With G-STAR 2022 under way in Busan, Kakao Games/XLGAMES revealed more details regarding the sequel to ArcheAge, ArcheAge 2.
The open world action MMORPG will be based on Unreal Engine 5, and be playable on PC and console. Like ArcheAge, the objective will be for a non-linear progression based seamless open world (this seamless open world IMHO, is one of the best things about the game world). While Song didn’t elaborate on the actual combat system, making it available on console effectively means the PC version will be action combat (ala Black Desert Online and TERA). My personal preference has been action combat so this wins a point for me.
Jake Song also mentioned the story/lore will be based on original ArcheAge (using a similar timeline from when the continent of Auroria was first discovered), but in a non-linear fashion. ArcheAge’s (AA) lore is centered around a narrative storyline (where you play the game in a standard main story quest line). ArcheAge 2 (AA2) will focus more on personal adventure and stories.
Song also provides some insights on systems within the game, acknowledging flaws in the trade run system of AA (which they will attempt to rectify in AA2). Trade runs in early versions of AA were often times high risk/high reward endeavors (especially ones with trade routes that required traversing the seas). Lot of this was “dumbed” down over time where it was no longer lucrative (that includes both the runs and the rewards). Without being specific on details, Song mentioned the system will be enhanced in AA2 where they can be run solo, in groups, or in raids.
Song also touched on ones of AA’s best feature, the housing system (this is one of the reasons I still play ArcheAge Unchained). Again, without providing specific details, he says it will be improved with additional customizations including allowing players to live in towns with friends (sounds like an “apartment” type of system where you can occupy the buildings that exist in town hubs), or to even create a town with your guild. This latter one sounds more like an expansion of the guild house that was introduced in more recent updates of AA. Basically, it sounds great on paper/in a video, but implementation of it will probably be underwhelming (I am just basing this on how much flawed design along with bad code, is in AA).
Basically, AA2 sounds like it isn’t going to deviate wildly from AA; in many respects, it sounds like they are rebuilding AA in UE5 as AA2, and addressing issues that they just could not do in AA due to its now very outdated game engine (CryEngine 3). Yes, there will be new and enhanced systems and capabilities, but its not like they are trying to design a completely new game world with completely new lore. No new update was provided as to when the title will launch; the only ball park timeframe is 2024 as per Kakao Games (KR) financials. Kakao Games will be the KR and global (at least NA/EU) publisher when it does launch. And that is where I have concerns (since Kakao Games Europe is fairly incompetent with how they’ve handled AA/AAU since taking over the publishing from Gamigo in December 2021) – but that is another posting given recent developments with the next fresh start they are planning…
