Children of Morta

The world in Children of Morta is corrupted, with a blight spreading across the land that infects all living creatures it comes into contact with. Left unchecked, this Corruption will eventually consume the world and all who live in it. And while fighting the Corruption is the primary driver of the plot, that’s not really what the game is about. No, Children of Morta is about family. It’s about sticking close in the face of adversity, supporting each other and becoming stronger through all of your trials, together.

Publisher: Playdigious, 11 Bit Studios

Developer: Dead Mage

Platform: Played on PC (Steam)

Availability: Released on September 3, 2019 for Windows PC, and October 15, 2019 for PS4 and Xbox One. Released on November 20, 2019 for Nintendo Switch, and October 7, 2024 for iOS and Android.

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Taking control of the Bergson family, you must navigate the perils of corrupted dungeons and ferocious enemies to save three trapped spirits in order to stop the mountain god, Ou. Your first moments are spent controlling John Bergson, a very typical sword and shield archetype character who works best at close range and can block many blows with his gigantic shield. At the behest of your mother, the matriarch of the Bergson family, you are sent to investigate the corruption. This short section serves as the tutorial for many of the gameplay systems, but also sets the scene for the characters and their relationships, showing you a bit about the characters’ personalities and abilities without the characters themselves ever speaking a word.

The story is presented by an omniscient voice, who narrates the events but does so with a gentle touch. Rather than getting into the weeds by using descriptive language to elaborate on character feelings or specific dialogues, the narration mostly focuses on the overarching events or actions taking place, and while this may at first come off as a bit redundant, I felt that it was more complimentary. As the narrator delivers the exposition, you can see the characters and their relationships shine through via the well-crafted sprites during any scene. The characters themselves do not have any spoken lines of dialogue (at least not in the story scenes), instead communicating their emotions, intentions, and personality through their animations — both alone and among the other characters.

All of these scenes are beautifully crafted, utilizing the exquisite pixel art to deliver some truly phenomenal moments. Dead Mage has had some practice with this in other titles, such as Wizard of Legend, but here they have managed some really powerful emotional storytelling through the artwork alone. That spritework doesn’t just come in handy in the story moments, though. Dazzling effects in combat and enticing landscapes all serve to keep your eyes in a state of wonderment, even if it can get a bit messy in high octane environments. Late game combat is especially hard to parse when too many foes arrive on-screen, each with their own abilities and animations vying for your attention.

Children of Morta sports absolutely stunning pixel art graphics.

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Of course, that may be part of the intentional design behind the game. As a roguelite dungeon crawler, the point is to make a run at a dungeon a few times, gathering resources to be spent back at home to upgrade your equipment and abilities, dying, and then doing it all again until you finally succeed. That visual clutter certainly adds to the difficulty, but I fear the game would not be particularly challenging without it. Personally, I don’t mind if a game is hard or easy — I can take it one way or another and it’s not something I’ve ever worried about carrying as a badge of honor. That said, when the crux of your balance is whether or not you can see, I do take umbrage to the idea.

Despite the large number of playable characters, and seemingly vast amount of relics or usable items available to you in any given run, none of those runs ever really felt unique. Yes, John may use a sword while Lucy slings fireballs, but encounters are still largely approached in the same way, and the controls for combat may be a bit too simple to support the slower paced action of this title. Consequently, almost nothing ever feels threatening past the first zone. The exceptions to this would be bosses on first pass (only if you don’t have great gear, at which point they just melt anyway) and late in the third zone, where enemies have so much health it becomes a bit of a war of attrition to wade through them all as an unstoppable, zone-specific AOE constantly tracks you and attempts to ruin your day.

The sort of closeness in gameplay between members is a bit disheartening, but that closeness does manifest in other ways. As you level a character and learn new abilities, they gain passive effects which can be applied when you play as other characters. For example, Lucy gains the ability to set a decoy down when one of her family members takes a large blow, distracting and damaging foes in the process. In this case, if you played as a character like John, Lucy’s presence and bond with her family could still be felt and provide tangible benefits, even if she’s not there physically. I love the way the gameplay and narrative intertwine in this way, as it does wonders in showcasing the bond between the Bergsons throughout the adventure.

In this case, if you played as a character like John, Lucy’s presence and bond with her family could still be felt and provide tangible benefits, even if she’s not there physically.

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While disparate elements such as the combat, music, and level design are all fine in their own right, I can’t help but look back on the bond of the family as the high-point of the experience. Through their excellent spritework, Dead Mage communicates these relationships so well, making you feel each and every bit of pain or joy the Bergsons face (individually and collectively). Coupled with the inventive ways that these bonds are implemented mechanically in the form of support actions in combat, it becomes the most interesting aspect of the game. It has been said that familiarity breeds contempt, but I’ve found there’s no place like home.

Verdict

While the combat may not be the most exciting offering in the roguelite genre, there’s still a lot to love in Children of Morta. Beautiful pixel artwork keeps things visually interesting, and is especially well done in touching family moments. The visual flare of many of the special abilities and attacks is also another positive, though the screen can get a bit too busy in large group fights. Children of Morta manages to tell an emotionally resonant story, perhaps in spite of its simplicity, relying on the power of family to drive things home.

Image Credits: Taylor Rioux