A new Soulslike comes to PC, PS4 and Xbox One of independent cut; Take on a desolate world in a demanding and challenging new adventure.
Soulslike video games already have their own subgenre, a type of adventure with very marked canons that tend to bet on exacerbated challenge and exigency to the limit as the main claims. And beyond the great exponents such as Dark Souls, Bloodborne or Sekiro from From Software or the Nioh from Team Ninja, among other similar bets in concept, in recent times other proposals have appeared, perhaps not so ambitious but that preserve everything that identifies such action RPGs, as is the case with the recent but irregular Hellpoint. Now it’s Mortal Shell’s turn, the latest from Cold Symmetry, a small indie studio made up of just 15 employees who have completed a title that is generally convincing, not without dragging down certain pitfalls that prevent it from reaching higher among its namesakes. Let’s see what Mortal Shell has to offer fans of the genre on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Vital receptacles from a dark past
Of course, if there is one aspect in which Mortal Shell stands out from the rest of Soulslike, it is originality, something that is evident from the tutorial itself by way of introduction and where we are shown the bases of an adventure that is interesting and mysterious craving, although also somewhat ephemeral; but we will delve into that later. Beyond these considerations, the new Cold Symmetry follows the characteristics of the genre to the letter, that is, we are facing a demanding and challenging title that will force the player to be patient and be open to learning based on the mechanics of the trial and error, often falling into the sacrifice of direct fun. Although once we overcome such a high access window, Mortal Shell is rewarding, causing sensations similar to those obtained when dominating bets as celebrated as Dark Souls themselves.
So much so, that beyond certain mechanics inherited from Souls (such as combat, difficulty or progression), Mortal Shell forces us to learn again many of the aspects that identify this type of proposal. At the level of context, we travel to a medieval, fantastic and desolate world, in which the greed and desire of man have destroyed any trace of humanity. As a consequence, the great gods prevent beings with certain divine capacities from leaving behind such a hellish world where death and horror roam freely; it will be our mission, through different receptacles of fallen warriors, to discover our true mission. And so far we can read at the plot level so as not to reveal more than necessary; Let’s move on to what really matters in a video game of these characteristics: the gameplay and the experience at the controls.
As a wandering soul, our first step is to possess an empty shell to begin exploring such an enigmatic and terrifying universe. Thus, and as a tutorial, we will begin to move thanks to a weak and battered body, learning the basics of a combat that draws directly from the Dark Souls, the main source of inspiration according to its own creators. As we advance, we will be able to possess other bodies, warriors fallen in combat with their own abilities and capacities, up to a total of four spread over the different areas of the world proposed by Mortal Shell. And instead of learning new skills, we will unlock memories of these bodies that will allow us to perform new actions or combat techniques, both active and passive.
Mortal Shell is committed to a typically Soulslike combat, that is, with classic movements such as the standard blow, faster but less powerful, and the strong blow, slower but also more forceful; To all this, he adds the somersault by way of evasion or the energy that is exhausted with each action and that needs a few moments to recover, in addition to the parry, a technique that we will learn from a certain moment and through a unique object. And it is that unlike other titles cut by the same pattern, here we will not be able to stop the blows with a shield or similar, but Mortal Shell offers a mechanic that is as original as it is interesting and that brings a new strategic layer to combat. Thus, and by pressing a button, we can cover our body with stone, giving us the opportunity to receive blows without causing damage, although only momentarily; In addition, the enemies will be stunned for a few moments, giving us a small counterattack window. Of course, when using this lock, we will have to wait a reasonable time to use it again, which can sometimes leave us sold out against our rivals.
The gameplay at combat level offers opposing sensations; Although we can reach a certain level of mastery, Mortal Shell is not as refined as other Soulslike. So much so, that the fighting does not feel as intuitive as one would expect due to certain animations and somewhat clumsy movements that can ruin our progress more times than our patience can tolerate. Of course, Mortal Shell, again, presents an equally novel mechanic; when we die, we will be thrown out of the shell, giving us the opportunity to return to the now empty body in search of a new opportunity. However, we can only use this small advantage once; the second time we will perish definitively, returning to a certain point on the map as a bonfire of the Souls, with the option of recovering the experience lost on our deathbed.
Death and resurrection
As a good representative of such a particular style of play, the level of demand is very high, sometimes too high. And is that the level of difficulty can be infuriating and we will die many, many times. Assimilating the attack patterns will be essential to advance in the different areas of the world that Mortal Shell proposes, since with the minimum negligence any enemy can bill us to the afterlife in a couple or three of blows, especially the different bosses and secondary bosses that we will find. , up to a total of ten between them. On the other hand, exploration will be key to our progress, with a multitude of secret areas, objects everywhere and many other surprises that such a macabre fantasy world has in store for us. In this sense, Mortal Shell does not make things easy for the player, since even the most common object or consumable will need to be assimilated by our avatar a certain number of times, causing the most unexpected effects and increasing knowledge about them, improving thus its effectiveness, both for good and bad.
Staging with chiaroscuro
Developed under Unreal Engine 4, Mortal Shell offers an audiovisual staging with certain imbalances; Although its graphical aspect becomes convincing, if we stop in detail quickly we will detect several clearly improvable aspects. So much so, that while the modeling and the general appearance of the world are standard, other aspects such as certain textures, vegetation or particle effects are somewhat more austere. The animations are not more than acceptable and the loading times can become somewhat irritable, especially if we die over and over again, something very common. The sound effects seem forceful, as well as the themes of the soundtrack, very successful in each circumstance. In general, the setting is effective and we will feel fully integrated into its universe.
At the content level, the title of Cold Symmetry arrives very fair, with the dungeons and final bosses that any Souls fan would consider just enough. And it is that in just 10 hours we can complete the adventure without dwelling too much on secondary challenges, with the possibility of venturing back into its nightmare world through the New Game +. Let’s not forget that Mortal Shell is still an independent title, developed by a creative group of just 15 members, so we can’t ask for AAA numbers either. Finally, the title is translated into Spanish with the voices in English.
CONCLUSION
Mortal Shell is undoubtedly an interesting bet for fans of the Soulslike genre, a restrained, challenging title (sometimes too artificial in a somewhat artificial way) and that offers new mechanics that provide new ways of facing combat that, While they aren’t as polished as similar AAA titles, they do offer particularly satisfying moments. On the other hand, its staging is not exemplary, although it is effective in its setting, always taking into account the indie nature of a video game that comes at a reduced price of only 29.99 euros in digital format, with a launch in physical format planned for the next few weeks.
THE BEST
- Novel combat mechanics
- Very successful atmosphere
- Many secrets to discover …
WORST
- … Despite its limited general content
- Low customization of avatars
- Certain imbalances in its technical section
Okay
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, has quality and does not present serious flaws, although it is missing elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
