Darlings, AION 2 just steamrolled Steam with nearly 400K concurrent players on launch day while the real starlet is that gloriously unhinged character creator letting everyone craft their dream blobfish-jawed gremlin. NCSoft's free-to-play sequel hit an all-time Steam peak of 397,905 players October 5 after a modest 171K during paid early access, with the publisher claiming over 400K when you count their PURPLE launcher too.

Players aren't just logging in for the action combat and flight mechanics—they're living for the sliders that let you flatten a jaw, widen a mouth into something aquatic and unsettling, or pair a tiny green-haired gremlin with a scowling orc mount. Eurogamer's Connor Makar spent real money on premium streetwear just to make his ridiculous little guy pop harder in a world full of brooding beautiful people.

The numbers keep climbing and the memes are flying, but the lesson is clear: give gamers the freedom to get weird and they'll show up in force. This launch proves South Korean MMOs still know how to make character creation the main event.