It’s rare that a game comes in and blows you away on all fronts. Typically I’ll play something because it looks really fun, but it lacks in story. Likewise, something with a stellar story and visual design may be a bit shoddy in terms of gameplay. So when something comes blowing through the doors with all cylinders blasting, you make sure you’re ready to play it.

Children of Morta mixes a lot of what I love from other indie games such as Rogue Legacy, Dead Cells, and Hyper Light Drifter to name a few. From the absolutely stunning environments and animations to the narration of the story for the family and their struggle, there’s not much here that won’t leave you in awe. Typically in rogue-lite games, you’re accustomed to death and the quick cycle of getting back on the horse, but this makes sure to take time and develop what’s going on back at the house with your family. It’s a unique take and a welcome one at that.

If you’ve played Diablo, you have an idea of what to expect in terms of it being an aRPG. Naturally though, the dungeons are never the same, so you can expect to keep playing indefinitely if it grabs you. Each family member serves as a different class and plays differently, and the game essentially forces you into playing different characters by putting a sickness on a character you play as too much, upping the difficulty to insane levels should you continue anyway. The game rewards you for playing with the different characters though, as they have different skill trees and different units can obtain all-encompassing bonuses for the family unit. It’s a nice way of avoiding the usual choice of a single character per playthrough and helps avoid the disappointment of the characters being bland.

I know accessibility can be a bit of a hot topic when it comes to games, and this certainly leans toward letting everyone enjoy it. Whether you are making large strides each run or failing miserably after a couple of rooms, the game continues to move on and provide semblance of progression, which is nice for those that struggle with these types of games. It’s not so much that you can beat the game with continued failure, but rather that it gives you something uplifting and gratifying despite the disappointment of death on that fourth run through the level. The game also incorporates co-op, should you have an extra controller lying around and a friend or your own family member that would like to help move the Bergson family along.

The biggest complaint I have with this is the load times. I understand that optimization can be difficult, and games like this can be rather complicated with all the different pieces it needs to generate and randomize. However, when it takes upwards of a minute or two between each death and level selection, I can’t help but wonder what could be done to make it better, especially with how amazing the rest of the experience is. Granted, it’s not as bad as Anamorphine, which will likely be the standout reason I remember that game with how bad as they were; but when something like Red Dead Redemption 2 loads for as long at the boot and never again, it gives you pause.

Children of Morta is an amalgamation of many wonderful ideas and simplified to a level that anyone is able to play and enjoy. The addition of co-op only enhances the experience, especially for those that are struggling with the game. If you’re looking for a dark game that’s filled with beautiful animation, well presented lore, and a focus on the family unit, there’s no reason to look further.

9 out of 10

Pros

• Narration
• Art Direction/Animation
• Progression System

Cons

• Load Times

Children of Morta was developed by Dead Mage and published by 11 bit studios. It is available on NS, PC, PS4, and X1. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Children of Morta, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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