Curse of the Past (Nintendo Switch)

So, there’s this game, “Maliki – Poison of the Past,” and yeah, it’s a mouthful, right? It’s supposed to be this combo of turn-based fighting, time-travel puzzles, and running your own little village. Sounds cool, sure, but man, it’s all over the place. Like, it can’t decide if it’s a tactical game or just cozy chill time.

I mean, sure, it’s labeled as an RPG – and that part’s pretty solid. But suddenly you’re also sim-farming? It’s like you’re growing veggies and, hey, discovering these weird sections of land, which is fun. But then you’re stuck doing chores, chopping grass and breaking rocks. It’s like they borrowed some gameplay from other popular games. Feels kinda out of place? Also, about that cozy vibe – try grinding forever for a boss fight while dealing with weird glitches and tell me how cozy you feel.

And oh, those RPG bits? Cool but like a stop-start dance. Dialogue and cutscenes pop up constantly. They look great, don’t get me wrong, but I just can’t get into the characters. Except for Maliki – everyone else, I’m like, “The guy with the spiky hair?” If you know the webcomic, maybe it’s different. I didn’t, so I was lost half the time.

Now, the time travel thing? Totally awesome. Instead of the usual knights and castles, you’re bouncing around an ’80s farm, a ’90s school, even the Louvre. Enemies are quirky too – animals and, uh, stuff turned evil? Yeah, it’s kind of a hoot hunting for items and having a laugh along the way.

But then, those mazes… ugh. Even the game characters aren’t fans. It’s like you need a GPS but nope, just swap characters endlessly to figure it out. And it’s not just students blocking your way in one era, now it’s tourists. Gets old quick.

Now, the music – wow! Big props there. It’s super varied and some tracks remind me of Zelda. And you can tweak the volume for everything? Nice touch. A small win but hey, I’ll take it.

Characters have neat powers but using them? Eh, good luck. Prompts appear randomly thanks to bugs. You think, “Hey, use this ability now!” then nada.

So yep, glitches. Crashes galore. I’ve reset my Switch so many times trying to unstick this game. Some parts aren’t even explained and there isn’t a map. Like, ever play a 30-year-old RPG? They had maps! How’d they skip that?

This game, it’s like they yanked it off the tree too early. Still, it’s got some creative spark; it’s just bogged down by a bunch of annoying stuff. Potential’s there, just needs a big ol’ patch.