077REVIEW
INFO
FORMAT PS4
ETA OUT NOW
PUB PLAYSTACK
DEV COLD SYMMETRYMORTAL SHELL
Cracking the Dark Souls’ magic formula?
T
he thing about nakedly copying one
of the most-lauded games of all time
is you invite a comparison that’s
inevitably going to be unflattering.
Mortal Shell is the latest in a long line of
‘soulslikes’, games eager to be Dark Souls. Yet
the closer these games get to the original, the
clearer the gulf between them becomes.Slow, deliberate combat with parries and heavy
swings, against deadly enemies who should never
be underestimated. A hub for your upgrades and
NPCs. Lore drip-fed through item descriptions.
A currency for levelling up that’s lost upon death.
Where Dark Souls transports you to the main
world via a giant crow, Mortal Shell opts for a big
fish. It’s familiar but not comforting.
Dark Souls is vague but it throws a big, fancy
cinematic to kick things off before you enter its
mysterious world. Mortal Shell instead banks
fully on ambiguity, withholding even the smallest
morsel of plot, dropping you in with nothing to
go on. So far, so Dark Souls.
Mortal Shell is a game that also shamelessly
embraces the notorious difficulty of its
inspiration. Crucially though, its difficulty tipsinto feeling plain sadistic. An
early boss fight where you’re
dropped through a trap door
each time and forced to lose
a chunk of health before the
fight feels like a cruel joke.
Bosses are basic, with difficulty
inflated solely by cheap tricks.
You play as an undead figure
who can possess the bodies
of fallen warriors. These four
‘shells’ effectively fill out the
archetypal RPG classes, even if
they broadly overlap. There’s
little customisation (visual or
otherwise) and you’re locked
into your shell till you find
another one. All the joys of
fine-tuning a build are minimal
here and there’s never any
sense of self-expression.SHELL SHOCKED
It’s not entirely devoid of
charm. After a brief tutorial,
where its aesthetic aspiration
to be a perpetual Nine Inch
Nails album cover makes itself
felt, it seems like Mortal Shell
might just build a little of its
own character – but once you
leave this swamp the fall off in
charm is steep indeed.From here you go to abstract
expanses of dull rock and stone.
Dark Souls would tuck a giant
hydra in a lake down the back
of a castle; Mortal Shell repeats
the same series of gloomy
rooms with the odd palette
swap or change of weather.
This is Mortal Shell’s
problem. It feels thin, trying to
offer everything you’ve come
to expect but stretched too
far, with whole areas feeling
slapped together in a hurry,
enemies thoughtlessly lined up
not as inhabitants but simply
as obstacles. You never feel like
you’re existing in this world.
There have been many
attempts to make a game
like Dark Souls and few have
even come close. Mortal Shell
succeeds in only in killing off
my interest in this narrow
me-too sub-genre.SOULS-LESS @sammgreerVERDICTAs you progress and leave the
swamp, the world becomes
drab and less interesting.Despite tweaks to the formula
and some interesting ideas,
Mortal Shell is tired and familiar
while also much less than its
inspiration. This Dark-Souls-like
should stay dead. Sam Greer“BOSSES ARE BASIC, WITH
DIFFICULTY INFLATED SOLELY
BY CHEAP TRICKS.”
077REVIEW
INFO
FORMATPS4
ETAOUTNOW
PUBPLAYSTACK
DEVCOLDSYMMETRY
MORTAL SHELL
Cracking the Dark Souls’ magic formula?
T
he thing about nakedly copying one
of the most-lauded games of all time
is you invite a comparison that’s
inevitably going to be unflattering.
Mortal Shell is the latest in a long line of
‘soulslikes’, games eager to be Dark Souls. Yet
the closer these games get to the original, the
clearer the gulf between them becomes.Slow, deliberate combat with parries and heavy
swings, against deadly enemies who should never
be underestimated. A hub for your upgrades and
NPCs. Lore drip-fed through item descriptions.
A currency for levelling up that’s lost upon death.
Where Dark Souls transports you to the main
world via a giant crow, Mortal Shell opts for a big
fish. It’s familiar but not comforting.
Dark Souls is vague but it throws a big, fancy
cinematic to kick things off before you enter its
mysterious world. Mortal Shell instead banks
fully on ambiguity, withholding even the smallest
morsel of plot, dropping you in with nothing to
go on. So far, so Dark Souls.
Mortal Shell is a game that also shamelessly
embraces the notorious difficulty of its
inspiration.Cruciallythough,itsdifficultytipsinto feeling plain sadistic. An
early boss fight where you’re
dropped through a trap door
each time and forced to lose
a chunk of health before the
fight feels like a cruel joke.
Bosses are basic, with difficulty
inflated solely by cheap tricks.
You play as an undead figure
who can possess the bodies
of fallen warriors. These four
‘shells’ effectively fill out the
archetypal RPG classes, even if
they broadly overlap. There’s
little customisation (visual or
otherwise) and you’re locked
into your shell till you find
another one. All the joys of
fine-tuning a build are minimal
here and there’s never any
sense of self-expression.SHELL SHOCKED
It’s not entirely devoid of
charm. After a brief tutorial,
whereitsaestheticaspiration
tobea perpetualNineInch
Nailsalbumcovermakesitself
felt,it seemslikeMortalShell
mightjustbuilda littleofits
owncharacter–butonceyou
leavethisswampthefalloffin
charmis steepindeed.From here you go to abstract
expanses of dull rock and stone.
Dark Souls would tuck a giant
hydra in a lake down the back
of a castle; Mortal Shell repeats
the same series of gloomy
rooms with the odd palette
swap or change of weather.
This is Mortal Shell’s
problem. It feels thin, trying to
offer everything you’ve come
to expect but stretched too
far, with whole areas feeling
slapped together in a hurry,
enemies thoughtlessly lined up
not as inhabitants but simply
as obstacles. You never feel like
you’re existing in this world.
There have been many
attempts to make a game
like Dark Souls and few have
even come close. Mortal Shell
succeeds in only in killing off
my interest in this narrow
me-toosub-genre.SOULS-LESS @sammgreer
VERDICTAs you progress and leave the
swamp, the world becomes
drab and less interesting.Despite tweaks to the formula
and some interesting ideas,
Mortal Shell is tired and familiar
while also much less than its
inspiration. This Dark-Souls-like
should stay dead. Sam Greer“BOSSES ARE BASIC, WITH
DIFFICULTY INFLATED SOLELY
BY CHEAP TRICKS.”