Game development studio, Still Running, and publisher Merge Games have taken a page or two out of From Software’s books with their new game, Morbid: The Seven Acolytes, a top down Souls-like. The Souls-like genre is an interesting one when you look at how big it is now and how fast it developed to be what it is today. Morbid: The Seven Acolytes really holds the genre to its name as it shares many similarities with Dark Souls specifically, but is unique enough to be interesting in its own right.
The story specifically takes a lot from Dark Souls in that it is incredibly unclear. You play as the last warrior fighting monsters created by the plague infused with those who contracted it. The main elements of gameplay also stem from Dark Souls where you have essentially bonfires in shrines found around the map. These shrines are very few and far between, so make sure you are all prepped for the journey between them. You don’t level up at the shrines though, after earning XP from combat you can spend it on upgrades at the shrines but only so many can be equipped at one time.
The combat is only a little bit clunky, but mostly balanced when you get the hang of it. You have your inventory, where you can equip many different types of main and secondary ranged weapons ( similar to Dark Souls). You can have all sorts of different main weapons that all have different stats and have separate play styles from one another. There are mechanics for light attacks and heavy attacks as well as using your ranged secondary, parrying, crouching for stealth and dodge rolling. All of the previous use up your stamina with the exception of the sneaking and parrying. Enemies are brutal, not taking much time in between attacks and dealing tons of damage when connecting on hits, so make sure you have your combat style down to maximize your damage output and minimize the input.
Additionally, the art style of Morbid: The Seven Acolytes is amazing. It’s all top down and the perspective can get a little confusing but never to the point of it being in the way. Weirdly enough, the visuals being done really well is what builds into what I think is the coolest part of the game in the boss battles. The way you see them in the distance and the arena they give you, it really feels like a tough battle your character must overcome. On top of that the actual battling of the boss is great because it feels one sided toward the boss, you’re probably going to die in one hit, you have to figure out your strategy to beat the boss.
I think where this game falls behind is in its lack of things like character development, and I get that that is likely supposed to be part of the experience but it makes the world feel kind of empty and affects your desire to keep going ahead in the plot. It still is fun because you have no idea where you are going next and what you are going to see next but games of this genre do a good job when they sort of tease what is going on and you have to puzzle it together, Morbid: The Seven Acolytes just doesn’t really tell you anything. Overall, it is a really fun game and one heck of a challenge. It scratches the Souls-like “itch” a lot.
7/10
Check Out the Morbid: The Seven Acolytes Trailer Here
For more information, please visit – https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/morbid-the-seven-acolytes-switch/
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I'm a second-year student at Michigan State University and, I grew up mostly on Nintendo games, specifically GameCube and Wii. My favorite games growing up were Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion, Wario World and Super Smash Bros Melee. Nintendo was a huge part of my upbringing, but that did not prevent me from trying other consoles. I built my own PC for gaming when I was around 13 and that is where most of my gaming resides nowadays, I do however have a plethora of consoles because some games are meant to be played on a TV. My favorite Video games right now are the first Portal and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but that tends to be malleable.
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