If you walk without rhythm, you won’t attract the launch. Wait, is that how the phrase goes for Dune Awakening? We kind of lost interest in the fourth book. How are the movies? The important thing is that the game has revealed it’s launching early next year, so that’s closer to a final date but also means you can free up any time you had this year reserved for dodging sandworms. In video games, at least. We’re not going to talk about your personal life.
Path of Exile 2 also finally got an early access date for this year, in November, so it’s coming along nicely in that department. And NetEase has a new cozy sky game called Floatopia, which is different from Aloft, which is also coming out this year, and it’s also linked to Funcom! How is everything tied together? It’s all connected!
That’s right, you are now here in the Betawatch Extended Universe, phase… four thousand? I have lost track. The point is that you can catch up on all of the beta news that we’ve had this week just below, and we have our list of games in testing below that. If something skipped into a new test phase without us noticing, or if you see something we’ve missed, let us know down in the comments!
Amazon boss: ‘We’re still trying to find the hook’ for the new Lord of the Rings MMO
Ashes of Creation boosts its alpha access bundle offerings following gamer uproar
MOARPG Path of Exile 2 begins early access on November 15
Nexon’s ARC Raiders, no longer F2P, gears up for fall test and 2025 launch
Multiplayer-optional ARPG TitanQuest II sets early access for this winter
NetEase’s adorable cozy game Floatopia invites you to ‘live your best life in the sky’
Gamescom 2024 Opening Night Live(blog): Dune Awakening launches on PC early next year
Nightingale releases new Realms Rebuilt trailer and patch date at Gamescom
Amazon and Glowmade announce King of Meat, a goofy co-op dungeon-runner
RuneScape-inspired Brighter Shores says it won’t officially be complete until PvP arrives
SkyVerse is a new Bohemia-pubbed Minecraft-esque multiplayer survival sandbox
World of Warcraft’s The War Within headstart is live – prepare for a long spoiler-dodging weekend
Fight or Kite: Necesse is a cute retro survival game for Minecraft and Terraria fans
Unleashed Games confirms its MMO Haven will be used for additional titles made with generative AI
Soulframe releases a flashy gameplay teaser trailer from its preludes build at Gamescom
They are so ugly they are cute: Palia adds potato pods and more in its next big beta update
Funcom-published co-op sandbox Aloft targets a fall 2024 release
Paragon successor Predecessor officially launches today as a F2P MOBA on PC and console
Multiplayer hide-and-seek shooter Midnight Murder Club readies a closed beta test August 22
Greg Street’s Ghost MMO devs talk community, quest design, open development, and the beginning of outside playtests
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
Arc Raiders: Launch in 2025, tech beta signups for October
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
Midnight Murder Club: Closed testing this weekend
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: Early access November 15th
Pax Dei: Early access
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: 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.
