Singapore has been gaining prominence.

From Kingsman: The Golden Circle to Jackie Chan's The Foreigner movies recently, Singapore has been getting name dropped left, right and centre.

Video game with Singapore skyline

Now, Singapore has been featured in action flight-simulation video game Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.

The fictional city Selatapura in the game is believed to have been modelled after the Lion City.

While the game is not released as yet -- a 2018 release is expected -- an early preview of the game's visuals has been revealed in the Famitsu magazine, a Japanese video game magazine that's been around for 31 years.

A quick preview can be read on their website, mentioning Selatapura as a city which appears as a mission stage:

Fans on the r/acecombat thread on Reddit managed to glean the following information from a scanned copy of that particular issue:

But of course, you're here for the fact that Selatapura looks like Singapore.

Singapore skyline

Here are the visuals that are uploaded by fan page Acepedia - The Ace Combat Wiki on their Facebook page:

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Singapore-like

From the visuals that were uploaded by the fan page, it is obvious Singapore served as the basis for the fictional city, besides the name.

For example, the dome-like structure is a dead ringer for the Sports Hub, and the Ferris wheel is seemingly modelled after the Singapore Flyer.

Beyond the Singapore Flyer is a structure that looks like an amalgamated form of the ArtScience Museum and Marina Bay Sands.

There is no boat-shaped structure atop the hotel, which resembles an open hand or bent joss sticks.

Cargo cranes can also be seen in the visuals, which would bring to mind Keppel Terminal.

A New City

Interestingly, Singapore was not outrightly mentioned in the scans, which includes an interview with game producer Kazutoki Kono.

When asked about the theme behind Selatapura, this is was his response:

Here's what we've managed to translate from his response:

While designing Selatapura, what was the theme that was had in mind for the city? 

Kazutoki Kono: Selatapura is designed to be a brand new city that was referenced from various cities. To show that the city had achieved rapid growth, the difference between the huge buildings that are lined up the city centre and the suburbs where nature is left is clearly shown. Furthermore, details such as the globe monument and the Ferris wheel have been placed, to portray that the city has a rich culture and worldview.

This is an oblique reference to Singapore, and the other rich cities that have prospered on the back of relentless economic growth.

In any case, details about this game's visuals are still skeletal at best, and we can't be certain whether these visuals are going to appear in the final product.

So long as they don't include characters like Bolo Santosi, please.

Top image adapted from Acepedia - The Ace Combat Wiki's Facebook post

Singapore really cool these days: