Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse

About

Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse is a single player and multiplayer hack and slash game with fantasy, anime and dark fantasy themes. It was developed by Frontside 180 and was released on March 4, 2026. It received positive reviews from players.

A Metroidvania x Roguelite, where you advance using a cursed hat. Use a variety of magic or possess your enemies to reach the lowest levels! Bring back loot, build new facilities in your village, make a living and strengthen yourself for the next battle! Supports up to 4-player multiplayer.

Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse screenshot

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88%

Audience ScoreBased on 126 reviews

gameplay32 positive mentions

grinding21 negative mentions

Charming and cute art style with expressive animations and good music.
Smooth and satisfying combat with unique possession mechanic adding strategic depth.
Co-op multiplayer is well-implemented and enhances the experience; village-building adds a relaxing break and progression layer.

Procedural generation is limited with repetitive room layouts reducing variety and exploration freshness.
Some gameplay mechanics feel grind-heavy and progress gated by resource farming, causing pacing issues.
Stiff controls and occasional bugs/crashes harm polish and overall smoothness of player experience.

gameplay
79 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
50%
9%
The gameplay is generally praised for its smooth, fun, and rewarding combat combined with a unique possession mechanic that adds strategic depth, drawing comparisons to Hollow Knight and Dead Cells but more forgiving. While core mechanics and progression systems are solid, some players find the base-building and crafting aspects tedious and the roguelike elements occasionally frustrating or underdeveloped. Overall, the game offers an enjoyable, addictive experience with room for polish and expansion, especially in increasing variety and refining certain systems.
- “Dead Cells gameplay (but a lot more forgiving and without as much variety) with co-op, some base-building and RPG progression, and a Hollow Knight-esque art style.”
- “A unique combination of mechanics I've never seen put into a Metroidvania with unlockable attack and movement upgrades but also creature possessing mechanic that changes your abilities and movement and serves as a second health bar; combat and movement is tight, solid enemy variety though I'd like to see more possessable enemies in a future update, the more options the better; the art style's quite good, with a fast travel system built into the dungeons to help speed gameplay up; I can easily recommend this game for fans of Hollow Knight or if you liked its style but were put off by the greater difficulty you'll like this, 7/10 well above average, could use a bit more polish. I look forward to seeing what the devs do with it from here.”
- “The gameplay overall is very smooth and feels rewarding when you learn how to time your attacks and find openings in your opponent's attack patterns whether they be the frequent mobs or the bosses you come across.”
- “The basebuilding sections between actual gameplay are probably the worst I've ever experienced, especially as someone that doesn't like gathering resources, or waiting for things to build, or gating upgrades behind resources that randomly drop from specific stages.”
- “They have now made crafting even easier, reducing the gameplay loop since you won't need to upgrade time reduction anywhere near as much, made it possible to cancel healing potion drinking while keeping the healing effect which feels like straight up cheating since now there's no consequence to spamming your potion button mid combat, and they increased the already decent attack range by a further 20%.”
- “[Edit:] Unfortunately I have to dock a point or more off of the game review score now since the devs seem intent on repeatedly nerfing the gameplay.”
graphics
35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
48%
9%
The game's graphics feature a charming, cute, and whimsical art style heavily inspired by Hollow Knight, which many players find appealing and distinctive. While the visuals are generally clean and enjoyable with smooth animations, some elements like background art can appear pixelated, and graphics settings are limited, preventing customization on high-end hardware. Overall, the graphics effectively support the game's engaging gameplay and unique mechanics, contributing positively to the player experience despite minor polish drawbacks.
- “[h3]nevergrave: the witch and the curse[/h3] stands out immediately thanks to its beautiful and charming art style.”
- “All the animations are top tier, the movement feels great, and I loved the art style of the game.”
- “The art style is charming and it works well.”
- “Never Grave has very limited graphics settings, meaning you can't push it beyond its default visuals even on high-end hardware.”
- “Limited graphics settings even on high-end hardware.”
- “The graphics are basic but readable, which helps during fights.”
grinding
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game integrates grinding into its progression, item upgrades, and village management, blending it with action roguelite and building elements. While some players appreciate the depth it adds, others find the repetitive grinding and crafting mechanics tedious and occasionally excessive, especially since combat variety is limited. Overall, it offers a chill experience but may not appeal to those who dislike repetitive progression tasks.
- “The game relies heavily on repetitive grinding for character upgrades and even some base decorations.”
- “The home decoration also feels like filler, with certain items locked behind tedious grinds that limit your creativity.”
- “The building and crafting mechanics are really tedious too, basically open world survival crafting game levels of grind.”
music
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
22%
17%
The music in the game is generally praised for being relaxing, well-composed, and fitting the cute art style, creating a calm and enjoyable atmosphere. Some users noted occasional repetitiveness and suggested improvements like enhanced audio cues and adaptive layering to increase variety. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a strong, positive aspect that complements the gameplay experience.
- “The gameplay is smooth and a good balance of difficulty, the village building is enjoyable, the artstyle and music are excellent, while it has no x-factor that brings it to a 10/10 for me I'd say it's like an 8/10 at minimum.”
- “It offers gentle, relaxing music that sets a calm atmosphere for your journey.”
- “The dungeon, music and art have been great and I love the difficulty of the game.”
- “What I do find lacking is the soundtrack and some audio cues for actions.”
- “My recommendation for the devs is to fix the audio actions first, and then for an easy yet utterly effective approach to the music: add onto the area music with new verses and have more instrumentation added the deeper you get into the run.”
- “You've already done adaptive music well enough with entering water; I believe you can have it update based on the floor you're on for a dungeon.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
67%
The game offers moderate replayability, primarily appealing to those aiming for full completion or cooperative play with friends. While it provides a substantial playtime of around 40 hours and encourages item collection, its limited weapon variety may reduce motivation for repeated runs typical of roguelites. Overall, it suits fans of metroidvania roguelite hybrids seeking a solid but not highly varied replay experience.
- “So yeah, it's a good game that'll take a good chunk of time to fully clear it (40 hrs maybe more). There isn't a ton of replayability unless you want to 100% or start over with a friend who's new, but for what it is, I think it's pretty good, and definitely worth giving a shot if you have friends interested or just want to try out a game in the metroidvania roguelike genre.”
- “Lots of replayability to go back and obtain all missing items.”
- “So yeah, it's a good game that'll take a good chunk of time to fully clear it (40 hrs maybe more), but there isn't a ton of replayability unless you want to 100% or start over with a friend who's new.”
- “You only get one melee weapon, which would be fine if this was a metroidvania, but this is a roguelite and meant for replayability.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor is lighthearted and charming, enhanced by cute drawings and amusing animations. Some unintentionally funny bugs at launch added to the enjoyment, especially in multiplayer settings.
- “The drawing is cute and the animations are funny, especially when she shakes her head or shrugs.”
- “There were some funny bugs on launch, and it's just overall quite fun with more people.”
story
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The story is simple and not heavily developed, serving primarily as a backdrop for gameplay. While some players appreciate the character designs and wish for more dialogue or lore, the game’s main appeal lies in its enjoyable, grind-focused experience.
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game demonstrates strong stability with no reported bugs or glitches during play, ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted experience.
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is limited, with appealing character designs but minimal dialogue or lore, leaving players wanting more story depth behind the characters. The game is enjoyable for casual play and grinding despite this.
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features gentle, relaxing music that creates a calm and soothing atmosphere, enhancing the overall experience.
- “It offers gentle, relaxing music that sets a calm atmosphere for your journey.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features excellent optimization, delivering smooth performance with tight controls and no crashes or bugs reported. Overall, it runs flawlessly and provides a seamless experience.
- “Music is good, controls are tight, performance is perfect, no crashes or bugs encountered.”

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133h Median play time

105h Average play time

50-160h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse is a hack and slash game with fantasy, anime and dark fantasy themes.

Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5 and others.

On average players spend around 105 hours playing Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse.

Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse was released on March 4, 2026.

Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse was developed by Frontside 180.

Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse for its gameplay but disliked it for its grinding.

Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Chasm, Wizard With a Gun, Have a Nice Death, Frozen Flame, Ravenswatch and others.

Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse

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