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Try out Savage 2 for free

The offline bit, anyway.

S2 Games has announced plans to make Savage 2: A Tortured Soul available for free download via their official website.

You'll be able to try out the tutorial mode, AI mode and practice mode for no money at all, and even play Savage 2 over LAN. But if you want to take the game online - which is sort of the whole point really - you'll need to cough up $29.99. Paying to play is also the only way to build up your character and save your stats and persistent items.

"We pride ourselves on being truly independent and basing many of our decisions on how our fans will benefit," said S2 co-founder Marc DeForest.

"By offering a fully functional game as a free download, it will give gamers an opportunity to 'test drive' Savage 2 before actually paying for an account and playing online. As gamers, we know we would appreciate that kind of treatment ourselves, so it�s only right that we do unto others."

Savage 2 sees humans and beasts fighting it out for dominance in the land of Newerth. It's a crazy old blend of real-time strategy, first-person shooter and RPG elements, and as you'll know if you read our review, we rather liked the first one.

Savage 2 is due out this summer.