Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis Revealed, A Massive Overhaul of PSO2

Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis was revealed at today's Xbox Games Showcase event and will be a massive update to the existing version of PSO2 and will operate as a separate game (character data transfers over in some capacity). New Genesis looks beautiful and it's launching globally in English sometime next year in 2021.

The massive update, which features a total overhaul of the game including an entirely new game engine, will be released instead of a new episode. New Genesis is a renewal of Phantasy Star Online 2 and aims to bring the game up to more modern standards with better visuals and a more streamlined UI. The overhaul is launching next year, which is also the franchise's 20th anniversary.

The original Phantasy Star Online 2 game will continue running alongside New Genesis with players being able to hop between the two with some restrictions on what items will carry over into New Genesis. The connection between the 2 games may be similar to the current connection between the JP version of PSO2 and the mobile version which share characters and data, but are basically totally different games.

The video below outlines how PSO2 Genesis will Relate to the original game:

PSO2: New Genesis Features the Following:

• "Worldview", "Game System", "Graphics Engine", and "Character Creation" have all been completely redesigned.
• PSO2: NGS features an open world game system, with an updated battle system to take advantage of the new, persistent world.
• Players can move back and forth between "PSO2: NGS" and "PSO2" on the same PSO2 account!
• Empowered by a new graphics engine, "Character Creation" will offer more customization options than ever before. Players can also bring their character created in "PSO2: NGS" to the world of "PSO2". Also, players can share their character data well as lobby actions that obtained in "PSO2" to "PSO2: NGS".

Further reading: Official Post Explaining PSO2: New Genesis and how it Relates to the first game