Mortal Shell 2’s Latest Update Alleviates One Of The Game’s Biggest Headaches

Developer Cold Symmetry has released its latest souls-like action-RPG, Mortal Shell 2, on August 20 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. And not even a day after launch, the studio already dropped a patch that makes some welcome tweaks, including addressing one of the game's most annoying issues: gold farming.

On August 20, Cold Symmetry shared a breakdown on the game's subreddit and Steam page of what Balance Patch 1 does.

A welcome adjustment is a refund of the Glimpses--a rare currency used to bond with and unlock memories of your shell--you might've spent to discover a shell's location. You get whatever you spent back, and now, instead of costing that rare currency, buying a shell map costs Gloom, this game's version of Runes or Souls.

A big change is a nerf to a handful of bosses and enemies. As Cold Symmetry put it, "all enemies featured in the beta were restored to their beta HP values." This means that the starting area of Mortal Shell 2 has been tuned down to match what was in the beta, which I found quite easy when compared to the full release.

Maybe the most major tweak, however, is an increase to the amount of gold you find now. As a result of this patch, gold drops from enemies have been "significantly increased," especially in the second zone. This lets you upgrade your weapons more often, as gold discovery should be in line with the materials you find everywhere.

There are a handful of other changes that came with Balance Patch 1. This includes Tarstones--items that grant passive bonuses or modify melee attacks--and weapons getting buffed, addressing crashes and fixing bugs, and reducing the cost to unlevel your weapons via smelting.

Balance Patch 1 is available now for PC. There's no release date for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions yet, but Cold Symmetry said it'll arrive on those platforms "shortly." For now, check out the update notes for Balance Patch 1 below.

Mortal Shell 2 Balance Patch 1

Economy

• Shell map locations now cost Gloom, and we’re refunding any Glimpses spent on shell maps. Refunded Glimpses are found in the Shell Keeper’s alcove in Blackmarrow. “Finding your favorite shell shouldn’t cost you the ability to bond with them.”
• Gold drops from enemies have been significantly increased. Notably, enemies in Mammon now drop double the gold. “This brings the gold economy more in line with the weapon crafting item discovery.”
• Smelting a weapon at the Tarforge costs 75% less gloom. “Our goal with the smelt capability was to enable switching weapons without the need to spend hours grinding through NG+ runs, but the Gloom costs were set exorbitantly high.”

Enemies & Bosses

All enemies featured in the beta were restored to their beta HP values, except the Caerinid (Spider) in Magdalena’s area, which we wanted to retain its role as a threatening enemy which doesn’t respawn once defeated.

• Bosses
  • The Lost Child
    • Base Damage: (-10%)
    • Max Health: (-15%)
  • Monolith
    • Base Damage: (-19%)
    • Max Health: (-10%)
    • Some Monolith Attacks were retimed to be more fair, as well.
• Enemies
  • Cultist (mace)
    • Max Health: (-21.1%)
  • Caerinid Spider
    • Max Health: (-33.3%)
  • Infested Stalker
    • Max Health: (-52.4%)
  • Rusted Knave (Halberd)
    • Max Health: (-20.8%)
    • Fixed hit detection for overhead strike.

Weapons

• Great Martyr’s Blade Attack Damage +20%
• Troubadour's Lute Attack Damage +100%
• Caged Hystrix and Triarch Repeater no longer have minimum resolve requirements to fire.
• Improved tracking for Axatana, Black Needle, and Clockwork Scythe light attacks.

Seals

• Guard can now be used while walking.

Tarstones

• Parasitic Stone Buffed
• Grudge Stone Buffed
• Bulwark Stone Damage Reduction Increased Significantly
• Clerik's Stone Buffed
• Squall Stone Buffed

Miscellaneous

• Misc. Crash Fixes, Bug Fixes & Performance Updates