Once I felt comfortable playing Soloman, I didn’t feel much incentive to go back to or play as other characters. Soloman is a character with great health and stamina stats but can also use more special abilities than the others. I personally played a majority of my run as Soloman, the Scholar. Each shell represents a different warrior and provides unique combat styles, allowing each player to find the right shell for them. Fortunately, within Fallgrim Tower are clues that reveal where the bodies are hidden. The game gives you the first shell early on in your adventure, but finding the other three won’t be easy. The Foundling is incredibly weak and can easily be taken down by a couple of hits. The game’s second unique feature is the use of shells. This is a make-or-break move that will dictate your success or failure in combat. Mastering the skill was one of my favorite learning curves in the game. Hardening does require a cooldown, so players must use it strategically to succeed. Whether you are swinging your sword a second too late or notice an upcoming enemy attack, you can use this power to freeze your character on the spot. The Foundling can use this power at any moment to prevent all incoming damage for a short amount of time. The first and possibly most unique is the game’s “Hardening” mechanic. While Mortal Shell uses many of the basic gameplay elements from its predecessors, it also brings many new ideas to the table. When a game looks this good, it’s a shame to discover its polish is only hiding flaws. When enemies worked properly, each one was a threat that could annihilate you. This broke the immersion of the game for me multiple times. This allowed me to lead them into areas I knew they would get stuck in, then immediately slash them down. Often they would get stuck walking into trees or not being able to leave the rooms they were in. One of my biggest complaints about playing the game was dealing with the AI. I found this extremely helpful as I would often run towards a boss to deliver a powerful blow, only to realize I couldn’t squeeze the triggers and quickly have to re-strategize. As your stamina depletes, the triggers get harder to press, allowing the player to gauge their stamina without drifting their eyes away from the battle. The Enhanced Edition now utilizes one of the best features of the DualSense controller: adaptive triggers. Eventually, I discovered Fallgrim Tower, a safe place that introduced many of the game’s helpful NPC’s while also providing enough information to start the expedition truly. Many will strive to learn everything they can about this world, but it quickly felt like a chore to me. This initially caused an abundance of confusion for the first hour or so in my playthrough as I stumbled through Fallgrim, looking for a hint of where to go. Unfortunately, the narrative is not very original and felt a bit too similar to the games that influenced it. Like many of its predecessors, this title likes to hide almost all its exposition and backstory within item descriptions and hidden lore. The Foundling learns quickly that he will not last long here in his current form and must seek the tools to survive. Before long, you are captured and taken to the sadistic land of Fallgrim. Without direction, the skeleton-shaped hero moves forward, learning mostly everything he will need to know to succeed in his quest. Instead, you wake up in a wet and foggy purgatory as The Foundling. Mortal Shell is not the kind of game that opens with a ten-minute cutscene explaining who or where you are. Like Hadern’s Shell, it’s a fun, all around weapon that a lot of different builds will find useful.3) Graphics and Audio – Almost Perfect Story – A Ghost Without a Shell The Virtuous Cycle adds a new, jack-of-all-trades kind of Shell based on the boss Hadern, plus a new weapon called the Axetana, which transforms between axe and katana (no duh). Mortal Shell is a challenging game, but what it really understands is the Soulslike progression from novice to master through acquired practice and leveling. Like Dark Souls and other ARPGs, there are consumables and of course, characters can upgrade their weapons, shells, and abilities. Instead of immediately dying after a particularly strong blow, characters can get knocked out of their defensive Shells. Parrying is an important element, but there are no shields. In place of classes, there are Shells, which are essentially prebuilt characters with starting stats that emphasize dexterity, for example, over strength. For the completely uninitiated, Mortal Shell is a third-person action RPG that plays very much like Dark Souls or its sequels, but with a focus almost entirely on melee combat.
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