Perhaps, you could continue playing after being cursed. maybe that'd be something a specific ring did, like it'd be something a salesman tries to trick you into buying, saying it's an amazing one of a kind ring, when it's a cursed one that turns you into a slime or some other monster species. which would have both pros and cons to it, like maybe it'd make you frailer but give you a very nice attack you can use. just an idea..it'd obviously be a lot of work though.
I kind of like that idea, however it would be a lot of work to implement, its tricky because i would have to make new sprites for every enemy with the players new cursed sprite potentially. still though i will consider it if i can find a efficient way to do it. perhaps i might implement a item that allows you to control cursed enemy's. when i get to the story section of Phantoms Curse, i will probably have player taking control of some of the cursed npcs during some story sections potentially.
