This could be you!

Citadel Studios have kicked off an open preview weekend for Shards Online, opening up the game to the general public. Even those who haven’t yet backed the game on Kickstarter can get in on the action; just download Shards Online and dive right in:

Additional details:

This weekend, everyone can play Shards Online.The WORLD PREMIERE Shards public pre-alpha preview event begins Thursday 6/5 at 4:00 PM EDT (8:00 PM GMT) and runs through the weekend.

We’re opening our pre-alpha game to the public, with servers set to accommodate up to 400+ players. While we’re at it, we’re taking over the MMORPG Twitch channel.

If you’re not in game, you can watch us on Twitch. If you can’t find us on MMORPG, check out the Shards channel: http://www.twitch.tv/shardsonline.

If you have your own Twitch channel and plan to stream Shards Online, email us at events@citadelstudios.net; we’ll list your stream on our events page and the official Shards Online channel will follow you!

Oh, and there’s also this:

NOTE: We are lifting the NDA for this weekend. Feel free to openly discuss the game with your friends!

From what I’ve heard from those who’ve logged in and given the game a try thus far, Citadel has set the open preview up to work, more or less, as a MOBA-style game; you get the opportunity at the beginning to build up skills, and then can enter into pitched battles against other players.