Soulslike Mortal Shell is getting DLC inspired by Bloodborne's trick weapons

News
By published

Where do these developers get their ideas from?

The wild success of the Souls series has seen many games attempting to imitate them and, of course, almost all fall far short. One of the better attempts is last year's Mortal Shell, which Rick Lane gave a highly respectable 80%, saying that "it understands the appeal of Souls in a way many imitators don't, while making just enough changes to the formula to lend it a little personality of its own."

Developer Cold Symmetry has now announced it's releasing an expansion called The Virtuous Cycle this summer, on both Steam and Epic Games Store (the game isn't on Steam yet, but is scheduled for 'summer 2021').

The trailer is a little vague (and in an annoying aspect ratio) but shows a new 'shell' (the bodies your avatar can inhabit), and easily the most telling point is the character's weapon: twin katanas that can smoosh-together into a halberd.

Mortal Shell is obviously a Soulslike, but this idea is straight from Bloodborne. In that game the combat system is built around 'trick' weapons, weapons with two forms that can be switched between during combat. It's one of the things that really sets Bloodborne apart from the feel of the Souls games, and heck, I guess Cold Symmetry just thought they'd toss it in there.

Beyond that the trailer gives no further indication of what to expect, and the official site doesn't either, beyond killing lots of things and this suggestion you're going to be 'enwrapped' in this cycle. Cycles! Where does this studio get its ideas.

Rich Stanton
Rich Stanton
Senior Editor

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."