Oh, boy, Star Citizen. It’s been a week. First, the little boy who would never lose faith in you lost faith in you. In a film, this is the point when you check into rehab. In real life, this is the point when the game released a trailer for alpha 3.2 that contains things not actually in alpha 3.2. And then they released another concept ship you can buy which looks… let’s be kind and say oddly similar to a ship from EVE Online. A well-known one. EVE Online had some fun with that. In short, the game is going to move to Australia.
Other beta news? Sure, yeah, let’s go for it.
- Amidst all the other news, The Crew 2 revealed its open beta will start on June 21st! You can try before you buy. Very briefly, because it launches on the Tuesday after that. So try hard.
- Pantheon is getting ready for its third pre-alpha, and it has a zone where everything works! That’s not sarcastic, that’s actually a landmark. I’m lucky when half of the zones in my home mostly work.
- The combat in Legends of Aria should be more sensible now. That’s welcome. Especially as you’ll be doing quite a bit more of it, as fast travel has been correspondingly weakened. Getting places is boring, or something.
- Why did Bless Online choose early access? Because Neowiz likes money? Probably, but maybe you should listen to the official explanation instead of being cynical. Or before being cynical anyway, we shan’t judge.
- Last but not least, Ship of Heroes has explained the team’s definitions of alpha, beta, open testing, and closed testing. There’s no snark to be had there. We like that sort of thing in this column.
Did you have a good week? Would you like to end it by looking at the games currently in testing? Would you like to tell us if something is mislabeled down in the comments? All of these things are good and you should do them.
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
Arcfall: Pre-alpha
Ashes of Creation: Backer alpha zero
Bless Online: Early access open beta
Boundless: Donor alpha
Camelot Unchained: Backer alpha, beta on July 4th
Children of Ur: Open alpha
Citadel: Forged with Fire: Early access
Crowfall: Backer pre-alpha
Cube World: Closed alpha
Dauntless: Open beta
Dark and Light: Early access
DayZ: Early access
Defiance 2050: Almost beta
Divergence Online: Alpha
Dual Universe: Pre-alpha
ECO: Early access
Edengrad: Early access
Eleven: Closed alpha
Ever, Jane: Open beta
Gloria Victis: Early access on Steam
Global Adventures: Closed beta
Just Survive: Paid early access
Legends of Aria: Closed beta, open beta in June
Life is Feudal: Early access
Line of Defense: Early access, removed from Steam
Occupy White Walls: Closed alpha
OrbusVR: Early access
Osiris: New Dawn: Early access
Pantheon: Backer pre-alpha
Pathfinder Online: Subscription “early enrollment”
PixARK: Early access
Project Genom: Closed alpha
Project Gorgon: Early access beta
Rend: Alpha testing
SamuTale: Closed alpha
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Stash: Backer alpha
The Black Death: Early access alpha
The Repopulation: Early access alpha
TUG: Early access alpha, possibly abandoned
Valiance Online: Alpha
Wild Terra: Steam early access
Worlds Adrift: Early access
