Monster Hunter Online begins closed beta October 24, open beta in November

If you like slashing monsters and you’re based in China, I have some good news: Tencent and Capcom’s Monster Hunter Online is going into closed beta in just a couple of weeks on October 24, and will begin distributing keys to the public around two weeks afterwards.That means if you’re really lucky, you could be playing Monster Hunter Online by the end of October, and a lot of people will probably be playing it by the end of November. Monsters, beware!

Monster Hunter Online is a collaboration between Capcom (which owns the Monster Hunter franchise) and China’s Tencent Games (which actually developed the game). It was built using Crytek’s CryEngine 3 (the same game engine used for Crysis 2), which means it looks absolutely gorgeous. Check out the trailer below (be sure to watch it in HD if your connection will allow it). I feel a little bad for all the monsters getting slaughtered, but damn does this game look pretty!

Thus far, Monster Hunter Online has only been confirmed for release in China, but we hope that Tencent will consider exporting this thing to other regions, too, because it looks pretty damn beautiful. And who doesn’t like slaying crazy monsters? No one, that’s who.