Entertainment

Chaos Zero Nightmare Reveals Season 4 "Shattered Light and Claw" At Anime Expo 2026, Launching July 28

By Franz Christian Irorita GameDaily

Chaos Zero Nightmare's Anime Expo panel delivered exactly the kind of news drop we were hoping for. During Friday's session at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Super Creative unveiled its upcoming "Galactic Disaster" season, officially titled Season 4: Shattered Light and Claw, scheduled to launch July 28.

Inside the Panel

The panel ran from 7:45 to 9:05 PM on Friday, July 3, with Super Creative PD Kim Hyung Suk taking the stage as the main presenter. Rather than treating it as a pure marketing beat, Kim used most of the session to walk players through the game's development history, the challenges the team faced along the way, and the iterations they went through chasing something fun to play. One line from his talk stood out: "I believe the one thing that connects the past, present, and future of anime-style games is ultimately the developers' sincerity." He also reaffirmed his personal attachment to the project and the team's commitment to continuing to sharpen the game's overall quality.

That framing tracks with what CZN has built since launch. This was the game's first offline event in North America, and the studio treated the moment accordingly, developer signings, photo sessions, and a card-collecting booth built around the SS Nightmare setting. A panel that leans into the messy, honest parts of development rather than just trailer drops fits that same energy.

Three New Combatants for Season 4

The headline reveal is the trio of new combatants arriving with Shattered Light and Claw: Hilde, Arabella, and Olga. Each brings a distinct weapon type to the roster:

  • Hilde wields a bow, giving CZN a ranged option with a different rhythm than the game's existing melee-heavy cast.
  • Arabella fights with a "flexible blade," a whip-like sword that promises a different spacing and combo game than anything currently in the roster.
  • Olga swings a massive scythe, leaning into the high-commitment, high-payoff weapon archetype that tends to become an instant favorite in card-based action RPGs.

Illustrations, character settings, and in-development skill animations were all shown off for the first time during the panel, and Super Creative was explicit that each combatant is designed to carve out an identity separate from the existing cast. Given CZN's Lovecraftian dark fantasy tone, a bow-user, a whip-blade fighter, and a scythe-wielder all sound like a meaningfully different combat toolkit from what's currently available, rather than reskins of existing movesets.

A New Outfit System Is Also in Development

Beyond the season reveal, Super Creative showcased an early look at a character appearance customization system. Equipping an Outfit will grant characters exclusive voice lines and story content, not just a new coat of paint. The first wave of Outfits is planned for this summer, starting with seasonal combatants Heidemarie and Sereniel, with more character-specific Outfits planned to follow.

Tying cosmetics to actual voice and story content is a smart move for a card-and-combat RPG built around character identity. It gives the Outfit system a reason to matter beyond a visual flex, and it's the kind of systemic depth that keeps a live-service roster feeling worth investing in over the long run.

What's Next

Smilegate confirmed that more information on Season 4 will roll out across Korea and other global regions in the coming weeks, ahead of the July 28 launch. For continued Anime Expo coverage, MIRESI: Invisible Future also has a panel tonight at 8:45 PM, featuring a special live-drawing presentation with Art Director Hyung-sup "Hyulla" Kim and illustrator REIQ.

For more on Chaos Zero Nightmare, follow the official channels on X and YouTube, or visit the game's page on STOVE's official website.

Copyright The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This story was originally published July 4, 2026 at 3:49 PM.

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