Children of Morta is a brand new game developed by Dead Mage and published by 11 bit studios. We are pretty much aware of 11 bit studios as they are the people behind some really amazing titles such as This War of Mine and Frostpunk. Children of Morta is essentially a dungeon crawler with some detailed RPG mechanics all thrown in the mix as well. In our review of Children of Morta, we find out whether this highly awaited dungeon crawler was really worth the wait or not. We reviewed the game on Steam as console versions have not been released at this point.
Starting with the basics, Children of Morta features what the developers call pixel-art visuals and right from the start of the game, you can see that Children of Morta is very pretty to look at. The tutorial quest at the start of the game will teach you all the basics of the game along some of the advanced mechanics as well which you will be using throughout the game. There are no complex mechanics to understand here and once you have gotten the hang of the basics, the game wants you to explore the rest of the game on your own.
In Children of Morta, you play as the Bergsons’ family. Each family member is a capable fighter and comes with their own unique strengths and weaknesses and once you have unlocked the whole lot, you are free to take whichever family member you like on your adventure. At the start of the game, you have the Dad unlocked who is a tank and has a sword and a shield and the daughter who carries a bow and an arrow.
She is a ranged character and similarly, as you progress through the levels, you will unlock more and more characters as well. Each family member comes with unique abilities and skills that cater to different playstyles and eventually you can choose a character that really sits well to your style. As you play with each character, you level them up and unlock more skills for them. These skills make them better and are unique for each character. The more you play with a character, the more you level them up and more skills you can unlock to make them better in different aspects of gameplay.
The main house of Bergsons serves as a safe zone where you will find different facilities such as the library and the workshop. The workshop is run by Uncle Ben who is also part of the family and you can use Morve to purchase different upgrades from Uncle Ben’s workshop. Unlike skills that are unique to each family member, these upgrades are universal and once purchased, affect all family members. These upgrades include increased health, more damage and more and these are purchased for the entire family just once.
Apart from character-specific skills and upgrades from Uncle Ben, while you are exploring the dungeons, you will also find some Passive and Active abilities which the game calls as Divine Graces. Divine Graces are special passive powers which remain active throughout the level and you will see their results every now and then. These include things such as setting enemies on fire with your hits or increasing movement speed and many others.
Diving Relics, on the other hand, are active abilities which come with a cooldown timer however they are most effective in combat scenarios and they range from protective barriers to special attacks. Each family member also comes with a special move along with a secondary attack. Secondary attacks are more powerful and they come with a cooldown timer as well whereas the special moves do not come with any sort of cooldown timers and you can use them whenever you want in the game. Relics are rarer than Graces however you can find both during your adventures in Temples, Dungeons and other areas that you explore while making your way to Mount Morta.
Now coming to the gameplay, Children of Morta plays like any traditional top-down dungeon crawler. The levels might be fixed according to the story however they are procedurally-generated every time you play the game. You can replay levels you have already completed. The gameplay is pretty neat however I noted a very bizarre controller delay during my gameplays. I would press and release the button and then the character would perform the move. I looked online however no one else seems to be having this problem.
Apart from this delay, the combat is pretty crisp and the moves are satisfying. Before you start a level, you can choose from unlocked family abilities which allow certain family members to appear as you play the game to help you out or simply boost certain stats for the next level. Death is permanent and if you die while playing the game, you will respawn back at the house and you will be required to start the level again. However, you get to keep all your loot and experience from the playthrough.
The main story of Children of Morta is also pretty gripping and offers a balance of suspense and action. It is one of the main reasons that will push you to complete the main game. There are no story arcs and decision making however the story is still pretty strong and goes really well with the overall concept of the game. However, health is pretty rare in the game. During my playthrough, I was mostly on my last legs right after the starting areas. If you are lucky, the enemies will drop health potions otherwise you will need to find a Divine Grace or Divine Relic which would grant you protection or health.
Children of Morta is a great dungeon crawler and offers plenty of hours of fun and grinding gameplay. The grinding is not forced but if you want to make your character better right from the start of the game, you can always grind the earlier levels and tackle the later levels with better upgrades and skills. There are also journals, collectibles and lore pickups throughout the game which tell you more about the world of Children of Morta. Small cutscenes also tell you about the history of some important events from the past of Bergsons family which is a really nice touch.
Final Verdict:
Children of Morta offers plenty to every type of gamer. Whether you like dungeon crawlers, roguelikes or simple RPGs. You can jump in the game for short sessions or play for hours as you grind completed levels to level up your character and unlock more skill points. Every run is unique thanks to randomly-generated levels keeping the challenge fresh. The story is amazing, the gameplay is solid and the combat is satisfying. The ability to use the entire family in the game also opens up more ways to play the game and players can choose the character that fits their own unique playstyle. I’ve not delved too deeply in the story in my review because that is something you should experience firsthand to really enjoy the game. I will recommend that all RPG fans out there give this game a shot.
Final Score: 8.5/10
