AION 2 Is Free on Steam With 110,000 Players: How to Start
NC's free-to-play MMORPG AION 2 runs on Windows PC through Steam and PURPLE, needs 100 GB of storage and had about 110,000 Steam players on November 12.
AION 2, the free-to-play MMORPG from developer and publisher NC, had about 110,000 players on Steam at 07:15 UTC on November 12, 2026, according to Steam's own player counter, which returned 110,456. The game launched globally on October 5, 2026, so this is a guide to what it is and how to start, not a new release.
The facts below come from the AION 2 Steam store page and NC's announcements on Steam. Zero1Gaming covers the game's character creator in a separate report.
AION 2 is free to play and runs on Windows PC only
AION 2 is free on Steam, and the store page lists Windows as the only platform. NC's Launch FAQ says the game is free to play with an optional monthly membership, and that the global version is available on Steam and PURPLE, NC's own launcher.
NC lists optional paid cosmetic items, a Battle Pass and a membership that gives access to the player-driven economy and currency exchanges. The Steam page also carries an In-App Purchases tag. Prices for those items are not on the store page, and the FAQ points to a separate NC notice for the details.
The minimum requirements are Windows 10/11 (64-bit), an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or Intel Core i5-10500, 8 GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB), DirectX 12 and 100 GB of storage. Recommended is a Ryzen 7 3700X or Core i7-11700, 16 GB of RAM and an RTX 2070 (8 GB). NC recommends an SSD, and says to use the Very Low graphics preset at full HD on the minimum spec, or Low on the recommended spec.
You can start on Steam or PURPLE, and both share the same servers
To start, install the game from its Steam page and log in. NC's FAQ says Steam and PURPLE players share the same servers and the same in-game content, and that you do not need to link a PURPLE account to play on Steam. Linking is only needed to use the same character on both platforms.
The FAQ confirms server locations in North America, South America, Europe and Japan. Voice-over is in English, Japanese and Korean. The interface and subtitles cover English, French, German, Spanish (Spain), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Japanese and Korean, and you change the language in the Settings menu once you are in the game.
Progress from the Taiwan or Korean versions does not carry over, according to the FAQ. NC says the game can be played solo or with friends. Controllers work but are not officially supported, and NC offers official support only for Steam and PURPLE on Windows PC, not for Linux or Steam Deck.
NC pitches AION 2 as an MMORPG built around flight and faction war
The Steam page describes AION 2 as built on Unreal Engine 5, in a world 36 times larger than the original AION. You choose a faction and play as a Daeva, and NC's launch post names the two factions as Elyos and Asmodian. NC says flight is part of combat, not only travel.
“The sky is not the limit. It is the battlefield.”
- NC, AION 2 Steam store page
According to the store page, PvE includes more than 200 dungeons in solo, 5-player party and 10-player group formats, plus seasonal challenges, competitive rankings and open-world events. The Abyss, the faction-war area, keeps PvE and PvP close together.
Character creation offers more than 200 customization options, and the Shugo Festival adds mini-games with rewards such as wings, skins, pets and decor.
The November 11 patch changed dungeon rewards, and some rewards expire December 1
NC's weekly patch on November 11 raised the time limit of the Abyssal Forge: Ludra dungeon from 1 hour to 2 hours on both Normal and Hard, and lifted the drop rate of one reward group from 30% to 100%. It also added Hard Mode to the Fire Temple and Ferocious Horn Den expeditions, with a required item level of 2800 and 3 revives per player, according to the patch notes on Steam.
The same patch made 5-minute potions, food and scrolls last 10 minutes and keep working after death. Servers were down for 4 hours 30 minutes from 07:30 CET on November 11, and NC marked a Steam login issue as fixed on the same day.
Also on November 11, NC began pairing Advanced Access and Launch servers in server matchmaking for all global regions. Matchmaking decides which server you face in the Abyss and Spacetime Rifts, and NC says it will keep monitoring the pairs for two weeks and reevaluate future pairings.
NC also posts account-restriction notices, most recently on November 11, for botting, gold farming and economy abuse. Its November 4 notice said it took action against players who bought Kinah from third-party sources.
At the time of writing, NC says every player who logs in before maintenance begins on December 1 at 11:30 p.m. PT (December 2, 8:30 a.m. CET) gets the Pre-Registration and Steam Wishlist reward items by in-game mail. The mail expires on December 8 at 11:30 p.m. PT. Paid-item prices and dates for future content updates are not on the Steam page.