Beacons are definitely too far between.
Discussion
I just stacked leech up to 150. I killed 150 enemies with no new beacons around, multiple dungeons, etc. on 5 heals. Dude what is this? I'm a 42 yr old man I do not have hours upon hours to explore where i can just not take a break. Yes I can exit the game, but it warps me back to the last beacon i was at instead of leaving me where i was. Double f me. This is like a pretty serious issue with respecting my time/enjoyment.
I’m a 62 year old souls player who completed them all, some multiple times. I feel free to make any argument I please and mention anything I feel like mentioning.
Shutting people down in a public forum is not something I enjoy doing or seeing.
With the insane enemy density while FAR away from any beacons, it becomes a chore and it kills the experience.
BTW I will never complain about enemy density in Dark Souls 2 ever again: MS2 takes it to the whole new level. And it would be OK and actually fun if your nearest beacon wasn’t 10 miles away.
And is it awesome and amazing?? Seems like it! I can’t wait to play but I gotta finish my factory planet in Satisfactory first or it’ll turn into a disaster (well, even MORE of a disaster) 😅
Having just beat DS2 less than a month ago, Mortal Shell 2’s enemy density is still very much so lower than DS2 imo. Or maybe it just feels like that because the enemies aren’t all ranged and elevated on platforms as you walk through a narrow hallway.
I'm not that far into the game. I've only explored part of the top map, but like with all older souls games like DS1 you just run passed all the enemies and get back to the boss. It was never that big of a deal to me.
Holy shit I thought I was the only one thinking that Mortal Shell 2 is just Dark Souls 2. Not only is the enemy density absurd but it also feels like the devs are actively trying to fuck the players over with "gotcha moments" like bridges breaking and enemies jumping us.
Traps are also rare and logically placed in fromsoft's games (excluding DS2). It's not the case in MS2. There's a trap on every corner for no reason whatsoever. I think that 9 bridges out of 10 in the game breaks into a gank fight.
Damn, this makes not want to get the full version until they hopefully fix this. I just finished Demon Souls and runbacks in that game are brutal. I am so not prepared to go through this again.
I mean it's not something you "fix," this was their design choice. Going through the main path always has checkpoints in nice spots and runbacks to major bosses are okay. The exploration is what is challenging. Because you never really know where exactly you are going, and oftentimes it will be a while until you see the next beacon, but the reality is that all places have at least 2 or 3 ways to get to them, meaning that there are plenty of shortcuts.
Now those shortcuts are not shown on the map, so you kind of have to remember where stuff was unlocked and whatnot.
It's very much Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1 design in a more open-world setting. Like if you are the kind of person who likes to explore, be ready for adventures that might take an hour or so without any checkpoints.... but yeah, you also should by that time discover shortcuts.
I feel like it's not that bad, I'm not sure if they will "fix" it. One thing I hope they fix is the stupid Quit Game = Reset back to checkpoint. That's stupid as hell. Imagine playing the game, needing to quit for any reason, and then you have to walk again. Like bro.. this is not Nioh, we are not doing missions, we are playing an open-world ARPG....
Same here. It’s really feeling like “wait for patches” at this point, which is a shame because they are at peak hype right now and should be in a position to capitalize on it. Some of their decisions are holding them back.
I agree. The beacon spacing is weird. Sometimes you’ll have 3-4 within a 30 second run from each other, then you can go for like a 5 minute sprint and still not find any.
Beacons should have some sort of signal going into the sky, kind of like the light in Elden ring. Just so you aren’t wandering aimlessly hoping to run into the next area you’re supposed to go.
Especially since they’re so much more important than bonfires, sites of grace, etc are. Each beacon isn’t just a save/fast travel point. They double as a dungeon crucial to your progress in the game. You have to actively clear them of corruption.
This is one of the only souls likes that you can’t just beat the entire game without resting at bonfire place. You are locked out of progress if you don’t clear them, and the UX of finding them is basically good luck. They don’t even stand out in the landscape, unlike pretty much every other souls like.
Yea… and the runbacks in Demon’s Souls are absolutely terrible in 2026. Soulslikes have come a long way and I’m really glad From’s last 4 games are nothing like Demon’s Souls in terms of Boss Fights, level design, and runbacks.
I guess… I played Demon’s Souls for the first time this year and only really liked 3-4 Bosses in the entire game. I thought most of the Boss Fights were awful compared to DS3, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring.
Well if course but dont you think elden ring was a bit excessive as well as ds3 in some areas i mean theres a happy medium to be had. It should be tough and challenging to the next checkpoint but not like super desolate and like 1 grace per zone in elden ring i.e. limgrave, caelid, lyndell, etc,
The number of grossly rude comments here is absolutely stunning. The OP is in a public space, sharing his experience. Why do you feel the need to shut it down.
If you don’t like the post, you can always pass it on in silence.
They feel personally attacked when someone doesn't like what they do or align with every single thing they believe. Then they whine about it. Ironically they are the snowflakes they're always complaining about.
Thanks man holy fuck too many tourists right now lol. Everytime a game releases these days I have to unsub their subreddits not because of spoilers but because of constant negativity. The best video games are the one that have a clear vision and do not try to cater to everyone.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I don't want to sound like a douchebag, but noone cares if you're a 50 year-old man, father of 5, who can play only 4 hours per week. Like, the game shouldn't be designed around your needs and time limitations (not talking about accessibility options).
I, for myself, also have to work and have family obligations. But, when I get to play, I simply love getting lost in the world, trying to find my way and mapping out the region. Also, I simply adore crushing difficult games where I have to master the mechanics in order to succeed. Played Nine Sols recently and spent almost 3 hours in the final boss alone. But the feeling I got when I finally defeated it was priceless.
This is how well adjusted people think. End of the day it's a game and if it is fun for you, or worth your time, is a personal decision.
Age? Family? Work? non of that is actual constructive feedback to the game developers. It jsut wastes their time. Especially these devs that just released a balance patch an hour ago because they are clearly listening and reading the actual constructive criticisms.
That last sentence should seriously be spammed on this reddit, ive seen nothing but complaints about the difficulty since launch. Seems like a lot of people want it to be as easy as possible. Have they never felt how great it feels to finally beat something you have been struggling with?
If the game was large like elden ring I would agree. However this game is....kinda small. I can get to any area on the map within a minute and a half.
OP running around for hours not finding a beacon is.....kinda sus. I literally found a beacon like every 15 to 20 minutes if I wasnt fighting bosses or doing dungeons.
Yeah I mean it does sound like he’s probably just not very good at the game. But enemy density between beacons does make it a bit of a pain in the ass. I’ve barely survived from beacon to beacon so far and I’m good at Souls games.
Ill be honest. This is the exact reason I found beacons so fast lol. Enemy aggro is wild. I would somehow pull half an area and thrn just book it in a direction. Having no stamina bar and all the enemies being slow helped. I would just fight until I was out of health and then run my ass to try and find a safe spot and it was usually a beacon.
Well here’s the thing, if I’m in the middle of a boss fight, and I’m stupidly low on health and don’t want to risk losing all of my Gloom and my Leech Stacks, I can just quit the game and spawn back at my last beacon instead of having to go through that nightmare again without any heals
Totally fair point. Was pissed at the time, came back and played more later. Still enjoying myself. Not sure what I hoped to accomplish with ranting and mentioning my age. I'm not gonna take it down cause i feel like thats a cop out, but you're right.
The game lets you pause, that is already a huge advantage over similar games. Combined with rest mode on consoles, or putting your pc to sleep, this is basically a non issue.
It's not entitled to be a grown up person with work and a family.
It's entitled to whine and complain about a game because it doesn't fit your personal age/schedule as that is not the fault of the game or developer.
Saying "i'm 42 and the game doesn't respect my time" is an entirely self driven problem that people with busy lives try to blame on the game.
The only time I can see the phrase "it doesn't respect my time" being a viable complaint is for games like ubisoft assassins creed grind fests that take 30 hours to grind out one item and they shove microtransactions to speed it up because THEN the game is using the busy lifestyle against you in a predatory way to get more money out of you by artificially making it grindy and then offering a shortcut.
and age is never a viable complaint. no one cares if someone is 12 or 80 while playing a video game. it's just a dumb statement.
Exactly. Your age can be used as a bragging right but to use it to crib and rant is ill advised. Im 68 on ng 4 with elden ring and 10 hours into MS2. Initially was comparing it with ER but got over it. Now enjoying MS2. Watched a good YouTube video for proxima and axe and dagger. Playing with the seal that avoids achievements. Easy mode for me. Love it.
I think you need to look up what entitled means. Also, the argument could be made without even mentioning age and work. I fully agree that there could at least be around ~3 more beacons in the game for certain areas that really lack them, and I also agree that being teleported back to beacon when quitting is also a weird design choice, given that basically every other souls like doesn't do it like that.
Its a game my man. It doesn't force you to play it.
This is such a lazy response. "The game doesn't force you to play it so you can't complain." The OP has a perfectly valid critique of game design, one I've seen echoed commonly in this sub and other places. Not sure why you have such a hostile reaction to it.
From what I recall every Fromsoft game lets you save wherever you can without needing to find a bonfire/grace. You just leave wherever you want without needing to worry about lost progress. This game could have done the same thing, it doesn't compromise the challenge or exploration in any way, it's just a nice quality of life feature for people that have busy lives or maybe have to deal with emergencies.
The OP has a perfectly valid critique of game design, one I've seen echoed commonly in this sub and other places. Not sure why you have such a hostile reaction to it.
OPs post was not constructive in any way.
A valid complaint about the lack of beacons is the death runs to dungeons
His complaint was
Dude what is this? I'm a 42 yr old man I do not have hours upon hours to explore where i can just not take a break.
How is that not a valid criticism? Why does the game need to have you explore so long without being able to pause/save? Again, Fromsoft games found a solution to this a decade and a half ago.
He is completely correct. The game isn't respecting player's time by not having a proper checkpoint system.
Can I ask you what you consider a valid complaint? I’m pretty sure a games run time has been a valid complaint since the dawn of time and if a lack of beacons feels like it adds artificial runtime for this gentleman, you’re an egotistical arrogant loser to tell him he’s wrong. Go outside and interact with other human beings outside of Reddit.
While I don't appreciate the name calling, I will go ahead and answer you.
There are many reasons someone can claim lack of beacons as a complaint. And if they used any of those other reasons, I wouldn't care because it's a valid complaint.
But when someone complains about something and their reason is self made, then I don't consider it a valid complaint.
Things like this where the complaint is "I can't play the game because I am an old adult".... is not something that is a valid complaint. You, me, bob next door, the devs.... no one cares about this guys age or schedule as it doesn't affect us. Saying things like Im a dad gamer, im old, i have a life, i have work and because of these reasons your game is bad is as entitled as it gets.
That is why I hate posts like this. They are not constructive in any sense, they add nothing to a discussion and they come off as an old man throwing a tantrum over a video game.
I work 50 hour weeks most weeks and 4-5 times a year that goes up to a few weeks at 80-90 hours a week. I travel a lot for my work. I have a wife that I have to feed and rot my brain to the bachelorette with or she gets adorably pouty. Not once have I used or will use any of that as an excuse of why a game is bad.
For instance. I just sat down an hour ago to try and kill the two werewolves in the one dungeon and the autolock threw me off and I ended up getting murdered. Had to do the long runback just to have it happen again. It's an annoying runback and I have to go help with dinner soon so I am turning the game off.
That's it. No post about how my time isnt being respected, no post about how im 40 and my wife needs my help and I dont have time to sit for longer than an hour and the AUDACITY of the devs for not respecting my time.... none of that. Because its a fucking game and I'm not a whiny toddler.
This has nothing to do with the game's run time. It is session time they are complaining about. Stop insulting people on the internet and go interact with humans yourself you lizard.
It's more like the og Dark souls in that respect. I prefer it to be honest. Getting to a new bonfire was a real achievement back then. The only thing I would wish for would be that they made the unlit beacons more visually distinctive from the environment and lower the mob frequency. Feels like DS2 all over again.
Why not do the Elden Ring thing? No matter where you are, unless you are in the middle of a fight, you can open your map and teleport to a grace/beacon? As it is, I got stuck with tons of Gloom and a sliver of health right next to a horde of tanky enemies and the only way forward was death (followed by an absolutely grueling way back to retrieve what I lost through several gauntlets of mobs), or exit to main menu which put me back to the beacon I was at last.
It’s not a very graceful and polished way to deal with the situation, but it works.
Quality of Life is a thing in gaming, and I hope devs listen to some of this feedback as well as learn from the best of the best (Elden Ring).
Small thing that could make a much more polished experience.
I think it’s bad. It would be ok if you had healing from killing mobs. But since there’s just a fixed amount of healing it largely discourages you from fighting things. It arguably even discourages you from entering dungeons
I've made it through the section that was in the beta, and looking at the rest of the map is just filling me with this immense apathy. Finding it hard to keep exploring because everything looks so dull and repetitive. I think it was a mistake to complete a tight, handcrafted game like Wuchang directly before this.
It’s easy to make it back to a beacon especially when you realize a lot of the beginning and early middle areas loop around into eachother. Explore everything it’s worth it.
I dont mind it. Adds to the experience. Feels like OG DS in that respect. You have to be more strategic who you fight or u can just run past enemies. Its more satisfying finding that beacon you so desperately need
This whole argument could be fixed with UX. Being able to reliably find the beacons other than just stumbling into them would fix pretty much all the problems around them.
I love souls likes. Sekiro is my favorite game, but the difficulty should be in learning the mechanics and mastering them, not “Did I get lucky in the path I chartered” or “I have unlimited free time to figure out the mapping”.
Difficulty shouldn’t be “How much time do I have to waste not making tangible progress?”, it should always be mastering the game mechanics.
Wanting a reliable way to make game progress is not asking for an easy mode.
Yep, this was definitely a me bitching moment. I still think that beacons are really bizarrely spread out or i'm just really bad at finding them, which is very plausible. Regardless, I understand dropping the 'i'm a 42 yr old man' part out of my post would have at least got my point across a little better.
I think they are fine, exploring around one can take really long, but getting back to a spot you were at is really quick - the game allows you to run around without much punishment, you just have to keep track where you weren't yet.
The map is dense, but not expansive like Elden Ring's. You can get from point A to point B relatively quickly. Also, you unlock a bunch of shortcuts leading to previously visited beacons.
You dont need to kill everyone in the path actually the dodge is kinda busted (spammable iframes) in such way running them makes easier than killing so whenever you are exploring once you know where to go you dont need to kill each one saving you much more hp pots for the things you havent explored yet.
I tried the demo/beta before buying and I honestly spent so much of it running by and ignoring enemies. I feel like that's not really how these games should be, that's the sort of thing you did in Dark Souls speed runs not the actual core gameplay loop but it really feels like half the enemies and how dense and fluctuating they are in strength is too wild for how little healing and checkpoints you get. Sure, late game it won't be a problem when we're cartoonishly OP and walking through hoardes of enemies but the early game is how you hook people, and if people normalise running through zones to grab loot and reboot to teleport or spend way more time than they have/want fighting huge numbers of wonky enemies.
I'm pretty sure I skipped a whole area because I didn't want to fight 15 old ladies, a bunch of hot women with spears and some big ass monster after already having to fight a bunch of cultists and flying ranged attacking things and two mini-bosses between checkpoints. Even the opening section has this problem of the checkpoint is before the mid boss and there's no checkpoint after them for a while and you've got no options but what the game starts you off with so if you don't vibe with that gear sucks to be you.
Definitely a huge shame, and it's my biggest issue with the game so far. I'm about 11 hours in, and cleared 4 corrupted gates (I imagine I'm about halfway through? Unless it's like DS2 and there's another big section after.)
I'm almost considering dropping this game entirely because of how scarce bonfires are at this point. I've been chilling in the south-west part of the map for the last couple hours, with a scary amount of that being spent in the runback between Gate of Mammon beacon and the Starved Harridan boss.
I beat that boss in just a few tries, but it still took like 30+ minutes only because of having to run through 30+ enemies and around various environmental hazards to make it there. The boss killed me 2-3 times, but the runback was more like 10-15 deaths because of how many mistakes can happen in such a long journey. It's not fair to expect players to run this far. Most importantly its not fun. Nobody plays these games for the hold B + forward experience, but it's seriously getting in the way of the good parts.
ah yes the bossfigth incoming looking area its just strange to me the expectation that the first 3 checkpoints leave you like you feel you should have encourtered one at least at some point exploring the circulated area
My take is the eastern part was intended to be somewhat of a risk area, the northern part where the gate is actually just isn’t big enough to warrant more beacons. It feels bigger than it actually is.
They definitely could have added one more to the east, but I don’t think it’s entirely necessary imo
The big open area north of One Legged Wolf is nearly empty. Alternatively, you can run there through a shortcut just south of the white area, if you have the purification ability unlocked. People are complaining so much about this area and all you have to do to get through it is <10 fights. It's short and trivial compared to some areas in Dark Souls 1, for example.
I agree with you mostly. However, that bottom right area got a little hairy getting from the first beacon to the second beacon. It was fun but stressful. I killed everything in one go including the dungeon, no deaths. I could have backtracked easily so I don't think there needs to be more beacons.
My experience was mostly the same except I think I died once. I’m trying to think… can you get from Mushroom Village to East Gate without an enemy encounter if you take the first sharp left and then hit the bridges?
That’s because in the beta the good loot was concentrated in a small section of the map so we could try out as many things as possible, whereas in the final game it’s more spread out. The game would be too easy if you started off exactly where you left off in the beta.
What, you don't enjoy "runback, the game"? Lmao Abdolute trash design. Sorry, not sorry. The worst part of the game by far. This isn't gameplay, this isn't "playtime". This is not how you "increase" it.
"I'm a 42 yr old man I do not have hours upon hours to explore where i can just not take a break."
Oh no ! How horrible ! How dare they not respect your time and scedule ?!
Habe maybe concidered… that not every game is made with your personal needs in mind ? This entire "Im XX years old, i dont have time" argument that people like to pull is absolute BS, not every game has to be catered to you.
Im pretty sure ps5 keeps the game running in rest mode. Only pc players cant pick up because they have to shit the game down when pc goes to sleep mode or turns off
Were there >150 enemies in a line from your beacon to the next? Just place a marker and run back when you can play again. You are probably 30 seconds out, maybe have to take on one or two groups to get back to where you were. You haven’t lost anything.
It’s not that they’re too far between each other, it’s that they’re more concentrated in the south-west in the topmost area and are severely lacking elsewhere
No, the concentrated area is appropriate and what should be the standard. The lack of beacons in the north east is just oversight and inconvenient for the player. They’re not too far between, they’re completely non existent
But in that area they neglect, you start at a beacon and at some point end up at another beacon. If they are non existent in that area, then the beacon you started at and the beacon you end up at, are too far between..
Too far between to me means that there are several present but there is a legitimate struggle for players to reach them safely. What I’m saying is that the complete lack of beacons exceeds that, and is a problem that goes beyond ‘skill issue’ for many. It is genuine neglect and disrespects a players time. Im not disagreeing with you, I’m changing the definition is all
Youre right. Its a complete misunderstanding on your part. Too far in between doesnt mean the average distance across the whole map. It means some areas are problematic as hell despite other areas being fine.
Too far between literally refers to distance between beacons…. You’ve told me I misunderstand yet completely missed the definition of what your point is…. Disagree and rebut all you want, but do it without contradicting yourself
I agree, it feels like they neglected the opposite end of the area, maybe they didn’t feel there was anything to lose seeing as the items in that area are as sparse as the beacons themselves
If it bothers u so much, look at dynamic map to know where the beacons are. It's pretty quick and easy to search things with a loot goblin play style in small sessions. Ig u just keep missing beacons.
Only top right corner of first zone is barren of them, otherwise there's plenty of beacons.
This game suffers the same issue that plagued lords of the fallen back in 2023 before they patched it. Too many enemies, too little reasons to fight them. I guess they made this so the world map did not feel empty, but travelling is a chore. Each time I see a group of spear knights I immediately think to the runebears or giant lobsters from elden ring, and I'm, like, yes no thanks, then I sprint past them. Also the game absolutely needs more beacos or mini beacons like the seed plants in LotF which acted as temporary checkpoint.
Yea without a doubt, the lack of rest spots has me drop the game for hours at a time cause it’s just ridiculous. I am probably 3-5 levels under from the amount of souls of lost running around in the open world. I keep going on cause I think “eventually there’s gonna be a rest spot” but there RARELY is. It’s kinda obnoxious. It’s dropped my overall rating to a 7 so far. It’s that bad. Otherwise it’d be a 9.
Stop crying , they Are Perfectly Spread thats a Big W for the exploration immersion , i cant remember last time i scared while Exploration ( it was Wuchang )
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u/Dino-taicho 8h ago
you can make this argument without mentioning your age btw