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Game

Buckshot Roulette Creator’s New Game Is A Dark Psychological Hacking Adventure Launching Next Month

by admin June 21, 2025

Mike Klubnika, the creator of last year’s unsettling Russian roulette horror game Buckshot Roulette, has announced his next title will arrive in just a few weeks. s.p.l.i.t. is a narrative-driven psychological horror adventure.

Klubnika describes s.p.l.i.t. as a short first-person adventure that sees players control a hacker planning to execute a malware attack on an unethical superstructure. Sitting at a computer terminal, gameplay involves solving puzzles styled as complex command prompts to navigate directories, run software, and execute commands. You’ll also use an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to communicate with fellow hackers and gain intel on your target. A press release provides a more ominous overview of what s.p.l.i.t. entails:

“A daunting task lies ahead. Unconscionable secrets and vulnerabilities lie buried deep below legacy code and engineering. Only with meticulous planning and unwavering composure will they be unearthed.”

s.p.l.i.t. launches on July 24 for PC via Steam, Windows, and Linux. Meanwhile, Buckshot Roulette is slated to come to Xbox consoles sometime this year.

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree Hands-on Preview at Summer Game Fest

by admin June 21, 2025

At Summer Game Fest 2025, Bandai Namco revealed Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, a new Japanese folklore-inspired roguelike that wears its inspirations on its sleeve. We went hands-on with the game for a quick look at what Towa will have to offer us when it arrives this September. Here’s a quick peek at what we picked from our time with it.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is set in a world steeped in ancient Japanese mythology. The game’s premise revolves around guardians tasked with protecting the Sacred Tree, a mystical force not unlike the World Tree in other mythologies. We only got a passing look at the storyline, so that’s about all I can impart on that topic.

One thing I can comment on is the absolutely gorgeous visuals. A blend of watercolor painting and anime-style Japanese art, the game is overflowing with green grasses, forests, shimmering lakes and more. Even these screenshots don’t tell the whole story – this is one you’ve got to see in motion. I suspect we’ll see more dour environments as we get closer to whatever big bad lies at the core of the game, but what we saw so far was beautiful to behold.

At its core, the game is a roguelike experience, where each run is unique, and the environment constantly shifts. The parallels to games like Hades and its sequel are immediately apparent, though this game has a few elements that make Towa unique. At the beginning of the demo I could choose one of two guardians (though there is nothing preventing the team from having more – the team weren’t saying one way or the other). One guardian takes on the role of primary attacker, armed with close-range weapons or magic, and the other will take a support role with ranged abilities, area-of-effect attacks, or healing spells. It sounds like such a minor thing, but in practice it makes for a completely different type of gameplay.

As you tackle foes, you’ll hammer on them with your weapon. As you do so, you’ll get some visual and auditory clues that your weapon is wearing out. When it’s no longer sharp, you’re expected to let it recharge a meter, or better still, switch to your secondary character and make them primary for a few. On paper, the weapons degradation system sounds like it’d be a nuisance, but in practice swapping between weapons and characters pushed me to be more thoughtful about my approach and timing. If you know an enemy is more susceptible to melee attacks, timing your meters so you have those at your fingertips is wise, meaning thinking ahead instead of just dodging and hammering away is key. Each guardian has its own health, abilities, and weapons to manage, so you’ll also be apparently upgrading them as you go, leaning into the roguelike elements of the game.

Each run in Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is designed to last about 30 to 45 minutes – precisely the amount of time we had for our demo. If you want a quick roguelike hit, Towa is aiming to deliver exactly that. Given that all of the levels and foes are procedurally generated or placed, no two runs should ever be exactly alike. As you progress, the difficulty ramps up, with new enemies and more complex obstacles introduced, as you’d expect. To help you cope with that, you’ll get drops. These drops are similar to what you’ve seen in other games, offering a bump to attack damage, environmental effects, or other similar augments.

The other major departure from the norm is the addition of cooperative play. While our demo was single player, the full game will have the ability to team up with your friends, meaning you’ll be able to bring a total of four guardians into the field. It seems like that would create some awesome synergies but we’ll have to wait to try those out.

We won’t have to wait long to get our hands on this fast-paced gorgeous roguelike. Coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on September 19th, 2025, this looks like it’ll be something special.

Stay tuned right here at GamingTrend.com for more on Towa and the Guardian of the Sacred Tree as well as everything else we saw at Summer Game Fest 2025!

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Chinese company Netease is making an AAA action-adventure game called ‘Blood Message’

by admin June 21, 2025

NetEase, the Chinese video game company that published Marvel Rivals and Bungie’s Destiny: Rising, has announced its first single-player AAA game. It’s a story-driven third-person action-adventure game called Blood Message, and as Polygon notes, it’s in the vein of Uncharted and Assassin’s Creed. The story is set in the final years of the Tang Dynasty, which ruled imperial China from 618 to 907. In Blood Message, players take control of a nameless messenger and his son “to deliver a message that holds the fate of their war-torn homeland.”

Players will have to journey through desolate deserts and the vast wilderness of East and Central Asia. The trailer shows the messenger and his son fighting enemies in the desert, surviving avalanches, working with mysterious characters and discovering ancient artifacts. It also shows the game’s cinematic cutscenes, stealth and survival mechanics, as well as the landscapes players can expect to see.

“We are ushering players into a new generation of high adventure with Blood Message,” said Zhipeng Hu, the Lead Producer and NetEase Executive Vice President. “As our first completely single-player focused experience from NetEase Games, after two decades of deep dedication to the gaming industry, we are prepared to deliver a truly epic and cinematic experience for players around the world.”

NetEase has yet to announce a release date, but Blood Message will be available for consoles and the PC. The game’s announcement shows that Chinese developers are increasingly making more inroads into the AAA space. Black Myth: Wukong, which is widely considered as the first AAA game from China, was originally released last year and will be available on the Xbox in August.

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

‘I don’t particularly think the game will be very good’: The fans trying to get a never-released Chinese Borderlands MMO working are doing something so absurd that I love them for it

by admin June 21, 2025

Back in 2014, an established Chinese game development studio called Shanda Interactive Entertainment started work on Borderlands Online, a Chinese-market-only MMO version of the two-games-deep Borderlands series. Gearbox was trying to get a jump on the growing Chinese PC gaming market, clearly, but the game didn’t happen: It was cancelled in 2015 when Shanda left game development entirely. All that remains now are some screenshots and (rather weird) trailers.

Now, on a passionate whim, some fans have dug up an ancient build of the game from virus-infested defunct Chinese websites and are hard at work on making a playable version of the long lost Borderlands game. (Which they wouldn’t have been able to play if it had been finished, because it wouldn’t have been released outside of China.)

In an interview with Eurogamer, project leader EpicNNG explained why they went on their quixotic quest to bring back a 10 year old unreleased game that—by their own admission—probably isn’t even very good.

“I am a superfan of this franchise,” they said. “I’ll do anything I can to get my hands on this kind of thing. I won’t stop at Borderlands Online. Borderlands started my addiction to videogames, and wanting to be a developer myself.”

So, even though they “don’t particularly think the game will be very good,” EpicNNG just wants to play it, and hopes that the project “brings people together” during the wait for Borderlands 4’s September release.

Reverse-engineering software without its servers, its original developers, or any documentation is no mean feat for even the most skilled developers, though.

“It has been incredibly challenging,” said EpicNNG. “If you don’t know what you’re doing it can feel like trying to escape a maze blindfolded. I eventually reached my skill ceiling, and that realization was tough to accept.”

For those interested in the project, you can watch their request for help video on YouTube. You might also be interested in joining the project. They’re very clear, for the record, that this is a fan project they don’t believe breaches any copyright and that there would be no profit from releasing the build. They were also clear that they’re welcoming media attention to the project at this time.

Besides, they found de_dust2 in the files. Which rules.

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Malicious Discord invites are targeting gamers with fake servers, stolen wallets, and malware disguised as game hacks

by admin June 21, 2025

Cybercriminals are recycling expired Discord links to launch silent, devastating multi-stage malware attacks
A fake Discord bot tricks users into running PowerShell commands disguised as CAPTCHA fixes
Old community invite links now lead to malware servers stealing your data and digital assets

Cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting a lesser-known flaw in Discord’s invitation system to target unsuspecting users, particularly gamers, new research has claimed.

A report from researchers from Check Point found attackers manage to register previously valid invite links with custom vanity URLs.

The tactic involves hijacking once legitimate and trusted expired or deleted Discord invite links and redirecting them to malicious servers hosting multi-stage malware campaigns.

From trusted links to dangerous redirects

These hijacked links, often embedded in old forum posts, community pages, or social media, are being used to silently funnel users to Discord servers operated by threat actors.

Once on these fake servers, users are greeted with what appears to be a standard verification process.

A bot named “Safeguard” prompts visitors to click a “Verify” button, which initiates an OAuth2 process and redirects them to a phishing site.

The site employs a social engineering method called “ClickFix,” where users are tricked into copying and running a PowerShell command under the guise of fixing a broken CAPTCHA.

This action silently launches the malware installation chain, with the attackers using cloud services such as Pastebin, GitHub, and Bitbucket to deliver the payloads in multiple stages, allowing them to blend into normal network traffic.

Initial scripts download executables that retrieve further encrypted payloads, which include AsyncRAT, a tool that gives attackers remote control over infected systems, and a tailored variant of the Skuld Stealer designed to extract credentials and cryptocurrency wallet data.

Gamers have become a prime target, with campaigns even disguising malware as tools like The Sims 4 DLC unlockers – one archive named Sims4-Unlocker.zip was downloaded over 350 times, highlighting the campaign’s reach.

Through clever evasion techniques such as delayed execution and command-line argument checks, the malware often bypasses detection from even the best antivirus software.

The threats extend beyond typical malware infections. The Skuld Stealer used in these attacks can extract crypto wallet seed phrases and passwords, effectively granting full control over victims’ digital assets.

Considering the focus on cryptocurrency theft and credential harvesting, individuals should reinforce their defenses with robust identity theft protection services.

These tools can monitor for unauthorized use of personal information, alert users to breaches, and assist in recovering compromised digital identities.

While some might assume that endpoint protection tools would shield them from these tactics, the multi-layered, modular structure of the attack often flies under the radar.

To stay safe, users must be wary of Discord invite links, especially those embedded in old content. Also, avoid running unexpected scripts or following suspicious verification steps.

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Marathon is the new game from Destiny creators Bungie

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Kickstarter game placed on “indefinite pause” after raising $340k

by admin June 21, 2025

A game partially funded by over 5,000 backers on Kickstarter has been placed on “indefinite pause” after raising more than $300,000, its developer has confirmed.

Developed by Studio Camelia, Alzara Radiant Echoes is described as a “3D turn-based RPG inspired by Japanese classics” on the game’s Steam page, which, as of June 21, 2025, still lists Alzara as “coming soon.”

In a post on Alzara’s Kickstarter page, the developer confirmed that “It is with deep sadness that we announce the closure of Studio Camelia.” In a section addressing the potential for development to recommence, Camelia explained that liquidation of the company took place on April 28, 2025 and that “various legal procedures” are still ongoing.

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Camelia’s Kickstarter campaign for Alzara raised €294,428 ($339,000 USD) from 5,089 backers.

“Radiant Echoes is now on indefinite pause,” the message continued, adding, “There is a slim chance that a third party might one day step in and offer to take over the project.”

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The game is still listed as “coming soon” on its Steam page.

The final straw

Camelia explained that, despite members of the team investing their own money and funds from Kickstarter, they needed more to see the game to fruition, which meant investment from a partner.

After attending gaming events to showcase a demo of Radiant Echoes and numerous “in-depth discussions” with potential partners failed to yield any investment, Camelia said they “tried to hold on as long as we could.”

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Refunds for failed Kickstarter projects are not provided. “Kickstarter is not a store, and we do not issue refunds. When you back a project, you’re supporting a creator’s right to make something new,” the site’s FAQ reads.

While individual project creators can opt to provide refunds in such circumstances, Camelia stated that “Neither the studio nor Kickstarter is able to refund your contribution to the project, and we are truly sorry for that.”

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Esports

The ultimate NBA Game 7 betting guide: Best bets, insights and more

by admin June 21, 2025

It all comes down to this — Game 7. A new NBA champion will be crowned Sunday as the Indiana Pacers visit the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET at Paycom Center.

Indiana dominated Game 6 in surprising fashion, leading by 30 points after three quarters en route to a 108-91 victory. Now things shift back to OKC, where the Thunder have been nearly unbeatable this postseason. What can you expect in Game 7?

Andre Snellings, Eric Moody and David Purdum offer plenty of tips on bets and insight.

NBA Finals headquarters: Recaps | Highlights | Odds | Watch live on ABC

Odds are as of publication time. For the most up-to-date odds, visit ESPN BET

Bets for NBA Finals Game 7

Pascal Siakam over 11.5 assists and rebounds (+105). He contributes across multiple statistical categories, and with the championship on the line, I expect maximum effort from him and the Pacers, particularly with Tyrese Haliburton not at 100%. Siakam’s cleared this line in three of the six Finals games. More importantly, Siakam has averaged 6.2 potential assists and 12.2 rebound chances during the Finals, which positions him well to surpass this mark in Game 7. –– Moody

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander over 44.5 points, rebounds and assists (-120). It’s been nine years since NBA fans witnessed a Game 7 in the Finals and only four have occurred since 2000. There’s a lot at stake for regular-season MVP Gilgeous-Alexander, especially with the Thunder entering the series as overwhelming favorites. SGA will need a masterful performance to give OKC a shot at the title and to solidify his claim to Finals MVP. While he’s cleared this line in just two of the six games in the series, SGA has gone over in eight of his past 11 games when playing at least 41 minutes, which he’s likely to do in Game 7. — Moody

Andrew Nembhard over 14.5 total points and assists (-120). While Haliburton was able to play well Thursday, he is still dealing with a calf strain and might be limited. Nembhard took on a larger role in Game 6, notching a series-high 17 points with four assists (21 P+A), and I expect him to be called upon again in Game 7. Nembhard averaged 12.5 points and 5.0 assists (17.5 P+A) in the first two games of the series, both in Oklahoma City, and the Pacers will likely need him to at least match those numbers in Game 7. — Snellings

Jalen Williams over 22.5 total points (-125). Williams was in his scoring bag going into Game 6, averaging 31.0 points with at least 26 in each of the prior three contests. He got off to a strong scoring start in Game 6 with 16 points in the first half before the team got blown out in the third quarter. I look for Williams to bounce back in Game 7, playing at home, and generate another high-scoring effort. — Snellings

Pascal Siakam over 20.5 total points (-110). Pascal is the only healthy All-Star caliber player on the Pacers, and in a road Game 7 he will definitely be tasked with providing consistent scoring. Siakam has averaged 21.3 points in the past four games of the series, with at least 20 points in each of the three previous contests before he sat out most of the 4th quarter in the Game 6 blowout. I expect him to continue scoring at a high level in the finale. — Snellings

Line on the move

The line on Game 7 began shrinking Friday morning, dropping as much as 2.5 points, with reports of sharp money on the underdog Pacers showing up in Las Vegas.

The Thunder opened as 8.5-point favorites, but the majority of sportsbooks trimmed the line to -7.5 around 11 a.m. Friday. ESPN BET was an outlier and dropped its line to -6.5.

“Game 7 is the best two words in sports,” said Adam Landeka, vice president of sportsbook strategy and growth for ESPN BET. “We’re expecting a tight game and moving lines in accordance with a number of factors. Haliburton’s performance answered some important questions on his health, and the Pacers and their veteran leaders left no doubt in what continues to be a competitive series.”

Jeff Sherman, NBA oddsmaker for the SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas, told ESPN that it took a sharp bet on the Pacers -8, causing the book to drop the number to 7.5.

Chris Andrews, longtime bookmaker for South Point in Las Vegas, also reported seeing sharp money on the Pacers on Friday that caused him to drop his line to -7.

“Finally got some money back [on the Thunder] at -7,” Andrews told ESPN in a text message.

At 7.5, the line is the largest of any of the five Game 7s in NBA Finals since 1991, and the fourth largest in any Game 7 during that time period, according to ESPN Research. — Purdum

Projections and injury reports

Basketball Power Index by ESPN Analytics. Injury aggregation by Rotowire.com. Odds by ESPN BET

Indiana Pacers at Oklahoma City Thunder
8 p.m. ET

Line: Pacers +6.5 (EVEN) | Thunder -6.5 (-120)
Money line: Pacers +215 | Thunder -265
Total: 214.5 (-105 O, -105 U)

Injury report:
Pacers: None reported
Thunder: None reported

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From ESPN Research

If the Thunder win, they will join the 2008 Boston Celtics and 2013 Miami Heat to have won at least two Game 7s in a season on their way to a championship.
The Pacers look to be the first No. 4 seed to win a championship since seeding began in 1984. Should they win, they will be the lowest-seeded champion since the No. 6 seed Houston Rockets won the NBA title in 1995.
The Thunder have scored at least 110 points in all 12 of their home games this season, most in NBA playoffs history.
The Pacers won 18 fewer regular-season games than the Thunder, and if they win Sunday, it will break the record set by the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers for largest win differential upset in Finals history.
The Thunder have a +247 point differential at home in the postseason, which is on pace to be an NBA record. No team in postseason history has finished with a +200 point differential at home.
The Pacers have had four different leading scorers this series, which ties the record for most in Finals history.

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Portugal 2-1 Germany (Jun 4, 2025) Game Analysis

Esports

Bayern 2-1 Boca (Jun 20, 2025) Game Analysis

by admin June 21, 2025

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Michael Olise fired Bayern Munich into the knockout stages of the Club World Cup, scoring in the 84th minute for a 2-1 win over Boca Juniors on Friday night.

German champion Bayern made it two wins in Group C and advanced to the round of 16 with a game to spare.

Olise secured the victory at Hard Rock Stadium after Miguel Merentiel had put Boca in position for a draw with a brilliant solo goal in the 66th.

Bayern, which tops the group, took the lead on Harry Kane’s clinical finish in the 18th and went on to miss of a slew of chances before Merentiel’s equalizer.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, we knew we were coming into a hostile environment, hot weather, it was tough,” Kane said. “It’s a massive tournament. We are playing against the best teams in the world. We just have to compete to our highest level and we should be able to beat most teams.”

The victory did come at a cost.

Star German midfielder Jamal Musiala went off injured only 25 minutes after entering the game and was substituted by national team veteran Thomas Müller in the 82nd minute.

The nature of his injury wasn’t immediately known. The 22 year-old had been recovering from a torn hamstring during the Bundesliga season.

Boca Juniors still have a chance to advance, but they would need to rout Auckland City on Tuesday and have Benfica lose to Bayern the same day.

“We have to find a way (to advance). A draw would’ve been great but it’s up to us to compete and do our best and I would not be surprised if that happened,” coach Miguel Angel Russo said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Marvel Rivals publishers reveal Blood Message, a Naughty Dog-style singleplayer action game set in Tang era China

by admin June 21, 2025

Blood Message is a new singleplayer third-person action game from NetEase, publishers of Marvel Rivals and Naraka: Bladepoint. It follows the journey of a “nameless messenger” and his son across Tang dynasty China, and is laced with the “customs, culture, and rich history of the era”. Amongst other sights and sounds, you will join an uprising in Shazhou, Dunhuang and tread the legendary Silk Road trade routes as you “etch a final tale of loyalty” into the helpless, screaming face of Unreal Engine 5.

I know absolutely nothing about any of these historical and cultural precedents, so I will frame things in terms of the mechanics and skits I recognise from opulent manly bonkfests like God Of War. You will: shimmy through narrow gaps, presumably so that the next area has time to load! Lift a huge sliding door so that your AI-controlled partner can scamper under it, bookending your progress! Mash somebody’s mug into the woodwork while performing an environmental finisher! Topple over and slide uncontrollably through collapsing scenery! Remorselessly QTE a cartwheel while trapped beneath the speeding vehicle! There, now – between those two paragraphs, you don’t even need to watch the following trailer.

Watch on YouTube

It’s end-of-day Friday and I am probably being too pissy. Yes, this appears to be another vibrantly violent canyon of exploding or murdersome photoreal furniture, but there is a lot of (romanticised?) history here I wouldn’t mind encountering up close.

I just hope it manages to have a sense of humour about itself, somewhere. NetEase don’t give that impression in their announcement release. “How can countless ordinary people—smaller than dust—leave a mark on history?” it brays. “The Blood Message development team offers this answer: The remembrance and praise of future generations become their eternal monument.” Nice to hear, because the monuments in the trailer don’t seem very eternal: it’s like the masonry is mortared with anti-matter.

Lead producer and NetEase executive vice president Zhipeng Hu adds that this is the “first completely single-player focused experience from NetEase Games”. They are certainly making no bones of the genre markers they’re trying to hit with that video. There’s no release date yet. Learn more on the official site (which, be warned, is hella animation-heavy and may devour your mobile data allowance in one fell swoop).

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

NetEase Reveals Its ‘First Triple-A Single-Player’ Game, Blood Message, And It Looks Awesome

by admin June 21, 2025

Chinese publisher NetEase Games, which is behind multiplayer titles like Marvel Rivals, FragPunk, and Naraka: Bladepoint, has revealed its first-ever triple-A single-player game, Blood Message. Set during the final years of China’s Tang Dynasty, Blood Message is an action-adventure game being developed in Unreal Engine 5 by 24 Entertainment. There’s no word on when it’s coming out, but it’s due on consoles and PC.

NetEase says Blood Message puts players in control of a nameless messenger and his young son during a critical uprising in Dunhuang. “Caught in the crossfire of a righteous uprising and driven by loyalty to both family and country, players will embark on a perilous eastward journey to deliver a message that holds the fate of their war-torn homeland,” a press release reads. “Amidst the shifting sands of history, they will etch a final tale of loyalty.”

Check out the Blood Message reveal trailer for yourself below:

As this nameless messenger, players will embark on a 1000-mile odyssey back to Chang’an, the heart of the Tang Empire. To do so, they’ll cross lethal landscapes like desolate deserts and the wilderness of East and Central Asia while surviving brutal sieges, unforgiving terrain, and more. NetEase says the game’s setting in the last years of the Tang Dynasty “provides a cultural landmark of Chinese history that frames the story with customs, culture, and rich history of the era.”

Regarding gameplay, NetEase describes Blood Message as narrative-driven and anchored in cinematic storytelling with “visceral, realistic combat blending stealth and survival mechanics.”

“As our first completely single-player focused experience from NetEase Games, after two decades of deep dedication to the gaming industry, we are prepared to deliver a truly epic and cinematic experience for our players around the world,” NetEase executive vice president Zhipeng Hu writes in a press release.

For another look at Blood Message, check out the screenshots below:

What do you think of Blood Message’s first showing? Let us know in the comments below!

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

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From trusted links to dangerous redirects

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The final straw

Bets for NBA Finals Game 7

Editor’s Picks

Line on the move

Projections and injury reports

News, notes and more

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