Betawatch: Aion 2 plans October global debut, Guild Wars 3 reveals gremlins

So the day is coming forAion 2 to launch worldwide. That day is October 5th, as it turns out. It will have some stress tests and headstarts ahead of time, so those who cannot wait toAion But More Sequel-ish will soon have their chance. Wait, isAion a verb? I’m pretty sure it isn’t. But I used it that way anyway. That raises questions I shall not be engaging with.

Elsewhen,Guild Wars 3 has more to say about its gremlins, which some of you call Asura. Path of Exile 2 has officially gotten a launch date out of early access, and Netmarble is bringing its latestPC and mobile MMOVampir worldwide. We’ve also seenAliens: Fireteam Elite 2 launch to some pretty rough reviews, but it did launch! Which means that last and not least, we have to award our Lifetime Failure To Achieve Or Even Be Playable Award toSquadron 42 as it has been delayedyet again. This was supposed to launch in 2014, which means that the game has arguably already beaten the record of development and delay previously set byDuke Nukem Forever.

Down below, of course, we already have our roundup of beta news from this week, and our list of games in testing is below that. If you notice something missing from down there, let us know down in the comments! You shining stars of humanity, you.

We are all shocked, shocked, that Star Citizen spinoff Squadron 42 has been delayed into 2027

Guild Wars 3’s Asura are taller and furrier than their Guild Wars 2 descendants – but just as quirky

AI-powered Kickstarter MMORPG Epitome has officially released a playable demo

Solo MMO tanking sim Don’t Lose Aggro has launched a big gameplay update and playtest

Gamescom 2026: Aion 2 makes its global debut October 5 following stress test and headstart

Netmarble’s popular PC/mobile MMO Vampir is coming westward, opens global registrations

Aliens Fireteam Elite 2 has officially launched to rough reviews under the Daybreak banner

Gamescom 2026: Wolcen Studio announces Wolcen 2, a sequel to its troubled namesake ARPG

Gamescom 2026: NCsoft’s trailers for multiplayer Like or Die and Cinder City

Gamescom 2026: Gravhounds is a co-op extraction shooter with building, anti-grav, and puppy people

Stars Reach’s latest early access patch buffs character speed and adds craftable player vendors

Gamescom 2026: Path of Exile 2 will finally launch out of early access this December

Star Citizen revives Siege of Orison, adds a new ship, and fixes nearly 500 bugs with alpha 4.10

Path of Exile 2 previews September 4’s Forbidden Rites league and 1.0’s new Duelist class

Fractured Conquest schedules a September 3 playtest after cutting the July one short

Palia players grumble over a storage chest expansion silently added to the cash shop in latest patch

Bitcraft adds a new horse mount for players with its latest early access patch

Early access sandbox Everwind unveils its next major update: Winds of Creation & Beyond

Two-player anime adventure Orbitals hypes September 3 launch with music video and digital instruction book

MapleStory Classic World opens its doors to founders October 6 and to everyone else October 21

Multiplayer survivalbox State of Decay 3 forges ahead with beta plans after July layoffs

Corepunk brings point capturing warfare to the open world with its latest update

Camelot Unchained fleshes out early access with item drops, gathering improvements, and world beautification

Hytale patches in its intense hardcore mode and in-game mod browser

Indie MMO Hollowed Oath says that ‘content implementation has started in earnest’

Pantheon’s latest test server patch fixes bugs and expands mastery options for several classes

MMOs You’ve Never Heard Of: Elegon, Idle Clans, and Interstellar Empires

Corepunk’s latest patch encourages you to follow any and all (in-game) rumors

Palia’s Petals & Portraits patch provides player projects, pals, paths, plushes, and ponies

Cozy co-op sandbox Aloft’s Discovery & Ancestry update is live with new biomes, farming, and more

Dungeons and Dragons Online starts testing its newest raid, Terror of the Demon Lords

Gamescom 2026: Exterminauts is an upcoming co-op shooter where you use mad science against alien foes

NetEase’s Sea of Remnants teases closed beta, Gamescom reveals, and launch platforms

Kakao-pubbed zombie survival title God Save Birmingham confirms co-op multiplayer

Gamescom 2026: NetEase announces January launch for Ananta and December beta for Sea of Remnants

Gamescom 2026: Hoyoverse sets a winter release for Petit Planet, unveils co-op action RPG Nodusfall

Gamigo has begun public testing for Trove’s expanded PvP modes with a whopping 35 maps

Persist Online’s next playtest has begun – and you’re going to want to join a guild to make the most of it

Whatever happened to Gaijin’s sci-fi PvPvE extraction game Star Wrath?

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 inclosed 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: Early access
The Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access
Adrullan Online Adventures: Open alpha concluded
Aion 2: Global launch on October 5th, 2026
Aloft: Early access
Aniimo: Closed beta
Anvil Empires: Intermittent alpha
Apogea: Open testing
Arcane Waters: Early access
Arcany: Early alpha
Arcfall: Pre-alpha
ARK 2: Paid early access
Arkheron: Closed beta
Ascendant: Open testing
Ashes of Creation: Early access, entire staff apparently laid off, in limbo
Ashfall: Closed beta
ASKA: Early access
Astrobotanica: Early access on February 16th, 2026
Battlebit: Early access
Bellatores: Closed testing, beta rolling out in South Korea
Bellwright: Early access, developers of abandoned Last Oasis
Bitcraft: Early access
Brighter Shores: Early access
Camelot Unchained: Early access
Chronicles of Elyria: Pre-alpha, again
Chrono Odyssey: Closed beta, launch planned for 2027 after latest delays/revamps
Cinderstone Online: Closed beta
City of Titans: Alpha
Cloudheim: Early access
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
The Cube, Save Us: Early access, free-to-play us
Dark and Darker: Paid early access, legal troubles.
Dark and Light: Early access (abandoned?)
Darkbind: Closed beta (probably abandoned?)
Dawn of Defiance: Early access
Dragonwilds: Early access
Drakanatos: Testing weekend running until May 24th
Dungeonborne: Early access
ECO: Early access, full launch planned in 2024
Echoes of Elysium: Early access
Eldramoor: Closed testing
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enshrouded: Early access, launch on October 15th
Eternal Tombs: Next demo in October
Etherwind: Open test on April 10th
Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore: Early access, 1.0 release planned for 2027
EVE Vanguard: Open alpha event, early access planned for summer 2026
Evercore Heroes: Ascension: Early access
EverRail: Early access
Fantasy Online 2: Early access
Farever: Early access
Fellowship: Early access
Fractured: Conquest: Testing in 2026, full reboot of Fractured OnlineFrontier Legends: Early access May 29th
Frozen Flame: Early access
Gloria Victis: Relaunch on June 17th
Guild Wars 3: Beta coming fall 2027
Havenhold: Closed beta
Homestead: Open alpha
Horizon: Hunter’s Gathering: First test planned for the end of February
Hytale: Early access
IfSunSets: Early access
Ilysia: Early access
Inferna: Early access
Kalmia Online: First test event starts July 24th
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Legend of Ares: Open testing ahead of relaunch
Legends of Aria Eternal: Testing open to prior owners
Legends of California: Alpha test starts March 26th
Legendarium Online: Paid alpha access
Life is Feudal Arden: Open beta
Loftia: Closed beta
March of Giants: Closed alpha
Magic to Master: Somehow, Palpatine returned in early access
Monsters & Memories: Early access delayed to October
Mortal Exodus: Closed testing
Nightingale: Early access
Nin Online: Early access
Odd Giants: Alpha
Osiris: New Dawn: Back from the dead, not on Steam any longer
Outbound: Early Access
Outlaws of the Old West: Early access
Palia: Paid “open” beta, planning for launch in Q2
Pantheon: Early access
Past Fate: Early access
Path of Exile 2: Early access
Perfect New World: Closed beta
Petit Planet: Closed beta starting April 21st
Pioner: Early access
Pow Vista: Open beta (mobile)
Project Crawl: Closed testing
Project Friendship: Beta signups open now
Project Genom: Closed alpha (servers offline, abandoned?)
Project Loki: Closed beta
Project ST: Closed testing, open event ended
Project Zeta: Open testing
Prosperous Universe: Early access
Reaper Actual: Early access
Return Alive: Closed beta
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: Raiders of Sophie: Early access
RF Online Next: Global launch in 2026
Scars of Honor: Internal testing
Sea of Remnants: In testing, multiplayer not available
Seed: Early access on July 21st
Seekers of Skyveil: Early access
Ships at Sea: Early access
Sky: Children of Light: Open early access
Skygard Arena: Early access
Smite 2: Open beta
Soulframe: Founders pack for sale
Soul’s Remnant: Early access
Spacecraft: Early access
The Spell Brigade: Early access
Spirit Crossing: Closed alpha, launch in 2026
SpiritVale: Early access
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Star Wrath: Closed beta
Stars Reach: Paid early access
Steel Aces: Closed beta
Steel Hunters: Early access
Stormforge: Demo available
Subnautica 2: Early access May 14th
Synduality: Echo of Ada: Early access
Time Takers: Closed beta
Tombstone: Closed testing, release planned for this year
Torebia: Beta test starting May 29th for 10 days
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, launch on September 9th
Valiance Online: Closed beta
Vaultbreakers: Week-long open test through February 16th, formerly known as Project F4E
Vindictus: Defying Fate: Internal testing
WalkScape: Closed beta until June 15th
Waven: Early access
Windrose: Early access
Witchspire: Early access
ZeroSpace: Back in closed testing, early access on July 20th

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.