Killzone: Mercenary Closed Beta Is Now Live

The upcoming PS Vita installment in the Killzone series, Killzone: Mercenary, is set to release in September of 2013. However, Sony had announced that there would be two beta testing periods for the game’s multiplayer mode, one closed and one open, the first of which went live today.

Gamers who received a promotional voucher via their PlayStation home, be aware that your voucher is for the open beta, which takes place in late August, not for the closed beta which is now happening.

The above video gives us a bit of insight into the new Killzone: Mercenary multiplayer mode, as we sit down with some of the developers and hear their thoughts. One element that received special focus was to ensure that even when players are playing offline in solo mode, their character stat increases and load outs would still transfer over into their online multiplayer play. This will allow for varying degrees of opponent difficulty, as some players will have put in more time than others.

With this comes a fun and unique system centered on “Valor Cards.” Valor cards are more or less a symbol of how good of advanced your character is at any given moment. Killing someone in multiplayer will net you player’s valor card. Collect valor cards to form different hands and combinations (such as a straight or a flush) and you can trade them in for cash prizes, which can be put towards further advancing your character.

If you missed out on the closed beta, be sure to sign up for the open in late August.