Show Notes
The developers of Mortal Shell II join Between Levels! For Episode 9, WheelieAverage, FightinCowboy and Sarthe sit down with Mortal Shell II co-founders Vitaly Bulgarov, Andrew McLennan-Murray and Anthony for an in-depth conversation about the making of one of our favourite Soulslikes of 2026.
We discuss the huge leap from the original Mortal Shell to Mortal Shell II, how Cold Symmetry’s creative process works, why a bug accidentally turned playing as a sheep into a full feature, the game’s original roguelite beginnings, Shell design, lore, memories, difficulty, community feedback and how player telemetry influences balancing decisions.
The team also talks about the future of Mortal Shell II, including the possibility of expanding the existing world with new areas, Shells, weapons and more — and even gives us an interesting answer when FightinCowboy asks the all-important question: where is Solomon? We also have a deeper discussion about the Slayer Seal, achievements and accessibility, why Cold Symmetry prefers diegetic difficulty options, maintaining creative freedom as development budgets grow and what the team has learned from the response to Mortal Shell II.
00:00 – Welcome to Between Levels Episode 9 00:47 – Meet the Mortal Shell 2 Developers 02:46 – The Stress of Launching Mortal Shell 2 04:24 – How Cold Symmetry Came Together 06:31 – Leaving AAA Behind & Building Games Differently 10:16 – “We Have To”: How the Sheep Became a Feature 12:17 – Mortal Shell Started as a Roguelite 17:13 – Community Feedback, Balance & Telemetry 25:28 – The Developers’ Favourite Shells 31:06 – How Mortal Shell 2’s Shells Are Designed 41:36 – Improving Mortal Shell 2’s Storytelling 48:01 – Night Mode, Horror Areas & Missable Content 52:42 – How the Lute Became a Weapon 56:18 – Bigger Budgets vs Creative Freedom 1:03:49 – Why Slayer Seal Disables Achievements 1:08:39 – Why Mortal Shell 2 Doesn’t Have Difficulty Options 1:10:21 – The Developers React to Mortal Shell 2’s Reception 1:17:01 – Mortal Shell 2 Steam Code Giveaway
We’re giving away THREE Steam copies of Mortal Shell II! To enter, leave a comment telling us why you want to play Mortal Shell II and/or what you enjoyed most about this episode.
This episode contains some light discussion of Mortal Shell II story, bosses and late-game content.
Let us know what you think of Mortal Shell II and what you’d like to see from its post-launch future!
Featuring: WheelieAverage FightinCowboy Sarthe Vitaly Bulgarov Andrew McLennan-Murray Anthony
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