[Update #2]: Dark Souls inspired Mortal Shell has added a bunch of new cosmetics and death metal boss music.

[Update]: Mortal Shell will be making its way to PC and consoles this August 18th.

The upcoming Mortal Shell is a Dark Souls inspired action RPG with a focus on challenging and strategic combat. As you might imagine given its inspiration, this means that Mortal Shell is all about exploring a massive, broken-down world in search of answers, facing off against an assortment of overly angry bosses, and naturally, dying over and over again until you master each fight.

If that sounds like a lovely time, you might be glad to hear that Mortal Shell has now opened up its beta for everyone to enjoy. Simply head on over to the Epic Games Store, download the beta, and you'll be sprawled on the floor in no time!

"This Beta build allows you to possess two Mortal Shells - Harros and Tiel - to better understand their subtleties in combat, "reads the brief description. "This Beta does not include spoilers (we decided to keep the story a secret for just a little longer) and we have deliberately cordoned-off much of the open sprawling marshland of Fallgrim to keep you focused."

"Before we leave you, a warning: Mortal Shell was made for battle-hardened soulslike fans. It is vindictive design, assembled with spite. It will take the best among you around an hour to complete it. For everyone else, expect your progress to be much slower."

Have fun with the relentless action, and I'll leave you with the original announcement trailer, just to give you a brief taste of what is to come: