Children of Morta is very likely to be my 2019 Indie of the Year, so you can imagine what I think of it. Let’s cut straight to it, it’s gonna be getting a Golden Heart. If you want to find out why though, I recommend you stick around and see what I have to say.

I really didn’t expect this when I first booted up Children of Morta. As you can imagine by this point, the term ‘rogue’ has tired me out. Too many good games are let down by weak rogue elements, shoe-horned in with little depth in order to try using this buzz word in indie gaming. Fortunately, Children of Morta provides possibly the best use of rogue gameplay on the Switch. Mainly because it rarely uses it at all, and when it does, the in-game explanation actually makes sense. Instead, it focuses on an incredibly heartfelt journey, focused on a family of survivors fighting a seemingly impossible to defeat enemy.

The story revolves around the Bergson family, protectors of Mount Morta. The ‘corruption’ has turned this once peaceful mountain into one full of evil monsters. Your goal is simple, collect the seeds of life and free your home from this dreaded corruption before it overtakes everything. Remarkably for a rogue game, the story is a major part of the gameplay, so much so, I would consider Children of Morta to be a very story-driven game, very unlike its contemporaries. The story is provided to the player via an outstanding narration which echoes through cutscenes and gameplay alike, bringing the family to life. Thus, even though we never hear anyone in the family speak, you get to see small glimpses of their personality as you progress.

Meet the Bergson’s. Tell me this doesn’t look cosy!

Now the Bergson’s are a rather talented family, in the art of war that is. In total, six members of the family are playable, and they all possess totally unique playstyles. From the heavy-handed hammer of Joey, to the nimble bow of Linda, each is balanced to produce six fairly strong experiences. We’ll dive into the combat a little bit later, but I do want to go more into the presentation of these characters. In particular, how Children of Morta represents the relationship between them, mainly through inter-run cutscenes. For example, we come to learn how Uncle Ben, the blacksmith of the family, lost his lover (Sheila) years before the game takes place. This makes the revelation of his son’s return, that being Joey, even more, heartwarming to the player. Two pixelated men hugging each other shouldn’t have made me that emotional but it really did.

Children of Morta nails the dynamic of a family under duress. We see conflict between parents, the worries of a mother scared to see her young daughter harness her powers and even the doubts of a father who has the weight of his family on his shoulders. Never have I seen a game which focuses on rogue gameplay, employ such deep narrative. The best character though? Of course, it is little Ryker, the wolf cub you rescue and nurse back to health early in the game. Who doesn’t love a good little doggo?

Anyway, even better than the great story-telling, is the combat. I think there exist some issues in the combat which I will discuss, but overall it is tuned fantastically well. Each character is incredibly unique, and I think you will quickly find a favourite dependent on how you play. The main classes that exist though are ranged attackers and melee users. For me, I adored using Linda and definitely mained her in my playthrough. At the same time though, I don’t think other characters were boring to play with I just preferred her playstyle. All six characters have a main weapon and two unlockable abilities which are a defensive ability, as well as a special attack. You also get access to a ‘rage’ mode with each character, essentially increasing their effectiveness in various ways. For example, Linda is able to shoot her bow quicker allowing you to dispatch enemies quicker.

Combat feels as good as it looks!

Children of Morta ensures you will use all six characters by applying corruption fatigue if you use a member of the family too often consecutively. This lowers the health of the particular character, and thus whilst you can continue to use them, it is more effective to choose another until they recover. Aside from this, using different members and levelling them up unlock family-wide benefits, so variety is key to success. These come in various packages such as increased speed or high crit rates.

The combat is a well-made package, but there still remains a major issue in my opinion. The ranged characters are not only fewer, two of the six being ranged, but more effective than their counterparts. This is especially prevalent with bosses who often punish players for being too close to the action. This inevitably led to me slightly neglecting some of the melee characters, in particular, Joey, who despite being awesome in concept, is sluggish and hard to become effective with. Overall, there isn’t a major gap in the power level of each character, but I found it hard to ignore once I got a feel for the game and my own style of play.

Aside from character-specific upgrades, you can upgrade the whole family in between runs with the Book of Rea and Ben’s Workshop. In the workshop, Uncle Ben enhances the equipment used by each family member to buff things such as HP, attacking power and movement speed, all physical and character-based improvements. The Book of Rea, on the other hand, is how Granny Margaret, the matriarch of the Bergson’s, chips in. The Book of Rea focuses on other mechanics, such as increased Morv drop rate (Morv being the currency of Children of Morta), increased experience rates and more powerful obelisk effects. How you spend your Morv on these upgrades is entirely the choice of the player, I for one focused initially on buffing damage and health. The only limit is how quickly you unlock the different types of upgrades but they slowly unlock as you progress in the early to midgame regardless.

Nothing makes me happier than upgrading characters I invested time in to!

These upgrades apply permanently once you unlock them, unlike the ones you find within the dungeons themselves. Why don’t we talk about the dungeons then? Well, this is where the core of Children of Morta’s rogue gameplay comes in. Each run through any of the numerous dungeons within the game produces a random gauntlet for you to explore. Each with different enemies, upgrades to find and routes to the final bosses. Temporary boosts come in the form of the following types, five in total:

Divine Graces: are temporary powerups picked up during a run. They give you a passive ability and you can hold multiple at once. They may be found in event rooms, chests, or bought from the Shopkeeper once you unlock him. I encountered a fairly decent amount during my playtime and they are all pretty distinct from one another. Some directly affect the gameplay, for example, increasing movement speed, whereas others act in less active ways, such as poisoning enemies after you attack them.

Divine Relics: are active, unlike Graces but act in similar ways. You can only hold one at a time though, and they tend to have much more defined and powerful effects. You must activate them and most will work to either protect you or act as offensive powerhouses. I mean you can even summon a dragon using the Dragon of Sol relic!!

Charms: are another form of power-up which can buff a player in various ways, or drop items for them to use. I saw charms as fairly similar to Graces but they just have one activation rather than being constantly present throughout your whole dungeon run. There is also some overlap in charm effects, with several having an effect on your health or maximum health but it isn’t a big enough issue to become a problem at any point.

This whole world is one of mystery and intrigue. Just how were all these magical artefacts created?

Runes: are specialist for each character and have a direct effect on the weapons or abilities of a specific family member. For example, Linda can find and use the Vortex Shot which pulls enemies towards the centre of its area of effect. Unlike the other powerups discussed, Runes will eventually run out and have a fixed duration before they break.

Obelisks: are features that can be found in any dungeon. When activated, they provide a temporary bonus which lasts a fixed amount of time. After this, the Obelisk cannot be re-activated. Just like all of the discussed powerups, the variety here is brilliant and each and every Obelisk will influence how you play for the period it is activated. When I get the Obelisk of Mastery, which buffs XP gain, I go hell for leather to push myself up the levels whilst I can.

You’d think we would nearly be done, wouldn’t you? Well, we have a while to go yet. Children of Morta has so much that I can’t help but keep going! The story is expanded even in the dungeon runs through small character interactions and quests which often branch from run to run. Remember that cute little wolf we met earlier? Well, you meet him in the dungeon, scoop him up, take him home and then next time you delve back underground, you have to find some herbs to heal him so he can be a healthy little pupper again!

You get these side quests at a fairly decent pace and so most of your time in a dungeon will consist of you having small side objectives to achieve alongside your main ones. Don’t expect JRPG levels of sidequests here, they really are just small additional tidbits, but I valued them for what they were. Another sidequest allows you to unlock the shopkeeper, who will then reward your bravery by making you pay him for things, not exactly a reward but what can we do…

Small side quests add a lot to the already narrative-heavy story.

Now, some people will inevitably see the ‘grind’ factor of Children of Morta and dismiss it instantly. Yes, it does have a grind to it at times, but unlike other games I have played, I wasn’t bothered by it at any point. In essence, I think it comes down to the gameplay designs, mainly the fact you have to constantly switch characters, and that this actually has a purpose. Even when I used a character I didn’t really enjoy, it didn’t feel tedious because Children of Morta lets you use it as a way to progress your favourite character.

When I failed against a boss, I simply went in again, with a piece of new-found knowledge and a new set of buffs and tried again. Often I failed, but I kept going and eventually I was rewarded for this effort, although I didn’t feel I was irritated by this failure. You won’t beat dungeons first time, but Children of Morta makes sure that’s ok. The combat is intense, and the ability to grow stronger is so compelling that fighting the same enemies and collecting all the Morv they drop will continue to grip you. Rather than falling into a trap of being a grind for the sake of it, the grind helps you become better at the game. So how in the hell can you complain when you’re just getting better?!

I promise this is the end, well the beginning of the end. One more thing, and it’s about the dreaded Switch performance (I can see you shaking already, it’s ok). Now, to be fair to Children of Morta, I encountered a few issues during my playthrough, mainly in some intense sequences of enemy accumulation. Although this mainly boiled down to a slight dip in FPS and the game is still playable during these sections, it won’t lead to a cheap death essentially. Aside from this though, I can’t fault it at all.

Just look at the BEAUTY.

Visually, it is the best looking pixel game I have ever played, the environments, in particular, are stunning. I applaud Dead Mage for providing a refreshing use of pixel art in such a saturated visual style. It really is a spectacle, even the character models express personality in ways I haven’t seen before from pixel art games. As an overall product, the presentation is simply outstanding.

So this is where we summarise everything, hopefully, I didn’t forget anything! If it isn’t already clear, I loved Children of Morta. So much so, it is likely going to be my 2019 Nindie of the Year. So what else can I say, buy it now? Yes you, load up the eShop and buy it. You’ll be doing me a favour!

Children of Morta is an amazing experience, but it isn’t the only one on the Switch! For another brilliant title, I recommend our review of Super Lucky’s Tale, a fantastically fun 3D platformer! Be sure to keep the convo going on our Twitter and join our Discord. Thank you, as always for checking out our content, we appreciate everyone who helps keep indies alive!