Do you really want a survival sandbox to play but insist that you must be allowed to build vehicles for navigating the sky while doing so? And do you further insist that those vehicles cannot be planes but must instead be boats? Well, let me tell you, buckaroo, I like the cut of your jib. So do the folks over at Loric Games, whose upcoming Echoes of Elysium seems like just the thing to put the cerveza in your cristal in this context.
Speaking of peculiar callbacks, Bellwright is heading for early access even as Donkey Crew must surely wish that no one remembered Last Oasis existed. (We remember, and we are not going to stop bringing it up.) Corepunk, meanwhile, has delayed its next alpha until the end of May (which is wholly on-brand at this point). And Albion Online wants to pretend like opening a new server means it gets back in the beta club, but it doesn’t. You aren’t in beta, people. Your game launched a long time ago, your new server is not a beta. You get noticed a lot anyway. Why you lyin’ tho.
In summary, a whole lot of our list items earn a finger-waggling along with a Desi Arnaz-style admonition that they got some splainin’ to do. You, dear reader, do not have any splainin’ to do. You have readin’ to do, however; we have our whole roundup of news as well as our list of games in testing. Now, if you notice that something down there is wrong? Well, then you can skip to the comments and do some splainin’ to us if you want to. We’d appreciate it.
Last week’s massive Palia layoffs included waaaay too many senior Singularity 6 staff
Star Citizen kicks off an updated Jumptown event and highlights more alpha 3.23 UI updates
Mythic vets at Loric Games unveil Echoes of Elysium, a new co-op skyship survival sandbox
MOBA shooter Gigantic officially resurrects as the Rampage Edition – here are the patch notes
Wayfinder sales are temporarily halted as Airship Syndicate assumes publishing from Digital Extremes
Corepunk delays Alpha 2 until the end of May
First Impressions: Gigantic Rampage Edition’s classic Clash mode and the game’s overall plans for the future
Rumor: Bungie is (or at least was?) supposedly working on Destiny 3
Cozy multiplayer game Farm Together 2 is launching early access in May
PvP MMORPG Abyss begins signups to an upcoming open playtest on Steam
Starship Simulator’s Kickstarter unlocks VR, planetary landing, and alien structure stretch goals
Not So Massively: Final Stand Ragnarok might be the seed of a fun game, but it was set up for failure
Donkey Crew sets Bellwright early access for April 23 – still no update for Last Oasis
V Rising teases Dracula, new difficulty modes, and its Castlevania DLC ahead of the May launch
Star Citizen releases a new launcher and talks about its ongoing Overdrive Initiative missions
Boxy MMORPG EverCraft Online announces a weekend-long open alpha test starting April 19
PlayStation players are flooding the Sea of Thieves PS5 closed beta servers
After months of retooling, Evercore Heroes comes back as a three-player co-op roguelite
Co-op roguelike Inkbound pushes its exit from early access a day ahead of schedule
Valheim’s (hopefully) last patch before Ashlands upgrades Unity and addresses a long list of issues
Mortal Online 2 tests siege system updates, combat changes, and new mounts in latest PTR
Cozy MMO Sky Children of the Light launches F2P early access on Steam today
The Stream Team: Taking our first steps into the world of Sky Children of the Light
Albion Europe flings open the doors to its open beta – yes, everyone can play now
Scars of Honor shares ‘unfiltered’ player impressions and highlights chymera lore
Co-op roguelike 33 Immortals debuts new gameplay trailer and announces May 24 closed beta
Kickstarted cozygame Solarpunk didn’t make its Q1 alpha, but devs say they’re ‘making significant progress’
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.
Abyss: Closed alpha, early access starts April 18th
The Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access
Aero Tales Online: Early access
Age of Water: Paid closed beta, early access April 18th
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: Second global beta
Bellatores: Closed testing
Bellwright: Early access April 23rd, developers of abandoned Last Oasis
Bitcraft: Alpha planned for April 2nd, 2024
Blue Protocol: Launching worldwide in 2024, technical tests starting November 8th
Book of Travels: Early access
Brighter Shores: Launch planned for Q3 2024, MMO scale not yet clarified
Camelot Unchained: Closed beta, planning to launch in late 2025
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 2024, second alpha delayed yet again
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 Division Heartland: Closed testing
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha
Dune Awakening: Closed testing, signups now
ECO: Early access, full launch planned in 2024
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enlisted: Reinforced: Early access delayed for an indeterminate time
Enshrouded: Early access
Eternal Tombs: Closed beta in April
EVE Vanguard: Second beta ongoing
Evercore Heroes: Paid testing, updates stopping with a focus on a redesign
EverCraft Online: Weekend-long open test starts April 19th
Final Stand: Ragnarok: Early access (officially, really)
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
Legendarium Online: Paid alpha access
Lost Skies: Pre-alpha
Marvel Rivals: Closed alpha in May
Monsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alpha
Mortal Exodus: Closed testing
Multiversus: Full launch on May 28th
Nightingale: Early access
Noah’s Heart: Beta
Odd Giants: Alpha
Once Human: Closed beta finally starting after delays
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: Alpha June 2024
Pax Dei: Closed alpha, week-long public test in April
Perfect New World: Closed beta
Pow Vista: Open beta (mobile)
Predecessor: Free-to-play open beta, yet another Paragon do-over
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: Early access
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, open testing some time in March
Shadow’s Kiss: Early access (but read this first)
Ship of Heroes: Beta testing
Sky: Children of Light: Open early access
Smite 2: Signups open, wipe-free beta mid-2024
Soulframe: “Pre-pre-pre-pre-alpha” testing wrapped up
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Tarisland: Second closed beta
Throne & Liberty: Western launch delayed into 2024, live in South Korea
Tombstone: Closed testing, release planned for this year
Tribes 3: Rivals: Early access
Trimurti Online: Stress testing, open beta February 13th
Valheim: Early access
V Rising: Early access, full launch May 8
Valiance Online: Closed beta
Vindictus: Defying Fate: Open testing
The Wagadu Chronicles: 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.
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