We Asked Prey Director Dan Trachtenberg If The New Predator Was Inspired By Unused Jean-Claude Van Damme Costume

Prey is a prequel set in the Predator franchise, and it’s coming to Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia on 5 August 2022.
The synopsis reads:
Set in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago, Prey is the story of a young woman, Naru, a fierce and highly skilled warrior. She has been raised in the shadow of some of the most legendary hunters who roam the Great Plains, so when danger threatens her camp, she sets out to protect her people.
The prey she stalks, and ultimately confronts, turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal, resulting in a vicious and terrifying showdown between the two adversaries.
With director Dan Trachtenberg at the helm, indigenous actor Amber Midthunder stars as the film’s hero, Naru, a warrior who protects her tribe from the otherworldly threat. The cast also includes Dakota Beavers, Stormee Kipp, Dane DiLiegro, and Stefany Mathias.
Courtesy of Disney+ Hotstar, we were given the opportunity to interview director Dan Trachtenberg and producer Jhane Myers. Dan Trachtenberg is best known for directing 2016’s 10 Cloverfield Lane, as well as an episode of The Boys
This interview has been edited for clarity. Stay tuned for the video version of this interview and the review of the movie. In the meantime, director Dan Trachtenberg recently revealed how he came up with the title of the movie during our coverage of the movie’s press conference.

What went into designing this version of the Predator and was the design of the Predator in Prey inspired by the original unused Jean Claude Van Damme costume?
Dan Trachtenberg: No. I thought about it, though. I did think, it would be really cool if there was some allusion just for the die-hards fans to recognize, “oh my god, they did that!”. But unfortunately, it was just not that cool (laughs). I just couldn’t make it work.
You know, a lot of hard work went into collaborating with the people over at ADI (Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc.) headed by Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. who are just the greatest special effects creatures artists and their teams over there are incredible.
We spent a long time iterating on striking a balance between something that could feel undeniably Predator but also feel new and fresh and far more creature-like and alien and ferocious and be exciting even for die-hard fans of the franchise.
This is what the original but unused version of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Predator design looked like.
Was there anything you wanted to do in Prey but couldn’t because of any particular reason?
Dan Trachtenberg: No, I really have my own internal compass, my own inner child that was excited to see certain things and wrestling with what would be going too far, what would feel like that does not feel like it’s a part of the franchise, or that’s different but still a part of what I think is a Predator movie.
When I watched the screener for Prey, there were scenes where the parts in Comanche weren’t translated. will the full Comanche dub be fully subtitled or translated?
Dan Trachtenberg: That’s up to the viewer, I think. The viewer can decide the language to be any, including Comanche and can turn on subtitles in their native language or not. I believe, in all versions, just like the version you watched, there will be no subtitles for when the French fur trappers show up.
What were the biggest challenges you faced during filming?
Jhane Myers: It wasn’t so much a challenge. It was incredible that we got to make this, so I just wanted to make it as authentic as possible to my culture, which is the Comanche Nation. So, i didn’t really think it was a challenge but it was exciting.


Star Wars: The Clone Wars Creator Teases Live-Action Ahsoka Tano

Fans are already beyond ecstatic that Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series will be receiving a highly-anticipated seventh season, which is slated to premiere in February 2020 (after having waited for half a decade since the sixth season in 2014).
Speaking with IGN at the D23 Expo last weekend, Star Wars: The Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni teased the future possibility of a live-action appearance of fan-favourite protagonist Ahsoka Tano. He said:

“I love that people love the characters, and it’s not like some of them can’t go on. I’m sure that there are more stories.
I don’t know that I’d call them Clone Wars stories, but I think there are things in the vein of Clone Wars in animation that we’re always going to be doing.
Everybody knows that value of that storytelling that Lucasfilm Animation does and the talented team of people that are there.”

While Filoni confirmed that Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7 will be its last, that doesn’t necessarily mean that characters like Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex will only be restricted to their animated mediums, especially considering that The Clone Wars‘ version of Darth Maul already appeared in 2016’s Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Filoni continued:

“I just want to tell stories. With different mediums and different ways to do them now, if something works for that medium and the right things come together, I don’t see why not.
The characters to me are the characters.
They’re as real in animation as they would be in live-action.
I think the actors and the people that have brought the animation to life have done so so beautifully that the fans regard them in equal standing to any of their live-action counterparts.
I’m very proud of that. So to me, they’re all real. They’re all alive. And we’ll just see what the future holds.”

When specifically asked about a live-action Ahsoka, Filoni suspiciously giggled and said:

“Yeah, you know… never say never.”

Dave Filoniâ€™s reaction to being asked if Ahsoka could go live-action is pretty interesting #StarWars pic.twitter.com/ozi530vxmF
â€” Bespin Bulletin (@BespinBulletin) August 24, 2019
Star-Crossed

I have previously mentioned how Ahsoka Tano is one of the best Jedi characters in Star Wars canon, even compared to the likes of Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker or others. Her development throughout the previous 121 episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series makes her one of the most fleshed-out protagonists in the franchise.
She’s a genuinely strong and captivating female character, which unfortunately does not apply to the New Trilogy’s Rey (who is bland and a Mary Sue character). Learn more about the upcoming Star Wars The Clone Wars Season 7 here, and check out why I think Ahsoka Tano deserves her own live-action movie or series here.


The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 4 Breakdown & Easter Eggs

The fourth episode of The Mandalorian Season 3 is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia. I’ll be discussing heavy spoilers so if you haven’t seen it or want to avoid spoilers, now’s your chance to stop reading.
Meanwhile, check out my breakdown of The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1, Episode 2 and Episode 3 here.
The journeys of the Mandalorian through the Star Wars galaxy continue. Once a lone bounty hunter, Din Djarin has reunited with Grogu. Meanwhile, the New Republic struggles to lead the galaxy away from its dark history. The Mandalorian will cross paths with old allies and make new enemies as he and Grogu continue their journey together.
The series stars Pedro Pascal, Katee Sackhoff, Carl Weathers, Amy Sedaris, Emily Swallow and Giancarlo Esposito. The directors of the eight-episode Season 3 include Rick Famuyiwa, Rachel Morrison, Lee Isaac Chung, Carl Weathers, Peter Ramsey and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Check out my breakdown of the first three episodes of Andor, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11 and Episode 12 here.
Check out my breakdown of Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 1 and 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5 and Episode 6 here.
You can check out my previous breakdowns of The Book Of Boba Fett Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6 and Episode 7 here.
Last year, we were given the opportunity to interview none other than the former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and current Dark Lord Of The Sith Darth Vader; Hayden Christensen himself.

Grogu Was At The Jedi Temple On Coruscant During Order 66 In Star Wars Episode III The Revenge Of the Sith

During a flashback, we learn that Grogu was at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant during Order 66 AKA the Great Jedi Purge in Star Wars Episode III The Revenge Of the Sith.
In the present, Grogu is not only still traumatised by the event, but he is also seemingly suffering from PTSD or maybe Survivor’s Guilt.
Many Jedi sacrificed themselves to ensure that Grogu survived, including one Jedi named Kelleran Beq.
Who Is Kelleran Beq, The Jedi Who Saved Grogu?

Who is this mysterious Jedi who saved Grogu?
Well, Star Wars fans, hold on to your seatbelts because that’s Kelleran Beq, a Jedi Master whose nickname is “The Sabered Hand”.
However, that’s not all because who is playing him? It’s none other than Ahmed Best. Yes, the very same actor who played Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars Prequel trilogy.

Ahmed Best made his debut as Kelleran Beq in Star Wars Jedi Temple Challenge as the host of a children’s game show series that puts its young contestants through a series of obstacles as part of a Jedi training course that tests them on the core Jedi principles of strength, knowledge, and bravery.

Grogu Gets A Second Piece Of Beskar Armour

This new rondel is Grogu’s second piece of Beskar armour.
He received his first, the Beskar chainmail, back in The Book Of Boba Fett Season 1.
The Foundling Who Got Kidnapped By The Monster Is Confirmed To Be Paz Vizsla’s Son

And his name is Ragnar.
In case you don’t remember, House Vizsla is one of the most powerful and influential Mandalorian clans.
What this means is that Bo-Katan Kryze will probably have a rival contender for the Mandalorian throne in the future.
There you have it, folks. Until next week, excelsior!


Weathering With You’s Breathtaking Animation Is Sullied By Its Unlikeable Protagonist

For the record, I haven’t watched Your Name, nor any of Makoto Shinkai’s previous works. I went into Weathering With You as a Shinkai virgin and a casual anime fan (whose all-time faves include Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Fate/Zero). I was hoping to be wowed by what is regarded as one of the most highly-anticipated animated movies of 2019.
Two hours later, I came out unimpressed as a whole, wondering to myself how an animated movie like this could be praised so much. Besides the brilliant animation and visuals, everything else brings it down, especially its extremely unlikeable and problematic male protagonist.
Did They Actually Want Us To Root For This Guy?

Before I get ahead of myself, those unfamiliar with Weathering With You may want to know the basic premise of the plot. The story is essentially of a runaway 16-year-old boy named Hodaka Morishima who meets and falls in love with a girl named Hina Amano, who sort of has the ability to manipulate the weather.
That sounds like a generic setup for an anime love story, right? It basically is, down to their first meet-cute and their subsequent spending time together.

You just know that something tragic is going to happen in these type of stories, and it’s all pretty predictable. The twists can be seen a mile away, if they can even be called that.

The movies incorporate elements of Shinto and Buddhism into how Hina’s powers work, but it doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the movie. There are the rules and structures, but they fall flat as they’re primarily used as plot devices. They could have been expanded upon, but like many anime movies, are simply left unexplained and vague.

In all of anime film history, Hodaka is one of the most unlikeable male protagonists I’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing. If you’re expecting for the movie to flesh out and develop the character, just don’t.

We never do find out what Hodaka is running away from in the first place, and the things we do learn about him makes him come across as a spoiled brat.
Viewers are usually meant to root for the protagonists, but I found myself actually hating this kid throughout the movie. I won’t spoil what exactly happens, but the climax of this movie sees Hodaka committing a selfish act that has dire consequences for the entire world.
That wouldn’t have been much of a problem if I cared about the relationship between Hodaka and Hina. I consider myself a hopeless romantic, but I still can’t find it in myself to like this delinquent. I have since learnt (after watching the movie) that Shinkai intended for Hodaka to be a “boy that breaks away from society” with a controversial personality which includes selfish and naive behaviour (via The Japan News).

Unfortunately, he ultimately did too good a job, as evident by how much I utterly dislike Hodaka, so much so that it spoils almost the entire movie for me. It’s such a shame, because Hina Amano is adorable and irresistibly likeable, as are the rest of the supporting characters, each of whom lights up the movie in their own way.
Animation For The Soul

Everyone who’ve watched Your Name or any of Shinkai’s other animated movies will already know what to expect from into Weathering With You in terms of quality animation. It certainly doesn’t disappoint in that regard, as the movie features true-to-life recreations of Tokyo, as well as stuff like food and everyday objects.
It’s fascinating that Shinkai chose to focus on the shady and seedier underbelly of Japan’s capital in this movie. It highlights the darker and gritty corners of Tokyo, depicting rusty streets and back alleys, love hotels, escorts (the adult kind), and the unforgivingly cruel people (like Yakuza, etc) who populate these areas.

It feels positively refreshing, especially after seeing only the modern and cleaner side of metropolitan Tokyo being portrayed in most anime and video games. It’s no utopia and kudos to Shinkai for giving us that in the form of lovingly beautiful and lush animation.
Just like his previous movies, there’s also at least one or two scenes in Weathering With You that features scenes of impossibly splendorous-looking animated food. It’s no exaggeration to say that watching a Shinkai movie will leave you hunting for food (sadly, animated food doesn’t exist).
All Filler, No Killer?

I wouldn’t call Weathering With You a bad movie per se, but this flawed package comes wrapped in the most beautiful wrapping you’ve ever seen. Fans of anime and Makoto Shinkai will definitely want to watch this movie, and they’ll probably like it too.
For those who don’t belong to either of those two categories, I can’t really recommend Weathering With You. It’s not for everyone, the same way that not everyone could appreciate the brilliance of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. If you still want a great anime movie with a love story, go and watch Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises instead (it should have won the Oscar award it was nominated for in 2014).
FINAL SCORE: 60/100
We received a special preview screening courtesy of TGV Cinemas Malaysia. Weathering With You premieres in Malaysian cinemas on 5 September 2019.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6iK6DjV_iE&w=560&h=315]


Werewolf By Night Breakdown & Easter Eggs

Werewolf By Night is the first-ever Marvel Studios Special Presentation film and is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia.
The synopsis reads:
On a dark and somber night, a secret cabal of monster hunters emerge from the shadows and gather at the foreboding Bloodstone Temple following the death of their leader. In a strange and macabre memorial to the leader’s life, the attendees are thrust into a mysterious and deadly competition for a powerful relic—a hunt that will ultimately bring them face to face with a dangerous monster.
Inspired by horror films of the 1930s and 1940s, the chilling special aims to evoke a sense of dread and the macabre, with plenty of suspense and scares along the way as we explore a new corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Check out my review of Werewolf By Night here, or check out my interviews with Werewolf By Night actress Laura Donnelly, who portrays the role of Elsa Bloodstone, and Werewolf By Night director and music composer Michael Giacchino.

The Bloodstone Family

The Bloodstone family is a family of generations of monster hunters, including Ulysses Bloodstone, Cullen Bloodstone, and Elsa Bloodstone (who is portrayed by Laura Donelly in the MCU). They get their enhanced strength and abilities thanks to the Bloodstone (or Bloodgem in the comics) relic.
Meet Jack Russell AKA Werewolf By Night

Meet Gael García Bernal as Jack Russell / Werewolf by Night, a man afflicted with a curse that turns him into a werewolf.
Meet Elsa Bloodstone

Meet Laura Donnelly as Elsa Bloodstone.
The Bloodstone

The Bloodstone that everyone is fighting for. In the comics, it grants special powers like superhuman strength, speed, durability and endurance, and a regenerative healing factor, which is what allows members of the Bloodstone family to fight monsters. However, the MCU version may be different.
Meet Man-Thing

Man-Thing makes his debut in the MCU. He’s one of the most important magical characters in the Marvel universe.
Man-Thing was actually a human and a biochemist named Dr. Theodore “Ted” Sallis. He attempted to recreate the Super-Soldier Serum that had created Captain America. When hunted by AIM, he injected himself with it in hopes of saving himself. However, he crashes his car into the swamp where scientific and magical forces combine to instantly transform him into a slow-moving plant-matter creature with large, solid red eyes.
He later becomes the guardian of the Nexus of Realities. The Man-Thing possesses a variety of superhuman powers that are derived from the combined interaction of the scientific formula created by Ted Sallis and the mystical energies of the Nexus of All Realities.
It is able to sense human emotions, is enraged by fear and automatically secretes a powerful corrosive; anyone feeling fear and clutched by the Man-Thing is prone to be burned (either chemically or mystically), hence the series’ tagline: “Whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing’s touch!”
He actually demonstrates that power in Werewolf By Night. It turns out that Jack Russell’s main goal is to liberate the Man-Thing from the Bloodstone family.

Werewolf By Night Unleashed

According to Michael Giacchino, the Werewolf By Night suit is achieved using practical effects.
It’s also pretty comics-accurate, though it will be even more exciting when we eventually see him in full glorious colour.

Man-Thing In Colour

At least we get to see Man-Thing in colour. Let’s hope he shows up again in future shows and movies.
Elsa Has The Bloodstone Now

Elsa finally gets the Bloodstone and thus, she is now officially Elsa Bloodstone with all the powers that come with it.
Also, there’s no post-credits scene for Werewolf By Night.
Until the next one, excelsior!


Is Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Fit For Gods Or Hel?

Platform: PS4, Xbox Series X, PS5, Xbox One, PCGenre: Open-World, Action RPG, Stealth, Historical
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla marks only the third time in Ubisoft history that they’ve skipped one year for the annual franchise, after 2009’s Assassin’s Creed 2 and 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins. Both of these were hallmarks in the lineup of perhaps the company’s biggest franchise (sorry, Splinter Cell and Prince Of Persia, fans), introducing new gameplay elements that continued into future games.
While Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be the franchise’s first foray into next-gen (PS5 and Xbox Series X), let me clarify that I played this game on a PS4 Pro. We still don’t have a PS5 right now, and might not be getting one for a while yet. But we do have an Xbox Series X version, which my colleague Jonathan “Mr Toffee” Leo has been using for the game, so I do have a frame of reference for 4K gaming.
So, the biggest question on everyone’s minds is what makes Assassin’s Creed Valhalla different from its predecessors. Does it look better? Does it play better? How buggy is it?
Strap onto your longboats, folks, and let’s get ourselves to the age of the Vikings.
SkÃ¥l!

That term will be familiar to anyone who’s even remotely a fan of Vikings, Nordic culture, or have watched the History Channel series Vikings. The Vikings shouted “SkÃ¥l!” as a salute or toast of sorts, similar to the English word “Cheers!”.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla takes place in 9th-century England (mostly), during a time when the country was divided into different kingdoms and assaulted by Viking raids. They would later unite and become the British Empire, ironically doing to the world what the Vikings did to them, but I digress.
It’s a popular age in history, rife with conflict and intrigue, which makes it ripe for the Assassin’s Creed franchise, just like Ptolemaic Egypt and Ancient Greece was in the last two games, respectively. As iconic as Vikings are, it’s a wonder there aren’t more games where you can play as them.
Long-time Assassin’s Creed fans can rest easy, as the Assassins and Templars (still known as the Hidden Ones and Order Of The Ancients in this era) are back, though they’re still mostly in the background of the story. That’s because the narrative focus this time around is on Eivor of the Raven Clan from Norway.
Eivor Wolf-Kissed.
Players can choose between male, female, or a default option that supposedly lets the Animus choose and alternate between the two genders. In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, you can manually change Eivor’s gender at any time from the Animus menu. That’s a welcome improvement over Odyssey, which locked you into one gender from beginning to end.
Ubisoft has done wonders in casting the voices for both male (Magnus Bruun) and female Eivor (Cecilie Stenspil). They both deliver incredible performances, but it’s Bruun’s male Eivor that stands out the most. It’s no surprise, considering that he is actually descended from actual Vikings (he’s Danish) and he even stars as a Viking named Cnut in the TV series The Last Kingdom. Seriously, his voice is the epitome of what a Viking protagonist should sound like.
The story in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla doesn’t waste time getting into the action, as it introduces us to Eivor; a Viking orphan who loses his/her father to a rival clan. He grows up to be a famous warrior, renowned as the Wolf-Kissed (just like Kassandra/Alexios was the Eagle-Bearer in Odyssey).
The titular Assassins also get introduced earlier on in the plot, but pretty much takes a backseat to Eivor’s journey to help his clan settle and build a new life in England. Joining him are a couple of Assassins (sorry, Hidden Ones) and his brother in arms, Sigurd, amongst others.
The return of the Assassins.
I spent the first seven hours or so of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in the starting region of Norway, which is actually like the tutorial map of the game. The game opens up for real when you finally reach England and start developing a settlement there.
Despite playing on the PS4 (and not any of the next-gen consoles), I was impressed by the visuals of the game. Its a beauty to behold. Ubisoft has managed to make the dialogue and narrative cutscenes look more cinematic and dramatic than Origins and Odyssey.
There’s also more variety here than in Origins and Odyssey. You’ll visit small towns in idyllic 9th-century England, the city of old Lunden (London) with its remains of Roman architecture, a small North American region called Vinland, and even the realms of Asgard.
I’ll elaborate more on those below, but the fact remains that this is one of the biggest Assassin’s Creed experiences. You thought Odyssey was overwhelming? Wait until you play Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. It’s not actually bigger in terms of map size, but rather, in the introductions of new gameplay mechanics and improvements that Ubisoft has incorporated.
Viking Playground
This title card popped up for me after seven hours in the game.
Where do I even start? Let me be frank with you. The first few hours of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla inspired a sense of dÃ©jÃ  vu. After spending more than 100 hours in Odyssey, I wasn’t looking for just more of the same tired gameplay loop. Seeing the near-identical menu and UI design from Odyssey returning in Valhalla didn’t exactly instil a sense of confidence from me.
Fortunately, I believe Valhalla ultimately delivers.
Again, don’t get the wrong idea. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla doesn’t reinvent the wheel so much as add a shiny new rim and rubber to it all. It improved on existing gameplay mechanics from Odyssey and adds a bunch of new stuff that I ultimately enjoyed playing.
You can still find the same formulaic and familiar gameplay mechanics, like climbing high vantage points to unveil more of the map, the same combat, and more. Still, I’m here to tell you about what’s changed and everything that’s new, since that’s what you want to know.
Firstly, one of the biggest and most welcome gameplay changes is that traditional side quests are no more. When you open the map, the only things you’ll see at first are a bunch of dots coloured yellow, blue, or white. These make exploring the world more exciting and adds a sense of mystery again (similar to how the question marks on the map in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt works), as you won’t know what they are until you get closer to them.
Each colour of the dot can mean different side activities for you to discover, and there’s a lot (and I mean, a lot). The yellow dots are marked as Wealth and they often reward precious materials, a new piece of gear, or a book of knowledge that either teaches or upgrades an Ability.
You’ll see these coloured dots as beams of light when perched on a high point in the game’s world.
Blue dots are marked as Mysteries, which may mean side quests (which are now referred to as World Events), a dice mini-game called Orlog with its own rules, Flyting (a rap battle of sorts), a drinking rhythm-based mini-game, Animus Anomalies to solve (obstacle courses to complete and unlock the game’s lore), Legendary Animals to hunt, Cairns (a mini-game where you stack stones), Standing Stones (where you have to form a shape via shaping it from your perspective), Fly Agaric (sort of like mini vision quests where Eivor gets high and hallucinate), and more.
White dots are marked as Artifacts, and this usually means Zealots (like the Mercenaries that you hunt in Odyssey), Roman Artifacts to collect, Flying Paper (which returns from older Assassin’s Creed titles, where you chase a flying piece of paper via parkour), and Cursed Symbols (artifacts that you have to destroy).
Going through each of these side activities one by one would take more words than I can afford in this review, but you have to understand that many of these side activities are meaningful and fun to participate in. An element that contributes to this is that most of them are no longer just sitting there marked on a map waiting for you to simply grab it.
Most of them require players to actually think and figure out how to find them. Some are hidden underground, and some require keys to get to them. A lot of them are behind barred doors and seemingly impenetrable walls. Sometimes you need to destroy a lock by shooting an arrow through an open window, and that’s just one example.
The larger the coloured dot on the map, the more substantial the challenge and the greater the reward, which means that you can choose which dots are best to prioritize and spend your time on.

In an attempt to emulate the randomness of Red Dead Redemption 2, what was previously conventional side quests are now referred to as World Events, and that’s because they’re no longer simply marked on the map willy-nilly.
You stumble upon these World Events and get this; there is no longer a side quest log. What this means is that once a World Event has started, the game doesn’t explicitly spell out what you have to do in a boring list. Instead, you’ll have to focus on what the NPC says and wants you to do.
It’s fortunate, then, that the writing for these World Events is surprisingly great. They impressed me from time to time. They’re often funny, but not cringe-worthy, and some are even emotionally-stirring. It really feels like the developers had a genuinely good time making up these World Event scenarios.
For example, when visiting Vinland/North America, I met a Norse woman who was training a turkey to fly. Another had me solve the issue of a two bickering families by blowing up their grain silos (which I had to deduce myself, because again, the game doesn’t list down what you should do to complete World Events).
The improved writing extends to the entire story and narrative of the game in general as well. Every region on the map now has its own story arc, and some of these are really memorable. These are characters that you grow to care about. In one story arc, I had to groom a would-be King, which culminated in a heartfelt wedding, during which I could even participate in festivities (which reminds me of similar events in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt). In Lunden (London), I essentially had to solve a murder with two sheriffs in a whodunit case.
The set-up for a game of Orlog looks like this.
I also especially enjoyed Orlog, to the point that it would be the first thing I look for when I discover a new town or location. Just like The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt‘s Gwent, you go around competing with NPCs in towns. It has its own rules and collectible God Favor totems (which grants special effects in Orlog matches). It’s just that instead of using cards, Orlog uses dice.
I’m getting side-tracked on side activities here. Another core mechanic in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the development and building your Viking settlement (called Ravensthorpe) in England. Now that you have a settlement to develop, there’s a new gameplay loop in play.
You go on Raids with your fellow Vikings. In fact, you can just stroll in raid-able towns or places and call on your raiding party with a loud horn. During raids, you pillage materials, which could be funnelled into your settlement to build more buildings.
Each building has a purpose that contributes to the gameplay. You can build a tattoo parlour, a blacksmith (to upgrade weapons), hunting huts to turn in materials gained from hunting for rewards, and more. These buildings are populated by NPCs, but what’s interesting is that they feel alive, similar to the Van Der Linde gang in Red Dead Redemption 2.
How so? Well, some of those living in your settlement will greet you and even have side quests with you. I was genuinely shocked when one of them even died, and the settlement will grow as more people join. You’ll see them around the settlement and interact with them, though clearly, the level of depth doesn’t reach the immersive levels of Rockstar Games’ juggernaut title.
Bloodletting Fit For A Viking

In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, combat has been refined. It feels weighty and more complex than both Origins and Odyssey. Firstly, there’s the new Skill tree, where it’s more like Final Fantasy X‘s sphere grid. Earning EXP and levelling up earns you points, which you can use to unlock nodes for stat boosts and new active/passive abilities.
These range from chain assassinations, the ability to set your weapon on fire, the ability to dual-wield even heavy weapons like spears and big axes, and more. Best of all, you can re-spec and reallocate any of the points used in the Skill tree without incurring any cost. This means that you can change your playstyle at almost any time without any penalties, which I appreciate. I no longer have to feel bad about spending my points on an ability I won’t even make use of.
I also really like that Ubisoft has considerably lessened the loot-based system of previous games in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. You won’t end up with a million different swords and axes in your inventory, as weapons are unique and there are only one of each.
It makes the weapon you use more meaningful and easily distinguishable. To add more depth to a less variety of weapons, you can not only dual wield any combination of weapons (my personal favourite is individual spears in both hands), but you can also upgrade them.
The menu layout will look familiar if you’ve played Odyssey and Origins.
I love that upgrading your weapons and gear (helmet, cloak, armour, etc.) will also sometimes change their appearance. That Raven Clan set you get from the beginning? It’s going to look a lot more badass and powerful after a few upgrades. Plus, different tier of upgrades require different types of resources (usually found from raiding), which means that weaker weapons don’t have to share the same resources as stronger and upgraded ones.
Remember your avian companion? This time it’s a Raven named Synin and he’s not as overpowered as the Eagle Vision from previous games. You can no longer simply mark every enemy or object in the world. This includes story objectives and valuable items. The Raven will only show you the general area of where you should start your search. He’s not going to do your job for you.
Instead, players have to rely on Odin’s Sight, which is a scan of the immediate are surrounding the player’s vicinity. This will highlight enemies and objects; it will be the primary way for players to find objects and complete objectives, so be prepare to press the R3 stick many, many times.
Another important change is that you can no longer automatically heal outside of battles. Players have to scavenge for Rations or berries in the open-world to heal, so it’s important to be smarter in approaching combat in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

In addition, what elevates the combat in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the variety of enemies for you to fight. The Animus Database is back in this game, which means that there are classifications of each type of enemy. In previous games, you only had to contend with two or three types of enemies most of the times, which gets bland after countless hours of gameplay.
In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, there are more than 30, which you’ll gradually encounter more of throughout the game. Each boasts its own weapons and move-sets, so you can’t just button mash through all of them the same way. I’ve encountered enemies who lob firebombs, a dodging knife expert whose only weakness is for you to parry his attacks, large brutes with greatswords, and fire blade-wielding maniacs with rabid wolf companions. These are all ‘normal enemies’, not bosses, mind you.
The combat in this game is also deeper in that enemies have breakable shields, and some are so fast that the only way you can defeat them is by parrying. I guarantee that you’ll be doing a lot of parrying just as much as dodging in this game, especially now that enemies have two meters; a health and a stun meter. Depleting the stun meter will cause them to immediately go into a vulnerable stunned state.
I would like to also point out that each enemy now has distinguished death animations, and this includes animals. You heard that right, each enemy type and animal has their own death animation. It’s impressive, and I can appreciate that extra detail right there. Oh, and you can now dismember the heads and hands of enemies, though it only randomly happens when they die (also you can turn off dismemberment if you want). It’s not like you can target specific body parts during combat.
You’ll grow your settlement in the game.
The Order Of The Ancients nemesis-like system also returns from Odyssey, and players can find clues just like before to hunt them down and assassinate them. You’ll probably get to most of them via story missions.
Last but not least, the Hidden Blade is back, folks, and it feels so, so good. Yes, I can confirm that enemies now die instantly from assassinations, though more powerful enemy types will require players to successfully perform a one-button quick-time event. If the player fails, the enemy will only lose half of their life bar.
Stealth, in general, is a much more viable option in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla compared to Origins and Odyssey. However, Eivor is still a Viking at heart, and well, raids aren’t exactly stealthy affairs. While the game offers you a lot of stealth opportunities, there’s no avoiding head-on conflict when it happens.
Just Distractions, Really

All of the gameplay I’ve mentioned above can be considered as the meat of the game, which is why I don’t see why Ubisoft had to include an Asgard map and side story, as well as one that has players visiting North America. =
Despite having its own map, visiting Asgard feels like a pointless distraction to pad out the game, and one that feels like the whole thing could’ve just been relegated to cutscenes instead. However, players are forced to experience a boring mythological plot with fetch quests and a few scattered boss battles.
The Vikings were in America first…
At the same time, the Vinland North American visit also feels more like a distraction. The smaller region doesn’t overstay its welcome (it only takes two hours or so to complete everything here), but why the heck is do I have to enter this region without any of my equipment, gear or materials.
I’m forced to gain new materials and gear while in Vinland, which is clearly an attempt to stretch the content. The whole thing is only included just to tie in Valhalla to an older Assassin’s Creed title (I won’t spoil which one it is).
All in all, both Asgard and Vinland don’t really do much to spice up the gameplay. When I was playing in those regions, all I really wanted to do was return to England and the core game again.
Broken At Launch?

Did that get your attention? Well, the truth of the matter is that for everything that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla does right, there are also a bunch of problems and issues that plague the game. This is especially true with the current-gen (or last-gen) versions of the game (PS4 and Xbox One).
While Assassin’s Creed Valhalla still looks pretty good, the game seems to suffer from a lack of polish. It’s like more resources, time, and money went into the next-gen versions.
It’s worth for me to remind everyone that whatever promotional material of the game that you’ve seen was highly likely the PS5 or Xbox Series X version, which is why the PS4/Xbox One is quite disappointing. Mr Toffee can attest to this: the 4K 60fps version of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla looks gorgeous and plays really butter smooth.
Character movement feels a bit unresponsive and janky at times, especially when compared to how smooth Bayek and Kassandra/Alexios felt like. Like I mentioned above, the combat is probably still superior, but the jankiness is noticeable to someone like me, who spent more than a 100 hours with Odyssey alone.
The next-gen versions of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla may boast extremely fast loading times, but that doesn’t excuse the long-ass loading times the PS4/Xbox One version had. I literally have time for a whole toilet break and time to spare just waiting for the game to boot up (that’s like several minutes long).
That’s not unusual for an open-world game, but what is the most glaring loading problem of all is the time it takes for dialogue and conversations to start. In Origins or Odyssey, pressing ‘Triangle’ to ‘Speak’ with NPCs usually translates to the dialogue or conversation to start almost instantly.
However, whenever you do that in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the screen fades to black and there’s actual loading time before the dialogue or conversation even begins. This is especially frustrating when you just want to buy (or sell) something at the item vendor, or turn those Roman artifacts that you just collected.

Unfortunately, all of that pales in comparison to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘s biggest issue at launch; one that might even break the game and prevent gamers from playing the game. No, I haven’t encountered any game-breaking bugs. In fact, the game hasn’t crashed on me even once through the duration of my playthrough.
After spending more than 30 hours in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, I began to notice that my game saves were becoming corrupted for some weird reason. This started to happen after I went to the North American Vinland region. From then on, the problem escalated to the point that manual saves and auto-saves were becoming corrupted.
What this means is that my progress wasn’t being saved. The game actually still ran fine, but how could I continue playing without having the ability to save? It’s annoying how this issue popped up later in the game when I’ve already spent so many hours.
While sometimes my saves would be successful; at other times they would become corrupted. My only solution is to perform a manual save multiple times in succession until one is eventually successful (or not).
At the time of writing (of this review) and at launch, this problem still persists. This issue could potentially happen to you too, especially if you’re playing on a PS4 or PS4 Pro like me. At the time of writing, I can only confirm that it’s happening on players on the PS4. I’ve had feedback from our very own Mr Toffee that it doesn’t affect the Xbox Series X version of the game. In fact, it’s arguably the “safest” version of the game since Ubisoft has mentioned time and again that it’s the “correct console” to play the game on.
I sincerely hope that Ubisoft resolves this issue in a future patch soon. Until then, perhaps it’s wiser to wait before buying this game at launch if you’d rather not face these problems. Or if you have a next-gen console or a PC, get those versions instead.
Like A Viking

If you liked Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla improves on almost every aspect from its predecessors. The combat and open-world are better, as is the writing and narrative. Plus, you get to live out your fantasy of being a Viking in 4K crystal clear glory.
What’s not to like? Well, the PS4/Xbox One versions are inferior versions of the game. Combine that with the potential game-breaking bugs/issues at launch, perhaps you’re better off waiting for a next-gen console to experience this game at its best.
Pros
Deeper combat and enemy variety.Smarter exploration and interesting array of side activities.The sheer wealth of open-world content.Good writing and narrative that sucks you in.
Cons
Doesn’t look too good on last-gen consoles.Seems to lack a certain polish on current-gen/last-gen platforms (long loading times, etc.)A potential game-breaking bug in the form of corrupted saves.Padding and pointless distractions to stretch out the game (Asgard, Vinland, etc.)
Final Score: 80/100
A review copy of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was provided to us by Ubisoft, and I played this game on a PS4 Pro. All screenshots were taken by me on the PS4 Pro. I also had assistance from Mr Toffee for the Xbox Series X version.


Check Out These Official Gundam Sneakers

There are sneakers for every pop culture brand now, from Stranger Things to Game Of Thrones. Now Chinese company 361 Degrees are releasing a new line of official Mobile Suit Gundam sneakers for all you mecha fans out there.
Each Gundam sneaker will set you back around US$60 to US$70, which is roughly RM250 to RM290+. The new lineup of Gundam sneakers consists of four models, two of which comes in two different color schemes.

If you have the cash to spare, the collector’s edition for these Gundam sneakers comes with a cool box or crate that looks in line with the franchise’s aesthetics.

Besides sneakers, 361 Degrees is also making some official Gundam-themed apparel, which you can check out below.

These official Gundam merchandises are now available on the official website here. For more Gundam-related stuff, Uniqlo recently released their own lineup of Gundam-themed shirts.


We Talk To She-Hulk Herself Tatiana Maslany About Filming That KEVIN Scene & How Many Endings There Were

She-Hulk Attorney At Law Season 1 is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia.
Courtesy of Disney+ Hotstar, we were given the opportunity to interview Jennifer Walters AKA She-Hulk herself, Tatiana Maslany.
This interview has been edited for clarity. Stay tuned for the video version of this interview.
This interview discusses heavy spoilers so if you haven’t seen it or want to avoid spoilers, now’s your chance to stop reading.
Check out my spoiler-free review of She-Hulk here.
The synopsis reads:
In Marvel Studios’ “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany)—an attorney specializing in superhuman-oriented legal cases must navigate the complicated life of a single, 30-something who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered hulk. The nine-episode comedy series welcomes a host of MCU vets, including Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/Abomination, and Benedict Wong as Wong, as well as Jameela Jamil, Josh Segarra, Ginger Gonzaga, Jon Bass and Renée Elise Goldsberry.
The series is directed by Kat Coiro (Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9) and Anu Valia (Episodes 5, 6, 7) with Jessica Gao as head writer. Executive producers are Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Coiro and Gao.
Check out my breakdown of She-Hulk Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8 and Episode 9 here.

That whole finale was insane. Can you tell us how many variations of the ending there are?
Tatiana Maslany: Yeah, I just heard that Jessica said that there were 20 versions of the ending. I think that was the number that was said, it was wild to me. I saw two, the one that we landed on and I’m so happy that that was the one that we ended on because I think it really brought together the whole show into this perfect irreverent destruction of everything we hold sacred in the MCU, and it felt like Jen was at her most confident and at her most cohesive in terms of being both Jen and She-Hulk.
We did shoot another ending but it didn’t make the cut.
Is there anything you can tell us about that ending?
Tatiana Maslany: Well, I think I was She-Hulk in the ending, so it was a more expensive ending.
In the final episode, one of my favourite moments was when you made the face and gesture when mentioning the X-Men and saying things like smashing Daredevil. During the whole scene with KEVIN, did you ad-lib any of the lines or was all of that really in the script?
Tatiana Maslany: That was all in the script. However, on the day Jessica (Gao) or Zeb (Wells), who is also a writer, they would throw ideas out and we would add them in and try them out and we were really on a roll in terms of just like, slaying. And so most of that made it into the thing because ultimately that scene is like; she’s a nerd about these, she knows all the things about these movies and there’s no reverence for this KEVIN guy.
She just wants to know details about the X-Men. (laughs) It’s sort of like the same kind of questioning that she does about whats-his-face’s virginity. You know what I mean, like it’s the same way her brain works but a lot of that was like, slaying on the day.
During that scene with KEVIN, can you tell us what that was like? Was Kevin just a green screen or was there like a picture of Kevin Feige in the middle of the room?
Tatiana Maslany: (laughs) His headshot? His corporate headshot? No, because the first time we shot it, they had built this kind of puppet thing that I was talking to that sort of looked like what KEVIN sort of ended looking like.
But the second time we shot it, I think one of our props women was like holding a stick that had like a, I don’t even remember what was on it, but it was very minimal. And she was turning around with me, and kind of acting with me in the sense like she would go down like this (gestures) and sort of shift her position so I would get to look at, you know.
So, there was somebody to play with, but it definitely wasn’t the ultimate Kevin (Feige). It was fun.


Keanu Reeves Comic Book BRZRKR Is Getting An Anime On Netflix

Did you know that Keanu Reeves has a comic book of his own? BRZRKR is a comic book series created and written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt and drawn by Ron Garney. It follows an immortal warrior, known as Berzerker, as he fights his way through the ages.
At San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Keanu Reeves announced that BRZRKR will be adapted into a two-season anime, which is currently in early stages with animation studio Production I.G (which is best known for anime like Haikyu!! and Psycho-Pass) at Netflix. However, there is currently no release window for this.
BRZRKR is also being adapted into a live-action movie, which is currently being written by Matt Kindt.

BRZRKR will be a two-season anime, currently in early stages with animation studio Production I.G (Haikyu!!, Psycho-Pass) at Netflix. #NetflixSDCC pic.twitter.com/Z41QN9wMmy
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) July 22, 2022


Enshrouded Is A New Action RPG With Survival Mechanics

Keen Games has announced a new action RPG with survival mechanics, Enshrouded.
Enshrouded is a cooperative survival crafting action RPG for up to 16 players. If it’s anything like Valheim or similar games, it will likely be popular. In Enshrouded, you are Flameborn, last ember of hope of a dying race. Awaken, survive the terror of a corrupting fog, and reclaim the lost beauty of your kingdom.
It is slated to release on PC via Steam in Early Access sometime in 2023.
Check out the trailer below:


Overwatch League Transfers: Rascal Moves to Fuel While Mayhem Raid Meta Athena

The transfer window for the Overwatch League is again open and we have tons of news on player movements for you. Earlier today we were rocked by news that former KongDoo Panthera starting DPS and current London Spitfire squad player,Â Dong-junÂ “Rascal”Â Kim is headed to Dallas Fuel. Rascal came to prominence as one-half of the highly potent KongDoo Panthera DPS duo with Birdring where they finished runners up at OGN APEX Season 3, narrowly losing to Lunatic-Hai. However, despite having won Overwatch League Stage 1 grand finals with London Spitfire recently, playtime has been limited for Rascal following super impressive performances of Profit and Birdring.
It’s almost impossible to dislodge Profit from the Spitfire starting DPS spot considering him being one of, if not THE BEST DPS player in the league at the moment while Birdring have been equally impressive to earn the second DPS spot. So a move for Rascal may be best for his career right now.
The rumor about the move have been circling for several days but it recently went full steam ahead following ESPN’s report followed by the following tweet from owner and CEO of the Dallas Ful, Mike Rufail:

I can confirm we are in the process of negotiating @Rascalâ€™s transfer to the @DallasFuel. Working with @C9Jack, his staff and the @overwatchleague to finalize.
â€” Mike Rufail (@hastr0) February 13, 2018
If the transfer does go through, Rascal will be eligible to contest as a Dallas Fuel player in Stage 2 which kicks off 23rd February. Dallas Fuel earlier this week confirmed the signing of former Rogue and French national team DPS, DylanÂ “aKm”Â Bignet.
This brings a total of DPS players in the Dallas Fuel squad to five; Taimou, Effect, Seagull, aKM & Rascal. Taimou has been the team’s designated sniper, as well as flex tank on Roadhog while Effect is the team’s best Tracer to date. Seagull is Fuel’s main projectile specialist and also known for his wide hero pool and aKm brings another dimension to the hitscan heroes pool. Rascal, like Seagull is known for his ability to run on several heroes but is best deployed as Genji, paired with an aggressive Tracer in a highly aggressive approach.
On a side note, an interesting subplot from this move would be that Rascal will be teammates with Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel whom he once publicly reported for throwing games which resulted in xQc getting suspended from the game.Â
Another Overwatch League team that’s been busy this transfer window is the meme specialist, Florida Mayhem who just raided Meta Athena off two players; signing two Korean players, DPS Ha “Sayaplayer” Jung Woo and tank player Kim “aWesomeGuy” Sung Hoon. They didn’t just stopped there. They also snapped up former Meta Athena player and coach,Â Hyun-jin â€œr2derâ€ Choi to their coaching staff. These moves follows earlier confirmed transfer ofÂ JoonasÂ “zappis”Â Alakurtti who joins his former Misfits teammates at Florida. With a dismal record of 1-9, their sole win coming against the equally dismal Shanghai Dragons.

More transfer news abound as the teams sought to beef up their squad ahead of Stage 2 which kicks off 23rd February 2018. Stay tuned to Kakuchopurei.com as we bring you all the latest news and updates from the Overwatch League.


AMD’s Next-Gen Navi Radeon RX 5700 GPU To Rival NVIDIA’s RTX 2070

AMD recently delivered its keynote at Computex 2019, one of the world’s biggest computer events currently taking place in Taipei, Taiwan. Amongst its many new announcements, the tech giant has revealed its new lineup of -next-gen GPUs: the AMD Radeon RX 5700-series powered by its brand-new Navi architecture.
Officially though, the company is calling its new Navi architecture by the name of RDNA, or Radeon DNA. The graphics card confirmed by AMD so far is the RX 5700, a mid-range GPU which will rival that of NVIDIA’s own RTX 2070.
At its keynote, AMD presented a demo for the Rebellion Developments’ Strange Brigade game, in which its new RX 5700 is shown to be 10% faster and more powerful than the NVIDIA RTX 2070. Besides that, itÂ will also be the first-ever GPU to support PCIe 4.0 technology.

Hereâ€™s the first Navi demo: Radeon RX 5700 vs the NVIDIA RTX 2070. AMD says they win by about 10% pic.twitter.com/2Jx3LHIb3d
â€” Devindra Hardawar (@Devindra) May 27, 2019
However, the company did not reveal any more technical specs or expected pricing for the new Radeon RX 5000-series. It is slated to go on sale sometime in July 2019. In the meantime, more details and information will probably be announced at AMD’s upcoming gaming-focused presentation at E3 2019.
During AMD’s Computex 2019 opening keynote, AMD President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su said:

â€œ2019 is off to an incredible start for AMD as we celebrate 50 years of innovation by delivering leadership products to push the limits of what is possible with computing and graphics technology,
We made significant strategic investments in next-generation cores, a breakthrough chipset design approach, and advanced process technologies to deliver leadership 7nm products to our high-performance computing ecosystem.
We are extremely excited to kick-off Computex 2019 together with our industry partners as we prepare to bring our next generation of Ryzen desktop and EPYC server processors and Radeon RX gaming graphics cards to market.â€

(Image Credit: Devindra Hardawar/Engadget)


New Far Cry 6 Release Date Leaked By Microsoft Store

It was announced late last month that Far Cry 6 would be delayed beyond its original 18 February 2021 release date. However, Ubisoft only provided a vague release window then, but now we know the new release date, thanks to the game’s Microsoft’s Store listing.
According to the U.S. Microsoft Store, Far Cry 6 is slated to launch on 26 May 2021.
While this could simply be a placeholder, it’s too specific not to be a real release date, not to mention that it’s in line with Ubisoft’s announcement that the game would release sometime during the fiscal year 2021 to 2022, which is between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022.
Ubisoft has yet to confirm this new release date, but for now, Far Cry 6 looks slated to launch for the PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia on 26 May 2021.


Horizon Forbidden West Sales Top 8.4 Million Units

The adventures of Aloy will continue, according to PlayStation and Guerilla Games.
That should not come as a surprise, as last year’s action-adventure robot-slaying game Horizon Forbidden West has sold over 8.4 million units. In addition, the whole franchise -Horizon Zero Dawn, Forbidden West, and Horizon Call of the Mountain– has sold more than 32.7 million units. That’s making PlayStation and developer Guerilla Games happy.
And as stated earlier, there will be more Aloy and robot monster/creature/dinosaur slaying and post-apocalyptic landscape exploring.
“[…] I’d like to share that we are so excited that Aloy’s adventures will continue. Her latest mission takes her to the ruins of Los Angeles in Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores, and we can’t wait for you to find out where she’ll go next.”

In the meantime, you can check out Horizon Forbidden West and its pretty cool expansion Burning Shores. Check out our glowing review here.


Kakuchopurei Best 30 Games Of 2022: #6

For the rest of the list, head here. For #7, head here.
#6. Sifu (PS5, PS4, Switch, PC)

Despite not much attention being given to Sloclap’s latest beat’ em’ up martial arts game, Sifu is definitely the 2022 current-gen spiritual successor to Karateka in plot and design. But with kung-fu, naturally.
Take control as the 20-year-old kung fu expert who seeks revenge to take down five assassins residing in a fictional Chinese city to avenge your dead master. A total of 5 chapters with each will transverse you into a unique environment called Arena. The game’s ageing mechanic and top-tier combat set it apart from its contemporaries’ titles.
From its visual aesthetics, engaging storyline, and over 150 combo attacks to master. Sifu demands a lot from you with its challenge worth taking on and overcoming. Do we wonder if one life is enough to devote to Kung Fu? Perhaps not. We wouldn’t mind spending our time playing Sifu to find out. It also helps that Sloclap is adding in more content post-game, because many of us do want to know kung fu like a chosen one.


Genshin Impact SEA Carnival Esports Is Happening This December

Who knew that an online gacha MMO would spawn an esports circuit? Well that’s what HoYoverse is trying to do with its new esports event involving Genshin Impact.
Dubbed the Genshin Impact SEA Carnival, the tournament incorporates both online and offline elements of the game; it’s an event and invitational tournament all in one. The Southeast Asian countries eligible for this are Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, The Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The contests include the following:

Domain Challenge: Complete Domains as quickly as possible as a team.
Sprint Challenge: Finish Domain challenges and sprint to designated locations without the use of waypoints, together as a team.

Some stipulations, of course: only a maximum of one 5-star character per team is allowed in the tournament. The Qualifiers will take place online, and requires one team member to livestream his/her team’s participation to HoYoverse to score. The finals will be held offline, and will have the top 8 teams from the qualifiers to participate. The 8 teams will earn a free trip to the venue, which will be confirmed on a later date.
Here are the dates and locations of the Genshin Impact SEA Carnival. Better sign up soon if you’re interested; there are only 64 team slots available.
-Registration Time: 12th-24th November (GMT+8)
-Qualifying Round: 26th-27th November (GMT+8)
-Finals: 17th-18th December (GMT+8)
-Finals Venue: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Here are the prizes:
-Champion: US$4,000 in cash
-Runner-Up: US$2,000 in cash
-Third & Fourth Place: US$1,000 in cash and 1,000 Primogems for each member
-Fifth to Eighth: US$500 in cash and 500 Primogems for each member
GLHF, as they say! For more Genshin Impact goodness, check out our latest walkthroughs for the game’s Sumeru arc.


Here’s More Sega Genesis Mini Games Confirmed

Sega has announced another slew of classic games to be confirmed on the Sega Genesis MiniÂ retro console. Or Mega Drive Mini for us Asians.
One of the classic faves.
They have revealed another 10 out of the 40 games pre-installed on the console. The games will differ according to region, so we’ll break it down for you.
The newly confirmed titles for the Japanese version are;

Contra: The Hard Corps
Dyna Brothers 2 Special
Game no Kanzume Otokuyou
The Hybrid Front
Landstalker
M.U.S.H.A.
Thunder Force III
Streets of Rage 2
Super Fantasy Zone
World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck

While the updates to the Western version include;

Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
Earthworm Jim
Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole
Probotector
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Streets of Rage II
Super Fantasy Zone
Thunder Force III
World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck

These games will join the other confirmed games on the list such as Castlevania: Bloodlines [about friggin’ time – Mr Toffee], Powerball, and the beloved classic, Sonic The Hedgehog. For the full list of initially confirmed games, you can check out our previous story here.
The Sega Genesis Mini will be launched on 19 September worldwide. However, there’s still no word on the pricing.


Here’s How You Can Sign Up For The Sarawak Day FIFA 19 Tournament

Sarawak will be celebrating their establishment of self-government and de facto independence soon, which is on 22 July.
In conjunction with that, the Kelab Belia Jalan Bakti and Oblivion Esports are organising the Sarawak Day Esports Cup featuring FIFA 19Â as the main game.

The tournament will happen from 20 – 22 July, which is Sarawak Day itself, and takes place at the Paragon Street Mall, Bintulu Sarawak.
The total prize pool of RM15,000 is divided as follows;

Champion: RM5,000
2nd: RM3,000
3rd: RM2,000
4th: RM1,000
5th – 8th: RM500
9th – 16th: RM250

Winners will receive certificates as proof of their victory. The top 4 will also receive a medal.
If you’re interested in signing up, you can do so here with a nominal fee of under RM30. Be quick, as the registration deadline approaches soon, that’s 10 July.
In other news, the next installation of the popular football title, FIFA 20, has already received a release date, and a sweet street football mode, dubbed FIFA Volta! Check the trailer out below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E4HMgh7ZsE]


There’s A Demo Of Agony’s Spin-Off Available Now…

Remember the really red and gross and super NSFW adventure game Agony in 2018 by Mad Mind Studios? The game has shocking visuals and aesthetics, but its gameplay is very rough and hollow.
Well, there’s a spin-off coming out called Succubus, and the demo that’s out on Steam –Succubus: PROLOGUE, is equally as controversial. Does it play any good? Well, it’s serviceable; kind of on-par with your Onechanbaras and Blades of Time 3rd-rate action games. But in first-person camera awkwardness, if that makes sense.
Here are the colourful things you get to do in this action-filled title:

Tear a fetus out of a woman and eat it, blood and all.
Ripped a dick off of a man and stomp on it.
Watched a man feed his own poop to a big-headed demon child.
Take a bath in blood and use hellbugs as sponges.

Definitely not for the family. Check out the incredibly NSFW trailer below featuring blood, guts, and possible doggy-style whoopie between your lady Succubus and some big demon. We warned you.

There’s currently no release date set for Succubus yet.


Flash Actor Fired For Past Vile Derogatory Tweets

Hartley Sawyer, the actor who plays the Elongated Man on CW’s The Flash, is fired from the role after his past racist and misogynistic tweets resurfaced on social media.
The official statement on his firing is below:

“Hartley Sawyer will not be returning for season seven ofÂ The Flash. In regards to Mr. Sawyerâ€™s posts on social media, we do not tolerate derogatory remarks that target any race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation. Such remarks are antithetical to our values and policies, which strive and evolve to promote a safe, inclusive, and productive environment for our workforce.”

The tweets (which you can read here; trigger warning) were posted before he was cast in the superhero show; basically just before The Flash went to Season 4. Still, Sawyer issued an apology via his Instagram.

“My words, irrelevant of being meant with an intent of humor, were hurtful, and unacceptable,â€ Sawyer wrote. â€œI am ashamed I was capable of these really horrible attempts to get attention at that time. I regret them deeply. This was not acceptable behavior. These were words I threw out at the time with no thought or recognition of the harm my words could do, and now have done today.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hartley Sawyer (@hartleysawyer)

It’s a shame this happened because, in the current season, The Elongated Man’s most recent storyline has him finally meeting his comics detective counterpart Sue Dearbon, who would end up being his wife. Still, it’s pretty bad timing as the world is all kinds of messed up right now.


Granblue Fantasy: Versus Closed Beta Will Last 31st May- 1st June

Want to kick 2D ass with Granblue Fantasy knights and wizards? Then this closed beta session is just for you.
The game is developed by Arc System Works and is published by Cygames, so if you’re familiar with the Guilty Gear/BlazBlue games, you’ll be right at home playing this fighter. Bonus points if you’re familiar with the series’ characters like Gran, Katalina, and Lowain.
Check out this sneak peek courtesy of Cygames and their stable of esports fighters -Fuudo and Daigo- duking it out.

Interested parties and fighters can register right now. Just make sure you have a US/Japanese PSN account handy. The application will close on 25th May at 2pm (GMT+8). Application results will be announced on 28 May.
Here are the timelines for the beta in GMT+8 time:
31st May
5pm – 10pm
1st June
9am – 2pm
2nd June
12am – 5am


Raised By Wolves Is A Better Version Of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus (So Far)

Ridley Scott is 83 years old in 2020. Let that sink in.The renowned and legendary director responsible for iconic science fiction and historical fiction movies like the 1979’s Alien, 1982’s Blade Runner, 2000’s Gladiator, and more is widely regarded to be past his prime. While 2015’s The Martian was a great movie, his other recent movies like 2014’s Exodus Gods And Kings and 2017’s Alien Covenant were not.
The question now is whether his latest project (Raised By Wolves is executive produced by Scott, but the true showrunner is actually Aaron Guzikowski, perhaps best known for The Red Road TV series) is as good as Alien and Blade Runner, or just another overly-ambitious dud like 2012’s Prometheus.
Religion Versus Atheism

Why did I mention Prometheus? Well, at first glance, Raised By Wolves immediately reminded me of that film. Not only the basic ideas and concepts but also the visual aesthetics and designs. Prometheus could have been a decent science fiction movie if it hadn’t been bogged down by having to be a prequel to Alien.The less said about Alien Covenant, the better.
While the first season of Raised By Wolves will feature 10 episodes, I was only provided with the first three episodes. Those three episodes introduced me to the unique world and characters that inhabit said world.

Raised By Wolves centres upon two androids tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task.
The underlying theme explored in Raised By Wolves touches on religion versus atheism, and quite literally at that. I won’t reveal much, but humanity basically split into two warring factions; one that supports atheism and another that believes in a Mithraic religion, worshipping Sol AKA the Sun.

The Earth was ravaged by this war and one of the factions managed to build arks to escape the doomed planet. What’s refreshing and surprising about it all is that Raised By Wolves subverts the conventional science fiction tropes. In Raised By Wolves, it is the religious faction that is more technologically superior than the atheists or liberals.
The Androids (who are a huge focus of the plot) were made and used by the Mithraic faction in the war, but the two main Androids in the series have seemingly been reprogrammed for the other side. As previously mentioned, they’re tasked with raising a bunch of human children to be atheists, which are at odds with Mithraic beliefs.

The religion versus atheism theme gets a bit too heavy-handed at times, as it seems like the story is a bit one-sided and against religion from the beginning. However, Scott and Guzikowski have seemingly not committed that mistake, as flashbacks employed in the narrative (expect a lot of these) reveal that there’s quite a bit more depth to the story than that.
There are also a lot of religious allegories and symbolism in Raised By Wolves. While some of these are too on the nose at times, they add to the lore of the world in the show, and I’m excited to learn more of these real-world parallel elements.

For instance, the Mithraic beliefs mirror those of Christianity. Instead of crosses, they wear the symbol of the sun. Their clothes also seem reminiscent of the Crusaders, while their rituals remind me of Catholic rites. Even the Androids themselves remind me of Gorgons or Siren in the depiction of their abilities. For Pete’s sake, they even fly (or float) in a pose reminiscent to that of a crucified person, or Jesus Christ himself.
Just like his previous science fiction efforts, Raised By Wolves explores the ideas of artificial intelligence and the themes surrounding it. Don’t worry though, you won’t find any cringe-worthy “I’ll do the fingering” scenes like in Alien Covenant. At least, not in the three episodes I’ve seen so far.
Scott Brings His Visual A-Game

Even if the plot doesn’t interest you, fans of Scott’s signature science fiction aesthetics will have a lot to appreciate in Raised By Wolves. There are both elements from the sleek and clean designs of his more recent works like Prometheus, as well as the gritty and grimy aesthetics of Alien or Blade Runner; it’s the best of both worlds.
The visuals look like a combination of utopia and dystopian elements, which makes for striking imagery. Impressively, the production design and visual effects in Raised By Wolves are incredible to behold, as expected for something with Scott involved. Say what you want about his works, but they will usually be pleasing to the eyes at the very least.

You certainly won’t be disappointed if you’re planning to watch Raised By Wolves for its visuals. It is definitely cinematic, which is bolstered by the haunting music and sound effects featured in the show. Remember when I said that an Android’s ability reminded me of Sirens? Well, you won’t forget the first blood-curdling scream you hear.
The two main Androids in Raised By Wolves are Mother (Amanda Collins) and Father (Abubakar Salim), who struggle to raise their human child named Campion (Winta McGrath). There are a couple of children actors in Raised By Wolves, but none of them really stick out as particularly memorable.

The highlights of the series are the Androids, especially Collins’ Mother and the two main human characters; Marcus (Travis Fimmel) and Sue (Niamh Algar). The two human characters have an interesting background, and Fimmel manages to exude a bit of the same charisma he showed as Ragnar Lothbrok in the History Channel’s Vikings TV series.
Really though, in all the three episodes I’ve seen so far, Collins’ Mother is the standout character. Menacing and mysterious, she’s the one carrying the series so far, and I want to see more of her. That said, the others probably just need more time to grow and be more compelling.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

If you like Ridley Scott’s visual aesthetics and flying Androids killing humans, then Raised By Wolves is likely for you to enjoy. Still, I will have to wait until I’ve watched the seven remaining episodes before I can say for sure if this will be as good as Scott’s best. Again (to clarify), he’s not the showrunner, but his name is attached to the series and he directed the first two episodes. It might as well be his, considering how much HBO is promoting the show using his name,
Ultimately, the potential is still there, even if the first three episodes aren’t exactly that stellar. Lord knows we need more science fiction shows to take more risks, and Raised By Wolves could be one of them.
FINAL SCORE: 70/100
Raised By Wolves is slated to premiere with its first three episodes on 3 September 2020 exclusively on HBO GO, with two new episodes premiering every subsequent Thursday on a weekly basis. In the meantime, check out the trailer below.


Looks Like We’re Getting Persona 5: The Royal

All those rumours about a new version of Persona 5 are coming true.
Just recently, Atlus released a teaser for Persona 5: The Royal for PS4. It’ll be the same JRPG we know and love back in 2017, but with more content and a new story addition. Most likely involving the red-haired girl on this teaser.

Apparently, she’s not of a fan of the Phantom Thieves (or “The Millenials”, depending on what you called your thief group in the game) and plans to take matters into her own hands. She’ll most likely be an anti-hero of sorts who will fight against and probably with protagonist Segata Sanshiro, I mean Ren Amamiya.
This announcement also means that Nintendo Switch will be getting that version of Persona 5. After all, why go through the trouble of using Joker as a Super Smash Bros character if his upcoming JRPG isn’t going to be on the console?
We’ll be getting more information on 24 April, the same date when the Persona Super Live concert happens. Good luck getting tickets for that show though; they usually sell out quick since Japan goes apesh** over Persona and its modern contemporary OST. If you like that sort of thing, you should check out this Shoji Meguro discography tribute I did last year.


Quantum Leap Actor Dean Stockwell Dies At 85

American actor Dean Stockwell has passed away at the age of 85. According to sources (via Variety), the late actor died peacefully in his sleep at home on Sunday, 7 November 2021.
The late Dean Stockwell started his career as a child actor in 1945’s Valley Of Decision. In his later years, he is best known for portraying Admiral Al Calavicci in 97 episodes of the cult classic science fiction TV series Quantum Leap, which ran for five seasons between 1989 and 1993.
For that role, he earnedÂ multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, including a Golden Globe win in 1990 for â€œbest performance by an actor in a supporting role in a series, miniseries or motion picture made for television.â€ The late actor later received a star on Hollywoodâ€™s Walk of Fame on 29 February 1992. He was also known for starring in the Battlestar Galactica reboot series between 2006 to 2009 as John Cavil AKA the Number One Cylon.
RIP to the late legend.


Dead By Daylight Resident Evil Crossover Drops In June

In partnership with Capcom, developer Behaviour Interactive has announced thatÂ Dead by DaylightÂ will introduce a â€œResident Evil Chapterâ€ sometime in June 2021.
Dead By Daylight creative director Dave Richard said:
â€œWe are excited to be working with the legendary studio Capcom to create the nextÂ Dead by Daylight chapter.
It is an honor and an absolute joy to welcome the original survival horror gameÂ Resident EvilÂ in The Entityâ€™s universe. The result is fantastic and will surprise new players and veterans alike.
Players can expect a chapter packed with iconic content and novel ways to sacrifice or survive inspired by the renowned franchise.â€
Game director Mathieu Cote added:
â€œThis is such an awesome new addition to our universe!
If you had told us, five years ago when we launched, that one day we would be adding characters from the legendary Resident EvilÂ world into our game, none of us would have believed you.
We are so very grateful to Capcom for everything theyâ€™ve done over the years to bring horror to the world of video games.
And today, we get to bring these icons intoÂ Dead by Daylight. It is an incredibly proud moment for us.â€
Further information will be announced during the Dead By Daylight fifth anniversary live stream on 25 May 2021, which will be streamed live on Twitch.
Dead by Daylight is available now for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC via SteamÂ and theÂ Microsoft Store, and Stadia.


Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition Will Take Up 105GB Of Your PS5’s 825GB

The PlayStation 5’s 825GB SSD should make for a convenient and fast-loading gaming experience. However, I’m not sure if 825GB is large enough given the ever-growing size of video game installs these days.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales will be continuing this trend with its “minimum of 105GB” space according to the official PlayStation sales pageÂ  (via Destructoid) for the game. Keep in mind that this is the Ultimate version of the game which contains the original Marvel’s Spider-Man game. The Miles Morales sidequest will be 50GB large.
The large install size trend will not be downsizing anytime soon: the Demon’s Souls remake will take up 66GB of space. Guess the next-gen future will be a cycle of install, delete, and re-install. Call of Duty Modern Warfare and its Warzone cousin aren’t alone in this regard.


World of Warcraft Designer Quits After 13 Years; Here’s Why

World of Warcraft game designer Chris Kaleiki, who has been with Blizzard for 13 years, has left Blizzard this year.
To note, he’s been there for so long that he was responsible for the game’s PvP, the monk’s class design, the Ashran zone, and more. He’s even had two characters and an item named after him.
Why leave all of that? Because he’s been unhappy with the state of the game according to a 15-minute YouTube video he posted recently. He states that the addition of Classic highlights the differences between its vision and the modern game’s, making the whole situation a little “muddled”.
Due to the reduction in the importance of guilds, the focus on players has been lost. The company has been focused on the game’s extrinsic things, progression systems and engagement, and a few others that don’t make a mass multiplayer online RPG feel like a “mass multiplayer game” but rather a single-player online game with people in it.
Here are some bits and pieces of the transcript:

“For a while now, probably too long, I’ve just been unhappy with the state of the game. I think in Classic the guild’s a big deal. To do anything at endgame you really need to be in a guild. What this does is it creates interdependence among players, where they really need each other in order to be successful. And I think this can feel really restrictive at times, but ultimately what it really does is it creates cohesion, it creates community.
Warcraft and WoW has always had a story, but lately I think in the modern game the story is just a bigger part of it. The characters and all their own dramas really soak up a lot of air in the game. Whereas I think in a virtual world, in an MMO, really the players are the story.”

You can check it out below:


Twitch Streamers Barred From Showing Content That “Glorifies Violence” Due To Capitol Hill Raid

So much for 2021 starting off just fine.
A Twitch spokesperson said to esports insider Rod Breslau (via Twitter) that due to recent events in the US of A, streamers are not allowed to “show content that incites or glorifies violence, or shows gore of any kind” on the platform. In case you literally woke up following GMT+8 time, thousands of pro-Trump protestors have stormed Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, due to the results of the previous US elections. This happened right after an earlier rally held by President Trump.
Here’s the full statement from a Twitch spokesperson:

“We strongly condemn the violent protests at the Capitol today. Any content that incites or glorifies violence, or shows gore of any kind, is not allowed on Twitch. We do not make exceptions for newsworthiness, and we will continue to monitor and remove any content that violates these policies.”

We believe that Twitch is referring to a recent footage of a Capitol Hill Police firing a shot at a woman, among other things happening at the raid. No, we are not showing those here. This also has a lot to do with popular content creators and streamers like HasanAbi commentating on recent political going-ons including the Capitol Hill protests, breach, & its casualties.
Still, Twitch should be a bit specific with the statement above, since most video games “incite” and “glorify” violence, with some of them showing “gore of any kind”.


Sucker Punch Is Giving Away A Free Ghost Of Tsushima PS4 Dynamic Theme

Sucker Punch‘s highly-anticipated Ghost Of Tsushima is slated to release sometime in summer 2020, but the developer is giving away an early Christmas and New Year’s gift. All PS4 users can redeem a free Ghost of Tsushima PS4 dynamic theme from now to 31 January 2020.
However, there are different codes for those living in different regions. Sucker Punch posted them on Twitter earlier today, so make sure the code corresponds to your region before attempting to redeem the Ghost Of Tsushima PS4 dynamic theme.

Americas: BEFB-AMNR-R4F6
Europe/AU/NZ/Russia/Middle East/Africa/India: 38BE-G6N8-L93A
Japan: N4TK-59NH-2LH3
Korea: EM56-NTNC-EHX8
Rest of Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, and other SEA countries): DHLN-HANF-F6LH

Hereâ€™s a free #GhostOfTsushima PS4 Dynamic Theme ðŸ‚
Americas: BEFB-AMNR-R4F6
Europe/AU/NZ/Russia/Middle East/Africa/India: 38BE-G6N8-L93A
Japan: N4TK-59NH-2LH3
Korea: EM56-NTNC-EHX8
Rest of Asia: DHLN-HANF-F6LH
Codes expire Jan 31, 2020. Redeem region-specific code on PS Store. pic.twitter.com/3uhAZepBr1
â€” Ghost of Tsushima ðŸŽ® Summer 2020 (@SuckerPunchProd) December 23, 2019
We still know little about the upcoming game, besides the fact that it won’t be featuring conventional open-world waypoints. More details will likely be revealed as we get closer to the game’s eventual release date.
In the meantime, check out the Ghost Of Tsushima trailer below, which was initially unveiled at The Game Awards 2019.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbq7BnsQhrw&w=560&h=315]

Here’s a free #GhostOfTsushima PS4 Dynamic Theme ?
Americas: BEFB-AMNR-R4F6Europe/AU/NZ/Russia/Middle East/Africa/India: 38BE-G6N8-L93AJapan: N4TK-59NH-2LH3Korea: EM56-NTNC-EHX8Rest of Asia: DHLN-HANF-F6LH
Codes expire Jan 31, 2020. Redeem region-specific code on PS Store. pic.twitter.com/3uhAZepBr1
— Sucker Punch Productions ? Ghost of Tsushima (@SuckerPunchProd) December 23, 2019


The Best & Worst Of M.Night Shyamalan’s Film-Making Career

With Glass out this week, it’s time to remind ourselves why we adore M. Night Shyamalan’s films, whether it’s for his great works and his many, many spectacular failures. At the very least, he has staged quite a comeback thank to his horror entry The Visit followed by Split. Never give up, right?
We’re going into chronological order here and touch upon his directorial work because it’ll be interesting to see how his past successes and failures can help shape a man and his talent. Heads up: we might delve into spoiler territory so we’ll put this on here in case:

Praying With Anger (1992)

Shyamalan’s first debut film in 1992 where he wrote, directed, and produced it. It’s about a man who discovers his roots and navigates a clashing of cultures when he comes home to India after being in the US for so long.
The allusions to Hinduism and keeping people close to you despite their shortcomings and the hero’s own ego is the spiritual and emotional crux of the film, which Shyamalan then reused in his future films albeit with a twist or two.
Wide Awake (1998)

A family-friendly film from M. Night Shyamalan that doesn’t traumatize people? Who knew, right? His second film is about a grieving ten year-old who befriends a nun and discovers that life can still be cherished beyond a tragedy.
Shyamalan’s skill in finding depth in a standard setting all stemmed from these two films before his big one.
The Sixth Sense (1999)

Perhaps the only reason he’s renowned in this day and age, this horror film deals with a kid who can see ghosts. This is where the trademark Shyamalan “greater plan” dialogue, the use of specific colours for key scenes, the spiritual aspects, and his back-and-forth panning techniques all come to fruition.
Sure, the twist was great and all, but it’s the build-up, the developing relationship between Hailey Joel Osment’s Cole and Bruce Willis’ Malcolm as said kid and psychiatrist respectively, and the substance within a melancholy life that makes this film worth a few more viewings.
Unbreakable (2000)

The movie that brought out the myth of the superhero and heroes in general long before they were glorified and became giant money-making genres for Marvel Films and Warner Bros., Unbreakable is a slow-building drama that evolves into a comic book movie with a twist ending.
And all of it is done in a low-key, serious, subtle, and measured manner. It takes its time exploring the psyche and going-ons of Bruce Willis’ David Dunn (alliterations for names, a comic book trope), wrestling with his perceived destiny and his place in the world and in the universe.
Signs (2002)

When you think about the blockbuster hit film Signs, you think mysterious faith-searching symbolic film featuring a then-in-his-prime Mel Gibson and still-hot-property Joaquin Phoenix. And aliens being real.
We get why this film gets its praise; because it’s about a former priest trying to find his faith after his wife was killed in a car crash. But the second half of the film is quite a huge letdown.
We’ll sum it up: The antagonists in this show are weak to wood and water. That’s pretty common on earth, so shouldn’t they be avoiding our dirtball at all cost? Or are these aliens getting a danger fix for that adrenaline rush especially when harassing former preachers and their sons & daughters living in the cornfield? In any case, Signs is the beginning of the director’s descent into movie-making madness.
The Village (2004)

You would think Shyamalan would learn from his mistakes in Signs. Wrong; he still follows his tropes and made his film built around a twist many can see coming a mile away.
While the show’s atmosphere and mood were fine at the start since we’re suppose to believe that the show takes place in the 19th century, the cracks started to show when it came to the roadside scene. His overreliance on his past film-making techniques was getting tiresome.
Lady In The Water (2006)

The next Shyamalan film that is more comedic than horrific. We’ve reached the bottom of the barrel in terms of Shyamalan’s worst hits: it’s a fairy tale filled with nonsensical names, unintentionally hilarious outcomes and lore-building, and Shyamalan tropes up the wazoo.
Even the director himself plays an author who ends up being a world-changing saviour as prophesized by the plot point water nymph Story (played by Bryce Dallas Howard). It’s a maze of a story with no real payoff, it’s presented in an idiotic manner, and it made the criminal mistake of misusing Paul Giamatti who at that point in time should have fired his agent.
The Happening (2008)

This is where Shyamalan’s powers of sucking the life out of charismatic actors started. We all know Mark Wahlberg as a funny guy who can do action films, but here he plays a pretty bland science teacher who doesn’t talk and react like a regular human being alongside an equally-dull Zooey Deschanel as his wife.
The couple is stuck in an apocalyptic disaster scenario that somehow comes across as sedative than it is terrifying.
The Last Airbender (2010)

One of the many nadirs in the man’s career, he chose to adapt the beloved animated series into….whatever the hell this was supposed to be. What was supposed to be an epic live-action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender Book One ended up becoming an exposition-filled fart in the wind.
With boring dialogue, no developed characters, tepid battle scenes, and little to no bending, the only redeeming point about this trash of a film is that it makes you appreciate the Avatar series more.
After Earth (2013)

M.Night Shyamalan proves that you can indeed suck the talent and machismo out of the charismatic Will Smith and his son Jaden. This sci-fi story about a planet filled with evolving animals and the duo who crash landed and try to survive the ordeal is a jumbled mess that mostly bores its audience.
And really, how can you take the names of the characters seriously? Cypher Raige? That’s something out of an 80s sci-fi cartoon that goes alongside names like Frenzy McBadman, Dart Felth, and Lavitz Slamberge.
The Visit (2015)

Shit happens. That’s all I have to say about the show’s perfect balance of horror and comedy and how it sucker-punches you with its ending. It’s the perfect saying for a film directed with less restraint than usual that deals with a pair of siblings who visit their grandparents.
Call it for what it is: a mess. But it’s an entertaining mess that delivers the right amount of laughs and thrills. At least, intentionally.
Split (2016)

A gripping psychological drama that opened up a huge revelation at the end of the film. Since it’s about a man with 23 different personalities, everything has to ride on the main character. Thankfully, Shyamalan lost his talent-sucking powers in his Lady In The Water days.
He turned James McAvoy into a nonstop acting machine, changing his pitches, mannerisms, and energy as he switches from personality to personality while we’re in suspense over the kidnapped victims he’s involved with and the mystery surrounding his character.
Let us know about your favourite/hated Shyamalan movies and quirks below or on our Facebook page.Â


Outriders Purple Loot & Titanium Farming Guide

Outriders at its core is an action RPG that happens to be a third-person shooter: mechanical skills & loot are both important. Though at times, the latter element moreso.
Purple loot in Outriders is important because it’s high-tier weaponry just shy of elusive Legendaries. Resources like Titanium are equally so because they help level up & upgrade rarities of weapons & armour you want to keep in the long term.
Here’s a sure-fire way to not only score lots of purple loot, but also a generous amount of Titanium (via Upper Echelon Gaming).

#1. Prep For The Farming
Generally, you will want to have either a Trickster, Technomancer, or Pyromancer for this. These three classes have special bullet-empowering moves called Twisted Rounds, Blighted Rounds, and Volcanic Rounds. They grant you empowered bullets that deal a lot of damage, have unlimited bullet count (until your next reload), and have status effects up the wazoo.
You will also want to mod your equipment so that you have Tier 1 buffs focused on the Rounds augments specific to the class. Ideally, use mods that give you an additional clip that extends your skill a second time.
Also, do try to max out your World Tier. If you get it to 10 or so, that’s fine too. The higher the World Tier, the more purples you get.
#2. Head To The Dunes

Head to the story point “Search for shelter from the approaching sandstorm.” Just work your way through the mission until you head to a camp checkpoint.
#3. Activate The “Hunter-Hauras” Quest

You can activate the quest here. It’s located just down the path with all the giant bones.
#4. Kill The Hauras & Wasteland Behemoth

Once you go through the section with the three flying monsters and the pack of maulers, you’ll eventually reach this part. Head down and fight the Wasteland Behemoth/Hauras power couple. These two Hunt monsters are pretty easy to take down compared to the rest of the higher-tiered beasties because of their easy weak spots to crit.
This is where you should use Twisted/Blighted/Volcanic Rounds to go to town here, in addition to your specific class’ damage combo. For the Trickster, use a damage combination of Slow Trap and Cyclone Blade in tandem to deal a lot of damage & gain back life/armor. You’ll make short work of the pair.
#5. Collect Spoils, Then Go Kill Yourself
Once they’re done, keep on moving and collecting the spoils. Most of the time you’ll score a number of Purple loot and a good chunk of Titanium. Once you’ve amassed all of it, let the enemy mob kill you off.
#6. Rinse & Repeat
Do steps 4 and 5 until your inventory is full. You should be able to get a lot of Titanium and purple loot in half an hour or so. Then head back to camp and scrap your goods, or level up your prized possessions.


Creative Assembly’s HYENAS Unveils First Look At Character Cosplaying As Sonic

During the Future Games Show Spring Showcase 2023, Creative Assembly, best known for the RTS franchise Total War, has unveiled a new look at their upcoming multiplayer arena shooter, including a brand new playable character named Hero-Ki.
Hiroki is a cosplayer, and it’s interesting to see him cosplaying as Sonic The Hedgehog. However, that’s perfectly legal, considering that Sega is the publisher of the game.
Hero-Ki’s cosplay and charity work made him a minor celebrity back on Earth, but after being evacuated to The Taint he’s had to put his skills with a glue gun towards less innocent pursuits. His crewmates see him as naïve, but Hero-Ki’s love of pop culture and hatred of bullies overrides any respect he once had for the authority – especially if he finds materials for a new character costume.

HYENAS will launch for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. A PC Alpha is coming this weekend, which you can sign up for at the official website here.
Check out the trailer below:


New Battle Cats Game Landing In Southeast Asia This December

Bandai Namco and developer Ponos Corp have announced that it will be publishing the upcoming entry in the long-running tower defense cat-filled series Battle Cats.
Dubbed The Battle Cats Unite!, the new “action simulation strategy” game will be coming to the Nintendo Switch on 9th December in Southeast Asia. This new sequel features co-op play, over 300 stages with Daily Blitz challenges, and a boatload of cat types and units to overwhelm enemies with. Oh, and also a slew of cat-related minigames exclusive to the Nintendo Switch version.

Check out the gameplay video below:


Bad 4 Blood Is Not Getting Any More Updates; Turtle Rock Working On All-New Game

Sometimes you need to know when to quit, and developer Turtle Rock is making a good move with its Left 4 Dead clone.
Back 4 Blood is finished, after a year-plus of being active since launch. The Left 4 Dead co-op FPS clone will not be getting new DLC and content moving forward, with Turtle Rock Studios getting to work on the next big thing (that isn’t hopefully going to be another Evolve). Here’s what the studio wrote on its official website.
“What an amazing year 2022 was for us.
First off, we wanted to thank all of you for making Back 4 Blood what it is today. With three expansions—Tunnels of Terror, Children of the Worm, and River of Blood—we’ve travelled on a fantastic adventure together beyond the walls of Fort Hope. This phase of our war against the Ridden now comes to a close.

Turtle Rock Studios is actually pretty small for a studio making AAA games. We don’t have quite enough folks to continue working on Back 4 Blood content while we spin up another game—yes, another game! Given this, it’s time for us to put our heads down, get back in the lab, and get to work on the next big thing.
You’ll also still find us hanging out in the subreddit(opens in new tab) and on Discord(opens in new tab), as well as our official Twitter(opens in new tab), Instagram(opens in new tab), Facebook(opens in new tab) and website(opens in new tab) because we love interacting with you and talking about our games.”
The game will still be available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Xbox Game Pass, and PlayStation Plus Extra/Premium platforms and services.


PlayStation Unveils Exclusive God Of War Ragnarok Wearables By #FR2 & New Era

We are merely days away from the launch of God Of War Ragnarok on PS5 and PS4. To celebrate the launch of God Of War Ragnarok, PlayStation has teamed up with 2 streetwear brands: #FR2 and New Era for special edition merchandise inspired by Kratos and Atreus’ adventure in the Nine Realms.
#FR2 x God of War Ragnarök Limited Edition T-shirt

We are collaborating with widely popular Tokyo-based streetwear label, #FR2 and Asian premium streetwear retailer, Popcorn Supply, for a limited-edition t-shirt that features God Of War Ragnarok logo at the front and key concept art at the back showing Kratos and Atreus battling Freya. Designing with Kratos’ Leviathan Axe and #FR2’s iconic logo, the t-shirt also has the key quote from Kratos taken from the Story Trailer: “Fate only binds you if you let it”.

The #FR2 T-shirt will be available on 9 November 2022 at 00:00 Singapore Time at Popcorn Store (worldwide shipment). The t-shirt will also be available in Popcorn retail stores in Hong Kong, and Thailand.
New Era x God of War Ragnarök Limited Edition 9FORTY Caps

To those of you who would love to show their love for Kratos and Atreus on the head, we are excited to share two limited edition design New Era 9FORTY Caps. First, we have a black cap with a Bear and Wolf logo, which symbolizes Kratos and Atreus, wandering the Nine Realms in search of answers as Asgardian forces prepare for a prophesied battle that will end the world.

The other cap is a Black cap featuring Kratos and Atreus caricatures designed by Santa Monica Studio’s Lead Character Concept Artist, Dela Longfish. You may recognize Dela’s caricature design as he was the one drawing Santa Monica Studio’s congratulatory posts celebrating the launch of past PlayStation Studios titles, like Concrete Genie, Ghost of Tsushima, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Horizon Forbidden West.

New Era x God Of War Ragnarok Limited Edition 9FORTY Caps will be available for pre-orders from 9 Nov and purchase from early January at retail stores in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.
Online pre-orders will be available from 10am local time, 9 November 2022, for Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Philippine residents.
New Era Online Stores: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippine
New Era Retail Stores:

Hong Kong: Shop 331A, Level 3, K11 MUSEA, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Hong Kong: Shop 508, 5/F, Hysan Place, Causeway Bay
Macau: Shop 833, 3/F, Shoppers at Venetian, The Venetian Macao, Cotai Strip, Macao
Taiwan: Ximending Flagship Store – No.20, Chengdu Rd., Ximending, Taipei, Taiwan
Thailand: New Era Flagship Store – Siam Center M floor – 979 Rama I Rd, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Singapore: 1 HarbourFront Walk, #B1-20 VivoCity, Singapore 098585
Indonesia: New Era Flagship Store – 1st – Unit L1-51a, Kota kasablanka
Philippines: 114, Building B SM Megamall EDSA Corner, Doña Julia Vargas Ave, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong, 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines
Vietnam: 3F Crescent Mall, Ho Chi Minh City 70000 Vietnam