Mortal Shell II Let's Play: Switching Between Shells to Reclaim the Eggs from Six Great Bosses

The protagonist is a mysterious figure known as the Harbinger. The game opens with a festival taking place in a village, where the protagonist encounters a supernatural being. They then receive "Shells," armor made from human remains, along with valuable equipment such as a sword and a gun.

The protagonist's mission is to recover eggs that were taken by thieves. To do so, they must travel across the continent and venture into dangerous dungeons. Partway through the story, the commentator explains that the stolen eggs seem to possess strange powers. The commentator speculates that the monsters overrunning each region are likely aberrant beings affected by the eggs' power.

The first great boss to stand in the way is the Tar Golem. The commentator uses this fight to explain the basic combat system.

First, while there's still distance between you, you keep the enemy in check with ranged attacks, then dodge its attacks and close in with your sword. When the enemy swings a regular attack, you deal with it using a perfect guard. Each successful perfect guard fills the enemy's yellow gauge, and when it's full, the enemy is knocked down hard. You use that opening to chip away with heavy attacks, and if you input a light attack in front of the enemy before the red circle disappears, you trigger a high-damage fatal strike.

In boss fights, knockdowns also occur once you've whittled down a certain amount of health. Here too, the commentator chains a heavy attack into a fatal strike. The commentator describes it as a real "perk" that, by carefully managing how much damage you deal, you can extend your own turn for quite a long time. They then time perfect guards against the enemy's combo to knock it down again, stack heavy attacks, and land a fatal strike. They finished off the last sliver of health with gunfire and defeated the boss.

Immediately afterward, however, things take a dark turn, and the knight's Shell is sacrificed. The commentator later realizes this first fight was a scripted loss, noting that it seemed designed so the story would continue even if you lost.

Having lost the knight's Shell, the protagonist explores the surrounding area and gathers new Shells. According to the commentator, there are eight sets of remains in total that can become Shells, and they apparently lie in places such as graves.

With a set of Shells assembled, the protagonist begins the search for the eggs in earnest. Since each of the eggs is held by one of six great bosses, from here on the flow is to defeat the bosses one by one.

The first opponent is Magdalena, Lady of the Grove. You dodge her as she charges forcefully in her wheelchair and drive your dagger in when you see an opening. For this fight, the commentator uses the Tiel Shell, obtained early in the game. Because Tiel has a trait that boosts attacks from behind, they stabbed the downed enemy from behind again and again before finishing her with a fatal strike.

They use the same tactic against the second boss, The Lost Child: dash in for a single thrust, then circle around behind and keep stabbing. Here, they deliberately skipped the fatal strike and racked up hits with a weapon that inflicts bleed. They delivered the final blow with a spinning slash learned in the previous boss fight.

The fight against The Nameless Captive, fought at an execution ground, centers on a system called "Harden." The commentator explains Harden as a type of guard that can be used even during an attack animation. Using it, they say, lets you balance offense and defense.

In this fight, they weathered the enemy's opening two strikes with perfectly timed Harden, then quickly whittled it down with spinning slashes to knock it down. They finished it off with another spinning slash and also blocked the enemy's dying attack with Harden.

For Six-Legs, which dwells in the water, the commentator takes on the fight with the Proxima Shell, which specializes in lightning. They also point out that you can read memories from a Shell's past life once you obtain it. According to these memories, Proxima seems to have pursued and fought this monster while alive, and the commentator frames the battle as the settling of an old score. The fight ended quickly just by launching spinning axes.

Drogue the Conqueror, fought in a frozen land, is a boss with skulls packed into its head. Here, the commentator chose the Genesha Shell, which specializes in using clones. They spawn clones to become three, then unleash a five-shot volley with a bleed shotgun. Without going for a fatal strike, they built up the shooting gauge with light attacks and finished it off with another volley.

The last boss guarding an egg is Sir Isaac, the Scholar Prince, waiting in a great hall. They vanish from sight with a perfect dodge and fire volleys from behind. Using that opening, they fill the gauge with light attacks, then fire another volley to defeat him.

Having reclaimed all the eggs, the protagonist returns them to the base, which is made from Mother's body, and waits for word from the other side. One of the followers is then chosen as a sacrifice, and a staircase suddenly appears beneath the base. The protagonist senses that something malign has taken root inside Mother's body and that they are being asked to purge it. The depths beneath the base form the final dungeon, where three bosses await before the final boss.

The first is The Ill-Born Child. They dodge its opening attack, fire volleys from behind, keep whittling down its health with light attacks, and land a fatal strike. Their approach doesn't change when it enters its second phase: vanish with a perfect dodge, get behind it, refill the gauge with light attacks, and once it's full, disappear again and fire another volley. Repeating this a few times was all it took. The commentator says that the stealth ability makes combat very comfortable. They also note that Shells can be upgraded but upgrade materials are limited, so it's interesting how the experience changes depending on which Shell you choose to level up.

The second is the fight against the Monolith, where people who worship a stone tablet await. Using the Proxima Shell for the first time in a while, they defeated it simply by launching spinning lightning axes and waiting.

The third is Orem, the Forsaken Golem, which appears to be the same type as the first boss. The commentator mentions here that the first boss was a scripted loss and treats this as a rematch with an old foe.

After unloading a volley head-on, they circle around behind and spam light attacks. The commentator remarks that a mere golem no longer seems to be any match for the protagonist. In the second phase, right after a volley, they refill the gauge by drinking, squeeze in attacks right up to the limit, and land a fatal strike. They finish it off with another volley, defeating Orem the Reborn.

The final boss waiting in the deepest chamber is Zmei, the Uninvited, a dinosaur that fights by swinging a greatsword. The commentator jokingly mentions that they feel they've seen a similar enemy in another game they played recently.

Once you whittle away about 60% of its health, the boss goes down, and you slash at it to rack up damage in the meantime. In the latter half, the boss uses a fire attack that travels along the ground. The commentator times consecutive uses of the katana's special technique and uses its fairly long invincibility window to get through the flames unscathed. From there, they keep attacking with the katana and gun. In this fight, they also use equipment that summons an animal with every regular attack, and they settle the fight with a large number of animals joining in the assault before they know it.

After the victory, the protagonist safely reclaims the egg and sends it up to the heavens, and the story ends.

After clearing the game, the commentator reflects that they had expected a hardcore soulslike die-and-retry game, but in reality it stood out for its gentler design that prioritizes player comfort. As examples, they cite the lack of a stamina system and Harden, which can be used even during attack animations.

They also name the flashy and varied attack options — katanas, great axes, machine guns, musical instruments and more — as a major draw. The commentator's conclusion is that if you put together a good build, you can mow down both the mobs along the way and the bosses, making for an extremely comfortable and fun adventure.