A sequel to 2020 action RPG Mortal Shell is releasing later this year, and the people are hungry for it: The open beta demo for Mortal Shell 2 was downloaded 250,000 times over the weekend, according to publisher Playstack.

"The response to the Mortal Shell 2 Open Beta has been incredible," developer Cold Symmetry said in a statement sent to PC Gamer. "Seeing new players and longtime fans dive in, share feedback, and get excited about what's ahead means a lot to the whole team."

The beta, which includes the game's prologue and "an early section" of the open world, is just a "glimpse" of Mortal Shell 2, said the studio.

Cold Symmetry also tells us that it's already making changes informed by player feedback, "fixing bugs, tightening the experience, and carrying those improvements into the full release."

The first Mortal Shell has "Mixed" reviews on Steam, but was pretty well-liked by critics. We called it "tough and esoteric, if a little uneven" in our 80% review.

Nice things are being said about the Mortal Shell 2 beta in the Steam reviews and over on Reddit. "I didn't like the first game, but the sequel plays SOOOO much better," said one poster on the r/soulslikes subreddit, as one example.

Mortal Shell 2 doesn't have a specific release date yet, but the plan is to get it out this year. The open beta is still available to download on Steam, and it's hefty for a demo, weighing in at 55GB.