A surprise update to the mostly dormant 2016 PS4-era shooter Titanfall 2 has certain fans of the series abuzz with the idea that it portends…something…pertaining to a possible third chapter in the highly regarded mech shooter series. The update certainly contains some interesting stuff, including references to the number three if you’re willing to go that far. It’s weird for sure, but take a dose of skeptic juice as we break it all down.

Read More: Report: EA Cancels Joint Apex Legends And Titanfall Game

Originally released in 2016, Titanfall 2’s wall-running, mech-piloting first-person shooter action added a much needed (and very, very good) single-player campaign to the series’ already excellent multiplayer action. But given that the game launched between a Battlefield and a Call of Duty, Titanfall didn’t enjoy enough time in the spotlight before the larger shooters stole its thunder. Still, fans have continued to stand by in hope that Respawn Entertainment might see fit to create a third chapter. But while Respawn’s very successful battle royale Apex Legends takes place in Titanfall’s universe, the last seven-ish years have been mostly quiet on the Titanfall front, and when there is news, it’s usually sad. Well, that’s changed a bit in the last couple of days.

Titanfall 2 gets a surprise update with a strange reference

A bit of excitement broke out among Titanfall 2 fans after a patch that hit the game about a week ago, mostly with fixes to matchmaking, which is not terribly unusual even for older games.

Then folks noticed the patch notes for the most recent update to Apex Legends contained three sets of numbers, with each of them translating to the release dates for the first Titanfall, its sequel, and Apex Legends.

It didn’t end there. Respawn added a new game type to Titanfall 2’s multiplayer this past Monday, September 18. A game type selection that hadn’t changed for several years now featured a new mode icon accompanied with three question marks, “???”

The new multiplayer mode, which pits players against one another equipped with all-you-can-fire rockets, also contains an interesting description:

Your rockets will blot out the sun.

As folks have pointed out, that phrase is strikingly close to a quote from the 2007 movie 300—a movie whose title begins with the number three.

Titanfall conspiracy theories begin to brew

Ravenous for a follow-up to Titanfall 2, fans have taken to scouring the internet to figure out if there’s any other weird stuff going on and, well, since they want to see evidence of something going on in the Titanfall space, folks sure are finding it. In particular, some unlisted YouTube videos and social media activity from Vince Zampella, head of Respawn Entertainment, are catching attention.

Whether said in jest or as serious “evidence”, we need to splash a bit of cold water on some of this. Yes, while it is true that the channel has some unlisted videos (as many have pointed out) Archive.org’s Wayback Machine indicates that they’ve been there for years now. Further detective work has revealed that these unlisted videos are for old Titanfall 2 trailers. So, nothingburger on that front.

In addition, Vince Zampella randomly liking a post that advocates for a future Titanfall game is hardly surprising. Zampella has publicly stated that he’d “love to see” a future game in the wall-runny, mech-stompy franchise.

Excitement in Titanfall 2 resurges

All of this has caused a bit of a surge in Titanfall 2 interest. The game is once again trending on social media.

While Titanfall 2 hasn’t broken into even the top 25 most-played games on Steam, it has seen an uptick in player count, breaching 25k active players most recently.

Kotaku has reached out to Respawn and EA for comment.

Titanfall 2 has maintained an adoring, though small, fanbase since its release. Hope for a follow-up now matches the fervor surrounding many other much-desired yet AWOL video game sequels. And while I welcome a new multiplayer mode in Titanfall 2, what I really want is an update that kills the damn EA launcher and lets you use 4K without editing the .ini file. A girl can dream.

The immensely popular 1997 role-playing game Final Fantasy VII has been worshiped in its original form, grafted into a similarly admired 2020 remake, and now, developer Square Enix promises a magisterial “rebirth” in a PlayStation 5 exclusive set for February 29, 2024. Like the 2020 remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will act as both an effigy to the original—a breakthrough title for Japanese-made RPGs—and a reinvention of it, with improved graphics and new narrative beats that break from established lore, including a “surprise” during one of the game’s most memorable scenes, developers say.

Check Out Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Pre-Order): Amazon 

After you reach FFVII’s Forgotten Capital as swooshy-haired protagonist Cloud, the game drenches you in ice water and makes you watch as antagonist Sephiroth kills Cloud’s sweetheart Aerith. In the ‘90s, FFVII’s first disc ended here, on this frigid note.

At this week’s Thailand Game Show 2023, and while speaking to Indonesian gaming site Gamebrott, Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi issued a message “to all the gamers regarding this ‘you-know-what’ moment” in the Forgotten Capital: “we can confirm that we will give you a ‘big surprise,’” he said, according to a Google translation of the Indonesian text. “So you can look forward to later in the game.”

Hamaguchi, unsurprisingly, didn’t offer up the intricacies or extent of this “surprise,” and declined to engage with any fan theories (though he expressed his appreciation for them, saying “we really accept it and feel happy about the activeness of fans in creating various kinds of theories.”) But if it’s anything like the logical but potent plotline changes Square Enix made to its 2020 FFVII remake, it’ll likely frustrate those long-time fans who want to see their childhood memories faithfully recreated, while thrilling others with its breaks from the familiar timeline that suggest bold new narrative possibilities, all while perhaps leaving FF7 newcomers scratching their heads over what it’s all supposed to mean.

Example: in the ‘90s, FFVII’s arcane ending—protagonist Cloud defeats enemy Sephiroth for the last time, the world is overrun by an incorporeal Lifestream of mint-green energy—was impressive, and its post-credits scene, in which wolf-beast Red XIII runs around a leafy, seemingly uninhabited planet, was mind-blowingly (and, to some people, annoyingly) vague. The 2020 remake respects this history by blowing minds in a similar way, preserving ‘90s ambiguity but introducing fresh details to analyze.

Rebirth—which Hamaguchi tells Gamebrott features even more “extensive exploration” than the original FFVII, but leaves some of its charming features alone, like the minigames at Gold Saucer amusement park—seems set to do the same.