The Star Wars Battlefront 2 beta is now open to all

On the off-chance you'd forgotten, the Star Wars Battlefront 2 beta test is now open to everyone. The beta includes three multiplayer modes, each in a unique setting, as well as access to single-player combat in the Arcade mode.

The Galactic Assault battle takes place in front of, and inside, the royal palace of Naboo, which clone troopers must defend from an attack by separatist battle droids. All four classes—assault, heavy, officer, and specialist—are available in the beta, as are ground and air vehicles, and Han Solo, Boba Fett, Darth Maul, and Rey hero characters.

The Starfighter Assault mode is a a multi-stage dogfight with fighters, interceptors, bombers, and hero ships including Slave-1 and the Millennium Falcon, as the Rebel forces attempt to destroy an Imperial Star Destroyer docked over the planet Fondor. The third multiplayer offering, Strike Mode, has small squads competing in "winner-take-all objective-based battles" in the forests of Takodana, with no Sith or Jedi allowed to take part.

The download is about 23GB (despite the recommended specs below calling for 15GB of hard drive space), and this is what you'll need to play.

Minimum:

OS: 64-bit Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10
Processor: AMD FX-6350 or Intel Core i5 6600K
Memory: 8GB RAM
Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB or Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB
DirectX: 11.0 Compatible video card or equivalent
Online Requirements: 512 KBPS or faster Internet connection
Hard drive space: 15GB

Recommended:

OS: 64-bit Windows 10 or later
Processor: AMD FX 8350 Wraith or Intel Core i7 6700 or equivalent
Memory: 16GB RAM
Graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 480 4GB or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB
DirectX: 11.1 Compatible video card or equivalent
Online Requirements: Requirements: 512 KBPS or faster Internet connection
Hard drive space: 15GB

"Big as it is, the Beta represents only a tiny portion of what you'll see in the full Star Wars Battlefront II experience: eleven distinct planets of Galactic Assault, space battles across all three cinematic eras of Star Wars , an original single-player campaign, all-new modes, and fully-customizable heroes, starfighters, and trooper classes," EA said. "We hope you enjoy the Beta. We're very proud of what we've created and look forward to sharing it with you."

The Star Wars Battlefront 2 open beta runs until October 9, which gives you the whole weekend to really put the boots to it. The full game comes out on November 17.

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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.