[Ed. note: This review contains minor spoilers for Solo Leveling anime.]
From the second the demo for Solo Leveling: Come up Overdrive recreates JinWoo’s Awakening from the manhwa and anime, it’s clear the workforce at Netmarble Neo is doing all the pieces it might to make gamers really feel like the long-lasting protagonist. And in some methods, the sport — to be launched in full by fall 2025 on PC — succeeds. The motion at first look is satisfying, the fight is flashy and responsive, and the RPG mechanics are rooted within the anime’s lore, particularly JinWoo’s signature “stage up” means.
Nonetheless, regardless of the gameplay loop, one thing concerning the general bundle feels hole. There are hints at larger potential, like upgrading JinWoo’s Shadow Military or unlocking his Monarch transformation (spoiler warning for anime-only followers), however most of that’s locked off within the demo. And whereas multiplayer may add replayability, what’s obtainable now appears extra like busywork than significant development.
The barebones strategy to the title isn’t even the worst half: it’s navigating the menu UI that’s essentially the most irritating. It’s approach simpler to navigate menus utilizing a mouse than a controller, regardless of controller being the easiest way to play the sport. It wasn’t till I performed extra and did some analysis that I spotted some followers consider Overdrive is definitely a revamped port of the 2024 cell gacha recreation Solo Leveling: Come up, dressed up and stripped of its gacha monetization in service of including co-op multiplayer. In Come up, Netmarble limits level-up development for free-to-play customers and costs of us out of premium tools with an outlandish bottleneck, the upper your general stage is. That is to entice gamers to subscribe and earn free assets so as to hit ranges and unlock new characters.
Regardless of Netmarble making certain us “Solo Leveling: ARISE – OVERDRIVE is a model new title separate from Solo Leveling: ARISE and never an growth, replace, or port of the earlier recreation,” it certain as hell appears like a port. It appears to be like prefer it’s reusing the identical belongings, some cutscenes, and general UI. However with out these authentic options applied, Overdrive sinks into repetitive grind, regardless of how a lot it makes you’re feeling like Jinwoo within the second.
The core mechanics are steeped in series-specific element. Gamers can stage up JinWoo after battles, construct out a loadout of weapons and expertise pulled from or impressed by the franchise, and use loot from enemies to craft gear and improve tools referred to as Artifacts. Fight evokes Dynasty Warriors with added aptitude: a dodge-and-counter system provides tactical rhythm, whereas fast time occasions and ultimates inject cinematic flash. There’s a laundry record of assaults and expertise you may select from and equip to attempt in fight, permitting gamers to tailor JinWoo to their playstyles: numerous strikes paying homage to the present, QTE assaults, primary assaults, an final talent with various cooldowns, and assist-based fight too, letting you recruit three acquainted Hunters mid-fight.
JinWoo also can swap between 4 courses: Murderer, Duelist, Elementalist, and Ruler, which mirror his development throughout seasons 1 and a pair of of the anime (although Elementalist’s magic assaults really feel off-brand). Every class has its personal talent tree, and Blessing Stones present stat boosts and perks like emergency HP revives. Weapons, Artifacts, and even your Shadow Military may be leveled independently, providing a deeper layer of development than anticipated.
Picture: Netmarble
However whereas all these methods counsel depth, it’s principally floor stage. After just a few stable dungeon crawls, Jinwoo was in a position to seamlessly use skills, QTEs, our workforce of Hunters, and swap between weapons on the fly. Regardless of the enjoyable gameplay loop and actually feeling like an iteration of Jinwoo from season 1, the button-mashing fight felt unfulfilling and unpolished regardless of the multitude of level-up mechanics, talent timber, and record of skills.
A few of JinWoo’s weapons embody weapons, bows, and the aforementioned magic and sickles, regardless of by no means utilizing any of those powers within the sequence. Environments are very massive and lifeless, with not too many differentiating rooms or dungeons. Enemies get progressively stronger as you’re taking down extra dungeons, however the issue spike isn’t too tough when you be taught boss assault patterns. Acquainted characters are current however void of persona, contributing flavorless NPC strains. After you get a deal with on all of the mechanics and level-up methods, you understand the whole bundle may be very barebones and with out a lot substance.
Sadly, with out a monetization loop, what’s left is a recreation that replaces manufactured stopgaps with a repetitive grind, which isn’t a lot better. The sport delivers the Solo Leveling expertise — simply perhaps not sufficient of the rest.
