Mortal Shell | First Impressions

Hello gamers! How are you all doing? I hope you're doing great! So, you know how sometimes you just get that itch to play something specific? Well, that's exactly what happened to me. I was craving a medieval RPG — not an MMORPG, just a solid, immersive RPG experience — so I started going through the list of free games Epic has given away over time, because honestly, that library is a goldmine if you pay attention. And that's when I stumbled upon Mortal Shell. I looked at it and thought, well, why not? It had this vibe that immediately reminded me of Dark Souls, and on top of that, it doesn't take up much space at all, so I just went ahead and downloaded it. No overthinking, no second-guessing. Best decision I've made in a while, let me tell you.

A Game That Feels Very Familiar If You've Played Dark Souls

Alright, so the very first thing you'll notice when you boot up Mortal Shell is that this game wears its Dark Souls inspiration on its sleeve, and it doesn't try to hide it at all. From the moment the game begins, everything from the atmosphere, the tone, the world design, and the overall feeling screams Soulslike, and if you're a fan of that genre, you're going to feel right at home almost immediately. The world is grim, dark, and mysterious. There's this heavy sense of dread and loneliness that follows you everywhere you go, which is something that the original Dark Souls did so masterfully, and Mortal Shell manages to capture that same essence remarkably well, especially considering it came from a much smaller studio.

The enemies are punishing, the world feels hostile, and every corner you turn could very easily be your last. There's no hand-holding here. The game throws you into this decayed, rotting world and basically says, figure it out. The lore is deep and mysterious, told mostly through item descriptions and environmental storytelling rather than long cutscenes or dialogue dumps. Sound familiar? If you've spent any time in Lordran or Lothric, you already know exactly what I'm talking about. The aesthetic is dark fantasy at its finest, with grotesque creatures, ruins, and an overall sense that this world has seen better days — much better days.

However, what's interesting is that Mortal Shell isn't just a Dark Souls clone. It takes the Soulslike foundation and builds something a bit unique on top of it, especially when it comes to its core mechanics, and that's where things get really interesting.

A Combat System We Can Define as Very Strategic Combat Action

Now let's talk about combat, because this is where Mortal Shell truly starts to differentiate itself and show its own personality. The combat system in this game is what I'd call a very strategic Combat Action system. It's not just about swinging your weapon and hoping for the best. Every single move, every attack, every dodge has to be thought through carefully because the margin for error is incredibly thin. One wrong move, one mistimed attack, and you can find yourself on the ground faster than you expected.

But here's the mechanic that completely sets Mortal Shell apart from everything else in the Soulslike genre — the Hardening system. Your character has the ability to literally harden their body into stone mid-action, which means you can freeze yourself in place to absorb an incoming hit without taking damage. And let me tell you, wrapping your head around this mechanic and actually using it effectively is a journey in itself. At first it feels weird and counterintuitive, because your instinct is always to dodge or run, but once you start understanding the rhythm of combat and how to use Hardening as a tactical tool, the whole game opens up in a new way. It becomes this almost rhythmic dance of attacking, reading your enemy, hardening at the right moment, and then continuing your offensive.

The stamina management is also something you'll need to pay close attention to. Just like in Dark Souls, reckless attacking and rolling will leave you completely exposed and gasping for stamina at the worst possible moment. You'll learn patience very quickly in Mortal Shell, or you'll keep dying — and you will die, a lot, especially in the beginning. But each death teaches you something. Each encounter where you get destroyed is basically a free lesson on how to do better next time, and that's one of the most satisfying parts of these types of games.

The weapons in the game are called Weapons of the Founding, and each one plays very differently from the others, which adds a lot of variety to how you can approach combat encounters. So depending on your playstyle, you'll likely gravitate toward one over the others, and mastering your chosen weapon becomes a big part of the overall experience.

Fallgrim and the Tower of Fallgrim

The starting area of the game is called Fallgrim, and it is, without exaggeration, one of the most atmospheric and beautifully constructed opening areas I've seen in a game of this type. Fallgrim is a massive swamp — dark, foggy, oppressive, and absolutely oozing with that Soulslike dread I mentioned earlier. The environment design here is genuinely impressive. Everything feels wet, decayed, and ancient, like this place has been rotting for centuries and the world has simply moved on and forgotten it exists. Moving through Fallgrim for the first time is a genuinely unsettling experience, and I mean that in the best possible way.

And then there's the Tower of Fallgrim, which serves as the central hub of the game. This tower is essentially your base of operations, your safe zone between the chaos of the outside world, and it's where a lot of the important NPCs and mechanics are concentrated. The tower itself is this massive, crumbling structure full of mysteries and passages, and exploring it for the first time is genuinely exciting. There's an NPC called Sester Genessa who is your equivalent of a bonfire in Dark Souls — she allows you to save your progress and level up your abilities. And then there's Vlas, a merchant of sorts, who adds a nice layer of character to the whole setting.

What's really cool about the Tower is that it isn't just a passive hub. It feels alive in its own twisted way, and as you explore it, you start to understand the broader world of Mortal Shell piece by piece. There are also connections between the Tower and the four different locations you can eventually explore in the game, each one housing a weapon and a dungeon, and that interconnected structure is something that immediately gives the game a sense of scale and purpose.

The Shells themselves are also a mechanic tied to Fallgrim that you'll start discovering early on. These Shells are essentially bodies of fallen warriors that you can possess and inhabit, and each one comes with its own unique stats, passive abilities, and playstyle. It's an absolutely fascinating concept that adds an RPG layer to the experience beyond just leveling up numbers. Finding a new Shell and experimenting with how it changes your gameplay is genuinely one of the highlights of the early game. It's creative, it's original, and it makes the progression feel personal and interesting.

Alright, so I'll be completely honest here — I haven't gone very far into Mortal Shell yet. I spent most of my time in Fallgrim getting a feel for the movement, the combat mechanics, dying more times than I'd like to admit, and just taking in the atmosphere of the Tower of Fallgrim. And you know what? I'm perfectly okay with that, because this game is the type that rewards patience and exploration, and I'd rather take my time and actually absorb everything the game has to offer rather than rushing through it and missing the details that make it special.

But what I can tell you with full confidence is that what I've seen so far has me genuinely hooked and eager to keep going. The atmosphere is stunning, the combat is challenging and rewarding in equal measure, the world-building is deep and intriguing, and the whole experience feels polished and intentional despite coming from an indie studio. Cold Symmetry clearly put a lot of heart into this game, and it shows in every corner of Fallgrim and every enemy encounter.

If you're a fan of Dark Souls or Soulslike games in general and you haven't tried Mortal Shell yet, I'd absolutely recommend giving it a shot, especially if you can grab it for free on Epic like I did. It might not have the massive scale of a FromSoftware title, but it has its own identity, its own soul — no pun intended — and that makes it more than worth your time. I'm definitely going to keep pushing forward and see what else this dark, mysterious world has in store. See you in the next post, gamers!