Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition – Test/Review

There are games that don’t move the video game world. And then there are games like “Super Mario 64”, which shaped the wonderful world of gaming. One of those is “Dark Souls” by developer From Software. That series not only gave us one of the most difficult video games ever, it even created a new subgenre. For some time now we have been enjoying so-called “Souls-like Games” at regular intervals. “Mortal Shell” by the only 15-strong development team Cold Symmetry tried to follow in their father’s big footsteps last year. We took a closer look at the Enhanced Edition on the PlayStation 5 and tell you here whether a trip to Fallgrim is worthwhile!

Diffuse story

Souls-like games have a number of characteristics that set them apart from other games. Although a vague story is not necessarily part of it, these titles rarely give us story hits like “God of War” or “Red Dead Redemption II”. You shouldn’t expect a classic linear story in “Mortal Shell” either, instead you practically rhyme up the backgrounds yourself.

At the beginning you slip into the skin of an alien-like being called a boulder. In this form you are weak and practically bless the temporal after a hit by the enemy. Anyone who thinks that this game offers us the ultimate challenge is at least partially wrong. Because already at the beginning the first of the eponymous mortal shells (German for “Mortal Shells”) is used. Ultimately, the foundling’s practical ability is to slip into the shell of the four dead protagonists and thereby bring them back to life.

Soon you will find the bell tower, which represents the campfire, and there you will get your actual mission from a strange creature: Bring three glandulas to the creature. These glandulas are located in the most varied corners of the game world and will not be so easy to obtain, since you have to explore dungeons and defeat bosses to get hold of the coveted “goods”. With this mission in the fictional backpack, you are basically free to choose how you go through the game world and which dungeon you choose first.