Shadows: Awakening - Necrophage's Curse

I want to be upfront about something before you click buy: Necrophage's Curse is not a standalone game. It is a DLC expansion for Shadows: Awakening, and it requires that base game to run. So if you landed here without owning the base game, step back and read about that first, because the DLC's value is entirely tied to how much you are enjoying the Devourer mechanic underneath it. For those already in the Shadows: Awakening camp, here is what this expansion actually adds. The Necrophage's Curse sends you into the Necropolis, a new location buried inside the city of Kyallisar, which you will reach a few acts into the main campaign. The hook is that a lethal hex has been placed on anyone who pries into the Necropolis's secrets, and you need to seal a series of pillars of doom before the curse finishes off every living soul in the world. Structurally, it is the same loop as the base game: switch between your mortal puppets in the physical realm and the Devourer in the Shadow Realm, exploit the two-plane puzzle design, and manage your party's synergies in real-time combat. The new content sits comfortably inside that framework without reinventing it. The real draw here is the Necrophage itself - a brand new puppet with a lich mage identity and its own skill set. If you have been running a warrior-forward or hunter-focused party through the base game, slotting in a dedicated undead-flavored caster changes the feel of your roster meaningfully. The base game's three core classes - the tanky warrior, the fast ranged hunter, and the fire mage - already have separate skill trees that reward replay. Adding the Necrophage gives necromancer-inclined players a reason to either restart or reshape their late-game build. The expansion targets level 17 characters, so plan to engage with it only after you have put in real time with the campaign. What the DLC does not fix is anything that was already creaky in the base experience. Combat still has moments where cooldown timers leave you hammering basic attacks with not much to do. The crafting system remains one to mostly ignore - wild drops tend to outpace anything you can enchant or build on your own. Enemy variety in the Necropolis leans on familiar undead archetypes: spectres, reanimated warriors, the expected genre furniture. If you were hoping the expansion would smooth out those rough edges, it does not. It is content layered on top of an existing structure, not a mechanical overhaul. The honest verdict on Necrophage's Curse is that it makes the most sense bought alongside the base game from the very start, not as an afterthought mid-playthrough. If you are already past the Kyallisar section and have not picked this up, the window to integrate the Necrophage puppet naturally into your campaign has narrowed. For new players who know they want the full roster from hour one and have a lich mage itch to scratch, this is the more interesting of the two Shadows: Awakening DLC packs.

Monika · Scout Team

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