Today (10th), Super Creative held a live stream ahead of the Season 5 update for its collectible roguelike deckbuilding RPG 'Chaos Zero Nightmare'. The broadcast featured newly appointed Live Director Choi Seung-hyun and Development Director Kim Ki-bum, who introduced the details of the Season 5 update held in celebration of Chaos Zero Nightmare's 1st anniversary.
The Prologue Ends as the Main Story Begins: Season 5 'A Promise Upon the Snow'
Season 5 unfolds on the frozen planet Nivalis. In the Pre-Season, the Captain and the SS Nightmare joined the Earth reclamation operation under the orders of the Zera Empire, but incurred the wrath of Diallos, one of the Chaos Gods, resulting in the destruction of every ship and ark except for the SS Nightmare. With the assistance of Rossweisse, who unexpectedly visited the SS Nightmare right before the operation, and Dahlia, a classmate from military academy days, the SS Nightmare narrowly escaped, ultimately crash-landing on the nearby frozen planet Nivalis.
Season 5's new seasonal Chaos, 'Celestial Bulwark,' is a massive Chaos that bloomed atop a train racing across the snowfields of Nivalis. It will delve into the story of the god Diallos, who is tied to the Holy Crusade, with Viadeus and Serapion appearing as bosses. The core seasonal power revolves around 'Memory Cards': upon entering Chaos, players acquire a 'Pure White Memory,' which is converted at the core into an 'Etched Memory' that enhances Combatants, yielding Memory Cards tailored to each character. Afterward, players can process or refine them as they progress through Chaos to increase their grade. After defeating the Act 2 boss, players can challenge the additional zone 'End of Memory' to defeat the Memory Boss and further raise the card grade. Based on Pre-Season feedback, Season Chaos will expand Memory Fragment reward sources and ease refinement difficulty.
Season 5 will also introduce a large batch of neutral cards. In addition to cards utilizing the core keyword 'Binding,' new mechanics such as the 'Pure' keyword—which activates when no cards of other attributes are present—will be added to bring fresh strategy. Incorporating player feedback, this season's Chaos will feature seasonal equipment with more intuitive Crit Rate and Crit DMG boost effects.
Along with the new characters, two matching Memory Fragment sets will be added. The 'Veiled Radiance' set increases the Crit Rate of attack cards by 8% when stacking Justice-attribute cards, up to 2 stacks. The 'Snowflake of First Encounter' set grants 1 stack of the 'Powder Snow' effect—which increases ally attack card damage by 10%—when stacking Binding cards. In this state, Justice-attribute attack cards receive an additional 5% damage increase, stacking up to 2 times. At 2 stacks, ally Justice-attribute card Crit DMG increases by 15%.
The Core Keyword is 'Binding': Season 5's New Seasonal Character Rossweisse
Ahead of the Season 5 update, the attributes and classes of new Combatants 'Rossweisse,' 'Blazebell,' and 'Dahlia' were revealed. All three belong to the Justice attribute and center around the 'Binding' keyword, which is closely linked to the season power. Rossweisse is a Striker, Blazebell is a Controller, and Dahlia is a Hunter, forming strong synergy within Justice-attribute teams. Blazebell will arrive in the November 11 update, while Dahlia will release in the December 2 update.
Releasing on October 21, seasonal character Rossweisse is an Apostle of Kirken, one of the Chaos Gods, and a mysterious figure who wanders space without even a ship. She shows no signs of sincerely serving Kirken, merely carrying out the occasional oracle or order. In the Pre-Season story, she unexpectedly visited the SS Nightmare independently of Kirken and assisted the Captain.
At the start of a turn, Rossweisse's 'Flickering Blade' splits into 'Fragment: Light' and 'Fragment: Dark.' Fragment: Light attacks when 1 Rossweisse card is activated, while Fragment: Dark attacks when 2 cards of other Combatants are activated. Each time an effect triggers, a 'Blade Afterimage' card is generated. Blade Afterimage cards are unplayable Binding cards that accumulate as they are generated. When only Light, Dark, and Binding cards remain in the hand, they combine back into the Flickering Blade, absorbing the Blade Afterimage cards to further empower damage.
Rossweisse's Partner, 'Sig,' increases the assigned Combatant's Attack Power when equipped, and boosts Crit Rate by 10% upon Justice card splits. In addition, when stacking Binding cards, it grants the assigned Combatant a 15% increase to Crit DMG and Unique Card DMG. Its Echo Skill grants 2 stacks of 'Fragment of Authority'—which yields 1 Action Point upon stacking Binding cards—and increases the assigned Combatant's Justice attack card damage by 50% for 2 turns.
Alongside Rossweisse's rate-up banner, her Trauma Code will be released, unveiling backstory not shown in the Season 5 main story. Rossweisse's costume "Golden Glow Beneath the Night Sky" will also be introduced. Unlike previous costumes, this Special-grade outfit is active during combat, changing the SD character, card selection motions, special card animations, and Ego Skill animations. Exclusive costume voice lines and an Outing Story will also be added. Furthermore, previously released costumes will sequentially be upgraded to at least Deluxe grade, and combat voice lines will be improved so that repeating the same unique card plays multiple battle voice lines. This will start with Rossweisse and be applied sequentially to other characters.
Card Skins, a new cosmetic feature that changes card appearances, will be added. Card Skins can be pulled using Lumina Lenses, a new item added to the shop that can be obtained with Crystals or Prism Cards. In Season 5, featured rate-up Card Skins for Rossweisse and Sereniel will appear, while Card Skins for other Combatants can also be acquired from the pull pool.
1st Anniversary Events, Battle Speed Boost, and Multi Mode: CZN Season 5
Next, the overall update roadmap for Season 5 was presented. Following the October 21 update, battle speed-up features will be added to Chaos and Sortie on November 11. Great Rift Subjugation and Merit Battles will also be revamped, a new weekly mission system will be introduced, and QoL improvements will allow players to remove Divine Epiphanies via Data Editing. Furthermore, on December 2, a multiplayer mode titled Co-op Operation 'Corebreak' will be added, alongside additional QoL features like Memory Fragment recommendation functions and team preset slot expansions.
In the October 21 update, the 1st anniversary event 'Nightmare Dream Park' will reward currency that forces editing to roll only Kirken Divine Epiphanies. Moving forward, currencies that guarantee specific Divine Epiphanies will continue to be provided through events and other means. Additionally, challenge content that awards weekly boss currency will have its 3-attempt restriction removed; after 3 free Aether entries, players can spend additional Aether to play and receive rewards. Combat Simulation will also be improved from 5x to 6x multipliers. Animation pacing will be sped up, allowing players to skip card acquisition and Epiphany animations quickly with a tap.
Unidentified Areas will also see improvements: if a player has already acquired all Divine Epiphanies, Divine Epiphany reward nodes will re-grant Divine Epiphany effects instead. If players do not like the offered Divine Epiphany, they can skip it to preserve their existing card deck structure. Additionally, card effect descriptions will be detailed more clearly so players can understand their effects more intuitively.
Finally, 1st anniversary event rewards were outlined. To celebrate the 1st anniversary, a 5-Star Combatant Selector and a Partner Selector—allowing players to choose up to Fei and Ruixiang—will be distributed. Furthermore, 1,600 Crystals, 5 Lumina Lenses for Card Skin pulls, and 3 Multidimensional Alignment Materials (used to select main stats when crafting Memory Fragments) will be provided. These rewards can be claimed from the Nightmare Festival Visit Gift upon reaching Account Level 10. Additionally, logging in for 14 days following the 1st anniversary update awards 10 Signal Amplification Anchors and 20 Rescue Anchors, along with 10 free Standard Rescues per day for 7 days, totaling 70 free pulls. Returning players can receive an additional 1,200 Crystals and 3 Rescue Anchors through a 7-day check-in event, along with various growth materials via returning missions.
In celebration of the 1st anniversary, both online and offline events are underway. First, the 'Nightmare Carnival' contest themed around the 1st anniversary carnival has been running since October 12. A collaboration cafe with Maid Cafe 'Maidreamin' is also running from October 16 through November 15. The collab cafe features a special menu, exclusive merchandise, and special programs with cosplayers.
Additional news regarding merchandise was also shared. Starting October 21, ASMR featuring Narja and Sereniel will go on sale on DLsite. Following that, on October 22, a variety of special merchandise—including a keyboard set—will be available via KakaoTalk Gift.
The Chaos Zero Nightmare Season 5 update goes live on October 21, and further details can be found on the STOVE page.
