Dawn of War III is the next game in the Warhammer 40,000 franchise. The game will be launching later this month on April 27th. However, interested gamers can now test the upcoming game for free.

An Open Beta for Dawn of War III has just begun. The Open Beta provides access to all three factions in the game: Space Marines, Eldar and Orks. Each faction also has six doctrines which provide players with special abilities. These abilities including health regeneration and taunts which will change the playstyle of each faction slightly. The developer hasn’t gone into detail about these doctrines however so players will need to test them during the Open Beta.

The developer has also confirmed that a limited number of Elite Heroes will be in the Open Beta. These new Elite Squads come with their own special abilities and bonuses which change how the game is played. A blog post from earlier this week reveals that Elite Squads have been well balanced. It explains that they “aren’t a win button” and that players don’t need to use them in order to win a match.

The Open Beta for Dawn of War III is multiplayer only. Players will have access to 3v3, 2v2 and 1v1 match sizes. In addition to this, there are only three maps in this test. The full game will feature a single player campaign however, the full details on the multiplayer section of the game haven’t been revealed yet.

Relic Entertainment has warned players that progress made in this Open Beta will not be carried forwards to the full game. Anyone interested in taking part in the Open Beta can sign up for it on the official website here.

We will provide you with updates as we learn more about Dawn of War III over the coming few days.