14 DAY TRIAL // 
Ku: Shroud of the Morrigan is a re-imagined account of the Irish folk story of Cu Chulainn, forged by the small independent developer bitSmith.
The game presents a typical (as far as legends go) coming of age story involving a young man saving the realm from evil forces, and players get to explore various environments and face the incarnations of mythical Celtic folklore denizens in a medieval world infused with steam technology.
Humanity clings to existence by relying on the remnants of technology to survive and an unwanted orphan child armed with an ancient sword and a mysterious metal glove is his village's only hope.
As such, the young boy ventures into twisted lands governed by strange powers in the quest to restore his village's lifeline.
The problem with stories based on folklore is that it's difficult to capture their atmosphere while presenting an interesting enough experience for modern audiences. Disney removed all the mature content from Sleeping Beauty before re-enacting it, taking out all the fun from the 17th century story and turning it into a dreadfully boring children's tale.
Such is the case with Ku: Shroud of the Morrigan, who fails to live up to the story its trailer promises. Legends do require a certain amount of suspension of disbelief in order to function properly, but in this case the story is simply puerile.
It does a poor job of making you want to save those people in the first place, which is basically the main thing you're supposed to do: save people that treat you as a useless burden because you're nice like that.
The reason why I talked about the story so much is because the gameplay is sub-par and a better narrative would've compensated in some part for it.
The game has you slashing your sword at various enemies and stunning them with your staff while performing rolls to dodge attacks and explosions. Yet, it oftentimes feels like it's poorly implemented and you just have to stand near a monster who's chipping away at your health bar and just swings until he drops without having any meaningful contribution to the actual fight.
While you venture through the wilderness, you'll stumble across some genuinely interesting characters, such as an old man that sends you on a mission to find some delicious sap that he intends to use to spice up the stew he plans to make out of you, but unfortunately there aren't too many such encounters.
Additionally, you'll also find some obelisks with scribblings of some previous explorers and you'll learn their fate and you'll also have to figure out a couple of puzzles, which redeem the gameplay in some measure as some of them fit into the story quite cleverly, not being too subtle in order to cause frustration but not being overly telegraphed either.
The inhabitants of the world and the backdrops range from somewhat bland to interesting, with a lot of elements being evocative of a post-apocalyptic world, but they lack the variety and depth necessary to offer a truly immersive experience.
While some dialogues are trite and uninspired, others manage to present a sliver of potential, but overall the writing quality is not very good, lacking polish and originality.
Another thing the game seems to be lacking is a better direction, as it gives the impression of rushing through the motions through a narrow corridor instead of allowing players to explore its world.
Furthermore, there are some areas where the direction is really confusing and some events seem to be glitchy, requiring you to die a couple of times before figuring out what the proper placement is or having you float over some obstacles or unable to move.
On top of this, there are even more bugs that will keep interfering with your gaming experience, as some times various interactions will only work when using a mouse, while at other times exclusively with a gamepad.
Ku: Shadow of the Morrigan's visuals are also plagued by the same lack of polish, the overall aesthetic reminding of old children's books, illustrated in the style of 15th century manuscripts, which would be great if the game had a more stylized visual direction. As such, it just comes off as cheap and low-resolution.
Some of the overlays also become confusing at times, and while some of the smoke and fog effects contribute a bit to the whole eerie and decrepit atmosphere, others tend to get in the way, sometimes metaphorically and sometimes actually in the way, as you'll get stuck in the animated scenery unable to move away.
Controller support is limited and attempting to play the game exclusively with a gamepad is an impossible ordeal, especially since the controls such as aiming chain sword attacks work much more fluidly with a mouse.
Conclusion
It is really a pity that the game wastes its potential in this form, as Ku: Shadow of the Morrigan clearly requires more polish before it can compete in the PC arena, being ill prepared to face the powerful competition despite being able to evoke a certain ancient story book charm.
It's not a bad game in itself especially considering its price tag, and does provide some entertainment, but it's marred by a host of small problems that together bring down the overall experience and make its shortcomings stand out, and a weak and unconvincing story that belongs in the early '90s or could do with a makeover.
Some environments show genuine artistic potential that has unfortunately not been tapped, as the game fails to present a gripping atmosphere and has either fleeting, shoddy or overplayed interactions with its characters and environments, and combat mechanics that are not solidly implemented and feel tacked on.
