MÖRK BORG: Heresy Supreme’s alpha demo plays like a gnarly doom metal roguelike

MÖRK BORG: Heresy Supreme is one of those video games (video games is two words, apparently, at Rascal) with a sludgy, chaotic haze that permeates every scene. The first thing you’ll notice is the sheer theatrics: a vibrant juxtaposition of yellow, red, and black hues, tinged with the occasional pink and cyan; the heaviest doom metal soundtrack that pulses at the speed of sludge; and the fantastical, grimdark scribbles that whisper of despair and rot. But amidst this doom metal veneer — one that’s undoubtedly adapted from the ghoulish, doom-fuelled sensibilities of the original MÖRK BORG tabletop RPG — lies a roguelike loop that’s particularly compelling. At least for the game’s alpha demo, that is.

First impressions: Heresy Supreme is incredibly viscous and bleak, with combat as weighty and deliberate as the music genre it’s inspired by. As one of those lowly peons known as a cursed walker, your stats — strength, agility, presence, and toughness — are determined by dice rolls. These can be re-rolled as many times as you wish, lest you get a fragile one-HP walker cursed with a broken femur for a weapon (a nod to MÖRK BORG’s character creation). In the demo, you’re tasked with ridding the lands of its unhallowed denizens, from shambling skeletons to crazed goblins. Given that you can be eviscerated by these goons in a few blows, combat can be punishing, and this is in addition to how attacks, blocks, and dodges are limited by your stamina. In other words, you’ll need to consider your every move. If you’re desperate enough, you can pelt an enemy with rocks, shiny coins, or even health-replenishing food. It’s a woefully hilarious maneuver for when your walker is too scared out of their wits to fight; that is, you can be so stricken with fear that you can’t use your weapons.