Dark Souls II PS3 closed beta set for October

What's harder than Dark Souls II? An unpolished beta version of Dark Souls II. You may be able to prove your mastery of misery when the game's closed beta opens on October 5 in North America and Europe, Namco Bandai announced today.

If you want to be selected for the clinical tests, er, early play opportunity, you'd better pay attention to Dark Souls' Facebook page starting on Sept. 5.

What inexplicably compelling terrors await for players who clear the selection process? Take it away, Namco Bandai:

"The depth of the Dark Souls 2 Closed-Beta experience will truly test players’ skill, intestinal fortitude, and their sheer will to survive. The Dark Souls II Closed-Beta will delve into one of the most treacherous areas of the Dark Souls II world; players will not only get an opportunity to explore an entirely new area of the game, but also experience overwhelming enemy encounters, diabolical challenges, and the unrelenting difficulty that only the developers at FromSoftware can deliver."

The full game will be available on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in March 2014.

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.