There’s a word often used in Singapore, ‘rojak’, which is Malay for “mixture” and can refer to either a salad dish comprising mixed fruits and vegetables or similarly, the process of lumping things together willy-nilly and calling it a day. Where Winds Meet, a free-to-play, online-only wuxia RPG (role-playing game) from NetEase and developer Everstone Studios, perfectly encapsulates this phrase, as the game is a mish-mash of genres, ideas, and inspirations thrown together haphazardly, except unlike in rojak, where each ingredient complements the other, here it’s the complete opposite, resulting in a whole that’s worse than the sum of its parts.

On first glance, Where Winds Meet offers an enticing prospect, especially for those daunted by other genre staples’ emphasis on online or social aspects. Despite being an online-focused RPG, the title isn’t positioned as an MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game), and instead offers a sprawling story campaign that can either be tackled in co-op with up to four players or done entirely solo, and this is in addition to the usual MMORPG mainstays like raids too.

Set against the Wuxia or Chinese martial arts theme, Where Winds Meet should ring familiar for those experienced in the genre. Players will take on the role of a nameless warrior wandering the lands in a fictional version of tenth-century China, venturing into the lands not just in search of riches tucked away in the multitude of dungeons or caves spread throughout, but also to seek out eight martial arts experts that litter the world to learn their secret fighting skills, all while navigating the chaotic era of political fragmentation, war, and shifting allegiances.

While this certainly sounds interesting on paper, in reality, what could be an epic tale of self-discovery turns into a mess of utter confusion and missed plot points due to the game’s atrocious use of AI machine translation for its English localisation. This is a China-made game after all, and under the guise of AI translation, those without an innate understanding of Mandarin will have to deal with awfully translated subtitles instead, which can range anywhere from head-tilting sentence structures, to complete nonsense. 

Take the wuxia, or 武俠 phrase. The first word, 武, means martial or military and in this context, martial arts, while the second word, 俠, refers to chivalry, but more of a code, which means there is no easy translation for this phrase, and the AI used here fumbles, a lot. Let’s take some simple phrases used in perhaps every other game, for example. While most, if not all, other titles use “Interact” or “Use” to describe performing actions like opening chests or collecting items, here, it’s “Enable”. Similarly, while describing points of interest that are above or below a player is simply presented in other titles with, well, “Above” and “Below”, for some reason here it’s “High Ground” or “Low Ground”.

This might seem like nitpicks, but bear in mind that these are the most basic of examples, something that Where Winds Meet already struggles with, so it’s not hard to imagine how poorly it handles an entire fictional country’s worth of in-game lore. To make things worse, the game is plagued with technical issues in this regard, from subtitles not matching to spoken words, character voices overlapping each other, or, in worst cases, voice lines not playing entirely. If you thought the plot in Kingdom Hearts was hard to follow, you’re in for a treat, as here, it’s literally a struggle.

That said, those who understand Mandarin and the concept of wuxia might find something interesting about this game, but that’s also a cultural thing as even with Star Wars or Star Trek, some things will get lost in translation when adapting either for an Asian audience. The developers clearly want the game for a global audience, but using AI to do the groundwork isn’t helping its cause.

Where Winds Meet’s complex, if not complicated, nature extends to its gameplay too, although here it’s fortunately not as negative. As a wuxia game, combat is unsurprisingly built around being flashy and high-intensity, with players equipping two of seven total weapon types, including blades, spears, fans or even umbrellas as they engage in both human and beastly threats throughout the lands.

At its core, combat draws inspiration from Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima or FromSoftware’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, with a heavy emphasis on patience, studying enemy attack patterns, and parrying or dodging accordingly. Getting hit or performing most actions in battle, except for well-timed parries, chips away at a player’s stamina gauge, leaving them vulnerable upon being fully depleted, making deflecting hits the most viable playstyle, especially when faced with powerful foes.

Unlike its inspirations, however, pulling off parries in Where Winds Meet is a significantly more frustrating affair, with the window for parrying or i-frames (invincibility frames) while dodging enemy attacks never feeling quite right, leading to many instances where damage is received even though it seemed like the timing was right. To make up for it, the game does offer “Assist Deflection” – another example of poor translation, as grammatically it should be “Deflection Assist” – which slows down time just as a player is about to get hit with a powerful blow, allowing them to deflect easily at the expense of depleting the stamina bar by a slight amount, but admittedly this does dampen the flow of battle.

In true MMO fashion, combat is also supplemented by a plethora of additional skills split into two categories. Weapon martial arts, which like its name suggests, are tied to specific weapons, and for some baffling reason, must be unlocked before a player is able to wield said weapon (which means that fancy great sword you just picked up won’t be usable unless you actively hunt for an associated skill), and mystic arts, powerful abilities earned by exploring the world and completing side activities, letting players perform feats like leaping to distant areas or breathing fire.

If this sounds complicated, that’s because it really is, as Where Winds Meet tries to cram in as much content as it can, regardless of quality. This is perhaps best seen in the game’s world and progression, and the lands are absolutely filled to the brim with activities to partake in and side missions to discover, alongside its main quest. Alas, it’s quantity over quality, as every major “open-world bloat” seen in similar titles is seen here, such as no shortage of fetch quests, escort missions or your standard “go to area and kill X amount of enemies” type objectives. Once in a while, players might stumble on a questline that’s actually interesting, such as controlling a Mahjong-playing dog or learning Tai Chi from a bear.

At least, while exploring the lands, players will have no shortage of sights to behold, as just like it has done with everything else, the world in Where Winds Meet is designed to overwhelm your senses, a sprawling playground of places to go and things to discover. There’s a good amount of environmental variety, too, with its many different regions mostly feeling unique, from the calm of a countryside filled with blossoming trees and tranquil lakes to snowy mountain peaks or massive walled-in cities like Kaifeng.

With so much content on offer, interesting or otherwise, praise must still be given to Where Winds Meet for its fair handling of monetisation despite being a free-to-play title, especially in such a crowded genre filled with titles that operate on egregious systems to squeeze out as much real-world currency as possible. Players are given access to the entirety of the game, which can easily span 30 to 40 hours for a single playthrough, without spending a single cent, with monetisation limited to only fancy cosmetics for those who want to make their characters stand out. Here, it’s pay to look good, not pay to win, and that alone is deserving of respect.

Overall, it’s Where Winds Meet’s most ambitious goal, its sense of scale and the desire to throw as many different gameplay systems as possible at the player, that are ultimately its undoing. Yes, players can lose dozens, if not hundreds, of hours in its world doing anything from exploring, questing, fishing and the like, but the main issue is that none of these systems are actually particularly fleshed out, making the game just a massive bunch of bloat just with an incredibly enticing price of admission.

Kevin Low

Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.

The post Where Winds Meet – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

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.

NetEase Games and ZhuRong Studio have brought their eastern fantasy MMORPG Sword of Justice to the global audience, with the free-to-play title now available in Southeast Asia on mobile and PC.

To mark this occasion, Thai celebrity actress and model Baifern will be presenting a series of video content celebrating Sword of Justice’s global launch as Ye Xueqing, bringing one of the game’s many intriguing and complex characters to life.

Originally launched in China back in June 2023, Sword of Justice lets players live out their martial arts master fantasies in a world inspired by 12th-century China. Apart from roaming the lands and battling beasts and rival players alike, the game also boasts a social role-playing aspect, allowing players to partake in more relaxing activities like farming, fishing, crafting or archaeology.

One thing that sets Sword of Justice apart from other games in the genre is the studio’s promise of fairness and not making the experience too grindy, or implementing paywalls, with the title featuring a “Paths Converge” system where both competitive and casual players can earn full rewards through their preferred playstyles. The studio also notes that all character progression is entirely gameplay-driven, with strict attribute caps and seasonal resets in place to ensure a level playing field.

The game will also be accessible to solo players, an uncommon feature for the traditionally multiplayer-focused nature of the genre, offering an NPC companion system for players to tackle group dungeons alone.

In addition, to mark the arrival of the game on a global stage, players who log into Sword of Justice will be able to claim the rewards unlocked by the 5 million players who pre-registered their interest in the game, including the Solitary Crane outfit, Heaven Frost Special Effect Mount, 200 Ornate Jade (Soulbound), and 88,888 Banknotes currency.

Sword of Justice is now available on PC, Android and iOS.

Kevin Low

Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.

The post NetEase Free-To-Play MMORPG ‘Sword of Justice’ Launches In Southeast Asia appeared first on Geek Culture.

NetEase Games and ZhuRong Studio have announced the 7 November global release date for Sword of Justice, the upcoming free-to-play open world MMORPG that has players craft their own adventure in an Eastern-inspired realm. The game will be available on Android and iOS devices, as well as PC via Steam and Windows, with full cross-platform play.

Sword of Justice is a fantasy MMMORPG set in the Northern Song Dynasty of 12th-century China and players will join together in epic adventures across the land. You can be whoever you wish to be, from a mighty warrior, a brave explorer, a skilled crafter, or a socialite who likes to roleplay with other players. In this realm, your legend is yours to shape as you see fit. 

In preparation for the game’s upcoming global launch on 7 November 2025 on Android and iOS devices, as well as PC via Steam and Windows, here are some things about the game you should know.

Pre-Launch Perk for Southeast Asian Players: AI-Powered Cloud Face Edit Event Returns

Players in Southeast Asian countries who wish to design their perfect protagonist ahead of the launch can take advantage of the returning Cloud Face Edit event in Sword of Justice. Utilizing advanced AI technology, players can edit their character’s appearance through text or image-based inputs. Once satisfied with their creation, they can seamlessly import it into the full version of Sword of Justice.

With over 300 adjustable parameters to explore—including facial contours, makeup, and body shape—players can achieve a truly personalized look. The cutting-edge technology also supports micro-expressions, realistic irises, and lifelike hair simulation, resulting in incredibly detailed and rich character designs.

A Truly Free-to-Play Game with Skill-Driven Progression and On-the-Go Flexibility

In Sword of Justice, playing the game isn’t a second job. Sword of Justice is completely free-to-play, with character progression being tied directly to gameplay skill, thanks to strict attribute caps and seasonal resets. In Sword of Justice, character progression is linked to the Converging Paths system, ensuring you’ll always receive the same core rewards, whether you’re a diehard PvP champion or a casual player who can only jump in when you’re free. There are no pay-to-win mechanics at play! In Sword of Justice, you never need to reach for your wallet to experience what the game has to offer. 

Sword of Justice is the ideal game to play on the go. Want to become a martial arts master who takes on all rivals in brutal showdowns, or take it slow as a farmer, fisher, calligrapher, or archaeologist? You can be all of these and more. Play your way in Sword of Justice, all without spending any money.

A Living Open World: AI-Powered NPCs & Player-Shaped Stories

Sword of Justice hosts a massive open world that’s full of foes to slay and secrets to discover. There are bustling cities full of players and NPCs to interact with. The NPCs are powered by AI technology, giving them unique personalities and memories, allowing them to remember previous interactions and respond accordingly. Say goodbye to fixed and boring routines, as Sword of Justice’s world reacts to you, letting you shape your story in the martial arts world.

Those looking to make connections in the beautiful world of Sword of Justice have plenty of ways to do so, as the game offers a variety of relaxed, open-ended social experiences. You can form bonds via mentoring others, swear kinship as adventurers, form guilds, and even fall in love. There are over 100 hours of single-player stories to dive into, with intelligent companions who will help players craft their own story. The world of Sword of Justice offers rich experiences for social butterflies who love to experience the game with others, and solo players who prefer to go at their own pace. 

Sword of Justice offers an epic experience like no other, with countless hours of gameplay awaiting those who explore its gorgeous, living world. This is a game of epic showdowns and dangerous dungeons, forging weapons and gathering treasures, of blossoming love and dangerous rivalries. The story is yours to tell, so make sure to check out Sword of Justice when it launches on mobile devices and PC on 7 November, and follow the game’s social media channels to be kept up to date with future announcements.

To learn more about Sword of Justice, visit the official website, App Store, Google Play, Steam, Facebook page and Discord channel.

The Baroness

Passion and love mean little to the Baroness. No man can ever be her master. Where there’s terror to be sown and coin earned, that’s where she will be with guns akimbo.

The post ‘Sword of Justice’ MMORPG Sets 7 Nov Global Release On Mobile & PC appeared first on Geek Culture.

While the football gaming scene has largely been dominated by titles that focus on the raw action on the pitch, from the EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA) and eFootball (formerly Pro Evolution Soccer) franchises, the allure of what goes on behind the scenes of the sport has become an equally enticing prospect among fans, an itch scratched by Sega and Sports Interactive’s football management simulator franchise, Football Manager.

Starting out in 1992 as Championship Manager, the franchise has garnered its own niche but dedicated fanbase over the years, allowing players to build their dream football teams from the ground up, playing a part in everything that goes on behind-the-scenes in real life, like budgeting, player loans, scouting and team formations, a complex and data-heavy experience that while thrilling for series fans, have always proven daunting for newcomers.

This concern was one of the main driving factors for the franchise’s upcoming sequel, Football Manager 26, which promises a host of new features and overhauls largely focused on making the game the most inclusive it has ever been, while being accessible to all.

“What we’ve seen is that a lot of new people coming to the game are dropping out after an hour. About eight million people carry on playing for five hours. And if you play Football Manager for five hours, you play for 100, right? So that starting point was very important for us,” explains Miles Jacobson, studio director at Sports Interactive, during an interview with Geek Culture and members of Southeast Asia media during the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) 2025.

“We wanted to make a lighter version of the game. So we have an accessibility team now at the studio, and we also have people on the script-writing side who we’ve really given a lot of time and freedom to be able to get the tutorial level right.”

“And then [we added] an absolutely key thing for accessibility, which [is that] we have to signpost better,” he continues, explaining the addition of a new search system within the game, which allows new players to not just find their way around its many mechanics, but is also built for those with a limited understanding of the sport, working alongside another new feature, the FMpedia, which essentially functions as a Wikipedia for football to explain the game’s system and its tactics.

These additions also work hand in hand with Football Manager 26’s overhauled user interface (UI), which now divides the game’s many complex elements into three distinctive navigation systems – the top and sub menu, alongside bookmarks. 

“Attention spans have dropped over the last 30 years, thanks to social media and TikTok,” explains Jacobson. “You need to get the key beats into that first paragraph to keep people reading. So we have to do the same inside the game. With the new interface, we’re able to get more information on screen, but in smaller bite-sized chunks.”

Interestingly enough, Jacobson also admits that this new change might actually make the game more difficult for hardcore players to navigate compared to newcomers, as they have to re-learn everything that they are used to from previous titles.

“You have to cancel your muscle memory, and you have to relearn it, but once you do, it’s so much easier to use.”

Aside from making the title more accessible to new players, Football Manager 26 has also taken strides in inclusivity, too, with the addition of Women’s Football, a fully-fledged new mode that brings the equally important aspect of the sport to the franchise for the first time. This inclusion wasn’t as simple as just reskinning the existing game mode, however, as the team had to take into account the real-world difference in both genders’ physiques.

“On the graphical side of things, what some don’t realise is that women’s body shapes are different to men’s,” explains Jacobson. ”Women tend to have wider hips; their bodies are different, so if you take a bunch of male animations and put them onto a female body, they run like Cowboys, it looks wrong.”

“We had to redo all of the motion capture animation. So we brought in a bunch of women footballers to come in and redo every animation that we had in the game, plus being able to use volumetric data from real-life games as well meant that we’re able to make things look just as good.”

It wasn’t just graphical considerations the team had to account for, either, as individual player stats had to be adjusted in order to suit both genders.

“On the research side, [we had to] make the decision of whether to compare women footballers to men footballers,” he adds, “We decided that this actually wasn’t fair, because men tend to be stronger than women, while women tend to have better agility than men. So we’re comparing men to men and women to women when it comes to their performance attributes.”

While Football Manager 26 is set to mark a major improvement for the franchise, the team hasn’t forgotten their shortcomings. After all, the journey to the upcoming title wasn’t smooth sailing, marred by the unfortunate failure and cancellation of what would have been its predecessor, Football Manager 25. 

“We’re one of the few games that have been going strong for over 30 years, and the only time we failed is with FM25. I failed. I didn’t release a game, and I’m at peace with that,” admits Jacobson, “I apologise to everyone out there for not delivering a game last year, but I had to come to peace with the fact that we made a game that wasn’t good enough and I cancelled it.”

“It was the most difficult conversation that I’ve had in my whole career, of having to sit down and go, ‘I’m really sorry we failed’, because it’s not something that’s happened to us before. But you can’t mope around, because you have to learn from failure.”

“We all make mistakes every single day of our lives, and that’s what you learn,” he adds, “We learned that we were too ambitious with what we were trying to do, and that things can sound like great ideas and look good on paper, but don’t work in reality.”

With this in mind, Jacobson and his team have their sights firmly set on making Football Manager 26 more of an evolution of the franchise rather than a mere sequel.

“When we approached [Football Manager 26], our previous engine had been running for so long, since Championship Manager 4 (2003). It was creaking and couldn’t handle what we wanted to do anymore, and it became a real problem,” Jacobson describes.

“We had to make the decision, do we spend tens of millions improving the engine, but being really slow to be able to make the changes, or do we move to a new engine? We also had to think about what worked and what didn’t, either to improve or get rid of them.”

“That’s why this is the first of our next generation of games,” he explains, “FM24 was the perfect endpoint of [the previous generation]. Football Manager 26 is that next stage of the next 20 years, and is setting up for the future.”

Ultimately, Football Manager 26 is stepping into the future while still providing that same core experience for both newcomers and fans who have been with the franchise since day one – a game that lets them live out their football dream, and most importantly, play it their way. But what if Jacobson had to describe the upcoming title as a single football tactic then?

“Love.” he describes, only half-joking, as that’s exactly what Football Manager 26 is, a love letter to fans, both a “thank you” and an apology for those eagerly awaiting its next instalment after its predecessor’s cancellation, and a “welcome” to new fans making their first foray into the franchise.

Football Manager 26 releases on 4 November 2025 for the PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store.

Kevin Low

Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.

The post TGS 2025: ‘Football Manager 26’ Makes The Beautiful Game More Welcoming With Enhanced Accessibility & Women’s Football appeared first on Geek Culture.

Not all gaming laptops are built the same – while some pack power into a hefty form factor, others emphasise creative work functionality. And while consumers are no strangers to evolving or prioritisation needs, it’s always nice to have options and pick out the one that best suits the scenario at hand, courtesy of Republic of Gamers’ (ROG) flagship line of gaming laptops, powered by the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series GPU.

Instead of settling for less, gamers can aim for the best at work and play, with the extra brawn here useful for handling heavy and GPU-intensive loads, while delivering an improved all-around experience , starting with cutting-edge hardware that gets things up and running under the hood.

A staple across NVIDIA’s highest-end devices, the latest generation of Blackwell GPU architecture is engineered for performance, with fifth-gen Tensor Cores and fourth-gen Ray Tracing Cores offering threefold and twice the performance of the previous generation, respectively, as well as new streaming multiprocessors optimised for RTX Neural Shaders, used to create cinematic-quality textures and more advanced lighting effects in titles.

To sharpen the competitive edge, NVIDIA DLSS 4 works to increase efficiency, reduce latency, and refine image quality alongside Multi Frame Generation, multiplying frames by up to eight times more than traditional rendering and the icing on the cake is that the technology is available in over 175 DLSS 4 games and apps, extending to AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2, Diablo IV, and more.

At the heart of DLSS are new AI-based transformer models for DLSS Frame Generation, DLSS Ray Reconstruction, DLSS Super Resolution, and Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing (DLAA). The latter three bring upgraded stability, sharper clarity in motion, and higher lighting detail compared to the GeForce RTX 20 and 30 Series, with DLSS Frame Generation delivering enhanced performance and reduced memory usage starting from the GeForce RTX 40 Series. Meanwhile, full ray tracing and NVIDIA Reflex 2 are the dynamic duo behind realistic, immersive visuals, as well as lightning-fast response for improved target acquisition, reaction time, and aim precision, rounding out the NVIDIA experience.

These combined prowess are further supported by new AI-powered Max-Q technologies designed for Blackwell, enhancing performance across GPU, CPU, memory, battery, and more. Where accelerated frequency switching boosts performance by adaptively optimising clocks for unique workload at microsecond-level speeds, voltage-optimised GDDR7 marries low voltage with a high-efficiency graphics memory.

Other additional features of note include Advanced Optimus for reduced screen tearing, Optimal Playable Settings, which finds the best balance between performance and image quality, and CPU Optimizer, which enables the GPU to optimise CPU performance, temperature, and power.

All of that power comes out of the box with the ROG Zephyrus, Strix Scar, and Strix G gaming laptops, each catering to different user demands. Sporting a lightweight, slim chassis, the ROG Zephyrus lineup is purpose-built for work and play, whereas the other two present competitive and entry-level-to-mid-range alternatives, respectively. Alongside the pet offering of an GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics card, fans can also expect exclusive ROG features, including its Nebula display, intelligent cooling capabilities, and the accompanying Armoury Crate app.

Translating the hardware prowess into fluid, blazing-fast action is a 2.5K-or-higher OLED panel (2,560 x 1,600), which brings a minimum refresh rate of 120Hz, at a rate of three milliseconds or less, and NVIDIA G-Sync support for stutter-free gameplay. The full DCI-P3 coverage and Pantone Validated certification add more vivid, true-to-life colours into the mix, so expect a richer sense of immersion than before.

Fast displays may win fast-paced titles, but they count for nought if thermal throttling gets in the way. No matter the pick, the ROG devices are designed to run cool under pressure, with liquid metal lowering CPU temperatures by up to 10 degrees, 0.1mm-thin fans to increase dissipation rate, and up to six heatpipes for 25 percent more coverage.

Elsewhere, Arc Flow fans boost airflow by up to 32 percent, while the Anti-Dust Tunnels 2.0 prolongs system longevity. Depending on the model, users may also enjoy bonus perks, such as tri-fan technology and a vapour chamber, alongside software aids like Scenario Profiles, which automatically adjust cooling, and 0db Technology to bring noise levels down.

On the note of software, Armoury Crate serves as an all-in-one hub that grants centralised control over various settings, from customising RGB lighting with Aura Sync and optimising system performance to downloading the latest drivers and firmware. The ROG Elite Rewards loyalty programme introduces another layer of incentivisation – become a member, rack up points, and redeem prizes, all of which can be accessed through the app.

NVIDIA and ROG are already heavyweights in their own right, and combining the best of both worlds will only take gaming laptop performance to even greater heights. The GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards are the main drivers, but the ability of ROG’s latest to harness their full potential is the fuel that keeps them ahead of the race and satisfies user demands at the same time.

The 2025 iteration of the ROG Zephyrus G16 ranges from S$3,699 to S$6,099, whereas the Strix Scar 16 is priced at S$5,899 (RTX 5080) / S$6,899 (RTX 5090). The ROG Strix G16 goes lightest on the wallet, with the base model retailing for S$3,299.

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post ROG Gaming Laptops With NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series GPU Set New Standard For Gaming Performance appeared first on Geek Culture.

The desire to move the gaming experience from the home and on the move has been a desire for gamers, but portable but somewhat cumbersome machines aren’t always the solution. And while current hybrid handheld consoles get the job done, they often sacrifice power and performance for portability, but more importantly, limit a player’s library of games to console-specific titles.

For the gamer who wishes for the freedom of having what’s essentially a portable version of their current gaming rig in a more compact size, the ROG Xbox Ally series not only brings impressive handheld performance to the table, but also the flexibility of PC gaming along with it.

Developed in collaboration with Microsoft Xbox, the ROG Xbox Ally levels up the experience with a smoother, more intuitive gaming interface, as gamers can now make use of its console-inspired UI that’s optimised for joystick and button controls, meaning there’s no longer a need to fumble around with complex settings menus, making installing and playing games a seamless experience done with just a few button presses.

The advantages of having Xbox integration don’t end there, as the handheld also benefits from Xbox Game Bar integration, a tool designed to allow players quick access to important features with just a single button press, even while in-game. Simply press the new Xbox button to launch the Game Bar, where players can adjust system settings on the fly, check game performance, capture screenshots and game footage, or even chat with their Xbox friends without needing to exit a game.

As a portable console, the ROG Xbox Ally is designed to be a true companion to a user’s current gaming setup, and that’s where Xbox Play Anywhere comes in, which allows players to pick up right where they left off on their main PC or Xbox console by signing in with their Xbox accounts to sync game progress and achievements across their gaming ecosystem.
With a vast library of PC games across the Xbox store or other third-party digital storefronts such as Steam, the ROG Xbox Ally series not only gives players the freedom of choice, but also the power to run the latest PC games like Hollow Knight: Silksong or Baldur’s Gate 3 smoothly, with the base model packing an AMD Ryzen Z2 A Processor and its beefier twin, the ROG Xbox Ally X, boasting an upgraded AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme Processor, meaning the dream of AAA gaming on the go is now no longer just a dream.

It’s not just about a device’s performance either, as when it comes to handheld consoles, having a capable battery is important to ensure uninterrupted gaming sessions. That’s why the ROG Xbox Ally X is equipped with a high-capacity 80Wh battery, while the base model comes with an efficient 60Wh design, both built to go the distance and ensure the fun isn’t hindered by a constant need to scramble for a charging point.

Immersion isn’t placed at the sidelines too, as the ROG Xbox Ally series is built around providing players with not only the clearest, but also the smoothest and most tactile experience possible. Both device variants come with a 500-nit backlit 1080p display capable of outputting at a silky-smooth 120Hz refresh rate, with FreeSync Premium variable refresh rate (VRR) support while in-game to ensure smooth framerates without immersion-breaking screen tearing.

Both ROG Xbox Ally variants are designed for comfort, with their grips contoured to match an Xbox gaming controller featuring textured grips for a more secure hold, making it the perfect fit for extended play sessions. The ROG Xbox Ally X takes immersion even further with its impulse triggers, featuring additional motors for localised haptic feedback that respond to a player’s in-game actions, such as gun recoil or drawing a bow, letting players truly lose themselves in the game world.

When it comes to handheld gaming, a common concern is that games often lose detail when transitioning to a smaller screen, with experiences often marred by a fuzzy image and an overall washed-out picture. To combat this, the ROG Xbox Ally series makes use of Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR), a system-level feature that makes use of the device’s NPU to upscale games running at lower resolutions, offering sharper details while still maintaining smooth framerates across a wide range of titles, with no additional input required from game developers. It’s all about giving players not just ultimate flexibility, but maximum performance and clarity too.

The ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X will launch on 17 October 2025, and pre-orders are already up at S$799 and S$1,299 respectively. Early birds who pre-order the ROG Xbox Ally will also receive an ROG Xbox Ally (2-in-1) Premium Case, while those who pre-order the ROG Xbox Ally X will receive an ROG Slash Sling Bag.

Kevin Low

Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.

The post The ROG Xbox Ally Is The Next Gen Handheld Game Console You’ve Always Wanted appeared first on Geek Culture.

First time Singapore-based game developer, TrueWorld Studios, is set to launch its upcoming title, Unyielder, on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on September 29th, throwing players into a post-apocalyptic wasteland in its roguelite high-speed boss rush FPS.

In this game, every fight is a 1v1 boss battle as players dash and smash their way across Antarctica with a changing arsenal of weapons, skills, and abilities scavenged from defeated foes. Blending looter-shooter action, fast-paced movement, and character-driven combat, every victory grants Data Drives that power the games “BYOBoss” system that lets players craft their own final bosses.

It will be published by Shueisha Games, the gaming division of global renowned manga publisher, Shueisha, known for publishing the popular Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. 

In the latest trailer, audiences can catch more than the game’s intense boss battles against over 40 unique foes, each imbued with distinct attack patterns and combat styles. It also reveals the game’s five playable characters, each with their own unique movement, style, and special skills.

Players start with one character and unlock the remaining four progressively, which means the first choice matters as gameplay will differ depending on strategic approaches based on character selection.

The Pretender: Gatling is the well-rounded mid-range fighter, while the Pretender: Thumper is a tank with high HP, shield strength and aerial mobility. Then there is Skinner, a melee fighter who gains buffs from successful dodges, Rali, a charge-based powerhouse who deals massive burst damage, and finally, Rain, a close-combat guardian who parries and counters with precision timing.

And fighting them are the four boss classes. Minor Bosses are the ones players will face off against early in the game, while Major Bosses offer a greater challenge, since they drop Data Drives for crafting. Special Bosses are secret bosses that emerge only when specific conditions are met, while Legendary Bosses custom bosses based on player decisions.

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?

The post Singapore’s TrueWorld Studios Triggers Launch Of Debut PC Game, ‘Unyielder’, On 29 Sept appeared first on Geek Culture.

Death is an old friend for roguelike enthusiasts. After all, the core gameplay loop is rooted in dying, starting over, and dying better, before eventually securing a hard-won victory to progress further. It’s a battle of attrition that runs on luck and skill, sometimes requiring more of the former than the latter, with randomised encounters and items keeping each playthrough fresh. 

In Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, death isn’t just a guarantee, but woven into the narrative fabric. Much like how indie darling Hades makes it a thematic fit with an underworld setting and nods to the titular Greek god, the roguelite adventure – a sub-genre featuring traditional roguelike elements, hybrid play styles or mechanics, and permanent improvements that offer an advantage in subsequent runs – entrenches its storytelling in time travel, offering a metaphorical means to cheat death in some capacity. 

It’s the first sign of bold ambition, as developer Brownies Inc. looks to breathe new life into the well-trodden rinse-and-repeat experience. While it shares commonalities with its roguelite contemporaries, most notably Hades, on the surface, there are moments of ingenuity that point to its promising potential and nudge it toward a unique identity rarely seen in the genre. The inconsistent momentum, however, puts it more as a diamond in the rough than an instant classic, which is a shame. 

Driving the story is Towa, a scion of a god and guardian of Shinju Village, who sets out to protect the latter against a horde of evil spirits, as a dark god consumes the surrounding land with an evil miasma. Eight villagers, known in-game as the Prayer Children, accompany her on this journey and are later banished to another dimension in an all-out battle, leaving Shinju in a time bubble.

The next time players head out on a Journey (that’s a capital ‘J’), two of them will team up to wreak havoc on enemies. The first takes on the role of the Tsurugi, a frontline warrior assigned to the “sword” moniker, while the other lends assistance as a Kagura, denoted as a magic staff. Here’s the catch – both fighters can be controlled at the same time, bringing Square Enix and Jupiter’s action RPG The World Ends With You to mind, and allowing for the use of twin-stick controls. 

No matter the pick, each character comes with a kit tailored to their strengths and weaknesses. The cool-as-cucumber Shigin, for instance, complements passive play styles with long-ranged slicing projectiles as his primary attack, and is more susceptible to damage at close range, while the paper hat-wearing Origami strikes hard at the cost of attacking speed, making her a better fit for solo bosses. In the same vein, the nimble Mutsumi rewards aggression with her flurry of strikes, but it’s easy to be carried away by it, with the spinning attacks of the beefy, bipedal koi Nishiki (yes, you read that right) adding a smooth, flashy touch to combo-chaining, leaving him open to interruption. 

Assign them as a Kagura, and it’s a different loadout altogether. Instead of fixing their roles, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree invites players to switch the companions around and equip them with spells – even if the Kagura abilities are less diverse and offer repeated options (the Tsurugi skillset is unique to the individual, so there won’t be a crossover). After reaching a certain point in the game, Towa will also become playable in the Tokowaka story mode, unlocking access to a nimble-footed experience that prioritises attacking speed over power. The difference between Towa and each of the Prayer Children translates well into combat, both mechanically and feel-wise, such that no two characters can be played entirely in the same way. 

The Quick Draw feature completes the equation, forcing players to swap between two swords mid-fight. Here, the Tsurugi wields two blades: the Honzashi and Wakizashi, granting them a secondary moveset. With Shigin and Mutsumi, this means the ability to cast a shockwave or perform a second attack, respectively, in a specified area, on top of their other attack, and only one sword can be equipped at a time. Use it enough times in a row, and the blade will wear down and eventually break, opening up the window for a switcheroo. 

Pressing on with a dull sword will reduce damage significantly, but activating Fatal Blow – a special ultimate attack that consumes a mana bar charge, indicated in yellow – restores the weapon durability metre back to full. It’s a neat system that constantly keeps players on their toes, as they balance and navigate between the different battle elements, eliminating the reliance on button-mashing. 

The ensemble cast presents some drawbacks, however. Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree inherently suffers from the common issue of power imbalance due to the character’s varying kits, so some of them are more dependent on the sword-swapping mechanics than others. There’s also noticeable input lag at times, which can prove deadly in a fast-paced, reflex-based title like this, especially since foes are free to disrupt attacks here. Synergy is another concern – while the roster gives the impression of flexible team compositions and experimentation, not everyone is always playable as part of the overall story (no spoilers here!), limiting tag-team options and, in turn, affecting efficiency in battles, since certain attacking styles don’t gel well together. 

The uneven playing field is partially remedied through a stat levelling system and a smithing mechanic that lets players craft better-quality swords. Taking place over 10 stages, the latter puts them through quick time events (QTEs) for different steps of the process, from fitting the metal parts together (Tsukurikomi) to heating the blade in the forge (Yaki-Ire), complete with intricate customisation that extends to modifying six different parts of the sword, lowering or improving certain stats, and choosing a name and the final finishes for it, which can be equipped across all eight Prayer Children. 

As for character attributes, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree categorises them into Base Attack, Base Health, Dash Count, Mana Absorption, and Attack Speed, plus an additional Movement Speed in the playable Towa mode. Upgrading them requires Firefly Ores, also used to unlock new Kagura spells, with Kagura staff inscriptions granting boosts to various stats, including Tsurugi or Kagura health, backstab damage, spell cooldown, and more. 

Coupled with Shinju’s Virtue – which unlocks and enhances extra perks like revives, reset chances, increased health recovery, and the like – and a favouring system that raises the likelihood of obtaining a specific Grace, power-ups with different rarities that introduce special effects such as life steal, projectile deflection, or the ability to unleash lightning, players can start a new playthrough stronger and better-equipped than before, although luck still factors into victory. 

If these elements prove familiar, it’s because the Hades influence permeates strongly here. Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree inherits the fundamentals of a dungeon crawler, where players clear out an enemy-infested room as quickly as they can, pick their preferred Grace (basically the game’s version of a Boon), presented as cards, enter the next domain, and defeat an area boss. Non-combat encounters are scattered throughout, offering a respite from slashing action in the form of bonfires, which include a healing pool and an opportunity for characters to interact, hot springs and food stalls that reward temporary perks, and a store to purchase extra abilities or buffs.

After several stages, a final, more threatening boss stands at the finish line, alongside a number score that appears at the end of every level. Unlike the rank system in, say, the Devil May Cry games, where an ‘SSS’ indicates an exceptional performance, it hardly means anything here – the higher, the better goes without saying, but the determining metric remains unclear. If it’s purely timing, characters with a low damage output are naturally at a disadvantage, prompting players to invest only in attack power, which dilutes the experience of toying with different builds. The number of consecutive combos, or a combination of both, perhaps? Nobody knows. Ultimately, the score is a superfluous addition. 

Again, death is all part and parcel of the experience, and the game promises that in spades. Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree doesn’t know the definition of mercy and can be extremely unforgiving at times, aligning with the persistent nature of roguelites, which is only to be expected. What’s not, though, is how it punishes failure brought on by its own design flaws that lie beyond a player’s control, especially in the starting stages. Depending on their luck, a run can last north of 45 minutes, and the reluctance to repeat the long process is exacerbated by one-hit bosses like the Non-Noh, a tight reaction window, and arguably the worst offender, poor contrast of visual elements, where red indicators are placed against a, wait for it, deep red background. 

See, part of the genre’s appeal stems from studying an enemy, recognising their attacking patterns, learning when to strike back or play defensively, and eventually, securing a hard-earned victory. The former two factors already make it difficult to enjoy this process, particularly with combo-heavy and fast-moving bosses that are best countered with i-frames, or invincibility frames, turning players invincible for a brief amount of time when certain actions are performed (Fatal Blow, in this context). The lack of visibility proves to be a crutch when keeping track of the hectic on-screen action, too.

There are no accessibility options to change the visual elements, either, and it certainly doesn’t help that story progression is locked behind successful runs – while a lower difficulty level is available, enemies aren’t weakened from the get-go, only with each failed Journey. At best, completing a run sparks relief and quick-fading satisfaction; at worst, it feels like an arduous chore. The co-op experience reveals even more cracks in the gameplay, as it uses the same colour to indicate charge attacks for both the Kagura and Tsurugi, gracing the battlefield with more messy activity. Additionally, the second player will automatically step into the Kagura role, which involves casting two spells and a whole lot of waiting around. 

Instead, the charm of Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is in its characters, and oddly, the domestic moments. Each of the Prayer Children looks distinctive enough to stand on their own, with unique quirks livening up their characterisation. Nishiki and the easygoing shiba inu incarnate Bampuku, for example, represent the fun of breaking the mould, while still honouring the game’s Japanese roots (both the koi and shiba inu hold cultural significance), and it’s always heartening to witness the characters bond over the bonfire in between the combat encounters – be it good-natured ribbing or deeper conversations about life. 

Notably, the difference between Bampuku’s Japanese and English voices is jarring, with the former taking on a cute, bubbly tone versus a deeper, more mature one. The passing character lines, which trigger mid-battle or when players enter a new room, could also welcome more variety, as they get repeated fairly often in longer runs, while Rekka’s devoted, overprotective follower archtyping leaves much to be desired.

In Shinju Village, some of the NPC interactions prove equally entertaining, making it easy to crack a smile at the villagers’ antics. At the beginning of the game, access is only granted to the blacksmith, dojo, shrine, and general shop, but as players progress through the story, more features and locations will be available, including the ability to accept requests, construct or upgrade buildings to unlock better, more premium options, eat at a restaurant for temporary stat boosts, and fish, which is as relaxing as it’s productive, collecting Fishing Points that can be exchanged for various items by talking to fishers. 

The efforts of Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree to go against the grain deserve credit, with its time travel premise and two-weapon, dual-role mechanics bringing an intriguing spin on traditional gameplay. As a roguelite, however, it loses the edge that endears the genre to many: a sense of satisfaction rather than frustration, the enthralling battle high, the enjoyment in unpredictability and experimentation, and an intuitive system that clicks perfectly in place. An awkward child of innovation and inspiration it may be, but sincerity is never in short supply. 

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

So, you want to hear a story, eh? 

Well, old Marcus still has some tales left to tell, and this one is the start of something new, not just another tale of Vault Hunters and hidden treasures, but one of guns, more than ever before, and most importantly, one about redemption.

It’s no secret that Gearbox Software’s Borderlands looter shooter franchise has had a tough time following the less-than-ideal reception to its 2019 threequel, Borderlands 3, which established a shift in fans’ expectations, who were no longer content with just more guns and more shooting action, but also wanted a strong narrative foundation to go along with it. Alas, the game missed the mark in this aspect.

With its newest entry, Borderlands 4, the studio seems to be taking a two-pronged approach to redeem itself, not only continuing to build upon its solid looting and shooting foundation to ramp up the action, but also dialling back the absurdity of its narrative for a grounded story experience that still presents that grandiose feel and high stakes for players to overcome. And while this latest entry isn’t without its fair share of flaws, Gearbox has largely succeeded in both regards, providing fans a follow-up worthy of the Borderlands name.

When it comes to the storyline of Borderlands 4, one question any fan would be wondering is if it is as good as Borderlands 2, but the short answer, unfortunately, is still a firm no. But that is to be expected, considering the lofty bar set by the latter. Instead, the fourth title takes its narrative in a completely new direction, literally, as the game leaves the previous title’s setting, the planet Pandora, completely, setting its sights on a new horizon, the planet of Kairos.

Set six years after the ending of Borderlands 3, which saw the Siren Lilith sacrifice herself by using all her power to teleport Elpis, Pandora’s moon, away before it destroyed Pandora, what no one realised was that Elpis was teleported too close to the once-hidden planet of Kairos, shattering its protective barrier and revealing its existence to the galaxy.

The thing is, Kairos was shielded from sight for a reason, as it was home to a ruthless dictatorship by an immortal being known as the Timekeeper, who kept his subjects in check using a massive army of synthetic followers alongside control chips implanted in the population known as Bolts. With Kairos revealed to the galaxy, this led to an influx of explorers known as Vault Hunters, who converged on the planet with the lure of a massive vault said to house equal parts riches and power. It also just happens to be situated directly beneath the Timekeeper’s fortress city of Dominion.

In series tradition, players will take on the role of one of four Vault Hunters – The Siren Vex, the Forgeknight Amon, the Exo-soldier Rafa, or the Gravitar Harlowe. Armed with guns and devastating abilities, the Vault Hunter must build up their army, known as the Crimson Resistance, as they track down the Timekeeper’s three commanders – Idolator Sol, Vile Licter, and Callis the Ripper Queen – in order to acquire their bolts and access Dominion to defeat the immortal ruler and discover the secrets of Kairos’ largest and most elusive vault.

Unlike the nonsensical and oftentimes cringe-inducing nature of Borderlands 3’s influencer antagonists, the Timekeeper is a much greater threat, and goes against recent series tradition by offering a completely serious main antagonist, something not seen since the original Borderlands’ Commandant Steele.

It’s a shame then that the Timekeeper hardly gets any screen time at all throughout the 30-plus-hour campaign, and is instead just a voice in the player’s head, mocking them even as they cause havoc within his ranks, at least until the game’s closing chapters. The majority of the time, players will be dealing with his three commanders, and although they are all unique in terms of personality, looks and ambitions, the trio merely serve as just another target to strike off a list, rather than a memorable threat to deal with.

For fans concerned about the franchise’s trajectory, at least in terms of its narrative, the good news is that Borderlands 4 at least has a tolerable storyline this time around. This improvement, however, has come at a cost, as Gearbox seems to have overcorrected on this front, as while its story is easy to follow, it can’t help feeling slightly generic, and like the studio has played it a little too safe.

Luckily, the same cannot be said about its gameplay, as Gearbox has gone all out to ensure combat feels both fresh and exhilarating. Borderlands 4’s multitude of new mechanics have already been explained via a recent hands-on preview session, but in short, overall combat flow has become much more fluid due to the introduction of traversal abilities, such as a grappling hook and the ability to double jump and glide, making combat akin to 2020’s Doom Eternal. 

Minor additions and tweaks also give players better options in terms of their builds, such as the inclusion of a healing ability known as a Repkits, alongside making heavy weapons like rocket launchers and miniguns operate the same way as grenades, freeing up an additional weapon slot in the process.

Not seen in the previous preview however, were the two remaining Vault Hunters, Harlowe and Amon, with the latter being the choice character for our playthrough. Harlowe excels in controlling the battlefield and crowd control, able to damage or disable multiple enemies at once using her gravity-based skills, with each skill inflicting the “entangled” effect on foes. Once entangled, she can then use her character trait effectively, which shares a portion of gun damage or skill damage with all other entangled enemies.

Amon, on the other hand, uses summoned weaponry to overwhelm foes, choosing between a shield which can absorb and reflect damage back, a flaming fist that can close the gap, or a personal favourite, twin axes that can prime enemies to be detonated using his character trait, Forgeskill, which grants Amon an additional ultimate action skill unique to each of his three skill trees. Amon’s playstyle will feel instantly familiar to fans of the Mass Effect franchise, with players timing their skills to prime and detonate foes for maximum damage output.

As for the series’ bread and butter –  guns, and a massive arsenal of them – Borderlands 4 holds nothing back and provides some of the most diverse weaponry seen in the franchise to date. Apart from its two new gun manufacturer additions, the Order and Ripper, which both operate on a charging system, the former to fire multiple shots at once and the latter to shoot rounds like a minigun at high firing rates, the game also features guns with parts from multiple manufacturers, meaning a Jakobs rifle can now have a shotgun underbarrel, or an Order assault rifle, which usually fires in semi-auto, can now be equiped with a Ripper magazine, meaning it now charges up to fire rounds in full auto, dealing devastating damage.

With each gun now possessing up to three separate traits, the combinations are virtually endless, making players rethink how they see traditional firearm archetypes, and keeping the shooting experience fresh throughout dozens of hours of non-stop firefights. And this explains the billions of guns that the game has been touting since it was announced. 

If there was one major critique about combat, it’s with regard to the game’s bland enemy design. On the positive side, the Rippers make a return, and these psychotic freaks are always a joy to deal with, possessing all sorts of mechanical augments that make them as impressive to look at as they are to dispatch. It’s the game’s other main faction, the Timekeeper’s Synth army, that can be downright boring to deal with.

This is largely due to their design philosophy, which seems to be in direct contrast to the Rippers for thematic reasons. Unlike the unpredictable nature of the Rippers, the Synths are basically a mass-produced robot army that share the same uniform look, as skinny, uninspired gold humanoids lacking any personality whatsoever. Of course, there are bulkier variants, some that crawl on all fours or hover in the air, but dealing with the Synths never feels exciting. To make matters worse, this will be the primary faction players will have to contend with, and fighting the same robots over and over again gets tiring, fast.

Shooting samey foes in Borderlands 4 might get old over time, but at least the game constantly keeps things intense by ramping up the difficulty, especially when it comes to its Badasses – amped up enemy variants that can possess unique and powerful skills. Every encounter with a Badass is always challenging, as, unlike the previous game, they now actually pose a substantial threat and force players to handle them strategically. Weapons drops have also seen some tweaks, meaning Legendary items are actually much more of a rarity, with players easily going 10 or more hours without seeing a single Legendary drop, so stumbling upon one is now a much more rewarding experience.

When it comes to the locales where players will be doing all their shooting, Borderlands 4 might not provide the biggest map in the series, but it does offer one of its most dense and activity-packed. The main playable area of Kairos is split into three zones – the grassy plains of The Fadefields in the South, the barren deserts of Carcadia Burn to the Northwest, and the icy mountains of Terminus Range in the Northeast, and at the map’s centre lies Dominion, and a player’s ultimate goal.

Visually, Borderlands 4 retains the franchise’s cell-shaded comic-book-style aesthetic, with perhaps the biggest graphical upgrade stemming from massively improved lighting, shading and particle effects. Environmental effects such as God rays and light shafts are a standout here, although the game does showcase some impressive texture work, particularly when it comes to its guns, with some intricately rendered minute details, such as a serial number etched on the side of a Jakobs rifle.

It’s a shame then that the experience is bogged down by unstable frame pacing and massive traversal stutters when travelling from point to point, even on a beefy RTX 4090 gaming rig. As is the case with all early review copies, these performance issues may eventually be patched out upon release, but it’s still a pertinent point to bring up, especially for those prone to motion sickness.

In almost every aspect, Borderlands 4 is a massive step up compared to its predecessor, and marks the tale of redemption that so many fans are hoping for. This isn’t a flawless journey by any means, as it still has a long way to go before it can reach the heights of Borderlands 2, but for now, this is certainly a step in the right direction.

Kevin Low

Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.

The post Borderlands 4 – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

Known for the three core pillars of slow, methodical combat, tense atmosphere and an emphasis on resource management under pressure, the survival horror shooter genre is one that has stood the test of time, but one that’s also dominated by big-hitter franchises such as Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Dead Space (may it rest in peace).

When faced against such juggernauts, what can a new IP to the genre do, to truly stand out? For Bloober Team’s sci-fi shooter, Cronos: The New Dawn, the answer lies not in elevating the formula, but taking it back to its roots. This mindset might seem counterintuitive in today’s, “more is better” landscape, but Bloober’s gamble has definitely paid off, as Cronos isn’t just a breath of fresh air; it’s a love letter to the genre, and one of the best survival horror games in recent memory.

It all begins with a single question – What happens when a pandemic spreads out of control? For the game’s fictionalised version of Poland, the answer is complete human annihilation. In 1981, a virus breaks out in the thriving socialist city of New Dawn, with a disease that either kills those infected outright or, worse, mutates them into horrifying monstrosities known as Orphans.

Unable to stop the spread of the virus, humanity is eventually wiped out, and the Earth is reduced to nothing but an Orphan-infested wasteland. To save humanity, an enigmatic organisation known as The Vocation decides that the past is humanity’s only salvation, deploying humanoid beings known as Travelers with the mission to travel back in time and extract the essences of important individuals, with the hopes of using their knowledge to save humanity.

As Traveler ND-3576, players embark on this perilous mission with little to no context of what’s going on, with the game positioned to be intentionally vague and leaving it up to the player to piece together what’s going on on their own. Without venturing into spoiler territory, Cronos: The New Dawn’s slow-burn narrative works in its favour, keeping players invested in the mystery by drip-feeding bits of lore throughout, with major plot reveals only left to its closing hours.

What follows is a roughly 15-hour linear adventure that embodies the very essence of survival horror. Played in the third-person over-the-shoulder perspective, players will venture into the post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of time rifts to travel back to when the outbreak first began, unravelling the mysteries surrounding the virus along the way.

This task is much easier said than done, however, as New Dawn is overrun with Orphans that players must face every step of the way. In true survival horror fashion, resources are extremely scarce, and players will have to diligently scavenge and manage their resources to work around their limited inventory space.

Armed with a ShiftBlade, a weapon which can morph between different gun configurations alongside a brass-knuckle-like melee mode, combat in Cronos: The New Dawn is basic, but true to the spirit of the genre. As someone essentially wearing a bulky metal space suit, the Traveler can’t rely on fancy acrobatics like dodges or rolls, nor can she deflect or block incoming blows à la Leon Kennedy from the Resident Evil 4 remake. Instead, the only way to avoid attacks is to simply run away, and even that’s a tense affair considering how slowly she moves.

Her best bet then is to dispatch foes before they come close. The problem is, the Orphans aren’t your standard shambling zombies, as they not only move at a brisk pace, but also possess elongated tentacle-like limbs that can strike her from quite a distance. As all it takes is a few hits before it’s game over, every combat encounter, even those against one or two foes, becomes a test of tactical re-positioning and quick reaction times.

Further adding to the tension is Cronos: The New Dawn’s weighty gunplay that encourages accuracy and patience over spraying and praying. This is due not only to the aforementioned scarcity of ammunition but also to how weapons work, as each gun configuration often has a charged shot function, which is also the most effective way to take foes out while saving bullets. Initially, shots take quite a while to fully charge up, meaning players will have to tactically kite their enemies to gain enough distance to land a perfect charged headshot.

Fortunately, players will find resources along the way that can be used to upgrade their suit and weapons, evening the odds with increased health, inventory capacity or enhancements to weapons like higher damage or reduced charge times. This makes encounters more manageable as the game progresses, but players still won’t be able to completely breeze through fights in the late game either, as combat scenarios also ramp up in intensity over time by adding not only bigger threats to face, but more of them at any one time, ensuring that combat always remains a thrill.

That’s not even considering the game’s main gimmick either. In the Dead Space franchise, it was “Cut off their limbs”. In 2022’s Callisto Protocol, it was “Shoot the tentacles”. Here, it’s “Don’t let them merge”. In Cronos: The New Dawn, enemies aren’t reduced to mere corpses once they are killed; instead, each body on the ground becomes a potential upgrade source for subsequent foes, with every Orphan possessing the ability to merge with their fallen brethren, boosting their health and damage, or even gaining new abilities in the process.

This system is a literal game-changer, as it forces players to rethink how they approach each group of enemies. As fallen bodies are persistent, the only way to permanently remove them is to burn them with the Traveler’s flamethrower, with each use requiring a gas canister that takes up precious inventory space. As the flames only affects a small area around the player, the best strategy is to burn multiple groups of corpses at once, but trying to dispatch foes within the same spot further increases the risk of them merging, and is overall tricky to pull off during intense encounters, further adding to the chaos of battle as a player struggles to manage foes both alive and dead.

If an Orphan successfully merges, players are in for a much tougher time, as a mutated enemy can seriously throw a spanner in the works with their upgraded abilities. Let the larger, mini-boss-like Orphan merge once, for example, and it gains armour on various parts of its body that completely deflects bullets, forcing players to target specific exposed limbs. Let them merge once more, and they might gain the ability to attack from range, becoming a nearly unstoppable force that takes a lot of effort, and more importantly, precious ammo to put down.

In essence, Cronos: The New Dawn feels like a combination of Resident Evil, Dead Space, and John Carpenter’s The Thing mashed into one glorious chaotic beast, with elements of the Metro franchise thrown in for good measure, owing to its post-apocalyptic European setting.

And it’s this setting that’s truly a sight to behold, and not because of the game’s graphical fidelity – although the Unreal Engine 5 title is quite a looker despite its non-AAA nature – but due to its atmosphere. Much like the Silent Hill franchise, the game relies on what a player can’t see, obscuring the threats around every corner behind thick fog or the shroud of darkness, meaning that exploring its dilapidated city streets or dimly lit corridors is always a creepy and tense affair.

That’s just the sections taking place in the present, too, as once players enter a time rift and travel back to the 1980s, the atmosphere takes a new direction, bringing a new level of creepiness of a world on the brink of collapse, with abandoned streets filled with memories instead of people, offering no shortage of environmental storytelling such as discarded children’s toys, packed suitcases and cars haphazardly piled up on in the middle of the road. It’s a joy to behold, in a dark, twisted manner, and each jump back in time takes players to a different point in society’s collapse, painting a grim yet strangely beautiful picture of humanity’s losing war against an unstoppable pandemic.

It’s clear that Bloober Team has taken some learning lessons from last year’s Silent Hill 2 remake that it worked on, and it has helped elevate Cronos: The New Dawn into an original survival horror IP that not only surpassed expectations but also blew them completely out of the water. Here’s the bottom line – if you’re even remotely a fan of the survival horror franchise, this is one sci-fi time-travelling adventure that’s not to be missed.

Kevin Low

Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.

The post Cronos: The New Dawn – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

Revenge stories are hardly new, but just because a premise is well-trodden doesn’t mean no merit lies in it. Where some find comfort in a familiar, long-standing formula, others derive satisfaction from subjecting the big-bad to their comeuppance, and it’s a craft that Sega’s Shinobi series has honed over the decades. The hack-and-slash titles serve as proof that simple can work, so long as steadfast, clearly defined cornerstones are in place. 

Shinobi: Age of Vengeance shares the same spirit in a bolder, more stylish fashion. Marking the first new addition to the franchise in 14 years, it (re)introduces players to long-time protagonist Joe Musashi and his quest to exact revenge on Lord Ruse, the mysterious leader of the military organisation ENE Corporation that devastated his village, as well as foil the villain’s plans for world domination.

Alongside other staple mechanics, the straightforward approach is standard fare for returning veterans, except the decade-long gap between this forthcoming outing and its predecessor also welcomes revisions to existing elements that align better with newcomers and modern expectations. The aesthetic facelift is the immediate highlight, catching attention with a polished, striking flair inherited from developer Lizardcube’s previous outing, 2022’s Streets of Rage 4.

Similar to the hit brawler, Shinobi: Age of Vengeance oozes cool. Vibrant colours are woven into a breathtaking canvas of hand-drawn visuals, crisp animation, and intricate attention to detail that shows in all corners of the world – whether it’s the subtle environmental effects, or the flapping of Joe’s clothing as he runs through the stages. There’s a smooth, graceful quality to his movements, with a bit of realistic heft accompanying every backflip, obstacle vault, dash, and other parkour actions. 

It won’t take long to fall under the spell of the game’s allure, which persists into all five main zones and their respective sub-stages. Each of them touts a distinct design rooted in a particular theme, offering different shades of personality: the retro-futuristic Neo City, for instance, is drenched in bright neon illumination (keep an eye out for a sneaky SEGA signboard), while the Fish Market stage features shipping containers as part of traversal. No matter the location, it has been carefully crafted with secrets to discover: Elite Squads, hidden chests, Oboro Relics for unlocking new items in the shop, and later in the game, Ankou Rifts.

The variety in stage design is a strong show of creativity that freshens up the gameplay experience from one platform to the next. In addition to introducing certain mechanics in select stages, Shinobi: Age of Vengeance also includes various mini environmental puzzles and makes it easy to understand how they work, so seasoned gamers should be able to solve them based on intuition alone. Case in point – a handful of sub-stages require players to push flammable barrels atop or near reinforced metal barriers and detonate them with a swing of their sword, with the red exterior indicating their explosive nature, while another mechanism alternates between a set of pink-infused barriers that temporarily close and open up other pathways when activated.

Because mobility and traversal techniques called Ningi unlock in phases, it’s common to encounter inaccessible areas during the first playthrough of a new stage. There are a total of seven moves to learn, comprising Dash; Ninja Flip; Cannon Punch, which lets Joe smash through green-glowing Yokai Barrier floors; Ninja Claws, used to climb special walls; Ninja Hook, essentially a directional grapple hook; Sword Dive, which drives Joe’s katana into the ground while airborne; and Glider. Once available, players are free to revisit past stages and tread on new, unexplored territory.  

The addition of a minimap certainly helps matters, especially for those who are directionally challenged. As opposed to some of its metroidvania contemporaries, Shinobi: Age of Vengeance makes navigation more accessible by highlighting the possible pathways for players and the obstacles standing in their way, as well as fast travel points that can be used at any point after their initial activation. The indication of main and optional routes (a purple versus yellow patch, respectively), in particular, is a great design choice, guiding players to the necessary areas at a glance and preventing them from getting stuck, which would lock them out of the linear progression. 

In between these zones on the world map are optional stages that give out extra rewards upon completion, but be warned, as players have to work hard for them. These bonus challenges pit their reflexes against a series of jumping and dodging sequences, and it’s where the game’s old-school roots peek through, with the lack of a progress or completion meter making it difficult to gauge where the finish line lies. The experience may feel like it goes on forever, at times culminating in slight frustration, though there’s no denying the sense of satisfaction that follows upon completion.  

Platforming, as a whole, can be difficult (this is a Shinobi title, after all), but never unfair. It’s one thing to navigate past moving obstacles and platforms, and another to do so while fighting foes, and Shinobi: Age of Vengeance gets more of the blood pumping by throwing hovering enemies and speedy attacks into the mix. Instead of turning the process into an unbeatable trial, however, Sega’s latest treats it more like a learning lesson, where recognising patterns, grasping timings, and determination hold the key to victory. 

If the challenge persists, a selection of accessibility options is available for extra assistance, including modified difficulty levels, reduced environmental damage, and more, so less proficient players won’t feel removed from the experience. At its best, parkour action is fast-paced, tight, and fluid, courtesy of intuitive controls, precise execution, and immediate access to traversal basics like double jump, wall run, and mid-air dash – staple mechanics that can only be unlocked at a later stage in other similar titles. 

At its worst, platforming reveals room for refinement. The fast travel points are unevenly distributed at times, so expect the sense of frustration to hit harder during these points, and the same goes for chase sequences that either run a little long or come up short. In larger stages, the dynamic flow of Joe’s movements is susceptible to momentum loss, becoming more evident during segments where players have to wait for moving or rotating platforms. 

True to the Shinobi DNA, action is easily the title’s crown jewel. Rooted in chaining combos and a mix-and-match play style, the combat system adds more depth to its hack-and-slash origins, which begin with stringing together light and heavy sword swings, or a mix of both for up-close damage, and throwing kunai or executing a dive-kick for mid-to-long-ranged damage. This core set of attacks can be combined in any order and used in tandem with Joe’s expanded movesets as players progress through Shinobi: Age of Vengeance, spanning combat moves, basic attacks that can extend combos, special offensive and defensive capabilities called Ninpo; Ninjutsu, super-powered moves that affect all enemies, much like an Ultimate ability; the previously mentioned Ningi, which double as special attacks; and a personal favourite, Shinobi Execution.

An exhilarating sight to behold, Shinobi Execution allows players to chain-assassinate staggered enemies when an icon appears above their heads. Doing so drops additional rewards like gold, health orbs, and kunai ammo that increase with more enemies killed, with the sense of gratification carrying over when activating Ninjutsu, which are imbued with elemental effects. 

Each offers welcome assistance differently, proving extremely handy in a pinch – where Karyu engulfs all foes in the flames of a majestic, roaring dragon, its lightning counterpart Raijin creates a temporary lightning shield that boosts Execution Gauge gains. Running low on health? The water-infused Shisui offers a lifeline by restoring a massive portion of the health bar. 

With a total of 17 combat moves, eight Ninpo, seven Ningi, and four Ninjutsu slots, Shinobi: Age of Vengeance serves as the breeding ground for flexibility. The lack of a fixed way to defeat foes invites players to develop and customise loadouts that fit their preferences, and the trial-and-error process proves enjoyable, spicing up gameplay beyond basic combo executions. Be it combining a ninja roll with a light attack to land a knee attack or juggling enemies mid-air by chaining aerial strikes, ninja flips (cancelling an attack in a dash), rising strikes, and dive kicks, there’s hardly a dull moment in battle scenarios. When everything clicks, giddy delight and a rewarding pay-off follow. 

The fluid play style extends to the Amulet system that offers combo-based and passive perks, some of which are designed to complement other Ninpo abilities and support different attacking preferences. For example, those who like to keep their distance may consider equipping Piercing Kunai, allowing kunai to cut through enemies at twice the ammo cost, with Snake Charmer reducing the summoning time for Great Serpent Ninpo users. Amulets are available for purchase at the shop or obtained through completing platforming puzzles and beating Elite Squads, mini-bosses, and bosses, though only one of each type can be equipped at one time. 

The frenetic, reflex-based slice-and-dice action is a welcome dose of adrenaline, but Shinobi: Age of Vengeance demands more than just button mashing. Unleashing the special moves, namely Shinobi Execution, Ninjutsu, and Ninpo, requires their gauges to be filled up first, achieved through inflicting a significant amount of a specific type of damage on a foe to stagger them, by taking damage or collecting Rage Orbs from defeated enemies, and simply attacking and killing adversaries, respectively. 

Then, there’s the need to prioritise and plan the best course of action in battle, such as choosing between healing via Shisui or going all-out offensive at extremely low health, or activating Shinobi Execution on only one foe as opposed to stacking them. Empowered and elite enemies come with their fair share of challenges, too – armoured combatants, for instance, will block front-facing strikes and only take damage when the shield is broken, while others have unpredictable or annoying attacking patterns. It’s a constant reminder for players to never let their guard down around common enemies, as it’s easy to be overwhelmed by their numbers, especially if both platforming and combat are involved at the same time. 

Still, there are some minor gripes to address. As genre enthusiasts would know, action titles are often subjected to hectic on-screen activity, and Shinobi: Age of Vengeance is no exception to the rule. Keeping up with the constant movement may prove difficult and distracting at times, as best demonstrated in a boss encounter featuring multiple clone summons, and especially when Joe’s outfit – that thankfully, can be changed when navigating the world map – clashes against the vibrant backdrop. If players get too close to a wall or a blockage, the enemy’s sword attacks can penetrate it and damage Joe, who cannot do the same to them. Mechanically, the dive-kick isn’t the easiest to grasp, as the fixed striking distance and lack of directional input require more spatial awareness than one might be used to. 

The thrills of combat are accentuated by an outstanding score that delivers pulsating, high-energy beats and electronic-infused traditional instrumentals, alongside breathtaking animation in the form of lively slashing and Ninpo ability effects, a comic panel-style cutscene before the start of a major boss battle, and more. Like every other entry in the Shinobi series, the narrative is nothing to write home about, but the voice acting certainly brings flavour to character interactions and dialogue sequences.

A highly anticipated and well-executed return to the modern gaming space, Shinobi: Age of Vengeance doesn’t seek to reinvent the wheel and instead leans into embracing its deep-seated strengths through a visual revamp. Franchise veterans will feel right at home with its deft handling of platforming action, which now offers added depth and flexibility, while newcomers can soak in the spectacle without being alienated from the overarching story. Amid the exhilaration and occasional frustration, one thing is clear: slicing and dicing can both look and feel good. 

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post Shinobi: Age of Vengeance – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

Hooded Horse, Ubisoft, and Unfrozen have officially unveiled the long-rumored secret faction, the Schism, in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era. This mysterious group is tailor-made for fans of Lovecraftian horror, forbidden rituals, and chilling ice magic. The Schism emerged from a dramatic split with the Alvar, Jadame’s dominant continental power, choosing exile in the icy wilderness to pursue their own dark solution to the Hive threat.

In their secluded mountain strongholds, the Schism built a society rooted in strict hierarchy, scholarly pursuit, and the rediscovery of ancient Vori rites. Their mastery of arcane knowledge grants them access to potent and perilous magic, allowing them to summon terrifying eldritch creatures and disrupt enemy abilities. Whether overwhelming foes with sheer numbers or freezing them into submission with ice sorcery, the Schism are a force of calculated chaos, ready to reshape the battlefield with intellect and terror.

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is the latest entry in the iconic turn-based strategy series, set in the richly imagined world of Enroth on the long-referenced but never-before-explored continent of Jadame. Players will journey through a vibrant fantasy realm filled with secrets and danger, constructing majestic cities, selecting heroes that match their playstyle, commanding vast armies of mythical creatures, and engaging in deeply tactical battles. Whether playing solo in a new campaign, tackling standalone scenarios, exploring endlessly with randomly generated maps, or facing off against friends and foes in multiplayer mode, the game offers countless paths to adventure. Players can also have the ability to craft and share custom maps with the built-in editor. With intuitive tutorials designed for both newcomers and seasoned veterans, Olden Era invites all players to shape their own legendary tale.

Mark your calendars for 9 October as the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise turns 30! Join the celebration with a lineup of special events, including a live broadcast on Twitch and YouTube. The show will dive into the legacy of the series with exclusive interviews covering its storied past, dynamic present, and exciting future, plus a spotlight moment featuring Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era.

Check out 60 minutes of PC gameplay fresh off Gamescom 2025, showcasing exploration, battles and city building with the Temple, Dungeon, Sylvan and Necropolis Factions.

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era will be released on PC via Steam Early Access in 2025.

Yonk

Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.

The post ‘Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era’ Reveals Secret Ice Faction “Schism” appeared first on Geek Culture.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

It was a game six years in the making, based on an iconic sci-fi novel known for its dense and intricate world-building, so it’s fair to say that while Funcom, the developers of ambitious survival MMO Dune: Awakening, understood the scale of the game they were making, they were not ready for the ardent fanbase.

The alternate-timeline take on Frank Herbert’s sci-fi universe found a large audience interested in exploring a new galaxy, scoring a positive score of 85 per cent and above, and netted a more than respectable concurrent player count of over 142,000 players on launch day to become Funcom’s fastest selling game of all time.

“We were not expecting both how often people would play, and for how long they would play. So that took us a bit by surprise, because it blew past our projections, which is both a great thing” acknowledged Scott Junior, Executive Producer of Dune: Awakening during an exclusive interview with Geek Culture at Gamescom 2025 in Cologne, Germany.

“We had tons of people around, but it also meant that there was a lot of them consuming the content faster than we thought they would be able to.”

Now that it’s been slightly over two months since the game’s release, the team at Funcom has been hard at work responding to player feedback, overcoming technical challenges, and planning the future of the game. Oh, and also the realisation that they need to roll out more content for players.

“We should have had more end game content for all of our player types, for both like PvP and PvE, and so that’s one of our big initiatives right now, is addressing the adding additional content for end game players, especially those that don’t want to engage in direct conflict,” says Junior.

Given the high visibility of a hit game, the team has been highly responsive to player feedback, making significant adjustments post-launch. 

“At launch, as people were getting to the deep desert, there was a lot of conflict happening. The people who got there first already had the end-game gear after a week, and then these new players were coming in a little bit staggered, and they had less gear,” Junior explained.

To address this, the team “made some changes a couple weeks after launch, to move the PvP border north in the deep desert, so that the iron resources could still be available to people, so that they can prepare before they get to the conflict.” 

Further tweaks include bringing more resources into the southern area, allowing players to gather resources in a non-competitive, non-hostile environment but even with all that they are doing, there is the challenge of making current players happy, and developing new content for incoming players in the road ahead.

“Launching a large game with hundreds of thousands of people playing at the same time is challenging. We’re really happy with how overall the experience was, but there were some isolated incidents where people couldn’t log in, or there were some traveling issues going between maps where people would lose vehicles due to some technical things,” Junior recounted.

“We’ve spent a lot of our resources looking at those edge cases and making sure that we’re resolving those so that the overall experience is good. We also had some issues with cheating and hackers… so we’ve been working with our anti-cheat partners to shore up those because we want a fair, competitive atmosphere for everybody.”

Looking ahead, the team is committed to expanding the game’s story and features. The team’s live service strategy is to produce content for the story and side stories at the same time, and to expand the survival features of the game within these new stories.

The first major update, Chapter Two, is set to launch on 10 September, focusing on early to mid-game players and introducing new adventures and quest hubs. 

“At launch, we had two acts… Then we’re starting to act three with a new update, and that’s the great convention, and the player is going to start being introduced to more of the lore characters that they might have seen in the movies or in the books.”

But even with all the planned expansion, one of the pillars for Dune: Awakening still remains – to make it an approachable survival game. 

“When we looked through all the mechanics of survival games, a lot of them are very difficult, or they’re opaque on how you need to progress… We also wanted to introduce a narrative element into survival games, and I think we’ve done a really good job with that, with the storyline,” Junior said.

“We have a storyline that guides you through 90% of the difficult to understand parts as an onboarding and then that allows us to take what is traditionally a somewhat hardcore genre with survival and make it more approachable or accessible.”

Players have surprised the team with their creativity, especially with the building system. “We’ve run a couple of building contests… Using those four [building sets] with our building system, they’ve created just absolutely amazing pieces. There are these gigantic towers, huge guild houses where they have individual garages for every single member. That was surprising, how much players were engaging with that and the unique things they were creating,” Junior shared.

And once chapter two is done, there’s the next one, and of course, the planned release for the game on consoles, though the team already knows what they need to do next, including bringing back some features that had to be postponed due to production and budgeting constraints. 

“One of the PvE things we wanted to do… was more discoverable points [on the Overland Map] that would dynamically show up… We ended up having to cut that due to just production budgeting and timelines. So it’s one of the things we want to bring back with chapter three,” Junior revealed.

Adapting Dune: Awakening for consoles has been a significant undertaking for the team as they have been working since pre-production and early development on the console versions. They had to stop due to budgeting reasons and had to move the console release to 2026. But after the game’s launch week in June, they have a full team working on both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox versions of the game.

The main challenge has been “decreasing the memory footprint so it runs just as well as it would run on PC, on both Sony and Microsoft’s platforms, and then updating some of the control and UI/UX. But we’re making good progress. We have the build running right now and we’re excited to bring it out to the other platforms next year.”

When asked about a feature the team is especially proud of, Junior highlighted the harvesting mini-game mechanic. “Maybe it seems very simple, but it’s our harvesting mechanic. The team did really well with the visuals and the sounds and just that harvesting activity works well. Especially when you start getting into vehicles that can start harvesting and levelling up the technique. It’s just, it’s a nice experience.”

With a dedicated team, a passionate community, and a clear vision for the future, Dune: Awakening will continue evolving and surprising its players for months and years to come.

Come this September 10th, the free Chapter 2 Update will continue the gripping narrative following the base game’s dark revelations, inviting players to uncover deeper secrets of the Imperium while encountering both new and familiar faces across fresh locations. Alongside the expanded storyline, players can enjoy a wealth of new world content ranging from contracts and dynamic encounters to unique items and activities. The update also enhances character customisation with additional options like new hairstyles, all accessible through a newly introduced re-customisation feature for existing characters.

Additionally, The Lost Harvest DLC will introduce a fully standalone storyline centered around the mysterious crash of a Miner’s Guild spice harvester, which conceals a secret cargo with the potential to reshape everything, and it’s up to the player to uncover it. Alongside this narrative expansion, the DLC adds a range of new cosmetics, including the first animated cosmetic vehicle, the Treadwheel, as well as the Dune Man building set, fresh decorations, armor sets, weapons, and more. These items, while visually distinct, offer no gameplay advantage and must be crafted like standard gear. The DLC is part of the US$24.99 Season Pass, also included in the Deluxe and Ultimate Editions of the game or it can be purchased separately at US$12.99.

Yonk

Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.

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TiMi Studio Group kicked off Gamescom 2025 with a major reveal, premiering the first full trailer for Honor of Kings: World during Geoff Keighley’s Opening Night Live. The trailer offered a sweeping look at Primaera, the game’s visually stunning continent, and teased a mix of intricate puzzles, high-stakes battles, and dynamic combat mechanics that define the upcoming Eastern Fantasy multiplayer action RPG.

The showcase marks a pivotal moment for the franchise, as Honor of Kings: World expands the beloved universe to a global audience. Players were treated to glimpses of style-switching combat, cooperative boss fights, and richly detailed environments, all underscored by the game’s narrative depth and social features. “Opening Night Live was the perfect moment to give players a true taste of what’s ahead,” said Big Huang, lead combat designer. “Now we can’t wait for visitors to Gamescom to get hands-on with the game themselves.”

Attendees at Gamescom can experience the game first hand from 20 to 24 August at Hall 9, Booth B040, where a playable PC demo offers cooperative boss battles with full support for both mouse-and-keyboard and controllers.

Set within the halls of Jixia Academy, players begin their journey as a gifted student navigating three specialist schools. Along the way, they’ll encounter iconic heroes from the original Honor of Kings, uncover the secrets of the Wonders, and explore “the Flow,” a mysterious energy source that shapes the world’s lore.

Honor of Kings: World is expected to be released in 2025 on PC and mobile platforms (iOS/Android), promising a rich and immersive experience for both fans and newcomers.

Yonk

Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.

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