Game Review: The Swords Of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse (Switch)

Devolver Digital and Onebitbeyond’s The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse is truly a perfect game for the Nintendo Switch, … if only it is not riddled with a lot of technical issues.

The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse further expanded and revamped the vanilla version of the The Swords of Ditto which originally launched for PC’s and other platforms.  New locations including a new set of weapons and toys were added to give the seasoned explorers a fresh gameplay experience. Players can also look forward to greater challenges with the introduction of new enemy types and bosses. What’s more, the best quality of life improvement made in the Mormo’s Curse expansion is that the permadeath feature has been dropped altogether and replaced with a more convenient mechanic which I can’t go into detail without spoiling the game.

Basically, The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse blends the 2D Zelda top-down games, employing all the classic Zelda formula, with roguelite and RPG elements. You get a Zelda-like game where you level-up! How cool is that? The game centers around a cyclical adventure but features a fully randomly generated world that changes with each cycle or era of the game. It’s a light-hearted and quirky action-adventure RPG featuring a mix of adorable hand-drawn cartoon graphics and a delightful soundtrack with witty, engaging puzzles and simple yet challenging combat gameplay. It also lets you bring along a buddy for two-player couch co-op, to ease things out.

The game plays and feels a lot like the 2D Zelda games; there’s no question about it. You get all those 2D Zelda-goodness complete with the dungeons, the puzzles, the bosses, and the tools (or ‘toys’ as called in The Swords of Ditto) which help you clear the dungeons. You also get to explore the lush and compact overworld. But there’s a catch – the game employs a time limit. Yes, a time limit and a countdown in a fashion similar to The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. You are given only a handful of days to prepare for the final battle with the evil witch Mormo.

In The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse, you play the role of the chosen one who, one day, wakes up from his or her bed, (sounds familiar?) with a mission to vanquish the villain Mormo. You are then directed to grab the legendary sword from the town of Ditto which embues you with great power to become The Sword of Ditto. You must then set out, gain experience points to level-up, and explore the land to find the Toys of Legend which will help you conquer the dungeons housing Mormo’s Anchors – a crystallization of Mormo’s magical energy which gives her immense power.

Destroying these Anchors greatly weaken Mormo, giving you a fighting chance to rid the world of the villain. All these you must accomplish in five in-game days. Defeat Mormo and the town of Ditto and the world lives in harmony, but only for a hundred years until the evil witch returns. Should Mormo survive, meaning you being killed, she rules Ditto, and the world goes on without a hero, under her reign for another 100 years – until the next Sword of Ditto is awakened in the next era.

The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse is outright fun and likeable. There’s a lot to do and a lot to discover, secrets included. There’s minimal hand-holding but might also be one of its faults – the game doesn’t explain some key concepts which you need to know to enhance your hero and improve your overall gameplay. All is a matter of discovery – even figuring out the basics.

That said, while there are many good things to say about the game, it is not without major issues. It’s actually hard to recommend the game in its current state. During my playthrough, I encountered a lot of game crashes and a few bugs and glitches, not to mention the occurrence of some lags and stutters when things get busy. There’s also the noticeably long loading times when booting up the game and when traversing between the rooms in the overworld and the dungeons. I even cannot progress in the game during my second confrontation with Mormo as the game keeps crashing on me during the final battle in that specific era. It’s such a disappointment that I cannot continue my adventure as I’m already getting invested in the game. Devolver Digital and Onebitbeyond should really issue a day one patch to address these issues. Once all these major issues get patched up, The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse can truly become a rewarding and enjoyable experience.

The Good:

• Executes the classic 2D Zelda formula very well
• Adorable hand-drawn cartoon graphics
• Delightful soundtrack
• Witty and engaging puzzles
• Simple yet challenging combat gameplay

The Bad:

• Some slow-downs and stutters occur when things get busy
• Game crashes and has a few bugs and glitches
• A bit tedious, requires some grinding (for experience points, game currency, and shards)

 

VERDICT

Soup Temperature: 7/10 (8/10 if not for the game crashes and bugs)

 

A review copy was provided by the publisher for this review