If you had noticed my previous reviews, you would have seen that I’m a big sniping fan. I’m not talking just about the Sniper Elite series, but pretty much every game where the sniper weapon/class is available. My favorite character in Borderlands 2 was ZEr0 because his stealth-focused skills went great with sniping weapons and just recently I did another fresh playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 where I almost exclusively focused on sniper rifles.
And this goes without saying, but I played through every Sniper Elite game so far, squeezing out the maximum out of its replay value by replaying missions, and hunting for collectibles and weapons. The latest entry in the series is Sniper Elite: Resistance, a story that runs parallel with the events in Sniper Elite 5, where you play here as Harry Hawker, an agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) group. I assume we will now have new weapons, new challenges, and new ways to snipe enemies in the store for us, so let’s see how right (or wrong) I am.
Sniper Elite: Resistance Gameplay
Story
Another game, another new super weapon. The Germans have something that’s called Wunderwaffe, which translates to……super weapon. We don’t know what is it yet and what it does, but that’s the job of our Harry anyway. You’ll be working closely with the French Resistance and travel across 9 diverse missions throughout France trying to rack up as many kill cams and headshots as possible. The game difficulty can be entirely customized to your liking, but if it ever gets rough you also have the option to play the entire campaign in co-op with your sniping buddy.
Gameplay
If you played any previous Sniper Elite games so far, you know what to expect. Innovative ways to take down your enemies, coupled with a bunch of optional objectives, and a plethora of collectibles in the form of secret documents, intel, and upgrade workbenches. The first thing you’ll notice is that Sniper Elite: Resistance isn’t much of a departure from previous games. New missions, different weapons……and that’s pretty much it. In fact, it would be better to call this an expansion pack to Sniper Elite 5 than to consider it its own game. One novelty in the game is the propaganda missions. You see, every level has a hidden resistance poster. Finding one will unlock a stealth/sniping/combat propaganda mission that’s separate from the main campaign. Finding and completing them all will award you with an iconic sniper rifle (that the veterans of the Sniper Elite series are pretty familiar with).
Every mission will have a few main objectives, and usually one optional. That optional objective is often shown on the map from the start and sometimes you’ll have to get close to a specific location or eavesdrop on enemy conversations to trigger its appearance. On top of that, every mission has a kill list – another optional mission where you need to assassinate a certain someone but doing it in a really specific way (kill them with a certain weapon, poison them, blow them up, etc) will reward you with a new weapon. It’s worth it! The x-ray kill cam is back, as well as special ammo, weapon tuning, and pretty much everything from the previous entry. The levels are pretty straightforward. Do the main objectives and exfiltrate. If you wanna do the optional ones or complete the kill list, that’s entirely up to you. You can also turn on the Axis invasion option to allow other players to invade your game and try to mess with your plans. Taking them down will bet you some bonus experience and you can also invade other people’s games to keep them on the edge.
But let’s talk about the things that bug me, and I’m not talking just about the game bugs. I did often get stuck near walls and buildings and only reverting to a previous manual save could help me. Enemy AI is beyond broken and their awareness of you is inconsistent, to put it mildly. They will get suspicious when you snipe someone nearby even when using subsonic ammo but often I was able to mow down entire platoons while the soldiers in the building nearby would just patrol casually while playing deaf. If you kill someone on the road where the trucks are patrolling, they will see the body, exit the vehicle, snoop around, and continue with their patrols like nothing happened.
Visuals
Not much to talk about here. I found it disappointing that one level in the campaign has to be played twice. If we consider that out of nine missions in the campaign, there are only eight (the last mission is simply “kill the main bad guy” and that’s it, it can be completed in less than 30 seconds), then repeating one level feels pretty cheap. The visuals are nothing extraordinary although I must admit that might missions look way better than daytime ones and there is a certain allure to seeing the same X-ray kill shots over and over again, it simply never gets old.
Notable mention goes to rich explosion effects. Even though I risk everyone on the level figuring out my location, it is always fine to blow up trucks with anti-tank mines or dismember enemies by sniping the conveniently placed red barrels nearby. Some levels such as Devil’s Cauldron or Assault on Fort Rouge are surprisingly complex in terms of level design while the rest of them just feel like the lowest effort of copy-paste when it comes to buildings and enemy placements.
Audio
The audio design is still as good as ever and still one of the game mechanics, in a way. You can still time your sniper shots by syncing them with level noise (planes flying overhead, sabotaging a generator to sound mask your shots) so you don’t get discovered easily. Every weapon has a distinct sound but I have to admit that the voice acting of Harry Hawker didn’t sit right with me. He often sounds disinterested and like he is reading his lines from a teleprompter. I also have these weird audio bugs where intense music will suddenly kick in while I’m sneaking around and sometimes I could play half a level without hearing any background music at all.
Overall
In short: it’s not bad, although could be better. Sniper Elite: Resistance leaves a lot to be desired and the game would have a far better reception if it was released as an expansion pack for Sniper Elite 5. For veterans of the game, it is a welcome addition to the series, but for everyone else, you would be better off playing any of the previous games. At least you’ll get more content and level variety. Let’s hope Rebellion does much better with the next entry in the franchise and this game serves them as a good learning experience.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be foundhere.
Blood Bar Tycoon is a vampire bar management simulation game that launches on Steam on February 4th
Namur, Belgium – February 3, 2025 – Clever Trickster is thrilled to announce the launch of Blood Bar Tycoon, a supernatural management game, arriving on February 4th on Steam!
Sink your teeth in and rule the night! Step into the darkly quirky world of Blood Bar Tycoon and turn rundown bistros into thriving vampire hotspots. Attract unsuspecting humans, keep your immortal patrons well-fed, develop outrageous blood-harvesting contraptions, and outwit relentless vampire hunters. Will you rise to become the ultimate ruler of Crimson City?
ABOUT THE GAME
Blood Bar Tycoon is a vampire bar management game. Build bars and blood factories, lure humans to harvest their blood, process it, and serve your customers: other vampires. Research quirky machines and deal with hunters! Expand through Crimson City to become a mighty Elder!
Revamp your vampire bar! As a vampire bar manager, transform shabby bistros into the trendiest bars in the neighborhood! At the same time, lure those clueless mortals into your quirky blood factory to feed other vampires. Manage stocks, avoid bankruptcy, and prevent your Blood Bars from being burned by hunters.
Run your business – Hire low-level vampires as minions to carry out your dirty work. Manage their priorities to optimize your operations and satisfy both your mortal and immortal customers. Don’t forget to feed them as well! Arrange the hallways, rooms, and other amenities to your taste to enhance the prestige of your bar and become the true hotspot of the neighborhood.
Capture juicy humans! Develop an underground human detention center before processing them in your whacky machines to extract their precious blood in all its forms. What’s better than serving Bloody Slushies or a Bloody Daiquiri to satisfy your wealthiest and most demanding vampire clients? Discover crazy cocktails with new ways to harvest and process blood! If you do things well, humans will leave with a free hangover from your establishment. But in case of trouble, you’ll have a corpse on your hands… and you risk attracting the attention of vampire hunters!
Unleash Your Vampiric Creativity! You’re not just a vampire bar manager; you’re the architect of a true nocturnal masterpiece. Enjoy extensive freedom to renovate, design, and customize every aspect of your establishment with a wide range of themes and styles. Transform rundown taverns into spectacular bars where every detail, from furniture to lighting, reflects your unique vision. Create the perfect ambiance to attract the most discerning vampires and become a legend of the night! Competitions will highlight the most stunning bars!
Micromanage or Automate Your Minions! The Choice is Yours! Take command of your minions with micro-interactions, managing them like a true vampire overlord to tackle emergencies. Seamlessly blend micromanagement with automation, assign work sectors, and set priorities to grow your dark empire like an evil mastermind!
Handle the whims of Elder vampires – Interact with enigmatic Elder vampires who will guide you through the night and shape your destiny as a Blood Bar manager. But beware, each Elder has a unique personality. Please them, and you’ll be richly rewarded! Disappoint them, and you’ll face their wrath as they plot your downfall.
Expand through Crimson City! Our first Blood Bar marks the beginning of your ascent to dominate the blood trade in Crimson City! Each new bar presents new challenges to overcome at your own pace. Prevent your impatient and voracious customers from feeding directly on your human clients. Improve your facilities, machines, and staff. Utilize research and new systems to enrich yourself more quickly! Analyze your indicators to become the best vampire bar manager in the city.
Your Ultimate Goal: Becoming an Elder! Try to please the Elders to gain their favor, or suffer their wrath! Understand their personalities and learn how to flatter them. Will you ally with the crazy Yumeko, the voluptuous Sophie, the megalomaniac Vladimir, or someone else? Take control of every district of Crimson City with their help to become one of them and rule for eternity! Will you achieve your vampiric goals or fail miserably?
Ludovic Mahieu, co-founder of Clever Trickster, commented: “Ben, our creative director, and I came up with the idea for Blood Bar Tycoon during our role-playing game sessions several years ago. For me, creating this game was a unique opportunity to combine my love for management games and the vampire universe, while also allowing us to express our quirky and offbeat humor! Today, we are very excited to bring the game to life starting on October 28.”
Virginie Maréchal, also co-founder of Clever Trickster added:“We are thrilled to have taken this project as far as we could with a young and passionate team, combining the challenges of a game with complex mechanics with the adventure of launching a new studio. I am very proud of the journey we’ve made and grateful to all our partners and the players who have supported us from the beginning. We can’t wait for the world to discover Blood Bar Tycoon, especially through the open beta.”
ABOUT CLEVER TRICKSTER
Clever Trickster is a video game development studio founded in 2022 by gaming veterans passionate about strategy and management games. These genres have influenced the principles that guide the team: efficiency and innovation. The studio’s ethos values equality, collaboration, and autonomy, creating an inclusive and supportive environment. The team constantly strives to improve in order to deliver enriching gaming experiences, while keeping fun at the heart of work.
Use acoustic proximity voice chat, investigation tools, and deception items to fool your friends!
Salt Lake City, USA, February 3rd, 2025 – Something sinister is afoot in Snowfall Games’ upcoming multiplayer murder mystery game, It Was You. Are you cunning enough to kill your friends and cover your tracks or perceptive enough to expose a carefully orchestrated murder? Find out when It Was You launches on Steam later this year.
It Was You invites 5-12 players to a murder mystery-themed Halloween party at the haunted Tylock Estate. Upon arrival, party attendees will be given a role—detective or killer—and tools to manipulate, uncover, or plant evidence of a murder.
Detectives have a range of tools at their disposal to uncover the truth—whether it’s using a magnifying glass to trace footprints, a blacklight to reveal hidden blood splatters, or even a lie detector to expose a suspect’s role. Meanwhile, killers rely on deception, using items like a spray bottle to erase their fingerprints or tape to plant someone else’s. They can even drag a body into a closet, hoping it remains undiscovered. At any moment, players can call for a discussion and vote to exile whoever they believe is guilty.
Acoustic proximity voice chat introduces lifelike reverberation and occlusion, causing voices to echo in the long corridors of the Tylock Estate. When a player enters a room and shuts the door, conversations from outside are naturally muffled, adding an unprecedented degree of immersion. To execute the perfect murder, killers must ensure the door is closed and no one is around —or risk detectives overhearing the victim’s scream echoing through the halls.
Every party feels alive with the addition of non-player guests. Killers must eliminate these NPCs first, creating a buffer that allows real players to investigate and participate in the narrative of every game before they risk becoming victims.
“We’re huge fans of social deduction games and think the appetite for it is only growing, with Jubensha, the real-life role-playing rendition of murder mysteries, being the third highest grossing form of entertainment in China, earning $3.4 billion across 10 million players,” said Jaden Holladay, Co-Founder and Engineering Director at Snowfall Games. “While we’ve loved social deduction games like Among Us, Town of Salem, and First Class Trouble, we felt there was more we could bring to the genre by adding new tools to play with, such as acoustic proximity voice chat, first-person perspective, and an array of tools to investigate a crime scene– resulting in a more realistic and complex murder mystery experience!”
About Snowfall Games
Snowfall Games started during the 2020 global pandemic when lifelong friends Austin and Jaden, stuck at home, saw a gap in the social deduction genre—one that craved deeper gameplay, stunning visuals, and a true murder mystery theme. Having spent their childhood creating—building elaborate Halloween experiences for neighborhood kids, designing firework displays in Roller Coaster Tycoon, and learning game engines—they turned their passion into careers. Jaden made his mark developing Marine Arena 2, one of StarCraft 2’s most-played mods, and later worked on Hogwarts Legacy, New World, and Lost Ark. Meanwhile, Austin blended his computer science expertise with self-taught artistry, mastering 3D modeling and rendering to bring their vision to life. From two developers to a full-fledged team, Snowfall has spent four years driven by passion, countless late nights, and relentless ambition—culminating in its first game, It Was You.
Take an early trip to Bukovie ahead of PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch release with demo now available on Steam
Geel, Belgium – February 3rd 2025 – Rogueside is thrilled to announce that the first demo for its narrative-driven murder mystery game, Best Served Cold, is now available, allowing players to take a trip to the fictional city of Bukovie and get a taste of the atmosphere and intrigue that will be coming to PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch with the game’s full release. To celebrate the release of the demo on Steam, Rogueside has also released a brand new gameplay trailer that shows off the game’s evocative art, investigation mechanics and drink mixing.
In Best Served Cold, you play as a bartender at a speakeasy where potential suspects and witnesses gather. The police are stumped by a series of murders shaking the local community, and an ambitious young detective has enlisted you to help crack the case. You’ll need to impress him to keep running your illegal establishment. Serve your patrons cocktails to loosen their tongues, gather clues and solve the murders!
Meet a fascinating cast of intriguing characters seeking solace or stirring up trouble in ‘The Nightcap’, a bar renowned for its varied clientele that spans the social strata. Lend an ear to your patrons and form a bond as you get to know their backstories – you’ll no doubt fall in love with the fascinating cast, but you’ll still have to coax out confessions and uncover clues using the friendships you build. Remember, even the tightest of lips can be loosened with the right mix of charm, persuasion and alcohol.
“We’re thrilled to reveal Best Served Cold for PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch with our new trailer,” said Antje Van den Heuvel, Art Director at Rogueside. “Once players get a taste of the atmospheric world we’ve crafted, meet some of our fascinating characters and start pulling at the threads of our murder mystery, we think they’ll be back at the bar asking for another serving! The demo will be available throughout the whole of Steam Next Fest, so we hope you check it out! ”.
Key Features
Collect clues to solve murders while working at “The Nightcap” – an illegal bar under an upscale bookstore – as part of a thrilling murder mystery
Mix cocktails to manipulate your patrons’ mood
Meet fascinating characters, build relationships and learn their backstories
Go back to your apartment each day to connect clues on your evidence board and make new deductions
Experience a richly crafted world inspired by the cultural revival of 1920’s Bucharest
Learn about a city where cultural, political and economic shifts are fragmenting the old order
Enjoy a story crafted by writers Joshua Aldred and Thomas Welsh, known for his work on Cloudpunk
About Rogueside
Rogueside is an independent Belgian game developer on a mission to bring joy and excitement to players all over the world. Their team is made up of dedicated game enthusiasts who are passionate about crafting quality games that can be enjoyed by anyone. Whether it’s through quirky characters, breathtaking visuals, or puns galore, the studio is dedicated to crafting games that bring a smile to your face and leave you with a sense of joy and satisfaction.
Trying to figure out who you are and what you want to do in life is challenging as it is in our complicated world. However, what if things were even more dystopian and advanced than they are now? In a world where jobs are not only being increasingly automated but being taken over directly by sentient AI, finding a future for one’s self may seem impossible, especially for someone looking to reinvent themselves in that day an age. This is the type of world that S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch from U0U Games places us in, telling a narrative adventure with a few different turns as we navigate the life of an “online mouthpiece” and architect looking to change their life.
Story
Set in the fictional city of Castor Yard in the far more advanced year of 2011, players take on the role of Miki. Miki, whose gender is chosen a bit into the game, is in a rut. With their current job feeling like a potential dead end street as an architect Miki spends most of their off hours working on a side-hustle, and that is being an online mouthpiece. In a rather unique take on a job, Miki’s work in this field involves taking on jobs from clients and then pretending to be them by interacting with their friends, co-workers, or even family in an attempt to accomplish a goal. This can range from simply telling off a sexually harassing boss without getting the client fired, pretending to be a popular online celebrity while the real person is off slacking, or even helping someone get a divorce.
The whole thing is, Miki must always try to act like they are the person who hired them, creating a balancing act that players will have to work with to best solve their clients’ problems while also keeping up their cover. Top this off with the fact that Miki’s own family and friends will be popping up to talk through the same instant messaging system but even her co-workers and day job will send messages as well, meaning that players will constantly need to stay on the ball and multi-task as it is entirely possible to mess these personal conversations up just as bad. Taking too long to respond may irritate a friend or a client’s co-worker and there are even times that some messages are only able to be sent for a limited period of time, missing out on the chance to reply can lock players out of certain dialogue or even properly completing a task.
To make matters worse, what Miki is doing is entirely illegal. S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch likes to throw players into the deep end with its storyline and doesn’t really explain much in the way of how Castor Yard is and why so many people seem to have lost hope and their “Tico” feed of news is often filled with messages about attacks, protests, and incredibly high unemployment rate. Only through interacting with characters both optionally and as part of the main storyline, are players able to realize the unique nature of the world. AI is not only fully established in 2011, but has gained sentience to the point that these “bots” are actually called Cyber Life. Each Cyber Life has their own unique set of skills and talents, appearances when interacting with humans through screens, and even can have children with other Cyber Life. This means that many online jobs or anything involving a computer has been taken over by Cyber Life, in fact even the vending machine under Miki’s apartment is home to a sassy Cyber Life with its own eclectic tastes for what it sells and whether it wants to interact with Miki or not.
As a result, the online space has become incredibly regulated and also gives reason as to why Miki feels lost about their future. Their main goal is to simply save up enough money to quit their current job and find a new path in life, but that is far from the only thing involved with Miki’s life as players navigate through about a week and a half of their time. The narrative is quite compelling and full of interesting nuances, whether it is pretending to be a client and walking the tightrope of how to accomplish their task without crossing a line, or simply going all out and crossing the line anyway with Miki’s choices, or interacting with Miki’s family and co-workers, like trying to get their sister into an academic program, reconnect with an old friend, or even find romance as there are four romanceable characters, the story has plenty of drama as players try to navigate Miki’s life.
It is also worth noting that there are multiple endings to achieve in S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch and the actual way to get some of them are far from clear, as a few involve some very early choices that players may not realize have as much importance as they actually do. It is worth noting that player choice is also heavily factored into various elements, as messaging both as a client and as Miki will often give Miki plot related dialogue entries. These are usually highlighted by Miki quickly summarizing the entry before players press enter, giving players plenty of reason to replay through and see how a client’s case may have gone differently as well as how Miki’s journey ends up.
One thing that is unfortunate about S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch is the localization effort. While it has received patches here and there even as we’ve played the title, it is quite clear that the localization remains rough in places and many jokes and phrases still make entirely no sense. In fact, there are occasionally entire interactions that seem almost like gibberish though these are few and far between. It is also worth noting that the pacing is fairly poor. While it is good to keep players on their toes with multi-tasking, one minute players may be having a dire client with multiple dialog boxes and contacts to keep up with and the next will simply be a minor problem, literally. This translates into the storyline as well. Sometimes Miki’s own journey can often feel like it is taking a backseat to the clients that they deal with, but thankfully this is numbed a bit by how interesting many of these clients’ issues end up being as well as the aforementioned tightrope walking.
Gameplay
Now at its core, S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch can basically be described as an unconventional visual novel. Players will still need to read plenty of dialogue and make choices as they talk with characters, some of which can result in different endings for not only specific cases but Miki as well in the end. The big difference is, unlike most visual novels, S4U likes to keep players feeling engaged. Players won’t simply be clicking to advance a dialogue box, outside of the real world interactions that is, but physically typing on their keyboard to generate Miki’s computer responses as well. There are even a handful of more complicated key-specific mini-games throughout the title though these are few and far between.
All online interactions in the game are handled through a 2010’s style messaging system where players will need to click various “friends” and talk with them through a messaging app. The dialogue is predetermined but requires players to type on their keyboard to simulate the message, even if all they are typing is dfdfdfdfd, trying to immerse them into the gameplay in a fairly successful manner. Almost all dialogue has various options and players can delete their entry and retype it to change what they want to say, with the aforementioned choices relying on this part. There are also little gadgets that Miki can purchase to decorate their desk that are mostly there as collectables to poke or interact with and players can even send Tico stories to their contacts occasionally, to either continue a bit of storyline or trigger a fun interaction, though this isn’t available as often as we would have liked. It is also worth noting that it is very easy to lock in a certain “romance” path far earlier than others and it isn’t made clear in any way that this choice locks players to that character.
Audio & Visuals
S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch has some gorgeous looking aesthetics when players are away from the computer screen. The city-scape players can look out when outside their apartment is highly detailed and the various character designs are also rather impressive looking with a slight retro anime aesthetic. Most of the time though players will be staring at a simulated fat-back monitor and desk with whatever collectables they’ve purchased and the desktop is simulated quite well, though it would have been nice if there was a little more customization to things besides the few decorations.
Unfortunately none of the dialogue is voiced in any way in the game, with players only having to rely on the aforementioned hit and miss translation. The soundtrack is fitting, with a sort of “lo-fi hip hop” theme to things though it would be nice if players could select their background music at any time, especially if they’ve “bought” tracks from the vending machine. Instead these purchased tracks can only be listened to when city-gazing. It is also worth noting that, at least as of this writing, players can only “save” at the end of each day, meaning if players need to walk away they cannot actually save at will which feels like a strange choice, especially since multiple save slots are available.
Overall
S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch tells a wonderful and compelling narrative that explores the way we interact with others online while also tackling the challenges that could arrive in a world where Cyber Life grows to mimic real life, at least online. Having to balance the conversations Miki has with their client’s contacts as well as their own contacts to keep their life stable is a fine line to walk, especially when players can deliberately interject Miki’s own thoughts into the client’s world. Combine this with the unusually tactile experience of having to literally type to pull up responses and this unique approach to a visual novel is certainly worth checking out if you can handle a lackluster localization.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Hunt for clues and stay alive long enough to piece them together in Xbox X|S and Xbox One horror available to pre-order now
South Lyon, MI, USA – February 3rd 2025 – Holcomb Entertainment are pleased to announce that Blood Hunting will be releasing on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One on February 14th, with pre-orders now live. Blood Hunting is an atmospheric first-person survival horror where you must search for clues about your missing family and try to stay alive long enough to piece them all together.
Explore dark and dangerous environments, hide to survive and solve puzzles as you collect clues that will help you uncover the truth. You play as Chase Jones, digging into the secrets of his missing family. It seems those responsible want to halt the investigation and that means they want you dead. Your only help comes from an unknown stranger sending text messages to your phone.
“We’re really excited to bring Blood Hunting to Xbox platforms and everyone that plays there,” said Holcomb Entertainment’s Chad Holcomb. “We know that fans of survival horror are going to love Blood Hunting and we can’t wait for you all to get to play it this Valentines Day on February 14th.”
Key Features
A true survival horror experience
Explore carefully and find clues relating to your family’s disappearance
Solve puzzles to progress
Hide to survive
Receive a helping hand from a mysterious stranger sending you messages…
About Holcomb Entertainment
Holcomb Entertainment has a vision to create truly immersive survival horror game experiences. The journey will bring true emotional involvement with every game. Holcomb Entertainment was founded by Chad Holcomb. Building on early success of releasing mobile games the company is now focused on creating games for PC and Console with their newest release of Blood Hunting.
Sydney, Australia (February 3rd, 2025) – Vertigo Games, the award-winning VR publisher and developer, and SynthesisVR, a leading VR software platform owned by Deploy Reality, have announced an agreement for SynthesisVR to acquire SpringboardVR from Vertigo Games for an undisclosed amount, with the transaction set to take effect on February 1, 2025.
SpringboardVR is a leading provider of VR venue management software and the largest content marketplace for location-based entertainment (LBE). This acquisition strengthens the industry by providing a future-proof foundation for arcade operators and developers, setting the stage for sustained growth and innovation in the next era of VR. While both the SpringboardVR and SynthesisVR platforms will maintain independent operations and ensure business continuity, their combined presence under Deploy Reality demonstrates a long-term commitment to location-based VR, offering operators more options and resources. By bringing together two innovative platforms, this partnership plays a key role in the growth and success of VR arcades worldwide.
“For nearly a decade, SynthesisVR and Springboard VR have been paving the way for immersive entertainment,” said A Shabeer Sinnalebbe, CEO of SynthesisVR. “By joining forces under Deploy Reality, we’re creating a dynamic ecosystem that empowers operators, developers, and players to push the boundaries of location-based VR. This isn’t just a partnership – it’s the next leap forward in defining how the world experiences virtual reality.”
As the former owner of SpringboardVR and a global leader in VR entertainment, Vertigo Games remains deeply invested in the future of location-based VR through its renewed long-standing partnership with SynthesisVR. By supporting Deploy Reality’s vision and focusing on its legacy of groundbreaking VR games, Vertigo Games reinforces its commitment to delivering high-quality LBE VR experiences by concentrating on what it does best—creating great VR games for both consumers and the arcade industry—while ensuring that operators and developers benefit from stronger, more innovative platforms.
“Vertigo Games is fully committed to the evolution of VR arcades,” said Richard Stitselaar, CEO of Vertigo Games. “With this transition, we are setting a course for the future—one where Vertigo Games can focus on content innovation and creativity while SynthesisVR drives platform advancements. By strengthening our long-standing collaboration, we’re ensuring that both operators and developers benefit from more powerful, forward-thinking solutions so we can offer audiences truly immersive, next-generation entertainment.”
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About Vertigo Games
Vertigo Games is an award-winning, multi-platform VR publisher and developer with offices in Rotterdam & Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Los Angeles, California. The company offers a portfolio of quality VR games that provide novel, powerful and full-featured gaming experiences both inside and outside of the home. Recent games include Metro Awakening, Arizona Sunshine® Remake, Arizona Sunshine® 2, The 7th Guest VR, and After the Fall®. Vertigo Games is a PLAION Group company. http://vertigo-games.com
About SynthesisVR
SynthesisVR is a flexible software suite that helps operators and businesses manage their VR experiences with ease. From session scheduling and content licensing to analytics and user management, the platform brings together powerful tools designed to streamline operations and deliver immersive, high-quality experiences. By supporting a broad range of use cases—entertainment, training, and beyond—SynthesisVR plays a key role in driving the continued growth of VR adoption worldwide. https://SynthesisVR.com
About SpringboardVR
SpringboardVR is a versatile platform focused on simplifying the deployment and management of VR content. Equipped with tools for library curation, licensing, and comprehensive venue oversight, it helps operators offer engaging and diverse virtual reality experiences to users. By fostering a connection between content creators and location-based VR venues, SpringboardVR contributes to the ongoing expansion of the VR market across education, enterprise, and entertainment sectors. https://springboardvr.com
It’s been over five year since fans of Arknights were able to step into the dystopian near-apocalyptic setting of Terra where its inhabitants, if not suffering from some form of discrimination due to their various races, were suffering from a highly infectious and incredibly deadly disease called Oripathy. Despite Oripathy gifting those inflicted with it with magical abilities and Originium, the valuable mineral it comes from, this plague has led to those infected being persecuted throughout the world. At the time, players took on the role of the unnamed and masked Doctor suffering from amnesia who led Rhodes Island and its countless operators to try and help wherever possible, all while battling hostile forces from every side.
Nearly three years ago we learned that Hypergryph was taking the previous tactical RPG/tower defense title to the next level by developing a spin-off entry in the franchise called Arknights: Endfield. Looking to put an action-based spin on things with a focus on base-building, we’ve spent nearly the last two weeks battling, building, and traveling through what Arknights: Endfield’s current closed beta test has to offer, leading to some interesting insights about what this action game filled with familiar terms but likely unfamiliar mechanics might have to offer. Of course, considering this is only a closed beta at the moment, many changes might be made between now and the full release which has yet to be given a date at the time of this writing.
Now one thing that can be hit or miss with a spin-off is whether or not it actually requires newcomers to have knowledge of the original game to actually make the most out of it and, while it is true that this is a closed beta at the moment, this fact is likely to go unchanged even on full release. The answer to that question with Arknights: Endfield is most certainly yes, or at the very least have the bare minimum of knowledge about most of the game’s plot up to if not past defeating Patriot to best understand the references being made and lore drops that occur throughout the game. In fact, while a large portion of the characters currently available in the closed beta to be “headhunted” are original to this release, three operators in the form of Surtr, now called Laevatain, Angelina who is know called Gilberta, and even Aurora now with the name Snowshine. Along with these current Rhodes Island characters being brought along longtime fans will recognize numerous namedrops of Warfarin as well as the appearance of Kal’tsit of all characters, making this one that newcomers may feel a bit left out in the cold on if they haven’t already dipped their toes into the Arknights storyline by the time this one releases.
Anyways, starts fast and hits the ground running by having players, taking the role of the Endministrator, attempting to defend an unknown base from enemy attack. Using what little skills the player has at the moment and venturing through a poignant flower field harkening back to a frosted rabbit, they’ll force back the enemy force only to find that the entire thing was a dream while their body was undergoing stasis recovery onboard the ship Dijang as it hovers over the planet named Talos-II. An unknown amount of time has passed between the events of Arknights as well as what happened to the Endministrator, but their recovery has left them with no memory of their past, once again, and it is only through the helpful guidance of Perlica that the rest of the crew has managed to keep the ship stable even as the world of Talos-II proves to constantly be an issue, whether it is the wild life, mother nature itself, or even the residents already there trying to drive these intrepid new adventurers out.
Despite starting strong, the storyline of Arknights: Endfield almost feels like it is simply going through the motions once players put boots to the ground. Part of this is due to how extended the game’s tutorial can be as it drip feeds new characters to slowly grow the player’s party to four members and various mechanics, but also due to some rather… shallow writing. This includes not only the plot where the main villain is only interesting for so long before she starts to feel rather generic. The Endministrator rarely speaks for themselves and their presence as an amnesiac savior to the people of Talos-II is an odd choice, as players meet former allies that simply talk about how great they once were all while many other storyline characters are introduced in a manner that shows that they all already know each other and have for years, leaving the player as the odd man out.
There are some exceptions to this, with Perlica being perhaps the best of the cast so far as far as the storyline goes. She plays the cool-headed but occasionally flustered assistant that is the straight-woman to the more outlandish characters’ antics, be it activating a robot or trying to make us feel bad by having it sacrifice itself later on, or dealing with Chen’s boundless enthusiasm or someone teasing her about being with the Endministrator so much. Characters will talk with one another and make little discussions as players explore the field which is a nice touch, though it feels like these should be expanded upon more. In fact, while it makes sense for the beta nature of the game, it would be better if there were more ways to interact with non-story related characters in general as the only way to properly do so is through assigning them to factory slots in the base on Dijang and giving them gifts and even then this only tends to result in a bit of extra exposition about a character’s past similar to how it was in the original game. Given how far some of these more complex gacha games have grown with character interactions and “bonds” through recent years, it would be nice to see Arknights: Endfield take this step as well.
When not partaking in its story or trying to get closer to some of the operators, players will be taking part in the three main aspects of Arknights: Endfield, exploration, combat, and of course, plenty of base-building. While the closed beta test did not allow for controllers to be used to play the game at the moment, PlayStation button icons did appear here and there, likely meaning controller support is on the way for the full release. Now the combat system is fairly standard for an action RPG but one that is a bit more advanced for a gacha game like this. Unlike a certain other title with a flying annoyance, all of the player’s party will enter combat and fight at once, with players controlling one unit directly at a time to deal out standard attack chains, finishing blows, and dodging incoming attacks. Depending on the operators that the player has out on the field (the Endministrator is not required) players can chain together various finishing attacks as well by triggering special conditions, some of these are as simple as performing a full combo or falling below a certain amount of health while others may require inflicting a status ailment for an ally to come in with an assist attack.
As players fight they will have three skill bars that regenerate during fighting and every skill used with a press of the corresponding character’s number button takes up a charge. When a character’s ultimate is available, a long press of the same button will trigger the powerful move. This helps make combat feel intuitive and fast paced, with plenty of moving parts and making it so players can really feel like they are actually fighting with their team as a whole rather than a constantly morphing character. That being said, it is easy to see how team synergy might play a major role in how well a team can fight together. For example, in this closed beta Angelina is given for free on the third day but while she is a six-star (highest rarity) character, slotting her in alongside Perlica, Laevatain, and Avywenna didn’t feel like the best fit despite her strengths. Instead, sliding in Snowshine for support often seemed to not only allow my team to survive stronger opponents but even finish fights faster as a result.
Of course, some of this does come down to the standard grinding elements that come into play in a gacha game such as this. This includes gathering materials and leveling up the player’s Endministrator level to unlock equipment blueprints to equip to their operators and boost their stats, making sure they have plenty of healing items that can thankfully be set to be used automatically when the right circumstance is met, leveling up the character themselves or their weapon, unlocking skills and level caps, all that good grinding jazz. Many of these elements make use of the returning “Sanity” feature that is basically the Arknights version of replenishing stamina where resource focused fights require Sanity to access and grind out required items to strengthen the team. This is part of the exploration mechanic as well as the general feel of traveling throughout the semi open world of Arknights: Endfield. While the title isn’t completely open world, there are tons of optional locations and areas to explore and uncover, including little bits locked away behind the building mechanics that we will go over shortly. This means that there is always something interesting to find, even if it is simply an Aethor core to boost the character’s stamina level, though it usually will result in a rare chest or little puzzle to solve for even better loot. It is worth noting that while stamina is used to start running it does not cost it to maintain at the moment besides increasing the amount of times players can dodge in a row during combat and, at the moment, there is no swimming, climbing, or gliding around. The closest thing to gliding is using ziplines players can install throughout the world to travel around quickly besides using predetermined fast travel points.
Outside of combat, Factory building and optimization is perhaps the next biggest component in Arknights: Endfield. Players will initially be given a central hub of sorts where they will establish most of their factory and then run power-lines across the countryside, powering various dead facilities along the way or installing new useful tools along the way. The main factory is all about trying to become as efficient as possible, with players able to drop self-mining rigs down on ore veins to constantly pull in supplies, setting up automated workflows with conveyor belts to transfer raw materials to threshers or refiners and then transfer that then transfer back to the warehouse. This allows players to create automated resource chains for the simpler materials that are often used to craft everything from standard healing items and base equipment to more powerful gear. There are even little issues players will need to fix from time to time, such as jammed machinery, to make sure their factory loop stays efficient. Combine this with the fact that, as mentioned before, players can use zip-lines to easily maneuver around locations of importance either to their current farming/grinding target or a potentially valuable but hard to reach location and there is a lot of reward when it comes to proper base-building and fine-tuning things. That being said, it does feel like it gets to be a bit much at times, perhaps taking a bit too much away from the actual exploration, especially since it is easy to see this type of mechanic being something that players can easily hyper-optimize the joy out of.
Thankfully Arknights: Endfield looks absolutely outstanding running on PC at the moment. Not only is the interface incredibly smooth and mostly easy to handle with a mouse and keyboard at the moment, but the world and character designs are exceptional as well. Characters move fluidly both inside of menus as they are being upgraded and in the field whether they are fighting against enemies, using an ultimate, or simply in an idle animation where there are surprisingly quite a few, including some where it appears that the character’s will follow the camera with their eyes. The world itself is also quite detailed and vibrant, striking a solid balance between realistic and fantasy that the Arknights team has always tiptoed, and it makes sense as it appears that many of the artists that worked on the original title have lent their talents to this new 3D entry.
Now time for the nitty gritty for every gacha game and how the rates are for characters and weaponry. Like the original game, Arknights: Endfield offers characters with rarities up to 6* though in the beta the lowest rating available was only a 4*, while weapons came in rarities all the way from the most basic 1* to 6*. In the closed beta we had the opportunity to draw from the standard banner that would eventually guarantee a 6* rarity character within 50 pulls, something that is often included as a bonus when a game launch sor for new accounts to give players a chance to obtain at least one of the base 6* units early on. The other banner is the limited headhunting banner, called “Limited Target Operator” and is where most players will want to spend their headhunting tickets and Origeimetry which can be converted to Oroberyl, the general pull currency awarded from completing dailies and limited tasks. The pull rate for a 6* operator is unfortunately incredibly low, clocking in at 0.8% though the chance of pulling the targeted character is the very familiar coin-flip of 50/50.
Now, unlike what many people are familiar with, Arknights: Endfield makes use of a different kind of guarantee when it comes to targeted headhunting. Unlike many other gacha of the same type, at least at the moment, this game utilizes a mechanic where 120 pulls will guarantee that the player will obtain the targeted character no matter what. It is worth noting that a hard-pity is instilled at 80 pulls, with the soft-pity raising 6* rates starting at 65. This means that if players pull and get a 6* character that isn’t the targeted character, then they will now need to pull to at least 120 to obtain said character unless they have stellar luck. Generally, in these types of gacha losing the coin flip for the targeted character will guarantee that the next 6* obtained, even in the next targeted banner, will be the targeted character. This is unfortunately not the case here as the guarantee does not carry over from banner to banner. This leads to the double-edged sword of offering a smaller investment to guarantee obtaining the target character, where awful luck might require 160 pulls to obtain instead of 120, but also that players cannot take a missed opportunity to instead turn their sour luck into good luck in the next banner. This is an interesting take and will likely divide players and it will be interesting to see how it is handled past this closed beta.
As for the weapon gacha, it is also an interesting mechanic. Rather than using the same currency as “Operator” currency to roll for weaponry, players will obtain “Arsenal” currency when they roll for characters. This is the currency used to draw for weapons, making it completely separate and allowing users to focus on gathering characters without losing out on weaponry for said characters. In this closed beta the weapon banners are multiple and feature all manner of weapons ranging from guns, to lances, to drones, and of course various types of swords. The rate of obtaining a 6* weapon is not too bad, but obtaining the targeted weapon of that banner is shockingly low, clocking in at only 25% while the weapons themselves come at 4% and guaranteeing the target weapon at 80 rolls. Players can also currently straight up use Arsenal tokens to purchase rotating weapons. This leads to a rather unusual balancing act between obtaining weaponry to properly equip characters and what to target next while also assuring that players can focus on pulling characters instead of their specific weaponry.
Recommended
Arknights: Endfield makes for a bold start and offers some exciting action gameplay that sees the player’s entire party enter the fray at once, making for more exciting looking battles and ones that can actually have a bit of strategy involved combined with some rather elaborate factory and construction management that will likely be surprising for some. Combine this with some unique takes on some familiar gacha mechanics and it will be interesting to see just where this upcoming gacha will end up, especially if it can refine its storyline between now and release.
The first of the EA SPORTS FC 25 Future Stars have been unveiled, and are now available in-game! As a two-week celebration of young players u23 having breakout seasons, this year’s class of Future Stars is representative of players that have checked off career-first milestones, scratched the surface of their on-the-pitch potential, and are on the cusp of global greatness.
The first of two Future Stars teams (Team 1) sees the renowned talents of Endrick (Real Madrid), Benjamin Šeško (RB Leipzig), Kessya Bussy (Paris FC), and Lamine Yamal (FC Barcelona) alongside 13 other young players selected by EA SPORTS FC. Chosen for their impressive on-pitch performance in the present, EA SPORTS FC 25 crowns them as Future Stars of tomorrow, with unique in-game items that project what they could become in reaching their full potential.
Further to the fresh faces of FC 25 Future Stars is the return of Future Stars ICONs, honoring legendary players who carved out a legacy for themselves early on in their careers.Players to feature in Team 1 Future Stars ICONs include the likes of Lotta Schelin, Bobby Charlton, Xabi Alonso, and Henrik Larsson.
Starting today, FC 25 players can begin adding Team 1’s young superstars into their squads, with additional Future Stars items released as SBC and objective rewards throughout the week. The Future Stars Academy also returns with an extra group of players on the precipice of reaching Future Star status, their rise will come to life via Evolutions. Once all evolution stages are complete, your Future Stars Academy player will become a true Future Stars ICON and receive the chemistry upgrade to prove it.
“It’s an honor to be named as a Future Star in FC 25, both in having my own achievements and potential recognized in the Ultimate Team mode that I love to play, and to be featured alongside a roster of players that are making an impact on football worldwide,” said Endrick, Real Madrid striker. “As an avid fan of FC, I’m excited to see how FC 25 forecasts my future play, and to apply this on the pitch in playing the game I love for fans worldwide.”
The full list of EA SPORTS FC 25 Future Stars Team 1 includes:
Endrick (Real Madrid)
Benjamin Šeško (RB Leipzig)
Leny Yoro (Manchester United)
Lamine Yamal (FC Barcelona)
Kessya Bussy (Paris FC)
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens (Borussia Dortmund)
Kenneth Taylor (Ajax)
Hugo Larsson (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Kyra Cooney-Cross (Arsenal)
Romeo Lavia (Chelsea)
João Gomes (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Miguel Gutiérrez (Girona FC)
Malick Thiaw (Milano FC)
Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta)
Lucas Beraldo (Paris Saint-Germain)
Conor Bradley (Liverpool)
The full list of EA SPORTS FC 25 Future Stars ICONs Team 1 includes:
LOS ANGELES – JANUARY 31, 2025 – Netmarble, a leading developer and publisher of high-quality mobile games, has released a new update for its idle RPG The Seven Deadly Sins: IDLE Adventure. Players can experience a newly added character, multiple events and various in-game stage expansions.
The latest update adds Guardian of the Fairies Old Fart King, an INT-attributed DPS, to the roster of playable characters. Guardian of the Fairies Old Fart King is the second version of King in The Seven Deadly Sins: IDLE Adventure, following the original version named Sin of Sloth King. Guardian of the Fairies King can be acquired through the Rate Up Summon Tickets until February 11. Along with King, STR-attributed Support Thousand Ashes Gelda can also be drawn through Rate Up Summon during the same period.
The new update features “Super Awakening,” where players who have reached max awakening (13★) can utilize unused Hero Fragments. A button for Super Awakening can now be unlocked. Players can select and increase the Stats for Attack, Crit Resistance, Defense, HP, etc.
A new “Ranking Competition Event” will provide various rewards through Group Ranking and Overall Ranking until February 11. Points can be acquired through Ranking events such as Card Draw Ranking, Overall Stage Ranking and Account Combat Class Ranking. These points can be accumulated for daily rewards under Group Ranking Reward or main reward under the Overall Ranking Reward. Th include Golds, Diamonds, Rate Up Summon Tickets, Borders, Artifact Card Pack II, Portrait: Ranking Competition Event Trophy and many more.
New updates have been made to Constellations, Sacred Treasures and Stages. The number of Constellations for each Deadly Sins have been expanded to Third Stage with 21 Constellations. The Sacred Treasure Crafting Level has also increased from Level 20 to Level 30 that adds two Sacred Treasure grades of “Ultimate” and “Arcane.” Tower of Trials in both Normal and Hard difficulties will be increased to 70 Floors. Players can also experience stage expansions from the current 9000 to 10000 with story updates.
Based on the global hit manga and anime ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’, the game welcomes players to an idle RPG world overflowing with epic adventures and fan-favorite characters from the franchise. Inspired by The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, the mobile RPG enjoyed by 60 million players around the globe, The Seven Deadly Sins: IDLE Adventure offers an enjoyable gameplay experience featuring a variety of content, an easy-to-play One-Tap Draw system, as well the opportunity to collect and nurture beloved characters.
For more information on The Seven Deadly Sins: IDLE Adventure, please be sure to stay tuned to the official website and official social channels (Facebook, Discord) for future updates.
Established in Korea in 2000, Netmarble Corporation is a leading developer and publisher of top-grossing mobile games worldwide. Through powerful franchises and collaborations with acclaimed IP holders, Netmarble strives to elevate the gaming experience and entertain audiences globally. As a parent company of Kabam and SpinX Games, and a major shareholder of Jam City and HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment), Netmarble’s diverse portfolio includes Solo Leveling: ARISE, Seven Knights Idle Adventure, Tower of God: New World, Lineage 2: Revolution, MARVEL Future Fight, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds and The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross. More information can be found at http://company.netmarble.com.
