Mortal Shell Reviews
Not without its quirks and issues, Mortal Shell is a fun and unrelenting good time. Shell-swapping makes the experience unique, while its combat and world are ripe for experimentation and exploration. Though unabashedly inspired by other games in its genre, Mortal Shell warrants a play from the most die-hard of fans.
Mortal Shell retains the best elements of the genre - weighty combat, tension, exploration, and progression - and succeeds in refining a deep and beloved genre in ways that feel rewarding, familiar, and new, all at the same time.
Mortal Shell is one of the year's biggest gaming surprises, offering a deep, fascinating journey into a melancholic world. It takes blatant inspiration from Dark Souls and Bloodborne,. But innovative tweaks to its combat and progression mechanics let it easily stand on its own two feet.
For any fans of the Soulslike genre looking for a new addition to their collection, Mortal Shell is worth the time. While there is room for Cold Symmetry to expand upon their ideas here and make improvements, they have absolutely proved their value as creative minds and talented developers.
With beautiful environments and plenty to discover, Mortal Shell is a compelling world to explore. After a steep learning curve, its combat is challenging but fascinating, and with a great sense of reward once you master it. It might be a little too similar to Dark Souls in terms of overall tone and style, but it brings enough new ideas functionally to make it stand out from the crowd. Ultimately, this is a great entry into a demanding sub-genre that fans won't want to miss.
More in line with From Software's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice than a traditional Soulslike, Mortal Shell offers a short and sweet take on the hardcore action RPG formula by focusing the player to harden up and push the offensive in order to create the perfect defense.
Mortal Shell is a enjoyable Dark Souls-like, with a few good ideas and a charming dark fantasy world but the execution is clearly not perfect.
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Mortal Shell gives players the closest experience to Dark Souls they've had since playing Dark Souls itself. If you're looking for a solid Action RPG that is reasonably priced to hold you over until Elden Ring or Demon's Souls Remake, Mortal Shell should be atop your list. It's not going to blow your mind, but for 30 USD it's hard to ask for much more.
Mortal Shell is not the perfect Souls-like game out there, but it’s most certainly one of the best ones. It has its glaring flaws, but they’re drowned out by the amazing craftsmanship of the game’s creators and their taste for distinction.
Mortal Shell is an excellent first game from Cold Symmetry and although light on content, I cannot wait to see more of Mortal Shell down the line.
Mortal Shell is an excellent entry in the Souls-like space with some fantastic ideas around character progression and combat, but is unfortunately let down by a health system that discourages exploration and an element of tedium that unnecessarily pads out encounters.
It may seem daunting and punishing, and it is. But its visual beauty and aesthetic has me compelled to explore more of this world and the Shells that inhabit it.
Far from being a pretender, Mortal Shell is a sometimes exceptional entry to the genre. Its stumbles are noticeable only because there is so much to enjoy.
If you're willing to devote a weekend to its mood of windbitten despondency (it's only fifteen or so hours long), you will not emerge from Mortal Shell unrewarded.
With a haunting and beautiful world as a backdrop to a solid "Souls-like" RPG, Mortal Shell is a much better game than it has any right to be. The magnificent presentation, mixed with the unique take on character progression, steals the show here and despite dying dozens upon dozens of times, I was hooked from the moment that combat started making sense to me.
Unfortunately Mortal Shell just feels like a bad Dark Souls game, while I enjoyed it initially, the more I played the more it wore away my enjoyment. The few unique features it has do make the game feel slightly unique but its world-building, combat and enemies pale in comparison to its inspiration. The bad AI and other small issues do little to complement what could have been an enjoyable title. There are far better games in the genre.
Mortal Shell has enough fresh ideas to set itself apart and takes enough inspiration from existing titles to create a unique experience for veterans of the genre and new-comers alike.
Wonderfully captures the atmosphere and combat of Souls games, but without enough tools to experiment with and an AI that's easy to abuse, Mortal Shell lacks meat on its bones.
For the hardcore crowd that’s made it this far, congratulations! You will love this game, no two ways about it. For everyone else, heed my warning: Mortal Shell is just as brutal and beautiful as you’re imagining.