One of the reasons I feel DNF Mobile has really nailed down its direction is its challenge/time attack content.

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The Calamity Dungeons that have been added steadily as an ongoing series are tough enough that even long-time veterans often fail to clear them, and the recently added Proving Grounds also sent plenty of players’ mental into freefall thanks to its nonstop parade of debuffs.

There’s plenty of other challenge content too.

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If you check the ranking menu, there are separate rankings based on clear times for raids, Calamity Dungeons, Elite Dungeons, Boss Challenge, and Proving Grounds.

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The rewards are mostly just minor honorary ones, so there’s no real need to force yourself into it, but one thing is certain: players have consistently been enjoying this kind of content all this time.

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I get those days too, where the urge suddenly hits and I end up grinding attempts all day (?). Kind of like someone who never works out suddenly showing up at the gym and going all-in on the iron.

And during the DNF Mobile 4th anniversary broadcast on March 8, another batch of new challenge-style content was revealed.

Trial Solderos

Solderos is a legendary swordsman and Weapon Master that basically every DNF player knows.

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And now Solderos is showing up as the boss of a Trial Dungeon.

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The Trial Dungeon follows the same basic idea as the existing Calamity Dungeons, but instead of feeling like you’re battling a calamity, it’s more like being tested by a master named Solderos, which is apparently why it was given the name “Trial.”

Solderos uses the skills of actual playable characters. Or wait... was it the characters that were using Solderos’s skills?

Solderos switches weapons depending on the phase, and his patterns also change depending on what he’s holding, so this looks like a fight where you’ll need to read things carefully as you go. Compared to Asmar, it’ll be interesting to see where the difficulty ends up landing.

Extinction’s Nest Extreme

The recently added Elite Dungeon Extinction’s Nest is also getting an Extreme difficulty. Similar to the Hard difficulty from previous-season Elite Dungeons, boss telegraphs won’t appear, so you’ll have to read the boss’s movements directly and dodge on pure reaction.

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Director Ok Seong-tae repeatedly emphasized that Extinction’s Nest Extreme is genuinely difficult, even more than he did while introducing Solderos, so this one definitely doesn’t look like a free clear.

What’s interesting here is that there are no currency rewards at all, and the reward is a creature that’s purely cosmetic, while the content itself is only open for 2 weeks.

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In other words, only players who clear it within those 2 weeks will get this creature. It’s exactly the kind of setup that pushes that challenge itch, so honestly, I’m already thinking it might be time to make a serious run at it again.

On top of that, DNF Mobile also gave off the impression that it keeps doubling down on the idea of “challenge” by reworking the Tower of Despair from PC DNF and releasing it as an Elite Dungeon.

Dungeon&Fighter Mobile’s 4th anniversary collab had a lot of people expecting Inuyasha, but instead, against expectations, Ranma 1/2 was the one revealed. Now I’m really curious who’s going to end up wearing the panda and Shampoo avatars.

Wrapping up

Male Striker charging up with pure style points exploding off him (nearly 10 seconds of charging..)

Player sentiment improved from this one thing alone

The first-half milestone roadmap revealed at DNF Mobile’s 4th anniversary

That day’s presentation wrapped up on a strong note: it drew cheers by revealing the long-awaited 2nd Awakening passive update so many players had been asking for, grabbed attention with the flashy visuals of the Sirocco Raid, and also unveiled the new male Fighter characters (Male Striker and Male Spitfire).

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Honestly, the announcements were better than expected, and it definitely left me looking forward to what’s coming next.