The Dark Queen of Mortholme Review | Just One More Try
As someone who plays a lot of games as part of my job, I’m a huge fan of games that are short and sweet. The Dark Queen of Mortholme from developer Monsu took me a little under an hour to complete, and I enjoyed every minute of it. It takes great storytelling to be able to impress in under an hour and they’ve easily accomplished that here with this short story-driven action game.
It’s difficult to write about a game this short without spoiling it, but I’ll do my best here! In The Dark Queen of Mortholme you play as the titular Queen, who has spent her days sitting upon her throne, taking out any who challenge her. One day, a hero enters her life and turns everything upside down. He keeps returning. Again and again he challenges her and, no matter how many times she defeats him, he won’t give up. And, what’s worse, he’s starting to make her question her place in this world.
The majority of the gameplay involves using the Queen’s unique abilities to take out the hero and, inevitably, wait for his return so that you can do it all over again. The Queen has three abilities: a swipe down with her weapon, a dash with her weapon, and a magical circle ability that kills the hero if he steps inside of it. As you speak with the hero after each of his defeats, he’ll make comments about your impressive power and how he will continue to improve so that he can defeat you.
And the hero does improve. You’ll notice as you progress that he will get a little better at dodging your moves, he’ll get better equipment, and more. I promised to spoil as little as I can so I won’t elaborate any more, but I will say that eventually it feels as if there’s no point fighting back. The Queen only has the three abilities described and once the hero memorizes your move set, much like souls-like games, you’re kind of doomed.
While this is a short review because it’s a short title, The Dark Queen of Mortholme shouldn’t be overlooked as one of the better games of this year. Not because its gameplay is anything overly complicated or exciting, but because of its story. It’s so much fun to take on the role of the villain, taking down the hero again and again, taunting him, and being taunted back in a back-and-forth battle of wits and strength. Not to mention, the game looks totally fantastic.
Breakdown
Game: The Dark Queen of Mortholme
Developer: Monsu
Publisher: Monster Theater
Availability: PC
Game Length: 40 Minutes to One Hour
Reviewed on Steam Deck
Final Thoughts
I loved The Dark Queen of Mortholme. It’s a really special title that manages to make a lasting impression despite only taking an hour to complete. If you decide to play it again, you’ll see how your different dialogue choices can change things in the story slightly, and I love that too. While the beginning is quite repetitive and it becomes obvious that, as part of the story, your moves won’t really make a difference after a while, I didn’t mind because I wanted to see how this story would end. This title is well worth its price tag and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for something that can be finished in one sitting.