AION 2 arrives as the successor to NCSoft’s popular MMORPG, bringing its fantasy world back to life with modern visuals, a considerably larger environment, and an emphasis on aerial exploration. Built using Unreal Engine 5, the game promises an expansive experience where players can take to the skies, engage in large-scale faction battles, and develop their characters through an extensive progression system. While it certainly makes a strong first impression, spending more time with its various systems reveals an MMORPG that struggles to balance its ambitions with the realities of free-to-play design. This is our review of the PC Steam release of AION 2, in which we explore a gorgeous world and fight a massive faction war.
There is plenty to appreciate about AION 2, particularly its presentation, character customization, and the freedom that comes with flying across its enormous world. However, repetitive quests, a confusing progression structure, and monetization systems that become increasingly difficult to ignore prevent the experience from reaching its full potential. The game has some genuinely enjoyable ideas, but it often feels like players must work through unnecessary obstacles before getting to the content that makes it worthwhile.
A Beautiful World That Deserves More Exploration
One of AION 2’s biggest strengths is undoubtedly its visual presentation. Running on Unreal Engine 5, the game features detailed environments, impressive lighting, attractive character models, and plenty of variety across its fantasy landscapes. From ruined settlements to lush forests and sprawling structures, Atreia is an interesting world to explore. Its character creator is another highlight, offering an extensive selection of customization options that allow players to create characters that look considerably different from one another. It is easily one of the most detailed character creators that I have seen in any sort of game, let alone an MMORPG.
The game also provides eight playable classes, covering familiar MMORPG roles such as tanks, ranged attackers, spellcasters, and assassins. Each class comes with its own collection of abilities and combat mechanics, giving players enough room to experiment with different approaches. Character progression also extends beyond traditional equipment upgrades, with collectibles, wings, achievements, and other unlockables contributing to overall character development.
However, impressive visuals do not automatically make an interesting world. Despite its considerable size, exploration can sometimes feel unrewarding, as large stretches of the environment offer little incentive to move away from the main quest objectives. Enemies scattered throughout the world also do not always provide meaningful progression opportunities, making exploration feel more like travelling between objectives than discovering something worthwhile.
Flight Is Easily the Biggest Highlight
If there is one feature that genuinely helps AION 2 distinguish itself from other MMORPGs, it is the flight system. Players can take to the skies and explore the environment vertically, rather than simply travelling across a traditional open-world map. Flying feels smooth and offers a welcome change of pace, especially when moving between different locations or approaching enemies from above. It also makes the world feel considerably more connected, with vertical spaces and aerial routes adding another dimension to exploration.
Flight is not simply a transportation mechanic either. Players can engage enemies while airborne and use certain abilities to initiate encounters from above. The ability to swoop down on enemies before transitioning into ground combat is particularly enjoyable, even if aerial combat itself does not always feel as developed as it could be. There are also limitations through the Flight Power system, which prevents players from remaining airborne indefinitely.
Collecting different wings provides additional bonuses, including improvements to Flight Power and other character attributes. This gives players another reason to explore and expand their collection, while making wing acquisition an important part of progression. It is a genuinely interesting system that ties the game’s most recognizable feature into its broader RPG mechanics.
Combat Has Depth, but the Presentation Can Get Messy
Combat is another area where AION 2 manages to deliver some enjoyable moments. Each class has access to a variety of abilities, attacks, and conditional skills that can be combined to create different combat rotations. The game also introduces a macro system that allows players to arrange abilities into prioritized sequences, reducing the number of inputs required during regular encounters. While this makes combat more accessible, it also introduces a certain degree of automation that can take away from the satisfaction of executing abilities manually.
Boss encounters are generally more interesting, particularly when they introduce mechanics that require players to pay attention to positioning, dodging, and timing. Some encounters demand considerably more than simply dealing damage, with players having to respond to specific attacks or interact with elements of the environment. These encounters demonstrate that there is more to AION 2’s combat than flashy animations and damage numbers.
Unfortunately, the overall presentation can become overwhelming. With multiple abilities, visual effects, damage numbers, and other interface elements appearing simultaneously, keeping track of what is happening can sometimes be difficult. Combat also lacks the physical impact that would make certain attacks feel more satisfying. While the animations look impressive, the experience does not always feel as responsive or weighty as its presentation suggests.
A Story That Struggles to Keep Players Interested
AION 2’s narrative is considerably less impressive than its presentation. Players choose between the Elyos and Asmodian factions, each offering a different campaign experience before eventually converging around the broader conflict. There is enough background information to establish the setting, but the storytelling rarely gives players a compelling reason to become invested in its characters or the events unfolding around them.
The campaign frequently relies on familiar MMORPG objectives, asking players to travel between locations, eliminate specific enemies, collect items, and report back to quest givers. These activities are hardly unusual for the genre, but the lack of interesting dialogue and memorable encounters makes the journey feel unnecessarily repetitive. Even when the game introduces new characters or developments, the narrative rarely maintains enough momentum to make them particularly memorable.
The problem becomes more noticeable because so much of the early experience revolves around completing these quests to reach the level cap. Instead of feeling like an adventure worth following, the campaign often becomes a checklist of objectives standing between players and the more substantial content waiting later in the game.
The Endgame Grind and Monetization Problems
Reaching level 45 is where AION 2 starts introducing its more demanding progression systems. This is also where the game begins to reveal some of its biggest problems. Players gain access to additional activities, dungeons, PvP modes, and other endgame systems, but progressing through them requires considerable attention to equipment scores, enhancement materials, currencies, and resource limitations.
Equipment progression relies heavily on random drops, crafting, and enhancement systems. While there are mechanisms to make progression more predictable over time, reaching the required item levels for certain activities can still involve considerable grinding. Some content remains inaccessible until players meet specific equipment requirements, creating a frustrating cycle in which they must repeatedly complete activities to improve their characters before being allowed to experience other parts of the game.
This also makes the in-game economy particularly important. Kina is used for various activities, including equipment upgrades and purchases, while other currencies serve different purposes throughout the progression system. Unfortunately, the sheer number of currencies and shops can become confusing, particularly for newcomers who are still trying to understand how everything works. Players looking into an AION 2 boost or searching for ways to buy AION 2 Kinah will also encounter a progression economy where time, resources, and equipment upgrades play an increasingly important role.
The monetization model makes these problems harder to overlook. Although AION 2 is free to play, several conveniences and progression-related benefits are tied to paid subscriptions and premium currency. Access to the player marketplace, additional dungeon rewards, and other benefits can make paying players’ progression considerably more convenient. The fact that certain subscription benefits are tied to individual servers or characters also makes the system feel unnecessarily restrictive.
It is worth mentioning that not every player will experience the progression system in the same way. Some players who have reached the endgame report that the pity systems, guaranteed rewards, and available activities make reaching competitive equipment levels achievable without spending heavily. Others consider the restrictions and additional advantages offered through paid services a significant disadvantage for free-to-play players. Regardless of where players stand on the pay-to-win debate, the underlying problem remains that AION 2 frequently makes progression feel more demanding than it needs to be.
Is AION 2 Worth Playing?
Despite its shortcomings, AION 2 has enough going for it to keep MMORPG fans interested, particularly those who enjoy character progression, collecting equipment, and participating in challenging boss encounters. Its flight mechanics provide a refreshing alternative to conventional exploration, while the combat system offers enough depth to keep players experimenting with different abilities and class builds. There are also several enjoyable side activities, including the Shugo Festival minigames, that provide a welcome break from the regular progression loop.
However, the overall experience is difficult to recommend without reservations. The uninspiring campaign, repetitive quest design, overwhelming interface, and increasingly demanding endgame progression all work against the game’s strongest features. Its monetization model is particularly disappointing because it introduces unnecessary restrictions into an experience that could otherwise be considerably more enjoyable.
AION 2 has the foundation of an interesting MMORPG, and its visual presentation, flight mechanics, and combat provide several reasons to give it a chance. Unfortunately, these strengths are frequently overshadowed by systems that prioritize prolonged progression and monetization over player convenience. NCSoft has room to improve the experience through future updates, but as it stands, AION 2 feels more like a promising MMORPG held back by its own design decisions than the next major evolution of the franchise.
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Final Verdict:
AION 2 offers an impressive visual presentation, enjoyable combat, extensive character customization, and one of the more interesting flight systems in the MMORPG genre. However, its repetitive quests, underwhelming storytelling, demanding endgame progression, and restrictive monetization prevent it from delivering a consistently rewarding experience. There is plenty of potential here, but NCSoft needs to address several fundamental issues before AION 2 can become a truly compelling long-term MMORPG. For now, it is worth experiencing for its strongest features, but there are better-rounded alternatives for players looking for a complete MMORPG experience.
Final Score: 6.5/10
Disclaimer: This review of AION 2 is based on a copy sourced by GamesHedge on its own and not provided by the publisher. For a detailed breakdown of our scoring and review process, please refer to our Review Policy.
