Geeky Nerd

In this post I would like to introduce to you a fun little game you can find on itch.io called The Dark Queen of Mortholme. It’s a wonderful game about the reversed role of the hero and the final boss of an RPG game. Although, from the stand point of the hero, it’s more of a soul’s like game.

It’s an interesting take on bosses in video games who are indeed usually confined to a room where the player is finding them and fights them until they are defeated.

The Premise

You are the Dark Queen of Mortholme who is sitting upon her throne in her castle and one day one of your servants crouches into your hall covered in blood saying that an adventurer has arrived who kills all the servants left and right and they cannot stop him. Shocked by the audacity of the young fellow you tell your servant that you yourself shall put an end to the lad. Then, the hero storms into your throne room and claims that your time has come to an end, so he shall defeat you now.

Now isn’t that a preposterous claim? If so, then now the controls of the queen are yours and you can now give this boy a lesson by paining your floor with his blood. And that’s how your final journey begins. The hero comes back after his defeat and tries again, but now wiser and more prepared for your moves. And the cycle repeats itself.

The Hero

Now it’s time to introduce the hero that disgraces your eternal halls with his immature stance.

Well… he is just a hero. The one who came to end your dark tyranny. He is free to roam the realm you rule and goes on adventures to upgrade his skills and equipment in order to fight you. There is not much more to say about his character. Only one thing, though, he (unlike someone else in this story) only begins his adventure.

The Dark Queen of Mortholme

It’s you. The main villain, the big bad, the queen upon her cold throne of darkness. You are the final test of courage for the young man who comes to take you down. Will you fight till your last breath or will you give up and accept your end? Or maybe you are a gamer PRO Max and some random curl that comes to dirty your interior is no match for you and your eternal rule? Only one way to tell.

As for who you are or where you are from… You are the Dark Queen of Mortholme, the eternal ruler of the realm, the most powerful being in the universe. You don’t need to leave your throne room anymore, you don’t need to go on adventures. You’ve reached the top. You are now unmoving, unyielding, unstoppable power. You are not even human but a force of nature at this point.

The End

Although, the game has got three endings, in reality only two outcomes are possible. It him or you. The hero or you shall triumph over your enemy. The hero or you shall perish from the hand of your foe. Foe? Or is it a friend? A partner? How would you call someone who is brave enough to stand before you? How would you call someone who is determined enough to come back failure after failure? A hero, perhaps. Yes, a true hero never backs down before danger. Now isn’t that deserving of your respect, your royal highness? Indeed it is.

Yes, there are three endings to the game but the one where you fight the hero until he is strong enough to overcome you is the most meaningful one. At least for me. After all, as Heraclitus once said: “The only thing constant in life is change”. You’ve set on that throne for a long time, everything goes to stasis for you at this point. You are eternally still, while the Hero changes, grows, develops. He can improve while you only stagnate.

Some find this form of eternity the best, but that’s not how I see it. To me personally stagnation is the worst thing that can happen. Change for worse is not good but staying in stagnation is far worse. I’d rather struggle into the new dawn after the longest night but having sun over your head all the time will burn everything to dust. Change is necessary and by allowing the Hero to kill you, you don’t only train him to be a better version of himself, you also allow yourself to break the chain of stagnation and carry on.

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I’m sorry if you ranting was a bit too abstract for this one. It’s gameplay is not very complicated and the story itself takes about half an hour. It’s the topic of change that it covers that truly deserves the attention, so that’s what I gave the most words. In any case, the game is free and not too demanding, so I’d say it’s better to simply play it for your self and enjoy your own story. It is truly endearing and connects you with the characters very well.

You really feel how the Queen starts to respect the Hero more as his determination and skill grow. You also see how the Hero develops sympathy for the Queen as he sees how she is confined to her throne room and how he respects her as a person, not only a powerful foe.