If you've been itching to get your hands on Evolve, the awesome monster-hunting co-op shooter from Left 4 Dead creator Turtle Rock, then you won't have much longer to wait. As promised, a massive beta trial is set to launch exclusively on Xbox One on 15 January.
It's completely open, so if you have an Xbox Live Gold account you'll be able to download the beta and get stuck in. To begin with, only the Hunt game mode will be available, but players will get access to not only eight human characters across various classes, but also two of the game's giant monsters - Goliath and Kraken. All 12 of the game's maps will be playable in the beta.
If you think that's generous, it gets better. On 17 January, the Evacuation game mode will also be unlocked. This is a sort of non-linear campaign that links all the maps together. Even better, whatever XP progress you make, or whatever in-game items you unlock, you'll be able to carry them over to the full game when it launches.
PlayStation 4 and PC players aren't left out entirely. Any PS4 owners who took part in the previous alpha trial on that console will be invited to take part in a technical test of the game from 17 January. The same is true of PC players who were in the alpha, or who own Left 4 Dead or Bioshock Infinite on Steam. This technical test won't include Evacuation mode, and your progress won't be saved. All the trials, including the Xbox One beta, will end on 19 January.
Evolve launches for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on 10 February.