Morning's Wrath Demo

Some video games can be regarded as interactive books, with the added benefit of being able to control the story, more or less. Just like an actual book, however, it needs to be intriguing enough to keep you motivated all through the plot, otherwise you can lose interest before it ends. Hence, the gameplay has a lot of influence on the matter as well, because it can alter your entire experience.

Morning’s Wrath is a role-playing game that has it all, including assassinations, magic, betrayal, and the usual pretty princess that also happens to be a skillful warrior on the battlefield. The top-down perspective and the isometric graphics make the game look like a classic in the genre, although one might rather call it action-adventure, given the fact that it shares so little with the RPG genre.

As far as the story is concerned, you play as princess Morning, who’s waiting for her parents to come home from a trip. Naturally, they never make it back alive. On top of that, someone betrays the royal family and the castle is under attack by enemies, leaving the princess to fend for herself in order to survive. Thus, the story is all about revenge and justice, as princess Morning goes on a quest to avenge her parents.

The gameplay is split between combat and puzzle solving, which means that there’s enough variety to keep your mind occupied. While the puzzles are pretty straightforward and intuitive, the combat is a bit of a letdown, considering the fact that all you have to do is click on the enemies. There are spells you can use to make matters more interesting, but they are nowhere near as fascinating as they could have been.

Morning's Wrath doesn’t impress that much from a technical point of view either, given the fact that everything looks rather stiff and lifeless, including the characters. There are some animation here and there, but they are nothing to stand in awe off. The soundtrack is about as classic as it can get for the genre, but there aren't nearly enough environmental sounds to create a proper atmosphere.

All things considered, Morning's Wrath could have done a lot better with the elements it tried to mix together. However, nothing really shines and it is pretty difficult to get into the proper mood while playing, which is why chances are good that you will only run the executable once.