Mortal Shell

At its core, this is still the excellent Mortal Shell we all fell in love with two years ago, but do bear in mind that the setbacks caused by this game being ported to the Switch largely outweigh the pros. The novelty value of playing yet another “impossible port” on the Switch is fantastic, but you will have to deal with unbelievably long loading times and some really poor framerate issues.

With beautiful environments and plenty to discover, Mortal Shell is a compelling world to explore. After a steep learning curve, its combat is challenging but fascinating, and with a great sense of reward once you master it. It might be a little too similar to Dark Souls in terms of overall tone and style, but it brings enough new ideas functionally to make it stand out from the crowd.

Mortal Shell is Souls-like’s most advantaged student; it takes everything the genre has established during the last decade and apports to it with its particular tweaks to the formula, prioritizing quality over quantity and having a genuinely balanced curve of difficulty. This game is a love letter to the genre it is proud of being, and definitely, a must-try for fans of it.

Overall, Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition succeeds on several levels. It's an excellent update to a surprise indie hit that is still mighty enjoyable for anyone interested in the Soulslike genre. While difficulty and pacing get in the way, Mortal Shell is a short, sweet, and most importantly, challenging game to tide you over to the next main Souls offering.

Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition is undeniably inspired by the likes of Dark Souls, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While the upgrade doesn’t fix every technical problem the original had, the PS5 enhancements are enough to make this version the definitive version of the game. If Demon's Souls didn’t scratch your Souls-like itch, Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition is worth a try.

Mortal Shell is a fairly okay Souls-like experience, and collecting new shells is a fun goal to commit yourself to. Sadly, this becomes a bit of a grindfest having to combine two different resources to actually level up your different shells, making the overall experience a bit blander. Add the fact that the gameplay mechanics themselves feel a bit dated, clunky, and not very precise, and you have a somewhat underwhelming adventure on your hands. We loved the aesthetics, the concept, the overall atmosphere, but ultimately this could not hide the very distinct cracks in Mortal Shell’s shell.