Cold Symmetry‘s original Mortal Shell stood out because of its concentrated focus and unique mechanics. Mortal Shell 2 takes that foundation and dramatically expands the scope by transforming from a brief, linear adventure into a larger, interconnected world. The end result is something genuinely thrilling. It takes bold risks with established combat rules and, more often than not, those risks pay off. Over the course of 20+ hours, the grotesque corpse-piloting godling, Lavendar, explores a gorgeously grim world and hijacks a weirder cast of bodies. It’s a bloody, bizarre adventure that improves on its predecessor in nearly every way.
The most radical change to the combat system is the complete removal of the stamina meter. Most games in this genre force players to manage their energy, making you swing a sword a couple times before retreating to catch your breath. Mortal Shell 2 throws that rule (and downtime) out the window. Players can attack, dodge, and sprint as much as they want. This gives fights an aggressive, relentless pace. But this does not mean the combat boils down to a mindless button-masher.
Replacing stamina is a meter called Resolve. Landing melee hits fill the Resolve bar, and players spend it to execute special abilities or fire sidearms. This is a system that rewards constant aggression. To do the cool stuff, you have to stay close and land hits. Defensive options have also been reworked into equippable items called Seals, which change how Lavendar avoids damage. For example, the signature Harden ability returns in one Seal, letting players turn to stone mid-swing to absorb a hit. Another Seal introduces a traditional block and parry system, while a third removes blocking entirely to tighten the parry window for massive stagger damage. This modular approach to defense lets players tailor the difficulty and rhythm of enemy encounters to their liking, making for a highly customizable Soulslike experience.
Hell in a Shell
The moment-to-moment action feels incredibly heavy, making Lavender feel like death incarnate come to lay waste to the living monstrosities. Weapons crash into armor with a satisfying crunch, and combat routinely ends in a shower of blood. The Axatana, for instance, functions as dual katanas that can snap together into a massive axe for heavy attacks. Meanwhile, the Great Martyr’s Blade excels at keeping aggressive monsters at a distance. But the sidearms are where the combat gets truly weird (in a good way). Lavendar starts with a basic Naylshotte shotgun, but exploring the world unlocks much stranger tools. Players can find a miniature Gatling gun and even a magical lute that brings the Bardbarian fantasy to life like never before. There’s little else as satisfying as weaving the sidearms seamlessly into melee combos.
Tarstones offer a different kind of customization. These upgrade materials slot into weapons to provide passive buffs or active skills, like increasing critical hit damage by a massive percentage or granting an area attack. Unfortunately, the game’s economy limits experimentation. By the midway point, upgrade materials are plentiful, but gold is extremely scarce. Fully upgrading a single melee weapon costs so much that switching to a newly discovered weapon feels like a pricey step backward. Players get the crafting materials refunded if they strip a weapon, but the gold is lost forever. Players are incentivized to pick a favorite early on and stick with it, which chips away at the aforementioned customization freedom.
The Shell system remains the core feature of the game, and Mortal Shell 2 doubles down on variety. There are eight dead warriors to inhabit. Each Shell operates like a distinct character class with fixed base stats and unique skill trees. Eredrim is a heavily armored knight who can unleash a devastating shoulder bash. He also has an Executioner passive that lets him instantly kill low-health enemies. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Tiel, a nimble thief who can turn invisible after a perfect dodge and backstab unsuspecting foes. Sariel introduces a high-risk mechanic called Pain. This Shell fires parasitic thorns that track targets, but using the ability inflicts Pain on Sariel’s health bar. Hitting max Pain allows Sariel to dodge faster, turning the character into a glass cannon speedster. Gragu is a brutal fighter with a spinning axe attack who regains healing supplies simply by killing enemies. Proxima is an armored alien who shoots a grappling hook to close distances while passively mitigating damage.
Upgrading the bond with these Shells requires a currency called Glimpses, and doing so unlocks short flashbacks detailing their tragic pasts. The best part of this progression system is the flexibility. Any skill points invested into a Shell can be refunded for free at any time. If a boss is giving you trouble, you can simply strip the points out of one Shell and dump them into a Shell better suited for the fight. There’s a lot of trial-and-error while testing out the different combinations, but there is a satisfying payoff when a build clicks. As an example, the Gatling gun leaves the player stationary and vulnerable, but pairing it with Proxima’s passive damage mitigation turns Lavendar into an absolute tank.
The land of Fallgrim has been reimagined as a sprawling landscape suspended in the air. The world design abandons the central hub-and-spoke model of the first game for an interconnected map full of twisting paths and hidden shortcuts. Players are forced to fight through the environment to reach six gates lingering at the edges of the land, each hiding a massive dungeon. These environments are strikingly diverse, and make the tough journey a visual treat. Fights spill across ruined abbeys covered in bright leaves, bone-white mountains with vein-like ripples, and more stunning locales. There are also misty doorways leading to bite-sized dungeons. These mini-adventures might feature a combat arena, a jumping puzzle, or a strange gimmick, like a potion that temporarily inverts the player’s controls. They do an excellent job of breaking up the exploration.
As Lavender treks through the lands, they square off against an impressive and terrifying variety of enemies. Opponents range from traditional corrupted knights to dog-sized creatures consisting of bearded human skulls scuttling on four legs. There are exploding bats, noodle-armed slendermen, and giant spiders with striking human features. The encounters often feel surprisingly playful, despite the lethal nature of these instances. In Mushroom Village, Lavendar gets swarmed by dancing hags playing accordions. Later, a Shepherd boss commands a flock of demonic sheep. There are no shortage of memorable foes.
Admittedly, the difficulty curve flatlines toward the end. Because the game encourages wandering, players who explore every dungeon will find themselves incredibly overpowered by the end. The final few bosses go down with minimal effort for the most prepared Lavenders. This reduced challenge is compounded by a generous parry window against regular enemies and mini-bosses with overly simplistic, predictable attack patterns. That’s not to say Mortal Shell 2 is easy by default. It’s not. But it is certainly the most approachable Soulslike in a minute, and it isn’t likely to test the most seasoned genre veterans.
Perhaps the biggest misstep is the endgame progression block. To access the final stretch, the game requires players to collect a specific number of items called the Ova of the Mether. These are scattered randomly across the massive map. If you miss a few during the campaign, you have to aimlessly backtrack through previously cleared areas to find them. Since the map does not automatically mark completed dungeons, this scavenger hunt easily wastes several hours. This breaks the otherwise excellent forward momentum.
Mortal Shell 2 Review Verdict
Mortal Shell 2: is a notable leap forward for Cold Symmetry. It takes the strong foundation of the original game and builds a sprawling, creative action-RPG on top of it. The decision to remove the stamina meter fundamentally changes the pacing for the better, and the sheer variety of Shells and sidearms guarantees that every player will find a combat style that fits. It occasionally trips over its own ambitions, but the moment-to-moment gameplay is stellar. – InfiniteStartStaff
[Editor’s Note: Mortal Shell 2 was reviewed on PS5, and a copy was provided to us for review purposes.]
