Children of Morta from Dead Mage and 11 bit Studios is a roguelite action RPG that shines on Nintendo Switch. Learn more in our Children of Morta review!

 

Roguelite Children of Morta from Dead Mage and 11 bit studios will place you in control of the Bergsons family in a game with a great-looking art style. The gameplay loop has you taking control of one of the six family members – six family members once you unlock them – and use it to explore the deadly procedurally generated dungeon as you gradually improve each family members with new skills, perks, and upgrades based on your performance in the dungeon. With every run, you will slowly but surely move the story along as you make it possible for your characters to survive longer in the dungeon, as they destroy anything in their path towards the bosses that must be defeated.

The game’s journey to the Nintendo Switch got its start way back in 2015 when Dead Mage took Children of Morta to Kickstarter with a $65,000 goal that was smashed with more than $100,000 in pledges with the support of over 3,400 backers. The game was initially set for a Nintendo Wii U release after reaching the corresponding stretch goal, but as has been the case for several projects funded on Kickstarter, the Nintendo Wii U version was scrapped in favor of a Nintendo Switch release.

The adventure will begin when a dark force known as the Corruption manifests itself through the land. It will first show itself as small blobs of dark goo brought to life, quickly manifesting into larger dark creatures with blood-red eyes. The Corruption will also form up walls that will keep you from progressing any further until you’ve vanished all creatures in the section, and larger walls will need to be destroyed by the power of light. Harvest the energy of the land to aid you in your battle against the Corruption before it’s too late!

 

The first decision you’ll need to make in the game will be for the difficulty setting. Normal will provide players with a good challenge as they take on the story that Children of Morta has to offer, but you can also go for the Hard difficulty setting if you have experience with roguelite games and want to bump up the challenge. When you start your journey, you will only have access to two characters in the Bergsons family: patriarch John (who you start playing as during the tutorial section), and Linda, his eldest daughter. John is a melee fighter, which means you’ll need to be closer to enemies to deal some considerable damage while Linda uses her bow and arrow to keep enemies at bay.

As for the game’s controls, you will move your character around with the left analog stick, aiming your primary attacks with the right one – or you can press the Y button. Secondary attacks are mapped to the X button. You can try to evade enemy attacks with the B button as you prepare to counterattack. Your special ability is mapped to the L button, with divine relics – which you’ll collect during your adventure – set to the R and ZR buttons. You can interact with things with the A button, and the D-Pad will be used for accessing your map, checking item info, equipping artifacts, and even teleporting.

 

Defeating enemies will reward you with experience points, which will eventually allow your character to level up. Every time you level up, you will get a skill point, which can be used to upgrades your abilities in the skill tree, which you can access with the – button. As expected, skill points need to be spent in order to unlock new skills and abilities for your characters. More powerful skills will require more skill points to unlock, as well as demanding that skills of a lower level be mastered as well. There’s a wide variety of skills for you to unlock, such as attacks that deal considerable damage thanks to the power of the light, or you might be able to spend your skill points to boost a character’s armor defense or a final chance to fight the good fight after receiving a fatal injury.

The game has now been updated on Nintendo Switch to include what is being called the “Setting Sun Inn” update. What this update does is introduce a New Game+ mode in which you can use all of the unlocked characters, and their skill tree progress, as well as any upgrades you had unlocked, as you take on an even more challenging adventure. On top of this, more lore and 20 new cutscenes have been added to the game, along with 30 new events and animations, new family quests, and new sidequests.

 

Children of Morta is a game that I’ve been following since its Kickstarter campaign went live, and I was anxiously looking forward to trying it on the Nintendo Switch. I’m here to report that the wait was worth it since the game is a very fun and addictive roguelite action RPG with plenty of content to offer for its $21.99 asking price. Add the Setting Sun Inn update, which brings even more content to the table and even a New Game+ mode, and this is a must-have Nintendo Switch release.

Disclaimer
This Children of Morta review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by 11 bit studios.