{"id":1220861,"date":"2025-02-21T10:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T15:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1220861"},"modified":"2025-02-21T10:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T15:00:09","slug":"moroi-preview-a-grimdark-action-game-thats-actually-pretty-funny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1220861","title":{"rendered":"Moroi preview: A grimdark action game that&#8217;s actually pretty funny"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The most surprising thing about <em>Moroi<\/em> is its sense of humor. <em>Moroi<\/em> is a top-down, dual-stick action and puzzle game set in a dungeon of surreal horrors, where each cell contains a unique and grotesque vignette. In the first area of the map, there\u2019s a cell containing a sentient meat grinder that craves human flesh. In another, a dead man is strapped to a feeding tube that\u2019s still pumping slop into his bulbous, pulsing stomach. The next room over, you meet a talking duck with far too many human teeth in its mouth. One tooth would be too many, but this duck has a full, smiling set. And then he rips them all out for you, leaving behind a bloody, empty bill.<\/p>\n<p>And this moment makes me laugh out loud. The gore in <em>Moroi<\/em> is so ridiculous that it turns the corner into hilarity, tapping into the gruesome absurdity that makes b-horror movies so charming. You don\u2019t expect the duck to have human teeth, but what\u2019s even more surprising is their sudden removal and the duck\u2019s leftover, blood-smeared smile. These shocking moments of levity appear in <em>Moroi<\/em> at a rapid-fire pace, twisting the vibe from brutality to bizarreness and back until it feels like you\u2019re trapped in a Francisco Goya fever dream directed by Sam Raimi. It\u2019s pretty awesome.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"end-legacy-contents\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"ef53b73db45045b0b4a53841d2e113ad\">\n<div style=\"left:0;width:100%;height:0;position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P5pt3S4JNrA?rel=0\" style=\"top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;position:absolute;border:0;\" allowfullscreen=\"\" scrolling=\"no\" data-embed-domain=\"www.youtube.com\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>Moroi <\/em>comes from creator Alex Stanescu and his independent studio, Violet Saint. Though he\u2019s now based in Switzerland, Stanescu is Romanian and <em>Moroi<\/em> is filled with grimdark takes on his homegrown fairy tales. The game\u2019s name refers to a vampire in Romanian folklore, even. Stanescu was also inspired by David Lynch, Heironymous Bosch, H.R. Giger and <em>Little Nightmares<\/em>, with a dash of Robert Sheckley and Douglas Adams for humor. But at its core, <em>Moroi<\/em> is a completely original world of creepiness, Stanescu explained during a media briefing hosted by the game\u2019s publisher, Good Shepherd Entertainment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere&#8217;s a big pool of things in my subconscious from which I pull,\u201d he said. \u201cGeneral grotesquery, maybe carnival art, Bosch and early medieval art, and caricature. I always try to find my own style.\u201d Stanescu later clarified further, saying, \u201cCreepy things. Like, for example, in a puzzle, you have to vomit blood into the mouth of someone else. And you will find reality shifting in some places, like in a room you find someone else than you expect to find, and so on. Let&#8217;s say dream logic.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2025-02\/4839fcc0-efdf-11ef-a937-bffb6b26849e\" data-crop-orig-src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2025-02\/4839fcc0-efdf-11ef-a937-bffb6b26849e\" style=\"height:1080px;width:1920px;\" alt=\"Moroi\" data-uuid=\"53965857-cbad-382a-a9f1-c8b1dd3a072e\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><div class=\"photo-credit\">Violet Saint<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s more like nightmare logic, really. Each of the cells in <em>Moroi<\/em> is connected \u2014 get the severed hand from the autocannibal so the meat grinder can make bone dust, which you can then give to the creepy wizard, who turns it into salt for the witch, who\u2019s then devoured by her own potion, and so on. Eventually in the introductory level, you find a sword, break down a door and continue your quest to escape, but the prison only grows more strange. Every now and then, a voice interrupts your progress, whispering for you to find it. The creatures in the cells seem to know who you are, even though you have no memory of this place. There\u2019s way more going on in <em>Moroi<\/em> than meets the eye.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI tell a lot of it through the lore and collectibles, so those will carry a lot of storytelling,\u201d Stanescu said. \u201cThe storytelling given by the characters and by the gameplay is pretty cryptic. You have to find and pay attention to what&#8217;s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are no branching storylines in <em>Moroi<\/em>, but your choices throughout the game will affect how it ends, according to Stanescu. He said the full experience should take about nine hours to complete, but this can be extended if you hunt down all of the secrets.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2025-02\/4839d5b0-efdf-11ef-8fef-259c6b3e1a6b\" data-crop-orig-src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2025-02\/4839d5b0-efdf-11ef-8fef-259c6b3e1a6b\" style=\"height:720px;width:1280px;\" alt=\"Moroi\" data-uuid=\"c389923e-2e4b-36ac-9ce3-10d1e1029f7a\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><div class=\"photo-credit\">Violet Saint<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Combat in <em>Moroi<\/em> is fast and fun, and heavy metal replaces the game\u2019s moody dungeon music at the beginning of each fight, setting an appropriate tone of chaos and carnage. Dungeon guards are the main enemies and they appear in waves of five or so at a time, some with more powerful moves than others. I ended the hour-long demo with an enhanced sword and a gatling gun in my arsenal. With a sword, you have basic and heavy attacks, plus a finishing move that builds up as you deal damage. The gun doesn\u2019t require ammo but it runs on a cooldown mechanic, and it has a basic shot and a finisher. Dodge rolls round out your moveset in the early game, and the balance in these battles feels just right. On top of dodging and attacking, there are fiery cores scattered around the environments that you can explode for AOE damage \u2014 but be warned, if you\u2019re too close to the boom, you\u2019ll get hurt, too. The end of each battle is marked by piles of intestines and busted corpses \u2014 hopefully not yours \u2014 littering the cobblestones.<\/p>\n<p>The amount of blood-soaked surrealism, frantic combat and body horror in <em>Moroi<\/em>\u2019s first hour is impressive, and I\u2019m amped to discover all of the secrets in the full game, no matter how many exploded corpses I have to dig through. Or maybe even because of all the exploded corpses.<\/p>\n<p><em>Moroi<\/em> is due <a data-i13n=\"cpos:1;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/2518410\/Moroi\/\"><ins>to hit PC<\/ins><\/a> pretty soon \u2014 \u201cearly 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Engadget at https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/gaming\/pc\/moroi-preview-a-grimdark-action-game-thats-actually-pretty-funny-150009465.html?src=rss<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The most surprising thing about Moroi is its sense of humor. Moroi is a top-down, dual-stick action and puzzle game set in a dungeon of surreal horrors, where each cell contains a unique and grotesque vignette. In the first area &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1220861\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,44,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1220861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engadget","category-technology","category-unfiltered-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1220861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220861\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1220861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1220861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1220861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}