Solo Leveling:ARISE is in the midst of something potentially special. At time of writing, its pre-registration period has exceeded 12 million registered users, with a successful soft early access launch providing valuable feedback on its promising action-RPG gameplay. It certainly has the benefit of strong source material to help buoy it through a competitive mobile market – Solo Leveling‘s anime adaptation enjoyed a critically acclaimed first season, while the manwha it’s based on remains one of the most popular in the form.
A lot of Solo Leveling‘s appeal comes in following the specific journey of Sung Jinwoo, something that Solo Leveling:ARISE taps into with a true-to-source exploration of his earliest moments and his rise as a powerful hunter. The freedom of the medium, however, gives ARISE more leeway to explore elements of the source material’s world and character building that weren’t necessarily available because of its focused narrative. The game has already announced a brand new hunter designed specifically for ARISE, for instance, with more on the way.
So what potential does this kind of design option afford the team behind Solo Leveling:ARISE? We chatted with executive project director Seong-Keon Jin and art director Inho Kim to dig deeper into what’s possible with this mobile Solo Leveling adaptation, the hardest parts of adapting such a successful and recognizable story, and what other genres the team thinks could successfully tell a new Solo Leveling story.
Screen Rant: What was the core philosophy in bringing Solo Leveling to mobile gaming? How did the team approach this adaptation?
Some mobile games choose to reinterpret their source material, or create completely different storylines – to begin with, Solo Leveling: ARISE honors the webtoon with a lot of reverence for its plot and characters. Why did the team ultimately decide to so closely follow Solo Leveling in its own mobile storytelling?
Why was “action-RPG” the choice for Solo Leveling: ARISE?
What sort of challenges did the team face in adapting the character and monster designs from the webtoon into functional character models in a 3D action game?
Are there any other genres the team considered for Solo Leveling: ARISE, and might consider in the future if given a chance?
How worried was the team that spoilers from the webtoon being so accessible in Solo Leveling: ARISE might turn away players who only watch the anime? Is that ever a consideration?