Players of Crowfall are in quite a lot of peril with the arrival of the Siege Perilous testing phase. Or are they assaulting a place called “Perilous?” It could go several ways from a grammatical perspective. Plans are already in place for the game’s next stage of testing, and there are several bigger picture answers available for anyone fascinated by the game and looking for more information.
This week, we bid farewell to Ascent, which has launched out of early access in the hopes of garnering a bit more attention and a wider playerbase because otherwise it’s going to be hard to keep spending time and money working on it. That might not be pleasant, but it’s still the reality.
Other beta news? Oh, yes indeed.
- Overwatch is hosting another beta test, with the intention of making this the final of its special test weekends. Players can jump in on all of the game’s heroes if they so desire, albeit not all at once. That would just be weird.
- The early access for Fragmented (the survival spinoff of The Repopulation) kicks off on April 26th. Testers are still NDA until then, if you’re wondering why no one has said good-or-bad things about it yet.
- For those who want early access to The Black Death, the survival sandbox is opening up early access on April 19th. Your other option is to be in Crimea back in the 14th century, but that sort of “early access” is less advisable.
- Speaking of the all-the-rage survival sandbox genre, Rust managed to stir a bit of a hornet’s nest this week when it implemented gender… which, as with everything else about characters, is determined by your Steam ID rather than any input on your part.
- Last but not least, the long-delayed next patch for Elite: Dangerous is going into testing in May. It’s been a bit of a wait!
And yes, a full list of beta stuff exists down below. Go forth! Read! Let us know if something slipped into another test phase without us realizing it! Tell us what you think about betas not under NDA! Use exclamation marks relentlessly! Bees!
As always, we consider an MMO to be in open testing if it features free, public signups and will server wipe prior to launch. An MMO is marked in closed testing if it’s running a private test phase that cannot freely be accessed by the general public; it’s usually under NDA as well. Early access and crowdfunded MMOs whose tests we deem legitimate will be included. So-called “open beta” soft-launch MMOs with cash shops, no sign of launch in the west, or limited interest for our readers will not be listed; we also do not list expansions.
Albion Online: Closed beta
Asta: Open beta
Beasts of Prey:Â Early access alpha
Boundless: Donor alpha
Camelot Unchained:Â Backer alpha, development in crunch for beta
Chronicles: Runescape Legends: Closed beta
Crossout: Closed beta
Crowfall: Backer pre-alpha
Das Tal: Alpha expected in April
DayZ: Early access
Divergence Online:Â Alpha
Dungeon Fighter Online: Open testing
Eleven:Â Closed alpha
Eternal Crusade: Early access play on Steam
Ever, Jane: Closed beta
Gloria Victis: Donor pre-alpha
H1Z1:Â Paid early access, split into two games, launch expected in March
HEX:Â Unofficial open beta
Landmark: Paid closed beta, cash shop active, launching in spring
Life is Feudal: Early access beta
Line of Defense: Early access, removed from Steam
MyDream: Closed testing open to donors
Origins of Malu:Â Combat module in early access
Otherland: Early access
Overwatch: Closed beta, launching May 24th
Paragon: Early access
Pathfinder Online: Subscription “early enrollment”
Project Genom: Closed alpha
Project Gorgon: Free, open testing
Shards Online: Pre-alpha
Shroud of the Avatar: Steam early access, backer testing
SkySaga: Ongoing NA and UK alpha events
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Stash: Backer alpha
The Repopulation: Alpha offline, moving to the Unreal engine, survival spinoff starts early access April 26th
Tree of Life: Paid early access, open beta on April 18th
Tree of Savior: Early access
Tribal Wars 2: Open testing
TUG: Steam early access alpha
Valiance Online: Pre-alpha testing
Venus Rising: Closed beta (adult/NSFW), currently on development hiatus due to Hero Engine issues
