You may have noticed a shift in my reviews recently, the rather formulaic approach I’ve been taking for…gosh well over 5 years. It’s the next iteration in casting off the rules I’d set myself so many years ago when it came to reviewing games. These simple rules were supposed to help me in my quest to get one of these reviews out every week and, whilst they did that initially, they then became stifling walls that made writing these things a chore. Reflecting on some of my past writing it felt so much more personal, more real. The formulaic reviews felt cold, distant from the actual experience that I’d actually had when playing the game. It seems fitting then that a few anti-games, the genre of which refusing to play it is part of the experience, have made their way into my review queue recently, the first of those being The Dark Queen of Mortholme.
Flipping the usual game trope of you being the hero on its head the game has you instead as the titular Dark Queen, an all powerful being whose might cannot be matched by any in the universe. You’ve faced countless foes in your life, all of them crushed under your limitless power. This next adventurer is just another in the endless stream of fools who would stand against you, easily crushed and forgotten about. Except this one keeps coming back, their will to defeat you driving them to return until their goal is reached.
The premise grabbed me right away as I’ve always enjoyed games that indulge in the overpowered/broken build power fantasy. Of course part of that is a wish fulfilment but it also serves as a great background for meaningful choices: in a world where you can defeat any challenge the reasons for doing so become far more impactful. Is defeating this enemy the right course of action, or perhaps it’s better to not because you are doing more good elsewhere. Dark Queen explores these themes in depth and asks the question of whether or not those with ultimate power would ever question themselves and, hopefully, change for the better.
For my playthrough though I wasn’t really getting the anti-game message, instead playing it as it was presented to me. I’m not sure how much the dialogue choices have an impact on the overarching story, but it certainly can change the flavour of your particular playthrough. There were effectively 2 paths to tread that I could see: one that refused to change and the other who recognised that they had to. I took the latter path as it seemed to have the more interesting dialogue, although I do admit that playing as someone who stubbornly refused to acknowledge the need for change has its own appeal as well.
Reading through some other reviews and commentary I was made aware of multiple other endings, all of which will come through in true anti-game fashion. I won’t dive into the specifics of what you need to do to get them as what I’ve said should already be enough. None of them have enticed me to come back to it, even with its short length, but they’ll make for good spoiler-laden conversations with others who’ve played through it, I’m sure.
The Dark Queen of Mortholme shows the power of refusing to engage with the accepted norms of a medium. For all intents and purposes it is a game, with many of its tropes right there, but the core part of interactivity can be put aside to radically change the experience. This extends to its narrative as well, one that begs you to ask the question about whether change is really possible when all you’ve known is the current status quo. It’s an unique experience, one that’s worth going through just for the different lens it will give you to look at other games you’ll play.
Rating: 8.5/10\
The Dark Queen of Mortholme is available on PC right now on Itch.io with a name-your-price cost. Total play time was approximately 20 minutes.
