Sung Jinwoo has been fighting the Monarchs for 27 years. Not in the anime, not in the webtoon. In a roguelite.
That’s the news here, and it’s a stranger swerve than it sounds. Solo Leveling: Karma is an upcoming roguelite action-RPG from Netmarble, headed to PC and mobile later this year, and it’s telling a story you haven’t read.
A story the webtoon never told
The setup is original to the game and takes place in the Dimensional Gap. You’re joining Jinwoo mid-war, and the game doesn’t ease you in.
Here’s how Netmarble lays it out:
“Though he emerged victorious in the battle against the Monarchs who sought to conquer Earth, Sung Jinwoo lost many people he cared about. Using the Cup of Reincarnation, he turned back time to a point before the gates ever appeared. As Jinwoo continues his war against the Monarchs within the dimensional gap, the mysterious Messengers of the Itarim and their creator appear before him. To protect the dimensional gap, the Messengers of the Itarim form a pact with Sung Jinwoo and lend him their power. Armed with newfound powers, Jinwoo cuts through the endless Denizens of Chaos. But as he presses forward, he comes face to face with an unexpected enemy…”
Time travel, a pact with beings nobody in the source material has met, and an enemy the copy won’t name. For a franchise built on one guy grinding his way up a stat sheet, that’s a lot of new furniture.
The roster is the familiar part
Cha Hae-In is in. So are Go Gunhee and Choi Jong-In, alongside Jinwoo and others.
If you came in through the anime, those names carry weight. If you came in through the webtoon, they carry more.
Why the audience is already there
The original Solo Leveling webtoon has pulled more than 14.3 billion views. That’s the number that explains everything else on this list.
It started as a South Korean fantasy web novel by Chugong, then broke out globally when the anime series landed in 2024. A Korean drama adaptation is currently in development.
And Netmarble has done this before. Solo Leveling: Arise, an RPG, launched in 2025 and sits at a “Mostly Positive” rating on Steam, which puts it among the more successful anime-inspired RPGs out there.
Circle 17 September on the calendar
There’s no official release date yet. But Karma is expected to take center stage at Tokyo Game Show on 17 September, and that’s where the trailer, the in-game look and the date itself should surface.
The movie waiting behind it
A theatrical film, Solo Leveling: Beyond the System, is the next major entry in the franchise. It was announced in July and is expected some time next year. Crunchyroll hasn’t given a date.
So the shape of the next year is roughly this: a roguelite, a film, a drama in development, and a webtoon that keeps counting views in the billions. Jinwoo, meanwhile, is still cutting through the Denizens of Chaos, 27 years deep, walking toward an enemy nobody will name yet.
