Mortal Shell 2 PS5 Review- A Worthy Standalone Sequel

Mortal Shell was a unique souls-like experience when it came out in 2020

There were many souls-like knockoffs on the market which were trying to please the soul’s audience as the void was needed to be filled that bloodborne had left in the player’s hearts.

Then comes Mortal shell with a unique twist to the genre that no one else had ever done before and it became a cult hit. Even though it had its shortcomings and issues, the game did fairly well for its own kind.

People clearly wanted more of this and now we finally have Mortal shell 2 among us.

In mortal shell 2, you play as the harbinger who is a faceless and skeletal like creature tasked to bring back eggs from the gothic alien like world.

The Harbinger must inhabit the physical bodies of fallen warriors (known as shells) to survive and fight effectively. Your main objective is exploring weird, interconnected biomes to recover your stolen kin and gather mysterious eggs that push the plot forward.

The map has been inspired by Elden ring and provides a seamless experience across multiple areas with minimal UI and HUD elements present on the screen

There are short teleporters present on the edge of different areas to provide seamless traversal between them which feels good to use with no loading screens while teleporting

Compared to the first game, Mortal shell 2 is a huge overhaul, both in terms of world-building and combat. Everything here just works seamlessly.

Alongside the usual different shells and weapons, you also get a sidearm weapon with you at all times that helps with the aggressive playstyle that this game demands from players.

There are no shields in this game, instead, the players are given shell abilities that they can use to their advantage in battle to stagger or surprise enemies.

These shell abilities differ from one shell to another, therefore, opening the doors to different playstyles that helps different audiences.

You can also upgrade your weapons and side weapons using gold and materials that you get by defeating enemies in combat and by exploring different areas.

Just like the weapons, you can also upgrade shell abilities by using glimpses, which you can acquire by exploring or by cleansing dark tower gates scattered throughout the map.

These towers have the most eggs in them where the main boss fights happen alongside few mini bosses and finishing these towers help move your objective forward.

Levelling up here is streamlined as you do not have to upgrade your health, stamina and weight or magic separately. Instead, it’s just a single click level up that has its own slabs where sometimes, base damage improves or you get more shell points with a good increase in health.

Mortal shell 2 is a great looking game with amazing landscapes and vistas filled with life and vegetation.

Every area has its unique feel and looks that separates them from one another and no one area looks similar helping to map out traversal easier for the players.

There are also maps available at certain places, just like Elden ring, that reveals your current area and your surroundings, helping to ease your journey.

Some good things about Mortal shell 2 are its no stamina and its difficulty options. You can choose to increase difficulty or continue playing on normal mode which is great to see plus there is no stamina bar here since they want players to be aggressive in their playstyle no matter which shell they use. Increasing difficulty and activating night mode reveals few areas that were locked during the daytime giving access to new lore and few quests.

Boss fights are easier for those who are familiar to the souls-like games but may prove a challenge to the new-comers especially during the early phases of being into a lower level.

However, game becomes easier the more you level up and upgrade your weapon damage and apply tar stones which you also get by exploring the environment and they help you with certain weapon abilities and they can also be upgraded to Level 3 for the max effect.

Main bosses and mini bosses in Mortal Shell 2, are all very distinct in nature and playstyles.

Some are heavy with slower attack speeds while others are fast and agile with lower damage outputs. How much you damage them with every attack depends on which weapon and tar stone build you go with as stacking effects here help the player a lot in damaging them.

No performance or fps drop issues in this except for a weird treasure chest glitch that happens on a specific area but reloading the game helps fix it.

Soundtrack during boss fights are epic as heavy bass guitar music runs throughout the boss fights with every boss having its own unique soundtrack.

Disclaimer: Huge shout out to Playstack for providing us with a game code for this review