The Mildew Children | Nintendo Switch Review

Publisher: Valkyrie Interactive
Developer: The Growing Stones
Nintendo Switch Review

*Disclaimer: I was sent the code for this game on PS5 in return for a review, all opinions are mine and mine alone.

Growing up, I've always known the tales of how people accused of witchcraft were treated and the fact that so many were murdered due to fear and lies. The Salem witch trials are one of the main ones that stick in my mind; countless people were murdered merely for things people saw as witchcraft. maddening to me. so, playing a game where witchcraft was accepted and used freely made me excited! The Mildew Children is a 2D adventure mixed with a visual novel. The story is set in a village inhabited by children and only children (reminds me of the TV show The Tribe) these children have one way of life, and that is following pagan traditions along with any workings (spells), a lot of it is pretty grim and savage in all honesty. I want to add that, yes, I'm aware that not all of Pagaism is considered witchcraft, within this game, the word witch is used this is why I mentioned it.

The village needs saving, and Kyrphel and her sisters are bound to carry out this task. The biggest issue is that taking on this ritual often leads to death, and not everyone can triumph over the Mistress of Death. Kyrphel is determined to survive and take this on. She's trying to handle things to the best of her abilities. She's already seen one of the sisters die before her very eyes, taking on the task, yet she still goes ahead with what needs to be done. From what I could see whilst walking through the map/village, it's in a desperate state of decay; it's dull and depressing, and something needs to be done. 

I felt sad for the children. Yes, it seems to be freeing not being ruled by adults, but at the same time, it's a big responsibility which has obviously taken its toll on the whole village. Walking around and interacting with different children to get an idea of what kind of mindset they had was interesting, we have to remember that back in those times, people believed and feared many things, and how someone replies can often have consequences. The narrative within the game is what kept my attention, I carefully tried to take in what task I was given especially with the mini-games. There was one guessing game I hated and still never got it right, I refuse to look it up in case it's something so simple!

The layout of the screen was like a book, on the left was the game and characters moving, interacting, etc., and on the right, you could have a tiny picture of who was speaking along with the dialogue/side-scrolling, on this side, you would often have to press buttons at the right time and move the analogue stick up and down to stop anything happening to Kyrphel, it was like a little mini QTE. The game does sound pretty simplistic but I assure you if you change the difficulty it does get harder and more frustrating, I chose easy mode, this includes mini-games that are harder to lose and reaction times are slowed down. 

Visually, this game is gorgeous, the depressing backdrops and withered-looking characters never take away from how well the game has been put together. You can see the pain and anguish a lot of these characters are going through, and it helps tell the story to its full potential. I know some of my pagan friends will be reading this, and I need to say that, yes, this game does come across as vilifying Pagans at some points in one way or another, and it would have been nice if it was a made-up cult or religion to avoid stereotypes that often go hand in hand with paganism. Personally, I think it's still worth playing all the way through to see what the game has to offer in terms of story telling. 

I really enjoyed my time playing through The Mildew Children, it has a much slower pace, which I needed on top of the Christmas madness right now. I felt for the children, they have a tough life and have to grow up quickly, hoping that at least one of them survives to help the rest of the village, that's a huge responsibility. Players can look at spending over 6 hours playing through this game, which is perfect if you want to stream it on Twitch or YouTube. I thoroughly enjoyed it as a whole, maybe there was a little too much dialogue to get through, but this doesn't really hinder my enjoyment, though. 

Have a cosy day

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