I am currently [participating in the Nexon PEAK Post Challenge].

Even after 20 years, if someone asks me what my lifelong game is, there is still one title that rises to mind first. It is a game that left an enormous mark on my life. I first encountered it in 2004, and it happened entirely by chance. Even its name felt strangely unfamiliar at the time. Mabinogi—that was the name I heard. Mabinogi Online, the game that first showed me what a true fantasy life could feel like, still stirs a deep sense of longing in me even now, after so many years have passed. So when I heard that Mabinogi Mobile was coming, I waited for it without letting go.

As of 2026, I am happily easing that old longing through Mabinogi Mobile. And it is doing more than that—it is steadily becoming the next game of my life. I have played many different games, but somehow, after going all the way around, I always find myself returning to the world of Mabinogi. So this is the game I want to introduce, the one that keeps calling me back.

Its greatest charm was the way it made me feel as though I had been dropped straight into a fantasy world. After carefully creating my character and logging into Mabinogi Online, I would meet Nao. She introduced me to Duncan, the chief of Tir Chonaill, and then disappeared. And just like that—thud—I had fallen into Tir Chonaill. In my inventory, all I had was the bread Nao had given me and a single traveler’s guide from her. That was everything. I had truly landed in another world, and I had no idea what to do, so I had to discover things one by one. As I wandered around, I hit trees for no particular reason and coaxed chickens into giving me eggs. And then a fox passing by would knock me around, and all the eggs I had worked so hard to gather would break.

In Erinn, the world of Mabinogi, nothing felt impossible. You could play music, and you could cook. Just because I wanted to learn archery did not mean I had to give up magic. Magic, bows, swords—if I could hold it in my hands, I could learn it, and I could fight with it. It felt wonderfully free. Once I learned the Campfire skill, I could gather materials and light a fire whenever I wanted. The fact that I could build a fire anywhere, as long as I had what I needed, gave me the curious joy of standing somewhere between reality and fantasy. It was a kind of romance all its own.

Erinn, where giant bears existed

In G1: Goddess Advent, I defeated Glas Ghaibhleann and protected Erinn, but by then Maurus had already lost his life. Nao weeping as she held Maurus in her arms, and the feeling of looking at her in that moment, are still vivid to me now. It was then that I finally understood why I had come to Erinn, and why Nao had called me into that world in the first place. As the final credits rolled, the Thanks to list drifted by slowly with the music. And the And you written at the very end still speaks to me from time to time. Whenever I played Mabinogi, I felt as though I had become the protagonist inside that world.

But time passed, and now the Mabinogi I am enjoying is not Mabinogi Online, but Mabinogi Mobile. When I first heard that Mabinogi Mobile was finally going to release, I was a little unmoved. Was it back in 2018? They had been saying it was coming since then, and I had already repeated that cycle of waiting and disappointment so many times. Even when they said it would come out in 2025, I only believed half of it. Really? After being delayed for years? But then it did come out. It really, truly arrived.

Back then, I could only enter that world by sitting down at my computer, but times have changed. I installed Mabinogi Mobile on my smartphone and logged in. The moment I heard those familiar BGM tracks again and saw the NPCs I had once met, old memories came back to me in waves. I logged in with the friends I used to play with back then too, and we played while talking together over Discord and a KakaoTalk group voice call.

A different game from the same IP. Mabinogi Mobile may have begun in longing for me, but it led me onward into the joy of something new. Making a character that is truly my own, coordinating outfits however I want, creating a completely different mood through dye even when someone else is wearing the very same clothes, watching people gather around a campfire during gathering and production and share foods that help with crafting, giving a bus ride to a friend who started later than I did, and clearing newly opened raids and Abyss content by putting our heads together with party members and worrying through the strategy—little by little, all of these things have been piling up inside me. As new memories.

So even now, I still keep persuading my friends around me. Come play with me. It is fun. Compared to the old Mabinogi Online, the barrier to entry is lower too. The difficulty has become much gentler than before, so it is easier for all kinds of people to approach. There is a wide range of content, and the main story is enjoyable too. You can find hidden Easter eggs, do production, and even decorate your own house. And the time spent sitting around a campfire, simply chatting together, is full of its own quiet romance. When reality grows tiring, let us rest here for a while and regain our strength. So that is what I say: I hope you will come and share Erinn with me too.