Mortal Shell (PS5 upgrade)
Are you ready for some 4K/60fps mortal combat?
While it’s no fun being a weird… thing with only a sliver of health in a world determined to kill you, possessing a hero’s dead body and wearing it like the most gruesome Halloween costume imaginable (that’s the ‘shell’ bit) gives you a fighting chance. Hooray for necromancy! And now, thanks to the magic of PS5, trying to eke out an unliving has a few extra layers to enjoy.
As a soulslike, Mortal Shell benefits from the framerate increase more than games from other genres might. There are no noticeable drops from 60fps, which is good news for us. When a few frames make the difference between a successful parry and a humiliating whack on the nose, we’re glad of all the help we can get.
It’s never been a game that anyone would label ‘pretty’ – it’s too bandwagon-jumpingly grimdark for that – but newly enhanced textures add extra flavour to what was already an interesting, if arguably familiar, world. Enemies are even more disturbing, and environments more pleasingly unpleasant. There’s 4K resolution on offer for those with the screen for it, too, allowing you to ‘enjoy’ the oppressive atmosphere all the more.
Cold Symmetry has done interesting things with the DualSense, (usually) by understanding the value of subtlety. Hit an enemy’s shield with your sword, for example, and the controller will gently thrum in your hands. Enough to immerse you in the fight, not enough to annoy. Vibration use throughout the game is clever. If you usually play wearing a headset, make an exception here; Mortal Shell plays with the speaker a little, too.
BLOODY SHELL
You hear some human enemies before you see them, as they’re relaxing by playing the lute before you murder them. This already results in the occasional bit of humour on PS4, a lute twanging as you kick it around in the middle of a fight, but now you hear and feel the instrument as you knock it around, playfully decorating it with the blood of its owner. Our favourite example of DualSense use takes us by surprise, though, when we visit the merchant. Is our controller… purring? Yes, it is – you can hear and feel the merchant’s cat through the pad! Mind you, we’re not fans of the piercing sound of the bells that ring nonstop when we emerge from a completed dungeon. Crikey, the
DualSense rings loud and clear (with no in-game controller volume option).
Mortal Shell remains several steps behind the Souls games – its world is less impressive and at times it’s plain unfair. Still, if you gave up on it on PS4, it’s worth revisiting on PS5.
Enhanced textures add extra flavour to an interesting, if arguably familiar, world.