Players who were super hype about Throne & Liberty releasing very soon are going to need to wait a little longer, as the game has been delayed until October 1st. The goal is to incorporate more feedback and more systems into the game ahead of its new launch date, so hopefully this will be a net win for players. It’s all right if that leaves a hole in your schedules, since New World: Aeternum has its open beta starting on September 13th.
Meanwhile, if you’re not tired of seeing games with “star” in the title somewhere, may we suggest For The Stars? It’s a new upcoming survival sandbox title. And if you’re feeling like you could make these things in your sleep at this point, perhaps you’ll be interested in the new Let’s Build A Dungeon from the developers of Let’s Build A Zoo.
Now, this is the part of the Betawatch when I tell you that we have a full list of beta news stories just below, followed by our full list of games in testing. I wanted to mix things up this week and talk about something else, but I was told that if I really want to talk about wombats, 1973 international trade agreements, my deep sense of personal shame and my current real-life struggles, the correct way to pronounce “Berlin,” or the economics of fake bears, I get to write WRUP for that nonsense. So instead you get to enjoy your beta list and let us know if anything is missing from the list down in the comments! Which is reasonable, I guess.
Amazon and NCsoft delay Throne and Liberty to October 1 for more progression retooling
Choose My Adventure: Aw man Pax Dei is just not for me
Stars Reach begins testing this weekend as Raph Koster talks playstyle and the anti-endgame
Necesse is a 2-D multiplayer colony building and dungeon delving RPG featuring new graphics
Let’s Build A Dungeon is an upcoming MMO development sim from developer Springloaded
Pax Dei on surviving the sandbox as a solo player: ‘Playing solo does not mean playing alone’
Dofus kicks off a beta test for its five-years-in-the-making Unity version
Star Citizen kicks off a week-long free fly event and previews Pyro’s non-combat gameplay
Stormgate is out in free-to-play early access now
Ultima Online’s latest New Legacy beta takes leveling off the rails with Divergent Paths
SMITE 2 takes a deep look at the game’s new matchmaking system accompanying its 24/7 alpha on August 27
Nightingale previews Realms Rebuilt’s story progression and revamped main campaign
New World’s Aeternum open beta for PC and console is slated for September 13-16
Corepunk’s alpha is offline through tomorrow as the studio tackles server crash problems
Mecha Break counts more than 50,000 concurrent players (and more in China) during open beta
Book of Travels changes inventory management to a volume system, and players are not pleased
Pax Dei schedules plot cleanup for August 21 – with new criteria for which plots it’s deleting
Extraction shooter Arena Breakout Infinite begins its free-to-play early access
Indie MMORPG Eterspire adds an alpha version of a four-player party system
Ship of Heroes’ beta now has 30 costume auras for player customization
Beta testing for EverQuest II’s Immeasurable Menagerie has officially begun
Greek myth-themed survivalbox Dawn of Defiance begins its early access
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
Malingering33 Immortals: Closed testing
Abyss: Early access
The Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access
Aero Tales Online: Early access
Age of Water: Early access
Anvil Empires: Intermittent alpha
Arcane Waters: Early access
Arcfall: Pre-alpha
ARK 2: Paid early access
Ascendant: Open testing in August
Ashes of Creation: Alpha two in planning
Ashfall: Closed beta
ASKA: Early access
Battlebit: Early access
Battle Crush: Early access
Bellatores: Closed testing
Bellwright: Early access, developers of abandoned Last Oasis
Bitcraft: Alpha 2 on June 17th, 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, plans for 2025
Cinderstone Online: Closed beta
City of Titans: Alpha
Concord: Launch for August 23rd, beta planned but unannounced
Coreborn: Nations of the Ultracore: Early access
Corepunk: Fourth alpha, early access planned for November 26th
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?)
Dawn of Defiance: Early access
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha
Dune Awakening: Closed testing, signups now
Dungeonborne>: Early access
ECO: Early access, full launch planned in 2024
Eleven: Closed alpha
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
EverCraft Online: Weekend-long open test starts April 19th
Final Stand: Ragnarok: Early access (officially, really)
Fellowship: Closed testing on August 15th
Fractured Veil: Early access
FragPunk: Closed alpha
Frozen Flame: Early access
Havenhold: Second alpha June 20th
Homestead: Open alpha
Ilysia: Early access
Inferna: Early access
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Legend of Ares: Open testing ahead of relaunch
Legendarium Online: Paid alpha access
Lost Skies: Pre-alpha
Marvel Rivals: Closed alpha
Mecha Break: Open beta concluded, launching 2025
Monsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alpha
Mortal Exodus: Closed testing
Necesse: Early access
Nightingale: Early access
Odd Giants: Alpha
Osiris: New Dawn: Back from the dead, not on Steam any longer
Outlaws of the Old West: Early access
Palia: Open beta
Palworld: Early access
Pantheon: Backer alpha, early access planned for December
Past Fate: Closed testing
Path of Exile 2: Alpha June 2024
Pax Dei: Early access
Perfect New World: Closed beta
Pow Vista: Open beta (mobile)
Predecessor: Free-to-play open beta, yet another Paragon do-over, launches August 20th
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: Second closed beta
Return Alive: Closed beta
Reign of Guilds: Early access
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, closed beta in September
Shadow’s Kiss: Early access (but read this first)
Ship of Heroes: Beta testing
Ships at Sea: Early access
Sky: Children of Light: Open early access
Smite 2: Signups open, second alpha weekend ongoing
Soulframe: “Pre-pre-pre-pre-alpha” testing wrapped up
Spellfarers: Early access
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Stars Reach: Pre-alpha started
Throne & Liberty: Live in South Korea, launching in the west September 17, open beta through July 23rd
Tombstone: Closed testing, release planned for this year
Tribes 3: Rivals: Early access, development slowing/stopping
Trimurti Online: Stress testing, open beta February 13th
Valheim: Early access
Valiance Online: Closed beta
Vindictus: Defying Fate: Open testing
WalkScape: Closed beta until June 15th
Waven Early access
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.
