Nexon has been busy hyping its MMOs this week with both MapleStory Fest and its Next On event, so let’s dig in!
MapleStory Fest, which celebrates the global wing of the MapleStory franchise specifically, ran this past weekend, with multiple big announcements, starting with the upcoming patch, The Dark Ride, which launches November 20th. “A new saga begins as Maple World faces its greatest threat yet. Confront the challenges, overcome the 6 bosses, and harness the power of the Mapae,” the company says. The update includes a new boss event dubbed Ride or Die, with six bosses alongside Kazax himself to face down. Since Global MapleStory split with Korean MapleStory earlier this year, this content is exclusive to the global version.
Meanwhile, at Nexon’s Nexon On event in Korea, Nexon promoted its “new management vision and strategic direction” under its new co-CEOs, Jungwook Kim and Daehyun Kang. The company says it’ll be “placing a stronger focus on new title development following personnel and organizational restructuring in 2024.”
Perhaps of interest to MMO fans is Vindictus: Defying Fate; it’s not an MMORPG or even multiplayer, but it’s once again set in the Vindictus/Mabinogi Heroes universe. We’re expecting alpha next summer in 2025.
The First Berserker: Khazan is another inbound Nexon title, this one born in the Dungeon & Fighter IP. Again, not too compelling for MMO fans as it’s single-player, but it’s got the DNF tie-in.
Nexon also talked up Nakwon: Last Paradise, “a survival extraction game set against the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse.” Apparently, Nexon has overhauled the game significantly since last year, even revamping its combat, following player feedback gleaned during the pre-alpha last year. Nexon also added features like character customization and housing (!), so this one might actually have something going for a certain corner of our genre.
Finally, Nexon has dropped a video for Korean fans focused on Mabinogi’s Eternity Project, its UE5 port.
