Look, Camelot Unchained, I see you promising good things for 2024. I am glad that January will mark a new push of the game to beta backers, and that is a good thing. But your title has now been in development for 11 years, and I’m not going to lie, I find it just a little bit suspicious now when you promise that next year you’re going to have good news for backers and fans. Like, I am pretty sure I have heard this before. Not really sold over here.
Meanwhile, Loftia is moving into 2024 with an expanded vision for what the game is going to be. And that should also be a good thing, right? More game is good! That’s probably what I would be inclined to say if not for the fact that this week also saw the release of a new Star Citizen backer bundle that costs more than some cars. Scope creep is real, and it doesn’t help any of us.
So it turns out that this week did in fact still have plenty of beta news, but some of that news wasn’t actually all that pleasant in the first place. Apparently last week I was wishing on a monkey’s paw. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a full roundup down below, nor does it mean that you can’t chime in down in the comments if we’ve missed a beta milestone on our big list of games in testing below that. See y’all next year.
Star Citizen releases a new Legatus backer bundle that costs $48,000
Camelot Unchained heralds the start of its next beta and hints at ‘good news’ in 2024
Path of Exile 2 talks movement, microtransactions, builds, and more in new interview
Arena shooter The Finals closes out 2023 with 10 million players
CCP Games maps out six months of EVE Vanguard patches, feature updates, and testing
Cross-platform spellcasting MMO Wizard’s Wrath cancels its Kickstarter campaign
Anvil Empires shares pre-alpha gameplay footage of a fort siege and life in a player-built settlement
Wayfinder’s studio vows continued progress: ‘The world is about to get a whole lot larger’
Tencent’s Tarisland previews the pungent Merfolk Swamp dungeon
VR MMO Ilysia merges servers and has players save the holidays from the Evil Gromch
Kickstarted solarpunk cozy MMO Loftia ends 2023 with 500K followers and an expanded vision
Hardcore MMO Eternal Tombs says it’s pushing hard for a 2025 launch
Past Fate’s latest patch focuses on exploration with updated landscapes and new secrets
BitCraft talks about terraforming, player buildings, and the goals of its next closed alpha
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
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: Back in closed development, early access delayed to 2024
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
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
Soulframe: “Pre-pre-pre-pre-alpha” testing in mid-December
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.
