It’s not exactly a shock that Stars Reach hit its funding goal, but it is still newsworthy! Like, it would have been a real big deal if it didn’t hit that funding goal. But it did, and it actually wound up at a pretty respectable spot, especially when you consider that the goal of this particular Kickstarter was less about funding the entire operation and more about showing enthusiasm. Enthusiasm shown! We’re all enthusiastic! Sparkle fish people.
Are you enthusiastic about horses? Because the Craig Morrison-backed horse adventure game has a name now, Equinox Homecoming. We suppose it’s a good pun on “equine,” but it appears this won out over The Horsening, so that’s a touch disappointing. It’ll probably have more horses than the new game John Smedley is teasing, Distinct Possibility, but given that the last couple of projects Smedley has teased have resulted in no actual finished game to play, it’s a distinct possibility that this repeats a third time, but we hope not. Wordplay. Which is related to horseplay.
Do we have a list of testing stories this past week? Of course we do, along with our full list of games in testing below that. And if you notice something in the list that skipped to a new test phase without our noticing, pipe up down in the comments! We always appreciate it.
Craig Morrison’s ‘horse mystery’ MMORPG gets a new trailer and its official name: Equinox Homecoming
Stars Reach Kickstarter ends with over $750K raised – plus fresh investment and a new vampire species
MMO Hype Train: Is there any hope – or hype – left for Camelot Unchained?
‘We like to make really big games’: John Smedley teases Distinct Possibility by namedropping PlanetSide 2 devs
Dune Awakening has officially begun preorders ahead of its May 20 launch
Chronicles of Elyria dev addresses fumbled deadlines, the missing website, and press coverage
Mike Morhaime’s Dreamhaven is publishing Moonshot’s cute new co-op space extraction shooter Wildgate
Path of Exile 2’s Dawn of the Hunt introduces the Huntress, rogue exiles, a mount, and heaps of support gems
Stars Reach’s final Kickstarter haul inches past $750,000, unlocking the shield generators stretch goal
Corepunk pushes its Prison Island update to April 4 with a ‘completely different vibe’
Ashes of Creation showcases the ‘stealth, precision, and deadly strikes’ of the Rogue archetype
The Stream Team: Focusing on Palia’s story
Star Citizen alpha 4.1 releases with new persistent activity, new vehicles, and another limited-time store item
The Elder Scrolls Online starts up its week-long Cyrodiil Champions PvP test
Early access MMORPG Pax Dei releases a new roadmap, saying its next update will be a ‘significant step forward’
Pantheon lays out a roadmap of content goals for 2025 and beyond, starting with next week’s PvP servers
FuzzyBot’s cozy co-op roguelite builder Lynked Banner of the Spark launches 1.0 and console on May 22
Voxel-y MMORPG EverCraft Online rebrands as Adrullan Online Adventures ahead of May 2 stress test
Once Human launches its mobile version April 23, readies cross-character sharing for PC March 27
Warborne Above Ashes brings monthly MMO-sized factional PvP warfare in a post-apoc sci-fi world
Co-op side-scrolling platformer roguelike Mother Machine officially releases
EverQuest II adjusts abilities, events, and zones as public testing for GU128 Lure of Darkness begins
Project Gorgon’s latest update includes a balancing pass for weather witching and animal handling
Echoes of Elysium unveils a standalone airship builder, Bellwright confirms launch on Xbox
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
Malingering33 Immortals: Early access
Abyss: Early access
The Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access
Aero Tales Online: Early access
Aloft: Early access
Ammo and Oxygen: Early access starts November 7th
Anvil Empires: Intermittent alpha
Apogea: Open testing
Arcane Waters: Early access
Arc Raiders: Tech beta live, launch planned for 2025
Arcfall: Pre-alpha
Adrullan Online Adventures: Weekend-long open test starts April 19th, renamed from Evercraft Online
ARK 2: Paid early access
Arkheron: Closed beta
Ascendant: Open testing in August
Ashes of Creation: Alpha two
Ashfall: Closed beta
ASKA: Early access
Battlebit: Early access
Bellatores: Closed testing
Bellwright: Early access, developers of abandoned Last Oasis
Bitcraft: Third alpha starts the week of November 11th
Book of Travels: Early access
Brighter Shores: Early access
Camelot Unchained: Closed beta, planning to launch in late 2025
Chronicles of Elyria: Pre-alpha, again
Chrono Odyssey: Closed testing, launch planned for Q4 2025
Cinderstone Online: Closed beta
City of Titans: Alpha
Coreborn: Nations of the Ultracore: Early access
Corepunk: Early access
Craftopia: Early access
The Crew Motorfest: Closed testing
Crosswind: Future testing events planned on Steam
Dark and Darker: Paid early access, legal troubles.
Dark and Light: Early access (abandoned?)
Darkbind: Closed beta (probably abandoned?)
Dawn of Defiance: Early access
Destiny Rising: Closed alpha starts November 1st
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha, open playtest until March 16th
Dune Awakening: Closed testing, launch on May 20th
Dungeonborne>: Early access
ECO: Early access, full launch planned in 2024
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enshrouded: Early access
Eternal Tombs: Pre-alpha resumes October 11th
EVE Vanguard: Early access planned post-November
Evercore Heroes: Paid testing, updates stopping with a focus on a redesign
Final Stand: Ragnarok: Early access (officially, really)
Fellowship: Closed testing on August 15th
FragPunk: Closed alpha, launch planned for March 6th
Frozen Flame: Early access
Havenhold: Second alpha June 20th
Homestead: Open alpha
IfSunSets: Early access
Ilysia: Early access
Inferna: Early access
King of Meat: Alpha test December 4th through the 14th
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Legend of Ares: Open testing ahead of relaunch
Legendarium Online: Paid alpha access
Life is Feudal Arden: Open beta
Lost Skies: Pre-alpha
Mecha Break: Open beta concluded, launching 2025
Midnight Murder Club: Closed testing this weekend
Monsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alpha
Mortal Exodus: Closed testing
Necesse: Early access
Nightingale: Early access
Odd Giants: Alpha
Osiris: New Dawn: Back from the dead, not on Steam any longer
Outlaws of the Old West: Early access
Palia: Paid “open” beta, planning for launch in Q2
Palworld: Early access
Pantheon: Early access
Past Fate: Closed testing
Path of Exile 2: Early access December 6th
Pax Dei: Early access
Perfect New World: Closed beta
Pow Vista: Open beta (mobile)
Project Crawl: Closed testing
Project Friendship: Beta signups open now
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: Early access
Return Alive: Closed beta
Reign of Guilds: Early access
Rodent Rumble: Launching next year, playtest on October 11th
SamuTale: “Paid closed alpha early access” according to the developer, which is just early access, come on dude
Sand: Early access April 3rd
Scars of Honor: Next test October 26th
Seed: In pre-release, test run starts October 24th
Seekers of Skyveil: Early access
Ship of Heroes: Beta testing, plans for launch in 2025
Ships at Sea: Early access
Sky: Children of Light: Open early access
Skygard Arena: Early access
Smite 2: Open beta
Soulframe: Open pre-alpha planned for 2025
The Spell Brigade: Early access
Spellfarers: Early access
Supervive: Open testing November 20th
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Star Resonance: Closed beta in China, rebrand of Blue Protocol Mobile following main title’s shutdown
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Stars Reach: Pre-alpha started
Synduality: Echo of Ada: Early access
Temtem Swarm: Early access
Tombstone: Closed testing, release planned for this year
Tower of Aghasba: Early access planned for November 19th
Tribes 3: Rivals: Early access, development slowing/stopping
Trimurti Online: Stress testing, open beta February 13th
Valheim: Early access
Valiance Online: Closed beta
Vaultbreakers: Closed testing, formerly known as Project F4E
Vindictus: Defying Fate: Open testing
WalkScape: Closed beta until June 15th
Waven Early access
ZeroSpace: Public beta through November 24th
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.
