Street Fighter 5 is going free-to-play for two weeks

Capcom is opening up Street Fighter 5 for a two-week free stretch on Steam from Tuesday, meaning anyone can jump in and battle with 20 playable characters across a number of modes.

The free period will run from this coming Tuesday April 23 at 1pm PT until May 5. During that time, you'll be able to play the Arcade Edition of the game, an expanded version of the original that adds an Arcade mode, Extra Battle Mode and Team Battle Mode.

The free trial will contain all 16 original characters plus four DLC fighters: Akuma, Blanka, Juri and Menat. These four will only be available in Ranked, Casual, Battle Lounge, Training, and Challenge modes.

At 13 days long it's one of the more generous free trials I've seen. Yes, it's an old game, but it's still worth jumping in if you've ever been curious. Anyone that already owns the Arcade Edition but hasn't bought the four DLC characters will get to use them during the trial period too.

You'll be able to download it via the Steam page.

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.