Netmarble used Anime Expo 2026 to show Solo Leveling: Karma’s original 27-year war story, Mutated Hunters, roguelite combat, voice cast, and the questions still hanging over its launch.
Image: flickeringmyth.com
Netmarble puts Karma’s missing war at the center of its next Solo Leveling game
Netmarble’s Anime Expo 2026 panel for Solo Leveling: Karma finally put shape around the game’s biggest pitch: this is a free-to-play action RPG built around the 27-year conflict Sung Jinwoo fought against the Monarchs after the original story’s use of the Cup of Reincarnation. According to Netmarble’s July 6 press release distributed through Games Press, the panel, titled “Solo Leveling: KARMA – Expanding Universe,” took place July 4 at the JW Marriott Diamond Ballroom in Los Angeles and featured the development team alongside Aleks Le, the English voice of Sung Jinwoo.
That premise is the concrete difference Netmarble is selling first. Solo Leveling: Karma is not being framed as another retelling of Jinwoo’s early hunter climb. Netmarble says it explores an “untold” stretch of the canon-adjacent timeline, with Jinwoo entering the Dimensional Gap and fighting a prolonged war against the Monarchs after the events of the original series. Inven Global, citing Netmarble in its pre-show report, described the same setting as the 27-year “Master War” in the dimensional rift, a period the original work did not detail.
For an anime RPG audience, that is a meaningful narrative lane. The existing Solo Leveling game conversation has been dominated by Solo Leveling: Arise, its live-service character releases, and its adaptation of familiar story beats. Karma is being pitched around blank space: a period fans know exists, but have not played through in detail. The risk is equally clear. When a licensed RPG fills an unseen chapter, its progression systems and enemy design have to carry story weight without relying only on recognition.
The Anime Expo reveal focused on enemies, combat footage, and voice casting
At Anime Expo, Netmarble showed new footage of Jinwoo fighting enemies called Mutated Hunters in both the Games Press release and MMOBomb’s report from the announcement. Netmarble describes them as original enemies created by the Monarchs to eliminate Sung Jinwoo. The footage also teased what the publisher called an emotional conflict as familiar faces return as enemies.
There is one small but useful wording wrinkle for readers tracking official terminology. The Games Press release’s opening summary refers to the debut of “Corrupted Hunters,” while the body of the same release, along with MMOBomb’s coverage, calls them “Mutated Hunters.” Based on the provided materials, Mutated Hunters is the term repeated in the more specific description, but Netmarble’s public wording has not been perfectly consistent across the release text.
The panel also delivered a casting reveal. Netmarble announced Troy Baker as Antares, the Monarch of Destruction. Games Press quotes Baker’s video message to attendees, in which he said he loves the show and is “proudly stepping into the shoes” of Antares, the King of Dragons. Baker did not attend in person, while Aleks Le appeared at the panel and performed a live dub of an in-game story sequence for fans in attendance, according to both Games Press and MMOBomb.
Netmarble also revealed new key art and a promotional video made for Anime Expo 2026. Games Press says the artwork features Karma’s version of Sung Jinwoo alongside Antares, the Mutated Hunters, and additional original characters unique to the game. The trailer ends by teasing another major reveal for September, which is the next dated beat Netmarble has put in front of players.
Karma’s RPG structure appears built around repeat runs, not a roster-update treadmill
The clearest systems distinction comes from the genre description. Inven Global, citing Netmarble, identifies Solo Leveling: Karma as a roguelite action RPG in development for mobile and PC platforms. EGW, in its post-panel coverage, goes further by reporting that the game is aimed at PC, iOS, and Android, with no release date beyond “TBA 2026.” Netmarble’s provided Anime Expo release calls Karma an upcoming game and a free-to-play action RPG, but the source text does not provide a tighter launch date, price, or full storefront plan.
EGW’s report describes combat as isometric and run-based, with dodge-rolling, directional attacks, cooldown-based skills, and a “Blessing” system that provides randomized modifiers from run to run. It also says players fight alongside summonable Shadow units, including Igris and Iron, through procedurally generated dungeons designed for replay. Those details, if they remain accurate through launch, put Karma closer to a build-crafting loop than a traditional chapter-by-chapter mobile campaign.
That changes the kinds of questions players should ask. In a roguelite action RPG, long-term appeal usually depends on whether each run produces meaningful build decisions, whether enemy patterns stay readable under mobile controls, and whether progression rewards mastery rather than only stat accumulation. The Solo Leveling fantasy is unusually compatible with that structure because Jinwoo’s identity is tied to growth, shadows, and escalating challenges. The hard part for Netmarble will be preserving that power curve without flattening it into repetitive room clearing.
How Karma differs from Solo Leveling: Arise right now
Solo Leveling: Arise remains the immediate comparison because it is the existing Netmarble Solo Leveling game still receiving updates. Pocket Gamer’s July 7 gacha roundup describes Arise’s latest addition as Agnes Rivera, a new SSR hunter and Dark-type Elemental Buster, alongside new story chapters, Hard difficulty for the First Land dungeon, and a Sun-Kissed Summer Kicks Off check-in event. That is the familiar cadence of a live-service gacha RPG: new characters, new challenge tiers, limited events, and roster testing.
Karma’s Anime Expo messaging points elsewhere. The announced story is centered on Sung Jinwoo’s 27-year war against the Monarchs, not on adding another hunter to an existing roster. Its highlighted enemies are original Mutated Hunters tied to that war. Its reported roguelite structure suggests replayable dungeon runs, randomized power choices, and shadow companions as combat tools rather than a straightforward cycle of banner acquisition and event check-ins.
The monetization picture is still the missing piece. MMOBomb calls Karma free-to-play, while Netmarble’s Anime Expo press release does not detail how the game will sell content, cosmetics, passes, stamina, characters, or expansions. EGW says Karma’s monetization has not been officially detailed and frames any early talk of a story-driven model as unconfirmed. Until Netmarble explains that layer, players should treat Karma’s genre shift as promising but incomplete. A roguelite can be generous, grind-heavy, or aggressively tuned around repeat engagement depending on how rewards and purchases are structured.
Netmarble is bringing Karma into a more skeptical anime RPG market
The timing of this reveal is important because anime RPG players now examine licensed games through two lenses at once: combat feel and business model. EGW’s coverage points back to Solo Leveling: Arise as a commercial success with friction around monetization. It reports that Arise launched in May 2024, reached 50 million installs and $138.9 million in gross revenue over six months, then saw monthly revenue fall from $58.9 million at launch to $7 million by October, alongside player complaints about flash sales, subscription tiers, and gacha drop rates. Those figures and complaints are attributed here to EGW’s reporting, not to the Anime Expo press release.
EGW also notes that Netmarble later released Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive as a $39.99 premium Steam version without gacha mechanics, and reports that it held a 75 percent “mostly positive” Steam rating at the time of that article. That context does not prove Karma will follow Overdrive’s model. It does, however, explain why fans are likely to scrutinize Karma’s free-to-play label before committing time to another progression-heavy Solo Leveling RPG.
For players who care about builds, the distinction matters. A roguelite lives or dies on the trust that a failed run teaches something useful and that a successful run comes from good choices, execution, and smart upgrades. If paid systems distort those choices too heavily, the design fantasy weakens. If Netmarble keeps purchases away from core run power, Karma could occupy a cleaner space between mobile action RPG and PC-friendly anime roguelite.
The September tease is the next checkpoint for release plans, platforms, and progression
Netmarble has confirmed another major reveal is coming in September through the Anime Expo trailer tease described by Games Press. That is the date anime RPG fans should watch now, because the biggest unanswered questions are practical rather than cosmetic.
The current source material supports mobile and PC as target platforms through Inven Global’s Netmarble-sourced report, with EGW specifying PC, iOS, and Android. No provided official source lists system requirements, controller support, cross-save, regional availability, beta timing, or a final release date. EGW reports “TBA 2026,” but the Anime Expo materials included here do not narrow the window beyond showing the game publicly at 2026 events. Netmarble previously planned Anime Expo 2026 as the first updated gameplay showcase since Karma’s initial reveal at G-STAR 2025, according to Inven Global.
The September reveal should ideally answer three player-facing questions. First, how deep is the roguelite progression outside individual runs? Second, how will Shadow units such as Igris and Iron be earned, upgraded, and used in builds? Third, what does free-to-play mean for a Solo Leveling game whose best version may depend on tight action balance? Until those answers arrive, Solo Leveling: Karma is best understood as Netmarble’s attempt to turn an unexplored lore gap into a replayable anime RPG, with enough confirmed detail to be worth tracking and enough missing information to justify caution.