Who here likes sand? If you like sand, this is your week for Betawatch because first and foremost there are reports that Dune Awakening is sending out beta invitations. Is that sandy enough for you? The game is literally based on Dune; that’s got to be enough sand for dedicated sand-lovers. But if you really want some sand, you can look at Abyss, which is currently sitting at a heck of a lot of negative reviews after players tried the game and apparently told the developers to pound sand.
Do you need yet more sand? Then have some Sand, which is an upcoming game about robot walkers on sand. No word on beta dates or anything yet, but it is still sand-related! Corepunk also wants people to fight over a potential alpha invite, perhaps on a bloody and sand-filled arena? And SMITE 2 has its second alpha weekend starting next week, which is… I mean… some of the deities involved are in sandy places? Sure. That’s almost plausible.
Is that not enough for you? Are you going to be a real Anakin Skywalker about all this sand? Well, that’s disappointing, but we do have some completely sand-free stories in this week’s beta roundup all the same. And there’s a whole list of games in testing below that, some of which likely have only a tenuous connection to sand if any. Seriously. As always, if you notice something in that list which has slipped to a new test phase you can let us know in the comments.
Sand.
Abyss Online devs warn gamers not to buy the game right now owing to ‘absolute chaos’ in early access
Sand is an open-world PvPvE game where players build stompy robot bases to explore an alien planet
EVE Online blockchain spinoff Project Awakening begins Phase III and ‘hackathon’ testing today
Dune Awakening reportedly begins sending out closed beta invites
Co-op multiplayer RPG Wuthering Waves makes its global release on PC and mobile tonight
Shroud of the Avatar execs expand on Slayscape, a procedurally generated battle royale RPG
Tarisland talks up its ‘misc PvE gameplay’ content in latest video
‘No more punching trees and building shacks,’ says multiplayer survivalbox Echoes of Elysium
Star Citizen debuts the new Ironclad heavy hauler and shares an update on the Polaris capital ship
Tarisland says male mages and female paladins are the next step in gender-unlocking
Palia is prepping an economy patch to smooth out gold generation and skills
Corepunk proposes its 500,000 test hopefuls comment for a chance at 10,000 alpha 2 invites
Tencent recaps plan for Tarisland’s game performance, combat hit feel, and fishing
Age of Water receives middling player reviews as it addresses problems with mob spawns, rewards, and more
Nightingale’s offline mode and QOL-laden 0.3 update are now live
Nightingale outlines the benefits and limitations of today’s offline mode release
Town-management survivalbox ASKA releases new vid ahead of demo and early access
Scars of Honor shares development work on character models, graphics, UI, and its game world
Solarpunk showcases an overhauled merchant platform in its latest development update
Palia’s new teaser video hints at housing upgrades and Black Market hotpot
Tarisland previews the male elven Bard in its latest class deep-dive video
33 Immortals preps weekend closed beta for the ‘distillation of the MMO raid experience’
Nightingale recaps its new character creation additions – including its starter loadouts and ‘extravagant’ digs
Corepunk previews deep dish progression systems for its weapons and heroes
Nearly 6500 people tried out sandbox MMORPG BitCraft’s last alpha – the next is coming in June
Bellwright touts 200K unit sales and high concurrency following ‘terrifying’ release
Pantheon Rise of the Fallen provides an in-progress look at the upcoming Summoner class
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.
33 Immortals: Closed testing
Abyss: Early access
The Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access
Aero Tales Online: Early access
Age of Water: Early access
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, early access on June 20th
Battlebit: Early access
Battle Crush: Second global beta
Bellatores: Closed testing
Bellwright: Early access, developers of abandoned Last Oasis
Bitcraft: Alpha 2 on June 17th, 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, plans for 2025
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?)
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: Final test on May 25th
Fractured Online: Paid early access, back on Steam
Fractured Veil: Early access
Frozen Flame: Early access
Ilysia: Early access
Inferna: Early access
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Legendarium Online: Paid alpha access
Lost Skies: Pre-alpha
Marvel Rivals: Closed alpha
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
Osiris: New Dawn: Back from the dead, not on Steam any longer
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
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
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, first alpha May 2nd
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
Valiance Online: Closed beta
Vindictus: Defying Fate: Open testing
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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