Mortal Shell is the debut title from four-man indie development team Cold Symmetry. It is a brutally challenging melee combat game where every enemy can kill you in just a few hits and death is unbelievably punishing. I got to play through the tutorial, two zones, and the first boss of Mortal Shell and I can't wait to see more. The combat is the right kind of tough-but-fair, the grim-dark world is fun to explore, and progression systems are unique and interesting. Mortal Shell is familiar in concept but remarkable in execution.
Learning Through Experience
Cold Symmetry sent this message about the game: "It is vindictive design, assembled with spite. We wish you the best with it." Aside from just being a badass way to describe a game, the message really speaks to the audience Mortal Shell is after. It feels like the game hates me. The enemies are fast, relentless, and nigh unstoppable. Character movement feels weighty and responsive, but absolutely unforgiving. Whiffing attacks is common and enemies will absolutely take advantage of that opening. I failed constantly in those opening hours and resurrected with nothing to show for my progress other than slowly becoming better and more confident in the game.
The learning process is Mortal Shell's greatest strength and it is reflected in the unique and immersive way it handles consumables. When you pick up a new item for the first time, the description will simply tell you to use the item to discover what it does. Using the item will indeed reveal its effects, either positive or negative, but using the item repeatedly may reveal additional benefits or attributes over time. There's a very early example of this that really piqued my interest: a common mushroom causes your character to take constant poison damage when consumed, that is, until you've consumed enough of them to build up an immunity, at which point the item will instead provide 90 seconds of poison immunity, rather than deal poison damage.
The poison mushroom is symbolic of my entire experience with Mortal Shell: keep trying, even if it hurts. Whether you realize it or not, you're learning. By the time I got through the boss at the end of the demo, I managed to practically flawless the fight. The learning process is messy, painful, and often feels like two steps back, but it is ultimately rewarding.
Adapting To Playstyle
One of my favorite things about Mortal Shell was discovering the playstyle that I feel gave me the best advantage in battle. The demo features two of the four unlockable shells, which function essentially like changeable classes. Each shell has its own stats and upgrade path. The first shell is a balanced knight: average stamina (for dodging and running), average durability, and average resolve (the resource used for parrying and cinematic super attacks). The second shell has lower durability and resolve, but maximum stamina, making it ideal for moving quickly, dealing quick hits, and dodging.
I found that the perfect style for me was using the balanced shell, which is a lot more forgiving, with this quick-hit Hammer and Chisel weapons that the faster shell uses (as opposed to the balanced shell's greatsword). A balanced build with quick attacks that have short animation gave me the best chance to succeed, but between four shells and six different weapons, there are a lot of different ways to approach combat, and they each feel quite different.
Polished And Horrifically Beautiful
Unforgiving games like Mortal Shell are held to a higher standard because they require so much skill and precision. When one mistake can cost you your life (and all of the experience you've earned) it is essential that the game plays by the rules. Bugs can totally ruin an experience like this, but luckily, I didn't run into anything like that in the five hours I played Mortal Shell.
Enemies ragdoll when they die, which can sometimes lead to weird glitches where they jerk and vibrate around. As far as the combat goes, I had a totally pure, bug-free experience. All of my failures (of which there were many) felt like they were completely my fault. As I learned, I got better. Enemy attack patterns became predictable, counters became second nature, and I slowly became an unstoppable killing machine. That is, until the next enemy type was introduced and the process started all over.
What's more, the animations in combat are pretty incredible. There's a ton of different combos you can pull off of varying length and power and every attack flows together seamlessly into a beautiful ballet of carnage. The first time you die your body is thrown from the shell you're inhabiting and given a second chance to reclaim the shell and keep fighting. This leads to not only some terribly thrilling moments of near death, but also some incredibly cool attacks. One such attack has you striking the enemy then leaping out of your shell to hit them again.
There's a lot of fresh ideas in Mortal Shell, even if it ultimately seems like something you've played before. Keep an eye out for release in September on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.