Mortal Shell 2 Wins Praise in 30-Hour PS5 Review as 8 Shells Deepen Combat

Q: How do bizarre encounters like rocket-powered scooter bosses fit into the grim, heavy-metal aesthetic of a hardcore RPG?

They fit because *Mortal Shell 2* treats absurdity as part of its horror, not a break from it. The game’s world is already built around sacrilege, corpse-piloting, stolen ova, corrupted flesh, and heavy-metal imagery, so a rocket-powered scooter boss reads less like a joke and more like another grotesque mutation in a nightmare landscape. What makes these encounters work is tone and presentation. Review and guide material describe the game as a “heavy metal album cover come to life,” full of bone-white ruins, peeling flesh, H.R. Giger-style monsters, demonic sheep, and dancing hags. In that context, a mobility scooter turned into a weaponized boss prop becomes part of the same exaggerated dark-fantasy logic. It is bizarre, but still menacing. The design also serves a gameplay purpose. Soulslikes depend on memorable bosses, and *Mortal Shell 2* appears to lean into surreal mechanics and striking silhouettes to distinguish its encounters. Magdalena’s scooter, for example, is not only visually strange; it changes how the fight plays, with fast charges and dangerous spacing that force players to dodge carefully rather than rely on parries. That helps the absurd concept earn its place mechanically. So the weirdness supports the game’s identity. Rather than undermining the grim aesthetic, these encounters sharpen it by making the world feel unpredictable, hostile, and uniquely stylized instead of merely bleak.

3 articles · Updated · Push Square · Aug 18

A 30-hour PS5 review calls Mortal Shell 2 a stronger sequel, saying it packs multiple biomes, dozens of bosses and dense dungeons into a focused soulslike campaign.
Eight shell classes, no stamina meter and sidearms from shotguns to miniguns give combat a faster, more flexible feel, while refundable skill points make experimentation easier than in many genre peers.
Its interconnected open world and heavy-metal aesthetic earn praise for enemy variety and inventive encounters, from accordion-playing hags to a boss commanding demonic sheep.
The review says the game loses momentum late on: an Ova collection gate forces map-scouring and backtracking, and an overpowered endgame leaves final bosses short on challenge.
On PS5 and PS5 Pro, Quality and Performance modes target 30fps and 60fps; frame dips appear occasionally, but technical performance is described as mostly smooth.