The world feels really strange right now, and Phantasy Star Online 2 is in open beta in North America right now. Are those two things related? Almost certainly not; odds are basically 100% that these two facts are unrelated. But it certainly doesn’t lead to the world feeling less weird. (It also has lockboxes, but it’s a free-to-play game in 2020; you knew that going in.)
Other beta news? Yes, of course.
- World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has a new encrypted alpha, notable since this shows work continuing apace even as it’s being done from home. Again, the world feels strange right now.
- Ship of Heroes may or may not be able to defeat your dragon punch, but it does have the new Street Fighting powerset to show off and a surprise beta coming.
- Speaking of showing off, New World has been doing that this week with its weapons and the enemy group The Corrupted.
- Horses and mounted combat have been added in to Gloria Victis with the latest patch, so you yourself can show off by fighting people on horseback.
- Last but not least, sometimes you just have a game with a title that tells you everything… like Swords n’ Magic and Stuff. It has all three of those things.
And with that, we bid adieu to betas… but only a temporary adieu, just for one week. You know, like most weekly columns. We do have a list of things in testing just past the break if you’d like to take a peek at it, and maybe let us know if something jumped test phases without us noticing. Keep calm and test games.
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 has ended
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: Open 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.
