Dala and the Cursed Forest

What Is Dala and the Cursed Forest?

Dala and the Cursed Forest is a roguelike deckbuilder developed by Zai Studio, released in Early Access on Steam on June 26, 2026. The game stands out by rooting its mechanics deep in Southeast Asian mythology and folklore — instead of dragons and knights, you command spirits, shamans, and mythical beasts drawn from Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian, and Vietnamese legends.

In this card-based roguelike, you play as Dala, a young shaman's apprentice who must venture into a cursed forest to break an ancient cycle of corruption. Each run presents a fresh path through randomly generated forest zones filled with hostile spirits, ancient traps, and powerful bosses taken from regional folklore.

The game's signature mechanic is card fusion — combining two or more cards to create entirely new abilities with hybrid effects. This creates enormous build variety, as the same starting deck can evolve into completely different strategies depending on which fusions you discover.

How to Play Dala and the Cursed Forest

The curse cycle: Each run through the forest is called a "cycle." The forest layout, enemy encounters, and card rewards are randomized. When you die (and you will die often), you return to the village with knowledge and permanent upgrades that make future cycles easier.

Card types:

• Spirit Cards: Summon helpful spirits that provide passive bonuses or one-time effects. Examples include the Kinnaree (healing) and Phi Krasue (life drain).
• Attack Cards: Direct damage abilities. The Naga Strike deals water damage, while Garuda's Talons deals wind damage.
• Defense Cards: Block incoming damage or apply protective charms.
• Curse Cards: Powerful abilities with drawbacks — high risk, high reward.

Card Fusion: The core mechanic. Drag two compatible cards together in your hand to fuse them. Fusions follow logical patterns:

• Spirit + Attack = Summoned fighter that deals damage each turn
• Attack + Defense = Counter-strike (deals damage when blocking)
• Curse + Spirit = Corrupted spirit with doubled power but health drain
• Curse + Attack = Devastating attacks that cost HP to use
• Two identical Attack cards = Upgraded version with bonus effects

Fusion discoveries are saved permanently in your "Grimoire," so you can see which combos you've unlocked for future runs.

Elemental affinities: Cards have elemental types — Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and Spirit. Enemies have elemental weaknesses and resistances. Spirit-type enemies are weak to Fire, Earth-type to Wind, etc. Building a balanced elemental deck is crucial for later cycles.

Path choices: Between battles, you choose which path to take through the forest. Options include:

• Battle nodes: Standard combat encounters (reward: new cards)
• Shrine nodes: Restore HP or remove unwanted cards from your deck
• Spirit nodes: Meet mythical beings who offer blessings or challenges
• Market nodes: Spend spirit coins on cards, relics, and potions
• Boss nodes: Major encounters that guard zone transitions

Relics: Permanent items found in the forest that provide passive bonuses. Relics stack across runs, and some have synergistic effects with specific card types.

Controls

• Play card: Click and drag to target area
• Inspect card: Right-click
• End turn: Space or click the End Turn button
• View deck: Tab
• View Grimoire (fusion log): G
• Map overview: M
• Speed toggle: Z (normal/fast)
• Pause / Menu: Escape

Tips for New Shamans

Experiment with fusions early. The Grimoire carries over between cycles, so discovering new fusion recipes in easy runs pays off later. Try fusing every card combination at least once.

Keep your deck lean. A 15-20 card deck cycles faster and draws your best cards more often. Use Shrine nodes to remove weak starting cards.

Naga Strike + Garuda's Talons is a strong early fusion. This creates "Naga-Garuda Storm," a 3-cost card that deals both water and wind damage to all enemies — excellent for the first two zones.

Don't ignore Spirit cards. Passive bonuses from spirits stack and can snowball. The combination of Kinnaree (heal 2 per turn) + Phi Nang Tani (block 3 per turn) makes you nearly unkillable in the early game.

Elemental coverage matters. By the third zone, enemies often have dual resistances. Ensure your deck has at least two different elemental damage types, preferably three.

Save spirit coins for Market nodes — but skip early. Markets in zones 1-2 mostly sell basic cards you'll find anyway. Save coins for zones 3-4, where rare relics and legendary cards appear.

The Krasue boss (Zone 1) fears fire. Build fire-element attacks before facing her. If you lack fire cards, fuse any Attack + any Spirit card for a chance at a fire-based summoned fighter.

FAQ

Is Dala and the Cursed Forest a roguelike? Yes, it's a roguelike deckbuilder. Each "cycle" randomly generates forest zones, enemy encounters, and card rewards. Death sends you back to the village with permanent progression.

How does card fusion work? Drag two compatible cards together in your hand. Fusions follow logical patterns — Spirit + Attack creates summoned fighters, Attack + Defense creates counter-strikes. Discovered fusions are permanently saved in your Grimoire.

Are there microtransactions? No. All cards, relics, and content are earned through gameplay. The Early Access price of $6.79 includes all current and future content.

How many zones are in each cycle? Currently 4 zones plus a final boss zone, with more planned during Early Access. Each zone has 5-7 encounter nodes.

Does the game have story content? Yes, the game features a narrative about Dala, a shaman's apprentice, with story cutscenes between zones and character interactions with mythical beings from SE Asian folklore.

What platforms is it available on? Windows via Steam. The developer has not announced plans for Mac or console versions yet.

Last reviewed by Game How To Editorial.