AION 2 Launches Free to Play on Steam With One Faction Per Server

The original AION taught MMO players to fight in the air, and its sequel opens its doors to everyone today. AION 2 goes free to play on PC through Steam and NC's own PURPLE launcher on Monday, October 5, and the timing is as precise as a raid timer. NC's final maintenance started on October 4 at 10 PM Pacific, which is 7 AM CEST on launch day, and was scheduled to run for 8 hours. That puts the unlock at 6 AM Pacific, 9 AM Eastern and 3 PM CEST, and the Steam page's countdown lines up with it.

If you bought a Founder's Pack, nothing changes for you except company. The five day Advanced Access window ran from September 30 to October 4, and NC says progress made during that period stays on the dedicated launch servers. For everyone else, this is day one, and we would set expectations accordingly: a brand new free MMO on a Monday afternoon in Europe is going to have queues.

Video: AION 2 Official on YouTube

What you are downloading

The pitch on the Steam page is blunt: the sky is the battlefield. AION 2 is built on Unreal Engine 5 across a world NC says is 36 times larger than the original game, and flight is the whole design axis rather than a travel perk. Daevas gain altitude to gain advantage, every region is laid out with verticality in mind, and combat is sold on chaining skills and positioning instead of running a rotation. The class lineup is the familiar AION roster, from Templar and Gladiator through Ranger, Assassin, Sorcerer, Spiritmaster, Cleric and Chanter.

On the PvE side NC counts over 200 dungeons spread across solo challenges, 5 player party content and 10 player group dungeons, with seasonal challenges, rankings and open world events on top. The Abyss keeps faction war close to all of it. Character creation offers over 200 customization options plus wings, mounts and outfits to collect, and the launch window includes the Shugo Festival, a set of mini games where you defend Shugos from enemy waves, race pets and dodge lasers for skins, pets and decor.

Two practical notes before you hit install. The game needs 100 GB of storage with an SSD recommended, a GTX 1050 Ti and 8 GB of RAM at minimum, and an RTX 2070 with 16 GB for the recommended spec. Full voice acting is available in English, Japanese and Korean, while French, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian get interface and subtitles.

Servers, factions and the launch rules

AION 2 handles factions differently from most MMOs. Each server houses only one faction, so you pick a region first, then Elyos or Asmodian, then a server. Every Elyos server is paired with an Asmodian counterpart for a limited time, and that paired server is where your enemies come from whenever you enter the Abyss or a Spacetime Rift. NC's launch list covers Europe, NA East, NA West, Latin America and Asia, with Europe getting the deepest roster, and the studio says pairings will be rotated periodically to keep things balanced. Advanced Access servers stay separate from the new launch servers.

The same maintenance notes carry a few quality of life tweaks: character deletion now waits 24 hours instead of 168 and works from level 1, and the idle timer before the game kicks you back to server selection stretches from 30 minutes to 3 hours. NC also posted a one line warning that buying Kinah or Quna from third party sellers will cost you your account, so it is clearly watching the launch economy.

Founder's Packs remain on sale on Steam at 24.99 dollars for Standard, 49.99 for Deluxe and 99.99 for Ultimate, but with Advanced Access over they are purely cosmetics and boosts now. There is a cheaper way to start: NC's launch coupon is live on our AION 2 codes page and bundles Odyle Energy, Resurrection Spiritstones and enhance scrolls until October 14.

Our take

We like how little hedging there is in this launch. NC named a time, published the server pairings in advance and told gold sellers to expect bans, which is more than most free MMOs manage on day one. The real test starts now, when the free crowd hits the Europe servers at 3 PM CEST and the queues NC has already warned about become real. If you are not in a rush, let the first evening pass, pick a server pairing that still has room, and start your Daeva once the dust settles.