Bandai Namco Entertainment began streaming on Thursday a story trailer for Echoes of Aincrad, a new action RPG based on Reki Kawahara’s Sword Art Online franchise,
Image via Echoes of Aincrad website
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The game will launch in Japan on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on July 9, and on PC via Steam on July 10. In the West, it will launch on all these platforms on July 10.
The game will have a Standard Edition, Deluxe Edition, Ultimate Edition, and Aincrad Edition release. The Deluxe Edition includes the expansion DLC and a starter item pack, as well as early access to the game’s “Death Game” mode, a mode where the game deletes your save on character death, and is normally available only after beating the game for the first time. The Ultimate Edition includes the Deluxe Edition content, and adds the “Unanswered//butterfly” bonus content app/special anime, digital soundtrack, digital artbook, and an in-game armor pack. The Aincrad Edition is exclusive to the Bandai Namco Store, and includes the Deluxe and Ultimate Edition content, adding a beanie, wall scroll, patches, and sticker pack.
The game is set in the world of Aincrad, the setting of the original story’s eponymous in-story virtual MMO Sword Art Online. In Echoes of Aincrad, players explore Aincrad as one of the 10,000 players trapped in the MMO-turned-death game, and explore the world alongside other characters, including Kirito and Asuna.
Reki Kawahara began the Sword Art Online web novel in 2001, and serialized it from 2002 to 2008 on his website. Kadokawa’s Dengeki Bunko label began publishing a newly-edited print version in 2009, ending the original story with the “Alicization” arc as Kawahara had wrote it in his website with the 18th volume in 2016. The novel series returned with an all-new “Moon Cradle” story arc in 2017, and another all-new “Unital Ring” story arc in 2018, and is now in its 28th overall volume. The series has inspired novel and manga spinoffs, a television anime adaptation with several seasons, an anime film, and proposed live-action series. Kawahara’s Sword Art Online: Progressive spinoff novel series inspired two anime films of its own.
Source: Press release
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