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

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Solarflare4646
    Aug 20, 2020
    9
    This game inspires the same lost and alone feelings that DS1 hit me with. The art is gorgeous, the moves are fluid, and the sound is spot on. Highly recommend as a much more compact but well polished souls-like experience.
  2. JC814
    Aug 24, 2020
    10
    Love it, can't get much better for a souls like game bravo coldsymmetry. Best of luck
  3. Morphed
    Aug 29, 2020
    9
    Everything's awsome. Learning how to defeat a enemy is fun and not that hard to figure out. Concept of shells and hardening is entirely new experience (though it's best to master one shell and weapon because of scare upgrade resources). Combat is easy to master except one thing. Parrying. It's the single core mechanic I didn't get a hold on till end. The parry window is extremely small andEverything's awsome. Learning how to defeat a enemy is fun and not that hard to figure out. Concept of shells and hardening is entirely new experience (though it's best to master one shell and weapon because of scare upgrade resources). Combat is easy to master except one thing. Parrying. It's the single core mechanic I didn't get a hold on till end. The parry window is extremely small and is different for different enemies. Playing on kb and mouse so I am not sure about controller. Playing as Solomon without able to parry attacks and use resolve gives nothing but frustration. Though dodge and harden take care of defensive so I rarely find a need to parry.… Expand
  4. Skull6reaker
    Sep 5, 2020
    8
    Mortal shell is an excellent souls like experience that is not without faults which is why I am giving it an 8/10 First the good mortal shell is not only excellent because of the way it changes up the combat with its new shell system but it also nails the environmental story telling The way dark souls did with the constant environments and creatures that just enthrall you in the lore ofMortal shell is an excellent souls like experience that is not without faults which is why I am giving it an 8/10 First the good mortal shell is not only excellent because of the way it changes up the combat with its new shell system but it also nails the environmental story telling The way dark souls did with the constant environments and creatures that just enthrall you in the lore of the game and the Aesthetics alone that just get you to ask who what where

    Now the bad despite the games unique shell system and enthralling environments it’s also got a small amount of bugs and a bit of a slow start but a fun one which is why this has lost 2 points in my review like how parry don't always work and I don’t mean as unparrybles and I didn’t like crawling through a dozen holes in the starting area

    However This game is an amazing game and I think it’s worth 30 dollars even though it’s not 10/10 it’s also their first game and it’s not a big dev team Either so considering those facts a 8/10 is fair for this team and a game of this caliber I cannot wait to see more from Cold symmetry    … Expand
  5. Myzekent
    Sep 27, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Игра шикарная,жду DLC ну или вторую часть, разрабы красавчики)… Expand
  6. Skygus2002
    Oct 27, 2020
    9
    Not bad game if you choose this like your first souls-like game. Interesting to experience new emotions with every shell, ability, weapon and fight.
  7. ahmed_malder
    May 1, 2021
    10
    this is one of the best souls like games its good and good story and interesting graphic I wish everyone play this game
  8. Game_Seeker
    Jun 2, 2021
    9
    MORTAL SHELL is not only the *best* Souls/Borne game ever made - it is also the *only* one worth playing. Sorry DEMON'S SOULS/ DARK SOULS / BLOODBORNE fans, but FromSoftware games are seriously overrated! Sure, it was made by DARK SOULS fans and they do copy a lot from that game
    Take COMBAT for instance - MORTAL SHELL mops the floor with all FromSoft games easily, as it has actually    MORTAL SHELL is not only the *best* Souls/Borne game ever made - it is also the *only* one worth playing. Sorry DEMON'S SOULS/ DARK SOULS / BLOODBORNE fans, but FromSoftware games are seriously overrated! Sure, it was made by DARK SOULS fans and they do copy a lot from that game
    Take COMBAT for instance - MORTAL SHELL mops the floor with all FromSoft games easily, as it has actually tactical depth, while FromSoft games have ZERO tactical depth: you just study enemy attack patterns which you exploit. Boss fights take about ten minutes because they have ridiculously large health pools, while you go down in 2 - 3 hits. MORTAL SHELL actually has an interesting mechanic with the hardening mechanic which turns you into stone for as long as you press the hardening button - or get hit once. It tanks the entire damage. You can harden in mid-action, which can function as a trap.
    Graphically it looks far better than the aforementioned games, it's amazing. The art style is just fantastic.
    The biggest plus of MORTAL SHELL is its FAIRNESS. Enemy health pools are nowhere near as ridiculous as in the other Souls games, boss fights don't last as long. Also there are less bosses, which is also a plus: there's 4 main bosses and 4 "mini bosses". Saving points are fairly placed at the beginning of each area, at the end of each area and right next to the boss rooms, this is good design, not forcing the player through a gauntlet of trash mobs to face a 10 minute boss fight. As such it is far less frustrating.
    The core game mechanics are pretty similar however: souls are replaced with tar, the game's currency for leveling up and purchasing items. Leveling is different however as classic experience levels are non-existent. There are 4 classes to choose from, but not in a conventional sense, as you play an alien creature that wears the bodies of dead people like armor. You can find 4 of these "shells", from an average Joe with medium health, medium and medium resolve to a high health, low stamina tank. Each shell can be leveled up ten times by unlocking ten unique skills, which costs x amount of tar and x amount of glimpses - a rare drop comparable to DARK SOULS "humanity".
    There are "only" four weapons - yes MORTAL SHELL is on a smaller scale - but these weapons feel fantastic, are well animated and can be upgraded five times with additional attacks.
    I liked the areas which are very distinct with greatly designed enemies. MORTAL SHELL does require a bit of work to get used to it: the swamp area took me several hours to not get lost in, getting used to the harden mechanic and dodging, but if you put that time in, it is well worth the 15 - 20 hours of time it takes for a playthrough. Yes, it's not a 50 - 100 hour game, but it also only costs half of one of those.
    Finally the atmosphere is superb, especially when you defeat one of the main bosses and are in for a surprise. It's amazing.    … Expand
  9. WanderinMelmoth
    Aug 26, 2022
    9
    This is SUPERIOR SOULS.
    Yes, it is better than anything From Soft has ever made. Why? Because the devs are not a$$holes! There are fair saves right in front of every boss room. THIS is excellent game design.
    Atmosphere and world design are excellent and even beat Bloodborne. Fights are hard enough without the cheapness of FromSoft's games. The combat has actually tactics involved instead    This is SUPERIOR SOULS.
    Yes, it is better than anything From Soft has ever made. Why? Because the devs are not a$$holes! There are fair saves right in front of every boss room. THIS is excellent game design.
    Atmosphere and world design are excellent and even beat Bloodborne. Fights are hard enough without the cheapness of FromSoft's games. The combat has actually tactics involved instead of simply memorizing enemy moves. FromSoft: take notes, you have met your master!    … Expand
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. Forgotten
    Jan 31, 2023
    1
    Feels like a cheap Dark Souls knock-off. But with less smooth gameplay, more bugs, clip through graphics, RTX (really? Why focus on RTX before gameplay) if you try this before the Demon / Dark / Elden series. You done wrong.
  13. 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
  14. XzRecolz
    Nov 30, 2020
    2
    One of the worst games I've ever played. Please, save your money. It's not even worth your time if you get it for free. Stay away from it and just play any SoulsBorne game instead.

    Clunky, slow, your health bar is a joke with barely any healing, parry mechanic can easily be missed which is just a dumb choice, the 'learning' mechanic is interesting but poorly executed, no enemy variety,    One of the worst games I've ever played. Please, save your money. It's not even worth your time if you get it for free. Stay away from it and just play any SoulsBorne game instead.

    Clunky, slow, your health bar is a joke with barely any healing, parry mechanic can easily be missed which is just a dumb choice, the 'learning' mechanic is interesting but poorly executed, no enemy variety, awful world design... It's a mess not worth playing.

    Graphics look decent though.    … Expand
  15. p1menta
    Oct 2, 2020
    8
    Really good good way to initiate in the souls-like genre. Not at all as hard as from software's games after you get the hang of the hardening mechanic but still challenging enough (although I havent died to ANY of the bosses).
    btw, the shell mechanic and the hardening are really fun, it needs some adjustments, maybe, more integration with combos, or something like that, idk, there's stuff    Really good good way to initiate in the souls-like genre. Not at all as hard as from software's games after you get the hang of the hardening mechanic but still challenging enough (although I havent died to ANY of the bosses).
    btw, the shell mechanic and the hardening are really fun, it needs some adjustments, maybe, more integration with combos, or something like that, idk, there's stuff that can be improved, but i had a lot of fun anyways.
    oh, the game is beautiful, actually, even tho it lacks diversity on it's maps and "dungeons". And the character designs are awsome, really, the bosses are really creative, I wish there were more of them; the game is kind of too short for me.    … Expand
  16. Dominion
    Sep 2, 2020
    10
    Понравилась боевая система. Анимация !!! Дизайн персонажей .
    Хотелось бы онлайн побегать с друзьями и дизайн локаций побогаче . Но и на том большое спасибо авторам.
    Неожиданно приятная игра .
  17. 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
  18. ShadowXyo
    Sep 13, 2020
    5
    A clunky mess, filled with poor game design, clunky combat and a sad excuse of a music composition. It is an absolute insult that people are comparing this to Dark Souls, if Dark Souls is a 100, this game is a 10. I've played 7 hours so far and it doesn't seem to be getting better. To add more insult, the game drops you into a point of no return after a certain boss and you are forced toA clunky mess, filled with poor game design, clunky combat and a sad excuse of a music composition. It is an absolute insult that people are comparing this to Dark Souls, if Dark Souls is a 100, this game is a 10. I've played 7 hours so far and it doesn't seem to be getting better. To add more insult, the game drops you into a point of no return after a certain boss and you are forced to defeat multiple bosses before you are able to go back. There was absolutely no reason to make it a point of no return, many of the enemies have non-telegraphed attacks that create artificial difficulty, similar to the issues with Dark Souls 2, along with hyper-armor to add to that difficulty. The game doesn't let you heal with a potion but you have to scavenge mushrooms that spawn once in a blue moon. After the point of no return, the game also doesn't let you upgrade your weapon at all. I've seen people compare this to other souls-likes, but this game is the worst so far. The Surge 2 was way more polished, and so was Lords of the Fallen. What a joke.… Expand
  19. alexandru_ale26
    Nov 1, 2020
    6
    This game has some good and unique ideas behind him but it falls shortly after 3 hours of playing it. I love the hardening mechanic, the parry/regain health mechanic and the design of the shells. I'm so glad I paid for it only 14 $ (a 20% off sale and a 10$ coupon from Epic). It doesn't worth more than 14-15$. I'm too disappointed by this game to tell you everything here, but I canThis game has some good and unique ideas behind him but it falls shortly after 3 hours of playing it. I love the hardening mechanic, the parry/regain health mechanic and the design of the shells. I'm so glad I paid for it only 14 $ (a 20% off sale and a 10$ coupon from Epic). It doesn't worth more than 14-15$. I'm too disappointed by this game to tell you everything here, but I can resume that: easy to beat bosses, repetitive dungeons, uninspired dungeons, too easy to upgrade, and I finalized the game with the first shell upgraded at maximum. I beat the game in just 10.5 hours, and I think it could be finished in just 7 hours if you don't waste your time exploring. It is not a bad game, it's just dissappointing. And the biggest issue for me was at the final boss where it always crushed the game before beating it. But somehow it finally worked after it made me very very angry.… Expand
  20. stormundying
    Aug 24, 2020
    7
    Am impressive concept (particularly for such a small dev team) marred by janky animation and downright baffling design decisions.

    The good: - the shell concept is intriguing, though it could have been built on a bit more (see: small dev team). Being able to choose different shells for different sorts of challenges would be interesting...but the lack of resources and similarly    Am impressive concept (particularly for such a small dev team) marred by janky animation and downright baffling design decisions.

    The good:

    - the shell concept is intriguing, though it could have been built on a bit more (see: small dev team). Being able to choose different shells for different sorts of challenges would be interesting...but the lack of resources and similarly restrictive upgrade system for levels turns it into more of a 'choose your class and weapon and stick with it' kind of deal, so I don't think this was explored to it's full potential. Still, having some access to different playstyles gives it replay value

    - interesting and visually appealing environments, particularly the floating obsidian temple. It all looks pretty good.

    - combat feels (very) weighty and landing a solid hit is highly satisfying.

    - Hardening is a cool mechanic with lots of potential, and i would like to see it developed in a future release.

    - fairly punishing difficulty curve (if you're not cheesing the game with Solomon) and some legitimately challenging enemy encounters:

    The Bad:

    - HEALING. For some incomprehensible reason, the devs decided to go the bloodborne route for healing items...but even more scarce (the main item respawns on a timer). You also have very limit access to healing in the dungeons, often just a single spawn near a checkpoint, so if you run out before a boss, prepare to either git gud or to spend an hour or so camping that spawn. This was just an absurd decision, given that you CAN farm essentially infinite healing items if you really want, so it's not even a real limiter on the game's difficulty, just...padding for the game's runtime.

    - relatedly, the game is balanced around you having access to healing, so when you don't have it (or want to conserve it for a boss) the game turns into a cheese factory, where you bait enemies out single file, hit them with a single closing attack, then get out and wait for your harden to recharge so you don't take damage. Every enemy deals absurd amounts of damage (especially if you're not playing the tank) and the distance between checkpoints is so great, that you're simply can't fight your way through 'conventionally' without taking damage and dying...which leads to a lengthy and risky corpse run.

    - Enemies are highly cheesable. Very few have any kind of gap closer, and even the quick enemies tend to lumber towards you at about the speed of an arthritic sloth, so there's rarely a point where you can't just disengage, recharge your harden and stamina, and dive back in for damage. The main challenge arises when there are multiple enemies in an encounter...but the janky hitboxes, clipping, and potential for overlapping attacks make taking on multiple enemies a good way to take unavoidable damage. Again, the best way to handle 95% of enemy encounters is to bait out a single target, chip away at it's health until dead, rinse and repeat. This applies to almost all bosses, too.

    - relatedly, the game is full of terrible hitboxes and weird 'phenomena?' is I guess the correct term? That make cheesing more appealing than it should be. for instance, enemies will stagger after a certain number of hits...but sometimes (very rarely) a combo that SHOULD stun an enemy won't, and you'll get hit. This doesn't feel intentional, and is very irritating when it happens. Enemies will sometimes cancel out of an attack animation without warning, and chain directly into another animation without any leadup. Again, this happens rarely, and I don't think it's intentional, but it's very aggravating when you do get his this way.

    - All of the bosses are both cheesable, and very hard to defeat without cheesing. They don't stagger easily, even off of harden, their attacks tend to have unpredictable hitboxes, and they have massive health pools (to your relatively tiny one). Add in stamina constraints on everyone but the rogue class, and you'll find that trying to fight toe to toe - timing hits and dodges like you would in dark souls - is largely infeasible, as dodging a combo of attacks will often leave you with no gas to counter with. Instead, you are highly incentivized to stay out of melee, bait the enemy into a punishable combo, hit them a few times, then run away again. Most bosses have literally one gap-closer move, so the fight becomes a boring slog livened only by the potential for the boss to unpredictably decide not to stagger at an innopportune time and wallop you for half your health bar.

    - For SOME godforsaken reason, the devs decided to place an entire segment of the game having you fight enemies on thin, tiny walkways above bottomless pits. In a game where almost all of the attack animations have significant forward momentum and dodge mechanics with sometimes unpredictable directionality. Yes, I yeeted myself off cliffs more than a few times while playing this section. No, I'm not thrilled about it.    … Expand
  21. sakuutio
    Mar 19, 2021
    1
    From Software, hire this team,
    From Software, hire this team,
    They're using Unreal Engine in any way they can
  22. XBliss
    Jan 4, 2023
    1
    Backtracking all over the game and you even don't need to kill enemies - just run and everything will be fine
  23. LunarBeamOfSun
    Sep 15, 2020
    5
    Лоск, стиль, пустота.
    К сожалению, это о самой игре, а не о происходящем в ней.
    Слишком. Мало. Контента.
  24. PhillusMaximus
    Nov 16, 2020
    8
    Solid game for a studio that small.
    Took a lot of influence from the souls games (but it's ok and they don't try to hide it either), still some unique features.

    Only think that let me down a bit is the story.
    Could have had a bit more to it.
  25. wolfram812
    May 11, 2021
    8
    I give this game 8 out of 10. I take minus 1 point because it's short and another point for some minor shortages. But it's perfect in every other way. Graphically speaking the game is beautiful. Almost no bugs of glitches. Creates amazing atmosphere which should be to liking of soulsborn's fans. Challenging. Really look forward to the next creation of these amazing game developers.I give this game 8 out of 10. I take minus 1 point because it's short and another point for some minor shortages. But it's perfect in every other way. Graphically speaking the game is beautiful. Almost no bugs of glitches. Creates amazing atmosphere which should be to liking of soulsborn's fans. Challenging. Really look forward to the next creation of these amazing game developers. Definitely recommend.… Expand
  26. TeneBriLuxs
    Aug 22, 2020
    10
    Чудова гра, в кращих традиціях souls-like. Шикарні анімації, шикарна оптимізація.
  27. watchm824
    Jan 24, 2022
    8
    I love "souls-like" games. And "Mortal Shell" was no exception. I got a lot of pleasure from the game.
    Pros: great atmosphere, high-quality graphics and excellent technical execution. Cons: not very interesting leveling of the character, the game is short.
  28. RickGrimez
    Feb 26, 2021
    8
    Ignore the salty reviews. These people clearly couldn't beat the game. And it shows based on their reasons for hating the game.
  29. joel_tdl
    Mar 30, 2022
    5
    Ni buen souls Ni buen juego

    JUGABILIDAD: La movilidad del personaje y la fluidez del combate son bastante malas. Es intencional ,claro, para darle el sentido a la armadura que portamos. Pero, siendo que en la mayoría del resto de los ARPG esto es fácilmente manipulable con un simple cambio de equipo, aquí resulta pesadumbroso. Y no es por exagerar, es que de verdad la fluidez de juego    Ni buen souls Ni buen juego

    JUGABILIDAD:
    La movilidad del personaje y la fluidez del combate son bastante malas. Es intencional ,claro, para darle el sentido a la armadura que portamos. Pero, siendo que en la mayoría del resto de los ARPG esto es fácilmente manipulable con un simple cambio de equipo, aquí resulta pesadumbroso.
    Y no es por exagerar, es que de verdad la fluidez de juego es horrible. Es una tortura de jugabilidad y arruina todo el concepto que pudieron tener los desarrolladores.

    Escenarios feos, enemigos repetitivos y "mal" ubicados, jefes cero interesantes. Un sistema de combate mal realizado (el supuesto contra ataque funciona solo cuando quiere, esto debido al "mal" calculo que el jugador hace debido a la pésima fluidez).

    Un concepto interesante es la familiaridad de los ítem, y la obligación de usarlos un determinado número de veces para descubrir su funcionalidad. Nos hará desperdiciar muchos, tratando de descubrir su función, pero le da una buena inmersión y hace un match con la idea de que nuestro personaje jugable tampoco tiene idea de para qué son. Es lo único rescatable que se me ocurre.

    GRÁFICOS:
    Por debajo de la media, lo cual es particular puesto que no es precisamente un juego "abundante". Como ya dije, los escenarios son decepcionantes y los diseños de enemigos y Bosses fueron muy poco trabajados.
    En conjunto es una experiencia muy poco redituable.

    SONIDO:
    Extremadamente molesto. No puedo describirlo de otra forma. La música es nula y la ambientación es fastidiosa al punto de desesperante, los sonidos que podemos escuchar son reciclados una y otra vez, al cansancio. De verdad que es el primer juego en que planteo ponerle mute a la TV con tal de dejar de escuchar la misma mala ambientación de un bosque en loop.

    INNOVACIÓN:
    Me gustó lo de los items, y el concepto de la armadura. Lastima que el propio juego los vuelva cero disfrutables.

    Sin duda le daría una oportunidad a alguna secuela mejor realizada, y con un presupuesto y trabajo mejor.    … Expand
  30. BallzyDan
    Dec 11, 2021
    0
    Slow movement, no ability to save, and cats. No noticeable objectives. What is the point of this game? Not even worth the price of free.
Page:

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.
    Read full review
  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.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »