Mortal Shell is an action-RPG from indie dev studio Cold Symmetry that I’ve heard compared to Dark Souls or Bloodborne a ton, but to me the moment to moment gameplay and world seems closer to the originator – Demon’s Souls, a game I imported from some small Asian country along with photography game Afrika so I could play them.
It’s not going to be until we get to go hands on with the game that we know which comparisons are the most apt, but that shouldn’t be long with a PC beta slated to run for a week starting on July 3rd.
Mortal Shell will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store (price at $29.99 / €29.99 / £24.99) for a year before hitting Steam, so if you don’t have an Epic Games Store account, now’s the time to get one – and really, with all the games they’ve given away for free there’s no excuse to not have one at this point. The game will also be hitting PS4 and Xbox One when it releases this fall.
The developers also released a new trailer, this time featuring Tiel, one of the game’s four playable shells. This shell seems to follow the classic rogue template, with high agility and the use of poisons to incapacitate foes.
Here’s the press release:
MORTAL SHELL announced as Epic Games Store timed PC-exclusive, as indie studio Cold Symmetry showcases another exhilarating trailer
Showstopping week capped off with huge game reveals on IGN, the PC Gaming Show, and Fextralife
Monday June 15, 2020, London. Mortal Shell, the highly-anticipated action-RPG created by a small indie-team of development veterans, capped off a week of gameplay reveals and key announcements with a huge double-bill across Saturday and Sunday, showcasing even more never-before-seen gameplay at the PCGaming Show and on a special livestream from the soulslike aficionados at Fextralife.
On Saturday at the PCGaming Show, it was announced that Mortal Shell would ship on the Epic Games Store this year as a timed PC-exclusive at $29.99 / €29.99 / £24.99, along with simultaneous console releases on PS4 and Xbox One. Pre-orders for the PC version are live now on the Epic Games Store. The game is also scheduled to ship on Steam in Q3 2021.
“The primary goals of our studio are to make Mortal Shell the best game it can be and to live another day and keep making awesome games in the future,” said the founders of Cold Symmetry in a joint statement. “Epic’s financial support, for a small studio like ours, was clearly going to help us achieve those goals so it was something we had to consider earnestly.”
Along with Mortal Shell’s platform and price announcements, the PCGaming Show also released an all-new gameplay trailer centered around one of the game’s four playable shells, Tiel, an envenomed and complex character whose innate agility and familiarity with poison makes him a highly dangerous individual.
Another huge highlight from the event was all-new Mortal Shell gameplay, which this time showcased the player facing off against Hadern, an elusive adversary whose motivations are unclear. At this early section in the game, the player has yet to possess a Shell with nothing to rely on aside from their instincts and skill with a sword. Here the game strips players to the basics with a pure test of swordplay: Movement, timing, anticipation, distance, and committing your blade. The battleground is abstract, open, laced in mist and free from distraction. There are no excuses.
Wrapping up a busy and content-filled week, on Sunday a finale of unique gameplay aired on the Fextralife Twitch channel to its huge community of battle-scarred soulslike aficionados. This video centered around Tiel and a never-before-seen weapon, the Martyr’s Blade.
This flurry of new content followed the game’s world-premiere on Wednesday, June 10 at the IGN Summer of Gaming event, where it was revealed that Mortal Shell’s Closed Beta would commence from July 3 and span one week (visit the Discord Server for details and to register).
Mortal Shell provides an uncompromising soulslike experience through a compact, single-player game. A first playthrough would likely last between 15 and 20 hours, although the game offers additional secrets and content to support and enrich multiple playthroughs.
Painstakingly designed by a prized coalition of veteran developers who are credited with working on some of the biggest AAA titles on the market, Mortal Shell is an uncompromising, authentic, and hauntingly beautiful action-RPG built upon the ruthless traditions of the soulslike genre.
Join the Mortal Shell Discord community here. Follow Mortal Shell on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Mortal Shell is scheduled for a Q3 release on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, published by Playstack. Visit www.MortalShell.com for more details.
About Cold Symmetry
Cold Symmetry, founded in 2017 by a core team of four, is best known for its debut title Mortal Shell. The studio is composed of AAA veterans with a strong passion for making games of their own. Their distributed development model allows them to work with the brightest and most talented people in the industry around the world. www.coldsymmetry.com/.
About Playstack
Playstack was founded on the belief that even the greatest developers need support to be at their best. Its ethos is to discover and nurture the next generation of talent in the games industry. Playstack provides development partners the security and resources that allow them to play to their strengths as creative leaders, entrusting our experienced team to mastermind the marketing and publishing campaign. We support great ideas wherever they come from and we’re completely platform agnostic, from PC to console, mobile and more. www.Playstack.com.
