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Mortal Shell II
A solid beginning.
Mortal Shell is an action title featuring the typical blend of RPG mechanics, set in a bleak medieval/gothic-inspired world where everything is grim and everyone is sorrowful. The dialogue is packed with Proper Nouns and is vague enough to leave room for interpretation.
The combat feels substantial, with heavy, sometimes slow animations that penalize you for overextending, yet are satisfying to watch when your strikes connect. You lose your level-up currency when you die, and must reclaim it in your next life or lose it permanently. There's a checkpoint that isn't called a bonfire but serves the same purpose.
So far, very Souls-like! However, once you move past these surface-level descriptions, the outline of something remarkable begins to emerge. That's why Mortal Shell 2 caught my attention this week.
Releasing a demo alongside a new reveal or major trailer has become a recurring trend for a certain category of games: the impact of the demo is undeniable, as seen with the frequency of Steam Next Fests each year. The 2026 Summer Game Fest showcase featured a few such examples, but Mortal Shell 2 was the one I hurried to download. The game's beta went live alongside a trailer shown during the event, and as a fan of the original, that was all the persuasion I needed.
Part of what sets Mortal Shell apart in a saturated field of Soulslikes is that nearly every "standard" Souls-like element is altered in some significant way; perhaps the developers had strong opinions that certain aspects could be improved or meaningfully reimagined. The original game felt like a freshman eager to share their ideas with the class, only to stumble over their words while trying to convey their brilliance in a language everyone could grasp. Mortal Shell 2 is the confident sophomore who moves slowly and speaks with such clarity and certainty that you can't afford to overlook them.
I spent nearly six hours with the beta and didn't encounter a single mechanic from the original that hasn't evolved in some form, which is a significant achievement given that Mortal Shell's entire approach involves deconstructing core elements from Souls games and rebuilding them into something new.
The first game's standout feature is its 'hardening' mechanic, which allows you to turn yourself to stone briefly to absorb an enemy hit. All characters had access to it, and the same applies here, though it now functions quite differently. Hardening returns in Mortal Shell 2, but it's now linked to a specific Seal—an item any character can equip. You can choose to equip that Seal, but doing so comes at the cost of others.
Seals play a crucial role; they house what would typically be standard Souls-like mechanics, opening up build variety to a degree seldom seen in those games. It's one of the smartest design choices it makes. Want tighter parry windows but more rewarding parries? There's a Seal for that. Prefer to stay back and break enemy posture with your ranged weapon before moving in for the kill? That's a Seal. The ability to block? A different one. Yes, even blocking isn't guaranteed. Who says blocking is essential in a Souls-like?
It also struck me as a counterbalance to Mortal Shell's fixed character archetypes (Shells), which, unlike most Soulslikes, come with predetermined stats that can only be upgraded, not altered. In other words, the Shell intended as a tank will always fulfill that role. This hasn't changed in the sequel, so it's clear the developer considers this mechanic part of Mortal Shell's identity.
Despite all the fun I've had with the beta, it's still very much a work in progress. It was amusing to see issues I had with the original game's technical test resurface here, such as small subtitle text and unclear menu highlights. The problems I foresee causing real frustration stem from a lack of polish, which is fortunately something that can only improve. I often got stuck on terrain, and once had to restart a boss fight because the boss was stuck mid-air. Speaking of boss fights, it frequently feels like the game is too quick to throw you into action, with no breather between the end of a boss's introduction and its first attack.
It's also common to get hit while you're in the middle of a lengthy animation, which I can only assume is unintended. We still don't have a release date, so my hope is that it will avoid 2026's September/October rush in the shadow of the GTA black hole that consumes all of November, but it's one any fan of Soulslikes should keep an eye on.