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Ku: Shroud of the Morrigan

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Ku: Shroud of the Morrigan

What, you may ask, is the Shroud of Morrigan? We're still not sure. Irish developer bitSmith Games claims its action-RPG combines celtic mythology with a steampunk aesthetic, but really it's just an inscrutable exercise in the bizarre.

Don't take that as a criticism, though. The story of Ku's quest to retrieve a magical ring - the source of power to a quaint village adrift on an island in the clouds - may be a baffling wisp of a thing, but its strangeness is part of its charm.

Strange days

Certainly, Ku: Shroud of Morrigan scores big on atmosphere, proving surreal at times and downright unsettling at others as young Ku explores sprawling caverns alive with flora and fauna, both bloodthirsty and benign.

Adding to the game's uniqueness is a stiffly animated, paper cut-out-style aesthetic, and woozy, minimalist musical score that brings to mind the early glories of children's TV when Noggin the Nog and its ilk terrified as much as they entertained.

Lifting the veil

It's an odd game, then, with its curious creatures and off-kilter characters, but beneath the surface, Ku: Shroud of the Morrigan is a fairly traditional adventure game. Exploration is limited to solving basic environmental puzzles and navigating barren maps, while combat - such as it is - merely requires fevered tapping and the occasional somersault to bring beasts to task.

Certainly, in basic terms, it's a mere slip of a game, lasting only a handful of hours before its simplistic wandering draws to a close.

Trials and tribulations

There are other issues, too - almost all revolving around awkward, sometimes unresponsive touch controls. The tap-to-move setup, for instance, struggles against poor pathfinding that frequently causes Ku to become entangled in scenery, while key puzzle items and characters fail to respond at critical moments.

Elsewhere, fighting is devoid of strategy and sprawling stages are in dire need of signposting.

But despite these frustrations, there's something hypnotic about Ku: Shroud of Morrigan - its strange, claustrophobic ambience making for a distinct, idiosyncratic game. It might be brief, insubstantial, and occasionally broken, but Ku's journey is a fascinating one all the same.

Ku: Shroud of the Morrigan

A lightweight action-RPG that makes up for its design and technical shortcomings with a weird, woozy, and strangely captivating style
Score
Matt Wales
Matt Wales
Following a lifetime of adventure on the high seas, swabbing the editorial decks of the good ship IGN and singing freelance shanties across far-flung corners of the gaming press, Matt hung up his pirate hat and turned his surf-seared gaze toward the murky mysteries of the handheld gaming world. He lives to sound the siren on the best mobile games out there, and he can't wait to get kraken.