Solo Leveling Arise early access preview: A brilliant adaptation of the popular manhwa

Full disclosure: I had not seen anything on the manhwa before trying Solo Leveling Arise. However, I do know a few people who absolutely love it, so after playing it for a few hours, I had to go and read some of the manhwa - the webtoon - for myself. That made coming back to play this mobile game far more interesting, as I then had a bit more context about what I was seeing. Games like this need to be faithful adaptations, after all.

I was not at all disappointed, either. Solo Leveling Arise led me to become a fan of the webtoon, Sung Jinwoo as a character, and the setting. After all, who hasn’t wanted to fall into a video game and become a hero? I know I sure have. So I took a spin around Netmarble’s newest game for a few hours, and this is what I found.

Note: This preview is based on the early access version that has been out since March 21, 2024, in Canada. The full global release is reportedly set to arrive later this year.

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You have now become a player in Solo Leveling Arise

The enemies in Solo Leveling are certainly intense (Image via Netmarble)

Not all webtoons have what it takes to become a video game. Some feel weird and awkward - Solo Leveling Arise is not one of those. It accurately depicts the webtoon starring Sun Jinwoo - the weakest hunter of all. You go through the story and get to see some truly gorgeous cutscenes and panels of fan-favorite moments.

Players control Sun Jinwoo most of the time, grinding through stages and slaughtering monsters. I played this version on my PC, though I did also briefly try the mobile version, which also played quite well. For games like this, I prefer to have a bigger screen, though. At its core, Solo Leveling Arise is an Action RPG/Hack ‘n’ Slash style game. If you like cool attacks and movement, you’re in the right place.

Dodging felt so good, and perfectly timing them felt better. However, this dodge action, Extreme Evasion, felt like it had to be frame perfect - so you have to practice doing it often. The combat is fast and furious, and the visuals did not disappoint.

The battles are fast-paced, and dodging takes serious practice (Image via Netmarble)

Unfortunately, I still don’t have context for much of the story since I’m not caught up, but from what I’ve seen so far, it’s faithful to the source material. The early game felt great, pounding my way through dungeons and slaying monsters. I could see it becoming monotonous if that’s all the game offers, though.

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Like many mobile action games, Solo Leveling Arise is a grindy experience

You're likely going to have to face many of these battles over again to power up (Image via Netmarble)

I honestly don’t mind grinding in my games. However, being forced to kind of drags it down, whether you need gold in Solo Leveling Arise or other resources. The title, to me, felt very much like it wants the player to be at certain levels, which means you have to do a lot of grinding through other modes. If you were hoping it would be a nice, easy jaunt through the story, you’ve got another thing coming.

Which, in one way, is pretty nice, as that feels accurate to the source material again. It’s not easy becoming an incredibly powerful hunter, and Sun Jinwoo goes through a lot in the manhwa. Regardless, the game is quite fun, and I felt like playing stages over and over did help me get better at it.

I’m not a fan of bosses with gigantic health pools, though - that feels more like inflated difficulty instead of actual difficulty. This is something that could quickly become a problem in Solo Leveling Arise. This was probably my least favorite part of the game, to be honest.

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Solo Leveling Arise is a gorgeous game on PC and mobile

I had zero problems playing Solo Leveling Arise on my PC, that’s for sure. It performed well on my phone, but I preferred playing it on my computer with a controller in hand. The DualSense for PS5 was the perfect controller to play with. When we’re talking optimization, it felt great. I didn’t notice any particularly bad lag or slowdown.

Sadly, my footage was corrupted for this preview, but that's no fault of the game but of my recording software. The graphics are great, and I enjoyed the voice acting. It’s a fairly well-polished mobile game, and I think fans of the manhwa will enjoy the presentation. Even if you’ve read through the story before, it’s a completely different thing to play it.

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Final thoughts

Solo Leveling Arise is clearly already popular, with the mobile game exceeding five million registered players shortly after its announcement and the launch of its anime series. That’s an impressive feat, that’s for sure. The game plays incredibly well, but I do worry it’s going to force players to repeatedly play through modes to build up as much strength as possible.

Other than that and artificial difficulty (timers and lots of health), I’m a pretty big fan of Solo Leveling. I’ve got to read more of it, but so far, I’m glad I tried this game out - it exposed me to a story that I’d never experienced and put me right into the thick of the action in this mobile game.

That said, this is, at its core, still a gacha game. It's important to remember that - if that's not your cup of tea, or you worry that you'll spend too much, it's worth keeping that in mind before you play.