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Marvel Rivals Season 9: Jubilee and the Mystery of Thebes

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Marvel Rivals’ ninth season kicked off on 10 July UTC — and it is one of the most ambitious shakeups the free-to-play hero shooter has seen yet. Season 9: The Mystery of Thebes adds a brand-new Strategist hero, rewrites the Team-Up system from the ground up, overhauls Black Widow, and sets the stage for an Egyptian murder mystery starring Apocalypse himself. Here is everything you need to know.

Season 9: The Mystery of Thebes // Dev Vision Vol. 19 — via Marvel Rivals on YouTube

Meet Jubilee — Marvel Rivals’ Newest Season 9 Strategist

Jubilation Lee — Jubilee character art as a Strategist in Marvel Rivals Season 9
Image courtesy of NetEase Games / Marvel

Jubilation Lee — 千歡 — arrives as the 52nd hero on the roster, slotting in as a Strategist. For those who know their X-Men lore, Jubilee is a Chinese-American mutant famous for her pyrotechnic plasma bursts; here, her kit leans into a darker, vampiric side that fits Season 9’s Apocalypse storyline perfectly.

Her primary attack fires automatically, simultaneously damaging enemies and restoring health to nearby allies. A deployable bubble provides field control, a knockback ability pushes enemies away in a pinch, and her Ultimate unleashes an area-of-effect fireworks show that deals damage, heals allies, and sends foes flying. Her Vampiric Kin Team-Up with Blade enhances her Vampiric Field so it continuously heals teammates within range — making the Jubilee/Blade pair a potentially potent double act.

For Singapore players, there is a nice cultural hook here: Jubilee is one of Marvel’s most prominent Asian heroes, and seeing her Chinese name rendered in-game alongside her English one is a small but meaningful touch. She is available immediately — Marvel Rivals remains fully free-to-play on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, as well as on PS5, PS4 and Xbox Series X/S.

The Team-Up System Got a Ground-Up Rebuild

The biggest mechanical change in Season 9 is not a new hero — it is the complete overhaul of the Team-Up system, which touches over 80% of the roster. Every hero now has two independent Team-Up ability loadouts. Before a match you pick one; in the spawn room you can swap. Each loadout has a base effect that is always active and an enhanced effect that only triggers when the right partner is on your team.

The old Anchor mechanic — which gave flat bonus stats to anchoring heroes — is gone entirely. NetEase says this was creating unintended power skews across the roster, and with the Anchor gone the team has rebalanced the entire cast. A new Regenerative Shields health type also debuts: shields begin auto-regenerating five seconds after you last took damage, then fully restore over the following five seconds. Mobile and diving heroes benefit most. Ultimate energy generation has also been dialled back slightly for Vanguards, Duelists and Strategists alike, so expect slower ult cycles across the board.

Black Widow Gets a New Combat Identity

Natasha Romanoff is one of the most-played heroes in competitive lobbies, and Season 9 hands her a significant rework. The mandatory aim-down-sights (ADS) mechanic has been removed from her primary fire — her gun now fires faster in standard mode. Her Electro-Plasma blast, previously locked behind her Ultimate, becomes a standard ability with a slow effect attached.

Her new Ultimate grants a temporary sniper mode with piercing bullets and an expanded hitbox. Sprint and super-jump are restored without stamina limits. On paper this makes Black Widow more fluid to play at all skill levels while giving high-level players a sharp, timing-based Ultimate to master.

Thebes Map and The Hood Are Still to Come

Marvel Rivals Season 9 launch skins — Wolverine: Bloodless Berserker, Jubilee: Midnight Mutant, Rogue: Raider Prime
Image courtesy of NetEase Games / Marvel

Season 9 is a two-part rollout. The Convoy map Thebes — a sprawling Egyptian-inspired stage tied directly to the Apocalypse storyline — arrives on 23 July. The mid-season update also brings the second new hero of the season: The Hood, a Marvel villain wielding a magical crimson hood that grants him supernatural powers. His kit has not yet been revealed, but his silhouette closed out the Season 9 story trailer.

30 July brings the Path to Doomsday — Avengers: Age of Ultron event, introducing Avengers Tower as a playable stage. The season also features a detective mini-game called Death of Apocalypse where players gather clues to unravel who killed the ancient mutant villain — a story-driven hook that sets the season’s Egyptian murder-mystery tone.

Watch the official Marvel Rivals site and their news page for exact SGT-converted times for the Thebes map and The Hood’s debut, as well as any new game news in the weeks ahead.

Battle Pass “The Faith-Harvesting Engine” — Egyptian Skins Galore

Marvel Rivals Season 9 Battle Pass — The Faith-Harvesting Engine featuring Egyptian-themed skins
Image courtesy of NetEase Games / Marvel

Season 9’s battle pass is titled The Faith-Harvesting Engine and leans hard into ancient Egyptian aesthetics. Ten new costumes are included across the full pass, with confirmed highlights being Iron Man: Iron Pharaoh and Deadpool: Dead Mummy. The revealed artwork also shows Egyptian riffs on Star-Lord, Loki, Rocket Raccoon and more. The thematic consistency this season is noticeably strong — unlike some past passes that felt like mismatched grab-bags, everything here has a coherent ancient-Egypt-meets-Marvel identity.

Season 9 is live now across all platforms. If you have not logged in for a while, this is as good a re-entry point as any — a rebuilt meta, a new support hero who suits Singapore’s party-queue culture, and months of Egyptian-flavoured content ahead.

Game News

Arknights: Endfield Version 1.4 Homecoming Drops 16 July — Arcane and Liino Debut

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Five days after launch, Arknights: Endfield is already one of the most visually polished gacha RPGs available in Singapore — and on 16 July, it gets its half-year milestone update. Version 1.4, titled Homecoming, is the biggest single update to the game since it launched, bringing two new operators, the largest map expansion yet, a factory system overhaul, a new permanent combat mode, and a sizeable stack of free celebration rewards.

Watch the Homecoming Version Trailer

Arknights: Endfield Companionship Celebration & Core Chapter [Homecoming] Version Trailer — via Arknights: Endfield on YouTube

Arcane and Liino — Two New Operators

Homecoming’s flagship new operator is Arcane, captain of the Yinglung Special Task Force. She has spent years fighting to reclaim the North Wuling Exclusion Zone, and takes a central role in both the update’s story and its combat. Arcane is the first caster in the game whose form changes based on a balance between two attributes — Intellect and Will. In INT form she focuses on frequent skill use, area damage, and a unique Corrosion debuff; in WILL form she shifts to enemy grouping, heavier debuffs, and Arts Infliction spread.

Arcane operator splash art in Arknights: Endfield version 1.4 Homecoming
Image courtesy of GRYPHLINE / Arknights: Endfield

The second new operator is Liino, a rising idol described as the Morning Star of La Fantoma. Where Arcane is combat-forward, Liino is a flexible Electric supporter who cycles between two performance stances — Vocalist and Cosmovoice — to strengthen and sustain the squad across a wide variety of team compositions.

Liino operator splash art in Arknights: Endfield version 1.4 Homecoming
Image courtesy of GRYPHLINE / Arknights: Endfield

Wuling Showdown — The Largest Map Yet

Homecoming brings the Wuling arc to its decisive conclusion with two new story maps. Yinglung Pass is the sealed gateway into the forbidden territory, where players meet the mysterious Feranmut Proxy Si. North Wuling Exclusion Zone takes the squad into the Blight Miasma-covered homeland itself — suppress the corruption and secure a path home for the surviving population.

Together, these two maps constitute the largest main-story map expansion Arknights: Endfield has received since its global launch, rounding out a full arc that has been building through the previous three version updates.

New AIC Factory System and Echoes of War

The AIC factory system — Endfield’s base production loop — receives its largest expansion in Homecoming. Gas joins solids and liquids as a new production state, unlocking new resources (Inergen and Xiragen), new conversion pathways between material states, and new industrial facilities including the Xiranflow Cloudseeder Station.

Homecoming also adds Echoes of War, a permanent new seasonal combat mode featuring rotating stages, multiple difficulty tiers, a global ranking system, and seasonal titles to earn. Unlike limited-time event modes, Echoes of War stays in the game permanently and refreshes its stage pool each season.

Half-Year Celebration Rewards — What You Get for Free

As part of Arknights: Endfield‘s six-month Companionship Celebration, version 1.4 rolls out a significant stack of free rewards for all players:

  • 3,000 Oroberyls upon login
  • 2,000 Oroberyls via in-game mail
  • 5 Basic HH Permits
  • 10 Limited HH Permits (split across two seven-day login campaigns of five each)
  • The free six-star weapon Farsight
  • 14 Fortune Connect-and-Win attempts

That is 5,000 Oroberyls in total alongside the permits and the weapon — a solid haul for returning players and a generous on-ramp for anyone who has been thinking about trying the game.

When and Where to Download

Arknights: Endfield is free to play and available in Singapore on PlayStation 5, PC (via the official Endfield launcher and the Epic Games Store), iOS, and Android. The Homecoming update goes live on 16 July 2026 — a maintenance window will apply before the new version goes live, so check the game’s official social channels for the exact downtime schedule.

For more game news and update coverage across Singapore’s gaming scene, follow GameTrader.SG.

Game News

Wuthering Waves 3.5 Hits Xbox Today — Mengzhou and Xuanling

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Wuthering Waves Version 3.5, Blade of Past Resounds, Lingering Dream Hymns, is live today (10 July, servers opened at 11 AM SGT) — and it lands with the game’s biggest platform expansion yet: a full debut on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Game Pass, simultaneous with the version update. Singapore Xbox players can download and start today, free-to-play, while existing PC and mobile Rovers keep all their progress thanks to full cross-save.

Wuthering Waves open world city at night
Image courtesy of Kuro Games
Wuthering Waves Xuanfang Trailer | Eisodus — via Wuthering Waves on YouTube

Wuthering Waves 3.5 Xbox Launch Details for Singapore Players

The Xbox release arrives day-and-date with Version 3.5, covering Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Game Pass. Performance targets 60 FPS on Series X and 30 FPS on Series S. Crucially, the game is free-to-play on Xbox — no Game Pass subscription is needed to download and start, though Game Pass subscribers receive an exclusive in-game cosmetic Sigil on top of the base game.

Cross-progression is fully supported. Any account you have been building on PC, mobile, or PS5 — your characters, Echoes, Union Level, and story progress — carries straight over to Xbox without any migration step needed. For Singapore gamers who picked up WuWa on mobile and have been curious about a big-screen experience, now is the time.

Wuthering Waves 3.5 combat screenshot
Image courtesy of Kuro Games

New SP Character: Yangyang: Xuanling — What Singapore Pullers Need to Know

Version 3.5’s headline banner is Yangyang: Xuanling, the game’s first-ever SP (Special) character — an alternate, more powerful form of the long-standing four-star Yangyang. She is a five-star Havoc element Sword user and a heavy-attack main DPS, with her kit built around the Havoc Bane status as a core mechanic. Her signature weapon is the Azure Oath sword.

Phase 2 brings Suisui, Yangyang’s younger sister, as a five-star Glacio Rectifier — the game’s latest HP-scaling healer and team buffer. Suisui’s story role is central to Chapter IV’s narrative, so even players who skip her banner will encounter her throughout the update. The Phase 1 rerun banner features six existing five-stars for players who missed them.

All Rovers also receive a free new element form: Rover: Electro is unlocked through the main story and does not require any spending.

Wuthering Waves Version 3.5 character ability burst
Image courtesy of Kuro Games

Mengzhou: Land of Xuanfang — The New Region

The other centrepiece of 3.5 is Mengzhou: Land of Xuanfang, the second region of Huanglong and the largest new area added since Rinascita. Described by Kuro Games as a “city of mechanisms” blending classical Chinese architecture with hidden machinery, Mengzhou spans four distinct areas: Xuanfang Hold, Xuan Peaks, Fang Peaks, and Yuan Hills. Expect the full WuWa open-world package — Autopuppet machines you can pilot, new world quests, a Mingshen system, returning Expedition Motorbike traversal, and a story arc that runs across versions 3.5 through 3.7.

Wuthering Waves 3.5 Rover in combat
Image courtesy of Kuro Games

Events, Free Codes and Quality-of-Life Updates

Version 3.5 brings four concurrent events: Virtual Crisis (the patch’s headline limited-time event), Tacet Crisis (a Vampire Survivors-style survival minigame), Denia Hologram (a new boss-style challenge live from today), and Endstate Matrix (the latest endgame cycle). A standout QoL addition lets players assign a different voice-over language per character — helpful if you prefer specific dubs for specific Resonators rather than a single global setting, as Kuro Games confirmed in the 3.5 patch notes.

Free redemption code WUTHERINGGIFT gives 50 Astrite and bonus materials and is permanently available — redeem it in-game under Settings → Redemption Code if you have not already. Additional launch-day codes are expected to drop via the official Wuthering Waves YouTube channel and social accounts throughout the day.

Wuthering Waves is free-to-play on PC (official launcher), iOS, Android, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S as of today. For more gaming news and free-to-play coverage, check our latest posts.

Game News

Pokémon UNITE 5th Anniversary Brings Four New Legendaries

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Pokémon UNITE is going big for its fifth birthday: Yveltal, Palkia, Reshiram, and Solgaleo are all joining the roster this July, and you can earn their Unite licenses completely free through event participation. The announcement dropped on the official Pokémon UNITE Asia website on 26 June, with a full slate of anniversary events running from 1 July through the main milestone date of 21 July 2026.

Yveltal Leads the Legendary Roster Expansion

Four Legendary Pokémon are arriving in sequence across the anniversary window. Yveltal — classified as an Attacker — is first, with its License event kicking off on 3 July. The official description touts its Dark Aura ability as capable of instantly KO-ing opposing Pokémon in the right situation, which should make it a high-risk, high-reward pick for Attacker mains.

Palkia slots in as an All-Rounder, leaning into close-quarters combat with space-distortion abilities. Reshiram and Solgaleo round out the quartet, with their roles and event dates still to be confirmed — the Asia site promises details as each license event opens.

The key point: all four legendary licenses are obtainable for free through event participation. No real-money purchase required.

The Pokémon UNITE 5th Anniversary starts July 21! — via Pokémon UNITE on YouTube

10-Day Log-In Bonus: Pick a Pokémon or Holowear Every Day

Pokémon UNITE 5th Anniversary 10-day log-in bonus event showing Pokémon and Holowear choices by role
Image courtesy of The Pokémon Company / TiMi Studio Group

Running alongside the anniversary, a 10-day log-in event lets you choose between a Pokémon license or a Holowear cosmetic each day. The selections rotate through all five battle roles across the ten days — Attacker, Speedster, All-Rounder, Defender, and Supporter each get two days (one Pokémon pick, one Holowear pick).

For newer Singapore players who have gaps in their roster, this is worth logging in for daily. Holowear choices include fan favourites for competitive roles. The Attacker day alone shows a handful of well-regarded picks.

5,550 License Points and the Full Legendary License Art

Pokémon UNITE 5th anniversary rewards showing 5550 License Points, License Art cards and a Selection Box
Image courtesy of The Pokémon Company / TiMi Studio Group

Beyond the legendary License events and the daily log-in bonus, anniversary activities stack up to 5,550 License Points in total rewards. That is a meaningful chunk toward any unlocked Pokémon. Players also receive License Art cards for all four incoming legendaries — Yveltal, Palkia, Reshiram, and Solgaleo — plus a Selection Box to pick additional rewards.

Daily login bonuses continue through 9 September 2026, so even players who can only check in occasionally will accumulate a solid haul over the summer.

Battle Pass Season 43 and Ranked Match Series 37

Pokémon UNITE Battle Pass Season 43 featuring Regal Style Pikachu Holowear with royal crown and cape
Image courtesy of The Pokémon Company / TiMi Studio Group

Battle Pass Season 43 launches alongside the anniversary celebrations with Regal Style: Pikachu as its signature Holowear — a royal look complete with a jewelled crown and ermine-trim robe. It is also the season that bundles bonus License Points into the pass, layering neatly on top of the free anniversary rewards for pass holders.

Pokémon UNITE Ranked Match New Series begins on the Theia Sky Ruins map featuring Kyogre
Image courtesy of The Pokémon Company / TiMi Studio Group

Ranked Match Series 37 also kicks off during the anniversary window, bringing the Theia Sky Ruins map back to rotation with Kyogre as the central objective. If you have been grinding toward Legend Rank, the new series resets the ladder — meaning Singapore players have a clean slate heading into the game’s biggest celebration yet.

Pokémon UNITE is free to play on iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch. All anniversary events are live from 1 July, with the main 5th Anniversary milestone hitting on 21 July 2026. Check the official Asia announcement for the full event calendar. For more game news and updates, keep it here at GameTrader.SG.