So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye goes out to both Pax Dei and Necesse this week, as both games have officially entered a launch state. I’ll always remember when you were in early access, and if I am pressed on it, I might remember that the former title actually exists. Yeah, it turns out quirky pixel art with a sense of humor actually sticks in my memory for more than five minutes, quelle surprise.
In other beta news this week, Arc Raiders is doing a full-on server slam test through October 19th if you want to get in and slam those servers for the purposes of preparing them to be properly slammed in the future. Aion 2 is also getting slammed, but less because of a specific test phase and more due to potential fans looking at the game’s monetization and freaking out just a little bit.
Me, I just ordered some new Transformer toys, I’m freaking out about that. I’m excited. I like toys! Do you like toys? If so, I can’t really help you. Do you like other beta news? That I can help you with because we’ve got a roundup of beta testing news down below, and then our list of games in testing below that. Let us know if something slipped into a new test phase or is otherwise missing from our list in the comments!
The Daily Grind: Would you ever pay money for an alpha test?
First Impressions: A housing skeptic samples World of Warcraft Midnight’s housing stress test
Players sound the alarm over Aion 2’s dual subscription and monetization plans
Pax Dei celebrates its official launch with a new trailer and pushes past 4300 concurrent players
The Cube, Save Us is XLGAMES’ new awkwardly titled post-apocalyptic extraction looter
Pax Dei 1.0 begins for players who have bought in to early access
Hands-on with Fellowship’s latest character, dungeon, and progression updates ahead of early access
Nightingale leads admit that development is ‘much slower’ as the studio shifts to new projects
Join Us is an irreverent co-op RPG where players build and lead a doomsday cult through the apocalypse
NetEase drops a new trailer for its upcoming Wuxia MMO Where Winds Meet
Star Citizen begins the finale of its Pyro Must Burn story and releases new ships in alpha 4.3.2
Stars Reach highlights a player-built city and a Raph Koster panel about online worlds’ evolution
Here’s a (very unofficial) look at the skills from all eight classes in Aion 2
Progress Bar: Skate brings nostalgic, simple but solid gameplay in its early access so far
Co-op dungeon running ‘MODA’ Fellowship begins its early access run today
World of Warcraft delayed its housing stress test for an unknown period of time
Goofy pixelart sandbox MMO-lite Necesse officially launches into 1.0
Arc’s MODA Fellowship releases a new trailer ahead of this week’s early access launch
EverQuest II starts Rage of Cthurath beta and expansion pre-orders
Equinox Homecoming helps you leap into the Halloween season
Crimson Desert shows off the Golden Star quest gameplay in a new video
The Stream Team: Getting an initial look inside of Blue Protocol Star Resonance
Lord of the Rings Online commences with the first beta for Kingdoms of Harad
Warborne Above Ashes is limiting PTS access for founder’s pack buyers thanks to a ‘configuration error’
World of Warcraft kicks off phase three of the Midnight alpha testing
Guild Wars 2 explains beta feedback and changes coming for its Visions of Eternity elite specs
Corepunk patches in a ‘major milestone’ and makes Prison Island more accessible
Monsters and Memories invites you to a quick stress test this weekend
Sword of Justice, aka Justice Online, finally ties down a global release date of November 7 on PC and mobile
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
Malingering2XKO: Closed beta starts September 9th
33 Immortals: Early access
Abyss: Early access
The Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access
Adrullan Online Adventures: Open alpha through July 13th
Aero Tales Online: Early access
Aloft: Early access
Anvil Empires: Intermittent alpha
Apogea: Open testing
Arcane Waters: Early access
Arc Raiders: Tech test this weekend, launch planned for 2025
Arcfall: Pre-alpha
ARK 2: Paid early access
Arkheron: Closed beta
Ascendant: Open testing in August
Ashes of Creation: Alpha two phase three
Ashfall: Closed beta
ASKA: Early access
Battlebit: Early access
Bellatores: Closed testing, beta rolling out in South Korea
Bellwright: Early access, developers of abandoned Last Oasis
Bitcraft: Early access
Book of Travels: Early access
Brighter Shores: Early access
Camelot Unchained: Closed beta, early access planned by the end of the year
Chronicles of Elyria: Pre-alpha, again
Chrono Odyssey: Closed beta, launch planned for 2026 after latest delays/revamps
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
Crosswind: Future testing events planned on Steam
Dark and Darker: Paid early access, legal troubles.
Dark and Light: Early access (abandoned?)
Darkbind: Closed beta (probably abandoned?)
Dawn of Defiance: Early access
Dragonwilds: Early access
Drakanatos: Closed test weekend through July 27th
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha, open playtest until March 16th
Dungeonborne>: Early access
ECO: Early access, full launch planned in 2024
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enshrouded: Early access
Equinox Homecoming: Early access on May 8th
Eternal Tombs: Pre-alpha resumes October 11th
Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore: Early access, 1.0 release planned for 2027
EVE Vanguard: Early access planned for summer 2026, open testing through October 2nd
Evercore Heroes: Ascension: Early access
Fellowship: Early access
FragPunk: Closed alpha, launch planned for March 6th
Frozen Flame: Early access
Havenhold: Closed beta
Homestead: Open alpha
IfSunSets: Early access
Ilysia: Early access
Inferna: Early access
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Legend of Ares: Open testing ahead of relaunch
Legendarium Online: Paid alpha access
Life is Feudal Arden: Open beta
Loftia: Alpha planned for April
March of Giants: Closed alpha
Magic to Master: Somehow, Palpatine returned in early access
Marathon: Alpha testing
Monsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alpha
Mortal Exodus: Closed testing
Neverness to Everness: Closed testing starts July 3rd
Nightingale: Early access
Nin Online: Early access
Odd Giants: Alpha
Osiris: New Dawn: Back from the dead, not on Steam any longer
Outbound: Alpha testing
Outlaws of the Old West: Early access
Palia: Paid “open” beta, planning for launch in Q2
Palworld: Early access
Pantheon: Early access
Past Fate: Closed testing
Path of Exile 2: Early access December 6th
Perfect New World: Closed beta
Pioner: Open beta planned for summer
Pow Vista: Open beta (mobile)
Project Crawl: 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: Early access
Reaper Actual: Paid alpha
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
Sand: Early access delayed
Scars of Honor: Next test October 26th
Sea of Remnants: In testing, previews being shown
Seed: In pre-release, test run starts October 24th
Seekers of Skyveil: Early access
Ships at Sea: Early access
Sky: Children of Light: Open early access
Skygard Arena: Early access
Smite 2: Open beta
Solarpunk: Closed multiplayer testing starting soon as of September
Soulframe: Open pre-alpha planned for 2025
Spacecraft: Alpha in the first half of 2025, might not be an MMORPG but it’s vague
The Spell Brigade: Early access
Spellfarers: Early access
Spirit Crossing: Closed alpha
Steel Aces: Closed beta
Steel Hunters: Early access
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Stars Reach: Pre-alpha started
Synduality: Echo of Ada: Early access
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
Vaultbreakers: Open testing through July 9th, formerly known as Project F4E
Vindictus: Defying Fate: Test with multiplayer on June 8th
WalkScape: Closed beta until June 15th
Waven Early access
Where Winds Meet: Final test starting July 24th
ZeroSpace: Back in closed testing.
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.
