Steep, the surprise Ubisoft game of E3, opens beta registration for gamers interested in trying the open-world extreme sports game ahead of its December launch.

Despite not releasing a new Assassin’s Creed game, 2016 is a big year for Ubisoft. In the Spring, the publisher launched Far Cry Primal, along with its highly anticipated cover-shooter, Tom Clancy’s The Division. In the coming months, Ubisoft will be releasing Just Dance 2017, Watch Dogs 2, and Steep.

While most of these were expected, the last one on the list, Steep, was a surprise reveal at this summer’s E3 conference. While Ubisoft didn’t provide a ton of information about the game at the time, it showed enough to get gamers talking about the title. And now, with only a few months left until release, gamers will get a chance to start playing Steep via Ubisoft’s beta tests.

Gamers can head over to the Steep page on Ubisoft’s website and sign up for the beta phases for their platform of choice. The game is set to come out on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, so unfortunately legacy console owners won’t have an opportunity to participate. Gamers will need a Ubisoft Club account to complete the registration.

There’s currently no date set for when the beta phases will take place, but chances are good that it will start sometime in October. With the game currently set to release on December 2nd, an October beta will give Ubisoft enough time to make any needed tweaks to the game before its public launch.

Steep was one of the biggest surprises at E3 this year, considering nothing had been shared or revealed about it before it was announced on the Ubisoft stage. The open-world extreme sports game looks to carve out a new genre of sports games that makes the most of current generation console specs and abilities. Its ambitious premise looks to throw players into the adrenaline-pounding world of extreme sports, from snowboarding and snow skiing, to wingsuit flying and paragliding.

Steep looks to build off the previous generation of extreme sports games by allowing players to go beyond the bounds of linear lines and areas that have dominated the genre for decades. Naturally, this means there’s new ground to break in terms of gameplay, so beta tests will be a welcome opportunity for players to try the game and for Ubisoft to prepare the game for final launch.

That said, Ubisoft is notorious for release games filled with game-breaking bugs and issues, from the Assassin’s Creed Unity snafu to the thousands of technical issues experienced during Rainbow Six Siege’s launch. With no new Assassin’s Creed game schedule for this year, and games like For Honor, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands all set to release next year, it’s important for Steep to have a solid launch in December.

What do you think about Steep? Are you planning to sign up for the beta?

Steep is set to launch on December 2, 2016 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: Ubisoft