Mortal Shell II is already making a serious impact before launch, with more than one million downloads for its open beta across Steam, PS5, and Xbox. One million is an incredibly encouraging number for a dark, decidedly hardcore action RPG, especially when it's a sequel coming from an indie developer.
Cold Symmetry announced the milestone on August 13, thanking players for jumping into the beta ahead of the game's full release. And judging by the early reaction of players, many of those downloads went to good use.
Everyone wants to see what Mortal Shell II is cooking
The original Mortal Shell carved out a cozy space for itself amongst the growing crowd of Soulslikes with its grim atmosphere, unusual mechanics, deliberately punishing combat, and, of course, its epic soundtrack. It eventually surpassed one million copies sold itself, giving Cold Symmetry and publisher Playstack the opportunity to go even bigger with the sequel. And it looks like they've done it.
You don't have to play Mortal Shell II for long before seeing for yourself how much more fleshed out it is compared to its predecessor. Combat is more aggressive and polished, and the world is far more expansive. Mortal Shell II has also taken a fresh—albeit controversial—approach to fighting by dropping the original game's stamina system.
While some Soulslike puritans are offended by Mortal Shell II's lack of a stamina bar, it's not the only Soulslike to make that decision. Games like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty also made that choice, and opted to use other systems to govern combat instead of a traditional stamina bar.
Don't forget to check out our Mortal Shell II Wiki if you lose your way during your playthrough!
As long as the missing stamina bar is replaced with something else to flesh out the combat system, a Soulslike can definitely work without one. The stamina bar adds another layer of complexity to a game's combat system, making fighting more calculated and reducing the viability of button mashing your way to victory.
Mortal Shell II adds another layer of complexity to its combat by introducing an in-depth posture system and resolve meter, so players have something else to think about besides just swinging their Iconoclast. And if online discourse is anything to go by, it works. AshyLarry25 on Reddit summed up Mortal Shell II as being the "GOAT Soulslike," stating that they have "not played a Soulslike where EVERY part felt so good in... ever. Besides FromSoft games, of course."
A million downloads is an impressive start, especially for an indie developer. But the real test begins when Mortal Shell II releases next week, on August 20th. The open beta has successfully proven that people are willing to try the game and, for the most part, enjoy doing so; now Cold Symmetry just needs to convince those players that what they've experienced in the open beta is just the beginning and the full release is well worth diving into. But one thing's for sure: one million downloads for the open beta is a hell of a start.
Mortal Shell II
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 85/100 Critics Rec: 90%
- Released
- August 20, 2026
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Cold Symmetry
- Publisher(s)
- Playstack
- Genre(s)
- Soulslike, Action RPG, Fantasy
