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It may be nostalgia talking, but I've a real soft spot for visuals inspired by the original PlayStation, when developers were just learning how to harness 3D. Vital Shell is a mecha love letter to those halcyon days, pitting you against swarms of enemies in your oversized (yet very cute) robot suit, and it's making real waves on Steam.
The game's setup is simple: once you pick your mech, you drop into an area and start blasting through everything that gets in your way. Gradually, you come face to face with the boss, whom you've to out-maneuver and take down.
It's quick and satisfying in much the same way as Vampire Survivors. Stages are designed to last around 20 minutes, making it easy to drop in for a quick round here and there – and believe me, that impulse sneaks up on you fast. There's just enough era-appropriate jank to evoke those late-'90s Armored Core and MechWarrior games, replete with a jungle soundtrack to really take you back to 1999.
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Reviews on Steam as of now are Overwhelmingly Positive, and as the first month of 2026 draws to a close, it's the highest rated release on Valve's marketplace. Vital Shell sits in the number one position for the top 100 of the last 30 days, and it's in the same spot on SteamDB's chart for the year so far.
Pretty good going for a project constructed by one person to understand the medium better. "This started out as a way for me to learn game dev and somehow turned into a proper game," says developer Marvin Wizard, in a blog for Vital Shell’s launch.
Currently, the game offers five stages, bosses and characters, and some mini-bosses and a whole bunch of unlockables, but we can probably expect more considering the reception. For $6, it's well worth a try, especially if you're always longing for a time when games like these were constantly filling up the tiny CRT in your bedroom.
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