Marvel's Avengers open beta weekend starts today
Avengers, assemble!
Earth's mightiest heroes today come crawling down your Internet pipe, offering everyone a free slice of Marvel's Avengers in an open beta weekend. The idea of a superhero game that's some sort of live service action-RPG with loot is a bit weird, so I'm curious. The beta start is staggered across the world, opening up at 9pm local time, so we here in the UK have a few hours to go but it is already live in easternmost parts of the world. You can preload the beta client while you wait.
The open beta weekend starts at 9pm tonight then ends at 9pm on Sunday. It contains four singleplayer campaign missions, some co-op action, loot to grab, and levels to gain. It is weird turning The Avengers into a loot-o-beat 'em up with months of new content and that. I don't have room in my life for more than one live service game and Destiny has already claimed that spot, but I am curious.
You'll find the PC beta on Steam. It's a 27GB download, which you can preload. PC specs are over here, and higher-resolution textures are available as an optional extra download, classified as DLC deep in the Steam menus. You'll need a Square Enix account too, so you could sign up for one while you wait. And yes, you will need to wait - though I don't know what would happen if your PC should somehow find itself halfway across the world with the click of a mouse.
Marvel's Avengers is due to launch on the 4th of September, hitting Windows as well as PS4, Xbone, and Stadia. The beta's on PlayStation and Xbox too, with a weird tie-in that'll give players some Hulk cosmetics in Fortnite.