Hey, will you look at that, Dune Awakening finally has some of the forward motion happening! It got gameplay previews! It got film references! It won’t let you be the Sand Messiah to be as spicy as possible! (I might have skimmed parts of the book, but I’m pretty sure that Paul just wanted to fill those pretty blue eyes with the spiciest peppers. Please don’t correct me.) What it did not get is any kind of a release date even for testing, so if you walk out of the Villeneuve film eager to get your stillsuit on… well, sorry, you have to keep waiting.
On the other hand, Bitcraft understood the assignment; it’s heading into testing starting on April 2nd. And ECO laid out a roadmap to a full launch this year (or early next year), so it gets extra credit. Get it together, Funcom. If we can open up beta testing for the first World of Warcraft expansion nobody wants that makes the entire classic exercise seem pointless, you can put a date to your testing. That spice ain’t gonna wait to flow forever.
I’m sure you have several questions, some of which are probably “does Eliot actually know anything about Dune or not because this opening makes it really unclear.” The roundup of beta news below will not make the answers any clearer, nor will our list of games currently in testing below that. And if you ask us in the comments, I will not answer. But if you let us know about a game that has slipped into another test phase or is missing from our lists, that will be appreciated down in the comments. Glad to clear that up.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Classic is open for beta testing now
Dune: Awakening’s Direct shows off graphical touches, film references, and the basic survival loop of the game
Dune Awakening: Religion yes, player messiahs no
Star Citizen and Squadron 42 recount February’s efforts while a dev makes a surprising reference to ‘SC 1.0’
Throwback MMORPG Scars of Honor’s $200K Kickstarter bid ends unsuccessfully
Nightingale’s roadmap includes a lot more QOL than the offline mode
Mobile and PC multiplayer RPG ASTRA Knights of Veda launches its pre-registration campaign
‘Survival crafting MMORPG’ BitCraft plans closed alpha for April 2 – here’s how to sign up
MultiVersus suddenly breaks radio silence nine months after its multiplayer open beta shutdown
Fractured Online’s latest update boosts soloers and grants free respecs ahead of F2P weekend
Mediumly multiplayer Loftia, bolstered by investor funding, talks quests, energy, and sustainability
‘Multiplayer Viking survival tribe builder’ Aska readies another closed beta test April 15
Vindictus Defying Fate spinoff begins alpha testing limited multiplayer next week
Star Citizen highlights alpha 3.23’s updates to FPS reloading, recoil, and aiming
Kickstarted multiplayer sandbox ECO releases a roadmap from early access to launch
Tarisland vows cross-platform play: ‘Your gateway to adventure is always open’
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
MalingeringAbyss: Closed alpha
The 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: Paid early access
Ashes of Creation: Alpha two in planning
Ashfall: Closed beta
ASKA: Closed beta
Battlebit: Early access
Battle Crush: Beta
Bellatores: Closed testing
Bitcraft: Alpha planned for April 2nd, 2024
Blue Protocol: Launching worldwide in 2024, technical tests starting November 8th
Book of Travels: Early access
Camelot Unchained: Closed beta, planning to launch in late 2025
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: Early access planned for 2024
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?)
The Division Heartland: Closed testing
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha
Dune Awakening: Closed testing, signups now
ECO: Early access, full launch planned in 2024
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enlisted: Beta
Enshrouded: Early access
Eternal Tombs: Closed beta in April
EVE Vanguard: First beta test concluded
Evercore Heroes: Paid testing, updates stopping with a focus on a redesign
The First Descendant: Crossplay beta
Fractured Online: Paid early access, back on Steam
Fractured Veil: Early access
Frozen Flame: Early access
Genfanad: Beta
Ilysia: Early access
Inferna: Early access
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Legendarium Online: Paid alpha access
Lost Skies: Pre-alpha
Monsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alpha
Mortal Exodus: Closed testing
Multiversus: Returned to closed testing
Nightingale: Early access
Noah’s Heart: Beta
Odd Giants: Alpha
Once Human: Open beta planned for March 28th
Outlaws of the Old West: Early access
Palia: Open beta
Palworld: Early access
Pantheon: Backer alpha, 247 canceled
Past Fate: Closed testing
Path of Exile 2: Beta June 2024
Pax Dei: Closed alpha
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: Beta delayed to 2024
Return Alive: Closed beta
Reign of Guilds: Beta event through February 26th, early access planned for 2024
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
Shadow’s Kiss: Early access (but read this first)
Ship of Heroes: Beta testing
Smite 2: Signups open, wipe-free beta mid-2024
Soulframe: “Pre-pre-pre-pre-alpha” testing wrapped up
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Tarisland: Second closed beta
Throne & Liberty: Western launch delayed into 2024, live in South Korea
Tombstone: Closed testing, release planned for this year
Trimurti Online: Stress testing, open beta February 13th
Valheim: Early access
V Rising: Early access
Valiance Online: Closed beta
Vindictus: Defying Fate: Open testing starting March 13th
The Wagadu Chronicles: Early access
Waven Early access
Wayfinder Early access ahead of full launch
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.
