One of my early quests was to kill Rotskinner, a named monster on level four of the dungeon underneath the town of Katofalls. I worked my way down to level four, doing a few quests along the way, discovering the stairways between each level and the gates that connect a level directly to town. When I got to level four, in a mad swirl of activity in a large central room, some sort of scaly horned scavenger rushed at me and started hitting me really hard. Checking his hit point bar at the top center of the screen, I saw that is was Rotskinner himself. I wasn't making any progress, so I retreated back to town to stock up on healing potions.

And going toe-to-toe with Rotskinner, with about eight potions, a shield, and a defensive warrior build, I still couldn't make any headway against the guy. I hit the pause key and checked his stats. Good lord, among his other abilities, he was sapping health from me with every hit. No wonder I couldn't make any progress.

Okay, never mind this whole "Kill Rotskinner" quest, I decided. I'd just bypass the guy and do other quests. I'd found the stairway down to level five, and once I found the teleportation gateway on level five, I could just go around this Rotskinner guy and do other quests until I saved the town.

But to understand how Din's Curse (available here for $25) isn't like any other action RPG, let me tell you how Katofalls was overrun by Rotskinner.

Normally when you play an action RPG, the world patiently waits until you've stocked up on health potions and you're ready to clear out a few levels. But in the continuing tradition of fantastic action-RPGs with head-scratching names and unforgettable twists, developer Steven Peeler's indie studio Soldak presents Din's Curse, another fantastic variation on the familiar Diablo-esque theme.

The artwork in Din's Curse, like the previous Soldak games, has that rough-hewn quality of an indie title getting by on the essentials, but it works well enough to let the gameplay get its hooks into you. This game isn't as simple as Kivi's Underworld, but it lacks Depth of Peril's the strategic layer of battling clans raiding each other's clubhouses. Which seems a pity, really. That mechanic gave Depths of Peril its own sense of character, adding competition and urgency to the normally laidback pursuit of hacking-and-slashing through dungeons at your leisure.

But as you play Din's Curse, which moves you from town to town, each with a randomly generated dungeon tucked undernearth, you'll discover that Soldak has taken that competition and urgency and buried it in the dungeons. As with any good action RPG, you push deeper and deeper into these dungeons. But these dungeons push back.

So when I decided to bypass Rotskinner, he didn't just loiter on level four. As I pushed down into levels five and six, I started getting messages that Rotskinner was sending creatures to attack the town. Towns in Din's Curse aren't safe havens, removed from the action. The monsters in the dungeon want to come out and play.

Furthermore, Rotskinner had set up a darkness machine in level three, which limits my visibility. Since this was making it difficult to get around, I had to return to level three and root it out, while more and more powerful assassins attacked the town. Later, an earthquake machine on level seven started causing random damage around the level from falling debris. I had to split my time between making progress on other quests and backtracking to tear down Rotskinner's machines, which affected town as well. And the attacks in town kept getting more powerful. He was slaughtering townsfolk, which hurt my reputation stat, and knocked me backwards from the cool gifts you get when you fill the reputation bar. He even managed to kill the warmaster who had given me quests! I had no way to turn in the quests and free up slots for additional quests until I enlisted the steward's help to rescue a new warmaster from inside the dungeon. I was laboring under a series of cascading failures. Eventually, Katosfalls was lost.

Unlike most games, regardless of the genre, Din's Curse has a dynamic world, even in ways other than what I've discussed above. I'll leave you to discover some of these ways. Each town will be different. When an NPC says do this quick or something might happen, whatever that something is, it will probably happen if you don't do something about it. When an NPC says hurry, he really does mean it. Here is a genuine sense of urgency and stakes. The game world will change depending on when you arrive, what you do, what you don't do, and even what the monsters do. And it's a real thrill to discover those dynamics, leveling up your characters and gathering loot as you go.

Katofalls was lost, so now my character moves on to another town. Alternatively, I can start another character class, or try a different warrior build. I can even make my own class by assembling any two skill trees (the trade-off is that pre-established character classes get three skill trees). Actually, they're not really trees. I can pick and choose among all the skills, buying the cheaper ones or saving up to go directly to the more powerful skills. And by spending some of my money, I can respec at will. There's a lot of freedom in Din's Curse, as well as a lot of responsibility.

And wherever I go next, maybe I won't get so ambitious about setting the world at such a high level. Part of Din's Curse's freedom is that I can make it as challenging or forgiving as I want. But even when I lost Katofalls, I gained a few levels and got some good loot out of the ordeal. That's ultimately what any good action RPG does: rewards you for your time. But a great action RPG like Din's Curse manages to do it with an exciting new twist.

So here I am in Lormar. Here's hoping this town fare better than Katofalls.