Brutal Soulslike Mortal Shell 2 chooses violence, sets release date in the 2026 August traffic jam

Mortal Shell 2, the inventive Soulslike RPG from developer Cold Symmetry, has an official release date. The game will arrive 20th August on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. While Mortal Shell 2 has always been set for release this year, its release window was the biggest mystery.

As more and more games shuffle to stay as far away as possible from the Grand Theft Auto 6-shaped ogre in the release calendar, many have ended up setting release dates so close together in what may be the busiest three months period in industry history.

There was seemingly no avoiding that traffic jam for Cold Symmetry, though there is some good news for those eager to play Mortal Shell 2 over other games coming out around the same time.

The Mortal Shell 2 standard edition is priced at £39.99 / $49.99 / €49.99, and there's a Devout Edition that ups the price to £47.99 / $59.99 / €59.99. Alongside some cosmetics, the real reason you might want to opt for the Devout is that it lets you play up to three days early, meaning you could be playing the game on 17th August instead. This bonus is available across all three platforms, where pre-orders are also currently live.

Looking at the release calendar, Mortal Shell 2's release date puts it one week before Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, Star Wars Zero Company, and Metal Gear Solid Collection: Volume 2 - yes, all three are set for release on the same day. In the days leading up to Mortal Shell 2's release, we have Beast of Reincarnation, and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls two weeks prior, followed by The Sinking City 2 just two days before its release.

Mortal Shell 2 is also within striking distance of The Blood of Dawnwalker, and Onimusha: Way of the Sword, both of which are set for release just two weeks after. There is, of course, some overlap there as many of those are action RPGs, so players will have some choices to make.

If you're curious about Mortal Shell 2, there is a very generous open beta currently available on Steam that includes several hours of gameplay. I've played it for nearly six hours and it was hard to put down.