Mortal Shell

 PC
User Score
6.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 428 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 191 out of 428
  2. Mixed: 121 out of 428
  3. Negative: 116 out of 428

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  1. jexewa1856
    May 10, 2022
    0
    Mortal Shell really, truly, irredeemably sucks. If you like Dark Souls (or Elden Ring), it sucks. If you hate Dark Souls (or Elden Ring), it still sucks.
  2. ricardolaizo
    Jun 20, 2022
    0
    To the people who love the Souls games, it's not worthy to play Mortal Shell.

    The game trys, but cannot achieve any fun at all.

    I've played about a hour of it and my only solace is that I've taked it for free on Game Pass.
  3. Gabe7494
    Aug 19, 2020
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. While I'll probably give a higher review as the game updates in the future, I'm closer to uninstalling until then rather than play any further. I've only got about 7 hours in, I feel like I've seen what's going on enough.

    It's insanely clunky. Having played just about every souls-like game out there, the input delay in this one is atrocious. Did you want to dodge? That sucks cause you're gonna swing from a second ago when you wanted to. And now you're dead. Parry? That's a laugh. It either needs more precise timing than any other game that has the same feature, or it doesn't exist at all.

    The starfish design of the entire map is also frustrating. Start from the middle, travel as far out as you can, fight a boss and travel all the way back to repeat the process. There is a fast-travel system, but the game fails to advertise it at all. Thank goodness YouTube exists. Also, this may be an issue on just MY digital copy, but there is an entire section called Eternal Narthex that I literally can't advance in. Every time I climb the stairs to enter, I lose the shell I'm in, my weapon and any items I picked up along the way. There's also a mini-boss immediately after you "recite" from a book on the left that, upon defeating, teleports me to an entirely different part of the map and gives me nothing. I've fought him three times just to see if something would change and so far, nothing.

    The entire concept of "use the item to find out what it does" is okay, but frustrating when the item just poisons you. The poisonous items also can't be used against your enemies (unless the game left out how to do that too) and it makes me wonder why they're even in the game.

    What is the story? Idk what's going on, I just know I must kill. It feels like this should be tied in with souls lore but forgot to tell us how. The things and NPCs you find give cryptic messages that give you no insight into what's happening. I don't need it to be right in my face, but even a small hint here and there would make some of frustrations the game presents a bit worth it.

    Atmosphere and graphics are pretty great, credit where it's due.

    Enemy variety seems extremely limited so far. Again, only 7 hours in, but I've seen maybe 4 different kinds of enemies with 7 different skins. I guess it levels out the challenge of dealing with the clunky controls, but it's also demotivating to try and learn any new methods of combat other than hit this guy three times or hit this guy, back up, repeat.

    Animations are also way too common. I crawled through a tunnel and was forced to watch an enemy pummel half of my health bar away while the crawl-out-in-5-seconds animation played through.

    Weapon variety would also be nice. The few that are present are cool, but they're way too limited in their abilities for something this difficult. Also, what's with the lute? Does it have a real purpose later or am I just supposed to jam out for the heck of it on occasion? If it were taken out of the game, I can't say I'd care.

    Lastly, we don't need a map, we never had one in any other souls game and it worked, but why is every area a maze? Even the "main hub" of the game is a bunch of paths that MAY lead into the tower and then don't. It's especially frustrating when you've come back from venturing out into one of the starfish legs and you need to get in to restore health and your "extra life" and some random enemy shoots an arrow/rock (what are they even shooting?) at your head and kills you, sending you all the way back to the last sester; the game's only method of a "checkpoint".

    I'm not saying don't play this game by any means, I would say watch and wait though. There needs to be some sort of overhaul to fix many of these issues other players are experiencing before it can be a true contender. I will say that the price is definitely fair; if I'd paid $60 for this, I would've had it refunded long before now and given up.    … Expand
  4. asksk
    Aug 23, 2020
    4
    Short, buggy and filled with broken mechanics.

    Multiple crashes throughout the playthrough combined with a healing system where they basically want you to farm mushrooms by simply standing next to one and wait for respawn hours on end and in return reward you with super easy boss fights you just can't lose unless you fall asleep, which might actually happen on the terrible end boss.    Short, buggy and filled with broken mechanics.

    Multiple crashes throughout the playthrough combined with a healing system where they basically want you to farm mushrooms by simply standing next to one and wait for respawn hours on end and in return reward you with super easy boss fights you just can't lose unless you fall asleep, which might actually happen on the terrible end boss. Disappointed!    … Expand
  5. razvania
    Sep 7, 2020
    4
    Probably the worst game I've played this year. A clunky, boring and repetitive cheesefest featuring input lag, spammy bosses, reused assets, bad level design and no enemy variety. The game tries too hard to be Dark Souls and fails because of a poor understanding of what makes a good soulslike. Having a few NPCs in the game that say pretentious sounding nonsense doesn't mean you have a goodProbably the worst game I've played this year. A clunky, boring and repetitive cheesefest featuring input lag, spammy bosses, reused assets, bad level design and no enemy variety. The game tries too hard to be Dark Souls and fails because of a poor understanding of what makes a good soulslike. Having a few NPCs in the game that say pretentious sounding nonsense doesn't mean you have a good story. I honestly don't get the hype, this game is only comparable to Immortal Unchained in terms of quality. Lords of the Fallen is a 10/10 compared to this game. Do yourself a favour and save your money for Demon's Souls Remake and Elden Ring.… Expand
  6. AceAscendus
    Aug 24, 2020
    0
    Overhyped garbage, like all the other Souls-like games that isn't made by From Software or Team Ninja. So many bad design choices in Mortal Shell, clunky and low budget movement and animations, soulless combat, just a waste of time. Wait for Elden Ring, or go replay Souls games by From Software or Nioh/Nioh 2 by Team Ninja.
  7. Steyraus
    Sep 5, 2020
    0
    Negative points for lack of originality on every new souls clone.
    Another Souls copy cat that fails to even come close to From Software's masterpieces. Seriously Wait for Demon Souls, it is way better. This is the same thing with one extra gimmick like all these indies games do. You time would be better spent in a good game than grinding the same small depressing areas of this cheap    Negative points for lack of originality on every new souls clone.
    Another Souls copy cat that fails to even come close to From Software's masterpieces. Seriously Wait for Demon Souls, it is way better. This is the same thing with one extra gimmick like all these indies games do. You time would be better spent in a good game than grinding the same small depressing areas of this cheap feeling game.    … Expand
  8. Lionarith
    Dec 8, 2021
    1
    The combat system feels so unresponsive and unimaginative that it finally stopped me from playing it. I thought i would ignore any issues because the levels looked so interesting, artful well crafted, but the combat feels so slow, unfair and boring that i couldnt bear it. It is so clearly a souls imitation. High effort level design against low effort combat design, this time low effortThe combat system feels so unresponsive and unimaginative that it finally stopped me from playing it. I thought i would ignore any issues because the levels looked so interesting, artful well crafted, but the combat feels so slow, unfair and boring that i couldnt bear it. It is so clearly a souls imitation. High effort level design against low effort combat design, this time low effort wins again, sadly.… Expand
  9. jako-tc
    Aug 23, 2020
    4
    Finished the game once, but its feels like a cheap Demon Souls game with a lot of the bad and outdated mechanics. All of te AI is pretty stupid, including the bosses.

    *** Gameplay isn't very customisable as you get to pick out of 4 pre-created characters (shells) and 4 weapons. *** Ai is very stupid, making it easy to exploit, boss fights all go like this: jump attack, harden and    Finished the game once, but its feels like a cheap Demon Souls game with a lot of the bad and outdated mechanics. All of te AI is pretty stupid, including the bosses.

    *** Gameplay isn't very customisable as you get to pick out of 4 pre-created characters (shells) and 4 weapons.
    *** Ai is very stupid, making it easy to exploit, boss fights all go like this: jump attack, harden and roll away. Just repeat that and you'll be fine for the entire game.
    *** Layout and locations is pretty boring and generic. You'll run around in circles for more than a few times.
    *** Music is as good as not there and voice acting is hit or miss.
    *** Some bugs, unbalanced enemies and its got a lack of visual cues that draw your eye so you know were to go to.

    On a good side, its a rather short game and the harden mechanic (you have a recharge over time ability that lets you negate damage for a while) is something new and interesting.

    I would only recommend this game if you're desperate for a new Dark Souls like game, and you haven"t played The Surge and Nioh series. Also, the game doesn't run the smoothest on a 1st gen PS4, something to keep in mind if you haven't got a pro console.    … Expand
  10. Aken
    Oct 26, 2020
    2
    Instead of creating their own IP they just copy paste "generic" dark souls theme.
    Game is not organic like souls and has very clunky combat with input lag.
    They have immortals traps, that reset within seconds. You walk within 30 ft and it goes off. Enemy have to walk on it dead center and hardly set them off. Some mobs can jump for miles, but you can barely move 10 feet and are so    Instead of creating their own IP they just copy paste "generic" dark souls theme.
    Game is not organic like souls and has very clunky combat with input lag.
    They have immortals traps, that reset within seconds. You walk within 30 ft and it goes off. Enemy have to walk on it dead center and hardly set them off.
    Some mobs can jump for miles, but you can barely move 10 feet and are so slow.
    Not a very long game and feels not fleshed out very well.    … Expand
  11. Dobermann917
    Oct 6, 2021
    4
    Clunky, uninspired and boring game. Does not even deserve to be compared to Dark Souls. Not worth the £15 I spent on it.

    Very unimpressed.
  12. MrTouchdown
    Aug 19, 2020
    1
    It's pretty!

    That's the end of the good things. I returned and uninstalled it after an hour for two reasons: 1. Nearly 1 second delay from button press to execution of the move. A whole second. While the enemies are fighting in real time, i'm doing turn based combat or something. 2. While my character is completely staggered with the slightest hit, taking a full second to recover    It's pretty!

    That's the end of the good things. I returned and uninstalled it after an hour for two reasons:

    1. Nearly 1 second delay from button press to execution of the move. A whole second. While the enemies are fighting in real time, i'm doing turn based combat or something.

    2. While my character is completely staggered with the slightest hit, taking a full second to recover (unless there are more hits incoming, in which case he never recovers), the enemies have no such problems. You can do a power shot to the dome and they move right through it.

    It's a souls-like game, and everyone always whines when they aren't difficult enough. This game solves for that by making it so that you literally can't play the game. It's not that the enemies have tricky moves, or you need to hit them in weak points, or something like that. They just made it so that when you press buttons nothing happens for a while.

    Maybe they did this for realism? Like maybe with all this armor and a big sword it would take me forever to get a swing going? If so, they should have asked somebody first.

    I fight in the Armored Combat Worldwide league. I own two suits of armor - 14th and 15th century and I own real versions of pretty much all the weapons in the game. They missed what it's like to fight in armor by a mile.

    With such broken game mechanics, I just can't. Save your money or go buy a better game that is hard because the enemies are hard - not because they coded the game to be unresponsive.    … Expand
  13. thorgal89
    Aug 20, 2020
    3
    A lot of potential WASTED:

    Combat is atrocious - feels clunky and unnatural Healing is a joke - you find maybe 2-3 mushrooms in-between checkpoints Game is HORRIBLY optimized - running hot on RTX 2060 super and the graphics are glitchy / nasty colours overall Shameless rip off of Dark Souls/Bloodbourne and a horrible rip off at that. Oh and I forgot : 30 euro for 10 hours of    A lot of potential WASTED:

    Combat is atrocious - feels clunky and unnatural
    Healing is a joke - you find maybe 2-3 mushrooms in-between checkpoints
    Game is HORRIBLY optimized - running hot on RTX 2060 super and the graphics are glitchy / nasty colours overall

    Shameless rip off of Dark Souls/Bloodbourne and a horrible rip off at that.
    Oh and I forgot : 30 euro for 10 hours of gameplay ? LOL.    … Expand
  14. LorDxyz
    Aug 20, 2020
    4
    Just a generic game with nice graphics, combnat system is horriblet, enemies have AIM and change direction even when jumping, and ridiculous.
  15. Zer0TheHer0
    Aug 26, 2020
    0
    Unplayable because of buggy and amateurish keybinding options.

    If I change the "move left key", the key I chose gets instead bound to "move right". So there's no way in game to move left.

    This is shameful. Learn to program a simple keybinding option.
  16. Gecko382
    Aug 19, 2020
    2
    Extremely clunky movement and a delay in every single thing you do. Attacking queues the next attack absurdly long so you'll end up attacking when you'd rather want to dodge.

    Could be a great game for its price if the developers spent another six months polishing gameplay.
  17. Soulsborne50
    Sep 4, 2020
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This'll be my first review using this website and honestly, you don't have to take my word for it, but the game speaks for itself.

    Low budget or not, the overall execution of gameplay and game mechanics with this one is mediocre at best. You've got these "shells" that are scattered throughout the map that are OK at best. Some have slightly more hp, some have slightly more stamina, some are a balance between all of them. The problem with this game is that it tries too hard to be like Dark Souls/Bloodborne, and in doing so, it fails miserably.

    Take for example the upgrading mechanics. Trash. The map? Literally just a giant maze, crawling through tunnels or taking side paths to find which way to go, and constantly running into overpowered enemies along the way. It's a joke.

    Healing items? HAHAHAHA, also a joke. Basically, from what I've played so far, I've only found 2 different healing items. One is a very slow hp regeneration which only gives you half your health back, and the other one gives you about 1/3rd or 1/4th of your health back in exchange for resolve.

    Resolve is another funny mechanic. Basically there's no such thing as levelling up in this game. What you get instead are "Glimpses" from enemies or bosses that you kill which go towards unlocking abilities, and these abilities take up your resolve. The only problem with this is, resolve is extremely annoying to gather. Especially when you mistime your parries.

    and there's yet ANOTHER funny one. Parrying. It's so god awful it's like someone took the parry animation from Sekiro or something and lowered the speed by 1000%. So essentially with the bulkier enemies, you're forced to parry like 5 seconds in advance before they swing their weapon in order to kill them, and don't even bother fighting them normally because everything in this game is a poise tank and will take more than half your health with each swing.

    It's funny that the people who rate this game the best just tell you to "git gud" or something. Did the gaming community regress or something? This isn't about "gitting gud", this is about creating a game with a better budget than a **** B movie.

    I'm going to give this a 2 instead of a 1, not because I like it, but because there IS potential for this developer to go back to the drawing board and spend more time on a different IP or game. As it is right now, it's garbage. It needs more healing items, more ways to replenish resolve, an ACTUAL level-up system, and less **** parrying mechanic. Then I could maybe see this being a best seller.    … Expand
  18. IcsVortexx
    Sep 29, 2020
    0
    You cant normal block, 0.You cant normal block, 0.

    .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................    … Expand
  19. robau
    Aug 21, 2020
    1
    Uninspired, shallow, boring garbage.

    This game (I'm really struggling calling it that) doesn't bring anything new or exciting to the genre. It blatantly copies (and FAILS at doing so) everything that has already been covered in souls-like games. Bossfights are a literal snorefest, music puts you to sleep and combat which is the core point of the genre is the worst I've ever seen. The    Uninspired, shallow, boring garbage.

    This game (I'm really struggling calling it that) doesn't bring anything new or exciting to the genre. It blatantly copies (and FAILS at doing so) everything that has already been covered in souls-like games. Bossfights are a literal snorefest, music puts you to sleep and combat which is the core point of the genre is the worst I've ever seen. The environments are inspired by demon souls which could be good if done properly and in a creative way. Ripping off ideas is not creative.

    Asking people 20 bucks for something that plays and looks like an asset flip is a joke. People are starved for souls-like games and are waiting for Elden Ring. mortal shell takes advantage of that. Having an edgy trailer is not enough, back it up with proper gameplay.

    It's a money grab, don't buy it, don't waste your time playing it, watch someone play it on Twitch and don't throw your money at this **** studio.
    Nobody will remember it or talk about it in two weeks.    … Expand
  20. DarthPadme
    Sep 2, 2020
    3
    Let me be clear: I liked this game at first. It got a lot right. It mostly feels good to play, is well optimized and runs well, looks nice, and expands on its world as you go through. It is unapologetically a Dark Souls-like, from not explaining the lore, or items, or anything really, to outright copying the control scheme to the letter. You know what? That's all fine. But it gets a lotLet me be clear: I liked this game at first. It got a lot right. It mostly feels good to play, is well optimized and runs well, looks nice, and expands on its world as you go through. It is unapologetically a Dark Souls-like, from not explaining the lore, or items, or anything really, to outright copying the control scheme to the letter. You know what? That's all fine. But it gets a lot wrong.

    First of all, the open-endedness of the beginning means you can be left without the entire parry mechanic for hours. A crucial, game-centric, end-game mechanic that directly ties to the whole reason your character is in the world doing what they're doing can be 100% overlooked, and indeed I did, for the first 5-10 hours of the game. This is absurd. It reminds me of when I joined the Way of Blue covenant in DS2 and took double damage the entire game without knowing it. Except, I didn't talk to the END GAME BOSS and know WHY I WAS PLAYING for THE WHOLE GAME and couldn't block attacks, because the game didn't tell me where to go, other than the opening cutscene having a camera pan to a tower. Well guess what, I avoided that tower, because it looked dangerous, and EVERYTHING is dangerous, unless you run by it, which seems to be the best strategy.

    So, after beating the first boss, and running back to the first zone, I go to the ice zone, and beat that boss. Well, after that, I go to a place called Fallgrim Tower and learn about Glands, and get a Mechanical Spike for my sword, even though I've been using this junky mace for hours now. Turns out, I completely SKIPPED the gland of the first two bosses because I only picked up some item from the boss arenas, because the "glands," just like Fallgrim Tower, did not have enough attention drawn to them and I ran right by them. Holy **** What kind of developer just lets you run by 75% of their game and makes you run back because STORY CRUCIAL ITEMS ARE NOT HIGHLIGHTED? These glands look just like everything else and you have just walked by them before the boss and they didn't have anything there then... Wow.

    This game has wasted so much of my time. It could have been good. I see what they were going for, but their aspirations blinded them, as did Epic's buyout. Shame on all of you. Shame, shame, shame.    … Expand
  21. notacarebear
    Oct 28, 2020
    2
    They obviously have good PR friends, they get a: 10.
    Actual game rating: 2.
  22. 1ntt
    Aug 25, 2020
    3
    This by far the worst game I've played in 2020. The ps4 version (on base ps4 for context) has a terrible delay in controls. I'm used to slow methodical combat but this is downright broken. The developers were so lazy the "main character" (the white muscle creature you control) is not only missing textures, you can see right through their shoulder... the environments are bland andThis by far the worst game I've played in 2020. The ps4 version (on base ps4 for context) has a terrible delay in controls. I'm used to slow methodical combat but this is downright broken. The developers were so lazy the "main character" (the white muscle creature you control) is not only missing textures, you can see right through their shoulder... the environments are bland and repetitive. There is no music to be heard. Apparently people are so starved for Dark Souls they are willing to forgive all this. It is a terrible game that has some genuinely good ideas, however is ruined by poor execution. If Sony offered refunds I'd want one. The horrible people responsible for this mess owe me 30 dollars...… Expand
  23. sivrisnake4
    Jul 7, 2021
    0
    basicially a pretty bad copy of dark souls. no heal, no save, no teleportation. just keep walking and kill same monsters a few billion times.oh, if you wanna go somewhere ? why you dont search for 15-20 hours. because it makes game hard isnt it.
  24. RazielFair
    Nov 23, 2021
    0
    The combat system if this game is a joke, totally not playable. It just a bad copy of dark souls
  25. robomartion
    Aug 19, 2020
    2
    I don't get it. What's the point of emulating a game when you don't even understand what makes it good? The combat is awful, delayed, buffered crap. Get that right first and then make a game out of it. If the game is about combat and the combat isn't even satisfying or rewarding there's no point in playing it! Get it through your ****ing skulls! Other than that the writing is cringe-worthyI don't get it. What's the point of emulating a game when you don't even understand what makes it good? The combat is awful, delayed, buffered crap. Get that right first and then make a game out of it. If the game is about combat and the combat isn't even satisfying or rewarding there's no point in playing it! Get it through your ****ing skulls! Other than that the writing is cringe-worthy and strange and the art direction is boring and uninspired. And it's also got that blurred look Unreal Engine is known for. 2 points for trying. Back to the drawing board guys.… Expand
  26. sex69
    Aug 20, 2020
    0
    Various bugs are too severe, and the game is boring.
    There is no story.
    There is no music.
  27. MCmetacritic
    Nov 10, 2020
    0
    "What if Dark Souls really, really sucked?" seems to be the question that spawned this game. That's really all there is to it. Poor combat, movement, progression, level design, character design . . . I'll be honest, there is nothing at all to like about this game. It's a steaming pile of something worse than disappointment.
  28. Casperwin
    Aug 21, 2020
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Don’t waste money on this **** -Bosses only have 3 move set
    -if you want to heal you have to have lot of mushroom which is long time respond or parry-riptose.
    -this ****ty optimised game was ridiculous Loading time is seriously slow especially when you compared with (ghost of tsushima)
    -Moreover, you can’t upgrade **** unless you know the character that you possess’s name    … Expand
  29. TheWoodOne
    Aug 30, 2020
    4
    I am a huge dark souls fan so was exited to play this game. Combat is fine but its super easy to cheese everything with your hardening. All the mobs are just littered randomly in the area and servers no pupose just to sometimes block u from running past cause fighting them is soo fcking tedious with no real healing or so. Maps are mazes and are super hard to navigate because they are tooI am a huge dark souls fan so was exited to play this game. Combat is fine but its super easy to cheese everything with your hardening. All the mobs are just littered randomly in the area and servers no pupose just to sometimes block u from running past cause fighting them is soo fcking tedious with no real healing or so. Maps are mazes and are super hard to navigate because they are too big and in my opinion its because of lack of content so u run around just to pass play time. Bosses soooooooo boooooring. Beat every boss in the game first time because they use same 2 or 3 moves over and over. Not a chalange at all unless u fall asleep with how big of a health pool they have. Plot twitst predictable af and i knew it was coming ages ago. The only plus of this game is its atmosphere and graphics. Over all 6-8h of playtime just because u get lost a lot and maps are big.… Expand
  30. wownothankyou
    Sep 8, 2020
    0
    Mortal Shells copies every single thing about Dark Souls except the parts that worked. Genuinely, this game is "Dark Souls but the locations and combat feel like a day 1 early access game." Poor exploration and poorer combat damn Mortal Shell as yet another Epic failure.
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Awards & Rankings

26
#26 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 44 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 44
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 44
  3. Negative: 0 out of 44
  1. Worth Playing
    Jan 8, 2021
    80
    Mortal Shell is an enjoyable title for those who are already fans of the SoulsBorne sub-genre, and it has more positives than it has flaws. The swamp hub world is bland and confusing, but the different biomes you eventually reach are gorgeous, even if they're relatively familiar. The lack of a deep leveling system has a very good replacement in the shell system, which ends up providing more versatility in your character build and the attack system. The relatively shorter length makes it great for newcomers, while genre veterans will find it to be a great debut effort from a small development team.
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  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Oct 7, 2020
    80
    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]
  3. RPGamer
    Sep 18, 2020
    70
    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.
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