Mortal Shell 2 is playing the Soulslike hits in its first major balance patch: buffs for players, nerfs for enemies, and a shipment of quality-of-life changes. Days after a solid launch, developer Cold Symmetry released patch notes for an update coming to PC ahead of consoles, and the changes are substantial enough to reshape the early-game economy and combat difficulty. The news was reported by GamesRadar.
The patch, detailed by a studio member on the Mortal Shell subreddit and in the game’s official Discord server, addresses one of the most contentious currencies in the game. Glimpses, a hugely in-demand resource, are being replaced by the more readily available Gloom as the cost to acquire Shell map locations. Anyone who already spent Glimpses on those maps will have them refunded, a move the developers framed as a matter of player agency.
“Finding your favorite Shell shouldn’t cost you the ability to bond with them,” the devs say. The patch also dramatically increases gold drops from enemies, with foes in the Mammon region now dropping twice as much, and slashes the Gloom cost of smelting weapons at the Tarforge by 75%.
Player-Facing Buffs and Economy Overhaul
The economy changes are the headline act. Beyond the Glimpse-to-Gloom swap and refunds, Cold Symmetry acknowledged that the game’s resource demands had overshot their intent. “The Gloom costs were set exorbitantly high,” the developers admitted, justifying the 75% reduction in Tarforge smelting costs.
Gold drops from enemies have been significantly increased, with enemies in Mammon now dropping twice as much, according to Cold Symmetry. This should accelerate the early-to-mid game progression loop, letting players upgrade their arsenal without the grind that marked the launch window.
Combat gear also received meaningful buffs. Troubador’s Lute now deals 100% more attack damage, while Bulwark Stone’s damage reduction has been “increased significantly.” The cumulative effect, per the developers, is that players are coming out of this patch significantly stronger than before.
Boss and Enemy Nerfs Target Frustration Points
The other side of the balance equation sees a broad swath of enemies and bosses weakened. Among the bosses, The Lost Child and Monolith have both been nerfed, with some Monolith Attacks retimed to be more fair, according to the devs.
Regular enemy types also took hits. Nerfed enemies include mace cultists, Caerinid spiders, halberd-wielding rusted knaves, and infested stalkers, the latter receiving a whopping 52% max health reduction. These changes should ease the pressure in some of the game’s more punishing zones, particularly for players who found the open beta‘s difficulty more to their liking.
What’s Next for Mortal Shell 2
This rapid-response patch is not the end of the road. The developers stated that a bigger patch is in the works and needs thorough testing. “While we have a bigger patch in the works, which has to be thoroughly tested, we’d like to make a rapid balance & crash fix patch to bring the experience more in line with the game’s open beta and our own vision for MS2,” the post reads.
Planned future updates will see extensions to popular game features such as Night Mode, Tarstones, PP Items, and more. For now, the immediate patch is designed to stabilize the experience and address the most glaring balance issues that emerged after launch.
The update is coming to PC ahead of consoles, though Cold Symmetry has not yet specified a console release date for the patch. In our review of the base game, we called Mortal Shell 2 “The best Soulslike I’ve played since Elden Ring,” and this patch appears aimed at ensuring that experience holds up across the full playthrough.
