Icarus Online Relaunch Guide 2026: Riders of Icarus Beta & Classes

Riders of Icarus — the pet-taming MMORPG Nexon shut down in early 2024 after Valofe’s stewardship — is officially returning as Icarus Online this fall 2026, developed by Valofe and published by Japanese operator G.O.P. Pre-registration is live through October 22, the Japanese closed beta (ICARUS Advance Party) runs September 29–October 5, and the global relaunch slots in during fall. If you were one of the riders mourning a 2016 MMO, grab a parachute.

Note: Verified September 17, 2026 against MMOHuts’ relaunch coverage, Massively OP’s announcements (Sep 8 and 10), and the official pre-registration page. The western relaunch scope (exact server regions) is what Valofe/GOP publishes over the coming weeks.

What Icarus Online Actually Is

If you never played Riders of Icarus: it’s a fantasy MMORPG where taming and flying mounts are the entire game identity — you capture horrendous winged beasts and literally fight from the saddle. The relaunch repositions the game with balance and progression modernization, not a remake:

• Based on the later global build of the original 2016 western launch — not the oldest Japanese 2015-2022 version.
• Updated enhancement systems and new progression categories: Potential, Quality Improvement, and Blessing.
• Free-to-play with item monetization (cash shop; item specifics not yet published).

The 8 Classes at Relaunch

Class	Function
Berserker	Melee DPS
Guardian	Tank
Assassin	Burst melee DPS, stealth kit
Ranger	Ranged DPS
Wizard	Magic AoE DPS
Priest	Healer
Idol	Support/buff
Magician	Burst magic DPS

The core content stack: flying Familiars, instanced dungeons and raids, crafting, the Tower of Challenges, team battles, and post-Magmafora story content landing over time (Black Market, Floating Island, Dimensional Temple).

Pre-Registration (Ends October 22)

Pre-registration runs through October 22, 2026 on the official global site — with the usual milestone tiers and a rare chance to enter the closed beta at the same time:

Milestone	Reward tier
Base signup	Flying Familiar ICA-W01
5,000 registrations	Familiar Marks + Ellun boxes
10,000 / 15,000 / 20,000	Enhancement items + flying Familiar Torgai of Time

Pre-registering also puts you in the closed-beta pool — no separate entry form.

What Happened to Riders of Icarus, Anyway?

Quick catch-up for the uninitiated, because the timeline reads like an MMO soap opera:

• 2016 — Nexon launches Riders of Icarus in the West; a decent mid-budget F2P MMO with a genuinely unique mount-combat hook.
• Late 2021 — Nexon hands stewardship to Valofe. An attempted pay-to-earn version, messy SEA server cuts, and general neglect follow.
• February 2025 — Valofe sunsets the game globally.
• September 2026 — Riders of Icarus returns from the grave as Icarus Online, under Valofe/G.O.P with a beta this month and a fall 2026 relaunch.

The relaunch republishes the later global build with the modernization changes listed above — expect a refresh, not a rewrite.

What Might Ruin the Relaunch (Honest Real Talk)

Set expectations before you sink a month in:

• Item-mall monetization returns (F2P with cash shop), and the item list won’t be public until much closer to launch. Riders of Icarus’s peak-era monetization was aggressively P2W; Icarus Online’s balance refresh explicitly touches enhancement systems, which is where the last game’s economy went sideways.
• Imports from old accounts: don’t count on them — the relaunch is the later global build, and past-closure progress carried over from SEA-era accounts isn’t confirmed for the new servers.
• Beta is a data wipe: the ICARUS Advance Party’s September 29 – October 5 test doesn’t carry progress to launch.
• Languages flagged in current materials: English, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian — a proper multi-language global effort, unusual for a relaunch of this scale.

FAQ

When does Icarus Online launch? Fall 2026, globally — the exact free-to-play launch date hasn’t been announced yet. The Japan closed beta runs September 29–October 5, and global pre-registration closes October 22.

Is Icarus Online free-to-play? Yes, with an item cash shop — the specific cash-shop item list isn’t public as of September 17.

Is Icarus Online the same as Riders of Icarus? Same game, same core taming/flying-mount systems, relaunched with updated enhancement and progression systems (Potential, Quality Improvement, Blessing) by the same developer (Valofe), now published by Japanese operator G.O.P.

Do my old Riders of Icarus characters carry over? No confirmation of legacy-account migration — the relaunch is based on the later global build as a clean slate, and Japan’s beta runs on a data-wipe policy.

What platforms? Windows PC. No console or mobile versions announced for the relaunch.