It is the second in a four-part series of Forgotten Realms Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box games, continuing the events of Pool of Radiance.

The game serves as a sequel to the 1988 novel, Azure Bonds, that was written by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb, and is the first book of the Finder's Stone trilogy.

The game primarily takes place in the Dalelands, and the overland map allows a player to select an adjacent location and automatically travel there.

The adventure begins in the city of Tilverton, a relatively small town that nonetheless contains sufficient shops and services to equip the party.

[2] At the start of the game, the player characters are adventurers of great renown who wake up from a magic sleep to find themselves in a small inn in the city of Tilverton, with all of their possessions stolen and no memory of how it happened.

[2] As the story continues, the adventurers confront the King of Cormyr and his daughter the princess, save Dimswart the Sage, find three artifacts, and investigate Dagger Falls.

[6] The remaining four bonds are controlled by Mogion, leader of the cult of Moander, Dracandros the Red Wizard, Fzoul Chembryl and his beholder allies, and Tyranthraxus, the main antagonist from Pool of Radiance.

[2] When the player has successfully removed four of the bonds, the characters will need to fight Tyranthraxus, who takes the form of a storm giant, in the ruins of Myth Drannor.

[11] Curse of the Azure Bonds was released on the Apple II, Commodore 64, and DOS in 1989, the Amiga and Macintosh in 1990, and the Atari ST in 1991.

[4][7] A Nintendo SNES videogame version was planned as a sequel to the NES conversion of Pool Of Radiance, but was abandoned; the publisher in both cases was FCI.

[16] The novel Azure Bonds is a Forgotten Realms fantasy adventure book, written by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak and published by TSR in 1988.

The story begins with an adventurer named Alias awakening in an inn with amnesia and a set of magical blue sigils on her arm.

[22] In the August 1989 edition of CU Amiga-64, Tony Dillon commented that "the graphics are more or less the same as [Pool of Radiance], which is no bad thing, and thankfully the game is still as entertaining and involving as the original".

[7] In the August 1989 edition of The Games Machine (issue 21), Paul Rigby previewed the upcoming release of Curse of the Azure Bonds and noted he had not been happy with Pool of Radiance, which he felt was more like basic D&D due to certain classes, spells, and other elements being unavailable.

[2] In a retrospective review in 1993, Scorpia called the game a "sequel to Pool of Radiance with a bit more plot" and "mainly hack'n'slash leading up to the usual 'Kill [the evil villain]' ending".

The reviewer felt that the addition of more character classes "allows the player more choice and a lot more scope to create a truly mixed band of adventurers, mirroring the original RPG well".

However, the reviewer said that "with its intricate plot and superb player interaction Curse creates a very strong atmosphere with authenticity lent to the proceedings by the mass of options and the well executed tactical combat display".

[6] In the September 1989 edition of Dragon (issue 149), Patricia Hartley and Kirk Lesser found that "both the user's manual and the Adventurer's Journal [...] are extremely well written".

[19] Jim Trunzo reviewed Curse of the Azure Bonds in White Wolf #18 (Nov./Dec., 1989), rating it a 5 out of 5 and stated that "It's rare to find a computer game whose depth and size is truly epic and that manages to sustain the player's interest over the course of the adventure without becoming repetitive and laborious.

Simmons found the game decidedly average and less appealing compared to previous releases such as Champions of Krynn, but felt that RPG fanatics who enjoyed SSI's other titles should consider purchasing it.

[9] In the March 1991 edition of .info magazine (issue 37), Judith Kilbury-Cobb reviewed the Amiga version, and felt that the graphics and animation were noticeably improved, and that combat encounters were still emphasized while being made more manageable.

[18] A retrospective article on the website GameSpot titled "History of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" commented that "in terms of gameplay and structure, Curse of the Azure Bonds followed its predecessor more or less directly, though it broadened the path considerably".

: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, Rusel DeMaria and Johnny Wilson related that SSI ran into a play balance dilemma by allowing players to import experienced characters from Pool of Radiance.

[27] In a retrospective review in 2004, the website GameSpy commented that Azure Bonds was a worthy addition to the series, and was, in many aspects, superior to its predecessor.