It seems as though the tide is turning on Souls-like game developers eschewing difficulty and accessibility settings, with Capcom recently confirming granular difficulty settings in Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Following that revelation, Cold Symmetry recently revealed that Mortal Shell 2 would also feature a unique twist on difficulty settings.

Instead of difficulty sliders, Mortal Shell II will effectively allow players to add or remove buffs with in-game special items. A recent Bluesky post from the developer's official account shows off the Slayer Seal, which helps players regain health to make encounters easier, and the Gloombound Flame, which amps up the game's combat difficulty.

The Slayer Seal allows players to perform special riposte attacks to execute enemies and regain health and stamina, while the Gloombound Flame makes enemies more powerful by blacking out the sun and resulting in permanent night. These difficulty settings also come with their own trade-offs and rewards. While making the game easier with the Slayer Seal will disable rewards, using the Gloombound Flame will allow players to unlock new rewards, events, treasures, NPCs, and dungeons, which almost turns it into a built-in "new game plus" mode.