At long last, ECO has moved from alpha into beta and Early Access on Steam. Drop a little money on it and you can get into testing this blocky ecological simulation sandbox. Yes, it’s along the lines of Minecraft, but the goal here is simulating the influence you can have on ecological simulations. So you can insist to others that it’s educational and actually be right.
We’ve also had some other beta news this week, and as we do every week, we’ve assembled some highlights below in easy-to-read list format.
- The latest version of the Elite: Dangerous expansion beta brings the test version as close to the eventual live version as possible, so players involved in testing will be able to see more and do more with the next big update. Who doesn’t like that?
- On the other hand, any fans of upcoming mobile title Fellow: Eternal Clash will be sad to hear that the game’s beta test has been pushed back to March after originally being planned for this week. Who likes waiting longer?
- Fans of Starfall Tactics are going to need to wait a little longer, but not much longer; the title is having another test round starting on February 21st. There’s a lot of new stuff to test out in the latest build, too. Who wouldn’t be happy to test more things?
- All right, perhaps Dauntless fans would like to test fewer things and move closer to launch. Good thing the game has outlined its upcoming steps toward proper beta testing, then. Who isn’t happy for forward progress?
- Last but not least, World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth alpha testing has begun, although as this is a proper alpha there’s still a bunch of stuff missing or not implemented. Still, that means you might find a lovely new gift of alpha access sitting when you open up your launcher. Who doesn’t like that?
All of the questions above, I promise, were purely rhetorical. You don’t need to answer them down in the comments. You can, however, let us know if something is wrong with the list below where we keep all of our important beta news. You can also let us know about betas you’re involved in testing, or talk about this week’s stories, or whatever you so desire. We’re flexible that way.
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, with occasional exceptions.
AdventureQuest 3D: Open beta
Boundless: Donor alpha
Camelot Unchained:Â Backer alpha
Children of Ur: Open alpha
Citadel: Forged with Fire: Early access
Closers: Closed beta
Crowfall: Backer pre-alpha
Cube World: Closed alpha
Dauntless: Closed beta
Dark and Light: Early access
DayZ: Early access
Divergence Online:Â Alpha
ECO: Early access on Steam
Edengrad: Early access
Eleven:Â Closed alpha
Ever, Jane: Open beta
Gloria Victis: Early access on Steam
Global Adventures: Closed beta
H1Z1:Â Paid early access
Just Survive: Paid early access
Legends of Aria: Closed beta
Life is Feudal: Early access
Line of Defense: Early access, removed from Steam
OrbusVR: Early access
Osiris: New Dawn: Early access
Pathfinder Online: Subscription “early enrollment”
Project Genom: Closed alpha
Project Gorgon: Free, open testing
SamuTale: Closed alpha
Sea of Thieves: Closed beta ends January 31st
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Stash: Backer alpha
The Black Death: Early access alpha
The Culling: Early access testing
The Exiled: Early access; formerly Das Tal
The Repopulation: Closed alpha
TUG: Steam early access alpha
Valiance Online: Alpha testing
Wild Buster: Limited alpha testing
Wild Terra: Steam early access
Wild West Online: Early access alpha
Worlds Adrift: Closed beta
