Mortal Shell II Reviews
Mortal Shell 2 represents an excellent and courageous sequel, capable of collecting the legacy of its forefather and expanding it with successful ideas, a finally reactive combat system and an inspired level design. Despite some small flaws in the balance, Cold Symmetry's title knows how to bewitch lovers of souls-like games thanks to a magnetic dark fantasy atmosphere and an extraordinarily free exploration.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Mortal Shell II builds on its souls-like foundations with fast, aggressive combat, excellent boss encounters, rewarding exploration, and impressively varied character builds. Its Shell and Tarstone systems give progression real depth without becoming overwhelming, while the removal of stamina encourages a distinctive offensive rhythm. Uneven storytelling, repetitive dungeons, and a few underdeveloped mechanics hold it back, but the core experience remains challenging, addictive, and highly rewarding.
Mortal Shell II thus becomes almost too easy, but this is entirely optional, left up to the player and can be activated or deactivated at any time.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The original Mortal Shell was a straightforward imitation of FromSoftware games. With Mortal Shell 2, however, the US-based team has changed course, creating a title with highly interesting mechanics. Mortal Shell 2 boasts solid gameplay and well-structured level design. Despite a few sporadic bugs and some balancing issues, Mortal Shell 2 is a title destined to rank among the best Soulslikes. We only hope that the recent release of other major titles doesn't hurt its sales. The attractive price point of €49.99 certainly serves as a strong incentive to buy.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Mortal Shell 2 is an improvement on the original in almost every way. Despite some flaws, it offers great gameplay elements, impeccable and striking visuals, fantastic combat, and more. As a result, it cements itself as one of the best Souls-likes of the year.
In the end, what defines a “soulslike” isn't its difficulty, its bosses, or its world. It's its soul. And Mortal Shell 2 has soul.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
I genuinely didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I have. It’s still a Soulslike, which means it is still going to make me angry, still going to kill me repeatedly and still going to make me question why I’m voluntarily doing this to myself. But unlike some Soulslikes, I actually want to keep going. It takes the formula, removes some of the things that make it unnecessarily frustrating, adds its own ideas and delivers one hell of a sequel. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a boss waiting to kick my arse again.
Mortal Shell II feels like a sequel that gets that bigger-is-better when it adds to the original notion. It’s still a weird, hard, and often messy Souls-like, but it’s also a really interesting action RPG with its own unique visual identity and a rewarding sense of discovery.
Mortal Shell II is everything fans of the soulslike genre should be looking for. Its world is a beautifully depressing homage to a bygone era of fairy tales and medieval fantasies, while its brutal combat will have you scrambling for a moment of peace between fights. I truly believe they have accomplished something great here, and I can’t wait to see what Cold Symmetry has up their sleeve in the next installment of the series.
Some bugs, a couple of crashes, weak boss battles, and other strange design choices hold Mortal Shell II back from being the masterpiece I hoped it’d be, but Cold Symmetry has more than proven itself as a small-but-mighty team that knows how to deliver the action RPG goods.
Mortal Shell II is a soulslike that successfully builds upon the first game in every respect and manages to carve out a place for itself within the genre. If you enjoy soulslike games, it is a title you can pick up and play without hesitation—and even if you are somewhat distant from the genre, it is still well worth giving a chance.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Mortal Shell 2 is a solid follow-up to the first game. Excellent combat and a dark fantasy world create a creepy, oppressive atmosphere, making it a strong contender in the Soulslike genre. However, some inconsistent balancing holds it back from taking that next step and becoming something truly special.
Mortal Shell 2 is an excellent game that creates its own identity, despite technically qualifying as a Soulslike. Since it doesn’t require any knowledge of the original, it isn’t a stretch to say that jumping directly into Mortal Shell 2 is the way to go for newcomers. The developer’s still releasing updates to tweak the difficulty and fix some graphical issues, but the game is still a blast to play through. It’s for this reason that I give it the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
Mortal Shell II has a few rough edges here and there, but it's still a very enjoyable soulslike that understands what makes the genre work while building on its own core vision
Mortal Shell II is an excellent soulslike that delivers simple yet brutal gameplay, featuring unique shells that alter playstyles and a dark open world with stunning landscapes. However, there is a lack of variety in melee and ranged weapons; furthermore, the fact that mini-bosses also appear as common enemies slightly detracts from the experience.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Cold Symmetry took Mortal Shell and tackled the heavy problems of the first chapter, creating a second entry that hybridizes Dark Souls and Sekiro that genuinely surprised us. Regardless of everything, the bold gameplay and the strong artistic component make it a game not to be underestimated, one genre fans should recover as soon as possible.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Mortal Shell II isn’t trying to prove that it can make a better Dark Souls. It’s trying to prove that a Soulslike can evolve without losing what made the genre special in the first place. And after playing it, I think Cold Symmetry has made a pretty convincing argument.
Mortal Shell 2 could have played it safe. It could have taken the original game, added a few new shells and weapons, increased the resolution, and called it a day. Instead, Cold Symmetry went considerably further. The sequel takes the Shell system that made the original interesting and builds an entire game around it. Combat is faster, the world is larger, exploration is more rewarding, and the sheer number of weapons, abilities, and dungeons gives players plenty of room to experiment. It doesn’t always get everything right. But I’d rather play a sequel that occasionally reaches too far than one that never tries anything new.
Mortal Shell 2 deconstructs familiar souls-like mechanics in genuinely exciting ways, with dynamic stamina-free combat and deep build variety across Shells, Seals, and Tarstones — even if some fall damage frustrations and predictable mini-bosses hold it back from greatness.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Mortal Shell II may not deliver the unforgettable bosses, intricate storytelling, or constantly surprising world design of the genre's best games, but it does not need to. Its combat, character building, atmosphere, and approachable design give it enough of an identity to stand on its own.