The Mildew Children review: immersion versus storyline

I don’t play a lot of visual novels and don’t usually finish those that I start.

It’s the story element which tends to be the biggest draw to video games for me personally. But as someone who grew up playing a lot of point-and-clicks, I need more interactivity than dialogue choices and branching narratives to keep me engrossed in a title.

On paper then, The Mildew Children by The Growing Stones seems like a good option. Its mix of visual novel and 2D adventure means that mini-games and conversation challenges are interspersed throughout the plot to aid a players’ immersion in its world. But after completing the release in late July, I’m starting to wonder: does the problem lie with the genre or me?

I don’t normally begin reviews by discussing a game’s artwork or sound design, but I think it’s important in this case as one of The Mildew Children’s highlights is its atmosphere. Lovely hand-drawn visuals give a first impression that everything is happy and peaceful in this secluded village. But look closer and you’ll see elements of decay, and an eerie soundtrack implies that something is dreadfully wrong here.

The following post contains mild spoilers for the game. If you haven’t yet played and intend to do so, consider navigating away now and coming back later.

The village in question is inhabited by children who follow severe pagan traditions. A young witch named Kyrphel and her non-blood sisters are shunned by the community, but it’s their secret responsibility to complete a macabre and potentially deadly ritual once each decade to protect the living from the Mistress of Death. The Darkest Night is only eight days ahead when one of their quartet sadly passes away. The remaining three need to figure out a way to triumph against a God – and quickly.

The narrative’s main focus is the witches and their spells, with several mini-games revolving around remembering the words of mysterious incantations. The sisters consume ‘rouge’ berries to ‘ignite the sorcerous flames in their bellies’ and remind them of their power; but from the way that Kyrphel regularly suffers from stomach pains, it seems more likely that they’re unwittingly poisoning themselves. This may explain why they believe that witches are at their most potent immediately after initiation and then weaken as they age.

More interesting for me than this focus on the small group was the setting of the village and its traditions. In the first chapter, it’s revealed that the children believe in reincarnation and go through a ritual known as the ‘Blessed Change’ before they reach 19-years of age. The Grave Priestess conducts this using a vial of Black Milk and a scythe, so it doesn’t appear as blessed as the naïve villagers believe. But they have faith that they’ll return a few years later in a new body and will eventually regain their previous knowledge.

Why do they go through with this savage ceremony, never maturing into adulthood? How did it all begin in the first place? And where does the strange name of the title come from? While it doesn’t attempt to answer all these questions, I can’t help feeling as though I missed some crucial details while playing The Mildew Children. This was the result of two gameplay elements which ended up being a distraction from the narrative and caused me to lose focus on certain parts of the storyline.

First, we have the mini-games. The most frequent type appears when Kyrphel experiences one of her stomach pains, with the aim being to keep a moving target in the centre of a range while still continuing with the conversation that’s taking place. The Growing Stones’ view is that this aids immersion and yes, it does mimic the panic that the protagonist is feeling during these moments. But it also makes it easy to miss lines of dialogue and then not fully understand the choices you need to take.

When trying The Mildew Children’s demo during last October’s Steam Next Fest, I initially couldn’t figure out how to control the target. This caused me to die several times before eventually realising that I needed to use the arrow keys, so it would have been nice to have been provided with a brief explanation on screen. I do appreciate the fact that the developer has added options to make the mini-games easier or turn them off completely. I decided to opt for the latter while playing the full release last month so as not to miss any of the narrative.

The other element that caused me to miss information were the side-quests. These are typically optional in other video games and don’t affect their overall outcome so, when randomly encountering a couple of situations with non-player characters (NPCs), I thought that they existed simply to add flavour to the children’s world. As such, I didn’t purposefully seek all of them out as I’d set aside a single day to finish the title and wanted to make sure I’d be able to reach the finale in the time allocated for it.

However, I found out after completing it and receiving what most players would consider a ‘bad ending’ that this isn’t the case. A Steam discussion thread revealed that the fulfilment of the side-quests will help Kyrphel negate any lies and wrongdoings committed during her journey. A YouTube video then showed that additional options were available in the apex of the final chapter which could have changed the course of the plot. As I hadn’t attempted to discover all the side-quests, the good ending had been closed off to me.

Perhaps I’m being unnecessarily stubborn because I didn’t get the conclusion I wanted, but I really don’t like this mechanic. I would have set aside more time for the release and made a proactive effort to find the quests if I’d known they weren’t optional in this respect. I can’t deny that I mostly enjoyed the experience provided by The Mildew Children. But that doesn’t mean I want to repeat seven-hours of gameplay just to reach a different conclusion, especially so when it feels like I’ve been duped.

I explained earlier that visual novels struggle to maintain my attention due to their lack of interactivity. But here we are with a game that includes several types of mini-game, and I’m complaining about how they distracted me from the story. I’ve also shared in previous posts that I enjoy the feeling of exploration, as it’s this which leads to the discovery of side-quests. But here we are with a title that uses them to affect its world, and I’m moaning about having to complete them. In the words of Taylor Swift: “I’m the problem, it’s me.”

I feel sorry for video game developers because it’s so difficult for them to ever win. Give players a new release and they’ll tell you what it’s missing. Make sure your next project includes those elements and the same players will tell you that they don’t work. Strive for innovation and you’ll be told it’s too different; but stick to a classic formula and you’ll be criticised for lacking creativity. Yet, despite these challenges, the passion and dedication of developers like The Growing Stones shines through

I may have discussed some negatives in this post but I truly appreciate what the team have tried to do with The Mildew Children. And thanks to its intriguing story and eerie atmosphere, it’s one of the few visual novels I’ve been able to get through – and in one sitting too. Maybe it’s time I simply accepted that the genre is never going to be for me. At least until another entry featuring witches, spells and bizarre pagan rituals comes long, anyway.