As a die‑hard Souls fan, I’ve loved watching the genre splinter into its own little ecosystem of offshoots, each trying to carve out an identity beyond FromSoftware’s shadow.
The original Mortal Shell remains one of the finest of these offshoots, even earning a spot on our article about soulslikes games, thanks to its inhabitable shells and the brilliant harden mechanic that gave it a distinct personality.
With that solid foundation already in place, Mortal Shell 2 quickly became one of my most anticipated releases of the year, especially with Cold Symmetry signalling a bolder, more Elden Ring‑inspired direction. Now that I’ve had my grubby hands on it for the past couple of weeks, I’m pleased to say it hasn’t just met those expectations, it’s hugely surpassed them.
What is Mortal Shell 2?
Acting as a standalone sequel, Mortal Shell 2 casts you as the Harbinger, a newly formed being tasked by the Undermether, a fallen god‑mother figure, to reclaim her scattered ova and purge the plague known as the Foul Passenger. Your journey takes you across the corrupted wilds of Fallgrim, a shadow‑soaked land that’s far more open in structure than what players will remember from the first game. Spread across this expanded map are dozens of beacons, each housing enemies you’ll need to clear out before you can purify them and claim the ova hidden within.
Exploration feels much more closely aligned with Elden Ring this time around, giving you the freedom to tackle beacons and dive into optional dungeons for hidden rewards at your own pace. That said, while the world is open, it isn’t directionless; wander into certain regions under‑levelled and you’ll be flattened instantly, so the game still nudges you along a loose intended path.
Cleansing enough beacons powers up the area’s corrupted gate, and clearing it out triggers a main boss encounter that unlocks the next major region and expands visibility on your map. It’s a smart structure that blends freedom with gentle guidance, letting you explore while still maintaining a clear sense of progression.
Sharper than ever
Alongside exploration, combat has seen a major overhaul, and the result is a system that feels far more fast‑paced and aggressive. The stamina meter is gone entirely, and instead you build resolve by chaining melee attacks, a resource you then spend on your sidearm and your shell’s unique abilities. It creates a rhythm that pushes you to stay on the offensive, but the AI won’t hesitate to punish you the moment that aggression tips into recklessness.
Mortal Shell 2 also introduces a visible posture bar, which makes stagger windows far easier to read and adds a welcome layer of tactical clarity to every encounter. Instead of guessing when an enemy is about to break, you can see their posture crumble in real time and push for a critical strike. Colour‑coded attack indicators reinforce this readability: red signals an unblockable hit, yellow marks a strike you can parry, and standard attacks remain neutral.
As I touched on earlier, sidearms are another major addition, and they’re a fantastic tool for picking off enemies from a distance or controlling crowds when things get hectic. There are eight to choose from, ranging from crossbows to repeaters, each offering its own flavour of ranged support. Having this extra option in your arsenal is a welcome change, and it often pushed me to play more aggressively just to build up the resolve and ammo needed to keep my sidearm in rotation.
Consider me shell shocked
The inhabitable shells were a real highlight for me in the first Mortal Shell, and I’m pleased to see this expanded even further in the sequel. The roster has now doubled from four to eight, and the newcomers genuinely shake up how you approach combat. Sariel is a particular standout, built around a lightning‑charged counter that shocks nearby enemies, while Proxima offers a completely different flavour with rapid Resolve generation and boosted consumable efficiency.
Your build isn’t just defined by your Shell, either. You can also equip passive and active tarstones to modify your abilities, and these items are scattered across the world to encourage exploration and experimentation. Tarstones adjust everything from elemental damage and defensive buffs to weapon behaviour and sidearm effects, adding a flexible layer of customisation that the first game never quite had.
That first game also never let you level a universal character, which made swapping shells mid‑game feel punishing. Mortal Shell 2 relaxes this curve by letting you spend resources to upgrade core traits shared across all shells, so you’re never starting from scratch. Improvements to health, consumable efficiency, and resolve economy level the playing field significantly, making build‑swapping far more accessible and far less of a mountain to climb.
Not quite hardened
In its current state, Mortal Shell 2 isn’t without its hiccups (I played on PS5). The framerate regularly stutters in more populated areas, and because this is a game built entirely around tight timing and reactive combat, those drops hit harder than they would in most action RPGs.
A sudden hitch during a dodge or parry window can genuinely cost you a fight, especially when you’re clinging onto your last sliver of tar. It’s not constant, and some regions run perfectly smoothly, but the inconsistency is noticeable enough to break the flow during tougher encounters.
My other complaint is the narrative, which I struggled to connect with despite the sequel’s attempts to expand the lore. Mortal Shell has always leaned into cryptic worldbuilding, but here the delivery doesn’t quite elevate that mystery, the cinematics are short, sparsely animated, and often lack the dramatic weight needed to pull you into the story. The game scatters notes, inscriptions, and fragments of worldbuilding throughout Fallgrim, yet I rarely felt compelled to stop and read them.
The Verdict
Minor hiccups aside, Mortal Shell 2 is exactly the kind of sequel I’d hoped for. It expands on its predecessor in all the right ways, deepening its exploration, adding more playable shells, and elaborating on the combat system.
The new sidearms, posture system, and stamina‑free aggression make every fight feel more deliberate and dynamic, while the expanded regions and optional dungeons give exploration a welcome sense of freedom.
Mortal Shell 2 earns its place among the best soulslike games, and I’m genuinely excited to see where Cold Symmetry takes the series next.
Mortal Shell 2 is out now on PC (Mac, Win), PS5, and Xbox Series, and we played via access kindly provided by the game’s publisher.
