Mortal Shell II Celebrates Global Success

Mortal Shell II from Cold Symmetry was officially launched globally on all major platforms on August 29, 2026. The game quickly topped the Steam front page as the number-one global seller. Mortal Shell II is a dark fantasy action RPG in development for more than four years and is now available on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. This standalone sequel to Mortal Shell offers a handcrafted, interconnected open world; it is expansive yet deliberately compact, and it’s designed to respect the player's time.

Cold Symmetry was founded in 2017 by a core team of AAA veterans passionate about making their own games. Their debut title, Mortal Shell, was nominated for Best Debut Game at The Game Awards and sold more than two million copies worldwide. The studio is now a 30-person team, fully independent and currently developing Mortal Shell II.

Eredrim, The Venerable, key art for Mortal Shell II by Cold Symmetry — Eredrim, The Venerable. Key art created using Unreal Engine. Eredrim is one of the playable characters Vitaly Bulgarov designed using ZBrush, Softimage, Moi3D, Marvelous Designer, and textured in Substance Painter. Anthony Gonzalez, Dmitry Parkin, and Vitaly collaborated on the background environment. (Vladimir Yarmolik handled the character rig/pose, and Res Thoughtless and Dmitry Mishur handled the low-poly retopology.)

Shipping a game is a very difficult endeavor, and seeing so many players enjoying the world we created is absolutely surreal… To us, it still feels like a fragile thing that needs tenderness and care. Vitaly Bulgarov

One of Cold Symmetry's core team members is Gnomon Workshop instructor Vitaly Bulgarov. On release day of Mortal Shell II, he shared: “What a surreal feeling, it's hard to describe... I'm super proud of what we managed to accomplish as a relatively small team. Cannot wait to watch the streams of people playing the game and sharing their thoughts. We'll be supporting the game post-launch and have plenty of cool ideas on both: how to keep improving things as well as new content. Enjoy the adventure!”

Now with a month of sales and gameplay under their belt, Vitaly and his team at Cold Symmetry are celebrating the work of everyone involved. He said: “We're absolutely over the moon with the initial reception… This is an incredible moment for our team, and it hasn't fully settled in yet. Shipping a game is a very difficult endeavor, and seeing so many players enjoying the world we created is absolutely surreal… To us, it still feels like a fragile thing that needs tenderness and care. But one thing is clear: all the hard work, the hearts and souls we poured into it, the creative risks we took along this journey, it all paid off. A small team can, in fact, make rich, fun, compelling worlds full of engaging experiences and a sense of adventure for players around the world — without sacrificing our creative vision.”

Sariel is one of the playable Shells Vitaly Bulgarov designed for Mortal Shell II. (Illustration by Nikolas Gekko using in-game assets). In his left hand is the Cursed Child, a unique ranged weapon made by Dmitry Parkin; in his right is a glimpse of the Clockwork Scythe, a new melee weapon made by Vitaly.

Mortal Shell II is currently rated 9/10 on Steam, 8/10 on IGN, and 4.4/5 on PlayStation. If you haven’t checked it out yet, watch the trailer below — and turn up the volume! You don't need familiarity with the first Mortal Shell to play this single-player title; the player’s journey is marked by brutal, high-intensity melee and ranged combat against relentless enemies that demand your full attention and mastery. Enjoy the adventure!