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. knald
    Aug 23, 2020
    5
    A promising game ruined by horrible gameplay decisions.
    1. healing is absurd! It has been mentioned countless times during the beta but devs didn't improve it! Mushrooms not only are rare, but they don't heal you instantly, relaying on resolve and parry+riposte to heal is not just hard but simply unfair !
    2. parry and riposte doesn't have Iframes! Many times my ripostes got canceled    A promising game ruined by horrible gameplay decisions.
    1. healing is absurd! It has been mentioned countless times during the beta but devs didn't improve it! Mushrooms not only are rare, but they don't heal you instantly, relaying on resolve and parry+riposte to heal is not just hard but simply unfair !
    2. parry and riposte doesn't have Iframes! Many times my ripostes got canceled because an enemy attacked during the animation! Also getting out of holes triggers an animation which doesn't have iframes either (enemies can kill you while your character is locked and you have to wait for the animation to end in order to move)
    3. consuming items to switch between various weapons is another idiotic decision! Should've been a simple inventory. (and if you don't have the specific item for the specific weapon, you have to run back to Sester in order to use your weapon of choice)
    4. lack of checkpoints and no fast travel until endgame when you upgrade your shell to 100%!
    5. items familiarity is a good concept but not fully implemented! Many items have the same effect whether you have 0 or full familiarity !
    6. too many short and repetitive cinematics! Entering inventory triggers an animation, switching from inventory to shells menu triggers another animation, getting out of cave also has animation... it's just a waste of time, there should've been no useless transitions like that.
    7. some animations are hilariously bad! Like the one of the unchained when he jumps and start swinging his arms like a chicken, or when the little twin of Crucix die and the camera jumps from place to place weirdly.
    8. the music is atrocious! The constant humming or ringing sound drove me insane! It belongs in a sci-fi horror game of a desolate planet, definetly not in a dark medieval game + no music for the bosses or NPCs.
    9. Combat is way too stiff and slow, you'll easily get bored from it.
    10. lore, here we can really feel the consequence of a game without a game director! Mortal shell feels like a collage of different ideas that do not relate to each other (the spirit which possess corps, consuming memories or glimpses to know stories of others, the glands, the divine nektar, the ascendance to different world...) there's too much stuff going on and there's no clear foundation and timeline to the story! The scriptures do not tell you anything useful, actually they make things worse.    … Expand
  2. Cyber_Angel
    Dec 28, 2020
    6
    The game is interesting and captivating at first, then becomes repetitive, boring and the enemies are easily dispatched using the strongest weapon with a cheesy combo. The last area is repetitive, hard as hell and the enemies there are copypasted and the levels are extremely boring and unimaginative. What a letdown.
  3. TavorX95
    Aug 23, 2020
    6
    Mortal shell is an impressive game for a small indie dev team. However they may have made a big mistake by unashamedly comparing to souls, while missing most if not all of what made Dark Souls a hit. The world is awful. Some dungeons are so linear it's obnoxious. Some dungeons are more open but so uninspired with too little direction. Instead of designing a world around enemy placement,Mortal shell is an impressive game for a small indie dev team. However they may have made a big mistake by unashamedly comparing to souls, while missing most if not all of what made Dark Souls a hit. The world is awful. Some dungeons are so linear it's obnoxious. Some dungeons are more open but so uninspired with too little direction. Instead of designing a world around enemy placement, and enemy engagement and purpose. They decided to make a map and give it the ol' dark souls 2 treatment: put way to many enemies in a single area because we don't want to design the world on making it hard to get around the enemies. Which is the second big problem. Too many enemies at once that don't make me want to fight because it's going to be annoying, especially since enemies don't really give you meaningful upgrades. The tar system is lackluster. The skill tree is fine, but unneeded, and seemingly unimportant, there is no leveling system which if we learned anything from sekiro it really hurts these kinds of games. Being able to level up from tar would have made me be at least kind of interested in fighting the mobs of the same enemies over and over and over. The bosses also just aren't that fun. The first few are cool, you're learning the new combat system which isn't my favorite but it's a nice different from other games. It's unique which I'm not going to say is a bad thing. It's a good enough fighting system. The bosses have weird hit boxes, really really weird timing attacks sometimes (maybe it's broken?) It's not a good thing when you wonder if a bosses moveset is glitched or intended. Because it usually means it's not fun. Overall it was a meh game. Hopefully the next one will be better.… Expand
  4. Game0fLife
    Dec 15, 2021
    7
    Full of texture glitch, random crash, and FPS drops in the snow area. (I use RTX 2070 and i7-9700k, playing at 1440p)

    While I play many so-called "Souls-like" video games, many try to at least offer something unique to distance themselves from being called unoriginal or uncreative. Unfortunately, not this game and not in a good way, from the weird dialogue, nonsensical lore, slow    Full of texture glitch, random crash, and FPS drops in the snow area. (I use RTX 2070 and i7-9700k, playing at 1440p)

    While I play many so-called "Souls-like" video games, many try to at least offer something unique to distance themselves from being called unoriginal or uncreative. Unfortunately, not this game and not in a good way, from the weird dialogue, nonsensical lore, slow combat, to literally copying the parry & ripostes mechanic, this game tries so hard to be a dark souls game and it just feels weird.

    For instance, I can't pause the game to read something, but it literally makes no sense, at least in dark souls, you can't pause the game because co-op (summon) and PvP (invasion and duel) exist and can happen any second. This game just wants to say "Hey, we are challenging, just like Dark souls!"

    Edit: Alright, I bump up a score a little bit, because the third-person ranged weapon "Ballistazooka" is super fun    … Expand
  5. KlosHax
    Aug 29, 2020
    5
    Doesn't reach the original From Software game quality but for a low budget game it has really cool mechanics ( hardening and shell mechanic most importantly) and graphics make you feel like you are playing a souls game but enemy variety is low and boss fights are not epic and generally boring they keep repeating same moves in the same order And i think boss fights are the essence for aDoesn't reach the original From Software game quality but for a low budget game it has really cool mechanics ( hardening and shell mechanic most importantly) and graphics make you feel like you are playing a souls game but enemy variety is low and boss fights are not epic and generally boring they keep repeating same moves in the same order And i think boss fights are the essence for a souls-like game… Expand
  6. Grahl1
    Aug 19, 2020
    7
    Another game that suffers from Indie Syndrome: huge potential and huge bad design decisions (I'm not saying all indies are like this, but a lot).

    The atmosphere, the lore and the graphics are amazing. But everything else feels rushed and uninspired. The combat is little better than Lords of the Fallen. Clunky, clunky, clunky, repetitive, enemies are damage sponges, repetitive    Another game that suffers from Indie Syndrome: huge potential and huge bad design decisions (I'm not saying all indies are like this, but a lot).

    The atmosphere, the lore and the graphics are amazing. But everything else feels rushed and uninspired.

    The combat is little better than Lords of the Fallen. Clunky, clunky, clunky, repetitive, enemies are damage sponges, repetitive enemies. The boss fights are specially disappointing.

    The worst of all is the lack of checkpoints. Every Souls-like I've ever played (and I've played a lot of them) has many checkpoints, to compensate for the difficulty. This is a difficult game with little checkpoints, not to mention the areas are absolute mazes, and like every Souls-like, there's no map.

    And finally, the lack of everything. The lack of enemy variety, the lack of bosses, the lack of weapons, maybe even shells. I mean, if you're gonna create a template for a game, then that's most of the work, I assume? Why create little content over that template? Again, a really bad decision. They could have asked double the price with not nearly double the work. 4 main bosses (and not even 4 mini bosses) for a souls-like, a game of bosses, feels extremely lacking.

    I'm still giving this a 6.5, because the potential is there and one must value it. But it's extremely frustrating that you can see that the developers certainly had the ability to make a great souls-like like Nioh or Jedi: Fallen Order, yet their never-ending stream of bad decisions makes it an average game. Again, the Indie Syndrome.    … Expand
  7. Pinwheel
    Aug 20, 2020
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I paid 30 dollars just to have a ripoff of dark souls But with max 3 enemy types per area and clunkiness that even Dark Souls 2 wish it could have. The hitboxes are straight garbage- this is best examplified on The First Martyr's second phase, as he swings his sword forward for what feels like ages, you'd think only the initial swing has an active hitbox, but no, you can get hit at the final second of the REALLY slow move and it takes over a third of your hp away... the 3 bosses that have 2 healthpools all follow the same gimmick- easy phase 1 with low hp, many moves can be parried and their entire moveset just consist of normal attacks. Then phase 2 happens and their hp and damage is doubled but their moveset is halved and simplified even more, now only having a total of 3 moves at max. To add insult to injury, the final boss is literally just a bigger version of the discount scarecrows you meet earlier, only it has triple the hp of any other boss and can heal himself halfway through the fight, and not only that, but also summon some backup dancers. To add even more insult to injury, the game has only 4 bosses in total.

    The "dungeons" feel really incomplete compared to the overworld. Instead of being interconnected you follow one single path, beat the boss and run ALL the way back up to the first checkpoint of the game. When coming back to the overworld it's filled sith vampires that have godly SPEED and accuracy. And when I say FILLED I mean...they literally SWARM you. It's like forest of fallen giants in scholar of the first sin but with Heide Knights.The final dungeon gave me flashbacks to Cathedral od the sacred blood, which uh, yeah, you get the idea.    … Expand
  8. episode
    Aug 24, 2020
    5
    It is a mostly good looking Dark Souls wanna be that doesn't get all of what is great about Dark Souls but bring some interesting gameplay mechanics.

    The game lacks polishing, it is visible everywhere. Enemy AI is trash, the graphic assets are not cohesive, the story is basically non-existent, there are few enemies and even fewer varieties in their behavior. Other than that, the boss    It is a mostly good looking Dark Souls wanna be that doesn't get all of what is great about Dark Souls but bring some interesting gameplay mechanics.

    The game lacks polishing, it is visible everywhere. Enemy AI is trash, the graphic assets are not cohesive, the story is basically non-existent, there are few enemies and even fewer varieties in their behavior. Other than that, the boss fights are not great either.

    But, the game DOES have some great points. The hardening ability, although breaks the gameplay and the sensation of powerlessness that a Souls like must have, is pretty fun and interesting, the graphics, although uncohesive in quality between different areas and besides being clearly mostly from bought assets they can look really good.

    Story wise it is really poor. The dialogs are shallow and over presumptuous filled with nihilist **** for the sake of trying to sound cool. But they do not. They sound cringy. Other than that, its a game about defeating bosses to finish it. Not much than that can be taken from its plot.

    Still about the plot, last boss couldn't be more predictable. And the trope of you creating a problem to then solve it is all it can give you.

    Overall, this is a cheap and quick game that can give you a few hours of a interesting gameplay and can give you some fun. But don't waste your time playing it if you haven't already played the games from software and other good souls-like games, like Hollow Knight.    … Expand
  9. kingTimson
    Aug 20, 2020
    5
    First with the good stuff. The idea and the concept behind this game is really interesting. Hardening is kind of unique, but its just a equivalent of your daily shield, done in a really cool looking and very unique way. Definitely has a lot of potential. Combat is satisfying, animations may be janky but its fine nonetheless.
    Now the bad stuff. I get that its not a high budget game and    First with the good stuff. The idea and the concept behind this game is really interesting. Hardening is kind of unique, but its just a equivalent of your daily shield, done in a really cool looking and very unique way. Definitely has a lot of potential. Combat is satisfying, animations may be janky but its fine nonetheless.
    Now the bad stuff. I get that its not a high budget game and all, but the level design here is so horrible, I can not understand whose idea was it to make a SUPER TIGHT corridors, where you cant just sprint through and if you do, you have to do the same stuff again and again and again. Even enemies, ENEMIES fall off for Gods sake! These tight spots are super frustrating and the environment is just boring. At first glance its really cool and unique looking, but when you understand that 60% of the game has exactly the same environment, it just gets super repetitive. The Lore is strange as well, a lot of stuff left unexplained (like 90%)
    There are a lot of flaws, but at least there are no microtransactions and this game has a reasonable price tag.
    Dev team has a great potential, definitely looking forward to their next game, maybe even DLC for Mortal Shell. Multiplayer and/or CO-OP are welcome as well.    … Expand
  10. SwitchReview
    Aug 21, 2020
    7
    The game looks and feels good to play, however, I can't help but feel like I'm playing a stripped down version of Dark Souls 2. I also can't help but compare this game to the Souls series, since it is obviously inspired by it.

    At first, I fell in love with the combat. The animations, hit sounds, etc. made it satisfying and the harden mechanic was new and interesting. However, after a    The game looks and feels good to play, however, I can't help but feel like I'm playing a stripped down version of Dark Souls 2. I also can't help but compare this game to the Souls series, since it is obviously inspired by it.

    At first, I fell in love with the combat. The animations, hit sounds, etc. made it satisfying and the harden mechanic was new and interesting. However, after a while it felt repetitive especially during bosses where they would throw out the same move set and I would respond with my own for 10 minutes straight.

    The same could be said for Dark Souls except that there are a large variety of weapons that you can buy or pick up from fallen enemies. In Mortal Shell, you kinda just unlock weapons as you go. Part of the fun for me in Souls games is having lots of weapons to choose from, sometimes picking up rare weapons from enemies, and then testing them out. I don't get nearly the same satisfaction from this game.

    Another part of Souls games that I love is leveling up my character and adjusting them to my liking. Mortal Shell is more similar to Sekiro where you unlock abilities instead of leveling up stats, but I feel like there's even less to choose from here. The only way to increase health and stamina is to find "shells" to inhabit and then start over with 0 abilities. It's a shame because I feel like a dodge roll, plus two swings depletes my entire stamina bar. Also, enemies chunk you for a third of your health so I'm pretty much just constantly waiting for my harden to come off cooldown.

    My last bit of criticism: where are the checkpoints? The starting area is big enough as it is but the fact that there are no checkpoints made me feel like I was barely progressing and having to start from the beginning was also frustrating. In Souls, there's at least a few bonfires scattered throughout an area to signify that you are making progress. In Mortal Shell, it's just "here's an area, now complete the entire thing."

    Overall, on the surface this game feels very polished and satisfying to play. For a team of 15 people, this is definitely an impressive game and there's also a lot of interesting things that make it stand out on its own. However, beneath the surface I feel there is a lack of content. I might continue this game in the future, but for now it's just not very fun for me.    … Expand
  11. serHERO
    Aug 20, 2020
    6
    Crooked hitboxes, ill-conceived combat system, overly confusing locations, disgusting colors and much more
  12. I3ordo
    Feb 28, 2021
    6
    You will have to come up with a much deeper, versatile combat system if you are asking players to overcome such steep initial difficulty curve.

    I generally play games to explore their systems and their world, soak in all the atmosphere and move on. I dont play games more than once and in this game the difficulty and the vagueness was so high that i felt it was not worth the effort.    You will have to come up with a much deeper, versatile combat system if you are asking players to overcome such steep initial difficulty curve.

    I generally play games to explore their systems and their world, soak in all the atmosphere and move on. I dont play games more than once and in this game the difficulty and the vagueness was so high that i felt it was not worth the effort.

    It could be a much better experience if the harden system was not so limited. That is the only new thing that this game brings and the only thing that might have saved the unresponsive attack animations where you can not cancel out of attack animations yet you would not know if it would work on that occasion.

    I launched a good trainer for this game, made everything less lethal and more fragile while boosting the harden skills to unlimited. Than it was much less of a chore to learn the ins and outs

    Turns out not much to see.    … Expand
  13. Traxillion
    Aug 31, 2020
    5
    A good souls-like with a bunch of cool mechanics is ruined by a plethora of "cheap" damage set-pieces and slow combat.
  14. bxrxsxtx
    Dec 15, 2021
    7
    This is a pretty good Souls like but a lot of things keep it from greatness:

    -Lack of ambition and vision - the creators couldn't seem to imagine anything different than DS tropes, lore, and playstyle. -Abilities upgrades and items felt meaningless - partly because you can play things in different orders there's no level system, just earnable perks and weapon upgrades. That's OK but    This is a pretty good Souls like but a lot of things keep it from greatness:

    -Lack of ambition and vision - the creators couldn't seem to imagine anything different than DS tropes, lore, and playstyle.

    -Abilities upgrades and items felt meaningless - partly because you can play things in different orders there's no level system, just earnable perks and weapon upgrades. That's OK but they felt disappointing, like gain damage for 10 seconds on kill, who cares.

    -Weapon special moves - I never felt like using them, too much trouble.

    -Parry - like the other things, why bother, parrys usually miss so you might as well dodge and harden.

    -Crazy difficult early but easy later - partly from upgrades but mostly from just learning the game. Take the spearmen(halberd or whatever) at the beginning, they seemed impossible, no real pause in their attack to strike them tons of damage on the base shell. The fire boss on the other hand was the easiest enemy in the game.

    -Just run through - like I said, early on things are very hard and fights aren't worth the effort. Also in general enemies take so long to fight they aren't worth the time and you end up running past everything which is too easy. Eventually upgrades help with damage and you need to farm some points but still...

    -Vague - the lore and objectives are so steeped in mystery they might as well not exist.

    Anyway, it's a fun game lasting roughly 10 hours and has a new game plus after that. It's generally hard enough, and the graphics, sound, and so on are pretty good. I recommend it, just keep your expectations modest.
    Also you could always experiment with speedrunning or no damage runs to make it harder. They often use the shellless form to make it faster. Ciao gamers.    … Expand
  15. Jordan386
    Aug 20, 2020
    5
    If you're an actual souls fan and not just a follower this is a fantastic addition
  16. Hexen-Slayer
    Sep 15, 2020
    6
    The good first: the dark setting and the atmosphere are really good! It is even darker than DARK SOULS.
    Unfortunately that's about it. The rest is a blatant copy all the way down to the controls and explaining lore by item descriptions. Unlike DARK SOULS, MORTAL SHELL hasn't mastered this technique yet.
    They did manage to add a little twist to the hole class system: shells. You literally    The good first: the dark setting and the atmosphere are really good! It is even darker than DARK SOULS.
    Unfortunately that's about it. The rest is a blatant copy all the way down to the controls and explaining lore by item descriptions. Unlike DARK SOULS, MORTAL SHELL hasn't mastered this technique yet.
    They did manage to add a little twist to the hole class system: shells. You literally wear classes like skin (or shells) and you can switch these during the game. Enemies yield "glimpses" which unlock some lore about the shell and serve as level ups. So far so good. Another addition is the "hardening" mechanic, which briefly turns the player into stone - this game's version of blocking. Otherwise the game offers nothing new. Tar serves as MORTAL SHELL's version of souls.
    Now I'm not really a fan of the "SOULS" game mechanics of respawning enemies and repetitious dying. Unfortunately for me there are very few "dark fantasy" games outside the "SOULS" games that nail the atmosphere. If you're a fan of this "new" genre you might hold MORTAL SHELL in a much higher regard.
    Enemy variety unfortunately is also lacking - as are the 7 bosses. Yes, MORTAL SHELL is a rather short game. Stone me, but I liked LORDS OF THE FALLEN better.
    6 out of 9.    … Expand
  17. hertzian68
    Sep 2, 2020
    6
    I think it's a pretty impressive game for the small team that worked on it, the graphics are nice at medium settings I play at. It's pretty short with just a main hub area that ties into the 5 or so levels which are all different. I didn't really get into the whole shell mechanic but it was ok playing all of them, why not just use different outfits and still have the shell mechanic? GuessI think it's a pretty impressive game for the small team that worked on it, the graphics are nice at medium settings I play at. It's pretty short with just a main hub area that ties into the 5 or so levels which are all different. I didn't really get into the whole shell mechanic but it was ok playing all of them, why not just use different outfits and still have the shell mechanic? Guess it wouldn't fit in with the whole thing though. There is about 5-6 different weapons that you can get and all of them are pretty clunky and slow imo, combat needs to be faster overall on the players side, I can see this as a way to make the game last longer along with his slow traversal speed. It's very souls like game but the souls 2 and 3 are of course way better. At first it's really easy to walk in circles in the hub but after a bit you sort of know it. I'm not actually sure if I even finished it, I maxed out all the shells and from what I can tell went to and conquered all the levels but I don't remember a ending boss fight, they are not as structured advancement as souls to me. There is little replay value here as there is not enough content at this time and I don't wish to go through it again. If you are all done with the souls franchise to death and really really want something very similar to it then go for it, if you have not played the souls franchise just go for those.… Expand
  18. xForbiddenOne
    Apr 4, 2021
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I just finished this game, and I found this to be quite an enjoyable game overall. Is it a Souls clone? Yes. Does it hide the fact that it is? No. This game is different from souls games because you're unable to use a shield or "block" in a traditional fashion. This game has a unique mechanic known as harden, where you become stone. This is how you'll end up creating openings and resisting damage. It's a fairly refreshing take to just holding up a shield constantly and has a pretty balanced cooldown. Your other method of attack will be a parry. You get an item early on that allows you to parry and then follow up with a health leech, which is a great way to get back health however it requires a bar of resolve to use.

    There's not a whole hell of a lot story wise, and I'm only able to tell a very brief explanation of the story... But in short your game will be going to three different temples, clearing them, and then a boss at the end to pick up an item. You then have to fight your way out of the temple in a fog state. After you've done the three temples, the final boss is revealed and after that you've completed your game. It's a relatively short game, but I did enjoy it once I finally forced myself to sit and actually try to learn the game. After that, I didn't put it down until I finished it. I'd say the game is roughly 10 to 12 hours for the average user. Significantly shorter if you follow a guide for the whole thing but that's boring and lame.

    I did enjoy exploring the areas, wandering around aimlessly and even finding an alternative ending to the game where you drink booze with a friend, play a lute and watch the world go by. I couldn't stop laughing after seeing that. Anyways, if you enjoy things like Dark Souls, Lords of the Fallen and other similar games... There's a good chance you'll enjoy this one too. Pick it up on sale and I doubt you'll complain much. The game is visually gorgeous, and I experienced no issues running it off of a Ryzen 2600X and RX 580 8GB for 1080p. I also had no issues running it on a Ryzen 5800X paired with an RTX 3070 at 4K. I didn't have a single crash, even on days where I had to alt tab endlessly to respond to messages. I don't understand the huge amount of bad reviews, it's far from as bad as most of the reviews make it out to be.    … Expand
  19. dump0
    Aug 25, 2020
    6
    I'll give you a honest review about this game from all the Souls-like I've played this is in the mid-field. The visual and details are great, the hardening mechanic is fun and overall it feels of good quality like an actual Studio was working on it.

    Now to the bad things: They tried to create something similar to a Dark Souls hub like Dark Souls 2 that allows you to choose were you want    I'll give you a honest review about this game from all the Souls-like I've played this is in the mid-field. The visual and details are great, the hardening mechanic is fun and overall it feels of good quality like an actual Studio was working on it.

    Now to the bad things: They tried to create something similar to a Dark Souls hub like Dark Souls 2 that allows you to choose were you want to go which I'm a huge fan of but I kid you not they implemented at least 6-8 entries which all start to spread again - after only a few minutes you're hyper lost - in this game and have absolutely no feeling where you are even backtracking becomes an adventure. The worst is you don't even know if you walk remotely in the right direction that is because regardless where you go the enemies hit like a god damn truck. Then you notice you don't even know what exactly you are looking for and ultimately just wander around with way too few heals while the enemy usually 2-4 shot you.

    I'll give you a brief introduction how my game went: Tutorial into hub area where you can literally go in any of the 24 directions, I ended up in a swamp where some frog jumped at me and I was poisoned, I go into the inventory but wait I can't see what my items do because you have to use them at least 10 times to know the effect, turns out I have something that sounds like anti poison, I take it, I get poisoned even harder, turns out I have to intentional poison myself to get 10 usage knowledge just to make this item into anti poison, unfortunately I didn't have 10 of these so I couldn't proceed because the poison kills you hard. My other time went just as well, I go to the upper area, it's a mini-boss, I hit this boss for 10-15 damage while he has like 1000 life, I thought I must be underleveled so I check online turns out he is the first boss. I know what you think, you casual just kill him but let me explain something to you bosses in this game are extremely boring, they often just do the same thing over and over while they only change their attack pattern like dual hit, tripple hit, quadra hit and if you're lucky the boss has like 1-2 spells. So you try not to fall asleep while you harden and roll around for 10 minutes with the same dual hit, tripple hit, quadra hit mechanics - eventually you may find out that you can parry him for x10 the normal damage which is well quite something to require for a mini boss but WAIT they also implemented a mechanic like Sekiro that warns you when you can't parry something most UNFORTUNATELY the game also happen to not give you a warning of attacks that can't be parried regardless.

    In conclusion not terrible not great but mostly not not great.    … Expand
  20. kennyded
    Aug 19, 2020
    7
    Game had huge potential but the pacing in the game is pretty bad. You can unlock all the characters and weapons pretty easily. The bosses are too predictable and not punishing enough though that might be because you can harden or dodge. If they added hardening to the main bosses like they did with the weapon unlocks I do think the difficulty would of been much higher.

    I can say that I    Game had huge potential but the pacing in the game is pretty bad. You can unlock all the characters and weapons pretty easily. The bosses are too predictable and not punishing enough though that might be because you can harden or dodge. If they added hardening to the main bosses like they did with the weapon unlocks I do think the difficulty would of been much higher.

    I can say that I do like the concept they were going for on each of the dungeons. Game is alright for casual gaming.    … Expand
  21. ClarkKunt
    Aug 26, 2020
    6
    I managed to finish the game in 7 hours and most of the time I was just mad and I was not enjoying myself. Some of the levels were interesting and atmosphere was great.. but boss design, enemy placement and slow and stiff combat with questionable hitboxes turned this interesting and in many ways inovative game (harden mechanic, etc.) into very mixed bag experience. Not great, not terrible.I managed to finish the game in 7 hours and most of the time I was just mad and I was not enjoying myself. Some of the levels were interesting and atmosphere was great.. but boss design, enemy placement and slow and stiff combat with questionable hitboxes turned this interesting and in many ways inovative game (harden mechanic, etc.) into very mixed bag experience. Not great, not terrible. Possible spoiler alert ahead: Last boss is probably the worst designed fight in any game I have ever played in my life, pure laziness.… Expand
  22. Shimmeywill
    Sep 5, 2020
    5
    Strong graphics and a solid game loop. However, the light jank and poor enemy placements makes it hard to get immersed. Overall game experience is a lacklustre Dark Souls.
  23. bcdserra
    Aug 22, 2020
    7
    So I myself, hate the game. But it's not a bad game and I'm not one of those **** giving a zero because I'm salty and ragey, a small team of 15 passionate people made this which is amazing.
    What demotivated me the most is the healing and the lack of checkpoints, which made it tedious to recuperate your lost "souls" after dying 10 kilometers from a checkpoint in a tight corridor filled    So I myself, hate the game. But it's not a bad game and I'm not one of those **** giving a zero because I'm salty and ragey, a small team of 15 passionate people made this which is amazing.
    What demotivated me the most is the healing and the lack of checkpoints, which made it tedious to recuperate your lost "souls" after dying 10 kilometers from a checkpoint in a tight corridor filled with enemies. It just didn't push me to continue when I finally got my stuff back only to realise I also needed a second currency to level up my shell. I was then forced to take my "souls" with me, which I really really disliked. So I stopped playing. If you read this and think you might also feel like that, buy Hellpoint. If you read this and think you're up for the challenge, godspeed and have fun !    … Expand
  24. Zuvaka
    Aug 20, 2020
    7
    Bought it hoping to have a full Dark Souls - like experience. The game was made by 15 people though, so expectations should be lower when purchasing. I like the ideas the game has, especially the graphics, minus a few things here and there. Mostly that it feels kinda small, even for its price. The progression feels weird having interesting unlocks though too small a map to spread themBought it hoping to have a full Dark Souls - like experience. The game was made by 15 people though, so expectations should be lower when purchasing. I like the ideas the game has, especially the graphics, minus a few things here and there. Mostly that it feels kinda small, even for its price. The progression feels weird having interesting unlocks though too small a map to spread them across. There's few enemy variety and weapon unlocks, and the combat dodging feels kinda clunky at times. A good game if you keep that in mind going in.… Expand
  25. rafaelmtome
    Aug 21, 2020
    5
    Excelente game! Incrível o que a empresa conseguiu fazer com pouco dinheiro. Parabéns aos envolvidos no desenvolvimento!
  26. Punk_Out
    Aug 22, 2020
    7
    Great game so far. Having a lot of fun with it. It's not my style of game but it feels like a mini-Dark Souls trainer. I really enjoy the long sword fighting but you can have different weapons; dual wield some short swords, sword and shield, or if you get further in a super long sword. I really like this one cave, remined me of a Elder Scrolls: Skyrim level and the bosses are pretty cool.Great game so far. Having a lot of fun with it. It's not my style of game but it feels like a mini-Dark Souls trainer. I really enjoy the long sword fighting but you can have different weapons; dual wield some short swords, sword and shield, or if you get further in a super long sword. I really like this one cave, remined me of a Elder Scrolls: Skyrim level and the bosses are pretty cool. I am definitely going to enjoy the character build system and the spooky level design. For the price this is a pretty great game.

    I will admit at the beginning I was having some issues with the combat system and was running into some pretty annoying bugs, but the recent PS4 updates have really smoothed this game out, fixed the bugs, and made the combat system feel less sluggish. I cannot give it to high of rating because it's nothing mind blowing but I feel 7/10 is a really fair score for this game. I am having fun so that's worth fhe 7 in my books!    … Expand
  27. ZionEM
    Oct 11, 2022
    7
    Desde la perspectiva de un SoulsLike, es excelente su gameplay y ambientacion, tanto como sus mecanicas originales y unicas, tambien es un juego muy versatil a la hora de tu poder cambier de estrategia para un boss o alguna zona en concreto. Pero donde pierde es en la variedad de sus Bosses y enemigos, algo aceptable teniendo en cuenta que no es un juego triple A, pero donde NO me gustoDesde la perspectiva de un SoulsLike, es excelente su gameplay y ambientacion, tanto como sus mecanicas originales y unicas, tambien es un juego muy versatil a la hora de tu poder cambier de estrategia para un boss o alguna zona en concreto. Pero donde pierde es en la variedad de sus Bosses y enemigos, algo aceptable teniendo en cuenta que no es un juego triple A, pero donde NO me gusto para nada y por lo cual no le doy mas punto es en su Jefe final, es realmente decepcionante.… Expand
  28. Danazoid
    Apr 25, 2023
    7
    The Scorn of Dark Souls clones. It's a 7 from me but a high 7 (green rather than the default yellow colour). The aesthetics are oppressive and beautiful. The slow methodical exploration and figuring out what to do is way more obtuse than Dark Souls but has a similar feeling of reward. I'd argue that the mechanics are a little too obtuse and that as a result I didn't commit to any otherThe Scorn of Dark Souls clones. It's a 7 from me but a high 7 (green rather than the default yellow colour). The aesthetics are oppressive and beautiful. The slow methodical exploration and figuring out what to do is way more obtuse than Dark Souls but has a similar feeling of reward. I'd argue that the mechanics are a little too obtuse and that as a result I didn't commit to any other playstyle rather than my starting one, but the sense of being lost in an aggressive dream-like world is very strong. The combat for me was repetitive and sluggish and the bosses aren't the best I've seen. For me the game shines in it's 3 main 'dungeons', and the genuinely scary 'run-backs' to base camp after killing the bosses. As others have said the long animations and clunkyness are what hold it back, despite it clearly being intended to give the impression of heft - it does but at a cost.… Expand
  29. Jenne
    Dec 10, 2020
    7
    I like indie Souls. I liked Lords of the Fallen, Ashen, Surge and this. It's a bit more basic than Surge, let alone proper Souls games by FromSoft but it's fun. Kindda short, finished in 13 hours, but there's a solid build variety, with different shells and weapons you'll get very different playstyles. Can't expect too much enemy or world variety, the main world is kindda drab andI like indie Souls. I liked Lords of the Fallen, Ashen, Surge and this. It's a bit more basic than Surge, let alone proper Souls games by FromSoft but it's fun. Kindda short, finished in 13 hours, but there's a solid build variety, with different shells and weapons you'll get very different playstyles. Can't expect too much enemy or world variety, the main world is kindda drab and confusing and almost all enemies are humanoids. Despite all that Mortal Shell is a solid game to scratch that Souls itch.… Expand
  30. pongkrit03
    Sep 10, 2020
    7
    Soul veteran here I enjoyed the game quite well. Gameplay clearly took a lot of inspirations from Dark Souls but it has its own unique style. This game has 4 classes that are different from each other. Graphic is good too. For a small indy team, I have say they did very amazing job here. Anyway, while the game is cheap, it is also short (I beat it in 13 hrs) and the areas are like maze,Soul veteran here I enjoyed the game quite well. Gameplay clearly took a lot of inspirations from Dark Souls but it has its own unique style. This game has 4 classes that are different from each other. Graphic is good too. For a small indy team, I have say they did very amazing job here. Anyway, while the game is cheap, it is also short (I beat it in 13 hrs) and the areas are like maze, too hard to navigate . Enemies are not variety enough (mostly 90% are humaniod, same for bosses) and there are only 4 weapons in the game which are far from enough. Healing by parrying seems interesting at first but it could make the game too hard for someone who is not good at parrying.

    In sum, it is good game if you like dark souls and don't have anything to play at this moment, but don't expect too much of it. I hope devs could continue to make better game in the future. For those who want to try, I strongly recommend looking for a map online for the first area, otherwise you might miss out weapons and classes. (It is a bad design, devs should just let you choose them from the start)    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

26
#26 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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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