14 DAY TRIAL // Publisher THQ and developer Relic have announced that their upcoming strategy title Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution is set to get a multiplayer beta stage, allowing fans of the series to jump in, play some matches and then report their experience to the companies so that the final version of the game can be improved.
On January 31, only a few selected members of the Dawn of War community will get access to the beta stage and one day later the number of players included will be broadened to include all those who have pre-ordered Retribution using the Steam digital distribution service from Valve.
One week later, on February 8, everyone who has any Dawn of War related game registered on Steam will be allowed to play in the beta and provide feedback.
Relic says that the beta will allow gamers to try out all the six races included in the new game, the Space Marines, the Elder, the Imperial Guard, the Chaos Marines, the Orks and the Tyranids.
The main elements that need testing are the new Steamworks based networking and matchmaking features and the information collected will also be used to develop a 0-day patch for multiplayer balance.
Both the initial release of Dawn of War II and the Chaos Rising expansion used Games for Windows from Microsoft to sustain multiplayer matches, but the system has been dropped in favor of Steamworks for Retribution.
The beta test will end on February 24 with Dawn of War II – Retribution set to be released to the public at the beginning of March.
The new game will offer a more diverse line up of races than previous installment and will allow gamers to experience a brutal, small unit oriented conflict through their eyes.
Players who pre-order can choose to get extra war gear for their favorite race.