Recently I have been looking through my collection of games and seeing what titles I haven’t reviewed yet on this site or even finished at all. It’s a little list of games I like to call, “What to get to”, or most commonly known as a backlog. If you don’t know what the term backlog is then let me briefly explain. A backlog is basically a list of tasks or goals that haven’t been completed and eventually need to be finished as they've been put on hold longer than they should have. Backlogs don’t just mean video games you haven’t finished or played. They can also be applied to chores, books, movies, monthly goals, and other important reasons. For me it’s a list of video games that are collecting dust on my shelf, so why not get cracking at it since it’s the summer?
Well currently I’ve been on a roll with roguelikes and what was once a genre that didn't seem that interesting to me is somehow morphing into one of my favorites. The first roguelike I ever covered was Dead Cells and two years later it still remains to be one of the best. Even after all the major updates and expansions that change how the game functions and can be approached. Afterwards I kinda just dotted all over the place and picked up whatever roguelike looked interesting. Into The Breach is a fantastic tactical strategy game that focuses on actual strategy rather than randomness. Risk of Rain 2 focuses more on accumulating power so that you may transform into a godlike killer. Slay The Spire, is a deck builder that rewards the player for taking risks and forging decks that turn a single stream of attacks into a health bar shredding chainsaw. Finally there is Hades, which if you don’t know by now is one of my favorite games of the genre and is now one of my top five games of all time. Seriously, it’s a pure example of what a video game should be. Fast pace combat that is satisfying to master. A wide selection of powers to use that encourages the player to mix and match until they get a build that allows them to stand against later challenges in the game. Tight controls, beautiful artstyle, killer soundtrack, tons of replay value, and surprisingly a story with characters that remain lovable even during the endgame moments.
However this is not a review of Hades! “Although if you want to check out my review for Hades and the other roguelikes I just mentioned you can by finding them on my site”. This is a review of a roguelike that I almost forgot was in my library until I decided to sit down and finish it. This is a review of Children of Morta, developed by the small indie studio Dead Mage and published by 11 Bit Studios. This is an interesting one to talk about. It is a roguelike and it definitely has the elements of one, but at the same time it’s also an action adventure with tons of RPG mechanics and leveling systems. The game isn’t structured like your typical roguelike. Progression is much different and much like Hades it focuses more on telling a narrative rather than focusing on just the gameplay. Extra content has been added to the game, including a more traditional roguelike mode, but the way this game plays out feels different to a majority of other games of the genre. While typing this review I was trying to find more information or articles talking about the development for Children of Morta, but I can’t quite seem to find any. This game just kinda showed up out of nowhere and I bet not many people even know that this game exists. Yet, it's a gem lying at the bottom of the barrel.
The only reason why I know about this game is because of Jim Sterling and how she didn’t really know about the game until she found it much like me. Children of Morta is an oddball, but it’s a pretty good game. There are major problems with how this game challenges the player, but if you accept the game for what it is you may find yourself really loving it. This is a roguelike gem and it’s kinda sad that this flew under the radar back in 2019, because I could have seen Children of Morta being nominated for quite a few award categories. Today we’ll be talking about why I loved Children of Morta and why it deserves you attention. So let’s brandish whatever blades and gear we carry, and journey into the great unknown with what we call our family.
Story
We find ourselves at the footstep of a beautiful house located on a cliff gazing at the colossal Mount Morta in the distance. The land that surrounds this house is populated with colorful life and creatures. Societies that have built towns and cities to respect such life. All of which coexist together in harmony. Everything was going fine until darkness was released upon the land. The Mountain God which everyone looks up to respectfully has been enraged and sends a deadly substance that begins to transform the creatures of the land into ferocious monsters. They multiply in numbers, pop out of thin air, and scour whatever they find. Life as we know it is in complete shambles.
Except for the Bergson of course. This humble family lives in the gigantic house we see at the beginning of the game, and life for them was peaceful until the darkness was brought towards their attention. John, the father of the humongous family, decides to explore the nearby forest to see how devastating the corruption was. He found bodies of the wildlife mangled , and the monsters of the dark corruption emerged from their bodies. John slays the many beasts in his path using a sword and shield forged by his brother Ben, and finds the darkness must be stopped before it takes over and ravages his own home. The Bergsons discuss what to do at times like these as what is basically the apocalypse is drawing near. Luckily Grandma Margaret, John and Ben’s mother, opens up a secret passageway hidden behind the fireplace of the Bergon’s home.
They find an ancient hidden room at the bottom of their home and inside are gateways leading to the major sections of the land. There are a total of three portals and each one leads to a spirit. The spirits have been sealed by the darkness and by freeing them from containment, the Bergsons can figure out the history of the corruption and how to get rid of it once and for all. John readies his blade and shield once again for what could be the most treacherous journey of his entire life. Meanwhile Ben prepares his workshop to upgrade his brother’s gear using whatever materials he finds. The journey is a fearsome one as John will be navigating territories he hasn’t been to or seen in years. However, he isn’t alone to partake in such tasks. His children have been training their entire lives and they are willing to assist their father in the journey. They are even willing to go out on their own and take their father’s place. Linda and her bow that fires swiftly through the wind, Kevin and his daggers that deal flurries of blow, Lucy and her magical abilities to spew fire, and several other members who find themselves assisting in the journey. The Bergsons are ready to hack, slash, and strike down the many foes that stand in their way. For they have been chosen. A prophecy untold until now.
Gameplay
As I stated near the beginning of this review, Children of Morta doesn’t play like your traditional roguelike. Rather than do one continuous run filled with multiple chambers and regions, and once you die you are knocked back to the first area you are instead sent to what is basically a mission select screen. There are a total of three regions and each one has missions to go through. Each mission has a certain amount of floors and what lies at the end is a boss. If you die while venturing through a mission you are sent back to the Bergon’s house. Certain items are kept and the rooms are randomized.
Before you enter a mission you are given the ability to choose a character, a family member of the Bergsons. Each family is outfitted with a weapon they specialize in and powerful abilities that can be performed with said weapon. For example, Linda uses the bow which fires from afar and is good for keeping a safe distance from close ranged enemies. She also has a powerful shot which is sent up into the air and crashes down onto a group of nearby enemies. Powerful abilities have a cooldown rate meaning they can’t be spammed so much. There are multiple abilities which the player won’t have access to immediately, but they can be unlocked through experience. By killing enemies you gain experience points and with enough experience points you level up and earn a skill point. Skill points can be spent on a character’s skill chart to unlock new perks and attacks. That charge shot that Linda uses has to be unlocked using a skill point, and there is a perk that allows Linda’s bow damage to scale up by firing while standing still. Each skill or perk can be leveled up three times, and some new skills and perks aren’t unlocked until you spend a specific amount of skill points.
There are chests scattered across each dungeon which give you loot, shrines or structures that give the Bergons an ailment or buff for a limited of time, rooms that contain special trinkets that give the Bergons a special ability or perk, shops to pick up equipment during a run, and some rooms contain NPCs with questlines to follow. These questlines may range from escorting the character, defending them for a certain amount of time, or retrieving a special item. There are numerous items to pick up during a run/mission that will help you either way. Health potions to replenish your health bar, those shiny trinkets which grant you perks or special abilities, gemstones which can be spent at shops for trinkets, and Morv which is your gold/currency. Morv is the only thing you keep after a run and it can spent back at the Bergon’s home.
There are two shops to spend Morv back at the Bergon’s home. There is Uncle Ben’s Workshop and the Book of Rea. At the workshop you can upgrade the Bergon’s stats. This is where the RPG mechanics begin to come into play. These stats start off very simple like the member’s maximum health and attack power, but overtime you unlock more complicated. They seem useless at first, but they are more important than you think. You can increase their chance of dealing a critical hit, how much damage that critical hit deals, the chance to completely avoid an enemy attack, their movement speed, and much more. Stuff that affects how the Bergons perform in battle. On the other side of the table, The Book of Rea determines how much the Bergons gain during a mission. This includes how much Morv they earn, the rate at which they gain experience points, the chance of a gemstone to drop, and much more.
In a majority of roguelikes there are downsides to death, but in Children of Morta there are benefits from dying. Sometimes major events will happen that push the story forward. Other times you may see something very wholesome happen between the family. Most importantly you may unlock a new character to use on future runs. You start off with John and Linda, but as the story unfolds you unlock new characters. Some characters even require you to go out on side tasks. Mark, the agile fist fighter of the family, returns home with a sickness and you need to find a herb within the caves to unlock him. Doing side tasks or helping NPCs may also unlock allies to aid you along your journey. One of the first things you may find is a puppy which is covered in corruption. Heal it and it will pop up before boss rooms to give you a health potion.
There is a mechanic known as Corruption Fatigue where the character you play as during a run will have their maximum health decreased and it will slowly revert back to normal after a certain amount of runs. It encourages the player to try out different characters and experiment which I really like. Enemies come in a variety of flavors from normal grunts, big brutes to pummel you into the ground, and ferocious enemies who don’t stun that easily and come with special abilities to harm you. Enemies come in huge hoards so do whatever you can to dispatch them quickly. Then there are the bosses which stand between you and progression. Once you understand how to beat them you should be able to move forward. There isn’t much else to say about Children of Morta. You can play with a friend which can make traversing through dungeons much easier. Hopefully you can free the three spirits and bring peace back to the land.
Thoughts
Children of Morta is mostly a good roguelike and I would go far to say that it is a good game. There is a lot that makes Children of Morta fun to play, and a lot that makes it a little more annoying than you expect it to be. Let’s first talk about what the game does right before we move onto its flaws. The color and art design is brilliant. It’s a pixel game, but there is so much time and love to make this game look beautiful and detailed as possible. Lots of shading, detail to the world, structures have tons of texture to them, the many colors they use to add value, and the animation is very fluid. The soundtrack is also very great. Helping those story moments have as much of an effect as possible. When the game wants to be emotional and sad, it knows how to be emotional. The controls are tight and the characters move faster than you think they would expect. Allowing you to quickly navigate and backtrack through areas.
I like how wherever we go back to Bergon’s house we get to all the family members doing their own thing. Performing side activities, spending time with each other, and maybe a cool event will play out and you can check out on it. They're taking care of one another like an actual family. It’s nice that the developers put in RPG mechanics as the player can specialize in specific builds and playstyles for the characters. There’s also that feeling of eventually becoming powerful enough to stand a chance against future bosses and challenges. This may lead to runs depending on how much you grind rather than skillfully improve, but taking the time to level up and figure out what to upgrade is fun. Powerful attacks are satisfying to wield, and the game encourages you to use them but lets you know that you can’t constantly spam them. The narrator's voice is top notch and helps us feel comfortable with whatever is going on. The story ended up being quite good. It’s another tale about family and why it matters, but the overall plot is told in a way where you get invested with the history of the world and characters.
That’s everything Children of Morta does right. What on earth does this game do wrong to prevent me from giving it an excellent score? Well it certainly is a good video game, but it’s how the game challenges the player that makes it very annoying to play. Enemies come in hordes and seeing how you open doors that block off your sight of what is in the next room, it can be very hard to determine if you face another horde or not. Corrupt enemies have the chance of spawning out of nowhere and later in the game you have the chance of facing two or more whole enemy hordes at once. Close range characters have an easier chance of dispatching groups of foes easily with their wide ranged attack, but a higher rate of taking damage and losing more than half of their health bar within seconds. Ranged characters can pick off foes one at a time from afar, but at the same time be safe from physical confrontation. I ended up gravitating towards long ranged projectile characters because they often got further in missions than melee characters. There is regenerating health for when you are near death, but it regenerates to a point where you can only take one or two hits. Why not half of your health bar at least? Plus the rate at which health potions are dropped can range from plentiful to barely. Again, sometimes grinding and chance is what get you further and that may not be great some players who want to see their skills payoff. Bosses can be a little annoying at times with how they function or how much health they have.
Finally this is a game that was obviously made to play with a friend. Due to how many enemy hordes there are, you need a friend to have an easier time. Have one player choose a melee fighter to go in and deal heavy blows while a ranged fighter offers assistance. Playing this game alone is doable, but it’s more challenging and sometimes the difficulty spikes randomly. It’s good that they offer the ability to play alone, but it sucks when there are those moments where it feels like you need a friend to make it more enjoyable. The game is challenging, but there is enjoyment of getting over it and pushing forward. The difficulty curves, using groups of enemies to create a challenge, and grinding is what makes Children of Morta a difficult recommendation to average roguelike players. I still liked the game though. It tells a brilliant story, looks beautiful, isn’t afraid to give the player something for dying, and does have good payoff for when you topple a difficult level and boss. Children of Morta is a game I do recommend just for these elements. In the end I give Children of Morta an 8/10 for being pretty good.
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