Mortal Shell Review - A Solid Introduction To The World Of Souls-like

Just by looking at Mortal Shell, it's easy to see that it caters to those familiar with the term “Souls-like”, in reference to a game that’s heavily inspired by the Dark Souls franchise, with enough twists to the formula to make it a respectible title among its many peers. The game is bleak, twisted, and poses a challenge from start to finish. It will leave you wanting more, and while some mechanics weren't as fleshed out and diverse as I’d hoped, this game from Cold Symmetry is a commendable adventure that deserves the attention of those who love the subgenre. 

The world of Mortal Shell just oozes despair and agony. From the moment I landed on Fallgrim, where most of the game takes place, a somber tone permeated every corner of the game world. Grotesque horrors roam dark places, forcing you to tread lightly as you progress into the unknown. 

As for music, it manifests only as eerie, lingering tones overwhelmed by natural environmental effects. You'll hear strong winds and the creepy growls of nearby creatures, as well as footsteps of hostile forces walking towards you. It’s freaky, and I appreciate how that stayed true all throughout my first playthrough. 

You play as a weak and shriveled being called the Foundling, who suddenly wakes up to this rotting place and is forced to inhabit the bodies of fallen warriors as shells to survive. Once the overall objective is established, you are free to roam Fallgrim as you see fit, tackling each boss and area in any order. The narrative can be as vague as the Souls-like games before it, but at least here the goal is clear at the onset. If you want to get more of the story and its world, various notes, narration when unlocking Shell skills, and discussions with certain characters provide some context, but not enough to really paint the full picture. You’ll need to exert a bit more effort to understand everything about Mortal Shell, which by now isn’t unique to comparable action RPGs, to a point where I’ve become numb to this type of presentation. 

Wear the Shell that best fits you

The Shells you get to control as a Foundling act like classes in the game and there are four in total, with each providing a series of unique passive traits that set up a specific playstyle. 

The first Shell is basic with balanced stats, while other Shells have more specific strengths that cater to certain playstyles. Shell Tiel, for instance, isn’t as durable as the others, but is blessed with a crazy amount of stamina, and equipped with passives that play around with poison effects. Shell Solomon has a large Resolve pool encouraging more use of weapon skills, and parrying. These Shells have fixed stats and abilities, so those expecting a fleshed out, in-depth character progression system will come out unsatisfied, as all you have control over is which passive skill to unlock with accumulated currency and experience. You’re simply given the choice to pick the weapon and Shell you would like to invest in rather than slowly creating a build from scratch, as there aren't any level-ups in Mortal Shell. 

The weapons in the game are also limited as Mortal Shell has only four melee weapons to collect with two abilities unique to each weapon, plus a ranged weapon called the Ballistazooka. Each of these weapons has a certain weight when they hit their targets, and a decent moveset that encourages experimentation in order to be effective in combat.

When it comes to combat, Mortal Shell is just like any other Souls-like game before it, with light and heavy attacks, plus a dodge button that determines the fate of each encounter. It has the signature lock-on targeting we are all familiar with, only with a painful camera position that feels lower than expected. I sometimes felt restricted in my line-of-sight, forcing me to release the lock-on to acquire a better view of the situation.

A slight change in the formula

Mortal Shell has a few fresh mechanics that set itself apart from the rest. Aside from how Shells work in this game, the other most noticeable mechanic is your form of defense - players can turn to stone for a few seconds with an ability called Harden at any time to provide protection from any damage source. It creates fun and clever openings during boss fights as you can activate Harden even during an attack animation, giving you the chance to maintain your momentum if done correctly. 

If you do find yourself getting hit even with Harden (and you will) and eventually dying, you are given a second chance, as the first time your health drops to zero, your character is removed from its Shell. If you succeed in possessing your Shell again during this time, it will result in a second chance with full life. There’s also parry - a high risk, high reward system that can be activated with Resolve (also used for weapon skills), a resource that builds up with each successful attack. A successful parry can also be customized to trigger different effects such as healing you, or attaching a bomb onto the enemy that will explode, damaging those nearby. 

There’s also a slight twist with consumables, since funnily enough, they improve the moment you’ve familiarized yourself with the item. I took a chance by eating poisonous mushrooms enough to maximize the familiarity bar and wouldn’t you know it, my character now gains immunity to poisons when taking them now. Filling up the familiarity bar of each item is an amusing way to explore what you pick up, as each new item will appear with no information, as it should be. 

Even with all of these mechanics working as intended for my survival, there’s no room for error as the game was kicking my ass constantly. I was struggling to progress, as death results in dropping all of your Tar (experience currency) on the floor. It suddenly becomes a pressure-infused gauntlet to reach the spot where you last died in order to prevent losing all of what you’ve accumulated. If you’ve played games like this, you know how it goes, but Mortal Shell doesn’t feel cheap when providing such an experience. It doesn’t try to do nasty tricks to trigger a sudden death, as most of my deaths were simply player errors such as using Harden at the wrong time, overextending myself, or performing a parry a bit too soon.

Difficult, but not enough to make me throw things

The bosses are the ultimate challenge, and it’s a test of patience and how comfortable you are with your chosen weapon and Shell. There were bosses that took multiple tries to complete, but nothing as difficult as most bosses found in other Souls-like games. Each boss just had the right amount of difficulty to make a player struggle, making it more accessible action RPG. but sadly, the overall encounters didn’t have a lasting effect on me once I'd bested them as the bosses looked and felt like pumped up versions of enemies found in Fellgrim. There weren't enough grand encounters, as most of them were uninspiring to say the least, and I didn't feel that sudden rush of satisfaction and relief after killing a boss that felt impossible to beat.

The path to each boss can be as difficult as the boss itself, since the enemies that populate the many locales can take you down even after fully upgrading a certain weapon or Shell, but that didn’t take away the enjoyment of exploring every hole you can crawl into, and unlocking their various secrets. However, the world isn't as big as I expected as it took me only around 12 hours to finish, delivering a short-lived but satisfying journey that left me interested in trying different Shells and weapons, as well as challenging myself further as I explored New Game+.

The limited customization options and amount of Shells and weapons available, the size of the world, and the fact that there’s no form of multiplayer is understandable for a studio with a team of just around 15 members, and at the same time, it's a big accomplishment as it ran smoothly on my PC rig all throughout my run.  

Cold Symmetry created a title that scratched my Souls-like itch just right but left me hoping there was more for me to overcome, as it wasn’t enough to fully satisfy the craving. What you have here is a game with so much potential that Mortal Shell is living proof that there’s more to be done in games like it, and if we get to see more of the world they’ve created, I'll be ready to inhabit a Shell once again and hopefully survive whatever they throw at me. 

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7/10

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Highlights

• Limited character customization options that could be a turn-off for some

• A fantastic atmosphere for a grim and bleak world

• Bosses are decent in difficulty, making it more accessible to a broader audience

• Harden skill provides a variety of different combat opportunities

What I’ve Played

• Spent 11 hours to finish my first playthrough

• Went through the game again in New Game+ for a few hours

• Unlocked all Shells and weapons, and maxing out the Tiel Shell

[This review is based on a PC review code provided by Cold Symmetry and Playstack.]

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