How to unlock Fallgrim’s locked chests in Mortal Shell

Throughout the dark swamp that is Fallgrim, you will stumble upon many statues that look like fish heads. Approach one and you’ll find that it’s actually a chest with loot, but all of them will be locked. This is the same for every fish head chest in the area.

There is a way to unlock all of them at once, meaning that you can go around and find all of them in one go if you wish. There is also an easy way to know when all of them are unlocked as the atmosphere around Fallgrim will have changed from a clear air with the usual enemies, to areas full of a certain monster and in a thick fog. 

To unlock the statues, you first need to continue on with the adventure as normal. The Unchained, the large trapped creature at Fallgrim Tower, will ask you to collect the first ancient gland for it. Continue on and do this at your own pace. Once you have completed a dungeon and collected the first gland, you will immediately notice a shift in light throughout your way around the dungeon, with different enemies inhabiting the corridors. 

Upon exiting back into Fallgrim, you will notice that the air has turned foggy, and that all of the enemies have been replaced with the same creature that you fought previously to unlock the Tiel Shell, Ven Noctivagu. These will jump at you from a distance and hunt in packs, filling the surrounding camps. In this instance, Fallgrim is in a hunting state, where it’s tougher to survive. This can be toggled after you’ve completed the first dungeon at Fallgrim Tower, where a new NPC will be there to offer you to change it for one glimpse currency.

However, while you are in the hunt state, all of the fish head statues with loot inside will be glowing red. These are now open and available for you to open.