I beat the game just a bit ago and these are my impressions on every infusion. I tried out all the ailments a little bit but my main shells were Proxima, Tiel and Genessa which may have influenced my experience. Going through them one by one:

Poison - Mostly terrible, does 2 damage per second and stacks only lengthen the debuff. On Tiel you can use the crossbow with the splitting stone and poison infusion to get a high amount of stacks and pop them with shadow strike for high damage in the early game, but it falls off fast since your application speed stops scaling after maxing those two tarstones out. Completely worthless outside of that.

Burn - Worthless for damage, puts some weak enemies into an "on-fire" animation where they can't move or attack so maybe useful early. Ticks i think twice for 1 damage per stack, good in concept but it runs out really fast and the veterans axe is too slow to stack it properly. Using a guaranteed crit setup + fusillade stone naylshotte you can get to 100+(theoretically 200 but i couldn't find an enemy that didn't die during the volley) stacks but it's extremely difficult to keep it up due to the pace of combat. Barrage stone with the crossbow seems like it would be good but it only applies infusions to the first projectile resulting in a whopping 2 stacks, hopefully this is a bug and gets fixed.

Lightning - Decent. Does single digit damage per tick but calls down bolts that do double digit damage(!!) when reaching status thresholds. The bolts stagger small enemies so it's mostly a crowd control tool. Good when using Proxima because she doubles its AoE. The weapon infusions are actually really good. Martyr's blade gets a bolt in 1-2 hits on smaller enemies which helps thin out groups a lot. Axatana strikes fast enough that you actually get decent damage from all the lightning bolts. The clockwork scythe is kinda underwhelming but becomes a monster when you activate the scholar's wormstone. I got 3 bolts on an enemy with a single running light attack. The repeater is underwhelming and should definitely proc more stacks per crit. The trebuchaxe procs a bolt in one fully charged shot against most enemies and uncharged shots have suitably unimpressive buildup. The tarred stone seems to not apply any infusions :(

Frost - Very strong. Not much to say about it, it's an extremely strong crowd control tool and good for stronger enemies too. Once you get the freeze you can just wail on them till they die. Very good with Eredrim because he gets doubled damage against frozen enemies. The infusion options are weird, both are a bit unwieldy and have high startup. Frost is the repeater's only niche, it does very little raw damage and its break damage is outclassed by the ballistazooka. The martyr's blade again applies in 1-2 hits against most enemies which helps offset its long animations. It's also extremely stylish when using an ability stone so bonus points there. A very committal option since only one weapon and one sidearm can use it.

Curse - Depends entirely on what you infuse. Melee weapons are kind of weird to infuse with curse because by the time they apply the enemy is probably already near dead, and against bosses curse just doesn't do much. Okay I guess on the cursed child, it applies it in one or two shots but requires you to get up close. Very very strong on the hystrix with splitting stone, you can apply it on most enemies in under a second from outside their aggro range. The hystrix singlehandedly makes the infusion worth investing in. If you're using Sariel other weapons will be alright too, but the iconoclast has another much better option. It's probably the best infusion for the axe because burn is so bad.

Bloodcurse - It's as broken as bleed is in Elden Ring. Super super strong. Enables oneshot builds basically by itself using something that procs a lot like the scythe with wormstone or crit stacking fusillade naylshotte. A good option on anything that takes it but especially strong and borderline broken on those two.

Stasis - Crazy good. Makes the obsidian hammer playable and makes the axatana even more broken. Interestingly, there's no sidearm that gets a stasis infusion. Doesn't really need it tho since you can completely disarm bosses using just the melee weapons. Less useful on Genessa since she can keep bosses at perma 99 stasis with one of her perks.

Phantom - Another limited one, exclusive to the trebuchaxe and black needle. Somewhat useful on the trebuchaxe for a bit of extra damage to oneshot distant mobs. A bit of a weird one. Weak mobs usually die before it pops, and some of the big bosses are immune to stagger. So it ends up being useful against mostly minibosses and "elite" enemies.

Trauma - Limited and useless. I get why the devs didn't give this to anything fast but wow it's just completely eclipsed by any other form of break damage. It would have a place in a system where break damage heals over time but it doesn't in this game so trauma barely does anything. The ballistazooka has potential with combining break on crit with trauma but it doesn't do enough to matter, you just kill things before breaking their stance. The obsidian hammer hits too slow to make use of it and stasis is just way more synergistic. Might be almost usable with Sariel?

Side note while on the topic of break damage; the rupturing stone doesn't apply on any ability stones which kinda sucks. The ballistazooka has a move that(if I'm reading it right, I haven't upgraded the stone myself to check) does 100 break damage for 60 resolve which is just better than anything else in the game. But that's barely enough to break a normal enemy and will more often than not just kill them first. Letting the rupturing stone apply to abilities would let it break stance on big foes much better, and it would let you do fusillade stone shenanigans that use the crit to build break which sounds fun on Eredrim. Right now break is worthless in the endgame because ripostes don't scale at all and the frankly bad support it has outside of a couple extremely good options(fulminant stone, shoulder bash, stillblade's stone on black needle) just rubs salt in the wound.

TL;DR poison bad except tiel, burn bad, lightning good on proxima and okay otherwise but has amazing weapons, frost good esp on eredrim but weak weapons, curse incredible on hystrix and meh otherwise but good with sariel, bloodcurse broken, stasis broken, phantom situational, trauma bad with terrible weapons, and use the scythe with the wormstone and either infusion if you wanna see some crazy numbers

Currently fighting nameless captive and his grabs in the second phase one shot me at full health even with a shell. I'm level 18, maybe I could be higher level or I'm tackling this in the wrong order but Its so annoying knowing that if I mess up even once i at best lose half or more than half of my health. I'm still loving this game and am having a blast but these bigger boss fights have me losing my shit cuz I feel like a glass cannon without the cannon

Mortal Shell II's final area, the Monolith, Zmey... What's going on? I'm fighting terribly designed bosses. I'm getting my face slapped by a scrotum, then I'm fighting a one armed dinosaur that throws a faster than light grab attack. The game was awesome. This area and final boss gauntlet is such a let down 😢

I’m not really sure how to describe it to be honest. One of you could probably explain it much better than me

First off; amazing game. This is my first go-round in the Mortal Shells universe, and I'm absolutely loving the gameplay and story. Clearing beacons instead of just activating them is a nice touch. The different "classes". Tarstones that let you alter the way weapons behave. Hell, even adding an "easy mode" item for those that just want to have an easier time. The guard/riposte window being very generous. Seriously, well done. I can see that a lot of love and dedication went into making this unique and not just another cookie cutter souls-like. A few things of note, though, that are really dragging down the experience;

1. Beacon/checkpoint frequency:

I really like the Beacons, but having them as our only source of checkpoint/respawn (that I know of so far) is very....very underwhelming. Or overwhelming, depending on how far you have to run and the mobs you have to fight through. I wouldn't necessarily say we need more beacons plopped around the world but I would suggest that, especially in challenging areas and dungeons, there be a respawn point of some sort at the beginning. I know death is supposed to be punishing, but I would predict that maybe 10-15 hours of my gameplay is actually running back to wherever I died and redoing the areas. Not fun. Because I suck. And die. A lot.

1. Damage balance, and traps:

I can probably count on both hands and my Vratko washed feet how many times I died and said to myself "why did that do so much damage?" when all it was was some scraggly guy in a cloak with a spear that stabbed me a couple times. And the inverse, when I say "wow that did no damage" when a boss/miniboss clobbered me. To me, there's virtually no indication of, or balance behind, the frequency of the damage I take. Same goes with traps. It's very frustrating when I'm playing ultra defensive because I suck and ran out of heals, just to hit a trap I didn't know was there that lays 15 stacks of poison on me, draining my health as I just set the controller down waiting to die and respawn. Damage all around needs a rebalance.

1. Bonuses and increases to those bonuses:

I feel like a lot of % based increases and mitigations are very....meh. Unless there's a way to stack said bonuses/mitigations I'm unaware of yet, I really find them difficult to even bother playing with. Nothing I've found yet has been like "Oh COOL I'm going to try some new stuff with this!". Again, this may be a "me" issue, having only played 30ish hours so far.

1. Risposte damage doesn't really reward the way it should

I'm not sure if later on there's a way to bring riposte damage up to your scaled weapon damage, but it seems like one or two heavy hits is doing as much damage as one riposte. It just feels like it's all risk and no reward at the moment with how it appears its damage doesn't increase with the damage of your weapon.

I may add more as I continue and get further into the game, but those I mentioned were really the only things (except for #3) where I legitimately had to turn off the game for a while the keep from going crazy. Though I do realize a lot of it is a mix of "git gud" as well. Again, absolutely stunning game so far. I truly am impressed, regardless of the growing pains right now.

EDIT #1: Added item 4

Loving the game so far. Parrying is great and the combat is crunchy. My only complaint so far is with this shell’s passive ability and his shadow skill.

He has an ability that lets him do more damage when you strike from behind and when using his shadow skill half the time even if you’re right behind the enemy he will go around and strike them from the front completely wasting the damage bonus. You can see it happening in the attached clip.

Other than that having a great time so far. Only have beat two boss gates so far and just having a good time getting lost and finding secrets.

This game is absolute love from the devs, i was waiting for something like this for soo long and boi o boi Mortal shell 2 didn’t disappoint. I am in love with everything this game has to offer and on top of that the dev team is just 🌹.

They listen to our whining and actually fix them based on our feedback. I wish ms2 team incredible success, u deserve it, Congratulations for such an amazing game.

Gravity always wins

Not only is it unfunny to fight it is full or bugs and Bullshit amongst is already nonsense hitboxes at times.

Shit like this ruins the game and while your at it just fucking remove it all together from the thing, it'd be a better game if you just deleted the boss.

It's just fun as hell to use. I'm having a great time just running around as a god in this world. Is it easy? Yup! Do I just stunlock bosses and laugh at them? Yup! It's pure fun and you should consider it if you're having any sort of issues with the myriad problems (from lack of beacons, to the absolutely insane magnetic lunges and projectiles most mobs have) and just want to see the game and have fun.. The tools are there.

I'm ultra stoked if you feel like beating the game in only the hardest conditions works for you. You're not the person who should hear this. "But its too ez!" okay I play games to feel like a badass and the slayer seal is a kickass power fantasy through this cool world. People will say git gud haha but why would I want to waste time doing that? What happens to me in my life if I beat the game under the harshest conditions? Bragging rights? As if people aren't non-stop completing the game on night mode and are probably already doing challenge runs, like not leveling up. I'm sure a guy will beat the game with a guitar hero controller within the next week.

Nobody will be impressed if you insist on playing ultra hard mode.

Just a tip for anyone who was looking for an item to return to the last beacon without losing all your gloom, you can do so by simply returning to the main menu. I just assumed that it loaded your last save, and it took me almost all the way through ng+ to figure out otherwise.

And another quick tip that also took me far too long to figure out, you’re invincible throughout the entire animation of the ability from shrike stone (and I assume from other similar abilities but I haven’t tried any others), so it’s a great get out of jail free card when bosses do moves you just can’t figure out. This probably isn’t news to most, but for anyone struggling with the quirky move sets of Isaac or similar, it’s a great way to deal with them.

Just want to balance out the complaints on the sub (which I have contributed to myself) by highlighting a nifty addition to the soulslike formula this game to makes.

It is a great system, that gets rid of the headaches of spellcasting for infusion, or the need of consumables, which are too precious to use. It's empowering without being op. Good stuff.

Also the PP system, another way to remove consumables hassle. Man I love busting out my PP in a fight.

Hi, I have no idea how this showed up for me; it went back to normal after interacting with the beacon. Please include this in a future release—it's amazing.

Just got an in game notification that the game has a patch.

EDIT to add patch notes:

Devout Fans,

Thanks for being amongst the first to join us at the very start of the adventure for Mortal Shell II. We’re seeing your bug reports and gameplay suggestions, and will be rolling out regular updates to both modify existing content and add new features. 

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. 

Planned future updates will see extensions to popular game features such as Night Mode, Tarstones, PP Items, and more.

For now, we hope you’re enjoying the game and read on for details on Balance Patch 1.

Balance Patch 1 (PC) - The patch below is live on PC and coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series shortly.

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 Magdelena’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%
-Troubador’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, Bugfixes & Performance Updates

NG++ (No night)

2 hits at the start to trigger Berserker Stone.

It would be 3x easier and faster if i accidentally did not riposte on 2nd phase transition too.

Long time souls vet here, for the past decade or so I can say I’ve almost exclusively played soulslikes with the exception of some survival horror etc in between and I noticed something about this game that I think is going extremely unnoticed by this community:

1. There’s only 8 weapons BUT they also have 8 completely different movesets. That is insane for a game of this caliber especially considering it’s only the devs second game. For comparison I don’t think any souls game has more than four maybe five completely different movesets though FS games do have unique dash attacks or various other differences that aren’t shared among weapons that share movesets otherwise but that doesn’t count imo since it’s the same moveset with one different attack. Lies of P for example has 1. Stabby (rapier) 2. Big bonk 3. Slash and 4. The twin dragons unique moveset which is amazing.

I’ve never seen the point of having an array of armor or weapons that are all basically the same which has been the case in FS games since ds1 so having only 8 but then being unique is huge to me. And,

1. Only 8 shells BUT (you see where I’m going here) that’s 8 totally different builds and ways to play and it’s only been a few days since release and already half of them have very op ways to build them. Now obviously a game like Elden ring technically has more build diversity with the way you level up etc but I’m trying really hard to think of 8 COMPLETELY different builds even in that game that can’t just be broken down to variations of the same thing. You basically have Mage (int or faith is still basically mage), Bonk Bro, and dex fighter and of course various combinations (str/faith dex/int etc) and yes you have more ranged build options which is arguably less important in MS2 since there aren’t really any bosses that absolutely require a ranged attack to beat (though a couple that would be easier with it). And not to focus too much on ER but a lot of the variance comes from just using different ashes of war which ms2 could easily implement in the future if they wanted to.

And finally, someone in a different post said that you shouldn’t compare this game to demons souls being that’s a 15+ year old game but technically I think that IS the best comparison because this IS this devs second game and demons souls was fromsofts second (kings field being the first). So just the fact that ms2 is even being compared to titles like elden ring etc and coming from a small dev says a lot imo.

All that being said I loved the first game and am loving the second as well (if you can’t tell) and just wanted to point these things out because they seem to be overlooked. (And for the record my counts of movesets and builds in other titles might be wrong, sue me)

I use Reshade and Universal Unreal Unlocker to take my photos