Children of Morta Review: Choose your favorite Bergson to take down into the dungeons
The Bergsons are your average everyday family. Poppa Bergson is a hard worker who does what he needs to keep the family afloat. The eldest daughter Linda helps her father when she can. Kevin, one of her brothers, is a bit of wild card, with a rambunctious streak that’s cause for concern for his poor mother. Oh, and the youngest daughter is an expert fire mage who reigns destruction on the minions of corruption that are trying to drive the family from the mountaintop shrines they’ve protected for generations.
Okay, maybe the stars of Children of Morta aren’t exactly a typical family. After all, your typical suburban household isn’t often the only force standing between their world and a goopy demonic invasion. That said, the bonds built between the many-membered Bergson clan feel very familiar to me as a person who grew up as the oldest of seven.
Gameplay-wise, Children of Morta is very much in the style of a Diablo action-adventure RPG mixed with roguelike elements. You’re roaming a procedurally generated world, fighting off baddies with a combination of basic attacks and devastating special abilities. However, at the heart of the experience is the story of a family coming together to stop a great threat.
Now, the story isn’t anything to write home about. It’s a mostly boilerplate fantasy tale that isn’t interested in taking many risks. That said, the way the team at Dead Mage builds the story and even the gameplay around the Bergsons is pretty impressive.
Not only does the team do a great job of weaving the family’s story in-and-out of your gameplay sessions, but they also make your familial unit paramount to progressing through the game. As mentioned above, this game is very much in the style of a Diablo. Each of the six playable family members represents a different class. So, the dad is your basic sword-and-board warrior, while youngest brother Kevin is a stealthy rogue. Quickly, you’ll likely find your favorite character to play, and you’ll want to stick with them. By design, this is a mistake.
Dead Mage wants you to play as each character nearly equally. Mechanically, they do this by giving characters you use too much “corruption sickness”, which puts a big drain on your health if you continue to use them. Give them a rest by playing as another family member, and they’re quickly back up to fighting shape.
However, there is a strategic advantage to rotating through the different family members. The Bergsons are a tight-knit crew and that shows in every aspect of the game. Each character has their own skill tree that you’ll level up. You’ll get a few choices about which special attacks you want to focus on, but the skills aren’t really anything you haven’t seen before.
