If Blizzard Entertainment wants for people to literally ever forget about asking if you all had phones, then it sure didn’t help that the company is releasing Warcraft Rumble right at the start of BlizzCon. That’s kind of a reminder. But you do probably have phones, so let’s get real.
Meanwhile, EverQuest II has another expansion on the way, Ballads of Zimara, which is in beta now and is planned for release in November. Somewhere deep within the development circles of Daybreak, a programmer looks up. She is working on an EverQuest II expansion. She is always working on an EverQuest II expansion. She could tell you her mother’s name but cannot picture her face. It’s not clear if she has been home in years.
And with that little dose of seasonal fun, let’s dive into Ye Olde Liste of Games in Testing! Right below our roundup of all the beta news this week, as ever. If you see anything in there that has skipped to another test phase without our notice, let us know down in the comments; we’d be ever so grateful.
Profane discusses changes to its closed test build, confirms a playable demo for the Brazil Game Show
Star Citizen shares a new sprint report and kicks off Halloween events
Ten-year-old Camelot Unchained gets all technical and mechanical with this month’s newsletter
Ship of Heroes is running a free-to-play demo during next week’s Steam Next Fest
Fractured Veil shows off the in-game social hub of Lahaina while honoring the real-life location’s legacy
Star Citizen chronicles work on Pyro, vehicles, missions, and engine updates in September dev report
Motiga’s MOBA Gigantic has been resurrected… for 33 hours starting this afternoon
Drakantos is an upcoming free-to-play MMORPG promising hundreds of missions and multiple heroes
Warcraft Rumble will officially launch on November 3 at the start of BlizzCon
VR MMO Ilysia nails down an early access launch window for sometime in October
Fractured accidentally patched in the new tutorial island in today’s imbuing update to the beta
Corepunk’s tiny September alpha test leads to changes for immersion, solo gameplay, and questing
Into the Echo’s worldbuilding narrative website Journey Across Raava leaves early access
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
MalingeringThe 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: Closed testing
Ashes of Creation: Alpha two in planning
Ashfall: Closed beta
ASKA: Closed beta
Battlebit: Early access
Battle Crush: Closed beta on October 23rd
Bellatores: Closed testing
Bitcraft: Alpha planned for 2024
Blue Protocol: Launching worldwide in 2024
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 December, next test planned for October
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: Closed alpha (delay drama)
The Division Heartland: Closed testing
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha
Dune Awakening: Closed testing
ECO: Early access
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enlisted: Beta
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 beta access
Fractured Veil: Back in closed development, early access on October 18th
Frozen Flame: Early access
Genfanad: Alpha
Ilysia: Early access in October
Inferna: Early access
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Last Oasis: Early access (abandoned?)
Legendarium Online: Paid alpha access
Lost Skies: Closed testing
Monster Hunter Now: Closed beta
Monsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alpha
Mortal Exodus: Closed testing
Multiverse: Returned to closed testing
Nightingale: Ongoing closed events
Noah’s Heart: Beta
Odd Giants: Alpha
Outlaws of the Old West: Early access
Palia: Open beta
Pantheon: Intermittent backer alpha
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
Return Alive: Closed beta
Reign of Guilds: Intermittent open beta
SamuTale: “Paid closed alpha early access” according to the developer, which is just early access, come on dude
Seed: Alpha (drama, crypto link and weird comms blockout?)
Shadow’s Kiss: Early access (but read this first)
Ship of Heroes: Beta testing
Skull and Bones: Closed beta
Spellcraft: Alpha
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Tarisland: Beta
Throne & Liberty: Korean closed beta, western launch delayed into 2024
Trimurti Online: Stress testing
Valheim: Early access
V Rising: Early access
Valiance Online: Closed beta
The Wagadu Chronicles: Alpha two
Warcraft Rumble: Full launch November 3rd
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.
