Remember last week how I mentioned that I couldn’t muster much in the way of anger toward Throne & Liberty having its whole paid access kicking off before everyone got in for a free-to-play title? This is part of why. Sure, that is a not super awesome decision in various ways, but then we get news about how Star Citizen is crunching its workers to make a convention for the game happen. You know, the game that has been in paid testing for like a decade with no release date in sight while bragging about the money it brings from selling ships that don’t exist yet. Super!
In other news, if you missed it, Throne & Liberty has fully launched now, so everyone can play it, and that means it’s departing our list. SMITE 2 has also added two more deities to its roster, Baron Samedi and Yemoja. And Old School RuneScape has changes to the Guardians of the Rift that are currently in testing because calling that a “beta” sounds classier than “test server,” I guess? Like, the developers aren’t wrong to think that.
Is there other stuff to discuss in terms of beta news? Absolutely, but there is only so much time to write up weekly summaries of these things, and thus I direct you down below to our roundup of beta news. We’ve also got a full list of games in testing below that; let us know if something is missing from the list, or if a game slipped to a different phase of testing without us catching it!
Star Citizen devs are being forced into mandatory unpaid overtime in order to make CitizenCon happen
Palworld is getting a mobile version thanks to Krafton partnership as server FPS improves with latest patch
Indie MMORPG Project Gorgon adds horse breeding and instanced guild halls in latest update
Synduality Echo of Ada is a dystopian sci-fi PvPvE third-person shooter arriving January 24
New World’s latest Aeternum trailer is a primer for the MMORPG’s gameplay arc
City of Titans’ primary city designer has passed away from cancer
Ashes of Creation shares a primer of October 25’s Alpha Two and previews the starting city of Lionhold
Temtem Swarm shares trivia from its recent beta test, confirms a Steam Next Fest demo October 14
Scars of Honor confirms October 26 test, shows off more Undead race concepts and early gameplay
Anvil Empires highlights its underground cave system, mining updates, and a stability mechanic
Greg Street’s Fantastic Pixel Castle recaps Project Ghost’s classical and random zone testing
Enshrouded’s Update 4 will add a new region, new craftables, a level cap raise, and animal farming
Rodent Rumble is a multiplayer mix of party games and battle royale arriving to Steam next year
Nightingale fixes issues include with pots, boss AI, and NPC dialogue
Elephants were the real hero of The Quinfall’s third closed beta
New World’s Aeternum launch trailer shows the MMORPG character journey – backward
Wayfinder kicks console and PC crossplay into high gear in preparation for launch
Necesse’s latest update brings the plains biome to the game
EVE Vanguard drops dev blogs themed around art, lore, and gameplay mechanics
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 Mobile: Closed beta in China, full game is shutting down
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, transitioning to Steam on October 10th
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: Pre-alpha resumes October 11th
EVE Vanguard: Early access planned post-November
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: Third closed beta has ended
Return Alive: Closed beta
Reign of Guilds: Early access
Rodent Rumble: Launching next year, playtest on October 11th
SamuTale: “Paid closed alpha early access” according to the developer, which is just early access, come on dude
Scars of Honor: Next test October 26th
Seed: Active development
Seekers of Skyveil: Continuing alpha testing, closed beta in September
Ship of Heroes: Beta testing
Ships at Sea: Early access
Sky: Children of Light: Open early access
Smite 2: 24/7 closed alpha for paying members
Soulframe: “Pre-pre-pre-pre-alpha” testing wrapped up
The Spell Brigade: Early access
Spellfarers: Early access
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Stars Reach: Pre-alpha started
Temtem Swarm: Closed beta
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.
