Alphas & Betas

MMOs in various stages of testing and crowdfunding, playable and… not. Don’t forget to follow our Betawatch and Make My MMO columns for a weekly rundown. [Follow this category’s RSS feed]

ECO boasts server-wide permadeath for failure

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Individual character permadeath is so yesterday, right? An upcoming title, ECO, dares to think even bigger, proposing "server-wide permadeath" if players can't band together and...

New Civ Online video demos tank battles

11
Every age of mankind holds its own interesting innovations and technological breakthroughs, but the industrial age was a new kind of awesome with its...
Hunt that thing.

Monster Hunter Online gets an elder dragon tomorrow

25
Are you ready for the good news? Monster Hunter Online's first elder dragon, a chap named Tartaronis, will be added tomorrow. And now for...

Black Desert launching in Korea on July 14

51
The gorgeous fantasy sandbox Black Desert will be launching in about a month -- in Korea, that is. The game posted a notice on...

DarkEden 2 returns to the vampire war

15
While you may not have heard of DarkEden, it's actually one of the older continuously running graphical MMORPGs on the market, having started back...

Albion Online goes to hell

14
The next time that someone tells you to "Go to hell!" you can respond, "Thank you, I will -- in Albion Online." The upcoming sandbox...
Well, I can't object to the theory.

ARK: Survival Evolved has already sold 400,000 copies

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On the surface, you could think of ARK: Survival Evolved as one step removed from zombie survival games except it has dinosaurs instead. But...

Nexon’s Arpiel Online plans closed beta test in June

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How many MMOs does Nexon have stirring in its pot right now? Hundreds? Thousands? In any case, the online game publisher is cooking up...

Naval Action takes open sea warfare to a whole new level

23
There have been plenty of MMOs, multiplayer titles, and single-player games that have attempted to emulate the grand Age of Sail, but Naval Action...

Crowfall’s Confessors represent the darker side of religion

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The team behind Crowfall is hard at work preparing what it's calling a "core combat test" between three diverse archetypes. One of these, the...

H1Z1 aims for a ‘massive world,’ adds team members and resources

23
Daybreak Game Company isn't pulling back on H1Z1's development, but is instead doubling down on the survival zombie sandbox by adding more team members...
A wreck of our ambition

The Repopulation tweaks combat and building in its latest patch

10
Launch rushes onward toward The Repopulation like... some sort of extremely fast launch-related thing. The metaphor isn't perfect. Neither is the game's combat system,...

The Stream Team: Exploring Das Tal’s public playtest with devs

0
There's simply no way MassivelyOP's MJ could resist showing off a new game, so when Das Tal opened its alpha doors for a day,...

Play Das Tal’s alpha for free right now

17
You'd never buy a car without test-driving it, would you? If only that applied to games and you could take Das Tal for a...

Here’s a brief look at Record of Lodoss War Online

28
Steparu has posted a brief look at Korean MMO Record of Lodoss War Online, which he calls a "classical MMORPG." His impressions aren't overly...

Survive the treacherous land of Goliath with the help of high-tech armor

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Tired of survival games yet? Whalebox Studio is truly hoping you aren't, because it has another contender in the works called Goliath. Goliath is a...
This must have been some party.

Shroud of the Avatar on mines and minigames

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Having the ability to move things in a game world usually leads to player inventiveness. It's how Shroud of the Avatar community member Bambino...

Colonies Online contributes crafting and shotguns to the war effort

5
Everyone knows that if you're going to head out into deep space to explore strange new worlds, you'd better have a trusty shotgun on...
Take a shot.

Das Tal is halfway to funding on Kickstarter with two days left

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The halfway mark for funding is an important milestone for any Kickstarter campaign, but whether it's a good sign or a darker one depends...
You get to celebrate these in betas now, apparently.

HEX celebrates its second birthday

16
A lot has changed for HEX since the game first went to Kickstarter a few years ago. The anniversary letter to the community touches...