The free Chivalry 2 open beta has started

Chivalry 2
(Image credit: Torn Banner Studios)

I'll get to the point: There's a Chivalry 2 open beta, it's free, and it's live now. You can download it from the Epic Games Store: Just find the Chivalry 2 page in the client, scroll down a bit, and then add the beta to your library. You'll have to "check out" as if you're buying a game, but it's free.

I played an earlier beta and had a great weekend bonking people in the head with a big hammer. I highly recommend it, and this beta includes more stuff than the one I played. Among other things, you can try out the soldier customization, which is way more comprehensive than I expected. You can mix and match faces, hair styles, voices, armor sets, heraldry, and pick rusty or fancy versions of your weapons. I like it.

(Image credit: Torn Banner )

There are also some 40-player servers available, dueling servers (where players are asked to respectfully allow each other to have 1-on-1 fights), and a couple 64-player objective maps that weren't in the last beta. You can find more details on what's in the open beta here, and if you want to know more about Chivalry 2 in general, and why I think you should join me in hitting archers with a hammer, read my recent preview or just watch the gif I've embedded below. It should explain what Chiv 2 is all about as well as any words I could write.

The beta ends on June 1, so you have all weekend to play for free if you want. After that, you'll have to wait for Chivalry 2 to actually release on June 8 to play more. It'll be $40 when it launches.

If you play the beta, I recommend doing the tutorial. It's not long, and there are nuances to Chiv 2's combat that you may not just intuitively figure out. It'll give you an advantage over everyone who didn't do the tutorial, seriously.

Tyler Wilde
Executive Editor

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the rise of personal computers, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on the early PCs his parents brought home. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, Bushido Blade (yeah, he had Bleem!), and all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now. In 2006, Tyler wrote his first professional review of a videogame: Super Dragon Ball Z for the PS2. He thought it was OK. In 2011, he joined PC Gamer, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.