Today, MapleStory, the original side-scrolling MMORPG from Nexon America, kicks of its season-long summer update, MapleStory: Ark, on Steam and the Nexon Launcher.

Half-Flora and half-Specter, Ark is branded a traitor after trying to escape the military during the Flora civil war. He brings powerful gameplay skills that channel dark energy to devastate his enemies.

Key features from the first update on June 20 include:

• Pre-create Ark! Players who pre-create the new character will receive amazing gifts when Ark becomes available to play on June 27.
• The V Care patch improves the 5th job experience. Game improvements help players enjoy the 5th job by completing daily quests faster with decreased requirement times and fewer stages.
• New episode! Shadow Alchemist, the fifth episode of the Grand Athenaeum theme dungeon, is released. Players who complete the adventure will earn a special medal.
• New Discovery events! New events such as Discovery Desert, Discovery Field and Discovery Polar are open now for players to earn more Ark Coins.

Later this summer, be sure to check back on the following dates to experience playing Ark, advance to his 5th job, explore a new region, battle a new boss, and more:

• June 27 – New Character, Ark: Ark is a powerful character who can switch between Flora State and Specter State giving him the unique power to store up Spectra while in the Flora State and unleash it to trigger Specter State.
• July 4 – Ark 5th Job: Abyssal Recall and Infinity Spell: Maplers will be able to use Ark’s 5th job skills, including Abyssal Recall, allowing them to enter Specter State without having their Spectra consumed. Infinity Spell will also help exchange Health Points to gain infinite magic power for a short period of time.
• July 11 – New Region, Esfera, Origin Sea: This brand-new region will lead to an adventure deeper into the continent of Arcane River as players travel to Esfera, Origin Sea! Esfera will be available at Lv. 235 after completing the questline in Morass.
• July 25 – European Reboot Server: The new Reboot World brings MapleStory back to its roots as a hardcore RPG, offering many changes that will prove to be a new challenge. The reboot update also brings new monsters, new rewards, simplified item enhancing and skill rebalances to all jobs, maximizing their efficiency and relation to one another.
• August 1 – New Boss, Commander Will: MapleStory unveils its toughest boss yet! Commander Will appears in Esfera and exists in both Maple World and Mirror World, where Maplers must fight him in both at the same time.
• August 8 – New Lab Server: In Lab World, players can enjoy a hardcore game experience where monsters will be three times as strong and drop rates will be doubled. However, players’ stats and character levels will reset every time they die! This feature will be open for a limited time until August 28, 2018.
• Also, August 8 – Monad: For the first time ever, special content for overseas Maplers includes unique mini-games and gameplay styles, large boss battles, and many new theme backgrounds and non-player characters!

MapleStory is rated E10+ (ESRB) and free to play on the Nexon Launcher and Steam.