Phantasy Star 2 Goes Worldwide
The free-to-play MMORPG Phantasy Star Online 2 has seen massive success since its Japanese release way back in 2012, and a worldwide release in 2020. However, the significant delay between the initial release and the game going international meant that it never quite reached the heights of, for example, Final Fantasy XIV. It seems SEGA have learned their lesson this time around, with the upcoming sequel Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis getting a simultaneous worldwide release later this summer.
New Genesis will be a standalone expansion for Phantasy Star Online 2, set one thousand years after the events of Phantasy Star Online 2. The game will include an entire new world to be explored: Halpha, a world full of wide battlefields and intriguing landscapes to explore. Interestingly, despite the massive size of the world, SEGA promise that there will be no loading screens between different areas – likely meaning longer loading times on booting up the game.
New Genesis will feature a number of other enhancements on Phantasy Star Online 2: Much more in-depth character creation using a more powerful creation engine, cross-platform play between Xbox One and PC versions and an updated and improved graphics engine that’ll be making use of some fancy new particle effects and lighting to show off intense combat. Speaking of combat, there’ll be a new system allowing you to combine two different kinds of weapons for much smoother swapping between them.
Not only will New Genesis be free-to-play like Phantasy Star Online 2, players of PSO2 will be able to connect their accounts to New Genesis, allowing them to easily move characters between the games. PSO2 players will also be able to prepare for the new title with the current Road To New Genesis event, running from today until the launch of New Genesis
Following a successful closed beta last month, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis will be releasing on Xbox One and PC worldwide on June 9th.