Daniel Mortal Shell II Review

Bigger and better in almost every aspect than its predecessor, at the cost of identity and atmosphere. In terms of gameplay, Mortal Shell 2 is one of the most satisfying games I've ever played. The weapons have such weight and fluid animations that makes even hitting them in mid-air feels extremely satisfying and addictive. The shell system is also incredible; it's what sets this game apart from other Souls-like games. Visually, it's breathtaking. The way the lighting, fog, and color saturation were used gives the game a unique artistic style. But in terms of atmosphere, I think it lost that tense and unsettling feeling of the first game. Loveeeee the level design; the interconnected linear paths with different biomes and small dungeons added so much to the exploration. I just think linear and mid open worlds are far superior than fully open world games. Please, more of this. There's a strong build variety here too, but I think the game doesn't allow you to explore them enough, at least not in your first playthrough. Everything is always trying to kill you, and resources are so limited that investing too much in something feels too risky. Unless you farm. A LOT. There are some questionable design choices here and there, such as one-hit kill bosses, enemies with strange telegraphed attacks, annoying environmental traps, and checkpoints that are too far apart, resulting in a lot of unnecessary backtracking. The game in general is very difficult, not because it's challenging, but because it's unfair most of the times. I felt this mainly during exploration. Every path and area is teeming with enemies. They have insane combos that, if you're not careful, can kill you instantly. They behave as if they don't share the same logic and physics as you in terms of their attacks and movements. It's as if they have all the fun and action while you run around trying to find an opening to attack. This frustrated me more times than I would have liked. It also made my experience miserable at times. This isn't unique to Mortal Shell; other Souls and Souls-like games also suffer from this, unfortunately. But the weakest and most disappointing part of this game is, without a doubt, the bosses. They are mechanically weak and uninteresting to fight, with simple and poor move sets. Especially the final boss. He is the worst and hardest boss I have ever defeated. Design wise, difficulty wise and mechanically wise. It's complete and utterly garbage. It almost made me quit the game. The last area, overall, felt like it was made by completely different people. It was just that bad. Despite all that, I still enjoyed Mortal Shell 2. It's a good game; I just wish the developers had focused more on the game's strengths, instead of making it bigger and wasting resources on aspects that didn't add much, resulting in poor design choices, weaker boss fights, and a loss of identity that made the first game, even with its flaws and inferior mechanics, so different from everything else.