There are few things elicit eye rolling quite as quickly as the words ‘Souls-like‘. Many have tried to recreate that oh-so-sweet combat and the foreboding worlds that the team at From Software have perfected over the years. Most have failed. Yet here we are with another young pretender in the shape of Mortal Shell.
As someone who is more than familiar with this style of game and has played their fair share of howlers, I came at it with tentative expectations. It definitely looks the part but the tutorial doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that it’s going to do much different. It would have been really easy to write it off as another copy cat but this game shouldn’t be underestimated. Be prepared not only to die, but to be in for a few pleasant surprises.
Aggressive Genre-Mate
The game opens with a nameless husk awakening in a place that feels like limbo. The tutorial then gives you the basics of combat and introduces the hardening mechanic – a special ability that sees the character becoming as hard as rock and lets them tank through any attack. Hardening has a cooldown period though to prevents spamming out of every sticky situation. It’s an interesting replacement for shields and encourages aggressive play.
Employing hardening during an attack sees the animation play out once struck and adds a little more power to the hit. It also gives a little bit of breathing room to recover some stamina to keep the attacks flowing.
A quick boss battle ends the tutorial and then you are dumped into the game proper. Crawling through what feels like an endless tunnel, you are eventually welcomed by the misty forests of Fallgrim with little explanation of your purpose. You’ll stumble upon the first of the titular shells and have to fumble about figuring out how everything works.
Chemical Familiarity
And I mean everything – items lack descriptions and must be consumed to see what the effects are. The more an item is used, the more familiar you become with them and this in turn changes how items work. For example, healing items become more potent and mushrooms that were once poisonous now give a resistance buff. Even the shells that you inhabit have no background information and this needs to be gleaned from the environment or an NPC.
Speaking of the shells, the four available serve as different character builds. The usual cast of tank, all rounder and rogue type are all catered for here, it’s just a case of finding them. Each of them have varying HP and stamina levels as well as different skills that can be unlocked. Everyone will find their favourite and for me it was Solomon as he had decent health and stamina pools which let me play to my preferred style.
As expected the whole world is out to kill you and health is tough to come by. Mortal Shell doesn’t provide an equivalent to the estus flask and whilst healing items respawn they take a while to reappear. Not only that but the health benefits are pretty pitiful. With enemies congregating in sizeable groups it’s easy to take a few hits so it helps to get familiar with the parry and riposte system as well as managing the hardening cool down.
Right Back at Ya
In fact, parry and riposte is probably the most important system at play in Mortal Shell. In lieu of an item that can quickly boost health, learning how to successfully use it can be a life saver. Execute it correctly and you can steal health from whatever you hit. Whilst parry and hardening are encouraged above all else, dodging also offers a very generous invincibility window. However, death is inevitable and here is where we are introduced to the one of the unique mechanic the game offers.
Upon suffering a life ending blow, the impact rends you from the shell. From here you become a fragile husk that can be killed in one hit. If you can get back to the shell without being hit, you jump back in with full health and you’re ready to go again. Suffer this same fate twice and it’s back to the last checkpoint with XP being dropped with the corpse. Just like the Souls games, if you can make it back then the spoils are yours again. Consumables can be used to restore this ability and unlockable skills can also reset it if you kill enough enemies. It’s a nice idea that’s clearly been inspired by Sekiro, just done in a slightly more interesting way. It’s just a shame that checkpoints are so few and far between, leading to long slogs through fraught with danger.
Souls-lite
Combat is challenging but once you get into the flow it becomes pretty easy to deal with most things. Patience and learning attack patterns has always been key in these types of games and here it is no different. It also offers a good variety of enemy types from easy to fell marauders to hulking suits of armour. Attack wind ups are well telegraphed and it’s only over confidence that will see you stumble. Weapons hit hard and delivering a consistent onslaught sees enemies stagger, opening them up for some more brutal special attacks. It’s only when you reach a boss that things get a little tougher.
Usually playing out over several phases with changing attack patterns and heightened aggression, the bosses put up a decent fight. Well, that is until you realise that just keeping your distance and using hardening at every opportunity is the best strategy. It was a little disappointing to see that the fights could be broken so easily. Throw in a few well timed parries and you can scythe massive chunks off their health bars. The Souls games made these epic fights something to look forward to, but here they felt a little underwhelming.
As for weaponry, things are a little paltry with only four available. Like the shells, these must also be found in the world and are unlocked by defeating the boss from the tutorial in one on one combat. Whilst the standard swords on offer are fun and require a different approach to how they are used, the most fun can be had with the hammer and chisel. High speed, high impact and easy on the stamina bar, this was my go to tool of death and destruction.
Foreboding
The world that Cold Symmetry have built for Mortal Shell is wonderfully foreboding. Fallgrims forest acts as a hub for the three main dungeons, each offering unique looking environments. Whether it’s icy caves or something more unusual like a castle built on gigantic black obsidian rocks, everything is beautifully detailed and helps sell the idea of a crumbling world. It’s just a shame that it all feels so unconnected.
Each dungeon has one way in and it’s the same way out. What’s interesting here though, is that once the area boss has been defeated the dungeon changes. Enemy placement is different, it’s all a lot darker and more difficult to see what’s lurking in the distance. Enemies might be harder or come in larger numbers. The level layout might also change with some paths being blocked or new routes being opened. It was unexpected and makes escaping the dungeon just as difficult as getting in.
Gimme a Sequel
Mortal Shell checks all of the familiar boxes and borrows more than a few ideas but this is actually one of the success stories. It forges its own path with some fantastic and unique mechanics but it’s impossible to play it without seeing the influences on every surface. The obtuse world building drew me in like few other games do and the challenging combat kept me coming back for one more attempt. Mortal Shell has set the roots down for an interesting new franchise and I’d love to see more from the team.
Have you tried Mortal Shell? Did you find it to be a competent entry to the genre? Let us know in the comments below.