Hellgate open beta begins Thursday

The free-to-play relaunch of Flagship's failed shooter action-RPG Hellgate: London will enter open beta testing in North America and Europe on Thursday, June 3, new co-operator T3 Entertainment has announced. This follows an unusually short three-day closed beta earlier in the month.

There's no word on exactly how long Hellgate's open beta will run for. However, it has to be at least a month, as that's the duration of one of the events celebrating its launch. Four events will reward players with fancy items, tokens, or virtual currency for playing in a large guild, doing daily quests, levelling quickly, and hitting level milestones.

Two new game modes will also be available when the open beta launches. Duel Arena will offer team-based deathmatch fun, while the Cow Room will contain no bovines but, rather, hordes of zombies and the promise of "the newest and rarest Hellgate item drops."

The revamped Hellgate is due to launch in earnest some time this year. It's being brought back by publisher T3 Entertainment and its subsidiary HanbitSoft, who have continued to operate the game in South Korea since the closure of creator Flagship Studios in 2008.