Cold Symmetry's upcoming Souls-like title, Mortal Shell, is a highly anticipated title for most fans of the genre, and received a new look at the gameplay at the PC Gaming Show 2020. However, along with these new peeks at the gameplay, Cold Symmetry has also announced that the upcoming game will be an Epic Games Store exclusive title when it releases in Q3 2020.
While the Epic Games Store exclusivity does limit the buying ability for players on PC, Mortal Shell will also be available on PS4 and Xbox One on release, so it will still be readily available for a large number of players. Additionally, the decision to launch the game at $30 does also imply that it is likely a more condensed experience at a more approachable price, especially for games within the hardcore-action genre.
This obviously isn't the first game to prepare for launch as an Epic Games Store exclusive, and Mortal Shell likely won't be the last to take Epic Games' deal for exclusive titles. Of course, these deals are often for timed exclusivity and generally end a year after launch, which is also the case for Mortal Shell, since it claims it will be available on Steam in Q3 2021. The exclusive deal has also reportedly been a huge success for a majority of games that have taken it, making it a fairly obvious choice as the debut title for development studio Cold Symmetry.
As for the gameplay, this isn't the first time that Cold Symmetry has shown off the brutal looking combat of Mortal Shell, although the boss fight against Hadern did show a much more intricate look at the dueling combat of the game. The combat heavily draws from the steadied exchange of blows, similar to what players resonated with in other Souls-like titles like Sekiro or Absolver. This is likely why Epic Games would have been interested in making an exclusivity deal, looking to maximize on the success of the other games in the genre with an exclusive of its own.
Unfortunately, not all players will be happy to learn that Mortal Shell will be an Epic Games Store exclusive, as many prefer to be able to pick and choose their preferred buying methods and online storefronts freely. In the past, some players have mentioned quality of life features and safety issues as their reasons to prefer one store over another. However, that may be a moot point once the Mortal Shell beta goes live and people become infatuated with the game enough to not care where they can buy, and instead begin to focus on when they can buy.
Mortal Shell is set to release Q3 2020 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: PC Invasion
