The Dark Queen of Mortholme
A downloadable anti-game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
You are the Dark Queen—the most powerful being of your entire universe. Your lair is breached by an aspiring hero—a pitiful thing, easily crushed.
Except they keep coming back.
A 20 minute anti-game about an unconventional relationship and the capacity for change.
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Development log
- Post-release Bug Fixes21 hours ago
Comments
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Love this! I'm wondering I've seen all the endings, besides the "glitch" one where you can beat the hero. I got the one where The Queen dies to the hero, and I got what felt like a "sort of" ending by refusing to fight and then having the game end by not being able to move.
Thanks again—this was a really interesting game! :)
AWH my hearrrrrrrrrrt! This does so much in so little time, and I loveeeeeeeee it. The writing between the Hero and Her Majesty, it just really pulls some strings, and some of the words just hits close for me. There's just a part of me that wants to just go on forever, but that sure does go against the idea of the story. The art and animation is so good and fun to look at toooooooo
played it normally the first time through, second time i just ended up in an endingless limbo by not doing anything, cant even move. love it 10/10
Very great game! I usually hate this type of games but it has such a great lesson and perspective about change with the hero and the queen. Such a great game, I love it.
in a sad turn of events, i got softlocked. the game got to the part where the hero is beaten (i dont even have to attack!) and comes back saying "oof", and your only choices are "i have fight still left in me" and "what happened?", and either choice brings me to the fight, which the hero cannot win. a fitting but sad end, the hero can't win after all... i know this is most likely a bug, but this was a lovely end.
This was an amazing game!! The animations are beautiful- I love everything about the queen's animations, from her attacks to the way she walks off of her throne in the beginning. The story is wonderful too, I love the relationship that was built between the two characters. I managed to only find one ending, though. I was wondering if there were any more? Either way, this is a fantastic game.
Amazing game, loved it from start to finish.
peaaaaaaaaaaak
Great game, but I did find a bug, when you manage to defeat the hero and you sit back on your throne, you end up sitting on air facing the throne. Great Game though loved it.
I only found one ending. Stopping fighting just leads to an infinite "retreat and return" loop with the same dialogue, no conversational paths seem to make a difference.... I loved the basic story through once, but now... fittingly, honestly, I feel like I'm struggling against an unchanging fate trying to find any alternatives. Any hints?
You may have found a bug; the retreat and return loop should not be infinite. To figure out what's going wrong, what dialogue are you stuck on?
Just after the first transformation fight, stop fighting after that, and reply "I no longer wish to hurt you", it creates a repeating loop every fight after.
"Look, I want to see you try. I want to see you."
"I no longer wish to hurt you"
"If staying unscathed was my priority, I would not be here."
"I have my purpose."
"Even if it means being killed by you a hundred times, I'm alright with that."
<FIGHTO><do nothing>
"Are you sure this is the note you want to end on?"
"I want to do this right, think about it." <retreat>
<return to start>
Oh, and if I fight after that, it repeats the dramatic holy shield cutscene.
Ceasing fighting in following fights gives "I have no need for your pity." and then loops back to "I want to see you try"
I've also gotten two minor variations of "the queen refuses to fight, dies anyway" (before first transformation, the 'respect' lines, and after, with "don't want to hurt you", then locked controls and <dead>)
Interestingly, once in the previous bugged/looped sequence, the method of incinerating the body never changes. It just stays at 'keel down and touch' and never moves to picking up the adventurer's body, even if continuing the fight sequence. Dunno if that gives any clues as to the source, but just in case it might help!
i loved it! are you planning on adding more languages?
It wasn't my original plan, no, but once I've fixed all the bugs and if people are clamoring for it, perhaps!
that's great! i'm a Spanish localiser and it would be a pleasure to do it!
oh this game is incredible!!!!
This game is great!
I ran into a bug, though! The second time you transform, after the hero gets the shield, if you only damage them one time, you un-transform and the whole cutscene plays out again. (Edit:) Similarly, if you refuse to attack the hero after that cutsceen first plays, and they leave and come back, the whole transformation cutscene will play again the next time they fight you instead of skipping to the transformed phase.
Thank you for the bug report! I'll try to fix the issues. Not sure what the first one is about; do you mean it happens if you damage them once and then stop attacking for a while?
Actually, they took one hit and stood back up, then immediately I un-transformed and then went directly back into the transformation cutscene. It was really weird.
Oh the same thing happened to me!
fantastic game, once it's been out for a bit more I'd love to see the script. I'm really curious about some of the possibilities
Really interesting! I found two different endings; I was wondering if there are more?
The hidden ending most unlikely to be found is a "Hero gives up, Queen wins" scenario written in case the player discovers some kind of a bug that lets them keep killing the Hero indefinitely.
I seemed to get into this loop but it was unending. I killed the hero about 10 times in a row without even doing anything (hero took damage for no reason) before I quit.
awesome game! loved it!
Wonderfully done! I will absolutely be recommending this to others!
Oh I really loved playing through this! The combat was fun, the style was gorgeous, and I love love loved the story. It made me feel hopeful....we all have the capacity for change!
Had a great time playing, the relationship is really interresting and everything so pretty !
This is great. I'm so glad I played it
The pixel art and animations are gorgeous! I think I've already seen that concept in another game. But the tone of yours is interesting. I enjoyed the storytelling and the queen's evolution, both through the dialogues and her animations.
Adored my play through <3 This anti-game deserves time, recognition, and donation if you can afford so.