Aion 2 is NC’s sequel to the 2009 MMORPG Aion, and it launched worldwide on October 5, 2026, free to play on PC through Steam and NC’s own PURPLE launcher. It’s set 200 years after the original, built around flight, and it pulled more than 400,000 concurrent players the day after launch. It also arrived with plenty of arguments about its business model.
Aion 2 at a Glance
What Kind of Game Is It?
Aion 2 is a fantasy MMORPG built on Unreal Engine 5, with a world NC says is 36 times larger than the original. Its signature feature is flight: you can fly freely across the world, fight in the air and dive underwater.
Combat is faster than the original’s, and NC describes it as built on precision, timing and positioning, alongside traditional tab-targeting. The story picks up 200 years after the first game. The Tower of Eternity is gone, and the Elyos and Asmodians face a stronger Balaur faction.
Classes
There are eight classes at global launch, the same eight as the original game: Gladiator, Templar, Assassin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Spiritmaster, Cleric and Chanter. NC also offers more than 200 character customization options.
Korea and Taiwan got a ninth class, the Brawler, in July 2026. It wasn’t part of the global launch, and NC hasn’t announced when it comes West.
What You Do at Level Cap
NC’s launch announcement lists solo and five-player dungeons, 10-player raids, 1v1 and 4v4 arenas, and large cross-server Realm-vs-Realm battles. The faction war zone from the original, the Abyss, is back too. Aion was always a game that mixed PvE with faction PvP, and that hasn’t changed.
How Aion 2 Makes Money
This is where most of the debate is. NC published its global business model in July 2026:
Free to play. No purchase is needed to play.
Two currencies. Kina is earned in play and used on the player Market. Quna is the premium currency: it buys shop items, unlocks the Battle Pass and can be traded for Kina on an Exchange.
A $15 monthly Membership. It unlocks trading on the Market and the Kina-Quna Exchange, adds a special shop for extra Kina purchases, and gives “additional gameplay benefits”. Without a Membership, you can’t trade on either.
A cash shop and Battle Pass. NC says the shop’s cosmetics give no advantage, and that consumables such as potions and resurrection stones don’t affect gear progression and can also be earned in play.
The global version also comes after a rocky start in Korea and Taiwan, where players objected to how paid memberships, premium currency and gameplay benefits were linked, and NC issued an emergency response soon after launch. For the West, NC says it adjusted its pricing after asking players for feedback. Whether $15 a month to trade counts as fair is the question most reviews keep coming back to.
How Has the Launch Gone?
On numbers alone, very well. NC reported more than 400,000 concurrent players the day after launch, and it held the top spot on Steam’s global Top Sellers chart from Early Access onward, and on the charts in 15 territories. Before Early Access, it had over 1.3 million Steam wishlists.
Reception has been more divided. Reviews praise the visuals, character customization, open world, flight and soundtrack. Criticism focuses on combat, early difficulty, how similar the classes feel, the interface and, above all, monetization.
Is It Worth Playing?
Yes, if you want a big, new, free MMORPG. It costs nothing to try, the world is large and flight still feels special, and right now the servers are busy.
Think twice if trading matters to you. If you’re the kind of player who lives on the auction house, the Membership is close to mandatory, which makes Aion 2 cost about the same as a subscription game.
It’s a very different game from WoW. Aion 2 leans heavily on faction PvP and flight-based combat. Classic WoW and WoW Forever players looking for a slower, community-driven game may find MapleStory Classic World a closer match.
For more on what’s happening outside WoW and RuneScape, see our Other MMOs section.