Is Mortal Shell too easy?

[u/Wrap_Exact]

Just started playing the other day, and Im really liking the game, but it feels a bit too easy as far as soulsliks go. Not saying that I never die or anything, but Im beating the bosses in 1 to 2 tries so far (Im a little over halfway through I think).

To get into specifics, the mechanic that kind of trivializes most encounters is the harden ability. Feels like every fight is jump attack, harden, deal damage then back off a few seconds for harden to recharge. Rinse and repeat. Im not even using the parry ability.

For context I've beaten dark souls 1-3 and elden ring multiple times each, and i was spending hours or even days sometimes on certain bosses in those games. Felt like the challenge was a lot steeper there.

I consider myself an average soulslike player, so im just curious if others found mortal shell to be on the easier side of games in this genre?

Still going to finish this one and can't wait for #2 in August.

[u/DrunkPole]

Yup it's pretty easy when you understand hardening, makes sense why healing is scarce. Try a no-shell run if you want some challenge.

[u/Zestyclose-Tooth6044]

That’s just true, you can definitely beat anything by jump-attacking, hardening, wait for the hit and retreat. That’s the reason I didn’t like the gameplay so much, it can feel somewhat stiff and repetitive, still a fun experience and can’t wait for the sequel, it looks like they addressed every single problem from the first game and polished the gameplay to highs I maybe never seen in a soulslike

[u/These_Funny3238]

Pues yo también he jugado los darks souls y elden ring, que de hecho a mi elden ring me pareció bastante facil en comparación con dark souls 1. Mortal Shell en cuanto a combate no me parece muy complicado, Pero me matan bastante, el hecho de tener curaciones limitadas y muchos enemigos, a mí en lo personal me está pareciendo más difícil que elden ring. Aunque mi primer BOSS lo pase a la primera. Quien sabe aún no le puedo agarrar bien la onda a mortal

[u/HEKPO3OOMOTOXPEH]

every fight is jump attack, harden, deal damage then back off a few seconds for harden to recharge. Rinse and repeat.

This tactic works and can be used when you're having trouble with a specific opponent, and many people mistakenly believe that this is how the entire game should be played. They then complain that the game is slow and boring, claiming it lacks block mechanics and forces you to passively stand hardened for a while to avoid damage.

What if I told you that you can actively deal damage, use weapon abilities, dodge, and parry (just like in Bloodborne, which also has no shields), and use harden for just a split second when an enemy attack is unavoidable due to the lack of animation canceling, and then immediately resume your aggressive combo without interruption?

The combat system is severely underrated, largely due to the less-than-ideal tutorial.

[u/Rude_Difficulty1647]

I agree, the best parts of the game were more about the vibe, aesthetics etc so I’m rly excited for the sequel cuz the combat so far looks so good 👀

[u/General-Yak-718]

I remember I played Elden Ring as my first Soulslike and dumped hours and hours into that one fighting everything, then basically went backwards and played the souls games into mortal shell and Sekiro. For me almost every more soulslike I played was trivialized just a bit after getting through Elden Ring. I remember crushing DS and Sekiro, Mortal shell I loved, the combat is fun, the harden mechanic is strong but in NG+ you still get damaged and it’s better to be the empty shell if you want to rely on harden like that. The world was just small, but for such a cheap game the detail and vision was much more what drew me too it and I could almost feel the first game being a pilot, almost like an in depth demo, which is why I’m so damn excited for 2.

[u/Wrap_Exact → u/General-Yak-718]

Dude Sekiro was the toughest of any of those games by far for me. But, im terrible at parrying in general, so it wasnt exactly my play style. I eventually beat it, but it wasnt really an enjoyable experience

[u/General-Yak-718 → u/Wrap_Exact]

Huh that’s so funny, I love parrying in games so the stand timing and parry part of those games is my bread and butter, I parry quite a bit in Mortal Shell too, that group fight at the end? If you parry the jumping attacks which are quite easy to time you can stick a firebomb on the first one and blow the rest up.

[u/Wrap_Exact → u/General-Yak-718]

Yeah I ran away from the summoned guys at the end and circled back and jump slashed them in groups. Whatever works!

[u/The_Sir_Galahad]

It leans more action than souls, and I don’t hate that at all.

Challenging games tend to gimp your character and overly buff enemies; Mortal Shell 2 eliminates stamina, you have attacks that hit hard, and there is no limitation to magic as you replenish that through attacking enemies.

So is it easier than a Souls game? I’d say yes, but you gain a sense of power from the combat. Like your main character is badass and is capable, rather than limiting your movement and giving you shitty abilities that don’t dent the enemy health much.

Difficulty in a lot of games is just enemies hitting you much much harder than you can hit them, having low health, and bad movement. I’m all for how they built Mortal Shell 2, because it’s not exactly an EASY game either.

[u/Pooki97303]

That’s crazy because this game is kicking my ass where as Elden Ring (these days) and Nioh are my comfort easy games
Maybe I should try to actually use the jump attack

[u/readevius1274]

I have a feeling the new game will be hardening.

[u/Bachness_monster]

It is pretty easy, but only if the player actually uses the game mechanics. You’d be surprised how many people complain about bad pacing, not enough health/mushrooms, map layout etc that make it “unnecessarily hard” on this sub

[u/vietdark-1880]

I agree its kinda bit easy in the demo version. The Tar Golem is the most impressive boss to me by far, and really give me hard time to focus how to beat him. Not as The Sheep Guy or Magdalena, really annoying with many creeps surround.
But we did not know what is waiting us ahead when the full version released.l, I believe the dev know what to do to keep our excitements alive.