Sung Jinwoo commands Igris and Beru as Solo Leveling: ARISE puts its original cast back in the spotlight

The weakest hunter humanity ever knew has long since disappeared. Solo Leveling: ARISE has released a new promotional trailer focused squarely on the characters and battles that made the original Solo Leveling story a global phenomenon , highlighting Sung Jinwoo, Cha Hae-In, Go Gunhee, Thomas Andre

The weakest hunter humanity ever knew has long since disappeared. Solo Leveling: ARISE has released a new promotional trailer focused squarely on the characters and battles that made the original Solo Leveling story a global phenomenon, highlighting Sung Jinwoo, Cha Hae-In, Go Gunhee, Thomas Andre and the Shadow Army while reminding new players that the game now offers a free path to one of Jinwoo’s most powerful forms.

Rather than announcing a completely new update, the video works as a showcase of how extensively Netmarble has expanded its action RPG since launch. Players can control Sung Jinwoo through his progression from struggling E-Rank Hunter to the Monarch of Shadows, build separate combat teams from a growing roster of Hunters and summon iconic Shadows such as Igris and Beru into battle. The timing is also deliberate: Solo Leveling: ARISE is approaching its 2.5-year anniversary, with Netmarble preparing another major round of combat, progression and guild changes for October.

Sung Jinwoo remains the centre of the entire ARISE experience

Solo Leveling: ARISE launched globally in May 2024 with a straightforward promise: allow players to experience Sung Jinwoo’s rise in an action RPG rather than simply retelling the webtoon through static story scenes.

That distinction remains fundamental to the game.

Players directly control Jinwoo through real-time combat, combining weapon skills, class abilities, evasions and Ultimate attacks while steadily increasing his power through many of the same milestones that define the original story.

His progression has also expanded considerably since launch.

Jinwoo has received additional Job Changes, new weapons, Blessing Stones, Rune Skills and increasingly powerful combat forms as Netmarble has moved deeper into the source material. The game has consequently evolved far beyond the early chapters where players control the relatively fragile Hunter who barely survived the Double Dungeon.

The new trailer leans heavily into that transformation.

This is no longer merely a game about becoming stronger.

It is increasingly a game about playing as the Sung Jinwoo who already terrifies almost everything standing in front of him.

The Monarch of Shadows Successor can be obtained for free

One of the trailer’s biggest selling points is the ability to obtain Sung Jinwoo’s Monarch of Shadows form without paying.

Netmarble introduced Monarch of Shadows’ Successor Sung Jinwoo in July 2026 as a Dark-element Successor version of the protagonist. Unlike ordinary progression upgrades applied to the standard Jinwoo, this version is designed around a distinct combat identity that more aggressively integrates his Shadow Monarch abilities into moment-to-moment fighting.

His moveset includes Mirage Blade, which attacks using a blade of death, while Sovereign Doom unleashes the Breath of Destruction before following with a devastating finishing sequence.

The most important difference, however, is his interaction with the Shadows themselves.

The Monarch of Shadows’ Successor can transform during combat and perform combination attacks alongside his army, turning one of the defining powers from the original series into a more direct part of the character’s playable kit.

Netmarble also chose an unusually generous distribution model for this version.

Players can obtain him by completing the associated in-game missions, and Netmarble states that the recruitment opportunity does not have an expiration date. That means the free version is not simply a short anniversary login reward intended to disappear once the current promotional campaign ends.

For somebody discovering ARISE through this new trailer, the promise is therefore considerably stronger than “log in this week for a free character.”

The pathway remains available.

Cha Hae-In has grown from launch character to multiple playable versions

The video also highlights Cha Hae-In, one of the most recognisable Hunters from the original Solo Leveling cast and one of the characters Netmarble has repeatedly expanded since release.

Cha was already part of ARISE’s early roster as an SSR Hunter, reflecting her position as South Korea’s ninth S-Rank Hunter and the vice guild master of the Hunters Guild.

Her relationship with Jinwoo and her unusual sensitivity to mana made her one of the central characters of the original story, but the game eventually went beyond simply recreating that first interpretation.

The first anniversary introduced Cha Hae-In, Pure Sword Princess, an alternate SSR version drawn from a different timeline associated with the Cup of Reincarnation.

In that reality, Cha serves as guild master of the Valkyrie Guild and receives a substantially different combat identity built around overwhelming sword attacks and celestial imagery.

Her Ultimate brings down an enormous blade of light while additional swords descend across the battlefield.

That alternate version demonstrates one of the directions Netmarble has increasingly embraced with ARISE.

The game is no longer restricted to adapting characters exactly as they appeared at one particular moment in the webtoon. Alternate histories, later forms and reimagined versions allow familiar Hunters to return with different elemental alignments and combat roles.

For long-term players, that creates new team-building possibilities.

For fans arriving from the anime or webtoon, it means many of Solo Leveling’s best-known characters have several years of playable development behind them.

Go Gunhee can finally fight without age holding him back

Go Gunhee represents another obvious appeal of turning Solo Leveling into a game.

Within the original story, the chairman of the Korean Hunters Association possesses extraordinary power but is prevented from demonstrating its full extent because his ageing body can no longer comfortably contain what he is capable of doing.

ARISE removes much of that limitation by making him directly playable.

Go Gunhee entered the game as a Light-element SSR Tank, giving players the opportunity to put the chairman on the frontline rather than leaving him behind a desk overseeing Korean Hunter activity.

His abilities are designed around the imposing strength glimpsed during his relatively limited battles in the source material. His Ultimate, Supernova, concentrates a large mass of light before launching it into his opponents.

That is part of the broader fantasy Netmarble is selling with the new trailer.

Solo Leveling: ARISE does not only let players recreate fights that already happened.

It gives characters whose combat potential was sometimes limited by narrative circumstances considerably more time in the arena.

Go Gunhee is one of the clearest examples.

Thomas Andre brings National Level violence into the roster

If Go Gunhee represents strength restrained by circumstance, Thomas Andre is almost the exact opposite.

The American National Level Hunter and master of the Scavenger Guild was introduced to ARISE in November 2024 as a Light-element SSR Fighter and the game’s first playable National Level Hunter.

His gameplay reflects the same overwhelming physicality that defines him in the original work.

Cold-blooded Pummel sends Thomas into the air before he crashes into enemies ahead of him, while his Ultimate, Ruler’s Judgment, transforms him before delivering a sequence of extremely powerful attacks.

Netmarble has always had an obvious advantage with characters such as Thomas Andre.

Solo Leveling frequently establishes individuals through reputation long before readers see the full extent of their abilities. A videogame can expand those short demonstrations into complete combat kits.

Thomas does not need to wait for the exact story moment when he fights Jinwoo.

Players can build a team around him, take him into repeatable content and see his abilities across encounters that have nothing to do with his canonical battles.

That freedom has allowed ARISE’s Hunter roster to become one of its most important long-term systems.

Hunters fight separately from Sung Jinwoo

The trailer’s repeated emphasis on Cha Hae-In, Go Gunhee and Thomas Andre also underlines something that can be easy to misunderstand if someone knows Solo Leveling but has never played the game.

Solo Leveling: ARISE is not exclusively a character action game starring Jinwoo.

There are effectively two major combat structures.

Some content places Sung Jinwoo directly under player control while Hunters provide support abilities. Other modes hand control to a team built entirely from Hunters, allowing players to switch between different characters and construct squads around elemental affinities, Break potential, damage, support and survivability.

That division gives Netmarble considerably more room to expand the roster.

A new Hunter does not merely become another passive companion attached to Jinwoo. Characters can function as the central damage dealer, breaker, tank or supporter in dedicated Hunter teams.

Elemental interactions have also become increasingly important as the game has matured.

Different Hunters are designed around Fire, Water, Wind, Light and Dark compositions, and later systems have made synergy between members of the same elemental setup much more significant.

It means simply owning the strongest individual character is not necessarily enough for every piece of endgame content.

Team construction matters.

Igris remains the face of Jinwoo’s Shadow Army

The Hunters are only one half of the fantasy.

The new promotional video specifically highlights fighting alongside Igris and Beru, two of the most important members of Sung Jinwoo’s Shadow Army.

Igris has been synonymous with Solo Leveling since the early portions of Jinwoo’s progression.

Initially encountered as the terrifying Blood-Red Commander inside the Job Change quest, Igris goes from one of Jinwoo’s most dangerous opponents to one of his most loyal Shadow Soldiers after his defeat.

ARISE turns that relationship into a progression system.

Players can acquire and strengthen Shadows, designate different members of the army for combat and take advantage of the bonuses they provide.

Igris is particularly important because he represents the moment Jinwoo’s power begins evolving beyond simply becoming an increasingly powerful human Hunter.

He is the beginning of the army.

And over the course of ARISE’s updates, that army has continued to grow.

Beru turns one of Solo Leveling’s greatest enemies into an ally

Beru is the natural counterpart to Igris.

The former Ant King initially represents the culmination of the Jeju Island disaster, slaughtering powerful Hunters and establishing himself as a threat far beyond what most of the raid force can handle.

Then Sung Jinwoo arrives.

Players who know the original series already understand what happens next, but ARISE gives the transformation much more mechanical significance.

Beru was introduced as a Shadow alongside the game’s expansion of the Jeju Island storyline. When positioned as the leader of a Shadow team, he can improve Attack Power and Critical Damage, while his summoning ability incorporates healing-related effects inspired by the Ant King absorbing Min Byung-Gu’s abilities.

His arrival also coincided with an expansion of Shadow progression to the General rank.

That makes Beru more than another visual summon.

Choosing which Shadow leads the formation affects the bonuses provided to the wider team, allowing the Shadow Army to function as another component of build construction.

As ARISE has expanded, additional Shadows have continued to join that system, but Igris and Beru remain the two figures most immediately associated with Jinwoo’s transformation into the Monarch of Shadows.

The game now contains substantially more than its original story adaptation

The new trailer is deliberately aimed at the original Solo Leveling audience, but the current game has expanded well beyond its launch-state recreation of the webtoon.

ARISE now contains additional difficulties, Hidden Chapters, alternate character stories and original Hunters created specifically for the game.

Netmarble has also introduced larger endgame structures such as the Workshop of Brilliant Light, Simulation Gate, Battlefield of Trials, Battlefield of Chaos, Mind Rift and other challenge modes built around increasingly specialised team compositions.

The roster itself has expanded into dozens of playable Hunters.

Some come directly from the original Solo Leveling story, while others are original characters used to broaden particular elements, classes and regional groups that received less attention in the source material.

Netmarble has also experimented with alternate versions of established figures, allowing the same familiar character to occupy different roles depending on the version being used.

That can make ARISE increasingly complicated for somebody returning after a long absence, but it also explains why Netmarble is releasing a much simpler trailer now.

The pitch is being reduced back to its foundation.

Play as Jinwoo.

Recruit the Hunters you remember.

Command Igris and Beru.

Level up.

ARISE is approaching another major overhaul for its 2.5 anniversary

The promotional push arrives shortly before Solo Leveling: ARISE’s 2.5-year anniversary, which Netmarble has already identified as the beginning of another substantial phase for the game.

The developer has acknowledged several long-running concerns from the existing community, particularly around Total Power, repetitive progression and the value of endgame growth.

Its response begins with an attempt to make Recommended Total Power a clearer representation of actual combat readiness.

Characters who significantly exceed the recommended requirement are intended to receive more obvious advantages, while going into difficult content considerably below the target will impose stronger penalties.

The objective is simple in theory: increasing the numbers on an account should once again produce a meaningful difference when playing.

But the anniversary plans go considerably further than numerical rebalancing.

Four Hunters will fight simultaneously in Deep Containment Zone

One of the most significant upcoming additions is Deep Containment Zone, a new combat format built around teams of four Hunters.

Unlike ordinary Hunter encounters where characters are typically rotated through battle individually, this mode is designed around four members contributing to the same fight and using their individual roles together.

Netmarble is developing a Union system that allows same-element Hunters to combine their strength into powerful elemental attacks, with additional effects determined by the class roles represented in the team.

The studio has specifically said it wants the mode to reduce the importance of building everything around a single primary damage dealer.

Breakers, supporters and other specialised classes should have clearer reasons to exist inside the same four-character composition.

Igris and Kargalgan are expected to appear as Subjects when the mode initially launches, with altered forms intended to create fights distinct from their earlier boss appearances.

For a game whose roster has expanded enormously since 2024, that kind of team-based content may be increasingly important.

Players need reasons to use more than a handful of top-performing Hunters.

An endless boss challenge will test how far progression really goes

The anniversary plans also include an Infinite Relay Boss Challenge, currently described by Netmarble as a mode where players confront a continuous sequence of familiar bosses.

Defeating an enemy extends the available time, allowing stronger accounts to continue progressing through increasingly long chains of encounters.

Milestone rewards are distributed according to how far the player advances.

The format is intended to solve another of Netmarble’s acknowledged problems: players can spend months increasing their Total Power without always having an obvious activity in which that growth produces a meaningful difference.

An escalating boss sequence provides an extremely straightforward benchmark.

If an account becomes stronger, it should advance further.

Netmarble plans to initially release the mode as a special event around the 2.5-year anniversary before determining how it fits into the game’s longer-term content structure.

Guilds are also being rebuilt around actual progression

The Guild system is another area scheduled for revision.

Netmarble has acknowledged that joining a Guild currently provides relatively little beyond Guild Bosses, attendance systems and the Exchange Shop.

The upcoming redesign is intended to make membership directly relevant to progression.

Check-in rewards will scale according to the number of Guild members participating, while Guild buffs are being reworked so they can provide more meaningful Total Power benefits tied to the individual player.

The developer is also planning lower Guild levelling requirements and Discord integration as part of the initial phase.

Additional cooperative Guild content and Exchange Shop improvements are expected to follow through later updates.

It is another sign that the anniversary is being used less as a conventional reward event and more as a point at which Netmarble wants to reconsider several of ARISE’s underlying progression systems.

The new trailer is an invitation rather than a new content announcement

That distinction is worth making clearly.

The newly released “Play as Sung Jinwoo, Cha Hae-In, Go Gunhee, and more from the original Solo Leveling!” video is primarily promotional.

The Hunters shown in it are not all new additions.

Cha Hae-In has been part of ARISE since its early months. Go Gunhee arrived in 2024. Thomas Andre has been playable since November 2024. Igris and Beru have long since joined Jinwoo’s Shadow roster.

Even the free Monarch of Shadows’ Successor version of Jinwoo was introduced in July 2026 rather than with this trailer.

What has changed is the scale of the package around them.

Someone beginning Solo Leveling: ARISE today is entering a very different game from the one Netmarble launched in May 2024. There are more Hunters, more alternate versions, more Shadows, deeper progression systems and a substantially larger catalogue of story and endgame encounters.

That makes returning to the original cast an effective way to simplify the message.

Before ARISE became a game about dozens of elemental combinations, specialised artifact sets and increasingly elaborate endgame systems, Solo Leveling had a much easier fantasy to understand.

Sung Jinwoo was weak.

Then he was given the ability to level up endlessly.

Eventually, the enemies that once terrified him became soldiers standing behind him.

The new trailer puts that fantasy back at the centre, while the approaching 2.5-year anniversary prepares to expand the systems surrounding it once again.

Solo Leveling: ARISE is available on PC, iOS and Android, with Sung Jinwoo’s Monarch of Shadows’ Successor obtainable through permanent in-game missions.