![]() Here’s a cliffhanger: I can’t recall ever feeling so sad that a game had ended. (3) Up to six family members on a quest to save the land from a hideous corruption? Check. With me so far? Good. So to summarize! (1) Procedural multi-stage dungeons with mini-bosses spread over three acts? Check. (2) Narrative events that unlock the game’s progression system? Check. ![]() Of most significance is that when you end a run there is a chance for a bigger narrative event that unlocks one of the four other characters/family members for your use. Ultimately, these narrative interludes are the driving reward and justification for play. The stories themselves often trigger a change to the Bergons home as you collect mementos from your explorations, make daring rescues that add new visitors to the domestic scene, or discover upgrades and advancements for your warriors. Narrative interludes feature a healthy diversity of flora and fauna It can be an emotional roller-coaster at times. A stoic narrator provides the perfect vocal pairing to these somber plot events while the lavish pixel art brings the scenes fully to life. These narrative events range from the macabre and gut-wrenching to endearing and tear-jerking. There are three such spirits, corresponding to three different acts and associated landscape regions, through which the story and game progression unfold.Īt the start of the game, the patriarch John and his eldest daughter Linda are the only characters that are available to undertake these dungeon-delving missions. You’ll guide these characters into procedurally generated dungeons, along the way triggering narrative events and special encounters. Grandma Margaret breaks the news to the family that they will have to begin exploring a series of caverns in order to find and release ancient spirits that can help reverse the corruption. The titular Bergons are a family of protectors, gradually coming to grips with a growing corruption spreading over the land. When it comes to the gameplay structure, it’s worth setting the narrative stage a little bit more. The weakest of the corrupted enemies remind me of those slug-things from Sliver. You’ll be dodging and weaving around enemies in one direction while firing off attacks and triggering abilities in another. Unlike most action RPGs, where you use your mouse pointer to indicate where you want to move or where to target your abilities, Morta has you using FPS-like controls with the WASD-keys moving your character around and the mouse controlling your direction of facing. Like other twin-stick shooters, this makes combat a fluid- and fast-paced affair. The primary dungeon-delving gameplay is a mix of action RPG and top-down twin-stick shooter (think Gauntlet, Smash TV). The other aspect of Morta that had me intrigued was, shocker, the gameplay itself. But I digress. The pixel art in Morta never failed to draw me in and make the world come alive in my mind, stirring the imagination in ways that games with more realistic styles routinely fail to do. Morta and Quest for Glory both share a pseudo-Bavarian overtone laced with an unhealthy dose of dark magic. I cut my teeth as a wee-lad playing Sierra Quest games, and the art style and feelings conjured up a heavy dose of nostalgia, especially for the Quest for Glory series. First was the absolutely jaw-dropping pixel art. What made the game stand out was two-fold. The Bergons’ open-concept house is great for family gatherings and storytelling by the fire Children of Morta (Morta), from developer Dead Mage and publisher 11 Bit Studios (of This War of Mine and Frostpunk fame) is a fantasy action RPG with a bit of rogue-lite thrown in. The whole game is wrapped around a narrative format that follows the Bergsons, a family of warriors destined to protect the land from a reawakened evil and corrupting power. While I didn’t back the campaign, I was nevertheless completely intrigued by the game’s conceit and style and spent the next four-and-half years stalking it’s development and eagerly awaiting its final release. I first heard about the game when its Kickstarter campaign launched in January 2015. If you were to ask me at any point over the last four or five years to name my most anticipated game, Children of Morta would be near the top of the list.
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