You can’t blame anyone who was skeptical that Wayfinder would make it to launch. It’s seen some pretty rough waters. But it did make it to launch. It has fully launched now; you can play the game in its launch state and so forth. It may not be in quite the format that anyone expected it to be, including the developers, but it is launched, and that alone is an accomplishment. So maybe you should go ahead and find the way?
Meanwhile, Brighter Shores has kicked off its testing under an NDA for people who are eager to take part in that, although obviously you can’t talk about it if you are taking part in it. C’est la vie. Our one weekly bit of bad news is that Nightingale’s studio has suffered from some layoffs, but the game’s developers are making plans for building updates moving forward; meanwhile, ARC Raiders has started its technical test and Nintendo is supposedly testing its secret Switch MMO. Mystery!
What is not a mystery is that we have a list of big stories from this week’s beta testing just below. That happens every week. We also have our full list of games in testing below that. Also something that happens every week. And just like every week, we’re asking for you to let us know if something has slipped to another test phase without us noticing. I guess that could be a mystery if you’re not great at the ol’ pattern recognition, but you seem too sharp for that. I really respect that about you.
Ashes of Creation players spill the beans about pre-alpha testing as verbal and written NDAs lift
Rumor: Nintendo is running a 10K player test for its secret Switch MMO
Pax Dei schedules a temporary test in its PvP province tomorrow to assess interest in ‘real PvP’
Stars Reach is dropping ‘a sense of pride and accomplishment’ trophies in tester inventories
Nightingale discusses building updates, Halloween event, and the impending arrival of Nightingale City
Wayfinder officially launches today on PC and PS5 after a year of early access
Trine studio Frozenbyte is still working on 2021 sci-fi sandbox Starbase
Brighter Shores’ closed beta begins behind an NDA as player trading is delayed
Pax Dei outlines changes to gathering, crafting, and looting coming in November 5’s Proving Grounds update
My Time at Evershine’s Kickstarter ends successfully with nearly $3M raised from gamers
Nightingale patches in Halloween and confirms layoffs at Inflexion’s UK subsidiary
33 Immortals delays early access into 2025 to address player feedback and stability problems
Dark and Darker Mobile delays launch from fall 2024 to the first half of 2025
Palia opens up the plushie trading system and adds new decor with today’s Fall’s Flourishes update
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 in January 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 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: Closed beta under NDA, November release planned
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
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
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
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 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
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.
