The Iconic RuneScape Battleground is Transformed into an Oasis After 18 years of PvP Fighting, Staking and Duelling
Tuesday 4th January 2022, Cambridge, UK – After 18 years of being the battlefield for PvP combat, RuneScape todaysays goodbye to its iconic Duel Arena and is set to welcome heroes to Het’s Oasis, which will introduce an all-new landscape, new skilling methods and two new miniquests to experience.
Kicking off today with the Oasis Restoration, the heroes of RuneScape will be tasked with the transformation of the Duel Arena following a cataclysmic earthquake that has destroyed the area. Heroes will need to work together to turn the ruins of the arena from a bloodthirsty fighting pit, where heroes have long staked their wealth in one-on-one matches, to a tranquil oasis. Heroes will work together to rebuild the area by taking part in daily tasks with rewards based not only on their own progress, but on the progress of the whole community.
Heroes who participate in the rejuvenation of the former arena’s lands will receive exclusive event rewards, including a new crocodile pet, a new title, desert-themed cosmetic armour as well as the comfy and resilient ‘Gators’ footwear.
Following the two-week event, the reformed arena will be known as Het’s Oasis – an area of learning and exploration with new skill-related content for those looking to boost their Agility, Hunter and Farming skills. Heroes will also assist the God of Death in two Eye of Het miniquests as they delve into Het’s Tomb in search of a powerful object that will aid the young gods as part of the Elder God Wars saga.
The Oasis Restoration is live today in RuneScape on PC, Steam, iOS, and Android, complete with cross-platform progression and play on PC and mobile.
Notes to Editors: RuneScape’s Duel Arena was added in 2004 and allowed players to challenge other players to one-on-one PVP fights. Players were able to stake any amount on the outcome of the fight with the winner taking all.
About RuneScape More than twenty years in the making and acclaimed by PC Gamer as “one of the most endearing and unique MMOs available”, RuneScape is an ever-expanding, living game that’s bursting with activity and life. Today RuneScape is one of the world’s longest-running online games, welcomed almost 300 million player accounts, and is at peak popularity with millions of players.
Set in a medieval fantasy land, begin by creating a character and then embark on epic journeys through a vast sandbox world that’s full of gods, warring races, unexplored dungeons, and glittering riches. Propelled by the game’s narrative, choose your own path through enthralling quests, and progress through 28 diverse skills to shape a single character in a classless world. RuneScape on mobile is now available for iOS and Android devices, featuring cross-platform play between mobile and desktop editions, enabling players to seamlessly jump between devices and take their adventure anywhere. In RuneScape, you get to be the hero you always wanted to be and, with new content added almost every week, there’s always a new and adventurous experience to look forward to.
About Jagex A leader in creating deep and engaging live games on PC and mobile, Jagex’s flagship MMORPG, RuneScape, has welcomed almost 300 million player accounts to its world and is a $1billion lifetime revenue franchise. Today the RuneScape franchise exists beyond running games in live operations; our titles are living games that connect and inspire millions of players, with content and experiences both inside and outside of inexhaustible game worlds. Both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, on PC and mobile, offer ever-evolving, highly active worlds and our community-focussed development ethos empowers players to have a real say in how each game is shaped. Now we’re expanding and extending our portfolio with fresh franchise titles and new IP to bring life to the living games of the future. Jagex employs more than 450 people at its Cambridge headquarters.
Explore the beautiful world of ‘Headland’, making friends and fighting enemies along the way to rebuild the Imagination Core!
Copenhagen, Denmark – 4th January 2022 – Award-winning games studio Northplay announced today that Headland is launching on Nintendo Switch on January 13th. Featuring fast-paced action set in a beautifully fantastical world, Headland is a little adventure about a big imagination, coming soon!
“Headland was really well received when we launched it on iOS and Android, but we’ve added a bunch of new content and features that set it apart from the mobile game and tailor it to the Switch audience,” said Michael Flarup from Northplay. “Given that it was crafted as a premium experience from the start, Headland is a perfect fit for the platform and we can’t wait to open the gates to the magical world we’ve built for Switch players in this fun action adventure next week!”
A powerful force has destroyed the Imagination Core inside Nor’s Headland, stealing away the color and inspiration from his world. Now he must journey into the lush fantasy of his imagination to fight monsters and gather the scattered fragments of his creativity.
As you explore the grassy meadows, deep caves and dark castles of Headland’s dreamlike world, you will encounter a host of monsters to be defeated using Nor’s trusty sword and quick reflexes in an adventure full of varied challenges for you to overcome on your path to unlocking the full power of Nor’s imagination.
To help you succeed on your quest, you’ll want to collect as many resources as you can while exploring. New weapons can be unlocked in arenas and then upgraded using the resources you’ve gathered, giving you the power to define your own playstyle as part of a satisfying loop of resource gathering, upgrading, and equipping new tools to try out.
Headland delivers all this in a vivid and magical world brought to life through it’s engaging story and a delightful cast of new robot friends that you can meet during your journey. Together with Nor and his robot buddies, help uncover the mysteries behind the dark force in order to rebuild the Imagination Core and save Headland!
In addition to launching on Nintendo Switch, Headland is also heading to PC on Steam this Spring! Wishlist it today to keep up-to-date on news!
Northplay is a small independent video game developer based in Copenhagen, Denmark established in 2016. Combining years of design and development experience with a childlike pursuit of fun, Northplay have released multiple award winning games on Mobile, Web, PC and Nintendo Switch to an audience of over 5 million players. For more information visit www.northplay.co or follow on Twitter @heyNorthplay
After much speculation and anticipation, the PC port of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade has finally launched exclusively -although for how long is anyone’s guess- on the Epic Store. Final Fantasy 7 Remake was originally released on the PlayStation 4 almost two years ago. The upgraded Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade was released on PlayStation 5 in June this year and is the version that the PC port is based upon. Intergrade comes with an additional scenario featuring Yuffie Kisaragi. Yuffie was originally an optional character on the original Final Fantasy 7 for the PlayStation One, something which is hard to imagine nowadays, given the huge popularity that Yuffie gained through all these years. The PC port of Intergrade also includes all the bells and whistles that a remaster of a remake -huh- deserves, such as 4K resolution support and a 120 FPS cap. Now, is the PC version a good port of a remaster of a remake? We shall see below.
Story
The player assumes the role of ex-SOLDIER first class operative Cloud Strife, now a mercenary taking on all kinds of odd jobs to survive. Cloud’s first job is to assist the rebel group AVALANCHE in destroying a reactor in the city of Midgar. AVALANCHE believes that the Shinra company, which rules Midgar with an iron fist, is, in fact, destroying the world at an accelerated pace by using reactors to directly suck the very life essence of the planet. This life essence, called Mako, is responsible for all the progress and luxury enjoyed by the upper class people of Midgar, while the poor are left to rot in slums situated at the bottom of the city.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake takes a lot of liberty in retelling Cloud’s story by adding new characters, events and also a lot of new twists. As much as Square-Enix tried to replicate key scenes of the original Final Fantasy 7 faithfully, the new twists and events make Final Fantasy 7 Remake its own thing to a wide extent. This helps keep things fresh for fans of the original FF7. One thing that I particularly love about the remake is that characters that were kind of fillers in the original FF7 now have much more exposition. One character in particular even has their own backstory told in much more detail in new cutscenes.
Gameplay
Although the overall scale is obviously much bigger when compared to the old FF7, Final Fantasy 7 Remake retains the same linear, basic JRPG progression seen on the original FF7 and a lot of other titles in the same genre. The main missions mainly consist of the player going from point A to B while triggering battles, dialogues, or cutscenes. In fact, the main things that the game has going for it are its added exposition and fanservice. There’s a lot of it: Slow walking sections where the characters will comment on some aspect of the mission, casual blather in the mid of a mission or battle, and proper cutscenes -some of them completely new- where you only get to watch. That’s not to say that there aren’t other things to do and see, but unfortunately, the exploration takes a backseat when compared to all the cutscenes and walking back and forth that is mandatory.
The battle system was completely revamped to be more action-focused. There’s an option for a more traditional and slow style of gameplay similar to what the original FF7 had and also an easy mode: I think that having these options are essential for people who are not used to more action-oriented games, especially since FF7 was never an action game to begin with. Not to mention that when playing in “action mode” things can get hectic fast with the player having to keep track of a lot of things at the same time.
Despite having a full-featured combat system, with even a real-time action mode that may take a bit of time to get used to and be good at, the game doesn’t throw many battles at the player. Even in dungeons, there aren’t that many enemies to do battle with. Dungeons are one very important aspect in any RPG. Yet the dungeons consist of basically running, sometimes in a straight line, until the player seldom encounters a battle or a switch that they must activate in order to progress further. Another feature -or is it a bug?- present while navigating dungeons are tight spaces that you must crawl through very slowly. These “crawling sections” are a bit too frequent for my tastes, especially when the pacing of the game is already slow enough.
Visuals
Thanks to the real-time rendered graphics and the third-person view method of exploration, there’s much to see and appreciate in the remake. The Sector 7 slums, for example, is densely populated and busy with NPCs talking all the time and going about their daily chores. There’s a lot of care put in rendering key areas and characters with a high emphasis on the main characters: Their models and animations are detailed and beautiful. Unfortunately, there are a lot of inconsistencies in the graphics department, with low-resolution textures aplenty and even the use of some ugly 2D assets: When navigating the Sector 7 slums, the plate that covers it and the main pillar that can be seen in the distance are obviously static 2D images. Something that I’ve never seen in a modern game of this scale and production value.
The quality of the PC port is barebones, to say the least: There are only a few options that can be changed such as texture resolution and shadows. They only have the option of high/low or on/off. There’s no option to choose the method and intensity of ambient occlusion or antialiasing, with the latter applying a blurry TAA solution all over the place. This wouldn’t be such a nuisance, in my opinion, if not for the stuttering and frame drops that occur especially in more crowded areas. Add to that a broken dynamic resolution “feature” that runs on the background and can’t be turned off, making the visuals even blurrier. As of the writing of this review, there’s been no patch released to correct these problems, so if you want to play this game on PC, you better get on Google or Reddit to try and find a solution to tweak the game to run and look the way it’s supposed to.
Audio
Originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy 7’s soundtrack is one of Uematsu’s most famous works if not the most famous. Back when Final Fantasy 7 was released on the PlayStation One, the music sounded very basic and simple and didn’t utilize the CD storage capacity for more high-quality and varied tunes. For the remake, Uematsu is back along with another now veteran Final Fantasy composer Masashi Hamauzu, and also a number of other less-known composers to make the definitive Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack… or at least, part of it since this game only covers a fraction of the original game. New compositions were also made exclusively for Final Fantasy 7 Remake. My favorite original track is “Hollow Skies,” but there are a number of other new tracks. In fact, the whole soundtrack feels new since it’s completely redone and heavily modified compared to the original game.
Overall
Square-Enix lost the opportunity to bring Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade for PC on a big note. They really started off on the wrong foot. Firstly, for the controversy involving Epic Store’s exclusivity, something that doesn’t sit too well with a lot of PC gamers. And finally, for the quality of the port itself. I’m personally a fan of the Final Fantasy series despite the drop in quality in the more recent titles, and also despite the decision of making the Final Fantasy 7Remake a multi-chapter project. I really can’t shake off the feeling that I will die before this project concludes, or that it’ll be rushed to oblivion, much like this port, wasting a lot of potential in the process. Despite its faults, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is an interesting and enjoyable game that’s only held back by its lack of creative game design, and in the case of the PC port, its performance problems. Still, I can’t help but be curious about what’s coming next.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Join us for the first chapter of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade – The Destruction of Mako Reactor 1. We take control of Cloud and Barrett Wallace as we infiltrate the reactor and defeat a number of enemies along the way including the first Boss: Scorpion Sentinel (which nearly defeated took us down instead). We then make our escape from the Reactor before it blows up!
Cloud Strife, an ex-SOLDIER operative, descends on the mako-powered city of Midgar. The world of the timeless classic FINAL FANTASY VII is reborn, using cutting-edge graphics technology, a new battle system and an additional adventure featuring Yuffie Kisaragi.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Developer: Square Enix Publisher: Square Enix Platform: Windows Release Date: 12/17/21 Price: $69.99 USD
LOS ANGELES – DEC. 22 2021 – The latest update to Marvel Future Fight, Netmarble’s popular mobile RPG, introduces a slate of new uniforms inspired by Spider-Man: No Way Home, alongside other content that is now live for players to experience today.
Five all-new uniforms are now available to earn in-game. Players can collect a Spider-Man: No Way Home themed uniform, with both the Spider-Man: No Way Home (Black & Gold Suit) and Integrated Suit available, for Spider-Man, as well as Winter Criminal uniforms for Kingpin and Black Cat. Dispatch Missions also received the newly-themed Sector 11 and Sector 12 levels, which players can truly test their skills in high-difficulty missions for valuable rewards.
Other updates for MARVEL Future Fight include:
Kingpin can be now upgraded to Tier-3 and has a new Ultimate Skill added
Autoplay is now available to players in Alliance Battle
Auto-repeat functionality for ‘Dimension Rift’ is added to the game
MARVEL Future Fight celebrated its sixth anniversary with over 120 million players across the world. The game is currently available worldwide in the App Store® and Google Play™.
Established in Korea in 2000, Netmarble Corporation is a top developer and publisher pushing the boundaries of the mobile gaming experience with highly innovative games including Seven Knights 2, Marvel Future Revolution, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, Lineage 2: Revolution, The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, Blade & Soul Revolution and Marvel Future Fight. As a parent company of Kabam and SpinX Games, and a major shareholder of Jam City and HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment), Netmarble strives to entertain audiences around the world with a variety of mobile games based on its powerful franchises and collaborations with IP holders worldwide.
About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.
App Store is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the US and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Google Play is a trademark of Google Inc.
LOST EPIC Update Introduces New Worlds, Characters, Enhanced Weaponry
Update Launches Alongside 25% Discount
TOKYO – December 22, 2021 – LOST EPIC, the 2D Souls-like side-scrolling action RPG with fast-paced battles and hack-and-slash elements from publisher One or Eight and developer Team EARTH WARS, summons forth another major Early Access update today, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021.
This content update serves as a major update before LOST EPIC graduates from Early Access in 2022, and features two new worlds, two new playable avatars, and enhanced weaponry. Pick up the game at a 25% discount in time for the Steam Winter Sale, running nowthrough Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022.
Explore The House of Salvation, a maze-like area in the middle of a snowstorm. Engage in fierce, unforgiving battles in this new world lit by candlelight. Who is the The Savior that The Holy Ones of the icy world call out to in their choruses?
Experience The Frontier, a mysterious structure so high in the sky, the ground is merely a blur below. Discover buildings emanating peculiar forces that can help God Slayers or hinder them on their hunt for the The Frontier Defender of this world.
Two new avatars, Necromancer and The Noble One, join the roster as playable characters, and a mysterious new NPC, The Son of God, joins the cast. This update enables warriors to upgrade their weapons to achieve limit breaks and acquire final forms that grant enhanced divine skills. Choose to combine two divine skills to create a new one, or choose one skill to use in an evolved form.
“We would like to thank the neverending support of our players whose feedback we heavily relied on for this update,” said Team EARTH WARS. “You are making this game better, and we can’t wait to hear from our existing fans and new ones buying the game during the Steam Winter Sale as we prepare for the full release next year with some much-requested additions.”
LOST EPIC is out now on Steam Early Access for Windows PC for $19.99 with a 25% update discount starting Wednesday, Dec. 22 through Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022 as part of the Steam Winter Sale. For more information, visit the official LOST EPIC website and the official Discord server.
About Team EARTH WARS
The production team from EARTH’S DAWN which was released in 2015 and ported to many platforms. EARTH’S DAWN is a stylish fast-paced 2D action RPG. The user friendly interface and the hack and slash style replayability was praised by hardcore gamers resulting in 300,000 downloads.
Dying Light’s Snow Ops Bundle DLC Introduces Season Gear and Holiday Cheer
Bundle up with the new Snow Ops DLC this winter and let your enemies taste the freeze!
Wrocław, Poland — 22 December 2021 — Winter celebrations continue in Dying Light with the recent launch of the Snow Ops Bundle. Don an all-new outfit and test out a brand-new weapon bundled together in a seasonal package capable of spreading infectious holiday cheer.
The Snow Ops Bundle introduces the Winter Warrior outfit and the Snowstorm grenade launcher, a combination perfect for braving Harran’s ongoing winter-themed events. Created by the city’s brightest minds, the Winter Warrior outfit not only keeps its wearer warm but also provides a 20% bonus increase to agility, power, survivor, and legend skill tree increases.
Of course, keeping that cold at bay isn’t the only concern for Harran residents. Wield the Snowstorm grenade launcher and fire its six-grenade magazine into infected foes to freeze them in their tracks. Overcome high recoil to land shots capable of stopping groups of enemies with a single grenade and enjoy unique shooting and reloading animations and sound effects.
The Snow Ops Bundle includes:
The Winter Warrior Outfit
20% bonus to leveling up agility, power, survivor, and legend skill trees
The Snowstorm Grenade Launcher
Unique shooting and reloading animations
Fires a six-grenade magazine capable of freezing nearby enemies
High recoil
The Snow Ops Bundle DLC is now available for purchase on Steam, the PlayStation Store, and Microsoft Store for $1.99 / £1.69 / €1.59.
For more information on Dying Light, please visit the official website.
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About Dying Light
A first-person action survival game set in a post-apocalyptic open-world overrun by flesh-hungry zombies. Roam the city devastated by a mysterious virus epidemic. Scavenge for supplies, craft weapons, and face hordes of the infected. Dying Light was published in 2015 and has been played by over twenty million people all over the world. From the creators of hit titles Dead Island and Call of Juarez. Winner of over 50 industry awards and nominations. The game whose uncompromising approach to gameplay set new standards for first-person zombie games. Still supported with new content and free community events years after the release.
About Techland
Founded in 1991 in Poland, Techland is a renowned independent game developer and distributor for all leading platforms, including PC, Sony PlayStation, and the Xbox family of devices. Techland is best known for the original Dead Island games, the Call of Juarez series, and the Dying Light franchise, a global phenomenon played by over 20 million unique players to date. To top that, Techland’s experienced teams allow the developer to work on two of its own AAA titles at the same time. Comprising over 400 professionals across three offices in Poland, the company is committed to delivering unforgettable experiences and using the latest technology for innovative entertainment, which includes the proprietary C-Engine. For more information about the company itself, visit the official website at: www.techland.net.
All product titles, publisher names, trademarks, artwork, and associated imagery are trademarks, registered trademarks and/or copyright material of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
Deliver Season’s Greetings To Your Future Frenemies at 75% off on Steam and PlayStation 4
Those mighty misfits at Those Awesome Guys want to wish all gamers Happy Holidays… by breaking some legs with Move or Die’s latest holiday offering, the ‘Act Like It’s Christmas Mini-Update!’ Five new characters are making their debut today. Whether it’s an over-dramatic Shakespearean nerd or a Bible-accurate angel of furious divine judgement, these holiday heroes are here to spread the rage-inducing fun only found in Move or Die. Lastly, don’t miss out on the special bonus character – the snowflake Deepflake will be rewarded FREE to anyone playing an online multiplayer match between December 22 and January 5!
Of course, it wouldn’t be a holiday update without timely sales to commemorate the tradition of destroying friendships in Move or Die. Get a copy or three at 75% off S.R.P. during this holiday sale time (PlayStation sale runs through January 19), perfect as a last-minute gift idea or absolving grievances at the Festivus table!
Move or Die is not just the title of the game, but a fundamental gameplay rule: gamers who fail to move will see their health bar diminish rapidly. Players will battle each other in an ever-growing list of mini-game modes that change every 20-30 seconds. Each challenge has its own outrageous level design and rule set to promote hours of laughter and good old friendship-destroying fun. Win battles and unlock insane new character skins, Mutator game modifiers that dramatically change how mini-games are played, and even crazier game modes. When gamers are done beating friends on the couch, jump online and challenge other players to see who will rage-quit first.
To learn more about Move or Die, please visit www.moveordiegame.com, ‘Like’ it on Facebook, and follow its development on Twitter @moveordiegame for all the latest developer updates and news. # # #
ACTION ARCADE WRESTLING DROPS THE SEASON’S BEATINGS WITH NEW HOLIDAY TRAILER
Indie Wrestling Sensation On Sale During Holiday Season Across PlayStation®4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam Overcome the holiday madness by dropkicking Santa Claus and piledriving Christmas trees! VICO Game Studio, in partnership with Reverb Triple XP, has shared a naughty new holiday trailer for Action Arcade Wrestling, now available for PlayStation®4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. Choose from over 30 outrageous wrestlers or use the Wrestle Lab creator to make your own! Then, break out the candy canes, download a holiday-themed ring, and throwdown across a variety of game modes. Don’t forget to yell “Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal” when elbow-smashing those elves!
Action Arcade Wrestling is a homage to ‘90s arcade wrestling games that can be enjoyed by old school fans, newcomers, and everyone in between. In celebration of holiday smackdowns everywhere, AAW is on sale for a limited time on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at 35% off and PC via Steam at 60% off. Make your winter a slamming good time and get ready for new AAW features in early 2022!
Dropkicks are one way to take down the Christmas tree in AAW.
Action Arcade Wrestling is a fast-paced, arcade wrestling extravaganza that superkicks overly simulated wrestling games out of the ring! Master powerful attacks and superhero-like abilities in the most over-the-top wrestling game ever conceived.
Action Arcade Wrestling is now available on PlayStation®4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. The Nintendo Switch version will launch early next year. Stay up to date on Action Arcade Wrestling by following the game on Twitter, ‘Like’ it on Facebook, and visiting its official website at ActionArcadeWrestling.com.
SCI-FI ROGUELIKE ANVIL: VAULT BREAKERS RECEIVES FIRST UPDATE
Seoul, South Korea – Dec. 22, 2021 – Top-down co-op sci-fi shooter ANVIL: Vault Breakers received its first update since its December Early Access launch for Steam and Xbox. Implemented based on player feedback, the latest update introduces an all-new relic, adjustments to balance and improvements to combat to enhance the gameplay experience.
Developer Action Square has actively listened to community feedback through the Early Access period to continue modifying the game ahead of its full launch. This initial update includes:
A new relic, as well as tweaks to several relic stats
Improvements to sudden deaths and in-game interactions
Enhancements to combat effects and feedback
Lower difficulty scaling depending on the number of party members
Changes to the alert and anti-hack systems
Patches for known bugs and crashes
Buffs for Breakers Sandman and Jungler
“Although we are still in the early stages, we are issuing this balance and convenient feature update after actively listening to player feedback,” said Wonho Son, head producer, Action Square. “We are continually listening to our community which can expect future updates based on their valuable feedback. There’s a ton of new content coming to ANVIL, so I hope people are just as ecstatic as we are for the game’s future.”
Following its Early Access launch, ANVIL: Vault Breakers doubled its server numbers and rose to the number one spot on the gaming sales chart in South Korea.
ANVIL: Vault Breakers is a live multiplayer matchmaking that lets players take control game characters called Breakers to battle against hostile aliens and monsters. Teams of Breakers must work together to locate relics and artifacts from fabled Vaults brimming with the remnants of alien civilizations. The powerful energy and technology found within allows players to increase their ability survive and fight.
ANVIL: Vault Breakers is available now on Steam Early Access as well as GamePass and Game Preview on Xbox.
Action Square (KOSDAQ – 20550:KS) is a game development company founded in 2012 with a mission to develop action-packed games for all to enjoy. The company’s first mobile Action Role Playing Game (ARPG) called Blade was a major success in Korean market. The company have since then moved on to develop a sequel called Samguk Blade and have several other projects under development for various platforms like Steam and Xbox.
