Fighting game Rising Thunder's alpha is now open to all

If you've been waiting to play Radiant Entertainment's free-to-play fighting game Rising Thunder, which has been in closed technical alpha as of late July, wait no more. The game's alpha is now available to play and no longer requires a download code to play.

"Network test success!" developer Radiant Games tweeted earlier today. "As a result, Rising Thunder Alpha is now open to all. ... play immediately — no waiting!"

The developer said a balance patch that includes new character variants is also imminent.

Rising Thunder is developed by fighting game veterans Seth Killian, who worked on Street Fighter 4 at Capcom; Tom Cannon, who founded the Evo Championship Series tournament; and Tony Cannon, who developed online play middleware GGPO. The free-to-play fighter aims to eliminate some of the input barriers that can make learning fighting games intimidating, while remaining a hardcore competitive fighting game.

Rising Thunder is currently Windows PC-only. Interested players can sign up at the game's official website.

For more on Rising Thunder, read Polygon's interview with Killian.