As the Legacy season of Apex Legends approaches, it’s important to know how it intertwines with Titanfall to understand what’s on the way for Respawn Entertainment’s Sci-Fi universe. Join Persia as she goes into a deep dive on the connections between Apex Legend and Titanfall that occur over the course of over 700 years and major connections within the titles such as Kuben Blisk, Ash, and Viper.
In this video, Persia goes into a deep dive on the various connections between Apex Legends and the Titanfall universe. Season 9 of Apex Legends is right around the corner and will be bridging its gap between Titanfall 2 more than ever with the introduction of Viper’s daughter as the newest legend to join the Apex Games.
Persia runs through the entire timeline beginning in the 2100s and leading to the present-day in Apex which is 2735. The beginnings of this ever-expanding universe were controlled by the rise of Hammond Engineering and the IMC who become one of the biggest connections besides Kuben Blisk, the leader of the Apex Predators and the commissioner of the Apex Games.
Other notable connections that Persia mentions are Ash, the doctor or Apex Predator depending on who you’re asking, and Bangalore who has a family history within the IMC as soldiers and scientists.
Plenty more lore from Respawn Entertainment’s Sci-Fi universe is on the way, so if you want to stay up to date on everything Apex and Titanfall, then be sure to leave a like and subscribe!
Dark Horse Comics is again expanding on the Cyberpunk 2077 universe with a new tie-in comic. Dubbed Cyberpunk 2077: You Have My Word, this new limited series explores what happens when a new urban development project encroaches on Valentinos gang territory.
Cyberpunk 2077: You Have My Word is written by Bartosz Sztybor, who serves as narrative designer and writer for developer CD Projekt Red. The series is drawn by Jesus Hervas, with colors by Giulia Brusco. Check out an exclusive preview of the first issue in the slideshow gallery below:
Here’s Dark Horse’s official description for the new series:
A new urban development proposal is being pushed through city council–a flagrant infraction on those safeguarded by the Valentinos gang. They enlist the service of three cyberpunks to discreetly and strategically terminate the project, but their subject is more than an ordinary target.
Resident Evil Village is in first-person, but the game still bears a strong resemblance to the classic Resident Evil 4 in terms of its tone and setting. Capcom is certainly aware of this, and it even included a silly reference to the earlier game that you could see when playing the recent demo.
The Duke’s Emporium is the cart you’ll visit in the game in order to purchase weapons and other items. The vendor doesn’t look anything like the one in Resident Evil 4, but he does use one of his lines as a joke.
“What’re ya buying?” he asks before laughing about how an “old friend” used to say this. It could just be a simple Easter egg for fans of the series, or it could be a hint at a connection between the games. Both are in Europe, but Resident Evil 4 is in Spain, meaning one of these vendors would have to have done some traveling in order to know the other.
That’s not the only connection between the two games, either, though another one is more of a game design link than any sort of narrative link. The Resident Evil Village inventory system is similar to the one in Resident Evil 4, requiring you to organize your items by moving them around in order to fit as many into a limited number of slots. Some other Resident Evil games had done away with this system, making everything take up a single slot, which was convenient but also made it a little too easy to shove everything into your bag.
Resident Evil Village releases on May 7 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, Stadia, and PC. A demo for multiple systems will be available in one week, and the game’s digital Xbox version is on sale with a promo code at Newegg.
Resident Evil Village releases in just a couple weeks, but if you can’t wait that long to get your Resident Evil fix, GameStop has the deal for you. The Resident Evil 3 remake is currently on sale for almost half off its normal price, and the deal applies to both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions.
Normally $40, Resident Evil 3 is currently just $23 on the GameStop website. If you want to get the game used, you can get it for a few bucks cheaper, too, and the earlier Resident Evil 2 remake is even on sale for less than $20 if you really need to pad your backlog.
Resident Evil 3 took the series in a slightly more action-heavy direction when it first released back in 1999, and the remake doubles down on that with its over-the-shoulder perspective and intense battles. The game is certainly still horror at heart, but those looking for something a little bit louder and more explosive will enjoy Resident Evil 3. It also ties into the story of Resident Evil 2, as the two take place at the same time, and you even visit some locations from that game.
The game sees the return of Jill Valentine after her appearance in the very first Resident Evil. She’s being hunted by a powerful creature called Nemesis and must forge some uneasy alliances to make it out of Raccoon City alive.
The GameStop sale came just as Newegg offered $10 off a digital copy of Resident Evil Village when it releases May 7. Unlike GameStop’s sale, this one only applies to the Xbox version, as Sony no longer offers digital cards for games–the digital version of PlayStation games must be purchased on the PlayStation Store directly.
Disney Imagineers have made a fully mobile, bipedal version of Guardians of the Galaxy’s Groot, and it may one day be walking around Disney Parks.
As reported by TechCrunch, this adorable Groot is part of a walking bipedal robotics platform called Project Kiwi, a “first of its kind for Disney and a real robotics milestone.”
Disney has made some impressive robots/animatronics in the past of characters like Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge’s Hondo Ohnaka and Avatar’s Na’Vi Shaman, but those have always been stuck in place. This version is free to walk around, wave, and be as wonderfully cute as Groot is known to be.
This platform was developed over the past three years by WDI researchers and robotics, and while Groot is the character being featured at the moment, this is “a platform first and foremost, which means it could take this form when it gets to the parks, or another form entirely.”
There are currently no immediate plans to bring Project Kiwi to the parks, as there is still much work to be done, but its an impressive achievement none-the-less and a glimpse of what the future of Disney robotics can look like.
Prior to the success of Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance, the collective “Tom Clancy’s” games were arguably Ubisoft’s biggest hits. Rainbow Six revolutionized close-quarters tactical squad shooters with its relentless difficulty and necessitated planning. Ghost Recon took the action into larger areas for a blend of intense action and precision. But it was Splinter Cell that cemented Ubisoft’s place as the master of the techno-military thriller game.
The series took the stealth-action concepts pioneered by Metal Gear Solid and improved them to near-perfect levels, even working the tagline “Stealth Action Redefined” into the first game’s full title. Splinter Cell evolved and morphed in the years that followed, adding more action elements, a greater emphasis on dark, personal storytelling, and creative new multiplayer modes. For a long time, it seemed like it could do no wrong, and even after needing to switch actors for Sam Fisher when developing Splinter Cell Blacklist–Michael Ironside was suffering from cancer at the time–new studio Ubisoft Toronto delivered a slick mix of traditional stealth and deadly action.
And then Splinter Cell disappeared, only not in a fun way like when Sam Fisher blends into the darkness and becomes the night itself.
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What The Hell Happened To Splinter Cell
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It has been nearly eight years since Splinter Cell Blacklist was released, and Ubisoft has shown almost no interest in continuing the series with another mainline entry. Instead, we have an upcoming animated series for Netflix, Sam’s inclusion in other series like Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six, and a VR-exclusive game in partnership with Oculus. Don’t get me wrong: Those DLC appearances were fun, I’m excited about the Netflix show, and the idea of being behind Sam’s goggles in VR sounds incredible. But they can’t replace the new, full AAA game that players want.
Is Ubisoft afraid of Splinter Cell? According to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, that actually might be the case. Back in 2019, he said the company’s development teams were anxious to work on Splinter Cell because of how passionate–and sometimes angry and demanding–the fans can be. How can you create a game that seems new when players are adamant about what they don’t want to change?
It’s a tough nut to crack, but Ubisoft has made big changes to Splinter Cell in the past while still retaining the series’ essence. Double Agent, while not the best-received game in the series, introduced a sliding trust system that forced Sam to balance supporting the NSA and a homegrown terrorist group called John Brown’s Army. Conviction emphasized Sam’s deadliness while remaining undetected, and Blacklist used a play-your-way philosophy that allowed for stealth purists and action fans to both enjoy the game. Yes, not every experiment worked, but Splinter Cell has been one of Ubisoft’s most consistently well-executed franchises.
Despite the franchise’s consistent quality and the latest game’s good reviews, Splinter Cell Blacklist didn’t meet Ubisoft’s sales expectations, and that likely gave the company pause when considering its next move. The game never got a re-release on the Xbox One or PS4, and it wasn’t until 2018 that it was even backward compatible on Xbox One.
Since then, we’ve seen two new Ghost Recon games. Rainbow Six Siege released and became an esports staple. Both The Division and The Division 2 joined the live-game scene. And nearly every summer, fans hoping for a new Splinter Cell game announcement are met with disappointment along with a vague statement from Guillemot on how Ubisoft has not forgotten the franchise.
Having a big-name game fail to meet your sales expectations is certainly cause for concern, but there were several factors at play when Blacklist launched. It was released just a few months before new systems were due to hit shelves, and it was running on an engine that was woefully dated. It also launched on the same day as a few other AAA games, including Saints Row 4 and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, which could have at least muddied the waters.
The Michael Ironside situation had given the game some bad press before it was even out. The actor hadn’t mentioned his illness during this time–and didn’t owe anyone an explanation–and Ubisoft followed suit, likely to protect his privacy. To fans, it looked like Ubisoft had unceremoniously dropped one of the people who was key to defining Sam as a character.
That wouldn’t be a problem with a new game, as Ironside’s cancer is in remission and he has provided Sam’s voice in multiple special-event missions in the Ghost Recon series since then. He even asserted that he is Sam Fisher in an interview, and you can’t show your passion for a role much more than that.
The whole “don’t change it” worry that Guillemot expressed a few years ago seems especially valid now, as we’ve seen Ubisoft make some decisions for other Clancy franchises that just don’t make much sense. Ghost Recon Wildlands’ huge open world and chaotic approach to cooperative action made it a huge, if unpolished, hit, but when Ghost Recon Breakpoint released, it seemed like the company had learned all the wrong lessons. It felt even buggier, and the gear level system felt out of place, making it far too similar to The Division. Ultimately, it took months of post-launch updates to add (and remove) features before Breakpoint would feel like Ghost Recon again.
Breakpoint woefully undersold, and oddly, this could actually be a good thing for a potential new Splinter Cell game. Ubisoft has seen how trying to shoehorn existing franchises into its current “bigger and with more RPG elements” overarching design philosophy simply doesn’t work most of the time. It certainly wouldn’t work with Splinter Cell.
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Sam Fisher In Rainbow Six Siege: Everything You Need To Know
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This isn’t a zero-sum game: Splinter Cell can evolve while still feeling like Splinter Cell. Larger individual maps with more ways to approach them, unexplored settings, and a unique story angle can all do this while still appealing to longtime players. As long as it retains the core pillars of Splinter Cell–staying hidden in extremely dangerous situations and using a whole bunch of cool gadgets–it will be just fine. The Clancy franchise name is arguably stronger now than it ever has been, particularly because of Rainbow Six’s success, and this can work in Splinter Cell’s favor. Ubisoft doesn’t need to deliver the perfect game that appeals to everyone, as such a thing isn’t possible. It just needs to bring Splinter Cell back. Splinter Cell fans clearly want a new game, and after nearly eight years, the time is right. A lack of stealth espionage games from competitors emphasizes how much Ubisoft can take advantage of the situation and launch the series back to superstardom.
Perhaps Ubisoft is using projects like Splinter Cell VR and the Netflix series to gauge interest in a future game, and if that’s the case, I believe Ubisoft will find that there is. Guillemot wouldn’t get asked about it year after year if there weren’t any interest. But the company must understand that this is the stealth espionage franchise now. Metal Gear Solid shows little sign of returning, and it’s up to Splinter Cell to carry the torch.
Respawn Entertainment has grown considerably since its early day working on the first Titanfall game, with multiple franchises and releases under its belt. Its next game, or at least one of its next games, will be an original IP–its first since Titanfall launched back in 2014.
Though details on the project are scarce and it looks to be very early in development, several Respawn developers confirmed the game will be a new IP. The official job listing also uses this wording and mentions a “compact incubation team,” and the studio means it. Programmer Steven Kah Hien Wong added that only five people are on the project at the moment.
Want to get in early and help build a new IP from scratch? We’re a team of *5* right now looking for our 6th (a coder)! https://t.co/BpfxUBZ71L
Respawn certainly has a lot on its plate with the continued development of Apex Legends as well as an expected Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order sequel, and it also branched into VR with Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond last year.
The listing also explicitly states there will be no crunch or overtime work and that Respawn will support the candidate in “nurturing [their] life-work balance.” It doesn’t sound like Respawn expects dedicated producers to be working full-time on the project, with one responsibility being “self-as-producer” activity including tracking time spent on various tasks, but this could just be for its early stages.
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Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond Official Gameplay Trailer | Gamescom 2020
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The development team will “pioneer new ways to enable adventuring until the heat death of the universe,” whatever that means, and the team will still emphasize good-feeling gameplay. Respawn has primarily worked in first-person shooters thus far with the exception of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and the Titanfall games in particular are certainly known for buttery-smooth controls.
Though it has been more than four years since Titanfall 2 released and underperformed commercially, it doesn’t appear that has completely killed the chances of a sequel. According to Respawn’s parent company Electronic Arts, that choice rests with Respawn itself. Given the acclaim the second game received–both for its multiplayer and groundbreaking campaign–there’s still certainly a vocal fanbase waiting to play Titanfall 3.
