AION 2: DLSS 4.5 will indeed be there on September 30 — but the recommended specs top out at an RTX 2070

NC uploaded, on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, to AION 2's global YouTube channel, a 65-second video entirely devoted to an NVIDIA technology. Title: "[AION 2] | NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 In AION 2". Description, in English in the original text: "Experience the next-generation MMORPG enhanced by NVIDIA DLSS 4.5! This cutting-edge technology brings razor-sharp clarity and improved stability to every frame and multiplies performance."

The video's metadata places its publication at 9:17 AM PDT, i.e. 6:17 PM in Paris: this is our conversion, as the publisher only gives the Pacific time zone.

NC is not the first to have said so: NVIDIA had released the information on Tuesday, August 25, 2026 in its Gamescom GeForce press release, and the wording leaves no room for doubt: "when the Western version is released on September 30th, AION 2 will include support for DLSS 4.5, enabling the highest levels of image quality and performance on GeForce RTX GPUs." The next day, Wednesday, August 26 at 2:31 PM PDT (11:31 PM in Paris, again our conversion), the NVIDIA GeForce channel published the same 65-second sequence under the title "AION 2 | DLSS 4.5 RTX Gameplay Reveal - Gamescom 2026".

The schedule NVIDIA repeats matches the one on the French Steam page: "AION 2 will launch in the West on September 30th for buyers of the game's Founder's Pack, followed by a full free-to-play release on October 5th." Early access on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, general opening on Monday, October 5, 2026, a date the page displays as "Oct 5, 2026".

NVIDIA names the components for other games, but not for AION 2

So much for the announcement. Now comes what the press release does not say — and what follows is our reading, not a statement from NVIDIA or NC.

The Gamescom article covers twelve announcements, and for most titles NVIDIA precisely names the enabled components: "DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution and DLSS Dynamic Multi Frame Generation" for 007 First Light, "Super Resolution and Dynamic Multi Frame Generation" for Fragmentary Order as well as for ANANTA. For AION 2, there is only one phrase, and it is generic: "support for DLSS 4.5". No component is named.

This is not a minor detail, because "DLSS 4.5" is not a single checkbox.

DLSS 4.5: three components, three hardware requirements

NVIDIA presented DLSS 4.5 at CES, in an article dated January 6, 2026. Three new features are described there, with very different prerequisites.

Two of the three components are therefore out of reach for any card older than the 50 series. The third, the only one open to all GeForce RTX cards, carries a caveat that NVIDIA states in black and white in that same article: "GeForce RTX 20 and 30 Series GPUs lack native FP8 support, so Models M and L carry a heavier performance impact for these GPUs. Those users may therefore prefer to remain on Model K (DLSS 4.0)."

Our finding: the recommended configuration stops at an RTX 2070

Recorded on the French Steam page on Friday, September 4, 2026, verbatim:

An RTX 2070 belongs to the 20 series. It cannot use either Dynamic Multi Frame Generation or 6X mode, which are reserved for the 50 series. And that's exactly one of the card families NVIDIA is targeting in its reservations about FP8, to the point of suggesting that these players stick with DLSS 4.0.

This connection is our own, and we present it as such: neither NC nor NVIDIA state it explicitly. The fact remains that the configuration presented by the publisher as recommended is the one for which the technology provider possibly advises against enabling its latest version. A 40 series card will get 2nd generation super resolution under good conditions, but not dynamic frame generation; only a 50 series has access to the full feature set.

Another line to keep in mind, one we had already noted on July 27: on the recommended configuration, the page asks to "set the graphics preset to Low" at 1080p "to ensure compatibility." The publisher says nothing about the targeted frame rate.

Neither DLSS nor Reflex on the French Steam page

Second observation, a purely factual one this time. As of September 4, 2026, the French Steam page for AION 2 contains no occurrence of the strings "DLSS" or "Reflex." The word "NVIDIA" appears twice, and only in the names of the graphics cards in the required configuration. Nothing either in the Steam features, which are limited to multiplayer, MMO, PvP, co-op, in-game purchases, and a series of accessibility options.

No mention either of AMD FSR or Intel XeSS: not on the page, not in the French Steam announcements, not in the NVIDIA articles we read. We note this as an observed absence, not as a refusal that NC would have expressed.

This silence is all the more surprising given that the game has relied on the full NVIDIA suite since its Asian launch. In an article dated November 18, 2025, NVIDIA wrote: "At launch, AION2 will include support for NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation and NVIDIA Reflex," and added that "DLSS Multi Frame Generation will be available in December." The Korean and Taiwanese service launched the following day. The technology is therefore not new to the game; it's version 4.5 that is.

DLSS 5: AION 2 already appears on March's list

One last element, and it comes from further afield. On March 16, 2026, NVIDIA announced DLSS 5 in a press release, on the occasion of its GTC conference. The text cites NCSOFT among the partners — “Bethesda, CAPCOM, Hotta Studio, NetEase, NCSOFT, S-GAME, Tencent, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Games” — then names the games concerned: “DLSS 5 will come to games including AION 2, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Black State, CINDER CITY, Delta Force, Hogwarts Legacy…”

NVIDIA describes DLSS 5 as “a real-time neural rendering model that infuses pixels with photoreal lighting and materials” and presents it as its most significant graphical advance since the arrival of real-time ray tracing in 2018. As for the timeline, it comes down to three words: “arriving this fall.” Fall 2026, no date given. And nothing indicates when AION 2 would get it, or on which graphics cards.

One detail in passing: NVIDIA writes “NCSOFT” in both March and November 2025, but “NC” in its gamescom article — the name that Steam also displays as developer and publisher.

What to remember

• Confirmed: AION 2 will support DLSS 4.5 from early access on September 30, 2026.
• Not specified: which DLSS 4.5 components are enabled. NVIDIA details them for the other games in its press release, but not for this one.
• Our reservation: the configuration recommended by NC tops out at an RTX 2070, a card that can't claim either dynamic frame generation or 6X mode. The actual gain will depend heavily on your hardware.
• To keep an eye on: DLSS 5, promised for the fall and already linked to AION 2 since March 16, 2026, with no date or requirements published.

What would settle the debate is a graphics menu. Neither NC nor NVIDIA has shown one: the 65-second video contains only gameplay. The pre-launch test on September 17 and 18 will be the first opportunity to check what the client actually offers.