I've Been A Roguelike Fan For 15 Years And Probably The Most...

Morsels marches to the beat of its own drum, and it's starting to sound like experimental jazz.

I like to think I know my stuff when it comes to roguelikes. I've been a huge fan of the genre for 15 years and covered it professionally for a decade. I've played everything from dungeon crawlers to deckbuilders to a slot machine in hell. I can usually wrap my head around a new one pretty quickly.

It's not the basic premise that's so confusing, though it is odd: you play a mouse living in the sewers, who must battle his way up through the corrupt society above. The clearest inspiration is The Binding of Isaac, with winding dungeon levels, top-down shooting, and a cute-but-gross art style.

The biggest twist is the morsels themselves. Each run you choose a card that allows you to transform into one—a kind of ugly little monster with its own unique attack style and special ability. New cards can be found over the course of the run, and you can hold up to three at a time, so you can shift between forms.

But with that framework established, Morsels immediately throws you in at the deep end. Its world is utterly chaotic and full of unexplained phenomena, and it quickly starts to feel like an exam you forgot to study for.

Oh great, this pick-up gives me "more tofu"—what does that actually mean? This new morsel comes with a daisy—is that good? At one point a monster sitting on a washing machine asks me "Do you want to shuffle your morbs or your fuzzies?". This is not a question I am remotely prepared for.

There's an element of discovery to it—after a bit of experimentation, it's satisfying for example to work out for myself that daisies block one hit like a shield (obviously!). But the overall experience is so chaotic, with so much happening at once, that it's almost impossible to be methodical in your learnings.

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Some enemies are invincible and some aren't, without clear explanation. Sometimes when you pick up a card, it seems to come with what could be a buff or could be a curse—it's often not obvious even after the effect has taken place. Tunnels in the walls lead to strange minigames, with unexplained rules and often ambiguous rewards. At one point I rescued a monkey from a crushing trap and carried it all the way to the end of the level, and I still have no idea whether that did anything.

Underlying all that confusion is the growing sense that Morsels is str

Source: PC Gamer