Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 open beta is now underway

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The Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 open beta is now live, with two single-player missions set in the lovely Republic of Georgia: Cut Off, an infiltration mission into an enemy communications site, and Blockout, which is more of a straight-up hit.

"You have to throw away everything you know about the series, since Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is a redefinition of the franchise developed from scratch and with a much-higher budget," Marek Tymiński, CEO of developer CI Games, said. "This beta includes two single-player missions from the beginning of the game, and is just a glimpse of what you'll experience in the full open-world game. Every bit of feedback you give is invaluable to us, and we'll listen closely to all comments."

There's an awful lot of non-sniping action going on in this trailer, like shooting down helicopters, running guys over, blowing up conveniently-placed barrels of fuel, and plenty of noisy gunfire. The trailer is actually quite explicit about it, saying, "Be a warrior and defeat your enemies from close range," which is pretty much the opposite of my understanding of a sniper's job. On the other hand, spending an hour getting into position, waiting all night, shooting a guy, and then slipping out quietly, repeated over a dozen or more levels, might not make for the most compelling mainstream game experience ever. (Personally, I'd love it, but that's also a pretty spot-on description of how I play Team Fortress 2 so take it for what it's worth.)

To clarify, because I'm constantly mixing them up: the Second World War shooter Sniper Elite 4 will support DirectX 12 and comes out on February 14; the modern era Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3—the one that's now in beta—is offering the season pass as a preorder bonus and is scheduled for release on April 4. The open beta runs until February 5, and if you haven't already you can sign up for it here.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.