Children of Morta

Children of Morta — A Beautiful Roguelite With a Family at Its Heart This is one of those games that manages to stand out despite being built around a familiar formula. At first glance, it looks like a beautiful pixel-art action RPG with roguelite elements, but the more you play, the more you realize how much care went into its world, characters, combat, and progression. I really enjoyed my time with Children of Morta. The story pulled me in, the gameplay stayed engaging, and the variety between characters gave me plenty of reasons to keep playing. Most importantly, the game has a personality of its own. Visuals: 9/10 Visuals — Beautiful Pixel Art The first thing that immediately stands out about Children of Morta is how beautiful it is. The pixel-art style is incredibly detailed without feeling cluttered. The environments have a surprising amount of depth and personality, and the animations make the characters feel much more alive than you might expect from a pixel-art game. There is also a great contrast between the beauty of the world and the corruption spreading through it. Areas feel distinct, enemies are visually interesting, and the effects during combat can be surprisingly impressive. What I particularly liked is that the visuals aren't beautiful simply for the sake of being beautiful. They help tell the story. The world feels like a place that is being slowly consumed by corruption, and that gives the environments a sense of purpose. The art direction is easily one of the game's strongest features. Gameplay: 9/10 Gameplay — Simple to Learn, Fun to Master The gameplay is where *Children of Morta* really hooked me. At its core, the game is an action RPG with roguelite elements. You enter an area, fight your way through enemies, collect resources, find upgrades, defeat bosses, and eventually return home to improve your family. The combat feels responsive and satisfying. Each character has their own attacks, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, which keeps the gameplay from becoming repetitive too quickly. I also really enjoyed the progression system. Even when you fail a run, you're still making progress. Resources and experience can be used to improve the characters, meaning that a failed run doesn't necessarily feel like wasted time. That creates a nice gameplay loop: Enter dungeon → fight → collect → upgrade → die or progress → return home stronger → try again. It is a formula that has been used plenty of times, but this game executes it extremely well. The biggest compliment I can give the gameplay is that I frequently found myself thinking, “I'll just do one more run.” And we all know how dangerous that sentence is. Class Variety: 9/10 Class Variety — The Family Is the Star One of my favorite aspects is the variety between the different members of the Bergson family. Each character feels like they have a legitimate reason to exist rather than simply being a different skin for the same character. You have characters focused on melee combat, ranged attacks, magic, speed, defense, and different combinations of these playstyles. Switching between characters actually changes how you approach the game. This is especially important in a game with repeated dungeon runs. If every character played essentially the same way, the gameplay would become stale much faster. Instead, experimenting with different members of the family gives the game a lot more longevity. I also liked that the characters aren't simply treated as interchangeable classes. They are members of a family, and that gives the character progression more meaning. You're not just unlocking another class. You're unlocking another member of the Bergson family and learning how they fit into the larger story. Enemy Variety: 8/10 Enemy Variety — Enough to Keep You Thinking Enemy variety is another area that's enjoyable. Different enemies require different approaches, and the game gradually introduces new threats as you progress. You're not simply fighting the same enemy with a larger health bar. Enemies have different attack patterns, movement behaviors, and abilities. This forces you to pay attention to what you're fighting rather than mindlessly attacking everything on screen. Boss encounters are particularly important here because they provide a nice change of pace from the standard dungeon enemies. That said, this is one of the areas where I think the game could have pushed things even further. While there is enough variety to keep the game interesting, I occasionally wished there were even more enemy types and more radically different encounters. Still, what is here works well. Map Variety: 8/10 Map Variety — Different Worlds, Different Experiences The different areas you explore help keep the dungeon crawling experience fresh. Each major area has its own visual identity, atmosphere, enemies, and overall feel. You're not simply walking through the same dungeon with a different background. The procedural nature of the maps also helps with replayability. Runs aren't completely predictable, and that keeps exploration interesting. I particularly enjoyed the feeling of never being entirely sure what I'd encounter during a run. You might find resources, upgrades, special encounters, or something that changes how that particular run plays out. The downside is that procedural generation can only go so far. Eventually, you start recognizing the building blocks being used to construct the maps. I think the map variety is good, but this is another area where I could have happily taken more. Story: 8/10 Story — The Heart of the Game While the combat and progression are what kept me playing, the story is what gave the game its identity. The game isn't simply about a group of heroes going into dungeons and killing monsters. It's about a family trying to protect their home and each other from a growing corruption. That family dynamic is what makes the game feel different. The Bergsons don't feel like a random collection of playable characters. They feel like an actual family, and the story takes time to show their relationships, struggles, personalities, and sacrifices. The narration and presentation also help tremendously. Rather than relying entirely on long conversations and exposition, the game uses narration, visuals, and short story moments to move things along. It gives the story a sort of fairy-tale quality that fits the art style perfectly. Final Verdict Children of Morta is a beautiful, addictive, and surprisingly heartfelt action RPG. The visuals are gorgeous, the combat is satisfying, the characters are varied, and the family-based story gives the game an emotional identity that many games in the genre lack. It isn't perfect. I would have liked to see even more enemy and map variety, especially as I progressed deeper into the game. But those shortcomings didn't take away from how much I enjoyed playing it. What ultimately makes Children of Morta special is how well all of its pieces fit together. The art supports the story. The story gives meaning to the characters. The characters make the gameplay varied. And the progression system gives you a reason to keep coming back. If you enjoy action RPGs, roguelites, dungeon crawlers, or games with a strong emphasis on character and family, Children of Morta is absolutely worth checking out. Visuals: 9/10 Gameplay: 9/10 Class Variety: 9/10 Enemy Variety: 8/10 Map Variety: 8/10 Story: 8/10 Overall: 9/10 — A beautiful and addictive action RPG that deserves more attention.