Mortal Shell is a love letter of a game to the Soulsbourne genre. It plays, feels, and looks like Dark Souls, so much so that the game reminded players of the first time they ever played Dark Souls. As a Souls-like game, Mortal Shell is not just a run-of-the-mill, average game. Similar to other Souls-like games, it is notorious for its challenging difficulty.
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Many may find the game tough to deal with, especially for those who aren’t familiar with the Souls-like formula. Souls veterans will also find the difficulty noteworthy. Knowing a couple of advanced tips will make every players’ run-through of the game much more enjoyable and stable. On top of that, players will appreciate the deeper and more intricate mechanics of the game even more.
10 Know When & When Not To Parry
The parry system in Mortal Shell is a handy little mechanic that can help players get out of a difficult spot. Riposting after parrying gives the players a chance to gain a little bit of health, and given how limited the healing option in the game is, parrying can most certainly be your most viable option when faced with the enemies of the game.
However, as high as the reward of this mechanic is, so does its risk. First of all, the patterns and hit timing of most of the enemies’ attacks are very unpredictable and hard to read. Some enemies, on the other hand, are fairly easy to read. It is much better to perform the parries and ripostes on these enemies rather than on the ones with unpredictable movements.
9 Harden To Recharge Stamina
The hardening mechanic is one of the game’s most unique aspects. Players can use it to block any kind of attack. Moreover, the hardening mechanic can also be a very good way of stalling your enemies while waiting for your stamina to regenerate.
This tip is most especially useful on shells with low stamina, like Eredrim. Every so often, players who use this character for his large health pool will find themselves trapped and unable to dodge after doing a combo and depleting their stamina. Hardening at this moment is a good way of staying safe and regaining the stamina bar. Harros can also gain the ability to gain even more stamina when hardening.
8 Don’t Waste Tar On Items (Except For The Balistazooka)
Tar is the game’s main currency. This can be used to either purchase items from merchants or to gain abilities from Sester Genessa. Players will be much better off using their tars on the latter rather than the former.
Most of the most useful items in the game are rather rampant. For as long as players take their time to explore the world, there’s a very low chance of them running out of items. The only item players should only ever invest in is the Balistazooka. This is an item that will allow players to perform a powerful ranged attack, which can help eliminate even the most formidable enemies with just a few hits. Gaining as many abilities early on in the game will help the players advance through the game much more smoothly. It will also encourage the use of the more interesting abilities the shells have to offer.
7 Fully Upgrade A Shell
It is better for players to fully upgrade at least one shell as early as they can in the game. To do this, players should find the one shell they feel the most comfortable with and fit their play style the most. From there, dedicate all the tar they earn to fully upgrade that shell.
On top of making sure the shell they’re using is at their peak, this tip is useful for the fact that Sester Genessa will start selling items to a fully upgraded shell. In fact, one of the most important items in the game, a mask that will allow players to fast travel to any location they’ve already come across, can be bought from Sester Genessa.
6 Use The Tainted Nektar
This item will allow players to be ejected from their shells whenever they want. Now, this mechanic may seem useless, and even dangerous on paper, but it has a very useful application.
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Using this item does not remove the “ejection charge” from your shell. Therefore, players can essentially escape from their shell before their health reaches zero, return to their shell for full health, while still having an ejection charge for when their health reaches zero again. This is very similar to the Hidden Tooth item from FromSoftware’s other title, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
5 Use Items To Change Weapons
There are 4 items in the game, 1 for each weapon, that will allow players to change their weapons in an instant. Players are only allowed to carry 1 weapon in the game and the other 3 can only be accessed from the hub. Unless you carry the specific items that can call forth the weapon they’re assigned to.
There’s the Sester’s Binding for the Hammer and Chisel, the Martyr’s Shawl for the Martyr’s Blade, Tattered Vestment for the Hallowed Sword, and the Disciple’s Rag for the Smoldering Mace.
4 Harden In The Air To Negate Fall Damage
Any shell in the game can gain the ability to harden in the air to inflict a devastating AOE attack upon impact. As awesome as this ability may sound, it is actually quite difficult and impractical to use in combat. However, there is one aspect of this ability that is very useful which players can take advantage of.
Aside from inflicting damage to enemies, players will also be impervious to damage from the fall if they harden in the air before landing. No matter the drop, the shells when always remain safe. Plus, if there are actually enemies on where the players land and they get killed by the impact, the players may receive additional glimpses from the fallen foes.
3 You Can Run Past Enemies, But You Shouldn’t
As appealing as the notion may be, players should make the conscious effort to avoid running through a horde of enemies. Many players have used this strategy when playing Dark Souls and other Souls-like games. Be that as it may, aside from making the game less fun, hordes can actually gang up on the players very easily if they are not taken out one by one. Stamina is very limited in this game and players can either be cornered or get caught up without stamina to spare for dodging.
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If there are multiple enemies in one area and players are afraid of taking them all on at once, players can use the lute to lure an enemy out.
2 Take Out Ranged Enemies First
It can be very annoying dealing with being surrounded by enemies up close only to get wrecked by an enemy from afar. On many of the levels in the game, players will encounter a few enemies that have range attacks. Players should deal with these types of enemies first before turning to the melee ones. That way, they won’t have to worry about what’s going to hit them off-camera and focus on the enemy they can actually see.
If a player is running towards a group of enemies, the range ones will usually be situated far back or on ledge behind the group. It’s wise to run past the melee enemies and get rid of range ones first. These enemies have a low health pool so they should be easy to take out as well.
1 Be Mindful Of Health Replenishing Consumables
Players should always be mindful of health replenishing consumables. Unlike Dark Souls, players won’t have an item similar to the Estus Flask where it can be refilled at every checkpoint. Players will have to either parry-to-riposte or gather items instead for healing.
The Roasted Rat and the Weltcap are the most obvious and accessible healing items in the game. However, there are also other items that can replenish a player’s health in different ways. For example, the Mortal Token will allow players to gain health once they’re struck while hardened.
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