External Links


curses.z5
Release 16: latest version of the game.
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
curses-r7.z3
Release 7: first released version, lacks much of the material in later versions.
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
curses-r8.z3
The second public release. (compiled with Inform v634)
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
curses-r9.z3
Release 9: first expansion of the game, adding about 20% more content.
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
curses-r10.z3
Release 10: the fourth public release, compiled by Inform v1171. Included with the Apple IIGS port of the ZIP interpreter.
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
curses-r12.z5
Release 12: published in Acorn User magazine, August 1994.
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
curses-r14.z5
Release 14: historically important for rewriting the game to use the standard Inform library.
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
Curses.sol
solution
CursesR16.sol
solution
curses​_rel16.txt
author's blurb
Curses.step
solution
Curses r16 solution (550 points)
A walkthrough for Curses! release 16 (all 550 points). This walkthrough is based on the walkthrough above by Marc Leduc. There is also a file with prepared save-files (indicated in walkthrough) in the ZIP archive below. The save-files are saved in Windows Frotz 1.​22.
Curses r16 solution - save-files
Prepared save-files (Windows Frotz 1.​22) for above walkthrough.
(Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.)
Invisiclues (progressive hints)
Progressive hints for puzzles in the game.

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Curses

by Graham Nelson

Haunted House, Historical, Travel, Time Travel
1993

About the Story

"As "Curses" opens, you're hunting about in the attic of your family home, looking for a tatty old map of Paris (you're going on holiday tomorrow) and generally trying to avoid all the packing. Aunt Jemima is potting daisies and sulking; the attics are full of endless distractions and secrets; Greek myths, horoscopes, sixth-century politics, a less than altogether helpful demon, a mysterious bomb plot, photography, ritual, poetry and a dream or two all get in your way; and somehow you keep being reminded of your family through the ages, and all its Curses... ...could it be that even you are Cursed?"
[--blurb from The Z-Files Catalogue]


Game Details

Off-Site Reviews

Gaming Enthusiast
The game is huge, well-written and thoroughly enjoyable, even though some puzzles prove to be a hard nut to crack.
See the full review

SPAG
How would you react when a seemingly simple situation in your attic transformed into ancient magic, past and present places and times, a mental tour of your own history, a "chance" to control the fundamental basis upon which the universe is founded, the discovery of ancient powers utilized by Merlin himself, Heaven, Hell, robot mice, and of course curses? I don't know about you, but I reacted by becoming glued to my terminal for about 50 hours straight. (Molley the Mage)

Curses is a classic, and it must be treated as such. Nelson has studied the great Interactive Fiction tradition from as far back as ADVENT and collected the elements that define the medium. He then blended and used them in a skillful way to create a masterpiece. (Nick Patavalis)
See the full review

SynTax
All in all, an engrossing and thoroughly enjoyable text adventure. I'd rate it up there with the Unnkulians and that's a quite a compliment coming from me. It's tricky but not impossible and I very much enjoyed the author's sense of humour. (Marion Taylor)
See the full review

Xyzzy News
"Curses" well qualifies for the title of "interactive fiction" as compared to the "adventure game" which strings together puzzles with little relation to the storyline. Apart from the descriptions, which are generally well written with an eye to atmospherics, you'll find bits and pieces of family lore that weave back and forth across a historical canvas, sewn together by your efforts. When (if) you finish the game, it should all make sense... more or less. (Conrad Wong)
See the full review

50 Years of Text Games, by Aaron A. Reed
Along with his compiler, Nelson also announced—by the way—a new full-length game in the style of Infocom that he’d written to test it. [...] It would soon become all anyone on the newsgroups was talking about, and remain that way for most of the next two years.
[...]
Curses is scavenger hunt meets Dante’s Inferno, “an allegorical rite of passage,” adventure game by way of historical footnote. It certainly owes a great debt to Infocom, recreating the company’s signature style even while literally resurrecting its technical bones.
[...]
Nelson, in the midst of his PhD, had found himself too embarked on a quixotic quest that bore little relation to his supposedly more pressing duties. The attics and basements of the Z-machine’s virtual architecture, and the ever-expanding house he was building within it, might have seemed a pleasant place to take refuge.
See the full review

Page Update History

  v.30: 11-Feb-2024 07:41 - Cerfeuil (Current Version) - Edit Page - Normal View
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v.29: 05-Dec-2023 19:35 - MathBrush
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v.28: 21-Sep-2023 20:39 - Zape
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v.27: 22-Jun-2023 23:47 - JTN
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v.26: 22-Jun-2023 23:47 - JTN
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v.25: 11-Jun-2023 23:37 - JTN
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v.24: 28-Aug-2022 04:19 - David Welbourn
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v.23: 23-Apr-2022 19:00 - oceow
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v.22: 20-Aug-2021 13:34 - heasm66
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v.21: 20-Aug-2021 13:26 - heasm66
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v.20: 20-Aug-2021 13:24 - heasm66
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v.19: 20-Aug-2021 13:22 - heasm66
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v.18: 27-Jun-2021 15:08 - Autymn Castleton
Changed title
v.17: 24-May-2020 12:35 - Zape
Changed download links
v.16: 15-Apr-2020 14:36 - Lance Campbell
Changed external review links
v.15: 09-Sep-2019 14:57 - Nathan
Changed development system
v.14: 04-Feb-2017 01:28 - Doug Orleans
Changed download links
v.13: 31-Dec-2016 17:08 - Doug Orleans
Changed IFIDs
v.12: 31-Dec-2016 17:01 - Doug Orleans
Changed download links
v.11: 31-Dec-2016 17:00 - Doug Orleans
Changed download links
v.10: 22-Sep-2013 12:16 - Edward Lacey
Changed external review links
v.9: 29-Apr-2013 10:52 - Sam Kabo Ashwell
Changed publication date
v.8: 16-Mar-2013 07:00 - Edward Lacey
Changed genre, external review links
v.7: 27-Jan-2013 11:01 - Edward Lacey
Changed external review links
v.6: 27-Jan-2013 10:56 - Edward Lacey
Changed external review links
v.5: 28-Apr-2010 04:15 - Emily Boegheim
Changed download links
v.4: 28-Aug-2008 20:57 - Maze
Changed forgiveness
v.3: 01-Mar-2008 16:24 - David Welbourn
Changed description
v.2: 18-Feb-2008 23:51 - Emily Short
Changed cover art
v.1: 29-Sep-2007 20:49 - IFDB
Created page