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2026 saw the release of not one, but two movies based on an iconic fighting game series: Mortal Kombat II and Street Fighter. Both of these movies attempted to capture their respective franchise’s flavor, whether it was buckets of blood and gore for Mortal Kombat II, the special energy attacks in Street Fighter, or the […]

The post After Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, This Fighting Game Needs a Movie Adaptation appeared first on Den of Geek.

Among the many titles being displayed at Tokyo Game Show 2026, one of the most consistently popular the entire weekend came from Smilegate, a South Korean studio specializing in mobile and PC games. The most fun that I had with any of the mobile games unveiled by Smilegate at this year’s show was Dead Account: Two Blue Flames, a top-down roguelite actioner with strong deck-building and character collection gameplay mechanics. After playing an extended preview of the game, I interviewed the creative team over email following the show.

“This was the first time we’d opened the game up to general players who were simply interested in it and, honestly, we were worried about whether they would take easily to controlling multiple characters and using their skills,” admits producer Kim Byoungki. “But most of the people who came by and played, regardless of age and gender, cleared the stages we’d prepared all the way through and gave us good scores on the survey. Having been able to watch people genuinely enjoy the game we’re trying to make is something we’re truly grateful for.”

Dead Account: Two Blue Flames has all the roguelike shoot’em up action of titles like Vampire Survivors but with an even grander scope in terms of how players can choose to leap into the chaos. The game is a deck-builder that provides players with a whole host of playable characters, each with their own playstyles and synergy bonuses depending on how they’re deployed. These characters are based on the popular manga series Dead Account by Shizumu Watanabe, which the game adapts. Even not knowing the manga source material myself, I still found the characterizations strong, both in gameplay and how the characters interact with each other on the battlefield, which is a major goal for the creative team.

“Our collaboration with the author has exceeded our expectations. He has been highly satisfied with how the game expresses his art and has offered plenty of support and advice,” Kim shares. “In working with the author, there is one thing we care about most: even if we add new dialogue for the game, the essence of the original characters must not change. For example, an ability that only got a brief mention in the manga, might need to be expanded into a full combat system in the game, or there might be a case where a character needs to deliver new lines unique to the game. Whenever this happens, we don’t just ask, ‘Would this be possible because it’s a game?’ We ask, ‘Would this character really act this way?’ That’s the standard we set for ourselves.”

As players progress, blasting through waves of all sorts of incoming enemies from all sides, they unlock additional party members to join the fray, which is especially key as the amount of enemies increases on-screen and formidable bosses attack. In contrast to other roguelike shooters, the ability to have these characters work together and unleash their distinct attacks on waves of enemies is a key component to the combat system and one of the game’s most entertaining mechanics. This aspect of the gameplay is something that the creative team have put a lot of time and care into getting right, appealing to both manga and roguelike shooter fans alike.

“Each character’s combat role comes from the abilities and the personality shown in the manga, and when they are put together with specific characters, their abilities connect and unlock new ways to play. So, we’ve worked hard to make each character’s individuality blend as naturally as possible into their playstyle,” Kim explains. “Our goal is for players to think, ‘Now that I’ve got this character, I want to try a new synergy with the ones I already have,’ when they pull new characters. And that for us is the fun in collecting—the more characters you own, the more ways you get to play.”

Every major wave of enemies is punctuated by an intense boss fight, which always commanded our full attention whenever such a formidable foe surfaced. These skirmishes call on players to bring in all the allies they’ve recruited so far, pulling out every special move just to emerge from these battles in one piece. For the developers, creating and refining the bosses were a huge priority for the creative team as defining moments within Dead Account: Two Blue Flames.

“Boss fights are where players get the biggest thrill,” Kim observes. “Players cut through waves of enemies swarming the field, refining their team synergy and characters’ traits and then hit a mid-boss or final boss, and get to see what all the growth was for. That moment when you get to unleash everything you’ve got and beat the gimmick is where the dopamine and thrill come from. And that’s exactly what we’re balancing and fine-tuning through R&D.”

Of all the mobile games that we played at Tokyo Game Show 2026, Dead Account: Two Blue Flames was our personal favorite and feels relatively close to completion, at least by our estimate. The action is smooth and intuitive, even on the smartphone touchscreen that our demo was played on, while the roguelite elements keep the experience fresh and exciting. For the creative team, this is a project that celebrates its source material while keeping things accessible and, most importantly, fun.

“Dead Account : Two Blue Flames started from a simple idea: Take the affection and growth you feel when playing a character-collection RPG, and add the fun of a roguelite – playing and strategizing firsthand,” reflects Kim. “For fans of the manga, it’s a new way to interact with the characters they love themselves, and to discover stories for each of them that haven’t been shown in the original. And for people meeting the IP for the first time, we want the game to be so much fun, that it makes them curious about Dead Account as a whole.”

Developed and published by Smilegate, Dead Account: Two Blue Flames is available for pre-registration on Google Play, the App Store, and PC.

The post Dead Account: Two Blue Flames Is About the Become Your Next Mobile Game Obsession appeared first on Den of Geek.

Sylvester Stallone and John G. Avildsen’s Rocky is often cited as a quintessential 1970s movie, a perception that never seemed entirely right to me. It certainly is of its era, grounded if even superficially in the grime and weariness that defined the decade-long hangover after Nixon and Vietnam. Yet Rocky was also in many ways […]

The post I Play Rocky Review: A Crowdpleaser Sylvester Stallone Would Be Proud to Claim appeared first on Den of Geek.

Among the many titles being displayed at Tokyo Game Show 2026, one of the most consistently popular the entire weekend came from Smilegate, a South Korean studio specializing in mobile and PC games. The most fun that I had with any of the mobile games unveiled by Smilegate at this year’s show was Dead Account: Two Blue Flames, a top-down roguelite actioner with strong deck-building and character collection gameplay mechanics. After playing an extended preview of the game, I interviewed the creative team over email following the show.

“This was the first time we’d opened the game up to general players who were simply interested in it and, honestly, we were worried about whether they would take easily to controlling multiple characters and using their skills,” admits producer Kim Byoungki. “But most of the people who came by and played, regardless of age and gender, cleared the stages we’d prepared all the way through and gave us good scores on the survey. Having been able to watch people genuinely enjoy the game we’re trying to make is something we’re truly grateful for.”

Dead Account: Two Blue Flames has all the roguelike shoot’em up action of titles like Vampire Survivors but with an even grander scope in terms of how players can choose to leap into the chaos. The game is a deck-builder that provides players with a whole host of playable characters, each with their own playstyles and synergy bonuses depending on how they’re deployed. These characters are based on the popular manga series Dead Account by Shizumu Watanabe, which the game adapts. Even not knowing the manga source material myself, I still found the characterizations strong, both in gameplay and how the characters interact with each other on the battlefield, which is a major goal for the creative team.

“Our collaboration with the author has exceeded our expectations. He has been highly satisfied with how the game expresses his art and has offered plenty of support and advice,” Kim shares. “In working with the author, there is one thing we care about most: even if we add new dialogue for the game, the essence of the original characters must not change. For example, an ability that only got a brief mention in the manga, might need to be expanded into a full combat system in the game, or there might be a case where a character needs to deliver new lines unique to the game. Whenever this happens, we don’t just ask, ‘Would this be possible because it’s a game?’ We ask, ‘Would this character really act this way?’ That’s the standard we set for ourselves.”

As players progress, blasting through waves of all sorts of incoming enemies from all sides, they unlock additional party members to join the fray, which is especially key as the amount of enemies increases on-screen and formidable bosses attack. In contrast to other roguelike shooters, the ability to have these characters work together and unleash their distinct attacks on waves of enemies is a key component to the combat system and one of the game’s most entertaining mechanics. This aspect of the gameplay is something that the creative team have put a lot of time and care into getting right, appealing to both manga and roguelike shooter fans alike.

“Each character’s combat role comes from the abilities and the personality shown in the manga, and when they are put together with specific characters, their abilities connect and unlock new ways to play. So, we’ve worked hard to make each character’s individuality blend as naturally as possible into their playstyle,” Kim explains. “Our goal is for players to think, ‘Now that I’ve got this character, I want to try a new synergy with the ones I already have,’ when they pull new characters. And that for us is the fun in collecting—the more characters you own, the more ways you get to play.”

Every major wave of enemies is punctuated by an intense boss fight, which always commanded our full attention whenever such a formidable foe surfaced. These skirmishes call on players to bring in all the allies they’ve recruited so far, pulling out every special move just to emerge from these battles in one piece. For the developers, creating and refining the bosses were a huge priority for the creative team as defining moments within Dead Account: Two Blue Flames.

“Boss fights are where players get the biggest thrill,” Kim observes. “Players cut through waves of enemies swarming the field, refining their team synergy and characters’ traits and then hit a mid-boss or final boss, and get to see what all the growth was for. That moment when you get to unleash everything you’ve got and beat the gimmick is where the dopamine and thrill come from. And that’s exactly what we’re balancing and fine-tuning through R&D.”

Of all the mobile games that we played at Tokyo Game Show 2026, Dead Account: Two Blue Flames was our personal favorite and feels relatively close to completion, at least by our estimate. The action is smooth and intuitive, even on the smartphone touchscreen that our demo was played on, while the roguelite elements keep the experience fresh and exciting. For the creative team, this is a project that celebrates its source material while keeping things accessible and, most importantly, fun.

“Dead Account : Two Blue Flames started from a simple idea: Take the affection and growth you feel when playing a character-collection RPG, and add the fun of a roguelite – playing and strategizing firsthand,” reflects Kim. “For fans of the manga, it’s a new way to interact with the characters they love themselves, and to discover stories for each of them that haven’t been shown in the original. And for people meeting the IP for the first time, we want the game to be so much fun, that it makes them curious about Dead Account as a whole.”

Developed and published by Smilegate, Dead Account: Two Blue Flames is available for pre-registration on Google Play, the App Store, and PC.

The post Dead Account: Two Blue Flames Is About the Become Your Next Mobile Game Obsession appeared first on Den of Geek.

There’s something exciting about a film festival that gives audiences the chance to see familiar Hollywood stars in unexpected roles or discover an independent filmmaker on the verge of a breakthrough. Experiencing stories that viewers might not otherwise encounter in their local cinemas is exactly what the inaugural Leander Film Festival is setting out to […]

The post The Leander Film Festival Puts Hollywood Stars and Independent Gems Side by Side appeared first on Den of Geek.

Among the many titles being displayed at Tokyo Game Show 2026, one of the most consistently popular the entire weekend came from Smilegate, a South Korean studio specializing in mobile and PC games. The most fun that I had with any of the mobile games unveiled by Smilegate at this year’s show was Dead Account: Two Blue Flames, a top-down roguelite actioner with strong deck-building and character collection gameplay mechanics. After playing an extended preview of the game, I interviewed the creative team over email following the show.

“This was the first time we’d opened the game up to general players who were simply interested in it and, honestly, we were worried about whether they would take easily to controlling multiple characters and using their skills,” admits producer Kim Byoungki. “But most of the people who came by and played, regardless of age and gender, cleared the stages we’d prepared all the way through and gave us good scores on the survey. Having been able to watch people genuinely enjoy the game we’re trying to make is something we’re truly grateful for.”

Dead Account: Two Blue Flames has all the roguelike shoot’em up action of titles like Vampire Survivors but with an even grander scope in terms of how players can choose to leap into the chaos. The game is a deck-builder that provides players with a whole host of playable characters, each with their own playstyles and synergy bonuses depending on how they’re deployed. These characters are based on the popular manga series Dead Account by Shizumu Watanabe, which the game adapts. Even not knowing the manga source material myself, I still found the characterizations strong, both in gameplay and how the characters interact with each other on the battlefield, which is a major goal for the creative team.

“Our collaboration with the author has exceeded our expectations. He has been highly satisfied with how the game expresses his art and has offered plenty of support and advice,” Kim shares. “In working with the author, there is one thing we care about most: even if we add new dialogue for the game, the essence of the original characters must not change. For example, an ability that only got a brief mention in the manga, might need to be expanded into a full combat system in the game, or there might be a case where a character needs to deliver new lines unique to the game. Whenever this happens, we don’t just ask, ‘Would this be possible because it’s a game?’ We ask, ‘Would this character really act this way?’ That’s the standard we set for ourselves.”

As players progress, blasting through waves of all sorts of incoming enemies from all sides, they unlock additional party members to join the fray, which is especially key as the amount of enemies increases on-screen and formidable bosses attack. In contrast to other roguelike shooters, the ability to have these characters work together and unleash their distinct attacks on waves of enemies is a key component to the combat system and one of the game’s most entertaining mechanics. This aspect of the gameplay is something that the creative team have put a lot of time and care into getting right, appealing to both manga and roguelike shooter fans alike.

“Each character’s combat role comes from the abilities and the personality shown in the manga, and when they are put together with specific characters, their abilities connect and unlock new ways to play. So, we’ve worked hard to make each character’s individuality blend as naturally as possible into their playstyle,” Kim explains. “Our goal is for players to think, ‘Now that I’ve got this character, I want to try a new synergy with the ones I already have,’ when they pull new characters. And that for us is the fun in collecting—the more characters you own, the more ways you get to play.”

Every major wave of enemies is punctuated by an intense boss fight, which always commanded our full attention whenever such a formidable foe surfaced. These skirmishes call on players to bring in all the allies they’ve recruited so far, pulling out every special move just to emerge from these battles in one piece. For the developers, creating and refining the bosses were a huge priority for the creative team as defining moments within Dead Account: Two Blue Flames.

“Boss fights are where players get the biggest thrill,” Kim observes. “Players cut through waves of enemies swarming the field, refining their team synergy and characters’ traits and then hit a mid-boss or final boss, and get to see what all the growth was for. That moment when you get to unleash everything you’ve got and beat the gimmick is where the dopamine and thrill come from. And that’s exactly what we’re balancing and fine-tuning through R&D.”

Of all the mobile games that we played at Tokyo Game Show 2026, Dead Account: Two Blue Flames was our personal favorite and feels relatively close to completion, at least by our estimate. The action is smooth and intuitive, even on the smartphone touchscreen that our demo was played on, while the roguelite elements keep the experience fresh and exciting. For the creative team, this is a project that celebrates its source material while keeping things accessible and, most importantly, fun.

“Dead Account : Two Blue Flames started from a simple idea: Take the affection and growth you feel when playing a character-collection RPG, and add the fun of a roguelite – playing and strategizing firsthand,” reflects Kim. “For fans of the manga, it’s a new way to interact with the characters they love themselves, and to discover stories for each of them that haven’t been shown in the original. And for people meeting the IP for the first time, we want the game to be so much fun, that it makes them curious about Dead Account as a whole.”

Developed and published by Smilegate, Dead Account: Two Blue Flames is available for pre-registration on Google Play, the App Store, and PC.

The post Dead Account: Two Blue Flames Is About the Become Your Next Mobile Game Obsession appeared first on Den of Geek.

Marvel Studios is pulling out all the stops for its upcoming X-Men reboot, including tapping Jake Schreier — who handed the MCU one of its best movies in Thunderbolts* — as director and wrangling an all-star cast that includes Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, and Adam Driver as a character that’s […]

The post Latest X-Men Reboot Casting Rumor Suggests Marvel Is Going Back to Basics appeared first on Den of Geek.

Among the many titles being displayed at Tokyo Game Show 2026, one of the most consistently popular the entire weekend came from Smilegate, a South Korean studio specializing in mobile and PC games. The most fun that I had with any of the mobile games unveiled by Smilegate at this year’s show was Dead Account: Two Blue Flames, a top-down roguelite actioner with strong deck-building and character collection gameplay mechanics. After playing an extended preview of the game, I interviewed the creative team over email following the show.

“This was the first time we’d opened the game up to general players who were simply interested in it and, honestly, we were worried about whether they would take easily to controlling multiple characters and using their skills,” admits producer Kim Byoungki. “But most of the people who came by and played, regardless of age and gender, cleared the stages we’d prepared all the way through and gave us good scores on the survey. Having been able to watch people genuinely enjoy the game we’re trying to make is something we’re truly grateful for.”

Dead Account: Two Blue Flames has all the roguelike shoot’em up action of titles like Vampire Survivors but with an even grander scope in terms of how players can choose to leap into the chaos. The game is a deck-builder that provides players with a whole host of playable characters, each with their own playstyles and synergy bonuses depending on how they’re deployed. These characters are based on the popular manga series Dead Account by Shizumu Watanabe, which the game adapts. Even not knowing the manga source material myself, I still found the characterizations strong, both in gameplay and how the characters interact with each other on the battlefield, which is a major goal for the creative team.

“Our collaboration with the author has exceeded our expectations. He has been highly satisfied with how the game expresses his art and has offered plenty of support and advice,” Kim shares. “In working with the author, there is one thing we care about most: even if we add new dialogue for the game, the essence of the original characters must not change. For example, an ability that only got a brief mention in the manga, might need to be expanded into a full combat system in the game, or there might be a case where a character needs to deliver new lines unique to the game. Whenever this happens, we don’t just ask, ‘Would this be possible because it’s a game?’ We ask, ‘Would this character really act this way?’ That’s the standard we set for ourselves.”

As players progress, blasting through waves of all sorts of incoming enemies from all sides, they unlock additional party members to join the fray, which is especially key as the amount of enemies increases on-screen and formidable bosses attack. In contrast to other roguelike shooters, the ability to have these characters work together and unleash their distinct attacks on waves of enemies is a key component to the combat system and one of the game’s most entertaining mechanics. This aspect of the gameplay is something that the creative team have put a lot of time and care into getting right, appealing to both manga and roguelike shooter fans alike.

“Each character’s combat role comes from the abilities and the personality shown in the manga, and when they are put together with specific characters, their abilities connect and unlock new ways to play. So, we’ve worked hard to make each character’s individuality blend as naturally as possible into their playstyle,” Kim explains. “Our goal is for players to think, ‘Now that I’ve got this character, I want to try a new synergy with the ones I already have,’ when they pull new characters. And that for us is the fun in collecting—the more characters you own, the more ways you get to play.”

Every major wave of enemies is punctuated by an intense boss fight, which always commanded our full attention whenever such a formidable foe surfaced. These skirmishes call on players to bring in all the allies they’ve recruited so far, pulling out every special move just to emerge from these battles in one piece. For the developers, creating and refining the bosses were a huge priority for the creative team as defining moments within Dead Account: Two Blue Flames.

“Boss fights are where players get the biggest thrill,” Kim observes. “Players cut through waves of enemies swarming the field, refining their team synergy and characters’ traits and then hit a mid-boss or final boss, and get to see what all the growth was for. That moment when you get to unleash everything you’ve got and beat the gimmick is where the dopamine and thrill come from. And that’s exactly what we’re balancing and fine-tuning through R&D.”

Of all the mobile games that we played at Tokyo Game Show 2026, Dead Account: Two Blue Flames was our personal favorite and feels relatively close to completion, at least by our estimate. The action is smooth and intuitive, even on the smartphone touchscreen that our demo was played on, while the roguelite elements keep the experience fresh and exciting. For the creative team, this is a project that celebrates its source material while keeping things accessible and, most importantly, fun.

“Dead Account : Two Blue Flames started from a simple idea: Take the affection and growth you feel when playing a character-collection RPG, and add the fun of a roguelite – playing and strategizing firsthand,” reflects Kim. “For fans of the manga, it’s a new way to interact with the characters they love themselves, and to discover stories for each of them that haven’t been shown in the original. And for people meeting the IP for the first time, we want the game to be so much fun, that it makes them curious about Dead Account as a whole.”

Developed and published by Smilegate, Dead Account: Two Blue Flames is available for pre-registration on Google Play, the App Store, and PC.

The post Dead Account: Two Blue Flames Is About the Become Your Next Mobile Game Obsession appeared first on Den of Geek.

Among the many titles being displayed at Tokyo Game Show 2026, one of the most consistently popular the entire weekend came from Smilegate, a South Korean studio specializing in mobile and PC games. The most fun that I had with any of the mobile games unveiled by Smilegate at this year’s show was Dead Account: […]

The post Dead Account: Two Blue Flames Is About the Become Your Next Mobile Game Obsession appeared first on Den of Geek.

Among the many titles being displayed at Tokyo Game Show 2026, one of the most consistently popular the entire weekend came from Smilegate, a South Korean studio specializing in mobile and PC games. The most fun that I had with any of the mobile games unveiled by Smilegate at this year’s show was Dead Account: Two Blue Flames, a top-down roguelite actioner with strong deck-building and character collection gameplay mechanics. After playing an extended preview of the game, I interviewed the creative team over email following the show.

“This was the first time we’d opened the game up to general players who were simply interested in it and, honestly, we were worried about whether they would take easily to controlling multiple characters and using their skills,” admits producer Kim Byoungki. “But most of the people who came by and played, regardless of age and gender, cleared the stages we’d prepared all the way through and gave us good scores on the survey. Having been able to watch people genuinely enjoy the game we’re trying to make is something we’re truly grateful for.”

Dead Account: Two Blue Flames has all the roguelike shoot’em up action of titles like Vampire Survivors but with an even grander scope in terms of how players can choose to leap into the chaos. The game is a deck-builder that provides players with a whole host of playable characters, each with their own playstyles and synergy bonuses depending on how they’re deployed. These characters are based on the popular manga series Dead Account by Shizumu Watanabe, which the game adapts. Even not knowing the manga source material myself, I still found the characterizations strong, both in gameplay and how the characters interact with each other on the battlefield, which is a major goal for the creative team.

“Our collaboration with the author has exceeded our expectations. He has been highly satisfied with how the game expresses his art and has offered plenty of support and advice,” Kim shares. “In working with the author, there is one thing we care about most: even if we add new dialogue for the game, the essence of the original characters must not change. For example, an ability that only got a brief mention in the manga, might need to be expanded into a full combat system in the game, or there might be a case where a character needs to deliver new lines unique to the game. Whenever this happens, we don’t just ask, ‘Would this be possible because it’s a game?’ We ask, ‘Would this character really act this way?’ That’s the standard we set for ourselves.”

As players progress, blasting through waves of all sorts of incoming enemies from all sides, they unlock additional party members to join the fray, which is especially key as the amount of enemies increases on-screen and formidable bosses attack. In contrast to other roguelike shooters, the ability to have these characters work together and unleash their distinct attacks on waves of enemies is a key component to the combat system and one of the game’s most entertaining mechanics. This aspect of the gameplay is something that the creative team have put a lot of time and care into getting right, appealing to both manga and roguelike shooter fans alike.

“Each character’s combat role comes from the abilities and the personality shown in the manga, and when they are put together with specific characters, their abilities connect and unlock new ways to play. So, we’ve worked hard to make each character’s individuality blend as naturally as possible into their playstyle,” Kim explains. “Our goal is for players to think, ‘Now that I’ve got this character, I want to try a new synergy with the ones I already have,’ when they pull new characters. And that for us is the fun in collecting—the more characters you own, the more ways you get to play.”

Every major wave of enemies is punctuated by an intense boss fight, which always commanded our full attention whenever such a formidable foe surfaced. These skirmishes call on players to bring in all the allies they’ve recruited so far, pulling out every special move just to emerge from these battles in one piece. For the developers, creating and refining the bosses were a huge priority for the creative team as defining moments within Dead Account: Two Blue Flames.

“Boss fights are where players get the biggest thrill,” Kim observes. “Players cut through waves of enemies swarming the field, refining their team synergy and characters’ traits and then hit a mid-boss or final boss, and get to see what all the growth was for. That moment when you get to unleash everything you’ve got and beat the gimmick is where the dopamine and thrill come from. And that’s exactly what we’re balancing and fine-tuning through R&D.”

Of all the mobile games that we played at Tokyo Game Show 2026, Dead Account: Two Blue Flames was our personal favorite and feels relatively close to completion, at least by our estimate. The action is smooth and intuitive, even on the smartphone touchscreen that our demo was played on, while the roguelite elements keep the experience fresh and exciting. For the creative team, this is a project that celebrates its source material while keeping things accessible and, most importantly, fun.

“Dead Account : Two Blue Flames started from a simple idea: Take the affection and growth you feel when playing a character-collection RPG, and add the fun of a roguelite – playing and strategizing firsthand,” reflects Kim. “For fans of the manga, it’s a new way to interact with the characters they love themselves, and to discover stories for each of them that haven’t been shown in the original. And for people meeting the IP for the first time, we want the game to be so much fun, that it makes them curious about Dead Account as a whole.”

Developed and published by Smilegate, Dead Account: Two Blue Flames is available for pre-registration on Google Play, the App Store, and PC.

The post Dead Account: Two Blue Flames Is About the Become Your Next Mobile Game Obsession appeared first on Den of Geek.

It’s no secret that anime is the one medium Hollywood has struggled to adapt to live action. While we love series like Bleach or Dragon Ball Z for their hyperkinetic action and unique stories, translating that energy to the 3D world often leads to disaster – the less said about Dragonball Evolution and the Scarlett […]

The post Why Naruto Can Break The Live-Action Anime Curse appeared first on Den of Geek.

Among the many titles being displayed at Tokyo Game Show 2026, one of the most consistently popular the entire weekend came from Smilegate, a South Korean studio specializing in mobile and PC games. The most fun that I had with any of the mobile games unveiled by Smilegate at this year’s show was Dead Account: Two Blue Flames, a top-down roguelite actioner with strong deck-building and character collection gameplay mechanics. After playing an extended preview of the game, I interviewed the creative team over email following the show.

“This was the first time we’d opened the game up to general players who were simply interested in it and, honestly, we were worried about whether they would take easily to controlling multiple characters and using their skills,” admits producer Kim Byoungki. “But most of the people who came by and played, regardless of age and gender, cleared the stages we’d prepared all the way through and gave us good scores on the survey. Having been able to watch people genuinely enjoy the game we’re trying to make is something we’re truly grateful for.”

Dead Account: Two Blue Flames has all the roguelike shoot’em up action of titles like Vampire Survivors but with an even grander scope in terms of how players can choose to leap into the chaos. The game is a deck-builder that provides players with a whole host of playable characters, each with their own playstyles and synergy bonuses depending on how they’re deployed. These characters are based on the popular manga series Dead Account by Shizumu Watanabe, which the game adapts. Even not knowing the manga source material myself, I still found the characterizations strong, both in gameplay and how the characters interact with each other on the battlefield, which is a major goal for the creative team.

“Our collaboration with the author has exceeded our expectations. He has been highly satisfied with how the game expresses his art and has offered plenty of support and advice,” Kim shares. “In working with the author, there is one thing we care about most: even if we add new dialogue for the game, the essence of the original characters must not change. For example, an ability that only got a brief mention in the manga, might need to be expanded into a full combat system in the game, or there might be a case where a character needs to deliver new lines unique to the game. Whenever this happens, we don’t just ask, ‘Would this be possible because it’s a game?’ We ask, ‘Would this character really act this way?’ That’s the standard we set for ourselves.”

As players progress, blasting through waves of all sorts of incoming enemies from all sides, they unlock additional party members to join the fray, which is especially key as the amount of enemies increases on-screen and formidable bosses attack. In contrast to other roguelike shooters, the ability to have these characters work together and unleash their distinct attacks on waves of enemies is a key component to the combat system and one of the game’s most entertaining mechanics. This aspect of the gameplay is something that the creative team have put a lot of time and care into getting right, appealing to both manga and roguelike shooter fans alike.

“Each character’s combat role comes from the abilities and the personality shown in the manga, and when they are put together with specific characters, their abilities connect and unlock new ways to play. So, we’ve worked hard to make each character’s individuality blend as naturally as possible into their playstyle,” Kim explains. “Our goal is for players to think, ‘Now that I’ve got this character, I want to try a new synergy with the ones I already have,’ when they pull new characters. And that for us is the fun in collecting—the more characters you own, the more ways you get to play.”

Every major wave of enemies is punctuated by an intense boss fight, which always commanded our full attention whenever such a formidable foe surfaced. These skirmishes call on players to bring in all the allies they’ve recruited so far, pulling out every special move just to emerge from these battles in one piece. For the developers, creating and refining the bosses were a huge priority for the creative team as defining moments within Dead Account: Two Blue Flames.

“Boss fights are where players get the biggest thrill,” Kim observes. “Players cut through waves of enemies swarming the field, refining their team synergy and characters’ traits and then hit a mid-boss or final boss, and get to see what all the growth was for. That moment when you get to unleash everything you’ve got and beat the gimmick is where the dopamine and thrill come from. And that’s exactly what we’re balancing and fine-tuning through R&D.”

Of all the mobile games that we played at Tokyo Game Show 2026, Dead Account: Two Blue Flames was our personal favorite and feels relatively close to completion, at least by our estimate. The action is smooth and intuitive, even on the smartphone touchscreen that our demo was played on, while the roguelite elements keep the experience fresh and exciting. For the creative team, this is a project that celebrates its source material while keeping things accessible and, most importantly, fun.

“Dead Account : Two Blue Flames started from a simple idea: Take the affection and growth you feel when playing a character-collection RPG, and add the fun of a roguelite – playing and strategizing firsthand,” reflects Kim. “For fans of the manga, it’s a new way to interact with the characters they love themselves, and to discover stories for each of them that haven’t been shown in the original. And for people meeting the IP for the first time, we want the game to be so much fun, that it makes them curious about Dead Account as a whole.”

Developed and published by Smilegate, Dead Account: Two Blue Flames is available for pre-registration on Google Play, the App Store, and PC.

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