Happy Saturday, friends! We figured we’d take a breather for the weekend, but I wanted to take a time to throw a recommendation out there for a delightfully weird and addictive game you can enjoy on PC and Steam Deck – I’m talking about Vital Shell.
Developed by the team at MarvinWizard, Vital Shell is Vampire Survivors with mechs and robots, and themed around the PlayStation era. In other words, it’s just about everything you’d want from a game in the genre. We picked this up on the fly for a mere $5.99 (though you can check out a playable “demo disc” as well), and it’s money well spent.
Let’s break down why you should check out Vital Shell and add it to your library immediately.
Vital Shell Brings the Action
Vital Shell is wave-based. That means you go through stage after stage obliterating robots with your mech warrior of choice. You’ll start off with a basic one that simply swings a sword. But, as you’d expect from a game of this type, you can unlock new weapons.
But as you progress, you really get to unlock some cool stuff. This includes unique abilities that ramp up your speed, firing rate, and strength. But you can also socket weapons with gems, giving them additional firepower. This is especially useful in later waves, when enemies become more relentless and fire more projectiles at you.
Of course, if you die, you lose it all – well, sort of. You can make long-term progress in the game and keep some abilities with your mech as you start over. But the cool thing here is that you can get new weapons and combine their effects in neat little ways. There are literally thousands of build combinations you can go through, which is absolutely groovy.
And there are other mechs you can unlock! Five are available in all, each with different aspects that change up the gameplay a little bit. That may not be as vast as the array of characters in Survivors, but it’s very cool nevertheless.
There’s only five stages, and you basically have a 20 minute time limit to reach the level’s boss. So longevity isn’t exactly on the game’s side. But it’s still a blast, and the replay value is through the roof. Can you get any better on your next run? Time to find out.
For $6, there’s a tremendous value here. And did I mention the game works like a charm on Steam Deck?
Now Let’s Talk About Vital Shell’s Presentation
The real charm in Vital Shell lies in its visuals and sound – which are taken straight from the PlayStation era. I’m serious.
The game looks like something that would fit right in to the classic console’s library, right down to the stage and enemy design. It’s got kind of a Japanese charm to it, right down to its explosion animations. They look like circular little “booms” that have a cute effect to them. Oh, and did I mention the mech animations? They’re awesome, to say the least.
Plus the menus look like something out of an Armored Core classic release. It’s easy to select what you’ll be equipping next, as well as abilities that socket into your weapons. Watching their effects unfold on-screen is really cool.
On top of that, the soundtrack is good, like something out of a nouveau disco, if such a thing exists. They have great little grooves to them, combined with the minimal but effective sound effects. It just harkens back to a simpler time in gaming, which a lot of us could use right now.
If you’re a fan of old-school gaming, Vital Shell is a must.
So, Yeah, We Like Vital Shell
We didn’t think about taking on Vital Shell for a full-on review, if only because our plate is full already. But it’s a magnificent game for the price, small but splendid in everything it executes. It plays beautifully, is highly addictive, and has the kind of presentation that older PlayStation gamers will absolutely love. There’s also a lot to unlock and replay value galore, even if it’s on the “short” side (in a way).
If you’re looking to something to enjoy this weekend, hop into Vital Shell. Stay snuggled up and let the mech action warm you over. Fingers crossed it winds up on consoles at some point!
You can check out Vital Shell for Steam Deck and PC/Steam here!
Need more robo-goodness? Check out our review of Custom Mech Wars!
