The following announcement from Chip Bumgardner, RYL Game Lord, was posted on the official Risk Your Life forums this past week:

Here it is folks, the announcement you've been waiting for... I am getting www.download.com set up with the 5.18 client right now (literally right now). It takes a few days to get that up and running. So start checking their website soon. You can get the download and get it all set up so you are ready for when the floodgates open. We're also going to be mirroring the download a few other places. I'll give you the list when it's ready. The Open Beta sign-up page will be completed over the next couple days. Once that's up, I'll make an announcement so you guys can get set up with your login / password. Hmmm... What else... Expect the auto-patcher to have some files for you soon. Once that happens we will be ready for Open Beta. So, let the madness begin. Feel free to copy this message anywhere.

It was amended on Friday as follows:

****As of 5:20 on Friday, the Auto-Patcher still hasn't been enabled. This pretty much wipes us out for the weekend. I would suggest you still look for the Client on Download.com over the weekend...

And as of Monday morning, the 5.18 client was still unavailable at download.com.  However, we are apparently very close to open beta, so keep checking here.  We'll let you know as soon as we know.

You may also check the RYL forums.  For game info, visit the official Risk Your Life website.