You can sign up for the Minecraft Earth closed beta right now

We’ve known about Minecraft Earth, Mojang’s foray into the world of AR, for a little while now, but the news today is that sign-ups for the game’s closed beta have now opened, with the first batch of players set to gain access within the next couple weeks.

The closed beta trailer promises a "living, breathing Minecraft world", fit with many similar mechanics from the main game. It’s obviously very much like Niantic’s Pokemon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, though there are some neat new ideas here that could set it apart.

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Creating small-scale structures on any flat surface in tabletop mode is said to be easy, with your builds coming to life as full 3D holograms. Once done, you can place them into the real world at full scale for all to see and enjoy. It really wants to encourage you to be social and meet up with like-minded players to craft almost anything your heart desires.

There are challenges to take on, resources to gather, and Endermen to avoid when out and about in the game’s world. You’ll also find tons of different mobs to discover and collect, including unique variations of many fan-favourites.

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If you’re interested, you can sign up for the Minecraft Earth closed beta over on the game’s official site. Doing so will get you a limited-edition skin, and you’ll need a mobile device that runs at least Android 7 or iOS10. Any progress made in the beta will not carry over to the main game, which is honestly to be expected, and it’s set to start on iOS first, with an Android launch coming further down the line.