Beacons are the checkpoints of Mortal Shell 2. They restore Health and Resolve, respawn regular enemies, and set your revival point. Most start corrupted, and cleansing one drops you into a short dungeon full of enemies — sometimes a miniboss — with an Ovum waiting at the end. There are 49 in total across the world.
Quick answer: Cleanse 46 of the 49 Beacons. Marrow Keep, Widow’s Overlook, and Outskirts of Mammon arrive already cleansed, which is why the trophy tracker caps at 46 even though the world contains 49.
Nothing is missable, so stop panicking about order
No Beacon locks itself away permanently. After the final boss you return to a free-roam state, and you can mop up anything you skipped before choosing to start New Game+. That makes Beacon hunting a cleanup task rather than a route you have to nail on the first pass.
Two achievements ride on this. So Fresh, So Clean requires cleansing every Beacon that can be cleansed, and Bring My Ova Back to Me follows automatically, since every Ovum in the game comes from a cleansed Beacon.
Fast travel unlocks after five extra Ova
Fast travel between Beacons is not available from the start. Once the prologue ends and you reach Marrow Keep, you need to gather and siphon at least five additional Ova. Doing that grants Mether’s Breath, which opens the fast travel menu and also lets you clear the corrupted vines and tendrils blocking paths and loot in the overworld.
Marrow Keep is the permanent hub and is always available as a destination. The two prologue Beacons, Village Outskirts and Disciple’s Grotto, stay on the list as well.
What a cleansed Beacon actually gives you
An uncleansed Beacon is a bare checkpoint. It rests you and moves your respawn point, and that’s all. Cleansing it opens the full menu and also clears the growths that were sealing off nearby loot.
| Menu option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enter / Cleanse Beacon | Starts the dungeon, or lets you revisit one you already cleared |
| Level Up | Spends Gloom to raise the Harbinger’s stats |
| Change Equipment | Swaps Primary, Sidearm, and Seal |
| Mether’s Pulse | Spends Revered Gland or Synaptic Vessel to boost capacity or efficiency |
| Return to Marrow Keep | Fast travel back to the hub |
Note: resting also respawns every regular enemy in the area. Bosses stay dead.
Every Beacon by region
The list below follows the order Beacons appear in the Mether’s Breath menu when you interact with any of them. Use it as a checklist against your own tracker.
Marrow Keep and Fainweald
| # | Beacon |
|---|---|
| 1 | Marrow Keep (pre-cleansed) |
| 2 | Stonebled Gate |
| 3 | Mushroom Village Gate |
| 4 | Nochtean Gate |
| 5 | Mushroom Village |
| 6 | Outskirts of Nochte |
| 7 | Blackridge Pass |
| 8 | Widow’s Overlook (pre-cleansed) |
| 9 | Gloomshade Grove |
| 10 | Citadel of Penance |
| 11 | One Legged Wolf |
Ruins of Mammon
| # | Beacon |
|---|---|
| 12 | Outskirts of Mammon (pre-cleansed) |
| 13 | Sester’s Gate |
| 14 | Gate of Infinity |
| 15 | Castigator’s Keep |
| 16 | Abbey Entrance |
| 17 | Abandoned Outpost |
| 18 | Gate of Mammon |
| 19 | The Silent Steps |
| 20 | High Lord’s Courtyard |
Corrupted Gate dungeon regions
| # | Beacon | Region |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Seeping Mire | Glutted Mire |
| 22 | Sunken Village | Glutted Mire |
| 23 | Magdalena’s Glade | Glutted Mire |
| 24 | Hangman’s Scaffold | Prisoners’ Domain |
| 25 | Executioner’s Pulpit | Prisoners’ Domain |
| 26 | Slumwater Drain | Prisoners’ Domain |
| 27 | Captive’s End | Prisoners’ Domain |
| 28 | Pulsing Caves | Sanguine Caverns |
| 29 | Sanguine Shoreline | Sanguine Caverns |
| 30 | Child’s Feeding Grounds | Sanguine Caverns |
| 31 | Ovate’s Chamber | Conquered Temple |
| 32 | Winterglass Lake | Conquered Temple |
| 33 | Conqueror’s Hoard | Conquered Temple |
| 34 | Citadel Annex | Faded Citadel |
| 35 | Citadel Atrium | Faded Citadel |
| 36 | Scholar-Prince’s Chamber | Faded Citadel |
| 37 | Nameless Pass | Withered Shoals |
| 38 | Ossinite Falls | Withered Shoals |
| 39 | Hexapod’s Burrow | Withered Shoals |
The Unfound Path and Disciple’s Pass
| # | Beacon |
|---|---|
| 40 | The Hidden Nave |
| 41 | Receiving Hall |
| 42 | Faithful’s Shelter |
| 43 | Brether’s Court |
| 44 | Obsidian Vault |
| 45 | Bridge of Procession |
| 46 | Empty Cradle |
| 47 | Chamber of the Forsaken |
| 48 | Disciple’s Grotto |
| 49 | Village Outskirts |
Post-boss Beacons are worth 26 Ova each
Most Corrupted Gate dungeons hold three extra Beacons, and one of them holds four. The final Beacon in each major dungeon only appears once you’ve killed that dungeon’s main boss. These are the richest ones in the game, handing over 26 Ova apiece across all six main bosses.
If you’re short on Ova for campaign progression, clearing the six post-boss Beacons is by far the fastest way to close the gap.
Beacons that gate progression or hand out unique rewards
A handful of Beacons are not optional if you want to keep moving. Cleansing them is the key that opens a Corrupted Gate region. Others drop a specific item instead of, or alongside, an Ovum.
| Beacon | What cleansing it does |
|---|---|
| Mushroom Village Gate | Opens Corrupted Gate: Glutted Mire; rewards Axe and Dagger, Volatile Fragment, and an Ovum after Vrannic, the Grand Illusionist |
| Stonebled Gate | Opens Corrupted Gate: Sanguine Caverns |
| Nochtean Gate | First Beacon to cleanse for entry to Prisoners’ Domain |
| Mushroom Village | Rewards the Emberseed Stone |
| Sunken Village | Rewards the Corroded Stone |
| Seeping Mire | Ends in a fight with the Circle of the Grasping Root |
| Village Outskirts | Rewards Muradean Actuator, Ventrium, and an Ovum |
| Disciple’s Grotto | Rewards Ventrium and an Ovum |
How to confirm a Beacon counted
Cleansing registers the moment you claim the Ovum at the end of the dungeon. Back at the Beacon, the darkened overgrowth is gone and the interaction menu expands to include Level Up, Change Equipment, and Mether’s Pulse. Nearby vines that were blocking chests or passages also disappear.
If your tracker sits at 45 out of 46, the missing entry is almost always a post-boss Beacon you walked past, or a Beacon you tagged for fast travel but never entered. Tagging a Beacon and cleansing it are separate actions — resting at one does nothing for the achievement on its own.
Work through the regions with the checklist above once the credits roll, and hold off on New Game+ until the tracker reads 46. Free-roam after the final boss is the cleanest window to finish the job, and there’s no penalty for taking your time in it.
