Mortal Shell II Review: A MUST-PLAY Soulslike ft. Dom's RoundTable | Between Levels Podcast Ep. 8

Mortal Shell II is finally here — and it might just be one of the best Soulslikes we’ve played. For Episode 8 of Between Levels, WheelieAverage, FightinCowboy and Sarthe are joined by Dom from Dom’s RoundTable for our first full review roundtable. We break down everything Mortal Shell II gets right, from its massive evolution over the original game to its open-world exploration, Shell system, build variety, weapons, combat, bosses, lore, difficulty, performance and much more. How does it compare to Elden Ring, Lies of P, Nioh 2 and the best non-FromSoftware Soulslikes? Which Shell should new players use? How broken can the builds become? Have the bugs from the beta been fixed? And most importantly: is Mortal Shell II worth your time and money? The first section of the episode is spoiler-free. A clear spoiler warning is given before we begin discussing bosses, late-game content and other major details. We also answer questions submitted by the Between Levels community throughout the episode. And with Between Levels closing in on 1,000 subscribers, there may be a few copies of Mortal Shell II up for grabs very soon… 👀 00:00 – Welcome, Guest Introduction, Embargo & Spoiler Setup 01:44 – First Impressions & Overall Verdict 02:34 – How Much the Sequel Improves on the Original 07:04 – World, Lore, Side Quests & Discovery 08:36 – Character Memories & Storytelling 09:55 – Favourite Shells & Playstyles 14:30 – Replayability & Best Starter Shell 16:56 – Build Variety, Balance & Overpowered Setups 20:13 – Beginner Recommendations & Early-Game Encounters 25:06 – Difficulty Balance, Ranged Combat & Weapon Builds 28:48 – Exploration, Traversal Frustrations & Open-World Design 32:00 – Where It Ranks Among Soulslike Games 32:41 – SPOILER SECTION BEGINS 33:12 – Boss Design & Variety 36:44 – Favourite Bosses 42:17 – Most Difficult & Frustrating Bosses 43:18 – Difficulty Curve & Reviewer vs Player Experience 45:39 – Classic Soulslike Moments & Emergent Gameplay 46:25 – Bugs, Collision Issues & Funny Glitches 50:14 – Performance, Patches & Technical Impressions 56:21 – Open-World Progression & How Exploration Affects Difficulty 1:00:42 – Closing Thoughts Before Community Questions 1:00:55 – UI Discussion 1:03:32 – Who Is Mortal Shell 2 For? 1:05:22 – Features We Would Change or Add 1:09:36 – Is It Worth the Time & Money? 1:11:50 – Final Scores & Recommendations 1:15:57 – Giveaway, Thank-Yous & Outro Let us know what you think of Mortal Shell II in the comments! Featuring: WheelieAverage FightinCowboy Sarthe Dom — Dom’s RoundTable Subscribe for a new episode of Between Levels every week. Follow Between Levels: X: @BtweenLevels Instagram: @betweenlevelspodcast TikTok: @betweenlevelspodcast