Steel Division 2’s final beta is live now, and runs until launch By Ian Boudreau

If you’ve pre-ordered Steel Division 2, you can jump in and start playing right now. The game’s final beta period began this week, and it’ll be running through to the official launch June 20th. This is the most extensive look at the game we’ve gotten yet, with a sizeable chunk of Steel Division 2’s tactical battle side represented.

This time out, you get access to all 18 divisions and more than 600 units appearing in the full game, as well as four game modes across five maps. Eugen has created a few gameplay videos as development has finalized, and here’s a sample battle.

There's also a beta manual to help get everyone up to speed on the basics you'll need to know in order to play.

So far, it seems to be fairly similar to Steel Division: Normandy 44, but what’s really going to distinguish Steel Division 2 from its older sibling is the Army General Mode, which seems to be adding a much more traditional wargame campaign layer over the tactical battles.

I’ll be spending quite a bit of time with this now that the final beta is live, and should have a full review prepared for when it launches. In the meantime, head on out there and dominate the Eastern Front.

Also, a housekeeping note: Editor Joe will be back first thing Monday, so expect normal programming to resume at that time.