Netmarble's The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin has reached its half-anniversary milestone. The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin is a multi-platform open-world RPG featuring a multiverse setting and an original story set in a different time and space from the source material.

To celebrate its half-anniversary, the game is rolling out a massive update. With Ban joining the roster in this update, players can now play as all seven members of the original Seven Deadly Sins, while also exploring new regions and story content. Through Original Reproduction Quests, players can experience the events of Episode 1 of the original series, where Meliodas and Elizabeth first meet. Additionally, a wide variety of new content and system improvements are scheduled.

To mark the half-anniversary, an interview was held with Producer Koo Do-hyung of Netmarble F&C. As an update aimed at marking a "new start," the interview provided a deeper look into the development team's vision and plans.

Half-Anniversary and Future Direction

The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin has reached its 0.5-anniversary. How do you evaluate the past six months of service and player feedback?

"It has been six months for which I am always deeply grateful. Starting with early access and official launch in March, we have sequentially expanded regions, heroes, and content, and I believe we were able to continue our service smoothly for half a year thanks to our Star Keepers.

What brings me the most joy is that players find the new story developments—distinct from the original work—engaging. Watching players speculate about upcoming characters and storylines and comparing them with the original source material has been immensely rewarding. Knowing that there are people reading along with our story is the greatest driving force from a creator's perspective.

On the other hand, the areas I felt most regretful about were balance and difficulty scaling. Every player has a different level of progression, and control schemes vary across platforms. I feel we fell short of creating a consistent difficulty curve that everyone could accept. Moving forward, we plan to focus on designing difficulty levels that account for all platforms while properly bringing out the distinct identity of each piece of content.

We are also taking optimization very seriously. With every build, we check player issues and bug reports, and a dedicated task force is working on optimization. Optimization will remain top priority for the project, and we will continue to make steady improvements.

What is the core direction of this 0.5-anniversary update, and what are your long-term goals heading toward the 1st anniversary?

"The core direction of this update is a 'new start.' We prepared this update with the hope that it serves as a fresh beginning not only for new and returning players, but also for existing players who have enjoyed the game so far and for the development team itself. We have completely revamped rewards across various content and prepared generous event rewards.

With the arrival of new hero Ban, all members of the Seven Deadly Sins are finally assembled. We are also introducing the Original Reproduction Quest 'The Adventure Begins,' the new region 'Ravens,' Act 17, and the new content 'Labyrinth.' For new and returning players, we significantly increased reward quantities from content and events, and lowered the Burst activation requirement in the field so players can experience exhilarating combat right from the early stages. We also added a tutorial skip function and updated the tutorial summon so that players can acquire the hero Meliodas right away early on.

Up until now, we focused on refining the fundamentals of combat and progression, improving structure, stability, and optimization to build a solid foundation for the service. From the 0.5-anniversary onward, we plan to expand both content and narrative. Our goal heading toward the 1st anniversary is to make a game that players can jump into without feeling burdened, while giving them a clear sense of purpose each week. We will continue to adjust the growth curve and content entry structure so that no matter when someone starts, they can enjoy the game at their own pace.

How do you plan to handle new and existing heroes moving forward? What is your approach toward 'Four Knights of the Apocalypse' characters, alternate version heroes, and reruns?

"When selecting new heroes, we consider the original story appearance order, story progression, and player preferences equally important. We believe these three elements are closely interconnected, and we prioritize finding the moment where the story and gameplay experience align best. We also continuously check community feedback, regional responses, and survey results.

The system where a single character can use three weapon types was introduced so players can play their favorite character for a long time while switching up their playstyle. We felt that building depth for each character, rather than infinitely expanding the character count, is better suited for an IP-based game. However, we are continuously evaluating the pros and cons of this system, including fidelity to the source material and complexity.

As for 'Four Knights of the Apocalypse' characters, we are reviewing them positively given the steady requests from fans. We are thinking about how best to present them satisfyingly within Origin's universe. We are also considering alternate version (variant) heroes. Wanting to see another side of a favorite character is a natural expectation in an IP game, but we are aware of concerns from players as well. Once our direction is set, we will announce it through developer notes or other channels.

We are also viewing reruns of existing limited heroes with care. Beyond simple reruns, we are exploring various approaches, and the current Poll Draw is one of them. We will conduct a survey during the 0.5-anniversary period and introduce the Poll Hero Draw on September 16, featuring a dedicated hero pool made of popular heroes chosen by player votes. Moving forward, we intend to expand ways to directly reflect player feedback in our live operations plans.

Faithful Adaptation and Original Storytelling

With Ban joining in this update, all seven members of the Seven Deadly Sins are now in the game. What does assembling the entire Seven Deadly Sins team mean to the development team?

"From the development team's perspective, the overwhelming feeling is that 'we've finally fulfilled our promise.' When adapting The Seven Deadly Sins into a game, gathering all members of the Seven Deadly Sins was a milestone we absolutely had to reach, and filling that final spot for the 0.5-anniversary makes it especially meaningful.

With all seven members assembled, we can now fully recreate the familiar party compositions and character relationships from the original work in-game. We can now offer inter-character dialogue and interactions, Seven Deadly Sins team synergies, and Original Reproduction Quests that require specific characters. Ban is a character the fandom has waited a long time for, and given his symbolic status as the final piece, we put even more care than usual into both his combat mechanics and skill animations.

Could you introduce Ban's combat style and how he is utilized in battle?

"Ban was designed to capture the feel of the original series while delivering distinct experiences depending on his weapon. The three-section staff is a mid-range weapon that overwhelms foes with multi-hit combos and shines in extended combat. The greatsword is heavy and slow, but ideal for breaking enemy posture and dealing massive damage. The gauntlets suit an aggressive, close-quarters playstyle. For Snatch, we focused on its core essence of 'stealing.' We translated the concept of taking something from the enemy and making it his own into the combat system, creating a mechanism where Ban weakens the target while empowering himself.

In combat, he plays close to a sustained DPS who can endure damage and fight continuously. Since he can handle his own survival, players can build teams with him in various ways. He can be utilized in content where sustained damage is crucial, such as Raids and Knighthood Boss Battles, in continuous open-field battles, or in high-difficulty encounters where self-healing and survival are essential. Players can pair him with posture-breaking allies to land heavy single hits with the greatsword, or use Joint Attack combos to convert the benefits of Snatch into buffs for the entire party.

When a character's canon power level in the original work conflicts with in-game balance, how do you reconcile the two?

"We believe it is essential to find a balance between faithful adaptation that satisfies fans of the original work and an environment where players can enjoy building any character. A character's lore strength is expressed through the sensory experience of gameplay—such as the scale of skill animations, battle dialogue, or conditional burst power in specific scenarios. Actual combat performance is tuned so that players can fully appreciate the appeal of each character within their assigned role. We also remain attentive to preventing situations where content becomes unplayable without a specific character.

What led you to introduce Original Reproduction content? And how do you plan to balance the canon narrative with Origin's original storyline moving forward?

"Telling an independent story in a separate timeline is a defining appeal of The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin. However, as developers, we always had that curiosity: 'What if players could experience their favorite original scenes and heroes in this game?' We also recognized player frustration over not knowing when their favorite hero would appear, given our sequential hero release structure. Original Reproduction content was started to address this while rekindling the emotions fans felt at the time.

'The Adventure Begins' is content that lets players directly play through the story of Meliodas and Elizabeth's first meeting from Episode 1 of the original anime. For those who know the original work, we hope it offers the hands-on experience of playing that scene; for those encountering it for the first time through the game, we hope it serves as a natural introduction to the universe.

This is not a one-off event, but the first episode in a lineup of Original Reproduction content. We plan to add major episodes sequentially, and in the long term, we want to cover the entire story of the original work. However, making a format best suited to both the original work and Origin's gameplay experience comes first.

The main story will revolve around Origin's own multiverse narrative. Original canon characters participate in this, adding depth to the original narrative. Showing how canon characters judge and act in Origin's unique scenarios is a storytelling experience that only this game can deliver. Conversely, Original Reproduction content aims to faithfully recreate the emotional impact of the original work. Stories from 'Four Knights of the Apocalypse' are also under consideration, but as that requires consultations and oversight with the original IP holders, it is difficult to share specific details at this time.

How do you collaborate with the original IP rights holders when creating new storylines?

"In an IP-based project, supervision is not a separate process from development; it is an integral part of development itself. We continuously work with the original author/licensors to verify that new character appearances, skill animations, dialogue, personality traits, and original lore do not clash with the original universe. We share the vision early in the planning stage and exchange feedback multiple times during production.

A memorable example is Tioreh and Burg. When we launched the project, we directly requested these original characters for The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin from the author. When we first received the initial concept art drawn by the author, it really hit home that characters of this universe were being born specifically for our game. Later, Tioreh was even mentioned in 'Four Knights of the Apocalypse.' Knowing that an intersection was created between the game and the original work is a huge honor for the entire development team.

New Content and System Improvements

Since launch, issues like crashes, mobile overheating, and freezing have been pointed out. To what extent have these been resolved?

"Our highest priorities right now are optimization and combat. Optimization is treated as top priority for the project, and we are continuously making improvements through a dedicated task force. The connection issues and crashes that occurred right after launch have seen a significant drop in frequency. Mobile overheating and freezing have also improved through multiple rounds of optimization, but since some players still experience issues depending on device and situation, we are continuing to monitor them. We are also simultaneously improving support for low-spec devices, animation quality, memory management, and more.

On mobile, we are working to maximize visual quality for characters and elements that showcase their charm, while adjusting distant/near-field rendering detail per device to provide a stable gameplay experience. Long-term, our goal is to offer graphical options on the same device so players can choose between prioritizing visual fidelity or stable performance. Combat visibility and targeting rules are also continuously being refined. Quality-of-life features like story replay and item favoriting are also viewed as important and will be addressed alongside priority tasks.

Some players feel there is little reason to revisit existing open-world areas. Do you have plans to increase the replay value of existing open-world regions?

"This is a major task being actively addressed within the development team. Even if a vast open world is built with great care, if there is no reason to revisit it after completing initial exploration, that region only remains in the player's memory. We are exploring ways to give players incentives and new story content that give them a reason to visit existing regions again. At the same time, we are prioritizing improving user-friendliness so players don't miss content in those areas.

How important will multiplayer content, such as Raids and Knighthood Boss Battles, become as a core pillar of Origin in the future?

"We plan to cultivate multiplayer content as one of the main pillars of The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin moving forward. In particular, we believe Knighthoods serve as the in-game community center and a powerful driving force that keeps players engaged. When players form relationships where they talk and set goals together, the way they enjoy the game changes entirely.

Knighthood content will be updated periodically. While we place immense value on cooperation, gathering members can become stressful, so we are observing this carefully. We are designing features while continuously monitoring the line where fun turns into a chore. Knighthood Bosses will also be updated regularly, with required strategies changing as each new boss arrives. We are preparing the fun of finding solutions together with fellow Knighthood members.

There are opinions that as Joint Attacks have seen increased usage, the role of the Buster position has diminished. Some have also pointed out that Block and Critical Defense disrupt the flow of combat. How do you view the current combat meta and the direction for improvements?

"The development team is aware of the criticisms regarding the current combat meta. While increased utilization of Joint Attacks partially reflects our intention, the diminishing role of specific positions as a result is not what we envisioned.

We believe the fun of theorycrafting team comps comes when various options possess their own strengths. Rather than lowering the value of Joint Attacks, we want to approach this by elevating the value of other choices. We plan to increase situations where the output created by the Buster position is distinctly rewarded, while also designing content where such party setups are advantageous. We are also exploring ways to utilize Burst a bit more without making it feel burdensome.

Block and Critical Defense were introduced as mechanics to encourage players to read enemy states and react accordingly. However, we agree with feedback that the current implementation does not adequately convey that intention. If players cannot immediately understand why an attack fails to work, it can feel like hitting an arbitrary wall. We recognize that this interrupts the flow of combat and are reviewing modifications across multiple areas, including indicators and mechanics placement.

Could you briefly introduce the new Labyrinth content?

"What I want to emphasize most about Labyrinth is that it is a non-combat-focused piece of content. Because it is not content cleared through character stats or gear power, even new players can easily access it. It is a roguelike-style mode where the core fun lies in making choices to navigate through floors that are structured differently every time.

We prepared various progression-boosting rewards to ease the growth burden for new players, while also placing valuable materials for end-game players so they can fully enjoy it as well. As you advance to higher floors, a deeper understanding of character compositions and choices becomes necessary, allowing players to experience the fun of experimenting with diverse team setups.

You are lowering the growth burden for new and returning users while adding higher-tier endgame content. How do you plan to balance the experience between casual players and top-tier hardcore players?

"We believe in providing experiences tailored to each player's level of play. We will continue to lower the burden of early-game progression and daily repetitive play. Features like tutorial skipping, revamped early growth content rewards, and lowering the Burst activation requirement in the field reflect this direction. We are also continuing work to reduce wasted time on repetitive routing.

Transcendence Refinement and Transcendence Difficulty were designed as options for players who want to dive deeper. In particular, Transcendence Difficulty is not content players must do for rewards, but a stage voluntarily sought by those seeking competition. We made sure it does not negatively impact enjoying other growth systems or content.

Unlike before, we intend to separate the realms of farming and competition. The goal for high-end content is not just a wall overcome by slightly increasing stats, but a tier that demands understanding attack patterns, team synergy, and reworking strategy. We hope it serves as a definitive stage for top players looking to prove their skill and game mastery.