Cold Symmetry and Playstack have announced that Mortal Shell will be timed-exclusive on the Epic Games Store. Furthermore, and during the PC Gaming Show 2020, the teams revealed some new PC gameplay footage from it.
Now as you may have guessed, the decision to release the game exclusively on the Epic Games Store was not received well by some fans. As such, Cold Symmetry issued an official statement about this that you can find below.
“While this will not affect the releases on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, we understand that for those of you fellow PC users who prefer to keep their game library on Steam and are excited about Mortal Shell, this news can be disappointing. We would like to provide a bit of context to how this decision came to be. We’re not expecting a sudden shift towards solidarity regarding this decision, but considering the amazing support from all of you since the game was announced, we at the very least OWE you an honest explanation. In short, we’re a tiny studio and, for our publisher, we were a risky investment considering we’re a new and unproven team that hasn’t shipped a title before. This project, and our ambition to make a premium indie game that we personally would enjoy playing, has been a huge undertaking for us. The intense pressure of expectations we put on ourselves, and the limited resources we have at our disposal, has put an incredible demand on all our time and creative energy. While the game was initially set to be smaller and less polished than it is now, we kept pushing and raising the bar, believing that a small but dedicated team can create something compelling in a genre that demands famously high standards.
So yeah… ironically this project was “the Dark Souls of game development” for us. The reason we’re telling you this is not for pity, but to give you some real-life context about the headspace we were in when Epic Games first showed an interest. When Epic approached us, the game was at its most critical stage in development, where additional financial support was something that would meaningfully improve the quality of the Mortal Shell experience. Was this an easy choice? No. But given the circumstances, we felt it was the right thing to do for the game. We know that, ultimately, the high emotions about the Epic Games Store come only because you care about this project. That passion you have has always fuelled us, and regardless of your platform preference, we’re grateful that you’re a part of our community, and we can’t wait for you to get your hands on Mortal Shell.”
In short, Epic Games provided Cold Symmetry with additional financial support, something that was crucial for the game’s development. To put it simply, without these funds, the game may never existed in its current state.
Mortal Shell is an action RPG that is heavily inspired by the Dark Souls games. According to the devs, its combat will be strategic and deliberate. Players must commit their sword only when an opportunity opens. Players will also have to calculate their parries to unleash devastating counterblows. Furthermore, they will be able to temporarily entomb their Mortal Shell in stone to block attacks, or play aggressive and use their stone-form to add brutal weight to their own sword swings.
As you will see in the following gameplay video, the game is still rough around the edges. Let’s hope that Cold Symmetry will further improve it during its beta phase period.
Mortal Shell will release on Epic Games Store later this year. Its beta phase will also being on July 3rd.
Enjoy!
Mortal Shell PC Gaming Show Gameplay Footage
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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