Elyon
Elyon (formerly Ascent: Infinite Realm, often shortened to A:IR) is a 3D fantasy MMORPG that leans hard into a steampunk look and feel. Its hook is mixing traditional MMO questing and dungeons with aerial travel and airship-themed content, letting you fight on the ground one moment and take the battle into the sky the next.
 | Publisher: Kakao Games Type: Fantasy MMORPG PvP: Airship Battles, Guild Wars & More Release Date: October 20, 2021 (NA/EU) Pros: +Distinct steampunk fantasy vibe. +Plenty of different activities beyond combat. +Strong social options, including housing. Cons: -Older, poorly optimized tech can hitch in crowded encounters. -Some details and documentation were scarce. |
Elyon Shut Down on December 07, 2022
Elyon Overview
Elyon, originally revealed as Ascent: Infinite Realm (A:IR), is an Unreal Engine 3 MMORPG from Bluehole, the studio widely associated with the free-to-play MMO Tera. While it shares that lineage, Elyon aims for a more kinetic style overall, pairing familiar MMO staples like instanced dungeons and group bosses with a stronger focus on technology-driven fantasy. Airships, mechanical contraptions, and skybound set pieces are central to its identity, both in presentation and in the way some encounters are framed.
A major selling point is the ability to shift between grounded adventuring and aerial action. The game positions airships and steampunk vehicles as more than set dressing, they are part of how you explore and how large-scale fights are staged. On the non-combat side, Elyon also makes room for lighter systems that typically appeal to long-term MMO players, such as housing, farming-style activities, and pet customization.
Elyon Features:
- Steampunk Revival – Fantasy visuals meet gears, airships, and machinery, giving the world a noticeably different tone than standard medieval MMO fare.
- Soar Higher –Verticality and sky travel are emphasized, with aerial movement and airborne content shaping exploration.
- PvE & PvP Airship Battles –Large encounters can revolve around airships, whether you are taking on bosses or clashing with other groups.
- A Vibrant World –Alongside combat, there are varied diversions like racing-style activities, airship-focused gameplay, mech-themed moments, farming, player housing customization, pet breeding, and more.
Elyon Screenshots
Elyon Featured Video
Elyon Review
Elyon set out to offer a more action-forward MMORPG experience wrapped in a steampunk fantasy shell, and in short bursts it delivered on that promise. Combat and moment-to-moment movement are designed to feel busier and more responsive than the classic tab-target model, and the game clearly wanted players to think about positioning, timing, and burst windows rather than simply standing still and cycling cooldowns. When the servers were active and performance held up, the game’s best moments came from that sense of momentum, especially in group content where visual spectacle and coordinated play mattered.
The setting also did a lot of heavy lifting. Elyon’s world does not look like a typical high fantasy theme park, thanks to airships, machinery, and a generally more industrial flavor. That aesthetic helps the game stand out immediately, even if some underlying systems feel familiar to MMO veterans. The idea of staging battles around airships and skybound threats is a strong one, and it gave the game a distinct “signature” compared to many contemporaries that rely mostly on ground-based zones and standard dungeon loops.
That said, the experience was often held back by technical roughness. Using Unreal Engine 3 is not automatically a problem, but Elyon could struggle during busy scenes, particularly where lots of players, effects, and large encounters collided. In an MMO, those are exactly the situations where smooth performance matters most, so stutters and hiccups could undermine what should have been high points like big PvP clashes and raid-style events.
Beyond combat, Elyon’s suite of side activities helped round out the package. Housing and other social-facing features offered a change of pace and encouraged longer-term engagement, which is important for an MMO trying to build community. These systems did not reinvent the genre, but they provided additional reasons to log in besides chasing gear and completing daily routines.
Ultimately, Elyon is best remembered as a game with a clear identity and some genuinely appealing ideas, especially its steampunk tone and airship-driven content, but one that faced practical hurdles and did not maintain a long lifespan in the global market. For players who value distinct aesthetics and action-leaning MMO combat, it had real potential, but its shutdown means it is now primarily of interest as a case study in ambitious MMO design that did not get the time it needed to mature.
Elyon Links
Elyon Official Page
Elyon Steam Page
Elyon Twitter Page
Elyon YouTube Page
Elyon Facebook Page
Elyon Subreddit Page
Elyon System Requirements
Minimum Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 8.1 (64 bit)
CPU: Intel Core i3-2400 3.1 GHz | AMD FX-6100
RAM: 8 GB RAM
Video Card: GeForce 760 | Radeon R9 280
Hard Disk: 60 GB or more
Recommended Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 10 (64 bit)
CPU: Intel Core i5-3770 3.4 GHz | AMD FX-8350
RAM: 16 GB RAM
Video Card: GeForce 970 | Radeon RX 580
Hard Disk: 60 GB or more
Elyon Music
Coming soon!
Elyon Additional Information
Developer: Bluehole
Publisher: Kakao Games
Engine: Unreal Engine 3
Platforms: Windows PC
Release Dates:
Announcement Date: November 10, 2017
Korea:
1st CBT (Recruiting Phase): November 13 – December 10, 2017
1st CBT (Testing Phase): December 13 – 17, 2017
Release Date: December 10, 2020
Global:
Release Date: October 20, 2021
Development History / Background:
Elyon was first introduced on November 10, 2017 under its original name, Ascent: Infinite Realm (A:IR). It became Bluehole’s 4th PC release, built on Unreal Engine 3, the same technology used for the studio’s earlier MMORPG, Tera. While both titles blend fantasy with technology, Elyon pushes the mechanical and industrial side more prominently, using steampunk elements to shape the world’s look and to support features like aerial encounters and vehicle-focused activities.
By the time it was unveiled publicly, the project appeared to already be deep into production, having previously operated under the internal codename Project W. For the North American and European release, Kakao Games signed on as publisher. On September 07, 2022, it was officially announced that the global service would be ending on December 07, 2022. With only a little over a year of global availability, it stands out as a notably short-lived MMORPG service in that region.