Mortal Shell

 Xbox One
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 52 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 52
  3. Negative: 10 out of 52
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  1. Xbox_Alive
    Aug 20, 2020
    7
    Mortal Shell is an action role-playing video game developed by Cold Symmetry and published by Playstack. It has been compared to the Souls series and released on 18 August 2020 Xbox One. Epic games shared Mortal Shell for free for a little time and this was one of the biggest gift they gave us this year because game has amazing mechanics and atmosphere. Mortal Shell got a lot moreMortal Shell is an action role-playing video game developed by Cold Symmetry and published by Playstack. It has been compared to the Souls series and released on 18 August 2020 Xbox One. Epic games shared Mortal Shell for free for a little time and this was one of the biggest gift they gave us this year because game has amazing mechanics and atmosphere. Mortal Shell got a lot more enjoyable once I got to where I could explore again. The moral of the story? Be sure you're fully prepared before you jump down any three-foot ledges with no visible way to get back up. The ledge will end up feeling like a mountain, and Mortal Shell has no pity on you if you go too far too quickly. Mortal Shell can be a brutally hard game, but I'm glad it draws inspiration from Sekiro by granting you a second chance of sorts. If an enemy "kills" you, you get knocked out of whatever shell you were wearing and end up in your weak shell-less form; if you can get back to your shell, though, you're instantly boosted back to full health and stamina. If you get knocked out a second time, though, it's back to the bonfire — or, ahem, Sister Genessa, an enigmatic lady brimming with unsettling commentary about the bodies you wear. Ultimately, Mortal Shell will make you want to headbutt your monitor out of sheer frustration. The puzzling nature of the map, the repetitive placement of enemies,the lack of options all coalesce into a big arm that holds the game back from being really good, to just good. No matter times I try and swat it away with thoughts of the meaty combat, that arm simply won’t budge.… Expand
  2. Exanthius
    Aug 25, 2020
    7
    As a Soulsborne fan I try to play as many Souls-like titles as possible. Not only because I love this type of games, but also for comparison and to not miss the chance on a new take on the formula. In the past I have played games like Ashen, The Surge and Lords of the Fallen, and neither of those games were successful in pulling me into their world and gameplay as the originals byAs a Soulsborne fan I try to play as many Souls-like titles as possible. Not only because I love this type of games, but also for comparison and to not miss the chance on a new take on the formula. In the past I have played games like Ashen, The Surge and Lords of the Fallen, and neither of those games were successful in pulling me into their world and gameplay as the originals by FromSoftware. If you play a title like this and have played games of the Soulsborne series before, you will inevitably draw comparisons.

    What intrigued me from the first minute I played Mortal Shell was the new twist on defensive systems. There is the classic dodge as well as a replacement for the typical shield block in the form of hardening your character. Hardening prevents all damage (from regular attacks as well as elemental attacks) and can be incorporated fluently into combat by being an ability that can me triggered mid-swing of your weapon and lets you finish your attack once hardening is done. However, this ability is on a cooldown. While the Dark Souls games let you take cover behind your shield almost as much as you want (depending on your stamina), the use of hardening has to be chosen wisely, because it can only be used once before being on a cooldown for a few seconds. This makes combat harder, but also more interesting.

    Aside from the harden mechanic, the use of shells - your replacement for classes or playstyles - is the other big difference from Soulsborne games. However, you cannot pick your shell right from the start of the game. You first have to find each shell and explore it in a way. This is a theme that is used throughout the game. Not only do you explore the shells or the open world, but also things like items. If you find an item you don't know what it does, until you use it. And the more often you use it, the more you learn about the item until you master it and get a little more out of it. Some might see this as an interesting encouragement to try out stuff. Others, like me, will try to eat a mushroom only to find that it is toxic and just cut off one half of your health - and health regenerating items are rare - and might get discouraged from trying new items, because they could do more damage than good. This might not be a problem for many people.

    The game runs super smooth on the Xbox One X. Although the download is only 4 GB, the textures have a relatively high resolution, the enemy models are mostly detailed (especially the bigger boss enemies) and the (post processing) effects look great and up to date. The framerate is constantly at 60 fps and so far I have not encountered any frame rate drops - but there is usually not much going on on the screen to be honest.

    I cannot give a higher score than 7/10 for some reasons. Despite making a good first impression, the game let's you know from time to time that it was done by only a handful of people and not a big budget development team. There were a few occassions that made me wonder if a little bit more money and maybe another 6 months of development time would have been good for the game. In my opinion this is most obvious when you do what you do most in this game: fight. The hitboxes of almost all weapons seem to be a bit off. All too often I found myself getting hit by an enemy attack that clearly did not hit me physically. In other games like Bloodborne or Dark Souls 3 you will always know if an attack will hit you or not (at least attacks from weapons). If the weapon physically hits your body, you will take damage. This is not the case in Mortal Shell. Weapon swings that visibly go past your body will often still deal damage. In the other mentioned games I could go into each encounter with full confidence, because I felt in control, I knew exactly what to do. In Mortal Shell I always have this thought in my mind that the combat does not work as expected.
    Another small problem is that sometimes movement and combat felt a bit "janky" and unpolished. There are too many instances of moments where I could not move for a reason I did not understand.

    All in all, I can recommend this game with some restrictions. For the relatively low amount of content I'd say that the current price of 30$ is fine. Although, I would recommend to wait until it drops to 20$, because you can complete the game in 10-15 hours which is rather short for this type of game. If you are full on Soulsborne fan and look for a new challenge: Go ahead and buy it right away!    … Expand
  3. tobivv
    Sep 30, 2020
    7
    Best non-From-Software souls-like game, but combat is extremely clunky and meta feels more like exploiting the system then proper combat.
  4. Filmanwalt
    Mar 29, 2021
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After 9 1/2 hours and unfortunately only 375 gamerscore, I finished this Soulslike. There is a lot of potential in the game and it could be really, really good in a successor with a potent publisher.

    story

    Well ... just as cryptic as you know it from the soul titles: D. They have already decided to imitate that. I was interested and am happy about the background noise. I cannot say what it has to do with ascent, envelopes, etc. in full detail.

    Here, too, you can learn more about the story, the world and the shells via items, skills, etc.

    Graphics / performance / glitches

    Graphically, the game didn't upset the trees, but it had an aesthetic that I really liked. Everything kept pretty gloomy, the tutorial is almost Sci-Fi-like and a total of 4 different areas, some of which I liked very much, some less. I found the world with these obsidian-like rock shapes to be terrific.

    The armor, weapons and characters, as well as bosses looked very cool and I would have liked to see more different types of enemies.

    The game ran mostly smoothly at 60 FPS, so it had no noticeable drops (Xbox Series X).

    Glitches, on the other hand, occurred relatively often: opponents bug into walls, I get stuck, opponents bug onto unreachable platforms or the lousy texture reloaders in cutscenes. I don't like that at all, because it always pulls me out of the moment. When that happens almost all the time, I can't overlook it.

    Gameplay

    It's soul-like. Nasty areas with different and many NPC opponents, as well as different bosses. With the tar and the discernment there are equivalents to the souls. You lose it again when you die and you can get everything back again.

    There are different weapons and "classes" (long sword, two-handed, crossbow bazooka, dual 1h and a piston), all of which you have to find first or fight your way through in a boss fight. I played through with the long sword and the character Eredrim, who is extremely healthy.

    Unfortunately, there are no attributes or a deep role-play system. The individual shells simply have different status values ​​(more life or more stamina, for example), here I would have wished for more depth, also with skills.

    Fighting also consists of dodging or rolling, as well as parrying. The first aspects in particular do not make so much of the gameplay. Parrying, on the other hand, is essential because you can heal yourself with it, especially healing items are very rare if you don't buy them with an embraced tar. In addition, Mortal Shell has the hardening mechanism, which can ward off a complete attack and then has to recharge. I think the idea is great and it makes the gameplay sufficiently different to Dark Souls, but it's also way too easy. This ability should require more skill, similar to a parry, because theoretically I can stay petrified for a very long time and wait for the attack and then strike .. then just repeat once it has charged up. Furthermore, you acquired the so-called determination through attacks, with which you could then use parry or special abilities (very cool, it is also worth playing aggressively).

    In total I only died 43 times, the game is not really difficult. In the beginning it takes time, but when you are in you just have it out. Even if it is much easier, it is still a lot of fun to combine hardening, parrying and special skills.

    I actually really liked the optics of the bosses and the fights themselves were very nice, but unfortunately too easy. The final boss was e.g. right on the first try.

    Sometimes the hit boxes were also weak, you hit or get hit and don't really know why. I like the directness in Souls a lot better. Being able to use items several times to understand their effects is not my thing. Sometimes that felt too wasteful just to know what the item was doing in the first place.

    Conclusion

    To cut a long story short: A soul-like with a lot of potential that could lead to a really good second part. The foundation is well done and now just needs a little more in everything to my taste (role play depth, opponent diversity, challenge, boss opponent, areas). For me, very good 6/10 tar lumps. This is a promising entry for the makers into the soul genre.    … Expand
  5. mlnsn
    Jul 22, 2021
    6
    Gameplay : 6/10
    Design (video + audio) : 7/10
    Story : 6/10
    Technical aspects : 6/10
    Repeatability: 6/10

Awards & Rankings

67
#67 Best Xbox One Game of 2020
38
#38 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. CD-Action
    Nov 16, 2020
    75
    I respect the Cold Symmetry team for their courage to put their own twist on the soulslike formula. In Mortal Shell almost nothing works how you would expect it to and even if the game doesn’t always benefit from that, it feels fresh and is definitely worth checking out. [11/2020, p.36]
  2. DualShockers
    Sep 11, 2020
    70
    Mortal Shell will certainly scratch your Soulslike itch, but it won't necessarily win points for originality in presentation.
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  3. Gaming Nexus
    Sep 4, 2020
    88
    Mortal Shell embraces the Souls-like moniker with open arms. They welcomed comparisons, and, for the most part, delivered. What's more impressive is that a team of only 15 people created it. Mortal Shell will make you to rethink your ideas around patience and frustration. You will love this game for all the same reasons that you hate it.
    Read full review
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