Magic Legends has soft launched into open beta, bringing Magic the Gathering to PC fans

PWE and Cryptic’s Magic the Gathering game has been delayed and demoted from its original MMORPG status over the years, but now it’s finally here, as the studios are officially soft-launching it as Magic Legends today, Neverwinter-style with a free-to-play open beta.

“Today, Perfect World Entertainment, a leading publisher of online games, and Cryptic Studios announced Magic: Legends has entered Open Beta on Arc Games and the Epic Games Store. For the first time ever, millions of players from around the world will be able to experience the free-to-play, persistent-world, action RPG set in the iconic Multiverse of Magic: The Gathering. Those who join the game’s Open Beta will assume the role of a powerful, spell-wielding Planeswalker and travel across five diverse regions while collecting more than 175 powerful mana-based spells and 170 pieces of Equipment inspired by the original strategy game.”

Do note that you can play either through PWE’s Arc launcher or the Epic Games Store, and depending on which one you pick, there’s a bundle of goodies in it for you, though it does sound as if EGS was having problems earlier. The full PC launch, along with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launch, is still expected “later this year.”

MOP’s own Eliot Lefebvre toured the game earlier this month, finding a fun romp for those expecting the “persistent world hack-n-cast online action RPG” that the game transformed into last year. If you wanted the MMO the studios originally announced, however, you might come away disappointed. But you’re an MMO fan, so you’re used to that. The launch pics and trailer are down below.

Here’s a quick recap of all of our coverage of the game, from its first hints to now: