Think of the city-building video game genre like the ancient supercontinent Pangaea, and what began as a single giant landmass on Earth millions of years ago was subsequently broken up into smaller continents, which gave rise to the continents and civilisations we know today. The city-builder genre is no different as for over three decades, giants of the genre, such as SimCity and Civilisation, have spawned numerous variations, with nuances in approach, such as focusing on combat, religious mechanics, and diplomacy, as players strive to build their own metropolis.

With such a mix of options,  it would seem like every corner of this world-building has been explored, but with Ubisoft’s Anno 117: Pax Romana, there may still be new grounds to break. While the game mechanics focus similarly to its predecessors in being stewards of both city and people, the game’s inclusion of narrative choices in scenarios for both campaign and free-play does not just shape the way players play, but also gives them a sense of weight and meaning as to what it means to rule as the governor of their cities.

Fans of the long-running real-time strategy and economic simulation video game franchise Anno will be no strangers to the core gameplay mechanics of Anno 117: Pax Romana, which, in this incarnation, takes place during the Roman Empire. You play as a governor, tasked to build prosperous cities for the Roman Empire on either the Roman islands of Latium or on the Celtic territory of Albion. Regardless of where players choose to start their journey, they begin by providing their people with everyday necessities like food, shelter, and clothing, before moving on to build institutions, defences, and bolster their place among political giants through trade and regional relationships. 

Resource and people management are still the name of the game here but more than just gathering wood, manufacturing tiles, and building houses, you must also ensure their homes – naturally placed in uniform districts – do not catch fire, are not susceptible to disease, and that there are amenities nearby, including markets, taverns, city watches, sanctuaries, and wells to keep your inhabitants safe and happy, lest they riot, which is the first of many dominos to fall for any city to implode in on itself. 

With so much at stake, one would expect the game to include a feature that illustrates what their city lacks on a more visual scale. Instead, players are only able to see the problems their city faces through a list of resources they manage. This list only shows buildings that generate or reduce resources like denarii (The game’s currency), happiness, or fire safety. If a city is in danger of frequent fires, as parts of it are exposed to facilities that are prone to cause fires, you would expect to know various hotspots around your city so that you can react by building more wells or fire watches strategically. Instead, the information given to you is only a list of fire-causing amenities, and that fires can happen around your city arbitrarily, which breaks the realism of the city-building experience. It would help if the developers could include a switchable feature in their user interface that highlights potential hotspots where disasters may occur more frequently. This would prevent players from spamming to build all safety amenities around the city.

Once your people are fed and happy enough – and if you play in the lands of Latium – your residents, once Libertus (Freed slaves), are ready to be upgraded to house Plebeians, a separate group of people with entirely different sets of needs that require you to build new facilities to meet. The process rinses and repeats itself as you unlock more residents and buildings, and as your empire grows to become an economic powerhouse, you gain favour with the Roman emperor. That is not to say that all of your city’s denizens should be Plebeians or any upgraded resident altogether. Any healthy city will realistically need people from all social strata to function, and although we need Plebeians to manufacture pottery and garum, which are more valuable for trade, a lack of a Libertus population would mean a drop in productivity for porridge and tunics. There is, therefore, a need to balance your population and strategically place your infrastructure to meet the common cumulative good of your city.

Sometimes building the necessary facilities is not an easy task. The land that players start on may be vast, but that does not mean it’s capable of providing adequate fertility for all resources. Some residents require olives to upgrade to their successive strata, but the island may not be fertile for olives, forcing players to turn to the sea in search of new lands ripe for olive agriculture, find new governors to open trade routes and barter for olives, or even turn to conquest because olives can make or break a city.

Meanwhile, playing in the lands of Albion brings additional depth to the city management experience of Anno 117: Pax Romana. You begin first by populating your city with Waders (The common Celtic man), yet, this time, you get to choose upgrade paths for your residents, which are essentially ways of living for your people: Do you decide to retain your Roman roots in a Celtic land with a hybrid Romano-Celtic way of life, or do you choose to embrace an unadulterated Celtic culture? Choosing either unlocks different residences which further dictate the needs of your city and, ultimately, the way you play. Deciding on transforming your people to Romano-Celts unlocks Mercators and Nobles, who focus on economy, research, rapid expansion, and the ability to transform their environment by draining marshes and building aqueducts. On the other hand, a Celtic lifestyle demands that you live alongside and utilise the wetlands and forests around you to their full extent, boosting religion and producing goods like cheese.

Regardless of the path you take, you will spend hours figuring out how to build your empire and keep your people happy optimally. Each culture is like a puzzle, forcing you to figure out how to best meet the needs of your people in the land you’re in while trying to stave off external threats. This sandbox, however, will eventually feel smaller, as each chosen culture also forces the player to meet these needs linearly. Smiths will always need trousers and beer to be upgraded to become Aldermen. Mercators will always need mirrors to be produced so that they can become Nobles. To meet these needs, it is always a matter of whether your island has the fertility to produce these goods, and whenever you settle on a different island, you will always build Wader facilities first, and then Smith or Mercator facilities second, and so forth.

Religion and research also enhance the city-building experience of Anno 117: Pax Romana, and the game offers a choice of specific deities and pantheons – mainly Roman or Celtic – that your people will worship in each city. Each deity chosen not only grants boons and boosts in producing specific resources, but it also opens options in vast research trees. Choosing to worship Roman gods allows you to research cults like the Cult of Mercury-Lugus, which will boost crafting and trade. On the other hand, choosing to worship Celtic gods opens up research on cults like the Cult of Cernunnos, which is associated with increased production and health.

Like other Anno games, seafaring plays a vital role in your cities’ survival, and it is through travelling across oceans that you get to meet new governors and find fresh soil to cultivate or settle on. Meeting new governors not only opens the opportunity for trade routes, which provide steady, consistent exchanges of goods, but also opens you to contracts, where, when fulfilled – like successfully transporting specific items – rewards you with denarii. You are also able to purchase ships or key specialists from these governors, who, when placed in your city’s villa, provide boosts to different statistics like happiness or health. A vast majority of the game’s combat also takes place in the seas, but for most of the beginning hours of Anno 117: Pax Romana, combat takes a back seat as much of the focus falls on managing resources and city building.

The campaign is the most exciting aspect of Anno 117: Pax Romana and for the first time in Anno’s history, players will get the liberty to choose between two characters – Marcus Naukratius or Marcia Tertia, both of whom individually tell different tales of the separate roles they play in the events of the game. Despite the title of the game hailing the golden age of “Pax Romana”, or “Roman Peace”, the narrative begins in the storm of the death of Emperor Lucius and although Lucius decreed that his wife, Julia Augusta, would succeed him as ancient Rome’s first empress, her succession was stolen from the Roman senate by General Gnaeus Firmius Calidus, who claimed the throne for himself.

Players are then given a choice – will you pander to the current patriarchal powers that be, or rebel and aid the woman who would become Rome’s first empress? The first hours of the campaign were an apt litmus test for what’s to come and as you build your city, you are presented with scenarios that allow you to choose appropriate narrative choices, and these choices not only state the resources that you reap or lose, but also the consequences of your actions, and therefore, dynamically shape the subsequent ways you play the game. 

One such scenario in the campaign gives you the choice to determine if Empress Julia’s daughter, Diana, would attend her birthday. By choosing to submit to the whims of the current authority and beg Diana to attend, the game questions your capabilities on whether you can survive the “cutthroat world of provincial governance”. Another scenario presents you with encountering a Libertus struggling with a load of timber, and whether you should seize his goods, wish him well and move on, or buy his supply. These narrative junctions are where the game allows you to exercise your authority, and they feel significant, giving you a sense that you are shaping the narrative through your actions. As the narrative around you changes, the way you adapt to these consequences affects how you manage resources and people in your city.  

This sense of power of choice extends to free play as well. Once, a governor named Tarragon requested that his family be retrieved from captivity. Along the way, you encounter shady individuals acting in the Emperor’s name, claiming that Tarragon’s family be handed over and that “everything will be over” if it is done. Sensing that something is amiss, you refuse and prepare to fight. In your failure to keep your ship from sinking, you announce to Tarragon that your actions caused the death of his son. In retaliation, he declares war on you, but yet, the Emperor expresses his gratitude and appreciation for what you have done. 

This event, in turn, stifles the growth of your city, making it harder for you to settle on another island as Tarragon’s ships are now prowling around the map, seeking to destroy your ports. You are not just left with unwanted hostility from the man you strived to help, but also with guilt as you find yourself unwillingly on the wrong side of morality. Consequently, you can be busy building the prosperity of your city with civil means in one moment, but in the next, you are thrust into a story of intrigue and must prepare military forces for defence.

With such an interesting and deep premise, where the motivations of the characters around you can be ambiguous, it is so much easier now for you to get lost for hours in not just building cities and managing people, but also embracing the consequences of the narrative choices you make and seeing how different things would play out if you chose your actions differently.

Players looking to thoroughly explore Anno 117: Pax Romana can do so on 13 November 2025, for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Anno 117: Pax Romana – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

Laurence Fishburne has graced Hollywood with numerous iconic roles on both TV and the silver screen. With The Matrix’s Morpheus and ‘The Bowery King’ in John Wick under his belt, one has to wonder what his next undertaking would be.

A New York Comic Con reunion panel for The Matrix reveals that Fishburne is keen to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as X-Men’s Charles Xavier.

In a dialogue about what his next dream role would be, the 64-year-old pondered if playing Professor X was a good idea, to which he was met with cheers and approval from the crowd. As an alternative to Charles Xavier, he admitted that he’s not entirely sure of what he would set his eyes on next and that he’ll take the “next role that finds [him]”. 

On the other hand, Fishburne is not keen on being in a Star Wars title. When suggested that he plays a role in the Star Wars universe, he politely declined with a “I’m good on the couch with Star Wars. I don’t need a lightsaber.”

Playing one of the X-Men’s most powerful telepaths may be a tall order for any actor today, filling in the shoes of the likes of Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy. For Fishburne, it’s clear that he has the acting chops to handle the role, with his role as Dr Bill Foster in 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania already serving as an entrypoint to the MCU.

We’ll never know if Fishburne can become the new Professor X. Still, by expressing his interest, perhaps a new branch in the timeline has been created, allowing MCU head Kevin Feige to consider the possibilities more heavily. Regardless, even if the actor snags the role successfully, we won’t be seeing him as Professor X any time soon, not until at least 2028.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Laurence Fishburne Keen To Play X-Men’s Charles Xavier In MCU, Declines Star Wars appeared first on Geek Culture.

Regardless of the times, the tragedy of reality is that strife and dissolution will always persist in life. In the eyes of renowned video game designer Hideo Kojima, the road to a united utopia is achieved not in distance, but in relationships and social bonds. It may sound like a tenet from a hippie with an appetite for 80s and 90s cinema, but Kojima has masterfully illustrated this theme in Death Stranding, a delivery game by his then-newfound studio Kojima Productions. To some, the game was Kojima’s magnum opus, and to others, a glorified walking simulator filled with cinematic cutscenes. Now, with Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, fans are eager to see what Kojima’s sequel has to say about exchanging sticks (violence) for strands (unification). 

Narratively, Kojima has proven he has the tools and talent to spin a compelling, conceptually highbrow and cinematic tale about bringing humanity together. However, like any delivery errand rooted in the realities of painstaking mundanity, those who wish to experience the story and truly understand its message must be willing to trudge through extensive amounts of jargon and route planning.

For the uninitiated, the world of Death Stranding begins with both a bang and a whimper, where souls of the dead who are unable to move on in the afterlife (represented by beaches) become ghost-like entities unseen by the naked eye, known as Beached Things (BTs). As more people die, more BTs roam the earth. Anyone swallowed by a BT results in a voidout, an explosion of energy akin to an atomic bomb and leaves a giant crater in its wake. In addition, the rain ages anyone who gets caught in it. Consequently, humanity has been driven to isolation, going underground in clusters or alone. To survive, these communities rely on porters to deliver materials and precious resources, and you are one such courier, Sam Porter Bridges, played by a returning Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead). To ensure the safety of porters, they use Bridge Babies (BB), a fetus extracted from a brain-dead mother and stored in a pod, to detect BTs. 

In the first Death Stranding, players are tasked with connecting bastions across the United States of America, integrating these communities into a “Chiral Network”, and thus unifying a fractured country into a new United Cities of America (UCA). Players do so by taking on deliveries and travelling between these bases, and through this journey, they learn of how BTs are formed and how they serve as precursors to the next Death Stranding, an Extinction Event that can wipe out all of humanity.

While the UCA was the focus of Death Stranding, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach brings us to Australia through a portal known as a “Plate Gate” located on the southern edge of Mexico but the name of the game here is still the same — deliver precious cargo across Australia’s isolated communities and integrate them into the Chiral Network. Each order you take on will throw you into similar loops of planning your route, outfitting yourself with equipment for the journey, transporting the cargo to your destination, be awarded points (also known as “Likes”) based on your performance, and integrate the community you’ve arrived in to the Chiral Network. Including the cutscenes for the main story, players will be experiencing this game loop for about 40 hours.

Compared to the UCA, the biomes Australia takes you to have shown how the Decima engine has evolved in generating its visual assets in leaps and bounds. Right from the start of the prologue and opening credits, the game looks and feels like a documentary, showing realistic, breathtaking dunes, rock formations, and cityscapes. Compared to the first game, there is less blue sand and so much more red dust, white snow, green foliage, and grey abandoned buildings, which makes porter work more pleasant through the hours. 

Porter work in Australia is more complex compared to Sam’s journey across the UCA as in addition to the usual bandits, brigands, and BTs, Sam now has to prepare for harsh weather, environmental conditions, encounters with dangerous wildlife, and occasionally fight against robotic terrorists known as “Ghost Mechs”. Instead of just grabbing your gear and going, you now have to actively weigh your options and choose the lesser evil to your next destination. More often than not, the shortest route – logically a straight line – may not be the optimal option as you may encounter BTs along the way, which may not be your cup of tea. 

Instead, you may want to make the detour and brave climbing rocky mountains, which introduce a different type of horror in managing your stamina, hoping you do not fall and damage your cargo or succumb to landslides and avalanches caused by earthquakes (dubbed ‘Gate Quakes’). That said, environmental dangers are a welcome inclusion in the world of Death Stranding. Experiencing natural disasters in your travels, like bush fires, Gate Quakes, and rising water levels, brings a level of dynamics not present in the first game. 

To prepare you for greater dangers ahead compared to your time in the UCA, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach also takes a more action-oriented approach to its combat, with a wider arsenal of tools and weapons at your disposal to confront your adversaries. On top of the usual assault rifle, shotgun, and blood grenade to get rid of BTs, the game offers more innovative tools like a Blood Boomerang that uses blood bags instead of bullets, which is a great de-facto silent way to fight your enemies, or a Tar Cannon that can put out bushfires and act as a flamethrower at the same time. There’s even a grenade that you can use to capture BTs, so you can use them to fight other BTs.

In addition to a wider arsenal of tools is a new character progression system. You will be awarded skill points known as ‘Memory’, to invest in various APAS Enhancements, which make your next journey slightly easier. These enhancements come in nodes you activate, like ‘Aim Assist’ for your weapons or ‘Instant Cargo Binding’, where the scattering of cargo is prevented whenever Sam falls over. Your mastery of weapons (represented by levels) and other statistics like Carrying Capacity will also increase based on the equipment you use and the route you take. 

The game is also more lenient to failure. While players were met with a “Game Over” screen once a BT swallows any human being in the first game, getting swallowed by a BT in Death Stranding 2 will result in the formation of a crater in the environment, making the area inaccessible for travel. This would just translate into a minor inconvenience where players would have to make a detour to reach their next destination. Killing people in the first game is a dangerous endeavour as dead bodies become potential candidates to cause a voidout, thus, a “Game Over” screen that hampers progress, and there is an urgency to incinerate dead bodies by personally transporting them to an incinerator. In Death Stranding 2, however, the denizens of Australia will dispose of any dead bodies that lie in your wake, resulting in a reduction of your total accumulated Likes. That said, although a wider arsenal of weapons and added room for failure empower you to boldly confront BTs and brigands more often, getting caught by the dead feels more inconsequential, which weakens one of the game’s central themes of valuing human lives for connection. 

Although the utilisation of the incinerator in the first game feels like work, it encourages players to be more creative in adopting non-lethal ways to accomplish their tasks, and therefore, there is always room for an incinerator in Australia. Thankfully, you will be able to switch between lethal and non-lethal modes for all weapons, and weapons are pre-set to non-lethal, so there is no need to adopt lethal methods throughout the game.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach also takes a more deliberate, deeper approach to world-building, featuring more individuals studying the effects of the Death Stranding event, and other lore-specific aspects like chiralium and the tar. Although a greater depth to the world of Death Stranding is introduced, the game suffers from too much unnecessary complexity in introducing parts of this world. Why is there research on how tar and chiralium affect groundwater, and how is it relevant to our story? How does the tar help in healing diseases? Even the characters in the game do not currently know. 

While you may argue that learning about the effects of the Death Stranding alongside the denizens of this world plays a part in the immersion, how the game’s lore is uncovered and communicated may just be too convoluted for any layman. The work is important, mysterious, and so complex that it can go over the heads of the casual player because what does “parasitic chiral microbes” and “tar current fluctuations” even mean? Fortunately, the game includes a corpus that spells out events of the story so far and jargon players may not be familiar with if they did not play the first game, and this helps elevate them to the same level of understanding if they are willing to pore over walls of text. 

On the grander scheme of things, it’s more exciting to brood over the game’s core themes of connection and how specific socio-political issues like expansionism and gun violence affect connected communities, which could have been explored more instead of convoluted world-building. The main question posed to players at the start of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach was, “Should We Have Connected?”, and even Sam questioned the underlying agenda for expanding the chiral network outside of the UCA into Australia, citing concerns for the expansion to be politically masked by civility and acting as a vehicle for humanity’s destruction. 

To that, it would seem that Kojima’s stand on the matter is that humanity deserves to connect and establish relationships despite being in the wake of calamity, and this statement is expressed masterfully once again in the main events of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. The story is wholesome and sometimes predictable; however, Norman Reedus’ Sam and the supporting characters involved in the game’s events have proven to be pivotal emotional backbones to its messaging.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach introduces both new and returning casts, all of whom play characters who are beautifully written. Norman Reedus has shown his deep understanding of grief in his performance as Sam, who is not only dealing with the harsh working environments as a porter, but also in his struggle to emotionally handle the deaths of those he loves. Meanwhile, scenes by Shioli Kutsuna (Deadpool 2) as Rainy are sure to tug at your heartstrings and bring tears to your eyes.

The player is also transported to the Spirit World against Luca Marinelli’s (The Old Guard) Neil, a mysterious spirit of a dead porter, similar to that of Mads Mikkelsen’s Cliff Unger in the World War 1 trenches of the first game. Although scenes with Marinelli are not as tense as Mikkelsen’s mysterious, power-bringing aura, Marinelli brings an air of explosive intimidation in his character that can hold his own without comparison to Mikkelsen. On the other hand, Elle Fanning’s (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil)Tomorrow is also a memorable highlight in performance, spearheading most of the game’s action-packed cutscenes, which are measured, exciting, and well-choreographed.

Returning to the scene as the main villain is Troy Baker’s Higgs. Although Baker is a natural at conveying the pained madness of Higgs as a character, the game’s culmination, including the final fight and his conclusion, was underwhelming and anticlimactic.

Regardless, returning to the world of Death Stranding in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach was worth the 40 or so hours to finish, including savouring every moment of the game’s main storyline cutscenes. 

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is released exclusively on the PS5 on 26 June 2025.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Death Stranding 2: On the Beach — Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

It won’t be long until fans of Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding return to the touted delivery and walking simulator Death Stranding 2: On the Beach as Sam Porter (Norman Reedus).

With nearly two weeks left until the game’s release, host Geoff Keighley, Kojima, and its cast have provided a closer look at Death Stranding 2 through a premiere livestream, teasing its opening, innovative combat sequence, and more. Aside from Kojima and Keighly, present in the panel were Troy Baker (returning as Higgs), Shioli Kutsuna (who voices a new character Rainy), and the game’s music composer Woodkid. 

The major highlight of the premiere was a live demo of the game’s first five minutes, taking place on the border of Mexico, as Sam traverses a vast mountainous landscape toward his hideout. This sequence functions as a tutorial while giving players a taste of what they can expect as a porter. There, Kojima revealed that the game’s story begins 11 months after the events of Death Stranding. He also boasted about how Death Stranding 2’s soundtrack would adapt to the player’s actions, and that natural disasters like earthquakes, forest fires and avalanches would occur dynamically in the environment.

Following the tutorial, the premiere brought the audience to an action sequence against Neil (Luca Marinelli) in a spirit world-like environment, similar to the action sequences in the first game against Cliff Unger (Mads Mikkelson) in the trenches of World War 1. The game showed how combat has been expanded, allowing players to experience fights differently depending on their chosen weapons and tools. Notably, a tar cannon was used to put out fires and eliminate enemies, while other weapons, including a blood boomerang, a grenade pistol and other tactical military items like smoke grenades, were used against Neil and his band of skeleton-like warriors. 

Surrounding the major highlights were first mentions of the game’s mobile central hub: the DHV Magellan, and the former introduction of new characters like Rainy and Tomorrow (Elle Fanning). Fans were also given a closer look at Fanning’s contributions to Death Stranding 2’s soundtrack, and her debut as Tomorrow during an action-packed sequence, which showed her special abilities to teleport through pools of tar, and age enemies through touch.

The event concluded with Kojima reminding the audience that although the game would bring awe to them through gameplay and story, players should keep in mind that the theme of the game is about “connecting the world.”

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach’s game premiere has, no doubt, set high expectations for fans. We can all connect the world once again on 26 June 2025, exclusively on the PlayStation 5. Meanwhile, potential porters can stand a chance to win a trip to Taipei and be a part of the DEATH STRANDING WORLD STRAND TOUR 2 TAIPEI to meet Kojima, and the game’s art director, Yoji Shinkawa.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post ‘Death Stranding 2’ Premiere Teases Game Opening, Innovative Combat Sequence Ahead Of Release appeared first on Geek Culture.

It’s been a few months since fans of the Chainsaw Man anime feasted their eyes on the teaser trailer for the upcoming sequel Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, with it concluding on a title card stating a 2025 release. Expectant fans can now plan their leaves to catch the movie as international release dates have become known. Fans in Singapore, in particular, can watch the sequel on 25 September 2025.

According to a post by AnimeTV, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc will have a theatrical release in “over 80 countries,” starting with Japan on 19 September and in other countries like the Middle East, Netherlands, and Spain on 30 October. The movie will also be released in cinemas in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand on 25 September.

The full list of dates and territories is as follows:

• 24 September: Hong Kong
• 25 September: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand
• 26 September: India, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam
• 22 October: France
• 29 October: United States of America, Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Nigeria, Sweden, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium
• 30 October: Croatia, Denmark, Hungary, Middle East, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Israel, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia Central America, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru Uruguay, Venezuela, Latvia, South Africa, Estonia, Spain

Unfortunately, no further information and additional scenes of the movie’s premise were teased. MAPPA and its staff are still set to produce the show, while Hiroshi Seko (Attack on Titan: The Final Season) will return to write the script. Viewers will follow Denji, caught in a love triangle between a girl he met called Reze and his boss Makima in Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc. Other forms of chaos and devil-killing are sure to follow.

To fellow fans of the anime looking to catch the sequel, see you in cinemas!

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post ‘Chainsaw Man’ Anime Movie Sets Sep Release In Singapore And International Dates appeared first on Geek Culture.

Forget Valorant and Overwatch! In the early 2000s, the impact of the Counter-Strike IP ran so deep that it spawned countless underground LAN parties until the release of Counter-Strike 2. It is no surprise that Valve’s Counter-Strike 1.6 is still getting the love it deserves today as a remake titled Counter-Strike: Legacy, with a new, fresh skin to boot. 

The remake, announced via an official trailer, is made by the team behind ProMod, a fan remake project in 2006 for Counter-Strike: Source. The trailer touts Counter-Strike: Legacy as a “full standalone title built on Valve’s official 2013 Source SDK codebase”, with “major rewrites to the renderer, shaders, and various systems”. Based on the project’s Patreon page, the game’s 3D assets, levels, textures, characters, UI, weapons, and code are completely custom, and every detail of the original title has been recreated and integrated with modern enhancements and major technical improvements.

It is worth noting that Valve does not have a hand in the development of this title. Although slated for release on Steam, with early access to launch this year, Counter-Strike: Legacy has naturally sparked concerns about whether Valve would interfere with its release.

That said, the trailer for the remake shows promise and even impressed one of the co-creators of CS 1.6, who commented on how the use of original animations for the character deaths and weapons” feels true to the vibes and spirit of the original game.

Valve has not taken action against CS: Legacy, and one can only hope the title is released without difficulties. Sometimes, extreme love for a franchise to the point of modding may attract unwanted litigations — a situation often encountered by the modding community. Concepts like Palworld and even modders of Baldur’s Gate 3 had received corporate resistance. Hopefully, with Valve’s pro-modding philosophy, Counter-Strike Legacy may just see the light of day.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Fan Remake Of ‘Counter-Strike 1.6’, ‘CS: Legacy’, Sets 2025 Steam Release appeared first on Geek Culture.

Every time Jason Statham bursts through the silver screen with an action movie, fans of the genre will love it. His latest outing The Beekeeper is no exception, breaking global box office records at over US$122.5 million. This action thriller was such a hit that a sequel, The Beekeeper 2, is on the way.

Replacing David Ayer on The Beekeeper 2’s director’s chair is Timo Tjahjanto (The Big 4, V/H/S/94), who is currently working on Nobody 2. Kurt Wimmer (Expend4bles) is returning as the screenwriter for the film. According to Deadline, Statham and Chris Long will produce the film through Punch Palace Productions and Long Shot Productions respectively. Miramax will also produce and finance the film, with its production set for fall this year. At the moment, Amazon/MGM Studios is being considered to release the sequel in North America.

For the uninitiated, the first movie follows a retired secret intelligence operative (Statham) under the organisation known as the Beekeepers who goes on a revenge spree after his landlady lost millions from a phishing scam and, eventually, her life.

Little has been revealed on the premise of The Beekeeper 2, but we all know that as long as Jason Statham is a spy on an action-thriller plot, bullets will fly.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Jason Statham Set For ‘The Beekeeper’ Sequel With ‘Nobody 2’ Director appeared first on Geek Culture.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six has always been at the forefront of the tactical shooter genre, keeping players engaged in competitive team-based shootouts for years. It is no surprise Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege remains popular, and marking the 10th anniversary of the game, the publisher has announced a complete gameplay overhaul and a change of title to Rainbow Six Siege X.

An official blog post by Ubisoft stated that aside from the retitling, the game will face its “biggest transformation” in its history by introducing “new ways to play, deepened tactical gameplay, refined game feel and major upgrades all around.”. The overhaul reinforces the franchise’s position as the leading tactical first-person shooter. The news also came with a teaser.

The teaser has revealed nothing new, only showing existing Rainbow Six Siege features. Instead, expectant fans of the franchise can glean further information from Siege X Showcase, broadcast live on Twitch on 13 March 2025, 10am PDT (14 March 2025, 1am SGT). The showcase will explore evolutions coming to Rainbow Six Siege X and other surprises.

With the game’s player base still strong, especially in Singapore when we have a playable character representing the nation, it seems the most recent Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six title is here to stay.  All we have to do now is anticipate what the game has next in store as they breach through public eyes with more news during the showcase.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Ubisoft Sets ‘Rainbow Six Siege X’ As Franchise’s Gameplay Overhaul appeared first on Geek Culture.

Although many games are known to dramatise history, few like Sid Meier’s Civilization franchise have stood the test of time, glueing gamers to their seats as they raise humble nomadic settlers into global superpowers, for almost 30 years. After about a decade since their previous outing, publisher 2K and developer Firaxis Games have brought the franchise back for one more turn with Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, and this addition is still as addictive as ever, albeit with a few shortcomings.

Fans of the 4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate) video game genre will find Sid Meier’s Civilization VII both fresh and familiar. Its core gameplay loop remains unchanged –  players choose a civilisation and compete with others on a map segmented à la hexagons to achieve one of four major victories. There’s victory through Science by winning the Space Race; through Culture by building world wonders and populating the World’s Fair with artefacts; dominating the global Economy and establishing a world bank, and in conquering settlements before building the atomic bomb in Military; all while managing your global influence, and your people’s happiness, gold, food, and productivity. The latest chapter also incorporates a new Age System and a new progression system for the player and individual leaders.

Right off the bat, franchise veterans will realise the game’s 26 world leaders are not tied to their respective civilisations, like in previous outings where well-known leaders like Gandhi or Queen Elizabeth I would lead the Indians or English, respectively. Instead, Sid Meier’s Civilisation VII allows you to choose a world leader before choosing a civilisation to lead, resulting in bizarre combinations in the vein of alternate history author Harry Turtledove, like playing as Japanese queen Himiko who leads the Greeks. As different world leaders and civilisations possess different abilities and advantages surrounding the four victories, the power of choice allows players to fully express themselves in historical role-play, while still finding their own comfortable combinations to win games.

Building on top of this is a new progression system called Legends, where players  earn experience points in two paths by completing challenges every time they complete a game. On one hand, playing the game as any leader levels up the Foundation path, unlocking cosmetics and collectables for their profile. Conversely, every leader has their own progression track levelled by playing as these characters and as leaders level up, they gain Mementos that can be equipped to boost their leader abilities for future games.

With Legends and allowing players to mix their world leader and civilisation of choice, all roads lead to Rome, but we also recognise that Rome was not built in a day. You’ll spend hours finding ways to optimise your path to victory as you experiment to find the right combination to win. Play as Benjamin Franklin who is known for expediting science through production buildings while leading the Mayans, where production is further boosted every time a technology is successfully researched, and you gain an advantage but that’s not the end of it. Continue playing as Benjamin Franklin in future games and you’ll unlock the right Mementos which further boosts the rate of generating science and production, allowing you to build buildings and research technologies much quicker. 

If the game’s opening cinematic depicts knowing the past as being about understanding the present and learning from our mistakes, this gameplay loop encompasses the experience the same way – you learn from what you can do better in your previous game, and plan how you can further improve your future games with new Mementos. You feel yourself playing Sid Meier’s Civilization VII smarter and better each time you jump into a new game.

That said, the majority of the game’s 26 leaders generally focus on contributing directly to its four victory conditions, which leaves room for a more varied roster to keep things interesting in the future. A handful of leaders have different personas of the same person, while possessing different gameplay advantages. You can play as ‘Napoleon the Emperor’, where spending influence on diplomatic endeavours comes cheap and gold is earned for every leader you are unfriendly or hostile with after every age. Or, you can also play as ‘Napoleon the Revolutionary’, where culture is earned when your military units defeat enemy units. 

New leaders who encourage strategies aside from focusing on racking up victory points will be a welcome inclusion, from the likes of American abolitionist and social activist, Harriet Tubman, who leverages espionage and stealing technologies and civics to get ahead of the game. 26 leaders are a good start to kick things off, but here’s looking at future expansions to add more into the mix. For example, we note that religion seems to take a back seat in Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, so a leader who mass-produces missionaries and spreads religious ideology to achieve victory would be a possible approach to vary the leader roster.

The next distinction that sets Sid Meier’s Civilization VII apart from its predecessors is the Age System, where a game is now split into three ages – Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. Every age allows players to choose their path to victory, accompanied by objectives or a to-do list that doubles as a tutorial teaching new players how to achieve victory. Once a set number of objectives are completed across the board, the game transits to the next age for all players in the game, granting legacy points that further expedite victory conditions in the end game and resetting unit positions. Splitting the game into ages allows players to pace and familiarise themselves with the game’s dynamics while maintaining a level playing field across the map, so gone are the days where victory is assured too early in a game just because a player’s civilisation is too overpowered, resulting in other players abandoning their game before it ends. Instead, what matters now is that all player finish all their objectives before the final Modern Age concludes.

But while splitting the game into essentially three digestible acts brings accessibility for new players, the ages become too predictable for those who are already familiar with the gameplay loop. It’s always a scramble to expand your nation across the map and gather as many special resources as possible during the beginning of the Antiquity age. Transitioning into the Exploration age means you should always produce as many military units as possible to prepare for guaranteed war and hostility among players in the Modern age. Unless you are playing with real players in Multiplayer mode, it is almost guaranteed that your counterparts will declare war against you and mobilise their forces against your cities near the endgame. Players will naturally benefit by adopting a more aggressive, conquest-driven playstyle, making the Military victory a constant secondary win condition. 

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII then suffers from too much linearity in forcing players to make beelines to their desired victories during every age, while forcing them to take Military action against a predictably chaotic final act.

Additionally, victory conditions can seem convoluted even though you may be leading the rat race. The game can end with a cutscene implying your civilisation’s victory and you will still be slapped with a “Defeat” in the concluding leaderboard after your 5 to 15 hour gaming stint. Players might be confused as to why they would face defeat even though they are in the lead, only to find that the Modern age has transitioned to end the game before they fulfil every objective for their victory.

Everyone loses if time runs out and no one has completed all the objectives of their chosen victory path. If you are not in the lead, you can expedite the end of the Modern age and deny a leading player’s victory by fulfilling objectives not related to your chosen strategy, which is a cheap way for your opponents to declare that if they do not win, no one does, consequently discouraging players from jumping back into a new game. It would help if the Modern age persists until a civilisation successfully meets the final victory condition, instead of transitioning to a game conclusion where no one wins. Or, the game can just award the victory to the player who has accumulated the most legacy points throughout all three ages.

Victory quirk aside, one of Sid Meier’s Civilization VII’s strong suits is its presentation. The franchise has moved the board from a cartography-styled UI to something simple, clean, and more realistic. Each randomly generated board is rendered beautifully and realistically with distinct biomes, and whenever a world wonder is successfully built, it is always satisfying to see the timelapse showing the intricate stages of their building leading to their completion. Each leader speaks their native tongue and a colloquial soundtrack follows each encounter, which makes meeting them on the map feel like an exciting cultural exchange. Every completion in researching technologies and civics, finding natural wonders, and building man-made ones introduces historical quotes that read like a documentary out of the BBC. The game also has comprehensive instructions and a glossary called “Civilopedia” which covers every jargon in the game, making for a reassuring hand-holding experience for new players.

All in all, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is a beautiful sequel to the franchise with loads of room to expand in its addictive “one more turn” gameplay philosophy. The game just needs a slight tweak in its endgame design to encourage fans to keep playing. Still, time flies whenever you jump into a new game and try to find the fastest ways to optimise your desired victory conditions. 

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Sid Meier’s Civilization VII — Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

It’s been over two years since the weirdly philosophical and amusingly compelling TV anime series Chainsaw Man took the internet by gory storm. No doubt, news of its continuation in the form of a movie has left fans wanting more than just a simple teaser. Thankfully, Studio MAPPA has breadcrumbed more info on Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc with another teaser trailer and two key visuals.

Based on the trailer, it would seem like Denji will be caught in a love triangle between Makima and a new girl called Reze — that is, at least, what it seems before the trailer spirals into the series’ usual chaotic clash between devils and Devil Hunters, and surprisingly large amounts of explosions (wink) before landing on a title card stating a 2025 release.

Accompanying the trailer are two key visuals: one featuring Chainsaw Man and the other of Denji and Reze like a couple in a cafe.

Fans can rest assured that their experience of watching Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc will be similar to (if not better than) the TV series with MAPPA still at the fore of the production. Staff from the anime’s production powerhouse like Tatsuya Yoshihara (Black Clover), the series’ director of its fourth and 10th episode, will return to direct the movie. Meanwhile, Hiroshi Seko (Attack on Titan: The Final Season) will also return to write the script. Sota Shigetsugu (Kaiju No. 8) and Shoici will be the movie’s action animation director and main animator respectively.

Those familiar with the manga and anime fans alike will realise that nothing is as it seems and that this arc will be more than just a love triangle between Denji and the two girls. Come 2025, we will see whether Makima or Reze will win Denji’s heart (wink).

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post ‘Chainsaw Man’ Movie Revs Up First Looks On Reze Arc appeared first on Geek Culture.

It’s been a while since Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp made waves in the hearts of moviegoers as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean, especially when his partnership with Disney ended during his legal battle against Amber Heard. No doubt, fans were gutted when plans for a franchise reboot surfaced and Depp was not in the picture.

It seems this boat would soon change its course. 

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer is allegedly supervising two scripts for a Pirates of the Caribbean reboot and one involves the captain’s return. According to a report by Variety, the possibility of Depp’s return “has not been ruled out”, and his involvement will possibly determine the direction of the franchise’s next entry.

It’s optimistic to hope Johnny Depp will return as Jack Sparrow in a new Pirates movie. Indeed, Disney can simply approach the Edward Scissorhands actor to star in the reboot with a polite invitation (hopefully accompanied by an apology), but fans should not bet on it. Just look to the outing of Jonathan Majors as an example. Assault allegations against him were recently dropped, and Disney has yet to request his reprisal as Kang.

Regardless, a new Pirates of the Caribbean movie is on its way and all we can hope for is a smoother voyage for the franchise.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Disney Preps Two ‘Pirates’ Films With Potential For Johnny Depp To Return As Jack Sparrow appeared first on Geek Culture.

It has been over 10 years since the first Outlast (2012) horror video game took the industry by storm, forcing players trapped in a mental asylum to hide under their beds and avoid detection from murderous degenerate criminals and supernatural entities looking to make minced meat out of you. This time, scare-seekers are well on their way to experiencing a similar fear as the franchise is being adapted to the silver screen. 

Lionsgate and the IP’s developer Red Barrels have horror producer Roy Lee (V/H/S Beyond, Quarantine 2) onboard the production while J.T. Petty – known for penning most of the franchise’s story and other movies like The Burrowers – will work on the film’s screenplay. According to Deadline, the film’s spirit will resemble the recent cinematic adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s and The Strangers: Chapter 1.

While little has been revealed about the adaptation’s plot, we can sense what it may be like. It’s easy to spot similarities between Lee’s movies and the game as Lee is known for producing claustrophobic hand-held cinematic experiences like Quarantine 2; on the other hand, the first Outlast game follows an investigative journalist who snuck into a mental asylum and is forced to run away from psycho killers while using a handheld camera to record what is seen and navigate in the dark.

Commenting on producing an Outlast film, Lee cited the “deep, emergent lore [of the story]” as a “perfect foundation” for delivering both “psychological and physical horrors”. He was positive that the Outlast adaptation would satisfy both new viewers and dedicated fans. Meanwhile, Red Barrels’ Co-Founder and Creative Director David Chateauneuf stated bringing Outlast to movie-goers was “a dream, or should [he] say, nightmare, come true”.

As we await more information on the upcoming Outlast film adaptation, gamers seeking similar bigger screams this spooky season may play the franchise’s recent The Outlast Trials to suffice for now. The game even has comics that expand on the world’s dark and morbid lore, which may be useful when the movie finally rears its ugly head.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Lionsgate Scares Up Red Barrels’ ‘Outlast’ Video Games For Live Action Film appeared first on Geek Culture.

Long-time gamers will remember how brutal the 1985 Oregon Trail computer game was. Released for the Apple II, it was made to educate players on the region’s harsh living and travel conditions in the American 19th century. Today, the game is making its way to the silver screen as an action-comedy adaptation at Apple.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Will Speck and Josh Gordon (Blades of Glory) are set to direct and produce the film while Kenny and Keith Lucas (Judas and the Black Messiah) are penning the script. Caroline Frasure from HarperCollins Productions — a body that owns the rights to the video game franchise — will also produce alongside the Speck-Gordon duo. Additionally, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land) are composing the film’s score.

Little has been revealed about the movie’s plot as it is still in its early development stages, with the studio having just landed the pitch. We can, however, have a general idea of its premise, as players of the game are supposed to guide a covered wagon train embarking on a journey along the Oregon Trail in 1848. The wagon brings settlers from Independence, Missouri to Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and the player must determine optimal routes that ensure the survival of their entourage. They will also manage resources, hunt for food, and prepare for random events like storms and diseases.

For an educational game, it’s a dark and gritty piece which pits players to face broken limbs and the infamous ‘dysentery’ disease that their motley crew can randomly succumb to despite efforts to ensure their followers are resilient for the journey. As the movie is expected to be an action comedy, fans of the IP can look forward to this iconic reference and many more in a lighthearted fashion.

While we await more information on the movie’s release, eager gamers looking to experience the classic 1985 title can visit the Internet Archive Arcade and play for free. If they prefer something modern, a remastered 2022 version can be purchased on Steam.

Just don’t die of dysentery while playing and keep yourselves hydrated.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Classic ‘Oregon Trail’ Game Embarks On Cinematic Development Journey At Apple appeared first on Geek Culture.

Following the lacklustre release of Hellboy (2019), it would seem like the next film adaptation of Dark Horse comics’ iconic horned devil Hellboy: The Crooked Man would appeal to fans better, especially when its creator Mike Mignola is also co-writing the script. Unfortunately, Anung Un Rama will not be seen on the silver screen and, instead, be dragged down to streaming – at least that’s the case for US moviegoers.

The film will instead be released on streaming platforms, and although Hellboy: The Crooked Man will be foregoing a US theatrical release, those in the UK will still be able to catch the film in theatres. Apparently, Video-on-Demand (VOD) services are offering pre-orders for the film, which will be released on their platforms on 8 October.

Despite the limited release, it would seem like Hellboy fans may still enjoy the film as even its creator advocated for how faithful the cinematic iteration of Hellboy: The Crooked Man is to the comics. Mignola cited how the film showed “all of [his] favourite moments from the comic” and that some shots are similar to the comic panels.

The movie, distributed by Ketchup Entertainment, is directed by Brian Taylor (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance), and stars Jack Kesy (12 Strong, Death Wish) as our titular hero facing an evil soul-collecting entity known as the Crooked Man in the Appalachian forests. 

It’s a shame that moviegoers in the US will not get to enjoy the film in cinemas, but they can still look out for those preorders on streaming platforms and still catch Big Red next month.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post ‘Hellboy: The Crooked Man’ Skips US Theatrical Release For Streaming appeared first on Geek Culture.

The Warhammer 40, 000 IP is getting much mainstream attention with Hollywood star Henry Cavill’s involvement in a TV series and especially the success of Warhammer 40, 000: Space Marine 2 at the fore. A recent interview with the game’s Chief Creative Officer Tim Willits of developer Saber Interactive revealed its success has positively affected the development of future projects and raised the possibility of a sequel.

While the developer did not divulge the figures for Space Marine 2’s profits, Willits remarked the game to be the “fastest selling game he’s ever worked on”, with the cost of developing the game being half as compared to Doom Eternal (2021). For context, Willits was heavily involved in developing games in household franchises like Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake, of which, Doom Eternal had amassed at least US$450 million in profits since launch.

The success of Space Marine 2 means Saber Interactive can now “dream bigger”, steering the team to strive for “better products in the future”, as communicated in his 30-second speech addressing the company. This also means Space Marine 2 may have an expanded story DLC and that Space Marine 3 is in the pipeline. Willits confirmed that the team is exploring further story ideas with Space Marine 2’s director Dmitry Grigorenko, of which, the discussed content may serve as a DLC or a sequel. 

Saber Interactive has a lot going on in its horizons, with bigger shoes to fill and higher expectations to meet. While fulfilling the promises made for Space Marine 2’s original post-launch plan – which includes new missions, maps, enemies, classes, and weapons, the developer is also working on multiple titles like A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead, a game on John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, a single-player action-adventure Jurassic Park: Survival, the remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and an unannounced co-op focused shooter utilising Saber Interactive’s swarm tech.

It is clear Warhammer 40, 000: Space Marine 2 took the gaming industry by storm, providing those new to the franchise with a glimpse of what it means to be an Adeptus Astartes, specifically, an Ultramarine. One thing’s for sure: This is only just the beginning of Saber Interactive’s journey of producing great games for players to enjoy.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Space Marine 2 Success Shifts Developer Focus, Spawns Sequel Talk appeared first on Geek Culture.