Independent studio Dead Mage collected some funds to create its latest production through Kickstarter over 4 years ago. At least $65,000 was necessary, but over $108,000 was raised. The game is released by Polish 11bit Studios, which has recently launched only solid productions. From these shreds of seemingly unrelated information we can conclude that the Children of Morta is a title in which a lot of heart and work was put. But what is this title really about?
Children of Morta is an action-RPG, combining elements of devil-like and rogue-like, and all this is watered with a sauce from an intense narrative and really beautiful pixel-art. The story focuses on the history of the Bergson family, whose job it is to stop the widespread corruption that began to poison Mort's title mountain. The effect? Demons and shadows begin to appear in the area, closing the loop around our heroes' homes tighter and tighter. In order to stop the coming threat we have to wake up three mountain spirits, visiting a dozen or so relatively different locations along the way. Each location is divided into floors, and at the end there is a fight with the boss.
Before we delve into the dungeon space, we choose a character for whom we will make a duty to fight evil. We start with one, but eventually we can play one of the six heroes. Quite quickly we realize that in the game we develop in many ways, as it is in the rogue-like games. In this case the planes are... good God... good five, if I haven't forgotten something at the moment. First, we develop within a given level - our hero collects relics and objects that help us in this particular approach. Secondly, we develop the given character - here we gather experience and level in a classic way, keeping up the progress after the completion of the approach, successful or not. Thirdly, between levels we can improve the equipment or features of the whole family: attack, armor, chance to evade, etc. These improvements are cumulative, so we increase the basic statistics for all relatives at the same time. Fourthly, we can influence factors that are not strictly (stricto sensu) related to the heroes' data, e.g. increase the amount of gold falling out of monsters or gained experience. Finally, the most interesting solution is probably the most interesting one - after we "promote" individual heroes to the next threshold levels, the perks available to the whole family are unlocked, e.g. when our archer gains enough experience, all heroes receive a small bonus on movement speed.
The latter, in combination with the "fatigue" system, solves the issue of encouraging players to take on characters other than the preferred, most comfortable for us. In my case it meant that even if my favorite heroes were archer Linda and wizard Lucy (attacks from a distance here), I had to take control of more contact heroes from time to time. It wasn't enough to check them once, out of curiosity, but to return to them to strengthen the whole family. I was forced to use all the benefits of what the developer had prepared for me. It was brilliant and driven me through the hours.
What draws attention to in Children of Morta is the developers' excellent sense for introducing new elements. After mastering the basics of fun I started to get the impression that right now I'm just waiting for more and more boring grindings, as it happens in diabolically similar action-RPGs. And at this very moment the creators decided to surprise me with a solid turn in the plot, combined with a temporary introduction of new mechanics. Another time, a change is brought by the transition to another location, in which the graphic style, the behavior of opponents or the discovery of a new skill is completely different. All this is done in a smooth way, without any downtime that could be boring or impatient. Szapoba for developers, there are few artists who have the right feeling in this area.
As far as aesthetic values are concerned, everyone can see what the horse is like. Pixel-art on a high level. The big plus is the deep, pleasant voice of the narrator, who brings the player closer not only to the world presented, the history of the fight against Warping, but also to the history of the Bergson family, with all its complexities.
I expected a lot from the Children of Morta and I wasn't disappointed. This is one of the best games I had the pleasure to play this year - extensive, addictive, very cleverly designed, permeated with attention to detail and love for the "product".