OVERALL IMPRESSION:
Just like every good mystery holds secrets beneath the surface, Morimens is more than what you initially perceive it to be. At first glance, it may appear similar to any other turned based gacha game on the market. However, through clever game design principles, stunning visual art and a captivating story that is well paced and you have all the pieces of an intriguing gaming experience. Morimens is an anime lovecraftian horror RPG with turn based deck building and some slight rogue-lite mechanics. It succeeds in the turned based deck building genre where many others have failed. Morimens’ understanding of what deck building is and giving the player the actual ability to craft decks allows for satisfying team building and strategic gameplay. This is one of the best games in its genre that almost no one has heard of or is talking about. It’s a shame because on top of being a stellar game, it’s extremely free to play friendly setting a new bar for what it means to be generous and value the player experience.
GAMEPLAY:
Exceptional game design is what has allowed Morimens to set itself apart from its many competitors. Turn based games especially in the deck building genre usually face challenges with repetitive gameplay, lack of true depth and team building/synergy that is unrestrained. Morimens solves many of these issues through their game design principles.
A core understanding of deck building
First, most deck building games don’t utilize the actual card play mechanic. Often you’ll see many card based RPGs ignore what it means to actually create a deck. Instead they’ll use simple mechanics like combining similar cards to produce a stronger version. For anyone who has played a true deck building game like Magic the Gathering you know that there’s much more to deck building and there’s also a reason to have multiple copies of a given card. You want multiple copies to increase your chance to pull a card. This balances out your draws to give your deck more consistency. Morimens understands this concept and with each character kit they have common cards that almost all units have like defense and strike cards. Meaning no matter how you put together a team you’ll have a certain number of copies of cards from each category. This step alone many games in the genre overlook.
A Unique Experience for Each Run
Morimens also incorporates clever design to make each combat experience unique and avoid some aspects of repetitive gameplay. This issue is tackled through various design choices. First, each combat experience is considered an investigation. An investigation consists of traversing a tile based map with regular, elite and boss battles as well as interactions that can give you power ups or modify your cards and/or add cards to your deck in the form of symptom cards (cards that can have different positive/negative effects). This means that during any investigation the power ups and mods you come across will be different. On top of that, each story chapter has what is called resonance. Resonance is essentially a skill tree that can further modify gameplay with different styles of buffs. Furthermore, investigations often have different objectives. So the player will be aiming to achieve something different for each run. Altogether, these design choices make it so that each investigation and chapter can feel and play much differently compared to other chapters. It’s a very intriguing way to solve one of the genre’s most prevalent challenges of being too repetitive or lacking depth.
Team Building and Meaningful Choice
The core of the gameplay revolves around deck building and the character and teams you put together. There are 4 different realms (factions) each with their own unique game mechanic and style of play. Each character comes with a set of cards that they will add to your overall deck. They also come with a unique ultimate ability (exalt). By selecting a team of up to 4 characters you will build your deck. Characters generally come with certain category of cards and gameplay mechanics are then built upon these categories. For example, by playing a strike type card it may provide a buff or trigger a certain mechanic. Because the core of the game is built upon these basic elements you can see how easily adding new characters give players more tools and more options to customize their playstyle and come up with interesting and satisfying builds. Want to stack shields or focus on poison or counterattack damage? It’s all possible by assembling the right team. Characters also come with what you expect in an RPG gacha in that duplicates of characters will unlock further traits. Characters and their skills can also level up like in a traditional RPG and can be equipped with items (Wheel of Destiny) to further customize and augment their abilities. Lastly, you as the commander also have a selection of abilities that can apply buffs/debuffs for your team. Together, these are all the necessary building blocks that enable creative, strategic and meaningful choices for the player.
Character Roles
Characters and their accompanying cards also fill traditional roles seen in many RPGS. These include roles, such as damage dealer, support and healer, but often there are also many hybrid combinations. Many support types can have devastating and powerful abilities that rival a dedicated DPS. This makes for teaming building that is quite fun as more hybrid and innovate combinations are available to the player. As all of these various elements are combined together, you have an incredible core to build a game. Since so many components are modular, the final team synergies and combinations are at the players discretion. This is akin to giving players a tool box to create and build a deck instead of dictating every single viable deck. This is a factor that should not be overlooked. Player agency and the ability to express themselves through a customized playstyle is what makes for an engaging experience.
Strategic encounter design
No turn is exactly the same in any given battle. To pull this off, often you are able to see exactly what the enemy will do before they do it. On some turns they will attack and in turn that allows you to make the appropriate response to debuff the enemy or put up shields. There are also turns where the enemy will do other things like cast a buff and in turn you can go all out on attacking. This means that during any turn there is always something different happening. This makes combat encounters interesting as you’re not just trying to go all out on damage each and every turn like in many turn based games, which can then lead to more repetitive playstyles.
Encounters are also generally challenging. You do not automatically heal between battles and your ultimate gauges carry over. This means that the choices you make for every encounter within an investigation matter. For a game developer to incorporate this many details in the combat and encounter design is quite impressive. It’s clear they have a good understanding of the deck building genre and what it takes to make an intriguing gaming experience.
STORY, ART, & CHARACTER DESIGN
Morimens pulls you into its lovecraftian world through it’s visual design and narrative. Exceptional art has the power to draw you in. Art design can take a backseat to many other aspects of a game, but it’s usually the starting point that captivates your attention in order to decipher if further investigation is warranted. The character and art design in this game are imaginative, unique and well executed. One of the most challenging aspects of creating a new IP is developing something that is distinct and memorable. The visual design here is some of the best in its genre. It’s a world that is intriguing and warrants further investigation.
The story follows the main protagonist (the player), a keeper of the Mythag University that investigates phenomenon in a falling world with cosmic horror vibes. Much of the story unfolds like a mystery as you discover more about the world and uncover strange occurrences. Themes from the lovecraftian genre are also present here ranging from humanities conflict with cosmic forces, madness, fate and despair. Despite the English version being translated from chatGPT, the overall story is fascinating, well paced and each chapter is the right duration to hold the audiences attention. These elements altogether are usually missing in many narratives and can impact the audiences ability to connect with a story. But when these critical components are all present, it makes for a tale that can pull you into its world making you to want to delve further into its vast array of questions and mystery.
Character design is also equally intriguing and matches well with the overall art design and narrative. The world and characters have their own unique aesthetic with a mix of gothic, medieval, anime and lovecraftian themes. There’s also a good mix of both plot and character moments. Many of the characters you meet along the journey have intriguing, at times sad and dark backstories that make the world feel authentic and layered with depth. These are some of my favorite character designs I’ve come across in a game in a long time. Throughout the game, the developers have demonstrated their artistic vision, displaying true craftsmanship and respect for their work and world building.
GACHA ELEMENTS
This is by far one of the most generous and friendly gacha games on the market currently. The pull rates and pity threshold (30 pulls) are better than most gachas on the market. On top of that you can obtain character and item selectors that allow you to straight up select a unit that you want to add to your team. As a new player, you’ll likely come across several of these allowing you to put together a team of your choice. On top of that, the currency you can earn from playing the game is also quite generous allowing you to gain access to a lot of pulls. This is a step in the right direction for the genre as a whole.
CHALLENGES
For a game that is pushing the boundaries of its genre, it’s still limited by it’s monetization model. Although, this is one of the most generous gacha games on the market, I’d like to see true innovation in all aspects of a game. Gacha and live service models present inherent challenges that are often in opposition to good game design and especially in aspects that affect the player experience. On top of that, the live service and gacha market is flooded. Most gamers can only play a few concurrent live service titles and will undoubtedly drop older ones to experience the next new title that comes along. I do believe other models are viable with games like Path of Exile demonstrating alternate options to balance a free to play model without compromising any gameplay aspects or design choices. This is overall more a critique on the overall gacha market than what Morimens is doing. However, it will take developers stepping outside of the norm to make way for true innovation in a genre that desperately needs it.
Similar to most games in the genre, overall progression is slow. Even though I’ve put in a lot of hours, my team is still in the very early stages of leveling up. Although, the experience has been very enjoyable and I know what to expect the overall journey is slow as you progress a little bit each time you log in.
Lastly, the long term appeal and life of the game is up in the air. It seems that overall this is more of a niche genre with a relatively smaller player base. Although, the quality of the game is well executed, it doesn’t seem that there’s much marketing for the game. It does seem to have recently pulled in more players with its global release. There are also plans for a formal translation for the English version. This is a promising factor considering much of the game revolves around the narrative. In the long run, I hope the game is able to continue to bring in new players for years to come. This is a title that I’m sure will go under the radar but deserves the spotlight.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Morimens is an incredible decking building game set in a cosmic horror world with plenty of strategic and meaningful choices when it comes to team building. It sets itself apart in its genre by truly understanding what it takes to create a deck building game with enough depth and customization to avoid the many challenges the genre faces especially in the aspect of repetitive gameplay elements. For players that love to theory craft and strategize, the game provides enough tools to allow for creative expression and strategic and meaningful choice. Combined with exceptional and distinct art design and an intriguing and well paced narrative and you have all the makings of an incredible experience. My hope is that many more people give this game a shot and that it gains its time in the spotlight. The development team is talented and the world deserves to experience their gift. Looking for a beginners’ guide? Check out this article.
THANKS:
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GAME DETAILS
PLATFORMS: Android, iOS, PC
RELEASE: 2024
DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER: Qookka Games / B.I.A.V. Studio
GENRE/TAGS: Strategy, Turn Based, Lovecraftian, Eldritch, Cosmic, Horror, RPG, Turn Based, Deck Building
TARGET AUDIENCE: Lovecraftian horror fans that enjoy turn based strategy gameplay and a captivating story
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