The soulslike genre officially began with Demon's Souls on PS3 in 2009. The genre then exploded with the Dark Souls trilogy from the same developer, and now we see many games with the same flavour.
While many people regard Elden Ring and Bloodborne as the best soulslikes, many other developers have made their own games. This includes Mortal Shell, which became a sleeper hit in 2020. Six years later, we see the release of its sequel, Mortal Shell II.
The thing that separates Mortal Shell II from other soulslikes is that it doesn't have classes. Instead, you play as a character named the Harbinger, and they have the ability to possess Shells.
Shells are similar to the ones seen in Warframe because each shell has different abilities and even its own backstories. In the game's story, the Harbinger is tasked with collecting extraterrestrial eggs called Ova, but the reason for this is stepping into spoiler territory.
If you have played the first Mortal Shell, you will be in for a big shock because Mortal Shell II makes one huge gameplay change. In this sequel, the developers have removed a stamina system during combat. Removing the stamina system makes the combat much faster and more satisfying than ever before.
Instead of having to conserve energy attacking and dodging, you can pile on the offense as many times as you want. Dodging is much easier as well without a stamina system. I know some people like stamina systems, but I prefer having combat without it.
Another cool thing about Mortal Shell II is that you have the ability to use firearms. Usually in these types of games, you are only allowed to use magic. I think it is pretty cool to be able to finally use a gun for once.
Anyway, the first Shell I unlocked in Mortal Shell II was Tiel. This is a Shell that is really fast and has stealth abilities, but the main weakness of it is that it has very low health. Despite this, I liked using Tiel a lot because stealth is my speciality.
Elden Ring fans will be happy to know that Mortal Shell II shares some gameplay similarities outside of just the combat. For example, both games require you to find map fragments to reveal the map, need to find materials to upgrade health potions, and have a parry attack that allows you to perform a finisher called Riposte.
However, one thing that Mortal Shell II does better than Elden Ring is that it includes better and more unique takedown animations. Each animation is different depending on the enemy type or boss that you are currently facing.
In terms of Shells to find, the game has eight of them for you to discover and collect, and they are littered all over the map. The game also has eight melee weapons and eight ranged weapons.
As for my personal playthrough of the game, I stuck with using the axe and dagger combo. The main reason I liked this combo the best is because it's really fast and can take down lots of enemies with minimal effort.
As for levelling up, Mortal Shell II uses a more simplified system compared to other soulslike video games. Instead of choosing an attribute to level up, your overall character increases health and damage. Not to mention, you earn Shell Points, which can be used to upgrade your Shell's abilities, too.
Graphically, Mortal Shell II features far better graphics compared to the first Mortal Shell game from 2020. I played this game on a base PS5, and the visuals are realistic and eerie at the same time. The map is also expansive, causing you to explore for hours on end to see everything that it offers.
As much as I liked playing Mortal Shell II, there are some niggling flaws that prevent this game from being my favourite soulslike. For one thing, I feel some of the random enemies on the map can be harder to beat than the bosses for some odd reason.
To help combat the steep difficulty level, I chose to equip a seal called the Slayer Seal, which helps stun enemies and regains your health whenever you perform the aforementioned Riposte finisher. The only downside to equipping the Slayer Seal is that it prevents you from earning trophies.
The other thing I did not like about Mortal Shell II is the lack of checkpoints. It can be very infuriating when you die and have to walk back a long way just to revisit a dungeon or boss fight. The runbacks can be brutal compared to other games in the same genre.
Despite some annoying flaws, Mortal Shell II delivers when it comes to its impressive graphics and cool combat system. The fact that the game has no stamina system makes fights feel faster and fluid. If you can bypass its steep difficulty, you should consider picking this game up.