Get in, get kills, get loot, get out. That’s what Marathon is all about.

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But before you can explore Bungie’s new extraction shooter set in its decades-old franchise that began in the early 90s, you need alpha test access and a lot of patience. Thankfully, the wait to get online in the limited-access test is not much longer now.

The stylish-looking shooter set on fictional world Tau Ceti IV will be a new home for FPS players soon enough. But first, the game needs some work under the hood, and that’s where the closed alpha test comes in. Get ready to supply some feedback and help shape the title to be the best it can be.

Here’s everything there is to know about when to expect the Marathon closed alpha test to begin.

When does the Marathon alpha test begin?

Image via Bungie

The servers for the Marathon alpha test go live on April 23 at 12pm CT. The countdown below shows exactly how much time is left until then:

Marathon closed alpha test start time

Marathon’s closed alpha test will be a small sampling of the full game that’s set to launch later this year, and access to the test is also quite limited. Bungie will use feedback and info from the alpha to iterate on the game to improve it before launch, but it’s also possible that a beta test could take place this summer, too.

Bear in mind, however, that since this is an alpha, it’s possible Bungie’s servers will have issues with players attempting to log on and play all at the same time, and there may even be a queue.

On the Marathon Discord server, Bungie said that it “will be implementing a population cap” when the alpha goes live, so “you may have to wait a bit as we get everyone in” right at 12pm CT when the test begins.

Image via Bungie

Patience, as always, is important when it comes to pre-release tests like this, so be prepared for some bumps along the way. “Pardon our dust,” as Bungie likes to say.

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