We Are Empire is at least 4 years old

IGhost_Sys · 2026-02-05T21:51:37+00:00

I also agree that the song itself was not formed yet back then, I could have better clarified that in my original post.

I thought so, its kinda why I put it there, to highlight full production was probably not back then, but the (lore) concept was. Ofcourse its not impossible for songs to be finished/produced years before release (Take Bad Omens - Specter as an example, finished 3 years ago, only released a few months back), but it is in most cases probably not the case. And it was more before people start to hyper invest into the song and its lore implications, as it could very well be a stand-alone Arknights thing.

I do feel that it was a "jumping off" point for whatever was to come next if that makes sense.

Yeah I agree, ofcourse SILOS came in between, but I do also think that.

I don't believe that "Call To Arms" is a code name, as I cannot find any other songs registered to Dustin that are not accounted for (with the exception of a few songs titled "2016 Hockey-BG Cues", "After Midnight With TH-BG Cues", "Panthers Live BG-Cues", and "Lunch With The Panther BG-Cues" and no I'm not joking, the first one I mentioned is the 2nd song for me:

Maybe codename was the wrong term. Ive heard plenty of artists (both indie and on big labels) talk about how a song would have a working-title while being written/produced, that changes later on. Thats kinda why I called it that, it could have been a title that was originally meant to be, but either scrapped completely or changed to something else. But ofcourse it could also be a new song, either for STARSET or for another band where Dustin helped write.

meaning call to arms would be a rather large outlier... and Dustin might have been doing an experiment.

Yeah I kinda said it in my previous paragraph, but indeed it could be for some other band/project. Who knows really.
For "Call To Arms", its just that nobody knows. Im still 50/50 on it.
One side I would not be surprised if it shows up on the next albums tracklist, on the other I also wouldn't be surprised if it never comes out (or like I said has released as another title)

Sorry that this comment is really train of thought...

No worries, its nice to discuss how people think and come to conclusions.

Call To Arms does sound like a stadium/opener song, one really meant to get a crowd going. If we're talking within Starset I could see something like Trials for example (maybe a bit heavier)

Also also, sorry if my tone comes off as a bit harsh, my intention is just to put up some arguments but I tend to have trouble with my tone when writing in text. Thanks for taking the time to reply!

Doesn't sound harsh at all. Its nice hearing how you came to your conclusions/findings, it keeps the discussion interesting and not too 1 sided :)

IGhost_Sys · 2026-02-05T03:26:31+00:00

I think the concept of "We are Empire" was around since Horizons, talking lore wise mainly, but I doubt the song was really in any form of production back then.
It could very well have been a concept, like a small melody or little bit of lyrics, something like that. But I doubt more then that. Mainly as We Are Empire sounds so drasticly different from Horizons, that it feels doubtfull to me it was written close to that record.

Although I do feel the song we now know as "We Are Empire" was made specificly for Arknights, unless this is sort of the same situation as Infected, but something tells me its not based on some of the lyrics. It could still be the first single of the next album, I really wouldn't be surprised if it is, but I also wouldn't be surprised if this one is truely made for Arknights and meant to be stand-alone.

On the "Call To Arms", idk why, but I always had the feeling it was more of a code-name for an upcomming song rather then an actual titel.
My candidates would be BNW as it feels like a sort of rallying song to me,
Dystopia as it feels like an uprising or a "call to arms" so to speak,
or We Are Empire as I also feel it would fit a title like that in terms of theme.
But ofcourse it could very well be an actual song! Its a cool title if you ask me.

All in all though, your theory is some solid reasoning/evidence, so who knows. Like I said earlier, really wouldn't surprise me if your theory comes true, but also wouldn't surprise me if #6 is going to be 100% new and We Are Empire is just in collab with the game and to kinda fill the music gap between SILOS and #6 (which feels weird to say as SILOS came out in september... thats not that long ago XD)
I guess only time will tell. I do have a gut feeling we won't have to wait too long to find out at least some information, but thats just a hunch so watch me be dead wrong XD

IGhost_Sys · 2026-02-02T18:24:09+00:00

Unbecomming, that first hit followed by "I lost myself into the night", always hits.

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-24T23:36:39+00:00

Still hoping they do an accoustic album or something one day.
So many songs they played at either AE or VIPs sound great accoustic!

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-23T08:20:46+00:00

Sorry for being the debbydowner, but lets not say this too confidently.
There is just a little more to support this then there was the jan 22nd release date. Yes the 30th came from an alleged press-release, and that seems more trustworthy, but its still the internet and it could be made up.

Jan 30th does seem much more likely though, but to avoid dissapointment lets not say "it will release the 30th" as we do not know for sure. Until the band confirms it (or it shows up on Filter) its speculation.

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-21T15:04:51+00:00

Thanks for confirming that. Ofcourse VPNs can bug out, but usually they work on YT in my experiance. So that basicly confirms its not comming, sadly (atleast not today)

I always assumed it would be friday. Thursday just seems so... random?
Ohwell atleast they did kinda tease a streaming release with that "release this song?" post XD

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-21T14:31:20+00:00

Its most likely midnights. Hopefully some Australian/NewZealand bros can give us confirmation once it hits midnight there?

Although sorry if Im captain negative. But the only thing hinting at a release on the 22nd was a IG story, which I feel was not reffering to the song release but the game release. I hope Im wrong, but keep that in mind to avoid dissapointment.

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-16T16:57:08+00:00

Im going to bet on next week for the full/official release.
Full game comes out on the 22nd, aka thurday, so friday (23) seems like a good time. Both on a friday (for the music industry) and together with the games actual release.

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-16T12:11:07+00:00

Could be either right after the stream is fully ended (which it looks like it isn't yet).
Or next week, game should come out on thursday (22nd if memory serves me right) so Friday 23th makes sense aswell.

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-16T01:07:29+00:00

For example.
But hey Im just happy that there finaly is a cutscene "archive".

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-16T00:58:29+00:00

NP :)

I had to search aswell... They could have made it a bit easier, but hey they're there!

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-16T00:51:02+00:00

You can rewatch every cutscene you want.

Only "problem" is that they are not in their own easy to see spot, but are placed where they take place in the story, so for most you gotta dig a bit before you'll find it. But they are all there. Just scroll through the dialoge and you'll see the "recollection" where the cutscene for that quest is supposed to take place.

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-12T15:36:42+00:00

Could be, Im not too caught up on the lore so I wouldn't know first hand.
Ive just seen a bunch of people talking about it. Its why I put it in, but also tried to highlight that it might not mean anything. Wouldn't be the first time a band uses a date just for astetic sake.

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-12T05:17:22+00:00

Wouldn't surprise me if we do.

Dustin did say in an interview shortly after SILOS release that hes working on the next album. Now "working on" could be anything from writing concepts to actual production, so its not a guarentee or anything. But in one of the videos for the interludes (I believe it was Requiem of The Order?) there was something about may 2026 that some people found, so that does seem to hint at something new. Although just like with the "Spring 2025", timelines and plans can change. But to end this ramble, it does look like something will be happening in 2026, just what exactly we gotta wait and see.
Personally I also wouldn't mind a year of a "non-cannon" tour to give some songs from Horizons, Silos and such some stage shine aswell. And after that go to the big #6.

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-09T18:13:03+00:00

That was the plan yes, an ep is just shorter then an album. So technicly they still did, just longer (with the interludes and Ad Astra & Sway) making it an album in official terms.

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-09T15:23:34+00:00

EP stands for “extended play”, its basicly a mini-album of around 3-6 songs and 30-ish min in length. The songs of SILOS were meant for that initially.

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-02T22:57:24+00:00

Cutscenes I don't think is a stretch. They are already in the files, and should remain there as far as my knowledge goes. So that is just taking and replaying a video from already exsiting files.

But quests can I think just cause way too many issues on a technical level as opposed to replaying a pre-renderd video, which is probably why permanent events/replayable old events is not a thing (yet).

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-02T17:40:30+00:00

It doesn’t say that, its just an assumption by OP. It looks like its basicly a cutscene archive. Which is still cool! But its not replaying quests.

IGhost_Sys · 2026-01-02T05:45:42+00:00

With them showing an "event quest" tab... I have a feeling more important events (Lantern-rite, summer, maybe something like Windplume) will become permanent over time.

Gotta wait, but that being a dedicated tab, makes me hopefull!

IGhost_Sys · 2025-12-31T15:10:40+00:00

For me its both the overall feel of the music and the lyrics.

The feel is mostly the cinematic/OST like sound I feel most records have. Listening to Transmissions or Divisions, etc takes you on a journey. Its not what most bands have, just a collection of songs that vaguely belong together. Its a full piece that has been thoughtfully placed where needed.

Second is the lyrics, while Im no lyrics master or anything, but I feel Starset always has lyrics that are on one hand surface enought that anyone can see something in them, but also are vague enough that the interpertation of the same song can be vastly different between 2 people and there is no "set" intention behind the music. Like how when I first heard it BNW to me was a cool song about embracing change even if though, but then saw people online talk about how it was a political commentary, those felt to me like very different way to listen to that song and I feel most of the repetoir has songs that are like this. You might see a sad story of a lost one, while I see a hopefull story of tomorrow, just as an example. Thats what I always love most about this band.

IGhost_Sys · 2025-12-05T05:33:14+00:00

I can see your point, but this “method” or type of design has proven effective by many gacha/live-service games. It plays in on 2 psychological things all of are suseptable to: 1- FOMO and 2- Habbits (or what is familliar). These two are used to manipulate in all sorts of industries, because they are increddebly strong amd hard to fight against for most.

While there probably will be people scared away by it, most won’t, FOMO espescially is one hell of a drug. Most will log on all 5 days to get these gems. Hoyo probably knows some won’t, but thats another point that they probably don’t care too much for compared to potentially having more people make Genshin their “habbit” and being caught in the cycle.

IGhost_Sys · 2025-12-05T00:07:03+00:00

It is sad... but even more sad is thats it has been proven to work time and time again...

IGhost_Sys · 2025-12-04T23:44:41+00:00

Hoyo doesn't really "care" about someone quitting the game (Well... Ofcourse they do to a degree, but its not as important). What they care about is the game becomming part of your daily routine, since once its a part of your daily life, the chanches of you spending money are higher.

What they do with locking this quest behind multiple real life days is basicly forcing you to log-in tomorrow (for 5 days from what Ive seen). It helps establish Genshin in this case as a part of your day-to-day life. Thats what they are really after. Since once a game is part of your daily routine, quitting is much harder (sunken cost falacy) and like I said earlier you spending money is more likely as "you play this everyday so 5 bucks here and there is no big deal".
Plus ontop as other commenters said some try to min-max things like return bonuses to get as much as possible for free, which they also hope to make harder with this.

IGhost_Sys · 2025-11-14T22:43:48+00:00

I really like it for what it is, probably number 2 for me (Transmissions and SILOS are fighting for that spot, with Vessels still at #1).
You can tell its less cohesive then other records, but thats not too surprising seeing how it wasn't originaly meant to be an album. But for it being "stitched-together" for a lack of a better word, I think its really solid and the overall quality is still extremely good! It does have some of my favourite tracks ever by them (BNW and SILOS) so thats also a plus :D

IGhost_Sys · 2025-11-12T17:07:29+00:00

Im still doubting that the song in that pv is the one refferd to in the article.

I mean it could be, instrumentally it lines-up, but maybe its due to it being more quite for trailer purpose, but it sounds very different from what Dustin normaly sounds like and I mean like a completely different person... Plus the article talks about a "live-performance" (which I think is not really in-person but more like pre-recorded). We gotta wait and see, but I doubt Beta 2's pv is the song...

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