The open beta for Throne and Liberty, Amazon's latest MMO import, is available now

In Throne and Liberty, an armored knight swings a sword at a real orc lookin' guy. Just a profoundly orcish dude.

(Image credit: NCSOFT)

Throne and Liberty, an Amazon-published free-to-play MMO from NCSOFT, is currently running an open beta, which will be live until 10AM PT on July 23, 2024. Much like it did with Lost Ark's western release in 2019, Amazon Games announced in 2023 that it had acquired the rights to publish Throne and Liberty outside of South Korea.

The Steam listing for Throne and Liberty is a little sparse, but it looks like it's a medieval fantasy MMO, set in "the vast open world of Solisium." Evidently, it's a vast open world that you can traverse as a bird, because every player has the ability to transform into animals to get around the environment. Frankly, too much of my MMO history has involved being unable to turn into a bird at will.

Meanwhile, under its mature content description, the developers have helpfully warned that Throne and Liberty features "cutscenes with sand worm," which is perhaps the most compelling content warning I've ever been given. Throne and Liberty is two for two, animal-wise.

Throne and Liberty's website indicates it has a class-free character system, where your combat abilities are instead determined entirely by which two weapon types you've brought into battle. I admire an MMO that doesn't demand you have an entire separate character lined up if you feel like switching playstyles. I'm also seeing that it's got a guild PvP mode where you can intercept an opposing guild's tax convoy. That's a surprisingly material form of inter-guild conflict—usually they just fight over crystals or whatever.

Numbers-wise, the Throne and Liberty beta looks like it's attracting interest. Shortly after the beta went live yesterday it jumped up to almost 60,000 concurrent players. At time of writing, it's hovering around 38,000 players, and trending upwards. Nothing like an open beta to occupy the weekend.

To access the beta yourself, head to the Throne and Liberty Steam page and click the "Request Access" button, which should give you immediate access to the beta. After the beta period ends, Throne and Liberty will release on September 17, 2024.

Lincoln spent his formative years in World of Warcraft, and hopes to someday recover from the experience. Having earned a Creative Writing degree by convincing professors to accept his papers about Dwarf Fortress, he leverages that expertise in his most important work: judging a videogame’s lore purely by its proper nouns. Lincoln's previously written for sites like Waypoint, Polygon, and Fanbyte, and spent three years freelancing for PC Gamer before joining on as News Writer in 2024. He's a sicko for games that act as storytelling toolkits, whether we’re shaping those stories for ourselves or sharing them with others, and will take any opportunity to gush about Monster Hunter.