Sega’s free-to-play online action RPG, Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis has turned 14. Well, that’s counting the years when it was known simply as Phantasy Star Online 2 (PSO2), launched in 2012 in Japan and a whole eight years later worldwide in 2020. Its current form, New Genesis (NGS), which is essentially a new game that coexist with classic PSO2, launched worldwide in 2021.
To celebrate the 14th anniversary of PSO2, “Super Phantasy Festival” will be kicking off next week, starting from August 5 until September 1. Central City, the main hub for NGS, will be decked out for the occasion. Regional Mags, found through the open field, are also decorated too.
Xinady will be the Seasonal Event navigator. There’s something about some enemy movement in Halpha that she’s investigating so drop by.
There’s also a few Scratch (read: gacha for cosmetics) events, including a 10-Day Free AC Scratch, which would otherwise require real money purchase to access. The limited time Special Scratch “Super Phantasy Festival ’26 SP Scratch” meanwhile can be access via earnable “Super Phantasy Festival ’26 SP Scratch Tickets” from the Seasonal Points Exchange Shop, limited-time quests and more. So now’s a good time to jump in (or jump back in) and get some cosmetics while completing the content on offer.
Speaking of content, Main Story Chapter 9 for NGS will go live on August 5. This story beat will see players uncover the young girl Lucia’s lost memories.
On top of all that, there are new limited-time quests that will go live as soon as tomorrow.
All of the new content and events were announced in the latest edition of NGS Headline Wave, the game’s devstream.
For the longest time, PSO2, the follow-up to the landmark online console game Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast, was only available in Japan (outside of a short-lived Southeast Asia-only client). PSO2 finally launched worldwide in 2020 just as publisher and developer Sega is set to launch PSO2 New Genesis. What happened was an accelerated cadence of content updates as the worldwide PSO2 client catches up to the Japanese servers all within a year.
While PSO2 has the DNA of a Monster Hunter-like with a party of one-to-four player venturing into a map marked in zones to complete a specific objective before returning back to the hub, PSO2 NGS has players traverse the open field freely, conduct quests, and participate in large-scale boss fights and regional events. The original PSO2 still exists within PSO2 NGS, and cosmetics between the two are compatible, though NGS cosmetics feature more detailed graphics.
PSO2 NGS is available in English, fully localised, and will remain in parity with the Japanese servers. PSO2 NGS is available on PS4, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store) and Xbox One with cross-play support.