PAZUZU'S CURSE

"I am the Curse of the Demon King of Wind. I am the Curse of the Bringer of Destructive Storms. I am the Curse of the Blighted Bulwark. I AM PAZUZU."

"I am Pazuzu, son of Hanpa, king of the evil wind demons. I descend upon you from above."

PAZUZU'S CURSE is a browser-based top-down survival game steeped in ancient Mesopotamian mythology. You play as Pazuzu, the fearsome demon-god of the southwest wind, a being of paradox: a destroyer so terrible that his own visage was carved onto protective amulets to ward off spirits even worse than himself.

Navigate the cursed ruins of a fallen ziggurat. Banish waves of wind wraiths, plague-bearers, and the dread child-devourer Lamashtu. Survive all 20 named ritual rounds, or endure the endless curse for as long as you can.

FEATURES

Two Game Modes

Survival (20 structured rounds with named encounters) or Endless Curse (infinite scaling waves, no mercy).

Authentic Mesopotamian Mythology

Pazuzu, Lamashtu, Humbaba, and the ancient Gallu demons brought to life with cuneiform aesthetics, ziggurat environments, and lore pulled from Neo-Assyrian texts (~800 BCE).

Three Procedural Soundtracks

The Southwest Wind (meditative drone), Lamashtu's Lament (dissonant horror), and Storm of Hanpa (aggressive 120 BPM battle music), or upload your own audio file.

Deep Settings

brightness, contrast, camera zoom, player/enemy speed, fire rate, difficulty (Trivial to Brutal), FPS counter (press H to see it at the top), screenshake, damage numbers, particle toggles, and more.

Randomised BSP Maps

Every run generates a unique layout of rooms, corridors, pillars, and altar chambers, with cracked desert wasteland stretching beyond the map boundary.

Seven Loading Minigames

Each with win/lose conditions to keep you occupied during the ritual loading period (30-150 seconds).

Minigame	Minigame Real Name	Control	Action	Description	Note
RITUAL PONG	Pong	Mouse/Touch	Move your paddle (right side)	Pazuzu controls the left paddle. The ball speeds up every 5 rallies. You have 3 lives; lose one each time the ball passes your paddle. Win by reaching 30 points. Lose when all 3 lives are gone.	Deflect Pazuzu's ember before it passes your ward. Freezes after first try.
DESERT SERPENT	Snake	Mouse	Steer the serpent toward the cursor	The serpent automatically moves toward your cursor angle. Eat the glowing green wisps to grow. Win by eating 20 wisps. Lose if you collide with yourself.	Consume the pestilence wisps. Think quickly, as the snake will kill itself after a length of 4. Freezes after first try.
SPIRIT DEVOURER	Pac-Man	Mouse/Touch	Steer Pazuzu's head toward the cursor	Pazuzu's head follows your cursor through the maze. Four coloured wind spirits hunt you. Win by eating every orb on the board. Lose when all 3 lives are taken by the spirits.	Consume the pestilence orbs. Freezes after first try.
SPIRIT WALL	Breakout	Mouse/Touch	Move your ward paddle	Bounce the ember off your paddle to destroy the brick seals above. You have 3 lives; lose one each time the ball falls below your paddle. Win at 60 points. Lose when all lives are gone.	Shatter the demon seals. The ball is very fast. Freezes after first try.
DUST DEVILS	Asteroids	1) Mouse movement 2) Click/Touch	1) Aim your ship toward the cursor. 2) Fire	Your ship auto-aims at the cursor. Shoot the crumbling rock demons before they overwhelm you. Win by reaching 30 points. Rocks split and multiply; smaller ones score more.	Destroy the wind demons. Freezes after first try.
WIND RIDER	Flappy Bird	Click/Touch/Space	Flap wings	Tap to flap. Navigate the gaps in the storm pillars. Win by clearing 15 gaps. Lose if you hit a pillar or the top/bottom of the screen.	Soar through Pazuzu's tempest. Does not work.
INCANTATIONS	Typing Asteroids	Keyboard	Type the highlighted falling word	Mesopotamian words fall from above. Type the active glowing word before it reaches the bottom. Speed increases with your score. Win at 90 points. Lose when 3 words hit the ground. Streak bonuses reward consecutive clears.	Speak the ritual words.

CONTROLS OF MAIN GAME

Key	Action	Note
WASD	Move
Shift	Run	Does not work
Arrow Keys	Aim
Enter / Space	Fire Wind Bolt
E	Use Amulet (repels enemies, +HP,  -pestilence)
M	Toggle Minimap
P	Toggle Pazuzu Panel
H	Hide/Show HUD
L	Open Lore Tablet

LORE

Pazuzu ruled the devastating khamsin and sirocco; the scorching southwest winds that carried drought, locust swarms, and fever across ancient Mesopotamia. Son of the god Hanpa, he possessed the body of a man, the face of a dog, the talons of an eagle, and four great wings spanning heaven and the underworld.

Despite being a demon, Pazuzu was carved onto household amulets and worn by pregnant women because only his curse could hold back Lamashtu, the demoness who devoured children. Terror as protection. Destruction as ward.

That paradox is the game.

TECH

Single HTML file · Web Audio API (all music procedurally synthesised) · No dependencies · Runs in any modern browser

THE REST

"He who knows Pazuzu's face shall not fear the demon's breath."

Made by: Claude

Cover by: Madabouthorror

Banner by: Gemini