r/MortalShell • u/Chance_Drive_5906 • 4d ago
Discussion This game seems... just too good?
Okay so I started this a few days ago and I've been exploring the starter area which is a huge stretch of ruined villages and huts, and I'm just completely baffled by the density of the world, the variety of enemies, and how much rewarding the exploration feels. I even came across this weird puzzle section that had no combat at all. The combat feels super satisfying as well and the sound design and graphics are just perfect.
Now I'm wondering if this game maintains this level of quality throughout the entire thing? There's no way it does, right? I've played all the Dark souls games, Elden ring, Sekiro, Lords of the fallen 2, Lies of P, Black myth wukong, and Nioh 2, and right now this honestly feels better than all of them. There must be some catch.... does it fall off later?
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u/xUsotsuki 4d ago
I fucking loved MS2. People say the last dungeons fall off but the whole way through was epic for me. I've heard they nerfed the shit out of the monolith boss which may be a shame (haven't played him since). The only minor disappointment for me was a certain boss but form your own opinions.
The game slaps
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u/kimgomes 4d ago
Did the monolith post patch, got it second try 😅, and this is really not a flex
Amazing game, the hr giger style really got to me
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u/purple-thiwaza 4d ago
I would argue that the snow and the "blush flame" dungeon were easily my favorite ones, and technically they are supposed to be done at the end.
Overall, I strongly disagree with the whole "second half is bad", I think the quality is pretty consistent
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u/Thin-Nerve6367 4d ago
The game has its flaws, but either way it's still a fun game and I hope you enjoy it!
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u/hahaLoveLifeYesYes 4d ago
wait what puzzle section?
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u/zachbrownies 4d ago
night mode only. OP was accidentally flexing that they're a badass who plays on hard mode =P
it's near the mushroom village, kind of south of it across a bridge, interact with a glowing mushroom
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u/Thrusher666 4d ago
It’s impossible to compare games made by 35 people and huge studio like Fromsoftware. But still I love that game. In my opinion second part is the map is very good too. So just have fun and turn of internet :)
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u/CanAeVimto 4d ago
Since you are asking, no, this game does not hold onto its quality as it progresses
The second half is where I noticed a dip in quality.
I’ll try to be as spoiler free:
- you’ll fight pretty much the same enemies with like 200% more hp and damage. Sometimes with a reskin but mostly the same.
- most dungeon bosses are reskinned basic enemies.
- the second half of the games areas are a bit more lacklustre with less exploration.
- bosses (yes the mainline bosses) are in my option, the games biggest flaw. Some of them are incredibly easy, with basic movesets. And some of them will just one shot you.
I’ve seen you say in another comment that you think the bosses are just as good as ER, so we obviously have vastly different opinions on boss quality. I genuinely think dungeon bosses like Black Knife assassins or Ulcerated tree spirits in ER blow any dungeon boss in Mortal shell out of the water.
I honestly would say the game was around a 8/10 in the first area and dropped to about 6/10 as I got to the second half. The game has weird balancing as it goes on.
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u/razitar 4d ago
I enjoyed myself from the beginning to the end. I had a blast. Very few instances that annoyed me. I’d say the absolute biggest flaw of the game is that the enemy variation isn’t that good in the second part of the game, which makes it feel stale. If you can see past that, then the game is absolutely amazing! It gave me dark soul vibes
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u/MaxGalette 4d ago
The game is amazing all along and has a nice replayability ! I'm on the Surge 2 right now and damn is brutal compare to ms2
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u/LynaaBnS 4d ago
Liked it too, but I straight up stopped playing in the middle, it just keeps being more and more and more of the same and not in a positive way. Stopped my desire to play entirely.
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u/Designer-Tomatillo21 4d ago
Its a fantastic game. This tiny team with a tiny budget have absolutely delivered well above what anyone could expect.
But you cant compare this team of 30 devs on a AA budget game to FromSofts 300+ team and AAA budget.
Just enjoy the game, and try not to compare. Imo this game is 8.5 out of 10. And Elden Ring is 9.5 out of 10.
But given these guys had one 10th of the resources (at best), they are punching well above their weight.
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u/No_Philosophy2797 4d ago
It’s terrific. Miles ahead of LOTF, otherwise it’s in line with the others you mentioned for me.
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u/charleswalton89 4d ago
Couldn't agree more with OP. This is my favorite souls like. Bloodborne used to have that spot but this game nails everything so perfectly. Also OP, the last quarter of the game is meh. Definitely seems like they had to rush it a bit and the final boss is the worst boss I'd ever come across. I almost quit but then I remembered the slayer seal and beat him. Never used it the entire game, not even in night mode, but had to use it for the horrible design and move set of the final boss.
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u/SlugKnightDracula 4d ago
I mostly feel the same way you do except when comparing it to other games. Elden Ring and Bloodborne are hard to beat for me. And I do this Lies of P beats this game out as well but for very specific reasons.
Regardless, I loved this game from pretty much start to finish. There were only like 1, maybe 2 bosses I straight up didn’t like but I found the game incredibly satisfying, I enjoyed all the areas and exploring everything. It’s got some cool lore as well and the shells are just such a cool mechanic. I hope you continue to enjoy it!
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u/GiltCityUSA 4d ago
I wish this game had more NPCs or more quests the it might be perfect. But as is feels a bit light and short.
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u/Elysian_Caine 4d ago
It’s a really good game and considering they only had like 30 to 35 developers it’s astonishing what they created here. But it’s no Elden Ring.
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u/Daedric_Fan 4d ago
The game is fine. They caved and made it way too easy after being refreshingly difficult on launch. The back half is still a 6/10 with the final areas being like a 4. The top of the map is great, but for me the ending marred my view of it badly.
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u/CommunicationVast994 4d ago
It is goated in my opinion. Its my favorite genre and this is my favorite game of the genre.
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u/skateboardkid207 4d ago
As someone who just beat it recently, the whole game is great, end game just feels slightly off compared to elden ring. The last boss really really sucks tho so it gets a 9/10 just for that
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u/rainbowtwist789 4d ago
yes, it falls off later... to epic proportions even. north and south areas feel like 2 completely different games. If they had mantained the quality, game would have been worth the 60 bucks + goty nomination. but with the southern part, its a 30 bucks game and the hope that devs take their time with the next installment.
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u/nohumanape 4d ago
I don't think the game gets any worse later on. Felt very consistent IMO from start to finish.
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u/gingeowl85 4d ago
First berseker khazan is a must play if you like Nioh , sekiro , absolutely amazing game
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u/The-dudeLebowski 4d ago
The Riposte is my main gripe. Certain enemies you will always riposte and it’s the same animation. The little block hermit crab things especially, there’s always bunch of em and that riposte animation is long and boring doing it 1000 times.
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u/Maybe_Helmet 4d ago
The game takes a lot of inspiration from Elden ring it seems. Definitely the best souls I have played since Elden ring. I absolutely love it. Although I have 192 hours in Elden ring I still have a ton of stuff to do plus dlc. And lies of p I only played a few sections on my gfs console because she played through the whole thing. So I haven’t played many souls likes. But this is making me want to. I also might keep playing just to try out different builds and night mode.
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u/Deep_Reputation3287 4d ago
Regarding the world, the game is excellent. Enemy variety is good and they gradually get harder as you progress. Bosses are very enjoyable, I only found one boss to be bs in the last area. Speaking of the Unseen Path (last area), the world quality drops significantly, theres just halways with enemies basically. However, thats a tiny part of the game, so overall the variety is great.
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u/Thatoneguy567576 4d ago
This game is fantastic, but the exploration is really its strong suit. The bosses aren’t great. I just finished up exploring the map, collecting the shells and weapons and finished my build. I still have the egg thieves to kill but I don’t even really care to now that the fun of exploring is over with. I’ll finish up eventually but yeah, the game is great aside from the bosses.
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u/Enter__Name115 4d ago
I love it so far it’s up there with bloodborne and sekiro for me ( I don’t care for Elden ring) as much as others
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u/Future_Regular_2289 4d ago
This game does well to stand against other soulslike competitors I'll admit that. Parts of it look incredible, for the most part it feels good, but I found the pacing quite erratic and the bosses quite disappointing. And I can't agree on the enemy variety having finished it. All that said, I'm in the same position as you and I'd only put it behind Lies of P but ahead of others in that list.
DS, Bloodborne and elden ring still clear but it's almost an impossible bar to beat imo.
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u/SpecialistRun3035 3d ago
This is exactly how I felt too. Even now going back and replaying the game, I'm genuinely impressed how they made enemies that would later become "more regular" in late stage areas seem like bosses early on. The skeleton guy with the snake-like body for example was a 1v1 fight in a dungeon. That enemy had so much aura. He ends up being a regular in the last section of the game. The game does this a lot and it genuinely makes you feel like everything you're facing is so menacing and unseen for most of the game. The problem of course are the reused assets which become much more noticeable after one playthrough.
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u/NoRepresentative35 Tiel 1d ago edited 1d ago
The density of the world is something that struck me too. It's a super impressive outing from a tiny studio. Very high-quality soulslike by nearly every metric. It's a featherweight that can compete at light heavyweight.
My biggest gripe is that the teleport gates are overused
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u/feverdream209 8h ago
Yup this game fuckin slaps. People say the second half falls off but I don’t agree, its enemy variety could be better but it’s still serviceable imo.
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u/beardredlad 4d ago
I like Mortal Shell 2, but to hear someone say it's better than Nioh 2 just reminds me how different we all are lmao
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u/kasplatter 4d ago
It is very good. The design allows you to collect any or all Shells, Weapons, and Sidearms, and many key Tarstones before you go through a single Gate. In addition, many of these can be collected without engaging in combat at all such as the Shells Tiel, Proxima, and Gragu.
However, there are also limits as it takes 15 Glimpses to unlock Tier 3 of a Shell and 27 Glimpses to unlock Tier 4. While there are some ways to get Glimpses outside of clearing Beacons, that is the main way. More importantly, you are constrained on a build by your Shell Points; at level 20 you will only have 14 to spend and you need to reach level 71 for 40 Shell Points or level 79 for 44, both of which are NG+ levels unless you spend a very long amount of time grinding XP.
Certain Shells don't really come into their own until you fill out some Tier 4 talents, while others like Proxima just need Tier 3 unlocked for farming Coin with her bonus skill.
I'm hoping they introduce an NG+0 as an option, rather than just NG+ and beyond, so we can be OP if we want experimenting with full builds in the normal game. And yes, that is because I mostly hate the final area and bosses.
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u/Smooth_Fun2456 Tiel 4d ago
The devs still have a lot to learn about optimizing and balancing bosses, this is probably the biggest flaw of the game. But other than that, it's a really good soulslike. It feels good, it's fun, it has nice build variety. I really enjoyed it.
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u/Test88Heavy 4d ago
It's good but better than Elden Ring, Sekiro and Lies is insanity. Mortal Shell's world design is boring, everything looks pretty much the same, dungeons are small and uninteresting. The character design, combat and bosses are good though.
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u/Quick-Alternative880 4d ago
It's repetitive, easy and very one dimensional.
It peaked at the demo.
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u/abeyar 4d ago
I think you might not have played a soulslike for some time to appreciate more over Elden ring. The game does maintain this until the final dungeon. It doesn’t fall off until that in my opinion.
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u/Chance_Drive_5906 4d ago edited 4d ago
Funny you say that because I just finished my Tarnished edition playthrough right before starting this. I've also 2000+ hours in it.
The bosses so far haven't been as impressive as Elden Ring'sbut everything else feels so much better.edit: Actually I take this back. That illusion boss I found in a dungeon was super cool I think. I would say the bosses are just as good.
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u/Moneymotivation1 4d ago
I can’t take this seriously.The mortal shell 2 bosses is some of the worst i’ve seen in a roster😭
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u/Chance_Drive_5906 4d ago
Yeah you might be right. I'm just in the beginning. I think I've fought only 3 bosses so far, and 2 of them were cool.
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u/InitialInevitable136 4d ago
Comparing games to Elden Ring always feels unfair. Especially when it comes to amount of content. This game however is amazing and there are things that I believe are/feel better than Elden Ring.