Ahead of the February 22 launch for EA and BioWare's open-world shared shooter Anthem, a planned Open Demo is scheduled to kick off on February 1. Aside from giving players a chance to dive into portions of the game online with friends and strangers, or alone, it's also great that it's being referred to as a demo. And not a "Beta" days before release.

The announcement came via BioWare's blog, which also notes that a special VIP Demo will commence a week earlier in January for those that pre-order. Which is a guess as the post doesn't mention exactly who the VIPs are. As per the info, "The demos will include sections of the final game, so you can enjoy Anthem ahead of its February 22 launch".

Expect to see a lot more Anthem in the lead-up to launch. And for more be sure to check out the recent story trailer that dropped at The Game Awards - which we thought was great.