Gamers who have been keenly looking forward to playing BioWare’s upcoming multiplayer action role-playing game Anthem now have the opportunity to sign up for the Closed Alpha, which will run from December 8-9, 2018 across four separate three-hour sessions. The deadline to register is the end of day on December 3, and requires an EA account.

Anthem will be something of a departure from the kind of role-playing games that BioWare fans are used to. The developer is best known for the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, which have single-player campaigns, extensive dialogue trees, and offer romantic relationships with other characters in the game. By contrast, Anthem won’t have large, branching dialogue trees (just two dialogue options each time) or romances, and the action gameplay is primarily focused on the multi-player experience (though it does have a single-player portion).

To sign up for Anthem’s Closed Alpha, go to the EA Community Playtesting portal and log in with your EA Account (if you don’t already have one, you can create one). Read and accept the terms and conditions, and then choose from either the PC, Xbox One, or PS4 playtest. Once you have completed these steps, your status will appear as Pending, and should be changed to Approved within a few days. Be sure to sign up (and add your Xbox gamertag, if you’re signing up for the Xbox One playtest) by the end of day on December 3, or you’ll risk missing out on the Closed Alpha. Once approved, you will receive in email with further instructions.

Anthem’s approach to mingling single-player and multi-player gameplay has been dubbed “Our World, My Story.” There is a central hub where players can progress through the single-player story and build relationships with non-player characters. Then, upon donning exosuits called Javelins and venturing out into the world, the multi-player portions of the game will begin. You can also choose to play through the entire game solo, if teamwork isn’t your thing.

The Anthem pre-launch demo will become available for players who have pre-ordered the game (or signed up for the premium services EA Access or Origin Access) on February 1, 2019, and Early Access will begin on February 15. However, the Closed Alpha will be the first opportunity for players to explore BioWare’s new sci-fi world, and see if it measures up to the studio’s past titles.

More: There Are Too Many Huge Games Releasing February 22nd, 2019

Anthem will release February 22, 2019, for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Source: EA