From the developers behind the upcoming Sister Ray: A Walk on the Wild Side, The Growing Stones, and published by Valkyrie Initiative, comes a shocking tale of darkness and sorcery inspired by Scandinavian folklore. The Mildew Children is a deeply narrative-focused, choice-driven, grim fantasy story told through a gorgeous 2D hand drawn art style that features elements of adventure, exploration, and visual novel style dialogue that provides just the right amount of surprise, graphic content, and intriguing twists and plot devices that push the player forward in spite of the horrors they must face along the way.
The Mildew Children is an enigmatic experiment in morality and the suspension of disbelief. Following Kyrphel, a young witch from a village coven during an era of history in which that was believed to be far more common, must set out to save her fellow sister witches and the community at large from an impending doom that seeks to leave nothing but destruction in its wake.
This apocalyptic event is referred to as the Great Dormition and without Kyrphel and her coven’s intervention through the performance of a special ritual, this event will destroy everyone and everything that she holds dear, even if she holds it all at an arm’s length.
Unfortunately for the village (who already don’t seem very trusting or supportive of witchcraft or its practitioners), one of the witches from the coven dies before the appropriate preparations are complete to properly perform the ritual to stop the Great Dormition.
With the circle weakened as only three witches remained, Kyrphel realizes that the only way to save the village from annihilation is to recruit a new witch from the community that practically hates them to begin with. Though a seemingly impossible task, Kyrphel undertakes it with a fearful but determined sense of responsibility for the well-being of those around her.
While questing as Kyrphel, the player will encounter a fair number of folks that will serve to either aid or delay progress, often times leading to creative ways to win them over or scare them off. The game features a ton of dialogue options that allow for the player to mold Kyrphel into the witch they think best suits the narrative.
They can lie, curse, sweet talk, and even play games to punish and/or placate the various villagers during their vital but secretive mission. These characters are written with their own tremendous individuality and unique personalities that made playing through the game feel like an interactive novel that pulled from classic horror stories and fairy tales.
Kyrphel’s brother, the guardsman, the local children and concerned parents, the village scribe and his apprentice, her friend and priestess Littlegrave who seems like a young stand-in for Death itself with her black robe and scythe, and many more characters brought life, albeit grim, to the winding narrative.
There weren’t any older adults apart from the Mistress who was a twisted queen-like figure, as once villagers reached a certain age, they would be sacrificed for “the greater good,” as the other townsfolk believe that they would be reincarnated through the first child born under the “third moon.” It’s a pretty warped folktale and it only got darker the further in I delved.
With that said, the story was really the only stand-out element of the experience. The exploration became tiresome after dozens of moments where I found myself having to backtrack a far distance, simply to be tasked with turning back around and going back to where I set out from.
There were mini games throughout that involved balancing heart rate, making snap decisions, button mashing to stomach horrible sensations, memory trials that tested both patience and attentiveness, surviving deadly encounters through decisive action, and at some points a mix of the lot.
This provided a bit of immersion as it provided some much-needed engagement during the pages upon pages of well-written dialogue but felt forced and excessive in the later stages of the game, distracting from the story as a whole.
Fortunately, there are options to decrease the difficulty of these mini-games or to shut them off altogether, for those who are simply interested in enjoying the game like a visual novel with critical choices and the somewhat extensive yet repetitive exploration elements. Just know that player decisions can truly affect the various situational outcomes; so be warned.
Kyrphel isn’t the only protagonist that the player controls during their adventure to stop the dark lords, which is fortunate as the game is anywhere between 6 and 8 hours long depending on how often the player gets lost in the woods, though the provided map was surprisingly useful.
There were side quests during the game as well, and hidden interactions with spirits and villagers that led to different endings and achievements that I of course sought out in my quest to 100% the game in a single run, which I was fortunate enough to do. It pays to pay attention… and to manually save scum often. Judge me all you like, but I had innocents to save from evil entities!
The medieval-era village and surrounding environments were drawn and rendered with beautiful colors, handcrafted animations, and a brilliant atmosphere that was equal parts enchanting and haunting. There were flocks of birds flying in the distance and foreground, people milling around, both flora and fauna that moved with the wind and crossed through the scenery as though the world were truly alive.
It felt like a living storybook and cautionary tale, akin to something from the Brothers Grimm, but somehow a bit more dreadful and graphic. Some of the moments truly shook me to my core, and the gory displays produced by the sharp artistry created for some incredibly disturbing and memorable moments to behold.
The music was suited for the tone and the atmospheric sound effects were either chilling or charming depending on the scenario, but the gameplay was still lacking any real meat. However, the sound designers’ expert use of near silence during key moments played a major role in relaying the gravity of each particular situation to the player.
Sometimes the only sounds were crows cawing in the distance, water lapping at the edge of a stream, and the subtle conversations of villagers in the background, leaving me feeling isolated and afraid, even when surrounded by so many living souls. Then again, not every character’s experience was the same.
The characters available to control allow for variations in gameplay through the narrative decisions revolving around their moral codes and personality types. Using aggression, compassion, pain, and patience, players can shape the world around them as they attempt to successfully preform the rites necessary to alleviate the town of its upcoming woes.
Each character, playable and not, had their own reactive face panels beneath their dialogue, cleverly expressing the many injuries, terrors, joys, cries, and everything in between, making some elements of the experience feel like a graphic novel or comic book, while providing those mini-games and dialogue options to keep feeling like a video game.
The sinister, mysterious, and mystical aspects of this game were where it truly shined. It was mostly a visual novel, but the characters were quite a bit more interesting than most in the genre, and the story was unsettling and emotionally unhinged to say the least.
With that said, the story and atmosphere weren’t enough to warrant a revisit to this title any time soon, though I’m glad I chose to experience it at least once. For the reasons above, I’m giving The Mildew Children a 7/10 and if you’re a fan of dark fantasy, visual novels, hand-drawn aesthetics, and atmospheric thrillers, then I would recommend that you check this one out!
The Mildew Children is available on Steam, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch
