Hermit crabs have soft, exposed bodies. This leaves them vulnerable to predators and other dangers. To protect themselves, these crabs hunt for abandoned shells. When they find one that tickles their fancy, they slip themselves inside it for protection and carry it with them wherever they go.
Mortal Shell (PC, PS4[reviewed], Xbox One)
Developer: Cold Symmetry
Publisher: Playstack
Released: August 18, 2020
MSRP: $29.99
The gameplay and narrative hook in the new Souls-like game, Mortal Shell, is quite similar to a hermit crab’s plight.
You begin the game as a foundling—a soft pale fleshy humanoid creature wholly exposed to the horrors of a terrifying new world. No armor...no shield...nothing but a sword and the strange ability to "Harden" one’s exterior temporarily for protection.
Not since Pokémon's infamous Metapod has gaming featured such a vital hardening gameplay mechanic. The Hardening mechanic allows your character to turn into stone, absorbing any incoming damage. The cooldown initially lasts for just a few seconds, but it's long enough to feel balanced within the combat framework. It's an incredibly engaging gameplay hook that helps Mortal Shell stand out from the pack of souls-like games. Honestly, it was such a refreshing mechanic; it's hard to imagine playing a soul-like game without it! For players like myself, having that strategic mulligan allowed me to get into this game in ways that I might not normally have. Especially in such a notoriously tricky genre. Generally speaking, the combat is the slower-paced methodical dissection of enemy patterns and attacks one might expect from a souls game, but the execution is well done.
Eventually, your foundling character happens across a dead warrior( with an aesthetic that plays striking homage to dark souls in the best way). Through a brief and mysterious cutscene, your foundling body inhabits the new vessel body of the fallen warrior, wearing his flesh like a sleeve or "shell.” Much like the ole hermit crab. Creepy but fascinating stuff!
Now you have the added strength and durability of the human body along with your hardening ability. You can find four human vessels or classes scattered throughout the game. The vessel I enjoyed using was "Eredrim the Venerable," aka the tank option. He had a striking aesthetic, and his playstyle fits mine like a glove. One ability he had that helped me out was Accretion of resolve. This allowed me to gain the ability to earn an execution stack upon killing an enemy; each stack increases base attack damage unless I was knocked from my shell. I'm unsure how much stronger each stack made me, but after carefully killing forty plus enemies without getting knocked out of my shell, I felt like a man possessed! It was a cool ability that rewarded careful progression. Abilities are paid for with glimpses and "tar," which is the game’s currency. You acquire this currency by defeating enemies and exploring the world’s objects (chests and such), which will feel familiar to anyone who has played a souls game.
As gamers, sometimes we can be stubborn; believe me, I know I can be. Oh, I just found a crazy new sword? No, thanks. I’ve used this rinky-dink claymore since the beginning of the game, and I'll be damned if I’m going to change my ways! I love that the game allowed me to fight my fight. The game had a reliable parry system built into the combat structure. I tested it out initially but never used it after that. Not one single time. I’ve never really enjoyed parrying in games, so...I just didn't. I took more advantage of a traditional attack and roll the fuck out of the way technique, and you know what? The game allowed me to be successful in playing it MY way. I love that.
Even though Mortal Shell is only thirty dollars at launch, the scale of each environment is impressive. The game consists of four primary areas—poisonous swamps filled with gigantic frogs and depraved brigands—frozen Catacombs crawling with horrors beyond imagination. I traversed the final location, a colossal spiraling tower of sorts—an ascension of nightmarish alien architecture that reached toward the skies. The internal pull for me in a good souls game is the unyielding desire to see what's around the next corner. If I’m going to stick with a challenging game, I need incentive! Every location was more disturbingly addictive than the one before it. Each devilish foe more fascinating and terrifying than the last. In this regard, Mortal shell stands with even the best games in the genre.
I was torn on the difficulty of the game. It was refreshing to feel more of the power fantasy in a souls game in many ways. Even though the early hours were brutal, by the end of the game, I was Crushing foes with ease. I got better at the game for sure, but once my weapons and abilities were fully upgraded for my tank character, Edermin, I felt comfortable and in control. Sometimes if I would die deep into a dungeon, I would simply run past all the enemies until I got back to my old shell. After defeating bosses, the world changes in fascinating ways to make everything more challenging until you can return the sacred glands to the father. However, I would just generally bypass these sections by running and rolling past enemies until I got back to the safe zones. You can spend Glimpse, a form of currency in the game, to change the world back to normal difficulty.
Verdict: As a totem animal, the hermit crab represents resourcefulness, scavenging, calculative nature, intelligence, patience, and curiosity. In dreams, the hermit crab can signify that your perseverance is paying off. Success is soon at hand. Mortal Shell may define the soon-to-be success of Cold symmetry as one of the industry’s best new game developers. Mortal Shell may look like a budget souls game from the outside, but on the inside, it stands toe to toe with bloodborne as my favorite souls game ever.
Buy it
Author: Morgan Barnes
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher]