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LTTP: Mortal Shell - is it just me...?

BbMajor7th

Member
Having watched the DF video on the Switch port I decided to finally give Mortal Shell a go. I'm a pretty hardcore FromSoft fan and have enjoyed all of their games to one degree or another. I went in expecting something on the level of Lords of the Fallen or The Surge and... well, I have to say it's one of the worst feeling Souls-likes I've ever played. I don't know if I'm alone, but the combat, level and encounter design all feel awfully thought out.

Combat feels clunky and unresponsive, there's no build variety out of the gate, just a single 'Shell' and bastard sword, that you can't seem to tweak at all. Mob enemies feel way too spongy and way too high on posture for early encounters, no real healing options and some bizarre 'Harden' mechanic that honestly feels so dumb in practise that it's hard to understand how it ever made the final cut. For a game that is so nakedly inspired by the Souls series, it's shocking how little of the core design philosophy of that series seems to be have been captured here.

Am I missing something?
 

Gaiff

Gold Member
Another failed Souls clone is what it is. So many of those copycats who completely miss what makes From games so engaging.

The harden mechanic is stupid and the whole shell theme was to add their own twist to the formula but it failed. It simply limits build variety and makes looking for them an annoyance more than anything.
 

skit_data

Member
It was an ok 1-night substitute when I suffered from heavy From Software withdrawal but looking back its a bare bones game. Pretty good first attempt by a small developer though, that’s the biggest reason I bought it.

Edit: Biggest problem was probably that you never really had to change your strategy when you encountered an enemy. The harded mechanic became extremely OP once you figured it out after 10 minutes. Sure, some parries to restore HP made sure you couldn’t turtle 100% but using the first Shell quickly made all the other obsolete because of its heavy focus on the harden mechanic and after speccing those abilities it became a little too easy.
 
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Saber

Gold Member
Few things you need to know about this game:

- Its main selling point is the "hard skin" ability. Other than that, theres nothing much about it
- Some areas are pretty nice, the last one is godawfull because its huge for no reason
- Some enemies are just garbage in terms of gameplay design. Some enemies just fall in the ground because you stunned them just to instantly do their attack patterns again once you hit them(its very weird)
- Bosses, pretty much like your shell clones, cancel their attacks at any momment
- Some weapons are just straight up terrible. That big ass sword somehow make the shell simply try to stab, which is a terrible attack animation
- Different shells(while are pretty damn good in design) also is not a great idea, as each of them differs from gameplay. Stick with the first one
- Music, specially from bosses, is terrible
- The last area in terms of level design is completelly garbage

Conclusion: this game is not a big deal at all. The hardenered skin is a very interesting mechanic, but not enought to make the game a good experience. Don't expect a Dark Souls of this game and you should be fine. Its ok at best, which is fine for an indie(I have a very bad track record of picking terrible indies).
 
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VN1X

Banned
Huh weird, knowing full well what I was getting myself into I actually really enjoyed it.

It doesn't hold a candle to its main inspiration of course but I do think they nailed the execution of its own systems and features. I wouldn't mind a sequel to it with more elaborate and interesting environments tbh.
 

GymWolf

Member
The game is pretty meh to bad imo, tried 3 times to like it but i just can't.

I had way more fun with mid titles like lord of fallen and ashen.

Graphic and some weapon design were nice.
 
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Aion002

Member
It has a very specific combat system that can annoy most people.

Some seem to like it a lot, most people hates it.

I hated and I think that the game is quite unbalanced and unfun.
 

Spyxos

Member
I got it for free from epic, but i could not play for more then 20 minutes. It is just a souls clone.
 

FingerBang

Member
I have finished all the Soulsborne games, Sekiro, Nioh 1 and 2 enjoyed Lords of the Fallen, The Surge 1 and 2 for what they are.

I tried this game and after 1 hour or so of trying I had enough. It's not just you, it's a piece of shit:
  • It's clunky and weird. Feel matters a lot in this genre and my god, I feel like punching myself in the ball everytime I evade.
  • The enemies are too fucking strong from the start, and the game sends you a ton of them.
  • As you said, you can't really stagger them and you can't defend. You only have the hardening thing, which has also a fucking cooldown? So I'm supposed to get hit once, hit them once, move away, wait for the cooldown and repeat? Do you think I have time to do that with all the mature porn being uploaded every day on the internet?

Long story short, I appreciate the developers trying to make this game but they should go back to write for SNL or whatever they were doing before.
 
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Gaiff

Gold Member
I got it for free from epic, but i could not play for more then 20 minutes. It is just a souls clone.
If it was just that it'd have been playable. It's a failed clone.

maxresdefault.jpg

This is most of the copycats.
 

R6Rider

Gold Member
I thought it was pretty good, but not great.

Level design is pretty bad, but I liked the harden mechanic. Didn't use the parry mechanic much.

Hammer and Sickle was my favorite weapon. Also has an awesome early secret ending.
 
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Having watched the DF video on the Switch port I decided to finally give Mortal Shell a go. I'm a pretty hardcore FromSoft fan and have enjoyed all of their games to one degree or another. I went in expecting something on the level of Lords of the Fallen or The Surge and... well, I have to say it's one of the worst feeling Souls-likes I've ever played. I don't know if I'm alone, but the combat, level and encounter design all feel awfully thought out.

Combat feels clunky and unresponsive, there's no build variety out of the gate, just a single 'Shell' and bastard sword, that you can't seem to tweak at all. Mob enemies feel way too spongy and way too high on posture for early encounters, no real healing options and some bizarre 'Harden' mechanic that honestly feels so dumb in practise that it's hard to understand how it ever made the final cut. For a game that is so nakedly inspired by the Souls series, it's shocking how little of the core design philosophy of that series seems to be have been captured here.

Am I missing something?

I found it awkward as well. You never feel fully in control. It’s a shame because the atmosphere is excellent and I liked the idea behind using items more often to become familiar with them.
 
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BbMajor7th

Member
You only have the hardening thing, which has also a fucking cooldown? So I'm supposed to get hit once, hit them once, move away, wait for the cooldown and repeat?
Yeah, this really threw me. I thought it would be a stand-in for more traditional block/parry techniques, but the cooldown completely nerfs it - it if had some other function, like stunning enemies on impact or breaking enemy weapons, that might've saved it, but it mostly feels like a badly gimped block function.
 
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FingerBang

Member
Yeah, this really threw me. I thought it would be a stand-in for more traditional block/parry techniques, but the cooldown completely nerfs it - it if had some other function, like stunning enemies on impact or breaking enemy weapons, that might've saved it, but it mostly feels like a badly gimped block function.
I just read there is parrying in the game but you need an item. Might try it again before coming here to bitch about it even more.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I never bother with these wanna be souls games when I have actual souls games to play. I will try look for alternative when FROM stop making games until then I don’t need to bother with these clones.
 
I think this game was in ps plus not too long ago? It's in my catalog and I don't remember buying it. But anyway, yea it seemed pretty bad. Put about 2 hours into and was bored to tears. Just play a From game.
 
Having watched the DF video on the Switch port I decided to finally give Mortal Shell a go. I'm a pretty hardcore FromSoft fan and have enjoyed all of their games to one degree or another. I went in expecting something on the level of Lords of the Fallen or The Surge and... well, I have to say it's one of the worst feeling Souls-likes I've ever played. I don't know if I'm alone, but the combat, level and encounter design all feel awfully thought out.

Combat feels clunky and unresponsive, there's no build variety out of the gate, just a single 'Shell' and bastard sword, that you can't seem to tweak at all. Mob enemies feel way too spongy and way too high on posture for early encounters, no real healing options and some bizarre 'Harden' mechanic that honestly feels so dumb in practise that it's hard to understand how it ever made the final cut. For a game that is so nakedly inspired by the Souls series, it's shocking how little of the core design philosophy of that series seems to be have been captured here.

Am I missing something?

I'm a huge souls fan. I've come thisclose to buying this countless times, but something about it has always seemed off.
 
Good to see it's not just me that struggled with this. Tried getting into it 3 times now, and even after thinking I understood the mechanics, the input felt unresponsive and unsatisfying. The Surge felt better in the hands
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Huh weird, knowing full well what I was getting myself into I actually really enjoyed it.

It doesn't hold a candle to its main inspiration of course but I do think they nailed the execution of its own systems and features. I wouldn't mind a sequel to it with more elaborate and interesting environments tbh.
Me too, I'm really looking forward to a sequel, really enjoyed the game myself. The hardening was specially very smartly thought in combination to attacks, but I wouldn't recommend using it extensively for defense unless one messed up so much and got no time to react.

The game is pretty solid for what it is, it's not a AAA nor a big RPG experience, it's a solid short action game, the combat didn't feel clunky to me, it was actually pretty solid and fluid in my hands...
 
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