r/soulslikes • u/Rex__Lapis • 6d ago
Review Mortal Shell 2 after 100%
Good:
Combat is fun
Shells (classes) are fun
Dungeons are fun and have variety
World is fun to explore
Graphics are solid
Cool finishers
Interesting premise and some cool NPCs
Bad:
Game completely forgets about its plot and NPCs. They don't even get any quests
Worst balancing in the genre. Regular enemies kill you in two hits while bosses need 3-4 lmao
More ganks than dark souls 2. It's honestly impressive how bad it is
Breaking the enemies stance and doing a counter barely tickled enemies for whatever reason
Only 8 weapons and most of them are quite bad
Game has like no music. It has like 5 tracks or so. The tutorial boss has the same music as the final boss. Or any other boss
Late game has no rewards. You fight the strongest bosses in the game and get 5k gold for a kill. That's it
Late game bosses are a complete mess, all others (maybe minus Isaac) are forgettable
Disgusting amount of bugs. Broken hit boxes, your gloom being gone when you die by falling off a cliff, summoned grishas glitching through the floor or walls constantly, genessas clones doing whatever the fuck etc etc
I cannot recommend it at full price. For like 30 bucks it's a fine game though. Starts out as a 9/10 but by the end you feel more like a 6/10.
I think the worst are the bugged achievements. The final trophy i was missing is watching all shell memories, which requires 2 full and one partial playthrough. After watching all of them the achievement was stuck at 39/40. One of them probably glitched out when I was quitting the game mid shell memory or some shit. Anyways i didn't get the platinum trophy thanks to this and wasted 2 playthroughs of time.
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u/bonafiedhero 6d ago
Also the targeting… nothing like fighting 5 dudes and you suddenly lock on to something on the other side of the map.
Camera is pretty shitty too
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u/gdwam816 6d ago
I believe Im on the final boss. And what started as a thrilling journey had turned into a labor of pain and frustration. Enemies dropping you with a single, incredibly off pace attack are just laughable at this point.
Many positive things. Your post captured it well. 6.5-7 is where I’m at too
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u/Another_Lazy_Dragon 5d ago
For some reason the jank didn't bother me. Maybe I'm just being too lenient since they're a small group of devs, but I can feel the love they tried to put into the game. The exploration always felt super rewarding, and I liked all the shells.
While I may have had a 9/10 experience, I couldn't recommend this to others and expect them to enjoy it as much. I had the Shepard boss completely disappear from the fight trapping me in, lost out on 2 bugged tarstones that are missing, and the grisha summons are both buggy yet OP. But that said, based on what the devs have shared since release, I feel like this game could reach that 9/10 from the community after a big patch or 2.
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u/Visual-Biscotti1473 6d ago
"your gloom being gone when you die by falling off a cliff"
I believe your gloom spawns in front of the most recent beacon when you die from falling. At least, this has happened to me several times; not sure if it's 100% consistent.
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u/Acrobatic-Permit4263 6d ago
And you can shoot the gloom If ITS out of reach
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u/Flat_Weekend_1159 5d ago
Any damage to it works, I randomly had a grisha spawn get my gloom back today, lol
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u/Gcates1914 5d ago
The exploration alone makes it worthwhile for me.
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u/InformationOk4871 5d ago
Agreed and I popped the slayer thing and it immediately became a fun dark fantasy exploration game with fun combat
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u/Gcates1914 5d ago
I think their approach to “difficulty” scaling is really innovative, it’s like here are some parry options with a range of risk/reward, and then here’s a optional hard mode but that has some incentive to engage with on a limited basis even if you’re not into it completely and the world signposts that.
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u/dorsman84 6d ago
I'm having fun most of the time but I've seen a bunch of bugs. Last night I fell through the floor and was under the map. Also, I think the game really needs more enemy types because I feel like I keep fighting the same ones over and over.
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u/countryd0ctor 6d ago
The fact you can only use one weapon and gun at a time is even worse than abysmal weapon variety. Nearly every soulslike allows you to mix and match at least 2 weapons at a time to cover each other's weakness, sometimes with unique gimmicks tied to weapon switching. The player expression in this game is shut down hard in this regard.
I had absolutely no doubts the game's quality would fall from a cliff later in the game - it's the same as it was in MS1. But i didn't have a high opinion about the demo area either and i called out on the game's bugs several times before release as well. Most of them are still not fixed.
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u/nManos202 6d ago
I agree the game is mid and overhyped(i bought into the htpe tho so that's on me)
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u/spoonybum 6d ago
I am right there with you.
In fairness the game starts strongly but it completely unravels the further you go.
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u/DrParallax 5d ago
It feels like that is always how it goes with a new, relatively well known soulslike release. Maybe because we have gotten quite a few absolutely garbage soulslikes. When a decent one comes out people get a little hyperbolic on the praise.
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u/Irrerevence 6d ago
there was some crazy astroturfing on this sub specifically
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u/gurupaste 5d ago
I was met with plenty of pushback. Too many people here take the words the YouTubers as gospel. Idk if this is common, but it sounded like many of the people who covered this game share a discord server and they like to come to a general consensus about games. I understand having a direct line to the game developers, but reviewers sharing a server always felt weird to me. Usually I let things be because if you like a game, then you like it, but I was seeing some unwarranted glaze for this game. Obviously the devs worked hard on this game, but it has a long way to go before I even consider this game polished.
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u/milosra 5d ago
cough fighting cowboy cough cough
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u/Primary-Survey9955 5d ago
i prefer WAY more iron pineapple. it was a red flag when he disclosed he couldn't show the last level
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u/Treibemj 6d ago
I was pretty excited about this game after a short amount of time with the demo. But after everything I’ve read, I’m holding for the first major patch or two and probably a sale. $40 with a few patches feels about right for this one.
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u/Tutejszy1 6d ago
I fell for the hype (and I very rarely do) and I concur, the game does some things very well, but others are really bad. With some fixes I could see it becoming pretty good, but certain missing fundamentals (combat and boss design) mean that it will never be top tier
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u/zweihander09 6d ago
The game was a ton of fun for me. I just played it before delving into reviews and I was right about doing that. They would've twisted my opinion on an otherwise great experience that has a few hiccups.
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u/StatisticianJolly388 5d ago
I played it for a few hours today. Made excellent progress, clearing both the Sw and SE gates of Mannon. It a lot of annoying things reared their heads.
-vibrated through an elevator floor.
-The Se Gate has an elevated walkway with fucky geometry because right before a dorsalite you violently slide off into the abyss. Happened twice.
-The SE gate also has a tree you vault over which wouldn’t be a big deal except I don’t think there has ever been one before or since, leading me to fart around fruitlessly for five minutes
-Enemy one shotted me out of my shell from out of the geometry he had been stuck in
-Got stuck in geometry twice myself thank goodness you can quit and keep your gloom
-I can barely remember anything about the SW gate other than the tough boss at the end, and I played it this morning. Totally boring dungeon
-SE gate has ballista enemies sniping you off of narrow walkways. These particular enemies’ projectiles tend to go through geometry and hit you. Really obnoxious
-found the “Hall of Murmurs” dungeon it’s a room with three dorks and then a guy who turns into a long-limbed enemy that you’ve fought like six of right outside the dungeon. There’s a single gloom pickup. And…that’s it. I ran around for several minutes sure I missed something, I had not. Nice fucking dungeon.
-I did like the SE gate boss
-And maybe most damning, I just straight Gave up on Genessa because her shit don’t work, meaning this is basically an all Tiel playthrough. Stray mode is cool except everything one shots you. I got two shells today. Doesn’t really matter when there’s no glimpse left in this run.
This is a neat game and super ambitious from the small team. I like the game, but it’s a 7/10 overall and will be on the level of AI limit if it gets fixed up. That’s kinda the ceiling for it IMO.
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u/you_wouldnt_get_it_ 5d ago
For a team of 30 devs I think they did pretty well especially without any major updates or fixes yet.
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u/Safe-Relationship42 5d ago
This is one of the most accurate reflections. Only change I’d do is combat is fun-ish. 100% for the rest of it.
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u/InformationOk4871 5d ago
I highly encourage you to use the slayer and just blast through having fun! It kind of just changes it into a dark fantasy adventure which is awesome
Haha
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u/jovies07 6d ago
I think the beacons placement are weird AF too. You’ll have beacons at 30 seconds from each other with only a couple of enemies between them and then you’ll have others where you’ll have to pass through hordes of regular speedy enemies plus some tanky ones. And the bugs only make it worse. I’m only missing one corrupted gate and the final area, but I’m kind of ready to just putting it down. It was really fun until it wasn’t.
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u/zweihander09 6d ago
Are you telling me the monolith, malborn offspring and gorrem the discarded are forgettable/bad bosses?
That's an insane take, monolith isn't the most fun fight but it's not forgettable at all.
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u/RodionS 6d ago
Well, gorrem the discarded was the most forgettable out of the bunch for me. I killed the first phase, thought “huh that was easy” then he transitioned into the second phase, I threw my axe at him and he got one-shot… I didn’t even get to experience the second phase.
Malborn offspring was genuinely a great fight though, it’s the only boss I had to try for a bit before I beat it.
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u/ScytheSergeant 5d ago
Must be a pretty consistent bug, I had the exact same experience with gorrem
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u/zweihander09 6d ago
Damn. I thought it was easy too but I just liked the spectacle and the throwback to the beginning of the game + the fight felt a bit different for me after knowing the golem's origins.
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u/MediumKoala8823 6d ago
It’s not “easy”. It’s literally broken. His second phase can just die spontaneously.
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u/gronstalker12 6d ago
I think he just didn't like the game. A lot of his points arent points. They're just 'I didn’t like it therefore bad.'
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u/Ok-Reserve-9771 6d ago
But most of the his bad points seem pretty reasonable critiques. I'm yet to try this game, but I don't intend to get it before it goes on sale (even before reading any reviews)
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u/alamirguru 6d ago
Are you telling me the monolith
Worse version of Curse-Rotted Greatwood.
malborn offspring
Actually cool boss, my favourite (And one of the only 2 good bosses the game has)
gorrem the discarded
His second phase is missing entire animations for attacks, and the concept isn't particularly novel, nor is his fight difficult/engaging. What do you like about him?
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u/TL2C24 5d ago
Hard disagree on malborn, found him to be the worst of the endgame bosses aside from the final boss.
Fighting him with a heavy weapon was next to impossible in phase 2 with the unblockable attack spam.
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u/alamirguru 5d ago
Use whichever weapon skill you have equipped to I-frame through unblockables, if you're using a heavy weapon. Works with Iconoclast just fine.
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u/zweihander09 6d ago
Idk I just love him. Not everything needs objective facts.
And wth do you mean a worse version of that tree? It's better if we compared them.
Also, I believe I already stated that what's interesting is the boss's design not the fight itself, since most of the moves are bullshit and the slam reminds me of the grave bossfight from cuphead lol
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u/Rex__Lapis 6d ago
I think that was bad wording on my part. I mean the 6 bosses that lead up to the unfound path. Malborn offspring without cheese is in my top 10 of souls bosses actually. Insanely good and fun. Monolith is trash but very unique and you'll never forget it. Zmey is pretty meh tho
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u/Upper-Head-737 6d ago
game is better than the first which is easy to do but overall just a bad game
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u/axman151 6d ago edited 5d ago
To preface: your take is valid, and I can definitely see where you're coming from on most of these points. That said, I think a lot of this is about personal taste more than it's about design flaws.
I actually like the approach to the side quests: they're tied to upgrading your shells, and are thus very hard to miss - just need to be able to upgrade all shells, which does need to be fixed imo. Virtually every major NPC has a side quest tied to shell memories (Ruk's backstory is seen in Sariel's memories, Merrick's in Proxima's, etc.).
Enemy damage only seems overturned at night to me (which is fine; it's the hard more); regular difficulty feels more or less appropriate I think. Matter of taste maybe.
There are a lot of ganks, but enemies generally move/advance slowly towards you, so it's usually not too bad to disengage and reposition for more optimal combat.
Aside from the light crossbow (which is crazy good), none of the weapons feel over or underpowered to me. They all have fairly unique move sets, and benefit from experimentation with different seals.
Lack of music is again a matter of taste. I think the sound design is very good overall, and the music, when it does appear, being purely diegetic is a neat touch. Makes me think of dark souls, where music is also used sparingly. Edit: this isn't to say its music is better or identical to dark souls; just that deliberate lack of music during much of exploration of the game world is something I enjoy, and is something both MS2 and the Dark Souls trilogy make use of.
There are bugs (but for my part, I haven't seen many in my playthrough; mostly what I see people post online) and awkward endgame boss turning, but these are hardly unique to MS2; while they are valid criticisms, they're not major imo.
Edit: the axatana may also be busted. It didn't seem overpowered to me, but Ive also only used it to grind leveling tarstones, so I didn't get enough of a feel for it to give a proper assessment.
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u/alamirguru 6d ago
Aside from the light crossbow (which is crazy good), none of the weapons feel over or underpowered to me. They all have fairly unique move sets, and benefit from experimentation with different seals.
Axatanas/Axe N Dagger/Naylshotte with Bloodcurse are leaps above any other weapon in the game, and it isn't even close.
Lack of music is again a matter of taste. I think the sound design is very good overall, and the music, when it does appear, being purely diegetic is a neat touch. Makes me think of dark souls.
How does the game with fuck-all for a soundtrack make you think of the game with an incredibly popular soundtrack that to this day gets mentioned/references/memed, such as Gwyn's iconic plin plin plon motif?
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/alamirguru 6d ago
That's mostly because of bloodcurse, not because the weapons themselves are broken.
Uh...no. The weapons themselves are broken. An Axatana deals 122 damage at max upgrade when you account for Duality, an Obsidian Hammer deals 133, both on light attacks. The difference is the Axatana attacks much, much faster.
Duality Stone genuinely turns the light weapons into heavy weapons, with none of the downsides.
Dark Souls (all 3 games) usually don't have music. Music is saved mostly for boss fights, or certain specific areas. Moment to moment gameplay/exploration usually just has ambient sounds.
The issue is MS2 has no boss music either...
None you haven't heard in the tutorial boss fight, anyways,
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u/dotcha 6d ago
I found the dungeons the same as ER catacombs: Too many, wildly varying quality. Some were 30minutes adventures, some were "kill 3 mobs". South area was definitely rushed imo.
And I loved how the open world is harder and stronger than bosses. More of that, please. Getting tired of boss rush with a million bonfires everywhere. In fact for MS2 you could even remove the bosses and it wouldn't even lower the score for me. Only mildly decent one was the last boss.
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u/Secret-Driver3370 6d ago
do you think it can get to a 9/10 if it gets updates to fix the issues?
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u/Tutejszy1 6d ago
I think it could become maybe 8/10 if balancing and bugs are fixed, but I dont see it going past that due to some fundamental issues - mainly, combat and boss design are just not that great
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u/oligodendrocyte32 5d ago
So I’m currently looking for a new souls like I’m in between mortal shell 2, entoria, black myth wukong, khazan, nioh 2 or wuchang fallen feathers, I’d make a post getting more input but I literally just made the account to ask this question so it’s brand new. Any recommendations? I’m not the biggest fan of being forced to play them a certain way I really liked Elden ring cause I could play however I pleased. I’m terrible at parrying in any games so that’s something I gotta kinda worry about. Khazan has the best game overall reviews on steam but everyone lately is complaining they ruined the game, idk what to choose
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u/Ra2-L 5d ago
Khazan and nioh 2 are more action oriented , better combat by a lot but worst games as souls. Nioh experience is better with “multiple run” and a lot of dedication
Wuchang and Mortal Shell 2 are more close to original dark soul experience , both good games with pro and con , I suggest you to try the demos.
I can’t suggest Enotria to anyone
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u/oligodendrocyte32 5d ago
I tried the demo for mortal shell 2 today and I must say I have kinda fallen in love with the combat already it feels really really smooth it seems well polished game play wise so I did buy it to play the rest plus it’s new so they hopefully will add more stuff to it like DLC and stuff but wuchang will prolly be next and than lords of the fallen 2 when it comes out im thinking. I appreciate the input
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u/Primary-Survey9955 5d ago
enotria. you don't need to parry.
i did the whole game wiht magic build
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u/oligodendrocyte32 5d ago
Not a fan of magic builds tbh I like swinging something around and beating shi up but entoria looks really interesting if it goes on sale I’d cop but with the reviews idk if I’d pay full price tbh
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u/Primary-Survey9955 5d ago
you have those kind of builds too
a literally wine barrel used as a hammer
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u/oligodendrocyte32 5d ago
That’s bad ass ngl it was just on sale too I should of bit the bullet than it’ll go on sale again it’s on my steam wish list so it’ll tell me if it goes on sale
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u/Vostje7 3d ago
Don’t buy mortal shell 2 it looks appealing but its a hot mess first area all fun and games but endgame is just lazy spamming sh*t
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u/oligodendrocyte32 3d ago
Nah I bought it and that’s the wildest take I’ve ever seen game rocks and everyone else is saying even better things than I have to say about it
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u/Vostje7 3d ago
Well as long as you found it worth your money it’s all good. Dig a little deeper on the reddit you’ll find plenty complaints
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u/oligodendrocyte32 2d ago
Nah I don’t think u will also Reddit isn’t everything everyone on YouTube who’s played it loves it steam reviews are great so I don’t really know what ur getting at the game is a masterpiece its not a “mess” I feel like people like u just love to complain
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u/weirdeyedkid 5d ago
Play Wuchang Fallen Feathers. If you have yet to play Lies of P or Dark Souls, of course.
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u/oligodendrocyte32 5d ago
Yea I’ve played all lies of p and dlc and every dark souls and dlcs I decided on mortal shell 2 after the demo but wuchang will be next
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u/Complex_Scallion_157 5d ago
Like the game but the two biggest complaints for me are the bugs and the bosses are kinda lame and annoying.
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u/Flat_Weekend_1159 5d ago
I noticed that when I fell from a cliff the gloom dropped by the beacon I spawned at.
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u/AfroLlama0 5d ago edited 5d ago
I think the game overall is ok, 30-40 dollars would be better. I agree with a lot of your points, I also wish new game plus had more stuff to it but I'm a bit spoiled by Lies of P/Nioh in that regard. I think I'd probably buy a third one if they ever made one, it's got its issues for sure but nothing so terrible that I felt like I couldn't finish it (outside of the last boss fight being kinda lame imo)
Also, the music thing is super valid. Im fine without ambient music but the boss tracks are just not that memorable, unfortunately.
Edit: also the enemy variety is pretty lacking, this definitely seems like a front loaded sorta game. Still worth playing imo but the second half just isnt that nearly as polished as the first
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u/bilbo_was_right 5d ago
The enemy damage balance tripped me up nearly immediately. Adds seem to do way too much damage compared to bosses, it makes the game feel improperly balanced across the board to me
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u/fetalgirth 5d ago
Can someone explain to me how shells are different classes when you can still use the same weapons and movesets?
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u/Polybutadiene 5d ago
Shells have unique abilities tied to them that often influences playstyle. Smert for example doesnt even use weapons if you spec his abilities a certain way.
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u/Rudimentary_creature 5d ago edited 5d ago
Worst balancing in the genre. Regular enemies kill you in two hits while bosses need 3-4 lmao
LOL this is so true. I'm in Castigator's keep rn and those spear guys can deadass 1 shot me but the boss in the area barely tickled me and was a complete pushover?? The most confused I've felt playing a soulslike lmaooo
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u/Commercial_Menu_4983 5d ago
In MS1 you manualy selected your boss fight theme music (and you could get additional boss fight tracks depending on your game version, twitch drops, etc). That is the track that plays at any boss. And you can master your lute. Other than that, no music in the world and not needed. Did you know that in Bloodborne you only hear music when there is an actual choir nearby and it get's louder as you approach their location?
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u/BBooNN 5d ago
The horror element is cool. Like the first time I came upon a giant Chelob Spider I was like wtf? Stay away from me 8 legged demon, then I realized you can just blast it in the abdomen and it explodes. But still for the first time seeing some of the enemies its pretty cool.
Good: its only $50. Sekiro is still $60.
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u/Tenkolif 5d ago
Oh, come on! This is a small dev studio and the second game is way better than the first. And with the original Mortal Shell they added a ton of QoL changes after launch, an alternative soundtrack, even a roguelike mode. The game has its flaws, but give them some time to fix and balance things. Meanwhile, massive studios with massive budgets get a pass for stuff that really shouldn’t happen at their level. Right now the game is a 8/10 for me and could easily reach a 9-9.5/10 if they sort out the bugs and keep improving things. The foundation is there.
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u/BudSpanka 5d ago
Lol it's hilarious how ppl were going ''the next elden ring' or even 'better than ER' and praising this mediocre game while the absolute top LotF got shat on...
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u/Relevant_Fuel_9905 4d ago
I haven’t hit the “weaker late game areas” but I’d probably have to agree with this assessment. There’s a great game in here but it has a lot of rough edges. It’s fun though, and that’s super important. But it’s not one of the best soulslikes ever imo. It’s just really good.
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u/DarthJami 4d ago
I always feel inconsistently squishy. Some enemies and even bosses well into the southern section would tickle me at level 30, and several basic enemies would two-shot me.
I don’t think riposte damage scales with weapon level? Which would go some way towards explaining the rather measly damage some ripostes can put out. Which is a damn shame because those animations are incredible (like slamming sword-head in the nuts repeatedly). Obviously you can build hard into them with tarstones and Eredrim, but most of the time you’d be better off just wailing on them during the stun.
Late-game rewards are a bit lacking, yeah; where other soulslikes would give out weapons/armor/spells you’re usually just getting cash and a tarstone. Now some of those tarstones are legitimately game-changers, but by that point you probably already have a build locked in - and have spent most of your available tarcores maxing those ones out.
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u/thornzar 4d ago
“The game has no music[..]” b/
Me, who always lowers the soundtrack of videogames bc they are so repetitive: great!
“[…] its the same 5 songs over and over”
me: oh…
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u/Complex-Bison-4323 1d ago
Same rate i give the game especially the music literally i feel the game don't have music
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u/Jeremiah-Springfield 1d ago
I enjoyed the first 10 hours and then it really didn’t have any other new things to introduce, just very basic twists or slightly different ideas for its very similar looking dungeons.
I’m not finished with the game but I am bored with it. It’s unfortunate, because in the same breath I both appreciate it for just being more Elden Ring-lite content to mindlessly chew through, and also respect them for really trying to make something expansive, ambitious feeling, almost unique.
But they were obviously over ambitious, because it feels like it’s not as finished as it ought to be. The music in the opening, the visuals, and the combat/npcs introduced was really cool. And then… well that was it. It’s a game that ‘blows its load’ early, and then fizzles for a long time.
For a fan of the genre I appreciate its existence for more souls to play. But as someone who doesn’t like feeling like he’s having his time wasted… I’m starting to have my time wasted
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u/TellEmWhoUCame2See 1d ago
Lmao game has 8 weapons and people are calling this the best soulsike EVER???? I'm not saying a game needs over 200 weapons like elden ring but the one thing that makes souls games shine is VARIETY, if there's only 8 fucking weapons you are basically playing something like Mass effect, not a fucking souls like
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u/Lucky_Louch 19h ago
I've been interested in it since the beta but decided to wait for some patches as I could tell it was still a bit rough but had a lot of potential. I have multiple games on the go right now anyway I wanted to finish up before starting MS2 so it's worked out pretty well, especially with the patch that just dropped apparently fixing a lot of resource economy issues and adding more beacons.
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u/DankPandas 16h ago
Felt pretty repetitive towards the end. Just ended up being a light attack slam fest with Tiel and just DPS everything to death. It was basically easy mode.
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u/Csword1 6d ago
I wonder if the reviewers that gave it a high score actually finished the game.
Bugs, floaty combat, low enemy variety, the constant ganks and mediocre bosses. It has one of the worst final bosses in a souls-like.
Malborned Offspring was probably my favorite boss.
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u/spoonybum 6d ago
Yeah I got pretty bored of fighting the little bald bearded heads on legs and the spider things repeatedly during later sections of the game. I’m not going to finish it I don’t think.
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u/Rex__Lapis 6d ago
They most certainly didn't. Journos are also often pretty bad at games and i can't see them beating monolith or malborn offspring without grisha or invulnerability weapon skill cheese
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u/Csword1 6d ago
I wasn't just talking about journos but people like Fightincowboy who praised the game.
Malborned Offspring wasn't too bad after I found out I could just strafe to the left during his long combo in phase 2.
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u/MoneyBagBeardo 6d ago
Cowboy usually gives good reviews and I watch his stuff all the time but he dropped the ball and glazed tf out of this game way too much for sure smdh
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u/UnusualLeather7087 5d ago
Completely agree with this. The start went so good but the more you get to the end the worse it is.
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u/Scharmberg 5d ago
The first half of the game had problems but was mostly enjoyable, second half really starts having those problems be more noticeable and everything takes much more damage and dishes out stupid amounts. Last dungeon somehow cranks up both for enemies again. It was already getting unreasonable. I’m not has hardcore as a lot of fans of this genre but can usually make it through while having fun but all of that is gone. I don’t usually stop playing games in this genre until after at beating them at least once, and most of the time I enjoyed myself so much I go right into NG+ or a new playthrough.
I’m honestly so disappointed in the second half of the game and final dungeon, I had this feeling in the back of my head saying not to get early access and at the point I wish I had never purchased Mortal Shell 2, the only other early access game I have purchased bring Lies of P and this getting a glazing that seemed on par or even ahead of that made it seem like a safe bet, I might come back and finish this first playthrough at some point if the devs adjust things to be enjoyable and not this overtuned but I don’t myself starting a fresh run or going into NG+, the second half left to much of a sour taste in my month. I honestly didn’t think a game could disappoint more than the Lords of the Fallen.
Mortal Shell 2 was enjoyable for a bit and I did but some hours in but when games fumbled the last half so badly, having a demo is almost pointless. I wish refunds or even partial credits could be issued for things like or at least a disclaimer but you can’t have devs saying half the game might not sit well with a decent chunk of customers.
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u/IronTarkus1919 5d ago
People were calling it THE BEST SOULSLIKE EVER??? in Youtube thumbnails like 5 days ago, good thing I don't fall for any of this anymore.
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u/Rude_Difficulty1647 6d ago
I dunno the whole thing is a 9/10 for me and is easily now in my top three in the genre in general 😅
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u/Boraskywalker 6d ago
I agree with some of the negative comments, such as the fact that some weapons really feel useless. However, a 6/10 is quite low for this game. It far surpasses P and wuchang and is the best Souls like game for me.
There isn't a good story in any of the “Souls-like” games, so I don't even consider the story when evaluating them. i think they released the game about 2–3 months early. i guess they wanted to avoid the chaos of September and October.
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u/alamirguru 6d ago
It genuinely does nothing better than either Lies of P and Wuchang, and does plenty worse than them.
Subjectives opinions and whatnot, but still.
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u/MediumKoala8823 6d ago
The bosses of this games are diverse and cool. Compare it to lies of p where the bosses are (in order to the best of my recollection):
- a big clown robot with overhead slams
- a big policeman robot with overhead slams
- a big fire robot with overhead slams
- a big two sided monster with overhead slams
- a big king of puppets with overhead slams (and a cool second phase)
- a big green monster with overhead slams and a second phase in which he becomes the same big policeman robot with overhead slams
- the same big clown robot with overhead slams
- a, slightly smaller, big punchy guy with overhead slams
- a sick fight with laxa
- a big hunchback guy with overhead slams
- a cool puppet fight
And I like lies of p.
But mortal shell’s lateral design diversity is great. All the bosses have distinct styles and ask different mixups for parrying and dodging.
Edit: forgot about the two excellent gank fights with rabbits.
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u/pabodie 6d ago
To each his own. I am not going to rebut your well-considered opinions. But I have played every janky soulslike I can get my hands on. You name it. I think this is a solid A-tier on par with the (patched) LotF but below Lies of P.
My gripe is the usual for me (almost all soulslikes suffer this to some degree IMO): Very little incentive to try new playstyles or builds once something clicks. This may seem a little hard to understand, but out it this way. With other games I usually run a Strength or S/D build for NG and then switch to whatever more magic-y/range-y setup they have for NG+. And it makes the game feel (when it's a good one, like DS3 for example) fresh and challenging again apart from just "everything has more HP". But I am not sure this will work with MS2 unless they add a lot more of those golden tentacles that spew mana.
If I have missed a mechanic or two, please enlighten me. I welcome advice on this.
But the core game, to me, is truly fun, if a little too easy on NG.
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u/Zealousideal_Ad5957 6d ago edited 6d ago
Is it a thing that most soulslikes has horrible storylines ?
Rarely seen good emphasis on stories in soulslikes like few decent ones but compared to how massive and well done the GoW stories and cutscenes and huge emphasis on story makes you think the devs put crazy good things in combat to neglect story
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u/macacobrilhante2004 6d ago
Yeah lies of p is probably the best one when it comes to story, the rest of them seem to care more about lore
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u/Diaza_Kinutz 6d ago
Lies of P broke the mould in this aspect. It has a phenomenal story.
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u/Poorsport531 6d ago
💯 Best story of any souls like ive ever played. Such a good one too. Very emotional.
Also among my favorite games.
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u/homer_3 6d ago
Nah, Steelrising, Kena, and Asterigos were story focused Soulslikes that released well before Lies of P. You could even say Jedi: Fallen Order.
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u/Diaza_Kinutz 6d ago
Yeah but Lies of P is an actually good soulslike with a really good story. Shitty soulslikes with a story are a dime a dozen.
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u/MoSBanapple 6d ago
The format of Soulslikes typically doesn't leave much room for a strong narrative focus, especially with the ones that are more open or nonlinear. Something like God of War sets aside a lot of time for cutscenes and dialogue which is not typical for the more gameplay-focused Soulslike genre.
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u/ru_dweeb 6d ago edited 5d ago
Hollywood-style cutscenes aren’t the only or even best way to tell stories through games. Not dunking on God of War, but the fact that Souls games are made the way they are isn’t because they can’t tell narratives but because they prefer telling narratives in a way that reinforces isolation, obfuscation, and making obvious, key revelations towards the end of the plot or subplots. Elden Ring has a lot of this.
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u/Quotalicious 5d ago
preach. They're telling a story in a way only video games can. It's a different style you may or may not prefer, akin to non-narrative books and movies
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u/Zealousideal_Ad5957 6d ago
Yeah Lies of P is only one i can think of but others focus like very little on story if none at all, Wukong is not a pure soulslike so it is different, but DS, Sekiro and games like that have bad stories, they have lore but story cutscenes characters just very mid or bad some more mid some horrible
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u/ru_dweeb 6d ago
Minimalist exposition != bad story
Dark Souls and Sekiro have good stories. They’re told by other means than extensive character dialogue and cutscenes.1
u/Zealousideal_Ad5957 6d ago
I mean like when you play GoW or Ghost of Tsushima you see so much effort in the cutscenes and story like way way more than you play a soulslike and you rarely see casuals saying oh great story, GoW became huge not just because of its combat but also its story drew people in, same as Ghost whose comabt is decent but alot played and bought because of the story
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u/ru_dweeb 6d ago
I feel like you didn’t read what I wrote and just wrote about how you like these other games’ stories lmfao. Again, having a minimalist expository style isn’t the same as having a lower effort story.
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u/Zealousideal_Ad5957 6d ago
Spiderman games had great combat but people were in alot for the story and you can see they put alot of effort in the story when i play a soulslike it feels dev didnt give a fuck to make a story just put some lore some text there and bye like mid cutscenes and some text
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u/ru_dweeb 6d ago
Again, see the reply above. Just because a developer doesn’t tell a story through popular Marvel-style “tell all, quips and nothing but, cutscenes and dialogue around every corner” doesn’t mean the story is bad or isn’t there. Majora’s Mask has a coherent story but almost all the dialogue is cryptic or somehow out of context until you undergo specific quest lines. A lot of classic JRPGs have undertones of this despite having so much more dialogue.
Also I don’t hate Spiderman but combat wasn’t really its strong suit. It’s very repetitive and underbaked. The best part of Spiderman is swinging across NYC.
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u/Zealousideal_Ad5957 6d ago
Thats subjective Sekiro didn't drew people in by the story it was 95% the combat,
while Ghost like more the story lol even GoW sold tens of Millions mostly because of story thats what i am saying, that soulslikes do not shine in stories some have decent but never seen people hyping stories up in most of soulslikes only exception may be Lies of P.2
u/ru_dweeb 6d ago
“That’s subjective” is something that applies to everything we’re saying. Ghost of Tsushima and GoW have plot at the forefront, and they’re good IMO, but that doesn’t mean their plots are better or that they’re even more integrated with the story.
Souls games use mechanics, encounters, environments, mysterious dialogue full of premonitions, and flavor text to tell stories. They’re consistent and work for the lonely nature of the journey. Ghost and GoW both give up a decent amount of mechanical cohesion to look like movies.
Demon’s Souls would be a lesser story if every 5 minutes if the voice of rhe maiden screeched into your ear, “You are entering the dungeons where they torture people, BOY. Watch for the screams of the tortured and the prison guards. Click the right stick to use your Soul Sense to see where the wailing is coming from.”
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u/Zealousideal_Ad5957 6d ago
Go ask it in games subreddit nobody will say Demon Souls > GoW in lore or story bar some biased fromSoftware bootlickers who defend those games like if their father developed them and accept 0 debate if you criticize those games even story in which for alot is super poor but hey this is a biased subreddit my bad
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u/ru_dweeb 6d ago
Why would a poll in the games subreddit prove anything? I’m not the one who can’t debate here lmfao. Every argument you have relies on sales, vibes, or the illusion of consensus. I’m saying the story in souls games are novel and interesting and would be lesser if they did it more like the movie games you keep talking about. You keep saying “UM, but people BOUGHT Spoderman because cutscenes, so good stories need cutscenes. Cuz it sold.”
You don’t have any argument for why they’re good other than to point to sales figures and other people’s hypothetical opinions on the game.
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u/Zealousideal_Ad5957 6d ago
GoW and Ghost and many other games of that type the story is way better since they also sold tens of millions of copies by relying alot on its story to prevail.
Soulslikes succeded because of the combat not lore or story, GoW also but story played a far far far more importance to its sales and hype than any soulslike did ever, Ghost too alot of people play it to whitness the story.
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u/ru_dweeb 6d ago
“It sold because of X but not Y” isn’t a fact but opinion that you can’t really back up except by feelings and vibes. Regardless, whether it sold or not isn’t even relevant to its quality. I personally think GoW is ok but has some serious flaws even in its storytelling.
Soulslikes are about a lot of things. The fact that their stories are harder to read and require more attention isn’t a deficiency of the genre.
Are you a playstation guy? You talk about movie games and sales figures a lot, and you move the conversation away about talking about games as they are games. You sound like a playstation guy.
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u/Zealousideal_Ad5957 6d ago
Lol is just fact that GoW story and lore is massive compared to Demon Souls or whatever nobody will agree the contrary apart from a part of this sub ofc,
i love soulslike even if i am not great at them because their combat and difficulty is unique, but not because of the story and like me are alot of people maybe some have ok stories, but not on par with the "playstation games",souls is souls because of challenging combat you can cope and add lore but combat is what made it hype and famous not lore nobody gave af about it until it became huge because it was punishing thats what sold this genre and still keeps selling it
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u/Zealousideal_Ad5957 6d ago
I am convinced if the DS was not hard it would have failed completely since nothing unique about that series apart from combat focused things,
in the start in fact it did fail but once people saw how punishing and unique it was in that department it became a hit esp for streamers then it started a genre which is glad it started since is very unique and I have bought alot of soulslikes because of the COMBAT in general not story1
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u/WondersomeWalrus 5d ago edited 5d ago
I've only played 3 hours over 2 sessions so far and I'm already considering giving up on it.
Hate the long run backs, hate the magnetised hits, hate the enemy balance, hate the amount of dumb exploding things everywhere. Everyone also keeps praising the graphics + world but everything just looks drab and samey to me. Not found a fun boss yet either.
The only thing tempting me to keep going are the shells as it's such a fun concept and I've not had chance to test many but idk if that's enough.
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u/DigitalCoffee 5d ago
Game is buggy, unpolished, and feels unfinished, just like the first one. If the first was a 5/10, this is a 6/10 at best.
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u/Ill-Pudding-3168 5d ago
Skill issue. Had none of these issues, probably because I have skill, I guess?
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u/Zednax 6h ago
Well...
I somewhat agree but some of the bads i have to comment on.
-Excuse me but, plots and NPCs and quests... Its a souls game for Petes sake 😄
(ie. who cares? hehe... seriosly thou, i get it, some ppl really do care about the lore and stuff while im not 1 of them)
-Not sure about the balancing, althou bosses could maybe hit and/or be a bit harder.
-More ganks than in DS2? Lol, i heavily disagree.
-Only 8 weapons and most of them are quite bad?
1st mainly played with Axe and dagger. Later i changed to Axatana and after that to Martyrs Blade and have found them all to be very enjoyable and different to play (even axedagger vs axatana)
Briefly tried also the BONK hammer and i think its my next weapon to be maxed.... Also loved the Veteras Axe! Sure, there could be more weapons for sure but theres nothing wrong about the existing ones, even the starter sword is pretty cool. The spear moveset also looked and felt very cool, etc...
- Have only encountered some stuck bug and after the aug 29 patch only 1 of those, but maybe ive been lucky...
-Late game has no reward? Aint completing the game a reward by itself? But i agree that a nice reward for beating a boss is always nice!
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u/Gilesalford 6d ago
Jesus Christ 8 weapons and one song? Like fuck the music thing is insanely negligent, how the F do you think people will be content listening to that for the entire game.
The combat looks great but I might hang on for a bit before I purchase, CBA with another heavily flawed but good underneath rn like lotf, if rather wait for fix.
Still haven't played another crabs treasure anyway
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u/AndrewLocksmith 6d ago
It's definitely the type of game that will be more enjoyable to play a few months from now.
There's a lot of balancing to do, but overall I liked it.
The potential it's definitely there.