Yes, Palia has finally moved into closed beta testing and has open beta right around the corner. We even had an interview about it. The NDA is down, so expect to see plenty of people talking about it as it marches into its next phase.
Ashfall has also entered its closed beta phase, so that’s definitely a thing! It calls itself an adventure shooter RPG, so if that sounds like your bag, hey, new game! What’s not to be excited about there?
Congratulations on progressing this far through this week’s Betawatch! You have now unlocked account-wide access to reading our full list of games in testing, which everyone gets anyway, as well as a roundup of the latest news stories this week regarding games in testing. Is something mislabeled? Did we miss a game? Let us know in the comments, why don’t ya?
PSA: Pantheon Rise of the Fallen is running a contest for August pre-alpha access
Victorian survival sim Nightingale adds third-person mode
Nexon’s The First Descendent pushes crossplay beta to September – but it’s an open beta now
Star Citizen recaps July work on ships, rat behavior, gameplay features, and skill progression experiments
Wayfinder previews its player housing, promises neighborhoods in the future
Fae Farm teases its farming systems in new video ahead of September launch
Ilysia had to delay its beta yet again over an unspecified bug
The Stream Team: Peeking in on the cozy closed beta of Palia
Singularity 6 interview: Palia is the cozy cottagecore sandbox to beat as it begins closed beta
‘Adventure shooter MMORPG’ Ashfall begins downloading for this week’s closed beta on PC and mobile
War of Dragnorox pivots to Eternal Tombs moniker with new combat style and beta signups
Sprawling MMO sandbox BitCraft discusses game scale from player to province
‘Medium-ly multiplayer’ cozy MMO Loftia just fully funded with $150K on Kickstarter
Lost Skies shows off work on airship engines, character design, floating islands, tools, and puzzles
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
MalingeringThe Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access
Aero Tales Online: Early access
Age of Water: Paid closed beta
Anvil Empires: Intermittent alpha
Arcane Waters: Early access
Arcfall: Pre-alpha
ARK 2: Closed testing
Ashes of Creation: Alpha two in planning
Ashfall: Closed beta
Battlebit: Early access
Bellatores: Closed testing
Bitcraft: Closed alpha incoming
Blue Protocol: Launching worldwide in 2024
Book of Travels: Early access
Camelot Unchained: Closed beta
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: Closed alpha
Craftopia: Early access
The Crew Motorfest: Closed testing
Dark and Light: Early access (abandoned?)
Darkbind: Closed beta (probably abandoned?)
Dawnlands: Closed beta on June 24th
The Day Before: Closed alpha (delay drama)
The Division Heartland: Closed testing begins on June 27th
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha
Dune Awakening: Closed testing
ECO: Early access
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enlisted: Beta
Evercore Heroes: Paid testing
Fae Farm: Closed testing (delayed)
The First Descendant: Beta in September
Fractured Online: Paid beta access
Fractured Veil: Back in closed development
Frozen Flame: Early access
Genfanad: Alpha
Ilysia: Beta one delayed yet again
Inferna: Early access
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Last Oasis: Early access (abandoned?)
Lost Skies: Closed testing
Monster Hunter Now: Closed beta
Monsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alpha
Mortal Exodus: Closed testing
Multiverse: Returned to closed testing
Nightingale: Ongoing closed events
Noah’s Heart: Beta
Odd Giants: Alpha
Outlaws of the Old West: Early access
Palia: Closed beta, open beta on August 10th
Pantheon: Intermittent backer alpha
Past Fate: Open alpha weekend through July 31st
Path of Exile 2: Beta June 2024
Pax Dei: Closed alpha
Perfect New World: Closed beta
Pow Vista: Open beta (mobile)
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
Return Alive: Closed beta
Reign of Guilds: Intermittent open beta
SamuTale: “Paid closed alpha early access” according to the developer, which is just early access, come on dude
Seed: Alpha (drama, crypto link and weird comms blockout?)
Shadow’s Kiss: Early access (but read this first)
Ship of Heroes: Beta testing
Skull and Bones: Closed alpha
Spellcraft: Alpha
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Tarisland: Beta
Throne & Liberty: Korean closed beta
Valheim: Early access
V Rising: Early access
Valiance Online: Closed beta
The Wagadu Chronicles: Alpha two
Warcraft Arclight Rumble: Closed alpha
Waven: Early access on August 16th
Wayfinder: Early access on August 15th
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.
