Over the past year, we’ve had the privilege of connecting with talented game developers from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) through the PlayStation MENA Hero Project. This initiative was launched with a simple goal: to identify and support original voices and empower creators from emerging regions to tell their stories through games. Today, we’re thrilled to announce the first cohort of titles supported under the MENA Hero Project, each one a unique reflection of the creativity, and spirit of developers in the region. The First Cohort of MENA Hero Project Games Red Bandits | Developer: Team Agenda | Country: Saudi Arabia Red Bandits is a fast-paced robbery action game set in a hyper-capitalist age where one company rules the world through complete monopoly. In this world, a newly formed thieves organization known as the Red Bandits, emerges to challenge the system and spark a rebellion. You play as Stutt, a seasoned old thief with a stuttering condition and a mysterious past he can’t fully remember. Break into the company’s fortified floors, take down the powerful board of directors, and bring back a de-monopolized world order. With a dynamic cover system, evolving heists, and a vibrant comrades’ hideout, Red Bandits blends fast, stylish action with a deeply personal story of rebellion. Robbing its way to PS5 and PC. Enci’s Solution | Developer: Dark Emerald | Country: United Arab Emirates Exiled by humans centuries ago, the Aeons are confined to the desolate underground. Their village is safe, but beyond the gates, danger lurks at every corner, and not everyone can be trusted. No one has left the village before, except for Ji’we. Inspired by techno-dystopian aesthetics, Enci’s Solution is a hand-painted, 2.5D narrative platformer following the story of Ji’we, a young Aeon venturing out into the unknown in an attempt to save his dearest friend. Stumbling upon Enci, a lost encyclopedic robot who finds himself far from home, the two form an unusual bond and set out together to the surface of planet Regalia.  Play through 40+ levels with increasing difficulty and explore uncharted territories. Find collectibles and uncover the secrets they carry about the world and its odd inhabitants. Keep an eye out for hidden levels and challenge yourself to think outside the box. Will you find your solution on PS5 and PC? Play Video The Perfect Run | Developer: Lanterns Studios | Country: Tunisia Save the world or blow it up yourself, one loop at a time! The Perfect Run is an action-adventure RPG game where the player controls Quicksave, a time-traveling hero caught in an epic struggle between supervillain gangs, marketed superheroes, and a powerful mega corporation for the control of the city of New Rome. With three days to decide the city’s fate, the player can go back in time to decide their perfect ending… if they have the skill to do so! Interact with NPCs and unlock new dialogue options thanks to information collected in earlier loops, join a faction in one route and fight them the next, bend time itself in epic battle against superpowered bosses, collect the best upgrades before the reset, and unlock the city’s secrets in this memorable superhero adventure. Find the perfect run on PS5 and PC. A Cat’s Manor | Developer: Happiest Dark Corner | Country: Bahrain You awaken trapped in a house infested with spiders and inhabited by an eccentric family. At the end of your tail, you discover a crudely stitched hand. With no memory of who you are or how you got here, you let curiosity guide you forward. A Cat’s Manor is an atmospheric adventure that blends puzzles, combat, crafting, and rhythm-based music challenges. Use your wits to escape the manor. Investigate your surroundings, solve puzzles, fight your way through deadly encounters, or outsmart your foes and avoid trouble. Inspect, observe, listen, and feel your surroundings for clues and cues, immersing yourself with 3D audio and PS5 DualSense controller features. Uncover the secrets of the manor and unravel what the family is hiding. Creeping its way to PS5 and PC near you.  About the MENA Hero Project The MENA Hero Project is the newest chapter in SIE’s global Hero Project family, joining India and China in our mission to discover and nurture the next generation of original game creators. We believe that great games can come from anywhere. Through the MENA Hero Project, we’re committed to unlocking the region’s creative potential, supporting locally inspired experiences with the power to captivate players around the world.

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Nowadays, nobody is surprised when a game about superheroes is amazing. Many active players were, however, just getting into games when they saw the release of Superman for the Nintendo 64, which turned out to be one of the worst games of all time. It was so egregious of an experience that it tainted the entire superhero genre for many years, not that those years needed it, as many other terrible superhero games came out at that time as well.

First revealed in State of Play, and recently playable at Evo Las Vegas 2025, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, brings a fundamental shift to the tag-fighting genre. Arc System Works, Marvel Games, and PlayStation Studios have assembled to create a vibrant, stylized world, and after an intense 30-minute play session this past weekend, I’m counting down the days until I’m a Tōkon fighter again. Play Video Building a 4v4 team “The reason we went with 4v4 is actually because it’s something that’s never been done before in fighting games where players can switch characters,” says Kazuto Sekine, Game Director and Lead Battle Designer, Arc System Works. “We wanted to challenge ourselves to create a new tag fighter.” ​​ During my session, I had access to a set of all-star Heroes to create my team of four: ● Doctor Doom is slow but hits hard with magical and tricky range attacks.  ● Ms. Marvel is quick with high-risk, high-reward attacks. ● Storm is an aerial threat with deadly crossovers.,  ● Iron Man keeps enemies at bay with anti-air and other punishing moves.  ● Star-Lord was the most technical with his ability to switch between firearms and insane juggles. ● Captain America is a versatile all-rounder and a great entry point for new players. After some experimentation, I prioritized playing Storm and Star-Lord. I loved how their combos, personality, and flair were true to their characters (at one point, Storm sternly refers to Star-Lord as “Quill” when he’s goofing off, which I adored). Storm’s light and medium attacks are beginner-friendly and combo well into her Quick Skill, which is a character’s unique attack you activate by pressing R2. I also found success rushing in with Star-Lord, using quick blaster and melee combos right into his Ultimate, activated simply by pressing R1. The control scheme is pretty straightforward. Square, Triangle, and Circle are your light, medium, and heavy attacks, respectively, while X is the assemble button. All of your special attacks and skills are reserved for the triggers. L1 enables a quick dash, L2 is a quick Assemble ability, and R1 and R2 provide your unique attack and quick skills. How swapping between characters works Traditionally, in a tag fighter, you have to rotate through your entire team before the match is over, but in Tōkon your team shares one health bar. This means you don’t have to master the whole roster to be effective, and in that sense, can approach the game like a more traditional fighter if you choose to. At the start of the match, you can only control your lead character. As the skirmish progresses, you gain the ability to switch into your assist characters when you lose a round, performing a throw, or knocking your opponent into another section of the stage. It creates an interesting dance of being careful not to give your opponents more options to use against you while making sure you access your extended roster first, and who you would want as your first backup option. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image “Previously for all [tag fighters] in order to play them, you had to be able to control multiple characters,” says Sekine, “However, for our game, it was important for us to design it so that you would only actually need to be able to take control of one character. You only need to learn to play as one character in order to enjoy the game, and you can still see your other teammates coming in and out of the battlefield.” Where you would traditionally have a dedicated button to swap between your party, here you do it during assists. Once you successfully call in an assist you have a brief window to swap to them. This exchange creates a natural swap out in the chaos of battle and some stylish moments between characters. Tōkon cares about what is happening on screen at all times, so switching between characters in the middle of a combo, standing still, or even in the air creates unique animations, such as characters giving each other daps or quipping about needing to step in.  Accommodating different players’ fighting styles As I was studying my opponent’s moves, they took a different approach, focusing on supers and trying to bring out their team for full-screen spectacles. Where each character performs a quick combo, sending your opponent airborne while smashing them to the ground, ending in what I can only describe as a superhero pose-a-thon. The methodical vs manic approach created a fun back-and-forth between us, but the game was accommodating of both approaches and provided its own sense of satisfaction. “When it comes to the game’s design, it was very important for us to make this something that’s easy to get into, but has depth beyond that initial entry,” says Sekine. “One thing that we were very careful about when designing the game was to ensure that there is not any kind of mechanic or attack that someone who’s just getting started would not be able to perform. It would impede on the experience of new players.”  “When you press the Assemble button, depending on the situation and what’s going on in the match, the Assist will come out and perform a different action that’s suitable for that particular moment,” says Sekine. “By designing it in that way that we’re able to clearly communicate to the player when they should be calling in their assists, and make it easier for them to play.” Anime-inspired Heroes in action “At Marvel games, it’s really important for us to allow developers to put their own unique stamp on the Marvel Universe,” says Michael Francisco, Sr. Product Development Manager, Marvel Games. “In the case of Arc, it’s that fusion of Marvel and American comics with Japanese anime and manga, and you can see that reflected in the art style and the character designs.”  All the characters ooze charm, but the backgrounds also pack a lot of exciting details. Eagle-eyed fans should keep an eye out for interesting signage referencing heroes and events, pedestrians reacting to on-screen action, and easter eggs scattered throughout. It’s obvious a lot of care was put into building this world.  “It was very important for us to be able to create the visual excitement that should be entailed with [tag fighters],” says Takeshi Yamanaka, Producer, Arc System Works. “Since this is a 4v4 game, that means that we can have up to eight characters out on the screen at one time altogether, so we were careful when creating the visual composition of the screen to ensure that we convey that excitement.” The 4v4 fights begin next year MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls is set to release in 2026, and while I’m excited to see all the heroes, combinations, and worlds the game will take us too, I asked the team how they felt about creating something new that has never been done before in the fighting genre.  “It’s both scary and exciting, exhilarating and terrifying, at the same time,” says Francisco. “From the beginning, we all want to honor and respect the rich history and legacy of Marvel, while also forging our own path forward to create something new and innovative. So, we just hope fans are excited to see what we’ve come up with as a collaboration between all three parties.” 

Behind the Effects of RENEGADES By ALLO on August 12, 2025 Behind the ScenesALLO contributed VFX and Blender-designed 3D printed props to a short superhero film.I had the pleasure of working in collaboration with Station 1 Studios and MoNo Films on a superhero short film, RENEGADES that released last Friday. I co-produced, built props, and more importantly served as the Effects Supervisor. All the VFX were done in Blender, Resolve, and Final Cut Pro – from obvious effects to small unseen edits. Additionally, I worked with as many practical effects and props as possible on this project, which was quite a fun and challenging time.I also used Blender to create some of the props for this film, designing models such as Concrete’s helmet to be 3D printed and post-processed.I had the pleasure to make the credits sequence for this short, also using Blender. I loved the flexibility of creating the sequence in full real-time in EEVEE with real-time compositing, while having the music playback in real-time for easy editing. The power of the 3D tools in Blender is truly astounding, enabling me to create the sequence fully in viewport in a fraction of the time that I would have needed in After Effects or Resolve.Additionally, I used Blender for some of the marketing, creating character posters of our main actors:I hope you found this reflection on how Blender was utilized for this project interesting, and that you also enjoy the film!