Mortal Shell 2: How to Turn On Night Mode with the Gloombound Flame

Night Mode is the optional hard setting in Mortal Shell 2. It makes enemies far tougher and hit much harder, but it also raises the rewards and unlocks content you cannot reach during the day. You switch it on and off freely through a single character at your hub, so there is no permanent commitment.

Quick answer: Pick up the Gloombound Flame near the Widow’s Overlook beacon in Fainweald, carry it to the top of Marrow Keep, light the extinguished lantern, then talk to Thestus and choose “Call forth the Night.” The screen fades to black and the world shifts to night.

What Night Mode changes in Mortal Shell 2

Turning on Night Mode darkens the whole world and buffs every enemy. They gain roughly double health and double damage, while dropping more Gloom for each kill. That trade rewards players who want a harder run and faster resource farming.

Effect	Change in Night Mode
Enemy health	About +100%
Enemy damage	About +100%
Gloom rewards	About +20%

A single elite fight shows the gap clearly. In Day Mode, one hit removed roughly 10% of its health bar and it dropped 193 Gloom, and it needed two swings to drop you to about 10% health. In Night Mode the same hit removed only about 5% of its bar, it put you near 10% health in a single attack, and it dropped 231 Gloom. Upgrade your weapons and sidearms as much as possible before you switch over.

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How to activate Night Mode

The whole process takes only a few minutes and can be done early in the game. You need one item, the Gloombound Flame, and access to the top of Marrow Keep.

Fast travel to the Widow’s Overlook beacon in Fainweald. This is the arena where you fight the Great Arbiter of Flesh, and the flame sits nearby.

Head just southeast of the beacon to the stone stele in the arena and grab the Gloombound Flame. If you would rather not fight the Great Arbiter of Flesh, you can run past it, snatch the item, and leave.

On-screen prompt to press E to pick up the Gloombound Flame from a stone stele — Image credit: Cold Symmetry

With the flame in your inventory, return to Marrow Keep and take the elevator all the way to the top of the tower.

Look along the side of the tower for the extinguished lantern and interact with it. When it asks you to use the Gloombound Flame, select “Yes.”

Gloombound Flame Required confirmation prompt with Yes highlighted at the tower altar — Image credit: Cold Symmetry

Lighting the lantern summons Thestus. Speak to him and exhaust his dialogue until he offers the option to change the time of day.

Player character standing before Thestus, a hooded NPC, on the roof of Marrow Keep — Image credit: Cold Symmetry

Choose “Call forth the Night” and confirm. The screen blacks out for a second, and the world shifts to night. That fade is your confirmation that Night Mode is now active.

Call Forth the Night confirmation prompt asking to enable increased difficulty with Yes and No — Image credit: Cold Symmetry

How to turn Night Mode off

You can drop back to standard difficulty at any time. Return to Thestus atop Marrow Keep, speak to him again, and pick the option to “Seek Daylight.” The world returns to day and enemies go back to their base stats.

Thestus dialogue at Marrow Keep offering the option to return to daylight — Image credit: Cold Symmetry

Night Mode exclusive content

Three locations can only be reached during Night Mode, so you cannot fully complete the game without switching it on at least once. Watch for areas with the riddle, “By the light of day, the truth remains sealed. And yet in darkness all shall be revealed,” which marks a night-only secret.

Location	What it offers
Shrine of Sorrows	A night-only first-person dungeon found near Mushroom Village.
Abandoned Outpost	A night-only merchant appears at the Abandoned Outpost beacon, southwest of Outskirts of Mammon. Sells four exclusive Tarstones and a Blackmarrow Key.
Forgotten Tower	Give the large skeleton the Thawed Gland, Depleted Gland, and Faded Gland to receive the Seedbearer’s Scripture, a PP item used during a key phase of the final boss fight.

Because you can toggle day and night whenever you like, a practical routine is to explore in daylight, then switch to night when you want the extra Gloom, the merchant stock, or one of these exclusive areas. Just keep in mind that enemies become much deadlier the moment the sun goes down, so gear up before you call forth the night.