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For Honor cleaves its way to a closed beta test in January

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Hearthstone’s Cairne Bloodhoff won’t be the only one crying “For Honor” as they rush into battle come January.

Ubisoft announced this morning that it will hold a closed beta test for its upcoming online melee combat game, For Honor, in January. And to help hype the beta, the publisher is also holding a “War of the Factions” contest to see which of the three factions will “reign supreme”: the Knights, Samurai, or Vikings. For Honor is one of the French company’s key releases in 2017, and the beta not only gives it a way to test how well it works and and garner feedback from players but also serves as a marketing tool to get consumers interested — and maybe convince some to preorder it before its February 14 launch.

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You can sign up for the closed beta here.

In addition to tracking which faction will win, Ubisoft also plans on rewarding players on the victorious side as part of the Faction War, the metagame for this online world. Each season lasts 10 weeks.

For Honor feature 12 heroes for the three factions. In addition to announcing the beta test, the publisher showed off two “Heavy” heroes: the Shugoki for the Samurai (they’re big and tough and carry a big stick, the kanabo) and the Viking Warlord (they use their shields for offense and defense). The Knights are also getting a new Assassin class: the Peacekeeper (they’re nimble duelists that fight with a short sword and a dagger).

To see how they work, take a look at these class trailers:

The Shugoki

The Warlord

The Peacekeeper