![]() ![]() As the remains of humanity wither and rot, zealous foes fester in the ruins. It will be available on Steam in 2021.Mortal Shell is a deep action-RPG that tests your sanity and resilience in a shattered world. You can pre-purchase the game on the Epic Games Store for $30. Mortal Shell will be available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC via the Epic Games Store later this year. Mortal Shell did an excellent job at this in the bit I played, and I can't wait for the full release to really punish myself. It captures what made Dark Souls' difficulty so endearing: once you overcome that obstacle that's had you stuck for a while, you get this intense feeling of euphoria and satisfaction. Frankly, if you wanted a harder version of From Software's classic, Mortal Shell is for you. It's not that aping Dark Souls is a terrible thing. Overall, I don't want to sound negative, and it was never my intention to do so. Still, I have over ten years of experience with Soulsborne using a controller, and muscle memory is difficult to overcome. I always play Souls-likes with a controller, but the keyboard and mouse set up worked much better than From Software has ever been able to accomplish. Cold Symmetry sent me the PC version via the Epic Games Store the game crashed to my desktop several times, and it didn't handle Alt+Tab or Nvidia's In-Game Overlay well at all. Granted, I played a pre-launch build, so I expect many bugs and glitches to be ironed out before the actual release. Twice, I parried an enemy, and then I went flying in the air, landing some small distance away on my back and obviously missing the riposte window.Įnemies teleported a lot, suddenly appearing before me in an attack animation that was impossible to dodge or block. Enemies have insane tracking abilities, so your dodges have to be on point. Stability-wise, Mortal Shell presented me with a lot of cheap deaths. Your blocking ability is on a cooldown, so no turtling up in this game. They essentially act as your build, but instead of speccing your character for STR, DEX, INT, etc, you use the shell that feels best to you and expands upon it once you "learn its name."Īlso, you need to block intelligently. These shells all have subtleties in their combat styles, different strengths, and a variety of ways to play. The latter trades health and defense for a shade step dodge and a boatload of stamina. In the demo, I got to play with two shells: a knight-like warrior and a thief. These act as the class system, affecting your appearance, movement abilities, and so on. What does Mortal Shell do differently? Well, throughout the game, you can acquire different shells. Your block ability is on a cooldown, so no turtling up in this game. But you need a resource called Resolve to parry, which is acquired by killing enemies and consuming certain items. Souls are called Glimpses in Mortal Shell, opening the menus doesn't pause the game, and parry gods are rewarded for their skill. ![]() ![]() Die again, and you're thrown back to the last checkpoint. Assuming you manage to return to your shell, you only have one more shot. If you get hit before you reunite, you're actually dead. It follows the formula to a T, except that when you die, you have one chance to return to your shell. There's even a new Maiden in Black/Emerald Herald/Doll/Firekeeper for you to interact with. Hell, the loading screens with random item descriptions are there. Now, from what I can tell, the developers are unabashedly Soulsborne fans themselves, and it definitely shows. Not just a copycat, mind, but an attempt at a carbon copy. Mortal Shell tries so hard to evoke memories of Dark Souls that it begins to feel like a clone. Other games in this genre have tried to add their own spin. The game does have its own gimmicks, but they're not unique enough to draw attention away from the Souls-like label. Everything feels familiar, but it doesn't quite look like the original. It's like looking at Dark Souls through a dirty, distorted mirror. So what's wrong? The short of it is, Mortal Shell doesn't offer anything new. Source: Cold Symmetry (Image credit: Source: Cold Symmetry) ![]()
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