Mortal Shell Reviews
Mortal Shell unleashes an astoundingly creative new combat mechanic in a brooding and strange world, but its meandering narrative, uninspired and confusing maps, and punishing-to-the-point-of-cheapness gameplay will test the patience of all but the most hardened of Soulslike fans.
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.
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.
Mortal Shell has a lot of things that allow it to be notable in its own right, but it makes it hard to forget that it's taking from a giant whose shadow it never truly escapes.
Mortal Shell boasts responsive combat and gorgeous visuals, but it's let down by rote level design, poor storytelling, and a general unfinished feel.
Mortal Shell is a brilliant take on the soulslike genre, but it is still unbalanced and far from the height reached by Dark Souls series.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Mortal Shell is a faithful homage to the games that came before it.
Mortal Shell is not a perfect game and still requires a bit of polishing but for a game this enjoyable to be developed by such a small team I'm excited to see what they have planned for the future. The potential to make Mortal Shell into a great franchise is definitely there and I hope to see another game in the series or DLC adding diverse bosses and more items to utilise the amazing elements they have introduced with this game.
Regardless of all its faults, I still believe Mortal Shell is a solid game. It transcends itself from being another Dark Souls imitation to an excellent game based on true inspiration. This is all the more impressive once you realize that a small studio of fifteen people developed a game with such high quality. Mortal shell is a remarkable love letter to FromSoftware's Staple series, and its asking price of $29.99 is just an added reason for why Souls fans especially should be picking up this game.
Cold Symmetry's Mortal Shell is a love letter to Dark Souls fans. This deep-action RPG sets you in a world with beasts and bosses to vanquish, along with a dark world to discover. Although exciting in its own ways--through difficult encounters and unique mechanics--it still has dislikable issues that don't hold the brightest candle to its inspirations.
I’ll tell you from playing The Virtuous Cycle I haven’t played Mortal Shell in many many months as we know it came out a year ago at this point, I forgot how good this game is, it’s such a great game. There’s a little bit of jank in it because it’s made by you know a handful of people, but honestly it’s just so much fun and I highly recommend checking out the DLC if you have a minute.
If you're a fan of action RPGs that are Souls-like, I'd probably suggest giving Mortal Shell at least one playthrough, or at least maybe waiting for a comprehensive map to be created by the community. With fun boss fights and good combat, Mortal Shell is one of the better Souls-like games around that's simply plagued by a lot of bad design choices.
Kudos to the team at Cold Symmetry. I hope more people pick up this game so that we can get a sequel somewhere down the road.
Mortal Shell is full of interesting ideas and awful execution; it’s certainly a unique attempt at a souls-like, and fittingly, it’s heavily flawed. It may be one of the nicest-looking games I’ve ever played when talking purely about the graphics and usage of shadows, but it’s also uninteresting to look at due to its drab locations.
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.
There’s some good to be found in Mortal Shell; its world is interesting and generally well designed, it looks lovely, and some of its boss fights really are exhilarating. But there are just so many aspects of it that will leave you frustrated, underwhelmed or disappointed.
Mortal Shell shines brightly as an example of the Souls formula done well. Anyone who is a fan of the challenging gameplay the genre is known for will be happy with this title.
Mortal Shell has left me fuming at times but the game’s impressive visuals, combat, and atmosphere will keep pulling me back for quite some time yet.
Mortal Shell surprises me a lot with its quality and value. It uses some of the best elements of masterpieces like Dark Souls, Sekiro and Bloodborne, but in the end and because of some special elements in gameplay like defense system and shell, it has its own unique character and vibe. As a 30 $ game, Mortal Shell has value and quality more than many AAA 60 $ games. Long story short, if you like hardcore games like Dark Souls, you should definitely play Mortal Shell.
Review in Persian | Read full review