Tencent is a Chinese gaming company that wants to control all of the Chinese gaming market, but it didn’t control World of Warcraft in in China. (Ignoring the fact that now Netease doesn’t control it, either.) But someone at Tencent had a brainstorm. “What’s World of Warcraft about, anyway?” he asked. “Elves and trees and dragons and shit, right? We can make those.” So now we have Tarisland, which is very much what happens when your mother informs you that we have WoW at home.
Other beta news, possibly not at home:
- Fractured Online is promising that it’ll be back online in February after all of the Gamigo antics in what the developers are still not blaming on Gamigo.
- Ship of Heroes is planning testing soon and is already getting set up with a Steam page. Here’s hoping, you guys.
- Who the heck are the Aridola? Well, they’re a faction in Pantheon, and you can read all about them right now.
- Last but not least, here’s Project D. Nope. We’re not making jokes about the name. Just read the news story. Just going to let that go. No puns, no wordplay, just letting it move on past.
Now, I am quite sick, so I am going to go lie down. However, there is still a list down below that you can peruse, and you can let us know if something skipped to another test phase without us noticing or if anything is missing from the list. It’s always appreciated.
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, nor will games that are NFT/blockchain scams; we also do not list expansions, with occasional exceptions.
Aero Tales Online: Early access
Arcane Waters: Early access
Arcfall: Pre-alpha
Age of Water: Beta
Ashes of Creation: Alpha two in planning
Book of Travels: Early access
Camelot Unchained: Closed beta
Chronicles of Elyria: Pre-alpha, again
Cinderstone Online: Closed beta
City of Titans: Alpha
Corepunk: Closed alpha
Craftopia: Early access
The Cycle: Closed beta
Dark and Light: Early access
Darkbind: Closed beta
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha
ECO: Early access
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enlisted: Beta
Fractured Online: Back in closed development, early access aiming for February
Frozen Flame: Early access
Galahad 3093: Early access
Genfanad: Alpha
Gloria Victis: Beta (early access) on Steam
Ilysia: Alpha two
Inferna: Early access
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Last Oasis: Early access
Noah’s Heart: Beta
Mad World: Beta
Osiris: New Dawn: Open beta
Outlaws of the Old West: Early access
Palia: Closed alpha
Pantheon: Backer pre-alpha, monthly alpha tests planned for 2023 (first on January 28th)
Past Fate: Closed alpha
Project Genom: Closed alpha, servers offline for restructuring with SpatialOS
Project Gorgon: Early access beta
Prosperous Universe: Early access
SamuTale: Closed alpha
Seed: Alpha
Ship of Heroes: Beta testing
Skull and Bones: Closed alpha
Skydome: Closed beta
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Tarisland: Beta
The Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access on January 26th
The Black Death: Early access alpha
The Cycle: Closed beta
V Rising: Early access
Valiance Online: Closed beta
The Wagadu Chronicles: Alpha two
Waven: Open 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.
