Mortal Shell 2 Review: The Joy of Feeling OP In This Satisfying Soulslike Sequel

A modest soulslike named Mortal Shell appeared at the outskirts of 2020, years before FromSoftware’s madly ambitious Elden Ring. Smaller in scope than the soulslikes before it, Mortal Shell matched weighty combat, environmental storytelling, and other tropes of the subgenre with a unique RPG class system that saw players inhabit the bodies of dead heroes. Cold Symmetry’s Mortal Shell 2 is as expansive a sequel as any fans could have hoped for; while some of its systems do falter, a rewarding depth of detail and creativity enlivens the macabre adventure.

Take it from someone who didn’t get along so well with that first Mortal Shell. Its central shell-hopping mechanic was sound, and its culturally distinctive sense of self felt thought through, characterful, and not casually vague for its own sake (a common pitfall for countless soulslikes). But it was also somewhat shallow, linear, and short, with interminable load-time-cloaking crawlspaces that typically led to another procession of the same grumbling goons.

The sequel meaningfully expands its world and, most importantly, rewards those who explore it carefully. Mechanical changes—both strident and subtle—improve upon the familiar soulslike gameplay, helped along by newfound character build depth which outlcasses most of its (non-FromSoft) peers. And yes, some snags in the simulation remain, a strange design flourish or awkward gameplay element here and there. None of that detracts from this captivating 40-to-50-hour journey.

A Dark Journey of Eggs and Blood

You are the stoic, mouthless Harbinger, taken in by a mysterious cult-like community all named after flowers and herbs. A harvest festival is underway, and your fellow devotees dance before a bonfire… until you approach a corpse clutching a large ghostly egg in its arms. Your magical connection to this shell violently shatters the peace of the village.

I want to underscore how effectively immersive Mortal Shell 2s intro and tutorial is, eons beyond that of the first game. You’ll soon piece together the lore and belief systems of this world, where the Undermether—whose very bones and organs seemingly formed the planet, akin to Ymir in Nordic myth—seeks the return of her Ovum, guiding the Harbinger to his new home base of Marrow Keep.

The Keep is a lovely hub, hewn from bone marble, scattered with disciples whose pained deference urges you on your woeful errand. It contains the vital basics you’ve come to expect: a cagey merchant, a blacksmith, a trainer, with some more interesting secrets besides. There’s also a speedy elevator up to a supernatural teleporter on the roof, firing you off to your targets like a blazing bullet, though you’ll soon traverse the lands of Fallgrim more formally between unlocked beacons.

The Beautifully Broken World of Fallgrim Constantly Rewards Exploration

Mortal Shell 2 boasts over 80 dungeons, some of which lie in these bonfire-like access points. Think of them like Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s shrines, bite-sized in-and-out forays leading to puzzles, bosses, treasures, and traps. They're bolstered by sheer variety and playfulness, and stumbling onto their foggy entrances in the overworld is always a thrill, seductive quarry when you’re low on HP but want to roll the dice anyway.

This creativity extends beyond dungeons through an extensive map of biomes and fortresses, poison swamps and corrupted villages, hellish landscapes and dilapidated graveyards. Fallgrim isn’t as rich as The Lands Between or Yharnam, but it has its own distinctive flavor, evident in its haunted architecture and muttering mobs, its curious scraps of lore, and its grotesquely detailed bestiary. Stabby crabs hewn into cobblestone, eldritch coffin creatures, feisty miners with candled crowns, and even standard-issue mercenaries in full plate all present a confident visual identity, an invaluable strength in a non-From soulslike.

Larger legacy gates are more striking still, warping you into stranger dimensions that don’t conveniently slot into the geography. Mortal Shell 2s draw distance often left me wanting, admittedly, leveraging fog effects that limit what are still some impressive views, but its finely detailed textures outclass anything in its predecessor. The art direction rummages through prog rock and death metal album covers, these corpse-strewn caves and castle facades covered in the gore of war. Eye-catching sights hint at distant points of interest from various vantages which, along with the game’s many dungeons, beseech you to risk and explore further. Aesthetically, Mortal Shell 2 nails it.

Gobs of Gear To Craft Your Best Build

Combat is constant, of course, as the main way you interact with this lovely environment. As the shell-less Harbinger, your options at the start are meager, but Marrow Keep’s merchant Merrick offers maps to new gear, whereas the Gwynevere-esque Zhirelle points you to inhabitable shells, for a price.

Eight melee weapons and eight sidearms are available to collect, upgrade, and experiment with, a solid selection of slow-but-strong, fast-but-weak, and cool-but-weird. They can then be modified, buffed, even functionally transformed by nearly 80 different upgradable Tarstones, which boost raw stats, grant new abilities, and change how specific weapons perform. Other item drops have upgradable buffs as well, producing different effects when placed in either a passive or active slot.

Add it all together, spread it out over the eight unlockable shells, and you’re looking at a lot of cool buildcrafting to mess with. You won’t max everything out in one playthrough, but New Game+ lets you return to Fallgrim and keep the party going. While I prioritized some weapons over others, I think there's going to be something here for everybody.

Great Lore and Shell Backstories, But I Wish There Was More

Mortal Shell 2s challenge valley can appear somewhat wayward. I struggled through the game's early hours in search of viable gear and shells, but pushed past its challenge wall when properly equipped. None of the map is hard-gated, so you can chase after any of the legacy dungeons to complete in any order, but I found myself trouncing most encounters after the ten-hour mark or so. Still, some interesting and tougher field bosses, optional trial bouts, and enemy configurations will definitely test your build, and I lost gobs of gloom/souls on my testier travels.

There are also a handful of NPC quests to discern—all way more coherent than anything found in a FromSoft game—as well as some secrets, mysteries, and shell backstories to unpack. The enigmatic Ruk is a standout, a creepy raven creature who offers hints and light guidance as you progress; I didn’t spot his name in the credits, but the voice strongly recalls Martti Suosalo’s memorable turn as the Lynchian janitor Ahti in Remedy’s Control and Alan Wake II.

I do wish some systems were different. Ripostes leave you wide open to attacks from other enemies, which is bothersome in a game that prioritizes timed parries. Mobs move slow, so carefully waiting for the next brute to approach you can feel tedious, and some routes are packed with these enemy types. There are four equippable tools for parry, one of which serves as a kind of achievement-gating “easy mode,” but all are viable options. The harden parry from the first game returns, a standout combat mechanic that lets you get a little more aggressive, so long as your timing is precise.

Shell stories are confined to character chapters unlockable with a rare currency. They’re excellent narratives overall and left me wanting more, as venturing to areas in Fallgrim relevant to each shell did not seemingly unlock additional lore. You can swap between shells at any beacon, but I'd prefer that individual talent point allocations could be saved; it’s yet another area where Mortal Shell 2 gives you buildcrafting freedom, but you'll have to respec every time you switch characters.

A Dynamite Soulslike Sequel

These complaints are slight, as are any regarding the more OP weapons and Tarstones. Mortal Shell 2 is not the type of soulslike that wants you feeling feeble and delicate from the first to the last hour. Instead, it confidently introduces a dangerous world so that you feel accordingly empowered once you’ve brought it to heel.

It’s not as obstinate as a mainline soulslike, nor is it as sophisticated, grandiose, or philosophically profound. But it’s a fantastic dark fantasy action-RPG, original and strange, replete with options to soften or sharpen its challenge curve. When my character completely passed through the digestive tract of one of its massive bosses, I thought to myself: yeah, Mortal Shell 2 is something special indeed.