Last Updated on Aug 17, 2026 @ 17:58:15 PM.
The first Mortal Shell was a cult hit, in the sense that it was janky, felt like a proof of concept, and had a lot of glaring issues that a core group of players managed to ignore. Mortal Shell 2, on the other hand, could not be further from this. In fact, this time around, it’s clear that developer Cold Symmetry has learned lessons from its first release in the franchise, and not only fixed them, but gone out of the way to establish itself as the go-to Soulslike developer with an excellent second attempt in Mortal Shell 2, proving they not only get what a good game is, but what we, the players, want from the genre.
Playing as the Harbinger, a famed character treated as a deity by the NPCs, you’re tasked with finding all the Ova that have been lost and dissipated across the world, locked behind walls of Corruption. Often protected in broken-down castles by huge monstrosities, finding and collecting them isn’t going to be easy, but it is going to be one hell of a ride that you’ll enjoy every second of, trust me.
Beyond feeling just like any other fetch quest in gaming, there’s so much more to Mortal Shell 2. You’ll explore the world at your own pace, which has clearly been lovingly crafted by the studio, with them thinking of every little thing. A huge, sprawling world in which you can head in almost any direction, I found myself content just fighting and following my heart, ignoring directions and the bigger task at hand, just to see what I could find instead. What waited for me was a world that never got boring. Not once.
Whether I was exploring my way through the ruins of a long-discarded Citadel, a clearly Bloodborne-influenced town, a mining colony, or lakes housing Lovecraftian-esque horrors, there was always something to find, and it constantly gratified that inch in the back of my head of ‘just ten more minutes, let’s see what else there is’.
Beyond the general world itself, you’ll happen across Dungeons and Beacons. Both are self-contained areas you’ll be transported to, with both spread out across the world, but with some pretty clear distinctions. Dungeons will house everything from some materials to big bosses and even hidden weapons, whereas Beacons may have the same, but they also function as the game’s rest points.
Just like in other Soulslikes, when you interact with these, you’ll get all your health and stamina back, the enemies you’ve killed will respawn, and you’ll respawn here when you die. However, before you can do that, you’ll need to cleanse them of the Corruption they’ve taken on. This usually means entering it and fighting your way through a few enemies until you find the big bad, which are rarely that bad, if we’re being honest.
With the dungeons, beacons, and the world as a whole, there is a huge number of environments you can explore, especially when the whole thing is built on verticality as much as a horizontal experience. You can overlap and go over the same environments in a different way, similar to how Dark Souls did it way back when. Trust me when I say there are hours and hours of nothing but exploring to do, and every time something worthwhile is waiting for you.
Variety is the Spice of Life in Mortal Shell 2
Any Soulslike worth its salt gives players all the tools and sends them off to the sandbox to play. Mortal Shell 2 does this in spades; in fact, the build variety over the multiple different systems is ridiculous in the best way.
Your first choice is the type of Seal you want to use. There are four in the game, and each one does different things. Want an easy experience? Get the Slayer Seal. A parrying player? Covered. How about just hardening your Shell and watching weapons of all types bounce off you? Well, that’s the newly added Vatra Seal. Each one affects the way you play, how you approach enemies, and how you beat them, and they’re distinctive enough that you’ll quickly get a favourite. Vatra Seal all the way, baby!
Next up, you of course have access to a number of different weapons. From two-handed longswords to small daggers and more, there’s something for every playstyle. Add in the eight different sidearms, ranging from machine gunesque to a Lute that can be used to Pied Piper your enemies, and no two players will select the same loadout. Oh, and yes, I went for the Lute. Between sending my enemies to fight one another in a trance, and then finishing them off with my massive Battle Axe, I was quite the powerhouse by game’s end.
The two most unique mechanics build-wise, though? Well, that title goes to both the items and the Tarstones. Items granting specific bonuses or instilling certain effects to attacks are nothing new in Soulslikes, but what is, and is an incredible addition to the genre in my opinion, is the Familiarity mechanic.
Pick up any item, or use any Tarstone you like, but the more you collect, or the more you use it, the more familiar you become, and in doing so, you’ll unlock new abilities, effects, and the like for the item/Tarstone, making them stronger. It rewards you for sticking with the same build, but also makes you stronger as you go in a separate way than the generic levelling up system present in all Soulslikes. There were times where I was searching out specific items to get them to the next level, all to make me a little bit stronger.
Talking of variety, playing as the Harbinger in Mortal Shell 2, you’ll be able to inhabit several different Shells. What’s a Shell? Essentially, you take over the body of a fallen soldier, mage, assassin, and so on, taking their abilities as your own. Each of the eight present in the base game has a variety of strengths and weaknesses, and with the above, further cements the huge variety in builds available.
I went with Eredrim, a hefty, slow, and strong Shell whose Shoulder Bash ability caused Break Damage to every enemy you’d come across, and made cannon-fodder of most of them. I could have gone with Proxima, a quick and sultry female, or Lazlo, a literal wrecking ball of a man that sets fire to his armor and explodes outwards in a circle of decimation and destruction. There’s something for every playstyle, thought process, and approach.
Nuanced Combat Hits Hard
As mentioned, there are a lot of different weapons in Mortal Shell 2. There’s also a huge number of enemy types. From floating ghouls that shoot electricity at you, to towering bosses that loom over you and dominate your screen, you’ll encounter a little of everything. That’s why I’m glad to report that the combat in the game hits hard. It’s so fun. From dodging and parrying (or Hardening your Shell) enemy attacks to building Break damage in a variety of ways and pulling off a sick Riposte attack, once the fugue state hits and you really begin to flow, you’ll understand what I mean.
It’s nothing short of exemplary how Cold Symmetry has made a Soulslike in difficulty but combat in action-adventure standards. It takes some getting used to, and you can and will die regularly, but the nuts and bolts are there to make you feel like a genuine badass, no matter the build, weapon, or items you’re using.
Another feather in the cap is the amount of unique animations present. Considering the sheer number of enemy types in the game, you’d forgive Cold Symmetry for taking the easy route out and doing something nondescript, but no, there’s a unique Riposte attack animation for every size, shape, and variant of enemy, making the combat always feel fresh and satisfying. Each weapon hit has weight to it, and even though it’s split-second decisions, I was having to weigh up every attack based on distance, whether I had time to pull it off, and whether I’d leave myself open for another enemy somewhere else. It raised my adrenaline on more than one occasion.
While I loved the enemy variety, and there’s a lot of it, that includes the bosses. There’s nary a duplicate boss except for several Grisha variants, all with their own backstory, lore, and reason for existing. However, if you’re coming into Mortal Shell 2 expecting a difficult time of it when it comes to bosses, you’re going to be disappointed. They do all have their own unique mechanics, arenas, movesets, and approaches to trying to turn you into mulch, but by the end of the game, there were maybe four or five that I had to retry more than three times, with many being one-and-done.
Of course, some of this is the fact that some were minibosses, I could have been overpowered at the time, or I just lucked out, but they weren’t outstandingly hard. In fact, based purely on that, I’d suggest Mortal Shell 2 to anyone not well-versed in the Soulslike genre as a great starter title. All that said though, there is a patch coming that’ll beef up the difficulty, so maybe that one criticism will be null and void come release.
Performance
As far as performance goes, I can safely say I didn’t experience a single crash during my nearly 50 hours with the game. I did find a few bugs, but thankfully there were all tiny, humorous ones like my weapon disappearing from my hands, resulting in me killing enemies with… thin air? As soon as I killed an enemy, it reappeared, though.
While there were no crashes as such, I did notice the odd bit of pop-in with some further-away assets appearing out of nowhere, but this was rare. Whether it was particularly high demand, too many assets in one place, or the size of them that caused this is unknown, but it did happen, just not often. For context, my rig:
- Processor AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 6-Core Processor (4.70 GHz)
- Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.1 GB usable)
- Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 (12 GB)
- AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics (486 MB)
- Storage 1TB
The optimisation in Mortal Shell 2 is noteworthy, with my Senior Editor’s older, less able PC also being able to run the game at a similar performance, although with some frame rate drops, which is more hardware than anything. For a game of this genre, performance, frame rates and overall optimisation are very important, and it was something I paid close attention to during my time with it. I’m so happy to say that as long as you have something close to the PC requirements, you’re going to be just fine.
I think I’ve waxed lyrical enough about Mortal Shell 2, but in short, the open world, combat, art design and style, graphics, audio design and more are incredible. This really is the full package, and one of the best Soulslikes, if not the best that there is, taking that title off Lies of P for me. I loved every single second, and will continue to return to the game for a long time to come, which is a rarity these days.
I commend Cold Symmetry on not resting on their laurels, taking the criticism and feedback aimed at the first title and using it to create one of the best experiences of 2026. It probably won’t win, but I genuinely think Mortal Shell 2 should be up there in the discussion for Game of the Year, and I hope everyone who plays it enjoys it as much as I have done.
Mortal Shell 2
Their Flesh Is Your Weapon. Mortal Shell 2 is a standalone sequel action-RPG with adrenaline-charged, high-stakes combat. Possess warrior Shells, dethrone false gods, redeem a ravaged world.
Summary
From art direction to the way it plays, to the world around you and how you can approach it, Mortal Shell 2 is a delight. For so many different features and mechanics to work in almost perfect harmony while also ensuring it’s not overwhelming to the player is genuinely impressive, and all of it is tied up in a pretty-looking bow to boot. You won’t regret trying out Mortal Shell 2, and sorry in advance if you lose days of your life to my recommendation.
HOURS PLAYED: 44
PLAYED ON: PC
- The world of Mortal Shell 2 is nothing short of extraordinary. Always something to find and explore.
- The combat feels plenty weighty, every strike matters, and you'll feel each one like it was you swinging the axe.
- Technical performance is good for a title of this size and requirements.
- The majority of the bosses, while incredible in variety, didn't offer much challenge.
Mortal Shell 2 is out on 20th August for PlayStation 5, XBOX Series X|S, and PC.
For your next read, check out our review of The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu, or our review of The Relic: First Guardian.
Thumb Wars reviews every game based upon the structure of our review policy, and every review is on OpenCritic.
Luke Addison is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Thumb Wars. Having previously been a part of multiple outlets over the years, including building an entire gaming team from nothing to something, he thought it best to forge his own path and answer only to himself. As likely to be found playing the latest game as he is in the kitchen relaxing (by cooking), he always brings the same bold and brash attitude to everything he does, with a heavy leaning on sarcasm and dry wit!
