The Virtuous Cycle will let you adventure anew with enemies shuffled around upon death. You also get to shape your build through pillars which bestow talents, everything from weapon enhancements to new moves. Along with that roguelikelike reshuffling, it adds a new playable shell in the form of Hadern (the tutorial boss) as well as a new weapon, the Axatana. As the name suggests, it’s both an axe and dual katanas, switching between the two forms with different movesets for each. The game’s website has more info on newness. While The Virtuous Cycle will normally cost £7/€7/$8, publishers Playstack announced yesterday that from the 18th to 23rd, it’ll be free to grab for keepsies. “Since we launched Mortal Shell back in August 2020 we have been thinking about how to give our fans something truly special that demonstrates our sincere appreciation for their support,” said head PC man Kiron Ramdewar. Yeah, that’s not bad. Our Ed liked parts of the game back in 2020, enjoying the heft of violence and the spectacle and challenge of some enemies, but his enthusiasm petered out in his Mortal Shell review. “The puzzling nature of the map, the repetitive placement of enemies, the lack of options all coalesce into a big arm that holds the game back from being really good, to just good,” he said. “No matter times I try and swat it away with thoughts of the meaty combat, that arm simply won’t budge.” Perhaps a roguelikelike mode might shake things up? Mortal Shell is already on Epic, obvs, then come Thursday will be sold on Steam and GOG too.
