If you just picked up Children of Morta and want to know how to actually use the DLC you bought, you are in the right place. This guide walks you through installing and confirming the add-ons, the exact in-game milestones that make their content appear, and practical tips for when to jump into each part for the smoothest experience.
What Counts As DLC In Children of Morta
Children of Morta has two gameplay DLCs and one bonus audio package.
- Paws and Claws adds the Animal Shelter at the Bergsons’ home along with animal interactions and small but useful family-wide stat boosts tied to animal happiness.
- Ancient Spirits adds a new playable fighter named Yajouj’Majouj, a skin system for the whole family, and new relics, charms, and divine graces. The new fighter is playable only in the Family Trials mode.
- Family Fireside Fables is a set of narrated tales. It installs as audio and video files rather than an in-game quest or mode.
Install And Confirm The DLC
Install the DLC from the store where you bought the base game. On PC, open the game’s page in your client and check the DLC section to confirm it shows as Installed. On consoles, open the game’s Manage Add-ons or similar menu and verify the toggles are enabled. Launch the game and load your save. You do not need a new save for any of the DLC to work.
How To Start Paws and Claws (Animal Shelter)
Goal: get the Animal Shelter active at the Bergsons’ house so you can feed animals and earn small bonuses.
- Reach early Caeldippo Caves. After installing the DLC and progressing into the Caeldippo Caves, the Animal Shelter feature can unlock once you hit an early caves milestone. Many players see it appear around Cave 2, Floor 2. When this milestone is hit, the shelter structure appears at home.
- Rescue Ryker when the event shows up. In the Caeldippo Caves there is a side event to find Ryker, a wolf cub. Help him and complete the follow-up herb task. This seeds the shelter with its first resident and kicks the system into motion.
- Feed animals between runs. Open chests during dungeon runs to find animal treats. Treats come in Common and Epic varieties and increase an animal’s happiness from Normal to Happy, then Excited, then Overjoyed. Higher happiness means a stronger family-wide boost. Active boosts show up in notifications, the home status panel, and the character select screen.
What to expect: boosts lean small but steady, like movement speed or experience rate. Turn this DLC on from the start so you are passively progressing it while you play the story. A quick habit that pays off is checking the shelter before each run and using any treats you picked up.
How To Unlock And Enter Family Trials Mode
Ancient Spirits’ fighter lives inside Family Trials, so getting into this mode is the next step.
- Beat the first story boss. Progress the story until you reach and defeat the spider boss on the third floor of the first area. That clears the requirement to unlock Family Trials.
- Choose Family Trials from the main menu. Once unlocked, the mode appears on the title screen. It is a separate, combat-focused roguelite run with randomized objectives and its own progression rules. Family Trials is part of a free update and does not require paid DLC to access.
Notes on the mode: levels and objectives are randomized, builds shift quickly, and progression is self-contained. Treat it like a challenge track that sits alongside the story.
Ancient Spirits Quick Start: Playing Yajouj’Majouj
Goal: use the DLC’s new fighter and extras.
- Enter Family Trials. The character is only available in this mode. From the Family Trials character select, pick Yajouj’Majouj. If the DLC is installed correctly, the fighter appears in the roster.
- Learn the two-form kit. Yajouj’Majouj swaps freely between two forms and rewards chaining attacks from both for stronger combos. This is the core of their DPS and survivability loop. Practice weaving basic strings from each form to keep pressure high without overcommitting.
- Use the new skins and items. Ancient Spirits adds a skin system to character select and injects new relics, charms, and divine graces into the loot pool. Skins are chosen on the select screen, and the new items appear during runs once the DLC is installed.
Tip: if fast, high-expression fighters are your thing, start your first Family Trials session with Yajouj’Majouj and focus on form swapping around cooldown windows. Many players find early success by using one form to gap close and the other to burst, then resetting with movement skills.
Where To Find Family Fireside Fables
If you bought or claimed Family Fireside Fables, do not look for a quest marker. On Steam it installs to your Steam\steamapps\music folder as MP3 and MP4 files, along with a wallpaper and cover art. You can listen outside the game in any media player, and it is a nice backdrop while grinding Family Trials or farming treats for Paws and Claws.
Troubleshooting When DLC Content Is Not Appearing
Paws and Claws not visible at home: confirm the DLC shows as Installed in your store client, then push the story into Caeldippo Caves and keep running until you hit the early caves milestone noted above. Watch for the Ryker rescue event to seed the shelter with its first resident.
Family Trials missing from the menu: it will not appear on a fresh save. Clear the first boss in story mode, return to the title screen, and check again for the Family Trials option.
Yajouj’Majouj not selectable: verify Ancient Spirits is installed, then enter Family Trials specifically. The fighter does not show up in story mode.
Recommended Order To Start Everything
- Enable Paws and Claws immediately. The shelter’s boosts accumulate while you play and require minimal attention beyond feeding animals when you have treats.
- Play story until the spider boss, then sample Family Trials. This gives you a baseline for combat and unlocks the mode cleanly.
- Install Ancient Spirits when you are ready to dive into Trials. The new fighter and added loot freshen up that mode specifically, which makes it a great change of pace after a chapter or two of the campaign.
Bottom line: install the DLC, push story to early Caeldippo Caves for the shelter, defeat the first boss to open Family Trials, then enjoy Yajouj’Majouj and the new cosmetics and items once you are inside that mode. With those steps, every piece of Children of Morta DLC content is live and ready to use.