I’m not that old, even if I feel it some days. The PC games I grew up with were Diablo 1 & 2, Civilisation 2, and Warcraft. My first console was a Sega Genesis, and I played the hell out of Sonic, let me tell you.
But I’ve always had an appreciation and love for retro games from the ‘80s and earlier. My first actual video game experience was with an Atari 2600, when I went over to my grandparents’ house and my aunt brought out her ancient, dusty console.
There was a golden era of RPGs in the 1980s that has influenced a lot of the role-playing scene as we know it today, and that era was initially influenced by the first TTRPGs like Dungeons and Dragons.
And retro PC RPGs and Solo RPGs have a lot in common. Often, in both, you play a lone wandering adventurer attempting to save the world from a great evil. Because of the lack of resources in those old games, you had to use your imagination to make the world come to life, just like in Solo RPGs.
So when Juan at Emenia Games asked me to take a look at Morkin - The Lords of Midnight Solo Adventure Game, I couldn’t resist!
Summary
🎲 - Morkin - The Lords of Midnight Solo Adventure Game
⏰ - Released in 2025
💵 - PDF ($20), Softcover ($39), and Hardcover ($55) – standard edition with white paper
Some Kickstarter Black edition copies available - Shop - Morkin - Emenia Games
🐸 - Solo Built
The Good
Fantastic art, like really fantastic
Extensive amounts of events and quests for you to get stuck into
A laser-focused story and mission
You can win!
Feedback
Not an open-world adventure (you may like this!)
Rules are simple (again, you may like this)
You can lose!
Assessment
Morkin - The Lords of Midnight Solo Adventure Game is an incredibly well-crafted hex crawl adventure game where you can (and probably will) lose, but you’ll find yourself coming back to it over and over again.
Disclosure: Juan at Emenia Games sent me a review copy with no obligations because I AM MY OWN FROG! But seriously, thanks, Juan!
A Passion Project
The first thing you need to know about Morkin is that it is a passion project. Not in a negative way, as that term is often used. This Solo RPG was made by people who had a deep and abiding passion for the game, The Lords of Midnight, released in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum.
You can read a detailed history of The Lords of Midnight on the Morkin website, but in summary, it was considered a technological masterpiece for the time and developed a huge cult following that continues to this day. You can actually play modernised versions for PC and mobile devices today.
Morkin is heavily inspired by The Lords of Midnight, and that can be seen in every aspect of the book. From how the game plays, to the writing, to the storyline and to (of course) the art.
This game was made with passion.
Art Makes the Game
The first thing that struck me when I cracked open Morkin was the art. Stunning black-and-white images run throughout the book, giving it a fantastic flavour. If you are lucky enough to have the Black edition with black paper, the colours are reversed.
Now, a lot of books have good art these days, so what makes Morkin stand out against all the other kickstarting games?
Well, I don’t know those fancy art words and terms, but the art kicks ass hard. You see a desperate hunger in the eyes of the bandits. The Frostbringer and the Frozen Aberation look properly scary. The Frost Troll Chief looks wise but deadly. There is not a weak piece in the whole book.
This is the art that the old masters of TSR wish they could have produced.
The Crawl
The hex crawl is the purest form of adventuring.
Croaker (Yes, I’m quoting myself)
At the core, Morkin is a hex crawl and the mechanics are simple to support the crawl. It uses a well-known D100 roll under system that is similar to games such as Call of Cthulu or Mothership. Combat uses an Action Point system that allows you to do more than just swing your sword at the baddie until one of you drops.
The mechanics are all well and good, but the key to the game is the hex crawl. There are nearly 100 pages of events and quests that your character can explore and experience, which are triggered through your travels. Each entry is well written and evocative.
One event may have you exploring ruins to recover a lost mayor. And guess what? Of course, the ruins are infested with evil. Another event may have a dragon approach. You'd better hide or prepare to fight a dragon.
The huge number of quests and events means you can play Morkin several times and have unique experiences.
How does it end?
Not every Solo RPG has an ending. Does the campaign of Starforged end? Maybe, when your character retires or you say you’ve had enough. Or you can keep going.
Morkin ends. It ends, and you win or you lose. Yes, a solo RPG with win and lose conditions. And it makes perfect sense. Those old computer RPGs were brutal. One poor decision and you get the Game Over screen, and you have to start over.
In Morkin, your character has 30 days to destroy the great evil, or the ice will consume the world. Days are broken into four periods so you can get a lot done each day. The clear win condition makes this a different type of solo RPG from many others that are typically covered.
There is no stopping and getting to know a community.
There is no farming or fishing.
There is no exploring far-off lands.
There is only your sworn mission. Or death.
That isn’t to say it will be a linear path like a level of Super Mario. There are probably millions of ways your character can make it to the end. And with so many events and quests, you’ll experience a vastly different game than others will.
It’s an elegant game for a more civilised age.
(I’m joking here. I also like more open-ended Solo RPGs, but I can’t resist adding a Star Wars quote.)
In this situation, focusing on the one-story plot has allowed Juan to write those hundreds of events and quests in a way that works with the overall game you are playing.
It might not be for everyone, and that’s ok.
Ride out and save the world
There is more to Morkin than that. You have allies. You can duel with ancient dragons. There is a dungeon delving mechanic.
If you remember the old DOS and pre-DOS RPGs, or if you are curious for a time where CRTs monitors took a few seconds to warm up, you’ll like Morkin.
If you love a hex crawl, an epic story and a game that challenges you, you’ll like Morkin.
So head over to Drivethru and take a peek!
Morkin: The Lords of Midnight Solo Adventure Game - Juan Díaz-Bustamante | DriveThruRPG
The Toad Recommends
It has been a while since I’ve recommended some solo newsletters, and there are some great new bloggers out there. This week I’m recommending Rotten Chronicles .
Melding storytelling, solo tips, minis, Rotten Chronicles is a great newsletter and well worth a subscription.
Other Tabletop News
Friend of the Toad René-Pier Deshaies has released a seriously cool game, Void Light. I'll be taking a harder look at it soon, but it looks awesome! —
Trent Holbrook, Aussie creative extraordinaire, is still rocking his permadeath daily vlog. If he misses a day or rolls a 666 on his challenge dice, he will delete it all. At nearly a hundred videos, there is something for every creative in there.
Literally the most hilarious thing I’ve seen on the internet in a while, the boys from Games Night play Don’t Look Back, but where every survivor is a various Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s bananas.
And that’s it for this week, people. You know what, this newsletter made me hungry. Like really hungry.
So next newsletter, I’m focusing on Solo RPGs that have food themes.
Delicious!
That Arnie 'Don't Look Back' battle report is amazing and hilarious.
This game is amazing! So glad you reviewed it. Thank you.