Mortal Shell Lets You Wear the Bodies of Your Enemies

For those looking to satiate their thirst for more delicious Dark Souls goodness, the recently-announced Mortal Shell might be what you’re looking for. Coming from new indie studio Cold Symmetry and published by Playstack, Mortal Shell looks fiendishly fantastic and wholly reminiscent of the brutal From Software series. 

The game’s reveal trailer, which can be seen above, pays loving tribute to Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls with its dark, grim world and already-bizarre narrative. Put in the shell of an incorporeal being, you are an entity that must take over the bodies of fallen enemies scattered across the world, ultimately returning the sacred glands to hallowed ground and the Dark Father.

According to Cold Symmetry, these “lost warriors … can be inhabited to gain their unique abilities and knowledge of weapons.” It’s an interesting twist on genre tropes, and it seems these warriors will most likely be the game’s bosses — or closely related to them — allowing players to learn new skills and abilities once defeated and inhabited.

The developers say that the game has “deep upgrade paths,” where you grow more attuned to certain shells the more you use them. Upgrades will allow you to buff your weapons with elemental damage, and you’ll be able to master “dark, arcane abilities that imbue your attacks with supernatural devastation.”

As with any Soulsborne game, combat is front and center. Weapon play is swift yet deliberate and defensive maneuvers like dodging and parrying are, as expected, incredibly important to survival. 

The game also features a “non-linear campaign” and multiple pathways. The world already looks varied based on the trailer, and Cold Symmetry says that some locations include “marsh-infested lowlands,” “a gargantuan cathedral of obsidian rock,” and “an ancient crypt frozen into the crest of a mountain.” You know, the essential building blocks of any Dark–Souls-inspired world. 

Mortal Shell is set to release on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in Q3 2020. Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more as we learn it. Umbasa.