The Swords of Ditto: Mormo's Curse - Switch Review

The Sword of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse is an action-adventure game that is akin to classic topdown games of the 90s. The game tells the story of heroes of the sword on a mission to take down the evil Mormo, one that spans across many generations and many heroes.

Gameplay

The Swords of Ditto runs relatively smooth, with fun action and interesting enemies to defeat. The game plays as you’d expect it would, with swords to swing, arrows to let loose and bombs to throw. Collect new items and weapons to help mix up combat and fight big bosses, requiring you to learn their attack patterns. My favourite is the Golf Club, knocking enemies afar and temporarily stunning them.

The main point of level progression is in the Sword of Ditto itself. More specifically, your sword has levels and requires experience points that are earned by defeating monsters. As you proceed throughout the game, you can also buy and find stickers that provide stat bonuses.

In addition to the main plot, you also encouraged to go off the beaten path with side quests. These can be done at your own leisure all around the world map. Some are just simple fetch quests which are a little disappointing, but these sometimes lead to optional dungeons that provide you more experience.

Technically, all of the dungeons are optional as the game is completely open world, allowing you to proceed to the final boss straight away, much like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. But beware, you will probably die.

It’s surprising how well co-op works in a game such as this. Progressing through dungeons and solving puzzles together is a fun experience in most cases, and The Sword of Ditto’s charming nature accentuates this well. The only issue in co-op games such as this is when you both walk in a different direction and reach the ends of the screen, you cannot go any further… we actually got stuck a couple times this way.

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The load times are a little longer than we had initially expected, but by no means is this a deal-breaker. It’s just quite jarring when this happens in dungeons, going from one room to the other.

World / Dungeon Design

As much as the game likes to highlight its influences of a massive world that contains dungeons, the intricate details appear to be lacking. Half the fun of games such as these come in the dungeon’s meticulously designed layout, however The Sword of Ditto’s dungeons just feel like each room is thrown together, one after the next, with no real thought put into them. There are weapons and items that act as solutions to puzzles, but the dungeons simply feel like an afterthought.

Exploring the overworld feels effortlessly slapped together, with each section split up into rectangles across the world map. Every section feels disjointed, almost like puzzle pieces of a Picasso painting (quite possibly the most cultured reference ever on this site).

Story

As this game is clearly influenced by a little known series called The Legend of Zelda, there are certainly some nods here and there. It becomes initially noticeable when you wash up unconscious on the sands of a beach, clearing referencing the Game Boy classic Link’s Awakening.

Most of the game’s humour comes from your celestial helper dung beetle, Puku. The dialogue is witty and funny, often making you chuckle (but never anymore than that). It simply just makes the game a much more light-hearted experience as per the game’s presentation.

This quirkiness also comes through in the game itself. For example, being able to buy a paper sign that says ‘KICK ME’ from the Ditto Mart is potentially the best thing ever.

Graphics / Art Direction

The art is vibrant and colourful, very much reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons. It seems to be a popular visual art style as of late, similar to that of Pool Panic and Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion. The art style actually makes the world’s inhabitants a lot easier to distinguish between, making the game that much more of a joy to play through.

The art style may not be for everyone but if you’re growing tired of realistic ‘brown’ levels, then this game may well be a welcomed change.

Music / Sound Design

The soundtrack is light and upbeat, much like its art style. It makes the game just that much happier to venture through. It’s a testament when a game’s music can get stuck in your head as a lot of games’ soundtracks just come across as generic and lifeless. However this is not the case for Two Sword of Ditto, with catchy melodies to have you humming for days.

Final Score: 76%

The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse is a pleasant experience that will have you smiling from ear-to-ear. The game is sure to be a great fit on the Nintendo Switch considering its Legend of Zelda influences and despite its shortcomings attempting to live up to those expectations, it absolutely holds up in its own quirky ways.