Players return to Rengkok, where survival is very much about killing or being killed. That’s certainly not ideal, but the good news is that you get to take on the Shells of any bosses you bring down, unleashing their powers on your hapless foes. It’s the perfect recipe for survival in a world as dystopian as this one, to be fair.

Each Shell has its own abilities and four distinct upgrade paths for you to choose from, while you can carry three distinct choices every run. Oh, and you can invite up to three friends for co-op play, and create the scope for some insane synergies that could melt even the meanest of foes, courtesy of a crafting and upgrade system that’s showing some depth even at this early stage.

The game’s still in early development, and the footage you see in the trailer below isn’t indicative of a final build, but it does give you a good idea of the chaos you can expect from this one when it hits the shelves. Sign-ups are currently available for the closed pre-alpha playtest, which kicks off on April 27th.

You see, taking down bosses lets you take their Shells (yeah, we know) for yourself, wielding their unique powers against your foes. However, with the ability to carry three of them at a time and switch between them at will, the potential for some incredible synergies is already there. Combine that with four distinct upgrade paths on each Shell for you to choose from, and you have the makings of a memorable RPG. Some upgrades draw on your shells, but each one is going to bring hard choices to the table, as most of them force you to compromise on another aspect of your abilities.

Of course, you get to bring your buddies along in three-player co-op, which means that the best among you is going to be leveraging six Shells at the same time to cause absolute mayhem.

All in all, Ruiner 2 is looking like a very fun sequel. It doesn’t have a release window yet, but you can check out its Steam page for more information, or check out the announcement trailer below for a very satisfying beat-down.