Today, we celebrate Enshrouded entering into early access this week. Not because this is a game I am deeply invested in or anything like that, but because it turns out Bree had kind of forgot it existed. I feel sad for a game when that happens. Sure, I forget a lot of games exist, because I’m both a terrible person and make a point of letting things I don’t care about slip out of my mind. But Bree actually remembers tons of stuff. You are seen today, Enshrouded. You even get a header image.
Not that this week has been hurting for survival sandbox news, thought. For starters, Fractured Veil went into early access, and yes, it’s a zombie survivalbox in the year 2024 CE! How did we ever get so lucky? Meanwhile, Palworld has become the early access sensation du jour with its hopefully legally distinct pocket monsters (not pokeymans) holding guns. Life is hilarious!
Subdued by all this hilarity, I am just going to drive south until my car drifts under the sea. Do not come looking for me; instead, go looking into our list of beta news just below and our list of games in testing below that. If something has been missed, either a change in testing phase or a game that we didn’t list, let us know in the comments! Someone not drifting under the sea will take care of that. Depending on how long it takes me, I might do that on my phone.
Almost 11 years post-Kickstarter, Camelot Unchained devs are working on UI, lighting, NPC navigation, and performance
Palworld tops 2M concurrency on Steam as the Pokémon company ‘intends to investigate’
Nightingale is less than a month away – here’s a six-minute preview of its features
Pantheon Rise of the Fallen talks stats, art style, character death, and 2024 plans in new Q&A
Tarisland’s new story trailer takes another cue from World of Warcraft
Co-op survivalbox Enshrouded just launched into Steam early access
Tarisland shows female Paladin concept while saying that gender unlocking is going to take time
The Stream Team: Taking a first peek into the early access of Palworld
Valheim, three years in early access, plods along on development of its Ashlands biome
Pantheon Rise of the Fallen confirms January 27 pre-alpha test will include alpha pledges once again
Palia’s Luna New Year event arrives January 30 ahead of the lunar new year itself
Wayfinder previews the optimization and performance upgrades coming in its February patch
Hawaii-themed zombie survivalbox Fractured Veil finally makes its early access release to mixed reviews
MMO sandbox BitCraft emphasizes player ownership and terraforming while avoiding a griefing ‘hellscape’
Anvil Empires introduces new settlement structures, including windmills, in latest pre-alpha
Myth of Empires cranks out a playtest for its upcoming February launch
Throne & Liberty KR discusses stat integration, siege wars, and (vaguely) the global launch
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 often 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. Finally, we’ll mark games “malingering” if they’ve been in a certain tier of development for a long time with no clear path to launch.
Open testing
Closed testing
Paid access
Legit MMORPG
Multiplayer
MalingeringAbyss: Closed alpha
The Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access
Aero Tales Online: Early access
Age of Water: Paid closed beta
Anvil Empires: Intermittent alpha
Arcane Waters: Early access
Arcfall: Pre-alpha
ARK 2: Paid early access
Ashes of Creation: Alpha two in planning
Ashfall: Closed beta
ASKA: Closed beta
Battlebit: Early access
Battle Crush: Beta
Bellatores: Closed testing
Bitcraft: Alpha planned for 2024
Blue Protocol: Launching worldwide in 2024, technical tests starting November 8th
Book of Travels: Early access
Camelot Unchained: Closed beta
Chronicles of Elyria: Pre-alpha, again
Chrono Odyssey: Closed testing
Cinderstone Online: Closed beta
City of Titans: Alpha
Coreborn: Nations of the Ultracore: Early access
Corepunk: Early access planned for end of winter
Craftopia: Early access
The Crew Motorfest: Closed testing
Dark and Darker: Paid early access, legal troubles.
Dark and Light: Early access (abandoned?)
Darkbind: Closed beta (probably abandoned?)
The Day Before: Early Access going great
The Division Heartland: Closed testing
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha
Dune Awakening: Closed testing, signups now
ECO: Early access
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enlisted: Beta
Enshrouded: Early access
EVE Vanguard: First beta test concluded
Evercore Heroes: Paid testing, updates stopping with a focus on a redesign
Fae Farm: Closed testing, launch planned for September 8th
The First Descendant: Crossplay beta
Fractured Online: Paid early access, back on Steam
Fractured Veil: Early access
Frozen Flame: Early access
Genfanad: Beta
Ilysia: Early access
Inferna: Early access
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Last Oasis: Early access (abandoned?)
Legendarium Online: Paid alpha access
Lost Skies: Pre-alpha
Monster Hunter Now: Closed beta
Monsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alpha, public beta this weekend
Mortal Exodus: Closed testing
Multiversus: Returned to closed testing
Nightingale: Ongoing closed events
Noah’s Heart: Beta
Odd Giants: Alpha
Once Human: Beta on December 7th
Outlaws of the Old West: Early access
Palia: Open beta
Palworld: Early access
Pantheon: Backer alpha, 247 canceled
Past Fate: Closed testing
Path of Exile 2: Beta June 2024
Pax Dei: Closed alpha
Perfect New World: Closed beta
Pow Vista: Open beta (mobile)
Project Crawl: Closed testing
Project F4E: Closed testing
Project Genom: Closed alpha (servers offline, abandoned?)
Project Gorgon: Early access beta
Project Loki: Closed beta
Project ST: Closed testing, open event ended
Prosperous Universe: Early access
Quinfall: Beta delayed to 2024
Return Alive: Closed beta
Reign of Guilds: Beta event in mid-December, early access planned for 2024
SamuTale: “Paid closed alpha early access” according to the developer, which is just early access, come on dude
Seed: Active development
Seekers of Skyveil: Continuing alpha testing
Shadow’s Kiss: Early access (but read this first)
Ship of Heroes: Beta testing
Skull and Bones: Closed beta
Smite 2: Signups open, wipe-free beta mid-2024
Soulframe: “Pre-pre-pre-pre-alpha” testing wrapped up
Spellcraft: Alpha
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Tarisland: Second closed beta
Throne & Liberty: Western launch delayed into 2024, live in South Korea
Trimurti Online: Stress testing
Valheim: Early access
V Rising: Early access
Valiance Online: Closed beta
The Wagadu Chronicles: Early access
Warhaven: Early access
Waven Early access
Wayfinder Early access ahead of full launch
We welcome additions and corrections to this list; send your info our way via tips!
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.
