New Solo Leveling action game addresses the hugely popular anime's 27-year gap

Developer Netmarble has announced Solo Leveling: Karma, a new action RPG based on the popular Korean web comic and anime that's on its way to PC. Following in the footsteps of Solo Leveling: Arise, Karma looks to be a dungeon crawler with high-speed isometric combat a little reminiscent of Hades, pitting protagonist Sung Jinwoo against a wide range of foes. Tantalizingly, Netmarble also teases that the new game will address "a tale never revealed in the original work," referencing its notorious 27-year gap.

Solo Leveling is unquestionably popular - over on streaming site Crunchyroll, its anime rendition boasts a 4.9/5 average rating from 826,000 user scores, giving it a higher number of reviews than major hits such as One Piece and Demon Slayer. Solo Leveling: Karma is the latest adaptation of the series, following on from Netmarble's gacha-driven Arise, and looks to be contesting for a place among our best action games, with slick, stylish combat, but its invitation "to discover the untold tale of a 27-year gap" is the most interesting part.

"As all battles come to a close, Sung Jinwoo's endless war begins anew," the trailer begins. Without getting too deep into spoilers, but with obvious caveats if you're staying clear of any details, this presumably references the climactic events of Solo Leveling's Monarch War. Utilizing some time manipulation, Jinwoo seals himself in a dimensional rift where he supposedly re-fights the full roster of Monarchs, the series' primary antagonists, over the course of 27 years before returning to the human world.

As a mysterious epilogue that isn't shown in detail, the moment has split opinion somewhat, with some fans arguing that it felt like a way to tie things up more cleanly and others just curious to see it. Now, however, we're apparently going to get more insight into what actually happened during the missing years. We'll have to wait for more specifics, however, as Netmarble's announcement doesn't go into further detail.

There's currently no release date for Solo Leveling: Karma, which Netmarble simply lists as "coming soon," but it's set to launch on PC alongside mobile versions on the App Store and Google Play. You can watch the official website for more details.

For now, we've rounded up the best anime games you can play today. You should also take a look through our Solo Leveling Arise tier list if you're playing that in the meantime.

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