Try the Souls-y action of Mortal Shell in its free open beta

The unashamedly Dark Souls-inspired action of Mortal Shell is now available for everyone to try, as its closed beta test has become an open beta test by popular demand. Our Matthew liked what he played of the preview version, and it sounds worth a go.

"We expected demand but nothing like this," developers Cold Symmetry explained. "We really didn't want so many people to feel left out." So now everyone can grab the open beta from the Epic Games Store.

The beta has trimmed out story spoilers so you can still go in fresh at launch. A lot of its land is off-limits too. But you do get to posses two Mortal Shells (the trick of the name is that we inhabit others' bodies, not our own, and they sorta function as classes) as you go whack things. As for how large that actually makes the beta, well, it's complicated. Cold Symmetry said it's made with serious Soulsers in mind, so "It will take the best among you around an hour to complete it. For everyone else, expect your progress to be much slower."

If you need persuading, here's Matthew to tell you about what he saw:

Mortal Shell is due to launch in full later this year on the Epic Games Store as a timed exclusive, priced at £25.

"Epic's financial support, for a small studio like ours, was clearly going to help us achieve those goals so it was something we had to consider earnestly," the 15-person team explained. Fair play to 'em.