Arc System Works and French Bread just launched the free open beta for the upcoming fighting game Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes.
The beta is currently available on the PlayStation Network for both PS5 and PS4, and it'll continue until November 19 at 11:00 p.m. PST.
Incidentally, pre-orders for the digital version of the game have also been made available both on Playstation and PC (via Steam). That being said, the open beta isn't available on PC and the Switch version isn't up for pre-order at the moment of this writing.
The characters playable in the beta are Hyde, Linne, Waldstein, Carmine, Orie, Gordeau, Merkava, Vatista, Seth, Yuzuriha, Hilda, Chaos, Nanase, Byakuya, Phonon, Mika, Wagner, Enkidu, Londrekia,Tsurugi, Kaguya, Eltnum, and Akatsuki. Kuon won't be playable.
You'll be able to enjoy casual matches (online), character selection, vs player, vs CPU, spectate (matches between CPUs), free training, and the options.
On top of the beta, we also get to take a look at the opening cutscene of the game.
It features the theme song "Rin'ne no Shuen (Owari) e" (To the end of Reincarnation) performed by ucio and composer by Jun Ichikawa. The lyrics are by RyoRca.
You can watch it below.
Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes will launch on January 25, 2024 for PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. It'll be published by Arc System Works.
If you'd like to see more, you can enjoy the the initial announcement (which was made during EVO 2023) and another gameplay trailer introducing the new character Kaguya (whom you can also see in the screenhsot above).
If you're unfamiliar with the Under Night In-Birth series, it first launched in Japanese arcades all the way back in 2012. Its developer French Bread started its path to popularity as a doujin circle known for the Melty Blood series, the Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax series, and the adorable 2003 action game Drill Molky Punch featuring many characters from the Muv-Luv series.
