Mortal Shell, like other Souls-like games, doesn’t give you a direct place to go most of the time. Fortunately, you can always return to your point-of-death and retrieve your lost goodies. Defense is often the best offense, because healing is limited and per usual for the genre, you’ll lose a big chunk of your resources once you die. You also have a parry ability, but using it causes precious special-meter known as “resolve”, which can otherwise be used for powered-up attacks. Even if you’re mid-attack, completely out of stamina, and about to get smashed by a giant boss attack, hardening usually works. The harden ability has a short cool-down period between uses, but its the main reason that Mortal Shell feels less difficult than the games it is inspired by. Instead of blocking, your character can harden themselves into stone, momentarily negating most damage. Each weapon has both quick and heavy attacks, which can be chained together for high-damage combos. Some shells offer more stamina than health (and vice versa), but it’s always best to pick your attacks. Mortal Shell is less about leveling up or improving character stats and more about figuring out what kind of strategy and shell works the best for a fight.Ĭombat itself feels slow and purposeful, as you have a limited amount of stamina afforded for attacks and dodges. Each shell offers a slightly different playstyle and set of strengths and weaknesses, so it’s always fun to find a new one and experiment.
During your adventure in the swamp, you’ll discover a handful of bodies (or shells) that you can inhabit. The “shell” in Mortal Shell refers to the game’s unique possession mechanic, which offers swappable character classes. It’s not a bad story by any means, it’s just rarely the focus of the experience. If you’re going into Mortal Shell expecting a sprawling narrative, you’ll just be disappointed. Honestly, I enjoyed the storytelling for what it was, but was a bit underwhelmed by the end of the game. Like other Souls-like games, Mortal Shell has a dark and morbid narrative set against a world of peril and violence, but it’s not as effective as a game like Bloodborne. That said, unless you’re especially interested, you might still be confused as the end-credits roll. In combination with the moody lighting and evocative world design, this results in an interesting experience.
However, most of this information is pretty vague, simply adding a bit more intrigue to the environment.
A shrouded woman named Sester Genessa and a masked giant known as The Old Prisoner offer you little information, but send you forth on an adventure to find and recover three Sacred Glands, located deep within Fallgrim’s crumbling temples.ĭuring your journey, you can uncover various pieces of lore by investigating certain monuments, reading discarded books, and talking to certain characters. Urged on by visions, you approach a lonely decrepit tower, occupied by a few otherworldly characters. Quickly thereafter you discover the corpse of a soldier and possess it, providing you a bit more protection. After a brief tutorial, you crawl through a shifting tunnel and emerge in Fallgrim, a dank and dirty swampland. You start the game as a pale, seemingly soulless husk, navigating a foggy limbo between life and death. Like Dark Souls, Mortal Shell does most of its storytelling through the environment, along with a few traditional non-playable characters scattered around the world. By their very nature, Souls-like games can be frustrating, but does Mortal Shell provide the satisfaction that makes them worthwhile? A Vessel of Death There’s challenging combat, a significant lack of objective markers, and you can expect to die more often than not. Playing as a faceless husk with the ability to possess fallen soldiers known as “shells”, you’ll fight against brutal and deadly foes as you traverse a grimy, oppressive world. Mortal Shell is a third-person action game developed by Cold Symmetry that looks to recreate the challenge and atmosphere of the Dark Souls franchise while offering its own unique twists.
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