Beta & Early Access Update
Hi all!
As we mentioned in the last update, we’ve been a little quieter than normal after November’s 12-day playtest. Aside from just catching our breath after the long playtest, we’ve been super focused on Beta related work and updating our planning for 2026.
This update should clarify things, but feel free to join the Discord or our various Livestreams if you have additional questions.
The dates listed here may not be reflected across the entire website, but we’ll get the site updated shortly.
ALSO: We’re holding an Open Playtest starting on Saturday, December 27th, 2025 at 1pm Eastern. It’s running until Monday, December 29th, 2025 at 1pm Eastern.
SO, WHAT DOES OUR SCHEDULE LOOK LIKE?
Our current Required for Beta milestone is our most critical hurdle for Early Access.
This milestone is the foundation of the initial Early Access experience and game in general.
As we mentioned in the previous Beta Update, it’s heavily focused on our classes, balance, progression, economy, and wrapping up initial work on a few systems like housing and religion.
With that in mind, we’ll continue to take the time we need to get the game in a state we’re happy with, but be assured, we’re moving with a sense of urgency. We’re excited to get the game in your hands!
Here are the dates we currently have as targets:
The following are our key dates:
Required for Beta work continues through January and February
Beta begins March 1st
Beta lasts for 2 months: March and April
We lock the build on May 1st
This lock is maintained for all of May and we hit critical fixes within that build; additional work continues on the initial EA updates and Module 1
June 1st kicks off Early Access
Some notes on these dates:
We’ll evaluate our progress month-to-month and determine if we need to alter the dates
As an all volunteer team, this schedule is still pretty aggressive
We’ve got team members who have been volunteering their time for years, we’re paying for everything out of pocket, and we’re eager to get people in and playing (and yeah, paying)
We’ll reduce scope as we go if needed, and move those items to specific EA updates (Patch 0.0.5, Module 1, etc.)
We’ll provide insight into the specific work we’re doing, as well as any changes, so that you’ll have a better understanding of our areas of focus, progress, and decisions (see below)
TRACKING OUR PROGRESS
We’ve decided to use an approach similar to our original game deconstruction ‘roadmap’ (image below) to help you better understand our Required for Beta work in more detail.
We’ve added a second breakdown using a similar style to show the status of and decisions on discrete Required for Beta topics. It looks like this:
That way, we can provide an easy place for people who are testing or just curious to find our current status, and we can note or clarify decisions to limit scope or push certain functionality to later as part of each card.
Think of it as part status tracking, part FAQ. It won’t replace our internal tracking system, but it should give you some decent insight.
You can find it here: Beta Requirements
You’ll also be able to reach it from the Roadmaps page on our Community Hub.
My target for getting all of this in place is before the end of the year (so, in the next week or so). But hey, I’ve got my laptop with me while I’m out of town, so it may get finished sooner!
BETA TESTING
People have been asking if Closed Alpha participants will automatically transfer over to Beta.
Yes, they will.
I’d previously mentioned (a little tongue-in-cheek) that not everyone from Alpha would be in Beta. I was jokingly referencing a few people who were on the naughty list. Apologies for the confusion.
Don’t worry, if we haven’t talked to you, you’re not one of them.
But please, continue to be nice. Santa will still be watching.
OPTING IN
Everyone can now opt-in to Closed Testing via the Community Hub on our website!
Opting in will put you in a pool of available testers that we can pull into testing as needed.
As of this posting, 4015 people have opted in already!
Our new opt-in system has two features we’re excited about:
LOTTERIES
We can now run regular lotteries within the ‘opt-in' pool
There’s no need to be present or do anything else
You’ll be notified if you’ve been selected
FRIEND INVITES
Lottery winners (and other testers) can now be given the ability to invite friends with an invite code/link
This will allow you to get one or more of your friends in to play with you, without needing our assistance
Exact numbers for the Lotteries and Friend Invites will be announced at a later date.
We have no immediate plans to fire off the Lottery System until Beta. But you never know, maybe we’ll test it before then.
You’ll receive an email if you’ve been selected to enter testing. We’ll let it be known whenever we’re firing up the lottery. The email will come from: customerservice@monstersandmemories.com, so don’t get scammed.
However, this won't be the only route into Closed Beta.
For example, we can still give access during streams or at other times. But the lottery system seems pretty fair, since you don’t need to be in our Discord, on streams, etc. to get a chance to be picked. Just opt-in.
We’ll continue to have Open Playtests and Stress Tests during the time leading up to Early Access.
Please join our Discord and Mailing List to stay updated on Testing Dates.
IN CLOSING
As I said: as of this posting, the dates posted on the website are still out of date. We’ll get the site updated ASAP.
Thank you for your patience.
We’ve tried to nail every playtest date, because we know people take time out of their schedules to hop into the game.
But with these longer-term, bigger target dates, we’d rather try and get things right rather than just hit the date.
We’ll continue to post information about Beta and Early Access in the coming weeks and months, but hopefully this covers the bigger questions for now.
Have a Merry Christmas (or whatever you’re into) and a Happy New Year!
Everyone on the MnM Team is extremely excited for 2026 and can’t wait to play with everyone again!