There’s something to be said for the exciting potential for taking on an epic third-person adventure, hacking and slashing your way through enemies. Whether that happens in alien environments, the dark ages, or in some future post-Apocalyptic world, it can absolutely be a fun time… except when it isn’t. With its M rating and moody environments, Morbid does seem to be trying to provide some visceral action-oriented fun, but in terms of its mechanics, some of its design, and just its overall sloppy feel, it falls short of the greatness I’m sure the developers had in mind.

While I don’t mean to pick on the game extensively, aside from the fact that you can choose to have some fun dodging, parrying, and coming at your foes which all look a bit creepy, there’s not much in the way of new or mind-blowing fare here. On a general level, while the specifics may not be the same, there’s just something very familiar about so much of what you see here, except you’d swear in other games it was all handled a bit more impressively. In particular, considering so much of the appeal rests on the game’s combat, the pretty chunky and clunky feel to your moves is disappointing. Granted, as the game goes on you’ll be able to tweak your character a bit to make the combat a little more satisfying, but what will be down the road doesn’t mean much if people get annoyed with the experience early on.

Aside from the action, the game’s visuals also struggle to make a positive impression. There’s a pretty faded and washed out look to the world, the enemy models look quite dated, and at times there are simply issues with visual clarity that are disappointing. Moving into interior environments, they are often too dark to be able to see where you can go, making the visuals feel irritatingly inconsistent. Then throw in some needless wandering about to find someone to talk to, and the game manages to sap any positive momentum from the action, and yet the dialogue you get from that distraction doesn’t often feel worth the effort.

Sometimes you can have experiences where the parts can feel better than the whole, but in this case I can’t point to one aspect of the game that feels even middling compared to its peers. Whether it was rushed, or the team’s ambitions exceeded their ability, this just doesn’t feel great to play and I can’t imagine the only blame would be on the system’s hardware, even if perhaps it isn’t helping. If you’re looking for some third-person action you simply shouldn’t have to settle for this.