If you were worried that Pantheon would ever reach any form of release, before or after the untimely passing of Brad McQuaid, we’re happy to report that you can stop worrying as the game’s early access has finally begun, and while it does not contain everything scheduled for the title, it’s still available for play! You can jump in and give it a whirl if that’s your jam.
Meanwhile, Ship of Heroes is eyeing a release date in 2025, which may also be seen as a long-unexpected release. Pax Dei has added in its shopping center update, so you can finally shop until you drop. Or until someone drops. There’s no need for you personally to drop; other people can drop for you (that’s capitalism). Last but not least, the PvPvE extraction shooter Synduality: Echoes of Ada is running its network test now through December 19th, with the full launch still planned for January 13th on 2025.
Bree also said that I’m not allowed to talk about the complete non-update put out by a game I can’t mention (well, more the concept of a game than a game, but still), so instead we’ll just move on to the full roundup of beta news as well as our full list of games in testing. Let us know if something slipped into a new test phase without us noticing! We’d appreciate it.
Star Citizen rounds up the features for alpha 4.0, which is still on track for release by year’s end
Chronicles of Elyria dev claims development is ‘progressing steadily,’ but no, you can’t see it
Vague Patch Notes: EVE Frontier’s blockchain foundation makes it a worse MMO
Eight-year-old indie superhero MMORPG Ship of Heroes sets a Q2 2025 launch window
Pantheon sets ground rules for character names and support ahead of early access
Serbian post-apoc MMOFPS Pioner is set to launch in 2025
Fantastic Pixel Castle shares new prototype gameplay and dev plans for its Ghost MMO
Solarpunk MMO Loftia lands on Steam, shows off housing neighborhood trailer
Pantheon Rise of the Fallen announces early access head start today and delay of buddy key delivery
China’s mobile Blue Protocol ARPG rebrands as Star Resonance with a new test for December
Fight or Kite: IfSunSets tasks players with surviving the night on a zombie-filled island
Corepunk outlines plans for early level combat, loot updates, and additional new features
Path of Exile 2 is scrambling to hire more support folks following its massive early access launch
SMITE 2’s last closed alpha patch of 2024 brings three more gods and a Lord of the Rings crossover event
Snail Games’ survival MMO For the Stars kicks off a new dev video series
Lost Skies’ island construction tool is officially launched and F2P on Steam
Oddball indie MMORPG Spire Horizon Online makes it to its full launch
The Stream Team: Taking a peek inside of the early access release of Pantheon Rise of the Fallen
Brighter Shores celebrates Christmas by randomly handing out hats
Pax Dei invites you to go on a shopping spree as its Market Square update is live
Palia wants to be your ‘holiday homestead’ with next week’s update
Nightingale readies NPC automation, building mode updates, and winter event for December 17
Brighter Shores AMA confirms updates for combat, professions, and co-op play are en route
Soulframe talks up December pre-alpha updates, promises open testing and wolf mount next year
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, early access delayed to 2025
Abyss: Early access
The Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access
Aero Tales Online: Early access
Age of Water: Early access
Aloft: Early access on January 15th, 2025
Ammo and Oxygen: Early access starts November 7th
Anvil Empires: Intermittent alpha
Arcane Waters: Early access
Arc Raiders: Tech beta live, launch planned for 2025
Arcfall: Pre-alpha
ARK 2: Paid early access
Ascendant: Open testing in August
Ashes of Creation: Alpha two
Ashfall: Closed beta
ASKA: Early access
Battlebit: Early access
Bellatores: Closed testing
Bellwright: Early access, developers of abandoned Last Oasis
Bitcraft: Third alpha starts the week of November 11th
Book of Travels: Early access
Brighter Shores: Early access
Camelot Unchained: Closed beta, planning to launch in late 2025
Chronicles of Elyria: Pre-alpha, again
Chrono Odyssey: Closed testing, launch planned for Q4 2025
Cinderstone Online: Closed beta
City of Titans: Alpha
Coreborn: Nations of the Ultracore: Early access
Corepunk: Early access
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
Destiny Rising: Closed alpha starts November 1st
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
FragPunk: Closed alpha
Frozen Flame: Early access
Havenhold: Second alpha June 20th
Homestead: Open alpha
IfSunSets: Early access
Ilysia: Early access
Inferna: Early access
King of Meat: Alpha test December 4th through the 14th
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Legend of Ares: Open testing ahead of relaunch
Legendarium Online: Paid alpha access
Lost Skies: Pre-alpha
Mecha Break: Open beta concluded, launching 2025
Midnight Murder Club: Closed testing this weekend
Monsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alpha
Monster Hunter Wilds: Open beta
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: Paid “open” beta
Palworld: Early access
Pantheon: Early access
Past Fate: Closed testing
Path of Exile 2: Early access December 6th
Pax Dei: Early access
Perfect New World: Closed beta
Pow Vista: Open beta (mobile)
Project Crawl: Closed testing
Project F4E: Closed testing
Project Friendship: Beta signups open now
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: In pre-release, test run starts October 24th
Seekers of Skyveil: Continuing alpha testing, closed beta in September
Ship of Heroes: Beta testing, plans for launch in 2025
Ships at Sea: Early access
Sky: Children of Light: Open early access
Skygard Arena: Early access
Smite 2: 24/7 closed alpha for paying members
Soulframe: Open pre-alpha planned for 2025
The Spell Brigade: Early access
Spellfarers: Early access
Supervive: Open testing November 20th
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Star Resonance: Closed beta in China, rebrand of Blue Protocol Mobile following main title’s shutdown
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Stars Reach: Pre-alpha started
Temtem Swarm: Early access
Tombstone: Closed testing, release planned for this year
Tower of Aghasba: Early access planned for November 19th
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
ZeroSpace: Public beta through November 24th
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.
