The developers of CornerStudio emailed me recently to let me know that I can test the alpha of their adventure game, Mortido.
The name of the game comes from Freud, who believed that people were driven by two basic instincts: libido (the desire for life) and mortido (a destructive attitude).
We play as Cleo who will witness the last days of seven characters, discovering their lives, their deaths and what awaits them beyond. For about forty days, we follow them on their final journey, witnessing the moment of the Last Judgment, meeting with them when they will have to take account of all their decisions, good or bad, taken during their existence. With each new event, we learn how and most importantly why each character got into this situation. It is the opportunity to be immersed in an experience rich in emotions, living their despair and what they feel in the face of tragic events.
As you will understand, there are seven story arcs, all related to the main antagonist of Cleo. The universe is strange, mystical, the super-natural and miracles exist. We will thus evolve between two worlds, that of the living and that of the spirits. It is possible to complete the game by completing only two of the seven stories but playing them all then everything will reveal itself. Everything can be explained: every detail, secret, character will become logical, you just have to look a little more carefully. Choices are really important in this game, a wrong choice can have serious consequences.
Intrigued by this description, I therefore left to test their alpha, available for free on their site here (only for Windows). The demonstration begins with a strange scene where a tree-woman talks about her forgotten memories against a backdrop of dramatic classical music.
The main character, a dark figure, grabs a mask which, as we will learn later, allows him to retain his memories.
Then the actual game begins. The character can run with the left trigger, fight with the sword with the right trigger (after being taken out with Y). With A, he sprints quickly and interacts with X. Note that at the beginning, however, the character does not know how to fight.
We find ourselves in a cataclysmic environment, where buildings are destroyed under stormy skies, in indescribable chaos with destroyed walls, abandoned garbage, clear / dark light, all always to classical music helping a little more s' you have to immerse yourself in the strange atmosphere. In the middle of this mess, lost spirits wander (black silhouettes like our character, but having lost their masks). A few still have their masks on and it is possible to interact with them.
The graphics are generally very successful even if I notice a lot of small flaws, invisible walls, camera problems in some places, a concern for perspective which sometimes makes a view strange. Despite everything, it was quite successful!
In my exploration, I was accidentally killed by some sort of two-legged ghost wolf. This is when I get my fighting ability, allowing me to test that right after coming back to life (and learning that it is imperative to watch his mask in the top left which indicates his life). If the mask is destroyed, the character reappears at the nearest mirror.
The combat is quite dynamic, requiring to combine the blows of the sword with the sprints to quickly move away before the enemy strikes. Simple but effective. But the demo is short, much too short. A little exploration, a dice player, a few talking spirits, a tunnel, and already it's the end ...
Difficult suddenly to really get an idea in about twenty minutes of play. The graphics clearly need a little polishing because small flaws spoil the big work done on the sets. The gameplay is good and the combat efficient. The story seems interesting and the universe well posed. We will now have to see what this gives in the longer term, with more content, more puzzles. I will, in any case concerning myself, follow this project with attention.
Do not hesitate to test for yourself. Once again, the demo is available for free on their site! And here, there is their superb brochure which takes up most of the elements that I translated in the introduction.
Small last minute addition: the game launched an Indiegogo campaign:
