The recommended route through Mortal Shell 2
Mortal Shell 2 opens up early and signposts late, so the thing that stalls a run is rarely a fight — it is not knowing which direction was the intended one. These are the 17 stops in the order the game expects them, with what each is holding. 15 of them have a page here, and every boss, dungeon and person named below links to its own entry.
Is this a walkthrough or a route?
A route. Nothing below tells you where to stand in a boss arena, because a fight you have not found yet is not the problem this page solves. What it does is name the next place, say what is in it that changes your character, and let you decide whether that is worth the detour — several of these are optional, and two are worth taking early for a weapon rather than for what they unlock.
If you already know where you are going and want the pickups instead, the collectible guides mark every one of them on the interactive map.
Forlorn VillageDisciple's Pass
The prologue. It hands you Harros, the Iconoclast, the Naylshotte and the Untarnished Seal, then puts the Tar Golem between you and Marrow Keep — and the Tar Golem is holding Vatra's Seal.
Bosses Gloombound Ritualist · Tainted Vestige · Tar Golem
Dungeons Overgrown Temple · Derelict Hideout
Who is here Ruk
Widow's OverlookFainweald
Your first open ground in Fainweald, and the first place that rewards wandering: trials, Gorf in a bad way, and the Great Arbiter of Flesh guarding Arbiter's Prize.
Bosses Great Arbiter of Flesh
Dungeons Coward's Retreat · Flooded Village · Martyr's Tomb · Ritual Grounds
Mushroom VillageFainweald
Hilga and Grom, an illusory archway hiding the Chapel Key, and the Shrine of Trials behind the door it opens — which is where the Axe and Dagger is.
Bosses Vrannic the Grand Illusionist
Dungeons Hall of Illusions · Passenger's Shrine · Ritual Grounds · Shrine of Trials
Sunken VillageFainweald
Through the Mushroom Village Gate into the Glutted Mire. Magdalena and the Wandering Shepherd are here, and so are the Etching Needles — until you have those, no Tarstone goes past level 1.
Bosses Circle of the Grasping Root · The Wandering Shepherd · Magdalena the Lady of the Woods
Dungeons Rootwater Hollow · Wortbriar Encampment
Who is here Ruk
Flooded VillageFainweald
A short detour north of Blackridge Pass, worth it early for the Forgotten Crossbow sitting in the chapel at the end of it.
Bosses Grisha
Blackridge CliffsFainweald
The junction of Fainweald. Proxima the Broodseeker waits at the Shattered Beacon, and The King's Crypt below it holds the Veteran's Battle Axe.
Dungeons Mustworn Tomb · Crumbling Tunnel · The King's Crypt · Flooded Village
Gloomshade GroveFainweald
The Bloodcursed Lithopod drops the Citadel Gate Lever, Martyr's Prison holds the Great Martyr's Blade, and the Ravaged Hideout holds the Salvaged Trebuchaxe.
Bosses Bloodcursed Lithopod
Dungeons Holding Cells
Citadel of PenanceFainweald
The Warden, and behind him the remains of Eredrim the Venerable. The Grudge Stone is in a bone chest past the bridge.
Bosses The Warden
Who is here Ruk
Ruins of Nochte
Fainweald names it as an area but gives it no page of its own. What it does give you is the Nochtean Gate: the Ravaged Tomb is east of the beacon with the Duality Stone in it, and the Central Sewers run below, reachable from either the Slumwater Drain or the Executioner's Pulpit.
Desolate PeakFainweald
Off the map, through the Bone Gate on the Citadel's south cliff. Baghead is here, and so are the Crypt Key and the silver pool down into the Illusionist's Cache.
Dungeons Illusionist's Cache
Who is here Baghead
Prisoner's DomainFainweald
Everything behind Fainweald's northwest gate. The Nameless Captive at its centre, Tishina's Confessor and Vrago on the way, and a Tarstone from each.
Bosses The Nameless Captive · Tishina's Confessor
Who is here Ruk
Stones of RemembranceFainweald
The loot field. Ventrium and Laterite for the Tarforge, the effigies and shards that cure what the caves put on you, and the Gloombound and Justiciar's Stones.
Dungeons Feeding Grounds · Shattered Beacon
Temple of VatraFainweald
Hidden in the map's fog east of the One-Legged Wolf Tavern. The Heart of Vatra is at the top of the hill, and it is what makes Gragu a Shell rather than a drunk.
Sanguine CavernsFainweald
Cleansing the Stonebled Gate opens The Hidden Keep and Lucian; the gate itself opens onto the Lost Child. Mawbreak Cavern is off to the side with the Blackblood Stone.
Outskirts of Mammon
South of Marrow Keep, across the broken bridge. Vlas is here, and past him the Ruins of Mammon — the second half of the game.
Who is here Vlas
High Lord's KeepRuins of Mammon
Straight north of the Gate of Mammon, and the reason to go is underneath it: the Royal Crypt of Mammon runs off the arches at the back, Vellen is at the bottom of it, and Lazlo the Justiciar is behind him.
The endgameendgame
Clearing the gates opens the last stretch, under Marrow Keep. The two accounts we read do not agree on how many that takes, so we counted our own: the beacon catalog holds six gates and no more. The five fights down there are catalogued and every one of them is marked, so nothing about the ending reaches you from a list you were reading for another reason.