Everything You Need to Know About Ghost Recon Wildlands' Open Beta and How to Access It

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Ubisoft's upcoming open-world tactical shooter enters open Beta this weekend, offering those who are interested the chance to get to grips with game ahead of its launch date of March 7th.

When is Ghost Recon Wildlands' Open Beta?

The open Beta kicks off bright and early on Thursday, February 23rd at 3:00 am PST/6:00 am EST for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and will run through the weekend until servers are switched off at 3:00 am PST/6:00 am EST on the morning of Monday February 27th.

If you're interested in checking it out, head on over to Ubisoft's official Ghost Recon Wildlands open Beta signup page. PlayStation 4 owners can also download the game via the Sony PSN store, while Xbox One owners can access the open Beta at the Microsoft store.

The file size is around 24GB, so make sure you have room for it if want to play the game. Preloading is currently available, so if you're dead keen on getting into the game the moment it starts, we recommend you sign up now and start the downloading process.

What Content Does the Open Beta Feature?

In the closed Beta, missions and activities were limited to the Itacua province, but in the open Beta, an additional area will be available in the form of Montuyoc. While players can head straight there if they so wish, Ubisoft recommends that you actually spend time in Itacua leveling up before traveling to the more difficult second zone.

Basically, Itacua is the starting zone, and contains a wide range of fairly straightforward missions designed to get you up to speed with the fundamentals of the game, and managing your squad of three AI characters (unless, of course, you happen to be grouped with other players). Tackling and completing the tasks available in this province will enable you to level up, gain a few additional skills, and also get your hands on some supplementary equipment that can be used to augment and customize your gun.

Once you've developed your character and are confident in your abilities, you can then make the move to Montuyoc. This zone is where the Santa Blanca Cartel trains its men, so missions are far tougher than they are in Itacua. According to Ubisoft's blog, "El Sueño has built a vast arsenal here, protected by large bases, which contains modern light and heavy weapons, guns, tanks, mortars, and anti-aircraft missiles. This arsenal is available to the best sicarios who come to the deserted moors of Montuyoc for training. Santa Blanca’s goal at Montuyoc is to train a small elite army capable of standing up to the best armies in South America."

Sounds like a pretty stiff challenge, and we're looking forward to seeing just how tricky these new missions are.

Ghost Recon Wildlands Features and Articles

Mike traveled to France back in October of last year and spent time with several of the Ghost Recon Wildlands developers, talking in-depth about the game and how it was created. I was particularly fascinated by his article about the game's audio design and soundtrack, which details the huge amount of work the audio team went through to capture the sounds of Bolivia.

He also interviewed narrative director Sam Strachman and lead designer Dominic Butler about the challenges of creating a cohesive story within a completely open-world game, and talked to Ghost Recon Wildlands' lead artist and technical director Benoit Martinez about how he and his team built the game's massive open world. If you're interested in learning about how Ghost Recon Wildlands was made, all three of these articles are essential reading.

I played Ghost Recon Wildlands at a preview event last month, and explained in my subsequent article why it reminded me of a cross between Grand Theft Auto and a tactical shooter. I also wrote a piece articulating seven reasons why I'm excited about the game.

Finally, both Mike and I played the closed Beta a few weeks back, and really enjoyed ourselves. While the game does seem to have a few flaws, it didn't bother us particularly, and Mike admitted, Ghost Recon Wildlands is janky but I still love it.

PC Specs and System Requirements

If you're playing Ghost Recon Wildlands' open Beta on a PC, here are the specs you need to effectively run it.

Minimum system requirements:

• Operating System: MS Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64bit versions only)
• Processor: Intel Core i5-2400S @ 2.5 GHz or AMD FX-4320 @ 4 GHz
• RAM: 6GB
• Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX660 / AMD R9 270X (2GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0 or better)
• DirectX: DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010)
• Sound: DirectX-compatible using the latest drivers
• Hard Drive: 50 GB available space
• Peripherals: Windows-compatible keyboard and mouse required, optional controller

Recommended system requirements:

• Operating System: MS Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64bit versions only)
• Processor: Intel Core i7- 3770@ 3.5 GHz or AMD FX-8350 @ 4 GHz
• RAM: 8GB
• Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX970/GTX 1060 or AMD R9 390/RX480 (4GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0 or better)
• DirectX: DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010)
• Sound: DirectX-compatible using the latest drivers
• Hard Drive: 50 GB available space
• Peripherals: Windows-compatible keyboard and mouse required, optional controller