Children of Morta — Before You Buy: Impressions
An action RPG with a rich narrative about an extraordinary family. Fight your way through dungeons with the varying Bergson family members in order to beat back the Corruption. Will you be able to save the world you know and protect the family you love?
I’m Evin from MindMine and these are my initial impressions of Children of Morta by Dead Mage.
Let’s dive into the first thing you experience: the visuals. For the art style chosen, this game is beautiful, detailed and well animated. The world around (and in) the Bergson home is so lively and engaging. Each section of the house gives you a clear sense of the personality of each person that inhabits it. The family members also have some great animations that not only give them life but do a great job of establishing aspects of the individual. As an example, the younger members of the family have much more child-like interactions and mannerisms. This helps the player get pulled into the world more and feel more invested in these characters.
When you leave the home and traverse the dungeons, you’ll notice each creature has its own way of moving about and their own attack animations. This helps keep things interesting, especially when facing multiple types of enemies at once. The world of the dungeons (at least through the initial caves) was a tad bleak and barren but there were nice touches like ponds where a water creature would appear on occasion. There were also some nice details when you came across encampments of people or an area with a relic.
The combat also had great attention put to it per family member. Each member of the Bergson family is a different class of fighter, such as archer, rogue, monk, and spellcaster, so it’s important to be able to differentiate them in their actions. This is something Dead Mage has done a great job with. Each family member can get you thinking in a different way and they can learn skills over time that can create unique and interesting attacks that you can chain together.
Whether playing solo or local co-op (as online co-op isn’t available just yet) the diversity of the characters skill sets can create a more dynamic experience. I also loved how playing each character can unlock passive skills that all family members can benefit from. This can range from increasing all characters’ critical chance to boosting movement speed. The sense of family ties is so well-showcased through this system.
Now, the combat of the game isn’t without some issues though and it’s important to be aware of them before jumping in. One important point is that depending on the angle, projectiles (and some melee attacks) could be sent through solid objects. Whether it was a piece of a cave wall or a pillar, enemies and I could fire through them and hit our target. There were several times where I would go behind hardcover to reacclimate myself, only to get hit by a projectile that should have been blocked. There were also times where I could get behind the other side of cover only to hit the enemy and kill them without them being able to defend themselves.
Another issue I came across was with hit registration. There were times where visually my character was outside of a strike or Area of Effect attack, yet the hit still registered. In a game where there is no innate health regeneration to start with and health globes can be limited, this can get very frustrating.
Talking about limited health, what happens when a character dies? In Children of Morta, the character will be pulled back to their home just before death strikes. You won’t lose any experience or skills, only the progress you had made in that dungeon. One concern a person could have is that this process could become a bit grindy. To me, I feel that Dead Mage has done a great job of mitigating that issue.
Even when you die, they’ve made it in a way where you still feel like you’ve gained something. You’ve earned experience that can be invested into skills, you’ve gained more Morv (currency used to increase stats), and there is always a bit of story told each time you arrive back to the home. I’m impressed by the amount of detail the developer has put into unveiling new characters, expressing the feelings family members have about situations, and many other story-developing layers.
Another factor that helps keep old dungeons fresh is the randomly generated levels. This makes it so it’s a newer experience each time you enter. Along with the randomly generated environments, there are random special events that can occur. There are times where you’ll have to escort someone to safety, retrieve herbs to help an ailing resident or stop conjurors from summoning tougher enemies.
Overall, Children of Morta has some great elements that continue to pull me back into it. It’s a game with a lot of heart and a developer that wants to deliver a great experience. Dead Mage has continued to add more free content to build-out the systems and improve the overall experience for the players. They have a full roadmap listed on their official Steam page that you can see for yourself.
