Solo Leveling: ARISE left a strong impression on me when it released in May 2024, especially the highs of the anime’s first season still fresh on my mind. Although my interest in the game waned after the first few months of service, I knew there was potential for more, but I didn’t know how it would come about. Flash forward a year later, and Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE is the fully realized potential of Solo Leveling: ARISE. Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE isn’t perfect, but it’s a big upgrade in so many ways, both nuanced and simple.
I can sum up Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE very simply before delving into the deeper details, but essentially, it’s a single-player focused version of the original mobile and PC game with refined mechanics and features. In hindsight, Solo Leveling: ARISE was more like an early access version of what would eventually become Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE. Of course, there’s so much more to this revamped game, as there’s just more content across the board.
Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE Levels Up the Player Experience
From the get-go, Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE stands out from its free-to-play gacha game counterpart with a cinematic opening sequence where you face off Baran the Demon King as the Monarch of Shadows himself. This crazy series of events also serves as the game’s tutorial and a PC benchmark—from my experience at least. Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE is a more graphically demanding game, and it’s apparent from in-game visuals, character animations, and much more. Netmarble put a lot more effort into the presentation of Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE, and character move-sets are much more stylish and varied. The English dub of Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE is also really great with the cast of the anime reprising their roles, adding another layer of authenticity.
Once more, players take on the role of Sung Jinwoo as he evolves from being the Weakest Hunter of All Time to being one of the most powerful hunters to grace the streets of Korea. The tutorial section and opening sequence does a great job setting up what Jinwoo is, and will be, capable of. After the new opening sequence, the game follows the same missions of Solo Leveling: ARISE, but the structuring, pacing, and presentation of the content is greatly improved. Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE presents itself as a single-player, character-driven action game where you level up by getting good results in combat encounters, and the level design seems more in-line with a console game rather than the original gacha title.
The introductory missions introduce the weapon-switching mechanic, allowing you to extend combos and link together new chain attacks and abilities with swords, daggers, hammers, and more. There’s a greater variety of attacks in general, with makes combat a lot more fun here compared to the original ARISE. Combat is dynamic with the varied range of weaponry at your disposal, and you are rewarded for being cunning with parries, Extreme Evasion, and counter attacks. This is in addition to eight different jobs and skill trees to progress, including Assassin and Ruler—each of which has a difficulty level for general use. Assassin is tricker to use due to the reliance on counters and evasion, while Ruler is more well-rounded for beginners, for example.
The jobs and skill trees synergize with the new Overdrive system, which gives each Jinwoo and each hunter a very powerful signature move or ability. Jinwoo’s Overdrive is tied to his skill trees and the abilities he’s unlocked, while Hunter’s have unique traits that contribute toward their Overdrives. For example, with the Duel skill tree, Jinwoo’s Overdrive involves a special gauge that fills in combat, and once full, players can unleash a powerful skill that plays to the strengths of that tree. In Choi Jong-in’s case, he summons massive meteors that apply Burn to enemies in sight.
Keeping and Expanding What Works
There’s a lot of content that that Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE maintains and expands upon. Going back to the story mode, the game delves into the original story from the webtoon just like ARISE did, but there’s more content exclusive to this game. The Hunter’s Association lobby from ARISE returns, but the overall layout is different, and Jinwoo actually talks to the NPCs there, including Seorin, for example. The same features from ARISE can be accessed from the lobby, including co-op raids with up to four players, optional fights and encounters on the World Map, mini-games, and the ability to recruit characters.
Since Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE is now longer a gacha game, players can unlock hunters, weapons, and other unlocks by simply playing the game. You don’t need to spend more than the $39.99 base price, as this is a premium game rather than its free-to-play counterpart. Since there’s no gacha, weapons can be earned and upgraded with the variety of materials you earn in game by completing missions, defeating bosses, and clearing special stages like bosses and other encounters.
There are extensive weapon trees that will keep you grinding for hours, in addition to the aforementioned skill trees. Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE feels like a fleshed out action RPG now, considering the leveling and stat systems that are also present. There’s a stronger sense of progression based on how you perform, especially when higher ranked results in the single-player encounters net you more XP and rewards. The artifact system, which appears to be a standard for games of this caliber, continues to give you the same stat and attribute bonuses as before, except now you can earn artifacts through normal progression.
As you progress further into the game, Jinwoo becomes more and more powerful with the Monarch’s Awakening system. Just like in ARISE, you’ll experience Jinwoo’s transformation into the Monarch of Shadows, allowing him to command his most powerful Shadows. The tutorial section gives you a sample of what Jinwoo’s transformation and abilities bring to the table, but through Monarch’s Awakening, Jinwoo becomes a force to be reckoned with, and combat becomes even more fast-paced in a controlled bout of chaos.
Of course, Jinwoo is not the only playable hunter, as there are many playable hunters to choose for your team of up to four, and for playing content that’s not directly tied to the main story. Like Jinwoo, all the hunters need equipment, artifacts, and XP to grow stronger for harder end-game content, such as world content bosses and the returning Battlefield of Time. The roster is vast with characters that were released over time in free updates to Solo Leveling: ARISE, including game-original characters like Alicia Blanche and fan-favorites like Choi Jong-in and Cha Hae-in, all of which have unique move-sets and progression. To recruit them, players can hire them or give them an offer, with the success rate depending on how good they perceive the offer.
Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE is a Welcomed Overhaul
Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE is better in nearly every single way, from monetization to graphics and gameplay. However, there are still a few sore spots. Since Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE is built in the same engine as ARISE, there’s still a mobile game “feel” that persists throughout the whole game, whether its level structure or the way characters interact in dialogue. Players who have played ARISE for the past year and invested time into that game likely won’t be blown away by what has changed or improved.
At this core, this game is still Solo Leveling: ARISE in its foundation. In fact, some of the gripes I once had from the time I was reviewing ARISE are still present, such as the basic level design and lack of voice lines for some moments in the story. That being said, I did play a development build that may differ from the full release version, so it’s possible that some of the issues I had could already be fixed or will be fixed through post-launch updates. Moreover, my issues were more limited to audio and voice lines here, as many technical features, including graphical settings and controller configurations, were working just fine.
Despite that, Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE brings a big enough overhaul that is worth commending to an extent, especially when it gives ARISE players the option to forgo gacha entirely. Standing on its own, the game is more immersive as a single-player title that can be played from in co-op, if the player decides to. The quality of life and gameplay improvements are also very welcomed, as it makes Jinwoo’s lengthy story mode even more of a joy to play than before.
Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE launches November 24 for PC via Microsoft Store and Steam, followed by PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in 2026. Deluxe Edition purchases include early access, starting November 21.
Disclaimer: Netmarble provided a Steam key of Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE for review purposes.
