Mortal Shell II Review — The Best Soulslike Since Elden Ring?
Let's address the elephant in the room immediately: yes, reviewers are calling Mortal Shell II the best Soulslike since Elden Ring. Is that hype or truth? We played it on both PC and PS5 to find out — and the answer is mostly truth, with one asterisk.
What changed from the first game
The original Mortal Shell was a solid but rough-around-the-edges take on the formula — a tech demo of moody atmosphere with combat that felt one mechanic short. The sequel fixes the biggest complaint first: the stamina bar is gone. Combat is now faster, more aggressive, and far more accessible. You can actually play it like a game instead of a patience exercise.
The Shell system (the game's character-class mechanic) is deeper too. Each Shell now meaningfully changes how combat flows rather than just tweaking stats, and the game encourages swapping between them. There's real build variety here — something the first game only gestured at.
The world
Mortal Shell II trades the first game's cramped tunnels for an expansive, interconnected open world. It's not empty Ubisoft-style space — it's packed with dungeons, each with its own identity and secrets. The world-building is confident and weird in the best way, wearing its influences (Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and a dash of Shadow of the Colossus) without feeling derivative.
Performance — PC vs PS5
On PC, this is a proper showcase game. It scales beautifully — a 5060 Ti runs it at high settings 1080p with ease, and on a 5070-class card you're looking at buttery 1440p. It's a great benchmark for a new build (and pairs perfectly with our GPU guide). On PS5, it runs at a stable 60fps in performance mode with quality mode holding 30fps for the screenshots-inclined. Both are excellent; PC wins on frame rates, PS5 wins on zero fiddling.
The verdict
"Best Soulslike since Elden Ring" is fair, with one asterisk: it's not as ambitious as Elden Ring, but it doesn't need to be. It's a tighter, more confident game that knows exactly what it is. If you like the genre at all, this is an essential buy — one of the genuine GOTY contenders of 2026.