The titles of From Software have had a great impact on the gaming world, so much so as to succeed in the incredible intent of creating a new sub-genre when it was thought that in the world of RPGs there was nothing more to invent.
With their unique narrative and gameplay style, Dark Souls and subsequent sequels have effectively set the rules for a new way of doing action RPG.
One genius mind inspires other genius minds, and soon there were born not only titles in three dimensions that attempted to emulate From's masterpieces, but also titles that adapted the 2D soulslike formula, often accompanied by an evocative pixel art. One of the latest additions to this category is Morbid: The Seven Acolytes, title developed by Still running and published by Merge Games.
The title came on 3th December on all platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and also on PC via Steam (where we played it).
Unlike other similar titles, such as Salt & Sanctuary o Death’s Gambit, Morbid proposes a 2D with isometric view, so as to simulate a three-dimensional movement with which one is not limited only to placing oneself on the right or left of the enemy, but which contemplates all directions.
This new soulslike 2D was unveiled this summer, impressing with its excellent pixel art and clear references to the imagery of Lovecraft; the time has come to discover all the secrets that the world of Morbid: The Seven Acolytes hides.
Seven Acolytes for seven kills
The story of Mobid: The Seven Acolytes deviates slightly from the cryptic essence of the soulslike classics, maintaining a narrative linked fundamentally to the information contained in the objects and in the dialogues with the NPCs, but fleshed out by an internal archive that collects content regarding everything in the game, from enemies to objects, up to the most important aspects of the lore of the title.
The story itself is quite simple and linear in its development: we are in the realm of Mornia, once flourishing and now under the yoke of mysterious creatures called Gahars, who, proclaiming themselves as divinities, literally took possession of men and animals, becoming the masters of the kingdom.
The Gahars to exist in this world they must in fact merge like parasites with a host being, and some of them have corrupted important human beings by turning them into Seven Acolytes, who now tyrannize the people of Mornia.
The only hope of salvation is inOrder of Dibrom, an order of brave knights born to some inhabitants of Mornia who fled to an island far from the Gahars.
After several attempts by the knights to recapture the kingdom, the Gahars have launched a devastating attack on the island, exterminating the order. Our journey begins after the sinking of a ship of the order of Dibrom that tried to escape extermination, in the role of the last remaining warrior, called Striver, from the title given to the knights of the order who come to Mornia to defeat the seven Acolytes.
In his shoes we will therefore have to complete once and for all the elimination of the monstrous usurpers.
From here on the game it strikes more for its atmosphere than for the narrative, which will be limited to some dialogue with some secondary characters and the Seven Acolytes once defeated.
References to the atmospheres of Lovecraft's imagination are clear right away, in fact one of the first areas of the game is the fishing village of the Port of Solya, where the Gahars have transformed most of the inhabitants into fish men of various types. Does it remind you of anything? Beyond that there is the factor "Sanity", which is also present as a gameplay mechanic but which we will talk about later.
The references to the unmentionable creatures of Lovecratft are however many even going on in the game, and it is a pity that the narration has not been further deepened, given its potential; also the end, on the other hand, is rather puzzled by an evident lack of depth of which, however, we do not want to reveal anything else.
In addition to pursuing our sacred mission, which will see us hunting for the heads of the Seven Acolytes, on our journey we will also meet several inhabitants of the kingdom of Mornia, who will ask us to carry out some tasks for them with real sidequest; these will increase the longevity of the game and will often allow us to face some boss battle extra.
As simple as they are in their structure, the sidequests will allow us to further explore the vast areas of the game and, above all, they will reward us with unique weapons and objects and parts of lore that we would otherwise have missed. A nice gimmick that increases one longevity a bit scarce for such a title, given that the base story can be finished in about ten hours, while the sidequests add at least another 4-5 hours of gameplay to the account.
Bloodborne's two-dimensional son
The gameplay of Morbid: The Seven Acolytes is very classic for those who have been chewing soulslike for a long time. The title features the typical system with i falò, which here are represented by altars from which it will also be possible to teleport and where to enhance the character. The latter will be able to equip different weapons, including swords, broadswords, maces, axes and brass knuckles. In addition, in full stile Bloodborne, we may also have a firearm simultaneously with a melee.
Our every physical movement, from attacks to dodging, will consume stamina and you know how important it is to know how to manage it in this type of games to avoid succumbing easily. We will then have a light attack and a heavy one, slower but more devastating. The moveset will not change between two weapons of the same type, but at most only the attack speed will vary, an important statistic in combat. Shooting instead will be very reminiscent of a twin stick shooter, since we will have to aim with the right analog in one of the eight possible directions.
To defend ourselves we can both dodge by rolling and use one parry.
This will allow us to counterattack by inflicting much higher damage than normal, if we can block the opponent's attack at the right moment.
On balance, however, parrying is very risky and it takes training to be able to better calibrate the right timing: dodging is much easier and safer and will allow you to return immediately to the attack. The title also has an unusual stealth component, in fact, by pressing a button, our Striver will move more slowly and will be able to escape the sight of the enemies. In reality the system has problems and sometimes it is even too strong.
There are no real covers, just put yourself in stealth and sometimes the enemies will not see us even if we are in front of them two steps away, indeed, it has happened that sometimes they did not react to our presence even after taking a shot in face.
The only peculiarity of the system is given by the health bar, which decreases over time as you deal with the horrors of Mornia, or due to certain attacks.
Dying in Morbid: The Seven Acolytes does not incur any penalties, except that we will be reborn with an ever lower level of health. If health starts to run low, noise will start to show up on the screen and there will be a percentage that killed enemies will rise up in some sort of ghostly form.
We will also deal less damage, suffer more and gain less experience from killing opponents. Fortunately, there are many equipable items that allow you to replenish health, so as to avoid this status. If you are wondering: yes, even in Morbid there is an equivalent of the Estus flask, namely the Stone of Dibrom, which will recharge after each stop at an altar.
The title actually it is not too complex as a whole, especially for those used to this genre of games.
Normal enemies are not much of a challenge and the presence of well-placed altars mitigates the difficulty of the sense of progression.
The combat is also rather simplistic and not very technical, since in general it is enough to hit and dodge to take down most of the monstrosities that we will face. The weapons with the higher speed value have an edge in this title, since they will allow us to hit and get away without giving the enemy even the time to understand what happened.
Different speech for the bosses, namely the Seven Acolytes plus some extras. The battles against them will be more evocative and spectacular scenically, but even in these there will be ups and downs, since some bosses have a very predictable moveset and their danger lies only in the high damage they inflict. Instead, the appearance of the different bosses should be praised, very inspired monstrosities in their forms, with also some interesting backstories to surround the clash.
blood and pixel
The growth system of our character in Morbid: The Seven Acolytes is quite simple and basic.
We won't have levels, armor and stats to pick up, but killing enemies will make us money Skill points to spend in Blessings. These will first be unlocked and found on the map; at first we will only be able to equip two, but then we will be able to increase this number.
Each Blessing will provide us with a conspicuous bonus, such as an increase in the life bar or stamina, a greater speed of recovery of the stamina or a greater damage dealt to bosses and elite enemies. With the skill points we will be able to increase these advantages. The weapons will have precise statistics, but each of them will have some slots where it will be possible to insert some rune that will give us extra elemental or debilitating damage, such as fire, ice and electricity or poison, bleeding, or that will increase the speed of weapons.
It will then be possible to equip some objects that will give us a temporary increase in damage, to be used as consumables.
The title gives its best as regards the artistic sector.
The pixel art of Morbid: The Seven Acolytes is well done and creates the right atmosphere of horror and despair. The presence of putrid flesh and rotting bulbs from which hostile parasites sprout everywhere gives the idea of a sick land corrupted by an evil not of this world.
Some scenes we will encounter will be suggestive and brutal at the same time, such as the image of a beached whale sprinkled with ferocious monstrous parasites. We then find a soundtrack with ben 18 pieces played by a real orchestra, which manage to give the right musical accompaniment to the adventure, between quieter sounds for the areas to be crossed and other sung and more aggressive ones for some boss battles.
Morbid: The Seven Acolytes however still needs some improvement in several places, starting with the AI.
The difficulty is low compared to other soulslike ones too because most of the enemies have a rather weak AI. Before we talked about the problem when using stealth, but also normally they often block or do not react even when we are very close, in a boss battle it also happened that our enemy got stuck in a point without him being able to attack us.
Beyond that there are some bugs which sometimes are also to the advantage of the player: for example once we happened to spend our Skill points in a Blessing and rest to recover the lost life, but with this also the Skill points just consumed. We hope that the developers will be able to fix the bugs present with a patch soon, in order to ensure the best possible experience for players.
Final judgement
Morbid: The Seven Acolytes is a good 2D soulslike with a great atmosphere and combat system that takes a little from Bloodborne and a little from Dark Souls and which, although not as technical as these, has its own. because. The strengths of the title are undoubtedly the artistic direction, as regards both the areas we will cross and the enemies we will have to face, and a very simple gameplay overall, but all in all fun, especially in Boss Battles, where a minimum commitment is required. . However, the title still has several bugs and problems with the enemy AI to solve, given that at present these can greatly penalize the game as a whole.
