Dark Souls inspired Mortal Shell gets Debut Gameplay Video

A new trailer and the first gameplay video for the gorgeous, grim, and clearly Dark Souls-inspired Mortal Shell debuted during IGN’s Summer of Gaming. Watch the gameplay interview and official trailer below.

The Dark Souls influence is absurdly obvious, from the red and green bars governing HP and stamina to the cryptic NPCs standing around begging for a VaatiVidya lore deep dive, but that’s what we love about it.

The footage shows the lovely animations, detailed characters, and moody environments we saw in the trailers, but the combat is the sweet candy center here. And, admittedly, it looks a lot like every melee action game with z-axis lock-on released since Dark Souls.

One clear, fascinating difference between Dark Souls and Mortal Shell is that your ‘class’ is determined by what shell your ghostly spirit form is wearing at the time. Shells are like grimdark Pokémon, empty human-ish forms you’ll find and collect throughout the world. The more time you spend in a shell, the more you’ll be able to upgrade that particular shell.

What’s especially cool about the shell system is how it layers some difficult new decisions on top of the traditional Souls health system. When your health hits zero in a shell, your spirit form will get knocked out of the sucker. You only get 1 HP in this form, and will either need to get back into your shell ASAP (there’s a limit on how many times you can pop back in) or book it and find safety or another body to inhabit. For the folks who love pain, you can technically complete the game without ever entering a shell, too.

Mortal Shell is due for release sometime in 2020, but you can give it an early go by playing the beta beginning July 3 here. Be sure to grab Mortal Shell when it comes out with our Steam Wallet Codes, PSN Cards, and Xbox live gift cards below:

Steam Wallet Codes

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Steam Wallet Codes (Global)	Steam Wallet Codes (AE)	Steam Wallet Codes (AU)	Steam Wallet Codes (BR)	Steam Wallet Codes (CA)	Steam Wallet Codes (CO)

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Steam Wallet Codes (EU)	Steam Wallet Codes (HK)	Steam Wallet Codes (ID)	Steam Wallet Codes (IN)	Steam Wallet Codes (JP)	Steam Wallet Codes (KR)

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Steam Wallet Codes (KW)	Steam Wallet Codes (MY)	Steam Wallet Codes (PE)	Steam Wallet Codes (PH)	Steam Wallet Codes (SA)	Steam Wallet Codes (SG)

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Steam Wallet Codes (TH)	Steam Wallet Codes (TR)	Steam Wallet Codes (TW)	Steam Wallet Codes (UA)	Steam Wallet Codes (UK)	Steam Wallet Codes (VN)

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Steam Wallet Codes
(ZA)

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PlayStation Network Card

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PlayStation Network Card (AE)	PlayStation Network Card (AT)	PlayStation Network Card (AU)	PlayStation Network Card (BE)	PlayStation Network Card (BH)	PlayStation Network Card (BR)

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PlayStation Network Card (CA)	PlayStation Network Card (CH)	PlayStation Network Card (DE)	PlayStation Network Card (DK)	PlayStation Network Card (ES)	PlayStation Network Card (FI)

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PlayStation Network Card (FR)	PlayStation Network Card (HK)	PlayStation Network Card (ID)	PlayStation Network Card (IE)	PlayStation Network Card (IN)	PlayStation Network Card (IT)

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PlayStation Network Card (JP)	PlayStation Network Card (KW)	PlayStation Network Card (LB)	PlayStation Network Card (MY)	PlayStation Network Card (NL)	PlayStation Network Card (NO)

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PlayStation Network Card (OM)	PlayStation Network Card (PT)	PlayStation Network Card (QA)	PlayStation Network Card (RU)	PlayStation Network Card (SA)	PlayStation Network Card (SE)