Capcom has unveiled full, final details of its upcoming PlayStation 4-exclusive Monster Hunter World beta, due to begin this Saturday.

More specifically, the Monster Hunter World beta starts on Saturday December 9th at 5pm, and runs until Tuesday December 12th, finishing at 4:59pm on the dot. You'll need to be a PlayStation Plus subscriber to join in the hunt, and the full download weighs in at 5.1GB.

As previously announced, the beta will feature three different playable quests. "Great Devourer, Great Jagras" takes place in the Ancient Forest, and sets the Great Jagras as your target. "The Ancient Forest Menace" also unfolds in the Ancient Forest, but this time you'll be hunting an Anjanath. The beta's final quest, "Wildspire Rampage", occurs in the scorching heat of the Wildspire Waste, with all eyes on a Barroth.

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Capcom says that all quests will be playable either solo or in multiplayer groups of up to four. When in multiplayer, it'll possible to team up with hunters from all around the world, although an adjustable language filter will be in place to make it easier to find players you can directly communicate with via voice and text chat.

Certain online features found in the final game, says Capcom, will not be available during the beta: namely, the ability to join midway through a quest and to remove other players from a quest, as well as friend invites and Guild Cards.

It's worth noting that you'll need to be online, even for solo hunting. Earlier reports suggested that offline single-player questing would be possible in World, so I've asked Capcom for clarification that this online requirement only applies to the beta and not the full game.

Elsewhere, you can pick from six different male and female hunter presets in the beta, as well as six Palico presets. There's also a training area, so you can try out all 14 of Monster Hunter World's different weapon types in private before heading online to flaunt your hunting skills.

Finally, by completing any of the three beta quests, you'll earn one Face Paint that can be used to customise your character in the full game. Additionally, you'll be rewarded with an item set - including valuable stuff like lifepowder, max potions, and shock traps - the first time you complete each of the three beta quests. These too can be used in the final release.

Monster Hunter World is out on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on January 26th, 2018, with a PC release to follow at a hopefully-not-too-much-later date.