Aion 2 officially announced by NCsoft, curb your enthusiasm

Great news, everyone! NCsoft has officially announced Aion 2, shedding some light on the rumors that a sequel to one of the first great MMORPGs was in the making. Oddly enough, it also tears apart this suggestion that Aion 2 was going to be an Unreal Engine 4 PC MMORPG. Maybe there is another Aion game in the works for PC?

As you may have already grasped, Aion 2 is a mobile game. Instead of a proper full-fledged PC sequel, NCsoft chose to go the Diablo Immortal way – the “Is this an out of season April Fool's joke?” meme is clearly going to be heavily used in the near future.

Aion 2 is also a prequel, something that is becoming a trend as it is apparently easier to throw away any implications that a proper sequel might have. Set 900 years before the original PC game Aion: The Tower of Eternity, it also does away with the two warring factions (Elyos and Asmodians), opting for a free approach to the game world. There will be no classes, with the different weapons shaping the character and its playstyle.

Large-scale PvP seems to be a big thing for Aion 2, with “dimensional cracks” that players can use to engage others from different servers. Apparently, no gliding constraints will be in place, which could mean that you can glide for as long as you wish and make this a more integral part of combat. NCsoft claims that “a new battle system that did not exist in the old Aion” will be used.

Oddly enough, NCsoft boasts that Aion 2 will include features which could not be realized in the PC game – I'm assuming the original Aion, not the platform -, and that their vision for Aion is “no longer a dream”. I'm pretty sure that every PC player out there is thanking the heavens for mobile gaming, as these devices are truly pushing games to the next level and turning software houses into more demanding, more top-quality focused outfits.

That was sarcasm, in case you failed to notice.

Thanks MMOCulture