Mortal Shell 2: everything you can permanently miss, and when it locks
The trophies, tarstones and areas Mortal Shell 2 closes behind you, with the exact point each one locks. Including the Temple of Vatra, which locked forever until a patch reopened it.
04/09/2026 · 3 min read
Mortal Shell 2 closes doors quietly. Some of them are trophies you can only earn in the prologue, some are whole areas that seal after a story beat, and at least one was a tarstone that a patch had to give back.
This is everything we have found that locks, and the point it locks at. If you are partway through a run, read the first section now.
The Temple of Vatra, and the one that got fixed
Taking the Heart of Vatra seals the Temple of Vatra. Everything inside becomes unreachable on that save, so the temple has to be cleared before you take the heart. The heart itself is what unlocks Gragu's Shell, so there is no skipping it, only sequencing it.
The Berserker's Stone sat inside that lock. On 29 August it was permanently missable: take the heart without it and the stone was gone for good. By 2 September a patch had reopened access and the stone is obtainable again.
We are leaving both facts on this page rather than quietly deleting the first one. If you are playing an older build, or a console version that patched later, the original warning still applies to you. Clear the temple first regardless, since it costs nothing.
Trophies that lock
| Trophy | Locks at |
|---|---|
| Tar Golem | The prologue. You cannot come back for it, and you still cannot win the fight |
| Peter's Perfect Parry | A specific window during the run |
| Feed Me | Tied to reaching Egon at the right point |
| Accept Mary Gold's Crown | Before the Mid Summer festival |
The Tar Golem one catches everyone, because losing the fight is the intended outcome and people assume a fight they lose cannot be a trophy.
Mary Gold's crown has to be accepted before the festival. After it, the offer is gone.
Tarstones worth routing for
Tarstones change what a build can do, and several sit behind optional routes rather than on the critical path.
| Stone | Where |
|---|---|
| Berserker's Stone | Temple of Vatra, see the warning above |
| Spite Stone | Bellkeepers Corner dungeon |
| Tyrant's Stone | A secret area in Revenant Graves |
| Wretchcaller Stone | Borrowkin Dwelling |
| Foundry Stone | Outskirts of Mammon |
| Auspicious Stone | Reachable in about fifteen minutes |
| Clerik's Stone | |
| Shattering Stone | |
| Rupturing Stone | |
| Fulminant, Infested and Weeping Stones | The Night Mode shop |
| Glimpse Stone | Farmable, and there is a fastest route |
| Lost Clotstone | Dropped by the Lost Child |
The Fulminant, Infested and Weeping stones are only sold in the Night Mode shop, so they depend on unlocking Night Mode first.
Secret areas most players never open
| Area | Note |
|---|---|
| Night Mode | Unlocks a secret dungeon, and the shop above |
| Shrine of Sorrows | Night Mode only |
| The second secret dungeon | Separate from the Night Mode one, and almost universally missed |
| Unfound Path secret vault | Needs all three offerings |
| Waterfall Camp dungeon | The Ruins of Nochte |
| Desolate Keep secret area | Marrow's Keep |
| Mango Sanctuary | Tied to the Ascension trophy |
The one worth singling out is the second secret dungeon. People find Night Mode, assume its dungeon is the secret, and stop looking.
A route that avoids all of it
If you want one rule rather than a list:
- Clear the Temple of Vatra completely before taking the Heart of Vatra.
- Accept Mary Gold's crown before the Mid Summer festival.
- Do the prologue Tar Golem fight properly, and lose it on purpose.
- Unlock Night Mode before you finish, since three tarstones and a dungeon sit behind it.
Everything else on this page can be picked up later.
When a patch changes this
The Berserker's Stone is a reminder that a missable list has a shelf life. When a patch opens or closes something, it goes in our patch notes for the game and this page changes with it.
