Review: Cursed to Golf is a stroke of genius

videogameschronicle.com:

It’s often said by pedants that “golf is a good walk ruined”. But what if walking was replaced by teleporting?

This is just one of many supernatural quirks to be found in Cursed to Golf, a hugely entertaining indie title that claims to be the first ‘golf-like’ – that’s part golf game, part rogue-like. Cursed to Golf puts the player in the plus-fours of an unnamed golfer who’s on the cusp of superstardom when tragedy strikes.

Just as he’s about to make the winning putt to claim his first international tournament trophy, the fittingly named Eternal Golf Championship, a massive bolt of lightning strikes his club and kills him. It’s not all bad news, however (though it mostly is). The lad finds himself in Golf Purgatory, where he’s welcomed by the Scotsman, a massive ghost golfer wearing a kilt.

The Scotsman tells our hero that he can escape Golf Purgatory if he can make his way through an 18-hole course in a set number of shots. If he pulls it off, he’ll be resurrected and put back to where he was right before making that final championship stroke.

Naturally, this is easier said than done, because each of the holes is a lengthy affair that looks more like a platformer stage, complete with the likes of teleports, TNT blocks, fans and various other hazards designed to get in your way.

The gameplay loop in Cursed to Golf is straightforward enough: each stage gives players a set number of shots, and the aim is to reach the hole before they run out. There are almost never enough shots to reach the hole, so players have to hit the ball off gold and silver statues along the way, which tops up their shot count.

If they can reach the hole within their set number of shots, they proceed to the next one, but if they fail to do so, the game