Mortal Shell

If Dark Souls wasn’t sufficiently dark and difficult, this is just the thing for you. Taking the souls-like genre a step further, Mortal Shell provides a satisfying combat system enveloped in a creatively unique narrative. Well worth the suffering. [Issue#305]

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 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.

The biggest flaw of Mortal Shell is how much it tries to be a Dark Souls game, especially aesthetically, something that makes all of its shortcomings so much more prevalent. Its world is quite small and restricted compared to other soulsborne games, and it lacks in terms of personality, by trying to present a dark fantasy setting so similar to what we have already seen. Nevertheless, it still is one of the most detailed 3D games of the indie scene in it still provides an entertaining 10-15 hours experience thanks mostly to the well-crafted combat system, albeit without deviating from established formulas, and a good variety of nicely designed enemies.

Although Mortal Shell suffers from several design issues, and although it seems a lot like the Souls series, its solid combat system eventually saves the day, making it an exciting, yet short, Action RPG that will probably be worth your while.

A successful heir to Dark Souls who improves the original concept, but knows its own limitations.

While it's not perfect, Mortal Shell is nevertheless an impressive snack-sized Soulslike that's fun, polished, and unique, providing an experience that Souls fans will love.

It's a great job for a newly established studio's first game. Among the Dark Souls copies, Mortal Shell managed to stand out with its unique features. This game is the proof that Cold Symmetry can do much better work in the future.

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.

Mortal Shell’s gameplay style is what makes it so accessible, as new combat mechanics like shell abilities and harden give players breathing room until they learn. The title is a harsh teacher, however, as death will likely occur. Enemy designs are intriguing and telegraph beautifully. AI reacts beautifully during combat for fluid play. It’s a title that streamlines a lot of the souls experience down to the bare essentials while being refreshing. Veterans of the genre may find the title too short, but may like the unique combat. Whether you’ve played these kinds of titles before or not, Mortal Shell solidifies itself as a serious contender

While Mortal Shell may not stand at the upper echelon of the genre, there's still plenty to enjoy. The combat and world are engaging, and its swappable body system feels unique and fresh. Despite its shortcomings, Mortal Shell brings enough new ideas to the table, and with less pressure and investment required, there’s plenty of freedom to experiment with them.

With graphics that have almost nothing to envy from bigger budget productions, a sufficiently deep and vindictively compelling gameplay that keeps the interest high even for more than one New Game +, Mortal Shell is a great example of a qualitative souls-like game that does not come from the hands of From Software.

Mortal Shell is an extremely loyal Dark Souls homage with just enough clever new ideas to make fighting through its gorgeous world feel like something more than a rehash.

Wrapping up, as a big fan of the Dark Souls series, I have to say I am impressed with Mortal Shell. It may not be the most original game of it’s kind but I don’t think it matters when everything is executed so well. I never found myself frustrated with game mechanics feeling wonky and as a fan of the Dark Souls art style I felt right at home during my time with Mortal Shell. If you’re looking for a beautifully crafted, dark and twisted world that quite literally feels like it was made by the team at FromSoftware you need not look further. Mortal Shell has earned a place in my games list as a title I will continue to play and replay, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing speed run and no-hit attempts in the future.

As a diehard Dark Souls fan I’ve played nearly every soulslike, and none have done it as well as Mortal Shell. Not only has Cold Symmetry nailed the fundamentals, but they’ve added their own spin to the formula without being coy about their influences. Mortal Shell is the only copycat that can stand toe-to-toe with FromSoft’s own work, and although it’s considerably shorter than their offerings, it’s no less beautiful, haunting and rewarding.

Mortal Shell is a fun and compelling game that just doesn’t quite hold up all the way through.

Mortal Shell is an interesting soulslike, affected by some not perfectly developed background ideas, combined with an extremely derivative final product. Certainly intended for lovers of the genre.

Mortal Shell boasts refreshing mechanics that eschew the Souls-like subgenre's tried-and-tested methods. Though a bit on the short side, it oozes bone-crunching, stylish combat, and its performance is superbly optimized. Simply put, Mortal Shell manages to exceed all expectations.

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.

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

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.

Mortal Shell is a brilliant take on the soulslike genre, but it is still unbalanced and far from the height reached by Dark Souls series.

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.

Enjoyably tough and esoteric, if a little uneven, Mortal Shell is a decent debut from Cold Symmetry.

Mortal Shell is one of the year’s biggest gaming surprises, offering a deep, fascinating journey into a melancholic world that’s well worth taking. It takes blatant inspiration from Dark Souls and Bloodborne, yet builds upon the combat and progression of such classics that it more than stands on its own two feet. As Cold Symmetry’s debut title, Mortal Shell ensures they are a studio to walk as we dive into the coming generation.

More attention to the story would have gone a long way, but Mortal Shell is an intriguing adventure, and an accomplished addition to the Soulslike genre.

Mortal Shell takes what you’d expect from Souls-clones and adds heaps of creativity along with unique systems and features that make it a whole new experience. Each moment of gameplay is an adrenaline rush as you progress further in the nightmare. There may be a few moments of confusion, but this one’s for the masochists out there who are looking for something to really immerse themselves in and discover for themselves.

Far from being a pretender, Mortal Shell is a sometimes exceptional entry to the genre. Its stumbles are noticeable only because there is so much to enjoy.

Without fundamentally upsetting the codes inherent in Souls Like, Mortal Shell knows how to adorn itself with a personality of its own, as much thanks to its system of discovery of objects as of combat, which manages to largely compensate for the absence of parry posture with mechanics of hardening, determination and counter-perfect perfectly interwoven.

Mortal Shell succeeds more often than not at capturing the specific feelings intrinsic to Souls-like games. The twists it adds to From-inspired mechanics do well to help this sort of game become more approachable than most, while maintaining the same air of mystery and foreboding that makes the genre itself so intriguing. Mortal Shell makes for a strong introduction to Souls-likes, a demonstration for new players of what so many have found so interesting about From Software's games and those like them. But Mortal Shell is also a lovingly crafted, weird, and deceptively deep game in its own right that rewards you for wandering its twisted paths and challenging its deadliest foes.

For those who long for another Souls-like game, Mortal Shell will scratch an itch for sure. It has core gameplay and concepts that hearken to their inspiration and do well in living up to expectations on that basis. At a surprisingly low release price of £25, those tempted by the visuals and promise of an experience to fill the gap until FROM returns to take another swing at the genre they created would do well to give Mortal Shell their time and money.

Mortal Shell is just an incredibly satisfying experience. It’ll punish you constantly, but if you can master the mechanics it lays out in front of you then you’ll have an incredible time of things. The lore is a little more obvious that in other soulslikes, and the story it tells and the world it puts you in are both rather enthralling. This is definitely a game that fans of dying a lot will enjoy, but it’s probably not for everyone.

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.

Mortal Shell shines brightly as an example of the Souls formula done well. Anyone who is a fan of the challenging gameplay the genre is known for will be happy with this title.

With a haunting and beautiful world as a backdrop to a solid “Souls-like” RPG, Mortal Shell is a much better game than it has any right to be. The magnificent presentation, mixed with the unique take on character progression, steals the show here and despite dying dozens upon dozens of times, I was hooked from the moment that combat started making sense to me.

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+.