It’s finally happened – I’ve managed to play a Soulsbourne game and finally, after hours of dedication and struggles, was able to see the end credits. I pushed through every challenging battle, every stupid mistake, and persevered. Yes, I’ve made the newest entry in the genre, Mortal Shell my bitch, and I enjoyed almost every second of it.

I began the journey by stepping into the shoes of The Foundling, a mysterious, mouthless creature that looks like he’s inside-out; heavily resembling a leaner version of Glacius from the Killer Instinct franchise, awakening in a gloomy world that leans heavily on the horror realm. With little guidance (par for the course in this type of experience), I set off to figure out what the Hell I was, why I was wandering around as a ghost of sorts, and what I needed to do to go back to sleep. As a first, I was actually able to answer most of these questions and will leave it at that so you can follow the same path I did.

The game follows the typical Dark Souls layout almost play for play, but offers some unique mechanics that are a first in the genre (to my knowledge and experience, at least). The biggest change is the removal of the block ability almost completely; in its place is the option to turn to stone at will, limited by a short recharge akin to a stamina bar. This is noteworthy because it can be done at any time, even mid-attack. When paired with the parry and dodge abilities, The Foundling is a force to be reckoned with. The second ability is, as the title alludes, the option to inhabit fallen bodies of long-dead warriors, or shells, that each includes their own pros and cons as well as unique playstyles that function as your classes. This new take not only adds some variety to the combat, but gives you a mulligan in the event you make a misstep and take too much damage as this sends The Foundling flying from the shell once your life bar is depleted, leaving you vulnerable, as our protagonist can only take a single hit before death when in its true form. Once ejected like a crash test dummy, you’ll be forced to either finish out the battle, which is a thrilling achievement if successful, or make a strategic retreat to work back to your puppet, only to be treated with a fully refreshed health bar.

The shell system is a welcome change to the tried and true gameplay, but leaves some room for improvement since there are only four (yes, single digits) different shells to be found, and they are locked into the equipment they died with. You can upgrade each shell as you progress by dumping buckets of XP into the various stats, but beyond that, you get what you get. Additionally, the XP you spend on the shell is limited to that specific character, thus making each new shell feel as if it’s a step backward in the difficulty.

Despite my ability to dominate the combat in this venture, contrary to my past with the Soulsbourne style games, it is still quite challenging. You’ll need to master the mixture of light and heavy attacks that feel like they really pack a reasonable punch, as well as the hardening, dodge, and parrying abilities to succeed. What really made the difference was not only the second chance offered by the shell system, but the sheer amount of drops I received. These bring an additional layer of difficulty into the early hours. Initially, they are just as big of a mystery as the rest of the game – requiring you to actually use each one to figure out what the Hell it does.

Despite being developed by a team of 15 people, the game has AAA quality seeping from the brim in every facet. The visuals are near immaculate and sell the horror-ish fantasy vibe in each of the game’s major areas with almost picture-perfect detail. From the water ripple effects to the stone textures, everything looks as amazing or terrifying as you’d expect, especially the character models that spit out a reasonable amount of gore in response to your attacks.

The varied cast of enemies look just as stellar as the backdrops you’ll explore, each with their own standard hints that allude to which attack is coming. After a few battles when the patterns have been memorized, these do become slightly repetitive, but are satisfying none the less. The real meat comes when you encounter the bosses that are as varied as they are horrifying. As you’d expect, they are the hardest battles in the game, and each focuses heavily on one of The Foundling’s dodge or parrying abilities.

I was mildly concerned with the long list of pre-release bugs that were included with the code, none of which stood out during my playthrough and a half, as New Game+ is a thing here. The one issue I experienced is likely a one-off in which I was knocked into next Tuesday from my shell and was lost in a never-ending vortex of swirling black and white lines that resulted in the game crashing completely after a few seconds in this state. Otherwise, the game ran flawlessly and my only real, legitimate complaint is I wanted more, as the 10ish hour completion time on my first playthrough left me salivating.

Mortal Shell is by far my favorite entry into the ever-growing Soulsbourne genre. Not just because it was something that I could finally see through to its completion, but due to the complete package coming together in something that was familiar, yet different enough to keep me pushing forward through the credits. If you’ve been jaded by this type of game in the past, this one might be just the right balance for you. If you’re a veteran, I can assure you there is enough here to keep you busy for a few hours, just don’t expect the expansive size that FROMsoftware is known for.

9 out of 10

Pros

• Stone and Shell Mechanics
• Stunning Visuals Across the Board
• Challenging Boss Battles
• Satisfying Combat

Cons

• A Little on the Short Side
• Only Four Weapons/Classes

Mortal Shell was developed by Cold Symmetry and published by Playstack. It launched on PC, PS4, and X1. The game was provided to us for review on X1. If you’d like to see more of Mortal Shell, check out the official site.

 

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