The tabletop-inspired roguelike RPG For the King (opens in new tab) made a very good impression when it arrived in 2018, and the latest trailer for the sequel (opens in new tab) also looked promising when it arrived in February. Of course, “looked promising” doesn’t always mean much when it comes to how a game actually plays, so the good news is you’ll have a shot at trying it yourself in a beta set to begin later this week.
For the King 2’s (opens in new tab) closed beta will get underway at 10 am PT/1 pm ET on May 10, and run until the same time on May 16. The beta test will include the first of five adventures planned for the game, with six character classes—blacksmith, scholar, hunter, stableboy, herbalist, and alchemist (the last two unlockable through gameplay)—and support for both singleplayer and multiplayer. It will also probably feature some snags, issues, bumps in the road, and various other problems of the sort that crop up in an unfinished game—this is a beta test, after all.
“This Closed Beta will help us understand how the game performs live with all of the variables that come with the real world player experience,” IronOak Games studio director Sterling Anderson said. “We are expecting to uncover bugs and stability issues as well as receive valuable player feedback to allow us to polish and buff the game. We can’t wait to hear what the community think about For The King 2.”
To get into the beta test, head around to the For the King 2 Steam page (opens in new tab) and mash the “request access” button. It’s a closed beta so you may not get in, but publisher Curve Games said it’s going to try to accommodate everyone.
“We’re looking to bring in a global audience to represent our player base at launch and to bring in as many people as possible over the 6 days,” a Curve rep said. “We’re hoping that everyone that signs up will be able to play but we will need to manage how we scale up as it’s the first time we are testing the game and its infrastructure with many thousands of players.”
For the King 2 is expected to be ready for full release later in 2023.