AION 2 vs Throne and Liberty, Lost Ark and Black Desert

How to read this page. The tables are facts from the Steam store and review APIs and from NC’s AION 2 notices (checked Oct 15, 2026). The section “Editorial opinion” is clearly labelled and is the view of the Aion2help Editorial Team. We have no commercial ties to NC, Amazon, Smilegate or Pearl Abyss.

The four games at a glance

	AION 2	Throne and Liberty	Lost Ark	Black Desert
Developer	NC	NC, FirstSpark Games	Smilegate RPG	Pearl Abyss
Publisher (Steam)	NC	Amazon Game Studios	Amazon Game Studios	Pearl Abyss
Steam release	Oct 5, 2026	Oct 1, 2024	Feb 11, 2022	May 24, 2017
Price on Steam (US)	Free to play	Free to play	Free to play	$9.99
Platform on Steam	Windows	Windows	Windows	Windows
Full-audio languages	EN, JA, KO	EN, JA, KO	EN, ES	EN, JA, RU, zh-Hant

All rows — [Official: Steam store API].

What each game is built around

	Core idea (from the store pages)
AION 2	Flight as combat (“the sky is the battlefield”), two-faction war, 200+ dungeons (solo, 5 and 10 players), deep character creator
Throne and Liberty	Guild PvP, Castle Sieges, transforming into creatures, weapon combinations, 6-player dungeons, 3v3 Arenas, housing
Lost Ark	ARPG-style action combat in an MMO, class + advanced class, Tripod skill customization, seven continents and sea travel
Black Desert	Non-target action combat, node and siege wars, a wide range of life skills (farming, trading, fishing, sailing, horse training)

All — [Official: Steam store descriptions], paraphrased.

In plain words: AION 2 is about wings and factions; Throne and Liberty about guild wars; Lost Ark about fast action from a top-down view; Black Desert about a huge sandbox with jobs outside combat.

How players rate them on Steam (Oct 15, 2026)

Game	Reviews	Positive	Steam label
AION 2	31,398	59.5%	Mixed
Throne and Liberty	68,949	67.0%	Mixed
Lost Ark	203,183	70.4%	Mostly Positive
Black Desert	94,672	73.5%	Mostly Positive

[Official: Steam reviews API, all languages]. Caveat: AION 2 is 10 days old; the others have years of reviews and updates. Launch-week reviews skew toward strong opinions. AION 2 players with 10+ hours rate it higher (65.6% positive).

AION 2’s structural differences

• Single-faction servers. Each AION 2 Global server holds one faction; enemies come from a paired server in the Abyss and Spacetime Rifts — [Official].
• Economy behind membership. The Market and Kina↔Quna exchange need the $14.99 Special Quai Membership; direct trade between players is disabled — [Official]. → Pay to win?
• Flight in combat. NC’s pitch is aerial combat and verticality, which none of the other three use as a core system — [Official].
• Crafting exists (five professions reported) but is narrower than Black Desert’s life-skill sandbox — [Single source].

Editorial opinion

Opinion — Aion2help Editorial Team. Based on the facts above, not on paid placement.

• Pick AION 2 if flight, a clear two-faction identity and a strong character creator matter most to you, and you are fine with a solo-focused road to 45 and weekly progression after it.
• Pick Throne and Liberty if your fun is organized guild PvP and sieges.
• Pick Lost Ark if you want fast, readable action combat from a top-down camera and a long raid ladder.
• Pick Black Desert if you want a sandbox with deep life skills and a broader player economy, and don’t mind a small upfront price.
• Wait on AION 2 if monetization is your top concern: its review score is the lowest of the four right now, and monetization is the most common theme in its negative reviews (see our after-launch review).

Related

• What is AION 2 · AION 1 vs AION 2 · Player count