Children of Morta is an awesome dungeon crawler, and we really can’t stress enough that you should play it. Those who have already fallen in love with the Bergson family's epic journey can check out the game's biggest update yet. It’s called Family Trials, and guess what? It’s available now and free to all players. 

Family Trials is a separate mode independent of the main story campaign. It adds a new dungeon called Zyklus that, like a lot of places in Children of Morta, is riddled with Corruption. In this case, the malevolent force regularly alters the rules within Zyklus, meaning its levels will be randomized on each run. 

You’ll have one shot to take your chosen Bergson family member, all of whom are available from the start with their active abilities, through floors teeming with enemy hordes. In addition to main goals, you’ll have side objectives as well. Be careful, though; dying causes you to lose nearly all of your progress. But if that’s not daunting enough for you, Family Trials adds two new difficulty options: Hard and Insane. The higher the difficulty, the more levels you’ll have to conquer. 

A new talent system replaces the existing skill tree. When characters level up, they get to choose a new talent, and each Bergson has 40 talents each. Upgrades and mods for skills can be stacked and tinkered with, so you can experiment with different character builds. Runes no longer drop in dungeons either, instead becoming part of the talent system. 

Divine Relics and Divine Graces gain two more power tiers, which can be upgraded in the shop. Speaking of the shop, Gem shards function as the store’s main currency now. You can earn additional rewards by completing in-game deeds, which can give you a leg-up at the start of a run by granting extra HP or an instant level up. You also find items that will upgrade your stats and bestow special traits. 

Family Trials looks like a hefty update and presents a new way to enjoy an already stellar experience. We scored Children of Morta 9 out of 10, and developer Dead Mage has continued to support the game since it launched in October 2019. If you haven’t kept up with Children of Morta beyond the main story, you can catch up on its previous updates: Setting Sun Inn and the charity-focused Paws and Claws DLC. 

What do you think of Family Trials? Will you be firing up Children of Morta to give it a shot? Let us know in the comments!

The Slormancer by Slormite Studios (yep, you read that right) is now available in Early Access on Steam. If you’re fiending for your next ARPG game and are looking for some lightweight pixel action in your day, this one might be what you’re looking for. Sure, it’s super pixelated but it’s got a lot of mechanics to engage with as you plug in stat points, increase your abilities, pick a specialization for your core class, and go around smashing skeletons and other enemies. 

Before we go any further, yes, it’s still in Early Access, but I know how hard it is to satiate the ARPG cravings as we all wait for Path of Exile 2, Diablo IV, and even Diablo II: Resurrected. There are plenty of solid ARPGs to play right now, but aren’t we always looking for a new one? After all, that loot isn’t going to grind itself out…  Anyway, take a look at the trailer here and see if it’s something you might be interested in.

Yep. That’s a trailer. It’s got all the underpinnings of ARPG greatness, including a zillion things to skill up, tons of abilities to pick from, and loads of loot to rip away from elite enemies and bosses as you move from area to area. The town is under attack, and you’ve got to build it back up, one townsperson at a time. Will this also unlock new things for you to do? Probably. I’ve only had the chance to get a few minutes under my belt so far, but I’m enjoying the early game as I crush skeletons and grab low-tier loot. Something about enhancing my abilities by farming Slorm is just special, I guess. Yeah. Slorm. That’s a thing I guess. 

As this is early access, a huge chunk of the game isn’t even there yet, so that’s something to consider if you feel like getting in on the action now.

Does The Slormancer look interesting to you? Do you endlessly scan Steam for new early access games? Let us know in the comments!