Mortal Shell

Mortal Shell may be a modest product, but it surprised at nearly every turn with regularity. The lack of variety in the environments, weapons, and classes are more than made up by never overstaying its welcome. Whenever it feels as though its about to become stale, players will stumble across something new to try out. The lack of depth isn’t too much of a detriment as the game is short enough to ever feel tired. Better yet, what is there is good, a foundation with easy room to be expanded upon and a strong demonstration of Cold Symmetry’s understanding of core concepts that are the strength of the genre. Mortal Shell is a exemplary use of limited resources to make a tight, fun game, even if it only takes a weekend to beat.

Mortal Shell is not a perfect game and still requires a bit of polishing but for a game this enjoyable to be developed by such a small team I’m excited to see what they have planned for the future. The potential to make Mortal Shell into a great franchise is definitely there and I hope to see another game in the series or DLC adding diverse bosses and more items to utilise the amazing elements they have introduced with this game.

Mortal Shell is inspired by the Souls formula to twist their combat system with their own ideas. Lights and shadows in the title of Cold Symmetry that, although it presents a good challenge, is burdened by some decisions that slow down the game and some inaccuracies in its mechanics.

The clashes with the basic enemies are satisfying and arduous at the right point, and the general design, removed some too obvious and uninspired tributes, knows how to be appreciated: what is missing are mainly a sufficiently interesting lore, some really memorable boss fights, and an overall a richer amount of content.

Cold Symmetry has managed to bring home a project with a beautiful atmosphere, strongly inspired by From Software's soulsborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, but with original mechanics and folklore; pity for the scholastic execution, certainly due to scarce resources and workforce, which limit its longevity and bring out a framework with too much roughness.

A great Souls-like with personality, new ideas, amazing battles but with problems in scenario design and world building.

If you’re willing to devote a weekend to its mood of windbitten despondency (it’s only fifteen or so hours long), you will not emerge from Mortal Shell unrewarded.

Mortal Shell isn't merely "like Dark Souls"; it's a love-letter to From Software's juggernaut series that successfully captures what makes those games special while carving out an identity all its own. It isn't without fault, yet as a freshman effort Mortal Shell is a worthy addition to the Soulslike pantheon.

Wonderfully captures the atmosphere and combat of Souls games, but without enough tools to experiment with and an AI that’s easy to abuse, Mortal Shell lacks meat on its bones.

My grievances with Mortal Shell aren't tied to the game's difficulty. That's a feature, not a bug. We're meant to gnash our teeth, to wail in misery at the washed out skies. I'm not even bothered by the massive From Software logo that's mostly been filed off. I just wish the tether wasn't stretched all the way back to 2011. We've made such strides in our Soulsborne suffering since then! It's more nuanced, more exquisite than ever before! If your goal is to pummel your players into a state of Sisyphean ecstasy, you have a multitude of tools at your disposal. For the hardcore crowd that's made it this far, congratulations! You will love this game, no two ways about it. For everyone else, heed my warning: Mortal Shell is just as brutal and beautiful as you're imagining.

Mortal Shell is an excellent entry in the Souls-like space with some fantastic ideas around character progression and combat, but is unfortunately let down by a health system that discourages exploration and an element of tedium that unnecessarily pads out encounters.

With its solid gameplay and sinister Soulsborne atmosphere combined with some good ideas of its own, Mortal Shell could have been a great game. But a hasty release seems to have caused a lot of damage: the overall balance is weak, and there's a lack of variety in the shells, weapons and bosses. The game is quickly over, the fights hardly noticeable with no music and the unbalanced difficulty. The most relentless might find their happiness by playing without shells , and with the New Game+.

Mortal Shell is a valiant attempt at the Souls-like genre. Its dark and brooding aesthetic are unnerving, while the unique mechanics, like the shells and Resolve, offer fresh takes on the tried-and-true combat. These slight changes from the formula create a challenging experience that will have those intimately familiar with the Souls-like genre relearning the basics. Unfortunately, while Mortal Shell has a heart of gold, there are mechanics and core decisions that prevent it from being a truly great entry into these hallowed halls.

Mortal Shell follows Dark Souls too closely, forgetting to put a good use of its own good features.

Mortal Shell is built around a solid foundation with a fun and responsive combat engine propped up by strong visuals. While some obtuse design choices and an uninteresting world holds it back from escaping the moniker of being, “just yet another souls-like”, it’s guaranteed to scratch that itch, at least a little.

An engrossing combat system and numerous novel gameplay mechanics save what would have otherwise been merely a passable Dark Souls tribute from total mediocrity. Sadly, there’s still too much harming the experience to justify a wholehearted recommendation. It ain’t Souls and it certainly ain’t polished, but it's not terrible either.