It seemed like we would never again hear about Throne & Liberty, given how long globally oriented comms had been silence, but that was not the case. Yes, at long last the game has announced that its open beta is arriving on April 10th, so you can put NCsoft’s claims that the Western playerbase will eat this shiz up to the test. Whether or not you are eager to eat it up remains to be seen, but Tarisland is also apparently nearing its own global release.
Meanwhile, Marvel Rivals is a thing that exists, and while you might be asking why “Overwatch-but-Marvel” would succeed when efforts like “Overwatch-but-Gundam” failed, it may behoove you to take a look at how actual Overwatch is doing these days. (Spoiler: poorly.) Monsters and Memories is meanwhile hoping for early access in 2026, which is a while away. And a special “what the actual heckin’ heck” award for Palia, which managed to just non-stop shoot itself in the foot this week trying to deal with something as simple as “being in beta.”
So you know the drill; there’s a mess of beta news just below, and our list of games in testing just below that, if something slipped test stages without our noticing, let us know in the comments, so on and so forth. We see you and appreciate you out there. You want to hang out later? Maybe get some Italian food, see where things go? This can happen any time, readers. Call us. Betawatch can get real weird.
NetEase and Marvel Games are building a new team shooter called Marvel Rivals, with closed alpha in May
Star Citizen highlights on-foot HUD updates arriving in Alpha 3.23
New Hellgate game for PC and console, codenamed Hellgate Redemption, is in the works
PSA: Palia is still in open beta and should be flagged that way on Steam too
Throne and Liberty finally opens signups for April 10 global beta
Dune Awakening discusses MMO size, PvP and PvE, the deep desert, and getting rid of Funcom ‘jank’
Cozy MMO Palia handwaves its bizarre beta obfuscation on the grounds that it’s free-to-play
RuneScape-inspired Brighter Shores plans AFK character advancement
Aquatic survival MMO Age of Water addresses comms, PvP, and gamepads ahead of next month’s launch
Donkey Crew debuts new trailer for survival RPG Bellwright while Last Oasis languishes in early access
Palia expands its open beta to Steam today alongside Temple of the Roots and flora update
‘Realtime action-based MMORPG’ Quest Master’s Realm confirms early access launch March 29
Wayfinder says disentangling from Digital Extremes caused its lapse in updates and communication
Ships at Sea is a new multiplayer maritime ship sim, setting sail for early access in May
Monsters and Memories hopes to launch into early access by the start of 2026
RIFT hosts a server load test party this evening with free level-ups
Tarisland looks at the Misty Forest in its latest map preview
Tarisland opens registration as it ‘nears official release’ (but no the launch is not June 14)
Enlisted Reinforced quickly suspends Steam early access over pricing and technical issues
Throwback MMO Scars of Honor posts a wrap-up video for its sixth playtest
Choose My Adventure: Losing myself roaming the realms of Nightingale
Palworld plans player testing of ‘exciting new content’ and continues its parade of creature feature videos
Paragon-spinoff Predecessor has soft launched into F2P open beta early access on Steam (and everywhere else)
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, early access starts April 18th
The Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access
Aero Tales Online: Early access
Age of Water: Paid closed beta, early access April 18th
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: Second global beta
Bellatores: Closed testing
Bitcraft: Alpha planned for April 2nd, 2024
Blue Protocol: Launching worldwide in 2024, technical tests starting November 8th
Book of Travels: Early access
Brighter Shores: Launch planned for Q3 2024, MMO scale not yet clarified
Camelot Unchained: Closed beta, planning to launch in late 2025
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 2024
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 Division Heartland: Closed testing
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha
Dune Awakening: Closed testing, signups now
ECO: Early access, full launch planned in 2024
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enlisted: Reinforced: Early access delayed for an indeterminate time
Enshrouded: Early access
Eternal Tombs: Closed beta in April
EVE Vanguard: Second beta ongoing
Evercore Heroes: Paid testing, updates stopping with a focus on a redesign
Final Stand: Ragnarok: Early access (officially, really)
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
Legendarium Online: Paid alpha access
Lost Skies: Pre-alpha
Marvel Rivals: Closed alpha in May
Monsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alpha
Mortal Exodus: Closed testing
Multiversus: Full launch on May 28th
Nightingale: Early access
Noah’s Heart: Beta
Odd Giants: Alpha
Once Human: Open beta planned for March 28th
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: Alpha June 2024
Pax Dei: Closed alpha, week-long public test in April
Perfect New World: Closed beta
Pow Vista: Open beta (mobile)
Predecessor: Free-to-play open beta, yet another Paragon do-over
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 through February 26th, 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, open testing some time in March
Shadow’s Kiss: Early access (but read this first)
Ship of Heroes: Beta testing
Smite 2: Signups open, wipe-free beta mid-2024
Soulframe: “Pre-pre-pre-pre-alpha” testing wrapped up
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Tarisland: Second closed beta
Throne & Liberty: Western launch delayed into 2024, live in South Korea
Tombstone: Closed testing, release planned for this year
Tribes 3: Rivals: Early access
Trimurti Online: Stress testing, open beta February 13th
Valheim: Early access
V Rising: Early access, full launch May 8
Valiance Online: Closed beta
Vindictus: Defying Fate: Open testing
The Wagadu Chronicles: 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.
