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🌑 Bigger, Darker & Ambitious

Having finished the original Mortal Shell, I immediately noticed the huge leap in almost every area. The visuals and audio are top notch, the dark atmosphere is fantastic, and the enemy designs range from amusing to "What in the effing hell is THAT?" 😳

📖 The Story Actually Got Me Invested

Story wasn't really the strong suit of the 1st Mortal Shell. The cryptic lore surrounding the Foundling worked, but the game was always more about Shells, weapons and combat.

Mortal Shell II surprised me here. The Harbinger's journey to retrieve all lost Ova for the Undermether gives the game a stronger narrative backbone while keeping things straightforward.

At one point I actually thought, "Wait... are they really going to pull the same plot twist again?"

Thankfully, no.

The eight Shells each have their own mini stories, with some of them crossing into each other's narratives. Cool side quests & nods to the 1st game: Vlas and his missing cat Mutton, Gorg and Hilga's get-together, Baghead doing Baghead things, Night Mode secrets, and bizarre side events like the pike/long-axe-wielding armoured knight.

⚔️ The Combat Was an Absolute Blast

From the get-go right through the final boss, I had a blast with the combat. One of the biggest differences from the 1st game was how rarely I felt like avoiding encounters. In the original, I'd sometimes sprint from point A to B to avoid unnecessary fights, preserve health and reach the targets.

Here, I was generally happy to fight whatever was in front of me. I only ran after something had handed me my ass and I needed to reach a Beacon before losing my hard-earned Gloom.

Light attacks, heavy attacks, combos, ranged attacks, finishers, ripostes, Shell abilities, Tarstones, weapons, sidearms and Seals all come together to create wonderfully chaotic encounters. The riposte animations are particularly satisfying but occasionally feel awkward.

When everything comes together properly? Magnificent.

🧍 Tiel, 🧍‍♀️ Proxima & Friends

I spent most of my 1st playthrough with Tiel and Proxima, and the two gave me very different playstyles.

Tiel was all about Shadow Strike, Shadow Dash and stacking poison. I leaned heavily into those abilities and had a lot of fun with him.

Proxima was different. I relied heavily on Grafted Armor and made some use of her lightning abilities, while Biosampler was mostly an occasional "Right, I need to yoink myself over there" button.

I also got a taste of Smert's unarmed combat, and punching and kicking my way through enemies was effing dope. Eredium, Gragu & Genessa showed plenty of potential too, but I haven't explored every Shell deeply enough to pretend otherwise.

The same goes for the four Seals. I stuck with the Untarnished Seal throughout my 1st run, while Infinite and Vatra's got little to no use beyond the tutorials. I avoided Slayer Seal because it disables achievements.

🪓 Weapons, Sidearms & A Little Music

Axe & Dagger with Forgotten Crossbow carried me through the 1st half. Clockwork Scythe with Caged Hystrix took over for most of the rest. Then the Great Martyr Blade arrived toward the end and was absolutely phenomenal, along with the Triarch Repeater and Ballistazooka.

I liked the weapon and sidearm variety. Everything has its own quirks and movesets.

And then there's the Troubadour's Lute. 🎵

I didn't use it as a conventional sidearm, but playing a lute near NPCs, enemies and various environments gave me some amusing interactions. Sometimes you just need to put the apocalypse on hold and play some music.

🗺️ There's Always Something Else Going On

Exploration was another highlight. There are plenty of optional areas, challenges, dungeons, Night Mode content and little encounters scattered around the world, with curiosity often rewarded by the unexpected.

The Hidden Nave near the final boss is a perfect example. It's packed with Gloom, upgrade materials, collectibles and some great fourth-wall-breaking jokes involving the player's game library. "Looks like someone's peeking into your game library from outside the game." 👀

Returning to the Beacon without cleansing it can apparently respawn the whole pile.

Oversight or intentional joke? I'm choosing to believe the latter. 😁

🐛 The Rough Edges

Of course, it isn't all sunshine, moonlight and lute music. I ran into plenty of bugs and issues:

• Pause/main menu occasionally disabled controller and KB+M input, forcing a quit.
  
• Visual glitches and interaction problems with chests and offerings.
  
• Awkward fall-damage deaths and some ridiculous enemy damage spikes.
  
• Baghead sitting/falling loop.
  
• Boss-area entrances/exits occasionally locked me in.
  
• Genessa's summon frequently missed targets, as did Grisha's summons.
  
• Mango Head mask got unequipped when reloading the game or resting at a Beacon.
  
• Occasional micro-stutters regardless of settings.

Thankfully, none of those reloads or lock-ups ever cost me my Gloom.

🛠️ But They're Actually Fixing Things

This is where I have to give Cold Symmetry credit. By the time I'm writing this, we've had four patches, with a substantial number of community concerns being addressed, including some of the things I personally encountered.

Bugs, crashes, performance, enemy behaviour, magnetism, balance, Beacons, Shell abilities and more have received attention. They've even added an Experimental Adaptive Difficulty option, which I'm yet to try.

I'm still not convinced they've found the sweet spot with enemy balance. Some regular enemies hit ridiculously hard, while others feel nerfed too much, making the difficulty inconsistent at times.

Seeing the developers actively respond to feedback rather than leaving the game sitting there collecting dust is encouraging. Keep it coming, Cold Symmetry - AND PLEASE BRING PHOTOMODE SOON.

🏆 Somehow, 100%

I finished the game, went straight into NG+, and got the final achievement I was missing: Peter's Perfect Parry. That was the only achievement I had to revisit in NG+. Everything else I managed to get during my 1st run.

I explored a few Night Mode-only locations, collectibles and encounters, and by the end felt like I'd seen almost everything the game had to offer.

Almost.

There are still Shells, Seals, Night Mode content and builds I haven't properly explored, so I'm not putting the controller down yet.

❤️ Final Thoughts

Mortal Shell II is far from perfect. There are bugs, balance issues and inconsistencies to address. But they never managed to overshadow the experience for me.

I had a hell of a lot of fun.

The combat is satisfying, the world atmospheric, the visuals and audio fantastic, the encounters memorable, and the narrative strong. This is a massive step up from the 1st game.

There's still room to polish and refine it, but Cold Symmetry's direction gives me confidence that Mortal Shell II can eventually stand alongside the best Souls-likes out there.

⚖️ Verdict

Mortal Shell II: 8.5/10
My Personal GOTY.

Well... technically it's the only 2026 game I've played and finished so far. 🤷😁

10/10 would absolutely pick up the lute and abandon the main quest again. 🎵💀

P.S. I'm no Souls-like veteran, just a casual player. Everything above is based on my personal experience, so take it with a pinch of salt. Your mileage may vary.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3808903754
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3800917404
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3798973625

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