Souls-like games are a big genre these days, and one interesting title to come out is Morbid: The Seven Acolytes. The game is set in Mornia, a world where a horrific plague has given rise to mutated beasts spread corruption perpetuation by the demons known as the Acolytes. You will play as a warrior called a Shriver and go out on a quest to stop the threat. I will also note, that while the game takes influence from the Souls series and Salt & Sanctuary, another clear source of inspiration is Legacy of Kain. Specifically the first game, known as Blood Omen, which was in a very different style to the rest of that series. The isometric perspective and horror fantasy imagery make it a great fit, and while a lot darker than the former game, such as using body-horror imagery that is rather distubing, this is a rather unique take on the genre.
Your Shriver will be able to mete out damage no matter the weapon, but this doesn’t mean all weapons are the same, since different weapons due attacks slightly differently. Be aware that you take damage easily ( this is a Souls-like after all), and you will die easily, especially at first. With dish out some serious damage regardless of your choice of weapon. But she is only human, and so it won’t take many hits to kill you. With limited healing items and enemy respawns, the game provides quite a challenge and so you will need to make use of the shrines to rest and beef yourself up. This is done by choosing your blessings and and upgrading your equipment to be most suitable. It works well, and you can not get overpowered due to the fact that you only have a few blessings at a time, but something is lacking here.
This is a game that utilizes much of the Souls-like genre, but leaves out parts that many feel are key. Yes there are a nice amount of weapons to acquire, but they start to all feel the same after a while, and the builds you can make are rather limited. It feels like Morbid: The Seven Acolytes has good ideas, but does not go far enough. The stamina based combat is also a low point, as it just does not feel fully realized here. It makes sense that depending on the weapon, more stamina is used, but the application does not work well in practice. Dodging is incredibly easy for instance, no matter the circumstances, and this throws off the entire flow of the game for me.
The overall world also feels too empty and there is no character to it. No shops or vendors, no real personality, nothing. I feel like the developers wanted to make a Souls-like patterned after classic games, but the result just was not there. I think the game is overall decent if you just want a game that has a challenge if you do not just use certain tactics to avoid enemies, but overall, I feel this is one that just needed a bit more work to it. As it is, it feels incomplete right now.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided.