If you've had the pleasure of beating a soul-like game such as Fire Ringthen you'll know how satisfying it is to finally conquer its many bosses. If you want to get technical, the soul-like formula can be broken down into two sections, exploration-combat and boss-battle, and the boss-fight sections are often the most memorable and definitive. It is therefore a new, reasonably large one Steam release is called The Dark Queen of Mortholmewhich basically puts you in the role of one Fire Ring boss, is so interesting.
The Dark Queen of Mortholme follows the titular queen as she repeatedly encounters an ambitious hero. It's a simple experience of soul-like standards, without the grand environments of a game like Fire Ring and the mechanical complexity of a Lies by Pbut the inspiration is still clear. The boss character is almost comically large in comparison to the player character, who must learn attack patterns and hit box windows to emerge victorious from this David and Goliath duel. The difference, of course, is that the roles are reversed, and this simple trick makes Steams The Dark Queen of Mortholme more refreshing and clever than it has any right to be.
The Dark Queen of Mortholme is a must for soulslike fans
A list of soul-like bosses can be briefly defined as: creatures that are more powerful than the player character by increasing orders of magnitude; the first boss may be a legendary warrior, while the final boss may be a literal or figurative deity. It is exceedingly rare, at least in a good soul-like, to beat one of these impressive powers on the first try, and thus the repetition process becomes the player's greatest strength. They can learn the boss's attack patterns, identify its vulnerabilities, and eventually wrest victory from the jaws of defeat. The satisfaction of this ultimate triumph is perhaps no more pronounced than on repeated playthroughs, when each boss's attack patterns have been burned into the player's muscle memory.
Scratch & Peek
Identify the wrapper while scraping off as little foil as possible.
Start
Identify the wrapper while scraping off as little foil as possible.
EasyMediumHardPermadeath
It's exactly the feeling that The Dark Queen of Mortholme inverts, putting the player in the position of inevitable defeat from the start. The only way to “beat” the game is to finally be defeated by the little nemesis, who will gradually memorize the queen's traits and weaknesses just as the player would, in a traditional soul-like manner. Ironically, this underscores the power fantasy that a soul corpse can offer: you can lose hundreds of times in Fire Ringbut you only need to beat a boss once, and they're gone for the rest of the game. It's like Groundhog Daybut without the existential dread—generally speaking.
It's short, but The Dark Queen of Mortholme's story is surprisingly good
To be honest, Mortholmes gameplay, while satisfying, is nothing to write home about. You only get a handful of different attacks and a new set when you enter your “second phase,” all of which the NPC-controlled hero will learn to avoid before too long. All in all, it only takes about an hour to beat the game, if you take your time, but it's an experience worth replaying. Much like other time-loop games like Kill the princess, The Dark Queen of Mortholme has several different endings, but none defined as canon, meaning you can play with its narrative premise for additional surprises and insights.
If soulslike games are about overcoming impossible odds, then The Dark Queen of Mortholme is about accepting when things need to end. A short and consistent story emerges from this thematic root, and it's quite interesting because of it. And since it's only $5, The Dark Queen of Mortholme is truly one of the better cheap games you can get on Steam.
