The story follows mountaineer Eric Simmons's trek up Chomolonzo to rescue his brother Frank, who unleashed hostile ghosts and monsters onto the surrounding lands.

The gameplay, combining elements of survival horror and action-adventure, follows Eric as he ascends Chomolonzo, collecting items and fighting hostile ghosts.

[1][2] The game is split into thirteen levels, with the player controlling Eric as he explores a number of environments, solving puzzles and fighting hostile ghosts.

While basic movement and interactive actions use the d-pad and buttons, several combat and environmental triggers rely on the console's motion controls.

The player must hit the symbol, then complete a quick time event by matching motion gestures with the Remote and Nunchuck to permanently banish the ghosts.

[12] For the Microsoft Windows port, the motion control mechanics were redesigned; instead, players used the mouse to draw specific patterns on screen.

[13] Set during the late 1980s in the Tibetan Himalayas, the story opens with a log from climber Eric Simmons; his younger brother Frank was hired by wealthy expedition organiser Edward Bennet to retrieve a Terma artefact from the mountain Chomolonzo that is believed to bring eternal life.

He is directed by a survivor in Cherku Village to the yogini Jomo Menmo, who reveals that Frank is still alive and was working with her apprentice Mingma to climb the mountain.

Reaching the monastery and Thod-pa, Eric learns that Frank was summoned by Bennet as he fit a translated prophecy about the Terma's retrieval.

The llama of Derge Gonchen Monastery reveals that Frank used the Terma to attempt physical entry of the Bardo, a transitional realm between life, reincarnation and nirvana.

Cursed Mountain was primarily co-developed by Sproing Interactive and the Vienna branch of Deep Silver, who also acted as publisher.

From there, the basic combat mechanic of exorcising ghosts using control gestures was settled upon, leading to the team developing the title on Wii.

To ensure continuity between these developers, the team laid out the game design in a simple document and stuck to it, while communicating frequently with the other studios via web calls.

[17] Deep Silver staff member Martin Fillip described Cursed Mountain as the company's first title to rely so much on outsourcing to other studios.

[18] There were some issues with communication and delays in creating a vertical slice of gameplay, and a few of the production partners closed down during the game's development.

It was also a time when there was superstition about Western climbers coming to the region and violating local customs, which in-game was taken to a literal conclusion.

[17] The team's research included multiple documentaries about Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, and specifically the survival story of Touching the Void.

To create the right environmental feel, Lambourne blended musical instruments and ghost vocals with the sound effects in several areas, aiming to avoid "Hollywood cliches" and use the environment to evoke tension.

[21] A production challenge was the scale of levels; their original designs were larger, but due to hardware limitations were reduced in size.

The gesture system was intended to open up a player's body language and make them face their fears while defeating ghosts.

[26] A limited edition was released at launch, including a double-sided disc featuring a documentary on the game and the complete soundtrack.

[30][31] Cursed Mountain was the only title developed by Deep Silver Vienna before its closure by parent company Koch Media in February 2010 due to what they described as "the current overall economic situation".

[10][33] Kevin VanOrd, writing for GameSpot, lauded its authentic use of local folklore and cited the narrative as one of the strong points of the game.

[5] By contrast, Nelson faulted the voice acting,[36] while Balicki rated the sound design as one of the game's strong points.

[34][7] Reviewing the Windows port, John Coxsey of website Adventure Classic Gaming was generally positive and gave it a score of three out of five stars.

In addition to echoing praise of the narrative and atmosphere, he noted the slight graphical upgrade and wider colour palette compared to the Wii original.

His main complaints were a lack of content and the game's short length, and he also noted that its deeper spiritual elements would be lost on most players.