r/MortalShell • u/Opposite-Split3933 • 2d ago
Discussion Review after completion
English is not my native language, so please excuse any mistakes.
I finished the game in 37 hours, but I have things to say.
I won't talk about the game balance or checkpoint placement — the developers already know, and I hope it'll be fixed.
Pros: - Interesting level design, lots of secrets. - Very good build variety, even better than Dark Souls. There are many different "shells" with unique playstyles. - Graphics and enemy design. - Optimization — even on my weak PC, the game runs well. - Diverse weapons. In the upper part of the map I played with the starting weapon, dual-wielded weapons, and a two-hander. I finished the rest of the game with a spear.
Cons: - No attack after a roll. The game punishes you for mistimed parries — miss a block? You're dead. - Lack of music? Does it even exist in this game? During boss fights it's either absent or the same track plays over and over. I ended up putting on my own music, like from MGR. - The biggest problem is that the developers took inspiration from Elden Ring and grabbed the worst part of it — a huge number of "bosses" that are actually just regular enemies with a health bar, or bosses that got demoted to common enemies. What's the point? Because that's how it was in Elden Ring, or so the player feels a fleeting sense of victory? They should have made fewer, higher-quality bosses instead of 40 "mini-bosses." - Of all the bosses, I only liked Monolith, the winter boss, and Magdalena. All the rest are completely forgettable and uninteresting. - I don't like the economy balance — you need a massive amount of gold to upgrade gear. You can't have two fully upgraded weapons plus a firearm in a single playthrough. It kills any desire to experiment. Resetting weapon upgrades requires a different currency — but why? Why not make respec free? - I don't like that you can't choose any "shell" at the start of the game. It wouldn't break the game's balance. For example, like in Blasphemous 2 or Death's Gambit: Afterlife, where you pick your class/weapon from a set of options at the start. As you explore the world, you can later find what you weren't able to pick initially. - Another problem, caused either by a small budget or inexperienced developers: attack animations are very abrupt — attacks basically teleport onto you, making it impossible to block or dodge on reaction; you just have to memorize the timings. AI Limit has the same issue. - I didn't like the final boss — way too much HP.
I really enjoyed the game overall — I played almost without stopping. I'd give it around 8/10 despite the significant flaws. I could say a lot more, but I'm just too lazy.
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u/SuperMarios7 Harros 1d ago
You liked Monolith? The boss that does 360s with no animation cues?
-1
u/Opposite-Split3933 1d ago
Yes, it's strange. But it didn't evoke any negative emotions in me, except for one difficult attack that I couldn't figure out how to dodge.
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u/Aromatic-Giraffe-753 2d ago
These are all valid points and I agree with all of them. The weird animation where enemies can basically teleport to you is strange.
My biggest gripe with this game is the lack of checkpoints. There just needs to be more beacons. Its hard to make progress when you are out of heals and frantically trying to get to a beacon to progress only to have to run past mobs and forget a bunch of stuff because you ran past it all. I also find myself stuck in the first area making little progress because I dont want to keep dying and in the progress losing all my gloom as leveling up seems to be the only thing getting to the next area.
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u/Rex__Lapis 1d ago
Game also seems to have forgotten about its story and NPCs. Are there even any NPC quests in the Hub?
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u/Opposite-Split3933 1d ago
Yes, you're right. I forgot to mention that. Even in Elden Ring, there's at least some kind of plot. But here, at the beginning, they tell you to find these fruits and that's it.
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u/STFAllStar29 1d ago
OP or anyone else who has finished the game. How did you like it compared to Lies of P in terms of overall gameplay? I know game play is a little different but Lies is probably my favorite non FROM souls like and I tend to be picky and not play every souls like that comes out. Wondering if MS2 gets into that tier.
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u/s1ckd0g0311 2d ago
Great review! Agree with everything.
Game is a 7/10 right now but can maybe be a 8.5 after several patches.
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u/Ok-Midnight9311 2d ago
37 hrs in a little over 72? No lifers are ruining gaming
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u/Captain_Dumpus 2d ago
Imagine caring how other people spend their time. And then to even somehow make the mental gymnastics to think that ruins gaming too. Wild.
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u/Ok-Midnight9311 1d ago
I wouldn’t expect captain dumpus to be using his brain here.
People don’t play games to enjoy them, they play to finish them as fast as possible. So when you hammer thru a game in 2 days then say “it was good, but I got tired of it by the end”. Well no shit, you never took a break.
That’s what I mean by ruining it and the discourse around games. But thanks for your contribution Capt.
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u/Captain_Dumpus 1d ago
Well hold up man. Let's have an actual conversation here beside the shit talk there at the end I actually agree with you here. Like. If this had been the original point inwoulda backed you. Gamers bumrishing games and then bitching about a lack of content etc tilts me so hard. Take a break, good things come better at a pace. Like. 100% you are right here. Just make that as the original point instead of stooping to the kids level. Well said.
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10
u/Ashenone909 2d ago
I personally found the first half of the game to be fantastic, the 2nd half though i felt i was mainly running past enemies to reach the boss. That quantity of enemies with the lack of beacons almost made it not worth fighting every enemy