[Editor’s note: we got a late start on Mortal Shell, so through no fault of his own, our reviewer isn’t quite done with it yet. You can expect a full review up before the end of the week.]
Mortal Shell stabbed my ass the first few days – more than one of FromSoftware’s own Souls games, Bloodborne, as Sekiro ever did. On the bright side, if you’re looking for evidence that this Dark Souls lookalike could capture some of the brutally annoying spirit of the games that inspired it, my experience should serve as proof that yes, that makes it sure.
This is not one of those throwaway Dark Souls comparisons that has grown so common in recent decades when you talk about difficulties in one genre: You just can not talk about Mortal Shell without talking about Dark Souls. The flat-out looks, feels, and plays like a Souls game, right down to the oppressive creepy landscapes and the scattered NPCs mouth-watering cryptic questions. You see it yourself in the main character’s corridor and the fierce sword of difficulty from NPCs, who can cut the lion’s part of your health bar when you leave their land. Even the interface elements wavered along with homage and imitation, which in a way worried me that the other callbacks did not. Mortal Shell does not try to hide the fact that it is riffing on the creations of FromSoftware; instead, it proudly wears them like a robe, just as the main character wears the bodies of four dead adventurers.
And, yes. Those are the “mortal shells,” you see. Without them, the main character looks like a cheerful skeleton of sorts, or a bit like the armored alien engineers in the 2012 film Prometheus. to establish their own identity, and to a large extent with success. They are not just weapons packs; instead, they enable you to fight with the toy that (literally) best suits you. Since normal health and fitness upgrades do not exist in Mortal Shell, you will end up digging into one of these depending on the situation or your playing style. It’s a smart idea, because it’s relatively easy to find all the shells with some light to explore, and I would recommend grabbing them all early, so you do not encounter any problems I have encountered.
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I hate the starter one, a basic knight. He’s very slow and has balanced stats, so he does not mess well with my dodgy playstyle. I had a lot more fun (and success) when I found Tiel, and slipped in, a rough body with a pitiful health bar, but a massive fitness bar that makes dodging attacks infinitely easier. He is great to explore, as his dodge briefly transforms him into a cloud of smoke, making it easy to pass next passages with horrible enemies, such as a particularly memorable one who draws swords from his body and throws his poisoned head on you when he is in poor health.
Baaskes? I found myself better equipped to fight them with Eredrim, who has a monstrous HP bar that can shake most attacks, even though his stamina bar is laughable. Thing is, I did not find Eredrim before I was trapped in an icy catacom with the boss of one of Mortal Shell’s three large zones, which caused a fight even more run against me than I am used to in this genre.
Worse was that I was disconnected from the anvil, which is used to upgrade weapons (or even explore other zones for the other three weapons). And because the boss cleared the floor with me as Tiel, I had no choice but to improve Tiel, although I did not like that I was forced to do this by grinding the ‘tar’ and ‘glimpses’ that were needed to activate the perks of each shell. (At the same time, I’m thankful it was an option.) Tiel, for example, has something pretty awesome. With one perk, there is a small chance that any hits on your condition will remove damage, but not health. Another perk completely eliminates the conditioning costs from sprinting, allowing me to be more frequent. Even so, when I finally mastered the first phase of the battle, I almost cried when I saw his health bar go up again. But in time, with patience and timing, I got him down.
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Mortal Shell got a lot more comfortable when I got back where I could explore again. The moral of the story? Make sure you are fully prepared before jumping with three-foot ledges with no visible way to return. The ledge will eventually feel like a mountain, and Mortal Shell has no sympathy for you if you go too far too soon.
I could not have passed that roadblock without learning a few more of Mortal Shell’s tricks. From them, “hardening” is what really sets Mortal Shell apart. There is no traditional block button – instead you can “harden” to make yourself completely invulnerable from one hit, even in mid-range. Imagine that our bony hero soon becomes a statue, and you have some idea of what to expect. It’s a fun tactic that allows you to spend time on a devastating attack so that it hits after an enemy would have hit you. It also only has a cooldown of a few seconds, though that can feel like an eternity in plenty of village halls if you are attacked by multiple enemies.
And now we come to the reason why I’m having such a hard time with Mortal Shell. If you can have a parry perfect time (and you have enough bars filled in on your resolution meter), you can release a devastating riposte and get a good chunk of your health back. It sounds cool, it looks cool, and it might make you feel like a badass when you turn it off … but I never felt like I was gambling when I parried. When I thought I had learned the animations to look up, the parry would still fail sometimes. I spent a whole hour just teaching myself how to do it, and I would still say I’m only 20 percent better than I was. That’s a big switch from Sekiro, where I felt like I had been boss for a few hours. It’s part of the reason I stick to Tiel: it’s easier to simply avoid attacks.“
Fortunately, Mortal Shell offers an alternative method of healing for those of us who cannot treat its parrying. There is no “estus flask” here; instead you hear mushroom-like “weltcaps” that give back a dash of health. These respond to timers of five minutes, so you can stock up on a ton of them with enough patience. It’s a bit of a pain in the ass, but I was thankful I took the time to post them for the rest of my playthrough.
Mortal Shell can be a brutally hard game, but I’m glad it draws inspiration from Sekiro by giving you a second chance at sorts. When an enemy “kills” you, you get knocked out of whatever shell you carried and end up in your weak shell-less form; however, if you are able to return to your shell, you will be immediately returned to full health and fitness. However, if you knock out a second time, it’s back to the fire – as, ahem, Sister Genessa, an enigmatic lady filled with restless comments about the bodies you carry.When you return to your body, you regain all the tenderness and glimpses you had when you died – and just like in Jedi Fallen Order, you regain your health. When I was having trouble with that boss I used that well because I used my unappealing body as yet another health drink of sorts.
In design, all of Mortal Shell’s cards have much more in common with The Legend of Zelda than Dark Souls. There is a fetid swamp in the heart of the action, but the three great bosses live in distinct zones: a catacombs, a castle full of flames, and a forbidden tower complex with portals. You have to venture into each of them and grab a gland of each of the big bad guys for the final showdown. There really are no puzzles involved, but I love how the design invites exploration and a choice in progression. You can see that the emphasis is on choice in the shells as well, and the four upgradeable weapons you can earn at the beginning of each zone.
I’m having some issues with the combat system that goes beyond what my mediocre skills might be. Twice I was stuck in the lock-on animation when there was nothing to lock on, and at other times NPCs I was trying to bait would get stuck on the field. (For that thing, I did it once too.) In a game that requires such precision and punishes failure, loss due to a glitch is pretty outrageous, and Mortal Shell has used all of his free passes on that front.
All in all, I’m not quite sure I’m enjoying myself. For better or worse, that’s a really Dark Soulsy feeling, and Mortal Shell captures it better than any other Souls-like I’ve played. I will have my last thoughts for the next few days, once I am ready and find out if this is pain or pleasure. Until then, I have a gland to collect.
