Children of Morta

 Switch
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 88 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 71 out of 88
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 88
  3. Negative: 9 out of 88
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  1. Rpg89
    Nov 20, 2019
    10
    Nice pixelated graphics, if you love the messenger, dead cell & hyperlight drifter then by all means buy this game. Great on switch. Won't regret your purchase.
  2. nusco
    Jun 27, 2020
    7
    As the narrator of Children of Morta would say: "A couple of runs was all it took, to spark my love for this game. But the human heart is finicky, and the honeymoon didn't last. Midway through the journey, what was once love had turned sour, regret taking its place. Then, as the end approached, that regret too gave way to serene acceptance."

    Sorry, I couldn't resist. Children of    As the narrator of Children of Morta would say: "A couple of runs was all it took, to spark my love for this game. But the human heart is finicky, and the honeymoon didn't last. Midway through the journey, what was once love had turned sour, regret taking its place. Then, as the end approached, that regret too gave way to serene acceptance."

    Sorry, I couldn't resist.

    Children of Morta is a hard game to review, because it swings wildly between high and low points. The story is good: an epic fable that's laser-focused on the theme of family bonds, narrated in voiceover by a strong actor. Yeah, it's a bit overwritten, but it tackles ponderous subjects such as grief and the responsibilities of parenthood. So there is that.

    In the “good but…” department, you can file the "hi-pixel" graphics. They're hit-and-miss, but when they's good, they're really good, with beautiful vistas and intricate detail. The main gameplay loop is also OK, if unoriginal: Children of Morta is another take on the fashionable roguelike template, with the addition of multiple characters with separate (but somewhat interacting) skill trees. It's addictive, no question about that.

    All of the above would make Children of Morta a must-play, if it were not for its glaring downsides. The game's implementation is glitchy, especially in the graphics department. The frame rate can drop to single digits in some extreme cases. More importantly, the game isn't very well designed in general. Difficulty is all over the place, and it feels like the designers had more ideas than they could balance and tune.

    Here is a concrete example of that half-done design job: for a few levels, I did what the game seemed to ask me: I switched from one character to another. The game even has a few mechanics that encourage you to do that. At some point, however, I realized that it's more productive to ignore those mechanics and play with one or two overpowered characters all the time. Some characters are so much more powerful than the others, that mechanics be damned, you don't want to play a loser.

    Another example: for a while, I tackled combat and exploration in a slow and methodical way. Then I understood that I was wasting my time. The game becomes much easier if you just rush from one treasure chamber to the next, assembling a tail of hapless pursuing enemies. Treasures chambers are mostly safe, and you can shoot through their doors, while the enemies can't–so they become sitting ducks ready for you to kill and farm some XP. You can cheese your way through most of the game like that, and that also makes all the enemies feel exactly the same as one another. This kind of glaring gameplay issue should have been caught immediately during beta testing.

    Still another example of shaky design: the mini-games that litter the dungeons feel like the designer was asked to come up with ideas in a few minutes. One is a very out-of-place game of pong. Another one requires you to step over four buttons in order–but you can only find the right order through trial and error. One wrong try, and you have to wipe out a room full of enemies before you try again. Do a little math, and you'll see that even if you never forget the sequence, you might have to clean up that room a maximum of 24 times if you're unlucky. I had to do it 12 times once, and then I stopped caring about this kind of room when I encountered it. This pointless "challenge" should never have been included in the game.

    I could talk more about a few bullet sponge bosses, unbalanced recovery times, and the like–but you got the idea: Children of Morta has great potential, but it should have gone through a few more passes of design review. As it is, this game is an incomplete curio. It's still worth playing, and at times it feels uniquely its own–but at the same time, it feels like a missed opportunity for a minor classic.    … Expand
  3. aleqhz
    Aug 16, 2021
    3
    Fun game, great graphics but with a lot of bugs. Sound effects that get stuck. Random noises during loading screens. Friendly AI that keep attacking the walls when there are no enemies around, etc.

    I had to give it 3/10 because I'm so pissed off it crashed on me right after a one hour dungeon run after a boss fight. The save game was obviously lost. If your game is unstable, please    Fun game, great graphics but with a lot of bugs. Sound effects that get stuck. Random noises during loading screens. Friendly AI that keep attacking the walls when there are no enemies around, etc.

    I had to give it 3/10 because I'm so pissed off it crashed on me right after a one hour dungeon run after a boss fight. The save game was obviously lost.

    If your game is unstable, please allow the player to save state or save the game on demand. The autosave on this game is crap.    … Expand
  4. praymonroe
    Dec 2, 2019
    8
    TL;DR: Beautiful art style, fun rogue-lite elements alongside meaningful progression. At its core, Children of Morta is a game about family. This is felt across every aspect of the game: the story itself is driven by the exploits of the Bergson family and their fight against the Corruption threatening their home. Abilities unlocked on one family member can have a meaningful impact onTL;DR: Beautiful art style, fun rogue-lite elements alongside meaningful progression. At its core, Children of Morta is a game about family. This is felt across every aspect of the game: the story itself is driven by the exploits of the Bergson family and their fight against the Corruption threatening their home. Abilities unlocked on one family member can have a meaningful impact on gameplay for everyone else. Upgrades purchased affect each family member, meaning that even your least-played or newest-unlocked family member has the potential to reach wide use. In terms of structure, the game takes place across multiple, randomized dungeons. Each dungeon is randomized with a static boss at the end. In between each completed dungeon run you’ll have bits of dialogue where new family members can become available for play. 8/10 because the amount of replay ability is a bit low. Despite this, what’s here is phenomenal, and giving it support at this stage might lead to even more bang for your buck later on.… Expand
  5. SiggiRoo
    Jun 2, 2020
    10
    Fantastic game! Very smooth combat and great pixel art. Played with my wife and she really enjoyed it as well which can be tough to find at times.
  6. donatello14
    Jul 31, 2020
    3
    Great game however it really drops framerate, and us quite buggy. Game breaking glitch doesn't allow me to fight final boss after recent update :*(
  7. Nixxaras
    Nov 22, 2019
    2
    Low framerate, regular crashes. I'm tired of those "indie ports" that come out half baked on Switch and never get patched.
  8. Midget007
    Oct 20, 2020
    10
    Best indie I've played in a while. Great gameplay and beautiful art. Hope they make a sequel
  9. Calathia
    Nov 30, 2019
    3
    Game of great story with amazing graphics but dull and boring gameplay mechanics.

    When I first heard about this game, I was so excited! Diablo and Enter the Gungeon combined. But reality was very different and disappointing. Its dull, very dull. Let me explain: In the first meters of the game you notice beautiful graphics and thoughtful storytelling, and it really grabs you. But    Game of great story with amazing graphics but dull and boring gameplay mechanics.

    When I first heard about this game, I was so excited! Diablo and Enter the Gungeon combined. But reality was very different and disappointing. Its dull, very dull. Let me explain:

    In the first meters of the game you notice beautiful graphics and thoughtful storytelling, and it really grabs you. But crawling few runs in the dungeon, you start to realize that there is no anykind of drops to give you new guns, magic, or interesting items. There are shrines and passive items in each run, but mostly they just buff you. There is no actual variety that would alter your gameplay in each run. And this is the salt and pepper in roguelike games, its the main essence to keep you going for hundreds of runs. Imagine Enter the Gungeon; zillions of different weapons and items each run. Imagine Dead Cells; same thing. Imagine Binding of Isaac. Now imagine doing runs after runs without any of these. No new guns. No spells. No special items. Just few buffs; some speed, some defence, etc. There is few moves to unlock in skill trees but they are very limited (1-3 for each protagonist) and rest upgrades in skill trees are just passive buffs.

    Story is immersive and animation is done so well, that you could feel the connetion to protagonist family. For this (and beautiful graphics) I must give big plus for developers.

    I feel like they haven't done enough playtesting to realize how boring this game is. Its a pity, because it would easily have potential to be the next supesuccessfull roguelite game    … Expand
  10. SuperConan1997
    Nov 26, 2019
    10
    Excellent story,awesome pixel graphics! The game runs decent on the Switch.(it stuttered at a few points,but nothing crippling). Each member of the Bergsons has their pros/cons. I would recommend this to anyone liking rogue-lite games. You progress just long enough to get a few unlocks, not making it feel like a huge grind. The overall sound adds just the right amount of atmosphere. highlyExcellent story,awesome pixel graphics! The game runs decent on the Switch.(it stuttered at a few points,but nothing crippling). Each member of the Bergsons has their pros/cons. I would recommend this to anyone liking rogue-lite games. You progress just long enough to get a few unlocks, not making it feel like a huge grind. The overall sound adds just the right amount of atmosphere. highly recommended for any who like hack-n-slash as well!… Expand
  11. MisterMacys
    Feb 16, 2021
    5
    The stress mechanic is an unnecessary restriction on character choice, individual character progression is needlessly stretched out to increase replayability metrics, bizarre controller input lag in the home area, **** enemy spawns if you don't play fast enough for the devs. The entire mechanical design of the progression is the developers telling you how THEY want the game to be played.The stress mechanic is an unnecessary restriction on character choice, individual character progression is needlessly stretched out to increase replayability metrics, bizarre controller input lag in the home area, **** enemy spawns if you don't play fast enough for the devs. The entire mechanical design of the progression is the developers telling you how THEY want the game to be played. You WILL level up everyone at the same, ungodly slow rate, and Heaven forbid you like any one character more than the others.… Expand
  12. alectivism
    Dec 22, 2019
    8
    I love this game, extremely rewarding gameplay loops and quick action. Minus points for long load times and random audio glitches crashes, but from what I've read those problems exist on other platforms. Glad I bought it on the Switch instead of PS4, it's nice to be able to jump into a game quickly and it looks great in portable mode
  13. Rains01
    Jan 26, 2021
    8
    ..........................................................................:
  14. Meeleepit
    Jan 14, 2020
    7
    One of the most stunning looking pix-elated games i have ever played.

    The story line is great and written to perfection . The random instances in dungeons where you meet travelers add to the exploration of dungeons. But at the end it all feels repetitive . You are forced to play with every character, for me this is a now go. I generally tend to stay with one char, this is not a    One of the most stunning looking pix-elated games i have ever played.

    The story line is great and written to perfection . The random instances in dungeons where you meet travelers add to the exploration of dungeons.

    But at the end it all feels repetitive .

    You are forced to play with every character, for me this is a now go. I generally tend to stay with one char, this is not a game breaker though.

    The fighting is fun and intense.
    Currently it has a bug on the switch when a lot of enemies is on the screen the sound will start lagging and after the level is complete the game will crash, loosing all progress.

    Fun Game, stunning pixels but repetitive.    … Expand
  15. Daisuk
    Apr 23, 2021
    8
    There's a lot to like about this game, even though it has its flaws. Good things first - the interacting dynamic between all the playable characters are nice, they all have quite diverse combat techniques and abilities, and the game does reward you for switching up who you use in a good way. The characters feel relatively balanced as well. Art style is for the most part lovely, althoughThere's a lot to like about this game, even though it has its flaws. Good things first - the interacting dynamic between all the playable characters are nice, they all have quite diverse combat techniques and abilities, and the game does reward you for switching up who you use in a good way. The characters feel relatively balanced as well. Art style is for the most part lovely, although can feel a bit cramped on a small screen at times, which makes the text hard to read and some items hard to identify. All roguelite mechanics are well implemented, I think - makes for a balanced and interesting game loop.

    Now, for the not so great parts. Although the story by and large adds to the experience of the game, and makes it interesting - the writing or storytelling is just downright cheesy and cringe-worthy. It's so pompous at times, and clearly written by someone who wants their writing to sound a bit more grandiose than what they've got talent for. Ouch, that sounds mean - but it's not of great importance to the overall feel of the game, thankfully. I also wish enemies were more varied - the basically just come crashing at you, have a bit of a varied approach to how they attack you, but you don't really need to play very strategically to take them down - usually it's just a case of being strong enough, go head on, and dash away if you're outnumbered. It's also a bit too easy to just run away from the hordes - and you can actually run to these safe rooms, and snipe enemies through the door - which is quite an easy way of cheesing through the harder levels.

    All in all though, a good game well worth playing, and I would recommend fans of roguelites to pick this one up.    … Expand
  16. Dominicl
    Aug 8, 2020
    10
    11 bit does it again! Do you like diablo? If yes then this game is for you. The graphics look beautiful. The story is interesting and the music/voice acting is great. A game I find very easy to sink time into. Plus I found a physical copy for only $15!!!
  17. New_Guy
    Oct 14, 2021
    4
    The gameplay is solid. Storytelling is good.

    I cannot give the Switch version a good rating though because there is an insane screen stuttering that is driving me crazy. If you intend to play this only on handheld, it is passable, but if you play on a big screen, you will probably get a headache. For playing on a big screen, I recommend getting this game on another system than the    The gameplay is solid. Storytelling is good.

    I cannot give the Switch version a good rating though because there is an insane screen stuttering that is driving me crazy.

    If you intend to play this only on handheld, it is passable, but if you play on a big screen, you will probably get a headache.

    For playing on a big screen, I recommend getting this game on another system than the Switch.

    UPDATE:

    Ok so there are also some serious issues with sound in this game. If you play over half an hour or so, the sound effects will start to loop and echo and crack until they stop working at all. When this happens the screen stuttering will continue to worsen and it seems like the game might crash.

    This is really a shame since the game is so good. I wish the developers took the time to fix these issues. This is not an acceptable state for a game to be launched in.    … Expand
  18. PoundShopOrwell
    Apr 2, 2021
    10
    Just completed this for the first time. Absolutely stunning story arc, the most beautiful pixel art I’ve seen and a fanatically rewarding upgrade system make this one of my absolute favourite switch games. I can’t wait to see what this team does next. A sequel hopefully!
  19. pdavis22
    Jan 18, 2021
    9
    A great game overall.

    Pros: Storytelling. Fighting mechanics. Grinding with a level up system that is provided for all characters. Fun.

    Cons: Some boss fights did not take much thought. As long as my characters were properly leveled up could take them out fine. Minigames for relics were ehhhhhhhh.
  20. Wrecktangled
    Mar 17, 2022
    8
    Great looking game with a compelling narrative and interesting characters. The leveling up system and ever expanding roster kept me coming back to this game. I had a lot of fun making my way through it but did encounter some pretty bad crashing and visual/audio bugs late game that tainted my experience a bit.
  21. MentalSeiz
    Jun 14, 2021
    9
    This is one of the finest rogue-lite dungeon crawlers I have ever played. Lovely graphics, soundtrack, story, gameplay. It is a true hidden gem.
  22. chosen0ne
    Sep 22, 2021
    9
    Great rogue-lite with a family-centric story filled with heart-warming, charming details. My wife sat and loved watching me explore the home-base, feed animals (DLC is definitely worth getting), and get into the story. 100% play this game!
  23. rebster
    Dec 18, 2021
    8
    This was a really fun play. You have a lot of space to personalise your play by choosing which characters to play as and which of their skills to level up and what other abilities you want to upgrade. It keeps you hooked, when you think you might be about to get bored the dungeons offer you a new short side quest that sort of -wakes you up- again after just going through enemies. TheThis was a really fun play. You have a lot of space to personalise your play by choosing which characters to play as and which of their skills to level up and what other abilities you want to upgrade. It keeps you hooked, when you think you might be about to get bored the dungeons offer you a new short side quest that sort of -wakes you up- again after just going through enemies. The storytelling by the narrator is great, the visuals are great, and you should definitely pick this game up! You really get your money's worth with the time you can spend playing the game as you can also play another mode after you finish the main story.

    My only complaints about this game are that it has quite a few sound issues, the main ones I encountered were glitches in the storytelling during cutscenes and when there are a lot of enemies on the scream the creatures' sounds would just keep repeating even when you take them all out and even during loading screens.. it leaves you playing the game with the sound off sometimes. In the final stages of the game it also starts lagging a bit.    … Expand
  24. metacriticuser8
    Feb 26, 2022
    2
    I don't understand how you can do a 10/10 review here. I opt to do a 0/10 to compensate for it. This game is a lackluster roguelite rpg. You don't have much content, don't have much story, don't have many abilities, don't have anything that makes it good. You just a click and dodge, and sometimes b click. When compared to HADES, this is no roguelite because it doesn't even matter what ofI don't understand how you can do a 10/10 review here. I opt to do a 0/10 to compensate for it. This game is a lackluster roguelite rpg. You don't have much content, don't have much story, don't have many abilities, don't have anything that makes it good. You just a click and dodge, and sometimes b click. When compared to HADES, this is no roguelite because it doesn't even matter what of these **** perks you get. You grind till you match the linearly scaling damage requirements and you don't ever care about perks. Game is also very short and the characters are imbalanced and most are very boring.… Expand
  25. huanpl
    Apr 7, 2022
    10
    Awesome indie action RPG with beautiful pixel art. It's rogue-like like Hades, but it's much more addictive and there's a interesting story too.
  26. PacoBN23
    May 1, 2023
    8
    Roguelite de muy buena calidad. Destaco su apartado gráfico, las mecánicas de cada personaje y la satisfacción con el sentimiento de progresión a medida que avanza el juego.

Awards & Rankings

69
#69 Best Switch Game of 2019
64
#64 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. Switch Player
    Jul 24, 2020
    80
    Children of Morta demonstrates how to do a roguelike well: frequent upgrades smooth the difficulty curve, an engaging story keeps things fresh, and there’s plenty of depth in combat. It’s difficult and sometimes repetitive, but looks and feels the part.
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  2. FNintendo
    Dec 12, 2019
    80
    Children of Morta is a gem of a roguelike that often behaves like an action RPG and with its exquisite art style, simple but fun combat system and enormous variety of customization and character experimentation, it makes for a marvelous game that gets its job done in a very satisfying way. On top of that, it even features a wonderful co-op component.
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  3. Nintendo Enthusiast
    Dec 2, 2019
    85
    Since it’s polished in almost every regard with its gameplay and presentation, it’s possible Children of Morta would’ve benefited from a more focused design direction rather than a rogue-lite dungeon-crawling experience. Nevertheless, in a sea of games for the rogue-lite genre, it’s refreshing to see developers do something unique and tell a meaningful story. The emotional heights that the game reaches goes farther than many narrative-focused games. If you’re looking for a story-driven ARPG, then Children of Morta needs to be at the top of your list.
    Read full review
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