Empty Shell Review (PS5) – Not So Empty Hell

For the past couple of years, there has been an abundance of indie titles released so much so that it’s just too hard to keep track. One such archaic way I keep tabs is, quite literally, having an open tab on my browser. Empty Shell’s Steam Page was one of those and for months I kept it open in hopes of a wider console release. The game’s trailer enticed me with its visuals and excited me with genre buzzwords like ‘survival horror’ and ‘roguelite’, so naturally I wanted to play it immediately.

For a grungey top-down shooter, it’s hard not to lump Empty Shell with similar touchstones like Hotline Miami or OTXO. However, Empty Shell strikes out feeling like a wholly different experience, despite some familiar gameplay loops for the genre. Let’s get into what’s under the shell, shall we?

We’re Not Alone

After a catastrophic incident at a facility in the ’50s, no one has approached the Japanese island that houses it for decades. “Volunteers” go one by one to excavate and extract important information for a chance to return home. However, no one has really made it home yet but the mission continues. You play as these various volunteers, depending on how many times you die, as the latest person to do the unnamed corporation’s dirty work.

This of course makes narrative sense and speaks to the thoughtlessness of the powers that be, but it also leans into the game’s genre. Being a roguelite, nothing about your playable character(s) matters, despite having a full bio written for them. Gameplay-wise their loadouts and stats will affect every run as you’ll start with a variety of different weapons and stamina every new run.

It speaks to the cold, brutal nature of the game’s world whilst setting the tone for its gameplay too. You’re essentially a lamb thrown to the slaughter with no real say in it. As you traipse through the facility and face the terrors that lurk, you’ll learn about the history from multiple in-game texts. It depicts a rich history that unfurls the mystery and lead up towards the incident. It’s extremely engaging and despite finding myself shuddering around every corner, I had to search everywhere to find them. Outside of the rich lore you’ll find in texts, the rest of the game’s narrative is pretty minimal which is again a recurring theme throughout Empty Shell.

Another Big Shell Incident

As I mentioned at the top, you’ll play the game from a top-down perspective. Most games that use this angle usually represent a good portion of what you can see. In Empty Shell, however, the game’s aesthetics obfuscates your vision with all of its analogue CRT-style overlays. It creates a paranoia that emanates across every room or hallway with the grotesque alien-like enemies lurking in the shadows.

This isn’t the only way the game creates tension though, as the resources you scavenge quickly feel less than enough. You’ll find weapons, ammo, medkits and a few usable items sporadically across the procedurally generated maps, and with only a limited amount of inventory space, you’re making tough decisions on what to keep very early on.

Playing like a twin-stick with the pacing of a survival horror turns the familiar elements into something fresh. You have a stamina bar tied to your sprint and dodge, as well as a melee alongside your firearm. It almost feels imperative to learn how to move and use melee over straight-up shooting and I think the devs hint at that with the game’s trophies – one of which is a melee-only run on Nightmare difficulty.

Speaking of which, there are a few difficulty options that alter the moment-to-moment gameplay by making enemies more vicious and bullet sponges. However, I’d recommend trying on easy first, to see how you fare as you lose all your inventory and upgrades every time you die. This makes late-game deaths feel like an impossible task to complete, so you’re usually better off restarting.

Everything Is Empty

Whilst most roguelites give you comfort in the familiarity, Empty Shell felt like I was always on eggshells. There are a wide range of enemy types that all have their own ways of attacking you. It all starts off simple enough, like you’re killing limping zombies but by the end, Empty Shell starts to feel like a bullet hell. Tie that to the stamina bar and your small inventory and things can ramp up pretty quickly.

You’ll have opportunities at vendors to buy upgrades to your health, armour, get ammo and even buy new weapons, or placeable items like turrets – but the economy is quite stringent. I found digging through lockers and caches, swapping guns and ammo and adapting to what I found, way more of a viable strategy and it speaks to survival horror at the core.

Empty Shell has stripped back everything in terms of sound, visuals and story to deliver a hyperfocus and unnerving shoot ’em up of survival. Every element has been done before, but the way CC Arts smashes them together brings back that same rush you had playing your first survival horror or roguelite. It is simple but also refined and engrossing because the difficulty of it all coaxes you into trying just one more time.

No One Can Hear You Scream

I’ve mentioned the minimalist approach to Empty Shell and I do think it’s one of the game’s strongest aspects. There isn’t any music but rather an ambient soundscape that creates an atmosphere. The black and white visuals create a stark contrast to what you should be looking at. The environment’s black/grey backdrop is painted with the blood of the strange alien-like creatures after your kills. It all speaks to the game’s overarching narrative: its title and the theme of a despondent corporation covering themselves, whilst making regular lives suffer the consequences.

Maybe I’m reading too much into that, but it’s hard not to make those parallels when playing through Empty Shell. It’s an understated gem that does have a clunky menu system on console. It doesn’t get in the way enough to dampen the overall experience but if that is my critique, then I’m really nitpicking at this point. The runtime is about a few hours per go, which can feel quite long. But if you’re one and done then it might be a bit short. However, the new game+ mode does offer some modifiers to make multiple runs feel fresh, and the trophies are mean but I can’t say I won’t try.

Empty Shell is a not-so-empty hell of a game that uses tropes of survival horror and roguelites in a distinct way. The stark presentation and despondent atmosphere of the game make for a great setting in this mish-mash of genres that is well worth checking out if you like your horrors lo-fi and full of bullets.

Empty Shell is available now on PlayStation 5 (review platform), PlayStation 4 Xbox Series S|X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.

Developer: CC Arts
Publisher: Hyperstrange

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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