Mortal Shell Review

Beyond the ordinary ... There is a threshold that everyone should transgress. Mortal shells desperately yearn to see meaning.

Death is an important part of life. Perhaps that is why any people striving for immortality or who have long comprehended its secret are portrayed as villains. Still, a process that excludes death means the loss of humanity.

The protagonist of Mortal Shell cannot be killed once and for all. No matter how many times he falls during the fight, he comes to life. However, this "gift" turned him into a fragile shell. Therefore, in order to achieve the task, he has to move into the bodies of the "fallen" warriors. As we unlock shell skills, their memories are unlocked as well. We learn about the missions to which they dedicated their lives. And the main character in this sense goes into the background. This is the character we know the least about.

For the first time, a system of constant rebirth was woven into the lore of Dark Souls : we constantly rose from the grave, which was canonically explained by the curse of the undead. Mortal Shell takes it a step further and explores why the life of an immortal is considered a curse. The game does not have a lot of plot, but the developers managed to convey the whole atmosphere of what is happening through the picture, which clearly highlights Mortal Shell against the background of other games of the subgenre.

Mortal Shell is the first attempt at Cold Symmetry developers. We still do not know these people, where they came from, where they worked before, but there are definitely talented individuals in the studio. The game cannot be called a mass product, but it still looks about on par with an average AAA project. With the exception of a few small bugs, the game is well tuned and polished, looks reliable - these are the qualities that are considered decisive for any hardcore action game. More importantly, the team appears to have studied From Software well, capturing both the mechanics and tone of the Dark Souls series. Few teams manage to capture even one of these aspects of the title that we've all come to look up to.

Players can fight in more familiar third-person melee combat, where your every move consumes stamina. Mechanics familiar to any Souls-like project. Instead of a shield, you can turn into a stone that absorbs all incoming damage, but only once, and after that the skill recharge is required.

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In addition to petrification, parry also belongs to the protective elements. Anyone who has experienced problems with this mechanic in Sekiro is unlikely to adapt to it in Mortal Shell as well. However, if you put in the effort and can find the right moment to parry, you will make future fights much easier. The peculiarity of the parry system is that it is not only a defensive action, but also a mechanic that allows you to restore some of your health and counterattack the enemy. Sometimes even in a deadly way, if you have enough determination.

Mortal Shell does not have an Estus flask equivalent. Consumables that restore vitality are ineffective, and at the same time they look very unusual. As a result, as you progress through the game, the player will begin to rely on the ability to fight with the main weapon, as well as on petrification and parry.

Unlike many similar games , Mortal Shell does not contain RPG elements. While each of the four skins has its own unique skill trees that occasionally increase stats on a permanent basis, they are all predetermined. Venerable Eredrim will always be the tank, Thiel the most nimble, and Solomon has the most resolve, allowing you to use your weapon skills more often with him. Harros , starting shella is the most balanced option.

You can also unlock only a limited range of weapons. As always, the stronger warrior, Eredrim, is best used with the blade of the Great Martyr (analogous to a large two-handed sword), while the more nimble Til will use a hammer and chisel.

Souls-like games are known for their mystique, storytelling, and this has inspired the developers of Mortal Shell to add many jokes to the notes on each item.

Initially, we are hardly told who we are, where we are, or what we need to do. But each time a new shell skill is unlocked, that moment is followed by a narrative paragraph in which we are told about that person's life experience. As the shells improve, we get a better picture of who these individuals were, learn more about the world.

Of course, not all Cold Symmetry solutions look justified. For example, force us to useobject for the first time, before we know what exactly it gives. Thus, we often spend either something vital, or impose on ourselves, for example, the effect of poisoning. For half of the game, I thought that to change the shells you need to return to Fallgrim Tower every time, and then I realized that the figures of Eredrim and other shells I found allow you to switch between them anywhere in the world.

After all, even parries in Mortal Shell can only be done after we get a special item, a rune. Although it is located in a relatively conspicuous place, it is quite possible to walk past the item, to another part of the location, and find it much later, after obtaining the first gland.

Being a staunch Dark Souls fan, I have personally tested almost all Souls-like titles. And no one has yet managed to make a "DS clone" as good as Cold Symmetry in Mortal Shell . The developers not only used the fundamentals of the genre, but also added unique mechanics to the formula. Mortal Shell is the only imitator that can match the classics of the genre (the works of From Software). And although the game is much more fleeting (it will take about 12-14 hours to complete), it is no less beautiful, memorable and worth the money. Recommended.