Rogue-like or Rogue-Lite
Empty Shell is a stylish rogue-lite horror game. Randomly generated maps that change each time you start a run are used in Empty Shell. Empty Shell is developed by CC Arts and it seems to be one of their first projects. Published by a Polish company, Hyperstrange, the game released on Nintendo Switch on 12th March 2024. The version reviewed here is the Switch version.
A rogue-lite is similar to a rogue-like, a rogue-like being a game where you explore, fight, and die. The player then repeats the run and no weapons, or key items that the player may have collected are saved for future runs. In other words, in rogue-like games, the player is often fighting enemies in dungeons, exploring, finding new paths to make progress, but then, when the player dies, they have to return to the start of the game with nothing that they’ve collected being saved. In a rogue-lite, you keep any key items that you found on previous runs.
In Empty Shell I noticed that some of the electronic devices that you find (that help to describe the game world) are kept on your next run. So, over time, you build up a library of lore documents. Each time you play the game, a character is given to the player and there is detailed biography information of the character that you are playing as. For example, I could be a 22-year-old named John Smith. The background to the game is that there is a group of people being held against their will and one at a time, they are sent into a facility in order to complete certain objectives. For the group, they hold fear of the facility as no one who goes there ever returns.
Horror
There is a clear Squid Game influence in the way that the characters are being held against their will, and sent to complete dangerous tasks. This is similar to the Netflix show, Squid Game. The game is definitely a horror title. There is little or no music as you explore the facility, but there are sound effects and generally an eerie sound design. I feel that the sound design isn’t perfect as the absence of a thematic soundtrack means that Empty Shell isn’t exactly a game that you can sit and chill to. However, it is appealing in other ways. The survivalist elements of being left in a facility swarming with monsters with only a shotgun, some shells, and a shovel does give you an adrenalin rush, and the gameplay is addictive and suitable for a playthrough every so often.
The combat with your melee weapon (which could be a shovel, or iron bar) is satisfying. You can almost feel the edge of the shovel crushing an enemy giant spider’s thorax. However, because the graphics are in black and white, and you see the action from a top down perspective, you can often hardly see what kind of creature you are fighting. There are spiders, zombies and other creepy monstrosities crawling towards the player at most times. It is wise to save ammunition for when you really need it and use the melee weapons on most enemies.
Gameplay
The game controls like a twin stick shooter. You hold the R button to engage you’re rifle or shotgun and then use the second analog stick to aim. It actually controls similarly to Diablo and other Diablo-like action RPGs. A game that I would say Empty Shell is very similar to, is Undead Storm and Undead Storm: Nightmare on DS and 3DS respectively. However, Empty Shell is many times more polished, has serious lore woven around it, and generally doesn’t feel like a budget game (unlike Undead Storm). Ironically, Empty Shell probably will fill the same gameplay niche as Undead Storm for most people who play it.
However, the genre of rogue-likes is prone to eliciting frustration in its players and Empty Shell is no exception. There is little feeling of progression when the player dies repeatedly and is sent back to the start of the game multiple times. Rogue-Likes aren’t my favourite genre of videogame so I’m sure that if you do like rogue-likes, you’ll enjoy Empty Shell because even though it’s not within my favourite genre, I enjoy playing it in bursts.
Conclusion
Overall, Empty Shell is an enjoyable Rogue-lite with a unique look and great horror elements. Reminiscent of past horror games, and with satisfying combat, Empty Shell is great to play in short bursts. While the gameplay loop may put some people off, if you are a horror fan, you could do a lot worse than Empty Shell. Furthermore, there is a wealth of lore hidden around the facility, and if you let the story ensnare you, you could get addicted to the experience of running through the facility narrowly escaping death at every turn.
