It’s a whole New World all over again! And it is actually a new New World, to be clear; it’s back in alpha testing, yes, but this is the new version of the game and not the one that abruptly left testing a while ago. The headline says that it’s in the old alpha because it’s a humorous parallel to the title of the game, see. Get it? It’s funny! It’s… ah, let’s just get on to the other beta news.
- Bless Unleashed finally has a launch date of March 12th, in case you felt like the original version of Bless was primarily harmed by the presence of leashes. It really is a pretty different game, though.
- Meanwhile, Shadow Arena (the standalone battle royale based on Black Desert Online) enters closed testing on February 27th, now with far less hacking trouble.
- The Phantasy Star Online 2 beta had some technical difficulties, so it went on for an extra day. Somehow, the fact it did not appear on PC was not considered a difficulty; desktop players consider it technically very difficult.
- Last but not least, go ahead and gawk at some more Blue Protocol footage for character creation and the opening cinematic. Why? Because it looks fun.
Now you can head off to a whole old world… or, at least, a familiar one in the form of the list down below. Naturally, some of the items below might have headed into a new world of their own with a shift into a new testing phase or a surreptitious launch, and we’d appreciate if you let us know about that in the comments. It’s the friendly thing to do.
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: Alpha one phase one; Apocalypse early access
Bless Unleashed: Open beta
Camelot Unchained: Closed beta one
Children of Ur: Open alpha, further development merged with Eleven
Chronicles of Elyria: Pre-alpha
Crowfall: Backer pre-alpha, alpha now expected in 2020
Cube World: Closed beta since September 23rd
Dauntless: Open beta
Dark and Light: Early access
Dual Universe: Alpha
ECO: Early access
Eleven: Closed alpha
Ever, Jane: Open beta
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Gloria Victis: Early access on Steam
Guardians of Ember: Open beta
Hearthstone Battleground Mode: Open beta
Inferna: Early access
Life is Feudal: Early access
Line of Defense: Early access, removed from Steam
Magic: Legends: Beta testing in 2020
New World: Closed alpha, launching May 2020
Occupy White Walls: Early access
Osiris: New Dawn: Open beta
Outlaws of the Old West: Early access
Pantheon: Backer pre-alpha
Pathfinder Online: Subscription “early enrollment”
Phantasy Star Online 2: Closed beta on Xbox One (PC version expected)
Project Genom: Closed alpha, servers offline for restructuring with SpatialOS
Project Gorgon: Early access beta
Prosperous Universe: Early access
Saga of Lucimia: Closed alpha
SamuTale: Closed alpha
Ship of Heroes: Alpha
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Temtem: Early access
The Black Death: Early access alpha
The Cycle: Alpha, weekly test cycle
The Repopulation: Early access alpha
Torchlight III: Closed alpha
Valiance Online: Alpha
Yes, MMO gamers, you too can perform the unpaid quality-control work otherwise known as game testing! Check out Massively Overpowered’s Betawatch every week for a run-down of MMOs that are still on the road to launch, even if they appear to have set up a permanent residence in a shed called early access.
