For a long time while playing through Mortal Shell 2, I thought it was a great entry point into the soulslike genre. Personally, I had only played Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne, and that was a long time ago, so it was especially interesting for me to look at the game from the perspective of someone who was almost a newcomer to the genre.
And during its first few hours, Mortal Shell 2 really does seem to do everything it can to make that introduction easier.
In Dark Souls and Bloodborne, keeping an eye on your stamina was always important. Here, the developers got rid of it entirely. On paper, that sounds like a major simplification, but in practice, it makes the learning process easier rather than the game itself.
Yes, you no longer have to constantly watch the green bar. But you still need to read your opponent's actions carefully, because once an attack animation has started, you can't cancel it. While I was still getting used to the controls, I would often dodge unnecessarily just to be on the safe side. And even then, I always had the option not only to continue attacking, but also to retreat back to safety.
Does the lack of stamina make the game easier? I wouldn't say so. But it definitely makes getting used to the controls and enemy attacks easier.
Consumables work in a similar way here. You can freely experiment with different buffs: once you've found them, you keep them. To use one, you only need to spend the game's equivalent of mana, which regenerates when you land attacks.
In a way, this really does make the game easier. At the very least, it removes the need to grind resources just to get other resources. And if you fully upgrade a buff, its effect becomes permanently active for that weapon.
As a result, the first few hours of getting used to the game went much more smoothly than I expected. I didn't have to constantly think about how much stamina I had left or whether it was worth using a particular consumable. I could focus almost entirely on the enemy itself and its movements.
Of course, the very first optional boss after the prologue quickly reminded me what kind of game I was playing. Yes, you have infinite stamina for dodging. But you still have to dodge at the right moment.
And that's exactly why you gradually start getting that satisfying feeling where, with every new boss, you adapt to their attacks faster. Not because the bosses themselves become easier, but because you have a better understanding of what the game expects from you. Although you still have to adjust to every new enemy.
I also immediately liked the first shell, or, to put it more simply, the first character class. So much so that I played through almost the entire game using it. Of course, I tried the second shell as well. It had some pretty convincing arguments in its favor, after all. But in the end, I still went back to the first one because it suited my playstyle better.
The longer I played, though, the more I began to question my original idea that Mortal Shell 2 was the perfect introduction to soulslikes. This became especially noticeable during the final third of the game.
At first, the distances between beacons suddenly became enormous. Getting to a boss took a long time, and the path was packed with powerful enemies. At some point, I stopped even trying to fight them and simply ran past.
Of course, things like this are perfectly normal in Dark Souls and Bloodborne, so you might wonder what there is to complain about. The thing is, Mortal Shell 2 initially seemed almost opposed to all those frustrating genre conventions, only to eventually embrace them itself. And the transition happened rather abruptly.
But the real stumbling block for me was the final boss. I may not be an exceptionally skilled player, but I am persistent. Usually, I gradually get used to bosses, memorize their movements, and begin to understand when it's safe to attack. But I never managed to figure out the Zmei.
Sometimes I would take damage without even understanding what I was supposed to have done to avoid it. And that would have been one thing if it were the only problem.
I cleared almost every beacon I came across. The only exceptions were the final three that appeared closer to the end of the game. I vacuumed up practically everything I could find on the map and upgraded both my character and my equipment. You'd think I would at least be dealing some meaningful damage by that point.
But during every attempt against the Zmei, it felt like I was trying to kill the boss with a spoon.
Eventually, I decided to drop the game.
Did that ruin my overall impression of Mortal Shell 2? No. My character simply ended up with an alternative storyline in which the final boss turned out to be stronger. The game's protagonist went through that entire journey only to get completely crushed and humiliated right at the very end.
And despite all of that, I genuinely enjoyed playing the game. What's especially interesting is that even an entire collection of technical problems couldn't ruin the experience for me.
At one point, I lost the ability to pick up items or interact with objects. I couldn't even enter a beacon. Thankfully, that only happened once during my entire playthrough.
In another location, I lost control of my character entirely. For a while, I actually almost managed to find a workaround and reach the final point.
The controller stopped working, but when I switched to keyboard and mouse, I could still attack and dodge. So I had a plan, and I stuck to it. Or at least I tried to.
Eventually, I managed to solve the problem: all I had to do was spam the attack button while jumping off the spider, and after that everything started working normally again.
There were crashes as well, which wiped all of the progress I'd made since the last beacon. On top of that, I encountered hitbox issues throughout the game.
And here's what I find most interesting: despite all of this, Mortal Shell 2 still left me with a very positive impression. I genuinely liked some of the bosses, I liked the game's overall style, and getting used to its rules turned out to be much more comfortable than I expected.
By the end, the game simply turned out to be nothing like the perfect entry point into soulslikes that it had seemed to be during the first half of my playthrough. But at the same time, it became one of my favorite games in the genre, and I hope that sooner or later I'll finally beat the final boss.
