Lost Ark Coming To NA And Europe In 2021, Published By Amazon Games

Lost Ark is officially coming west. Amazon Games today announced that Smilegate's free-to-play ARPG, currently available in Korea, Japan, and Russia, will be launching in North America and Europe on PC in fall of 2021, with a closed alpha starting tomorrow and a beta coming later this summer. Amazon was semi-officially announced as being the publishing partner for Lost Ark last summer.

Featuring over a dozen hero classes, Lost Ark sets players on an epic journey throughout the world of Arkesia "to find the fabled Lost Ark and save the realm from a demonic threat." The game's skill system is called the "Tripod" system, whereby players upgrade their base skills, giving them different effects and appearances.

Lost Ark features a vast open world, dungeons, and travel by ship, and players can "even create their own island home" using the game's Stronghold system. You can further enhance your play style with "Life Skill" dungeons, while "Treasure Map" dungeons sends groups off in search of ... well, you know. PvP modes include arena battles in the Colosseum, and there will be open-world PvP battles for players to take control of the realm's many islands.

Lost Ark will be localized -- all three million words of it -- into English, French, German, and Spanish for both written and spoken dialogue in the game. It's confirmed to be free-to-play, and Amazon Games said that it would be "a fair, fun, and a great gaming experience where in-game purchases are completely optional."

Amazon Games VP Christoph Hartmann said that Lost Ark was just "the first of many exciting titles" that his company will be publishing. Its in-house development projects include MMORPG New World and unannounced projects headed up by former Daybreak Game Company CEO John Smedley and a new studio in Montreal, founded by the team behind Rainbow Six Siege.

You can learn more about Lost Ark and sign up for the alpha that starts tomorrow on its official website. It's one of the most highly anticipated titles in free-to-play gaming this year, so we'll be sure to have plenty more coverage of the game as it hits beta and beyond.