My love of Curse of Resthaven is not a secret. I covered 2 earlier demos, and you can find my thoughts on them HERE and HERE. I have been incredibly lucky to have had access to the full game for a few weeks and just finished my first playthrough (around 8 hours). Now, I’m just going to get this out of the way: yes, my FIRST playthrough. Not only do I love this game enough to want to dive back in immediately, but I simply must play more because there are multiple endings to this single-player narrative roguelite.
I’m not going to repeat all of my initial reviews, but here’s a quick little recap. Curse of Resthaven, from the Canadian developer Hilltop Studios, is a narrative horror game with a supernatural twist and time loop that is super addictive. You play as Ambrose, the new Governor of Resthaven. He is there not just as the new governor, but also searching for his niece, Amalia. The settlement is in a bad state, and you must help restore the colony all while solving mysteries around you.
Every 6 days, a cataclysm occurs that causes you to restart the loop with all your memories, but no one remembers you. You will restart with any upgrades and perks you have already unlocked, as well as all your knowledge, so this makes it easier for you to take a few shortcuts in your investigations. You start with almost no money on each run, but any characters who return to the settlement will still be there, and any of the expeditions completed will still remain so. This means that each loop should allow you to advance further each time. Each restart also gives you boon cards that come with benefits and drawbacks. Since you know it’s on a 6-day loop, time is of the essence each time.
Ambrose has limited time each day to investigate what is happening in Resthaven, not just searching for Amalia, but also some other mysteries that I won’t spoil here but will say there are some fantastic stories and characters you will encounter. Each time you interrogate, trade, etc., it takes a defined amount of time from your day. Choose wisely. Since you have retained your knowledge gained from previous runs, you can use it as jumping-off points in asking different questions than previous encounters. You will also unlock additional branches of your stories as you dive deeper into what makes the residents of Resthaven tick. You will deal with corruption, power struggles, an unusual disease, the cataclysm, and all sorts of mysteries. While the search for Amalia is the main mystery, I was really surprised by how many people were involved and how many layers there were to uncover. I won’t spoil any of the story here; the fun of a game like this is trying to discover everything for yourself.
Ambrose has 3 main responsibilities in Resthaven: interrogation, trading, and expeditions. All felt like natural parts of the story as a whole and not just added-on minigames. Interrogations have mostly been covered; it’s how you talk to people and solve the mysteries. Trading is also self-explanatory; merchants arrive, and you will barter with them. Your job is to sell items you’ve acquired from merchants in town for profit and then invest some of that money back into the town. It is in a rough state and needs help. As you help the merchants, they also become more helpful to you. While it is relatively straightforward, I loved the thrill of wondering just how much I could push my luck in trading before they walked away. Watch for the boon cards you can unlock between loops; one of them will make sure the traders are carrying supplies you need for expeditions or investigations. I didn’t push my luck as much when buying these ‘must-have’ items.
Expeditions take you outside the wall; you can acquire goods, coin, or knowledge through these endeavours. This is how you will also establish outposts that you require for upgrading merchants. Make sure you take items and companions to help you. Some of these companions you will have available by completing story components; others you can hire. While I wasn’t drawn to the expeditions in the demos, once I had access to the full game, I realized how they worked and found myself constantly looking forward to the next one. One thing I found interesting was that the expeditions were all in black and white, a distinctive contrast to the colour, although muted, in the main Resthaven story. Something about that black and white was enough to remind me that these were all journeys into the unknown.
Now that I’ve talked a little about the look of the game, let’s talk music. Atmospheric, moody, setting the stage during expeditions and in the town. Every bit of it played its part to the fullest. Please be sure to visit the Black Pony Tavern to listen to the resident bard, Galen. Curse of Resthaven is fully voiced by a cast of Canadian theatre and screen actors. 11 actors playing 25 characters, with nearly 7,000 voiced lines across the game, is quite an achievement.
I mentioned above that my first run took me around 8 hours, and it consisted of 11 loops. I got some answers and discovered a villain or 2, but it didn’t answer all of my questions, and I can’t wait to dive back in to see what other mysteries I can solve. The writing is impeccable, and it kept me wavering between trusting my gut and just wanting to ask one more question of a particular resident. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I kept a little notebook nearby to jot down things, even though there is a journal in the game as well. That one more run/loop feeling never went away, and although I was happy to ‘solve’ one of the timelines, I was also sad that it was over…for now. As mentioned earlier, there are multiple timelines and multiple endings. I will be back to Resthaven.
Somehow Hilltop Studios managed to pull off something special here, a game involving cards that had me entirely invested. Generally, anything involving them gets a pass from me. The combination of cards, investigations, and trade all combine into something far more than the description of roguelite in the game’s description. If you’re a fan of mysteries, management sims, time loops, roguelites or any game that rewards you for thinking ahead, there is something in Curse of Resthaven for you. It’s easily one of my favourite games of 2026, and I can’t wait to visit Resthaven for another round.
Until next time…be good to yourself and be good to each other.
**Special thanks to Hilltop Studios and Digital Bandidos for the review code**
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