I decided to run Pirate's Curse before going to 1/2 Genie Hero because I felt if I played the newest version I would never go back.

The game is... fine. Art is nice as always but the gameplay was too easy to hold my attention. Mind you, I think if I had to design a game I'd rather make it too easy than too hard because a player can up the challenge by skipping upgrades and stuff but if the game is too hard it will instantly cut out some players from enjoying it.

Pirate's Curse is half easy, half backtracking around old maps looking for some key item to move foward on later maps, which can be specially annoying if you are trying to collect all Dark Magic for the true ending. Personally, I just finished the game and watched a youtube video for the good ending on youtube because I am not bumping every corner of the game's world to find secret rooms.

However, for me the biggest flaw is the difficult spike near the end of the game. I can totally see a less skilled played managing to reach the last section of the game and not be able to cross the halls of spike and death which are the last section. They are far harder than anything else in the game, like someone insulted the level designer skill, family and religion all at once and he decided to not make a level, but to make a point.

Whoever is skilled enough to cross it easily probably dropped the game due to boredom, and however was enjoying the game easier setting will find a roadblock.

To top it all, you can easily skip the whole tower segment  by using a small jumping exploit. I reached the top of the tower with the exploit and them jumped down to finish it legit, because that tower was actually the part of the game I enjoyed more.