Solo Leveling: KARMA will feature the most experienced Jinwoo yet, confirms Aleks Le

Aleks Le, the English voice of Sung Jinwoo, confirmed that Solo Leveling: KARMA will introduce us to the most experienced version of the protagonist we've ever seen. He won't be the most powerful from the start, but he will be the one with the most battle-hardened experience. And that changes everything.

In an interview with CBR during FanX, Le explained that Jinwoo doesn't start the game at the peak of his power. Instead, Netmarble presented the character as someone who has already fought for a very long time and knows every move of his enemies.

"I don't think he's going to start off as the strongest. Mentally, and in terms of battle strategy and knowledge, he'll be the most experienced version we've seen. But he's going to be stripped of everything and start from scratch."

The comparison the team used to explain his starting point is great: it's like fighting someone who cheated because they know your entire history. Everything resets, but you also retain that information. Le admitted it was a headache to place himself within the story and that as an actor it was a challenge to find the subtle nuances of that situation.

A 27-year war we never saw

Solo Leveling: KARMA takes place in the Dimensional Rift and explores the 27-year war between Jinwoo and the Monarchs. It's a chapter of his life that the original story only mentions in passing. After the climactic conflict, Jinwoo uses the Cup of Reincarnation to turn back time and prevent the catastrophe, but his battle against the Monarchs continues in the Dimensional Rift.

Sung Jinwoo in the action roguelite Solo Leveling: KARMA, developed by Netmarble.fandomwire.com

The game won't repeat the events of the anime. Netmarble confirmed there will be original enemies and new story developments. Among them are the Mutated Hunters, created by the Monarchs to eliminate Jinwoo. Yes, we'll see familiar faces like Cha Hae-In or Go Gunhee, but as hostile opponents. That hurts.

<img src="https://img.donotaku.com/width=1280,quality=75/news/2026/10/solo-leveling-karma-tendra-al-jinwoo-mas-experimentado-confi-4-nidt.webp" data-key="news/2026/10/solo-leveling-karma-tendra-al-jinwoo-mas-experimentado-confi-4-nidt.webp" alt="This image shows Cha Hae-In as "Mutated" or "Corupted" from the upcoming roguelite action-RPG Solo Leveling: KARMA developed by Netmarble." />

The official story description mentions that an immense power awakens in Jinwoo as the conflict progresses. In other words, he doesn't arrive being invincible. The accumulated experience and subsequent development go hand in hand. That gives a lot of sense to what Aleks Le says.

The shadow army also returns

The Shadow Monarch's abilities make all of this more interesting. With Shadow Extraction, Jinwoo can turn defeated enemies into loyal soldiers. In KARMA, we'll be able to summon figures like Igris and Iron, as announced by Netmarble.

That said, we need to separate what is canon from what is gameplay. KARMA uses isometric hack-and-slash combat, with weapons, upgrades, and boosters that shape each run. Not all mechanics should be taken as a literal measure of Jinwoo's canonical strength. It's a roguelite action RPG, not a power encyclopedia.

Cha Hae-In as a Mutated Hunter in Solo Leveling: KARMA.fandomwire.com

Netmarble announced the game in July 2025 for PC and mobile. The Crunchyroll announcement identifies 2026 as the release window, but there is still no concrete date. We'll have to keep an eye on the official channels.

What really excites me is that we'll finally see that stage of Jinwoo that the manhwa dismissed in a couple of panels. The boy who barely survived low-rank dungeons is now a warrior hardened by a conflict that goes far beyond Earth. And this time, his most dangerous weapon isn't raw power: it's everything he learned fighting.