Mortal Shell II — Why Simplified Chinese Steam Reviews Are Lower

Analysis date: 19 August 2026
Question: Why is Mortal Shell II rated substantially lower by Simplified Chinese Steam reviewers than by English-language reviewers?

Answer in brief

Simplified Chinese and English-language reviewers identify many of the same problems: enemy density, long runbacks, high damage, unreliable tracking or defensive mechanics, poor readability and technical roughness.

The difference is how these problems are judged. Simplified Chinese negative reviews more often describe their combination as cheap or hostile design, rather than difficulty that is demanding but fair. Two recurring expressions capture this:

• 堆怪 (“mob stacking”): difficulty created by grouping too many enemies together.
• 恶意 (“malicious” or “hostile design”): several frustrations combining into an experience that feels deliberately aggravating or disrespectful of the player’s time.

This accumulated frustration is then converted into Steam’s binary Recommended / Not Recommended vote. The result is a much lower positive-review percentage even though the underlying complaint categories largely overlap with English feedback.

Current Steam gap

Steam language-filtered review totals on 19 August 2026:

The Simplified Chinese score is 28 percentage points below English.

Shared complaints

The complaints are not uniquely Chinese. What stands out is the stronger negative judgement attached to their combination.

Representative Steam review excerpts

Simplified Chinese: “太难了，小怪数值太高，又堆怪，主角脆的像纸片”
English translation: “It’s too hard. Regular enemies’ stats are too high, the game stacks enemies together, and the protagonist is as fragile as paper.”
English comparison: “The runbacks in this game are astonishingly bad.”

Why Simplified Chinese reviews score lower

1. Enemy stacking is read as cheap difficulty

堆怪 (“mob stacking”) is not merely a complaint that there are many enemies. It accuses the game of using enemy quantity as a substitute for interesting encounter design. High enemy damage and a fragile player character make those groups feel punitive rather than demanding.

2. Several friction points combine into hostile design

Long runbacks are more frustrating when the preceding death already felt questionable. The recurring chain is:

poor readability or unreliable combat response → high-damage enemy group → death → long runback

When this repeats, individual issues are grouped under 恶意 (“malicious” or “hostile design”): the sense that the game is deliberately aggravating or wasting the player’s time.

Simplified Chinese: “除了恶意我真的什么都感觉不到啊。。。”
English translation: “Other than hostile design, I honestly can’t feel anything else…”

3. Steam’s binary vote amplifies the reaction

English reviewers also describe tracking, balance and performance problems, but many still recommend the game. Simplified Chinese reviewers appear more likely to turn the same accumulation of problems into Not Recommended.

English: “There’s a really good game here buried under poor enemy design and balance.”

Steam records both enthusiasm and frustration as a binary vote. That makes a difference in willingness to recommend the game highly visible in the headline percentage.

What does not explain the gap

• Different complaint categories: both language groups raise broadly the same gameplay problems.
• Technical issues unique to China: crashes, stutter and camera problems also appear in English feedback.
• A general dislike of difficult games: the criticism focuses on difficulty perceived as cheap, unreliable or unnecessarily repetitive, not difficulty itself.

Social context

Chinese Bilibili coverage around the beta and a public IGN China Weibo post were more positive than the current Steam score. This suggests the low Steam rating is driven less by rejection of the game or genre and more by frustration accumulated during extended hands-on play.

Conclusion

Simplified Chinese reviewers rate Mortal Shell II lower because they more often interpret the combination of mob stacking, high damage, fragile survivability, unreliable combat interactions and long repetition after death as cheap or hostile design.

English reviewers report many of the same faults, but are more likely to recommend the game despite them. Steam’s binary vote turns that difference in tolerance into a 28-point gap between Simplified Chinese and English positive reviews.