With the launch of Return to Mysterious Island 2 drawing ever closer, players can now stick a first foot on the island with today's release of a playable demo.

The sequel to the popular 2004 hit sees players returning to — or more accurately, failing to fully escape from — the island originally imagined by Jules Verne and inhabited by Captain Nemo. In RTMI2, young Mina and her simian pal Jep must once again conquer the island's challenges and dangers, which this time include a mysterious green gas that's killing the local plant life.

The demo takes place at the start of the full game, and right away you'll notice one of the key changes in the sequel, as the playable character from the start is the little monkey Jep, who must tend to Mina's injuries before players can control her directly. Other changes will be noticeable on installation as well, as there are options even in the demo to enable the game's iPhone synchronization and in-game chat options. The file size is a fairly hefty 562 MB, and you can find a list of download links at the game's official website.

No firm release details have yet been announced for Return to Mysterious Island 2, but the game is expected to be launched (at least as a download) as early as some time later this month. For more details about the game, be sure to check out our recent preview.