A Look at the Demos for Mortal Shell 2 and Onimusha: Way of the Sword
I’m old enough to remember when demo disks came packaged with print gaming magazines. There was a real thrill and pleasure to ripping open the plastic and seeing what gaming wonders waited on the CD-ROM. Of course, some of those demos were absolute nightmares to get running, and a lot of the games were shovelware. But still. I get the exact same feeling when I see that a demo has dropped on Steam or PS5, especially an unexpected demo for a game I’m excited about. Games like Mortal Shell 2 and Onimusha: Way of the Sword.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword
It has been 10 years since the last mainline Onimusha game, Dawn of Dreams, and 25 years since the franchise appeared. Due out in September, Onimusha: Way of the Sword is a standalone game. It requires no prior experience with the series. The basic premise is that Kyoto has been overcome by a supernatural force called Malice and populated by demons called Genma. You play as a young swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi, whose character model is based on legendary actor Toshiro Mifune.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword is an action RPG with mechanics that are pulled from prior Onimusha games as well as Soulslikes. You have light and heavy attacks, blocks and perfect parries, and satisfyingly gory finishing moves based on refilling a meter. Of course, the Oni Gauntlet returns, a magical device that sucks up souls and energy from defeated enemies. It works a little differently now. You can suck up souls on the move instead of having to stop, making you less open to enemy attacks.
The demo is basically the game’s tutorial and first boss. A couple of things stand out. First, although the game prompts you to try out the range of attack types and defensive moves, you can also essentially kill everything in the demo with basic attacks. Also, even at the harder of two difficulties, the demo is pretty easy until the boss, which actually requires more skill and practice with the game’s tools.
I found the lead character’s performance pretty entertaining, and the combat fun, but by now, pretty similar to a lot of games. I’m looking forward to the full game, but hope that the developers focus on balance, progression, and difficulty in the months ahead.
Mortal Shell 2
The original Mortal Shell released in 2020 was a second-generation Soulslike. Meaning, it didn’t try to be a FromSoft copycat, but combined some Soulslike mechanics with its own ideas. Mortal Shell 2 takes everything that was impressive and refreshing about the first game and makes it bigger and better.
The open beta currently available offers the game’s tutorial level and the first large explorable area. No longer confined to small dungeon-like environments, Mortal Shell 2 is an interconnected open zone and feels much larger. The tutorial level is grimdark and feels like classic Mortal Shell, but the first real area is surprisingly green and full of life.
Mortal Shell 2 makes a few other significant changes from the first game. First, stamina is no longer a stat to monitor, so you can chain attacks and defensive moves. This really changes the feel of combat and makes it more fluid. There’s a much greater emphasis on breaking enemy posture, opening them up to brutal finishers. In some ways, these changes push Mortal Shell 2 a little closer to other action RPGs. However, the Shell system still remains as the core mechanic.
For anyone who missed the first game, Shells are essentially a hybrid of character classes, armor, and ability loadouts. You collect and upgrade Shells throughout the game. When you first are defeated in combat, you lose your Shell but continue fighting unprotected. Survive long enough and you can regain your Shell. If you die before recovering it, you respawn at a checkpoint. Mortal Shell 2 boasts a large increase in Shell variety and upgrades, plus many more weapons and over 60 dungeons. After playing the open beta content, one of my most anticipated upcoming games has become that much more exciting.