It’s time for Nightingale to enter the beautiful, sometimes dangerous world of stress testing as it kicked off a stress test this afternoon, which apparently was so successful that the devs extended it into the night. It’s far too late to get in, but it doesn’t have an NDA, so a whole lot of people – including us – got a good long look at it.
Meanwhile, a free open beta for Skull and Bones is starting on February 7th… allegedly. I have been clear about this, I do not trust this game at all. I don’t even think it’s real. Like, if I woke up tomorrow and nobody else even remembered that this game was supposed to exist at some point like it was a particularly insidious creepypasta, I would not question it.
For now, however, I am going to direct you all to a jam-packed list full of beta news just below, and an equally jam-packed list full of games in testing below that. Did you notice something missing? Something that slipped into another test phase without us noticing? Well good golly, miss Molly, let us know down in the comments! (Please replace the name as appropriate if your name is not Molly. Although I guess the rhyme would still work if it was Ollie. Or Crowley, if you pronounce it wrong.)
Camelot Unchained’s latest newsletter reaffirms its old-school business model
Wayfinder studio Airship Syndicate is laying off a dozen staff as execs reduce their own pay
First Impressions: Palworld copied all the right homework to graduate as its own enjoyable game
Palworld counts 19M players across Steam and Xbox, becomes the largest third-party release for Game Pass
Enshrouded celebrates over one million players, vows to continue to ‘kick some bug ass’
Survival MMO Age of Water previews hostile NPC factions and boat construction
Interview: Survival MMO Age of Water on monetization, sandbox play, and the Q1 early access launch
Ashes of Creation showcases how PvP will work for caravan runs in latest preview video
The Quinfall discusses its business model, gameplay, and beta testing plans in Q&A video
Throne & Liberty KR will bolster endgame with coop dungeons, dungeon finder, and less ‘forced content’
These are the accessibility features Nightingale will – and will not – offer in its early access and stress test build
Nightingale plans a three-hour stress test on Friday with no NDA attached
The Stream Team: Joining in on the Nightingale stress test
Kickstarted solarpunk ‘mediumly multiplayer’ Loftia picks up investor seed funds and support
Reign of Guilds recounts its December playtest and shares patch notes for its next no-wipe test
Skull & Bones’ free open beta begins February 7 – here’s the new trailer and season preview
Star Citizen discusses alpha 3.23 EVA updates, lines up multiple events and a new free trial for February
Ultra Mega Cats is a ‘cat-tastic’ roguelike co-op third-person shooter headed for early access later this year
Extraction shooter Hawked plots Q1 launch, new stories, ranked PvP, and crafting in 2024 roadmap
Elder Scrolls Online previews Scions of Ithelia DLC and Update 41, now on the PTS
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 2024
Blue Protocol: Launching worldwide in 2024, technical tests starting November 8th
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: Early access planned for end of winter
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 Day Before: Early Access going great
The Division Heartland: Closed testing
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha
Dune Awakening: Closed testing, signups now
ECO: Early access
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enlisted: Beta
Enshrouded: Early access
EVE Vanguard: First beta test concluded
Evercore Heroes: Paid testing, updates stopping with a focus on a redesign
Fae Farm: Closed testing, launch planned for September 8th
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
Last Oasis: Early access (abandoned?)
Legendarium Online: Paid alpha access
Lost Skies: Pre-alpha
Monster Hunter Now: Closed beta
Monsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alpha, public beta this weekend
Mortal Exodus: Closed testing
Multiversus: Returned to closed testing
Nightingale: Ongoing closed events
Noah’s Heart: Beta
Odd Giants: Alpha
Once Human: Beta on December 7th
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 in mid-December, 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
Skull and Bones: Closed beta
Smite 2: Signups open, wipe-free beta mid-2024
Soulframe: “Pre-pre-pre-pre-alpha” testing wrapped up
Spellcraft: Alpha
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Tarisland: Second closed beta
Throne & Liberty: Western launch delayed into 2024, live in South Korea
Trimurti Online: Stress testing
Valheim: Early access
V Rising: Early access
Valiance Online: Closed beta
The Wagadu Chronicles: Early access
Warhaven: 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.
