Review for Mortal shell. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 30/09/2020
At his announcement Mortal Shell immediately seemed like something more than the classic indie title produced by a young studio, unknown until then. To confirm this, Cold Symmetry almost immediately dropped an important trio of aces thanks to the strong community that was soon created around Mortal Shell, the commercial agreement for the temporary exclusivity in the PC field on the Epic Games Store and for the availability of the title in a very short time compared to its official announcement.
Nevertheless, to draw the most attention to Mortal Shell was that almost natural comparison with the creatures FromSoftware born from the brilliant mind of Hidetaka Miyazaki.
No surprise then, Mortal Shell is absolutely soulslike and it seems that Cold Symmetry didn't want to hide this "dark soul" that permeates around his first work., published by Playstack. So already from the initial menus and the game interface there is a strong sense of déjà vu which, fortunately, is appeased by some stylistic and gameplay choices that aim to distance Mortal Shell from such an important ancestor, to direct it towards its own distinct and recognizable identity. However, it should be noted that this task is not fully accomplished and this is evident in the first place by noting an attempt to focus on a nebula lore, intricate and mysterious but not able to create a vivid, fascinating and profound world and this does not help the lack of those charismatic NPCs that characterized the Souls and that , thanks to the various subplots, they were able to glue and do justice to a complex but satisfying narrative.
Secondly the exploration and discovery of the few game locations fails to arouse that amazing discovery effect characteristic of the Souls and which on several occasions has made forgiveness for any ambush or very strong enemy thought by those who wanted to make things difficult for the players.
In spite of these common elements, Mortal Shell immediately makes it clear that it wants to detach itself from the Souls, not leaving the player free to customize his alter ego and instead introducing the different faces that the same protagonist, Foundling, will "wear" during his path to save a shattered world.
Forget the classes, the breakdown into statistics typical of role-playing games and the physical customization of our character, the protagonist of Mortal Shell is an immortal made of weak, naked and raw flesh, however, able to become imperforable, petrifying one's body, and changeable, thanks to the possibility of occupying the Enclosures, now empty remains and belonging to mortal souls fallen in battle.
Here is the first peculiar feature of Mortal Shell: allow the player to switch between the four available Enclosures, modifying the fighting style and physical characteristics. To do this, it will be necessary first of all to discover the places where these mortal remains rest, and then to be able to “wear” them and start exploiting their abilities. We will therefore see that, to switch from one of the Enclosures to another, we will have two options: visit our "base" or use ad hoc consumables capable of evoking them.
Our “happy island” within Mortal Shell will be represented by a dilapidated tower, equivalent to the Dark Souls bonfire, in which we will be greeted by Sister Genessa and the few NPCs in the game, and in which we will place the Enclosures we recovered. Here then, within the Fallgrim forest, we will easily find Harros, a well-balanced swordsman suitable for the initial stages of the game, with which we will go to master the combat system designed by Cold Symmetry. Later we will discover Solomon, Tiel and Eredrim, each with its own story of which we will discover more details every time we go to unlock one of the basic and peculiar abilities that characterize each shell.
During the combat phases, wearing our casing, we will take advantage of a simple alternation between two types of attack, roll dodge, petrifaction and special attacks that can be used by consuming the Determination bar, and inherent in the four weapons that we are going to recover (plus a fifth, extra, the Balestrazooka). All these actions will integrate with the peculiar abilities of each envelope, which can be learned by spending Tar (equivalent to souls and can also be used as a trading currency) and Visions.
In the exploration phases but, above all, in the challenging Boss Fight it will be necessary to carefully weigh not only which weapon to use but, above all, which shell to use to be able to place ourselves in a situation as close as possible to that of advantage on tough enemies with an important vital bar.
Death characterizes the title and, like any self-respecting souls-like, it will come easily and on the first occasion in which we are going to underestimate an enemy. However due to its nature as a host, the Foundling will die hard: if health goes to zero, we will be expelled from our shell and we can try to end the battle with our true appearance (but with a very small life bar) or recover our shell (in this case we will see our health completely restored). In case of complete defeat we will lose all our Tar and we will be brought back to the last safe zone where Sister Genessa will have taken care of our mortal remains: we can then return to the place of the crime to recover all that we had collected up to that moment or lose everything permanently in case of defeat.
A note not to be underestimated concerns consumables useful for restoring health: they will be truly precious goods and able to return very small portions of health. A choice probably dictated by the characteristic of the Foundling and which does not preclude the enjoyment of the title, although it often leads to frustrating game phases in which the escape from the enemies will prove to be the only solution to not lose all the progress made up to that moment.
Mortal Shell is developed through Unreal Engine 4 in a discreet way, with a satisfactory graphic rendering, especially in the boss fight, and accompanied by a balanced sound sector that hides truly enveloping and evocative pieces inside, especially when the lute is used. To the detriment of the good conditions, the quality level of the textures and of the sector is generally fluctuating. Here, then, that on the one hand we will have our casings and certain enemies that are really well defined, while on the other hand we will find secondary enemies and all too anonymous settings.
But beyond the technical aspects, the title does not show an artistic excellence capable of making Mortal Shell unforgettable: explore the areas around the Fallgrim tower, pivotal place of the game from which it will be possible to reach the few other locations through impervious paths or rare shortcuts in the form of tunnels, it will not provoke, except on rare occasions, that hoped-for “wow” effect. A real shame because Cold Symmetry shows a certain attention to detail and the dynamics of the fights, with a stable frame rate even if downhill in certain more excited phases.
The discourse of not judging a book by the cover for many indie titles is really a dogma but Mortal Shell, despite the good premises, unfortunately fails to break through on the gameplay front. The original gimmicks are partly nullified mainly due to a lack of precision in the combat phases (this is especially noticeable in the attachment system of the enemy) and by a mostly scripted AI, which moves according to the movements of our character and performs actions and attacks in a cyclical manner.
There is therefore a lack of a variety of situations that can make each fight unique and challenging, leaving room for a sort of script already written since the second encounter with the same enemy. In any case, and perhaps also thanks to these defects, Mortal Shell proves to be fun, challenging, difficult and hectic especially in the game phases characterized by hordes of bloodthirsty enemies. Despite its good level of challenge, the Cold Symmetry work turns out to be scarcely long-lived, devoid of a multiplayer component, and with a variability between 10 and 20 hours of play. Hardly replayable except to unlock all the achievments of the case and discover any hidden chests. In view of the release of the physical version of the game, we are curious to find out if there will be post-launch support through DLC and additional content.
Mortal Shell is a good title and could also become a small cult for fans of the soulslike genre. However, despite the attempt to make himself different and recognizable, he ends up anchoring himself to that colossus that bears the name of Dark Souls, but failing to reach the heights of the latter both on a narrative and artistic level. If on the one hand we find a high level of challenge in finishing the title, on the other we can only notice the lack of that detail, place or event that can leave the player speechless and push him to play and replay the title, and turning a simple game into a masterpiece.
► Mortal Shell is an RPG type game developed by Cold Symmetry and published by Playstack for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 30/09/2020
