Aion 2 is a game I’ve gone back and forth on. I was initially pretty hyped, but since then I’ve tamped down my expectations a bit. But it maintains my curiosity, so when a server stress test offered me an early taste of this free to play MMORPG before its October 5th launch, I dove in with both feet.
The test was short enough to only provide a small sampling of the game, and honestly, it left me still a bit on the fence. Aion 2 feels like a real blend of old school and new school MMO design, and that’s a mixed blessing.
I know I want to play the Asmodian faction in the live game, so in the interest of not spoiling myself I decided to focus on the light-cursed Elyos during the test. The game starts with a brief tutorial sequence where you play as an NPC (skippable on alts), but before long you’re given the chance to create your own character.
I didn’t want to waste too much time on character creation considering characters would not carry over to launch, so I pretty much just picked a preset and rolled with it, but I did fiddle with settings enough to confirm that Aion 2 carries on the original’s legacy of having insanely deep customization. Most people are running around with overpolished K-pop idol type characters, but that’s not the only option. With enough effort, you can make just about any kind of character you’d like, up to and including man made horrors beyond your comprehension.
I’m told the Asmodians have lost the mildly bestial features they had in the first game in order to conform to Korea’s absurd and toxic beauty standards, and that’s frustrating. Make it a toggle if you must, but I want my claws, dagnabbit.
Once you exit character creation, you will play through the kind of linear main story quest we’ve come to expect from modern themepark MMORPGs, with the occasional side quest. The production values are pretty high, with well-made cutscenes and fully voiced dialogue throughout. The voice acting is competent, if not spectacular, and the translations are good, mostly lacking the kind of awkward language you often see in import titles. The story itself felt a bit ho-hum, but for what it’s worth I’ve heard people on social media saying the Asmodian story is much better than the Elyos’.
The story feels like it could be pretty impenetrable to people who never played the first Aion. It barrages you with a whole bunch of fantasy terms right off the bat without much context or explanation. I played enough of the original to get the gist of it, but for those who didn’t I think it would be nearly incomprehensible.
Outside of the flashier packaging, the quest design in Aion 2 is surprisingly old school, and that was my first disappointment with the game. You’re still pretty much just doing basic kill ten rats quests.
My second and biggest disappointment was the combat. It’s not bad per se, but I was expecting more from a big budget MMORPG in 2026.
Aion 2 offers a choice between a traditional tab target experience and action combat (which is more Elder Scrolls Online style soft lock than true action combat). This is a cool idea for broadening the game’s appeal, but it results in both modes feeling a bit undercooked. I focused on the action mode, and it was fine, but the softlock felt like a downgrade after playing New World‘s more aim-based model. There’s also a bit too many keybindings required for a comfortable action experience, and there’s some odd quirks. You need to dodge to activate sprint out of combat rather than sprint being its own keybind, and there’s no active block mechanic, even for shield classes.
Despite being very visually flashy, I did find a lot of the attacks felt like they lacked impact as well. I think this is mostly down to lackluster sound design; the impact sounds have no bass. The physical classes suffered from this especially badly, whereas the caster sound design has a bit more oomph.
My biggest complaint with the combat, though, is that it is far too easy. Most mobs don’t even attack unless struck first, and they all seem to die in about two or three clicks. Of course I didn’t get very far into the game during the test, but in my experience if a game is this easy early on, it’s unlikely to change much as you progress. I did some occasional bosses that were a little more challenging, and it did make me feel that Aion 2‘s combat can shine a lot better when you’re forced to use your full toolkit, but these moments were too few and far between.
Like the original, Aion 2 makes use of chain skills, and there’s also an emphasis on contextual skills that are only available under certain circumstances, such as after landing a critical hit. I thought this was a cool idea, though the icons that appear when these abilities are up could be more visible.
The class design also contributes to the combat feeling a bit lackluster. There’s very little separating the classes mechanically. They all have a spammable mana spender on right click, a spammable mana generator on left click, and everything else on moderately long cooldowns.
There also doesn’t seem to be a lot of ways to customize the classes. There’s numerous ways to boost this or that stat, which might please the math fiend minmaxers, but there doesn’t seem to be much that would actually change the feel of how a class plays or give them a different combat role.
This leaves aesthetics as nearly the only thing separating the classes. I spent most of the test playing a chanter, a DPS/support hybrid, but I also briefly tried all the other classes. While I liked the mechanical role of the chanter best, I ended up having more fun with the cleric simply because it had much more satisfying visuals and sounds for its attacks. Again, the casters seem to get the better end of it. Despite the name, the cleric is actually focused mainly on lightning and earth-themed abilities, giving them more of a druid or shaman feel, and that’s a lot more appealing to me than the vague sparkly holy magic you see in most games.
There’s also a bit of an elephant in the room in the form of the brawler class that was released relatively soon after the game’s Korean launch. From my research, the brawler looks a bit more mechanically distinct than the other classes thanks to a rage mechanic that lets it temporarily empower its abilities, but the brawler will not initially be included in the western version of the game.
Generally I’m fine with not having content parity with the original versions of import games — we’ll get the content eventually, after all — but a class feels different. Those of us who want to try the brawler are left in an awkward spot. Do we play at launch and risk having to reroll a new main a few months later, or do we wait for the brawler but miss out on the launch rush?
My other criticism would be the UI could use some work. Not being able to turn off the nameplate and health bar above your character is irritating, and it can be hard to find some things. There’s a transmog system available right off the bat, which is great, but it took me a fair bit of digging to find the actual menu to use it.
I’d say Aion 2‘s greatest strength is in its world design. I kept going off the beaten path and expecting to run into invisible walls or the like, but it just never happened. You can swim in the water. You can fly to seemingly any place you can see. This is a big, fully open world in the vein of classic MMORPGs.
Oh, yes, of course you can fly. Unlike the original Aion, flight is available almost immediately, and there are very few no fly zones. You are limited by stamina, which runs out fairly quickly, but my understanding is you can increase your flight time significantly as you progress. The default keybindings for flight are a bit awkward, but I was able to rebind them into something workable. No matter what game it’s in, flying is never going to not be cool to me.
There seems to be a decent amount to reward exploration, so you may want to wander a bit between quests. I found several soloable micro-dungeons, plus there’s feather collectibles I’m told are important later on, and lots of crafting nodes to harvest. It’s also got some of those little details that make games really come to life. There’s a giant, functional piano in the middle of town. Why? Why not?
Aion 2 has the same surreal, dreamy aesthetic I loved in the original, and the music is absolutely breathtaking. Seriously, guys, I can’t overstate how much the soundtrack blew me away. Just stunning. I think you could find a fair bit of joy in Aion 2 just flying around, seeing the sights, and vibing to the music.
Technically the test ran very well. I encountered some mild stuttering in the main town, but that’s not really surprising considering there were at least several dozen players there at the time. General chat seemed pretty positive about the game; people were enjoying themselves.
As I read up on Aion 2 before the test, I constantly encountered rhetoric from angry fans of the original that this was Aion in name only, but my impression from the stress test is that such sentiments couldn’t be farther from the truth. I was constantly struck by how very much like the original Aion it felt, in both good and bad ways.
I always loved the aesthetics and vibes of the original, but I felt like its combat and quest design were a bit too generic, and that’s also pretty much how I feel about Aion 2 after playing a few hours of its test. It’s got the classic MMO feel of inhabiting another world, but its gameplay also harkens back to older designs in a way that’s less welcome.
I think I would like to play more of Aion 2, either at launch or when the brawler arrives, but I am getting the feeling it’s probably not my new MMO home. If you were a fan of the original, though, I’d recommend giving it an honest shot. You might be surprised by how familiar it feels.
