It’s a long ways away, but Battlestate Games announced that the closed alpha test for Escape From Tarkov will commence on August 4th. The game will undergo stress testing, performance testing and balance testing ahead of the public release.

In addition to announcing that the alpha test will begin on August 4th, they also unveiled that closed alpha test sign-ups are open over on the official website.

Players can register for an opportunity to partake in limited testing phase, getting a sneak peek at the combat, inventory management, weapon customization and looting and scavenging.

To help give players an idea of what to expect from the upcoming title, Battlestate released a new 28 minute video featuring a lot of the basic gameplay mechanics of Escape From Tarkov in action. You can check it out below.

The inventory screen looks a little bit like it was mirrored after DayZ. There’s a lot of information to glean through with the various slots and compartments. It appears as if players will have a utility harness with various slots available for ammo storage, a belt that can hold four extra items, a backpack that can hold various items and a secondary pack, which can hold even more items.

We also get a glimpse of the game’s night vision goggles and how they work with navigating within the environment.

Real-time weapon modifications can also take place on the fly, and we see how the player can make slight tweaks and modifications to some of the weapons they scavenge and pick up along the way.

The shooting in Escape From Tarkov looks legit. There’s recoil, muzzle fire and stability to watch out for, along with 3D sound so you can track where gunfire is coming from, and weapon degradation.

There’s a lot of promise showcased in the video above, and hopefully the final product of Escape From Tarkov can live up to the growing expectations for the game.

The only thing it’s missing is zombies and vampires, and then it could easily replace DayZ. You can learn more about the game as well as some of the features they have planned for the story-oriented multiplayer shooter by visiting the official website.