Harbinger? I barely knew 'er!

Image credit: Eurogamer

Are you excited for Mortal Shell 2? The game, which is proving so popular ahead of release it recently sold out of its physical Revered Edition on PS5, has just announced a surprise beta - allowing players to dive in and check out its deconstructed soulslike mechanics for themselves.

The game, which is over two weeks away from launch, has been playable on Steam for a little while now, and has been remarkably popular: it was downloaded over 500,000 times. The developer notes in a statement that "the Mortal Shell 2 console beta is the same beta as the version currently available on Steam, with all the same benefits". The test lets you can play the first three hours of the full game and - should you ever purchase the main game - you'll then have the option to skip the prologue section if the platform you're on has access to that data.

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If you play the console beta for more than 30 minutes, you will also unlock the Flayed Harbinger; an exclusive cosmetic reward available to redeem in the full game at launch.

Our own Sherif is pretty excited about the game. In a recent preview, he noted: "[Mortal Shell 2's] combat is meaty, with hefty, sometimes deliberate, animations that punish you for overcommitting, but a joy to witness when your attacks land. You drop your level-up currency upon death, and must retrieve it in the next life or lose it forever. There's a bonfire that's not called a bonfire, but serves the same function. So far, so Soulsy! The moment you get past these surface-level descriptors, however, the clearer the outline of something great starts to take shape."

"The full game is just over two weeks away: Mortal Shell 2 releases worldwide on Steam, PSS, and Xbox Series X|S on 20th August," concludes the developer's statement.

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