The main story of Sword Art Online may have ended, but the universe created by Reki Kawahara will continue on with a new video game, Echoes of Aincrad.
The game will release for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on July 10th, 2026.
Interestingly, as the title suggest, it doesn’t expand the video game storyline that has been going on for many years, but instead, it goes back to the origins, with the first batch of players trapped in the death game of Aincrad.
Yet, this time around, it appears that Kirito is nowhere to be seen, as the player is prompted to create their own character from scratch. Previous games of the series already had a rather deep character creation suite, but they didn’t go as far as rewriting the original story without Kirito, so this is a rather novel approach.
Apparently, you’ll also be able to choose your favorite partner and build up your synergy with them, while progressing through the story and growing your power.
The world of Aincrad will be populated by plenty of characters to meet and diverse environments, from cities to serene plains and perilous dungeons.
As you complete quests and the story unfolds, new areas are unlocked, letting you explore further.
The game is developed by Game Studio, which worked on Synduality: Echo of Ada, Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai, and many more games. We can’t exactly say that their portfolio is full of hits, but you never know.
You can check out a trailer below and see what the game looks like.
