It has been a while since I attended Anime Expo (AX for short). I believe my last venture was AX18. Since then, I have not attended until this year as a member of the press. The first booth I went to was, of course, the one for my favorite mobile game, Chaos Zero Nightmare (CZN), released in October 2025. The booth is hosted by Smilegate and CZN staff, and it is their first time at Anime Expo. They create a great experience for all those who attend.
If you had attended the booth, you would have collected cards, rolled dice, and taken a picture of cosplayers. Not to mention getting to talk to and meet some of the developers, and also being one of the few lucky enough to get a 24k gold card. Of course, there is more during the panels; they took us through their work, the timeline of how it started, and what the future holds. With many new contents and surprises to come, I am excited.
One of the perks of working as a press is that I get to talk to the CZN team directly to ask questions not only on my own behalf but also on behalf of the community. Below are a few of the questions that were asked. Please note that we had a translator, so not everything will be one-to-one, and some information has been rephrased and/or removed to align with the CZN team’s wishes.
- Spokespeople:
- Hyungseok Kim – Producer/Director
- Su Been So – Art Director
Q&A
Alex: Will you be planning to rerun some of the previous characters’ permanent/time-limited side stories, plot, and/or lore, since without them, it may feel incomplete or lack context?
Devs: We are renewing the whole storyline starting from July 8th in the next update. We are going to develop more storyline in tandem with the characters.
Alex: Have you considered an English voice actor for the current or future release of a character in CZN?
Devs: Once the game settles in [Hyungseok Kim’s opinion] and we target the first anniversary update for CZN, we might consider English voice actors.
Alex: Will you be considering collaboration with other IPs in the future, once Chaos Zero Nightmare has time to develop, working with the anime or video game industry?
Devs: Since pre-launch stages, we have been preparing for IP collabs. We will disclose with whom we will collaborate in the near future. There is one coming up.
Alex: Where did the inspiration come from when working on this game, and what were your favorite moments or processes that you enjoyed?
Devs: In the pre-launch and pre-development stages, we targeted something new and tried to surprise the world with something that had never existed. [One of our inspirations is] the anime Re: Zero, Demon Slayer, and Tokyo Ghoul. In that anime, the main character faces various hardships and expresses them in extreme ways. Those expressions are not used very much in games, and that is what we try to do.
Alex: Would you also say that Darkest Dungeon has influenced your game?
Devs: Yes, some inspiration came from Darkest Dungeon; he took the game’s sense of frustration. The greatest difficulty was how hard to make the frustration system in the mobile game. If it were too hard, players would drop out or give up, making it hard to find a balance.
Alex: Who is your favorite character in the game, and why?
Hyungseok Kim: Nine is easy to play and less challenging.
Su Been So: Sereniel, she is my wife.
Alex: Chaos Zero Nightmare’s design?
Devs: Mixing Japanese style and a deck-building game is a pretty new approach, a new attempt, and a new genre. The game is not perfect; we will work to improve it in the near future.
Alex: There are not enough male characters. Will there be more in the future?
Devs: We really want to add male characters, but there is a bigger market that wants more female characters. It’s not that easy.
Alex: Chaos Zero Nightmare features multiple progression systems, such as character duplicates and equipment, that can significantly increase a character’s power. For players who want to fully maximize a character, the cost can become a major concern. What is the team’s philosophy on how expensive a fully maxed character should be, and are there any plans to make full investment more accessible without undermining the game’s gacha economy?
Devs: We don’t want to mix business with the fun[est] of the game. We understand the concern and aim to design the game to be suitable for both free and paid players, without requiring in-app purchases. We will try to find a way to lessen the burden for the players, targeting our first anniversary.
Alex: How would you help newer players without having to spend a lot of their time grinding to participate in some of the more difficult current or future events?
Devs: The development team spends most of their time tackling that situation and making it easier for new players to join challenging events. We agree with you and hope to find a solution to this issue.
Alex: Is this your first time in America?
Hyungseok Kim: I attended E3 back in 2003, I believe, and I visit America from time to time. I visited New York Comic Con.
Alex: Would you consider creating a physical TCG of CZN?
Devs: We want to do it in the near future, maybe.
Alex: Can you tell us more about the CZN Story Remake and the possibility of the upcoming new character, Fei?
Devs: It’s nothing like what we had back during the launch stages, and it’s really new. It is hard and difficult for our team to come up with and develop the story. Fei was created in collaboration with a team in China, and we received many suggestions and ideas to help develop the character.
Alex: Any final message you like to share with our community and fans?
Devs: We still have a long way to go, and ahead of the first anniversary, we will do our best to make it more fun and appealing to players. We hope players expect better CZN around the first anniversary. As the genre is relatively new, we will do our best to satisfy players.
Though the interview was short, it was fun chatting and seeing how passionate they are about the game. Of course, even though I have not attended the panel, it has been announced that there will be a new feature in the game coming up for Season 4, including three new upcoming reveal characters: Hilde, Aravella, and Olga, as well as an outfit system. Go check out their official website and social media for more news.
I would like to thank Smilegate Staff, Chaos Zero Nightmare Staff, and Haley FortySeven for setting all this up, and I hope to see everyone again next year.
