The jarring contrast between immense vulnerability and raw untapped power simmers within you - maybe that’s because you’re running around stark naked and carrying a huge sword. The general sense of unease and tension in these early sections is palpable and feels disorienting by design.
The heavy-handed nature of this metaphor for birth is obvious as you’re thrust naked into this dangerous world, the kind of potent symbolism that evokes something like Alien. This novel mechanic forces the player to completely unlearn everything they know about Dark Souls, deconstructing hours and hours of muscle memory to approach combat encounters in a totally new way.Įarly on, you force your gangly body through the narrowest of anxiety-inducing tunnels before you’re thrust into a more familiar-looking terrestrial environment. Your key resource in combat is a Hardening ability that allows you to transform into stone with a single button press, even if you’re in the middle of swinging your sword. Are you yourself an alien? A god? A cursed prisoner? An animated magical statue? All of the above? You first awaken in what can only be described as a moist alien nightmare.
#Mortal shell best shell full#
The player character in Mortal Shell is an androgynous, otherworldly being who inhabits a series of four dead warriors - they're the “Mortal Shells” - that they find across a bog-filled landscape full of grimy thugs and nasty high fantasy monsters. Thanks to a brilliant introductory sequence that feels like something ripped out of a heady sci-fi movie, Mortal Shell clicks in a special way. It feels more like an actual video game and less like torture porn for people who love challenging themselves. Soulsborne fans will love Mortal Shell immediately, but newcomers to this subgenre might find it even more approachable. Many games struggle to emulate the experience and fail (I’m looking at you Jedi: Fallen Order), but Mortal Shell feels like a spectacular homage to the work of FromSoftware’s Hidetaka Miyazaki that carves out its own path. The official website even overtly describes it as “soulslike,” an overused term applied to virtually every action RPG. What this small team does with a short playtime is nothing short of astounding.Įverything from the core gameplay loops to the overall aesthetic - including game menus and loading screens - make it abundantly clear that Mortal Shell is an exhaustive love letter to everything Dark Souls. Not only was this haunting, polished action-RPG created by a core team of only about 15 developers at the indie studio Cold Symmetry, but it might be the best Dark Souls game ever, despite not having any official affiliation with the franchise.
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