Summary
Despite it sounding like a hyper-specific concept for a manhwa, there are actually quite a few out there based around video games. Whether it’s a story about a protagonist trapped inside a video game, a story about dungeons with video game elements, or even just a normal fantasy setting that gives off a vibe similar to a video game, it all works.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the absolute best manhwa out there for those who also love video games.
Ha Jung
Gyong
Tyrant of the Tower Defense Gameis always going to be on a manhwa list if we can help it, this series is just that good. The protagonist, Retrotaku (AKA Ash Everblack) is an absolute delight to have as the MC, the concept of the story itself is great (despite being an isekai), all of the side characters are likable and very well-written, and the actual ‘background’ of the story is incredibly interesting.
This manhwa truly has it all for video game fans, whether they like crafting games, survival games, tower defense games, or even mobile games.
Surviving the Game as a Barbarian
Jung Yoonkang
Midnight Studio
Next up is another more recent manhwa, one calledSurviving the Game as a Barbarian. This one is actually relatively similar toTyrant of the Tower Defense Gamein that both MCs are total masochists who dedicated all their time before ‘dying’ to beating one specific unfairly challenging game.
This MC’s game of choice was called Dungeon and Stone, and he’s suddenly brought into the game as Bjorn, son of Yandel. While it might seem great that he was suddenly ‘reborn’ as a gigantic muscular barbarian, Bjorn is anything but happy about it as the world of Dungeon and Stone is about as cruel as it gets. A very good read for anyone who likes dungeon crawlers, soulslikes, RPGs, or any other variety of video games.
Mr. Cha (Mongseek)
Opal
Moving on to a manhwa that’s not actually set in a video game world, it’sAuto-Hunting With My Clones. This story follows the more ‘standard’ manhwa setting where the normal world suddenly becomes infested with dungeons and hunters. In this setting, the process of awakening as a hunter is pretty easy, and Sang-Woo actually awakens with a pretty absurd skill, that being the ability to clone himself.
Typically in this world, cloning abilities are nothing more than illusions without any real mass or function behind them. However, Sang-Woo’s clones are literal clones, and just about everything they do comes back to the real Sang-Woo in some beneficial way. From here, Sang-Woo uses his clones in all sorts of hilarious (and honestly ingenious) ways to absolutely game the system and ascend himself to one of the strongest hunters in the world.
Chugong
Redice Studio
Solo Levelingis so popular it’s almost not worth elaborating on it, but for anyone who someone doesn’t know about this story, it’s an incredibly good read (or watch).Solo Levelingis, likeAuto- Hunting With My Clones, very centered around the concept of hunters and dungeons, with Jin-Woo being the world’s weakest hunter.
However, after an incredibly tragic event that leads to Jin-Woo’s double awakening, he becomes a hunter who can actively grow stronger,something which is absurdly overpoweredand is something that no other hunter has the ability to do. The reason why this is great for video game fans is simply because the way Jin-Woo’s powers are shown to him is as if they were from a video game. He has daily quests, an inventory, a shop to purchase things from, equipment, stats,and a whole ton of summons(eventually).
Park Saenal
Redice Studios
As far as video game manhwa goes,Overgearedis probably the best recommendation overall for video game fans. The entire setting ofOvergearedis set in an MMORPG, and the author uses this setting to have events in the story that basically cover all genres of gaming. Whether it’s a castle defense competition, a battle royale, a PvP tournament, or even a Blacksmithing competition,Overgearedhas it all.
Plus, it has one of the more unique manhwa protagonists with Greed,a man who is unabashedly selfishand incredibly unlucky (yet somehow also lucky at the same time). Great art, fantastic characters, a well-developed world, and lots of fun gaming references.
Hermod
Wasakbasak
Next up is another manhwa set in a video game, however this time it’s a mobile game, which is pretty unique.Pick Me Up: Infinite Gachais a story focused on a man who goes by ‘Loki’. In Pick Me Up, Loki is one of the top-performing players, and would likely be the top player if it wasn’t for his poor luck. See, all the other rankers have 7-star characters but Loki never got one, he made it to the top purely with his own skill and unorthodox tactics.
Now, after being forcibly pulled intoPick Me Upas a character by the name of Han Islat, Loki has to not only climb the tower the game is centered on but also make sure the ‘user’ in charge of his town doesn’t make decisions that’ll lead him to his doom.Pick Me Updoes a fantastic job mixing drama, action, mystery, and a whole ton of gaming-related conceptsinto one surprisingly dark story.
Lee Sanchaek & Yeong Biram
Park Junho
Ranker’s Returnis a manhwa not enough lists talk about, as this story is absolutely fantastic. It’s centered around a man by the name of Kang Hyunwoo, better known in-game as Alley Boss. This is another story, likeOvergeared, that’s centered on a VRMMORPG, and this one is called Arena. Previously, Alley Boss was the renowned master of Arena and went by the name of MeleeGod. But, life got in the way, and he had to give it all up to take care of his family instead.
Then, after his father falls into a coma, MeleeGod is told by one of his closest friends to become an Arena Streamer to make money for his hospital bills, and this is where Alley Boss' journey first begins.Ranker’s Returnis unique compared to a lot of other manhwa in the way that it not only has a lot of the well-liked VRMMORPG tropes seen in other manhwa, but it also does a great job covering the ‘streamer’ side of things as well.
Chwiryong
Done
And last up on this list of recommendations is a series calledEnding Maker. This manhwa is a perfect blend of a video game isekaiand a romance seriesall in one. It’s another MMORPG-related setting, this time focusing on the number 1 and number 2 best players of the MMORPG, who go by Outboxer009 and Yellow Storm. In the game, these two were constantly competing for to see who was the best and bantering with each other all the time.
Then, after waking up in-game, it turns out they’re inhabiting the bodies of Jude Bayer and Cordelia Chase, two nobles (and primary protagonists of the game) who are engaged to each other. From here, both characters try and use their previous knowledge of this game’s story as well as their vast expertise to prevent the apocalypse the story is heading towards and (eventually) find a way home.
