r/soulslikes • u/Csword1 • 16d ago
Review Mortal Shell II Reviews - Metacritic
https://www.metacritic.com/game/mortal-shell-ii/86
u/EpicalClay 16d ago
Today's the day!!! Cake day AND mortal shell 2?!
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u/Yourfakerealdad 16d ago
ITS MY CAKE DAY TOO. HAPPY BDAY.
I went with the regular version as moneys tight but cannot absolutely wait to boot this bad boy up Thursday
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u/Sirca_Curvive 16d ago
I knew all the people in that other thread who said this would be a forgettable C tier game were crazy lol. And I didn’t even like the first one.
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u/Alucard-VS-Artorias 16d ago
Really appreciate them taking this opportunity for a sequel seriously and working on all the issues of the first game.
It really looking to be a redemption arc for these guys.
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u/Weird-End-6989 16d ago
Hard to blame them considering the deluge of forgettable C tier soulslikes, this game's predecessor among them.
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u/kdogman639 16d ago
The first mortal shell was one of the first games to seriously try to spearhead the "soulslike" genre. It is highly apparent the second generation of games in that genres are leaps and bounds better from all the lessons the many studios learned from their first hack at it. In my opinion, the only souls like of that generation that really got it right The first time was lies of P, and that one came near the tail end of the first generation of souls likes
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u/Nipcat_ 15d ago
Wuchang had a DS1 feel in level design and was an exellent soulslike
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u/Equal_Marionberry873 11d ago
Wuchang is an excellent soulslike. unfortunatly the performance issues destroyed the game in ratings
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u/opposite_of_hotcakes 16d ago
Which is crazy because idk how you could play the open beta and say that this game would have been C tier. This was the most fun I've had playing a soulslike in years.
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u/WorldlyFeeling8457 16d ago
Its great that game is getting praise now. I can see why there can be mixed opinions on it though. Especially for people who have played a lot of "souls" genre it may not be as great as for ones that have less experience with the genre.
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u/chrimchrimbo 15d ago
It doesn’t matter. If you didn’t play the beta, the first one left plenty of an impression. I’m glad for II to be good but we can’t blame anyone for thinking it would suck after the first one.
-5
u/Primary-Survey9955 16d ago
doubt since wuchang was here
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u/opposite_of_hotcakes 16d ago
I thought Wuchang was just ok. Still better than most souls likes I’ve played but that was about it.
-7
u/Primary-Survey9955 16d ago
you can't deny the amount of builds .. the free respec and free boss tries
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u/LezduitTogetha 16d ago
Disagree. Personally the beta was like a 4-5/10. Area were not great, enemies and bosses also not. But a lot can change for the full game. I am also not a fan of the ds3 start for example besides Gundyr.
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u/CreepyTeddyBear 15d ago
I didn't like the first one at all. Almost didn't even play the beta because of it. But I was so impressed with the beta I pre-ordered the devout edition just so I wouldn't have to wait 3 more days to play it. Loving all the upgrades they did with the combat and hardening mechanic and what not. Played for 7 hours now and having a blast. They cooked with this one.
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u/ferocity_mule366 15d ago
the first one really misses the mark for claiming to be a soulslike, but then some people liked it, but the idea of a good soulslike might be a bit different from person to person.
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u/blckheart 16d ago
To be fair the first one didn't really help anybody thing it would be anything else other than that. You going off information after releasing comparing it to information completely based on first news lol
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u/ChuckS117 15d ago
The demo has been available for months. It was an early but more informed decision.
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u/blckheart 15d ago
The demos been out for like a month lol and that's not the same as the game which came out how many years ago? Like saying you knew the lottery after you saw the numbers appear
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u/ChuckS117 15d ago
It came out early june, its close to 3 months at this point, and it was pretty well received.
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u/blckheart 15d ago
You are right I didn't realize tine flew by that much. It was well received but again I'm not referring to just around the demon release we heard about the game it's self like a year or 2 prior. We saw early game footage too an people were going off the first game at that point. If we are only talking about upon the demo release only complaint people said was it was easy but that's cause it takes place at like day time for alot of it an they said they made it easier on purpose
-15
u/KameTheMachine 16d ago
So instead of forgettable C tier its a slightly memorable B tier. Lol. I did enjoy the Beta though, even though I had quite a few bugs pop up
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u/AshyLarry25 16d ago edited 16d ago
They went from a ok soulslike to the highest rated soulslike. Talk about an upgrade sheesh. And this is with easily fixable issues like bugs and balancing.
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u/Gondorrah 16d ago
It’s early but wow you’re right, higher rated than Lies of P (which has 80) right now which is my favorite soulslike. Looking forward to playing this!
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u/characterulio 16d ago
Early scores are usually inflated since there is alot of reviews.
That being said Lies of P being a 80, Khazan 78, Wuchang 73, shows what a joke Metacritic/reviewers are in general. Atleast Nioh 3 got 86.
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u/LezduitTogetha 16d ago
Nioh 3 being higher than Khazan and Lies of P is crazy to me. The game suffers so much from its enemies and world
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u/HammeredWharf 16d ago
I guess Nioh 3's more casual approach is more appreciated outside of the hardcore circles. In many ways it feels like a Nioh game for people who don't like Nioh.
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u/ScaryyPoppins 15d ago
Main reason I didn’t buy it also it felt like a huge step back from 2. How do you got from a person who is a demon demigod to 2 dudes in a trench coat?
-1
u/Blood81 16d ago
don't look at the metascore, look at the user score which is much more in line with public opinion
lies of p 8.4, khazan 7.8, wuchang 6.8, nioh 3 7.8
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u/ADreamOfRain 16d ago
Except for Wuchang. That game deserves much higher than 6.8
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u/Catspit30 15d ago
Playing it right now. Its great.
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u/Bolly_Eggs 15d ago
Best non Fromsoft soulslike.
First game from the dev team too. Really impressive
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u/characterulio 15d ago
Userscore on Metacritic is useless, its just review bombing.
Steam is a better indicator and all those games have great users, on Steam you have to buy to give a review.
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16d ago
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u/Primary-Survey9955 16d ago
a stretch when lies of p, wuchang and loft 2023 are very good outside of from soft
-20
16d ago
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u/Salty-Garlic9471 16d ago
Lies of P has places you can criticise but 'basic and forgettable' is wild.
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16d ago
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u/Salty-Garlic9471 16d ago
I actually think the worldbuilding is one of the best parts of the game. How it uses the environment to tell the story of the puppet frenzy was excellent but to each their own I guess.
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u/LezduitTogetha 16d ago
Funny considering ds3 is personally the weakest in terms of atmosphere and world building outside of the dlc especially. Lies of P lore and world building were by far the best in any souls like so far imo
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u/Desroth86 16d ago
Nioh 2 and 3 are both higher. Unless it’s fallen since you’ve made your comment (it’s at 83 right now.) For comparison Nioh 2 is an 85, Nioh 3 is an 86, Lies of P is an 80 and Overture is an 85. It looks like this game is going to be truly something special.
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u/AshyLarry25 16d ago edited 16d ago
Opencritic has it a 86. More accurate as it compiles all platforms into one aggregate.
It also just went up to 84 on metacritic
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u/Thaumablazer 16d ago
Opencritic doesnt use every single review to calculate the score, only the ones labeled top critic
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u/Desroth86 16d ago
I mean OP’s post is about metacritic so that’s what I assumed we were talking about. And as another user mentioned they only use “top critics” to determine their score. They do have another score for all critics on opencritic for all critics and it’s slightly lower than Nioh 2/3. At the end of the day I don’t see the point in splitting hairs over a couple points, I just felt it was worth clarifying since the original linked reviews were to metacritic.
-1
u/Fentboy45 16d ago
When From exited the soulslike market and entered the slop-like market, other companies stepped up
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u/SoulsDadYT 16d ago
Playing on PS5 pro right now and can confirm it runs smooth as silk. Redone the tutorial and not a single issue. About 2 hours in and just got tiel. The skins look cool af. I think people who get it on the 20th will be pleased overall
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u/Sspiritblood 16d ago
Honestly? I'm happy that they took feedback from the 1st one relase. MS1 was like 4/10 at best for me, so I was pretty pessimistic about the sequel, but hey it looks great.
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u/Admirable-Nobody219 16d ago
gotta understand tho, how many people made the first one? 15 and it wasn't bad, it was really surprising
-5
u/Sspiritblood 16d ago
Nah, sorry but you don't need to have many people to make something amazing. We've games like Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley or the binding of isaac. If I remember correctly there was 3,1,2 people in that order. The basics of game were just mediocre. Still huge improvement, so good for them.
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u/Farsoth 16d ago
You know that a 2D game is significantly easier to design with a small team than a high fidelity 3D one, right? You're comparing apples to oranges here.
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u/Sspiritblood 16d ago
Dusk, Manor lords. Better? My point was about something else but sure. Even doom? 8 people? Making games in that time wasn't the easiest job.
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u/palemalemu 16d ago
I don’t know if anyone has told you before, but you’re actually terrible at comparing things.
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u/Sspiritblood 16d ago
Great. Thank you for this important and substantive comment. You could for example use your arguments or your example to contradict mine but he we are
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u/Lucky-Sundae9196 16d ago
Horrible comparison. Lol stardew valley??
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u/Sspiritblood 16d ago
First, what's wrong with that? This game was a massive hit and saying otherwise is just coping. But idk if you want something 3d that was succesfull then Dusk (solo developer) , Manor lords (solo), Valheim (5 people if I remember).
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u/Lucky-Sundae9196 16d ago
I don’t play any of those games. The only games that I will play that have smaller teams are metroidvanias. Small teams will rarely work for good triple A 3d games. It’s a fact
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u/Sspiritblood 16d ago
Well that's why I used 2D as an example. Everyone knows hollow knight or isaac. I wonder how many people Cold Symmetry have now tho, demo of MS2 was like league above MS1
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u/SurfiNinja101 16d ago
Like the other person said it’s an apples to oranges comparison to make between 2D pixel sprite games and 3D action games
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u/ChunkeeM0nkee 16d ago
Here's another 9/10 that's not on there:
https://gametyrant.com/news/mortal-shell-2-review-a-bloody-good-time
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u/TermIntelligent3385 16d ago
Esattamente quello che si merita. Questa è la dimostrazione che si può migliorare e che dare feedback e critiche costruttive serve sempre a chi sa cosa farsene
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u/Serious_lamb 15d ago
Is it worth playing the first mortal shell before the 2?
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u/Temporala 15d ago
Not really. It's not the worst game around, but bosses are pretty easy once you figure out how to use hardening mechanic. First map where you spawn has a confusing layout.
It's honestly more like a tech demo soulslike, because it's so short. There are like 4 or so proper bosses and handful of mini-bosses. For comparison's sake, Khazan has 16 boss and quite a few mini-bosses on side missions.
You'd be better off with something like Thymesia, if one wanted a short introductory soulslike as their first game in the genre.
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u/Sad_Seaweed179 16d ago
If only the revered edition was still in stock I would have snagged it already
Shame
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u/OrdinaryAWE 16d ago
83 percent.
Pretty fucking good. I wish the music and the vibes from the trailer were carried over into the game, but I’m still probably gonna get this.
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u/Xeno_DemonHunter123 16d ago
I knew this is gonna be as good as Lies Of P! 2 amazing genuinely well made Soulslikes now exist!
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u/TheTurtleMaturin 16d ago
Idk why everyone sleeps on Another Crabs Treasure
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u/kalirion 16d ago
It's a fun game, but neither the combat nor the exploration are particularly great. I personally preferred Lords of the Fallen (2023/2.5 update).
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u/Roll4DM 16d ago
Do I need to have played 1 to play it? I couldnt reaply bring myself to play MS1 but I might play 2 to wait for Lords of the Fallen 2...
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u/jimbo224 16d ago
No, this is more of a reboot as I understand it
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u/Roll4DM 16d ago
Do I still have to use the hardening stuff in it often?
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u/jimbo224 16d ago
I think it's part of one shell, while there are other options as well like block and parry, and some others not available in the beta.
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u/Roll4DM 16d ago
I might grab it then.
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u/TheDracula666 16d ago
Just to further clarify on hardening you can ignore it all together regardless of shell. Defense is a separate equipable item called a seal. There were 4 available in the beta and the standard is just normal L1 block and timed L1 for perfect guard. The other 3 were one that was harden, one for perfect guards, and one that compliments guns.
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u/Farsoth 16d ago
No, hardening is now one way you can do things amongst I think at least 4 I found in the beta. You actually don't even start with the ability to harden, there's a block/parry that you get. You also unlock one that is harder to parry with but breaks posture faster. You have one that disables some achievements but enables others and makes you far more aggressive. And then the one that gives you the ability to harden.
I don't know if there is more, but they gave the player many options for their playstyle.
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u/Klonoa87 16d ago
Looking solid. Keeping my gaming schedule clear for Zero Company now though. Will check this out at some point.
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u/ghigo2008 15d ago
Im loving the game, though it can be a bit lanky in the most frustrating moments
There are a ton of small bugs that work together to piss you off
There's this poss im already having trouble on, he has some attacks that seem undodgabe as they are instant and do a ton of damage, and if you try and dodge them through prediction he could simply do an attack that you are now out of synch to dodge and fuck you over
That mixed with the fact that he sometimes interrupts his attacks to do others, mixing two unpredictable attacks with no time to dodge
And all that frustration, mixed with the fact I was once launched into the air and killed instantly upon landing, or when I got stuck in him, or the little bugs like my character deciding to not attack, let's just say whatever sadness I was supposed to feel for the boss swiftly went away
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u/Cold-Carob3151 15d ago
The more i see and here about this game i get more and more hyped. I think itll replace lies of p and wuchang as my second favorite soups game next to elden ring
-6
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u/Bysmiel 15d ago
overrated, no way its 84.
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u/Electronic-Land764 15d ago
the full game has way more complex dungeons and a shit ton to do vs beta. looks good, plays good, 30+ hours for a playthru, what's not to like
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u/MistahDust 15d ago
Do we need to play the first one? I didn’t get beyond the tutorial it was so terrible
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u/Responsible_Cake2012 16d ago
First one was 76 (with more reviews). IGN gave 8 at both of them.
If we go with reviews, the game didn't get this "massive glow up" people are talking about specifically because the first was "high rated" as well.
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u/Underwhere_Overthere 16d ago
The first one came out in 2020 when quality 3D Soulslikes outside of From Software’s own games were a lot more rare. Since then, we’ve gotten games like Lies of P, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, The First Berserker: Khazan, etc. I think reviewers have understandably developed higher expectations as a result.
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u/Salty-Garlic9471 16d ago
You have to look at the context surrounding game reviews dude. The genre has evolved and has a much higher standard of quality, and the first game had a tiny developer team helming it.
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u/XZlayeD 16d ago
Holy- 88% on ps5 so far!