Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, the upcoming battle royale game for mobile devices from Square Enix, will be released in November, producer Tetsuya Nomura revealed during a livestream special during the Tokyo Game Show on Sunday. Pre-registration will start later this month.

The title was first announced in February, and the team has been using the feedback from a closed beta held during the summer to make adjustments. Producer Shoichi Ichikawa mentioned that controller compatibility was by far the most requested feature after the beta and it has now been added to the game.

“Lots of people want to be able to play on PC or console,” Ichikawa said. “We’re not at that point yet, but we hope this will bring players closer to that experience.” As of now, there are no plans to port the game to other platforms.

Other improvements include a revamped tutorial, which will feature both a mode to help players new to battle royale games learn the basics and a mode to help players get the hang of the gameplay. A new training map has also been added to allow for practice in combat settings.

Ichikawa said 75 percent of respondents from the beta said the game met or exceeded their expectations. The game’s controls and balance have been updated in response to feedback — with a number of respondents singling out the warrior class as needing polish.

The piece exchange system that proved popular with beta testers has been tweaked and expanded. Players can collect pieces from secret boxes and by defeating monsters and trade them for items. The items available will change each season.

There will be both standard and ranked matches within the game. Players can receive items for reaching each of the game’s seven ranks and those at the top at the end of each season will receive a special codename to inform others of their feats on the battlefield.

Ichikawa said there won’t be any system that rewards players for spending money and that matches will come down to players’ skill.

There is a third mode featuring three characters who will tie into the story, though there is no actual story mode.

The game’s background will be familiar to those who have played Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy VII: Remake. The game is set in a VR sim used by Shinra to train SOLDIER candidates and many of the locations mirror those found in Final Fantasy VII: Remake.

The latter half of the livestream was devoted to a match between a team of guest streamers facing a team of developers. The match provided a brief look at the ninja class, which has been added to the game and joins the warrior, sorcerer, monk, and ranger classes. Each class has its own skills and abilities.

The ninja class provides a flexible experience where players can perform melee attacks or use ranged weapons. The class is extremely useful for stealth gameplay, as it comes with an ability to become invisible for a short time.

The new trailer for the game that was released during the Square Enix livestream on Saturday showed players riding chocobos during a match. The series’ signature bird also made an appearance during Sunday’s stream. Two players can ride a chocobo, and the bird can fly a very short distance and perform a kick.

There are also other vehicles that can be used and while you can’t run over an ally, you will be able to damage enemies.

Players can level up during matches by fighting monsters to earn experience

“It wouldn’t be a Final Fantasy without experience points and leveling up,” Ichikawa said.

Players feeling overwhelmed can take on monsters in order to get stronger. There will be monsters in parts of the map and some will engage even if the player is in the middle of combat with another player.

During the team match being played on Sunday, Ichikawa mentioned there are also missions that can be accepted during matches that provide more experience points.

The match showed the teams fighting near the abandoned church in Sector 5 where the player encounters Aerith in Final Fantasy VII and its remake.

Regarding summons, it seems they act in differing ways. Ifrit, Ichikawa said, will fight alongside you, while Shiva casts Diamond Dust around the area. There are also more summons planned for the game.

The team has promised more updates as the game approaches its release next month for iOS and Android devices.

Jason Coskrey is a writer based in Tokyo. Find him on Twitter at @JCoskrey

Fighting game tournament ARCREVO is coming back and will be headlined by Guilty Gear Strive, the latest title in the long-running Guilty Gear series.

Riku Ozawa from Arc System Works revealed the news about the fighting game tournament during the company’s special program during Tokyo Game Show 2021 on Sunday.

The event will be held in three general regions — North America; Japan and Korea; and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) — though no specific cities were announced.

Qualifying in North America begins December 11 and the finals will be held on March 19, 2022. The event will be held online in February of next year in the Japan and Korea region, while qualifying for the EMEA region begins this month, with the finals taking place in February 2022.

Last year’s event was canceled and switched to an online event, ARCREVO ONLINE 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The preliminary rounds for ARCREVO 2021 will be held online. The finals in each region will take place either online or offline, depending on the COVID-19 situation in each location.

In other news, the Guilty Gear Strive soundtrack was released on Friday and is also available on streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify.

Arc System Works is also selling new Guilty Gear themed merchandise, such as a Sol Badguy T-shirt and a pillow featuring the character May and one of her animal companions, Mr. Dolphin.

Guilty Gear Strive was released earlier this year and will have more DLC content added in the coming weeks and months.

Goldlewis Dickinson, new to the series, was the first DLC character released for Season Pass 1 in July. The second, Jack-O’ Valentine, a character who has played a big part in the series’ lore, was added in August. Those additions took the playable roster up to 17 characters.

There are plans to add an additional character within 2021 and to add two new characters, two additional stages and more story content in 2022.

Jason Coskrey is a writer based in Tokyo. Find him on Twitter at @JCoskrey

Publisher 110 Industries and Soleil, a game development studio comprised of Team Ninja veterans who worked on both the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive franchises, has announced Wanted: Dead, a new third-person fast-action game for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC set in a low-tech sci-fi version of Hong Kong that will allow you to master combat with both guns and melee weapons. The team cites Bayonetta and Devil May Cry as inspirations. Wanted: Dead also includes "an in-depth investigative side where players must analyze evidence and dive into real police work."

Key members of the team include former Team Ninja employees that left Tecmo with Team Ninja boss Tomonobu Itagaki in 2008. All senior developers that worked on Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II, DOA, DOA2 and Xtreme Beach Volleyball including producer Yoshifuru Okamoto, director Hiroaki Matsui, and lead planner Natsuki Tsurugai. See the uncensored Wanted: Dead announcement trailer above and the first several screenshots below.

As Lt. Hannah Stone, head of the "Zombie Squad" that operates outside of the normal purview of the police, players will have the choice of whether to engage enemies up close with melee attacks (including "a limb-severing mechanic that changes enemy attack patterns") or bring them down from afar with guns. As you can see in the uncensored trailer above, Wanted: Dead definitely shows its Ninja Gaiden roots in addition to its Bayonetta and Devil May Cry influences.

There is no release date as of yet as from simply "2022," but stay tuned to IGN for much more on Wanted: Dead in the coming months.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

This Saturday has brought with it a nice mix of deals. Nintendo eShop cards are discounted over at Newegg, saving you $5 per card. It's a nice little discount and can really add up if stacked with other deals when you go to purchase a game. The preorders for Final Fantasy Origins are now available at Best Buy if you want to lock down a copy well in advance. Gaming PCs at Newegg are also slashed in price, and a few nice household deals can be found further below!

Daily Deals for October 2nd, 2021

Myth of Empires is an upcoming multiplayer sandbox game that puts players in the middle of a world devastated by war. Not only will players need to build massive fortresses, siege enemy cities, and lead their armies into battle, but there is a strong survival element that will require strategic thinking to prevent hunger, weather, and more from meaning the difference between victory and defeat.

While there is still no release date for Myth of Empires, developer Angela Game has announced a global closed beta test from October 2 – October 10, 2021. Those interested can register now via Steam’s Playtest function for a chance to participate, and this marks the first global beta test following the game’s closed alpha and localization alpha tests earlier this year.

In Myth of Empires, players will have to “survive and earn their place in a world torn apart by war, build fortresses, lead armies in massive battles, siege enemy cities, and establish their own empires!” Despite Myth of Empires entering the crowded survival sandbox genre as a relatively unknown contender, it offers a realistic style, a wide range of content, and a challenging and thrilling gameplay style that could make it the next dark horse hit like Valheim or another of the like.

“This beta test brings us one step closer to the Myth of Empires experience we’ve long envisioned,” says Meng Liang, Producer at Angela Game and Project Director at Angela Game’s T’ien-Kung Studio. “It’s our first global beta and the biggest test yet, in terms of both content and scale. We can’t wait to see how players respond to all of the new gameplay and improvements we’ve put in the game.”

In the beta, players will get to try out Myth of Empires’ tactical combat, its crafting system that allows for the creation of dozens of weapon and armor types, the guild system that will allow players to team up with friends, PvE and PvP servers in certain regions, and much more.

There will also be a chance to build customized structures in your quest to take over enemy fortresses alongside siege weapons like ballistas, catapults, trebuchets, and siege ladders. You'll also be able to recruit NPCs by “peaceful means or by force,” and you can have them collect resources, craft items, hunt, or fight with you in battle.

Animals play a big role in Myth of Empires, and horses can be tamed to be ridden in battle or bred to make new steeds that suit your playstyle. Elephants, rhinos, crocodiles, butterflies, fish, and many other animals will also be scattered around the game’s map.

Remember, all you have to do is head to Myth of Empire’s Steam page and Request Access to have a chance to join the closed beta that is set to run from October 2 – 10 and will give fans their first chance to make a name for themselves in this war-torn world and see if Myth of Empire can compete with such juggernauts as New World as one of 2021’s best new games.