The wings are coming back, and now we have an exact date to circle. AION 2 officially locked in its global launch date at Gamescom Opening Night Live on 25 August: October 5, 2026. Headstart for Founder’s Pack holders begins five days earlier on September 30, and a free launch-scale stress test runs September 17–18 — which means Singapore players can get into the servers in less than a month.
We first covered AION 2’s Asia launch when the global window was announced back in July. This post covers the official date confirmation and everything new from Gamescom.
Image courtesy of NCSoft
The Full Timeline Before Launch
Here is the complete schedule as confirmed at Gamescom:
September 17–18 — Launch Scale Test (free stress test open to all players; servers mirror the live production setup)
September 30 — Headstart / Early Access begins for all Founder’s Pack holders
October 5 — Official global launch on Steam and NC PURPLE
The game is free-to-play. Buying a Founder’s Pack gives you five days of early access plus in-game cosmetics — it does not affect the base game after launch.
AION 2 – Official Spread Your Wings Trailer — via AION 2 Official on YouTube
Founder’s Pack Options for Singapore Players
Three tiers are available now on Steam and NC PURPLE. NCSoft also announced that all previously purchased packs have been retroactively upgraded with 30 days of membership access:
Standard ($24.99 USD) — 5-day Early Access, Daeva’s Campaign Supply Chest (bound), “Vanguard of Atreia” title
Deluxe ($49.99 USD) — Everything above plus Ascended Daeva armour skin, Eternal Sun weapon skin
Ultimate ($99.99 USD) — Everything above plus Daeva’s Styling Chest, Moonlit Aria armour skin, Black Dragon pet, Blazing Sun wings
SGD pricing will depend on Steam’s regional conversion at checkout — expect roughly S$34, S$68, and S$136 at current rates, though Steam may display exact SGD amounts closer to purchase.
Asia Is In From Day One
Image courtesy of NCSoft
NCSoft confirmed the global launch covers North America, South America, Europe, and Asia simultaneously — no regional delay, no separate SEA server rollout to wait for. For Singapore players who remember the original AION’s Southeast Asian server situation, that is genuinely good news. The September 17–18 stress test is also region-open, so it doubles as a way to check server latency from Singapore before you commit to a Founder’s Pack.
AION 2 releases on Steam and the NC PURPLE launcher. You can follow our game news section for coverage as the September stress test dates approach.
NCSoft’s open-world shooter Cinder City had its Gamescom 2026 moment today — hands-on demos on the show floor and a fresh look during Opening Night Live. If this Korean-built, Seoul-set MMO has flown under your radar, here’s everything you need to know before its H2 2026 launch on PC and consoles.
What Is Cinder City?
Image courtesy of NCSoft / BigFire Games
Developed by BigFire Games — an internal NCSoft studio, the South Korean company behind Lineage, AION, and Blade & Soul — Cinder City is an open-world cinematic third-person shooter with MMO-scale co-op PvE at its core. It was known for years as Project LLL before revealing its name at Gamescom 2025.
Built on Unreal Engine 5, the game drops players into a post-apocalyptic alternate-future Seoul blending 23rd-century technology with familiar present-day districts. Real Gangnam landmarks — Samseong-dong, Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu — appear in-game, torn apart by catastrophe and overrun by mutated creatures and criminal organisations.
As BigFire Games CEO Jaehyun Bae said when the title was unveiled: “The title CINDER CITY represents future humanity’s struggle against a grave crisis to restore hope and save the city from the ashes.”
The Story: A Father, a Daughter, and a Fallen City
Image courtesy of NCSoft / BigFire Games
Players control Seven, an armoured operative fighting through ruined Seoul on a deeply personal mission: find his missing daughter, Joi. The narrative threads solo story beats — including tense sequences through darkened, gore-soaked facilities — with open-world co-op missions against the factions and monstrous threats that have claimed the city.
Even in released footage, the tonal range stands out. The quest UI names individual story episodes — “Prologue. Blood Rain, Episode 6: Reunion / Enter the 5th floor chamber and rescue Joi” — signalling a structured narrative backbone rather than a generic loot loop.
Gameplay — Open World, Squad PvE, and Mech Warfare
Image courtesy of NCSoft / BigFire GamesCINDER CITY | RTX On Cinematic Trailer — via CINDER CITY on YouTube
BigFire has built the game around three pillars:
Cinematic shooter — third-person gunplay with realistic firearm mechanics and Unreal Engine 5 visual fidelity, designed to feel grounded even in a sci-fi setting
Open world — a seamless map drawn from real Seoul districts, with both free exploration and structured open-world missions
Large-scale multiplayer PvE — squad co-op ranging from tight three-player skirmishes to grander coordinated encounters against boss-tier mechs and creatures
Image courtesy of NCSoft / BigFire Games
On the technical side, Cinder City ships with NVIDIA DLSS 4.5, full Ray Tracing, Ray Reconstruction, and NVIDIA Reflex — an outcome of NCSoft’s deep NVIDIA partnership first showcased at the Seoul GeForce Gamer Festival. The game will also be available on GeForce NOW, NVIDIA’s cloud gaming service.
Why Singapore Gamers Should Be Watching
Image courtesy of NCSoft / BigFire Games
NCSoft titles have always punched above their weight in Singapore and Southeast Asia. AION built a devoted community here that ran for well over a decade; AION 2 is already confirmed for regional launch this September. Cinder City comes from the same publisher with far more cinematic production value and a setting — a shattered Korean megalopolis — that’s going to hit differently for the large Korean-culture fanbase in Singapore.
The Steam release means no region-locking complications, and GeForce NOW cloud support opens it up even on mid-range hardware. No Singapore price has been announced; the Steam page is live to wishlist now, with pricing details to follow closer to launch. A console release is also confirmed, though platform specifics are to be confirmed.
If you spent any part of 2009 to 2015 grinding rifts in the Abyss, fighting over artifact nodes in the Brusthonin fortress, or just flying over Elysea at golden hour — AION 2 is officially on the calendar. NCSoft’s long-awaited sequel to one of Southeast Asia’s most beloved MMORPGs has a global launch window of September 2026, with an Asia server confirmed and the game free-to-play on Steam and the NC PURPLE launcher.
Here’s everything Singapore players need to know before the wings come back.
A Sequel 15 Years in the Making
The original AION launched in Korea in 2008 and hit Southeast Asia in 2009, quickly becoming a staple of the regional MMO scene. The combination of flight combat, the Elyos-versus-Asmodian faction war, and striking visuals made it one of the defining online games of its era in Singapore and across the region. NCSoft eventually wound down the global servers in phases, but the game maintained a passionate community through private servers long after the official shutdowns.
AION 2 is a full sequel — not a remaster or a mobile port. It is built in Unreal Engine 5, and the visual leap is immediately apparent. Gone are the 2008-era character models; in their place are sweeping open-world environments, detailed character customisation, and lighting that finally does justice to the celestial-versus-fallen-angel aesthetic the series always aimed for.
AION 2’s open-world zones stretch well beyond anything in the original game. (Image: NCSoft / Steam)
What’s New — and What’s Back
The two core factions return: the radiant Elyos and the shadowy Asmodians, still locked in their eternal conflict over the fragmented world of Atreia. Flight remains a central mechanic rather than a tacked-on travel feature — players can engage enemies in the air, pull off aerial manoeuvres, and access zones that are simply unreachable on foot.
Flight combat returns as a signature feature, with mounts and personal wings both available. (Image: NCSoft / Steam)
AION 2 launches with nine playable classes spanning the familiar archetypes — frontline warriors, spellcasters, support healers, and stealth-based assassins — with some new additions to the roster. The class system retains the dual-spec flexibility that allowed players in the original game to shift between offensive and utility roles depending on content.
Content at launch is designed around a mix of solo questing, party dungeons, and large-scale raids. The PvPvE Abyss zones — the defining feature of the original that blended faction warfare with contested PvE objectives — return in an evolved form, with NCSoft promising improved server stability for the chaotic three-way encounters players remember.
Ground combat takes full advantage of Unreal Engine 5’s particle effects and environment detail. (Image: NCSoft / Steam)Boss encounters scale up dramatically, with multi-phase fights against colossal enemies. (Image: NCSoft / Steam)
How Singapore Players Can Access AION 2
NCSoft has confirmed a dedicated Asia server for global launch. Singapore players will be able to join via Steam (where AION 2 already has a store page) or through NCSoft’s own NC PURPLE launcher, which handles regional authentication. Both routes lead to the same servers.
The base game is free-to-play with no purchase required to download and start playing. This is a significant shift from the original AION’s subscription model, which was one of the reasons its Western and SEA populations eventually migrated away.
Dungeon environments showcase the kind of atmospheric lighting only possible in UE5. (Image: NCSoft / Steam)
Monetisation: What NCSoft Revealed on 10 July
NCSoft published its full monetisation plan on 10 July 2026, ahead of launch. The structure is layered:
Free-to-play base: Full access to the game, all zones, and base progression at no cost.
Optional subscription (~USD 15/month): Boosts to XP gain and item drop rates, plus quality-of-life perks. This is voluntary and does not gate any content.
Cosmetic cash shop: Appearance items, wing designs, mounts, and housing decorations sold separately. No gear with stats for real money.
Founder Packs: Pre-launch bundles that include a 5-day early access head start, exclusive cosmetics, and other launch bonuses. These are available for purchase now ahead of the September launch window.
The subscription being optional rather than mandatory is going to matter a lot for the Singapore market. The original AION’s monthly fee was a sticking point for students and casual players in SEA. With F2P access and an optional sub for committed players, NCSoft is positioning AION 2 for a much broader regional audience than the original ever managed to sustain.
The GT Take
AION 2 has a real chance to land well here. NCSoft knows the SEA market from its AION 1 history, the Asia server removes the latency issues that plagued regional players on Western infrastructure, and the free-to-play model eliminates the single biggest barrier to re-entry. Whether the Abyss captures the same magic as the 2010 peak days is something only the players can decide — but the bones are right. September can’t come soon enough.
AION 2 launches globally in September 2026 on PC via Steam and NC PURPLE. The Asia server is confirmed. Founder Packs with 5-day early access are available now via the Steam store page.
