemies only show up in missions when playing on the three hardest difficulties: Dream of the Demon, Wise, or Nioh.
Considering Nioh II is already hard enough as it is, these foes are a true menace. The curse grants them bonuses depending on the difficulty selected, from increased movement speed and damage to regenerative health and life steal. Because some of these cursed enemies are random, the levels become far more challenging as the player cannot predict when a powered-up demon is going to smack them into next week.
6 The Curse of Blood - Bloodborne
Trying to fully understand Bloodborne lore is a losing battle, but there are some details that players have uncovered. In The Old Hunter’s DLC the Hunter discovers a Fishing Hamlet in which the inhabitants worshiped the body of a Great One which had washed up on shore. The hunters were sent out to discover more and mutilated the villagers and the Great One’s corpse, finding an unborn child still alive inside it and experimenting upon it.
For these crimes they and their descendants were cursed with the constant desire for blood and fated to give in to their bloodlust, turning completely mad.
5 The Burning Pigs - Divinity: Original Sin II
In the player's adventures across Rivellon, they will come across many who ended up on the wrong side of Braccus Rex, the Sourcerer King. Perhaps the worst of these is the burning pigs found in the Hollow Marshes.
Although they were once people, these pigs now run around in constant agony for years as nothing could put out the flames. To be fair to Braccus though, pyrokinetic spells in Divinity: Original Sin 2 are hard to contain, especially in co-op.
4 Dracula's Curse - Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse
The curse status effect in the later installments of the Castlevania franchise is certainly a nuisance, as it usually prevents the use of weapons, but the curse that Dracula places upon Europe at the end of Castlevania III is far more dangerous.
When killed, Dracula’s last act is to curse the land and its people, causing all the vegetation to wither and making the people suddenly more violent. They begin to ransack and kill one another, threatening the entire continent once more, and showing exactly how powerful Dracula is.
3 Curse of Mortality - Dragon Age Origins
The entropy mage skill tree in Dragon Age Origins contains several hexes and curses to manipulate the body and mind. This becomes a major problem when enemy casters use the Curse of Mortality spell on a member of the party.
This prevents the character from healing, causes steady spirit damage to them for 20 seconds, and cannot be removed in any way. On higher difficulties this is simply a death sentence as players watch their health drain away, unable to do anything about it.
2 Curse - Dark Souls
The curse status effect in the Dark Souls trilogy is somewhat mysterious in origin. Some fans claim it was one of the experiments of Seath the Scaleless while others question why it was divided into curse and petrification in Dark Souls II. One thing all Dark Souls veterans can agree on though is that it’s a nightmare to deal with.
When the curse status bar is full in the first Dark Souls, the player character is instantly killed, no matter how much health they have. Then, after respawning at a bonfire, their total health is halved. To make this even more annoying, the Basilisks who inflict the curse status do so with a breath attack, making it unblockable and difficult to dodge.
1 Crimson Curse - Darkest Dungeon
The Crimson Curse is described as a mixture of a disease and a curse. Introduced in the Crimson Court DLC for Darkest Dungeon, this affliction can be gotten from almost every boss and enemy in the DLC, as well as many of the curios. Even more annoyingly, it can initially only be removed by defeating one of the DLC bosses.
While its first stage is not too dangerous, the curse gets stronger over time and can become a major headache as the character will begin to refuse any healing and cause massive amounts of stress to themselves and the rest of the party as they turn insane, shouting about how desperately they need blood.