DarkEden: Origin Takes The Series Back To Its 2D Roots On January 16th

DarkEden has never been a wholly popular franchise in the West. The original game stayed in obscurity for many years during its time as a Joymax title before being shut down and subsequently picked up by Gamengame. This is perhaps why the game's 3D sequel, DarkEden 2, never made it to the West.

The series is, however, fairly popular in Korea, but that doesn't make it any less surprising that SOFTON Entertainment is following the release of the 3D MMORPG DarkEden 2 with another 2D MMORPG called "DarkEden: Origin" later this year. The game takes place 200 years after the original game and is said to have reconstructed its core gameplay while "greatly improving user convenience."

Many are likely confused about why SOFTON would opt to release another 2D DarkEden title while the original is still running and being actively updated. In an interview with Inven, SOFTON Entertainment General Manager Park Sang Jin stated the following.

Recently, a lot of 3D games are on the market, but the 2D game market is about half the size, and I think it can not be ignored. However, in spite of such a market size and demand, new 2D games are not released much. SOFTON Entertainment has the 2D game technology and proven contents accumulated in service of 'Dark Eden'. Therefore, to catch the remaining 50% 2D online game market, 2D game 'Dark Eden Origin' is released first It was.

Pre-registration began in Korea for the title this past Wednesday and, as with many other Korea-exclusive games, you will need a Korean phone number in order to pre-register. According to ThisIsGame, pre-registration for the first test was only available from January 4th to January 5th. The test was said to have begun yesterday and is expected to end tomorrow. If the veryone who pre-registered will be given a "Transportation Box" and a "3-Star Magic Succubus Pet" on January 16th, when "regular service" opens.

You can see what the new game looks like in action in the trailer embedded below.

Thanks to Insprata for help with translations and info gathering.