Taking players into a dark world where many have given up on the hope of a good and safe life while creatures of all kinds roam the lands are developers Still Running. Working with publisher Merge Games, they recently released Morbid: The Seven Acolytes on multiple platforms for those who believe they have the skill to cleanse this corrupted world can venture forth. All while providing a world that is just as entertaining to fight, die, and try again through as it is challenging to succeed in.

Story

As the last surviving Striver of Dibrom, your duty and life’s goal is to defeat the Seven Acolytes. These are the accursed and powerful beings, possessed by malevolent deities called Gahars. This task is what you have trained your whole life for and now is the time for you to step up. Are you ready for the challenge?

Gameplay

Starting out, you are given a basic mid-range weapon with base speed. This weapon will be the one you use through the first area of the game and get the hang of the controls. There are books lying everywhere that when interacted with give a hint as to another part of the game’s controls. This same book finding aspect is used throughout the game to find bits of lore for the world, giving plenty of details into the Gahars, Acolytes, and more.

After you figure out how to fight, it will get to the point that it tells you how to heal. This healing stone is replenished every time you meditate or fast travel at the alters, so don’t be worried about using these as needed. Once you collect other consumable items, you will be able to put them in a similar set up as the healing stones. If using a controller, the healing stone is down on the d-pad and the customizable consumable spots would take up the left, right, and up directions.

Inventory is something that you will want to keep organized. Saving consumables and runes is something that I suggest so that you always have them available when needed. However, the difference between the two is that runes are best to be saved until you have a weapon you are sure you want to use as specific runes can be hard to come by while everything else should be used as needed. Using consumables and items is something you want to get used to doing despite the common gamer urge being to horde it until you really needed. Most of the stuff can be found consistently and found often from enemies or random drops in the field. I would say that the only consumable that was really scarce is the Modified Brocolli that gives infinite stamina for a short time, so hold on to those for when you really need it.

There are NO SHOPS in this game so don’t think you will find a place to sell unused items or weapons in order to purchase other stuff from the shops. I did this a few times and constantly found myself fighting to keep certain things in my inventory so that I could sell them, but that moment never came. Just drop whatever you don’t want.

Each enemy has their own fighting style and understanding how your enemy moves are important to beat them. This goes for common enemies, elite’s (mini-bosses), and the Acolytes. Death is something that will happen often, so be sure to save often. But keep in mind, every time you meditate to refresh your health and healing stones, all common enemies are revived. The only enemies that are permanently dead once defeated are the elites and the Acolytes.

As far as combat goes, I would suggest keeping a gun you like on hand as it does help to have a semi-powerful way to fight from a distance. The best guns are the ones that spray in different directions, in my opinion. You will be fighting with melee the majority of the time though and with that said, you need to accept using a huge weapon. Sure, the attack speed is lower, but you will want power over speed in this game. You can find a rune that gives a boost in the attack speed, but only use one of those on it and fill the rest of the slots with damage boosters. When you take damage, your attack will be canceled, but when you hit an enemy they will keep on coming. That means that you won’t have time for more than one hit on an enemy in combat, so you are better off getting one huge damaging hit rather than a quick small one.

Visuals and Sounds

Giving a top-down look over a pixelated world full of darkness and gore was definitely the way the go. My only gripe is that because everything is so dark, playing on the Nintendo Switch while it was a handheld was a bit rough on the eyes and I found myself enjoying the game a lot more up on the TV screen instead.

I enjoyed how they kept the music to be gloomy while making each boss fight, elite or Acolyte, an intense blend of chaotic melodies. Playing those sounds while the clang of my sword and the squish of the gore came through after each well-placed hit made it really feel like I was cleansing a dark world of unwanted creatures and scum.

Replayability

For gamers who enjoy a challenge, I can see them going through this game more than once and trying to succeed through different weapons and means. As far as the story and main game go, there isn’t much reason to go through it again after you complete the storyline. But the fight in itself will always be there for those looking to keep the battle going.

What Could Be Better

I would have liked a mini-map or even a map to have in my inventory and pull out so I could figure out where I was going. It was pretty easy to get lost in this game as the world is full of hidden pathways, winding roads, and monsters that make you lose focus on where you were going.

I don’t feel like there was a proper balance when it came to heavy and fast weapons. I understand that the heavy weapons would be the hard hitter that does real damage, but I don’t think the fast weapons should have been as ineffective as they were. I honestly didn’t even consider using them after I figured out the trade-off between power and speed always gave way towards the former.

Conclusion

Morbid: The Seven Acolytes is an entertaining beast! Blending challenging and entertaining within a dark, gore infested world, this game brought the challenging gameplay that RPG and action players can both enjoy. If you like games that are going to push you to the edge and make you excited every time you successfully get through an area or defeat a boss, then this is the perfect game for you.