Warhammer Skulls is the ultimate showcase of Warhammer video games, and it’s back this week for its 10th anniversary. There are a bunch of Warhammer games from several different developers that are either on the horizon or are getting post-launch support, so there’s a lot to get updates on. As has become tradition, the show will be full of world premieres, exclusive reveals, and update announcements, and you can watch it all live.
Showcase Date, Time, and Where to Watch
Warhammer Skulls will start on Thursday, May 21 at 5 p.m. BST, which means 12 p.m. Eastern / 11 a.m. Central / 9 a.m. Pacific, and you can see the times for other cities around the world in the graphic at the bottom of this page. The show will run for about 50 minutes, and IGN will livestream it across all our channels. You can watch the full event in any of these places:
If you can’t watch the show live, don’t worry. We’ll post the full video to our YouTube page, just like we did for last year’s show.
What to Expect from This Year’s Showcase
The announcement of this year’s Warhammer Skulls also teased updates for a handful of games: Space Marine 2, Darktide, Total War: Warhammer III, Boltgun 2, Warhammer Survivors, Dark Heresy, and Rogue Trader.
These games run the gamut of genres, developers, and release dates. Space Marine 2, Darktide, Total War: Warhammer III, and Rogue Trader have all gotten extensive post-release support. Their involvement in the show likely means significant updates are on the way for each of them, so we’ll just have to stay tuned to see what those updates are.
Boltgun 2, Warhammer Survivors, and Dark Heresy are each scheduled to be released this year, so there’s bound to be new trailers and details revealed. And maybe we’ll get announcements of a demo or two. These are just the games that were specifically teased as being involved in the show, but there are bound to be some surprise reveals and announcements we can’t see coming. Tune in Thursday to see it all for yourself.
Warhammer Skulls is the ultimate showcase of Warhammer video games, and it’s back this week for its 10th anniversary. There are a bunch of Warhammer games from several different developers that are either on the horizon or are getting post-launch support, so there’s a lot to get updates on. As has become tradition, the show will be full of world premieres, exclusive reveals, and update announcements, and you can watch it all live.
Showcase Date, Time, and Where to Watch
Warhammer Skulls will start on Thursday, May 21 at 5 p.m. BST, which means 12 p.m. Eastern / 11 a.m. Central / 9 a.m. Pacific, and you can see the times for other cities around the world in the graphic at the bottom of this page. The show will run for about 50 minutes, and IGN will livestream it across all our channels. You can watch the full event in any of these places:
If you can’t watch the show live, don’t worry. We’ll post the full video to our YouTube page, just like we did for last year’s show.
What to Expect from This Year’s Showcase
The announcement of this year’s Warhammer Skulls also teased updates for a handful of games: Space Marine 2, Darktide, Total War: Warhammer III, Boltgun 2, Warhammer Survivors, Dark Heresy, and Rogue Trader.
These games run the gamut of genres, developers, and release dates. Space Marine 2, Darktide, Total War: Warhammer III, and Rogue Trader have all gotten extensive post-release support. Their involvement in the show likely means significant updates are on the way for each of them, so we’ll just have to stay tuned to see what those updates are.
Boltgun 2, Warhammer Survivors, and Dark Heresy are each scheduled to be released this year, so there’s bound to be new trailers and details revealed. And maybe we’ll get announcements of a demo or two. These are just the games that were specifically teased as being involved in the show, but there are bound to be some surprise reveals and announcements we can’t see coming. Tune in Thursday to see it all for yourself.
Sacha Baron Cohen appears to be putting one of his most famous characters, Borat, to bed while preparing for a future in Marvel.
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Sacha Baron Cohen appears to be putting one of his most famous characters, Borat, to bed while preparing for a future in Marvel. While speaking with ScreenRant, the actor was asked which character fans will see return first: Borat or his Marvel character, Mephisto. Cohen gave a very direct answer, noting that Borat may not have a place in the world anymore: "I think Mephisto. I don't know if Borat will ever return."
Cohen made a name for himself by playing a bunch of surreal, shocking characters in real-life settings. Ali-G, for instance, was perceived as a real interviewer and was allowed to get into the room with some of the most famous people on the planet, such as Donald Trump, to ask absurd questions. Borat was another level of famous, though. The character's first film was a global phenomenon that swept the box office and was nominated for major awards, including an Oscar.
Given the character became a global icon, it meant that Borat was no longer a feasible character, as many would be acutely aware that he wasn't a real person and it was all an act. Cohen put the character on ice for roughly 15 years but brought him back for an acclaimed sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, set during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. However, the sequel may be the last time we see Borat.
It's possible Borat is so recognizable now, and also creates consistently controversial situations, that Cohen realizes it's no longer feasible to wear the mustache and suit any longer. In the 2020 sequel, Cohen was rushed by a crowd of angry protestors while performing on stage. He also created headlines after staging an incident that saw Rudy Giuliani attempting to sleep with Borat's daughter. Maybe one day Borat will return as a surprise, but it seems more likely that Cohen would embrace a different, less familiar character first.
Cohen has also been pursuing roles outside of shock comedy, such as one with Marvel. He appeared in the Disney+ series, Ironheart, last year as Mephisto, a devil-like character who often tempts others with lucrative offers at a high cost. Famously, Mephisto allowed Peter Parker the opportunity to bring Aunt May back from the dead at the cost of radically changing Peter's entire life.
It's unclear where Mephisto may appear next. Perhaps he will appear in a future Spider-Man film, especially since Brand New Day appears to be loosely adapting the aforementioned storyline. He could pop up in more magical stories like the next Doctor Strange movie as well. Either way, it doesn't seem like Mephisto's time is up quite yet.
Photo by Jason Merritt/FilmMagic.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
Sacha Baron Cohen appears to be putting one of his most famous characters, Borat, to bed while preparing for a future in Marvel.
Show full content
Sacha Baron Cohen appears to be putting one of his most famous characters, Borat, to bed while preparing for a future in Marvel. While speaking with ScreenRant, the actor was asked which character fans will see return first: Borat or his Marvel character, Mephisto. Cohen gave a very direct answer, noting that Borat may not have a place in the world anymore: "I think Mephisto. I don't know if Borat will ever return."
Cohen made a name for himself by playing a bunch of surreal, shocking characters in real-life settings. Ali-G, for instance, was perceived as a real interviewer and was allowed to get into the room with some of the most famous people on the planet, such as Donald Trump, to ask absurd questions. Borat was another level of famous, though. The character's first film was a global phenomenon that swept the box office and was nominated for major awards, including an Oscar.
Given the character became a global icon, it meant that Borat was no longer a feasible character, as many would be acutely aware that he wasn't a real person and it was all an act. Cohen put the character on ice for roughly 15 years but brought him back for an acclaimed sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, set during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. However, the sequel may be the last time we see Borat.
It's possible Borat is so recognizable now, and also creates consistently controversial situations, that Cohen realizes it's no longer feasible to wear the mustache and suit any longer. In the 2020 sequel, Cohen was rushed by a crowd of angry protestors while performing on stage. He also created headlines after staging an incident that saw Rudy Giuliani attempting to sleep with Borat's daughter. Maybe one day Borat will return as a surprise, but it seems more likely that Cohen would embrace a different, less familiar character first.
Cohen has also been pursuing roles outside of shock comedy, such as one with Marvel. He appeared in the Disney+ series, Ironheart, last year as Mephisto, a devil-like character who often tempts others with lucrative offers at a high cost. Famously, Mephisto allowed Peter Parker the opportunity to bring Aunt May back from the dead at the cost of radically changing Peter's entire life.
It's unclear where Mephisto may appear next. Perhaps he will appear in a future Spider-Man film, especially since Brand New Day appears to be loosely adapting the aforementioned storyline. He could pop up in more magical stories like the next Doctor Strange movie as well. Either way, it doesn't seem like Mephisto's time is up quite yet.
Photo by Jason Merritt/FilmMagic.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
Celebrate Surfshark's birthday with the biggest discounts on VPN coverage on unlimited devices.
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Editor's Note: This article is sponsored by Surfshark and has been updated to reflect latest pricing after May 11, 2026.
There are a ton of VPN options out there, but they’re not all created equally. Some lack ‘no logs audits’ to confirm they’re not tracking your data, others can’t unblock the streaming services you want to access from other countries, and some are just plain slow.
Surfshark VPN not only ticks those boxes, but also offers a huge boon: No device limits. That, combined with the latest post-birthday deal to celebrate its eighth anniversary this year, means you can get VPN coverage for just $1.99 per month.
Save Big And Protect Unlimited Devices With Surfshark VPN
One of the most popular subscriptions is the two-year subscription to Surfshark Starter, which is solely focused on VPN. You’ll save 87% and get three extra months free right now.
Surfshark One: 2-year subscription -86% for $2.49/mo + 3 months extra (Includes: VPN, Antivirus, Search, Alert, and Alternative ID).
Surfshark One+: 2-year subscription -80% for $4.19/mo + 3 months extra (Includes: VPN, Antivirus, Search, Alert, and Alternative ID, Incogni).
You can also save on Surfshark’s One and One+ subscriptions. The former is $2.49 a month, and adds antivirus and other protection, while the latter is $4.19 adds identity theft coverage and data removal tools.
Why Surfshark VPN?
You can find Surfshark in our list of best VPNS for streaming.It's one of the top contenders for streaming Netflix. Maybe you’re in the US and want to check out the UK’s Netflix library, or want to enjoy region-specific pricing for a product elsewhere. Surfshark can get around those geoblocks with ease, but it does so without compromising on speed.
Surfshark is one of the fastest VPN options around, with 1615 Mbps, higher than Proton VPN, CyberGhost, and ExpressVPN (according to VPN speeds recorded by TechRadar).
It’s also very secure, with a strict no-logs policy ratified by an independent third party audit, as well as RAM-only servers so your data isn’t logged.
Finally, and this is a big one, Surfshark continues to stick to its 'no device limits' policy, meaning you can cover as many devices as you like with a single subscription. Given how rivals run from 5 devices to 12, that’s a staggering offer - especially at less than $2 a month.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He's a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's dismay.
We've got an exclusive look at Urbance, a manga-style cyberpunk series based on the viral animated short film.
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Animator and artist Joël Dos Reis Viegas (Batman: Arkham Origins, Black Dynamite) made a strong impression with his 2015 short film Urbance. That film is now serving as the inspiration behind a manga-style cyberpunk graphic novel series of the same name, and it promises to be one of the most stylish comics of 2026.
With the crowdfunding campaign for Urbance now live, IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of the first volume in the series. Get a closer look in the slideshow gallery below:
Urbance is written and illustrated by Viegas. The series is published as a collaboration between Oni Press and Magnetic Press. Here's the official summary of the series:
Urbance welcomes readers to Neopolis, a futuristic neon‑drenched city where physical desire has become deadly. A mysterious virus has infected every human at birth, making intimate contact between the sexes instantly fatal. To survive, society enforces absolute abstinence and segregation: boys and girls are raised apart, conditioned to fear, even hate, one another. A colossal wall cuts the city in two, and entire youth cultures have evolved in isolation, fueled by tribal identity, coded fashion, and explosive street‑clan rivalries. But a new underground drug, N‑Dorphin, which is rumored to bypass the virus’s lethal effects, begins circulating through the streets and destabilizes the fragile balance of power in Neopolis, igniting turf wars and paranoia as factions scramble for control. Kenzell and Lesya, two teens from opposite sides who defy the rules and risk everything to cross the divide, are caught in the crossfire. Together, they uncover a conspiracy far bigger than any clan feud, and their forbidden alliance becomes a spark in a city ready to explode.
“While the animated pilot only scratches the surface of what rules Neopolis, the graphic novel series dives much deeper into the dark side of the society and human tensions,” said Viegas in a statement. “Keeping the core elements — the virus, N-Dorphin, the protagonists, and Coevo — and reimagining a story about two youngsters, shaped by division, who are forced to come together against adversity. So I chose a more aggressive and dark visual treatment to better match the story’s more mature tone. Urbance is a reflection of my passions, my art style, and my fears.”
Clover Press is celebrating Secret Wars and Kraven's Last Hunt artist Mike Zeck with a new at book showcasing his legendary Marvel career.
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Artist Mike Zeck has enjoyed a long and very influential career at Marvel Comics. His early run on The Punisher helped define the look and feel of the character for generations to come, and Zeck's resume also includes big guns like 1984's Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars and 1987's Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt. That makes Zeck a natural choice to join the growing lineup of artists featured in Clover Press' Marvel art book line.
With the Kickstarter campaign for The Marvel Art of Mike Zeck live now, IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of the book. Check out the slideshow gallery below to see some of the black-and-white facsimile art included in the book:
The Marvel Art of Mike Zeck is a 9" x 12" hardcover book that clocks in at over 200 pages long. In addition to the aforementioned Marvel titles, the book features art from series like Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu, Captain America, The Punisher: Circle of Blood, and The Spectacular Spider-Man. That lineup includes some of the most iconic cover art Marvel has ever published.
The Kickstarter campaign also features optional extras like 11″ x 17″ prints, stickers, a puzzle, and signed books.
“I first met Mike at the Chicago Comicon in 1986 right after his Punisher was released, and he left such a positive impression on this very impressionable kid,” said Clover Press Publisher Hank Kanalz in a statement. “I had the privilege of working with him on a couple of projects over the years, and I am thrilled that in retirement, he’s agreed to be a part of our prestigious The Marvel Art Of… line of art books."
Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds is still talking internally about what to do in response to the game’s big killing fish debate, but players have taken the matter into their own hands, diving deeper to uncover ways of actually defending themselves.
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Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds is still talking internally about what to do in response to the game’s big killing fish debate, but players have taken the matter into their own hands, diving deeper to uncover ways of actually defending themselves.
To briefly recap, killing fish isn’t properly supported in Subnautica 2, which launched to huge success in early access form last week. You can deter fish by using a flare, but there are no tools designed specifically for causing fish damage, which means that you’re faced with having to put up with them nibbling at your heels as you go about your underwater business.
But, it turns out that there are ways to defend yourself in Subnautica 2, but you’ll have to put in a bit of work to make use of them. Across subreddits, discords, and social media, players have identified mid-game upgrades that offer some defense, and even let you kill fish in a round about way.
Warning! Potential spoilers for Subnautica 2 follow:
The Feedback Resonator, an upgrade for the Sonic Resonator that lets it fire a projectile, lets you shoot fish from a distance. You’ll need to work your way deep into the game to obtain it, but some reports indicate the Sonic Resonator can actually kill fish, so it’s certainly worthwhile.
Redditor Jeidoz suggests the Shockwave biomod upgrade, which gives you an electric discharge that can push fish away from you. And then there are the aforementioned flares when you’re in a pickle.
Jeidoz said they were able to complete the early access Subnautica 2 as it is now without taking damage, which sounds like a herculean effort. They used flares and dashed to run away from predators, then the Sonic Resonator to encourage fish to push off. Then, getting further into the mid-game, the Electric Discharge was used “for any dangerous situations,” and the Feedback Resonator was used for single-target enemies.
“In the current version of Early Access, I believe we only have mid-game (or even pre-mid-game?) options,” Jeidoz said. “With future updates, we can expect new vehicles, new bio-mods, fixed fish reactions to light, and other tools/actions. Currently, the PDA mentions some of them, but most fish only react to flares, ‘sounds’ from vehicles, the Sonic Resonator, the player, and stationary vehicles.”
So, the upshot is, the more you play Subnautica 2, the more you’ll be able to defend yourself. But this is not the outright ability to kill fish, as some want. Yes, you do kill fish “off screen” by eating them raw, cooking them, or turning them into other resources. But some players want to effectively clear the game out of fish, giving them the breathing room to bend the depths to their will.
This, though, does not sound like something the developers at Unknown Worlds will ever make possible in Subnautica 2. The developers have spoken in the past about not wanting players to conquer or dominate the environment, and that it wouldn’t feature tools that would let them slay anything that gets in their way. "We aren't a killing game," level designer Artyom "Artie" O'Rielly recently said in the Subnautica Discord. "Go play Sons of the Forest or something if you want to kill."
Still, Unknown Worlds is certainly thinking about tweaking the game in response to the debate. Also speaking in the Discord, lead game designer Anthony Gallegos said the developer can tune creature aggression to make fish less annoying to deal with.
“One thing that should help with this soon is the array of creature flinches we're doing,” Gallegos explained. “Right now they aren't communicating that you've impacted them, and that will change.
“We can do a lot without a stasis rifle for now, though," he added. "Some of it is just going to be rounds of tuning around creature aggression, downtime between when you run them off, etc. We clearly have work to do there, and we're doing it!”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds is still talking internally about what to do in response to the game’s big killing fish debate, but players have taken the matter into their own hands, diving deeper to uncover ways of actually defending themselves.
Show full content
Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds is still talking internally about what to do in response to the game’s big killing fish debate, but players have taken the matter into their own hands, diving deeper to uncover ways of actually defending themselves.
To briefly recap, killing fish isn’t properly supported in Subnautica 2, which launched to huge success in early access form last week. You can deter fish by using a flare, but there are no tools designed specifically for causing fish damage, which means that you’re faced with having to put up with them nibbling at your heels as you go about your underwater business.
But, it turns out that there are ways to defend yourself in Subnautica 2, but you’ll have to put in a bit of work to make use of them. Across subreddits, discords, and social media, players have identified mid-game upgrades that offer some defense, and even let you kill fish in a round about way.
Warning! Potential spoilers for Subnautica 2 follow:
The Feedback Resonator, an upgrade for the Sonic Resonator that lets it fire a projectile, lets you shoot fish from a distance. You’ll need to work your way deep into the game to obtain it, but some reports indicate the Sonic Resonator can actually kill fish, so it’s certainly worthwhile.
Redditor Jeidoz suggests the Shockwave biomod upgrade, which gives you an electric discharge that can push fish away from you. And then there are the aforementioned flares when you’re in a pickle.
Jeidoz said they were able to complete the early access Subnautica 2 as it is now without taking damage, which sounds like a herculean effort. They used flares and dashed to run away from predators, then the Sonic Resonator to encourage fish to push off. Then, getting further into the mid-game, the Electric Discharge was used “for any dangerous situations,” and the Feedback Resonator was used for single-target enemies.
“In the current version of Early Access, I believe we only have mid-game (or even pre-mid-game?) options,” Jeidoz said. “With future updates, we can expect new vehicles, new bio-mods, fixed fish reactions to light, and other tools/actions. Currently, the PDA mentions some of them, but most fish only react to flares, ‘sounds’ from vehicles, the Sonic Resonator, the player, and stationary vehicles.”
So, the upshot is, the more you play Subnautica 2, the more you’ll be able to defend yourself. But this is not the outright ability to kill fish, as some want. Yes, you do kill fish “off screen” by eating them raw, cooking them, or turning them into other resources. But some players want to effectively clear the game out of fish, giving them the breathing room to bend the depths to their will.
This, though, does not sound like something the developers at Unknown Worlds will ever make possible in Subnautica 2. The developers have spoken in the past about not wanting players to conquer or dominate the environment, and that it wouldn’t feature tools that would let them slay anything that gets in their way. "We aren't a killing game," level designer Artyom "Artie" O'Rielly recently said in the Subnautica Discord. "Go play Sons of the Forest or something if you want to kill."
Still, Unknown Worlds is certainly thinking about tweaking the game in response to the debate. Also speaking in the Discord, lead game designer Anthony Gallegos said the developer can tune creature aggression to make fish less annoying to deal with.
“One thing that should help with this soon is the array of creature flinches we're doing,” Gallegos explained. “Right now they aren't communicating that you've impacted them, and that will change.
“We can do a lot without a stasis rifle for now, though," he added. "Some of it is just going to be rounds of tuning around creature aggression, downtime between when you run them off, etc. We clearly have work to do there, and we're doing it!”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds is still talking internally about what to do in response to the game’s big killing fish debate, but players have taken the matter into their own hands, diving deeper to uncover ways of actually defending themselves.
Show full content
Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds is still talking internally about what to do in response to the game’s big killing fish debate, but players have taken the matter into their own hands, diving deeper to uncover ways of actually defending themselves.
To briefly recap, killing fish isn’t properly supported in Subnautica 2, which launched to huge success in early access form last week. You can deter fish by using a flare, but there are no tools designed specifically for causing fish damage, which means that you’re faced with having to put up with them nibbling at your heels as you go about your underwater business.
But, it turns out that there are ways to defend yourself in Subnautica 2, but you’ll have to put in a bit of work to make use of them. Across subreddits, discords, and social media, players have identified mid-game upgrades that offer some defense, and even let you kill fish in a round about way.
Warning! Potential spoilers for Subnautica 2 follow:
The Feedback Resonator, an upgrade for the Sonic Resonator that lets it fire a projectile, lets you shoot fish from a distance. You’ll need to work your way deep into the game to obtain it, but some reports indicate the Sonic Resonator can actually kill fish, so it’s certainly worthwhile.
Redditor Jeidoz suggests the Shockwave biomod upgrade, which gives you an electric discharge that can push fish away from you. And then there are the aforementioned flares when you’re in a pickle.
Jeidoz said they were able to complete the early access Subnautica 2 as it is now without taking damage, which sounds like a herculean effort. They used flares and dashed to run away from predators, then the Sonic Resonator to encourage fish to push off. Then, getting further into the mid-game, the Electric Discharge was used “for any dangerous situations,” and the Feedback Resonator was used for single-target enemies.
“In the current version of Early Access, I believe we only have mid-game (or even pre-mid-game?) options,” Jeidoz said. “With future updates, we can expect new vehicles, new bio-mods, fixed fish reactions to light, and other tools/actions. Currently, the PDA mentions some of them, but most fish only react to flares, ‘sounds’ from vehicles, the Sonic Resonator, the player, and stationary vehicles.”
So, the upshot is, the more you play Subnautica 2, the more you’ll be able to defend yourself. But this is not the outright ability to kill fish, as some want. Yes, you do kill fish “off screen” by eating them raw, cooking them, or turning them into other resources. But some players want to effectively clear the game out of fish, giving them the breathing room to bend the depths to their will.
This, though, does not sound like something the developers at Unknown Worlds will ever make possible in Subnautica 2. The developers have spoken in the past about not wanting players to conquer or dominate the environment, and that it wouldn’t feature tools that would let them slay anything that gets in their way. "We aren't a killing game," level designer Artyom "Artie" O'Rielly recently said in the Subnautica Discord. "Go play Sons of the Forest or something if you want to kill."
Still, Unknown Worlds is certainly thinking about tweaking the game in response to the debate. Also speaking in the Discord, lead game designer Anthony Gallegos said the developer can tune creature aggression to make fish less annoying to deal with.
“One thing that should help with this soon is the array of creature flinches we're doing,” Gallegos explained. “Right now they aren't communicating that you've impacted them, and that will change.
“We can do a lot without a stasis rifle for now, though," he added. "Some of it is just going to be rounds of tuning around creature aggression, downtime between when you run them off, etc. We clearly have work to do there, and we're doing it!”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which currently stands as the highest-grossing movie of 2026, is now available on digital with a slew of bonus features.
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The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now available to rent or purchase digitally from PVOD platforms like Prime Video.
The digital release was initially scheduled for May 5 but, much like fellow box office hit Project Hail Mary, was delayed to take advantage of the film's success in theaters. It's not hard to understand why — the Mario Bros sequel currently stands as the highest-grossing movie of 2026.
If you didn't get the chance to check out the film in theaters, or have just been itching for a rewatch to catch all of those Easter eggs, here's everything we know about its digital, streaming, and DVD releases.
Super Mario Galaxy Movie Now Available Online
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie currently costs $24.99 to rent or $29.99 to purchase. If you choose to rent, you’ll have 48 hours to watch the movie from the time you hit play. If you go with the full purchase, you’ll also get over an hour of behind-the-scenes digital extras. Prime Video is also offering a bundle of both Super Mario movies for $39.99.
The Super Mario sequel expands the world of the first movie to encompass, as you can imagine, galaxies. The sequel introduced a spread of new cast members to flesh out the growing gaggle of characters, including Brie Larson as Rosalina and Donald Glover as Yoshi. One new addition Nintendo tried its best to hide away until the film’s premiere was Glen Powell's role as Star Fox, which preceded the announcement of a Star Fox remake coming to Switch 2.
The sequel didn’t quite hit the same heights as the original on the critics’ side, though Clint Gage’s review for IGN does argue that it’s “bigger and shinier” and “racks up some extra lives by stuffing Easter eggs into the runtime to the point of bursting.” What we do have is no shortage of praise for is the original Super Mario Galaxy games, both of which were re-released on Switch consoles in the lead-up to the movie’s release.
Streaming Release Date TBA, Blu-ray Up for Preorder
Peacock will be the first streaming home for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, but there’s no word on a specific streaming release date. Based on the timeline of The Super Mario Bros Movie, the sequel will most likely land on Peacock later this summer. After four months on Peacock, the film will move to Netflix.
In the meantime, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will be released in 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD in just over a month. The film is even getting a limited edition 4K steelbook in the style of Rosalina’s Storybook.
Blythe (she/her) is an Audience Development Coordinator at IGN who, when she isn't following streaming news, spends way too much time in character customization screens and tracking down collectibles.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which currently stands as the highest-grossing movie of 2026, is now available on digital with a slew of bonus features.
Show full content
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now available to rent or purchase digitally from PVOD platforms like Prime Video.
The digital release was initially scheduled for May 5 but, much like fellow box office hit Project Hail Mary, was delayed to take advantage of the film's success in theaters. It's not hard to understand why — the Mario Bros sequel currently stands as the highest-grossing movie of 2026.
If you didn't get the chance to check out the film in theaters, or have just been itching for a rewatch to catch all of those Easter eggs, here's everything we know about its digital, streaming, and DVD releases.
Super Mario Galaxy Movie Now Available Online
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie currently costs $24.99 to rent or $29.99 to purchase. If you choose to rent, you’ll have 48 hours to watch the movie from the time you hit play. If you go with the full purchase, you’ll also get over an hour of behind-the-scenes digital extras. Prime Video is also offering a bundle of both Super Mario movies for $39.99.
The Super Mario sequel expands the world of the first movie to encompass, as you can imagine, galaxies. The sequel introduced a spread of new cast members to flesh out the growing gaggle of characters, including Brie Larson as Rosalina and Donald Glover as Yoshi. One new addition Nintendo tried its best to hide away until the film’s premiere was Glen Powell's role as Star Fox, which preceded the announcement of a Star Fox remake coming to Switch 2.
The sequel didn’t quite hit the same heights as the original on the critics’ side, though Clint Gage’s review for IGN does argue that it’s “bigger and shinier” and “racks up some extra lives by stuffing Easter eggs into the runtime to the point of bursting.” What we do have is no shortage of praise for is the original Super Mario Galaxy games, both of which were re-released on Switch consoles in the lead-up to the movie’s release.
Streaming Release Date TBA, Blu-ray Up for Preorder
Peacock will be the first streaming home for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, but there’s no word on a specific streaming release date. Based on the timeline of The Super Mario Bros Movie, the sequel will most likely land on Peacock later this summer. After four months on Peacock, the film will move to Netflix.
In the meantime, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will be released in 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD in just over a month. The film is even getting a limited edition 4K steelbook in the style of Rosalina’s Storybook.
Blythe (she/her) is an Audience Development Coordinator at IGN who, when she isn't following streaming news, spends way too much time in character customization screens and tracking down collectibles.
Lego Batman is a joyful celebration of the entire history of Batman, but during the late '90s the Dark Knight's games had to contend with living up to the reputation of The Animated Series and working with the woeful Batman and Robin film. This is how Batman endured his darkest video game era.
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For the better part of a century, the Caped Crusader has maintained a level of aura rarely seen in characters kissing the public domain. He’s been a purple-gloved pulp avenger and a swashbuckling ‘70s love god, a camp icon and a goth baddie. Frank Miller’s iconoclastic boomer, Grant Morrison’s avatar of determination, and Scott Snyder’s Absolute unit are all wildly different iterations of a timeless concept existing under the same cowl. The games have only been a little more consistent.
We’ve previously explored the rocky origins of Batman in the world of video games, and today we look at arguably the Dark Knight’s most challenging chapter: navigating the extreme highs and lows of an era dominated by The Animated Series and Joel Schumacher’s nippled Batsuits, right as video game hardware changed how we played forever.
Almost Got ‘Im (1993 - 1994)
Batman: The Animated Series is a high-water mark among all Bat-media. Premiering in 1992, it is the platonic ideal of the Dark Knight, anchored by iconic voice performances, unheard of depth and undeniable style.
The series inspired four video games during its initial run, although one of them barely counts. Only Konami’s 1993 Game Boy title actually released under the “Animated Series” moniker, which features excellent platforming and an impressive dedication to showcase the show’s lavish production into a 2.5 inch cartridge. There’s a lot of game in that little grey box. It’s the first time Batman’s rogue’s gallery was really showcased, featuring seven A-list villains unrestrained by the smaller scope of a film adaptation. It’s also the first time we get to play as Robin, a keystone of the comic franchise whose relationship with Bruce remains criminally underexplored in movies and games to this day.
Konami followed up with an SNES title in 1994. Originally developed as a BTAS tie-in but published as The Adventures of Batman and Robin, the boy wonder is barely involved in the proceedings. Instead, a solo Batman battles through stages styled as episodes from the TV series, complete with unique art deco title cards for each. This format offers more than most Batman sidescrollers, with impressive Mode 7 boss battles, overhead Batmobile sections, and levels that mechanically complement the signature gimmicks of their respective rogues.
Not to be outdone, Sega published its own BTAS adaptation the same year. Batman and Robin for Genesis was developed by Clockwork Tortoise and is a technical tour-de-force of pseudo 3D scaling and rotation effects, utilizing brilliant tricks and scanline-level hacks to create visuals that simply shouldn’t exist on hardware primarily designed to play Altered Beast.
The gameplay doesn’t even pay lip service towards Batman’s skill as a detective, or his finely-honed physical combat skills. Instead, it’s a pure run-and-gun in the explosive tradition of Contra and Gunstar heroes, in which the Dark Knight and his ward run to the right, flinging an infinite supply of Batarangs at full auto while their tireless arms never flag. The dynamic duo can finally be played in co-op action here, though the presence of your trusty sidekick does little to alleviate the game’s notorious difficulty.
There are only four stages, but they are merciless and enormous– one autoscrolling Batwing section clocks in at over 16 minutes. Buildings explode, zeppelins are hijacked, and the entire world dissolves into a virtual reality hellscape as you make your way to Mr. Freeze’s sci-fi fortress. Anyone who can conquer the hyperactive gauntlet and throw the down-bad doctor back in his icy cell with a mere three lives and two continues deserves to be adopted by Bruce Wayne.
There’s one last game to round out this brief, beautiful era before the Bat-nipple arrived to change everything: Batman and Robin for the Sega CD. This one is particularly strange. For one thing, it’s a fully-priced release made out of what’s essentially a minigame, consisting of naught but a series of vehicle stages using the old Batman Returns engine in which the Dark Knight never gets out of his car.
What sets the Sega CD version apart, however, has nothing to do with the gameplay. Between the boring Batmobile levels we’re treated to full-motion video cutscenes that, at first glance, appear to be ripped directly from the Animated Series. That’s not technically correct, since the disc actually includes completely original footage, voiced by the same cast, directed by Bruce Timm, written by Paul Dini, and animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, the studio behind the standout episodes like Feat of Clay and Robin’s Reckoning. The 16 minutes of footage essentially comprise a lost episode, and if you can stomach the extremely compressed and dithered, 64-color video at 160p, the Sega CD cutscenes are worth tracking down.
The 16-bit era was very good to Batman, but a new age lurked ominously on the horizon. Casting aside Tim Burton’s vision and the Animated Series it inspired, a very different version of the Dark Knight would rise, bathed in a neon glow, and heralded by the haunting sounds of Seal and the Smashing Pumpkins. The games wouldn’t be much better.
The Ice Age (1995 - 2003)
On the big screen, new Batman director Joel Schumacher crafted a more toyetic vision for the Dark Knight. His first film, Batman Forever, spawned just two games. And for the first time, the movie tie-ins would be largely the same game ported to every platform, and who better to do that than the devs who brought Mortal Kombat into your living room?
Acclaim and Probe Entertainment’s Batman Forever is essentially a 2D fighter bolted to a beat ‘em up, a star-crossed pairing if there ever was one, and much like the later Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub Zero, it commits the cardinal sin of mapping jump to the up button, turning exploration into aggravation. The Dark Knight is no stranger to fighting games, but the execution in Batman Forever is, frankly, embarrassing, with so many esoteric button combinations that the instruction manual looks like sheet music.
Like Mortal Kombat, the game uses digitized sprites of stuntmen in bogus imitations of the film’s sensuously molded rubber, shuffling across bland and illegible scenery with zero Schumacher swagger onscreen. It’s astonishing anyone managed to make a movie that’s so extra into a game this dull.
If you just read a description of Batman Forever: The Arcade Game, you’d think it was largely the same as the console version. But look closer at its digitized sprites and you’ll notice that the schlubby stand-ins have been replaced with juiced-up CGI renders ala Killer Instinct, ready to melt your brain with nonstop button-smashing action. A psychedelic braindance of Game UI bombards the screen with combo counters, massive health bars, and bouncing powerups. Batman and Robin can annihilate waves of enemies with godlike ultra moves while an announcer barks phrases like “FRENZY MODE!” to a backdrop of speed metal guitars.
For all its extravagance, The Arcade Game received little fanfare. Notably, it’s the first Bat-Title IGN ever reviewed – we gave it a 5/10. Beat ‘em ups might have been Batman’s specialty, but by the late ‘90s they were considered stale and old-fashioned. The same could be said about 2D graphics, which is why the Dynamic Duo sprinted into the third dimension for their next game: Batman & Robin.
Based on the much-maligned film of the same name and originally set to release alongside it, Probe needed extra time to finish the game which forced Acclaim to delay it by a year, meaning that not only did Batman & Robin for Playstation miss the movie launch, by the time it came out the movie it was based on was already a global laughingstock. It’s a shame, because if you strip away the Schumacherian specifics there’s something genuinely ambitious underneath: a 3D, open-world Batman simulator bashing its head against the limitations of the Playstation hardware.
You control one of the three Bat-characters, including Batgirl in a series first, each patrolling the city with their own mean machine. You take discovered clues back to the Batcave, where you’ll decipher them to find out where, and more importantly when, mischief is afoot. The game runs on a relentless real-time clock, forcing you to be on time for Mr. Freeze’s latest caper or face an automatic game over. There are no checkpoints or quick restarts, so you’d better factor in the five-minute travel time to find an extremely rare save point. No one said it would be easy being Batman.
Batman and Robin has a reputation as one of the worst Batman games of all time, and it probably deserves it. Between the busted tank controls, tedious difficulty, obnoxious sound effects, and utter confusion about what you’re supposed to be doing, it’s not a pleasant experience. Look deeper, however, and you’ll see some pretty fascinating stuff buried within. Gotham is littered with locations to explore, from Arkham Asylum to the Ace Chemical Plant to Crime Alley itself, all accessible by Bat-foot or vehicle. The game looks great for its age, and if you’re enough of a sicko to somehow beat it, you’re rewarded with a credits scene featuring dorky caricatures of the development team. They might not have delivered the best Batman game, but these doe-eyed goofballs clearly gave it all they had.
No Man’s Land (2000 - 2003)
The next Batman game wasn’t really a Batman game, in the sense that the man under the cowl isn’t Bruce Wayne. Instead, it was based on Batman Beyond, the cult classic animated series set in 2039 in which scrappy teenager Terry McGinnis inherited the mantle from the retired billionaire.
2000’s Return of the Joker for Nintendo 64, PlayStation, and Game Boy Color is an adaptation of the direct-to-video movie of the same name, a controversial film that was heavily censored for its disturbing portrayal of child brainwashing and violence, which is a bit rich considering Batman has spent decades recruiting traumatized orphans to break people’s bones on his behalf.
The game is less interesting than the movie’s reputation suggests, a barebones, entirely unremarkable polygonal beat-’em-up that barely takes advantage of Terry’s futuristic tech and only superficially scratches the surface of the extremely schway TV show it adapted. Released at the end of a console generation with exciting new hardware already on the market, Return of the Joker’s existence registered as a mere twip on the radar that still remains the only dedicated Batman Beyond game we’ve ever gotten.
Return of the Joker was the first Batman game published by Ubisoft, which started its stewardship of the IP rights on a bad foot and promptly made it worse with a follow-up, Gotham City Racer. One persistent tension throughout the history of Batman games is the balance between superhero action and driving segments, two very different gaming rhythms welded uneasily together. A game built entirely on the driving half of that equation had been tried before and hadn’t worked then either, and whatever refinements 3D vehicular combat had undergone in the intervening years weren’t enough to make Gotham City Racer an enjoyable experience. The Sega CD at least had Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and the anime studio that made Akira behind it.
Gotham City Racer and Ubisoft’s subsequent titles would all work within the stylings of The New Batman Adventures, the revamped animated series. First came Batman: Vengeance, a third-person action-adventure game for PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox in 2001. Batman’s brand of high-tech sneak-aroundery plays like a chubby guy in hockey pads compared to Solid Snake and Sam Fisher, but Ubisoft Montreal created an ambitious game that tries to encompass every aspect of Batman’s extremely weird job, but without anything to really pull you through it.
What it did offer was a faithful translation of the animated series into 3D, complete with an original story and great performances from the all-star voice cast that helped give it a premium, classic BTAS feel. Even the side-scrolling Game Boy Advance version punches above its weight in visuals and variety, from platforming and shmup sections to solving overhead sokoban dungeons.
Instead of refining the raw potential of the Vengeance approach, Ubisoft swerved back into familiar territory with the bog-standard beat-’em-up Batman: The Rise of Sin Tzu. The gameplay is rather retrograde for 2003, a bland button-mashing brawler. The most notable aspect of the gameplay is that it’s our first opportunity to kick some butts as Nightwing, though the relatively low polygon count did a disservice to the former Robin’s notorious physique.
The real draw of Rise of Sin Tzu is the titular villain, a new character heavily hyped as the second coming of Harley Quinn. Voiced by the late Cary-Hiryoki Togawa, Sin Tzu was a master planner and military strategist who engineered an Arkham outbreak to weaken Gotham’s fabled Dark Knight before beating him in single combat. He’s essentially Bane mixed with Big Boss, but despite his cool golden skin and the yin-yang plastered to his forehead like a Pog, the Gary Stu known as Sin Tzu has retreated into obscurity after the poor reception to his debut game. Outside of rare cameos he’s been trapped on sixth-generation consoles for the last twenty years.
Sin Tzu would be Ubisoft’s final Batman title, but the promised Batman renaissance was still a few years away. In the meantime, there was one more game to close out this extremely disappointing era: Kemco’s cautionary tale Batman: Dark Tomorrow.
On paper, Dark Tomorrow seemed promising: a 3D Batman game based on the comic book ideal of the character, unburdened by movies or TV and relying on the excellent comics of the era for flavor, showcasing lesser-known characters like Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl for the first and basically only time.
Scott Peterson, a longtime writer and editor of DC’s Batman books, was tapped to write the story, a serviceably cinematic tale involving Ra’s Al Ghul threatening to flood the world’s coastlines while Batman is busy rescuing Jim Gordon from the bedlam of Arkham Asylum. Squint and the concept kind of resembles Rocksteady’s revolutionary game that was still six years away, though the execution was anything but.
Dark Tomorrow’s problems started at the top. The project was led by a would-be film producer who had never shipped a game before, and he prioritized the CGI cutscenes and overall presentation above all else. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded a full symphonic score, while the worthless enemy AI was programmed through a Game Boy Advance emulator by a team with mostly handheld experience.
What began as a sprawling, urban open world ala Spider-Man 2 instead became a linear, laborious trek through colorless warehouses, docks, factories, and sewers before schlepping through Arkham. Fixed camera angles give a nauseating effect, mocking the very notion of a 180-degree rule and making combat borderline impossible. On the rare occasion the Dark Knight knocks someone down, he has to handcuff every single enemy with a vibe-shattering mandatory cutscene you’ll watch a thousand times.
The game has multiple endings, all but one of which results in the death of Batman or an apocalyptic global flood. Even if you defeat Ra’s al Ghul, millions will be unalived unless you’ve solved a puzzle the game never hints at, using an ability you’ve had no reason to touch the entire time.
If you want a summary of Batman games in 2003, “Dark Tomorrow” just about covers it. The character was a punchline post-Schumacher, the DCAU was winding down, and the games’ performance over the last decade ranged from aggressively mid to utterly atrocious. The comic books were cooking, but things looked bleak on the Bat-front as far as pop culture and gaming were concerned. Something had to give and something would. In the immortal words of Aaron Eckhart: the night is darkest before dawn. And after a very dark night, the gates of Arkham Asylum were getting ready to open…
Our exploration of the history of Batman video games has already dived into the era of Tim Burton's gothic movies, and tomorrow's chapter will examine how the Arkham series changed superhero games forever.
There's not a lot to it, but it’s hard to find much fault with these stealthy co-op heists.
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We made it to the Magic Door with less than 10 seconds left. A couple of last-second run-ins with the guards that populate the Constable Guildhall took time we didn’t have, but we managed to escape – our contract completed, our mission objective fulfilled, and our pockets loaded down with the ill-gotten gains we’d liberated from the cops. Not a bad day’s work. Moments like this are when Thick as Thieves sings: sneaking out of a tough situation, figuring out a new way to get where you need to be, a last second escape with zeroes on the clock. Combine co-op play, a couple of thieves with unique toolkits, excellent level design that constantly forces you to make interesting decisions, and a surprisingly compelling story, and Thick as Thieves has enough to keep you coming back for one last job. I just wish there was more of it. (And that I could kill Hauntstables. If the Hauntstables have no enemies, I have departed this Earth.)
Thick as Thieves is set in 1910s Kilcairn, a fictional Scottish city that meets at the collision of magic and technology. You break into (get it? Do you get it?) the Thieves’ Guild by stealing the Vistara Diamond. But the diamond ain’t just a big shiny rock on a stick; it reveals nearby guards, hidden traps, and even treasures – and wilder stuff like hidden magic doors where the really good loot is kept. Uncovering the nature of the Diamond means uncovering the history of the city itself, and a prominent family who lived there, and pretty soon what started as a simple heist becomes a small part of a much bigger story that took me around 12 hours to tie the knot on.
Thick as Thieves’ setup – get in, get what you came for, get out – means there isn’t a lot of what you’d consider a traditional story. Most of it is told though text-based communiques that hand out your mission objectives or congratulate you on a job well done, and scattered notes that provide clues about the location of (or security surrounding) the things you’re there to snatch mid-mission. What’s here is compelling, but you kind of have to look for it, and a good chunk of it is especially easy to miss if you’re playing co-op – which you absolutely should be if you have a friend who wants to get grabby with other peoples’ things.
Thieving effectively means being aware of your surroundings and not getting caught, so if you’ve ever played a stealth game, you’ll be at home here. Crouching under trip wires, avoiding pressure plates, turning off rotating turrets, and avoiding magic eyes are the name of the game. Most of the time you’ll be crouched, moving slowly as you snuff out candles, turn off lamps, and try to make as little noise as possible. The actual thieving comes in the form of a cute little minigame to pick locks in order to open doors or snag treasures secured in display cases. You’ll also collect clues that lead you to each mission’s big score or its story-based contract, both of which are active at once. The former could be anything from stealing enough stuff to hit a certain monetary threshold or finding specific items, while the latter requires you to “acquire” an object that only appears if you’re on that contract. It’s best to do both, but you’re not out of luck if you only do one (preferably the contract).
Guards can be annoying, but the best part is you always have an out.
Avoiding traps is simple enough if you pay attention (or use the Diamond, which makes things much easier), but the guards themselves are another thing entirely. Their patterns are predictable, but they’re alert to most sounds and even catching a glimpse of you will cause them to investigate. You’re a thief, not a fighter, and if they catch you, they’ll tell you to stop resisting (even when you’re not) before zapping you with lightning until you’re dead. If you want them gone (and you do), your best bet is to sneak up behind them and knock them out.
If they see you first, you’re not entirely defenseless. A smoke grenade will stun them long enough for you to put them to sleep, and you can always run. Plus, completing contracts and absconding with loot will level you up, giving you access to consumable items like the Insult Fairy, which distracts guards by doing exactly what you’d think, or the Pickpocket Fairy, which does… exactly what you’d think, and is super handy when you want a guard’s key without getting near him. So yeah, guards can be annoying, but the best part is you always have an out (unless you’ve already spent it), and unless you trigger a trap that locks you in a room with one, you can always run.
And if you’re smart, you can just avoid them entirely. Each thief has four slots of usable items: one is reserved for the Diamond, two are for any combination of smoke grenades, fairies, and other useful tools, and the final is unique to that thief. Thick as Thieves has two: the Spider, which is what you start with, and the Chameleon, which you unlock. The former has a grappling hook that can allow you to pull yourself up, down, and all around, and the latter can copy the form of a guard and use it to walk around in disguise.
The Chameleon is cool and suave and has some great voice lines (“and a penny for the vicar!”), but the Spider has all of that and a grappling hook, so she wins. Why walk past an annoying guard when you can just go over him, you know? What I like most, no matter who you choose, is that Thick as Thieves is always encouraging you to play smart and make good decisions. You’ll start off very cautious, but playing smart also means realizing that guard is in your path and the fastest way to where you need to be is to bomb his ass with a smoke grenade and choke him out. Yeah, being stealthy is great, but I like that you’re rewarded for playing offense and taking smart risks, too – like sprinting to get past a magic eye before it spots you.
But all the tricks in the world will only get you so far. Eventually, you’ll run into Hauntstables (incredible name, by the way), who are Constables cursed to be cops for all eternity. Some of the lore frames this as punishment, which feels valid for choosing to be a very intentionally corrupt cop, but nobody should be forced to be a cop forever. I feel for the Hauntstables when they complain about waiting forever for a cup of coffee or say it feels like they’ve been on this shift forever because, well, they have. But man they’re a pain.
Hauntstables are going to send you to an early grave more than once.
The big deal with Hauntstables is that they’re ghosts, so they can go through walls, ascend through floors, descend through roofs, and can’t be knocked out. They also hurt you if they get too close, so if you are spotted, you need to move. Getting away from them is tricky, and you mostly either need a smoke grenade to stun them or clear path to book it down to have a chance. Sometimes you’ll die not because one spotted you, but because you were low on health and he just happened to walk by. Slither Sap, one of your equipable items, allegedly has a “strange interaction” with them, but I have thrown a lot of Slither Sap at these cats and nothing seemed to happen. What does work, though, is turning on gramophones. Hauntstables do not like bagpipes. Their loss is your gain, but these guys are going to send you to an early grave more than once. Luckily, you do respawn, just without whatever loot you snagged (though you can bank your spoils at certain single-use stashes scattered across the map), which is dangerous when you’re up against a timer.
The most annoying thing about Hauntstables, though, is that they get stuck. Normal guards will see their buddies unconscious on the ground and pick them up before searching for you and then eventually going about their business if you stay hidden, but Hauntstables can’t pick people up, so they can get stuck in an infinite loop of “see guy on the ground, be shocked, be unable to do anything about it, see guy on the ground” and so on. This is funny, but it also means that Hauntstable won’t go back to his patrol path, which is a pain if you’re trying to get past the area he happens to be stuck in. Usually, this eventually resolves (especially if you die), but it’s annoying, though never gamebreaking.
What carries Thick as Thieves, aside from the charming art, roguish… rogues, and general Cool Vibes are the levels. There are unfortunately only two: the aforementioned Constable Guildhall and Elway Manor, but they’re both so good that I can almost forgive it. Each is a multi-story behemoth ripe with hidden paths and tons of ways to get where you need to be, and they do change from time to time as some paths open and others close. Combine that with your thief’s skills and the ever-changing objectives you’ll have when you enter each level (as well as difficulty options that add more traps and guards), and I never got bored.
There’s a joy to mastering these levels and knowing exactly how to get where you need to be, but there are a couple downsides. Certain notes – like the ones that explain that Hauntstables don’t like gramophones – appear on the map every time, which can be irritating when you’re looking for mission or contract-specific clues and you find one you’ve seen before. It’s also just kind of a bummer to finish a contract and know that the next one will either send you to the other level or back to where you just were. Variety is the spice of theft, after all.
My favorite thing about Thick as Thieves, though, is the online co-op. It’s fun to split up and explore separate areas, coordinate to take out a guard, or have your buddy save you at the last moment, and vice-versa. And getting picked up next to the stuff you dropped is way better than respawning in a safe area. It does make levels easier, but it’s so much more fun to play with a friend that I kind of don’t care. Besides, you can always crank up the difficulty setting if you’re into that.
Lego Batman is a joyful celebration of the entire history of Batman, but during the late '90s the Dark Knight's games had to contend with living up to the reputation of The Animated Series and working with the woeful Batman and Robin film. This is how Batman endured his darkest video game era.
Show full content
For the better part of a century, the Caped Crusader has maintained a level of aura rarely seen in characters kissing the public domain. He’s been a purple-gloved pulp avenger and a swashbuckling ‘70s love god, a camp icon and a goth baddie. Frank Miller’s iconoclastic boomer, Grant Morrison’s avatar of determination, and Scott Snyder’s Absolute unit are all wildly different iterations of a timeless concept existing under the same cowl. The games have only been a little more consistent.
We’ve previously explored the rocky origins of Batman in the world of video games, and today we look at arguably the Dark Knight’s most challenging chapter: navigating the extreme highs and lows of an era dominated by The Animated Series and Joel Schumacher’s nippled Batsuits, right as video game hardware changed how we played forever.
Almost Got ‘Im (1993 - 1994)
Batman: The Animated Series is a high-water mark among all Bat-media. Premiering in 1992, it is the platonic ideal of the Dark Knight, anchored by iconic voice performances, unheard of depth and undeniable style.
The series inspired four video games during its initial run, although one of them barely counts. Only Konami’s 1993 Game Boy title actually released under the “Animated Series” moniker, which features excellent platforming and an impressive dedication to showcase the show’s lavish production into a 2.5 inch cartridge. There’s a lot of game in that little grey box. It’s the first time Batman’s rogue’s gallery was really showcased, featuring seven A-list villains unrestrained by the smaller scope of a film adaptation. It’s also the first time we get to play as Robin, a keystone of the comic franchise whose relationship with Bruce remains criminally underexplored in movies and games to this day.
Konami followed up with an SNES title in 1994. Originally developed as a BTAS tie-in but published as The Adventures of Batman and Robin, the boy wonder is barely involved in the proceedings. Instead, a solo Batman battles through stages styled as episodes from the TV series, complete with unique art deco title cards for each. This format offers more than most Batman sidescrollers, with impressive Mode 7 boss battles, overhead Batmobile sections, and levels that mechanically complement the signature gimmicks of their respective rogues.
Not to be outdone, Sega published its own BTAS adaptation the same year. Batman and Robin for Genesis was developed by Clockwork Tortoise and is a technical tour-de-force of pseudo 3D scaling and rotation effects, utilizing brilliant tricks and scanline-level hacks to create visuals that simply shouldn’t exist on hardware primarily designed to play Altered Beast.
The gameplay doesn’t even pay lip service towards Batman’s skill as a detective, or his finely-honed physical combat skills. Instead, it’s a pure run-and-gun in the explosive tradition of Contra and Gunstar heroes, in which the Dark Knight and his ward run to the right, flinging an infinite supply of Batarangs at full auto while their tireless arms never flag. The dynamic duo can finally be played in co-op action here, though the presence of your trusty sidekick does little to alleviate the game’s notorious difficulty.
There are only four stages, but they are merciless and enormous– one autoscrolling Batwing section clocks in at over 16 minutes. Buildings explode, zeppelins are hijacked, and the entire world dissolves into a virtual reality hellscape as you make your way to Mr. Freeze’s sci-fi fortress. Anyone who can conquer the hyperactive gauntlet and throw the down-bad doctor back in his icy cell with a mere three lives and two continues deserves to be adopted by Bruce Wayne.
There’s one last game to round out this brief, beautiful era before the Bat-nipple arrived to change everything: Batman and Robin for the Sega CD. This one is particularly strange. For one thing, it’s a fully-priced release made out of what’s essentially a minigame, consisting of naught but a series of vehicle stages using the old Batman Returns engine in which the Dark Knight never gets out of his car.
What sets the Sega CD version apart, however, has nothing to do with the gameplay. Between the boring Batmobile levels we’re treated to full-motion video cutscenes that, at first glance, appear to be ripped directly from the Animated Series. That’s not technically correct, since the disc actually includes completely original footage, voiced by the same cast, directed by Bruce Timm, written by Paul Dini, and animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, the studio behind the standout episodes like Feat of Clay and Robin’s Reckoning. The 16 minutes of footage essentially comprise a lost episode, and if you can stomach the extremely compressed and dithered, 64-color video at 160p, the Sega CD cutscenes are worth tracking down.
The 16-bit era was very good to Batman, but a new age lurked ominously on the horizon. Casting aside Tim Burton’s vision and the Animated Series it inspired, a very different version of the Dark Knight would rise, bathed in a neon glow, and heralded by the haunting sounds of Seal and the Smashing Pumpkins. The games wouldn’t be much better.
The Ice Age (1995 - 2003)
On the big screen, new Batman director Joel Schumacher crafted a more toyetic vision for the Dark Knight. His first film, Batman Forever, spawned just two games. And for the first time, the movie tie-ins would be largely the same game ported to every platform, and who better to do that than the devs who brought Mortal Kombat into your living room?
Acclaim and Probe Entertainment’s Batman Forever is essentially a 2D fighter bolted to a beat ‘em up, a star-crossed pairing if there ever was one, and much like the later Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub Zero, it commits the cardinal sin of mapping jump to the up button, turning exploration into aggravation. The Dark Knight is no stranger to fighting games, but the execution in Batman Forever is, frankly, embarrassing, with so many esoteric button combinations that the instruction manual looks like sheet music.
Like Mortal Kombat, the game uses digitized sprites of stuntmen in bogus imitations of the film’s sensuously molded rubber, shuffling across bland and illegible scenery with zero Schumacher swagger onscreen. It’s astonishing anyone managed to make a movie that’s so extra into a game this dull.
If you just read a description of Batman Forever: The Arcade Game, you’d think it was largely the same as the console version. But look closer at its digitized sprites and you’ll notice that the schlubby stand-ins have been replaced with juiced-up CGI renders ala Killer Instinct, ready to melt your brain with nonstop button-smashing action. A psychedelic braindance of Game UI bombards the screen with combo counters, massive health bars, and bouncing powerups. Batman and Robin can annihilate waves of enemies with godlike ultra moves while an announcer barks phrases like “FRENZY MODE!” to a backdrop of speed metal guitars.
For all its extravagance, The Arcade Game received little fanfare. Notably, it’s the first Bat-Title IGN ever reviewed – we gave it a 5/10. Beat ‘em ups might have been Batman’s specialty, but by the late ‘90s they were considered stale and old-fashioned. The same could be said about 2D graphics, which is why the Dynamic Duo sprinted into the third dimension for their next game: Batman & Robin.
Based on the much-maligned film of the same name and originally set to release alongside it, Probe needed extra time to finish the game which forced Acclaim to delay it by a year, meaning that not only did Batman & Robin for Playstation miss the movie launch, by the time it came out the movie it was based on was already a global laughingstock. It’s a shame, because if you strip away the Schumacherian specifics there’s something genuinely ambitious underneath: a 3D, open-world Batman simulator bashing its head against the limitations of the Playstation hardware.
You control one of the three Bat-characters, including Batgirl in a series first, each patrolling the city with their own mean machine. You take discovered clues back to the Batcave, where you’ll decipher them to find out where, and more importantly when, mischief is afoot. The game runs on a relentless real-time clock, forcing you to be on time for Mr. Freeze’s latest caper or face an automatic game over. There are no checkpoints or quick restarts, so you’d better factor in the five-minute travel time to find an extremely rare save point. No one said it would be easy being Batman.
Batman and Robin has a reputation as one of the worst Batman games of all time, and it probably deserves it. Between the busted tank controls, tedious difficulty, obnoxious sound effects, and utter confusion about what you’re supposed to be doing, it’s not a pleasant experience. Look deeper, however, and you’ll see some pretty fascinating stuff buried within. Gotham is littered with locations to explore, from Arkham Asylum to the Ace Chemical Plant to Crime Alley itself, all accessible by Bat-foot or vehicle. The game looks great for its age, and if you’re enough of a sicko to somehow beat it, you’re rewarded with a credits scene featuring dorky caricatures of the development team. They might not have delivered the best Batman game, but these doe-eyed goofballs clearly gave it all they had.
No Man’s Land (2000 - 2003)
The next Batman game wasn’t really a Batman game, in the sense that the man under the cowl isn’t Bruce Wayne. Instead, it was based on Batman Beyond, the cult classic animated series set in 2039 in which scrappy teenager Terry McGinnis inherited the mantle from the retired billionaire.
2000’s Return of the Joker for Nintendo 64, PlayStation, and Game Boy Color is an adaptation of the direct-to-video movie of the same name, a controversial film that was heavily censored for its disturbing portrayal of child brainwashing and violence, which is a bit rich considering Batman has spent decades recruiting traumatized orphans to break people’s bones on his behalf.
The game is less interesting than the movie’s reputation suggests, a barebones, entirely unremarkable polygonal beat-’em-up that barely takes advantage of Terry’s futuristic tech and only superficially scratches the surface of the extremely schway TV show it adapted. Released at the end of a console generation with exciting new hardware already on the market, Return of the Joker’s existence registered as a mere twip on the radar that still remains the only dedicated Batman Beyond game we’ve ever gotten.
Return of the Joker was the first Batman game published by Ubisoft, which started its stewardship of the IP rights on a bad foot and promptly made it worse with a follow-up, Gotham City Racer. One persistent tension throughout the history of Batman games is the balance between superhero action and driving segments, two very different gaming rhythms welded uneasily together. A game built entirely on the driving half of that equation had been tried before and hadn’t worked then either, and whatever refinements 3D vehicular combat had undergone in the intervening years weren’t enough to make Gotham City Racer an enjoyable experience. The Sega CD at least had Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and the anime studio that made Akira behind it.
Gotham City Racer and Ubisoft’s subsequent titles would all work within the stylings of The New Batman Adventures, the revamped animated series. First came Batman: Vengeance, a third-person action-adventure game for PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox in 2001. Batman’s brand of high-tech sneak-aroundery plays like a chubby guy in hockey pads compared to Solid Snake and Sam Fisher, but Ubisoft Montreal created an ambitious game that tries to encompass every aspect of Batman’s extremely weird job, but without anything to really pull you through it.
What it did offer was a faithful translation of the animated series into 3D, complete with an original story and great performances from the all-star voice cast that helped give it a premium, classic BTAS feel. Even the side-scrolling Game Boy Advance version punches above its weight in visuals and variety, from platforming and shmup sections to solving overhead sokoban dungeons.
Instead of refining the raw potential of the Vengeance approach, Ubisoft swerved back into familiar territory with the bog-standard beat-’em-up Batman: The Rise of Sin Tzu. The gameplay is rather retrograde for 2003, a bland button-mashing brawler. The most notable aspect of the gameplay is that it’s our first opportunity to kick some butts as Nightwing, though the relatively low polygon count did a disservice to the former Robin’s notorious physique.
The real draw of Rise of Sin Tzu is the titular villain, a new character heavily hyped as the second coming of Harley Quinn. Voiced by the late Cary-Hiryoki Togawa, Sin Tzu was a master planner and military strategist who engineered an Arkham outbreak to weaken Gotham’s fabled Dark Knight before beating him in single combat. He’s essentially Bane mixed with Big Boss, but despite his cool golden skin and the yin-yang plastered to his forehead like a Pog, the Gary Stu known as Sin Tzu has retreated into obscurity after the poor reception to his debut game. Outside of rare cameos he’s been trapped on sixth-generation consoles for the last twenty years.
Sin Tzu would be Ubisoft’s final Batman title, but the promised Batman renaissance was still a few years away. In the meantime, there was one more game to close out this extremely disappointing era: Kemco’s cautionary tale Batman: Dark Tomorrow.
On paper, Dark Tomorrow seemed promising: a 3D Batman game based on the comic book ideal of the character, unburdened by movies or TV and relying on the excellent comics of the era for flavor, showcasing lesser-known characters like Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl for the first and basically only time.
Scott Peterson, a longtime writer and editor of DC’s Batman books, was tapped to write the story, a serviceably cinematic tale involving Ra’s Al Ghul threatening to flood the world’s coastlines while Batman is busy rescuing Jim Gordon from the bedlam of Arkham Asylum. Squint and the concept kind of resembles Rocksteady’s revolutionary game that was still six years away, though the execution was anything but.
Dark Tomorrow’s problems started at the top. The project was led by a would-be film producer who had never shipped a game before, and he prioritized the CGI cutscenes and overall presentation above all else. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded a full symphonic score, while the worthless enemy AI was programmed through a Game Boy Advance emulator by a team with mostly handheld experience.
What began as a sprawling, urban open world ala Spider-Man 2 instead became a linear, laborious trek through colorless warehouses, docks, factories, and sewers before schlepping through Arkham. Fixed camera angles give a nauseating effect, mocking the very notion of a 180-degree rule and making combat borderline impossible. On the rare occasion the Dark Knight knocks someone down, he has to handcuff every single enemy with a vibe-shattering mandatory cutscene you’ll watch a thousand times.
The game has multiple endings, all but one of which results in the death of Batman or an apocalyptic global flood. Even if you defeat Ra’s al Ghul, millions will be unalived unless you’ve solved a puzzle the game never hints at, using an ability you’ve had no reason to touch the entire time.
If you want a summary of Batman games in 2003, “Dark Tomorrow” just about covers it. The character was a punchline post-Schumacher, the DCAU was winding down, and the games’ performance over the last decade ranged from aggressively mid to utterly atrocious. The comic books were cooking, but things looked bleak on the Bat-front as far as pop culture and gaming were concerned. Something had to give and something would. In the immortal words of Aaron Eckhart: the night is darkest before dawn. And after a very dark night, the gates of Arkham Asylum were getting ready to open…
Our exploration of the history of Batman video games has already dived into the era of Tim Burton's gothic movies, and tomorrow's chapter will examine how the Arkham series changed superhero games forever.
There's not a lot to it, but it’s hard to find much fault with these stealthy co-op heists.
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We made it to the Magic Door with less than 10 seconds left. A couple of last-second run-ins with the guards that populate the Constable Guildhall took time we didn’t have, but we managed to escape – our contract completed, our mission objective fulfilled, and our pockets loaded down with the ill-gotten gains we’d liberated from the cops. Not a bad day’s work. Moments like this are when Thick as Thieves sings: sneaking out of a tough situation, figuring out a new way to get where you need to be, a last second escape with zeroes on the clock. Combine co-op play, a couple of thieves with unique toolkits, excellent level design that constantly forces you to make interesting decisions, and a surprisingly compelling story, and Thick as Thieves has enough to keep you coming back for one last job. I just wish there was more of it. (And that I could kill Hauntstables. If the Hauntstables have no enemies, I have departed this Earth.)
Thick as Thieves is set in 1910s Kilcairn, a fictional Scottish city that meets at the collision of magic and technology. You break into (get it? Do you get it?) the Thieves’ Guild by stealing the Vistara Diamond. But the diamond ain’t just a big shiny rock on a stick; it reveals nearby guards, hidden traps, and even treasures – and wilder stuff like hidden magic doors where the really good loot is kept. Uncovering the nature of the Diamond means uncovering the history of the city itself, and a prominent family who lived there, and pretty soon what started as a simple heist becomes a small part of a much bigger story that took me around 12 hours to tie the knot on.
Thick as Thieves’ setup – get in, get what you came for, get out – means there isn’t a lot of what you’d consider a traditional story. Most of it is told though text-based communiques that hand out your mission objectives or congratulate you on a job well done, and scattered notes that provide clues about the location of (or security surrounding) the things you’re there to snatch mid-mission. What’s here is compelling, but you kind of have to look for it, and a good chunk of it is especially easy to miss if you’re playing co-op – which you absolutely should be if you have a friend who wants to get grabby with other peoples’ things.
Thieving effectively means being aware of your surroundings and not getting caught, so if you’ve ever played a stealth game, you’ll be at home here. Crouching under trip wires, avoiding pressure plates, turning off rotating turrets, and avoiding magic eyes are the name of the game. Most of the time you’ll be crouched, moving slowly as you snuff out candles, turn off lamps, and try to make as little noise as possible. The actual thieving comes in the form of a cute little minigame to pick locks in order to open doors or snag treasures secured in display cases. You’ll also collect clues that lead you to each mission’s big score or its story-based contract, both of which are active at once. The former could be anything from stealing enough stuff to hit a certain monetary threshold or finding specific items, while the latter requires you to “acquire” an object that only appears if you’re on that contract. It’s best to do both, but you’re not out of luck if you only do one (preferably the contract).
Guards can be annoying, but the best part is you always have an out.
Avoiding traps is simple enough if you pay attention (or use the Diamond, which makes things much easier), but the guards themselves are another thing entirely. Their patterns are predictable, but they’re alert to most sounds and even catching a glimpse of you will cause them to investigate. You’re a thief, not a fighter, and if they catch you, they’ll tell you to stop resisting (even when you’re not) before zapping you with lightning until you’re dead. If you want them gone (and you do), your best bet is to sneak up behind them and knock them out.
If they see you first, you’re not entirely defenseless. A smoke grenade will stun them long enough for you to put them to sleep, and you can always run. Plus, completing contracts and absconding with loot will level you up, giving you access to consumable items like the Insult Fairy, which distracts guards by doing exactly what you’d think, or the Pickpocket Fairy, which does… exactly what you’d think, and is super handy when you want a guard’s key without getting near him. So yeah, guards can be annoying, but the best part is you always have an out (unless you’ve already spent it), and unless you trigger a trap that locks you in a room with one, you can always run.
And if you’re smart, you can just avoid them entirely. Each thief has four slots of usable items: one is reserved for the Diamond, two are for any combination of smoke grenades, fairies, and other useful tools, and the final is unique to that thief. Thick as Thieves has two: the Spider, which is what you start with, and the Chameleon, which you unlock. The former has a grappling hook that can allow you to pull yourself up, down, and all around, and the latter can copy the form of a guard and use it to walk around in disguise.
The Chameleon is cool and suave and has some great voice lines (“and a penny for the vicar!”), but the Spider has all of that and a grappling hook, so she wins. Why walk past an annoying guard when you can just go over him, you know? What I like most, no matter who you choose, is that Thick as Thieves is always encouraging you to play smart and make good decisions. You’ll start off very cautious, but playing smart also means realizing that guard is in your path and the fastest way to where you need to be is to bomb his ass with a smoke grenade and choke him out. Yeah, being stealthy is great, but I like that you’re rewarded for playing offense and taking smart risks, too – like sprinting to get past a magic eye before it spots you.
But all the tricks in the world will only get you so far. Eventually, you’ll run into Hauntstables (incredible name, by the way), who are Constables cursed to be cops for all eternity. Some of the lore frames this as punishment, which feels valid for choosing to be a very intentionally corrupt cop, but nobody should be forced to be a cop forever. I feel for the Hauntstables when they complain about waiting forever for a cup of coffee or say it feels like they’ve been on this shift forever because, well, they have. But man they’re a pain.
Hauntstables are going to send you to an early grave more than once.
The big deal with Hauntstables is that they’re ghosts, so they can go through walls, ascend through floors, descend through roofs, and can’t be knocked out. They also hurt you if they get too close, so if you are spotted, you need to move. Getting away from them is tricky, and you mostly either need a smoke grenade to stun them or clear path to book it down to have a chance. Sometimes you’ll die not because one spotted you, but because you were low on health and he just happened to walk by. Slither Sap, one of your equipable items, allegedly has a “strange interaction” with them, but I have thrown a lot of Slither Sap at these cats and nothing seemed to happen. What does work, though, is turning on gramophones. Hauntstables do not like bagpipes. Their loss is your gain, but these guys are going to send you to an early grave more than once. Luckily, you do respawn, just without whatever loot you snagged (though you can bank your spoils at certain single-use stashes scattered across the map), which is dangerous when you’re up against a timer.
The most annoying thing about Hauntstables, though, is that they get stuck. Normal guards will see their buddies unconscious on the ground and pick them up before searching for you and then eventually going about their business if you stay hidden, but Hauntstables can’t pick people up, so they can get stuck in an infinite loop of “see guy on the ground, be shocked, be unable to do anything about it, see guy on the ground” and so on. This is funny, but it also means that Hauntstable won’t go back to his patrol path, which is a pain if you’re trying to get past the area he happens to be stuck in. Usually, this eventually resolves (especially if you die), but it’s annoying, though never gamebreaking.
What carries Thick as Thieves, aside from the charming art, roguish… rogues, and general Cool Vibes are the levels. There are unfortunately only two: the aforementioned Constable Guildhall and Elway Manor, but they’re both so good that I can almost forgive it. Each is a multi-story behemoth ripe with hidden paths and tons of ways to get where you need to be, and they do change from time to time as some paths open and others close. Combine that with your thief’s skills and the ever-changing objectives you’ll have when you enter each level (as well as difficulty options that add more traps and guards), and I never got bored.
There’s a joy to mastering these levels and knowing exactly how to get where you need to be, but there are a couple downsides. Certain notes – like the ones that explain that Hauntstables don’t like gramophones – appear on the map every time, which can be irritating when you’re looking for mission or contract-specific clues and you find one you’ve seen before. It’s also just kind of a bummer to finish a contract and know that the next one will either send you to the other level or back to where you just were. Variety is the spice of theft, after all.
My favorite thing about Thick as Thieves, though, is the online co-op. It’s fun to split up and explore separate areas, coordinate to take out a guard, or have your buddy save you at the last moment, and vice-versa. And getting picked up next to the stuff you dropped is way better than respawning in a safe area. It does make levels easier, but it’s so much more fun to play with a friend that I kind of don’t care. Besides, you can always crank up the difficulty setting if you’re into that.
There's not a lot to it, but it’s hard to find much fault with these stealthy co-op heists.
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We made it to the Magic Door with less than 10 seconds left. A couple of last-second run-ins with the guards that populate the Constable Guildhall took time we didn’t have, but we managed to escape – our contract completed, our mission objective fulfilled, and our pockets loaded down with the ill-gotten gains we’d liberated from the cops. Not a bad day’s work. Moments like this are when Thick as Thieves sings: sneaking out of a tough situation, figuring out a new way to get where you need to be, a last second escape with zeroes on the clock. Combine co-op play, a couple of thieves with unique toolkits, excellent level design that constantly forces you to make interesting decisions, and a surprisingly compelling story, and Thick as Thieves has enough to keep you coming back for one last job. I just wish there was more of it. (And that I could kill Hauntstables. If the Hauntstables have no enemies, I have departed this Earth.)
Thick as Thieves is set in 1910s Kilcairn, a fictional Scottish city that meets at the collision of magic and technology. You break into (get it? Do you get it?) the Thieves’ Guild by stealing the Vistara Diamond. But the diamond ain’t just a big shiny rock on a stick; it reveals nearby guards, hidden traps, and even treasures – and wilder stuff like hidden magic doors where the really good loot is kept. Uncovering the nature of the Diamond means uncovering the history of the city itself, and a prominent family who lived there, and pretty soon what started as a simple heist becomes a small part of a much bigger story that took me around 12 hours to tie the knot on.
Thick as Thieves’ setup – get in, get what you came for, get out – means there isn’t a lot of what you’d consider a traditional story. Most of it is told though text-based communiques that hand out your mission objectives or congratulate you on a job well done, and scattered notes that provide clues about the location of (or security surrounding) the things you’re there to snatch mid-mission. What’s here is compelling, but you kind of have to look for it, and a good chunk of it is especially easy to miss if you’re playing co-op – which you absolutely should be if you have a friend who wants to get grabby with other peoples’ things.
Thieving effectively means being aware of your surroundings and not getting caught, so if you’ve ever played a stealth game, you’ll be at home here. Crouching under trip wires, avoiding pressure plates, turning off rotating turrets, and avoiding magic eyes are the name of the game. Most of the time you’ll be crouched, moving slowly as you snuff out candles, turn off lamps, and try to make as little noise as possible. The actual thieving comes in the form of a cute little minigame to pick locks in order to open doors or snag treasures secured in display cases. You’ll also collect clues that lead you to each mission’s big score or its story-based contract, both of which are active at once. The former could be anything from stealing enough stuff to hit a certain monetary threshold or finding specific items, while the latter requires you to “acquire” an object that only appears if you’re on that contract. It’s best to do both, but you’re not out of luck if you only do one (preferably the contract).
Guards can be annoying, but the best part is you always have an out.
Avoiding traps is simple enough if you pay attention (or use the Diamond, which makes things much easier), but the guards themselves are another thing entirely. Their patterns are predictable, but they’re alert to most sounds and even catching a glimpse of you will cause them to investigate. You’re a thief, not a fighter, and if they catch you, they’ll tell you to stop resisting (even when you’re not) before zapping you with lightning until you’re dead. If you want them gone (and you do), your best bet is to sneak up behind them and knock them out.
If they see you first, you’re not entirely defenseless. A smoke grenade will stun them long enough for you to put them to sleep, and you can always run. Plus, completing contracts and absconding with loot will level you up, giving you access to consumable items like the Insult Fairy, which distracts guards by doing exactly what you’d think, or the Pickpocket Fairy, which does… exactly what you’d think, and is super handy when you want a guard’s key without getting near him. So yeah, guards can be annoying, but the best part is you always have an out (unless you’ve already spent it), and unless you trigger a trap that locks you in a room with one, you can always run.
And if you’re smart, you can just avoid them entirely. Each thief has four slots of usable items: one is reserved for the Diamond, two are for any combination of smoke grenades, fairies, and other useful tools, and the final is unique to that thief. Thick as Thieves has two: the Spider, which is what you start with, and the Chameleon, which you unlock. The former has a grappling hook that can allow you to pull yourself up, down, and all around, and the latter can copy the form of a guard and use it to walk around in disguise.
The Chameleon is cool and suave and has some great voice lines (“and a penny for the vicar!”), but the Spider has all of that and a grappling hook, so she wins. Why walk past an annoying guard when you can just go over him, you know? What I like most, no matter who you choose, is that Thick as Thieves is always encouraging you to play smart and make good decisions. You’ll start off very cautious, but playing smart also means realizing that guard is in your path and the fastest way to where you need to be is to bomb his ass with a smoke grenade and choke him out. Yeah, being stealthy is great, but I like that you’re rewarded for playing offense and taking smart risks, too – like sprinting to get past a magic eye before it spots you.
But all the tricks in the world will only get you so far. Eventually, you’ll run into Hauntstables (incredible name, by the way), who are Constables cursed to be cops for all eternity. Some of the lore frames this as punishment, which feels valid for choosing to be a very intentionally corrupt cop, but nobody should be forced to be a cop forever. I feel for the Hauntstables when they complain about waiting forever for a cup of coffee or say it feels like they’ve been on this shift forever because, well, they have. But man they’re a pain.
Hauntstables are going to send you to an early grave more than once.
The big deal with Hauntstables is that they’re ghosts, so they can go through walls, ascend through floors, descend through roofs, and can’t be knocked out. They also hurt you if they get too close, so if you are spotted, you need to move. Getting away from them is tricky, and you mostly either need a smoke grenade to stun them or clear path to book it down to have a chance. Sometimes you’ll die not because one spotted you, but because you were low on health and he just happened to walk by. Slither Sap, one of your equipable items, allegedly has a “strange interaction” with them, but I have thrown a lot of Slither Sap at these cats and nothing seemed to happen. What does work, though, is turning on gramophones. Hauntstables do not like bagpipes. Their loss is your gain, but these guys are going to send you to an early grave more than once. Luckily, you do respawn, just without whatever loot you snagged (though you can bank your spoils at certain single-use stashes scattered across the map), which is dangerous when you’re up against a timer.
The most annoying thing about Hauntstables, though, is that they get stuck. Normal guards will see their buddies unconscious on the ground and pick them up before searching for you and then eventually going about their business if you stay hidden, but Hauntstables can’t pick people up, so they can get stuck in an infinite loop of “see guy on the ground, be shocked, be unable to do anything about it, see guy on the ground” and so on. This is funny, but it also means that Hauntstable won’t go back to his patrol path, which is a pain if you’re trying to get past the area he happens to be stuck in. Usually, this eventually resolves (especially if you die), but it’s annoying, though never gamebreaking.
What carries Thick as Thieves, aside from the charming art, roguish… rogues, and general Cool Vibes are the levels. There are unfortunately only two: the aforementioned Constable Guildhall and Elway Manor, but they’re both so good that I can almost forgive it. Each is a multi-story behemoth ripe with hidden paths and tons of ways to get where you need to be, and they do change from time to time as some paths open and others close. Combine that with your thief’s skills and the ever-changing objectives you’ll have when you enter each level (as well as difficulty options that add more traps and guards), and I never got bored.
There’s a joy to mastering these levels and knowing exactly how to get where you need to be, but there are a couple downsides. Certain notes – like the ones that explain that Hauntstables don’t like gramophones – appear on the map every time, which can be irritating when you’re looking for mission or contract-specific clues and you find one you’ve seen before. It’s also just kind of a bummer to finish a contract and know that the next one will either send you to the other level or back to where you just were. Variety is the spice of theft, after all.
My favorite thing about Thick as Thieves, though, is the online co-op. It’s fun to split up and explore separate areas, coordinate to take out a guard, or have your buddy save you at the last moment, and vice-versa. And getting picked up next to the stuff you dropped is way better than respawning in a safe area. It does make levels easier, but it’s so much more fun to play with a friend that I kind of don’t care. Besides, you can always crank up the difficulty setting if you’re into that.
Lego Batman is a joyful celebration of the entire history of Batman, but during the late '90s the Dark Knight's games had to contend with living up to the reputation of The Animated Series and working with the woeful Batman and Robin film. This is how Batman endured his darkest video game era.
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For the better part of a century, the Caped Crusader has maintained a level of aura rarely seen in characters kissing the public domain. He’s been a purple-gloved pulp avenger and a swashbuckling ‘70s love god, a camp icon and a goth baddie. Frank Miller’s iconoclastic boomer, Grant Morrison’s avatar of determination, and Scott Snyder’s Absolute unit are all wildly different iterations of a timeless concept existing under the same cowl. The games have only been a little more consistent.
We’ve previously explored the rocky origins of Batman in the world of video games, and today we look at arguably the Dark Knight’s most challenging chapter: navigating the extreme highs and lows of an era dominated by The Animated Series and Joel Schumacher’s nippled Batsuits, right as video game hardware changed how we played forever.
Almost Got ‘Im (1993 - 1994)
Batman: The Animated Series is a high-water mark among all Bat-media. Premiering in 1992, it is the platonic ideal of the Dark Knight, anchored by iconic voice performances, unheard of depth and undeniable style.
The series inspired four video games during its initial run, although one of them barely counts. Only Konami’s 1993 Game Boy title actually released under the “Animated Series” moniker, which features excellent platforming and an impressive dedication to showcase the show’s lavish production into a 2.5 inch cartridge. There’s a lot of game in that little grey box. It’s the first time Batman’s rogue’s gallery was really showcased, featuring seven A-list villains unrestrained by the smaller scope of a film adaptation. It’s also the first time we get to play as Robin, a keystone of the comic franchise whose relationship with Bruce remains criminally underexplored in movies and games to this day.
Konami followed up with an SNES title in 1994. Originally developed as a BTAS tie-in but published as The Adventures of Batman and Robin, the boy wonder is barely involved in the proceedings. Instead, a solo Batman battles through stages styled as episodes from the TV series, complete with unique art deco title cards for each. This format offers more than most Batman sidescrollers, with impressive Mode 7 boss battles, overhead Batmobile sections, and levels that mechanically complement the signature gimmicks of their respective rogues.
Not to be outdone, Sega published its own BTAS adaptation the same year. Batman and Robin for Genesis was developed by Clockwork Tortoise and is a technical tour-de-force of pseudo 3D scaling and rotation effects, utilizing brilliant tricks and scanline-level hacks to create visuals that simply shouldn’t exist on hardware primarily designed to play Altered Beast.
The gameplay doesn’t even pay lip service towards Batman’s skill as a detective, or his finely-honed physical combat skills. Instead, it’s a pure run-and-gun in the explosive tradition of Contra and Gunstar heroes, in which the Dark Knight and his ward run to the right, flinging an infinite supply of Batarangs at full auto while their tireless arms never flag. The dynamic duo can finally be played in co-op action here, though the presence of your trusty sidekick does little to alleviate the game’s notorious difficulty.
There are only four stages, but they are merciless and enormous– one autoscrolling Batwing section clocks in at over 16 minutes. Buildings explode, zeppelins are hijacked, and the entire world dissolves into a virtual reality hellscape as you make your way to Mr. Freeze’s sci-fi fortress. Anyone who can conquer the hyperactive gauntlet and throw the down-bad doctor back in his icy cell with a mere three lives and two continues deserves to be adopted by Bruce Wayne.
There’s one last game to round out this brief, beautiful era before the Bat-nipple arrived to change everything: Batman and Robin for the Sega CD. This one is particularly strange. For one thing, it’s a fully-priced release made out of what’s essentially a minigame, consisting of naught but a series of vehicle stages using the old Batman Returns engine in which the Dark Knight never gets out of his car.
What sets the Sega CD version apart, however, has nothing to do with the gameplay. Between the boring Batmobile levels we’re treated to full-motion video cutscenes that, at first glance, appear to be ripped directly from the Animated Series. That’s not technically correct, since the disc actually includes completely original footage, voiced by the same cast, directed by Bruce Timm, written by Paul Dini, and animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, the studio behind the standout episodes like Feat of Clay and Robin’s Reckoning. The 16 minutes of footage essentially comprise a lost episode, and if you can stomach the extremely compressed and dithered, 64-color video at 160p, the Sega CD cutscenes are worth tracking down.
The 16-bit era was very good to Batman, but a new age lurked ominously on the horizon. Casting aside Tim Burton’s vision and the Animated Series it inspired, a very different version of the Dark Knight would rise, bathed in a neon glow, and heralded by the haunting sounds of Seal and the Smashing Pumpkins. The games wouldn’t be much better.
The Ice Age (1995 - 2003)
On the big screen, new Batman director Joel Schumacher crafted a more toyetic vision for the Dark Knight. His first film, Batman Forever, spawned just two games. And for the first time, the movie tie-ins would be largely the same game ported to every platform, and who better to do that than the devs who brought Mortal Kombat into your living room?
Acclaim and Probe Entertainment’s Batman Forever is essentially a 2D fighter bolted to a beat ‘em up, a star-crossed pairing if there ever was one, and much like the later Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub Zero, it commits the cardinal sin of mapping jump to the up button, turning exploration into aggravation. The Dark Knight is no stranger to fighting games, but the execution in Batman Forever is, frankly, embarrassing, with so many esoteric button combinations that the instruction manual looks like sheet music.
Like Mortal Kombat, the game uses digitized sprites of stuntmen in bogus imitations of the film’s sensuously molded rubber, shuffling across bland and illegible scenery with zero Schumacher swagger onscreen. It’s astonishing anyone managed to make a movie that’s so extra into a game this dull.
If you just read a description of Batman Forever: The Arcade Game, you’d think it was largely the same as the console version. But look closer at its digitized sprites and you’ll notice that the schlubby stand-ins have been replaced with juiced-up CGI renders ala Killer Instinct, ready to melt your brain with nonstop button-smashing action. A psychedelic braindance of Game UI bombards the screen with combo counters, massive health bars, and bouncing powerups. Batman and Robin can annihilate waves of enemies with godlike ultra moves while an announcer barks phrases like “FRENZY MODE!” to a backdrop of speed metal guitars.
For all its extravagance, The Arcade Game received little fanfare. Notably, it’s the first Bat-Title IGN ever reviewed – we gave it a 5/10. Beat ‘em ups might have been Batman’s specialty, but by the late ‘90s they were considered stale and old-fashioned. The same could be said about 2D graphics, which is why the Dynamic Duo sprinted into the third dimension for their next game: Batman & Robin.
Based on the much-maligned film of the same name and originally set to release alongside it, Probe needed extra time to finish the game which forced Acclaim to delay it by a year, meaning that not only did Batman & Robin for Playstation miss the movie launch, by the time it came out the movie it was based on was already a global laughingstock. It’s a shame, because if you strip away the Schumacherian specifics there’s something genuinely ambitious underneath: a 3D, open-world Batman simulator bashing its head against the limitations of the Playstation hardware.
You control one of the three Bat-characters, including Batgirl in a series first, each patrolling the city with their own mean machine. You take discovered clues back to the Batcave, where you’ll decipher them to find out where, and more importantly when, mischief is afoot. The game runs on a relentless real-time clock, forcing you to be on time for Mr. Freeze’s latest caper or face an automatic game over. There are no checkpoints or quick restarts, so you’d better factor in the five-minute travel time to find an extremely rare save point. No one said it would be easy being Batman.
Batman and Robin has a reputation as one of the worst Batman games of all time, and it probably deserves it. Between the busted tank controls, tedious difficulty, obnoxious sound effects, and utter confusion about what you’re supposed to be doing, it’s not a pleasant experience. Look deeper, however, and you’ll see some pretty fascinating stuff buried within. Gotham is littered with locations to explore, from Arkham Asylum to the Ace Chemical Plant to Crime Alley itself, all accessible by Bat-foot or vehicle. The game looks great for its age, and if you’re enough of a sicko to somehow beat it, you’re rewarded with a credits scene featuring dorky caricatures of the development team. They might not have delivered the best Batman game, but these doe-eyed goofballs clearly gave it all they had.
No Man’s Land (2000 - 2003)
The next Batman game wasn’t really a Batman game, in the sense that the man under the cowl isn’t Bruce Wayne. Instead, it was based on Batman Beyond, the cult classic animated series set in 2039 in which scrappy teenager Terry McGinnis inherited the mantle from the retired billionaire.
2000’s Return of the Joker for Nintendo 64, PlayStation, and Game Boy Color is an adaptation of the direct-to-video movie of the same name, a controversial film that was heavily censored for its disturbing portrayal of child brainwashing and violence, which is a bit rich considering Batman has spent decades recruiting traumatized orphans to break people’s bones on his behalf.
The game is less interesting than the movie’s reputation suggests, a barebones, entirely unremarkable polygonal beat-’em-up that barely takes advantage of Terry’s futuristic tech and only superficially scratches the surface of the extremely schway TV show it adapted. Released at the end of a console generation with exciting new hardware already on the market, Return of the Joker’s existence registered as a mere twip on the radar that still remains the only dedicated Batman Beyond game we’ve ever gotten.
Return of the Joker was the first Batman game published by Ubisoft, which started its stewardship of the IP rights on a bad foot and promptly made it worse with a follow-up, Gotham City Racer. One persistent tension throughout the history of Batman games is the balance between superhero action and driving segments, two very different gaming rhythms welded uneasily together. A game built entirely on the driving half of that equation had been tried before and hadn’t worked then either, and whatever refinements 3D vehicular combat had undergone in the intervening years weren’t enough to make Gotham City Racer an enjoyable experience. The Sega CD at least had Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and the anime studio that made Akira behind it.
Gotham City Racer and Ubisoft’s subsequent titles would all work within the stylings of The New Batman Adventures, the revamped animated series. First came Batman: Vengeance, a third-person action-adventure game for PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox in 2001. Batman’s brand of high-tech sneak-aroundery plays like a chubby guy in hockey pads compared to Solid Snake and Sam Fisher, but Ubisoft Montreal created an ambitious game that tries to encompass every aspect of Batman’s extremely weird job, but without anything to really pull you through it.
What it did offer was a faithful translation of the animated series into 3D, complete with an original story and great performances from the all-star voice cast that helped give it a premium, classic BTAS feel. Even the side-scrolling Game Boy Advance version punches above its weight in visuals and variety, from platforming and shmup sections to solving overhead sokoban dungeons.
Instead of refining the raw potential of the Vengeance approach, Ubisoft swerved back into familiar territory with the bog-standard beat-’em-up Batman: The Rise of Sin Tzu. The gameplay is rather retrograde for 2003, a bland button-mashing brawler. The most notable aspect of the gameplay is that it’s our first opportunity to kick some butts as Nightwing, though the relatively low polygon count did a disservice to the former Robin’s notorious physique.
The real draw of Rise of Sin Tzu is the titular villain, a new character heavily hyped as the second coming of Harley Quinn. Voiced by the late Cary-Hiryoki Togawa, Sin Tzu was a master planner and military strategist who engineered an Arkham outbreak to weaken Gotham’s fabled Dark Knight before beating him in single combat. He’s essentially Bane mixed with Big Boss, but despite his cool golden skin and the yin-yang plastered to his forehead like a Pog, the Gary Stu known as Sin Tzu has retreated into obscurity after the poor reception to his debut game. Outside of rare cameos he’s been trapped on sixth-generation consoles for the last twenty years.
Sin Tzu would be Ubisoft’s final Batman title, but the promised Batman renaissance was still a few years away. In the meantime, there was one more game to close out this extremely disappointing era: Kemco’s cautionary tale Batman: Dark Tomorrow.
On paper, Dark Tomorrow seemed promising: a 3D Batman game based on the comic book ideal of the character, unburdened by movies or TV and relying on the excellent comics of the era for flavor, showcasing lesser-known characters like Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl for the first and basically only time.
Scott Peterson, a longtime writer and editor of DC’s Batman books, was tapped to write the story, a serviceably cinematic tale involving Ra’s Al Ghul threatening to flood the world’s coastlines while Batman is busy rescuing Jim Gordon from the bedlam of Arkham Asylum. Squint and the concept kind of resembles Rocksteady’s revolutionary game that was still six years away, though the execution was anything but.
Dark Tomorrow’s problems started at the top. The project was led by a would-be film producer who had never shipped a game before, and he prioritized the CGI cutscenes and overall presentation above all else. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded a full symphonic score, while the worthless enemy AI was programmed through a Game Boy Advance emulator by a team with mostly handheld experience.
What began as a sprawling, urban open world ala Spider-Man 2 instead became a linear, laborious trek through colorless warehouses, docks, factories, and sewers before schlepping through Arkham. Fixed camera angles give a nauseating effect, mocking the very notion of a 180-degree rule and making combat borderline impossible. On the rare occasion the Dark Knight knocks someone down, he has to handcuff every single enemy with a vibe-shattering mandatory cutscene you’ll watch a thousand times.
The game has multiple endings, all but one of which results in the death of Batman or an apocalyptic global flood. Even if you defeat Ra’s al Ghul, millions will be unalived unless you’ve solved a puzzle the game never hints at, using an ability you’ve had no reason to touch the entire time.
If you want a summary of Batman games in 2003, “Dark Tomorrow” just about covers it. The character was a punchline post-Schumacher, the DCAU was winding down, and the games’ performance over the last decade ranged from aggressively mid to utterly atrocious. The comic books were cooking, but things looked bleak on the Bat-front as far as pop culture and gaming were concerned. Something had to give and something would. In the immortal words of Aaron Eckhart: the night is darkest before dawn. And after a very dark night, the gates of Arkham Asylum were getting ready to open…
Our exploration of the history of Batman video games has already dived into the era of Tim Burton's gothic movies, and tomorrow's chapter will examine how the Arkham series changed superhero games forever.
Preorders are live for a brand new 4K steelbook for Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead. Here's where you can preorder a copy and what bonus features are included.
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Sam Raimi’s horror classic, The Evil Dead, is officially getting a 4K steelbook this year to celebrate its 45th anniversary. For fans who can't wait to add it to their physical media library, preorders are now live for $39.99 (see it here at Amazon) and it's set to be released on July 7.
That timing couldn't be better, as the franchise's next entry, Evil Dead Burn, is set to be released just days after on July 10. So what better time to rewatch it once you get your hands on it? Head to the links below to preorder a copy before it sells out, and further down you can learn more about what bonus features come with it.
This steelbook comes with The Evil Dead on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and as a digital copy. Below, you can get a closer look at the artwork and imagery on the front cover, inside, and back cover, and further down we've detailed what bonus features are included with this stacked new release.
The Evil Dead 4K Steelbook Bonus Features
Feature presented in HD, at a 1.33:1 aspect ratio sourced from the 4K master
English 5.1 + English 2-Channel Surround
Commentary with Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell
Picture-in-Picture: Join Us! The Undying Legacy of The Evil Dead
One by One We Will Take You: The Untold Saga of The Evil Dead
Treasures from the Cutting Room Floor
At the Drive-In
Discovering Evil Dead
Make-Up Test
4 TV Spots
Theatrical Trailer
Optional English and Spanish subtitles for the main feature
If you're a horror fan looking for more spooky features to watch at home, I have good news: There are quite a few releasing soon that are worth adding to your library. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, Lee Cronin's The Mummy, and a 4K steelbook for 28 Days Later are all releasing over the next few months, but that's certainly not all. Have a look at our breakdown of upcoming 4Ks and Blu-rays to see what else is dropping in a physical format soon to start filling up your library.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
Nintendo Switch 2: Choose Your Game Bundle is available now, giving you a choice between Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Pokémon Pokopia.
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If you haven’t picked up a Nintendo Switch 2 yet, it might be time to do so. The reason is twofold. One is the impending price increase that will raise the price from $449.99 to $499.99 in the US starting September 1. The other is because Nintendo just released a bundle that gets you a Switch 2 console, plus your choice between three Switch 2-exclusive games, all for $499.99, saving you up to $30 off buying them separately (see it at Amazon). This is the best deal we’re likely to see between now and the price hike, so grab it if you want it.
The game you get is a digital download, and you can choose between Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Pokémon Pokopia. Click a title to read our review, but no game scored below an 8/10, so they’re all worth picking up. You just get to choose which one you want to play first. If you want the best bang for your buck, go with Mario Kart World, as that game (in)famously retails for $79.99, while the other two are $69.99.
I got a Switch 2 at launch, and I’m incredibly happy with the purchase. The 7.9-inch display looks enormous compared to the original Switch. The colors are so vibrant, I don’t miss my old Switch OLED at all, even though the Switch 2 has an LCD display. I don’t know what technical wizardry Nintendo used to pull that off, but I’m glad it worked.
Switch 2 Accessories
Honestly, I haven’t used most of the Switch 2’s unique upgrades over its predecessor, like GameChat or the Joy-Con 2’s mouse mode. But the power improvements are instantly obvious, because the games look and run great.
This is also the first Nintendo system in ages that can play many third-party games in their original state, without significant downgrades. I’m talking games like Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars Outlaws, and Resident Evil Requiem. Plus it can play all first-party Nintendo games going forward for years to come, which is the main reason to buy the system in the first place. Check out our Switch 2 review for more info.
So if you’re planning to get a Switch 2 in the coming years, I would absolutely buy this bundle, and I’d buy it before the price goes up on September 1. There’s no guarantee that Nintendo won’t follow what both Sony and Microsoft have done and implement a second increase, later on. We live in weird, bad times. Get your Switch 2 while it’s relatively inexpensive.
And while you're at it, pick up whatever Switch 2 accessories you'll want as well.
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South Park will return to Comedy Central this September with Season 29, co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have confirmed.
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South Park will return to Comedy Central this September with Season 29, co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have confirmed.
Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Parker and Stone said new episodes will be released on September 16. Comedy Central and Paramount+ followed up to say the 29th season will premiere Wednesday, September 16 at 10pm ET/PT on Comedy Central. New episodes will be available to stream on Paramount+ around the world, with next-day availability in the U.S., Canada and Australia. Additional new episodes will premiere on Wednesdays: September 30, October 14, October 28, November 11, and November 25, which means fans will get a new episode every two weeks.
Season 28 came to an end in December after a number of controversial episodes that sparked responses from a number of politicians and even the White House. Its overarching story saw Donald Trump try and fail to convince Satan not to go through with having their ‘butt baby,’ aka the Antichrist. Vice president J.D. Vance even conspired with Trump to try to murder the baby.
South Park abruptly brought Season 27 to an end after just five episodes, and Season 28 ended after the same number. It looks like Season 29 will run for five episodes, too, suggesting Season 30 will follow soon after with an additional five episodes.
Traditionally, Parker and Stone create each episode week by week, which makes for a chaotic production but topical shows. Comedy Central had delayed the Season 27 ender just hours before it was due to air, with Parker and Stone insisting the blame lay at their door. “Apparently when you do everything at the last minute sometimes you don’t get it done,” the pair told Variety. “This one’s on us. We didn’t get it done in time. Thanks to Comedy Central and South Park fans for being so understanding. Tune in next week!” As far as we at IGN are aware, Parker and Stone had missed the scheduled release of South Park just once before, due to a power outage, but never for not getting an episode done in time.
Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Parker and Stone joked about South Park's infamous depiction of Trump's penis in the Season 27 premiere, showing the simple but effective execution. In the episode, a live-action deepfake of Trump shuffles through the desert before removing all of his clothes. “His penis is teeny tiny, but his love for us is large,” the PSA voiceover says.
Parker and Stone’s lucrative deal with Paramount over the global streaming rights to South Park includes the delivery of 50 new episodes over five seasons, with the pair agreeing to produce at least 10 new episodes of South Park a year.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
South Park will return to Comedy Central this September with Season 29, co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have confirmed.
Show full content
South Park will return to Comedy Central this September with Season 29, co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have confirmed.
Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Parker and Stone said new episodes will be released on September 16. Comedy Central and Paramount+ followed up to say the 29th season will premiere Wednesday, September 16 at 10pm ET/PT on Comedy Central. New episodes will be available to stream on Paramount+ around the world, with next-day availability in the U.S., Canada and Australia. Additional new episodes will premiere on Wednesdays: September 30, October 14, October 28, November 11, and November 25, which means fans will get a new episode every two weeks.
Season 28 came to an end in December after a number of controversial episodes that sparked responses from a number of politicians and even the White House. Its overarching story saw Donald Trump try and fail to convince Satan not to go through with having their ‘butt baby,’ aka the Antichrist. Vice president J.D. Vance even conspired with Trump to try to murder the baby.
South Park abruptly brought Season 27 to an end after just five episodes, and Season 28 ended after the same number. It looks like Season 29 will run for five episodes, too, suggesting Season 30 will follow soon after with an additional five episodes.
Traditionally, Parker and Stone create each episode week by week, which makes for a chaotic production but topical shows. Comedy Central had delayed the Season 27 ender just hours before it was due to air, with Parker and Stone insisting the blame lay at their door. “Apparently when you do everything at the last minute sometimes you don’t get it done,” the pair told Variety. “This one’s on us. We didn’t get it done in time. Thanks to Comedy Central and South Park fans for being so understanding. Tune in next week!” As far as we at IGN are aware, Parker and Stone had missed the scheduled release of South Park just once before, due to a power outage, but never for not getting an episode done in time.
Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Parker and Stone joked about South Park's infamous depiction of Trump's penis in the Season 27 premiere, showing the simple but effective execution. In the episode, a live-action deepfake of Trump shuffles through the desert before removing all of his clothes. “His penis is teeny tiny, but his love for us is large,” the PSA voiceover says.
Parker and Stone’s lucrative deal with Paramount over the global streaming rights to South Park includes the delivery of 50 new episodes over five seasons, with the pair agreeing to produce at least 10 new episodes of South Park a year.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
One of the greatest superhero comics of all time is being reinvented in Marvels: The Novelization, and we've got an exclusive preview of the book.
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Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross' Marvels is widely regarded as one of the greatest superhero graphic novels ever published. But can that appeal be translated to another medium? That's something Abrams ComicArts aims to prove with the release of Marvels: The Novelization. This new book translates the original's graphic imagery into prose, but there are still some stunning images from Ross to sweeten the deal.
With Marvels: The Novelization in stores now, IGN can exclusively reveal some of these new Ross paintings. Check them out in the slideshow gallery below:
Marvels: The Novelization is a 368-page adaptation of the original comic written by Steve Darnall, who previously collaborated with Ross on 1997's Uncle Sam and also helped write the original proposal for Marvels. Here's the official summary of the book:
The series, which Stan Lee described as "innovative, brilliantly conceived, and skillfully executed," welcomes readers to New York City, where everyday people go about their lives while burning figures roam the streets, men in brightly colored costumes scale the walls, and creatures from space threaten to devour the planet. This is the Marvel Universe, where the ordinary and fantastic interact daily. Spanning from 1939 through 1974, Marvels explores the history of superheroes and America from the perspective of newspaper photographer Phil Sheldon. As Sheldon pursues a career as a journalist and builds a family, he chronicles the adventures of the Original Human Torch, Captain America, The Avengers, Spider-Man, and countless others, giving fans a grounded, human look at a pantheon of larger-than-life characters.
Over 30 years after the series’ debut, Steve Darnall will translate Ross’ lush paintings and Busiek’s bold dialogue into a daring work of literature, bringing Sheldon’s stunning Marvel adventures to a new generation of readers. The long-awaited novelization of Marvels will feature four full-color paintings and four black and white illustrations by Alex Ross.
Marvels: The Novelization is priced at $26.99 and is available in bookstores now. You can order a copy on Amazon.
Microsoft has confirmed the lineup of games coming to Xbox Game Pass during the second half of May as well as the early part of June. Here's what to expect.
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Microsoft has confirmed the lineup of games coming to Xbox Game Pass during the second half of May as well as the early part of June.
It’s a quieter second half of the month after big hitters including Forza Horizon 6 hit Game Pass already, but there are still some eye-catching additions and a few day one releases. As revealed in a post on Xbox Wire, Frontier’s Jurassic World Evolution 3 is set for Game Pass following its October 2025 launch, and Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition joins the subscription service.
Day one titles include Kwalee Labs' bullet hell action adventure game Luna Abyss, Cococucumber's sci-fi deckbuilding RPG sequel Echo Generation 2, Aggro Crab's physics-based party game Crashout Crew, and Doot's tiny bug collection game Kabuto Park.
Xbox Game Pass May 2026 Wave 2 lineup:
Dead Static Drive (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
My Friend Peppa Pig (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Pigeon Simulator (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – May 20 Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
Remnant II (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Winter Burrow (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
Luna Abyss (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 21 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Escape Simulator (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 26 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Echo Generation 2 (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 27 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Crashout Crew (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – May 28 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Kabuto Park (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 28 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Final Fantasy VI (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – June 2 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Jurassic World Evolution 3 (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – June 2 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Microsoft will no doubt have a number of big Game Pass announcements at its Xbox showcase event, which is set for June 7. As usual, a number of games leave Game Pass this month. You can grab a discount if you buy the games to keep playing.
Everything leaving Xbox Game Pass on May 31:
Against the Storm (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Crypt Custodian (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Metaphor: ReFantazio (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Persona 4 Golden (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Spray Paint Simulator (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Microsoft has confirmed the lineup of games coming to Xbox Game Pass during the second half of May as well as the early part of June. Here's what to expect.
Show full content
Microsoft has confirmed the lineup of games coming to Xbox Game Pass during the second half of May as well as the early part of June.
It’s a quieter second half of the month after big hitters including Forza Horizon 6 hit Game Pass already, but there are still some eye-catching additions and a few day one releases. As revealed in a post on Xbox Wire, Frontier’s Jurassic World Evolution 3 is set for Game Pass following its October 2025 launch, and Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition joins the subscription service.
Day one titles include Kwalee Labs' bullet hell action adventure game Luna Abyss, Cococucumber's sci-fi deckbuilding RPG sequel Echo Generation 2, Aggro Crab's physics-based party game Crashout Crew, and Doot's tiny bug collection game Kabuto Park.
Xbox Game Pass May 2026 Wave 2 lineup:
Dead Static Drive (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
My Friend Peppa Pig (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Pigeon Simulator (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – May 20 Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
Remnant II (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Winter Burrow (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
Luna Abyss (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 21 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Escape Simulator (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 26 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Echo Generation 2 (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 27 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Crashout Crew (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – May 28 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Kabuto Park (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 28 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Final Fantasy VI (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – June 2 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Jurassic World Evolution 3 (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – June 2 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Microsoft will no doubt have a number of big Game Pass announcements at its Xbox showcase event, which is set for June 7. As usual, a number of games leave Game Pass this month. You can grab a discount if you buy the games to keep playing.
Everything leaving Xbox Game Pass on May 31:
Against the Storm (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Crypt Custodian (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Metaphor: ReFantazio (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Persona 4 Golden (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Spray Paint Simulator (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Microsoft has confirmed the lineup of games coming to Xbox Game Pass during the second half of May as well as the early part of June. Here's what to expect.
Show full content
Microsoft has confirmed the lineup of games coming to Xbox Game Pass during the second half of May as well as the early part of June.
It’s a quieter second half of the month after big hitters including Forza Horizon 6 hit Game Pass already, but there are still some eye-catching additions and a few day one releases. As revealed in a post on Xbox Wire, Frontier’s Jurassic World Evolution 3 is set for Game Pass following its October 2025 launch, and Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition joins the subscription service.
Day one titles include Kwalee Labs' bullet hell action adventure game Luna Abyss, Cococucumber's sci-fi deckbuilding RPG sequel Echo Generation 2, Aggro Crab's physics-based party game Crashout Crew, and Doot's tiny bug collection game Kabuto Park.
Xbox Game Pass May 2026 Wave 2 lineup:
Dead Static Drive (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
My Friend Peppa Pig (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Pigeon Simulator (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – May 20 Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
Remnant II (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Winter Burrow (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
Luna Abyss (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 21 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Escape Simulator (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 26 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Echo Generation 2 (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 27 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Crashout Crew (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – May 28 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Kabuto Park (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 28 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Final Fantasy VI (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – June 2 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Jurassic World Evolution 3 (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – June 2 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Microsoft will no doubt have a number of big Game Pass announcements at its Xbox showcase event, which is set for June 7. As usual, a number of games leave Game Pass this month. You can grab a discount if you buy the games to keep playing.
Everything leaving Xbox Game Pass on May 31:
Against the Storm (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Crypt Custodian (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Metaphor: ReFantazio (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Persona 4 Golden (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Spray Paint Simulator (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Microsoft has confirmed the lineup of games coming to Xbox Game Pass during the second half of May as well as the early part of June. Here's what to expect.
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Microsoft has confirmed the lineup of games coming to Xbox Game Pass during the second half of May as well as the early part of June.
It’s a quieter second half of the month after big hitters including Forza Horizon 6 hit Game Pass already, but there are still some eye-catching additions and a few day one releases. As revealed in a post on Xbox Wire, Frontier’s Jurassic World Evolution 3 is set for Game Pass following its October 2025 launch, and Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition joins the subscription service.
Day one titles include Luna Abyss, Echo Generation 2, Crashout Crew, and Kabuto Park.
Xbox Game Pass May 2026 Wave 2 lineup:
Dead Static Drive (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
My Friend Peppa Pig (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Pigeon Simulator (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – May 20 Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
Remnant II (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Winter Burrow (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 20 Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
Luna Abyss (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 21 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Escape Simulator (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 26 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Echo Generation 2 (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 27 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 27 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Crashout Crew (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – May 28 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Kabuto Park (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – May 28 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Final Fantasy VI (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – June 2 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Jurassic World Evolution 3 (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – June 2 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
As usual, a number of games leave Game Pass this month. You can grab a discount if you buy the games to keep playing.
Everything leaving Xbox Game Pass on May 31:
Against the Storm (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Crypt Custodian (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Metaphor: ReFantazio (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Persona 4 Golden (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Spray Paint Simulator (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The most charming video game bubble wrap you’ll ever pop, and not much more.
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It’s always a drag when a game you are looking forward disappoints, but it’s even sadder when it shows you exactly how it didn’t have to at the same time. Plenty of games miss the mark in some way, but the ones that prove they have promise – that show you a spark, but not any kindling – are the real letdowns. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book’s spark ignites a little over halfway through, and it burned so hot I literally shouted with joy… only to watch that ember fade away without a twig in sight shortly after. Its creative creature designs are truly impressive, and the open-ended levels they live in can be a real delight to explore the first time through. But its best ideas often go unnurtured, which makes this tome feel less like a fantasy novel and more like a biology textbook: a collection of amusing experiments paired with a pile of homework.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a puzzle-platformer that puts its emphasis squarely on the puzzle part. Each level is based around some novel little (or sometimes quite big) creature that Yoshi must lick, lift, or lob to learn all he can about it. These bits of information are logged as Discoveries, and they range from how a flower person’s petals turn orange when it eats an apple to how a murderous scythe monster can’t see you when hiding in tall grass. Discoveries can also be made about the level itself, rewarding you for breaking tough objects, finding hidden Smiley Flowers, or just reaching an end goal – although even that won’t “end” the level if you want to keep exploring. I really liked never quite knowing what I was in for when I hopped into a new stage.
The breadth and variety here is definitely something to celebrate, too. There are dozens of unique creatures, nearly all of which are charming to look at and carry some decently interesting mechanical gimmick for their level to be built around (as well future levels where they might also show up). There’s a green critter with the head of a bubble wand, a jellyfish that acts as one of those rich-person water jetpacks, bubblegum guys that multiply excessively when hopped on, a giant drill-nosed warthog you can ride, a bouncy hula-hooping bird, and so many more – all of which you have free reign to name yourself, which is a degree of control I should not be trusted with.
The levels you initially meet each one in are designed to both teach you about that creature and then take advantage of it to complete some goal, only a small handful of which are the typical “go to the right” structure you might expect from previous Yoshi games. An early level about bees has you recovering stolen flowers, while one about a fisherman wants you to reel in the biggest fish in the pond. All the while you’ll be peppered with a near constant stream of Discoveries just for trying to figure out where to go or how this particular critter behaves, flooding your brain with dopamine and your screen with stamps that mark your achievements.
This constant creativity is a big reason why Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is so pleasant to play, but not all of these levels are created equal. Figuring out how to best travel by seabird was a fun challenge, but aimlessly running around a Shy Guy village to make them all play music at the same time was far less inspired. Levels that rely on some disappointingly wonky physics interactions were a particular low spot across the board, with things like ricocheting a spinning top, surfing over waves and a wobbling pirate ship, or wall jumping on a springy bug being truly frustrating at times – and in a way Nintendo platformers don’t typically blunder into.
Once most Discoveries have been made, the actual levels lose a lot of their appeal.
The other big issue is that these levels are all about the Discoveries so, once most of them have been made, the actual levels lose a lot of their appeal. There’s very little that’s intrinsically fun or interesting about completing these stages after the map is already covered with your past accomplishments, which makes revisiting them to find Discoveries you missed (which is the entire pitch of what Yoshi and the Mysterious Book wants you to do) a lot less amusing. This is basically a stack of themed sheets of bubble wrap: bubble wrap is fun to pop! But unless you’re really serious about bursting every single one, no matter how mundane they may be, you’re mostly just left playing with a limp piece of plastic after that first pass.
This wouldn’t be such a big problem if later levels asked you to put the Discoveries you made into practice in more interesting or creative ways, but therein lies Yoshi and the Mysterious Book’s greatest letdown. Many creatures will reappear in later pages, asking you to use or interact with them to make Discoveries about the newest research subject, but these interactions are typically pretty straightforward. The maps themselves are so small that there isn’t much room for the newest creature to share the spotlight while you are learning about it. About half the levels have a variant version that does put the focus on a specific creature interaction that wasn’t in the main course, and these are some of the more interesting tasks you can find, but they are also exceptionally brief more often than not.
But What Does My Three-Year-Old Think?
This is the first game I’ve reviewed since my toddler started to dip a moderated toe into the wonderful world of video games with me. Her favorite has consistently been Kirby and the Forgotten Land, in which she tells me what levels to enter and which powers to use as she “plays” along on a second controller (she may struggle with the joystick, but she sure is an ace at pressing B to revive Waddle Dee.) She has also really enjoyed watching Tears of the Kingdom here and there, much to my surprise, particularly when Tulin’s spirit pops out to provide a gust of air while gliding.
She has not, however, had much fun with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book – and neither have I when I’ve shown it to her, to be frank. There’s just so little meat and momentum to its non-linear levels that they don’t keep her usually attentive interest for very long. And because the “ending” Discovery of each one doesn’t retrigger on repeat visits, there’s generally not a concise stopping point for me to point at and declare we are “all done” when replaying old ones. That means we just kinda wander around a stage doing random stuff until either she or I get sick of it, and then we have to anticlimactically quit out through the pause menu.
Obviously this isn’t scientifically robust data – she’s not playing the game herself, and every kid becomes obsessed with their own particular things (her’s is currently Ponyo) – but the difference in reaction compared to other games we’ve tried has at least been notable to me. “Well, clearly it’s just meant for kids” is a fairly flimsy defense often invoked to try and sweep criticism of games like this under the rug (frequently by people who don’t have kids), so it was interesting to see many of my complaints magnified in this context. Then again, some of my compliments were as well – she may not want to play it again, but she certainly enjoys talking about cute creatures like the bubble guys and buzzing bees from time to time.
The major exception to this depth issue is the last level of Chapter 6, which is so good that it quite literally should have been what the entire game was built around, but sadly that’s far from the case. I’ll give you a mechanical spoiler warning now if you really want to see it for yourself, but I have to avoid certain details anyway due to Nintendo’s restrictions on what we can dicuss before release.
In this stage, Yoshi can essentially summon any creature you’ve met before (one at a time), and it completely recontextualizes everything you’ve done up until that point in a way that made me genuinely jump out of my seat. Suddenly all that “research” you did was actually training, and it’s up to you to figure out how to scale that waterfall, dig through that mountain, or fight that enemy. For a game all about experimentation and discovery, it’s one of the very few times you are given the power to actually get creative and truly apply what you’ve learned to solve problems.
This level rules. The moment it was thought up, the dev team should have centered everything else around it. I wish every chapter ended with a stage like this that applies your knowledge of the creatures you met just before it, and I was at least expecting its arrival roughly eight hours in to signal an “Act 2” of sorts that put this mechanic front and center. Instead, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book pretty much pretends like it never happened and mostly goes back to business as usual as it introduces more and more creatures it will never make full use of.
The best mechanic by far arrives too late and then disappointingly disappears.
It’s such a bummer, man. Nearly every level was amusing to some degree on my first run through it, but I started to get tired of how shallow the creature exploration felt as early as Chapter 3. I held out hope that I simply hadn’t gotten to some turning point yet, but that’s truly what this game wants to be: a series of cute gimmicks, each with a big checklist of boxes to methodically tick off for little reason other than the love of hearing that “pop.” To be shown what this enticing concept could have been used for instead, and then have the rug pulled out from under me right after, left a sour taste in my mouth that none of the chapters and challenges that followed ever managed to make up for. You’re rarely asked to build in this sandbox, just to dig for the marbles buried beneath it.
To its credit, there are a ton of Discoveries to find, and some of them are genuinely well hidden or tricky to sniff out, so I imagine this game will appeal to the type of completionist that does just love the pop. There’s a built-in hint system that lets you spend a plentiful currency called Tokens to see which ones you are missing and how to find them, too, so it never leaves you flailing in the dark wondering what hyper-specific interaction you haven’t tried yet. The tools are there to make Discovery hunting a relatively painless process – it’s just never a particularly rewarding one.
The collectible I was more inclined to track down all of were the Smiley Flowers, and there are generally somewhere in the range of three to six per level. These are hidden in very classic Yoshi platformer ways, usually asking you to reach certain spots or uncover hidden areas where they are tucked away. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book has plenty of similarities to previous Yoshi games in stuff like its egg throwing and flutter jumping, but it doesn’t actually share a whole lot of DNA in a practical sense. That’s totally fine, and I dig when a developer experiments with a series in interesting ways, but something about hunting for flowers was satisfying in a way that asking variations of, “Have I tried dunking this nerd under water yet?” simply was not.
Collecting those flowers was fun enough on its own, but the reward you get for doing so has got to be one of the most perplexing unlockables I have ever seen in any video game. Not available until after Chapter 6 – which, again, took me about eight hours to finish, and I only spent another five or six after that to finish every available level – five Smiley Flowers can be exchanged for… a new UI element. These nonsensical options to customize the information your screen displays while in a level range from a chat log for your bookish companion, Mr. E, to graphs that tells you the flavor profile of anything you lick. There are multiple ways to measure speed, water quality, temperature, and a whole host of other variables that no level ever asks you to care about in any way.
Nothing about this system is offensive or distracting, but very little about it is helpful either. Apart from a clock that I imagine speedrunners will appreciate, pretty much the only useful one I’ve unlocked so far is a radar that points toward nearby Smiley Flowers. Even stuff like displaying Yoshi’s remaining health (yes, he has health they don’t tell you about) is pointless when no amount of damage will actually “defeat” him. Its customizable nature also allows you to cover your entire screen in unhinged garbage for no reason, which is the kind of commitment to the bit I actually admire more than anything else. I don’t remotely understand it, but I guess I at least respect it in a weird way.
If you’re looking for a Star Wars movie that thrills, surprises, challenges, or demonstrates a vested interest in seeing its characters grow and change… The Mandalorian and Grogu is not the way.
When The Mandalorian premiered on Disney+, one of the things that made Star Wars’ live-action episodic TV debut so special was how ably it evoked the wonder of the Original Trilogy while also forging its own unique path through the galaxy after the fall of the Galactic Empire. The Mandalorian and Grogu, the big-screen debut of Din Djarin and his adoptive son and first new Star Wars movie in seven years, gets caught almost immediately in a feedback loop of self-satisfied nostalgia which it seldom pulls out of.
The Mandalorian and Grogu’s plot is dead simple: the bounty hunter and his little Baby Yoda are contracted by the New Republic’s Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver) to bring in the late Jabba the Hutt’s adult son Rotta (Jeremy Allen White) at the behest of Jabba’s twin siblings, who are eager to continue consolidating power after their failed attempts to do so on Tatooine during the events of The Book of Boba Fett. While technically a follow-up to the third season of The Mandalorian, which concludes with Din Djarin and Grogu settling on Nevarro and agreeing to work for the New Republic, The Mandalorian and Grogu draws from effectively zero of that groundwork, to a degree that’s completely perplexing. They spent three seasons on Disney+ building out characters and cultures specific to this corner of the Star Wars galaxy and, by design, this film seems like it’s laser-focused on catering to people who have only heard about the show.
Maybe that provides a cleaner jumping-on point for general audiences, and those who are brand new to this way of experiencing the galaxy will likely find some satisfaction in watching The Mandalorian go through the same motions of trying to get a job done while both babysitting and training Grogu. But for any Star Wars fans who haven’t been frozen in carbonite for the last few years, it leaves most of the developments here feeling duplicative of turns we’ve already taken in the series. And so the film adds woefully little to character-critical moments like Mando’s helmet being removed, or Grogu’s use of the Force.
It’s like poetry, it rhymes… with things the majority of the audience will have experienced more recently than the last Star Wars movie we all went to see in theaters. No, George, I already said… oh never mind.
By virtue of having his name added to the title, you’d imagine Grogu would have a lot more agency here. But as such an outsized presence in the film, his weaknesses as a character come into stark relief. We do see Grogu take a more active role in action scenes - like when he takes off after Rotta in a stroller that seemingly has the top speed of a podracer - but the movie almost never hands out any negative consequences to Grogu for his impulsivity, so there’s very little novelty to watching him make the “little stinker” move every time and face no consequences. The Mandalorian TV series largely avoids having to interrogate that dynamic by utilizing Grogu as a pivot point for Din Djarin’s journey, forcing the bounty hunter to make choices and change based on his relationship with the little green guy. That means that The Mandalorian and Grogu needed to be all the more creative to spin a worthwhile story out of watching Grogu interact with the world through what means he does have available to him, and precious little of it rises above baiting the audience with his cooing or his hungry tummy.
Pedro Pascal (the voice of Din Djarin) feels a little wooden, as so little of what happens gives him call to modulate his performance away from the Mandalorian’s staple calm.
Din Djarin, for his part, never has real cause to underestimate Grogu’s innate ability or tentative understanding of Mandalorian ideals, and so his occasional need to change his plan of attack based on his wild card companion doesn’t usually amount to more than a quick and easy shift to plan B. This leaves Pedro Pascal, the voice of Din Djarin, feeling a little wooden, as so little of what happens gives him call to modulate his performance away from the Mandalorian’s staple calm. Both characters are incredibly capable, and already understand each other very well by the time the movie starts, and the script from director Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Noah Kloor seems totally disinterested in rocking the boat. This is Star Wars at its most conflict-averse, and I can’t help but notice that correlates to it also feeling like the most boring Star Wars movie yet.
The Mandalorian and Grogu’s drama being largely inert, we’d look to the space fantasy spectacle to make up that lost ground, but the movie’s action is scattershot at best. The movie’s at its most exciting when Mando and Rotta have to team up at one point during what’s essentially a life-size game of dejarik (“that’s space wizard’s chess,” Ron Weasley said with a smug grin), featuring the real monsters represented on the Millenium Falcon’s holochess board. It’s a chaotic battle that calls to mind the gladiatorial fight on Geonosis, but it’s also here that The Mandalorian and Grogu’s biggest flaw with its action comes into view.
Mando is primarily a close-quarters fighter, but his fights here end up being a little tough to read. The movie heavily favors pitting Mando against CG creatures and droids in smaller rooms, and that often leaves Favreau’s coverage looking for good angles to emphasize the work Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder - Mando’s physical performers - are doing to communicate Din Djarin’s creativity and ruthlessness when the Sabacc cards are down. Ludwig Göransson, the series’ composer, has some chances to shine - the synth-heavy version of Mando’s theme that hits when he arrives on Shakari rocks - but little of Göransson’s work goes far enough towards injecting life into the movie when it needs it most in the third act, which really drags itself over the finish line with a series of noncommittal fakeouts.
It feels inevitable that, in the years to come, the popular criticism of The Mandalorian and Grogu will be that it just feels like either a truncated season of the TV show or a too-long episode. It feels important to put that idea into some context here, and why taking all the highlights of what maybe could have been The Mandalorian Season 4 and making a movie out of them is such a dramatic non-starter. The Mandalorian’s eight-episode seasons have the luxury of drawing stories out for seven or eight hours, with each individual episode more free to tweak the rhythm with which each chapter plays out, the genre conventions it leans into, and how much to let the circumstances of the plot affect change in the characters on a long-term basis. You get around two hours to do that in a movie (two hours and 12 minutes, in this case), and that demands a lot more focus and discipline in how the stakes and the momentum of your story are managed.
Structurally speaking, The Mandalorian and Grogu is constantly pulled between those modes of storytelling, full of fits and starts from the jump and with no demonstrated interest in letting anything that happens be permanent. The film’s opening scene features Mando and Grogu hunting a remnant Imperial warlord on a snowy planet, but outside of giving Mando a chance to stalk hallways and take out stormtroopers for a few minutes, this sequence winds up being completely disconnected from what’s to follow and more of a warning shot than a starting gun being fired off. Each scene’s utility seems only to get us to the next phase of the mission, and to jeopardize as little as possible for Favreau and Filoni, should they decide to keep this sub-franchise going in the future. The Mandalorian and Grogu, to put it into X-Files terms, is a “monster of the week” and not a “mytharc” episode, and, for a marquee cinematic event for the duo, that feels like a huge miscalculation in practice.
Baffling as it is to have basically the entire cast of the show sidelined for the movie (a couple of brief and unsatisfying cameos notwithstanding), there are a few supporting characters who breathe some life into the film. Sigourney Weaver’s Colonel Ward is just there to hand Mando his missions, and to tell him how good or bad he did on that mission, but if you need a steely commander who you’ll believe would jump into an X-wing along with the young bucks when it comes time to throw down, you could do a lot worse than Weaver and the effortless cool she brings to the table.
Jeremy Allen White’s natural, even-handed performance, Rotta’s sensitive way with Grogu, and the good ideas Favreau has for how a ripped Hutt would fight make him a welcome presence.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Allen White’s Rotta the Hutt winds up being the only character in the movie with any dimension. We meet Rotta while he’s being held captive on Shakari as a gladiator for a powerful gangster, Lord Janu (Jonny Coyne), but he’s fairly comfortable with the arrangement. Rotta seems glad to be regarded by the bloodthirsty crowds on his own merits rather than being judged by the sins of his father, Jabba… so glad that he repeats that character motivation nearly word-for-word the second time we encounter him. White’s natural, even-handed performance, Rotta’s sensitive way with Grogu, and the good ideas Favreau does have for showing how a ripped Hutt would fight (like the gator-like death roll he does on occasion) make him a welcome presence whenever he’s onscreen. The movie hints towards an intention to mine the interesting juxtaposition between Jabba and Rotta and Mando and Grogu’s father/son relationships early on, but it loses this thread by the time Rotta becomes less of an active part in the story.
Star Wars Rebels’ Zeb Orrelios (Steve Blum) is also on hand as Mando’s occasional pilot and New Republic liaison, and the two have some fun banter, but Zeb feels a little stuck between being a full-blown part of the story and an animated Star Wars cameo appearance that I can’t imagine will get the general audiences the film seems to be focused on catering to all that excited.
The Mandalorian and Grogu’s one soaring achievement, the one reliably thrilling part of the movie, and so perhaps the clearest example of how ineffectively the rest of the movie mines the Star Wars universe for texture… is the crew of diminutive Anzellans that arrive halfway through to modify Mando’s new Razor Crest ship. These little Babus Frik wind up joining most of the action that follows and let me say this unequivocally: they will be the only thing about this movie that I remember with any real fondness next week. That’s not just because of their hilarious mutterings and wonderful puppeteering that bring them to life, though. Through the Anzellans, we get the occasional chance to step out of the non-descript, sanded-down perspective of Mando and to see what life is like for these capable hard workers from nary a foot off the ground. They have a tiny spaceship that Grogu looks like a giant in, and the abject hilarity of that imagery aside, it’s one of the only effective ways the movie deploys the idea that Grogu is (slowly) growing up and coming into his own.
But… If you’ve got a bad feeling about salvaged creatures with silly voices from The Rise of Skywalker having room to be the best part of a movie called The Mandalorian and Grogu, there’s not much here to make that feeling go away.
The 10 best fantasy anime series of all time: Let’s go on an adventure.
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The fantasy genre is having a big moment in anime over the last few years, with large productions gathering quite a lot of attention and accolades. Whether you want to expand your fantasy anime horizons or are just looking to get into the genre, it’s about time IGN published its own list of the very best fantasy anime series. These are shows that impacted the genre and set standards – shows that charmed us, delighted us, and amazed us.
To pick only 10 shows from across the history of fantasy anime was a challenge, but a panel of anime experts across IGN pulled their heads together to pick the very best. It’s important to note that this list only took into consideration shows that are exclusively fantasy in its purest form, with fantastical creatures, magic, swords, elves, and a time period setting, if not outright set on an entirely different world. That means shonen anime with a genre-bending story, regardless of having fantasy elements, were not considered (sorry, Hunter x Hunter). Likewise, though indebted to the fantasy genre, we generally stayed away from isekai shows with notable exceptions; that genre is just big enough to warrant its own specific list, so we decided to focus on strict fantasy.
Before we get to our top 10, let’s take a quick look at some of the many, many other shows that were considered, but ultimately didn’t make our list. Our honorable mentions include the early 2000s gem Inuyasha, which made a generation fall in love with a half-dog demon. Likewise, The Ancient Magus’ Bride is a delightful coming-of-age story and an emotional rollercoaster. Then there’s Yona of the Dawn, a uniquely East Asian-inspired fantasy that deserved more than one season.
And now… our top 10 best fantasy anime series of all time!
Berserk
First of all, this is exclusively about the 1997 adaptation by studio OLM. Sure, this is an extremely incomplete adaptation, but the show turns this into a feature rather than a bug, with the series building up to an ending that’s even bleaker and more heart-wrenching because of how abrupt it is. And in spite of that, Berserk does manage to tell a complete story – a beautifully tragic tale of friendship, vengeance, violence, and love. This is dark fantasy by way of Clive Barker, and a hugely influential story whose legacy can still be felt today across multiple media. The relationship between Guts and Griffith not only drives the narrative forward, but serves as an elaborate and compelling tale of friendship in and of itself, and it also has an epic payoff. Even if this show doesn’t get to cover the more fantastical arcs of the manga, it still features a fully fleshed-out fantasy world where darkness lurks in every corner.
Delicious in Dungeon
Most fantasy shows and movies focus on fighting big monsters, and less so on the minutiae of surviving in the wild. That’s not Delicious in Dungeon, a show that’s equal parts epic fantasy and a cooking show with some of the best-looking animated food outside of a Ghibli film. The show balances comedy, action, and even horror seamlessly, turning them into a delicious stew clearly inspired by tabletop fantasy RPGs. But don’t let the funny title trick you – halfway through the first season, the show changes tone to reveal a compelling fantasy epic with many moving parts, intriguing mysteries, and some of the best visual storytelling and world-building in all of anime.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
What if Lord of the Rings was somehow even more melancholic than it already is? That’s how you get Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, a show that’s as exciting as it is emotional. This is a beautifully animated show, not just in its exquisite action, but in the slower, quieter moments where character takes center stage. No show has quite as big a sense of time and scale as Frieren; it builds a world that’s composed of countless stories that are forgotten and rediscovered while grounding its grand story in an unforgettable trio of well-developed characters.
Mushi-Shi
Yes, Mushi-Shi technically takes place in our world, but it is set in an alternate timeline in a distant enough past to be considered fantasy. It also doesn’t hurt that this is a show filled with spirits and magic. Like Frieren, it focuses on building a rich world full of stories so expansive, the audience is barely scratching the surface. The slower pace allows the world to benefit from an increased focus, creating a unique atmosphere that feels like reading a storybook of a faraway land in a time full of magic.
Ranking of Kings
The anime equivalent of not judging a book by its cover, Wit Studio’s adaptation of Ranking of Kings employs a very simplistic, colorful, kid-friendly art style that looks like a ’70s Isao Takahata anime. That approach, however, hides a morally complex, surprisingly gruesome story set in a gritty fantasy world that has more in common with Game of Thrones than with My Neighbor Totoro. Likewise, the show uses fairytale character tropes in order to subvert them at every turn, with a cast of characters with astonishing emotional complexity. This is especially true of the young king and one of the best anime characters in modern times, the endlessly lovable Bojji – think Paddington if he was also a badass swordsman. This show is a triumph of animation, and a fairytale for the ages; long live Bojji!
Record of Lodoss War
Before The Legend of Vox Machina turned a Dungeons & Dragons campaign into a popular animated series, there was Record of Lodoss War. Similarly, this show was based on transcripts from a campaign, and you can feel the game mechanics in the way the characters work; additionally, veteran D&D players might recognize elements from early editions of the game. A fairly standard fantasy adventure is elevated by a hyperviolent and grounded art style as well as distinct designs for the creatures and characters; one in particular, Deedlit, would go on to influence how elves look in Japanese media for decades. All of this gives the show a beautiful and unique visual identity that feels like the closest we’ll get to a proper Legend of Zelda anime.
Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World
Re:Zero stands out from other isekai thanks to its complex world-building and interesting takes on fantasy tropes, memorable characters, and compelling villains. The show knows how to properly escalate a fantasy story, introducing bigger elements to create epic stakes while still keeping the story grounded in the main character. It balances moments of intense darkness with a sense of hope, making the main hero earn moments of levity through great suffering.
The Slayers
Despite being one of the biggest anime of the 1990s, it might be easy to overlook The Slayers in favor of shows like Dragon Ball Z or Sailor Moon, but that’d mean missing out on one of the best fantasy journeys in animation. The show is set in an elaborate world of gods and demons, and features different types of magic and creatures. This Dungeons & Dragons-inspired high fantasy adventure mixes epic action with very ’90s slapstick comedy, balancing the high stakes with plenty of funny moments. In a way, this show is a predecessor to the likes of both Delicious in Dungeon and even Fullmetal Alchemist.
Somali and the Forest Spirit
One of the unfortunate victims of 2020 being packed with high-profile anime is this underseen yet quite spectacular fantasy anime. Somali and the Forest Spirit is set in a world of goblins and spirits where humans are actually an endangered species. The show follows the recent trend of series with Lone Wolf and Cub-type protagonists; here they are a golem and a young human girl. The show is visually striking, thanks in no small part to beautiful background art. The story can get quite dark and surprisingly emotional at times, making it a journey worth taking.
The Twelve Kingdoms
Studio Pierrot’s adaptation of The Twelve Kingdoms novel series might have been eclipsed by another show they released back in 2002 – Naruto – but it nevertheless remains a must-watch fantasy story. The show features incredible character development and stunning world-building that the series continuously expands throughout its run. Though the show didn’t get to adapt all of the novels, it does tell a complete story of its protagonist as she navigates a world plagued by disaster that’s heavily inspired by ancient China.
What are YOUR picks for the best fantasy anime series of all time? Vote in our poll or tell us in the comments!
Steam has changed the official tags you'll find attached to games on Valve's digital storefront.
Show full content
Steam has changed the official tags you'll find attached to games on Valve's digital storefront.
Removing 28, adding 17, and merging and updating "a handful of other" tags, Valve said the changes come "with the goal of helping players identify the games that best fit their interests, and helping Steam generate more appropriate recommendations."
"Tags help developers better describe their game to players, but also help Steam understand what kind of game it is and show it accordingly to players via recommendations," the company wrote on a blog post. "Tags are also the foundation upon which each of the store hubs are built, allowing players to find all of the games tagged with their favorite genre, theme, style, or other relevant context.
"Tags can be applied to a game by the developer, by players with non-limited accounts, and also by Steam moderators. This means that a game's tags can shift over time as more customers play the game and contribute their perspective on what tags are most relevant for each game. Over time, the types of games that exist and the way customers look at games changes too — so today, we have a list of changes to our current set of tags."
Steam tags added in the May 2026 update:
Bullet Heaven - The opposite of Bullet Hell; Focus on upgrades while automatically attacking hordes of enemies
Desktop Companion - Games that only use part of your screen and keep you company while you do other things
Organizing - Tidy up, de-clutter, or unpack, carefully placing items in virtual spaces
Cleaning - Satisfying removal of grime and dirt from stuff
Decorating - Creative placement of furniture and other objects
Wuxia - Historical fantasy adventure featuring martial arts, competing sects, and inner qi
Xianxia - Fantasy adventure focused on cultivating supernatural powers and strength
Falling Blocks - Arranging, rotating, and placing blocks from above
Espionage - Spying or secretly securing valuable intel
Samurai - Japanese warriors best known for katanas, loyalty, and self-discipline
Zoo - Care for and display a park full of wild animals
Wolves - Also known as Canis Lupus
Capybaras - The largest and possibly most adorable rodent species
Animals - Cute and furry, or large and terrifying and everything in between
Cult - Small groups with extreme devotion to a person, thing, or belief
Poker - Draw, bet, and bluff
Language Learning - Learning and teaching new languages
Steam store tags removed by Valve:
3D Vision
Ambient
America
Blood
Crowdfunded
Cult Classic
Documentary
Drama
Dungeons & Dragons
Electronic
Experience
Feature Film
Foreign
GameMaker
Games Workshop
Illuminati
Kickstarter
LEGO
Masterpiece
Mature
Movie
Narration
NSFW
Roguevania
RPGMaker
Warhammer 40K
Web Publishing
Well-Written
Valve said that it doesn't often remove tags from Steam, which is why it's "built up quite a list." "The set that we've removed today are done so because they no longer serve a good purpose for establishing connections between games or describing unique and useful elements of content in the game," it explained. "Many of these tags have alternative options on Steam that better describe the content, and already have a high degree of overlap in application." Tags that are subjective – Well-written, masterpiece – have also been ditched, along with any that apply to a specific IP, such as Lego and Warhammer 40,000.
Clicker has been renamed Incremental to capture the broader essence of games that focus on numbers going up, Conversation has been renamed Dialogue Heavy for clarity, and Steam has "made a few tags plural to match other tags," including, Dogs, Foxes, Vampires, Elves, Dwarves, and Assassins.
"Pool was humorously applied to games with a swimming pool, so we've renamed this to Billiards, which is the overarching term for all games played with cue sticks anyway," the company added. It's also merged Jet into Flight, as the term Jet "was not unique enough," and Unforgiving into Difficult since these terms "mostly overlap in usage and intent."
"At least they added Falling Blocks as a tag for Tetris and similar games now," said one fan of the changes on Reddit. "Using Puzzle to try to find that kind of game before was obnoxious, just about every game that had some kind of puzzle was listed."
"There's a grand total of one game with the Capybaras tag," joked another. "And this might be the best marketing this game has ever received." Another 13 have since joined the tag.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Steam has changed the official tags you'll find attached to games on Valve's digital storefront.
Show full content
Steam has changed the official tags you'll find attached to games on Valve's digital storefront.
Removing 28, adding 17, and merging and updating "a handful of other" tags, Valve said the changes come "with the goal of helping players identify the games that best fit their interests, and helping Steam generate more appropriate recommendations."
"Tags help developers better describe their game to players, but also help Steam understand what kind of game it is and show it accordingly to players via recommendations," the company wrote on a blog post. "Tags are also the foundation upon which each of the store hubs are built, allowing players to find all of the games tagged with their favorite genre, theme, style, or other relevant context.
"Tags can be applied to a game by the developer, by players with non-limited accounts, and also by Steam moderators. This means that a game's tags can shift over time as more customers play the game and contribute their perspective on what tags are most relevant for each game. Over time, the types of games that exist and the way customers look at games changes too — so today, we have a list of changes to our current set of tags."
Steam tags added in the May 2026 update:
Bullet Heaven - The opposite of Bullet Hell; Focus on upgrades while automatically attacking hordes of enemies
Desktop Companion - Games that only use part of your screen and keep you company while you do other things
Organizing - Tidy up, de-clutter, or unpack, carefully placing items in virtual spaces
Cleaning - Satisfying removal of grime and dirt from stuff
Decorating - Creative placement of furniture and other objects
Wuxia - Historical fantasy adventure featuring martial arts, competing sects, and inner qi
Xianxia - Fantasy adventure focused on cultivating supernatural powers and strength
Falling Blocks - Arranging, rotating, and placing blocks from above
Espionage - Spying or secretly securing valuable intel
Samurai - Japanese warriors best known for katanas, loyalty, and self-discipline
Zoo - Care for and display a park full of wild animals
Wolves - Also known as Canis Lupus
Capybaras - The largest and possibly most adorable rodent species
Animals - Cute and furry, or large and terrifying and everything in between
Cult - Small groups with extreme devotion to a person, thing, or belief
Poker - Draw, bet, and bluff
Language Learning - Learning and teaching new languages
Steam store tags removed by Valve:
3D Vision
Ambient
America
Blood
Crowdfunded
Cult Classic
Documentary
Drama
Dungeons & Dragons
Electronic
Experience
Feature Film
Foreign
GameMaker
Games Workshop
Illuminati
Kickstarter
LEGO
Masterpiece
Mature
Movie
Narration
NSFW
Roguevania
RPGMaker
Warhammer 40K
Web Publishing
Well-Written
Valve said that it doesn't often remove tags from Steam, which is why it's "built up quite a list." "The set that we've removed today are done so because they no longer serve a good purpose for establishing connections between games or describing unique and useful elements of content in the game," it explained. "Many of these tags have alternative options on Steam that better describe the content, and already have a high degree of overlap in application." Tags that are subjective – Well-written, masterpiece – have also been ditched, along with any that apply to a specific IP, such as Lego and Warhammer 40,000.
Clicker has been renamed Incremental to capture the broader essence of games that focus on numbers going up, Conversation has been renamed Dialogue Heavy for clarity, and Steam has "made a few tags plural to match other tags," including, Dogs, Foxes, Vampires, Elves, Dwarves, and Assassins.
"Pool was humorously applied to games with a swimming pool, so we've renamed this to Billiards, which is the overarching term for all games played with cue sticks anyway," the company added. It's also merged Jet into Flight, as the term Jet "was not unique enough," and Unforgiving into Difficult since these terms "mostly overlap in usage and intent."
"At least they added Falling Blocks as a tag for Tetris and similar games now," said one fan of the changes on Reddit. "Using Puzzle to try to find that kind of game before was obnoxious, just about every game that had some kind of puzzle was listed."
"There's a grand total of one game with the Capybaras tag," joked another. "And this might be the best marketing this game has ever received." Another 13 have since joined the tag.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Fortnite is back on the App Store, with Epic boss Tim Sweeney declaring "the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide."
Show full content
Fortnite is back on the App Store, with Epic boss Tim Sweeney declaring "the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide."
Sweeney’s ongoing battle to get Fortnite back on iPhones and Android phones without paying store fees is well-documented. Epic doesn’t want to pay the now standard 30% store fee on revenue made from mobile games, instead preferring to direct players to its own mobile store, the Epic Games Store, without Apple and Google getting in the way. Sweeney has been fighting this battle since 2020, spending a great deal of cash in the process, even as Fortnite was blocked on iOS. It felt as though Epic had won this time last year following a significant court ruling, but Apple ultimately blocked Fortnite's return.
Now, Epic has pushed Fortnite back onto iOS, with Sweeney saying the decision was made after Apple told the U.S. Supreme Court that "regulators around the world are watching this case to determine what commission rate Apple may charge on covered purchases in huge markets outside the United States." Epic said it was "confident that once Apple is forced to show its costs, governments around the world will not allow Apple junk fees to stand."
"We will continue to challenge Apple’s anticompetitive App Store practices of banning alternative app stores and competition in payments," Epic Games added in a statement.
"We’ve seen momentum around the world to address these practices, with regulators passing laws in Japan, the European Union and the United Kingdom - but time and time again, Apple has evaded the laws with scare screens, fees and onerous requirements. It’s time for regulators to truly enforce the laws so developers and consumers around the world can benefit from an open and fair mobile app ecosystem."
Epic boss Tim Sweeney said on X/Twitter earlier today: "Fortnite is back on the Apple App Store as we head into the final battle of Epic v Apple in court. For years, Apple has fragmented iOS features and fees by territory, taking regulatory negotiating positions in secret, and intentionally delaying the pursuit of justice."
"Apple has now told the Supreme Court, 'Regulators around the world are watching this case to determine what commission rate Apple may charge on covered purchases in huge markets outside the United States.' So we see this as the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide," Sweeney continued.
"This is a critical moment in the battle against the App Store empire to win freedom for all developers and consumers, and we'll continue the fight in every jurisdiction worldwide until competition is restored to digital stores and payment markets everywhere."
Interestingly, Fortnite has yet to return to the Australian App Store. Epic said it was waiting for a court order to "bring Apple's unlawful conduct to an end and to make orders that will benefit all app developers and iOS users."
"Epic can't return under an illegal payment arrangement with Apple, so unless Apple agrees to adopt lawful payment terms in the interim, we must wait for a Court decision," the company added.
Image credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Samsung.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Fortnite is back on the App Store, with Epic boss Tim Sweeney declaring "the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide."
Show full content
Fortnite is back on the App Store, with Epic boss Tim Sweeney declaring "the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide."
Sweeney’s ongoing battle to get Fortnite back on iPhones and Android phones without paying store fees is well-documented. Epic doesn’t want to pay the now standard 30% store fee on revenue made from mobile games, instead preferring to direct players to its own mobile store, the Epic Games Store, without Apple and Google getting in the way. Sweeney has been fighting this battle since 2020, spending a great deal of cash in the process, even as Fortnite was blocked on iOS. It felt as though Epic had won this time last year following a significant court ruling, but Apple ultimately blocked Fortnite's return.
Now, Epic has pushed Fortnite back onto iOS, with Sweeney saying the decision was made after Apple told the U.S. Supreme Court that "regulators around the world are watching this case to determine what commission rate Apple may charge on covered purchases in huge markets outside the United States." Epic said it was "confident that once Apple is forced to show its costs, governments around the world will not allow Apple junk fees to stand."
"We will continue to challenge Apple’s anticompetitive App Store practices of banning alternative app stores and competition in payments," Epic Games added in a statement.
"We’ve seen momentum around the world to address these practices, with regulators passing laws in Japan, the European Union and the United Kingdom - but time and time again, Apple has evaded the laws with scare screens, fees and onerous requirements. It’s time for regulators to truly enforce the laws so developers and consumers around the world can benefit from an open and fair mobile app ecosystem."
Epic boss Tim Sweeney said on X/Twitter earlier today: "Fortnite is back on the Apple App Store as we head into the final battle of Epic v Apple in court. For years, Apple has fragmented iOS features and fees by territory, taking regulatory negotiating positions in secret, and intentionally delaying the pursuit of justice."
"Apple has now told the Supreme Court, 'Regulators around the world are watching this case to determine what commission rate Apple may charge on covered purchases in huge markets outside the United States.' So we see this as the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide," Sweeney continued.
"This is a critical moment in the battle against the App Store empire to win freedom for all developers and consumers, and we'll continue the fight in every jurisdiction worldwide until competition is restored to digital stores and payment markets everywhere."
Interestingly, Fortnite has yet to return to the Australian App Store. Epic said it was waiting for a court order to "bring Apple's unlawful conduct to an end and to make orders that will benefit all app developers and iOS users."
"Epic can't return under an illegal payment arrangement with Apple, so unless Apple agrees to adopt lawful payment terms in the interim, we must wait for a Court decision," the company added.
Image credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Samsung.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Fortnite is back on the App Store, with Epic boss Tim Sweeney declaring "the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide."
Show full content
Fortnite is back on the App Store, with Epic boss Tim Sweeney declaring "the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide."
Sweeney’s ongoing battle to get Fortnite back on iPhones and Android phones without paying store fees is well-documented. Epic doesn’t want to pay the now standard 30% store fee on revenue made from mobile games, instead preferring to direct players to its own mobile store, the Epic Games Store, without Apple and Google getting in the way. Sweeney has been fighting this battle since 2020, spending a great deal of cash in the process, even as Fortnite was blocked on iOS. It felt as though Epic had won this time last year following a significant court ruling, but Apple ultimately blocked Fortnite's return.
Now, Epic has pushed Fortnite back onto iOS, with Sweeney saying the decision was made after Apple told the U.S. Supreme Court that "regulators around the world are watching this case to determine what commission rate Apple may charge on covered purchases in huge markets outside the United States." Epic said it was "confident that once Apple is forced to show its costs, governments around the world will not allow Apple junk fees to stand."
"We will continue to challenge Apple’s anticompetitive App Store practices of banning alternative app stores and competition in payments," Epic Games added in a statement.
"We’ve seen momentum around the world to address these practices, with regulators passing laws in Japan, the European Union and the United Kingdom - but time and time again, Apple has evaded the laws with scare screens, fees and onerous requirements. It’s time for regulators to truly enforce the laws so developers and consumers around the world can benefit from an open and fair mobile app ecosystem."
Epic boss Tim Sweeney said on X/Twitter earlier today: "Fortnite is back on the Apple App Store as we head into the final battle of Epic v Apple in court. For years, Apple has fragmented iOS features and fees by territory, taking regulatory negotiating positions in secret, and intentionally delaying the pursuit of justice."
"Apple has now told the Supreme Court, 'Regulators around the world are watching this case to determine what commission rate Apple may charge on covered purchases in huge markets outside the United States.' So we see this as the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide," Sweeney continued.
"This is a critical moment in the battle against the App Store empire to win freedom for all developers and consumers, and we'll continue the fight in every jurisdiction worldwide until competition is restored to digital stores and payment markets everywhere."
Interestingly, Fortnite has yet to return to the Australian App Store. Epic said it was waiting for a court order to "bring Apple's unlawful conduct to an end and to make orders that will benefit all app developers and iOS users."
"Epic can't return under an illegal payment arrangement with Apple, so unless Apple agrees to adopt lawful payment terms in the interim, we must wait for a Court decision," the company added.
Image credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Samsung.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Fortnite is back on the App Store, with Epic boss Tim Sweeney declaring "the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide."
Show full content
Fortnite is back on the App Store, with Epic boss Tim Sweeney declaring "the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide."
Sweeney’s ongoing battle to get Fortnite back on iPhones and Android phones without paying store fees is well-documented. Epic doesn’t want to pay the now standard 30% store fee on revenue made from mobile games, instead preferring to direct players to its own mobile store, the Epic Games Store, without Apple and Google getting in the way. Sweeney has been fighting this battle since 2020, spending a great deal of cash in the process, even as Fortnite was blocked on iOS. It felt as though Epic had won this time last year following a significant court ruling, but Apple ultimately blocked Fortnite's return.
Now, Epic has pushed Fortnite back onto iOS, with Sweeney saying the decision was made after Apple told the U.S. Supreme Court that "regulators around the world are watching this case to determine what commission rate Apple may charge on covered purchases in huge markets outside the United States." Epic said it was "confident that once Apple is forced to show its costs, governments around the world will not allow Apple junk fees to stand."
"We will continue to challenge Apple’s anticompetitive App Store practices of banning alternative app stores and competition in payments," Epic Games added in a statement.
"We’ve seen momentum around the world to address these practices, with regulators passing laws in Japan, the European Union and the United Kingdom - but time and time again, Apple has evaded the laws with scare screens, fees and onerous requirements. It’s time for regulators to truly enforce the laws so developers and consumers around the world can benefit from an open and fair mobile app ecosystem."
Epic boss Tim Sweeney said on X/Twitter earlier today: "Fortnite is back on the Apple App Store as we head into the final battle of Epic v Apple in court. For years, Apple has fragmented iOS features and fees by territory, taking regulatory negotiating positions in secret, and intentionally delaying the pursuit of justice."
"Apple has now told the Supreme Court, 'Regulators around the world are watching this case to determine what commission rate Apple may charge on covered purchases in huge markets outside the United States.' So we see this as the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide," Sweeney continued.
"This is a critical moment in the battle against the App Store empire to win freedom for all developers and consumers, and we'll continue the fight in every jurisdiction worldwide until competition is restored to digital stores and payment markets everywhere."
Interestingly, Fortnite has yet to return to the Australian App Store. Epic said it was waiting for a court order to "bring Apple's unlawful conduct to an end and to make orders that will benefit all app developers and iOS users."
"Epic can't return under an illegal payment arrangement with Apple, so unless Apple agrees to adopt lawful payment terms in the interim, we must wait for a Court decision," the company added.
Image credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Samsung.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
PC gamers are reacting to Sony making its narrative single-player games PlayStation exclusive.
Show full content
Sony has reportedly reaffirmed its pullback from PC, telling staff its narrative single-player games will remain PlayStation 5 exclusive. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier said PlayStation studio business boss Hermen Hulst told staff on Monday, locking in the likes of Saros, Ghost of Yotei, and the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet to PlayStation. While multiplayer games will continue to launch on PC as well as PlayStation, it’s a significant change of strategy from Sony, and deprives PC gamers of the company’s tentpole releases.
PC gamers have been reacting to the news with a mix of disappointment and lack of surprise. While some had hoped to play these narrative games on their platform of choice, others have said they’re not missing out on much. Others still, have said they continue to see no reason to buy a PS5 just to play these games — especially given Sony just raised the price of its console hardware.
“I skipped buying a PS5 and I don't feel like I've missed out,” said one PC gamer on the PC gaming subreddit. “Yeah, back when Spider-Man came out, I was REALLY excited for it and was considering buying a PlayStation just to play it, but I held back,” another added. “When it finally came out on PC, it was good, but not as great as I built up in my head. Any game that comes out as PS exclusive, I'll just remind myself of Spider-Man.”
“Why would a PC gamer buy a 600 dollar PS5 for a few games?” questioned another. “Do you know what happens instead? The PC gamer simply ignores Sony games and plays other PC games. Sony forgets if people are willing to wait YEARS for a port and then LONGER for a discount that sure as s**t isn't the crowd that runs out to buy a console and games that keep going up in price.”
“As much as I love the Horizon series I just won’t be playing part three I guess,” another said. “There’s no way I’d buy a console for the few games I’d be interested in.”
“PS5 has been out for ages and still has no games, and he wants to double down,” another said in a comment that sums up much of the sentiment within the PC gaming community.
“Please tell Hermen Hulst that my wallet is exclusive to PC games (preferably Steam) and I don't want to buy a PS console to play Sony games anymore,” said another. “That worked before, when there was quality, genre variety and overall quantity. Now it's not worth it anymore.”
“This isn't going to magically make me buy a Playstation. It's just going to make me not buy your games,” another said.
Meanwhile, Peter Dalton, Head of Technology at Bluepoint Games, took to social media to say a “more interesting possibility” is that Sony is responding to the rise of a Steam-based console ecosystem, aka the recently announced and subsequently delayed Steam Machine.
Sony has in recent years expanded PlayStation to PC, but refrained from going as far as Microsoft, which releases all its games on PC at the same time as console. Sony, however, has employed a staggered approach, releasing its single-player PlayStation games on PC after a period of console exclusivity. When it comes to live service games like Helldivers 2 it’s a different story, with Sony publishing on PC day-one — and in the case of Arrowhead’s third-person action game, to record-breaking success. Sony-owned Bungie launched live service extraction shooter Marathon across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S at the same time earlier this year. Guerrilla’s live-service multiplayer Horizon spinoff, Hunters Gathering, is due out on PC and PS5. Fairgames, from Haven Studios, is down for PC and PS5 also.
Sony’s decision to return to PlayStation exclusivity comes at an interesting time. Microsoft is said to be considering some sort of exclusivity policy change as it works to win over the hearts and minds of hardcore Xbox fans. Indeed, exclusive games is the top request on a recently launched official Xbox feedback platform. The question is, can Sony and Microsoft get away with leaving multiplatform money on the table?
"In PS4 days still we are making AAA games with big budget," Yoshida said. "I somehow felt the bigger the budget, the safer in some strange way. Creating bigger, better-looking games that people are asking for. In the past it kind of worked, you know, business wise. But in the last five or so years, publishers and developers must have realized that model may not be sustainable.
"Releasing games on PC after a couple of years must have helped recoup the investment of these big budget games and help[ed] the team and company to reinvest that money into their new games," he added, "So, from a business standpoint, I think it made sense for me.
"If they were releasing new AAA games day one on other platforms, I don’t think that’s a good strategy for [a] platform holder like PlayStation. I’m not seeing any proof of them changing their strategy this generation, but if they are changing it’s going to be interesting how they are able to maintain the investment on the big budget games on the first-party side going forward."
It’s worth noting that getting into PlayStation console gaming has become more expensive this year. After price rises in March, a new PS5 now starts at $600, and a PS5 Pro now costs $900. And just this week, Sony announced PlayStation Plus price rises, blaming "ongoing market conditions."
“I hope — well, for everyone's sake, really — that 'ongoing global market conditions' drastically improve rather quickly or I expect this decision will be reversed sooner rather than later,” he said.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
PC gamers are reacting to Sony making its narrative single-player games PlayStation exclusive.
Show full content
Sony has reportedly reaffirmed its pullback from PC, telling staff its narrative single-player games will remain PlayStation 5 exclusive. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier said PlayStation studio business boss Hermen Hulst told staff on Monday, locking in the likes of Saros, Ghost of Yotei, and the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet to PlayStation. While multiplayer games will continue to launch on PC as well as PlayStation, it’s a significant change of strategy from Sony, and deprives PC gamers of the company’s tentpole releases.
PC gamers have been reacting to the news with a mix of disappointment and lack of surprise. While some had hoped to play these narrative games on their platform of choice, others have said they’re not missing out on much. Others still, have said they continue to see no reason to buy a PS5 just to play these games — especially given Sony just raised the price of its console hardware.
“I skipped buying a PS5 and I don't feel like I've missed out,” said one PC gamer on the PC gaming subreddit. “Yeah, back when Spider-Man came out, I was REALLY excited for it and was considering buying a PlayStation just to play it, but I held back,” another added. “When it finally came out on PC, it was good, but not as great as I built up in my head. Any game that comes out as PS exclusive, I'll just remind myself of Spider-Man.”
“Why would a PC gamer buy a 600 dollar PS5 for a few games?” questioned another. “Do you know what happens instead? The PC gamer simply ignores Sony games and plays other PC games. Sony forgets if people are willing to wait YEARS for a port and then LONGER for a discount that sure as s**t isn't the crowd that runs out to buy a console and games that keep going up in price.”
“As much as I love the Horizon series I just won’t be playing part three I guess,” another said. “There’s no way I’d buy a console for the few games I’d be interested in.”
“PS5 has been out for ages and still has no games, and he wants to double down,” another said in a comment that sums up much of the sentiment within the PC gaming community.
“Please tell Hermen Hulst that my wallet is exclusive to PC games (preferably Steam) and I don't want to buy a PS console to play Sony games anymore,” said another. “That worked before, when there was quality, genre variety and overall quantity. Now it's not worth it anymore.”
“This isn't going to magically make me buy a Playstation. It's just going to make me not buy your games,” another said.
Meanwhile, Peter Dalton, Head of Technology at Bluepoint Games, took to social media to say a “more interesting possibility” is that Sony is responding to the rise of a Steam-based console ecosystem, aka the recently announced and subsequently delayed Steam Machine.
Sony has in recent years expanded PlayStation to PC, but refrained from going as far as Microsoft, which releases all its games on PC at the same time as console. Sony, however, has employed a staggered approach, releasing its single-player PlayStation games on PC after a period of console exclusivity. When it comes to live service games like Helldivers 2 it’s a different story, with Sony publishing on PC day-one — and in the case of Arrowhead’s third-person action game, to record-breaking success. Sony-owned Bungie launched live service extraction shooter Marathon across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S at the same time earlier this year. Guerrilla’s live-service multiplayer Horizon spinoff, Hunters Gathering, is due out on PC and PS5. Fairgames, from Haven Studios, is down for PC and PS5 also.
Sony’s decision to return to PlayStation exclusivity comes at an interesting time. Microsoft is said to be considering some sort of exclusivity policy change as it works to win over the hearts and minds of hardcore Xbox fans. Indeed, exclusive games is the top request on a recently launched official Xbox feedback platform. The question is, can Sony and Microsoft get away with leaving multiplatform money on the table?
"In PS4 days still we are making AAA games with big budget," Yoshida said. "I somehow felt the bigger the budget, the safer in some strange way. Creating bigger, better-looking games that people are asking for. In the past it kind of worked, you know, business wise. But in the last five or so years, publishers and developers must have realized that model may not be sustainable.
"Releasing games on PC after a couple of years must have helped recoup the investment of these big budget games and help[ed] the team and company to reinvest that money into their new games," he added, "So, from a business standpoint, I think it made sense for me.
"If they were releasing new AAA games day one on other platforms, I don’t think that’s a good strategy for [a] platform holder like PlayStation. I’m not seeing any proof of them changing their strategy this generation, but if they are changing it’s going to be interesting how they are able to maintain the investment on the big budget games on the first-party side going forward."
It’s worth noting that getting into PlayStation console gaming has become more expensive this year. After price rises in March, a new PS5 now starts at $600, and a PS5 Pro now costs $900. And just this week, Sony announced PlayStation Plus price rises, blaming "ongoing market conditions."
“I hope — well, for everyone's sake, really — that 'ongoing global market conditions' drastically improve rather quickly or I expect this decision will be reversed sooner rather than later,” he said.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
PC gamers are reacting to Sony making its narrative single-player games PlayStation exclusive.
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Sony has reportedly reaffirmed its pullback from PC, telling staff its narrative single-player games will remain PlayStation 5 exclusive. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier said PlayStation studio business boss Hermen Hulst told staff on Monday, locking in the likes of Saros, Ghost of Yotei, and the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet to PlayStation. While multiplayer games will continue to launch on PC as well as PlayStation, it’s a significant change of strategy from Sony, and deprives PC gamers of the company’s tentpole releases.
PC gamers have been reacting to the news with a mix of disappointment and lack of surprise. While some had hoped to play these narrative games on their platform of choice, others have said they’re not missing out on much. Others still, have said they continue to see no reason to buy a PS5 just to play these games — especially given Sony just raised the price of its console hardware.
“I skipped buying a PS5 and I don't feel like I've missed out,” said one PC gamer on the PC gaming subreddit. “Yeah, back when Spider-Man came out, I was REALLY excited for it and was considering buying a PlayStation just to play it, but I held back,” another added. “When it finally came out on PC, it was good, but not as great as I built up in my head. Any game that comes out as PS exclusive, I'll just remind myself of Spider-Man.”
“Why would a PC gamer buy a 600 dollar PS5 for a few games?” questioned another. “Do you know what happens instead? The PC gamer simply ignores Sony games and plays other PC games. Sony forgets if people are willing to wait YEARS for a port and then LONGER for a discount that sure as s**t isn't the crowd that runs out to buy a console and games that keep going up in price.”
“As much as I love the Horizon series I just won’t be playing part three I guess,” another said. “There’s no way I’d buy a console for the few games I’d be interested in.”
“PS5 has been out for ages and still has no games, and he wants to double down,” another said in a comment that sums up much of the sentiment within the PC gaming community.
“Please tell Hermen Hulst that my wallet is exclusive to PC games (preferably Steam) and I don't want to buy a PS console to play Sony games anymore,” said another. “That worked before, when there was quality, genre variety and overall quantity. Now it's not worth it anymore.”
“This isn't going to magically make me buy a Playstation. It's just going to make me not buy your games,” another said.
Meanwhile, Peter Dalton, Head of Technology at Bluepoint Games, took to social media to say a “more interesting possibility” is that Sony is responding to the rise of a Steam-based console ecosystem, aka the recently announced and subsequently delayed Steam Machine.
Sony has in recent years expanded PlayStation to PC, but refrained from going as far as Microsoft, which releases all its games on PC at the same time as console. Sony, however, has employed a staggered approach, releasing its single-player PlayStation games on PC after a period of console exclusivity. When it comes to live service games like Helldivers 2 it’s a different story, with Sony publishing on PC day-one — and in the case of Arrowhead’s third-person action game, to record-breaking success. Sony-owned Bungie launched live service extraction shooter Marathon across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S at the same time earlier this year. Guerrilla’s live-service multiplayer Horizon spinoff, Hunters Gathering, is due out on PC and PS5. Fairgames, from Haven Studios, is down for PC and PS5 also.
Sony’s decision to return to PlayStation exclusivity comes at an interesting time. Microsoft is said to be considering some sort of exclusivity policy change as it works to win over the hearts and minds of hardcore Xbox fans. Indeed, exclusive games is the top request on a recently launched official Xbox feedback platform. The question is, can Sony and Microsoft get away with leaving multiplatform money on the table?
"In PS4 days still we are making AAA games with big budget," Yoshida said. "I somehow felt the bigger the budget, the safer in some strange way. Creating bigger, better-looking games that people are asking for. In the past it kind of worked, you know, business wise. But in the last five or so years, publishers and developers must have realized that model may not be sustainable.
"Releasing games on PC after a couple of years must have helped recoup the investment of these big budget games and help[ed] the team and company to reinvest that money into their new games," he added, "So, from a business standpoint, I think it made sense for me.
"If they were releasing new AAA games day one on other platforms, I don’t think that’s a good strategy for [a] platform holder like PlayStation. I’m not seeing any proof of them changing their strategy this generation, but if they are changing it’s going to be interesting how they are able to maintain the investment on the big budget games on the first-party side going forward."
It’s worth noting that getting into PlayStation console gaming has become more expensive this year. After price rises in March, a new PS5 now starts at $600, and a PS5 Pro now costs $900. And just this week, Sony announced PlayStation Plus price rises, blaming "ongoing market conditions."
“I hope — well, for everyone's sake, really — that 'ongoing global market conditions' drastically improve rather quickly or I expect this decision will be reversed sooner rather than later,” he said.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The soundtrack of the original 1993 Doom has been inducted into the National Recording Registry.
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The soundtrack of the original 1993 Doom has been inducted into the National Recording Registry.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, "with millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections." Founded over two hundred years ago, it sits as the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
The latest inductees, of which there are 25, have been dubbed as "audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage." Bobby Prince's "adrenaline-fueled" score is the third piece of video game history to be immortalized this way.
"Key to Doom's popularity was the adrenaline-fueled soundtrack created by Prince," a Registry spokesperson said (thanks, GI.biz). "Prince, a lifelong musician and practising lawyer, was fascinated by the MIDI technology that rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as a means for instrument control and composition, an interest that led to his earliest work composing video games.
"Taking advantage of his knowledge of MIDI, Prince worked to ensure that the sound effects he created could cut through the music by assigning them to different MIDI frequencies. The Doom soundtrack would go on to inspire countless remixes and lay the foundation for future generations of game composers."
"The sweep and diversity of the National Recording Registry class of 2026 beautifully captures the scope of the American experience as we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary,” said Robbin Ahrold, chair of the National Recording Preservation Board. "From icons of R&B to a holiday favorite en Español, from a legendary sports broadcast to this generation’s superstars, it is a thrilling reflection of America at its best."
Doom is the third such video game score to make it into the register. The first was the Super Mario Bros. theme, which joined the archive in 2023. Daniel Rosengeld's soundtrack for Minecraft was added in 2025.
Other inductees this year include Taylor Swift's 1989, Beyoncé’s Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It), The Go-Go’s debut album Beauty and the Beat, Vince Gill’s Go Rest High On That Mountain, Weezer’s self-titled debut Weezer (The Blue Album), Chaka Khan’s hit I Feel for You, and Broadway’s original cast album of Chicago.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
The soundtrack of the original 1993 Doom has been inducted into the National Recording Registry.
Show full content
The soundtrack of the original 1993 Doom has been inducted into the National Recording Registry.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, "with millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections." Founded over two hundred years ago, it sits as the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
The latest inductees, of which there are 25, have been dubbed as "audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage." Bobby Prince's "adrenaline-fueled" score is the third piece of video game history to be immortalized this way.
"Key to Doom's popularity was the adrenaline-fueled soundtrack created by Prince," a Registry spokesperson said (thanks, GI.biz). "Prince, a lifelong musician and practising lawyer, was fascinated by the MIDI technology that rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as a means for instrument control and composition, an interest that led to his earliest work composing video games.
"Taking advantage of his knowledge of MIDI, Prince worked to ensure that the sound effects he created could cut through the music by assigning them to different MIDI frequencies. The Doom soundtrack would go on to inspire countless remixes and lay the foundation for future generations of game composers."
"The sweep and diversity of the National Recording Registry class of 2026 beautifully captures the scope of the American experience as we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary,” said Robbin Ahrold, chair of the National Recording Preservation Board. "From icons of R&B to a holiday favorite en Español, from a legendary sports broadcast to this generation’s superstars, it is a thrilling reflection of America at its best."
Doom is the third such video game score to make it into the register. The first was the Super Mario Bros. theme, which joined the archive in 2023. Daniel Rosengeld's soundtrack for Minecraft was added in 2025.
Other inductees this year include Taylor Swift's 1989, Beyoncé’s Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It), The Go-Go’s debut album Beauty and the Beat, Vince Gill’s Go Rest High On That Mountain, Weezer’s self-titled debut Weezer (The Blue Album), Chaka Khan’s hit I Feel for You, and Broadway’s original cast album of Chicago.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
The soundtrack of the original 1993 Doom has been inducted into the National Recording Registry.
Show full content
The soundtrack of the original 1993 Doom has been inducted into the National Recording Registry.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, "with millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections." Founded over two hundred years ago, it sits as the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
The latest inductees, of which there are 25, have been dubbed as "audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage." Bobby Prince's "adrenaline-fueled" score is the third piece of video game history to be immortalized this way.
"Key to Doom's popularity was the adrenaline-fueled soundtrack created by Prince," a Registry spokesperson said (thanks, GI.biz). "Prince, a lifelong musician and practising lawyer, was fascinated by the MIDI technology that rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as a means for instrument control and composition, an interest that led to his earliest work composing video games.
"Taking advantage of his knowledge of MIDI, Prince worked to ensure that the sound effects he created could cut through the music by assigning them to different MIDI frequencies. The Doom soundtrack would go on to inspire countless remixes and lay the foundation for future generations of game composers."
"The sweep and diversity of the National Recording Registry class of 2026 beautifully captures the scope of the American experience as we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary,” said Robbin Ahrold, chair of the National Recording Preservation Board. "From icons of R&B to a holiday favorite en Español, from a legendary sports broadcast to this generation’s superstars, it is a thrilling reflection of America at its best."
Doom is the third such video game score to make it into the register. The first was the Super Mario Bros. theme, which joined the archive in 2023. Daniel Rosengeld's soundtrack for Minecraft was added in 2025.
Other inductees this year include Taylor Swift's 1989, Beyoncé’s Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It), The Go-Go’s debut album Beauty and the Beat, Vince Gill’s Go Rest High On That Mountain, Weezer’s self-titled debut Weezer (The Blue Album), Chaka Khan’s hit I Feel for You, and Broadway’s original cast album of Chicago.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
The soundtrack of the original 1993 Doom has been inducted into the National Recording Registry.
Show full content
The soundtrack of the original 1993 Doom has been inducted into the National Recording Registry.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, "with millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections." Founded over two hundred years ago, it sits as the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
The latest inductees, of which there are 25, have been dubbed as "audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage." Bobby Prince's "adrenaline-fueled" score is the third piece of video game history to be immortalized this way.
"Key to Doom's popularity was the adrenaline-fueled soundtrack created by Prince," a Registry spokesperson said (thanks, GI.biz). "Prince, a lifelong musician and practising lawyer, was fascinated by the MIDI technology that rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as a means for instrument control and composition, an interest that led to his earliest work composing video games.
"Taking advantage of his knowledge of MIDI, Prince worked to ensure that the sound effects he created could cut through the music by assigning them to different MIDI frequencies. The Doom soundtrack would go on to inspire countless remixes and lay the foundation for future generations of game composers."
"The sweep and diversity of the National Recording Registry class of 2026 beautifully captures the scope of the American experience as we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary,” said Robbin Ahrold, chair of the National Recording Preservation Board. "From icons of R&B to a holiday favorite en Español, from a legendary sports broadcast to this generation’s superstars, it is a thrilling reflection of America at its best."
Doom is the third such video game score to make it into the register. The first was the Super Mario Bros. theme, which joined the archive in 2023. Daniel Rosengeld's soundtrack for Minecraft was added in 2025.
Other inductees this year include Taylor Swift's 1989, Beyoncé’s Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It), The Go-Go’s debut album Beauty and the Beat, Vince Gill’s Go Rest High On That Mountain, Weezer’s self-titled debut Weezer (The Blue Album), Chaka Khan’s hit I Feel for You, and Broadway’s original cast album of Chicago.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
One of the biggest — if not biggest — questions from fans of Warhammer 40,000 lore is: who will be the next returning loyalist primarch? In a rare Q&A video, Games Workshop actually addressed the question — but failed to provide a meaningful answer.
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One of the biggest — if not biggest — questions from fans of Warhammer 40,000 lore is: who will be the next returning loyalist primarch? In a rare Q&A video, Games Workshop actually addressed the question — but failed to provide a meaningful answer.
For the uninitiated, the primarchs are the overpowered, genetically-engineered demigod sons of the Emperor, created to lead the Space Marine legions before they were broken up into chapters following the catastrophic civil war known as the Horus Heresy. Warhammer 40,000 as a narrative operated for decades with most of the primarchs either thought dead or lost in the warp, but recent years have seen two loyalist primarchs return to the current setting, sparking speculation that more are on the way.
The two primarchs confirmed alive and active in the Warhammer 40,000 setting are Ultramarines boss Roboute Guilliman, who returned to the galaxy during the Gathering Storm event in 2017, and Dark Angels chief Lion El'Jonson, who miraculously popped back into existence as part of the Arks of Omen storyline in early 2023. These were galaxy-shaking plot developments for the Warhammer 40,000 setting, and with the upcoming release of the 11th Edition of the tabletop game, some are wondering if a third loyalist primarch will return to shake things up further.
And so, in the Q&A video, Games Workshop’s Adam Troke and Eddie Eccles brought up the question themselves: “Who will be the next returning loyalist primarch?”
“It’s a good question, but I’m really sorry to break it to you Adam, they’re actually all dead,” Eccles replied.
“All of them?” Troke said.
“I’m pretty sure they’re all dead,” Eccles insisted.
Troke then began to have a bit of fun with his response: “Well, so, we do know that Russ is back… as a tank. Rogal Dorn… as a tank. If I was a betting man, you could maybe expect a battle tank called a Khan or a Manus or a Sanguinius at some point.”
Then, finally: “Interesting that the question was ‘who,’ rather than ‘will.’ They’re dead, according to Eddie.”
While Games Workshop had a cheeky response to a question that was probably never going to include a definitive answer, many Warhammer 40,000 fans have already picked it apart, pointing out that in the lore, it’s not entirely clear that all the other loyalist primarchs are indeed dead. You see this debate pop up now and again on Warhammer subreddits, discords, and across social media. For example, Jaghatai Khan, primarch of the White Scars, is thought to be lost in the Webway, the weird area between realspace and the Warp the Aeldari use to get about the galaxy. Rogal Dorn, boss of the Imperial Fists, is presumed dead, but could be out and about doing primarch things behind enemy lines. Space Wolves leader Leman Russ, meanwhile, is said to be awaiting the Wolf Time before he makes a dramatic return to save his kin. Sanguinius though, he's properly dead. RIP.
The thing is, Games Workshop could bring back any loyalist primarch at any time, creating some lore to make it make sense within canon just as it did with Guilliman and Lion El'Jonson, and that would be that. Any new model for a returning primarch would no doubt prove to be a big seller, too. So it does feel like a question of when, not if, it actually happens. Money talks, after all.
Perhaps 11th Edition isn’t the right time, though, as fans are eagerly awaiting another momentous primarch-related moment, one Games Workshop has actually properly teased: the meeting of Guilliman and Lion El'Jonson. A new campaign book released earlier this year includes an intergalactic message written by Lion El'Jonson and intended for Roboute Guilliman that reads: “Brother. We need to talk.”
So, will the Lion and Guilliman finally meet this edition? That was another lore question Troke and Eccles brought up during the Q&A.
“I mean, the galaxy is a big place,” Troke said, once again keeping his cards close to his chest. “So, maybe. Maybe not. I kinda hope so. You’ve got to imagine the Lion’s got things to say.”
“It will be an interesting meeting for sure, whenever it happens,” Eccles added.
For me, it feels more likely that this meeting of brothers, 10,000 years in the making, will be the big narrative moment of 11th Edition, rather than the introduction of a new loyalist primarch, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong. Any new primarch turning up is a huge moment for Warhammer 40,000 lore fans and a shot in the arm of the setting. It would move things forward and perhaps even the odds against the forces of Chaos and all those daemon primarchs who are running amok.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
One of the biggest — if not biggest — questions from fans of Warhammer 40,000 lore is: who will be the next returning loyalist primarch? In a rare Q&A video, Games Workshop actually addressed the question — but failed to provide a meaningful answer.
Show full content
One of the biggest — if not biggest — questions from fans of Warhammer 40,000 lore is: who will be the next returning loyalist primarch? In a rare Q&A video, Games Workshop actually addressed the question — but failed to provide a meaningful answer.
For the uninitiated, the primarchs are the overpowered, genetically-engineered demigod sons of the Emperor, created to lead the Space Marine legions before they were broken up into chapters following the catastrophic civil war known as the Horus Heresy. Warhammer 40,000 as a narrative operated for decades with most of the primarchs either thought dead or lost in the warp, but recent years have seen two loyalist primarchs return to the current setting, sparking speculation that more are on the way.
The two primarchs confirmed alive and active in the Warhammer 40,000 setting are Ultramarines boss Roboute Guilliman, who returned to the galaxy during the Gathering Storm event in 2017, and Dark Angels chief Lion El'Jonson, who miraculously popped back into existence as part of the Arks of Omen storyline in early 2023. These were galaxy-shaking plot developments for the Warhammer 40,000 setting, and with the upcoming release of the 11th Edition of the tabletop game, some are wondering if a third loyalist primarch will return to shake things up further.
And so, in the Q&A video, Games Workshop’s Adam Troke and Eddie Eccles brought up the question themselves: “Who will be the next returning loyalist primarch?”
“It’s a good question, but I’m really sorry to break it to you Adam, they’re actually all dead,” Eccles replied.
“All of them?” Troke said.
“I’m pretty sure they’re all dead,” Eccles insisted.
Troke then began to have a bit of fun with his response: “Well, so, we do know that Russ is back… as a tank. Rogal Dorn… as a tank. If I was a betting man, you could maybe expect a battle tank called a Khan or a Manus or a Sanguinius at some point.”
Then, finally: “Interesting that the question was ‘who,’ rather than ‘will.’ They’re dead, according to Eddie.”
While Games Workshop had a cheeky response to a question that was probably never going to include a definitive answer, many Warhammer 40,000 fans have already picked it apart, pointing out that in the lore, it’s not entirely clear that all the other loyalist primarchs are indeed dead. You see this debate pop up now and again on Warhammer subreddits, discords, and across social media. For example, Jaghatai Khan, primarch of the White Scars, is thought to be lost in the Webway, the weird area between realspace and the Warp the Aeldari use to get about the galaxy. Rogal Dorn, boss of the Imperial Fists, is presumed dead, but could be out and about doing primarch things behind enemy lines. Space Wolves leader Leman Russ, meanwhile, is said to be awaiting the Wolf Time before he makes a dramatic return to save his kin. Sanguinius though, he's properly dead. RIP.
The thing is, Games Workshop could bring back any loyalist primarch at any time, creating some lore to make it make sense within canon just as it did with Guilliman and Lion El'Jonson, and that would be that. Any new model for a returning primarch would no doubt prove to be a big seller, too. So it does feel like a question of when, not if, it actually happens. Money talks, after all.
Perhaps 11th Edition isn’t the right time, though, as fans are eagerly awaiting another momentous primarch-related moment, one Games Workshop has actually properly teased: the meeting of Guilliman and Lion El'Jonson. A new campaign book released earlier this year includes an intergalactic message written by Lion El'Jonson and intended for Roboute Guilliman that reads: “Brother. We need to talk.”
So, will the Lion and Guilliman finally meet this edition? That was another lore question Troke and Eccles brought up during the Q&A.
“I mean, the galaxy is a big place,” Troke said, once again keeping his cards close to his chest. “So, maybe. Maybe not. I kinda hope so. You’ve got to imagine the Lion’s got things to say.”
“It will be an interesting meeting for sure, whenever it happens,” Eccles added.
For me, it feels more likely that this meeting of brothers, 10,000 years in the making, will be the big narrative moment of 11th Edition, rather than the introduction of a new loyalist primarch, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong. Any new primarch turning up is a huge moment for Warhammer 40,000 lore fans and a shot in the arm of the setting. It would move things forward and perhaps even the odds against the forces of Chaos and all those daemon primarchs who are running amok.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Surprise! Nintendo has announced free-to-start Pictonico, a new mobile game that uses your phone's photo library to generate mini-games.
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Surprise! Nintendo has announced free-to-start Pictonico, a new mobile game that uses your phone's photo library to generate mini-games.
Pictonico integrates your photos and turns them into 80 minigames. "Sure, it's kind of silly… But there's no telling what will happen next!" Nintendo said.
"Here come your school's sports stars… strutting down the red carpet! Your boss is hungry and needs your help! Try to wash away those embarrassing high-school memories," the company added, describing the types of mini-games available. "Son won't quiet down? Zip his mouth! Two old friends reconnect while skydiving! Grandpa dressed like a ballerina. Can't miss this photo op."
Turn your photos into silly minigames! Your camera roll comes alive in Pictonico!, launching on smart devices May 28th.
If that all sounds a little familiar, that's because it is. Nintendo’s WarioWare games similarly bundles together very short mini-games, and you're given just seconds to complete them before moving on or losing a life. Like the WarioWare games, the experiences in Pictonico will seemingly range from "easy to pretty tricky," and while some games are free-to-start and playable as demos, you'll need to purchase additional "volumes" to play them all, which will cost between $5.99 and $7.99.
It's the latest effort in Nintendo's attempt to diversify its catalog across mobile and console. In a 2015 interview, late CEO and president Satoru Iwata remarked that his main goal with mobile games is not necessarily to make money, but to advertise Nintendo properties to a brand new market. "We want more people to become familiar with Nintendo IP through Nintendo’s smart device game apps," the former president said.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Surprise! Nintendo has announced free-to-start Pictonico, a new mobile game that uses your phone's photo library to generate mini-games.
Show full content
Surprise! Nintendo has announced free-to-start Pictonico, a new mobile game that uses your phone's photo library to generate mini-games.
Pictonico integrates your photos and turns them into 80 minigames. "Sure, it's kind of silly… But there's no telling what will happen next!" Nintendo said.
"Here come your school's sports stars… strutting down the red carpet! Your boss is hungry and needs your help! Try to wash away those embarrassing high-school memories," the company added, describing the types of mini-games available. "Son won't quiet down? Zip his mouth! Two old friends reconnect while skydiving! Grandpa dressed like a ballerina. Can't miss this photo op."
Turn your photos into silly minigames! Your camera roll comes alive in Pictonico!, launching on smart devices May 28th.
If that all sounds a little familiar, that's because it is. Nintendo’s WarioWare games similarly bundles together very short mini-games, and you're given just seconds to complete them before moving on or losing a life. Like the WarioWare games, the experiences in Pictonico will seemingly range from "easy to pretty tricky," and while some games are free-to-start and playable as demos, you'll need to purchase additional "volumes" to play them all, which will cost between $5.99 and $7.99.
It's the latest effort in Nintendo's attempt to diversify its catalog across mobile and console. In a 2015 interview, late CEO and president Satoru Iwata remarked that his main goal with mobile games is not necessarily to make money, but to advertise Nintendo properties to a brand new market. "We want more people to become familiar with Nintendo IP through Nintendo’s smart device game apps," the former president said.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Microsoft is continuing its drive to revamp brand Xbox with the launch of a feedback platform that gives fans the chance to vote on community requests. Predictably, the request with the most votes is a return to exclusives.
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Microsoft is continuing its drive to revamp brand Xbox with the launch of a feedback platform that gives fans the chance to vote on community requests. Predictably, the request with the most votes is a return to exclusives.
Microsoft’s multiplatform push may have increased sales (Forza Horizon 5, for example, has found significant success on PlayStation 5), but it has come at the expense of alienating hardcore Xbox fans, some of whom want Microsoft to return to Xbox exclusivity.
Earlier this month, it was reported that new Xbox boss Asha Sharma was “treading carefully” as she worked out what to do with exclusive games. Sharma, who replaced Phil Spencer as boss of Xbox earlier this year, has spent her first few months in the job making a number of significant changes as Microsoft works to win back the hearts and minds of its core gaming fans. Among them was the end of the controversial ‘This is an Xbox’ marketing campaign, quickfire new Xbox console features, and a Game Pass price cut.
Fans, though, have made their feelings loud and clear already, using the new ‘XBOX Player Voice’ platform to push for exclusives.
“XBOX was built off of great game exclusives, you cannot sell any consoles without a reason to buy the console compared to your competition or even sending your tentpole games over to your competitor. BRING THEM BACK PLEASE!!!” reads the thread with the most votes so far (6,319). The comments within it are similarly vociferous. “If you really care about Xbox, you have to bring back exclusives,” one person said. “Xbox needs to have its exclusive games to differentiate itself from the competition. Exclusives work for Sony and Nintendo, so why would it be different for Xbox?” Another added: “Exclusive content and features (hardware or otherwise) make a platform stand out in comparison to the competition. Without those, why would anyone get into the XBOX platform and not other, more popular ones? Right now XBOX simply doesn't stand out from the competition.”
The big question is, can Microsoft follow Sony’s lead and retreat from multiplatform? Microsoft has a number of first-party titles due out this year already earmarked for PS5. For example, it's promised that Forza Horizon 6 will come to PS5 later this year (and if Forza Horizon 5 is any indication, not releasing the sequel on Sony’s console would mean leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue on the table). Meanwhile, Microsoft has said all future Halo games will be released on Sony’s console, starting with this year’s Halo: Campaign Evolved. Playground’s Fable reboot is due out day one on PS5 this fall.
The Verge’s Tom Warren has reported that Sharma “has been evaluating a range of options for Xbox exclusive games, but is treading carefully here and isn’t yet ready to commit to any major changes.” So while hardcore Xbox fans clearly want their exclusives back, there is a question mark over whether Microsoft will agree.
Other top requests on the feedback platform reflect community concern going back years at this point. Backwards compatibility is right up there, as is making online multiplayer free to access. Another high-ranking request is for an achievement list to have a separate category for its DLC, so if you’ve got all the achievements for a game and it gets more via DLC, your 100% will remain. And then there’s the request for an Xbox Game Pass family plan, for Project Helix — the next-gen Xbox — to play discs, and the return of Xbox avatars.
Plenty, then, for Sharma to think about, although in truth none of these requests should come as much of a surprise. By opening the door to fan feedback in this way, Microsoft is creating a growing sense of hope within the community, so it will be interesting to see if Microsoft follows up by addressing the top requests and their chance of success. "We want to be clear: this doesn’t mean every piece of feedback will turn into a feature or result in a change," Microsoft clarified in its announcement on Xbox Wire. "Building across a large, global platform means weighing a lot of inputs. But better visibility helps close the gap between what you tell us and what you see happen next on XBOX."
All this talk of Xbox exclusives comes at a time when Sony has ditched PC for its narrative single-player games, which means the likes of Housemarque’s Saros, Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine and, presumably, Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will all remain PS5 exclusives. But it still leaves the door open for Sony’s multiplatform games to continue to release on PC.
Perhaps Microsoft will follow Sony’s lead here?
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Microsoft is continuing its drive to revamp brand Xbox with the launch of a feedback platform that gives fans the chance to vote on community requests. Predictably, the request with the most votes is a return to exclusives.
Show full content
Microsoft is continuing its drive to revamp brand Xbox with the launch of a feedback platform that gives fans the chance to vote on community requests. Predictably, the request with the most votes is a return to exclusives.
Microsoft’s multiplatform push may have increased sales (Forza Horizon 5, for example, has found significant success on PlayStation 5), but it has come at the expense of alienating hardcore Xbox fans, some of whom want Microsoft to return to Xbox exclusivity.
Earlier this month, it was reported that new Xbox boss Asha Sharma was “treading carefully” as she worked out what to do with exclusive games. Sharma, who replaced Phil Spencer as boss of Xbox earlier this year, has spent her first few months in the job making a number of significant changes as Microsoft works to win back the hearts and minds of its core gaming fans. Among them was the end of the controversial ‘This is an Xbox’ marketing campaign, quickfire new Xbox console features, and a Game Pass price cut.
Fans, though, have made their feelings loud and clear already, using the new ‘XBOX Player Voice’ platform to push for exclusives.
“XBOX was built off of great game exclusives, you cannot sell any consoles without a reason to buy the console compared to your competition or even sending your tentpole games over to your competitor. BRING THEM BACK PLEASE!!!” reads the thread with the most votes so far (6,319). The comments within it are similarly vociferous. “If you really care about Xbox, you have to bring back exclusives,” one person said. “Xbox needs to have its exclusive games to differentiate itself from the competition. Exclusives work for Sony and Nintendo, so why would it be different for Xbox?” Another added: “Exclusive content and features (hardware or otherwise) make a platform stand out in comparison to the competition. Without those, why would anyone get into the XBOX platform and not other, more popular ones? Right now XBOX simply doesn't stand out from the competition.”
The big question is, can Microsoft follow Sony’s lead and retreat from multiplatform? Microsoft has a number of first-party titles due out this year already earmarked for PS5. For example, it's promised that Forza Horizon 6 will come to PS5 later this year (and if Forza Horizon 5 is any indication, not releasing the sequel on Sony’s console would mean leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue on the table). Meanwhile, Microsoft has said all future Halo games will be released on Sony’s console, starting with this year’s Halo: Campaign Evolved. Playground’s Fable reboot is due out day one on PS5 this fall.
The Verge’s Tom Warren has reported that Sharma “has been evaluating a range of options for Xbox exclusive games, but is treading carefully here and isn’t yet ready to commit to any major changes.” So while hardcore Xbox fans clearly want their exclusives back, there is a question mark over whether Microsoft will agree.
Other top requests on the feedback platform reflect community concern going back years at this point. Backwards compatibility is right up there, as is making online multiplayer free to access. Another high-ranking request is for an achievement list to have a separate category for its DLC, so if you’ve got all the achievements for a game and it gets more via DLC, your 100% will remain. And then there’s the request for an Xbox Game Pass family plan, for Project Helix — the next-gen Xbox — to play discs, and the return of Xbox avatars.
Plenty, then, for Sharma to think about, although in truth none of these requests should come as much of a surprise. By opening the door to fan feedback in this way, Microsoft is creating a growing sense of hope within the community, so it will be interesting to see if Microsoft follows up by addressing the top requests and their chance of success. "We want to be clear: this doesn’t mean every piece of feedback will turn into a feature or result in a change," Microsoft clarified in its announcement on Xbox Wire. "Building across a large, global platform means weighing a lot of inputs. But better visibility helps close the gap between what you tell us and what you see happen next on XBOX."
All this talk of Xbox exclusives comes at a time when Sony has ditched PC for its narrative single-player games, which means the likes of Housemarque’s Saros, Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine and, presumably, Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will all remain PS5 exclusives. But it still leaves the door open for Sony’s multiplatform games to continue to release on PC.
Perhaps Microsoft will follow Sony’s lead here?
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Microsoft is continuing its drive to revamp brand Xbox with the launch of a feedback platform that gives fans the chance to vote on community requests. Predictably, the request with the most votes is a return to exclusives.
Show full content
Microsoft is continuing its drive to revamp brand Xbox with the launch of a feedback platform that gives fans the chance to vote on community requests. Predictably, the request with the most votes is a return to exclusives.
Microsoft’s multiplatform push may have increased sales (Forza Horizon 5, for example, has found significant success on PlayStation 5), but it has come at the expense of alienating hardcore Xbox fans, some of whom want Microsoft to return to Xbox exclusivity.
Earlier this month, it was reported that new Xbox boss Asha Sharma was “treading carefully” as she worked out what to do with exclusive games. Sharma, who replaced Phil Spencer as boss of Xbox earlier this year, has spent her first few months in the job making a number of significant changes as Microsoft works to win back the hearts and minds of its core gaming fans. Among them was the end of the controversial ‘This is an Xbox’ marketing campaign, quickfire new Xbox console features, and a Game Pass price cut.
Fans, though, have made their feelings loud and clear already, using the new ‘XBOX Player Voice’ platform to push for exclusives.
“XBOX was built off of great game exclusives, you cannot sell any consoles without a reason to buy the console compared to your competition or even sending your tentpole games over to your competitor. BRING THEM BACK PLEASE!!!” reads the thread with the most votes so far (6,319). The comments within it are similarly vociferous. “If you really care about Xbox, you have to bring back exclusives,” one person said. “Xbox needs to have its exclusive games to differentiate itself from the competition. Exclusives work for Sony and Nintendo, so why would it be different for Xbox?” Another added: “Exclusive content and features (hardware or otherwise) make a platform stand out in comparison to the competition. Without those, why would anyone get into the XBOX platform and not other, more popular ones? Right now XBOX simply doesn't stand out from the competition.”
The big question is, can Microsoft follow Sony’s lead and retreat from multiplatform? Microsoft has a number of first-party titles due out this year already earmarked for PS5. For example, it's promised that Forza Horizon 6 will come to PS5 later this year (and if Forza Horizon 5 is any indication, not releasing the sequel on Sony’s console would mean leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue on the table). Meanwhile, Microsoft has said all future Halo games will be released on Sony’s console, starting with this year’s Halo: Campaign Evolved. Playground’s Fable reboot is due out day one on PS5 this fall.
The Verge’s Tom Warren has reported that Sharma “has been evaluating a range of options for Xbox exclusive games, but is treading carefully here and isn’t yet ready to commit to any major changes.” So while hardcore Xbox fans clearly want their exclusives back, there is a question mark over whether Microsoft will agree.
Other top requests on the feedback platform reflect community concern going back years at this point. Backwards compatibility is right up there, as is making online multiplayer free to access. Another high-ranking request is for an achievement list to have a separate category for its DLC, so if you’ve got all the achievements for a game and it gets more via DLC, your 100% will remain. And then there’s the request for an Xbox Game Pass family plan, for Project Helix — the next-gen Xbox — to play discs, and the return of Xbox avatars.
Plenty, then, for Sharma to think about, although in truth none of these requests should come as much of a surprise. By opening the door to fan feedback in this way, Microsoft is creating a growing sense of hope within the community, so it will be interesting to see if Microsoft follows up by addressing the top requests and their chance of success. "We want to be clear: this doesn’t mean every piece of feedback will turn into a feature or result in a change," Microsoft clarified in its announcement on Xbox Wire. "Building across a large, global platform means weighing a lot of inputs. But better visibility helps close the gap between what you tell us and what you see happen next on XBOX."
All this talk of Xbox exclusives comes at a time when Sony has ditched PC for its narrative single-player games, which means the likes of Housemarque’s Saros, Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine and, presumably, Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will all remain PS5 exclusives. But it still leaves the door open for Sony’s multiplatform games to continue to release on PC.
Perhaps Microsoft will follow Sony’s lead here?
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Microsoft is continuing its drive to revamp brand Xbox with the launch of a feedback platform that gives fans the chance to vote on community requests. Predictably, the request with the most votes is a return to exclusives.
Show full content
Microsoft is continuing its drive to revamp brand Xbox with the launch of a feedback platform that gives fans the chance to vote on community requests. Predictably, the request with the most votes is a return to exclusives.
Microsoft’s multiplatform push may have increased sales (Forza Horizon 5, for example, has found significant success on PlayStation 5), but it has come at the expense of alienating hardcore Xbox fans, some of whom want Microsoft to return to Xbox exclusivity.
Earlier this month, it was reported that new Xbox boss Asha Sharma was “treading carefully” as she worked out what to do with exclusive games. Sharma, who replaced Phil Spencer as boss of Xbox earlier this year, has spent her first few months in the job making a number of significant changes as Microsoft works to win back the hearts and minds of its core gaming fans. Among them was the end of the controversial ‘This is an Xbox’ marketing campaign, quickfire new Xbox console features, and a Game Pass price cut.
Fans, though, have made their feelings loud and clear already, using the new ‘XBOX Player Voice’ platform to push for exclusives.
“XBOX was built off of great game exclusives, you cannot sell any consoles without a reason to buy the console compared to your competition or even sending your tentpole games over to your competitor. BRING THEM BACK PLEASE!!!” reads the thread with the most votes so far (6,319). The comments within it are similarly vociferous. “If you really care about Xbox, you have to bring back exclusives,” one person said. “Xbox needs to have its exclusive games to differentiate itself from the competition. Exclusives work for Sony and Nintendo, so why would it be different for Xbox?” Another added: “Exclusive content and features (hardware or otherwise) make a platform stand out in comparison to the competition. Without those, why would anyone get into the XBOX platform and not other, more popular ones? Right now XBOX simply doesn't stand out from the competition.”
The big question is, can Microsoft follow Sony’s lead and retreat from multiplatform? Microsoft has a number of first-party titles due out this year already earmarked for PS5. For example, it's promised that Forza Horizon 6 will come to PS5 later this year (and if Forza Horizon 5 is any indication, not releasing the sequel on Sony’s console would mean leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue on the table). Meanwhile, Microsoft has said all future Halo games will be released on Sony’s console, starting with this year’s Halo: Campaign Evolved. Playground’s Fable reboot is due out day one on PS5 this fall.
The Verge’s Tom Warren has reported that Sharma “has been evaluating a range of options for Xbox exclusive games, but is treading carefully here and isn’t yet ready to commit to any major changes.” So while hardcore Xbox fans clearly want their exclusives back, there is a question mark over whether Microsoft will agree.
Other top requests on the feedback platform reflect community concern going back years at this point. Backwards compatibility is right up there, as is making online multiplayer free to access. Another high-ranking request is for an achievement list to have a separate category for its DLC, so if you’ve got all the achievements for a game and it gets more via DLC, your 100% will remain. And then there’s the request for an Xbox Game Pass family plan, for Project Helix — the next-gen Xbox — to play discs, and the return of Xbox avatars.
Plenty, then, for Sharma to think about, although in truth none of these requests should come as much of a surprise. By opening the door to fan feedback in this way, Microsoft is creating a growing sense of hope within the community, so it will be interesting to see if Microsoft follows up by addressing the top requests and their chance of success. "We want to be clear: this doesn’t mean every piece of feedback will turn into a feature or result in a change," Microsoft clarified in its announcement on Xbox Wire. "Building across a large, global platform means weighing a lot of inputs. But better visibility helps close the gap between what you tell us and what you see happen next on XBOX."
All this talk of Xbox exclusives comes at a time when Sony has ditched PC for its narrative single-player games, which means the likes of Housemarque’s Saros, Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine and, presumably, Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will all remain PS5 exclusives. But it still leaves the door open for Sony’s multiplatform games to continue to release on PC.
Perhaps Microsoft will follow Sony’s lead here?
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The current 2026 F1 season is coming to last year’s F1 25 as a new update.
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EA has confirmed the first details for F1 25’s 2026 Season Pack update will be made available this Wednesday, May 20. The reveal trailer for the upcoming DLC will be released at 4pm UK time, May 20 (11am EDT/8am PDT, and 1am AEST on May 21).
For the time being, EA has revealed the “cover” athletes for the update: seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, former F3 and F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto, and veteran driver Valtteri Bottas, winner of 10 F1 Grands Prix and current owner of the greatest F1 moustache this side of Nigel Mansell.
The presence of Bortoleto and Bottas would be no accident, since they represent the two new teams on the 2026 grid: Audi and Cadillac.
The content update is set to reflect all the sport’s 2026 changes, with new cars, new drivers, and the new regulations. How the new cars are handled within the 2026 season DLC will be interesting considering how critical many current F1 drivers have been of their new characteristics. Two-time F1 champ Fernando Alonso has dubbed modern F1 a “battery world championship”, 2025 champ Lando Norris has lamented F1 has gone from “the best cars ever made in Formula 1 and the nicest to drive to probably the worst”, and four-time champ Max Verstappen has quipped that he’s swapped the simulator for his Nintendo Switch, joking that he’s now practicing with Mario Kart instead.
The next full game in the series is planned for 2027, and will be “reimagined into a more expansive experience with new ways to play for fans around the world.”
IGN’s F1 25 review noted there remain “several areas where it hovers frustratingly short of its full potential,” including its fascination with clothing and emotes over classic F1 cars and content – but that it’s “comfortably the strongest the series has been since the fan favourite F1 2020.”
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
The current 2026 F1 season is coming to last year’s F1 25 as a new update.
Show full content
EA has confirmed the first details for F1 25’s 2026 Season Pack update will be made available this Wednesday, May 20. The reveal trailer for the upcoming DLC will be released at 4pm UK time, May 20 (11am EDT/8am PDT, and 1am AEST on May 21).
For the time being, EA has revealed the “cover” athletes for the update: seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, former F3 and F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto, and veteran driver Valtteri Bottas, winner of 10 F1 Grands Prix and current owner of the greatest F1 moustache this side of Nigel Mansell.
The presence of Bortoleto and Bottas would be no accident, since they represent the two new teams on the 2026 grid: Audi and Cadillac.
The content update is set to reflect all the sport’s 2026 changes, with new cars, new drivers, and the new regulations. How the new cars are handled within the 2026 season DLC will be interesting considering how critical many current F1 drivers have been of their new characteristics. Two-time F1 champ Fernando Alonso has dubbed modern F1 a “battery world championship”, 2025 champ Lando Norris has lamented F1 has gone from “the best cars ever made in Formula 1 and the nicest to drive to probably the worst”, and four-time champ Max Verstappen has quipped that he’s swapped the simulator for his Nintendo Switch, joking that he’s now practicing with Mario Kart instead.
The next full game in the series is planned for 2027, and will be “reimagined into a more expansive experience with new ways to play for fans around the world.”
IGN’s F1 25 review noted there remain “several areas where it hovers frustratingly short of its full potential,” including its fascination with clothing and emotes over classic F1 cars and content – but that it’s “comfortably the strongest the series has been since the fan favourite F1 2020.”
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
The current 2026 F1 season is coming to last year’s F1 25 as a new update.
Show full content
EA has confirmed the first details for F1 25’s 2026 Season Pack update will be made available this Wednesday, May 20. The reveal trailer for the upcoming DLC will be released at 4pm UK time, May 20 (11am EDT/8am PDT, and 1am AEST on May 21).
For the time being, EA has revealed the “cover” athletes for the update: seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, former F3 and F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto, and veteran driver Valtteri Bottas, winner of 10 F1 Grands Prix and current owner of the greatest F1 moustache this side of Nigel Mansell.
The presence of Bortoleto and Bottas would be no accident, since they represent the two new teams on the 2026 grid: Audi and Cadillac.
The content update is set to reflect all the sport’s 2026 changes, with new cars, new drivers, and the new regulations. How the new cars are handled within the 2026 season DLC will be interesting considering how critical many current F1 drivers have been of their new characteristics. Two-time F1 champ Fernando Alonso has dubbed modern F1 a “battery world championship”, 2025 champ Lando Norris has lamented F1 has gone from “the best cars ever made in Formula 1 and the nicest to drive to probably the worst”, and four-time champ Max Verstappen has quipped that he’s swapped the simulator for his Nintendo Switch, joking that he’s now practicing with Mario Kart instead.
The next full game in the series is planned for 2027, and will be “reimagined into a more expansive experience with new ways to play for fans around the world.”
IGN’s F1 25 review noted there remain “several areas where it hovers frustratingly short of its full potential,” including its fascination with clothing and emotes over classic F1 cars and content – but that it’s “comfortably the strongest the series has been since the fan favourite F1 2020.”
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
The current 2026 F1 season is coming to last year’s F1 25 as a new update.
Show full content
EA has confirmed the first details for F1 25’s 2026 Season Pack update will be made available this Wednesday, May 20. The reveal trailer for the upcoming DLC will be released at 4pm UK time, May 20 (11am EDT/8am PDT, and 1am AEST on May 21).
For the time being, EA has revealed the “cover” athletes for the update: seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, former F3 and F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto, and veteran driver Valtteri Bottas, winner of 10 F1 Grands Prix and current owner of the greatest F1 moustache this side of Nigel Mansell.
The presence of Bortoleto and Bottas would be no accident, since they represent the two new teams on the 2026 grid: Audi and Cadillac.
The content update is set to reflect all the sport’s 2026 changes, with new cars, new drivers, and the new regulations. How the new cars are handled within the 2026 season DLC will be interesting considering how critical many current F1 drivers have been of their new characteristics. Two-time F1 champ Fernando Alonso has dubbed modern F1 a “battery world championship”, 2025 champ Lando Norris has lamented F1 has gone from “the best cars ever made in Formula 1 and the nicest to drive to probably the worst”, and four-time champ Max Verstappen has quipped that he’s swapped the simulator for his Nintendo Switch, joking that he’s now practicing with Mario Kart instead.
The next full game in the series is planned for 2027, and will be “reimagined into a more expansive experience with new ways to play for fans around the world.”
IGN’s F1 25 review noted there remain “several areas where it hovers frustratingly short of its full potential,” including its fascination with clothing and emotes over classic F1 cars and content – but that it’s “comfortably the strongest the series has been since the fan favourite F1 2020.”
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
Here's a great deal on a power bank that stands out from the rest. As part of its Memorial Day Sale, Amazon is currently offering an Iniu 10,000mAh 45W Power Bank with foldable plug and built-in USB cable for just $18.30 after an automatic 49% off discount is applied in cart. This power bank will extend the life of your Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, or Apple iPhone and you don't need to bring along a power brick or USB cable like you would with any other power bank.
Save 49% Off the Iniu 10,000mAh 45W Power Bank
Normally you would need to take along at least three items with you to keep your Switch 2 charged up on the road: a power bank when there's no outlet available, a wall charger when there is one available (and also to charge the power bank), and a cable to link everything together. Instead, why not just bring along one device that carries out all three tasks?
The Iniu is first and foremost a power bank with a 10,000mAh (37Whr) battery capacity. It has three output ports: one built-in USB Type-C cable, one USB Type-C port, and one USB Type-A port. The 45W of USB-C Power Delivery is enough to fast charge the Nintendo Switch or Switch 2, which has a maximum charging rate of 18W-20W, the Steam Deck, which as a maximum charging of 45W, and the Apple iPhone 16, which has a charging rate of 30W even for the Pro Max.
Of course the best "feature" is the price. To get all three items would generally cost you over $30, even if you get everything on sale. At under $17, this 3-in-1 is a versatile bargain.
How to Follow IGN Deals Recommendations
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our coverage:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Forza Horizon 6 managed to slip in a sly reference to Pokémon.
Show full content
Forza Horizon 6 managed to slip in a sly reference to Pokémon.
Xbox and Playground Games' beloved racing franchise has returned, and it's arguably better than ever. Forza Horizon 6 takes the series to Japan, a long-requested setting amongst fans. Not only is Japan a beautiful location for any game, but it has a very strong and thriving car culture. After years of fleshing out the franchise, Playground finally felt comfortable in taking on the setting and making the biggest Forza game yet.
As a result, Forza embraces Japan in all kinds of different ways. Of course, there's an emphasis on drifting in the game, there are cherry blossom trees that are so culturally significant they can't be destroyed, and there are all kinds of references to Japanese culture. One of the game's most notable events even sees the player racing a giant mech through the streets of Japan. It's outrageous, but right in line with the tone of Forza. Perhaps one of the most notable Japanese references is a nod to Pokémon, Nintendo's beloved video game franchise.
While listening to the in-game radio, you may hear the radio hosts suggest that players take some pictures while exploring Japan. They then use the term, "Snap 'em all," a play on Pokémon's legendary tagline, "Gotta catch 'em all."
The radio hosts then note that it's, "like that Japanese collecting game we're not allowed to name for legal reasons." It's a fun reference that has been amusing fans, especially since Nintendo is a very litigious company that will act against anyone who infringes on Pokémon's rights.
In related news, Pokémon turns 30 this year, and there's been no shortage of ways to celebrate. Target recently teamed up with Kellanova to produce a limited-edition line of Pokémon Pop-Tarts. As you might imagine, they have been the target of scalpers, who have been snatching up stock and reselling them for four or five times their normal retail price.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
Forza Horizon 6 managed to slip in a sly reference to Pokémon.
Show full content
Forza Horizon 6 managed to slip in a sly reference to Pokémon.
Xbox and Playground Games' beloved racing franchise has returned, and it's arguably better than ever. Forza Horizon 6 takes the series to Japan, a long-requested setting amongst fans. Not only is Japan a beautiful location for any game, but it has a very strong and thriving car culture. After years of fleshing out the franchise, Playground finally felt comfortable in taking on the setting and making the biggest Forza game yet.
As a result, Forza embraces Japan in all kinds of different ways. Of course, there's an emphasis on drifting in the game, there are cherry blossom trees that are so culturally significant they can't be destroyed, and there are all kinds of references to Japanese culture. One of the game's most notable events even sees the player racing a giant mech through the streets of Japan. It's outrageous, but right in line with the tone of Forza. Perhaps one of the most notable Japanese references is a nod to Pokémon, Nintendo's beloved video game franchise.
While listening to the in-game radio, you may hear the radio hosts suggest that players take some pictures while exploring Japan. They then use the term, "Snap 'em all," a play on Pokémon's legendary tagline, "Gotta catch 'em all."
The radio hosts then note that it's, "like that Japanese collecting game we're not allowed to name for legal reasons." It's a fun reference that has been amusing fans, especially since Nintendo is a very litigious company that will act against anyone who infringes on Pokémon's rights.
In related news, Pokémon turns 30 this year, and there's been no shortage of ways to celebrate. Target recently teamed up with Kellanova to produce a limited-edition line of Pokémon Pop-Tarts. As you might imagine, they have been the target of scalpers, who have been snatching up stock and reselling them for four or five times their normal retail price.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
Forza Horizon 6 managed to slip in a sly reference to Pokémon.
Show full content
Forza Horizon 6 managed to slip in a sly reference to Pokémon.
Xbox and Playground Games' beloved racing franchise has returned, and it's arguably better than ever. Forza Horizon 6 takes the series to Japan, a long-requested setting amongst fans. Not only is Japan a beautiful location for any game, but it has a very strong and thriving car culture. After years of fleshing out the franchise, Playground finally felt comfortable in taking on the setting and making the biggest Forza game yet.
As a result, Forza embraces Japan in all kinds of different ways. Of course, there's an emphasis on drifting in the game, there are cherry blossom trees that are so culturally significant they can't be destroyed, and there are all kinds of references to Japanese culture. One of the game's most notable events even sees the player racing a giant mech through the streets of Japan. It's outrageous, but right in line with the tone of Forza. Perhaps one of the most notable Japanese references is a nod to Pokémon, Nintendo's beloved video game franchise.
While listening to the in-game radio, you may hear the radio hosts suggest that players take some pictures while exploring Japan. They then use the term, "Snap 'em all," a play on Pokémon's legendary tagline, "Gotta catch 'em all."
The radio hosts then note that it's, "like that Japanese collecting game we're not allowed to name for legal reasons." It's a fun reference that has been amusing fans, especially since Nintendo is a very litigious company that will act against anyone who infringes on Pokémon's rights.
In related news, Pokémon turns 30 this year, and there's been no shortage of ways to celebrate. Target recently teamed up with Kellanova to produce a limited-edition line of Pokémon Pop-Tarts. As you might imagine, they have been the target of scalpers, who have been snatching up stock and reselling them for four or five times their normal retail price.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
Forza Horizon 6 managed to slip in a sly reference to Pokémon.
Show full content
Forza Horizon 6 managed to slip in a sly reference to Pokémon.
Xbox and Playground Games' beloved racing franchise has returned, and it's arguably better than ever. Forza Horizon 6 takes the series to Japan, a long-requested setting amongst fans. Not only is Japan a beautiful location for any game, but it has a very strong and thriving car culture. After years of fleshing out the franchise, Playground finally felt comfortable in taking on the setting and making the biggest Forza game yet.
As a result, Forza embraces Japan in all kinds of different ways. Of course, there's an emphasis on drifting in the game, there are cherry blossom trees that are so culturally significant they can't be destroyed, and there are all kinds of references to Japanese culture. One of the game's most notable events even sees the player racing a giant mech through the streets of Japan. It's outrageous, but right in line with the tone of Forza. Perhaps one of the most notable Japanese references is a nod to Pokémon, Nintendo's beloved video game franchise.
While listening to the in-game radio, you may hear the radio hosts suggest that players take some pictures while exploring Japan. They then use the term, "Snap 'em all," a play on Pokémon's legendary tagline, "Gotta catch 'em all."
The radio hosts then note that it's, "like that Japanese collecting game we're not allowed to name for legal reasons." It's a fun reference that has been amusing fans, especially since Nintendo is a very litigious company that will act against anyone who infringes on Pokémon's rights.
In related news, Pokémon turns 30 this year, and there's been no shortage of ways to celebrate. Target recently teamed up with Kellanova to produce a limited-edition line of Pokémon Pop-Tarts. As you might imagine, they have been the target of scalpers, who have been snatching up stock and reselling them for four or five times their normal retail price.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
A lot of power in a compact and, above all, budget friendly package
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B&H is offering a great deal on a lightweight laptop with decent gaming chops. For a limited time, you can pick up an Acer Swift X 14.5" slim laptop, for just $899 with free shipping. This same laptop currently sells for $1,460 on Amazon.
Save $600 Off the 3.5lb Acer Swift X RTX 4060 Gaming Laptop
The Acer Swift X has some impressive specs for a 3.5 pound laptop that costs well under $1,000. For starters, the gorgeous 14.5" OLED display boasts a 2880x1800 QHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. Under the hood, it's equipped with a power efficient Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor CPU that can still boost up to 115W when you need maximum performance along with GeForce RTX 4060 discrete graphics, 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
This is an excellent general purpose laptop, especially for people who are constantly on the move and need a laptop with a good amount of power that isn't too bulky to bring along. Creators will appreciate the fact that it has a discrete graphis card. Although the RTX 4060 GPU has been power-limited to 60W, it's still more than powerful enough to run your favorite low demanding games during your downtime. There are more powerful rigs out there, but they're bulkier or pricer.
How to Follow IGN Deals Recommendations
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our coverage:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Access your entire library of PC games anytime, anywhere.
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Gaming laptops and PCs have gone up in price this year, but you know what hasn't - handheld gaming PCs. These mobile gaming devices grant you access to a nearly limitless library of PC games that you can play anytime and anywhere. As part of their respective Memorial Day Sales, both Amazon and Best Buy are offering the Asus ROG Xbox Ally handheld gaming PC for just $499.99 after a $100 instant discount. This is the lowest price ever and matches the deal I saw on Black Friday.
Xbox Ally Handheld Gaming PC for $499.99
The Xbox Ally is a recent model (October 2025) featuring the AMD Ryzen Z2 A CPU, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 512GB SSD. The nomenclature might be confusing, but the Xbox Ally is more of an evolution of the the ROG Ally handheld than it is an actual Xbox console. The Xbox Ally runs Windows 11 software, but it boots up straight into the Xbox App. Because you're not loading Windows Explorer, your freeing up resources typically used for non-gaming background tasks. Not only does this mean you'll get better performance without having to pay for upgraded hardware, you'll also get a seamless and tailored user experience not unlike Steam OS.
The Asus ROG Xbox Ally (non-X) model is equipped with a newer generation Ryzen Z2 A processor, which is comparable in performance to the Steam Deck's APU. It's not nearly as powerful as the Ryzen Z2 Extreme found in the higher-end Xbox Ally X, so don't expect high flying performance in demanding games like Crimson Desert or Monster Hunter. However, there are literally thousands of outstanding games available that don't need the most powerful system to enjoy.
How to Follow IGN Deals Recommendations
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our coverage:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Summer isn't here quite yet but already the heat's starting to turn up in some parts of the country. One simple and inexpensive way to beat the sweltering heat is to get yourself a portable fan. Neck fans have recently become very popular, but some people don't like the feeling of something bulky weighing down on their shoulders and crowding the neck. An equally effective and less intrusive solution is a portable fan like this one. Amazon is currently offering the Diveblues Rechargeable Portable Fan in off-white or obsidian black for just $8.99 after you apply coupon code "I9D3G6RN". You don't need to be an Amazon Prime member to get this deal.
Portable Turbo Fan for $9
The Divesblue portable fan is light; at 6.7 ounces it's roughly half the weight of a neck fan. It's small enough to stow away in a bag, but a lanyard is also included so you can loop it around your neck when need it at a moment's notice. The fan has five different speed settings, with the highest setting producing quite a bit of airflow (10ms/s) at the expense of some noise. You can either use it on the move while holding it or you can set it down and angle it towards you thanks to numerous adjustment options. The 4,000mAh battery lasts up to 12 hours and it can be recharged with a USB-C cable.
A portable fan has plenty of practical uses, especially if you're going somewhere hot and humid (like Disney World Orlando in the summer). For gamers, it makes a lot of sense because your room can get pretty toasty on a hot day, especially with your gaming console or PC working overtime and exhausting tons of hot air. Additionally, if you're like me and you get sweaty whenever you wear a gaming headset, a little fan pointed at your head could be the solution for that too.
How to Follow IGN Deals Recommendations
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our coverage:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
PlayStation seems to be waving the white flag on its PC strategy, at least when it comes to single-player titles.
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PlayStation seems to be waving the white flag on its PC strategy, at least when it comes to single-player games.
Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that PlayStation was backing down from releasing future first-party titles on PC. There was still some ambiguity around how hard and fast those rules would be; as one example, Saros developer Housemarque dodged the question if the game would ever come to PC in an interview with Game Informer in the lead-up to the game's PS5 release. Now, things seem to be more concrete: Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reported that during a company town hall meeting this week, PlayStation studio business CEO Hermen Hulst affirmed that first-party narrative-driven single-player games will now be console exclusives for PlayStation.
That means you shouldn't expect Ghost of Yotei, Saros, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, or Marvel's Wolverine to come to PC. If you want to play those games, you should expect to buy a PS5. With that said, Hulst specifically calling out single-player games is interesting. This may mean multiplayer-centric games, like the in-development Fairgames, will still come to PC, something that would be wise given the immense success of Helldivers 2 on PC.
This news comes after roughly six years of PlayStation bringing some of its biggest games to PC, including its rebooted God of War titles, Marvel's Spider-Man games, Ghost of Tsushima, and The Last of Us series. These games often arrived months or even years after initial release, seen as a way to squeeze extra money out of these games from people who weren't going to make the jump to PlayStation. There may have even been some hope that by creating new fans on PC, it might inspire gamers to purchase a PS5 to play sequels to their favorite PlayStation games.
However, it seems the strategy hasn't been as fruitful as PlayStation may have hoped. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 had an all-time peak of 28,117 concurrent players on Steam — a fairly low number for one of PlayStation's biggest games starring one of the most iconic characters in modern fiction — while online games like Helldivers 2 peaked at 458,208 concurrents on Steam. Helldivers 2 also benefited from a simultaneous launch with the game's PS5 version, unlike many of the single-player titles.
Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida recently questioned the idea of PlayStation pulling back on PC, noting how the extra revenue from "releasing games on PC after a couple of years must have helped recoup the investment of these big budget games and help[ed] the team and company to reinvest that money into their new games."
He continued: "If they were releasing new AAA games day one on other platforms, I don’t think that’s a good strategy for [a] platform holder like PlayStation. I’m not seeing any proof of them changing their strategy this generation, but if they are changing, it's going to be interesting how they are able to maintain the investment on the big budget games on the first-party side going forward."
Similarly, Xbox is also reportedly assessing its approach to exclusivity going forward. Although PC is a big part of the Xbox ecosystem now and has been for years, many have questioned whether or not Xbox will continue to bring its games to PS5 under the leadership of Asha Sharma, the new Xbox boss. As of right now, there are a lot of rumors about what may happen next, but nothing has been concretely decided. Currently, games like Fable and Forza Horizon 6 are confirmed for PS5, with the former expected to arrive the same day and date on Xbox and PlayStation platforms.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
PlayStation seems to be waving the white flag on its PC strategy, at least when it comes to single-player titles.
Show full content
PlayStation seems to be waving the white flag on its PC strategy, at least when it comes to single-player games.
Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that PlayStation was backing down from releasing future first-party titles on PC. There was still some ambiguity around how hard and fast those rules would be; as one example, Saros developer Housemarque dodged the question if the game would ever come to PC in an interview with Game Informer in the lead-up to the game's PS5 release. Now, things seem to be more concrete: Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reported that during a company town hall meeting this week, PlayStation studio business CEO Hermen Hulst affirmed that first-party narrative-driven single-player games will now be console exclusives for PlayStation.
That means you shouldn't expect Ghost of Yotei, Saros, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, or Marvel's Wolverine to come to PC. If you want to play those games, you should expect to buy a PS5. With that said, Hulst specifically calling out single-player games is interesting. This may mean multiplayer-centric games, like the in-development Fairgames, will still come to PC, something that would be wise given the immense success of Helldivers 2 on PC.
This news comes after roughly six years of PlayStation bringing some of its biggest games to PC, including its rebooted God of War titles, Marvel's Spider-Man games, Ghost of Tsushima, and The Last of Us series. These games often arrived months or even years after initial release, seen as a way to squeeze extra money out of these games from people who weren't going to make the jump to PlayStation. There may have even been some hope that by creating new fans on PC, it might inspire gamers to purchase a PS5 to play sequels to their favorite PlayStation games.
However, it seems the strategy hasn't been as fruitful as PlayStation may have hoped. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 had an all-time peak of 28,117 concurrent players on Steam — a fairly low number for one of PlayStation's biggest games starring one of the most iconic characters in modern fiction — while online games like Helldivers 2 peaked at 458,208 concurrents on Steam. Helldivers 2 also benefited from a simultaneous launch with the game's PS5 version, unlike many of the single-player titles.
Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida recently questioned the idea of PlayStation pulling back on PC, noting how the extra revenue from "releasing games on PC after a couple of years must have helped recoup the investment of these big budget games and help[ed] the team and company to reinvest that money into their new games."
He continued: "If they were releasing new AAA games day one on other platforms, I don’t think that’s a good strategy for [a] platform holder like PlayStation. I’m not seeing any proof of them changing their strategy this generation, but if they are changing, it's going to be interesting how they are able to maintain the investment on the big budget games on the first-party side going forward."
Similarly, Xbox is also reportedly assessing its approach to exclusivity going forward. Although PC is a big part of the Xbox ecosystem now and has been for years, many have questioned whether or not Xbox will continue to bring its games to PS5 under the leadership of Asha Sharma, the new Xbox boss. As of right now, there are a lot of rumors about what may happen next, but nothing has been concretely decided. Currently, games like Fable and Forza Horizon 6 are confirmed for PS5, with the former expected to arrive the same day and date on Xbox and PlayStation platforms.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
PlayStation seems to be waving the white flag on its PC strategy, at least when it comes to single-player titles.
Show full content
PlayStation seems to be waving the white flag on its PC strategy, at least when it comes to single-player games.
Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that PlayStation was backing down from releasing future first-party titles on PC. There was still some ambiguity around how hard and fast those rules would be; as one example, Saros developer Housemarque dodged the question if the game would ever come to PC in an interview with Game Informer in the lead-up to the game's PS5 release. Now, things seem to be more concrete: Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reported that during a company town hall meeting this week, PlayStation studio business CEO Hermen Hulst affirmed that first-party narrative-driven single-player games will now be console exclusives for PlayStation.
That means you shouldn't expect Ghost of Yotei, Saros, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, or Marvel's Wolverine to come to PC. If you want to play those games, you should expect to buy a PS5. With that said, Hulst specifically calling out single-player games is interesting. This may mean multiplayer-centric games, like the in-development Fairgames, will still come to PC, something that would be wise given the immense success of Helldivers 2 on PC.
This news comes after roughly six years of PlayStation bringing some of its biggest games to PC, including its rebooted God of War titles, Marvel's Spider-Man games, Ghost of Tsushima, and The Last of Us series. These games often arrived months or even years after initial release, seen as a way to squeeze extra money out of these games from people who weren't going to make the jump to PlayStation. There may have even been some hope that by creating new fans on PC, it might inspire gamers to purchase a PS5 to play sequels to their favorite PlayStation games.
However, it seems the strategy hasn't been as fruitful as PlayStation may have hoped. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 had an all-time peak of 28,117 concurrent players on Steam — a fairly low number for one of PlayStation's biggest games starring one of the most iconic characters in modern fiction — while online games like Helldivers 2 peaked at 458,208 concurrents on Steam. Helldivers 2 also benefited from a simultaneous launch with the game's PS5 version, unlike many of the single-player titles.
Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida recently questioned the idea of PlayStation pulling back on PC, noting how the extra revenue from "releasing games on PC after a couple of years must have helped recoup the investment of these big budget games and help[ed] the team and company to reinvest that money into their new games."
He continued: "If they were releasing new AAA games day one on other platforms, I don’t think that’s a good strategy for [a] platform holder like PlayStation. I’m not seeing any proof of them changing their strategy this generation, but if they are changing, it's going to be interesting how they are able to maintain the investment on the big budget games on the first-party side going forward."
Similarly, Xbox is also reportedly assessing its approach to exclusivity going forward. Although PC is a big part of the Xbox ecosystem now and has been for years, many have questioned whether or not Xbox will continue to bring its games to PS5 under the leadership of Asha Sharma, the new Xbox boss. As of right now, there are a lot of rumors about what may happen next, but nothing has been concretely decided. Currently, games like Fable and Forza Horizon 6 are confirmed for PS5, with the former expected to arrive the same day and date on Xbox and PlayStation platforms.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
PlayStation fans have launched a new class-action lawsuit in an effort to claim refunds after Sony initiated price increases for the PS5 in response to tariffs last year.
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New PlayStation console owners have launched a new class-action lawsuit in an effort to claim refunds after Sony initiated price increases for the PS5 in response to tariffs last year.
The Walker et al v. Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California May 6, 2026 (via Engadget). Plaintiffs Amorey Walker and Bryce Foster-Quarles claim consumers are entitled to compensation after the console manufacturer allegedly received a "substantial windfall" following tariff policy enacted by U.S. President Donald Trump last year.
Sony announced it would raise the price of the standard PS5, as well as its Digital and Pro variants, by $50 in August 2025. It directly mentioned the "challenging economic environment" at the time, alluding to Trump's tariffs affecting its business. The tariffs were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in February 2026, raising the question of refunds for companies that had been impacted.
The class-action suit hinges on the belief that a "double recovery windfall" that Sony is set to receive should be passed on to the everyday buyer who purchased PS5s post-price-hike. It would potentially affect gamers who purchased price-hiked PlayStation hardware following the initial August increases.
Walker et al v. Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC is not dissimilar to a case filed against Nintendo just last month. The class-action lawsuit in question was filed by Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan and seeks to ensure any refunds received by Nintendo are returned to customers after Nintendo Switch accessories were hit with price increases in April 2025.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
PlayStation fans have launched a new class-action lawsuit in an effort to claim refunds after Sony initiated price increases for the PS5 in response to tariffs last year.
Show full content
New PlayStation console owners have launched a new class-action lawsuit in an effort to claim refunds after Sony initiated price increases for the PS5 in response to tariffs last year.
The Walker et al v. Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California May 6, 2026 (via Engadget). Plaintiffs Amorey Walker and Bryce Foster-Quarles claim consumers are entitled to compensation after the console manufacturer allegedly received a "substantial windfall" following tariff policy enacted by U.S. President Donald Trump last year.
Sony announced it would raise the price of the standard PS5, as well as its Digital and Pro variants, by $50 in August 2025. It directly mentioned the "challenging economic environment" at the time, alluding to Trump's tariffs affecting its business. The tariffs were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in February 2026, raising the question of refunds for companies that had been impacted.
The class-action suit hinges on the belief that a "double recovery windfall" that Sony is set to receive should be passed on to the everyday buyer who purchased PS5s post-price-hike. It would potentially affect gamers who purchased price-hiked PlayStation hardware following the initial August increases.
Walker et al v. Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC is not dissimilar to a case filed against Nintendo just last month. The class-action lawsuit in question was filed by Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan and seeks to ensure any refunds received by Nintendo are returned to customers after Nintendo Switch accessories were hit with price increases in April 2025.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
PlayStation fans have launched a new class-action lawsuit in an effort to claim refunds after Sony initiated price increases for the PS5 in response to tariffs last year.
Show full content
New PlayStation console owners have launched a new class-action lawsuit in an effort to claim refunds after Sony initiated price increases for the PS5 in response to tariffs last year.
The Walker et al v. Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California May 6, 2026 (via Engadget). Plaintiffs Amorey Walker and Bryce Foster-Quarles claim consumers are entitled to compensation after the console manufacturer allegedly received a "substantial windfall" following tariff policy enacted by U.S. President Donald Trump last year.
Sony announced it would raise the price of the standard PS5, as well as its Digital and Pro variants, by $50 in August 2025. It directly mentioned the "challenging economic environment" at the time, alluding to Trump's tariffs affecting its business. The tariffs were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in February 2026, raising the question of refunds for companies that had been impacted.
The class-action suit hinges on the belief that a "double recovery windfall" that Sony is set to receive should be passed on to the everyday buyer who purchased PS5s post-price-hike. It would potentially affect gamers who purchased price-hiked PlayStation hardware following the initial August increases.
Walker et al v. Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC is not dissimilar to a case filed against Nintendo just last month. The class-action lawsuit in question was filed by Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan and seeks to ensure any refunds received by Nintendo are returned to customers after Nintendo Switch accessories were hit with price increases in April 2025.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers have admitted they put extra effort into Steve's fake-out death because they were "f**king with the audience."
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Five months after the Stranger Things finale, series creators the Duffer Brothers have admitted they put extra effort into Steve's fake-out death because they were "f**king with the audience."
Matt and Ross Duffer came clean during an interview with Josh Horowitz on Happy, Sad, Confused. Though the Netflix show's final episode premiered in December, that isn't stopping the duo behind the series from talking about the lengths they went to in order to mess with fans.
Warning! Stranger Things finale spoilers follow.
This is especially true when it comes to actor Joe Keery's Steve Harrington, a character who had fans fearing the worst in the months leading up to the finale. One moment in the final Stranger Things episode originally saw him suffer a brief, unimpactful fall from a great height, so the Duffer Brothers set aside a half day of reshoots to spice things up.
"We did a half day of reshoots, which we've actually never done on Stranger Things before," Ross Duffer said. "It was just little, tiny, miscellaneous things that we wanted to do, but the main reason we wanted to go back is because Steve's near-death just wasn't… It wasn't shot like that in a slow-motion way. It all happened really fast. In the edit, it's so dark that the moment wasn't going back.
"Then we went back with Joe Keery, and we just built a tiny, like, 3-foot slab of the tower because we didn't have money to rebuild it, and we just did that moment where he just dropped. Then we just milked it even more in the edit."
The finished version of the Stranger Things series finale saw Steve fall from the tower in slow motion before Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) came to his surprise rescue after a drawn-out cut to black. Matt Duffer later added that a dramatic fake-out of this level isn't something the crew behind the Netflix series would normally engage in, but with Stranger Things finally on its way out, they struck while the iron was hot.
"I don't know that we normally would have done him almost falling off the tower. That was us f**king with the audience, for sure," he said. "For sure. Which, we don't normally do, but I was like, 'This is a golden opportunity that we can't pass up.'"
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers have admitted they put extra effort into Steve's fake-out death because they were "f**king with the audience."
Show full content
Five months after the Stranger Things finale, series creators the Duffer Brothers have admitted they put extra effort into Steve's fake-out death because they were "f**king with the audience."
Matt and Ross Duffer came clean during an interview with Josh Horowitz on Happy, Sad, Confused. Though the Netflix show's final episode premiered in December, that isn't stopping the duo behind the series from talking about the lengths they went to in order to mess with fans.
Warning! Stranger Things finale spoilers follow.
This is especially true when it comes to actor Joe Keery's Steve Harrington, a character who had fans fearing the worst in the months leading up to the finale. One moment in the final Stranger Things episode originally saw him suffer a brief, unimpactful fall from a great height, so the Duffer Brothers set aside a half day of reshoots to spice things up.
"We did a half day of reshoots, which we've actually never done on Stranger Things before," Ross Duffer said. "It was just little, tiny, miscellaneous things that we wanted to do, but the main reason we wanted to go back is because Steve's near-death just wasn't… It wasn't shot like that in a slow-motion way. It all happened really fast. In the edit, it's so dark that the moment wasn't going back.
"Then we went back with Joe Keery, and we just built a tiny, like, 3-foot slab of the tower because we didn't have money to rebuild it, and we just did that moment where he just dropped. Then we just milked it even more in the edit."
The finished version of the Stranger Things series finale saw Steve fall from the tower in slow motion before Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) came to his surprise rescue after a drawn-out cut to black. Matt Duffer later added that a dramatic fake-out of this level isn't something the crew behind the Netflix series would normally engage in, but with Stranger Things finally on its way out, they struck while the iron was hot.
"I don't know that we normally would have done him almost falling off the tower. That was us f**king with the audience, for sure," he said. "For sure. Which, we don't normally do, but I was like, 'This is a golden opportunity that we can't pass up.'"
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Amazon has cut Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Switch 2 preorders to £43.99, matching Argos and still including a free Zack Fair MTG card
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Out on 3 June, the Nintendo Switch 2 port of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has had preorders for its physical copies (though Game-Key Cards) drop at retailers like Amazon and Argos. Although the epic follow-up to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been out on PS5 and PC since early 2024 and 2025 respectively, but is finally coming to the Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S next month.
Among various preorder bonuses for the Switch 2 preorder, however, (including a reversible alternate box art inlay) is a very unique and limited in-box pre-order bonus: a Zack Fair Magic: The Gathering card.
This borderless version of the card, with variant art done by Tetsuya Nomura himself, has specifically been spotted among FF7 Rebirth’s Switch 2 pre-orders on Amazon UK and Argos — both for £43.99, after Amazon cut its initial £49.99 price.
On the other hand, Argos’ listing also comes with added in-game pre-order bonuses along with the Zack Fair card: a Posh Chocobo Summon Materia, a Shinra Bangle Mk. II item, and Midgar Bangle Mk. II item. However, Amazon doesn’t seem to have those listed in its promo art — only the Zack Fair card and reversible inlay.
If you can’t wait to start playing on Switch 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s demo is available on the Nintendo eShop, where your save data will carry over to the full game. Plus, if you have save data from the FF7 Remake Intergrade’s main story, you’ll also unlock free Leviathan Summoning Materia.
Will you be checking out Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on Switch 2 or Xbox? Or are you waiting for news on Part 3? Let us know!
Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.
Amazon has cut Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Switch 2 preorders to £43.99, matching Argos and still including a free Zack Fair MTG card
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Out on 3 June, the Nintendo Switch 2 port of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has had preorders for its physical copies (though Game-Key Cards) drop at retailers like Amazon and Argos. Although the epic follow-up to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been out on PS5 and PC since early 2024 and 2025 respectively, but is finally coming to the Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S next month.
Among various preorder bonuses for the Switch 2 preorder, however, (including a reversible alternate box art inlay) is a very unique and limited in-box pre-order bonus: a Zack Fair Magic: The Gathering card.
This borderless version of the card, with variant art done by Tetsuya Nomura himself, has specifically been spotted among FF7 Rebirth’s Switch 2 pre-orders on Amazon UK and Argos — both for £43.99, after Amazon cut its initial £49.99 price.
On the other hand, Argos’ listing also comes with added in-game pre-order bonuses along with the Zack Fair card: a Posh Chocobo Summon Materia, a Shinra Bangle Mk. II item, and Midgar Bangle Mk. II item. However, Amazon doesn’t seem to have those listed in its promo art — only the Zack Fair card and reversible inlay.
If you can’t wait to start playing on Switch 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s demo is available on the Nintendo eShop, where your save data will carry over to the full game. Plus, if you have save data from the FF7 Remake Intergrade’s main story, you’ll also unlock free Leviathan Summoning Materia.
Will you be checking out Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on Switch 2 or Xbox? Or are you waiting for news on Part 3? Let us know!
Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.
Amazon has cut Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Switch 2 preorders to £43.99, matching Argos and still including a free Zack Fair MTG card
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Out on 3 June, the Nintendo Switch 2 port of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has had preorders for its physical copies (though Game-Key Cards) drop at retailers like Amazon and Argos. Although the epic follow-up to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been out on PS5 and PC since early 2024 and 2025 respectively, but is finally coming to the Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S next month.
Among various preorder bonuses for the Switch 2 preorder, however, (including a reversible alternate box art inlay) is a very unique and limited in-box pre-order bonus: a Zack Fair Magic: The Gathering card.
This borderless version of the card, with variant art done by Tetsuya Nomura himself, has specifically been spotted among FF7 Rebirth’s Switch 2 pre-orders on Amazon UK and Argos — both for £43.99, after Amazon cut its initial £49.99 price.
On the other hand, Argos’ listing also comes with added in-game pre-order bonuses along with the Zack Fair card: a Posh Chocobo Summon Materia, a Shinra Bangle Mk. II item, and Midgar Bangle Mk. II item. However, Amazon doesn’t seem to have those listed in its promo art — only the Zack Fair card and reversible inlay.
If you can’t wait to start playing on Switch 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s demo is available on the Nintendo eShop, where your save data will carry over to the full game. Plus, if you have save data from the FF7 Remake Intergrade’s main story, you’ll also unlock free Leviathan Summoning Materia.
Will you be checking out Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on Switch 2 or Xbox? Or are you waiting for news on Part 3? Let us know!
Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.
Starting this week, Best Buy kicks off its Memorial Day Sale, along with one of the best high-end gaming laptop deals I've seen for the month of May. Right now you can pick up the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 Gen 10 gaming laptop, equipped with a 16" OLED display and RTX 5070 Ti GPU, for just $2,099.99 with free shipping after a $1,250 instant discount.
$1,250 Off the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Laptop
The Legion Pro 5 boasts solid build quality, featuring an aluminum top lid and a sturdy plastic bottom chassis. The gorgeous 16" OLED display sports a 2.5K 200ppi resolution, 165Hz refresh rate, VESA True Black 600 certification, and 100% DCI-P3 color space. This new 2025 model has also been updated with the Wi-Fi 7 standard. Connectivity options include two USB-C 10Gbps ports with DisplayPort 2.1 (one with 100W of Power Delivery), RJ45 ethernet, and HDMI 2.1.
The rest of the specs include an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU, RTX 5070 Ti mobile GPU, 32GB of DDR5-5600MHz RAM and a 2TB SSD. The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX has a max turbo frequency of 5.4GHz with 24 total cores. It's an excellent processor for both gaming and workstation tasks.
The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti mobile GPU can handle the most demanding games
The RTX 5070 Ti mobile GPU performs about 20%-30% better than the RTX 5070. Compared to the previous generation, it's comparable in performance to the RTX 4080 and pulls ahead of it in games that support DLSS 4.5 and multi-frame generation. It's powerful enough to run just about any game on the display's upgraded 2560x1600 resolution. You can run even games like Pragmata, Crimson Desert, and Forza Horizon 6 at 60+fps with minimal tweaking.
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our coverage:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Hope review: The Wailing director Na Hong-jin returns with a blast of an alien action thriller.
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This review is based on a screening at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.
One of the most confounding films to compete for the Palme d’Or, Cannes Film Festival debut Hope is a rip-roaring Korean creature feature made with gonzo skill. Idiosyncratic in structure, spring-loaded with momentum, and doused in additional rocket fuel, it’s the kind of movie sure to divide viewers given how obviously it’s been cut down from something longer and more labyrinthine in scope. However, its flaws are all part and parcel of its dazzling, “How the hell does this even exist?” spectacle. It’s the kind of reaction reserved for bangers like Mad Max: Fury Road, especially given just how much of Hope unfolds on roads and highways at a hundred miles an hour, with characters leaning out of cop cars and practically kissing the pavement; the comparison isn’t unwarranted.
Set along the DMZ in the South Korean border town of Hope Harbor, Hope departs from other great films of its ilk, like Bong Joon Ho’s The Host, by picking a rural setting. Police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) and various gun-toting locals are called to investigate a bull carcass in the middle of an open road, with claw marks far too big for the local bears, but before they have a chance to dig into the mystery, carnage begins engulfing their nearby township. This thrusts them into utter chaos for nearly the film’s first full hour as they chase down an unseen monster while navigating bodies, debris, and cars sent tumbling from off-screen in scenes that alternate between the dizzying terrors of director Na Hong-jin’s last film, The Wailing, and something out of William Friedkin’s The French Connection, with cameras low to the ground as they zip around tight turns.
While we do eventually see the aforementioned creature – one of several that appear across the movie’s 160 minutes, played via performance capture by Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender, Cameron Britton, and Taylor Russell — this initial, extended set piece provides enough heart-in-mouth thrills that you might even wish the monsters remained unseen. Granted, this might also be the case if you’re averse to malformed CGI, but the standards once set by Hollywood aren’t the same everywhere else. The way Na Hong-jin uses his digital tools, as though bringing impossible stop-motion critters to life, makes for a marvellous romp. The characters are largely paper-thin cutouts, but they provide enough levity and allure to keep things moving. For instance, there’s Squid Game mainstay Jung Ho-yeon, who plays rookie cop Sung-ae and gets a heroic, grenade launcher-wielding entrance akin to a South Indian action star.
To say that Hope is an alien film isn’t exactly a spoiler, but discovering the nature of its designs is a delight unto itself. Usually, one look at a movie’s extraterrestrials tells you just how close or far removed its designs are meant to be from humanity, but Hope also features a variety of creatures that make this calculus more complicated. Some of these aliens are elegant, even regal; others are puzzling creations of flesh, bone, and even wood, where you’re never quite sure what you’re looking at (anatomically speaking). Still others feel plucked from the sketchbooks of H.R. Giger, but for the most part, they have just enough human features to place them in the uncanny valley, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing given how they’re used dramatically.
The movie’s most heroic characters – like Zo In-sung’s headstrong, horse riding tracker, Sung-ki – aren’t those that land the most accurate shots, but rather those that occasionally pause to consider the lives and emotions of these rampaging creatures, catching glimmers of something deeper in their distinctly human eyes. On paper, Hope is entirely a game of figuring out what the f*** the townspeople are even up against, and responding accordingly. But nestled within its action, comedy, and mystery are fleeting moments of empathy that verge on heartbreak for the situation at large, as the movie threatens to become something more sentimental and Amblin-esque.
That it never does is tragic all on its own. You see, Na Hong-jin’s country setting doesn’t just provide wide open spaces for mayhem and detailed production design; rather, it sets the stage for subtle social and political commentary akin to The Twilight Zone and other American Cold War science fiction, drawn from an era when the Red Scare had people seeing communists in their soup. Setting Hope along the border with North Korea has a similar function, between signs that warn not only of animals, spies, and grenades – the alien creatures are, in essence, a combination of the three – but of infiltration at large.
These fears of invasion take shape in kooky ways, like Bum-seok being continually surprised by just how armed-to-the-teeth the people of his town turn out to be. This is funny in the moment, but it speaks to the exact kind of cultural paranoia that breeds the movie’s high-octane violence in the first place. It also seems to breed rot – everything that dies in the movie decays faster than usual, which is never commented upon but ensures that most scenes are drenched in squelching practical effects and buzzing insects. Death is always just around the corner, so every time ammunition tears through the air, it also threatens to make the movie more sickly.
It’s hard not to be swept up by the movie’s deluge of sounds and images.
Not since Starship Troopers has large-scale sci-fi action been laced with such wrenching internal conflict, wherein heroes are instantly demythologized and frequent moments offering mutual understanding are dismissed by rattling machine-guns. That Hope revels in its violent displays is certainly an attempt to have its cake and eat it too, but Na Hong-jin is more than capable of toeing this tonal line given how unapologetically he drenches each scene in physical and emotional adrenaline. It’s hard not to be swept up by the movie’s deluge of sounds and images.
That the film ends on a note teasing a potential sequel is just as strange as anything you see on screen. However, that Hope also works as an isolated sliver of something larger which we may never see – and which the trigger-happy characters choose not to recognize – feels thematically whole as well. Perhaps the movie’s alleged heroes are too far gone in the direction of selfish survivalism to have ever stood a real chance at building something better and exploring new possibilities, which is nothing if not a warning sign of where we are and what’s to come.
This electric assisted bike can go up to 23mph with a range of up to 45 miles.
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With prices of electric bikes reaching an all-time low, it's time to retire that pedal-powered bike of yours. Nowadays you can find a decent ebike for well under $500 if you know where to look (hint: it's not necessarily Amazon). For Memorial Day, AliExpress has dropped the price on the 5th Wheel AB17 500W 375Wh Electric Bike to just $232.73 after $35 off coupon code "USDEAL35". It ships locally from a warehouse in the United States, with most orders being delivered within a week. The AliExpress marketplace seller "5th Wheel" is the official manufacturer and has plenty of reviews and sales.
Get a 500W 375Wh Electric Bike for Just $233
The 5th Wheel AB17 bike is an adult electric bike featuring a 500W (700W peak) motor that can get up to speeds of 23mph. The 36V 375Wh lithium battery provides up to 25 miles on electric only mode and up to 45 miles on pedal-assist mode. The actual distance is dependent on other factors like your speed, terrain, elevation, and so forth. The frame is made of carbon steel so it's on the heavier side at about 50 pounds, but it also has a generous weight capacity of 265 pounds. The bike comes 85% preassembled and includes a 1 year warranty. It's also UL 2849 certified for safety.
There are other bikes out there that offer higher-quality components, a more powerful motor, better upgradeability, and/or domestic customer support, but only if you're willing to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars more. The 5th Wheel AB17 bike is a perfectly respectable assisted ride that will satisfy most casual bikers at an unbeatable price. Frankly speaking, you have few other legitimate options if you're looking for a brand new adult ebike for under $300.
How to Follow IGN Deals Recommendations
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our coverage:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Save $80 off compared to buying it from the Apple Store.
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Earlier this year, Apple released its 8th generation iPad Air tablet at a starting price of $599.99. However for Memorial Day Amazon has dropped the price to $519.99, or $80 off MSRP, which is the lowest price I've seen since its launch. In addition to the M4 chip upgrade, the newest iPad Air is equipped with more RAM than before and Apple's newest N1 wireless chip, which finally introduces Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support.
$80 Off the 2026 Apple iPad Air 11" M4 128GB Tablet
The iPad Air M4 is the newest generation iPad Air released back in March of 2026. The biggest upgrade is the Apple M4 chip, which is about 20%-30% faster than the M3 chip found on the previous generation model. The iPad Air also supports Apple Intelligence and its features including Genmoji, Writing Tools, and AI-enhanced Siri.
Normally, most iPad updates are incremental and outside of the CPU upgrade, the buck stops there. Not with this update. The new iPad has also increased the amount of memory by 50%, from 8GB to 12GB of RAM. You'll be able to run multiple resource-heavy apps, mult-task, and take advatange of processor-intenstive AI features better than before.
In addition to the increased memory, the iPad also has a brand new N1 wireless chip. For the first time the iPad Air supports Wi-Fi 7, which offers wireless faster-than-gigabit networking speeds. The N1 chip also supports Bluetooth 6, which boasts better latency and power efficiency compared to Bluetooth 5.
The rest of the specs are pretty much identical to its predecessor. The iPad Air boasts an 11" 2360x1640 (264ppi) Liquid Retina display with P3 Wide Color and True Tone that's better quality than the screen found on the standard iPad. SThe iPad Air is compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro, Apple Pencil (USB‑C) and the Magic Keyboard. In fact, the newer model Magic Keyboard that was released earlier this year is specifically catered to the iPad Air.
Looking for more iPad resources?
If you're not sure which iPad is best for you, we have an iPad guide which details the ideal iPad for different use cases. If you want to get an iPad for schoolwork, we have an iPad guide for students as well. If you're looking for options outside of iOS, check out the best Android tablets of 2026.
How to Follow IGN Deals Recommendations
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our coverage:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Forza Horizon 6 makes cherry blossom trees and shrines indestructible — here's why.
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Forza Horizon 6 finally brings the racing series to Japan. Players can cruise around a highly detailed, stylized and condensed version of the country, taking in everything from downtown Tokyo, famous landmarks, and scenic country roads in all seasons as they test their mettle against other racers.
The game also rewards you with experience points for letting out that road rage by smashing your car into other vehicles or your surroundings. However, The Japan Times’ recent interview with design director Torben Ellert revealed that while you can destroy most things in Forza 6 by crashing into them (whether on purpose or because you understeered on a hairpin bend), culturally important things like shrines, temples, and cherry trees are indestructible.
“Almost all trees in the game are smashable to ensure that traversing the world map is both fun and rewarding,” Ellert explains. “However, several tree types are not — for example, the cherry blossom trees — because they’re an iconic element of Japanese culture. Certain temples or other cultural elements are also excluded so that players aren’t tempted to drive through shrines or locations of cultural importance.”
Cherry blossoms are historically and culturally important in Japan, often appearing as a key symbol in Japanese literature, art, and poetry. Their pink blossoms are a sign of rebirth and the coming of spring, but also a reminder of how fleeting life is. In ancient times, farmers made offerings and held feasts underneath the cherry trees in the hope that the spirits of the fields would bring a good harvest. In the 800s, the emperor and nobles also kicked off a tradition of holding parties to admire the cherry blossoms. These traditions have evolved into modern day hanami — cherry blossom viewing parties where people have picnics under the trees and enjoy the blossoms.
Cherry blossom trees in real life can be easily damaged. Tampering with or shaking the branches of cherry blossom trees in public parks is punishable by fines in Japan. Furthermore, some of the countries’ oldest trees are over 1,000 years old and protected as natural treasures by the government (like Uozumi Zakura in Gifu). Consideration for their cultural importance explains why UK studio Playground Games decided to make cherry trees invincible in Forza Horizon 6.
As for shrines and temples, last year, Assassins Creed Shadows received heavy pre-release backlash in Japan due to a preview that showed that players could smash up shrines. Ubisoft addressed this in a day-one patch that made shrine objects indestructible and prevented unarmed NPCs from bleeding when attacked (thus preventing bloodshed on sacred grounds). Forza Horizon 6’s devs have opted to be culturally sensitive regarding what the player can do to religious and cultural sites.
“Japan has been on our shortlist for several games now,” Ellert told The Guardian. “But we just didn’t feel like we were ready to take on the challenge of building it.” The team conducted in-depth research for the game, right down to the smallest details, hiring experts including cultural consultant and former Porsche ambassador Kyoko Yamashita to advise on their depiction of Japan and its racing scene. “Because it’s a culture we see a lot, there’s a temptation to think you know it better than you do, which is why we tried really hard to get people to course correct us if we were drifting,” added Ellert.
While those who pre-ordered the premium edition of Forza Horizon 6 are already burning rubber, the game officially releases on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on May 19. While you wait, check out IGN's Forza Horizon 6 review.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
Forza Horizon 6 makes cherry blossom trees and shrines indestructible — here's why.
Show full content
Forza Horizon 6 finally brings the racing series to Japan. Players can cruise around a highly detailed, stylized and condensed version of the country, taking in everything from downtown Tokyo, famous landmarks, and scenic country roads in all seasons as they test their mettle against other racers.
The game also rewards you with experience points for letting out that road rage by smashing your car into other vehicles or your surroundings. However, The Japan Times’ recent interview with design director Torben Ellert revealed that while you can destroy most things in Forza 6 by crashing into them (whether on purpose or because you understeered on a hairpin bend), culturally important things like shrines, temples, and cherry trees are indestructible.
“Almost all trees in the game are smashable to ensure that traversing the world map is both fun and rewarding,” Ellert explains. “However, several tree types are not — for example, the cherry blossom trees — because they’re an iconic element of Japanese culture. Certain temples or other cultural elements are also excluded so that players aren’t tempted to drive through shrines or locations of cultural importance.”
Cherry blossoms are historically and culturally important in Japan, often appearing as a key symbol in Japanese literature, art, and poetry. Their pink blossoms are a sign of rebirth and the coming of spring, but also a reminder of how fleeting life is. In ancient times, farmers made offerings and held feasts underneath the cherry trees in the hope that the spirits of the fields would bring a good harvest. In the 800s, the emperor and nobles also kicked off a tradition of holding parties to admire the cherry blossoms. These traditions have evolved into modern day hanami — cherry blossom viewing parties where people have picnics under the trees and enjoy the blossoms.
Cherry blossom trees in real life can be easily damaged. Tampering with or shaking the branches of cherry blossom trees in public parks is punishable by fines in Japan. Furthermore, some of the countries’ oldest trees are over 1,000 years old and protected as natural treasures by the government (like Uozumi Zakura in Gifu). Consideration for their cultural importance explains why UK studio Playground Games decided to make cherry trees invincible in Forza Horizon 6.
As for shrines and temples, last year, Assassins Creed Shadows received heavy pre-release backlash in Japan due to a preview that showed that players could smash up shrines. Ubisoft addressed this in a day-one patch that made shrine objects indestructible and prevented unarmed NPCs from bleeding when attacked (thus preventing bloodshed on sacred grounds). Forza Horizon 6’s devs have opted to be culturally sensitive regarding what the player can do to religious and cultural sites.
“Japan has been on our shortlist for several games now,” Ellert told The Guardian. “But we just didn’t feel like we were ready to take on the challenge of building it.” The team conducted in-depth research for the game, right down to the smallest details, hiring experts including cultural consultant and former Porsche ambassador Kyoko Yamashita to advise on their depiction of Japan and its racing scene. “Because it’s a culture we see a lot, there’s a temptation to think you know it better than you do, which is why we tried really hard to get people to course correct us if we were drifting,” added Ellert.
While those who pre-ordered the premium edition of Forza Horizon 6 are already burning rubber, the game officially releases on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on May 19. While you wait, check out IGN's Forza Horizon 6 review.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers have said they would love to redo the show's notorious Season 2 episode "The Lost Sister" but the rumors that it was supposed to be a backdoor pilot for a spin-off are "bulls**t."
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Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers have said they would love to redo the show's notorious Season 2 episode "The Lost Sister," but the rumors that it was supposed to be a backdoor pilot for a spinoff are "bulls**t."
The pair behind the hit Netflix show looked back on the highs and lows of their time in Hawkins, Indiana, during an interview with Josh Horowitz on Happy, Sad, Confused. While reflecting on the moments they'd love to take another crack at, both Matt and Ross Duffer gave an unsurprising answer for the Stranger Things episode they knew needed more love: Season 2, Episode 7.
"I think the mistake was this idea of a bottle episode," Matt Duffer said. "I think if we had threaded it in more organically throughout the season, it would have worked. It wasn't anybody's fault except ours. I just would have approached how we integrated Kali differently."
For those unaware, the seventh episode of Stranger Things' nine-episode second season pulls Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) out of Hawkins and into the streets of Chicago, where she meets a group of outcasts and soon-to-be friends. Among the new crew is Kali, a girl who happens to share connections to Eleven's past and also possesses supernatural abilities.
It's a bottle episode that has lived in infamy since it first premiered in October 2017. While the Duffer Brothers now admit the episode should have been handled differently, they don't think the idea should have been scrapped entirely.
"Matt and I got so drawn into getting those last two episodes of Season 2 written," Ross Duffer added, "and prepping because we were directing them, that it just got lost in the shuffle."
The Duffer Brothers went on to clarify that they knew even before the episode premiered that fans would find the integration of Season 2, Episode 7 a bit clunky. That said, Matt Duffer admitted the poor reception still "hit harder" than he expected. The response to "The Lost Sister" got so heated, in fact, that the pair walked into Season 3 "bummed" because so many fans remained locked on to their disappointment with that one 40-ish-minute episode specifically.
The Stranger Things Season 2 episode remains one of the least liked across the show's 40+ episodes. Some even speculated that Season 2, Episode 7 was originally meant to serve as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off. Now, nearly 10 years after its premiere, Matt Duffer wants to clear the air.
"First of all, let me just clear up some bulls**t out on the internet," he said. "There's so much bulls**t, we'd be here all day, but that was never designed as like a spinoff. That's bulls**t. That's not true. That's gross. We would not do that."
All these years later, the Stranger Things crew found themselves with fresh disappointment with the show after it came to an end with its Season 5 finale on December 31, 2025. Some fans were so displeased with the finale that they came up with theories about a secret episode that never came to be.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers have said they would love to redo the show's notorious Season 2 episode "The Lost Sister" but the rumors that it was supposed to be a backdoor pilot for a spin-off are "bulls**t."
Show full content
Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers have said they would love to redo the show's notorious Season 2 episode "The Lost Sister," but the rumors that it was supposed to be a backdoor pilot for a spinoff are "bulls**t."
The pair behind the hit Netflix show looked back on the highs and lows of their time in Hawkins, Indiana, during an interview with Josh Horowitz on Happy, Sad, Confused. While reflecting on the moments they'd love to take another crack at, both Matt and Ross Duffer gave an unsurprising answer for the Stranger Things episode they knew needed more love: Season 2, Episode 7.
"I think the mistake was this idea of a bottle episode," Matt Duffer said. "I think if we had threaded it in more organically throughout the season, it would have worked. It wasn't anybody's fault except ours. I just would have approached how we integrated Kali differently."
For those unaware, the seventh episode of Stranger Things' nine-episode second season pulls Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) out of Hawkins and into the streets of Chicago, where she meets a group of outcasts and soon-to-be friends. Among the new crew is Kali, a girl who happens to share connections to Eleven's past and also possesses supernatural abilities.
It's a bottle episode that has lived in infamy since it first premiered in October 2017. While the Duffer Brothers now admit the episode should have been handled differently, they don't think the idea should have been scrapped entirely.
"Matt and I got so drawn into getting those last two episodes of Season 2 written," Ross Duffer added, "and prepping because we were directing them, that it just got lost in the shuffle."
The Duffer Brothers went on to clarify that they knew even before the episode premiered that fans would find the integration of Season 2, Episode 7 a bit clunky. That said, Matt Duffer admitted the poor reception still "hit harder" than he expected. The response to "The Lost Sister" got so heated, in fact, that the pair walked into Season 3 "bummed" because so many fans remained locked on to their disappointment with that one 40-ish-minute episode specifically.
The Stranger Things Season 2 episode remains one of the least liked across the show's 40+ episodes. Some even speculated that Season 2, Episode 7 was originally meant to serve as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off. Now, nearly 10 years after its premiere, Matt Duffer wants to clear the air.
"First of all, let me just clear up some bulls**t out on the internet," he said. "There's so much bulls**t, we'd be here all day, but that was never designed as like a spinoff. That's bulls**t. That's not true. That's gross. We would not do that."
All these years later, the Stranger Things crew found themselves with fresh disappointment with the show after it came to an end with its Season 5 finale on December 31, 2025. Some fans were so displeased with the finale that they came up with theories about a secret episode that never came to be.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Prolific voice actor Tom Kane, best known for playing Yoda in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, has died at age 64. Kane has racked up numerous credits across Star Wars, Call of Duty, and a wide variety of other animated projects. Tom Kane's talent agency, Galactic Productions, confirmed his death this morning.
"From his unforgettable performances in Star Wars to countless animated series, documentaries, and games, Tom brought wisdom, strength, humor, and heart to every role he touched," reads the agency's post. "His voice became part of our lives, our memories, and the stories we carry with us. But beyond the incredible career was an extraordinary man. Tom was a devoted husband and father who, alongside his wife, built a loving family of nine children — three biological and six welcomed through adoption and fostering. That compassion and generosity defined who he was just as much as his remarkable talent did. Though his voice may now be silent, the characters, stories, and love he gave to the world will live on forever."
Although the actor made a name for himself by playing Yoda in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, he also voiced a handful of other characters in the beloved sci-fi franchise. Kane was the voice of Boba Fett, C-3P0, Qui-Gon Jin, and several other legendary characters in Star Wars in animated shows, games, and films.
Kane also played Takeo Masaki, one of the four main characters in Call of Duty's iconic Zombies mode. The actor began his career in 1977 at 15 years old, but things really began to take off for him in the '90s and early 2000s as he booked roles in cartoons like Spider-Man: The Animated Series, The Powerpuff Girls, and The Wild Thornberrys.
His voice isn't just heard on TV, either. Tom Kane was hired for a number of voices at Walt Disney World. He was the announcer for the park's monorail system and could be heard providing health and safety announcements around the park following the COVID-19 pandemic. He's also been the announcer and narrator of numerous TV shows over the years, including various Star Wars cartoons.
Unfortunately, Kane suffered from a stroke in November 2020, prompting an early retirement in 2021. The actor struggled to speak and was therefore unable to continue his work.
Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
Prolific voice actor Tom Kane, best known for playing Yoda in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, has died at age 64. Kane has racked up numerous credits across Star Wars, Call of Duty, and a wide variety of other animated projects. Tom Kane's talent agency, Galactic Productions, confirmed his death this morning.
"From his unforgettable performances in Star Wars to countless animated series, documentaries, and games, Tom brought wisdom, strength, humor, and heart to every role he touched," reads the agency's post. "His voice became part of our lives, our memories, and the stories we carry with us. But beyond the incredible career was an extraordinary man. Tom was a devoted husband and father who, alongside his wife, built a loving family of nine children — three biological and six welcomed through adoption and fostering. That compassion and generosity defined who he was just as much as his remarkable talent did. Though his voice may now be silent, the characters, stories, and love he gave to the world will live on forever."
Although the actor made a name for himself by playing Yoda in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, he also voiced a handful of other characters in the beloved sci-fi franchise. Kane was the voice of Boba Fett, C-3P0, Qui-Gon Jin, and several other legendary characters in Star Wars in animated shows, games, and films.
Kane also played Takeo Masaki, one of the four main characters in Call of Duty's iconic Zombies mode. The actor began his career in 1977 at 15 years old, but things really began to take off for him in the '90s and early 2000s as he booked roles in cartoons like Spider-Man: The Animated Series, The Powerpuff Girls, and The Wild Thornberrys.
His voice isn't just heard on TV, either. Tom Kane was hired for a number of voices at Walt Disney World. He was the announcer for the park's monorail system and could be heard providing health and safety announcements around the park following the COVID-19 pandemic. He's also been the announcer and narrator of numerous TV shows over the years, including various Star Wars cartoons.
Unfortunately, Kane suffered from a stroke in November 2020, prompting an early retirement in 2021. The actor struggled to speak and was therefore unable to continue his work.
Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
Plus, save on Forza Horizon 6 and a racing wheel ahead of its release tomorrow.
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With Memorial Day Weekend on the horizon, we’re already seeing tons of sales pop up at major retailers, like Amazon and Best Buy. Target is even offering an incredible deal on board games and puzzles right now. Whether you’re after a handheld gaming PC or a new gaming TV, there are plenty of items worth grabbing. Check out some of my favorite discounts below:
TL;DR - The Best Deals for May 18Save $111 on an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU
A GIGABYTE Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC 16G graphics card has dropped to its lowest price yet on a lightning deal at Amazon. For $629, $111 off, you can get our favorite graphics card for most people. It delivers an excellent 4K gaming experience for far less than the RTX 5070 Ti GPU, which offers comparable performance for $300+ more. The Radeon RX 9070 XT even earned a 10/10 in our review.
Flashforge AD5X Multi Material / Multi-Color 3D Printer for $218
Make sure you're signed into your account to see the shipping options (and refresh twice)
An excellent 3D printer with multi-color print capability just got a huge price drop ahead of Memorial Day. AliExpress is offering the FlashForge AD5X 3D Printer with integrated multi-material printing system for just $218.32 after you apply coupon code "USDEAL35". Until now, I have never seen this printer drop below $250.
Make sure you're signed into your account to see the shipping options (you may have to refresh the page twice). You're buying it from FlashForge's official store on AliExpress. It ships free locally from the United States and arrives within 1 to 2 weeks. The exact same printer currently sells for $339 on Amazon.
The ASUS ROG Xbox Ally Is $100 Off
The ASUS ROG Xbox Ally is $100 off on Amazon and Best Buy. This top handheld gaming PC for affordability offers an AMD Ryzen Z2 A CPU, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and a 512GB SSD, delivering comparable performance to the Steam Deck. It’s also comfortable in hand, has a vibrant 120Hz IPS display, and runs on Windows.
Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Edition for PlayStation 5 Is Back Down to $29.99
Our top horror game of 2023 is back down to its lowest price ever on Amazon and Best Buy. Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Edition for PlayStation 5 is just $29.99. In addition to the base game, you get two expansions, plus cosmetics and items for both protagonists, Alan and Saga. It even comes with a digital edition of Alan Wake Remastered. As for the game itself, in our Alan Wake 2 review, Tristan Ogilvie found it, "delivers one of the boldest and most brain-bending survival-horror storylines this side of Silent Hill 2, presents it with uniformly immaculate art direction and audio design, and reinvigorates the series’ signature light-based shooting.”
Pokémon TCG Preorders on Amazon
The Pokémon TCG: Mega Zygarde ex Premium Collection preorder is down to $64.99 on Amazon (shipped and sold by Amazon). Should the price drop any further before the release date on Friday, Amazon offers a preorder guarantee. With this collection, you’ll receive a foil promo card, an oversized lenticular promo card, and a tech sticker featuring Mega Zygarde ex, along with 8 Booster packs. The Mega Evolution Chaos Rising Elite Trainer Box is also available on Amazon at a slight discount (but still above MSRP). It includes 9 booster packs, 1 full-art foil promo card featuring Fennekin, 65 card sleeves, 6 damage-counter dice, and more.
Get 15% Off Forza Horizon 6
Forza Horizon 6 drops tomorrow. However, if you pick up the Premium Edition of the game, you can play the latest entry in the series today. What’s even better is that Newegg is offering 15% off the Xbox Play Anywhere version of the racing game, bringing it to just $101.99. If you’re okay to wait until tomorrow and don’t care about getting the full expansion packs and VIP membership, the Standard Edition of the game is also 15% off, costing just $59.49. All you need to do is enter the code “SXVPFH6” at checkout to score these deals.
Xbox Play Anywhere will let you play Forza Horizon 6 on Xbox Series X/S, Windows PCs, and other Windows gaming devices. And you’ll probably want to play it everywhere, as it earned a 10/10 “Masterpiece” rating in our review. Luke Reilly raved, “It’s the best-looking and best-sounding game Playground has produced to date, set in the most wonderfully realised map it’s ever crafted – full of dense, authentic details and stunning driving roads. It’s rewarding to explore, the campaign is well-paced with a great payoff, and I simply cannot stop playing.”
20% Off the Logitech G923 Racing Wheel
The Logitech G923 is 20% off at Amazon. If you’re after a great mid-range racing wheel for Xbox Series X/S and PC, this is it. It offers Trueforce feedback tech, letting you feel every turn and bump of the road. The sturdy build, including a leather wheel, metal pedals, stainless shifter, and more, makes it great for hitting the pavement in Forza Horizon 6, providing far more immersion than your typical controller.
Funko Pop! Transformers x MTG - Optimus Prime Hits Lowest Price Ever
Funko Pop! Comic Cover: Transformers x MTG - Optimus Prime is down to its lowest price ever on Amazon. It’s over half off on a lightning deal, costing just $11.40. Unlike your typical Funko Pop, this adorable little vinyl figure is placed against the background of its Magic: The Gathering card, making it an ideal collectable for Transformers and Magic fans alike.
Score 48% Off the 65-inch LG EVO C5 OLED TV
The 65” LG EVO C5 is on sale for just $1,299.99 for nearly 50% savings. Rocking an OLED panel, this TV delivers an incredible picture quality with near-infinite black levels, near-infinite contrast ratio, and near-instantaneous response times. Its Evo panel also brings a brighter image and wider color gamut than traditional W-OLED panels. Of course, it also makes for an exceptional TV for PS5 console gaming, thanks to the native 120Hz/4K refresh rate that can be pushed to 144Hz, plus VRR and ALLM, with full support on the four HDMI 2.1 ports.
Buy 1, Get 1 50% Off Board Games and Puzzles
If you’re looking to add a few more board games or puzzles to your collection, Target is running a buy one, get one 50% off sale right now. Code Names and Catan are two incredible inclusions in the deal. They’re sure to be a hit at all the upcoming summer gatherings. What Do You Meme? Family Edition is something the whole family can get in on, or you can grab a couple of puzzles for a fun way to unwind. Check out those deals and more below:
Danielle is a Tech freelance writer based in Los Angeles who spends her free time creating videos and geeking out over music history.
We highlight some of our favorite deals in Best Buy's Memorial Day sale 2026, including video games, TVs, and more.
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Summer is nearly here, which means it’s Memorial Day sale season. Best Buy has kicked off its Memorial Day 2026 sale a week before the actual holiday; it runs May 18 - May 25. You can shop the sale here. That gives you plenty of time to score deals on video games, TVs, laptops, gaming PCs, Apple products, and more.
Best Buy's Memorial Day Sale
Below, we’ve highlighted some of our picks for the best deals available in the sale, broken down into our favorite categories. The full sale is much wider in scope, with deals on everything from major appliances to yard tools.
Video Game Deals
In terms of video games, a whole lot of PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch (and Switch 2) games are on sale. Additionally, you can save $100 on the Xbox Ally handheld gaming PC, bringing it down to $499.99. A variety of gaming accessories are also on sale, including controllers, carrying cases, headsets, and more.
TV Deals
Big sales like this Memorial Day sale are pretty much always the best times to buy a new TV. Best Buy has dropped prices on a bunch of TVs from companies like Samsung and LG. You can score a deal on a cheap TV for a spare room, or on one of the best TVs for gaming like the LG C5. Additionally, you’ll find discounts on wall mounts and projectors.
Apple Deals
Apple products are also on sale. Whether you’re in the market for a new iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch or even iPhones, you can save some cash by buying now. Apple’s AirPods Max are also $100 off, making them slightly less jaw-droppingly expensive.
Gaming PC Deals
Best Buy has work computers on sale now as well, but you’re probably more interested in the gaming PC deals. Whether you want a desktop or a laptop, you can save money on a new gaming PC. Monitors, mice, keyboards, and other accessories are also on sale.
You won't find a better built and more feature-rich multi-material 3D printer for well under $250.
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An excellent 3D printer with multi-color print capability just got a huge price drop ahead of Memorial Day. AliExpress is offering the FlashForge AD5X 3D Printer with integrated multi-material printing system for just $218.32 after you apply coupon code "USDEAL35". Until now, I have never seen this printer drop below $250.
Make sure you're signed into your account to see the shipping options (you may have to refresh the page twice). You're buying it from FlashForge's official store on AliExpress. It ships free locally from the United States and arrives within 1 to 2 weeks. The exact same printer currently sells for $339 on Amazon.
Flashforge AD5X Multi Material / Multi-Color 3D Printer for $218
Make sure you're signed into your account to see the shipping options (and refresh twice)
The AD5X is the least expensive FlashForge printer that offers multi material printing, which basically allows you to use multiple colors or multiple filament types on a single 3D print. It also features a CoreXY structure, which is rare for a printer in this price range. In a CoreXY printer, only the print head moves while the motors are permanently fixed. Since the motors are generally the heaviest component, this improves print speed and precision.
The AD5X features an open bed design with a working space measuring approximately 8.7" cubed. For those of you who are looking to enclose the chamber in order to create a more stable environment for your prints, you can purchase the official kit for $49.99 that can turn it into a closed chamber setup. Alternatively, you can just build yourself a big box that you can place over the entire printer, probably for an even cheaper price.
The AD5X boasts a print speed of up to 600mm/s with 20,000mm/s² acceleration and can print a benchy in 12 minutes. Other features including solid build quality (all structural components are made of metal), a 4.3" color touchscreen with intuitive controls, auto leveling, and vibration compensation. Assembly is quick and easy and you should be able to make your first test print in a matter of minutes. No camera is included but, again, there's an official kit to add one.
The multi-filament module fleshes out the 3D printing capabilities and is one of the most important features for any mid to pro level enthusiast. With it you can print using up to four different colored filaments or filament materials simultaneously. It features an intelligent filament system that can identify and manage all four spools seamlessly and independently. Multi-filament add-ons in general cost $200-$300 by themselves, so having an integrated solution will save you a lot of money.
TL;DR:
Open chamber 8.7" cubed working space
CoreXY 3D printer (more stable than other types)
600mm/s print speed with 20,000mm/s² acceleration
Includes multi-filament printing module
Automatic filament switching
Auto leveling and vibration compensation
Easy assembly
How to Follow IGN Deals Recommendations
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our Cyber Monday coverage:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Nearly matches the performance of Nvidia's now-$1,000 GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
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Similar to every other high-end GPU on the market, the AMD Radeon 9070 XT graphics card is selling for more than its $599 MSRP this year. Fortunately, it's nowhere near as egregiously marked up as Nvidia cards. As part of its Memorial Day Sale, Amazon is offering the Gigabyte AMD Radeon 9070 XT OC GPU for just $629 with free shipping. This is the best price I've seen all year long for AMD's newest GPU, which performs nearly as well as Nvidia's now-$1,000 RTX 5070 Ti.
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU Spotted for $629The Radeon RX 9070 XT Received a 10/10 at IGN
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the only 2025-released GPU that we gave a 10/10 score. Even though it costs $150 less than the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, the 9070 XT beats it out in several of the games we tested. In a few benchmarks, the results aren't even close. The 9070 XT approaches the performance of the $1,000 RX 7900 XTX but with better ray tracing and upscaling performance than its predecessor.
This is the least expensive graphics card from either AMD or Nvidia that I would comfortably recommend for playing the latest and most demanding games in 4K at 60fps or higher framerates.
How to Follow IGN Deals Recommendations
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our coverage:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.The Powerful AMD Radeon 9070 XT Graphics Card Drops to $680 During Amazon's Early Memorial Day Sale
Don't worry, the Duffer Brothers will be happy to tell you what happened to Eleven in the Stranger Things finale…if you're willing to wait 20 years.
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Don't worry, the Duffer Brothers will be happy to tell you what happened to Eleven in the Stranger Things finale…if you're willing to wait 20 years.
Matt and Ross Duffer offered a post-mortem on their recently concluded Netflix phenomenon during an interview for Josh Horowitz's Happy, Sad, Confused. As fans continue to parse through their feelings about how Mike, Dustin, Max, Steve, and the rest of the Demogorgon-battling group's story ended, the showrunners still aren't ready to answer one of the finale's biggest questions: What happened to Eleven?
Warning! Spoilers for the Stranger Things finale follow:
The Stranger Things finale put an untied bow on the story of Millie Bobby Brown's telekinetic character when it premiered December 31, 2025. It's an intentionally ambiguous ending that sees its core group choosing to "believe" that Eleven is still out there, somewhere in the world, after seemingly making the ultimate sacrifice to save her friends.
So, is she still out there? Referencing the infamously long amount of time it took Sopranos creator David Chase to open up about his finale, the Duffer Brothers say they'll be keeping the door open three inches for at least another 20 years.
"If we're talking to you in 20 years," Ross Duffer replied with a laugh when asked if that was the timeline fans can expect for a reveal, "about Stranger Things, in 20 years… I mean I hope so. I hope people still care. That would be great, and then I'll say everything, yeah. At that point, 20 years from now."
Horowitz followed up with a joke: "20 years from now, it's a date. An exclusive on Happy, Sad, Confused, if I'm still alive."
The Duffer Brothers also spent time during the interview dodging theories related to Eleven's fate. One of the more popular pieces of "evidence" suggesting the superpowered character lives on is related to the strange heartbeat-like sound effect that plays during the finale. Matt Duffer admitted that the noise in question was written in the script to sound like a heartbeat, but it doesn't sound like that alone is definitive proof that she survived.
"It is written in the script that it is supposed to sound like a heartbeat, but it's actually just like… what do you call it? The brick," he explained. "That's what it is. It's just distorted, but yeah, you could interpret it as that. I mean, it was meant to be interpreted as that, potentially."
The pair also touched on post-finale interviews with Stranger Things cast members, like Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Sadie Sink (Max), and Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), where they admitted that they did not believe Eleven survived. Again, Matt Duffer's reaction doesn't exactly spill the beans on Brown's character's fate, but he, at least, was surprised to hear their reaction.
"They have never said that to me," he said. "I gotta talk to them. I'm not saying they're wrong. It's just interesting that they all concluded that without talking to us, because that's not what the characters believe. I mean, they're good actors, so I don't know what's going on."
Stranger Things came to an end with Season 5 last year. For more on the show, you can see how cast members like Matthew Modine (Dr. Martin Brenner) and McLaughlin reacted to some of the more out-there fan theories about the finale. You can also check out our 9/10 review of the final episode.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Don't worry, the Duffer Brothers will be happy to tell you what happened to Eleven in the Stranger Things finale…if you're willing to wait 20 years.
Show full content
Don't worry, the Duffer Brothers will be happy to tell you what happened to Eleven in the Stranger Things finale…if you're willing to wait 20 years.
Matt and Ross Duffer offered a post-mortem on their recently concluded Netflix phenomenon during an interview for Josh Horowitz's Happy, Sad, Confused. As fans continue to parse through their feelings about how Mike, Dustin, Max, Steve, and the rest of the Demogorgon-battling group's story ended, the showrunners still aren't ready to answer one of the finale's biggest questions: What happened to Eleven?
Warning! Spoilers for the Stranger Things finale follow:
The Stranger Things finale put an untied bow on the story of Millie Bobby Brown's telekinetic character when it premiered December 31, 2025. It's an intentionally ambiguous ending that sees its core group choosing to "believe" that Eleven is still out there, somewhere in the world, after seemingly making the ultimate sacrifice to save her friends.
So, is she still out there? Referencing the infamously long amount of time it took Sopranos creator David Chase to open up about his finale, the Duffer Brothers say they'll be keeping the door open three inches for at least another 20 years.
"If we're talking to you in 20 years," Ross Duffer replied with a laugh when asked if that was the timeline fans can expect for a reveal, "about Stranger Things, in 20 years… I mean I hope so. I hope people still care. That would be great, and then I'll say everything, yeah. At that point, 20 years from now."
Horowitz followed up with a joke: "20 years from now, it's a date. An exclusive on Happy, Sad, Confused, if I'm still alive."
The Duffer Brothers also spent time during the interview dodging theories related to Eleven's fate. One of the more popular pieces of "evidence" suggesting the superpowered character lives on is related to the strange heartbeat-like sound effect that plays during the finale. Matt Duffer admitted that the noise in question was written in the script to sound like a heartbeat, but it doesn't sound like that alone is definitive proof that she survived.
"It is written in the script that it is supposed to sound like a heartbeat, but it's actually just like… what do you call it? The brick," he explained. "That's what it is. It's just distorted, but yeah, you could interpret it as that. I mean, it was meant to be interpreted as that, potentially."
The pair also touched on post-finale interviews with Stranger Things cast members, like Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Sadie Sink (Max), and Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), where they admitted that they did not believe Eleven survived. Again, Matt Duffer's reaction doesn't exactly spill the beans on Brown's character's fate, but he, at least, was surprised to hear their reaction.
"They have never said that to me," he said. "I gotta talk to them. I'm not saying they're wrong. It's just interesting that they all concluded that without talking to us, because that's not what the characters believe. I mean, they're good actors, so I don't know what's going on."
Stranger Things came to an end with Season 5 last year. For more on the show, you can see how cast members like Matthew Modine (Dr. Martin Brenner) and McLaughlin reacted to some of the more out-there fan theories about the finale. You can also check out our 9/10 review of the final episode.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
A bunch of mom-and-pop video game stores have received mysterious shipments of one of the PS4's rarest games, Poop Slinger.
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A bunch of mom-and-pop video game stores have received mysterious shipments of one of the PS4's rarest games, Poop Slinger. If you're unfamiliar with the tale of Poop Slinger, it's a pretty interesting one. The PS4 game was released in 2018 on PSN with a physical release in 2019. The physical release was handled by Limited Rare Games, not to be confused with the more established and well-known games distributor Limited Run Games. However, as you might imagine, there wasn't a ton of demand for a game called Poop Slinger, especially when it was available digitally.
As a result, few copies were made, and even fewer were sold. Although it was estimated there were fewer than 100 copies in circulation, Sony requires a minimum of 1,000 copies to be manufactured for physical PlayStation games. Still, no one knew where the remaining 900 or so were. Due to its rarity, it became a hot item online, and copies have been listed for upwards of $1,000 on sites like eBay.
Last week, things got more interesting. Those "missing" copies started showing up at independent gaming stores across the country. YouTuber and game store owner cakehoarder claimed that 39 stores had received six sealed copies each, for a total of 234 copies released into the wild.
Still, no one actually knows where these games came from. The return address was for another game store, which was reportedly just as confused as those who received the package. It has been theorized that someone stumbled upon excess stock of Poop Slinger in a warehouse or a storage unit and opted to give it away. Others have suggested the developer or someone involved with the game may have decided to offload extra copies they had stashed somewhere.
In 2019, VG247 reported that Limited Rare Games would have to shut its doors due to the failure of Poop Slinger, and creditors would take the unsold copies to repay the loan. However, it's unclear what the creditors did with those copies. Perhaps they were sold at an auction, or they've just been sitting on them.
However, to make things even more baffling, Limited Rare Games is back. The socials for the company and its website are operational, and it even addressed the matter with a bizarre video. The company posted a video of a content creator known as Hard Rock Nick talking about the price of an undisclosed item. He talks about the stress of the fluctuating price, but it's unclear if he's referring to Poop Slinger or something else, like crypto. Hard Rock Nick died in 2024, so this isn't a video that Limited Rare Games commissioned in response to the game's reappearance.
— LimitedRareGames.com 🤜🏻🦄🌈 (@ltdraregames) May 16, 2026
The whole situation only provokes more questions than answers. Who sent out these copies? What is the end goal? It'll be interesting to see if this story develops further or if the chronicles of Poop Slinger remain an unsolved mystery. If you're interested in playing Poop Slinger yourself, it's available on PSN for $4.99.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
A bunch of mom-and-pop video game stores have received mysterious shipments of one of the PS4's rarest games, Poop Slinger.
Show full content
A bunch of mom-and-pop video game stores have received mysterious shipments of one of the PS4's rarest games, Poop Slinger. If you're unfamiliar with the tale of Poop Slinger, it's a pretty interesting one. The PS4 game was released in 2018 on PSN with a physical release in 2019. The physical release was handled by Limited Rare Games, not to be confused with the more established and well-known games distributor Limited Run Games. However, as you might imagine, there wasn't a ton of demand for a game called Poop Slinger, especially when it was available digitally.
As a result, few copies were made, and even fewer were sold. Although it was estimated there were fewer than 100 copies in circulation, Sony requires a minimum of 1,000 copies to be manufactured for physical PlayStation games. Still, no one knew where the remaining 900 or so were. Due to its rarity, it became a hot item online, and copies have been listed for upwards of $1,000 on sites like eBay.
Last week, things got more interesting. Those "missing" copies started showing up at independent gaming stores across the country. YouTuber and game store owner cakehoarder claimed that 39 stores had received six sealed copies each, for a total of 234 copies released into the wild.
Still, no one actually knows where these games came from. The return address was for another game store, which was reportedly just as confused as those who received the package. It has been theorized that someone stumbled upon excess stock of Poop Slinger in a warehouse or a storage unit and opted to give it away. Others have suggested the developer or someone involved with the game may have decided to offload extra copies they had stashed somewhere.
In 2019, VG247 reported that Limited Rare Games would have to shut its doors due to the failure of Poop Slinger, and creditors would take the unsold copies to repay the loan. However, it's unclear what the creditors did with those copies. Perhaps they were sold at an auction, or they've just been sitting on them.
However, to make things even more baffling, Limited Rare Games is back. The socials for the company and its website are operational, and it even addressed the matter with a bizarre video. The company posted a video of a content creator known as Hard Rock Nick talking about the price of an undisclosed item. He talks about the stress of the fluctuating price, but it's unclear if he's referring to Poop Slinger or something else, like crypto. Hard Rock Nick died in 2024, so this isn't a video that Limited Rare Games commissioned in response to the game's reappearance.
— LimitedRareGames.com 🤜🏻🦄🌈 (@ltdraregames) May 16, 2026
The whole situation only provokes more questions than answers. Who sent out these copies? What is the end goal? It'll be interesting to see if this story develops further or if the chronicles of Poop Slinger remain an unsolved mystery. If you're interested in playing Poop Slinger yourself, it's available on PSN for $4.99.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
A bunch of mom-and-pop video game stores have received mysterious shipments of one of the PS4's rarest games, Poop Slinger.
Show full content
A bunch of mom-and-pop video game stores have received mysterious shipments of one of the PS4's rarest games, Poop Slinger. If you're unfamiliar with the tale of Poop Slinger, it's a pretty interesting one. The PS4 game was released in 2018 on PSN with a physical release in 2019. The physical release was handled by Limited Rare Games, not to be confused with the more established and well-known games distributor Limited Run Games. However, as you might imagine, there wasn't a ton of demand for a game called Poop Slinger, especially when it was available digitally.
As a result, few copies were made, and even fewer were sold. Although it was estimated there were fewer than 100 copies in circulation, Sony requires a minimum of 1,000 copies to be manufactured for physical PlayStation games. Still, no one knew where the remaining 900 or so were. Due to its rarity, it became a hot item online, and copies have been listed for upwards of $1,000 on sites like eBay.
Last week, things got more interesting. Those "missing" copies started showing up at independent gaming stores across the country. YouTuber and game store owner cakehoarder claimed that 39 stores had received six sealed copies each, for a total of 234 copies released into the wild.
Still, no one actually knows where these games came from. The return address was for another game store, which was reportedly just as confused as those who received the package. It has been theorized that someone stumbled upon excess stock of Poop Slinger in a warehouse or a storage unit and opted to give it away. Others have suggested the developer or someone involved with the game may have decided to offload extra copies they had stashed somewhere.
In 2019, VG247 reported that Limited Rare Games would have to shut its doors due to the failure of Poop Slinger, and creditors would take the unsold copies to repay the loan. However, it's unclear what the creditors did with those copies. Perhaps they were sold at an auction, or they've just been sitting on them.
However, to make things even more baffling, Limited Rare Games is back. The socials for the company and its website are operational, and it even addressed the matter with a bizarre video. The company posted a video of a content creator known as Hard Rock Nick talking about the price of an undisclosed item. He talks about the stress of the fluctuating price, but it's unclear if he's referring to Poop Slinger or something else, like crypto. Hard Rock Nick died in 2024, so this isn't a video that Limited Rare Games commissioned in response to the game's reappearance.
— LimitedRareGames.com 🤜🏻🦄🌈 (@ltdraregames) May 16, 2026
The whole situation only provokes more questions than answers. Who sent out these copies? What is the end goal? It'll be interesting to see if this story develops further or if the chronicles of Poop Slinger remain an unsolved mystery. If you're interested in playing Poop Slinger yourself, it's available on PSN for $4.99.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
I'm thinking of getting one for dad for Father's Day.
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I can think of few activities I'd enjoy more than playing a video game on a Saturday afternoon while lounging in an overstuffed recliner. This deal is a super affordable way of realizing my dream. As part of its Memorial Day Sale that starts this week, Wayfair is offering the Latitude Run 41.3'' Extra Large Power Lift Recliner and Massage Chair for just $375 with free shipping. According to Wayfair, the retail price on this is $1,800, which means you're saving a whopping 80% off.
Save $1,425 Off a Power Lift Recliner for Memorial Day
The Latitude Run is an oversized recliner upholstered in an easy to clean faux leather material. It's an "extra-wide" model with a 22" seat width and 21" seat depth. Because the seat is deeper than your standard chair, some people (particularly older folks) might have trouble getting out of it. That's where the power lift feature comes in handy. The Latitude Run helps by tilting foward almost as if it's literally dumping you out of your seat. This feature actually works very well and is the main reason why power lift chairs are so popular for people with limited mobility.
In addition to the power lifting, the Latitude Run can power recline. Both the seatback and leg rest extend out to about 150 degrees. According to the spec sheet, the chair also has eight separate massage points as well as a central heating element that you can adjust with the included remote. At this price point, I wouldn't expect the zones to be very precise, but a heat-emitting vibrating chair can still feel good regardless.
I haven't tried this chair out myself, but I'm tempted to get one for dad since Father's Day is only about a month away. It does have over 1,800 user reviews with a 4.3 star rating. It's "Wayfair verified" and Wayfair is one of the largest online-only furniture retailers in the United States. It does comes with a 30-day return policy and 60-day warranty, although I figure the hassle of returning this outweighs the benefits. You have to make sure you want it.
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Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Target has a ‘Buy One, Get One 50% Off’ deal live at the moment on select board games, card games, and puzzles until May 25.
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Looking for some new board games to play, or maybe a puzzle to piece together this summer? Target's dropped a 'Buy One, Get One 50% Off' deal on a selection of board games, card games, and puzzles that's well worth checking out if you're shopping around.
Target ‘Buy One, Get One 50% Off’ Select Puzzles, Board, and Card Games
Again, this is a limited-time offer that only runs until May 25. So if some of these options have caught your eye, this is your chance to save on some new items for your shelves. It's certainly not the only opportunity you'll have to save, though. As we get closer to summer sale events, we're keeping an eye out for even more board game and puzzle deals, too.
How to Follow IGN Deals Recommendations
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our coverage:
Sony has announced price increases for its subscription service, PlayStation Plus.
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Sony has announced price increases for its subscription service, PlayStation Plus.
PlayStation Plus is Sony’s monthly subscription service for PS4 and PS5 consoles that grants access to online multiplayer, monthly downloadable games, and exclusive PlayStation Store discounts.
Starting May 20, PlayStation Plus prices for new customers will increase in select regions, Sony said in its announcement, blaming "ongoing market conditions." Prices will start at $10.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP for 1-month subscriptions and $27.99 USD / €27.99 EUR / £21.99 GBP for three-month subscriptions.
The monthly subscription goes up by $1, and the three-month subscription increases by $3. This price change does not apply to current subscribers (except in Turkey and India) unless the existing subscription changes or lapses, Sony added.
As you'd expect, PlayStation fans have reacted negatively to the news, with some saying PlayStation Plus shouldn't be required for online gaming in the first place, and that these new price rises make gaming on PlayStation even costlier. Others have hit out at Sony blaming the price rises on "ongoing market conditions," pointing out Microsoft just cut the price of Xbox Game Pass.
Blaming market conditions is insane. It should be free to play online games without paywalls in 2026
It's worth noting that this PlayStation Plus price hike comes six months before the planned release of GTA 6, which is expected to draw a huge number of newcomers into the current generation of consoles. An active PlayStation Plus subscription is required to play GTA Online, and there's no suggestion that will change when GTA 6 comes out. Perhaps Sony is getting its price hike in now, mindful that it will gain a flood of new PlayStation Plus subscribers who are only interested in playing GTA 6 online when it comes out.
Sony has forecast annual sales at its gaming business down 6% to 4.42 trillion yen (approx. $28 billion) for the current financial year due to lower hardware sales, with the PS5 now more expensive than ever and approaching its sixth birthday. However, Sony expects gaming profit to rise 30% due to higher first-party software sales, and the absence of a huge impairment loss it recorded against struggling Marathon developer Bungie. Insomniac’s Wolverine game is due out this financial year, and will surely make a significant contribution to Sony’s performance.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Sony has announced price increases for its subscription service, PlayStation Plus.
Show full content
Sony has announced price increases for its subscription service, PlayStation Plus.
PlayStation Plus is Sony’s monthly subscription service for PS4 and PS5 consoles that grants access to online multiplayer, monthly downloadable games, and exclusive PlayStation Store discounts.
Starting May 20, PlayStation Plus prices for new customers will increase in select regions, Sony said in its announcement, blaming "ongoing market conditions." Prices will start at $10.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP for 1-month subscriptions and $27.99 USD / €27.99 EUR / £21.99 GBP for three-month subscriptions.
The monthly subscription goes up by $1, and the three-month subscription increases by $3. This price change does not apply to current subscribers (except in Turkey and India) unless the existing subscription changes or lapses, Sony added.
As you'd expect, PlayStation fans have reacted negatively to the news, with some saying PlayStation Plus shouldn't be required for online gaming in the first place, and that these new price rises make gaming on PlayStation even costlier. Others have hit out at Sony blaming the price rises on "ongoing market conditions," pointing out Microsoft just cut the price of Xbox Game Pass.
Blaming market conditions is insane. It should be free to play online games without paywalls in 2026
It's worth noting that this PlayStation Plus price hike comes six months before the planned release of GTA 6, which is expected to draw a huge number of newcomers into the current generation of consoles. An active PlayStation Plus subscription is required to play GTA Online, and there's no suggestion that will change when GTA 6 comes out. Perhaps Sony is getting its price hike in now, mindful that it will gain a flood of new PlayStation Plus subscribers who are only interested in playing GTA 6 online when it comes out.
Sony has forecast annual sales at its gaming business down 6% to 4.42 trillion yen (approx. $28 billion) for the current financial year due to lower hardware sales, with the PS5 now more expensive than ever and approaching its sixth birthday. However, Sony expects gaming profit to rise 30% due to higher first-party software sales, and the absence of a huge impairment loss it recorded against struggling Marathon developer Bungie. Insomniac’s Wolverine game is due out this financial year, and will surely make a significant contribution to Sony’s performance.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Sony has announced price increases for its subscription service, PlayStation Plus.
Show full content
Sony has announced price increases for its subscription service, PlayStation Plus.
PlayStation Plus is Sony’s monthly subscription service for PS4 and PS5 consoles that grants access to online multiplayer, monthly downloadable games, and exclusive PlayStation Store discounts.
Starting May 20, PlayStation Plus prices for new customers will increase in select regions, Sony said in its announcement, blaming "ongoing market conditions." Prices will start at $10.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP for 1-month subscriptions and $27.99 USD / €27.99 EUR / £21.99 GBP for three-month subscriptions.
The monthly subscription goes up by $1, and the three-month subscription increases by $3. This price change does not apply to current subscribers (except in Turkey and India) unless the existing subscription changes or lapses, Sony added.
It's worth noting that this PlayStation Plus price hike comes six months before the planned release of GTA 6, which is expected to draw a huge number of newcomers into the current generation of consoles. An active PlayStation Plus subscription is required to play GTA Online, and there's no suggestion that will change when GTA 6 comes out. Perhaps Sony is getting its price hike in now, mindful that it will gain a flood of new PlayStation Plus subscribers who are only interested in playing GTA 6 online when it comes out.
Sony has forecast annual sales at its gaming business down 6% to 4.42 trillion yen (approx. $28 billion) for the current financial year due to lower hardware sales, with the PS5 now more expensive than ever and approaching its sixth birthday. However, Sony expects gaming profit to rise 30% due to higher first-party software sales, and the absence of a huge impairment loss it recorded against struggling Marathon developer Bungie. Insomniac’s Wolverine game is due out this financial year, and will surely make a significant contribution to Sony’s performance.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Sony has announced price increases for its subscription service, PlayStation Plus.
Show full content
Sony has announced price increases for its subscription service, PlayStation Plus.
Starting May 20, PlayStation Plus prices for new customers will increase in select regions, Sony said in its announcement, blaming "ongoing market conditions."
Prices will start at $10.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP for 1-month subscriptions and $27.99 USD / €27.99 EUR / £21.99 GBP for three-month subscriptions.
This price change does not apply to current subscribers (except in Turkey and India) unless the existing subscription changes or lapses, Sony added.
Developing…
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Before you head to Comic-Con this summer, be sure to check out this exclusive preview of the horror satire book Dread the Hall H.
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Comic-Con can be a scary place, but what if it became a breeding ground for full-blown horror? That's basically the inspiration behind Dread the Hall H, an anthology comic that satirizes comic book conventions, celebrity fandom, and everything else we love about the con-going experience.
With Dread the Hall H #1 hitting stores in July, IGN can exclusively debut a preview of the story "Regular Edition." Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:
"Regular Edition" is written by Chris Ryall (Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis), wth art and colors by Charles P. Wilson III (Joe Hill’s The Wraith). Here's the official description of this story:
At the FunkyBulks booth, a regular toy faces the start of a convention with optimism and enthusiasm… which quickly takes a dark, comically violent turn after one too many customers passes him over for a more sparkly limited-edition variant. Breaking the rules of both convention civility and the very borders of the comic-book page, this toy goes on a rampage that only Chris Ryall and Charles P. Wilson III could bring to life (and death) in such a shockingly vivid way!
“As a collector as well as a creator, I’ve always loved limited editions and exclusive productions," Ryall tells IGN. "Special con variants allow the creators to offer more variety, the retailers to have special attention-getting books and toys to help raise their profile in the ongoing battle for consumer attention amidst the ever-more crowded conventions love to track down a special limited edition version of anything and everything. That said… it also occurs to me more and more that the many regular editions and non-exclusives on display at conventions might take exception to being passed over for the next rare-n-shiny object. And if one of those regular editions became so enraged over this, well, he might just take it into his own little plastic hands to rectify what he sees as a great injustice. And he does so here in a panel-border-breaking affair that Charles P. Wilson III brings to life in a hilariously violent way.”
Dread the Hall H #1 also features contributions from writer Jordan Hart and artists Luana Vecchio, Marianna Ignazzi, and Tom Williams. The book is published by Syzygy Publishing, an imprint of Image Comics. Drea the Hall H #1 will be released on July 22, 2026, just in time for Comic-Con. You can preorder a copy at your local comic shop.
HBO Max has released a new trailer for DC Studios series Lanterns — and this time there’s plenty of green.
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HBO Max has released a new trailer for DC Studios series Lanterns — and this time there’s plenty of green.
Some fans criticized the first Lanterns trailer for its distinct lack of green — that is, their lack of Green Lanterns doing Green Lantern things. But this new trailer, below, shows Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) in a more traditional superhero light, using the power of the ring to block energy beams, create a protective bubble around him, and even create money out of thin air.
There are some space shots, too, with Hal Jordan arriving on the cracked surface of a mysterious planet in his Green Lantern costume. We also see new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) express his desire to obtain cosmic abilities for himself, which appears to put him in direct confrontation with Hal Jordan. But there’s more in the trailer: we get a glimpse of Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, fresh from his appearance in last summer’s DC Universe kickstarter Superman, and a first look at Laura Linney.
Green Lantern comic writer Grant Morrison decided to give his thoughts on erasing the pivotal color from the equation after Lindelof’s comments resurfaced.
“TV writer/producer Damon Lindelof’s comments notwithstanding, the ‘Green’ in ‘Green Lantern(s)’ is not ‘stupid.’ Why does a writer attach himself to this kind of narrative if he thinks it’s fundamentally ‘stupid’?” Morrison questioned via his Substack. “What is this jockish dismissal of superhero conventions intended to prove anyway? … The only people who give a f*** about the Lanterns TV series are Green Lantern fans. Why alienate them at the start? That feels more like ‘stupid.'”
Lindelof then responded to Morrison, apologizing to him and Green Lantern fans the world over. “I have upset Grant Morrison, which means I have now pissed off MOST of the brilliant British/Scottish comics writers that I grew up idolizing,” Lindelof said on Instagram. “To quote the bard (Otis Redding), this is nobody’s fault but mine.”
He added, “I made a dumb joke on a comedy podcast. I’m not going to bob and weave about context, the joke was dumb, the fandom is not. I owe them an explanation and a genuine reflection of my actual feelings.” Plus, Lindelof included an old photo of himself in a green Green Lantern shirt to hammer his thoughts home.
Lanterns will debut Sunday, August 16 on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max. It follows this summer’s DC movie, Supergirl, and before body horror DC film, Clayface, which comes out in October. Beyond that, next summer will see the release of Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow.
Here’s the official blurb:
The series follows new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
HBO Max has released a new trailer for DC Studios series Lanterns — and this time there’s plenty of green.
Show full content
HBO Max has released a new trailer for DC Studios series Lanterns — and this time there’s plenty of green.
Some fans criticized the first Lanterns trailer for its distinct lack of green — that is, their lack of Green Lanterns doing Green Lantern things. But this new trailer, below, shows Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) in a more traditional superhero light, using the power of the ring to block energy beams, create a protective bubble around him, and even create money out of thin air.
There are some space shots, too, with Hal Jordan arriving on the cracked surface of a mysterious planet in his Green Lantern costume. We also see new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) express his desire to obtain cosmic abilities for himself, which appears to put him in direct confrontation with Hal Jordan. But there’s more in the trailer: we get a glimpse of Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, fresh from his appearance in last summer’s DC Universe kickstarter Superman, and a first look at Laura Linney.
Green Lantern comic writer Grant Morrison decided to give his thoughts on erasing the pivotal color from the equation after Lindelof’s comments resurfaced.
“TV writer/producer Damon Lindelof’s comments notwithstanding, the ‘Green’ in ‘Green Lantern(s)’ is not ‘stupid.’ Why does a writer attach himself to this kind of narrative if he thinks it’s fundamentally ‘stupid’?” Morrison questioned via his Substack. “What is this jockish dismissal of superhero conventions intended to prove anyway? … The only people who give a f*** about the Lanterns TV series are Green Lantern fans. Why alienate them at the start? That feels more like ‘stupid.'”
Lindelof then responded to Morrison, apologizing to him and Green Lantern fans the world over. “I have upset Grant Morrison, which means I have now pissed off MOST of the brilliant British/Scottish comics writers that I grew up idolizing,” Lindelof said on Instagram. “To quote the bard (Otis Redding), this is nobody’s fault but mine.”
He added, “I made a dumb joke on a comedy podcast. I’m not going to bob and weave about context, the joke was dumb, the fandom is not. I owe them an explanation and a genuine reflection of my actual feelings.” Plus, Lindelof included an old photo of himself in a green Green Lantern shirt to hammer his thoughts home.
Lanterns will debut Sunday, August 16 on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max. It follows this summer’s DC movie, Supergirl, and before body horror DC film, Clayface, which comes out in October. Beyond that, next summer will see the release of Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow.
Here’s the official blurb:
The series follows new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
People are betting thousands of dollars on who will die at the end of the The Boys, which concludes with the Season 5 finale this week. But Chace Crawford, who plays The Deep, is keeping his mouth shut.
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People are betting thousands of dollars on who will die at the end of the The Boys, which concludes with the Season 5 finale this week.
Warning! Spoilers for The Boys Season 5 follow:
Just one episode of The Boys remains, and with many main characters left in play, fans are speculating who will die in the Season 5 finale — and whether supervillain Homelander will finally bite the dust.
One character who has survived to the bitter end is The Deep, played by Chace Crawford. And in a recent interview with Today, it was put to him that $14,000 rests on whether The Deep dies in Season 5.
“It could be my $14,000! We don’t know,” Crawford playfully replied. “Insider trading… it’s still the wild west on Polymarket, right?”
He then revealed some people are trying to prize the information out of him, but he won’t spill the beans.
“I’ve gotten some texts actually, from some people who were like, ‘Hey, really, dude, what episode is it exactly if you do?’ Can’t confirm or deny,” he said.
A cursory glance at Polymarket shows that yes, people are actually betting huge sums on who dies in The Boys Season 5. A number of main characters are already off the board, including Firecracker, A-Train, and, most recently, Frenchie. 89% of trades say yes to Homelander, 81% The Deep, and 55% Billy Butcher. It’s downhill from there for the other characters.
“A qualifying death must show the specified character dead on screen, or otherwise that character’s death must clearly be stated to have occurred, even if offscreen (e.g., characters confirm their death in conversation, the funeral of a character occurs, etc.),” reads the betting rules.
“If a death is reversed through a revival, resurrection, or reanimation that occurs after the character has died, that death will still qualify. Deaths occurring in any timeline or dimension depicted in The Boys: Season 5 will count toward resolution.
“Flashback scenes showing a character alive before their death, as well as dream sequences, hallucinations, or visions of dead characters, will not affect resolution. Characters who were already confirmed dead before The Boys: Season 5 begins will not count toward this market’s resolution.
“If a character’s fate is deliberately left ambiguous, it will not qualify toward the resolution of this market. Only deaths confirmed by the end of The Boys: Season 5 will qualify.”
It feels safe to rule out Soldier Boy, who’s now back on ice following Homelander’s confrontation with his father. Expect to see him pop up again in spinoff Vought Rising, though. Everyone else? They seem fair game.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
People are betting thousands of dollars on who will die at the end of the The Boys, which concludes with the Season 5 finale this week. But Chace Crawford, who plays The Deep, is keeping his mouth shut.
Show full content
People are betting thousands of dollars on who will die at the end of the The Boys, which concludes with the Season 5 finale this week.
Warning! Spoilers for The Boys Season 5 follow:
Just one episode of The Boys remains, and with many main characters left in play, fans are speculating who will die in the Season 5 finale — and whether supervillain Homelander will finally bite the dust.
One character who has survived to the bitter end is The Deep, played by Chace Crawford. And in a recent interview with Today, it was put to him that $14,000 rests on whether The Deep dies in Season 5.
“It could be my $14,000! We don’t know,” Crawford playfully replied. “Insider trading… it’s still the wild west on Polymarket, right?”
He then revealed some people are trying to prize the information out of him, but he won’t spill the beans.
“I’ve gotten some texts actually, from some people who were like, ‘Hey, really, dude, what episode is it exactly if you do?’ Can’t confirm or deny,” he said.
A cursory glance at Polymarket shows that yes, people are actually betting huge sums on who dies in The Boys Season 5. A number of main characters are already off the board, including Firecracker, A-Train, and, most recently, Frenchie. 89% of trades say yes to Homelander, 81% The Deep, and 55% Billy Butcher. It’s downhill from there for the other characters.
“A qualifying death must show the specified character dead on screen, or otherwise that character’s death must clearly be stated to have occurred, even if offscreen (e.g., characters confirm their death in conversation, the funeral of a character occurs, etc.),” reads the betting rules.
“If a death is reversed through a revival, resurrection, or reanimation that occurs after the character has died, that death will still qualify. Deaths occurring in any timeline or dimension depicted in The Boys: Season 5 will count toward resolution.
“Flashback scenes showing a character alive before their death, as well as dream sequences, hallucinations, or visions of dead characters, will not affect resolution. Characters who were already confirmed dead before The Boys: Season 5 begins will not count toward this market’s resolution.
“If a character’s fate is deliberately left ambiguous, it will not qualify toward the resolution of this market. Only deaths confirmed by the end of The Boys: Season 5 will qualify.”
It feels safe to rule out Soldier Boy, who’s now back on ice following Homelander’s confrontation with his father. Expect to see him pop up again in spinoff Vought Rising, though. Everyone else? They seem fair game.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Batman has starred in video games for 40 years, and his early years were much weirder than a Gotham made of Lego bricks. We take a closer look at the strange origins of Batman games.
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Batman was created more than 80 years ago and has starred in video games for 40 of them – nearly half of his existence. But despite a long and varied existence in the comics, ranging from the world’s greatest detective to a hero willing to fight gods and aliens, the dozens of Dark Knight games across the console generations have rarely strayed far from the basics. No matter what decade it is, no matter what hardware you’re playing on, odds are that in any given Batman title you’ll be gliding off gargoyles, firing grappling hooks, and flinging Batarangs at guys in straightjackets.
This year sees one of gaming’s more unusual approaches to Batman – the version made of plastic bricks – return in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and its exploration of Bruce Wayne’s cinematic legacy has had us thinking of Batman’s long video game journey. So, we’re going on a tour of every Batman game ever made. The good, the bad, and the weird ones. Today, we explore the very start of the rocky, winding road that would one day lead us to the gates of Arkham Asylum…
Batman: Year One (1986 - 1989)
1986 was a turning point in Batman’s long history. It was the moment he would finally shake off the long shadow of the kitschy ‘60s TV series and become the brooding icon he was always meant to be. It was the year that Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns detonated our conception of the character in an operatic flash of lightning and violence and psychiatrist jokes.
In a considerably less seismic development, 1986 was also the year British developer Ocean Software published Batman’s first ever video game: a dinky isometric puzzler on the venerable ZX Spectrum.
In the days before a truly global gaming market, developers in the UK had honed their own unique approach to action: stiff, heavy movements, plodding controls, and a curious fondness for anthropomorphic eggs. You might think this an ill-fit for the Batman, the ninja master who strikes quickly with surgical precision and leaps across rooftops to vanish into the night. You would be correct.
The Joker and the Riddler have kidnapped Robin! Batman, trapped in his own cave and stripped of gadgets, must find the seven missing pieces of his trusty Bat-hovercraft to escape and pursue the dastardly duo. To do so, he’ll have to slowly navigate 150 isometric screens populated by traps, puzzles, and monsters, without any offensive capabilities whatsoever. Rather than the ultra-adept master of everything, here Batman is bereft of even basic video game functionality. Elementary video game verbs like “jumping” and “carrying items” require you to find hidden upgrades around the brutally difficult maze, rendered in a neon Zur-En-Arrh nightmare of teals and yellows and purples. A superhero power fantasy it is not.
Such an odd start was only the beginning, as 1988 saw Ocean publish the second of its three Dark Knight games, Batman: The Caped Crusader. The first of many, many sidescrolling action games to come, Caped Crusader consists of two separate scenarios pitting the Dark Knight against the Penguin and Joker. Batman can now kick rats, throw Batarangs, and flail listlessly at the hordes of identical henchmen clogging your path through agonizing, samey-looking mazes.
There’s certainly more sauce on display than Ocean’s previous effort. The game’s main selling point is its unique interface inspired by comic panels, where the screen is divided into narrow boxes through which the characters traverse. It’s an admirable, if not always pleasant, innovation that made a genuine attempt to convey the comic experience, and you can understand why Ocean tried it. Comics were pretty much all Batman was known for at the time, save for Superfriends cartoons and old memories of Adam West. That was about to change.
Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie was a watershed moment for the character. For the first time in decades there was a definitive Batman in the popular imagination. Game designers finally had something they could work with. Batman: The Movie the game was Ocean’s swan song, and easily the best title of this primordial bunch. The studio slapped Burton’s iconography on a sequence of five minigames, each inspired by a set-piece from the film. The sidescrolling action is vastly improved– Batman can now fight and jump simultaneously as the grappling hook makes its video game debut. More significant is the first appearance of a fast-paced Batmobile shooting gallery, soon to be a franchise staple. There’s even a charming breather on the Bat-computer where Bruce mixes chemicals around, the first real glimpse of the master detective in digital form.
Batman was big business in 1989, and the game was a smash hit across seven different PC platforms, particularly as a pack-in for a best-selling Amiga 500 bundle. The first good Batman game had arrived, but it would be Ocean’s last patrol of Gotham. The British developers would take the back seat, for now, as the license passed to another island nation with its own very distinct approach to game design.
The Sunsoft Rises (1989 - 1991)
Batman is at his best when he is in control, and it’s hard to embody the world’s second-greatest martial artist on the ZX Spectrum’s squishy rubber keyboard. Thankfully, by 1989, Japanese developer Sunsoft had become fully fluent in Famicom, and Batman would be its masterpiece.
The finished NES game bears little resemblance to the Burton movie’s plot, pitting Batman against a bizarre bullpen of deep cut DC criminals like Killer Moth and Electrocutioner. The second-to-last boss is a z-lister named Firebug, and when you finally face the Joker he summons lightning bolts from the sky, a feat, to our knowledge, Jack Nicholson is not capable of in the film. The game has a ton of personality, but it’s not really Tim Burton’s baroque gothic pulp. There’s an almost “Final Fight” vibe to Gotham’s criminal chaos, over-the-top urban combat energy where the final boss taunts you from a video screen in the penultimate level.
Most of these departures are welcome, especially when it comes to feel and mechanics. Batman marches across the screen in a flurry of punches and kicks and three distinct subweapons, including a highly dubious “spear” gun. The Dark Knight leaps from wall to wall like he’s Ryu Hyabusa. Sunsoft’s Batman earns its comparison to Ninja Gaiden not just in feel but in the cinematic cutscenes that punctuate each stage, if you can survive long enough to reach them.
Sunsoft pounced on the huge success of its first Batman game and spread the love to several other platforms over the next year. A perfectly adequate adaptation of Batman for the Sega Genesis skewed more towards the slow and deliberate Shinobi style vs. the twitch mastery of Ninja Gaiden, while a fairly obscure arcade version looked great, but suffered from early beat-em-up awkwardness with hundreds of goons pouring from doors to suck down your life and quarters. Both were notable for their inter-level Bat-vehicle sequences: sidescrolling shmups on Sega’s console and flashy first-person extravaganzas to turn heads at the arcade.
Batman for Game Boy was another totally new game, with miniature sprites of a gun-wielding Dark Knight riddling his tiny foes with bullets. Video games don’t have the best track records when it comes to Batman’s strict aversion to firearms, but Batman on Game Boy is among the more comical dismissals of the trope.
There’s one more Batman game in Sunsoft’s pocket for the first Batman movie rollout, and it’s a darn cute one. In Batman for the PC Engine, the Dark Knight is embodied as an adorably chubby avatar who putters around top down mazes dressed to look like city streets and art museums. Batman scoots around collecting powerups and cleaning paint, twirling bad guys with his Batarangs and booping them away.
We’ve seen a silly-looking Caped Crusader before, but this is very specifically supposed to be Michael Keaton’s intense and raw avenger. This weird little guy, more Bomberman than Batman, is embodying the same person who screams and smashes vases and hooks up with Kim Basinger. The game is harmless fun, with another excellent soundtrack, but the real joy comes from seeing digital stills from the film fade into the cheerful little goblin we control, or watching a chibi sprite coldly send the Joker plummeting to a grisly death.
Pure Dynamite (1991)
Batman Returns was still a year away in 1991, but Sunsoft skipped the line and issued its own sequel. Without a movie to adapt, the team ditched the Burtonian gothic atmosphere in favor of full throttle run-and-gun spectacle. In the West, it was called Return of the Joker, but the Japanese title tells the real story: Dynamite Batman.
Return of the Joker looks and plays like Mega Man, Castlevania, and Contra fell into a vat and emerged as an awesome, amalgam creature with parallax scrolling and enormous sprites. There’s a sequence beneath a blimp that seems like it belongs in Sonic 3, with levels set in snowfields and speeding trains and blazing fast shooter sequences that are giving 16-bit blast processing on the 8-bit NES. Batman’s primary weapon is an arm-mounted cannon, and while it technically isn’t a gun in the traditional sense, slamming powerups into the deadly machine gun on his wrist seems outside the spirit of Batman’s solemn vow. It feels right at home within the context of a Dynamite Batman, however, one who enters boss battles following a fighting-game style versus screen and begins each fight by charging up with red lightning.
The final confrontation with the titular prodigal clown sees the Joker ensconced inside a Dr. Wily spaceship with a ludicrous 250,000 hit points, sending off Sunsoft’s Batman saga in style, even if the publisher wasn’t finished quite yet. Two more bites at the Bat-apple remained.
First came the Game Boy edition of Return of the Joker, which is completely different from its NES namesake. It feels like a hastily repurposed unrelated ninja action title slathered with a bat coat of paint, judging from the Shogun Warriors and samurai the Dark Knight disposes of within.
The Genesis version is perhaps even worse. Farmed out to an American studio under an extremely tight deadline, the 16-bit port, inexplicably rechristened Revenge of the Joker, suffers from clunky controls, muddled graphics, and difficulty that has been increased to the point of aggravation. Even Tommy Tallarico’s soundtrack is a rare miss, with Sega’s gormless Yamaha soundfont unable to compete with the crunching pulsewaves of Sunsoft’s 8-bit output.
Revenge of the Joker sounds and feels like an exhausted sigh from a publisher who had wrung everything it could out of the Burton IP. It was time to move on, and the timing couldn’t be better.
Many Happy Returns (1992)
If 1989 was the year of the Bat, 1992 was the year of the cat, the bird, and the silver-haired industrialist. Burton’s indulgent, uninhibited sequel wasn’t quite as massive as the first, but the marketing machine established in ‘89 managed to churn out an entire starting lineup’s worth of video games.
Nine different Batman Returns games were made by six different developers and released by five different publishers. Nine unique, bespoke games tailored to each system, wildly differing in quality. Today’s IP tie-ins are developed over years at enormous cost and ported to increasingly indistinguishable hardware, but in 1992, it meant whatever six studios could ship before the movie left theaters.
First came Batman Returns on the Sega Genesis, developed by Malibu Interactive. Some of its talent was recruited from former Bat-devs Ocean, but the Batman Returns game they made bore a greater resemblance to Sunsoft’s Genesis offering. It’s a somewhat slow, sidescrolling, punch-kickey platformer with gadgets and grappling and a limited glide. Batman progresses through streets, sewers, and circuses, settings mind-numbingly shared across the entire spectrum of Returns games, though there are some cool setpieces like sliding through the slanted halls of a ruined building.
Sega’s Batman Returns is plenty cinematic, with cool touches like fighting the giant art deco statues from the film as firebreathing bosses and a final battle against Catwoman as the credits roll. But the sound lacks impact, and enemies die not with a gurgle or a thud but a synthesized bleat. It’s a solid if uninspiring package, and if you feel like it lacks automotive action you can pop in the Sega CD version, which adds 3D Batmobile sections and better sound to the original game.
Batman Returns on SNES is a Final Fight clone in cape and cowl, with big sprites, juicy hit stops, and beefy sound effects as you beat the crap out of a legion of identical clowns. You can bash their heads together, hurl them through plate glass windows, or cleverly recreate moments from the movie with your trusty grappling hook. Between the screen-clearing powerups, multiple elevator stages, and enemies with their own named lifebars, it’s a Konami belt-scroller through and through, but it’s far from the best. Boss battles are a bit of a bore as you face the Penguin and the Catwoman multiple times throughout the relatively short runtime.
It’s hard to say which platform had the better Batman. Like the other dueling licensed games of the era, your decision will likely lean towards the console you grew up with. If you bore allegiance to neither SNES nor Genesis, however, there were plenty of other Batman Returns games available. They just weren’t going to be as good.
Konami’s own NES effort is commendable, a shrunken-down beat-em-up in the mold of Double Dragon. The similarly obsolete Sega Master System and Game Gear each received their own fairly-decent 8-bit platformers, while Atari’s handheld Lynx featured an extremely simple side-scroller that’s barely more complex than a flip-phone game. On personal computers, an infamous Amiga version ranks among the lowest dregs of Bat-games, a buggy, nonresponsive mess that’s entirely unfun and unmemorable beyond giving you permission to punt poodles.
Rather than another 2D platformer, the MS-DOS version from developer Spirit of Discovery was a point-and-click adventure. Batman walks around the screen like he’s in a Lucasfilm game, though the Dark Knight isn’t one for witty banter, preferring shambling fisticuffs to insult swordfighting. It’s an odd, interesting precursor to the kinds of narrative adventures future technology would make possible. It boasts some pretty clever detective action: solving puzzles, staking out crime scenes, and interrogating crooks interrupted by agonizing combat sections. The Batcomputer is your best friend here, poring through archives and “video” footage to unravel the Penguin’s bid for mayor and expose the evils of Max Schreck. It’s a rare excursion into the side of Batman’s job that doesn’t involve giving people concussions, and one that would be explored heavily in the years to come, when Batman would finally become a video game trailblazer, rather than the victim of countless tie-ins.
Our exploration of the history of Batman games continues tomorrow, when we'll take a look at how the Dark Knight coped with his greatest nemesis: suits with nipples.
Batman has starred in video games for 40 years, and his early years were much weirder than a Gotham made of Lego bricks. We take a closer look at the strange origins of Batman games.
Show full content
Batman was created more than 80 years ago and has starred in video games for 40 of them – nearly half of his existence. But despite a long and varied existence in the comics, ranging from the world’s greatest detective to a hero willing to fight gods and aliens, the dozens of Dark Knight games across the console generations have rarely strayed far from the basics. No matter what decade it is, no matter what hardware you’re playing on, odds are that in any given Batman title you’ll be gliding off gargoyles, firing grappling hooks, and flinging Batarangs at guys in straightjackets.
This year sees one of gaming’s more unusual approaches to Batman – the version made of plastic bricks – return in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and its exploration of Bruce Wayne’s cinematic legacy has had us thinking of Batman’s long video game journey. So, we’re going on a tour of every Batman game ever made. The good, the bad, and the weird ones. Today, we explore the very start of the rocky, winding road that would one day lead us to the gates of Arkham Asylum…
Batman: Year One (1986 - 1989)
1986 was a turning point in Batman’s long history. It was the moment he would finally shake off the long shadow of the kitschy ‘60s TV series and become the brooding icon he was always meant to be. It was the year that Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns detonated our conception of the character in an operatic flash of lightning and violence and psychiatrist jokes.
In a considerably less seismic development, 1986 was also the year British developer Ocean Software published Batman’s first ever video game: a dinky isometric puzzler on the venerable ZX Spectrum.
In the days before a truly global gaming market, developers in the UK had honed their own unique approach to action: stiff, heavy movements, plodding controls, and a curious fondness for anthropomorphic eggs. You might think this an ill-fit for the Batman, the ninja master who strikes quickly with surgical precision and leaps across rooftops to vanish into the night. You would be correct.
The Joker and the Riddler have kidnapped Robin! Batman, trapped in his own cave and stripped of gadgets, must find the seven missing pieces of his trusty Bat-hovercraft to escape and pursue the dastardly duo. To do so, he’ll have to slowly navigate 150 isometric screens populated by traps, puzzles, and monsters, without any offensive capabilities whatsoever. Rather than the ultra-adept master of everything, here Batman is bereft of even basic video game functionality. Elementary video game verbs like “jumping” and “carrying items” require you to find hidden upgrades around the brutally difficult maze, rendered in a neon Zur-En-Arrh nightmare of teals and yellows and purples. A superhero power fantasy it is not.
Such an odd start was only the beginning, as 1988 saw Ocean publish the second of its three Dark Knight games, Batman: The Caped Crusader. The first of many, many sidescrolling action games to come, Caped Crusader consists of two separate scenarios pitting the Dark Knight against the Penguin and Joker. Batman can now kick rats, throw Batarangs, and flail listlessly at the hordes of identical henchmen clogging your path through agonizing, samey-looking mazes.
There’s certainly more sauce on display than Ocean’s previous effort. The game’s main selling point is its unique interface inspired by comic panels, where the screen is divided into narrow boxes through which the characters traverse. It’s an admirable, if not always pleasant, innovation that made a genuine attempt to convey the comic experience, and you can understand why Ocean tried it. Comics were pretty much all Batman was known for at the time, save for Superfriends cartoons and old memories of Adam West. That was about to change.
Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie was a watershed moment for the character. For the first time in decades there was a definitive Batman in the popular imagination. Game designers finally had something they could work with. Batman: The Movie the game was Ocean’s swan song, and easily the best title of this primordial bunch. The studio slapped Burton’s iconography on a sequence of five minigames, each inspired by a set-piece from the film. The sidescrolling action is vastly improved– Batman can now fight and jump simultaneously as the grappling hook makes its video game debut. More significant is the first appearance of a fast-paced Batmobile shooting gallery, soon to be a franchise staple. There’s even a charming breather on the Bat-computer where Bruce mixes chemicals around, the first real glimpse of the master detective in digital form.
Batman was big business in 1989, and the game was a smash hit across seven different PC platforms, particularly as a pack-in for a best-selling Amiga 500 bundle. The first good Batman game had arrived, but it would be Ocean’s last patrol of Gotham. The British developers would take the back seat, for now, as the license passed to another island nation with its own very distinct approach to game design.
The Sunsoft Rises (1989 - 1991)
Batman is at his best when he is in control, and it’s hard to embody the world’s second-greatest martial artist on the ZX Spectrum’s squishy rubber keyboard. Thankfully, by 1989, Japanese developer Sunsoft had become fully fluent in Famicom, and Batman would be its masterpiece.
The finished NES game bears little resemblance to the Burton movie’s plot, pitting Batman against a bizarre bullpen of deep cut DC criminals like Killer Moth and Electrocutioner. The second-to-last boss is a z-lister named Firebug, and when you finally face the Joker he summons lightning bolts from the sky, a feat, to our knowledge, Jack Nicholson is not capable of in the film. The game has a ton of personality, but it’s not really Tim Burton’s baroque gothic pulp. There’s an almost “Final Fight” vibe to Gotham’s criminal chaos, over-the-top urban combat energy where the final boss taunts you from a video screen in the penultimate level.
Most of these departures are welcome, especially when it comes to feel and mechanics. Batman marches across the screen in a flurry of punches and kicks and three distinct subweapons, including a highly dubious “spear” gun. The Dark Knight leaps from wall to wall like he’s Ryu Hyabusa. Sunsoft’s Batman earns its comparison to Ninja Gaiden not just in feel but in the cinematic cutscenes that punctuate each stage, if you can survive long enough to reach them.
Sunsoft pounced on the huge success of its first Batman game and spread the love to several other platforms over the next year. A perfectly adequate adaptation of Batman for the Sega Genesis skewed more towards the slow and deliberate Shinobi style vs. the twitch mastery of Ninja Gaiden, while a fairly obscure arcade version looked great, but suffered from early beat-em-up awkwardness with hundreds of goons pouring from doors to suck down your life and quarters. Both were notable for their inter-level Bat-vehicle sequences: sidescrolling shmups on Sega’s console and flashy first-person extravaganzas to turn heads at the arcade.
Batman for Game Boy was another totally new game, with miniature sprites of a gun-wielding Dark Knight riddling his tiny foes with bullets. Video games don’t have the best track records when it comes to Batman’s strict aversion to firearms, but Batman on Game Boy is among the more comical dismissals of the trope.
There’s one more Batman game in Sunsoft’s pocket for the first Batman movie rollout, and it’s a darn cute one. In Batman for the PC Engine, the Dark Knight is embodied as an adorably chubby avatar who putters around top down mazes dressed to look like city streets and art museums. Batman scoots around collecting powerups and cleaning paint, twirling bad guys with his Batarangs and booping them away.
We’ve seen a silly-looking Caped Crusader before, but this is very specifically supposed to be Michael Keaton’s intense and raw avenger. This weird little guy, more Bomberman than Batman, is embodying the same person who screams and smashes vases and hooks up with Kim Basinger. The game is harmless fun, with another excellent soundtrack, but the real joy comes from seeing digital stills from the film fade into the cheerful little goblin we control, or watching a chibi sprite coldly send the Joker plummeting to a grisly death.
Pure Dynamite (1991)
Batman Returns was still a year away in 1991, but Sunsoft skipped the line and issued its own sequel. Without a movie to adapt, the team ditched the Burtonian gothic atmosphere in favor of full throttle run-and-gun spectacle. In the West, it was called Return of the Joker, but the Japanese title tells the real story: Dynamite Batman.
Return of the Joker looks and plays like Mega Man, Castlevania, and Contra fell into a vat and emerged as an awesome, amalgam creature with parallax scrolling and enormous sprites. There’s a sequence beneath a blimp that seems like it belongs in Sonic 3, with levels set in snowfields and speeding trains and blazing fast shooter sequences that are giving 16-bit blast processing on the 8-bit NES. Batman’s primary weapon is an arm-mounted cannon, and while it technically isn’t a gun in the traditional sense, slamming powerups into the deadly machine gun on his wrist seems outside the spirit of Batman’s solemn vow. It feels right at home within the context of a Dynamite Batman, however, one who enters boss battles following a fighting-game style versus screen and begins each fight by charging up with red lightning.
The final confrontation with the titular prodigal clown sees the Joker ensconced inside a Dr. Wily spaceship with a ludicrous 250,000 hit points, sending off Sunsoft’s Batman saga in style, even if the publisher wasn’t finished quite yet. Two more bites at the Bat-apple remained.
First came the Game Boy edition of Return of the Joker, which is completely different from its NES namesake. It feels like a hastily repurposed unrelated ninja action title slathered with a bat coat of paint, judging from the Shogun Warriors and samurai the Dark Knight disposes of within.
The Genesis version is perhaps even worse. Farmed out to an American studio under an extremely tight deadline, the 16-bit port, inexplicably rechristened Revenge of the Joker, suffers from clunky controls, muddled graphics, and difficulty that has been increased to the point of aggravation. Even Tommy Tallarico’s soundtrack is a rare miss, with Sega’s gormless Yamaha soundfont unable to compete with the crunching pulsewaves of Sunsoft’s 8-bit output.
Revenge of the Joker sounds and feels like an exhausted sigh from a publisher who had wrung everything it could out of the Burton IP. It was time to move on, and the timing couldn’t be better.
Many Happy Returns (1992)
If 1989 was the year of the Bat, 1992 was the year of the cat, the bird, and the silver-haired industrialist. Burton’s indulgent, uninhibited sequel wasn’t quite as massive as the first, but the marketing machine established in ‘89 managed to churn out an entire starting lineup’s worth of video games.
Nine different Batman Returns games were made by six different developers and released by five different publishers. Nine unique, bespoke games tailored to each system, wildly differing in quality. Today’s IP tie-ins are developed over years at enormous cost and ported to increasingly indistinguishable hardware, but in 1992, it meant whatever six studios could ship before the movie left theaters.
First came Batman Returns on the Sega Genesis, developed by Malibu Interactive. Some of its talent was recruited from former Bat-devs Ocean, but the Batman Returns game they made bore a greater resemblance to Sunsoft’s Genesis offering. It’s a somewhat slow, sidescrolling, punch-kickey platformer with gadgets and grappling and a limited glide. Batman progresses through streets, sewers, and circuses, settings mind-numbingly shared across the entire spectrum of Returns games, though there are some cool setpieces like sliding through the slanted halls of a ruined building.
Sega’s Batman Returns is plenty cinematic, with cool touches like fighting the giant art deco statues from the film as firebreathing bosses and a final battle against Catwoman as the credits roll. But the sound lacks impact, and enemies die not with a gurgle or a thud but a synthesized bleat. It’s a solid if uninspiring package, and if you feel like it lacks automotive action you can pop in the Sega CD version, which adds 3D Batmobile sections and better sound to the original game.
Batman Returns on SNES is a Final Fight clone in cape and cowl, with big sprites, juicy hit stops, and beefy sound effects as you beat the crap out of a legion of identical clowns. You can bash their heads together, hurl them through plate glass windows, or cleverly recreate moments from the movie with your trusty grappling hook. Between the screen-clearing powerups, multiple elevator stages, and enemies with their own named lifebars, it’s a Konami belt-scroller through and through, but it’s far from the best. Boss battles are a bit of a bore as you face the Penguin and the Catwoman multiple times throughout the relatively short runtime.
It’s hard to say which platform had the better Batman. Like the other dueling licensed games of the era, your decision will likely lean towards the console you grew up with. If you bore allegiance to neither SNES nor Genesis, however, there were plenty of other Batman Returns games available. They just weren’t going to be as good.
Konami’s own NES effort is commendable, a shrunken-down beat-em-up in the mold of Double Dragon. The similarly obsolete Sega Master System and Game Gear each received their own fairly-decent 8-bit platformers, while Atari’s handheld Lynx featured an extremely simple side-scroller that’s barely more complex than a flip-phone game. On personal computers, an infamous Amiga version ranks among the lowest dregs of Bat-games, a buggy, nonresponsive mess that’s entirely unfun and unmemorable beyond giving you permission to punt poodles.
Rather than another 2D platformer, the MS-DOS version from developer Spirit of Discovery was a point-and-click adventure. Batman walks around the screen like he’s in a Lucasfilm game, though the Dark Knight isn’t one for witty banter, preferring shambling fisticuffs to insult swordfighting. It’s an odd, interesting precursor to the kinds of narrative adventures future technology would make possible. It boasts some pretty clever detective action: solving puzzles, staking out crime scenes, and interrogating crooks interrupted by agonizing combat sections. The Batcomputer is your best friend here, poring through archives and “video” footage to unravel the Penguin’s bid for mayor and expose the evils of Max Schreck. It’s a rare excursion into the side of Batman’s job that doesn’t involve giving people concussions, and one that would be explored heavily in the years to come, when Batman would finally become a video game trailblazer, rather than the victim of countless tie-ins.
Our exploration of the history of Batman games continues tomorrow, when we'll take a look at how the Dark Knight coped with his greatest nemesis: suits with nipples.
Batman has starred in video games for 40 years, and his early years were much weirder than a Gotham made of Lego bricks. We take a closer look at the strange origins of Batman games.
Show full content
Batman was created more than 80 years ago and has starred in video games for 40 of them – nearly half of his existence. But despite a long and varied existence in the comics, ranging from the world’s greatest detective to a hero willing to fight gods and aliens, the dozens of Dark Knight games across the console generations have rarely strayed far from the basics. No matter what decade it is, no matter what hardware you’re playing on, odds are that in any given Batman title you’ll be gliding off gargoyles, firing grappling hooks, and flinging Batarangs at guys in straightjackets.
This year sees one of gaming’s more unusual approaches to Batman – the version made of plastic bricks – return in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and its exploration of Bruce Wayne’s cinematic legacy has had us thinking of Batman’s long video game journey. So, we’re going on a tour of every Batman game ever made. The good, the bad, and the weird ones. Today, we explore the very start of the rocky, winding road that would one day lead us to the gates of Arkham Asylum…
Batman: Year One (1986 - 1989)
1986 was a turning point in Batman’s long history. It was the moment he would finally shake off the long shadow of the kitschy ‘60s TV series and become the brooding icon he was always meant to be. It was the year that Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns detonated our conception of the character in an operatic flash of lightning and violence and psychiatrist jokes.
In a considerably less seismic development, 1986 was also the year British developer Ocean Software published Batman’s first ever video game: a dinky isometric puzzler on the venerable ZX Spectrum.
In the days before a truly global gaming market, developers in the UK had honed their own unique approach to action: stiff, heavy movements, plodding controls, and a curious fondness for anthropomorphic eggs. You might think this an ill-fit for the Batman, the ninja master who strikes quickly with surgical precision and leaps across rooftops to vanish into the night. You would be correct.
The Joker and the Riddler have kidnapped Robin! Batman, trapped in his own cave and stripped of gadgets, must find the seven missing pieces of his trusty Bat-hovercraft to escape and pursue the dastardly duo. To do so, he’ll have to slowly navigate 150 isometric screens populated by traps, puzzles, and monsters, without any offensive capabilities whatsoever. Rather than the ultra-adept master of everything, here Batman is bereft of even basic video game functionality. Elementary video game verbs like “jumping” and “carrying items” require you to find hidden upgrades around the brutally difficult maze, rendered in a neon Zur-En-Arrh nightmare of teals and yellows and purples. A superhero power fantasy it is not.
Such an odd start was only the beginning, as 1988 saw Ocean publish the second of its three Dark Knight games, Batman: The Caped Crusader. The first of many, many sidescrolling action games to come, Caped Crusader consists of two separate scenarios pitting the Dark Knight against the Penguin and Joker. Batman can now kick rats, throw Batarangs, and flail listlessly at the hordes of identical henchmen clogging your path through agonizing, samey-looking mazes.
There’s certainly more sauce on display than Ocean’s previous effort. The game’s main selling point is its unique interface inspired by comic panels, where the screen is divided into narrow boxes through which the characters traverse. It’s an admirable, if not always pleasant, innovation that made a genuine attempt to convey the comic experience, and you can understand why Ocean tried it. Comics were pretty much all Batman was known for at the time, save for Superfriends cartoons and old memories of Adam West. That was about to change.
Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie was a watershed moment for the character. For the first time in decades there was a definitive Batman in the popular imagination. Game designers finally had something they could work with. Batman: The Movie the game was Ocean’s swan song, and easily the best title of this primordial bunch. The studio slapped Burton’s iconography on a sequence of five minigames, each inspired by a set-piece from the film. The sidescrolling action is vastly improved– Batman can now fight and jump simultaneously as the grappling hook makes its video game debut. More significant is the first appearance of a fast-paced Batmobile shooting gallery, soon to be a franchise staple. There’s even a charming breather on the Bat-computer where Bruce mixes chemicals around, the first real glimpse of the master detective in digital form.
Batman was big business in 1989, and the game was a smash hit across seven different PC platforms, particularly as a pack-in for a best-selling Amiga 500 bundle. The first good Batman game had arrived, but it would be Ocean’s last patrol of Gotham. The British developers would take the back seat, for now, as the license passed to another island nation with its own very distinct approach to game design.
The Sunsoft Rises (1989 - 1991)
Batman is at his best when he is in control, and it’s hard to embody the world’s second-greatest martial artist on the ZX Spectrum’s squishy rubber keyboard. Thankfully, by 1989, Japanese developer Sunsoft had become fully fluent in Famicom, and Batman would be its masterpiece.
The finished NES game bears little resemblance to the Burton movie’s plot, pitting Batman against a bizarre bullpen of deep cut DC criminals like Killer Moth and Electrocutioner. The second-to-last boss is a z-lister named Firebug, and when you finally face the Joker he summons lightning bolts from the sky, a feat, to our knowledge, Jack Nicholson is not capable of in the film. The game has a ton of personality, but it’s not really Tim Burton’s baroque gothic pulp. There’s an almost “Final Fight” vibe to Gotham’s criminal chaos, over-the-top urban combat energy where the final boss taunts you from a video screen in the penultimate level.
Most of these departures are welcome, especially when it comes to feel and mechanics. Batman marches across the screen in a flurry of punches and kicks and three distinct subweapons, including a highly dubious “spear” gun. The Dark Knight leaps from wall to wall like he’s Ryu Hyabusa. Sunsoft’s Batman earns its comparison to Ninja Gaiden not just in feel but in the cinematic cutscenes that punctuate each stage, if you can survive long enough to reach them.
Sunsoft pounced on the huge success of its first Batman game and spread the love to several other platforms over the next year. A perfectly adequate adaptation of Batman for the Sega Genesis skewed more towards the slow and deliberate Shinobi style vs. the twitch mastery of Ninja Gaiden, while a fairly obscure arcade version looked great, but suffered from early beat-em-up awkwardness with hundreds of goons pouring from doors to suck down your life and quarters. Both were notable for their inter-level Bat-vehicle sequences: sidescrolling shmups on Sega’s console and flashy first-person extravaganzas to turn heads at the arcade.
Batman for Game Boy was another totally new game, with miniature sprites of a gun-wielding Dark Knight riddling his tiny foes with bullets. Video games don’t have the best track records when it comes to Batman’s strict aversion to firearms, but Batman on Game Boy is among the more comical dismissals of the trope.
There’s one more Batman game in Sunsoft’s pocket for the first Batman movie rollout, and it’s a darn cute one. In Batman for the PC Engine, the Dark Knight is embodied as an adorably chubby avatar who putters around top down mazes dressed to look like city streets and art museums. Batman scoots around collecting powerups and cleaning paint, twirling bad guys with his Batarangs and booping them away.
We’ve seen a silly-looking Caped Crusader before, but this is very specifically supposed to be Michael Keaton’s intense and raw avenger. This weird little guy, more Bomberman than Batman, is embodying the same person who screams and smashes vases and hooks up with Kim Basinger. The game is harmless fun, with another excellent soundtrack, but the real joy comes from seeing digital stills from the film fade into the cheerful little goblin we control, or watching a chibi sprite coldly send the Joker plummeting to a grisly death.
Pure Dynamite (1991)
Batman Returns was still a year away in 1991, but Sunsoft skipped the line and issued its own sequel. Without a movie to adapt, the team ditched the Burtonian gothic atmosphere in favor of full throttle run-and-gun spectacle. In the West, it was called Return of the Joker, but the Japanese title tells the real story: Dynamite Batman.
Return of the Joker looks and plays like Mega Man, Castlevania, and Contra fell into a vat and emerged as an awesome, amalgam creature with parallax scrolling and enormous sprites. There’s a sequence beneath a blimp that seems like it belongs in Sonic 3, with levels set in snowfields and speeding trains and blazing fast shooter sequences that are giving 16-bit blast processing on the 8-bit NES. Batman’s primary weapon is an arm-mounted cannon, and while it technically isn’t a gun in the traditional sense, slamming powerups into the deadly machine gun on his wrist seems outside the spirit of Batman’s solemn vow. It feels right at home within the context of a Dynamite Batman, however, one who enters boss battles following a fighting-game style versus screen and begins each fight by charging up with red lightning.
The final confrontation with the titular prodigal clown sees the Joker ensconced inside a Dr. Wily spaceship with a ludicrous 250,000 hit points, sending off Sunsoft’s Batman saga in style, even if the publisher wasn’t finished quite yet. Two more bites at the Bat-apple remained.
First came the Game Boy edition of Return of the Joker, which is completely different from its NES namesake. It feels like a hastily repurposed unrelated ninja action title slathered with a bat coat of paint, judging from the Shogun Warriors and samurai the Dark Knight disposes of within.
The Genesis version is perhaps even worse. Farmed out to an American studio under an extremely tight deadline, the 16-bit port, inexplicably rechristened Revenge of the Joker, suffers from clunky controls, muddled graphics, and difficulty that has been increased to the point of aggravation. Even Tommy Tallarico’s soundtrack is a rare miss, with Sega’s gormless Yamaha soundfont unable to compete with the crunching pulsewaves of Sunsoft’s 8-bit output.
Revenge of the Joker sounds and feels like an exhausted sigh from a publisher who had wrung everything it could out of the Burton IP. It was time to move on, and the timing couldn’t be better.
Many Happy Returns (1992)
If 1989 was the year of the Bat, 1992 was the year of the cat, the bird, and the silver-haired industrialist. Burton’s indulgent, uninhibited sequel wasn’t quite as massive as the first, but the marketing machine established in ‘89 managed to churn out an entire starting lineup’s worth of video games.
Nine different Batman Returns games were made by six different developers and released by five different publishers. Nine unique, bespoke games tailored to each system, wildly differing in quality. Today’s IP tie-ins are developed over years at enormous cost and ported to increasingly indistinguishable hardware, but in 1992, it meant whatever six studios could ship before the movie left theaters.
First came Batman Returns on the Sega Genesis, developed by Malibu Interactive. Some of its talent was recruited from former Bat-devs Ocean, but the Batman Returns game they made bore a greater resemblance to Sunsoft’s Genesis offering. It’s a somewhat slow, sidescrolling, punch-kickey platformer with gadgets and grappling and a limited glide. Batman progresses through streets, sewers, and circuses, settings mind-numbingly shared across the entire spectrum of Returns games, though there are some cool setpieces like sliding through the slanted halls of a ruined building.
Sega’s Batman Returns is plenty cinematic, with cool touches like fighting the giant art deco statues from the film as firebreathing bosses and a final battle against Catwoman as the credits roll. But the sound lacks impact, and enemies die not with a gurgle or a thud but a synthesized bleat. It’s a solid if uninspiring package, and if you feel like it lacks automotive action you can pop in the Sega CD version, which adds 3D Batmobile sections and better sound to the original game.
Batman Returns on SNES is a Final Fight clone in cape and cowl, with big sprites, juicy hit stops, and beefy sound effects as you beat the crap out of a legion of identical clowns. You can bash their heads together, hurl them through plate glass windows, or cleverly recreate moments from the movie with your trusty grappling hook. Between the screen-clearing powerups, multiple elevator stages, and enemies with their own named lifebars, it’s a Konami belt-scroller through and through, but it’s far from the best. Boss battles are a bit of a bore as you face the Penguin and the Catwoman multiple times throughout the relatively short runtime.
It’s hard to say which platform had the better Batman. Like the other dueling licensed games of the era, your decision will likely lean towards the console you grew up with. If you bore allegiance to neither SNES nor Genesis, however, there were plenty of other Batman Returns games available. They just weren’t going to be as good.
Konami’s own NES effort is commendable, a shrunken-down beat-em-up in the mold of Double Dragon. The similarly obsolete Sega Master System and Game Gear each received their own fairly-decent 8-bit platformers, while Atari’s handheld Lynx featured an extremely simple side-scroller that’s barely more complex than a flip-phone game. On personal computers, an infamous Amiga version ranks among the lowest dregs of Bat-games, a buggy, nonresponsive mess that’s entirely unfun and unmemorable beyond giving you permission to punt poodles.
Rather than another 2D platformer, the MS-DOS version from developer Spirit of Discovery was a point-and-click adventure. Batman walks around the screen like he’s in a Lucasfilm game, though the Dark Knight isn’t one for witty banter, preferring shambling fisticuffs to insult swordfighting. It’s an odd, interesting precursor to the kinds of narrative adventures future technology would make possible. It boasts some pretty clever detective action: solving puzzles, staking out crime scenes, and interrogating crooks interrupted by agonizing combat sections. The Batcomputer is your best friend here, poring through archives and “video” footage to unravel the Penguin’s bid for mayor and expose the evils of Max Schreck. It’s a rare excursion into the side of Batman’s job that doesn’t involve giving people concussions, and one that would be explored heavily in the years to come, when Batman would finally become a video game trailblazer, rather than the victim of countless tie-ins.
Our exploration of the history of Batman games continues tomorrow, when we'll take a look at how the Dark Knight coped with his greatest nemesis: suits with nipples.
Spider-Noir star Nicolas Cage has said he pushed for the Prime Video superhero series to be shot in color as well as black and white in a bid to appeal to teenagers, who he hopes will be inspired to seek out the great black and white films of American cinema.
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Spider-Noir star Nicolas Cage has said he pushed for the Prime Video superhero series to be shot in color as well as black and white in a bid to appeal to teenagers, who he hopes will be inspired to seek out the great black and white films of American cinema.
“Actually, it was one of my ideas to have them shoot it in color. Because I am aware of teenagers, and I’m aware they don’t have that much experience with black and white.
“So the dream is they watch it in color and then they check it out in black and white and learn something, and then maybe go, ‘Hey, I want to see some of these movie references.’ And then they open a treasure trove of wealth, of the great American cinema. That’s the dream. I hope that happens.”
Spider-Noir follows Cage as retired gumshoe Ben Reilly, who comes out of said retirement to best some baddies in 1930s New York City. The series plays up the noir element, giving audiences the choice of watching in subgenre-accurate black and white or “true hue” color.
Spider-Noir comes out on May 25 specifically on MGM+, a linear broadcast channel in the United States. The worldwide Prime Video release of the series arrives two days later on May 27. All eight episodes will be available as a binge release, and it will not be available on the MGM+ streaming platform. The only streaming platform will be Prime Video.
Spider-Noir MGM+ and Prime Video Premiere Information:
The series will debut domestically on MGM+’s linear broadcast channel on May 25, then globally on Prime Video on May 27.
All eight episodes will be available as a binge release.
It will not be available on MGM+ streaming platform. The only streaming platform will be Prime Video.
The series will air on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Spider-Noir star Nicolas Cage has said he pushed for the Prime Video superhero series to be shot in color as well as black and white in a bid to appeal to teenagers, who he hopes will be inspired to seek out the great black and white films of American cinema.
Show full content
Spider-Noir star Nicolas Cage has said he pushed for the Prime Video superhero series to be shot in color as well as black and white in a bid to appeal to teenagers, who he hopes will be inspired to seek out the great black and white films of American cinema.
“Actually, it was one of my ideas to have them shoot it in color. Because I am aware of teenagers, and I’m aware they don’t have that much experience with black and white.
“So the dream is they watch it in color and then they check it out in black and white and learn something, and then maybe go, ‘Hey, I want to see some of these movie references.’ And then they open a treasure trove of wealth, of the great American cinema. That’s the dream. I hope that happens.”
Spider-Noir follows Cage as retired gumshoe Ben Reilly, who comes out of said retirement to best some baddies in 1930s New York City. The series plays up the noir element, giving audiences the choice of watching in subgenre-accurate black and white or “true hue” color.
Spider-Noir comes out on May 25 specifically on MGM+, a linear broadcast channel in the United States. The worldwide Prime Video release of the series arrives two days later on May 27. All eight episodes will be available as a binge release, and it will not be available on the MGM+ streaming platform. The only streaming platform will be Prime Video.
Spider-Noir MGM+ and Prime Video Premiere Information:
The series will debut domestically on MGM+’s linear broadcast channel on May 25, then globally on Prime Video on May 27.
All eight episodes will be available as a binge release.
It will not be available on MGM+ streaming platform. The only streaming platform will be Prime Video.
The series will air on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Games Workshop has shocked Warhammer 40,000 fans by confirming a leak of plans to sell ready-painted terrain for the upcoming 11th Edition of the tabletop wargame, dubbed Armageddon. But after a significant amount of speculation that the company was also set to sell ready-painted miniatures, Games Workshop has now ruled that out.
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Games Workshop has shocked Warhammer 40,000 fans by confirming a leak of plans to sell ready-painted terrain for the upcoming 11th Edition of the tabletop wargame, dubbed Armageddon. But after a significant amount of speculation that the company was also set to sell ready-painted miniatures, Games Workshop has now ruled that out.
Warhammer 40,000, the hugely popular sci-fi universe set in the grim dark far future, is normally played with terrain that provides cover, among other things. Official Warhammer 40,000 terrain from Games Workshop has, on the whole, not come pre-painted, but that’s about to change with the 11th Edition of the game in June.
It’s a significant change for Warhammer 40,000, but you can see why Games Workshop has made the decision. Part of the barrier to entry for Warhammer 40,000 — and indeed many of the company’s games — is the painting portion of the hobby. While a huge part of the community loves painting, some do not, and it can be a timesink. So, providing the option of pre-painted terrain (normal terrain isn’t going anywhere) will no doubt appeal to those who just want to get on and play the tabletop as quickly as possible. And, crucially, it will appeal to newcomers who are perhaps going to jump into the hobby with 11th Edition.
The next natural question is, are there any plans to sell ready-painted miniatures? But in a rare Warhammer 40,000 video Q&A, Games Workshop ruled it out. “No,” was the loud and clear response. So that’s that.
This means that while you’ll be able to save time with pre-painted terrain, you’ll still have to paint your miniatures if you want to play an official game of Warhammer 40,000. So, no change on that front, perhaps surprisingly in the context of the terrain decision.
Games Workshop spends much of the video talking about the nitty gritty of the 11th Edition rules and their impact on how the game will be played, as well as addressing burning questions about existing armies and their place on the war-torn world of Armageddon. We don’t have an exact release date yet for 11th Edition, nor a price, but we should get more information soon.
The Warhammer 40,000 universe is of course bigger than just the tabletop these days. There are video games, including the upcoming Dawn of War 4, Total War: Warhammer 40,000, and Dark Heresy, as well as animations (Amazon’s Prime Video animated anthology, Secret Level, includes a Warhammer 40,000 episode), and even an upcoming Warhammer 40,000 Cinematic Universe, led by superfan Henry Cavill.
Photo by Uli Deck/picture alliance via Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Games Workshop has shocked Warhammer 40,000 fans by confirming a leak of plans to sell ready-painted terrain for the upcoming 11th Edition of the tabletop wargame, dubbed Armageddon. But after a significant amount of speculation that the company was also set to sell ready-painted miniatures, Games Workshop has now ruled that out.
Show full content
Games Workshop has shocked Warhammer 40,000 fans by confirming a leak of plans to sell ready-painted terrain for the upcoming 11th Edition of the tabletop wargame, dubbed Armageddon. But after a significant amount of speculation that the company was also set to sell ready-painted miniatures, Games Workshop has now ruled that out.
Warhammer 40,000, the hugely popular sci-fi universe set in the grim dark far future, is normally played with terrain that provides cover, among other things. Official Warhammer 40,000 terrain from Games Workshop has, on the whole, not come pre-painted, but that’s about to change with the 11th Edition of the game in June.
It’s a significant change for Warhammer 40,000, but you can see why Games Workshop has made the decision. Part of the barrier to entry for Warhammer 40,000 — and indeed many of the company’s games — is the painting portion of the hobby. While a huge part of the community loves painting, some do not, and it can be a timesink. So, providing the option of pre-painted terrain (normal terrain isn’t going anywhere) will no doubt appeal to those who just want to get on and play the tabletop as quickly as possible. And, crucially, it will appeal to newcomers who are perhaps going to jump into the hobby with 11th Edition.
The next natural question is, are there any plans to sell ready-painted miniatures? But in a rare Warhammer 40,000 video Q&A, Games Workshop ruled it out. “No,” was the loud and clear response. So that’s that.
This means that while you’ll be able to save time with pre-painted terrain, you’ll still have to paint your miniatures if you want to play an official game of Warhammer 40,000. So, no change on that front, perhaps surprisingly in the context of the terrain decision.
Games Workshop spends much of the video talking about the nitty gritty of the 11th Edition rules and their impact on how the game will be played, as well as addressing burning questions about existing armies and their place on the war-torn world of Armageddon. We don’t have an exact release date yet for 11th Edition, nor a price, but we should get more information soon.
The Warhammer 40,000 universe is of course bigger than just the tabletop these days. There are video games, including the upcoming Dawn of War 4, Total War: Warhammer 40,000, and Dark Heresy, as well as animations (Amazon’s Prime Video animated anthology, Secret Level, includes a Warhammer 40,000 episode), and even an upcoming Warhammer 40,000 Cinematic Universe, led by superfan Henry Cavill.
Photo by Uli Deck/picture alliance via Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The Hunt For Ben Solo fan campaign is still going, and its latest stunt saw a truck circle the Mandalorian and Grogu premiere in Hollywood.
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The Hunt For Ben Solo fan campaign is still going, and its latest stunt saw a truck circle the Mandalorian and Grogu premiere in Hollywood.
The Star Wars superfans behind the campaign have spent a year now trying to convince Disney to make canceled movie The Hunt For Ben Solo a reality, putting money into various initiatives designed to keep Adam Driver’s character front of mind.
The movie would have taken place following The Rise of Skywalker and centered on Adam Driver’s character Kylo Ren and his quest for redemption. Driver told the Associated Press that The Hunt For Ben Solo was “one of the coolest f—king scripts I had ever been a part of.”
Driver played Ben Solo / Kylo Ren in each of the three films in Lucasfilm’s Sequel Trilogy, with his final appearance in 2019’s divisive The Rise of Skywalker. “I always was interested in doing another Star Wars,” Driver said. He revealed he had been in talks about another Star Wars movie since 2021, and that then Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had “reached out.”
“I always said: with a great director and a great story, I’d be there in a second,” Driver commented. “I loved that character and loved playing him."
Driver said Lucasfilm “loved the idea” and “totally understood our angle and why we were doing it.” However, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney co-chairman Alan Bergman said no. "They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that,” he said. Soderbergh told AP: “I really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”
Driver was described as feeling mystified by the decision, insisting the plan was to “be judicial about how to spend money and be economical with it, and do it for less than most but in the same spirit of what those movies are, which is handmade and character-driven.” He pointed to the much-loved Empire Strikes Back as being “the standard of what those movies were.”
The Hunt For Ben Solo sounds dead, but Brianna Johns, writer, voice actor, and self-confessed “avid” Star Wars fan, has not given up hope. Johns, alongside other members of the campaign, arranged for a mobile billboard truck to circle the world premiere of The Mandalorian and Grogu in Hollywood, CA. The truck featured large black text on both sides that said "WHERE'S BEN SOLO?" while showcasing the campaign's calling card, Ben's Missing Poster, on the back.
“This truck is our way of showing Disney we’re still here,” Johns told IGN. “We saw someone from Industrial Light & Magic posted our truck to their Instagram story and are taking that as a good sign, trusting that word of mouth spread within the event.”
The aim, Johns said, is for the fan campaign to hold one major event at least every other month “to inspire fans and engage the C-Suite.” In January, it was billboards, in March there was a presence at Toronto Comicon. They even had a professional skydiver jump out of a plane, and held a ticketed special screening of The Last Jedi in April. Now, it’s the premiere truck.
“Count on more meetups, more efforts and ways to help online and off,” Johns continued. “We’ll keep showing up and making noise however we can. Our overall goal is the same as it ever was: We want Ben Solo’s return on the big screen.”
Last year, Daisy Ridley told IGN she’d heard “rumblings” of Adam Driver’s revelations about the movie. “I have lots of friends who are crew, so things always travel like that. But, whoa! When the story came out, no, I was like, 'Oh, my God!' And it was him that said it, right?” Ridley added that she found the fan campaign that sprung up following the news heart-warming.
“I do love when there is a collective of positivity,” she said. “The way the internet seems to have rallied to try and get it to happen. I think one), it's fantastic for us all. It's good for us to all be united about something in a really positive way. Obviously, everyone knows he was a very popular character, but it was also lovely to think, 'Wow, people really, really care and want this.' I just... I like it. I like when people join forces — excuse the pun — from all around the world, all different sorts of people. I just love that the Star Wars fandom is such a huge and gorgeous array of different points of view and different people, and the fact that everyone is really behind this thing, I think, is just sort of lovely, in a time that is so f***ing nuts for probably every single person on this Earth. I think it's wonderful. So I was surprised, and honestly, I felt joyful about how it went down.”
In the short term, Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian & Grogu movie is out imminently, then Shawn Levy's Star Wars: Starfighter releases May 2027. TV wise, Ahsoka Season 2 is in development. Ridley's Rey film, assuming it actually gets made, takes place roughly 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker as she looks to rebuild the Jedi Order.
Image credit: Brianna Johns | @bananajohns.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The Hunt For Ben Solo fan campaign is still going, and its latest stunt saw a truck circle the Mandalorian and Grogu premiere in Hollywood.
Show full content
The Hunt For Ben Solo fan campaign is still going, and its latest stunt saw a truck circle the Mandalorian and Grogu premiere in Hollywood.
The Star Wars superfans behind the campaign have spent a year now trying to convince Disney to make canceled movie The Hunt For Ben Solo a reality, putting money into various initiatives designed to keep Adam Driver’s character front of mind.
The movie would have taken place following The Rise of Skywalker and centered on Adam Driver’s character Kylo Ren and his quest for redemption. Driver told the Associated Press that The Hunt For Ben Solo was “one of the coolest f—king scripts I had ever been a part of.”
Driver played Ben Solo / Kylo Ren in each of the three films in Lucasfilm’s Sequel Trilogy, with his final appearance in 2019’s divisive The Rise of Skywalker. “I always was interested in doing another Star Wars,” Driver said. He revealed he had been in talks about another Star Wars movie since 2021, and that then Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had “reached out.”
“I always said: with a great director and a great story, I’d be there in a second,” Driver commented. “I loved that character and loved playing him."
Driver said Lucasfilm “loved the idea” and “totally understood our angle and why we were doing it.” However, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney co-chairman Alan Bergman said no. "They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that,” he said. Soderbergh told AP: “I really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”
Driver was described as feeling mystified by the decision, insisting the plan was to “be judicial about how to spend money and be economical with it, and do it for less than most but in the same spirit of what those movies are, which is handmade and character-driven.” He pointed to the much-loved Empire Strikes Back as being “the standard of what those movies were.”
The Hunt For Ben Solo sounds dead, but Brianna Johns, writer, voice actor, and self-confessed “avid” Star Wars fan, has not given up hope. Johns, alongside other members of the campaign, arranged for a mobile billboard truck to circle the world premiere of The Mandalorian and Grogu in Hollywood, CA. The truck featured large black text on both sides that said "WHERE'S BEN SOLO?" while showcasing the campaign's calling card, Ben's Missing Poster, on the back.
“This truck is our way of showing Disney we’re still here,” Johns told IGN. “We saw someone from Industrial Light & Magic posted our truck to their Instagram story and are taking that as a good sign, trusting that word of mouth spread within the event.”
The aim, Johns said, is for the fan campaign to hold one major event at least every other month “to inspire fans and engage the C-Suite.” In January, it was billboards, in March there was a presence at Toronto Comicon. They even had a professional skydiver jump out of a plane, and held a ticketed special screening of The Last Jedi in April. Now, it’s the premiere truck.
“Count on more meetups, more efforts and ways to help online and off,” Johns continued. “We’ll keep showing up and making noise however we can. Our overall goal is the same as it ever was: We want Ben Solo’s return on the big screen.”
Last year, Daisy Ridley told IGN she’d heard “rumblings” of Adam Driver’s revelations about the movie. “I have lots of friends who are crew, so things always travel like that. But, whoa! When the story came out, no, I was like, 'Oh, my God!' And it was him that said it, right?” Ridley added that she found the fan campaign that sprung up following the news heart-warming.
“I do love when there is a collective of positivity,” she said. “The way the internet seems to have rallied to try and get it to happen. I think one), it's fantastic for us all. It's good for us to all be united about something in a really positive way. Obviously, everyone knows he was a very popular character, but it was also lovely to think, 'Wow, people really, really care and want this.' I just... I like it. I like when people join forces — excuse the pun — from all around the world, all different sorts of people. I just love that the Star Wars fandom is such a huge and gorgeous array of different points of view and different people, and the fact that everyone is really behind this thing, I think, is just sort of lovely, in a time that is so f***ing nuts for probably every single person on this Earth. I think it's wonderful. So I was surprised, and honestly, I felt joyful about how it went down.”
In the short term, Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian & Grogu movie is out imminently, then Shawn Levy's Star Wars: Starfighter releases May 2027. TV wise, Ahsoka Season 2 is in development. Ridley's Rey film, assuming it actually gets made, takes place roughly 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker as she looks to rebuild the Jedi Order.
Image credit: Brianna Johns | @bananajohns.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Daemons, seasonal powers, and giants are what you can expect this spring anime season. There's a new season full of anime like the return of Dorohedoro, Rumiko Takahashi's Mao, and the highly anticipated Witch Hat Atelier. Across Crunchyroll, HIDIVE, Hulu, and Netflix, as well as others, there are a lot of places to enjoy anime at the moment.
Check out some anticipated series in the video above or the slideshow gallery below, followed by the full list of new Spring season 2026 anime and where to watch them in the U.S. and their respective streaming platforms. Anime listed are available now unless otherwise stated.
Rooster Fighter (Hulu, Disney+, Adult Swim)
One of the wildest anime of the year is here with Rooster Fighter! If you told me there's a shonen anime led by roosters and chickens, I would have trouble believing it... but then here's Rooster Fighter, which is exactly that. As the title suggests, it’s quite ridiculous and leans into the typical shonen tropes, but with a poultry twist. Even the main Rooster is voiced by Kenta Miyake, who famously plays the one and only All Might from My Hero Academia!
SANZIGEN, the studio known for the BanG Dream! series and Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers, is heading animation. If you enjoy series like Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider or JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, this will be a fun anime to check out. Rooster Fighter is available now on Hulu, Disney+, and Adult Swim.
Dandelion (Netflix)
Another fun series this spring season is Dandelion. This comedy series follows Tetsuo, an angel tasked with guiding the dead into the afterlife. Of course, he’s somewhat of a lazy bum, so chaos ensues. If this comedy series seems familiar, the series is created by Hideaki Sorachi, well known for the beloved Gintama. NAZ, the studio behind Thermae Romae Novae and Id:Invaded, is taking on animation production. If you’re already a fan of Gintama or a show like Nichijou, this anime is right up your alley. Dandelion is now available on Netflix.
Witch Hat Atelier (Crunchyroll)
The highly anticipated Witch Hat Atelier is finally here! The series follows Coco, a young girl who becomes infatuated with magic, which leads her down a path of unfortunate events. BUG FILMS, known for Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, is the studio behind the animation, and they’re really pulling out all the stops for this series. Between the movement and displays of magic, Witch Hat Atelier achieves some of the most beautiful visual sequences we’ve seen so far this year. If you want to check out one of the most talked about anime of 2026, now’s the chance to dive into this magical adventure. Witch Hat Atelier is available now on Crunchyroll.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm (Crunchyroll)
From the creator of the very popular Fullmetal Alchemist comes another highly anticipated series this season with Daemons of the Shadow Realm. The series follows Yuru, a twin brother who becomes the master of two daemons and learns that an outside world exists due to an enemy attack on their hidden village. Hiromu Arakawa’s work with Fullmetal Alchemist is arguably one of the most beloved anime ever, so new and old fans are excited to see the adaptation of this series. Bones Film, the studio behind the final season of My Hero Academia and Gachiakuta, is leading animation here. So far, the series is meeting the high expectations of its sister anime with its engaging action and intriguing mystery. It’s a definite add to any shonen fan’s watch list. Daemons of the Shadow Realm is available now on Crunchyroll.
Mao (Hulu, Disney+)
Speaking of adapting other series from well known mangaka, Mao debuts this season. From the creator of Inuyasha and Ranma ½ , we’re finally seeing the latest anime adaptation from the famous works of Rumiko Takahashi. The new anime series follows Nanoka, a young girl who mysteriously teleports to the past and meets a swordsman named Mao. It’s here that she learns of the existence of monsters and spirits – and her potential supernatural powers. Sunrise, the studio behind Gintama and Inuyasha, is working on this series, so fans of Takahashi-san should feel right at home. Mao is available now on Hulu and Disney+.
Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring (Crunchyroll)
It’s very fitting that this new series, Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring, is debuting this season. The series follows Hinagiku, who has the power to invoke the season of spring wherever she goes, and Sakura, her personal guardian. Wit Studio, well known for Attack on Titan and Spy x Family, is heading animation on this series, and we’ve already been treated to some visually stunning sequences so far this season. If you’re looking for an intriguing fantasy drama with some action this spring, this is worth a shot. Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring is available now on Crunchyroll.
The Ramparts of Ice (Netflix)
Need a break from the action and comedy series this season? The slice of life drama The Ramparts of Ice may be a good fit for you. The series follows Koyuki, a student who tends to scare people away even though she doesn’t mean to. Studio KAI, known for Sentenced to Be a Hero and Super Cub, is leading animation production on the series. In some ways, it’s reminiscent of shows like Komi Can’t Communicate, but this is a bit more serious and features some past trauma for its characters to unpack. It’s been a pleasant watch so far as Koyuki breaks out of her shell, and an easy suggestion for fans of the wholesome variety. The Ramparts of Ice is available now on Netflix.
Marriagetoxin (Crunchyroll)
Speaking of romance, this fun new comedy series is about finding love in ridiculous ways. Marriagetoxin follows Gero, an assassin who comes from a family well known for using poison. To save his sister from familial pressures, Gero puts himself out in the dating world with the help of his former assassination target. The studio behind this one, Bones Film, is keeping busy this season with Daemons of the Shadow Realm also under their care this spring. With that said, the action really shines, especially for a series that’s about an assassin with supernatural powers trying to awkwardly talk to potential romantic partners. If you’re looking for another fun series this season, Marriagetoxin is available now on Crunchyroll.
Dorohedoro Season 2 (Crunchyroll, Netflix)
The gruesome Dorohedoro finally returns this year with Season 2, and it’s been about six years since this quirky anime last graced our eyes. The series follows Caiman, a man with a lizard head who has lost his memories and is in search of the person who transformed him into the creature he is now. MAPPA, well known for Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man, returns to lead animation production for Season 2. It’s just as gory and bizarre as I remember it, showcasing some bloody action on top of the eccentric characters and world of magic. It can be a lot to take in with its world-building, but it’s a fun and vibrant mystery with the likes of MAPPA to support it. Dorohedoro Season 2 is available now on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
One Piece: Elbaph Arc (Crunchyroll, Netflix)
Finally, the short hiatus of One Piece is over and we’re back into the highly anticipated Elbaph Arc. For those not familiar, Elbaph, the nation of giants, had one of its earliest mentions back around Episode 71 of the anime. The Straw Hat gang has met giants over the course of their adventures, but the time is finally here to make landfall on the legendary island now that the anime is at about 1160 episodes! It’s not easy to keep an audience engaged this long, but One Piece keeps the ball rolling and continues to hype up its fans. It truly feels like we’re getting closer and closer to what may be the end, so let’s enjoy the ride while we can. One Piece: Elbaph Arc is available now on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
Those are some of our most anticipated new and returning anime available to watch this spring 2026 season. If you want more anime, check out our list of the Biggest Anime Coming in 2026, and also our list of the winter 2026 anime in case you missed the last batch of new series.
All the New Anime Arriving in Spring 2026
Here’s the full list of anime coming out in Spring 2026 that will be available to watch in the US:
GTA 6 pre-orders were rumored to go live today, May 18, but it looks like those reports were inaccurate.
Show full content
GTA 6 pre-orders were rumored to go live today, May 18, but it looks like those reports were inaccurate.
Last week, GTA 6 fans lost their collective mind after reports emerged that Best Buy had potentially leaked the game’s pre-order date. During a livestream, YouTuber Frogboyx1gaming appeared to receive an email from Best Buy to his affiliate account signalling a pre-order campaign for GTA 6 that would run from May 18-21. The suggestion was that GTA 6 pre-orders would go live on May 18, potentially alongside GTA 6 Trailer 3.
As you’d expect, the GTA 6 fan community, already close to breaking point waiting for some sort of announcement or reveal for the game, has gone into meltdown — and yes, there are a number of angry posts from people who had come to expect pre-orders would go live today, despite the fact there was no official announcement that Rockstar.
The upshot of all this is that the wait goes on not just for GTA 6 pre-orders to go live, but a fresh look at the game, either in trailer or screenshot form. We still don’t know how much the game will cost. All we have to go on are rather vague comments from Strauss Zelnick, boss of Rockstar parent company Take-Two, who’s talked about GTA 6 marketing kicking off this summer, and the game itself offering incredible value whenever anyone asks him how much GTA 6 will cost.
Certainly, the wait for a new GTA 6 reveal has gone on longer than anyone expected. It’s been over a year since Trailer 2 came out. Trailer 1 came out three years ago, in 2023. Meanwhile, GTA 6 itself has suffered two official delays, first to May 2026 after it was penciled in for fall 2025, then to November 2026. In a new interview, Zelnick suggested GTA 6 was internally targeting an even earlier release window — around spring 2025 — before it was announced for fall 2025.
GTA 6 is significantly behind schedule, then, but Zelnick has gone on the record to say he’s keen to give developer Rockstar everything it needs to achieve “perfection.” And there is of course pressure on the game to deliver just that and break every sales record going.
At least Zelnick sounds really, really confident that GTA 6 won't be delayed yet again and will actually come out on November 19. When he was asked how he deals with not knowing when the game will come out, given his commitment to giving the developers all the time they need, he replied, firmly: "November 19th, I do know. It’s been announced."
We're now just six months from that date.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
GTA 6 pre-orders were rumored to go live today, May 18, but it looks like those reports were inaccurate.
Show full content
GTA 6 pre-orders were rumored to go live today, May 18, but it looks like those reports were inaccurate.
Last week, GTA 6 fans lost their collective mind after reports emerged that Best Buy had potentially leaked the game’s pre-order date. During a livestream, YouTuber Frogboyx1gaming appeared to receive an email from Best Buy to his affiliate account signalling a pre-order campaign for GTA 6 that would run from May 18-21. The suggestion was that GTA 6 pre-orders would go live on May 18, potentially alongside GTA 6 Trailer 3.
As you’d expect, the GTA 6 fan community, already close to breaking point waiting for some sort of announcement or reveal for the game, has gone into meltdown — and yes, there are a number of angry posts from people who had come to expect pre-orders would go live today, despite the fact there was no official announcement that Rockstar.
The upshot of all this is that the wait goes on not just for GTA 6 pre-orders to go live, but a fresh look at the game, either in trailer or screenshot form. We still don’t know how much the game will cost. All we have to go on are rather vague comments from Strauss Zelnick, boss of Rockstar parent company Take-Two, who’s talked about GTA 6 marketing kicking off this summer, and the game itself offering incredible value whenever anyone asks him how much GTA 6 will cost.
Certainly, the wait for a new GTA 6 reveal has gone on longer than anyone expected. It’s been over a year since Trailer 2 came out. Trailer 1 came out three years ago, in 2023. Meanwhile, GTA 6 itself has suffered two official delays, first to May 2026 after it was penciled in for fall 2025, then to November 2026. In a new interview, Zelnick suggested GTA 6 was internally targeting an even earlier release window — around spring 2025 — before it was announced for fall 2025.
GTA 6 is significantly behind schedule, then, but Zelnick has gone on the record to say he’s keen to give developer Rockstar everything it needs to achieve “perfection.” And there is of course pressure on the game to deliver just that and break every sales record going.
At least Zelnick sounds really, really confident that GTA 6 won't be delayed yet again and will actually come out on November 19. When he was asked how he deals with not knowing when the game will come out, given his commitment to giving the developers all the time they need, he replied, firmly: "November 19th, I do know. It’s been announced."
We're now just six months from that date.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
GTA 6 pre-orders were rumored to go live today, May 18, but it looks like those reports were inaccurate.
Show full content
GTA 6 pre-orders were rumored to go live today, May 18, but it looks like those reports were inaccurate.
Last week, GTA 6 fans lost their collective mind after reports emerged that Best Buy had potentially leaked the game’s pre-order date. During a livestream, YouTuber Frogboyx1gaming appeared to receive an email from Best Buy to his affiliate account signalling a pre-order campaign for GTA 6 that would run from May 18-21. The suggestion was that GTA 6 pre-orders would go live on May 18, potentially alongside GTA 6 Trailer 3.
As you’d expect, the GTA 6 fan community, already close to breaking point waiting for some sort of announcement or reveal for the game, has gone into meltdown — and yes, there are a number of angry posts from people who had come to expect pre-orders would go live today, despite the fact there was no official announcement that Rockstar.
The upshot of all this is that the wait goes on not just for GTA 6 pre-orders to go live, but a fresh look at the game, either in trailer or screenshot form. We still don’t know how much the game will cost. All we have to go on are rather vague comments from Strauss Zelnick, boss of Rockstar parent company Take-Two, who’s talked about GTA 6 marketing kicking off this summer, and the game itself offering incredible value whenever anyone asks him how much GTA 6 will cost.
Certainly, the wait for a new GTA 6 reveal has gone on longer than anyone expected. It’s been over a year since Trailer 2 came out. Trailer 1 came out three years ago, in 2023. Meanwhile, GTA 6 itself has suffered two official delays, first to May 2026 after it was penciled in for fall 2025, then to November 2026. In a new interview, Zelnick suggested GTA 6 was internally targeting an even earlier release window — around spring 2025 — before it was announced for fall 2025.
GTA 6 is significantly behind schedule, then, but Zelnick has gone on the record to say he’s keen to give developer Rockstar everything it needs to achieve “perfection.” And there is of course pressure on the game to deliver just that and break every sales record going.
At least Zelnick sounds really, really confident that GTA 6 won't be delayed yet again and will actually come out on November 19. When he was asked how he deals with not knowing when the game will come out, given his commitment to giving the developers all the time they need, he replied, firmly: "November 19th, I do know. It’s been announced."
We're now just six months from that date.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
GTA 6 pre-orders were rumored to go live today, May 18, but it looks like those reports were inaccurate.
Show full content
GTA 6 pre-orders were rumored to go live today, May 18, but it looks like those reports were inaccurate.
Last week, GTA 6 fans lost their collective mind after reports emerged that Best Buy had potentially leaked the game’s pre-order date. During a livestream, YouTuber Frogboyx1gaming appeared to receive an email from Best Buy to his affiliate account signalling a pre-order campaign for GTA 6 that would run from May 18-21. The suggestion was that GTA 6 pre-orders would go live on May 18, potentially alongside GTA 6 Trailer 3.
As you’d expect, the GTA 6 fan community, already close to breaking point waiting for some sort of announcement or reveal for the game, has gone into meltdown — and yes, there are a number of angry posts from people who had come to expect pre-orders would go live today, despite the fact there was no official announcement that Rockstar.
The upshot of all this is that the wait goes on not just for GTA 6 pre-orders to go live, but a fresh look at the game, either in trailer or screenshot form. We still don’t know how much the game will cost. All we have to go on are rather vague comments from Strauss Zelnick, boss of Rockstar parent company Take-Two, who’s talked about GTA 6 marketing kicking off this summer, and the game itself offering incredible value whenever anyone asks him how much GTA 6 will cost.
Certainly, the wait for a new GTA 6 reveal has gone on longer than anyone expected. It’s been over a year since Trailer 2 came out. Trailer 1 came out three years ago, in 2023. Meanwhile, GTA 6 itself has suffered two official delays, first to May 2026 after it was penciled in for fall 2025, then to November 2026. In a new interview, Zelnick suggested GTA 6 was internally targeting an even earlier release window — around spring 2025 — before it was announced for fall 2025.
GTA 6 is significantly behind schedule, then, but Zelnick has gone on the record to say he’s keen to give developer Rockstar everything it needs to achieve “perfection.” And there is of course pressure on the game to deliver just that and break every sales record going.
At least Zelnick sounds really, really confident that GTA 6 won't be delayed yet again and will actually come out on November 19. When he was asked how he deals with not knowing when the game will come out, given his commitment to giving the developers all the time they need, he replied, firmly: "November 19th, I do know. It’s been announced."
We're now just six months from that date.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Warner Bros. Games has confirmed the LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access and full release times globally. Here's when you'll be able to play in your timezone.
Show full content
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight sees you rise as the Dark Knight and experience the essential Batman story in a bold, action-packed adventure with hard-hitting combat, an open-world Gotham City, and the signature LEGO charm that fans know and love.
It draws on everything in the world of Batman: the movies, the 1960's TV show, and of course the comics, including the LEGO Batman version of the Batsuit from Gotham by Gaslight, the beloved steampunk-themed Elsewords comic from 1989.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PC players will be able to log in from 10am PT on May 22, and console players can expect a rolling midnight launch. Those who've paid for the deluxe early access version, however, can jump in three days early.
IGN's Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight review returned an 8/10. We said: "A strong open-world Gotham and trademark Lego slapstick humour powers a fantastic plastic parody of Batman’s greatest hits."
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access release times
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for early access players:
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access release times on console:Monday, May 18, 2026:
PDT (San Francisco):
9pm
CST (Mexico City):
10pm
CDT (Chicago):
11pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
EDT (New York):
12am midnight
BST (London):
12am midnight
CEST (Paris):
12am midnight
CST (Beijing):
12am midnight
JST (Tokyo):
12am midnight
AEST (Sydney):
12am midnight
NZST (Wellington):
12am midnight
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access release times on PC:
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for early access players on PC:
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
PDT (San Francisco):
10am
CST (Mexico City):
11am
CDT (Chicago):
12pm noon
EDT (New York):
1pm
BST (London):
6pm
CEST (Paris):
7pm
Wednesday, May 20, 2026:
CST (Beijing):
1am
JST (Tokyo):
2am
AEST (Sydney):
3am
NZST (Wellington):
5am
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight full access release times on console:
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for all players on console:
Thursday, May 21, 2026
PDT (San Francisco):
9pm
CST (Mexico City):
10pm
CDT (Chicago):
11pm
Friday, May 22, 2026
EDT (New York):
12am midnight
BST (London):
12am midnight
CEST (Paris):
12am midnight
CST (Beijing):
12am midnight
JST (Tokyo):
12am midnight
AEST (Sydney):
12am midnight
NZST (Wellington):
12am midnight
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight full release times on PC:
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for all players on PC:
Friday, May 22, 2026:
PDT (San Francisco):
10am
CST (Mexico City):
11am
CDT (Chicago):
12pm noon
EDT (New York):
1pm
BST (London):
6pm
CEST (Paris):
7pm
Saturday, May 23, 2026:
CST (Beijing):
12am midnight
JST (Tokyo):
2am
AEST (Sydney):
3am
NZST (Wellington):
5am
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Warner Bros. Games has confirmed the LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access and full release times globally. Here's when you'll be able to play in your timezone.
Show full content
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight sees you rise as the Dark Knight and experience the essential Batman story in a bold, action-packed adventure with hard-hitting combat, an open-world Gotham City, and the signature LEGO charm that fans know and love.
It draws on everything in the world of Batman: the movies, the 1960's TV show, and of course the comics, including the LEGO Batman version of the Batsuit from Gotham by Gaslight, the beloved steampunk-themed Elsewords comic from 1989.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PC players will be able to log in from 10am PT on May 22, and console players can expect a rolling midnight launch. Those who've paid for the deluxe early access version, however, can jump in three days early.
IGN's Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight review returned an 8/10. We said: "A strong open-world Gotham and trademark Lego slapstick humour powers a fantastic plastic parody of Batman’s greatest hits."
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access release times
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for early access players:
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access release times on console:Monday, May 18, 2026:
PDT (San Francisco):
9pm
CST (Mexico City):
10pm
CDT (Chicago):
11pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
EDT (New York):
12am midnight
BST (London):
12am midnight
CEST (Paris):
12am midnight
CST (Beijing):
12am midnight
JST (Tokyo):
12am midnight
AEST (Sydney):
12am midnight
NZST (Wellington):
12am midnight
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access release times on PC:
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for early access players on PC:
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
PDT (San Francisco):
10am
CST (Mexico City):
11am
CDT (Chicago):
12pm noon
EDT (New York):
1pm
BST (London):
6pm
CEST (Paris):
7pm
Wednesday, May 20, 2026:
CST (Beijing):
1am
JST (Tokyo):
2am
AEST (Sydney):
3am
NZST (Wellington):
5am
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight full access release times on console:
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for all players on console:
Thursday, May 21, 2026
PDT (San Francisco):
9pm
CST (Mexico City):
10pm
CDT (Chicago):
11pm
Friday, May 22, 2026
EDT (New York):
12am midnight
BST (London):
12am midnight
CEST (Paris):
12am midnight
CST (Beijing):
12am midnight
JST (Tokyo):
12am midnight
AEST (Sydney):
12am midnight
NZST (Wellington):
12am midnight
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight full release times on PC:
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for all players on PC:
Friday, May 22, 2026:
PDT (San Francisco):
10am
CST (Mexico City):
11am
CDT (Chicago):
12pm noon
EDT (New York):
1pm
BST (London):
6pm
CEST (Paris):
7pm
Saturday, May 23, 2026:
CST (Beijing):
12am midnight
JST (Tokyo):
2am
AEST (Sydney):
3am
NZST (Wellington):
5am
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Warner Bros. Games has confirmed the LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access and full release times globally. Here's when you'll be able to play in your timezone.
Show full content
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight sees you rise as the Dark Knight and experience the essential Batman story in a bold, action-packed adventure with hard-hitting combat, an open-world Gotham City, and the signature LEGO charm that fans know and love.
It draws on everything in the world of Batman: the movies, the 1960's TV show, and of course the comics, including the LEGO Batman version of the Batsuit from Gotham by Gaslight, the beloved steampunk-themed Elsewords comic from 1989.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PC players will be able to log in from 10am PT on May 22, and console players can expect a rolling midnight launch. Those who've paid for the deluxe early access version, however, can jump in three days early.
IGN's Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight review returned an 8/10. We said: "A strong open-world Gotham and trademark Lego slapstick humour powers a fantastic plastic parody of Batman’s greatest hits."
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access release times
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for early access players:
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access release times on console:Monday, May 18, 2026:
PDT (San Francisco):
9pm
CST (Mexico City):
10pm
CDT (Chicago):
11pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
EDT (New York):
12am midnight
BST (London):
12am midnight
CEST (Paris):
12am midnight
CST (Beijing):
12am midnight
JST (Tokyo):
12am midnight
AEST (Sydney):
12am midnight
NZST (Wellington):
12am midnight
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access release times on PC:
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for early access players on PC:
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
PDT (San Francisco):
10am
CST (Mexico City):
11am
CDT (Chicago):
12pm noon
EDT (New York):
1pm
BST (London):
6pm
CEST (Paris):
7pm
Wednesday, May 20, 2026:
CST (Beijing):
1am
JST (Tokyo):
2am
AEST (Sydney):
3am
NZST (Wellington):
5am
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight full access release times on console:
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for all players on console:
Thursday, May 21, 2026
PDT (San Francisco):
9pm
CST (Mexico City):
10pm
CDT (Chicago):
11pm
Friday, May 22, 2026
EDT (New York):
12am midnight
BST (London):
12am midnight
CEST (Paris):
12am midnight
CST (Beijing):
12am midnight
JST (Tokyo):
12am midnight
AEST (Sydney):
12am midnight
NZST (Wellington):
12am midnight
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight full release times on PC:
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for all players on PC:
Friday, May 22, 2026:
PDT (San Francisco):
10am
CST (Mexico City):
11am
CDT (Chicago):
12pm noon
EDT (New York):
1pm
BST (London):
6pm
CEST (Paris):
7pm
Saturday, May 23, 2026:
CST (Beijing):
12am midnight
JST (Tokyo):
2am
AEST (Sydney):
3am
NZST (Wellington):
5am
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Warner Bros. Games has confirmed the LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access and full release times globally. Here's when you'll be able to play in your timezone.
Show full content
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight sees you rise as the Dark Knight and experience the essential Batman story in a bold, action-packed adventure with hard-hitting combat, an open-world Gotham City, and the signature LEGO charm that fans know and love.
It draws on everything in the world of Batman: the movies, the 1960's TV show, and of course the comics, including the LEGO Batman version of the Batsuit from Gotham by Gaslight, the beloved steampunk-themed Elsewords comic from 1989.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PC players will be able to log in from 10am PT on May 22, and console players can expect a rolling midnight launch. Those who've paid for the deluxe early access version, however, can jump in three days early.
IGN's Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight review returned an 8/10. We said: "A strong open-world Gotham and trademark Lego slapstick humour powers a fantastic plastic parody of Batman’s greatest hits."
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access release times
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for early access players:
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access release times on console:Monday, May 18, 2026:
PDT (San Francisco):
9pm
CST (Mexico City):
10pm
CDT (Chicago):
11pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
EDT (New York):
12am midnight
BST (London):
12am midnight
CEST (Paris):
12am midnight
CST (Beijing):
12am midnight
JST (Tokyo):
12am midnight
AEST (Sydney):
12am midnight
NZST (Wellington):
12am midnight
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight early access release times on PC:
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for early access players on PC:
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
PDT (San Francisco):
10am
CST (Mexico City):
11am
CDT (Chicago):
12pm noon
EDT (New York):
1pm
BST (London):
6pm
CEST (Paris):
7pm
Wednesday, May 20, 2026:
CST (Beijing):
1am
JST (Tokyo):
2am
AEST (Sydney):
3am
NZST (Wellington):
5am
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight full access release times on console:
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for all players on console:
Thursday, May 21, 2026
PDT (San Francisco):
9pm
CST (Mexico City):
10pm
CDT (Chicago):
11pm
Friday, May 22, 2026
EDT (New York):
12am midnight
BST (London):
12am midnight
CEST (Paris):
12am midnight
CST (Beijing):
12am midnight
JST (Tokyo):
12am midnight
AEST (Sydney):
12am midnight
NZST (Wellington):
12am midnight
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight full release times on PC:
Depending on where you are in the world, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to go live at the following times for all players on PC:
Friday, May 22, 2026:
PDT (San Francisco):
10am
CST (Mexico City):
11am
CDT (Chicago):
12pm noon
EDT (New York):
1pm
BST (London):
6pm
CEST (Paris):
7pm
Saturday, May 23, 2026:
CST (Beijing):
12am midnight
JST (Tokyo):
2am
AEST (Sydney):
3am
NZST (Wellington):
5am
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
A strong open-world Gotham and trademark slapstick humour powers a fantastic plastic parody of the Caped Crusader's greatest hits. Our review of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.
Show full content
Parody, when done correctly, can be one of the sharpest, funniest ways to show your love for something. That task comes a little bit easier, and all the more richer, when the target in your sights is a man who dresses up as a bat and demands to be taken seriously all too often. Lego series developer TT Games is no stranger to this world, having jumped into Gotham on more than one occasion in the past and delivered consistently fun pastiches of some of pop culture's most beloved characters for two decades now. In Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, it's back at the top of its game, built lovingly brick-by-brick with fun always foremost in mind, especially in an open world that eclipses its linear levels. A top-tier Lego game with playful twists on Rocksteady’s Arkham series that hit the mark more often than not, it's a strong send-up of the Caped Crusader, delivered with a kiss from a rose.
Legacy of the Dark Knight embraces its Lego building blocks more than any other game in the series to date. By that, I mean its overall structure is somewhat like if several Batman kits were thrown onto the floor and jumbled up, only to be reshaped into original creations of their own. TT Games has taken storylines from each of Bruce Wayne’s big-screen outings and crafted its own tale from those beloved scenes, just performed in plastic. For example, its first chapter slams together moments from Jack Nicholson’s Joker rebirth in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie with the Falcone-centered Iceberg Lounge infiltration of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and does so effortlessly with comedic charm.
It’s at its best when being reverential to those movies while also exercising its license to mess around with them at will, consistently throwing unexpected mash-ups onto the screen. The overarching story may not come together quite as well as I’d hope, due to it leaving it quite late to tie earlier events and characters together, but in terms of delivering an enjoyable remix of the movies, it hits the nail on the head. Instead of one epic tale, it’s better to think of each of its six chapters as its own mini comic book run, as new allies fight by Batman's side to thwart the plans of an iconic villain. For example, one string of missions may end in a much less leather-obsessed version of Batman Returns’ Penguin story, but you’ll take on the likes of Condiment King along the way. It’s these deviations from the familiar film stories that often delight the most, and I enjoyed each time I thought I knew exactly what the twist on a certain scene was going to be, only to have a curveball thrown at me laced with delightful nonsense.
Through a series of roughly 20 linear missions, you’ll fight, puzzle, and platform your way around Gotham locations in a way that will feel familiar if you’ve played any Lego games in the past. Where things are different, though, is in its combat, which takes a leaf out of Rocksteady’s Batman Arkham series by introducing its counter and dodge-based melee system, albeit soundtracked with a comic-book-esque Chudd!, Thudd!, and Krakk!. It feels slick to wield as you take on hordes of criminals and rack up combos reaching into the 100s, pressing the parry button whenever a flashing prompt appears over one of their heads. It’s a step up from the traditional Lego formula of just pressing the attack button until foes explode into their component parts, with a reasonable amount of enemy variety keeping fights relatively fresh, even if I was left desiring a little more in terms of interesting encounter design.
I would have liked to have been made to figure out how to approach combat encounters a little more.
I played on the Caped Crusader difficulty, which is a step up from the “Classic” Lego experience, but in truth, never came close to losing a fight. I also realise that a tough challenge isn’t necessarily what TT Games are trying to pose here — though there is Dark Knight difficulty if you’re looking for something approaching it. I would have liked to have been made to figure out how to approach combat encounters a little more, though, with stealth takedowns coming all too easily and brawls not evolving much beyond the early hours. Most fights consist of dealing with multiple waves of basic grunts and the odd brute or ranged sharpshooter thrown into the mix as you roll and jump around a walled arena. Each member of the seven-character-strong roster feels identical to control in basic combat, too, with everyone from Nightwing to Jim Gordon packing the same punch. I would have welcomed a little more variety in their movesets here and in how they move around Gotham, as each is equipped with their own version of wings or gliders that all feel exactly the same. That grapple and launch into a long swoop does feel really good, though, so it’s hard to feel too aggrieved.
Where they do differ, though, is in their gadgetry, with each member of the extended bat-family housing two distinct tools on their belt. I particularly enjoyed sending one of Catwoman’s feline friends to scratch the face off enemies with a quick flash of a laser pointer, as I did summoning in Batgirl’s drone to electrify and stun grouped-up goons. Each playable character also has their own skill tree to explore, including some very fun unlockable ultimate abilities that can be unleashed once you’ve filled up your focus meter by landing successive hits. A particular favourite of mine is Batman’s batarang-powered move, which can unleash a swarm of bats onto a horde, stunning and dealing damage to each of them as they get lost in the flurry of plastic wings and teeth. I’ll admit to being initially worried that the relatively thin number of playable heroes could work against Legacy of the Dark Knight, especially when we’ve become accustomed to Lego games containing rosters stretching into the hundreds, but each character does have a substantial amount of depth to sink skill points into here to make them distinct from one another.
Puzzles, and not combat, are where they show off those unique skills more than anywhere, though. Each level is a great mix of problem-solving and fighting, and although it never becomes truly brain-teasing, it does make you pause for thought every now and then. Knowing when to switch between the two characters you’re locked into playing as during a mission is half of the battle, as you work out if a pipe gushing chemicals can be stuffed up with sealant from Gordon’s handy foam cannon or a small vent can be crawled through by one of Selina Kyle’s cat companions. Of course, like pretty much every Lego game, it’s all playable in two-player local co-op (the lack of online is a frustration), with some puzzles requiring coordination and timing to complete. Many bits of tech also come packed with their own enjoyable minigames, such as Batgirl’s hacking batarangs, which trigger a short puzzle section where you need to avoid enemies in a maze made up of concentric circles. These minigames don’t really develop in complexity over time, but there’s a decent amount of different types, so you’re never doing too many of the same in a row.
My History with Lego and Batman Games
I’ve been playing Lego games ever since the first, Lego Star Wars, arrived when I was 13 back in 2005, and have always harboured a fondness for them. I instantly fell in love with the slapstick humour that each of my favourite films and characters would be lampooned with, combined with the collectathon aspects I’ve always enjoyed in games. For me, they peaked in 2013, which saw the releases of both Lego Marvel Super Heroes and Lego City Undercover (you can read all about my love for Chase McCain’s adventure here). The freedom presented in the open worlds of both of those really set them apart for me, and, now alongside Legacy of the Dark Knight, they sit at the top of the pile.
Similarly, Rocksteady’s Arkham series remains one of my favourites in all of video games. That blend of revolutionary melee combat, combined with novel approaches to emergent events and how chains of side missions can be employed in open worlds, is what makes them so special to me. Perhaps somewhat controversially, Arkham Knight is actually my favourite of the bunch. I love the Batman story it tells, and still would consider it one of the most interesting cities I’ve explored in a game, in no small part thanks to its emergent nature (hello, Man-Bat.) Not even a handful of tedious tank missions can detract from that. Like a lot of us, I’ve been waiting for another like it, and I did review Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for IGN, which, sadly, didn’t live up to the quality of its predecessors at all. Let’s hope we get to return to Rocksteady’s Gotham again one day.
After a stop-start prologue tutorial riffs on Batman Begins’ League of Shadows training in a way that takes far too long to get through the basics, it settles into a good rhythm and then really hits the heights late on. A highlight is a late riff on The Dark Knight’s high-speed truck chase, which dynamically switches up the action between vehicle and foot. It carries a sense of momentum that many of the missions prior to it lack, and I would have liked to see more like this when it came to mission design, because when it really sings, like in this sequence, it all comes together wonderfully.
But the critical path has never been what I've enjoyed most when it comes to Lego games. Instead, finding those offshoots and exploring the open world on the hunt for collectibles is really where Legacy of the Dark Knight comes alive. There’s no shortage of things to find in Gotham either – while this version of the crime-ravaged city isn’t the largest, it’s packed full of opportunity. From hundreds of skill token-containing chests and villain-themed trophies to smash in each region to more involved Riddler and Cluemaster conundrums to solve, it feels like there’s something to do on every lofty rooftop and dingy alleyway.
Then there are more involved chains of side-missions to complete, too, which often lead to encounters with Batman villains not involved in the main story. For example, I had a great time following The Case of Waylon Jones, which tasked me with role-playing as The World’s Greatest Detective and analysing compounds by matching up shapes to their corresponding atoms or following trails using a UV light. Catwoman’s hunt for the Falcone fortune is also a great set of side missions, which involve several mini-heists and safecracking antics. It’s never overly complex stuff, but it always offers that welcome bit of variety and helps build out the fantasy further. Legacy of the Dark Knight loves keeping you busy without it ever feeling like busywork. After finishing its main story missions after 12 hours on the dot, I was still left with 53% of its collectibles checklist to complete, but have since achieved 100% at the 34-hour mark.
Rewards for completing these tasks are varied, too, with certain outfits, vehicles, and appearance-modifying red bricks granted depending on the mission. Those rueing the smaller roster size will find comfort in knowing there are still 100 different uniforms to unlock, ranging from comic book classics for the purists to the more maverick lime green, toxic waste-themed Batman Ninja look, if that’s what your heart desires. As well as gaining these from completing levels, you can spend your hard-earned studs at one of Bat-Mite’s many stores dotted around the city. Like a Tom Nook who’s shunned island life for the infinite cold and darkness of Gotham, he’ll offer funny, meta-tinged quips while you browse his wares. Alongside costumes, he also sells decorations to place around your Batcave, granting a level of fantasy that Bat-fans have never had before. The lair itself is a joy to take in, too, with each of your collected goodies proudly displayed in towering wardrobes or exhibition spaces customised to your own desire.
There's charm overload at every turn.
There's charm overload at every turn, with cutscenes that are often hilarious as silliness is always prioritised through slapstick physical humour and goofy dialogue. “We may not have health insurance, but boy does this make up for it”, could be heard from one enemy as I pummelled him and his friends a fresh shade of purple to add a new colour to the funhouse ball pit we were brawling in. There’s a clear love for all things Batman here, with the DC hero and the culture around him always the target of affectionate mockery. That could be riffs on popular memes, such as Michael Caine’s infamous “Batman Begin” Twitter post, or the fact that you may just be wandering around the Batcave minding your own business when the Batphone rings. Who’s on the other end of the line? Well, that would be Bane, gloriously voiced by What We Do in the Shadows’ Matt Berry, who loves nothing more than to crank call you with some wonderfully childish messages.
There’s always something to grab your ears or eyes, from the colourful wonder of the Joker’s parade from Batman ‘89 to the fiery, deathtrap obstacle course of The Flying Grayson’s circus show. But outside of grand spectacle, there are also the small details that I couldn’t stop myself from taking a closer look at, such as the fibrous texture of the heroes’ capes, the way raindrops trace down the scuffs of plastic minifig heads, or the way Batman flails his arms around like an inflatable tube man when on the back of a motorcycle. Zooming around this open-world Gotham is fantastic, too, with each of the 30 vehicles feeling distinct from one another. I particularly enjoy the heft and weight of the tank-like Tumbler from The Dark Knight — the perfect tool for smashing through the city’s destructible decorations and scooping up the stud currency that erupts from them.
Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground has confirmed the global release times for the full launch of the hotly anticipated racing game.
Show full content
Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground has confirmed the global release times for the hotly anticipated racing game.
Confirmation comes after Forza Horizon 6 suffered a significant leak on PC that led to the game being made available to pirates well before launch. Playground and parent company Microsoft have been working to plug the leak, and even issued pirates with lifetime hardware ID bans. Some had wondered if the leak would alter Forza Horizon 6’s release plans, perhaps with it being brought forward, but that is not the case.
As confirmed in a post on social media, Forza Horizon 6’s early access launch went ahead as planned on May 15, with the full launch to follow from May 18.
As a first-party Microsoft game, Forza Horizon 6 launches day one on Game Pass (PC and Ultimate) on May 19. Preload went live on May 12 across all platforms (Steam, Xbox Series X and S, and the Xbox app for PC - a PS5 version is on the way, although it's due out later this year). Meanwhile, Forza Horizon 6 is 'Verified' on Steam Deck and other devices, including the Xbox ROG Ally and Ally X.
Steam access for everyone begins at 12:01 am on May 19 with the U.S. Eastern time zone. This is a global release pattern, Playground said, so the Steam launch will be aligned to Eastern time. Full timezone details are below.
Forza Horizon 6 Xbox global release times:Monday, May 18, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
11:01 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
ET (New York):
00:01 am
BST (London):
00:01 am
CEST (Paris):
00:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
00:01 am
KST (Seoul):
00:01 am
AEST (Sydney):
00:01 am
NZST (Auckland):
00:01 am
Forza Horizon 6 PC via Steam global release times:Monday, May 18, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
11:01 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
ET (New York):
00:01 am
BST (London):
05:01 am
CEST (Paris):
06:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
01:01 pm
KST (Seoul):
01:01 pm
AEST (Sydney):
02:01 pm
NZST (Auckland):
04:01 pm
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
A strong open-world Gotham and trademark slapstick humour powers a fantastic plastic parody of the Caped Crusader's greatest hits. Our review of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.
Show full content
Parody, when done correctly, can be one of the sharpest, funniest ways to show your love for something. That task comes a little bit easier, and all the more richer, when the target in your sights is a man who dresses up as a bat and demands to be taken seriously all too often. Lego series developer TT Games is no stranger to this world, having jumped into Gotham on more than one occasion in the past and delivered consistently fun pastiches of some of pop culture's most beloved characters for two decades now. In Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, it's back at the top of its game, built lovingly brick-by-brick with fun always foremost in mind, especially in an open world that eclipses its linear levels. A top-tier Lego game with playful twists on Rocksteady’s Arkham series that hit the mark more often than not, it's a strong send-up of the Caped Crusader, delivered with a kiss from a rose.
Legacy of the Dark Knight embraces its Lego building blocks more than any other game in the series to date. By that, I mean its overall structure is somewhat like if several Batman kits were thrown onto the floor and jumbled up, only to be reshaped into original creations of their own. TT Games has taken storylines from each of Bruce Wayne’s big-screen outings and crafted its own tale from those beloved scenes, just performed in plastic. For example, its first chapter slams together moments from Jack Nicholson’s Joker rebirth in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie with the Falcone-centered Iceberg Lounge infiltration of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and does so effortlessly with comedic charm.
It’s at its best when being reverential to those movies while also exercising its license to mess around with them at will, consistently throwing unexpected mash-ups onto the screen. The overarching story may not come together quite as well as I’d hope, due to it leaving it quite late to tie earlier events and characters together, but in terms of delivering an enjoyable remix of the movies, it hits the nail on the head. Instead of one epic tale, it’s better to think of each of its six chapters as its own mini comic book run, as new allies fight by Batman's side to thwart the plans of an iconic villain. For example, one string of missions may end in a much less leather-obsessed version of Batman Returns’ Penguin story, but you’ll take on the likes of Condiment King along the way. It’s these deviations from the familiar film stories that often delight the most, and I enjoyed each time I thought I knew exactly what the twist on a certain scene was going to be, only to have a curveball thrown at me laced with delightful nonsense.
Through a series of roughly 20 linear missions, you’ll fight, puzzle, and platform your way around Gotham locations in a way that will feel familiar if you’ve played any Lego games in the past. Where things are different, though, is in its combat, which takes a leaf out of Rocksteady’s Batman Arkham series by introducing its counter and dodge-based melee system, albeit soundtracked with a comic-book-esque Chudd!, Thudd!, and Krakk!. It feels slick to wield as you take on hordes of criminals and rack up combos reaching into the 100s, pressing the parry button whenever a flashing prompt appears over one of their heads. It’s a step up from the traditional Lego formula of just pressing the attack button until foes explode into their component parts, with a reasonable amount of enemy variety keeping fights relatively fresh, even if I was left desiring a little more in terms of interesting encounter design.
I would have liked to have been made to figure out how to approach combat encounters a little more.
I played on the Caped Crusader difficulty, which is a step up from the “Classic” Lego experience, but in truth, never came close to losing a fight. I also realise that a tough challenge isn’t necessarily what TT Games are trying to pose here — though there is Dark Knight difficulty if you’re looking for something approaching it. I would have liked to have been made to figure out how to approach combat encounters a little more, though, with stealth takedowns coming all too easily and brawls not evolving much beyond the early hours. Most fights consist of dealing with multiple waves of basic grunts and the odd brute or ranged sharpshooter thrown into the mix as you roll and jump around a walled arena. Each member of the seven-character-strong roster feels identical to control in basic combat, too, with everyone from Nightwing to Jim Gordon packing the same punch. I would have welcomed a little more variety in their movesets here and in how they move around Gotham, as each is equipped with their own version of wings or gliders that all feel exactly the same. That grapple and launch into a long swoop does feel really good, though, so it’s hard to feel too aggrieved.
Where they do differ, though, is in their gadgetry, with each member of the extended bat-family housing two distinct tools on their belt. I particularly enjoyed sending one of Catwoman’s feline friends to scratch the face off enemies with a quick flash of a laser pointer, as I did summoning in Batgirl’s drone to electrify and stun grouped-up goons. Each playable character also has their own skill tree to explore, including some very fun unlockable ultimate abilities that can be unleashed once you’ve filled up your focus meter by landing successive hits. A particular favourite of mine is Batman’s batarang-powered move, which can unleash a swarm of bats onto a horde, stunning and dealing damage to each of them as they get lost in the flurry of plastic wings and teeth. I’ll admit to being initially worried that the relatively thin number of playable heroes could work against Legacy of the Dark Knight, especially when we’ve become accustomed to Lego games containing rosters stretching into the hundreds, but each character does have a substantial amount of depth to sink skill points into here to make them distinct from one another.
Puzzles, and not combat, are where they show off those unique skills more than anywhere, though. Each level is a great mix of problem-solving and fighting, and although it never becomes truly brain-teasing, it does make you pause for thought every now and then. Knowing when to switch between the two characters you’re locked into playing as during a mission is half of the battle, as you work out if a pipe gushing chemicals can be stuffed up with sealant from Gordon’s handy foam cannon or a small vent can be crawled through by one of Selina Kyle’s cat companions. Of course, like pretty much every Lego game, it’s all playable in two-player local co-op (the lack of online is a frustration), with some puzzles requiring coordination and timing to complete. Many bits of tech also come packed with their own enjoyable minigames, such as Batgirl’s hacking batarangs, which trigger a short puzzle section where you need to avoid enemies in a maze made up of concentric circles. These minigames don’t really develop in complexity over time, but there’s a decent amount of different types, so you’re never doing too many of the same in a row.
My History with Lego and Batman Games
I’ve been playing Lego games ever since the first, Lego Star Wars, arrived when I was 13 back in 2005, and have always harboured a fondness for them. I instantly fell in love with the slapstick humour that each of my favourite films and characters would be lampooned with, combined with the collectathon aspects I’ve always enjoyed in games. For me, they peaked in 2013, which saw the releases of both Lego Marvel Super Heroes and Lego City Undercover (you can read all about my love for Chase McCain’s adventure here). The freedom presented in the open worlds of both of those really set them apart for me, and, now alongside Legacy of the Dark Knight, they sit at the top of the pile.
Similarly, Rocksteady’s Arkham series remains one of my favourites in all of video games. That blend of revolutionary melee combat, combined with novel approaches to emergent events and how chains of side missions can be employed in open worlds, is what makes them so special to me. Perhaps somewhat controversially, Arkham Knight is actually my favourite of the bunch. I love the Batman story it tells, and still would consider it one of the most interesting cities I’ve explored in a game, in no small part thanks to its emergent nature (hello, Man-Bat.) Not even a handful of tedious tank missions can detract from that. Like a lot of us, I’ve been waiting for another like it, and I did review Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for IGN, which, sadly, didn’t live up to the quality of its predecessors at all. Let’s hope we get to return to Rocksteady’s Gotham again one day.
After a stop-start prologue tutorial riffs on Batman Begins’ League of Shadows training in a way that takes far too long to get through the basics, it settles into a good rhythm and then really hits the heights late on. A highlight is a late riff on The Dark Knight’s high-speed truck chase, which dynamically switches up the action between vehicle and foot. It carries a sense of momentum that many of the missions prior to it lack, and I would have liked to see more like this when it came to mission design, because when it really sings, like in this sequence, it all comes together wonderfully.
But the critical path has never been what I've enjoyed most when it comes to Lego games. Instead, finding those offshoots and exploring the open world on the hunt for collectibles is really where Legacy of the Dark Knight comes alive. There’s no shortage of things to find in Gotham either – while this version of the crime-ravaged city isn’t the largest, it’s packed full of opportunity. From hundreds of skill token-containing chests and villain-themed trophies to smash in each region to more involved Riddler and Cluemaster conundrums to solve, it feels like there’s something to do on every lofty rooftop and dingy alleyway.
Then there are more involved chains of side-missions to complete, too, which often lead to encounters with Batman villains not involved in the main story. For example, I had a great time following The Case of Waylon Jones, which tasked me with role-playing as The World’s Greatest Detective and analysing compounds by matching up shapes to their corresponding atoms or following trails using a UV light. Catwoman’s hunt for the Falcone fortune is also a great set of side missions, which involve several mini-heists and safecracking antics. It’s never overly complex stuff, but it always offers that welcome bit of variety and helps build out the fantasy further. Legacy of the Dark Knight loves keeping you busy without it ever feeling like busywork. After finishing its main story missions after 12 hours on the dot, I was still left with 53% of its collectibles checklist to complete, but have since achieved 100% at the 34-hour mark.
Rewards for completing these tasks are varied, too, with certain outfits, vehicles, and appearance-modifying red bricks granted depending on the mission. Those rueing the smaller roster size will find comfort in knowing there are still 100 different uniforms to unlock, ranging from comic book classics for the purists to the more maverick lime green, toxic waste-themed Batman Ninja look, if that’s what your heart desires. As well as gaining these from completing levels, you can spend your hard-earned studs at one of Bat-Mite’s many stores dotted around the city. Like a Tom Nook who’s shunned island life for the infinite cold and darkness of Gotham, he’ll offer funny, meta-tinged quips while you browse his wares. Alongside costumes, he also sells decorations to place around your Batcave, granting a level of fantasy that Bat-fans have never had before. The lair itself is a joy to take in, too, with each of your collected goodies proudly displayed in towering wardrobes or exhibition spaces customised to your own desire.
There's charm overload at every turn.
There's charm overload at every turn, with cutscenes that are often hilarious as silliness is always prioritised through slapstick physical humour and goofy dialogue. “We may not have health insurance, but boy does this make up for it”, could be heard from one enemy as I pummelled him and his friends a fresh shade of purple to add a new colour to the funhouse ball pit we were brawling in. There’s a clear love for all things Batman here, with the DC hero and the culture around him always the target of affectionate mockery. That could be riffs on popular memes, such as Michael Caine’s infamous “Batman Begin” Twitter post, or the fact that you may just be wandering around the Batcave minding your own business when the Batphone rings. Who’s on the other end of the line? Well, that would be Bane, gloriously voiced by What We Do in the Shadows’ Matt Berry, who loves nothing more than to crank call you with some wonderfully childish messages.
There’s always something to grab your ears or eyes, from the colourful wonder of the Joker’s parade from Batman ‘89 to the fiery, deathtrap obstacle course of The Flying Grayson’s circus show. But outside of grand spectacle, there are also the small details that I couldn’t stop myself from taking a closer look at, such as the fibrous texture of the heroes’ capes, the way raindrops trace down the scuffs of plastic minifig heads, or the way Batman flails his arms around like an inflatable tube man when on the back of a motorcycle. Zooming around this open-world Gotham is fantastic, too, with each of the 30 vehicles feeling distinct from one another. I particularly enjoy the heft and weight of the tank-like Tumbler from The Dark Knight — the perfect tool for smashing through the city’s destructible decorations and scooping up the stud currency that erupts from them.
Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground has confirmed the global release times for the full launch of the hotly anticipated racing game.
Show full content
Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground has confirmed the global release times for the hotly anticipated racing game.
Confirmation comes after Forza Horizon 6 suffered a significant leak on PC that led to the game being made available to pirates well before launch. Playground and parent company Microsoft have been working to plug the leak, and even issued pirates with lifetime hardware ID bans. Some had wondered if the leak would alter Forza Horizon 6’s release plans, perhaps with it being brought forward, but that is not the case.
As confirmed in a post on social media, Forza Horizon 6’s early access launch went ahead as planned on May 15, with the full launch to follow from May 18.
As a first-party Microsoft game, Forza Horizon 6 launches day one on Game Pass (PC and Ultimate) on May 19. Preload went live on May 12 across all platforms (Steam, Xbox Series X and S, and the Xbox app for PC - a PS5 version is on the way, although it's due out later this year). Meanwhile, Forza Horizon 6 is 'Verified' on Steam Deck and other devices, including the Xbox ROG Ally and Ally X.
Steam access for everyone begins at 12:01 am on May 19 with the U.S. Eastern time zone. This is a global release pattern, Playground said, so the Steam launch will be aligned to Eastern time. Full timezone details are below.
Forza Horizon 6 Xbox global release times:Monday, May 18, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
11:01 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
ET (New York):
00:01 am
BST (London):
00:01 am
CEST (Paris):
00:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
00:01 am
KST (Seoul):
00:01 am
AEST (Sydney):
00:01 am
NZST (Auckland):
00:01 am
Forza Horizon 6 PC via Steam global release times:Monday, May 18, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
11:01 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
ET (New York):
00:01 am
BST (London):
05:01 am
CEST (Paris):
06:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
01:01 pm
KST (Seoul):
01:01 pm
AEST (Sydney):
02:01 pm
NZST (Auckland):
04:01 pm
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground has confirmed the global release times for the full launch of the hotly anticipated racing game.
Show full content
Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground has confirmed the global release times for the hotly anticipated racing game.
Confirmation comes after Forza Horizon 6 suffered a significant leak on PC that led to the game being made available to pirates well before launch. Playground and parent company Microsoft have been working to plug the leak, and even issued pirates with lifetime hardware ID bans. Some had wondered if the leak would alter Forza Horizon 6’s release plans, perhaps with it being brought forward, but that is not the case.
As confirmed in a post on social media, Forza Horizon 6’s early access launch went ahead as planned on May 15, with the full launch to follow from May 18.
As a first-party Microsoft game, Forza Horizon 6 launches day one on Game Pass (PC and Ultimate) on May 19. Preload went live on May 12 across all platforms (Steam, Xbox Series X and S, and the Xbox app for PC - a PS5 version is on the way, although it's due out later this year). Meanwhile, Forza Horizon 6 is 'Verified' on Steam Deck and other devices, including the Xbox ROG Ally and Ally X.
Steam access for everyone begins at 12:01 am on May 19 with the U.S. Eastern time zone. This is a global release pattern, Playground said, so the Steam launch will be aligned to Eastern time. Full timezone details are below.
Forza Horizon 6 Xbox global release times:Monday, May 18, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
11:01 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
ET (New York):
00:01 am
BST (London):
00:01 am
CEST (Paris):
00:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
00:01 am
KST (Seoul):
00:01 am
AEST (Sydney):
00:01 am
NZST (Auckland):
00:01 am
Forza Horizon 6 PC via Steam global release times:Monday, May 18, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
11:01 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
ET (New York):
00:01 am
BST (London):
05:01 am
CEST (Paris):
06:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
01:01 pm
KST (Seoul):
01:01 pm
AEST (Sydney):
02:01 pm
NZST (Auckland):
04:01 pm
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
A strong open-world Gotham and trademark slapstick humour powers a fantastic plastic parody of the Caped Crusader's greatest hits. Our review of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.
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Parody, when done correctly, can be one of the sharpest, funniest ways to show your love for something. That task comes a little bit easier, and all the more richer, when the target in your sights is a man who dresses up as a bat and demands to be taken seriously all too often. Lego series developer TT Games is no stranger to this world, having jumped into Gotham on more than one occasion in the past and delivered consistently fun pastiches of some of pop culture's most beloved characters for two decades now. In Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, it's back at the top of its game, built lovingly brick-by-brick with fun always foremost in mind, especially in an open world that eclipses its linear levels. A top-tier Lego game with playful twists on Rocksteady’s Arkham series that hit the mark more often than not, it's a strong send-up of the Caped Crusader, delivered with a kiss from a rose.
Legacy of the Dark Knight embraces its Lego building blocks more than any other game in the series to date. By that, I mean its overall structure is somewhat like if several Batman kits were thrown onto the floor and jumbled up, only to be reshaped into original creations of their own. TT Games has taken storylines from each of Bruce Wayne’s big-screen outings and crafted its own tale from those beloved scenes, just performed in plastic. For example, its first chapter slams together moments from Jack Nicholson’s Joker rebirth in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie with the Falcone-centered Iceberg Lounge infiltration of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and does so effortlessly with comedic charm.
It’s at its best when being reverential to those movies while also exercising its license to mess around with them at will, consistently throwing unexpected mash-ups onto the screen. The overarching story may not come together quite as well as I’d hope, due to it leaving it quite late to tie earlier events and characters together, but in terms of delivering an enjoyable remix of the movies, it hits the nail on the head. Instead of one epic tale, it’s better to think of each of its six chapters as its own mini comic book run, as new allies fight by Batman's side to thwart the plans of an iconic villain. For example, one string of missions may end in a much less leather-obsessed version of Batman Returns’ Penguin story, but you’ll take on the likes of Condiment King along the way. It’s these deviations from the familiar film stories that often delight the most, and I enjoyed each time I thought I knew exactly what the twist on a certain scene was going to be, only to have a curveball thrown at me laced with delightful nonsense.
Through a series of roughly 20 linear missions, you’ll fight, puzzle, and platform your way around Gotham locations in a way that will feel familiar if you’ve played any Lego games in the past. Where things are different, though, is in its combat, which takes a leaf out of Rocksteady’s Batman Arkham series by introducing its counter and dodge-based melee system, albeit soundtracked with a comic-book-esque Chudd!, Thudd!, and Krakk!. It feels slick to wield as you take on hordes of criminals and rack up combos reaching into the 100s, pressing the parry button whenever a flashing prompt appears over one of their heads. It’s a step up from the traditional Lego formula of just pressing the attack button until foes explode into their component parts, with a reasonable amount of enemy variety keeping fights relatively fresh, even if I was left desiring a little more in terms of interesting encounter design.
I would have liked to have been made to figure out how to approach combat encounters a little more.
I played on the Caped Crusader difficulty, which is a step up from the “Classic” Lego experience, but in truth, never came close to losing a fight. I also realise that a tough challenge isn’t necessarily what TT Games are trying to pose here — though there is Dark Knight difficulty if you’re looking for something approaching it. I would have liked to have been made to figure out how to approach combat encounters a little more, though, with stealth takedowns coming all too easily and brawls not evolving much beyond the early hours. Most fights consist of dealing with multiple waves of basic grunts and the odd brute or ranged sharpshooter thrown into the mix as you roll and jump around a walled arena. Each member of the seven-character-strong roster feels identical to control in basic combat, too, with everyone from Nightwing to Jim Gordon packing the same punch. I would have welcomed a little more variety in their movesets here and in how they move around Gotham, as each is equipped with their own version of wings or gliders that all feel exactly the same. That grapple and launch into a long swoop does feel really good, though, so it’s hard to feel too aggrieved.
Where they do differ, though, is in their gadgetry, with each member of the extended bat-family housing two distinct tools on their belt. I particularly enjoyed sending one of Catwoman’s feline friends to scratch the face off enemies with a quick flash of a laser pointer, as I did summoning in Batgirl’s drone to electrify and stun grouped-up goons. Each playable character also has their own skill tree to explore, including some very fun unlockable ultimate abilities that can be unleashed once you’ve filled up your focus meter by landing successive hits. A particular favourite of mine is Batman’s batarang-powered move, which can unleash a swarm of bats onto a horde, stunning and dealing damage to each of them as they get lost in the flurry of plastic wings and teeth. I’ll admit to being initially worried that the relatively thin number of playable heroes could work against Legacy of the Dark Knight, especially when we’ve become accustomed to Lego games containing rosters stretching into the hundreds, but each character does have a substantial amount of depth to sink skill points into here to make them distinct from one another.
Puzzles, and not combat, are where they show off those unique skills more than anywhere, though. Each level is a great mix of problem-solving and fighting, and although it never becomes truly brain-teasing, it does make you pause for thought every now and then. Knowing when to switch between the two characters you’re locked into playing as during a mission is half of the battle, as you work out if a pipe gushing chemicals can be stuffed up with sealant from Gordon’s handy foam cannon or a small vent can be crawled through by one of Selina Kyle’s cat companions. Of course, like pretty much every Lego game, it’s all playable in two-player local co-op (the lack of online is a frustration), with some puzzles requiring coordination and timing to complete. Many bits of tech also come packed with their own enjoyable minigames, such as Batgirl’s hacking batarangs, which trigger a short puzzle section where you need to avoid enemies in a maze made up of concentric circles. These minigames don’t really develop in complexity over time, but there’s a decent amount of different types, so you’re never doing too many of the same in a row.
My History with Lego and Batman Games
I’ve been playing Lego games ever since the first, Lego Star Wars, arrived when I was 13 back in 2005, and have always harboured a fondness for them. I instantly fell in love with the slapstick humour that each of my favourite films and characters would be lampooned with, combined with the collectathon aspects I’ve always enjoyed in games. For me, they peaked in 2013, which saw the releases of both Lego Marvel Super Heroes and Lego City Undercover (you can read all about my love for Chase McCain’s adventure here). The freedom presented in the open worlds of both of those really set them apart for me, and, now alongside Legacy of the Dark Knight, they sit at the top of the pile.
Similarly, Rocksteady’s Arkham series remains one of my favourites in all of video games. That blend of revolutionary melee combat, combined with novel approaches to emergent events and how chains of side missions can be employed in open worlds, is what makes them so special to me. Perhaps somewhat controversially, Arkham Knight is actually my favourite of the bunch. I love the Batman story it tells, and still would consider it one of the most interesting cities I’ve explored in a game, in no small part thanks to its emergent nature (hello, Man-Bat.) Not even a handful of tedious tank missions can detract from that. Like a lot of us, I’ve been waiting for another like it, and I did review Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for IGN, which, sadly, didn’t live up to the quality of its predecessors at all. Let’s hope we get to return to Rocksteady’s Gotham again one day.
After a stop-start prologue tutorial riffs on Batman Begins’ League of Shadows training in a way that takes far too long to get through the basics, it settles into a good rhythm and then really hits the heights late on. A highlight is a late riff on The Dark Knight’s high-speed truck chase, which dynamically switches up the action between vehicle and foot. It carries a sense of momentum that many of the missions prior to it lack, and I would have liked to see more like this when it came to mission design, because when it really sings, like in this sequence, it all comes together wonderfully.
But the critical path has never been what I've enjoyed most when it comes to Lego games. Instead, finding those offshoots and exploring the open world on the hunt for collectibles is really where Legacy of the Dark Knight comes alive. There’s no shortage of things to find in Gotham either – while this version of the crime-ravaged city isn’t the largest, it’s packed full of opportunity. From hundreds of skill token-containing chests and villain-themed trophies to smash in each region to more involved Riddler and Cluemaster conundrums to solve, it feels like there’s something to do on every lofty rooftop and dingy alleyway.
Then there are more involved chains of side-missions to complete, too, which often lead to encounters with Batman villains not involved in the main story. For example, I had a great time following The Case of Waylon Jones, which tasked me with role-playing as The World’s Greatest Detective and analysing compounds by matching up shapes to their corresponding atoms or following trails using a UV light. Catwoman’s hunt for the Falcone fortune is also a great set of side missions, which involve several mini-heists and safecracking antics. It’s never overly complex stuff, but it always offers that welcome bit of variety and helps build out the fantasy further. Legacy of the Dark Knight loves keeping you busy without it ever feeling like busywork. After finishing its main story missions after 12 hours on the dot, I was still left with 53% of its collectibles checklist to complete, but have since achieved 100% at the 34-hour mark.
Rewards for completing these tasks are varied, too, with certain outfits, vehicles, and appearance-modifying red bricks granted depending on the mission. Those rueing the smaller roster size will find comfort in knowing there are still 100 different uniforms to unlock, ranging from comic book classics for the purists to the more maverick lime green, toxic waste-themed Batman Ninja look, if that’s what your heart desires. As well as gaining these from completing levels, you can spend your hard-earned studs at one of Bat-Mite’s many stores dotted around the city. Like a Tom Nook who’s shunned island life for the infinite cold and darkness of Gotham, he’ll offer funny, meta-tinged quips while you browse his wares. Alongside costumes, he also sells decorations to place around your Batcave, granting a level of fantasy that Bat-fans have never had before. The lair itself is a joy to take in, too, with each of your collected goodies proudly displayed in towering wardrobes or exhibition spaces customised to your own desire.
There's charm overload at every turn.
There's charm overload at every turn, with cutscenes that are often hilarious as silliness is always prioritised through slapstick physical humour and goofy dialogue. “We may not have health insurance, but boy does this make up for it”, could be heard from one enemy as I pummelled him and his friends a fresh shade of purple to add a new colour to the funhouse ball pit we were brawling in. There’s a clear love for all things Batman here, with the DC hero and the culture around him always the target of affectionate mockery. That could be riffs on popular memes, such as Michael Caine’s infamous “Batman Begin” Twitter post, or the fact that you may just be wandering around the Batcave minding your own business when the Batphone rings. Who’s on the other end of the line? Well, that would be Bane, gloriously voiced by What We Do in the Shadows’ Matt Berry, who loves nothing more than to crank call you with some wonderfully childish messages.
There’s always something to grab your ears or eyes, from the colourful wonder of the Joker’s parade from Batman ‘89 to the fiery, deathtrap obstacle course of The Flying Grayson’s circus show. But outside of grand spectacle, there are also the small details that I couldn’t stop myself from taking a closer look at, such as the fibrous texture of the heroes’ capes, the way raindrops trace down the scuffs of plastic minifig heads, or the way Batman flails his arms around like an inflatable tube man when on the back of a motorcycle. Zooming around this open-world Gotham is fantastic, too, with each of the 30 vehicles feeling distinct from one another. I particularly enjoy the heft and weight of the tank-like Tumbler from The Dark Knight — the perfect tool for smashing through the city’s destructible decorations and scooping up the stud currency that erupts from them.
Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground has confirmed the global release times for the full launch of the hotly anticipated racing game.
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Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground has confirmed the global release times for the hotly anticipated racing game.
Confirmation comes after Forza Horizon 6 suffered a significant leak on PC that led to the game being made available to pirates well before launch. Playground and parent company Microsoft have been working to plug the leak, and even issued pirates with lifetime hardware ID bans. Some had wondered if the leak would alter Forza Horizon 6’s release plans, perhaps with it being brought forward, but that is not the case.
As confirmed in a post on social media, Forza Horizon 6’s early access launch went ahead as planned on May 15, with the full launch to follow from May 18.
As a first-party Microsoft game, Forza Horizon 6 launches day one on Game Pass (PC and Ultimate) on May 19. Preload went live on May 12 across all platforms (Steam, Xbox Series X and S, and the Xbox app for PC - a PS5 version is on the way, although it's due out later this year). Meanwhile, Forza Horizon 6 is 'Verified' on Steam Deck and other devices, including the Xbox ROG Ally and Ally X.
Steam access for everyone begins at 12:01 am on May 19 with the U.S. Eastern time zone. This is a global release pattern, Playground said, so the Steam launch will be aligned to Eastern time. Full timezone details are below.
Forza Horizon 6 Xbox global release times:Monday, May 18, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
11:01 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
ET (New York):
00:01 am
BST (London):
00:01 am
CEST (Paris):
00:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
00:01 am
KST (Seoul):
00:01 am
AEST (Sydney):
00:01 am
NZST (Auckland):
00:01 am
Forza Horizon 6 PC via Steam global release times:Monday, May 18, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
11:01 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
ET (New York):
00:01 am
BST (London):
05:01 am
CEST (Paris):
06:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
01:01 pm
KST (Seoul):
01:01 pm
AEST (Sydney):
02:01 pm
NZST (Auckland):
04:01 pm
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Fresh from its huge early access launch, underwater survival and crafting adventure game Subnautica 2 has sparked a significant debate among fans: to kill or not to kill the fish.
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Fresh from its huge early access launch, underwater survival and crafting adventure game Subnautica 2 has sparked a significant debate among fans: to kill or not to kill the fish.
Currently, you can’t kill any fish in Subnautica 2, and there is no weaponry to do so, and some players don’t like that at all. While you can sort of deter fish to go away by using a flare, you can’t actively kill fish while out in the deep — despite the fact they can not only pursue you, but damage you.
It’s worth noting that you can kill small fish in a roundabout way, but gathering them up as a resource and turning them into all sorts of useful things back at your base. But there’s no direct killing of any fish while out and about, making everything you encounter on the alien planet effectively immortal. Because of this, you’ll just bounce off fish if you crash into them. Indeed, this is not how it works in Subnautica 1, which does let players kill fish.
Unknown Worlds’ philosophy for the sequel is different. The developers have spoken in the past about not wanting players to conquer or dominate the environment, and that it wouldn’t feature tools that would let them slay anything that gets in their way. "We aren't a killing game," level designer Artyom "Artie" O'Rielly said in the Subnautica Discord. "Go play Sons of the Forest or something if you want to kill."
Still, with Subnautica 2 now out in the wild, the discourse around killing fish has resurfaced, and so the developers are once again chiming in. Environmental artist “uly” has had plenty to say on the topic, insisting that “the conversation around the ways fish die isn’t over.” The developers are talking about it a lot internally, uly said, and hope to provide an update soon.
“Trust me it is a HOT topic,” uly said. “There are so many opinions. Personally, I am hoping we can eventually let the little fish die. I’m team no-kill-shark-sized-stuff tho.”
“When you bump into a predator you shouldn't be going ‘uuuuuugh what a pain,’ you should be going, ‘Ah man... what tools do I have up my sleeve to deal with this guy?’”
“You do get a tool that will deter them, but it doesn’t deter them enough right now,” uly continued. “You prob wont be able to kill the shark sized stuff and larger, but you’ll get tools to deter them. Killing little fish? I’m not in charge of that stuff, but it’s an active discussion in the team.”
As mentioned, flares are an option for deterring fish, but they’re far from ideal. “I think that they take up valuable inventory space,” uly suggested, which “means most players aren't lugging them around. Inventory space is at too much of a premium.”
Clearly, Unknown Worlds is working out how to handle this issue, but don’t expect meaningful change any time soon. Uly said any change to allow players to kill fish would require “a good bit of investment” on the development side, citing game balance, mechanics, animation, sound, and AI considerations.
“We've had this conversation a TON internally,” uly said. “Regardless of where we land, we know that players don't have enough ways to deal with hostile wildlife.”
I’ve been keeping on top of the Subnautica 2 community while playing the game, and every now and then you see players ask for help on how to kill fish, unaware it’s simply not possible. For example, one person posted on the Subnautica reddit to complain about getting bit by fish, pointing out the Survival Multitool doesn’t hurt them back and asking if there is a weapon available further down the line.
“You can't kill fish, it's not in their vision,” one person replied. “I think it’s a good thing,” another added. “It’ll open up the devs to add more progression elements to deter or distract or pacify fish. Knifing them is probably the least interesting solution from a gameplay perspective.”
A change for killing fish is not on the Subnautica 2 early access roadmap, which was revealed last week. Unknown Worlds said it’s working towards a “big drop” that will expand the world with biomes, creatures, resources, tools, vehicles, and the next chapter of the story. But in the meantime, improvements will be added to the game. The first update will include quality-of-life fixes that Unknown Worlds said “should help adjust and address some areas that need a little tweaking to make your Subnautica 2 experience even better.” The second update, meanwhile, will focus on improving the co-op experience.
Unknown Worlds stressed that the roadmap is subject to change, but there’s plenty here that should excite fans — and there are a lot of them. Subnautica 2 sold an incredible 2 million copies in just 12 hours, and obliterated the first game’s Steam concurrent player peak. IGN’s Subnautica 2 early access review returned a 7/10. We said: “It’s pretty impressive that wading in the shallow tides of Subnautica 2's early access debut is as fun as it is already, and that should be a great sign of things to come, but I also wouldn’t blame anyone for waiting for these waters to rise a bit before getting their feet wet.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Fresh from its huge early access launch, underwater survival and crafting adventure game Subnautica 2 has sparked a significant debate among fans: to kill or not to kill the fish.
Show full content
Fresh from its huge early access launch, underwater survival and crafting adventure game Subnautica 2 has sparked a significant debate among fans: to kill or not to kill the fish.
Currently, you can’t kill any fish in Subnautica 2, and there is no weaponry to do so, and some players don’t like that at all. While you can sort of deter fish to go away by using a flare, you can’t actively kill fish while out in the deep — despite the fact they can not only pursue you, but damage you.
It’s worth noting that you can kill small fish in a roundabout way, but gathering them up as a resource and turning them into all sorts of useful things back at your base. But there’s no direct killing of any fish while out and about, making everything you encounter on the alien planet effectively immortal. Because of this, you’ll just bounce off fish if you crash into them. Indeed, this is not how it works in Subnautica 1, which does let players kill fish.
Unknown Worlds’ philosophy for the sequel is different. The developers have spoken in the past about not wanting players to conquer or dominate the environment, and that it wouldn’t feature tools that would let them slay anything that gets in their way. "We aren't a killing game," level designer Artyom "Artie" O'Rielly said in the Subnautica Discord. "Go play Sons of the Forest or something if you want to kill."
Still, with Subnautica 2 now out in the wild, the discourse around killing fish has resurfaced, and so the developers are once again chiming in. Environmental artist “uly” has had plenty to say on the topic, insisting that “the conversation around the ways fish die isn’t over.” The developers are talking about it a lot internally, uly said, and hope to provide an update soon.
“Trust me it is a HOT topic,” uly said. “There are so many opinions. Personally, I am hoping we can eventually let the little fish die. I’m team no-kill-shark-sized-stuff tho.”
“When you bump into a predator you shouldn't be going ‘uuuuuugh what a pain,’ you should be going, ‘Ah man... what tools do I have up my sleeve to deal with this guy?’”
“You do get a tool that will deter them, but it doesn’t deter them enough right now,” uly continued. “You prob wont be able to kill the shark sized stuff and larger, but you’ll get tools to deter them. Killing little fish? I’m not in charge of that stuff, but it’s an active discussion in the team.”
As mentioned, flares are an option for deterring fish, but they’re far from ideal. “I think that they take up valuable inventory space,” uly suggested, which “means most players aren't lugging them around. Inventory space is at too much of a premium.”
Clearly, Unknown Worlds is working out how to handle this issue, but don’t expect meaningful change any time soon. Uly said any change to allow players to kill fish would require “a good bit of investment” on the development side, citing game balance, mechanics, animation, sound, and AI considerations.
“We've had this conversation a TON internally,” uly said. “Regardless of where we land, we know that players don't have enough ways to deal with hostile wildlife.”
I’ve been keeping on top of the Subnautica 2 community while playing the game, and every now and then you see players ask for help on how to kill fish, unaware it’s simply not possible. For example, one person posted on the Subnautica reddit to complain about getting bit by fish, pointing out the Survival Multitool doesn’t hurt them back and asking if there is a weapon available further down the line.
“You can't kill fish, it's not in their vision,” one person replied. “I think it’s a good thing,” another added. “It’ll open up the devs to add more progression elements to deter or distract or pacify fish. Knifing them is probably the least interesting solution from a gameplay perspective.”
A change for killing fish is not on the Subnautica 2 early access roadmap, which was revealed last week. Unknown Worlds said it’s working towards a “big drop” that will expand the world with biomes, creatures, resources, tools, vehicles, and the next chapter of the story. But in the meantime, improvements will be added to the game. The first update will include quality-of-life fixes that Unknown Worlds said “should help adjust and address some areas that need a little tweaking to make your Subnautica 2 experience even better.” The second update, meanwhile, will focus on improving the co-op experience.
Unknown Worlds stressed that the roadmap is subject to change, but there’s plenty here that should excite fans — and there are a lot of them. Subnautica 2 sold an incredible 2 million copies in just 12 hours, and obliterated the first game’s Steam concurrent player peak. IGN’s Subnautica 2 early access review returned a 7/10. We said: “It’s pretty impressive that wading in the shallow tides of Subnautica 2's early access debut is as fun as it is already, and that should be a great sign of things to come, but I also wouldn’t blame anyone for waiting for these waters to rise a bit before getting their feet wet.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Fresh from its huge early access launch, underwater survival and crafting adventure game Subnautica 2 has sparked a significant debate among fans: to kill or not to kill the fish.
Show full content
Fresh from its huge early access launch, underwater survival and crafting adventure game Subnautica 2 has sparked a significant debate among fans: to kill or not to kill the fish.
Currently, you can’t kill any fish in Subnautica 2, and there is no weaponry to do so, and some players don’t like that at all. While you can sort of deter fish to go away by using a flare, you can’t actively kill fish while out in the deep — despite the fact they can not only pursue you, but damage you.
It’s worth noting that you can kill small fish in a roundabout way, but gathering them up as a resource and turning them into all sorts of useful things back at your base. But there’s no direct killing of any fish while out and about, making everything you encounter on the alien planet effectively immortal. Because of this, you’ll just bounce off fish if you crash into them. Indeed, this is not how it works in Subnautica 1, which does let players kill fish.
Unknown Worlds’ philosophy for the sequel is different. The developers have spoken in the past about not wanting players to conquer or dominate the environment, and that it wouldn’t feature tools that would let them slay anything that gets in their way. "We aren't a killing game," level designer Artyom "Artie" O'Rielly said in the Subnautica Discord. "Go play Sons of the Forest or something if you want to kill."
Still, with Subnautica 2 now out in the wild, the discourse around killing fish has resurfaced, and so the developers are once again chiming in. Environmental artist “uly” has had plenty to say on the topic, insisting that “the conversation around the ways fish die isn’t over.” The developers are talking about it a lot internally, uly said, and hope to provide an update soon.
“Trust me it is a HOT topic,” uly said. “There are so many opinions. Personally, I am hoping we can eventually let the little fish die. I’m team no-kill-shark-sized-stuff tho.”
“When you bump into a predator you shouldn't be going ‘uuuuuugh what a pain,’ you should be going, ‘Ah man... what tools do I have up my sleeve to deal with this guy?’”
“You do get a tool that will deter them, but it doesn’t deter them enough right now,” uly continued. “You prob wont be able to kill the shark sized stuff and larger, but you’ll get tools to deter them. Killing little fish? I’m not in charge of that stuff, but it’s an active discussion in the team.”
As mentioned, flares are an option for deterring fish, but they’re far from ideal. “I think that they take up valuable inventory space,” uly suggested, which “means most players aren't lugging them around. Inventory space is at too much of a premium.”
Clearly, Unknown Worlds is working out how to handle this issue, but don’t expect meaningful change any time soon. Uly said any change to allow players to kill fish would require “a good bit of investment” on the development side, citing game balance, mechanics, animation, sound, and AI considerations.
“We've had this conversation a TON internally,” uly said. “Regardless of where we land, we know that players don't have enough ways to deal with hostile wildlife.”
I’ve been keeping on top of the Subnautica 2 community while playing the game, and every now and then you see players ask for help on how to kill fish, unaware it’s simply not possible. For example, one person posted on the Subnautica reddit to complain about getting bit by fish, pointing out the Survival Multitool doesn’t hurt them back and asking if there is a weapon available further down the line.
“You can't kill fish, it's not in their vision,” one person replied. “I think it’s a good thing,” another added. “It’ll open up the devs to add more progression elements to deter or distract or pacify fish. Knifing them is probably the least interesting solution from a gameplay perspective.”
A change for killing fish is not on the Subnautica 2 early access roadmap, which was revealed last week. Unknown Worlds said it’s working towards a “big drop” that will expand the world with biomes, creatures, resources, tools, vehicles, and the next chapter of the story. But in the meantime, improvements will be added to the game. The first update will include quality-of-life fixes that Unknown Worlds said “should help adjust and address some areas that need a little tweaking to make your Subnautica 2 experience even better.” The second update, meanwhile, will focus on improving the co-op experience.
Unknown Worlds stressed that the roadmap is subject to change, but there’s plenty here that should excite fans — and there are a lot of them. Subnautica 2 sold an incredible 2 million copies in just 12 hours, and obliterated the first game’s Steam concurrent player peak. IGN’s Subnautica 2 early access review returned a 7/10. We said: “It’s pretty impressive that wading in the shallow tides of Subnautica 2's early access debut is as fun as it is already, and that should be a great sign of things to come, but I also wouldn’t blame anyone for waiting for these waters to rise a bit before getting their feet wet.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Borderlands’ well-documented 11th hour art style change cost Take-Two an extra $50 million in development costs and delayed the game by a year, but without it the now successful franchise would have flopped straight out the gate.
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Borderlands’ well-documented 11th hour art style change cost Take-Two an extra $50 million in development costs and delayed the game by a year, but without it the now successful franchise would have flopped straight out the gate.
That’s according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, who in a sweeping interview with David Senra about his career said his approval of the last minute switch and associated extra cost was “a non-obvious decision” that no-one else would have made, but his trust in the developers was rewarded with a new hit franchise.
“We had not turned around the company yet, and we had very limited capital,” Zelnick began, speaking of Take-Two as it was after he had taken over the company in 2007. At the time, Borderlands was due out in 2008 with a realistic art style, but then Zelnick was asked to approve a significant change with the game basically done that would see it rebuilt with a cel-shaded, cartooney art style.
“We were developing a game and it was about to be released two months later, which is to say it's done. And we'd spent a lot of money,” Zelnick continued. “And the head of the division came into my office and said, ‘Look, we just don't think this is good enough and we think we screwed up and the art style is not appropriate and it's not differentiated. So, we want to remake the game.’ I was like, ‘What does that mean?’ He said, ‘It means $50 million of incremental dev costs [which was a lot of money to us], and another year.’ It was on a release schedule, which we’d announced. And I dug in. I mean, I don't give knee-jerk answers. I dug in and did my homework. In the end of it, I supported the decision. And that title became Borderlands. Had we not done that, Borderlands wouldn't have been a hit. And that was a non-obvious decision. And I can pretty much assure you no one else in the business would have done it.”
Why wouldn’t anyone else have made the same call? “Because it was insane,” Zelnick explained. “They would have said the game is done. Put out the game. Move on to the next thing. I'm not spending 50 million bucks to remake the goddamn thing in another art style. And I have no evidence that one will work either.”
Zelnick said he had to trust the intuition of the developers at Gearbox. “That's the story,” he added. “Be the most creative, be the most innovative, be the most efficient. I hired the most creative people. I said, ‘You have to pursue your passions. We will support you.’ They came and said, ‘This is our assessment. This is our passion. Are you going to support us?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’”
The rest, as they say, is history. The looter shooter franchise has now sold over 100 million units, with Borderlands 3 publishing label 2K’s fastest selling title, and Borderlands 2K’s top selling title with over 30 million sold.
While it worked out in the end, the art style switch caused a great deal of stress to a number of people. In an interview with Game Informer, Borderlands 4 creative director Graeme Timmins, who was the lead level designer on the original Borderlands, thought the idea was “f***ing insane."
"We had already been working on the game for several years at that point, and not only did we change the art style, we basically threw out all of the levels — I think only Trash Coast and, like, one other level made it through — everything else, we remade basically from scratch," he said. "From January to, like, August or September of that year, all of the level designers — at the time, level design, mission design, and level art were all just under 'level design' under me — we rebuilt the whole game to match the new art style from that time. It was an incredibly intense time, and we were like, 'What the hell are we doing?'"
In 2019, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford told IGN that while he believed it was the right move, the switch to a non-realistic aesthetic put a cap on the Borderlands franchise’s success. "I knew it was putting a ceiling on us because there's — especially back then — there's just a huge percentage of the gaming audience that does not want a cartoon," he said.
With Borderlands 4 out the door and continuing to get updates, it’s unclear what’s next for the franchise. Borderlands 5 seems like an obvious next step, but Zelnick has admitted sales haven’t met expectations.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Borderlands’ well-documented 11th hour art style change cost Take-Two an extra $50 million in development costs and delayed the game by a year, but without it the now successful franchise would have flopped straight out the gate.
Show full content
Borderlands’ well-documented 11th hour art style change cost Take-Two an extra $50 million in development costs and delayed the game by a year, but without it the now successful franchise would have flopped straight out the gate.
That’s according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, who in a sweeping interview with David Senra about his career said his approval of the last minute switch and associated extra cost was “a non-obvious decision” that no-one else would have made, but his trust in the developers was rewarded with a new hit franchise.
“We had not turned around the company yet, and we had very limited capital,” Zelnick began, speaking of Take-Two as it was after he had taken over the company in 2007. At the time, Borderlands was due out in 2008 with a realistic art style, but then Zelnick was asked to approve a significant change with the game basically done that would see it rebuilt with a cel-shaded, cartooney art style.
“We were developing a game and it was about to be released two months later, which is to say it's done. And we'd spent a lot of money,” Zelnick continued. “And the head of the division came into my office and said, ‘Look, we just don't think this is good enough and we think we screwed up and the art style is not appropriate and it's not differentiated. So, we want to remake the game.’ I was like, ‘What does that mean?’ He said, ‘It means $50 million of incremental dev costs [which was a lot of money to us], and another year.’ It was on a release schedule, which we’d announced. And I dug in. I mean, I don't give knee-jerk answers. I dug in and did my homework. In the end of it, I supported the decision. And that title became Borderlands. Had we not done that, Borderlands wouldn't have been a hit. And that was a non-obvious decision. And I can pretty much assure you no one else in the business would have done it.”
Why wouldn’t anyone else have made the same call? “Because it was insane,” Zelnick explained. “They would have said the game is done. Put out the game. Move on to the next thing. I'm not spending 50 million bucks to remake the goddamn thing in another art style. And I have no evidence that one will work either.”
Zelnick said he had to trust the intuition of the developers at Gearbox. “That's the story,” he added. “Be the most creative, be the most innovative, be the most efficient. I hired the most creative people. I said, ‘You have to pursue your passions. We will support you.’ They came and said, ‘This is our assessment. This is our passion. Are you going to support us?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’”
The rest, as they say, is history. The looter shooter franchise has now sold over 100 million units, with Borderlands 3 publishing label 2K’s fastest selling title, and Borderlands 2K’s top selling title with over 30 million sold.
While it worked out in the end, the art style switch caused a great deal of stress to a number of people. In an interview with Game Informer, Borderlands 4 creative director Graeme Timmins, who was the lead level designer on the original Borderlands, thought the idea was “f***ing insane."
"We had already been working on the game for several years at that point, and not only did we change the art style, we basically threw out all of the levels — I think only Trash Coast and, like, one other level made it through — everything else, we remade basically from scratch," he said. "From January to, like, August or September of that year, all of the level designers — at the time, level design, mission design, and level art were all just under 'level design' under me — we rebuilt the whole game to match the new art style from that time. It was an incredibly intense time, and we were like, 'What the hell are we doing?'"
In 2019, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford told IGN that while he believed it was the right move, the switch to a non-realistic aesthetic put a cap on the Borderlands franchise’s success. "I knew it was putting a ceiling on us because there's — especially back then — there's just a huge percentage of the gaming audience that does not want a cartoon," he said.
With Borderlands 4 out the door and continuing to get updates, it’s unclear what’s next for the franchise. Borderlands 5 seems like an obvious next step, but Zelnick has admitted sales haven’t met expectations.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Borderlands’ well-documented 11th hour art style change cost Take-Two an extra $50 million in development costs and delayed the game by a year, but without it the now successful franchise would have flopped straight out the gate.
Show full content
Borderlands’ well-documented 11th hour art style change cost Take-Two an extra $50 million in development costs and delayed the game by a year, but without it the now successful franchise would have flopped straight out the gate.
That’s according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, who in a sweeping interview with David Senra about his career said his approval of the last minute switch and associated extra cost was “a non-obvious decision” that no-one else would have made, but his trust in the developers was rewarded with a new hit franchise.
“We had not turned around the company yet, and we had very limited capital,” Zelnick began, speaking of Take-Two as it was after he had taken over the company in 2007. At the time, Borderlands was due out in 2008 with a realistic art style, but then Zelnick was asked to approve a significant change with the game basically done that would see it rebuilt with a cel-shaded, cartooney art style.
“We were developing a game and it was about to be released two months later, which is to say it's done. And we'd spent a lot of money,” Zelnick continued. “And the head of the division came into my office and said, ‘Look, we just don't think this is good enough and we think we screwed up and the art style is not appropriate and it's not differentiated. So, we want to remake the game.’ I was like, ‘What does that mean?’ He said, ‘It means $50 million of incremental dev costs [which was a lot of money to us], and another year.’ It was on a release schedule, which we’d announced. And I dug in. I mean, I don't give knee-jerk answers. I dug in and did my homework. In the end of it, I supported the decision. And that title became Borderlands. Had we not done that, Borderlands wouldn't have been a hit. And that was a non-obvious decision. And I can pretty much assure you no one else in the business would have done it.”
Why wouldn’t anyone else have made the same call? “Because it was insane,” Zelnick explained. “They would have said the game is done. Put out the game. Move on to the next thing. I'm not spending 50 million bucks to remake the goddamn thing in another art style. And I have no evidence that one will work either.”
Zelnick said he had to trust the intuition of the developers at Gearbox. “That's the story,” he added. “Be the most creative, be the most innovative, be the most efficient. I hired the most creative people. I said, ‘You have to pursue your passions. We will support you.’ They came and said, ‘This is our assessment. This is our passion. Are you going to support us?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’”
The rest, as they say, is history. The looter shooter franchise has now sold over 100 million units, with Borderlands 3 publishing label 2K’s fastest selling title, and Borderlands 2K’s top selling title with over 30 million sold.
While it worked out in the end, the art style switch caused a great deal of stress to a number of people. In an interview with Game Informer, Borderlands 4 creative director Graeme Timmins, who was the lead level designer on the original Borderlands, thought the idea was “f***ing insane."
"We had already been working on the game for several years at that point, and not only did we change the art style, we basically threw out all of the levels — I think only Trash Coast and, like, one other level made it through — everything else, we remade basically from scratch," he said. "From January to, like, August or September of that year, all of the level designers — at the time, level design, mission design, and level art were all just under 'level design' under me — we rebuilt the whole game to match the new art style from that time. It was an incredibly intense time, and we were like, 'What the hell are we doing?'"
In 2019, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford told IGN that while he believed it was the right move, the switch to a non-realistic aesthetic put a cap on the Borderlands franchise’s success. "I knew it was putting a ceiling on us because there's — especially back then — there's just a huge percentage of the gaming audience that does not want a cartoon," he said.
With Borderlands 4 out the door and continuing to get updates, it’s unclear what’s next for the franchise. Borderlands 5 seems like an obvious next step, but Zelnick has admitted sales haven’t met expectations.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Borderlands’ well-documented 11th hour art style change cost Take-Two an extra $50 million in development costs and delayed the game by a year, but without it the now successful franchise would have flopped straight out the gate.
Show full content
Borderlands’ well-documented 11th hour art style change cost Take-Two an extra $50 million in development costs and delayed the game by a year, but without it the now successful franchise would have flopped straight out the gate.
That’s according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, who in a sweeping interview with David Senra about his career said his approval of the last minute switch and associated extra cost was “a non-obvious decision” that no-one else would have made, but his trust in the developers was rewarded with a new hit franchise.
“We had not turned around the company yet, and we had very limited capital,” Zelnick began, speaking of Take-Two as it was after he had taken over the company in 2007. At the time, Borderlands was due out in 2008 with a realistic art style, but then Zelnick was asked to approve a significant change with the game basically done that would see it rebuilt with a cel-shaded, cartooney art style.
“We were developing a game and it was about to be released two months later, which is to say it's done. And we'd spent a lot of money,” Zelnick continued. “And the head of the division came into my office and said, ‘Look, we just don't think this is good enough and we think we screwed up and the art style is not appropriate and it's not differentiated. So, we want to remake the game.’ I was like, ‘What does that mean?’ He said, ‘It means $50 million of incremental dev costs [which was a lot of money to us], and another year.’ It was on a release schedule, which we’d announced. And I dug in. I mean, I don't give knee-jerk answers. I dug in and did my homework. In the end of it, I supported the decision. And that title became Borderlands. Had we not done that, Borderlands wouldn't have been a hit. And that was a non-obvious decision. And I can pretty much assure you no one else in the business would have done it.”
Why wouldn’t anyone else have made the same call? “Because it was insane,” Zelnick explained. “They would have said the game is done. Put out the game. Move on to the next thing. I'm not spending 50 million bucks to remake the goddamn thing in another art style. And I have no evidence that one will work either.”
Zelnick said he had to trust the intuition of the developers at Gearbox. “That's the story,” he added. “Be the most creative, be the most innovative, be the most efficient. I hired the most creative people. I said, ‘You have to pursue your passions. We will support you.’ They came and said, ‘This is our assessment. This is our passion. Are you going to support us?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’”
The rest, as they say, is history. The looter shooter franchise has now sold over 100 million units, with Borderlands 3 publishing label 2K’s fastest selling title, and Borderlands 2K’s top selling title with over 30 million sold.
While it worked out in the end, the art style switch caused a great deal of stress to a number of people. In an interview with Game Informer, Borderlands 4 creative director Graeme Timmins, who was the lead level designer on the original Borderlands, thought the idea was “f***ing insane."
"We had already been working on the game for several years at that point, and not only did we change the art style, we basically threw out all of the levels — I think only Trash Coast and, like, one other level made it through — everything else, we remade basically from scratch," he said. "From January to, like, August or September of that year, all of the level designers — at the time, level design, mission design, and level art were all just under 'level design' under me — we rebuilt the whole game to match the new art style from that time. It was an incredibly intense time, and we were like, 'What the hell are we doing?'"
In 2019, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford told IGN that while he believed it was the right move, the switch to a non-realistic aesthetic put a cap on the Borderlands franchise’s success. "I knew it was putting a ceiling on us because there's — especially back then — there's just a huge percentage of the gaming audience that does not want a cartoon," he said.
With Borderlands 4 out the door and continuing to get updates, it’s unclear what’s next for the franchise. Borderlands 5 seems like an obvious next step, but Zelnick has admitted sales haven’t met expectations.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Terraria developer Re-Logic has confirmed that updates will continue "beyond" the 1.4.6 update and the upcoming crossplay patch, and will share "other plans and ideas [...] when the time is right."
Show full content
Terraria developer Re-Logic has confirmed that updates will continue "beyond" the 1.4.6 update and the upcoming crossplay patch, and will share "other plans and ideas [...] when the time is right."
Addressing fans on its 15th anniversary in an update on Steam, the studio reflected on the staggering milestone of 70 million sales, 39.6 million of which were sold on PC, 10.7 million on console, and 19.7 million on mobile. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an average daily player count of around half a million players, and a peak of 1.4 million.
As part of the celebrations, Terraria is getting a 15th anniversary collector's edition — what, exactly, it includes remains a mystery — and Terraria Design Works, a book that takes a retrospective look at the life of Terraria, developed in collaboration with Lost in Cult.
"From the hardcore players with thousands of hours to those just discovering our 'metroidvania in a sandbox' today... from the builders to the speedrunners... from those that we interact with regularly in our community to those that just enjoy the game in silence... from those that are regular Terraria enjoyers to those that like to shake things up with all sorts of mods on tModloader... each and every one of you are precious to us," developer Re-Logic said.
"We hope that our game has brought you some joy over the years. Terraria is a unique experience one that we like to think that we have shaped together alongside the fans into the awesomeness that it is today. This is as much your journey as it is ours!"
Terraria has announced its "final" update a number of times, so many in fact that it's become something of a running joke within the community. 1.4.5 was once thought of as being the final update, but then came confirmation of 1.4.6, and now we know even more updates are planned for that.
"They just can't let the game end, and I'm grateful for that," joked one fan. "There's always more fun stuff they can add to this game." Another wrote: "Best $2.50 I ever spent was on Terraria when Steam sales still had deep discounts, I have hundreds of hours on it as well as many fond memories playing it with loved ones. Congrats to them."
Terraria 1.4.5 — dubbed the Bigger and Boulder Update — finally dropped in January, welcoming in thousands of new and returning players alike. Up until the new update, Terraria averaged around 20-30,000 players at any one time, with the occasional spike in interest when new content dropped over the years. 1.4.5, however, prompted one of the biggest spikes in over a decade, hitting a release day peak of almost 165,000 players on Valve's platform.
IGN reviewed Terraria 15 years ago (!), when it was released way back in 2011. Even then, though, we thought it was amazing, scoring it 9/10 and writing: "Though on the surface it looks like just another 'me too' indie game seeking to ride the coattails of Minecraft's success, Terraria expands on the familiar sandbox gameplay with a greater emphasis on combat and adventure that proves very satisfying. That's rare indeed."
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Terraria developer Re-Logic has confirmed that updates will continue "beyond" the 1.4.6 update and the upcoming crossplay patch, and will share "other plans and ideas [...] when the time is right."
Show full content
Terraria developer Re-Logic has confirmed that updates will continue "beyond" the 1.4.6 update and the upcoming crossplay patch, and will share "other plans and ideas [...] when the time is right."
Addressing fans on its 15th anniversary in an update on Steam, the studio reflected on the staggering milestone of 70 million sales, 39.6 million of which were sold on PC, 10.7 million on console, and 19.7 million on mobile. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an average daily player count of around half a million players, and a peak of 1.4 million.
As part of the celebrations, Terraria is getting a 15th anniversary collector's edition — what, exactly, it includes remains a mystery — and Terraria Design Works, a book that takes a retrospective look at the life of Terraria, developed in collaboration with Lost in Cult.
"From the hardcore players with thousands of hours to those just discovering our 'metroidvania in a sandbox' today... from the builders to the speedrunners... from those that we interact with regularly in our community to those that just enjoy the game in silence... from those that are regular Terraria enjoyers to those that like to shake things up with all sorts of mods on tModloader... each and every one of you are precious to us," developer Re-Logic said.
"We hope that our game has brought you some joy over the years. Terraria is a unique experience one that we like to think that we have shaped together alongside the fans into the awesomeness that it is today. This is as much your journey as it is ours!"
Terraria has announced its "final" update a number of times, so many in fact that it's become something of a running joke within the community. 1.4.5 was once thought of as being the final update, but then came confirmation of 1.4.6, and now we know even more updates are planned for that.
"They just can't let the game end, and I'm grateful for that," joked one fan. "There's always more fun stuff they can add to this game." Another wrote: "Best $2.50 I ever spent was on Terraria when Steam sales still had deep discounts, I have hundreds of hours on it as well as many fond memories playing it with loved ones. Congrats to them."
Terraria 1.4.5 — dubbed the Bigger and Boulder Update — finally dropped in January, welcoming in thousands of new and returning players alike. Up until the new update, Terraria averaged around 20-30,000 players at any one time, with the occasional spike in interest when new content dropped over the years. 1.4.5, however, prompted one of the biggest spikes in over a decade, hitting a release day peak of almost 165,000 players on Valve's platform.
IGN reviewed Terraria 15 years ago (!), when it was released way back in 2011. Even then, though, we thought it was amazing, scoring it 9/10 and writing: "Though on the surface it looks like just another 'me too' indie game seeking to ride the coattails of Minecraft's success, Terraria expands on the familiar sandbox gameplay with a greater emphasis on combat and adventure that proves very satisfying. That's rare indeed."
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Terraria developer Re-Logic has confirmed that updates will continue "beyond" the 1.4.6 update and the upcoming crossplay patch, and will share "other plans and ideas [...] when the time is right."
Show full content
Terraria developer Re-Logic has confirmed that updates will continue "beyond" the 1.4.6 update and the upcoming crossplay patch, and will share "other plans and ideas [...] when the time is right."
Addressing fans on its 15th anniversary in an update on Steam, the studio reflected on the staggering milestone of 70 million sales, 39.6 million of which were sold on PC, 10.7 million on console, and 19.7 million on mobile. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an average daily player count of around half a million players, and a peak of 1.4 million.
As part of the celebrations, Terraria is getting a 15th anniversary collector's edition — what, exactly, it includes remains a mystery — and Terraria Design Works, a book that takes a retrospective look at the life of Terraria, developed in collaboration with Lost in Cult.
"From the hardcore players with thousands of hours to those just discovering our 'metroidvania in a sandbox' today... from the builders to the speedrunners... from those that we interact with regularly in our community to those that just enjoy the game in silence... from those that are regular Terraria enjoyers to those that like to shake things up with all sorts of mods on tModloader... each and every one of you are precious to us," developer Re-Logic said.
"We hope that our game has brought you some joy over the years. Terraria is a unique experience one that we like to think that we have shaped together alongside the fans into the awesomeness that it is today. This is as much your journey as it is ours!"
Terraria has announced its "final" update a number of times, so many in fact that it's become something of a running joke within the community. 1.4.5 was once thought of as being the final update, but then came confirmation of 1.4.6, and now we know even more updates are planned for that.
"They just can't let the game end, and I'm grateful for that," joked one fan. "There's always more fun stuff they can add to this game." Another wrote: "Best $2.50 I ever spent was on Terraria when Steam sales still had deep discounts, I have hundreds of hours on it as well as many fond memories playing it with loved ones. Congrats to them."
Terraria 1.4.5 — dubbed the Bigger and Boulder Update — finally dropped in January, welcoming in thousands of new and returning players alike. Up until the new update, Terraria averaged around 20-30,000 players at any one time, with the occasional spike in interest when new content dropped over the years. 1.4.5, however, prompted one of the biggest spikes in over a decade, hitting a release day peak of almost 165,000 players on Valve's platform.
IGN reviewed Terraria 15 years ago (!), when it was released way back in 2011. Even then, though, we thought it was amazing, scoring it 9/10 and writing: "Though on the surface it looks like just another 'me too' indie game seeking to ride the coattails of Minecraft's success, Terraria expands on the familiar sandbox gameplay with a greater emphasis on combat and adventure that proves very satisfying. That's rare indeed."
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Terraria developer Re-Logic has confirmed that updates will continue "beyond" the 1.4.6 update and the upcoming crossplay patch, and will share "other plans and ideas [...] when the time is right."
Show full content
Terraria developer Re-Logic has confirmed that updates will continue "beyond" the 1.4.6 update and the upcoming crossplay patch, and will share "other plans and ideas [...] when the time is right."
Addressing fans on its 15th anniversary in an update on Steam, the studio reflected on the staggering milestone of 70 million sales, 39.6 million of which were sold on PC, 10.7 million on console, and 19.7 million on mobile. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an average daily player count of around half a million players, and a peak of 1.4 million.
As part of the celebrations, Terraria is getting a 15th anniversary collector's edition — what, exactly, it includes remains a mystery — and Terraria Design Works, a book that takes a retrospective look at the life of Terraria, developed in collaboration with Lost in Cult.
"From the hardcore players with thousands of hours to those just discovering our 'metroidvania in a sandbox' today... from the builders to the speedrunners... from those that we interact with regularly in our community to those that just enjoy the game in silence... from those that are regular Terraria enjoyers to those that like to shake things up with all sorts of mods on tModloader... each and every one of you are precious to us," developer Re-Logic said.
"We hope that our game has brought you some joy over the years. Terraria is a unique experience one that we like to think that we have shaped together alongside the fans into the awesomeness that it is today. This is as much your journey as it is ours!"
Terraria has announced its "final" update a number of times, so many in fact that it's become something of a running joke within the community. 1.4.5 was once thought of as being the final update, but then came confirmation of 1.4.6, and now we know even more updates are planned for that.
"They just can't let the game end, and I'm grateful for that," joked one fan. "There's always more fun stuff they can add to this game." Another wrote: "Best $2.50 I ever spent was on Terraria when Steam sales still had deep discounts, I have hundreds of hours on it as well as many fond memories playing it with loved ones. Congrats to them."
Terraria 1.4.5 — dubbed the Bigger and Boulder Update — finally dropped in January, welcoming in thousands of new and returning players alike. Up until the new update, Terraria averaged around 20-30,000 players at any one time, with the occasional spike in interest when new content dropped over the years. 1.4.5, however, prompted one of the biggest spikes in over a decade, hitting a release day peak of almost 165,000 players on Valve's platform.
IGN reviewed Terraria 15 years ago (!), when it was released way back in 2011. Even then, though, we thought it was amazing, scoring it 9/10 and writing: "Though on the surface it looks like just another 'me too' indie game seeking to ride the coattails of Minecraft's success, Terraria expands on the familiar sandbox gameplay with a greater emphasis on combat and adventure that proves very satisfying. That's rare indeed."
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has said GTA 6 is about 18 months behind its original release date, suggesting spring 2025 was once the internal target.
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GTA 6 is due out November 19, 2026, but as we all know it’s suffered a number of delays. It was officially announced for a fall 2025 release, but was then delayed to May 2026, and then, again officially, to this November. But in a new interview, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick suggested GTA 6 was internally targeting an even earlier release window — around spring 2025 — before it was announced for fall 2025.
Speaking to David Senra in a new video interview about his career, Zelnick said GTA 6 was “about 18 months behind the original date… not much more than that.” That suggests the original plan, even if it wasn’t announced publicly, was to have GTA 6 out spring 2025.
Assuming that’s correct, GTA 6 is significantly behind schedule, but Zelnick has gone on the record to say he’s keen to give developer Rockstar Games everything it needs to achieve “perfection.” And there is of course pressure on the game to deliver just that and break every sales record going.
Given the expectation that GTA 6 will be the biggest entertainment launch of all time, it comes as no surprise to hear of astronomical development costs for Rockstar’s game. And it has been in the works for some time; according to Business Insider, some of the thousands of staff at Rockstar have been working on GTA 6 for over a decade now. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Zelnick said development costs have risen over the years, but Take-Two tries to give its teams “unlimited financial, creative human resources and then they aim to deliver perfection.”
Zelnick has said GTA 6 marketing will kick into gear in the summer, ahead of the planned November release date. Fans are anxiously awaiting the release of Trailer 3, as well as the launch of preorders, and there are all sorts of theories doing the rounds that will no doubt turn out to be nonsense. Such is the intense scrutiny GTA 6 is under, that even the innocuous becomes the big online talking point.
Zelnick, though, sounds pretty confident. In the interview with Senra, he said that “most people believe” GTA is the most valuable entertainment IP ever created, and while he wouldn’t say how much money the series has made over time, he did say, with a smile, “it’s a lot.” GTA 6 will surely be no different.
And Zelnick sounds really, really confident that GTA 6 won't be delayed yet again and will actually come out on November 19. When asked how he deals with not knowing when the game will come out, given his commitment to giving the developers all the time they need, Zelnick replied, firmly: "November 19th, I do know. It’s been announced."
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has said GTA 6 is about 18 months behind its original release date, suggesting spring 2025 was once the internal target.
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GTA 6 is due out November 19, 2026, but as we all know it’s suffered a number of delays. It was officially announced for a fall 2025 release, but was then delayed to May 2026, and then, again officially, to this November. But in a new interview, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick suggested GTA 6 was internally targeting an even earlier release window — around spring 2025 — before it was announced for fall 2025.
Speaking to David Senra in a new video interview about his career, Zelnick said GTA 6 was “about 18 months behind the original date… not much more than that.” That suggests the original plan, even if it wasn’t announced publicly, was to have GTA 6 out spring 2025.
Assuming that’s correct, GTA 6 is significantly behind schedule, but Zelnick has gone on the record to say he’s keen to give developer Rockstar Games everything it needs to achieve “perfection.” And there is of course pressure on the game to deliver just that and break every sales record going.
Given the expectation that GTA 6 will be the biggest entertainment launch of all time, it comes as no surprise to hear of astronomical development costs for Rockstar’s game. And it has been in the works for some time; according to Business Insider, some of the thousands of staff at Rockstar have been working on GTA 6 for over a decade now. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Zelnick said development costs have risen over the years, but Take-Two tries to give its teams “unlimited financial, creative human resources and then they aim to deliver perfection.”
Zelnick has said GTA 6 marketing will kick into gear in the summer, ahead of the planned November release date. Fans are anxiously awaiting the release of Trailer 3, as well as the launch of preorders, and there are all sorts of theories doing the rounds that will no doubt turn out to be nonsense. Such is the intense scrutiny GTA 6 is under, that even the innocuous becomes the big online talking point.
Zelnick, though, sounds pretty confident. In the interview with Senra, he said that “most people believe” GTA is the most valuable entertainment IP ever created, and while he wouldn’t say how much money the series has made over time, he did say, with a smile, “it’s a lot.” GTA 6 will surely be no different.
And Zelnick sounds really, really confident that GTA 6 won't be delayed yet again and will actually come out on November 19. When asked how he deals with not knowing when the game will come out, given his commitment to giving the developers all the time they need, Zelnick replied, firmly: "November 19th, I do know. It’s been announced."
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has said GTA 6 is about 18 months behind its original release date, suggesting spring 2025 was once the internal target.
Show full content
GTA 6 is due out November 19, 2026, but as we all know it’s suffered a number of delays. It was officially announced for a fall 2025 release, but was then delayed to May 2026, and then, again officially, to this November. But in a new interview, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick suggested GTA 6 was internally targeting an even earlier release window — around spring 2025 — before it was announced for fall 2025.
Speaking to David Senra in a new video interview about his career, Zelnick said GTA 6 was “about 18 months behind the original date… not much more than that.” That suggests the original plan, even if it wasn’t announced publicly, was to have GTA 6 out spring 2025.
Assuming that’s correct, GTA 6 is significantly behind schedule, but Zelnick has gone on the record to say he’s keen to give developer Rockstar Games everything it needs to achieve “perfection.” And there is of course pressure on the game to deliver just that and break every sales record going.
Given the expectation that GTA 6 will be the biggest entertainment launch of all time, it comes as no surprise to hear of astronomical development costs for Rockstar’s game. And it has been in the works for some time; according to Business Insider, some of the thousands of staff at Rockstar have been working on GTA 6 for over a decade now. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Zelnick said development costs have risen over the years, but Take-Two tries to give its teams “unlimited financial, creative human resources and then they aim to deliver perfection.”
Zelnick has said GTA 6 marketing will kick into gear in the summer, ahead of the planned November release date. Fans are anxiously awaiting the release of Trailer 3, as well as the launch of preorders, and there are all sorts of theories doing the rounds that will no doubt turn out to be nonsense. Such is the intense scrutiny GTA 6 is under, that even the innocuous becomes the big online talking point.
Zelnick, though, sounds pretty confident. In the interview with Senra, he said that “most people believe” GTA is the most valuable entertainment IP ever created, and while he wouldn’t say how much money the series has made over time, he did say, with a smile, “it’s a lot.” GTA 6 will surely be no different.
And Zelnick sounds really, really confident that GTA 6 won't be delayed yet again and will actually come out on November 19. When asked how he deals with not knowing when the game will come out, given his commitment to giving the developers all the time they need, Zelnick replied, firmly: "November 19th, I do know. It’s been announced."
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has said GTA 6 is about 18 months behind its original release date, suggesting spring 2025 was once the internal target.
Show full content
GTA 6 is due out November 19, 2026, but as we all know it’s suffered a number of delays. It was officially announced for a fall 2025 release, but was then delayed to May 2026, and then, again officially, to this November. But in a new interview, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick suggested GTA 6 was internally targeting an even earlier release window — around spring 2025 — before it was announced for fall 2025.
Speaking to David Senra in a new video interview about his career, Zelnick said GTA 6 was “about 18 months behind the original date… not much more than that.” That suggests the original plan, even if it wasn’t announced publicly, was to have GTA 6 out spring 2025.
Assuming that’s correct, GTA 6 is significantly behind schedule, but Zelnick has gone on the record to say he’s keen to give developer Rockstar Games everything it needs to achieve “perfection.” And there is of course pressure on the game to deliver just that and break every sales record going.
Given the expectation that GTA 6 will be the biggest entertainment launch of all time, it comes as no surprise to hear of astronomical development costs for Rockstar’s game. And it has been in the works for some time; according to Business Insider, some of the thousands of staff at Rockstar have been working on GTA 6 for over a decade now. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Zelnick said development costs have risen over the years, but Take-Two tries to give its teams “unlimited financial, creative human resources and then they aim to deliver perfection.”
Zelnick has said GTA 6 marketing will kick into gear in the summer, ahead of the planned November release date. Fans are anxiously awaiting the release of Trailer 3, as well as the launch of preorders, and there are all sorts of theories doing the rounds that will no doubt turn out to be nonsense. Such is the intense scrutiny GTA 6 is under, that even the innocuous becomes the big online talking point.
Zelnick, though, sounds pretty confident. In the interview with Senra, he said that “most people believe” GTA is the most valuable entertainment IP ever created, and while he wouldn’t say how much money the series has made over time, he did say, with a smile, “it’s a lot.” GTA 6 will surely be no different.
And Zelnick sounds really, really confident that GTA 6 won't be delayed yet again and will actually come out on November 19. When asked how he deals with not knowing when the game will come out, given his commitment to giving the developers all the time they need, Zelnick replied, firmly: "November 19th, I do know. It’s been announced."
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The horror game adaptation grossed over $50 million at cinemas earlier this year.
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Iron Lung, the debut feature film from successful YouTuber Mark Fischbach, will be available to watch on YouTube from May 31, reports Deadline. Fischbach, who is known to his YouTube viewers as Markiplier, revealed the film’s home viewing premiere date during a panel discussion at Cannes.
It was confirmed the release will be exclusive to YouTube, with Fischbach referring to the service as his home.
“I’m pretty loyal to it,” he said.
Iron Lung, which was written, directed, and edited by Fischbach (who also self-financed and starred in the film), was released in cinemas in January this year. Based on the 2022 video game by developer David Szymanski (Dusk, Gloomwood), Iron Lung is the story of a convict who is sealed inside a submarine and forced to navigate his way through an ocean of blood on a desolate moon. The mission comes in the wake of an unexplained phenomenon that has seen all stars and planets in the universe disappear, leaving the only humans remaining those who were aboard space stations or spacecraft at the time.
While the critical response to Iron Lung was mixed, the film was a commercial success, grossing more than $50 million on a budget of $3 million. IGN’s review noted that while it was clear Fischbach “really loves Iron Lung… his sluggish movie adaption of the game feels interminable rather than serving as a compelling interpretation of this world.”
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
The horror game adaptation grossed over $50 million at cinemas earlier this year.
Show full content
Iron Lung, the debut feature film from successful YouTuber Mark Fischbach, will be available to watch on YouTube from May 31, reports Deadline. Fischbach, who is known to his YouTube viewers as Markiplier, revealed the film’s home viewing premiere date during a panel discussion at Cannes.
It was confirmed the release will be exclusive to YouTube, with Fischbach referring to the service as his home.
“I’m pretty loyal to it,” he said.
Iron Lung, which was written, directed, and edited by Fischbach (who also self-financed and starred in the film), was released in cinemas in January this year. Based on the 2022 video game by developer David Szymanski (Dusk, Gloomwood), Iron Lung is the story of a convict who is sealed inside a submarine and forced to navigate his way through an ocean of blood on a desolate moon. The mission comes in the wake of an unexplained phenomenon that has seen all stars and planets in the universe disappear, leaving the only humans remaining those who were aboard space stations or spacecraft at the time.
While the critical response to Iron Lung was mixed, the film was a commercial success, grossing more than $50 million on a budget of $3 million. IGN’s review noted that while it was clear Fischbach “really loves Iron Lung… his sluggish movie adaption of the game feels interminable rather than serving as a compelling interpretation of this world.”
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
As part of its 30th anniversary celebrations, IGN Entertainment has launched a new audience survey designed to uncover what makes its global community distinct from the wider entertainment market.
The initiative builds on the recently completed “Generations in Play Audience Insights Study,” conducted in partnership with UC Berkeley and Kantar, which surveyed 6,250 entertainment consumers across North America, Australia and the UK.
Focusing on Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z audiences who grew up alongside IGN, the study explored how modern consumers discover, engage with, and place trust in entertainment content across gaming, film, TV and digital media.
Now, IGN is turning the spotlight inward. The company is inviting its own audience to participate in a dedicated follow-up survey that aims to compare IGN users directly against the broader market sample.
30 years. Millions of fans. One community made it all possible - and we want to hear your story. Take our survey via the link below and help us understand what being part of IGN really means to you:https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8729238/bf5e869eccdc
The story of the Corleone family is turning to the next page, as The Godfather is now set to continue with a new book called Connie that is set to release in 2027.
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The story of the Corleone family is turning to the next page, as The Godfather is now set to continue with a new book called Connie that is set to release in 2027.
Publishing company Random House told the Associated Press earlier this week that it had officially acquired a Godfather novel written by best-selling author Adriana Trigiani. The novel has been authorized by the estate of original book series author Mario Puzo and will follow a story from the perspective of Don Vito Corleone's only daughter.
"Connie is a novel about how a woman works to forge her own way in a world that's already decided who she is, what she's about, and how she should be treated," Trigiani said in a statement. "People underestimated Don Vito Corleone and Michael Corleone at their peril. The same will be true for Connie Corleone."
The Godfather is no doubt most widely known as the film trilogy that director Francis Ford Coppola started in the '70s. Although the movies still stand as some of the most quotable films in the history of cinema decades after their release, the Corleone family's roots actually date back to Puzo's 1969 crime novel, also called The Godfather.
He went on to continue the tale with a sequel titled The Sicilian in 1984, and although a series of additional books – including The Godfather Returns, The Godfather's Revenge, and The Family Corleone – were published all the way up to 2012, Connie will be only the third to receive approval from Puzo's estate.
Trigiani will pick up the reins as the first estate-approved installment written by a woman. It's unclear how it will expand on the story of Connie Corleone, who was played by Coppola's sister, Talia Shire, in the movies.
"We had been looking for someone to retell the story from a new perspective," Puzo's son, Anthony Puzo said in a statement. "Adriana was knocked out when I told her that the character of Vito Corleone (played in the films by Brando and De Niro) was actually based on my grandmother. We talked about how the women ran both of our families, but behind the scenes. Adriana's vision for Connie's life blew us all away. I'm very pleased and excited to have her on board."
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
The story of the Corleone family is turning to the next page, as The Godfather is now set to continue with a new book called Connie that is set to release in 2027.
Show full content
The story of the Corleone family is turning to the next page, as The Godfather is now set to continue with a new book called Connie that is set to release in 2027.
Publishing company Random House told the Associated Press earlier this week that it had officially acquired a Godfather novel written by best-selling author Adriana Trigiani. The novel has been authorized by the estate of original book series author Mario Puzo and will follow a story from the perspective of Don Vito Corleone's only daughter.
"Connie is a novel about how a woman works to forge her own way in a world that's already decided who she is, what she's about, and how she should be treated," Trigiani said in a statement. "People underestimated Don Vito Corleone and Michael Corleone at their peril. The same will be true for Connie Corleone."
The Godfather is no doubt most widely known as the film trilogy that director Francis Ford Coppola started in the '70s. Although the movies still stand as some of the most quotable films in the history of cinema decades after their release, the Corleone family's roots actually date back to Puzo's 1969 crime novel, also called The Godfather.
He went on to continue the tale with a sequel titled The Sicilian in 1984, and although a series of additional books – including The Godfather Returns, The Godfather's Revenge, and The Family Corleone – were published all the way up to 2012, Connie will be only the third to receive approval from Puzo's estate.
Trigiani will pick up the reins as the first estate-approved installment written by a woman. It's unclear how it will expand on the story of Connie Corleone, who was played by Coppola's sister, Talia Shire, in the movies.
"We had been looking for someone to retell the story from a new perspective," Puzo's son, Anthony Puzo said in a statement. "Adriana was knocked out when I told her that the character of Vito Corleone (played in the films by Brando and De Niro) was actually based on my grandmother. We talked about how the women ran both of our families, but behind the scenes. Adriana's vision for Connie's life blew us all away. I'm very pleased and excited to have her on board."
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Keanu Reeves is set to play the lead role in Hidari, a Japanese stop-motion "wood sculpture" samurai film whose proof of concept video blew up on YouTube three years ago.
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Keanu Reeves is set to play the lead role in Hidari, a Japanese stop-motion "wood sculpture" samurai film whose proof of concept video blew up on YouTube three years ago.
Hidari began life as a proof-of-concept film released on YouTube back in 2023. It features eye-catching stop-motion action, with characters made from wood, an arsenal of secret prosthetic weaponry, and even a towering wooden mech. The video has amassed over 4.9 million views, with plenty of enthusiasm in the comments for it to be fleshed out.
Creator, writer, and director Masashi Kawamura had said he had a much longer story to tell, and that he had been searching for production partners and investors to help turn the concept into a full length film. Now, it looks like that dream may come true.
Cannes’ Annecy Animation Showcase: The hyped Japanese stop-motion project 'Hidari' leads this year's slate. A stylized and incredibly-shot revenge tale set in Edo-era reconstruction that raised over $100,000 with its 2023 Kickstarter. Full lineup details: https://t.co/kKzBUgtG3cpic.twitter.com/SqLa1IExBP
Reeves, star of The Matrix, John Wick, and the odd samurai movie himself, voices protagonist Hidari Jingoro, who is described as “a man consumed by revenge yet unable to abandon his instinct to create.”
Here’s the official blurb:
Hidari is a stop-motion period film inspired by the legendary sculptor Hidari Jingoro, a mysterious figure whose existence remains uncertain yet who left behind countless works and tales. Brought to life through intricately carved wooden puppets that mirror his craft, the film is being co-developed by three companies: Whatever, the creative studio co-founded by director Masashi Kawamura, together with two internationally acclaimed stop-motion studios, dwarf studios and Tecarat.
Set in Edo-period Japan, Hidari weaves together real historical events and figures with original characters to tell a story of revenge.
Jingoro, a master craftsman of his time, is caught in a conspiracy during the reconstruction of Edo Castle, losing his mentor, the woman he loves, and even his right arm. Barely surviving, Jingoro is transformed into an agent of vengeance. Replacing his lost arm with a weaponized prosthetic, the tools he once used to carve wood are reborn as instruments of destruction. Accompanied by his partner, the “Sleeping Cat,” he sets out on a journey of revenge — only to find himself drawn into an even greater conspiracy.
Power struggles within the shogunate, advancing mechanical soldiers, and a transforming Edo Castle all threaten to consume him. As everything closes in, something within him begins to change. Hidari is a story of revenge and rebirth — of a man who once lived to create, only to lose himself in destruction, and ultimately rediscover both himself and the meaning of his life.
Hidari is Reeves' first role in a Japanese original production, although he is no stranger to voice work, having played Shadow in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Duke Caboom in Toy Story 4, and Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077. He's also familiar with playing samurai, having starred in 2013 movie 47 Ronin in the lead role.
“I’m thrilled by the vision behind Hidari,” Reeves said. “From the proof of concept to the developed script, the team has created something truly extraordinary. It has all the makings of an exceptional film — one I’m excited to see and eager to be part of. I believe this project has the potential to bring something very special to audiences worldwide.”
Kawamura sounds equally thrilled that he's managed to snag Reeves for the role, saying: "One of the films we referenced while creating the Hidari pilot film and developing the screenplay was John Wick. And when I made my own personal dream list of actors I hoped could someday be part of the feature adaptation, the very first name I wrote down was Keanu Reeves. I never imagined that he would actually join the project. Even now, it still feels surreal to me. But with such an incredible actor becoming part of Hidari, our entire team is more motivated than ever to create something truly special together with him."
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Keanu Reeves is set to play the lead role in Hidari, a Japanese stop-motion "wood sculpture" samurai film whose proof of concept video blew up on YouTube three years ago.
Show full content
Keanu Reeves is set to play the lead role in Hidari, a Japanese stop-motion "wood sculpture" samurai film whose proof of concept video blew up on YouTube three years ago.
Hidari began life as a proof-of-concept film released on YouTube back in 2023. It features eye-catching stop-motion action, with characters made from wood, an arsenal of secret prosthetic weaponry, and even a towering wooden mech. The video has amassed over 4.9 million views, with plenty of enthusiasm in the comments for it to be fleshed out.
Creator, writer, and director Masashi Kawamura had said he had a much longer story to tell, and that he had been searching for production partners and investors to help turn the concept into a full length film. Now, it looks like that dream may come true.
Cannes’ Annecy Animation Showcase: The hyped Japanese stop-motion project 'Hidari' leads this year's slate. A stylized and incredibly-shot revenge tale set in Edo-era reconstruction that raised over $100,000 with its 2023 Kickstarter. Full lineup details: https://t.co/kKzBUgtG3cpic.twitter.com/SqLa1IExBP
Reeves, star of The Matrix, John Wick, and the odd samurai movie himself, voices protagonist Hidari Jingoro, who is described as “a man consumed by revenge yet unable to abandon his instinct to create.”
Here’s the official blurb:
Hidari is a stop-motion period film inspired by the legendary sculptor Hidari Jingoro, a mysterious figure whose existence remains uncertain yet who left behind countless works and tales. Brought to life through intricately carved wooden puppets that mirror his craft, the film is being co-developed by three companies: Whatever, the creative studio co-founded by director Masashi Kawamura, together with two internationally acclaimed stop-motion studios, dwarf studios and Tecarat.
Set in Edo-period Japan, Hidari weaves together real historical events and figures with original characters to tell a story of revenge.
Jingoro, a master craftsman of his time, is caught in a conspiracy during the reconstruction of Edo Castle, losing his mentor, the woman he loves, and even his right arm. Barely surviving, Jingoro is transformed into an agent of vengeance. Replacing his lost arm with a weaponized prosthetic, the tools he once used to carve wood are reborn as instruments of destruction. Accompanied by his partner, the “Sleeping Cat,” he sets out on a journey of revenge — only to find himself drawn into an even greater conspiracy.
Power struggles within the shogunate, advancing mechanical soldiers, and a transforming Edo Castle all threaten to consume him. As everything closes in, something within him begins to change. Hidari is a story of revenge and rebirth — of a man who once lived to create, only to lose himself in destruction, and ultimately rediscover both himself and the meaning of his life.
Hidari is Reeves' first role in a Japanese original production, although he is no stranger to voice work, having played Shadow in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Duke Caboom in Toy Story 4, and Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077. He's also familiar with playing samurai, having starred in 2013 movie 47 Ronin in the lead role.
“I’m thrilled by the vision behind Hidari,” Reeves said. “From the proof of concept to the developed script, the team has created something truly extraordinary. It has all the makings of an exceptional film — one I’m excited to see and eager to be part of. I believe this project has the potential to bring something very special to audiences worldwide.”
Kawamura sounds equally thrilled that he's managed to snag Reeves for the role, saying: "One of the films we referenced while creating the Hidari pilot film and developing the screenplay was John Wick. And when I made my own personal dream list of actors I hoped could someday be part of the feature adaptation, the very first name I wrote down was Keanu Reeves. I never imagined that he would actually join the project. Even now, it still feels surreal to me. But with such an incredible actor becoming part of Hidari, our entire team is more motivated than ever to create something truly special together with him."
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Ghost of Yotei developer Sucker Punch Productions has confirmed its Legends multiplayer mode will not receive any additional major updates in the future.
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Ghost of Yotei developer Sucker Punch Productions has confirmed its Legends multiplayer mode will not receive any additional major updates after first launching in March.
Lead designer Darren Bridges announced the end of online support for developer Sucker Punch Productions' 2025 PS5-exclusive sequel in a message shared via the PlayStation.Blog. The post itself mostly serves to cover all of the big changes brought by the new Raid update, which launched April 10, but comes with the caveat that this content-packed patch will be the online modes' last.
"The Raid update was our last major planned update for Legends," Bridges said. "It finishes the story of the Yōtei Six in that mode. We’ve loved to see players playing it, continue to play it and enjoy it. It’s been great."
Ghost of Yotei launched for PlayStation 5 October 2, 2025, but Sucker Punch didn't go on to announce plans to add its Legends mode as a free DLC until February of this year. Its release date then followed March 10.
It's unclear why the studio has ceased support for any future major updates just two months removed from its launch. Although major content updates are coming to an end, Sucker Punch did not clarify how long Ghost of Yotei Legends will receive smaller patches for things like bug fixes and balancing.
It's especially shocking news considering Sucker Punch supported the Legends mode for Ghost of Tsushima long after its launch in October 2020. December of that same year brought PlayStation-themed skins based on Bloodborne, God of War, and more, for example. Then, in August 2021, the studio announced a standalone version of the experience, which also included a whole new game mode called Rivals when it launched in September.
Ghost of Yotei launched as a particularly popular PS5 exclusive, with Sony saying in February that it "significantly" contributed to its financial results at the time. We gave it an 8/10 review at launch.
"A predictable but well-executed story takes you through Ghost of Yotei's gorgeous landscapes and satisfying, fluid action – it may not be revolutionizing open world games, but it's a great distillation of the samurai fantasy," we said at launch.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Ghost of Yotei developer Sucker Punch Productions has confirmed its Legends multiplayer mode will not receive any additional major updates in the future.
Show full content
Ghost of Yotei developer Sucker Punch Productions has confirmed its Legends multiplayer mode will not receive any additional major updates after first launching in March.
Lead designer Darren Bridges announced the end of online support for developer Sucker Punch Productions' 2025 PS5-exclusive sequel in a message shared via the PlayStation.Blog. The post itself mostly serves to cover all of the big changes brought by the new Raid update, which launched April 10, but comes with the caveat that this content-packed patch will be the online modes' last.
"The Raid update was our last major planned update for Legends," Bridges said. "It finishes the story of the Yōtei Six in that mode. We’ve loved to see players playing it, continue to play it and enjoy it. It’s been great."
Ghost of Yotei launched for PlayStation 5 October 2, 2025, but Sucker Punch didn't go on to announce plans to add its Legends mode as a free DLC until February of this year. Its release date then followed March 10.
It's unclear why the studio has ceased support for any future major updates just two months removed from its launch. Although major content updates are coming to an end, Sucker Punch did not clarify how long Ghost of Yotei Legends will receive smaller patches for things like bug fixes and balancing.
It's especially shocking news considering Sucker Punch supported the Legends mode for Ghost of Tsushima long after its launch in October 2020. December of that same year brought PlayStation-themed skins based on Bloodborne, God of War, and more, for example. Then, in August 2021, the studio announced a standalone version of the experience, which also included a whole new game mode called Rivals when it launched in September.
Ghost of Yotei launched as a particularly popular PS5 exclusive, with Sony saying in February that it "significantly" contributed to its financial results at the time. We gave it an 8/10 review at launch.
"A predictable but well-executed story takes you through Ghost of Yotei's gorgeous landscapes and satisfying, fluid action – it may not be revolutionizing open world games, but it's a great distillation of the samurai fantasy," we said at launch.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Man of Tomorrow actor Lars Eidinger has described his live-action take on Superman villain Brainiac as something that is like "an incarnation of Satan."
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Man of Tomorrow actor Lars Eidinger has described his live-action take on Superman villain Brainiac as something that is like "an incarnation of Satan."
The man behind the DC's next big movie villain gave audiences their first tease for what he's bringing to the DCU during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Although the James Gunn-directed and David Corenswet-starring Superman sequel is still more than a year out from its theatrical premiere, Eidinger is propping up his world-conquering bad guy as a threat of biblical proportions.
"Yes, the theatrical quality has actually helped me enormously in the context of Superman, too, because it involves a different register of performance, one that isn’t primarily realistic and allows for a far more expressive style of playing," he said when asked how his work in theater has helped in onscreen. "When I watch a film like James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, I find it has a great theatrical quality — in the handling of good and evil, and in a certain tendency toward allegory. Brainiac is described as the incarnation of Satan. I find that almost Shakespearean. The king, the fool — there are so many parallels for me."
Brainiac is not only a recognizable Superman villain; he's one of the most infamous comic book characters in history. Readers and movie watchers have done their best to pick up on every little detail Gunn has dropped when it comes to teases for a DCU version of the mean, green antagonist, but the truth is, most information is probably being saved for closer to the release of Man of Tomorrow.
Eidinger says his Brainiac will give Corenswet's Clark Kent a run for his money, even if we don't know exactly how quite yet. Elsewhere in the interview, the actor opened up about how he was pulled into the budding DCU in the first place. He clarified that doing a comic book movie is "not as different" from his previous work on projects like Clouds of Sils Maria or Home for the Weekend as one might think. He even goes on to praise similar films for having "a serious philosophical ambition," adding that "they carry great allegorical weight" for him.
"Take just the word 'super' — it's used as a superlative, for something excellent, wonderful," Eidinger continued. "But 'super' really only means 'over' or 'above.' So Superman is the Übermensch. You have the Super Ego. There’s already a deep psychological dimension built in."
"Last week I was on set during rehearsals and asked if I could watch some of the filming, which had already started. And I saw an actor in the Superman costume, suspended on wires in front of a bluescreen. I looked at that image and thought: This is the essence of fiction. It’s as significant an image as Hamlet holding the skull: Superman, in that Superman pose, hanging from wires in front of a bluescreen.
"Being in the Superman universe wasn’t a dream or burning desire for me. But now that it’s happening, I can see a certain inevitability in it, something almost fated."
Superman Man of Tomorrow will continue Gunn's vision for a new DCU when it brings Corenswet back to the big screen July 9, 2027. Filming began in April, and its cast also includes Matthew Lillard, Andre Royo, Adria Arjona, and more. While we wait for updates, you can catch up on all of the latest from Supergirl ahead of its premiere in June.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
"I don't understand what it's supposed to do. Every time I see a video on Instagram that's like, 'Hollywood is cooked,' what follows is, like, the most stupid dog s**t I've ever seen in my life," Rogen said with a chuckle. "And if your instinct is to use AI and not go through that process, you shouldn't be a writer because then you're not writing. Go do something else."
Rogen has helped the comedy scene flourish with his work on movies like Superbad and Pineapple Express since the 2000s. More recently, he's received critical acclaim as a director, writer, and star in Apple TV's The Studio, a show that spent its first season tackling many of the issues Hollywood faces today.
Now, he's promoting Tangles, an animated film about Alzheimer's disease that stars himself, Bryan Cranston, Pamela Adlon, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Rogen confirmed that the movie, which premieres at Cannes but does not currently have a wider release date, features no AI, adding that "every frame has a human touch to it."
"And if you don't want to go through the process, you shouldn't be a writer," he added. "The idea of a tool that makes me write less is not appealing to me. Because I like writing."
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Prime Video has published a The Boys Season 5, Episode 8 teaser trailer, revealing one last look at Butcher, Hughie, Starlight, and the rest of the crew before they set off to go "scorched earth" on Homelander.
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Prime Video has published a The Boys Season 5, Episode 8 teaser trailer, revealing one last look at Butcher, Hughie, Starlight, and the rest of the crew before they set off to go "scorched earth" on Homelander.
The 30-second video mostly leaves the events of the finale up to viewers' imaginations. As shots of Hughie, Mother's Milk, Ashley, and even Ryan whiz by, the teaser trailer also hints at what looks to be a fight at the White House between Starlight and the Deep, as Butcher says that "superheroes are done."
"Can't show ya much without spoilin' the whole kit and caboodle," a description for The Boys finale teaser said. "But Wednesday, we're going all the way. No matter the cost. Til the job's f**kin' done."
Can't show ya much without spoilin' the whole kit and caboodle. But Wednesday, we're going all the way. No matter the cost. Til the job's fuckin' done. pic.twitter.com/yzbgI6WtdL
This is the big one. The Boys Season 5, Episode 8 will deliver the Prime Video show's proper series finale this Wednesday, and if the anti-supe crew has any luck, it'll bring the end of Homelander, too. However, the events of Season 5 prove they've got their work cut out for them.
Warning! Spoilers for The Boys Season 5, Episode 8 below.
So far, this latest and last batch of episodes saw Butcher's plan to spread a superhero-killing virus fall apart after Soldier Boy shocked Sister Sage (and audiences) by giving Homelander access to immortality with V-One. The backup plan didn't exactly turn out well, either, as the newly immortal supervillain was able to quickly find where The Boys team was hiding out, resulting in the death of series regular, Frenchie.
With seemingly no other options and Homelander more powerful than ever, things aren't exactly looking too great for everyone heading into the finale. Still, Butcher's speech in the Season 5, Episode 8 teaser trailer suggests he may have a trick or two up his sleeve.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Mixtape is packed with licensed music from artists like Devo and The Smashing Pumpkins, but Annapurna Interactive and Beethoven and Dinosaur have told fans not to worry about the game potentially being delisted down the road.
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Coming-of-age video game Mixtape is packed with licensed music from artists like Devo and The Smashing Pumpkins, but publisher Annapurna Interactive and developer Beethoven and Dinosaur have told fans not to worry about the game potentially being delisted down the road.
Creative director Johnny Galvatron kept concerns about the game's future from spinning out of control during a recent interview with Kotaku. Despite featuring a full playlist of tracks from recognizable groups throughout its foot-tapping story, he said that the team paid extra to maintain licenses for each track in perpetuity.
Annapurna followed up the interview with its own statement in an X/Twitter post. It said, "We heard some people say MIXTAPE would be delisted due to music licenses expiring. That was a lie."
We heard some people say MIXTAPE would be delisted due to music licenses expiring.
Fears that Mixtape could, at some point, be pulled from digital shelves aren't exactly unfounded. Plenty of games have suffered similar fates due to expired licenses in the past, including Rock Band 4 late last year and the original Alan Wake in 2017. Even Grand Theft Auto 4 replaced a few tunes after some licenses expired in 2018.
It's clear Beethoven and Dinosaur wanted to put in the effort to make sure its story and the music woven throughout it remained intact for years to come. One example of a "boundary test" idea that was floated but didn't pan out involved asking Pink Floyd for a song, but the team's supervisor cautioned that the classic rock band wasn't likely to give them the track they were after. That said, when it came to getting the other tunes they wanted, Galvatron told Kotaku the team never ran into any real horror stories and got "pretty much everything [they] asked for."
"There's just so many points in the game where Stacy turns the screen and says 'This is the Smashing Pumpkins, and it's fucking sick,'" he added. "You send that to [Smashing Pumpkins frontman] Billy Corgan and he goes, 'This is the Smashing Pumpkins and it's fucking sick, yeah, they can do that. That’s fine.'"
Mixtape launched for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S May 7, 2026. IGN called it a "Masterpiece" in our 10/10 review.
"A musical delight from start to finish," we said at launch last month, "Mixtape sets a new standard for coming-of-age stories in video games and does so with a masterful sense of style."
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Mixtape is packed with licensed music from artists like Devo and The Smashing Pumpkins, but Annapurna Interactive and Beethoven and Dinosaur have told fans not to worry about the game potentially being delisted down the road.
Show full content
Coming-of-age video game Mixtape is packed with licensed music from artists like Devo and The Smashing Pumpkins, but publisher Annapurna Interactive and developer Beethoven and Dinosaur have told fans not to worry about the game potentially being delisted down the road.
Creative director Johnny Galvatron kept concerns about the game's future from spinning out of control during a recent interview with Kotaku. Despite featuring a full playlist of tracks from recognizable groups throughout its foot-tapping story, he said that the team paid extra to maintain licenses for each track in perpetuity.
Annapurna followed up the interview with its own statement in an X/Twitter post. It said, "We heard some people say MIXTAPE would be delisted due to music licenses expiring. That was a lie."
We heard some people say MIXTAPE would be delisted due to music licenses expiring.
Fears that Mixtape could, at some point, be pulled from digital shelves aren't exactly unfounded. Plenty of games have suffered similar fates due to expired licenses in the past, including Rock Band 4 late last year and the original Alan Wake in 2017. Even Grand Theft Auto 4 replaced a few tunes after some licenses expired in 2018.
It's clear Beethoven and Dinosaur wanted to put in the effort to make sure its story and the music woven throughout it remained intact for years to come. One example of a "boundary test" idea that was floated but didn't pan out involved asking Pink Floyd for a song, but the team's supervisor cautioned that the classic rock band wasn't likely to give them the track they were after. That said, when it came to getting the other tunes they wanted, Galvatron told Kotaku the team never ran into any real horror stories and got "pretty much everything [they] asked for."
"There's just so many points in the game where Stacy turns the screen and says 'This is the Smashing Pumpkins, and it's fucking sick,'" he added. "You send that to [Smashing Pumpkins frontman] Billy Corgan and he goes, 'This is the Smashing Pumpkins and it's fucking sick, yeah, they can do that. That’s fine.'"
Mixtape launched for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S May 7, 2026. IGN called it a "Masterpiece" in our 10/10 review.
"A musical delight from start to finish," we said at launch last month, "Mixtape sets a new standard for coming-of-age stories in video games and does so with a masterful sense of style."
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
You'd be forgiven for not noticing the difference, but yes, newly appointed CEO Asha Sharma took to X/Twitter to confirm Microsoft's gaming branch has been given an all-caps makeover. The lack of an update on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube makes it a bit unclear how serious this supposed rebrand is, but the big change to XBOX can at least already be seen on its X account and even Sharma's LinkedIn profile.
The CEO shared the update following a social media poll, where she asked fans to choose between the standard Xbox and its larger version. After returning results that put XBOX in the lead with an almost shocking 64.8% of the votes, the change has officially been acted upon.
It's unclear how successful some of these changes have been for Microsoft as Sharma works to get Xbox into a better place. The all-caps makeover for the Xbox name, though, definitely seem to fall more in line with smaller adjustments we've recently seen, such as the new boot up sequence revealed a few weeks ago or the classic logo facelift from April.
For now, fans aren't sure exactly how to feel about an all-caps XBOX. As some have pointed out, the change is at least a fun nod to the early days of the console's logo and name. Considering the update seems to be inspired directly by fan input, some have even begun to call on Sharma to make more changes, such as reverting the name back to its classic, rough-edged font. Others aren't so willing to entertain the XBOX idea until they see if it will actually stick.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
The new 2026 TV boasts richer colors, a brighter picture, and wider viewing angles than ever before.
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There's a new flagship TV that's giving all other premium TVs a run for their money. Last year, Hisense pioneered the first RGB Mini-LED TV with its Hisense 116UX model. Granted it was only available as a massive 116" screen that retailed for about $20,000. But this was the first time an LED TV could actually compete - and in some ways surpass - OLED technology.
In April of 2026, Hisense released its second generation iteration of RB Mini-LED tech, the UR9. It's available in more mainstream sizes (65", 75", 83" and 100") and at prices that consumers can actually afford. Hisense couldn't have timed it better; just recently the company has partnered with Terry Crews to be the official sponsor of the World Cup and - short of being in the stadium - what better way to watch the games than hosting them with friends on a stunning big-screen TV.
The Hisense UR9 RGB Mini-LED TV Gives OLED a Run for Its Money
RGB Mini-LED is essentially the next generation evolution of Mini-LED technology. Traditional mini-LED TVs consist of an array of blue LED that are passed through RGB filters to produced the desired color. RGB Mini-LED TVs use red, green, and blue LEDs instead of just blue, which means the pixels no longer need filters to produce the desired color. The result is more accurate color reproduction, less blooming and, most importantly, a wider color gamut. In fact, the color gamut of RGB Mini-LED surpasses that of OLEDs, since current-generation OLEDs also use color filters combined with blue OLEDs. How does that translate in the real world? It means that you see richer, more accurate colors, smoother gradients and less banding than even OLEDs, especially in 4K HDR content.
RGB Mini-LED TVs have several other features that out-class standard Mini-LEDs. They're brighter (far brighter than OLED TVs), making them perfect for daytime watching in bright rooms with little light control. They offer much better viewing angles, which means everyone you're hosting will enjoy the game wherever they're positioned around the TV. Gamers will benefit from this TV as well. The Hisense UR9 boasts a 180Hz native refresh rate, the highest I've ever seen for a TV, with HDMI 2.1 inputs that will pair seamlessly with a PlayStation 5 console for seamlessly running games in 4K.
TV tech moves at a relative slow pace and I expect to see incremental upgrades in most years. Kudos to Hisense for daring to be innovative and being at the forefront of technology that appears to be more than just marketing hype. The TV is too new for in-depth reviews, but Tom's Hardware's early impressions are promising.
How to Follow IGN Deals Recommendations
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our coverage:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Amazon Resale has "Like New" models for about $185.
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Forza Horizon 6 for PC and Xbox comes out next week (the PS5 edition comes later). This is the perfect excuse for you to finally upgrade from a controller to a bona fide racing wheel. For a limited time, Amazon Resale is offering a used "Like New" Logitech G923 Trueforce Racing Wheel and Pedal Set for PC and Xbox for just $184.79 with free shipping after an extra 20% discount that's automatically applied. It normally retails for $350 new, although it's currently on sale for $280.
Amazon Resale (formerly Warehouse) is Amazon's official account for used goods. The products are sorted by condition, with "Like New" being the best. All Resale items get the same 30-day return policy as buying new.
50% Off Logitech G923 Trueforce Racing Wheel and Pedals Set
The G923 is Logitech's mainstream racing wheel that replaces the venerable G920/G29 racing wheels. New to the G923 is TrueForce technology, which offers more precise haptic feedback than the previous Driving Force tech. The force feedback really adds to the immersion, especially compared to a gampad controller; if you want something remarkably better, you'd have to shell out a lot more money for a direct-drive or belt-driven wheel, like Logitech's own $1,000 G Pro.
Other than TrueForce, the G923 is nearly identical to the G29 (PlayStation) racing wheel. It features a hand-stitched leather racing wheel with 900 degrees of rotation, sturdy metal base, durable steel ball bearings in the shaft, gear-driven dual-force motor feedback, stainless shifter and pressure sensitive pedals. The Driving Force Shifter is a compatible add-on that features a solid steel gear shaft and 6-speed short-throw gearbox.
Forza Horizon 6 Is Out on Tuesday, May 19
Forza Horizon 6 is out on Tuesday, May 19, but Luke Reilly already gave it a well-deserved 10/10 "Masterpiece" review. The latest iteration of the open-world arcade racing franchise will allow you to traverse the varied vistas of Japan, from the snowswept mountainous paths of the Japanese Alps to the concrete jungle of the Tokyo Expressway. The game will launch with 550 cars for you to customize and tweak, and dozens of single-player and online challenges for you to flex your skill, including the return of the Eliminator battle royale mode.
How to Follow IGN Deals Recommendations
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our coverage:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Amazon Resale has "Like New" models for about $185.
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Forza Horizon 6 for PC and Xbox comes out next week (the PS5 edition comes later). This is the perfect excuse for you to finally upgrade from a controller to a bona fide racing wheel. For a limited time, Amazon Resale is offering a used "Like New" Logitech G923 Trueforce Racing Wheel and Pedal Set for PC and Xbox for just $184.79 with free shipping after an extra 20% discount that's automatically applied. It normally retails for $350 new, although it's currently on sale for $280.
Amazon Resale (formerly Warehouse) is Amazon's official account for used goods. The products are sorted by condition, with "Like New" being the best. All Resale items get the same 30-day return policy as buying new.
50% Off Logitech G923 Trueforce Racing Wheel and Pedals Set
The G923 is Logitech's mainstream racing wheel that replaces the venerable G920/G29 racing wheels. New to the G923 is TrueForce technology, which offers more precise haptic feedback than the previous Driving Force tech. The force feedback really adds to the immersion, especially compared to a gampad controller; if you want something remarkably better, you'd have to shell out a lot more money for a direct-drive or belt-driven wheel, like Logitech's own $1,000 G Pro.
Other than TrueForce, the G923 is nearly identical to the G29 (PlayStation) racing wheel. It features a hand-stitched leather racing wheel with 900 degrees of rotation, sturdy metal base, durable steel ball bearings in the shaft, gear-driven dual-force motor feedback, stainless shifter and pressure sensitive pedals. The Driving Force Shifter is a compatible add-on that features a solid steel gear shaft and 6-speed short-throw gearbox.
Forza Horizon 6 Is Out on Tuesday, May 19
Forza Horizon 6 is out on Tuesday, May 19, but Luke Reilly already gave it a well-deserved 10/10 "Masterpiece" review. The latest iteration of the open-world arcade racing franchise will allow you to traverse the varied vistas of Japan, from the snowswept mountainous paths of the Japanese Alps to the concrete jungle of the Tokyo Expressway. The game will launch with 550 cars for you to customize and tweak, and dozens of single-player and online challenges for you to flex your skill, including the return of the Eliminator battle royale mode.
How to Follow IGN Deals Recommendations
The IGN Deals team has over 30 years of combined experience finding the best discounts and preorders available online. If you want the latest updates from our trusted team, here’s how to follow our coverage:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Sony has seemingly started testing a new PlayStation 5 feature that will allow users to see player counts for games like Call of Duty, Battlefield 6, Minecraft, and more.
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Sony has seemingly started testing a new PlayStation 5 feature that allows users to see player counts for games like Call of Duty, Battlefield 6, Minecraft, and more.
Rumors that the company could soon roll out a new approach to player data began today after YouTuber Mystic shared footage of a new widget with two tracking options: one for trending titles and one for top 10 games. The former seems to track surges in gameplay hours for specific titles, while the latter shows how many players some games had in the last week.
Digital storefronts like Steam have been relatively transparent when it comes to player data — some games have even offered live player counts — but a concept like this would mark a significant change for PlayStation, specifically. As the feature is seemingly part of a beta test, it's unclear if it will materialize into an official feature for all PS5 users in the future or fizzle out, never to be heard from again.
It's the player count tracker that has fans stirring on social media, as these numbers could, theoretically, offer an idea of how popular some PS5 titles are each week. You can see games shared in the list, as well as the number of players they are said to have attracted in the last week, below:
Apex Legends - 1.72 million
Battlefield 6 - 1.51 million
Arc Raiders - 972,000
Fortnite - 14.6 million
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 – 4.95 million
Grand Theft Auto 5 – 5.13 million
Minecraft – 4.97 million
Marvel Rivals – 1.58 million
There is, of course, much to consider before anyone should use these numbers to measure success. For starters, if Sony does intend to widely launch a PS5 player count widget, there's a decent chance the version of it we see here is nothing like the finished product. The exact source of the above numbers also remains unclear, so while it makes sense to see games like Minecraft and Fortnite charting high, it's hard to say just how accurate these player counts are.
Meanwhile, Sony doesn't seem to spell out exactly how the numbers are gathered, assuming they're even accurate. Details — such as how much time each of these players logged, when exactly they played, or when each week begins measuring engagement — are not currently available.
IGN has reached out to Sony for comment.
Should Sony move forward with bringing PS5 player counts to the public, it will do so nearly six years after its fifth home console originally launched. That said, it's hard to say just how late into the device's lifespan we currently are, as the PlayStation-maker recently stated that it still hasn't determined when the release date for PlayStation 6 will land.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
NFL teams have been coming up with creative ways to announce their season schedules in recent years, from using memes to parodies to celebrities. For 2026, the Los Angeles Chargers have turned to Halo in order to tell everyone who they'll be playing in the upcoming season.
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NFL teams have been coming up with creative ways to announce their season schedules in recent years, from using memes to parodies to celebrities. For 2026, the Los Angeles Chargers have turned to Halo in order to tell everyone who they'll be playing in the upcoming season.
The team posted a six-minute video, whose introduction notes that the Chargers got permission from Microsoft and that they didn't use any actual gameplay footage. It's modeled after a multiplayer setup screen, with each week's opponent listed as if it was a multiplayer map. They appear to have even hired Halo multiplayer announcer Jeff Steitzer (or a fantastic soundalike) to do callouts for each week, such as "Beast Mode" for the Seahawks matchup in Week 4, complete with a faux Pike Place Market level. Plenty of NFL and pop-culture references are baked in as well, including a subtle nod to the scandal that Week 12 opponent New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel is currently mired in.
should we REALLY make our schedule release video in halo?
Halo, meanwhile, will be "on the field" this season, as Halo: Campaign Evolved, the Unreal Engine 5 remake of the original Halo: Combat Evolved's campaign, is due for release sometime this year. We'll likely get a release date for it at the upcoming Xbox Showcase. Check out our hands-on preview impressions in the meantime.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
NFL teams have been coming up with creative ways to announce their season schedules in recent years, from using memes to parodies to celebrities. For 2026, the Los Angeles Chargers have turned to Halo in order to tell everyone who they'll be playing in the upcoming season.
Show full content
NFL teams have been coming up with creative ways to announce their season schedules in recent years, from using memes to parodies to celebrities. For 2026, the Los Angeles Chargers have turned to Halo in order to tell everyone who they'll be playing in the upcoming season.
The team posted a six-minute video, whose introduction notes that the Chargers got permission from Microsoft and that they didn't use any actual gameplay footage. It's modeled after a multiplayer setup screen, with each week's opponent listed as if it was a multiplayer map. They appear to have even hired Halo multiplayer announcer Jeff Steitzer (or a fantastic soundalike) to do callouts for each week, such as "Beast Mode" for the Seahawks matchup in Week 4, complete with a faux Pike Place Market level. Plenty of NFL and pop-culture references are baked in as well, including a subtle nod to the scandal that Week 12 opponent New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel is currently mired in.
should we REALLY make our schedule release video in halo?
Halo, meanwhile, will be "on the field" this season, as Halo: Campaign Evolved, the Unreal Engine 5 remake of the original Halo: Combat Evolved's campaign, is due for release sometime this year. We'll likely get a release date for it at the upcoming Xbox Showcase. Check out our hands-on preview impressions in the meantime.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
Best Buy has dropped deals on a select few Switch and Switch 2 games, including Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment on Switch 2, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Switch, and more.
It's also worth noting that the deal prices for both Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond are only visible after you've added them to your cart.
If you're looking for even more video game deals, it's also worth checking out Amazon. At the moment, the retailer has some excellent deals for PS5 users to look into. And if you're curious about big sales that are still to come this year, have a look at our rundown of upcoming sales events. Here, you can see a breakdown of what's to come over the next few months, so you can be prepared for more game deals as they drop.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
Best Buy has dropped deals on a select few Switch and Switch 2 games, including Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment on Switch 2, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Switch, and more.
It's also worth noting that the deal prices for both Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond are only visible after you've added them to your cart.
If you're looking for even more video game deals, it's also worth checking out Amazon. At the moment, the retailer has some excellent deals for PS5 users to look into. And if you're curious about big sales that are still to come this year, have a look at our rundown of upcoming sales events. Here, you can see a breakdown of what's to come over the next few months, so you can be prepared for more game deals as they drop.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
Forza Horizon 6 has already reached an impressive player count on Steam despite its official launch still being days away.
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Forza Horizon 6 has already reached an impressive player count on Steam despite its official launch still being days away.
Although publisher Xbox Game Studios and developer Playground Games won't officially pull their latest open-world racing game out of the garage until next week, those who own the pricier Premium Edition have already started taking advantage of early access, which launched for PC (Xbox App, Steam) and Xbox Series X and S today, May 15. Despite the bundle's $119.99 cost, the Steam version has already reached an impressive peak of 172,093 users (via SteamDB) and is hovering around 160,000 players as of this article's publication.
That puts Forza Horizon 6 head-and-shoulders above the Steam launch for Forza Horizon 5, which managed to pull in a little more than 80,000 players for its all-time peak in November 2021. It's unclear if the Xbox racer is on a path to attract even higher player counts today or through the weekend, but there's a pretty good chance we'll at least see that number go up when its official release date rolls in next week.
Five years after Xbox and Playground took players to their version of Mexico with the last installment, Forza Horizon 6 finally lets drivers loose in streets inspired by locations in Japan. It's a setting that seems to be at least partially responsible for its roaring success out of the gate following the strong reviews published yesterday. We here at IGN also found a lot to love about Playground's latest, as we called it a "Masterpiece" in our 10/10 review. "The new standard in open-world racing is here, and it’s a gundamn masterpiece," we said.
If you're playing, you might have noticed that shrines, temples, and cherry blossom trees are indestructible. Well, there's a very good reason for that.
The base Forza Horizon 6 experience launches across PC and Xbox Series X and S on May 19, 2026, and costs $69.99. You can catch up on everything you need to know about the Xbox game's launch plans here. You can also check out the first Festival Playlist rewards ahead of their launch May 21.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Forza Horizon 6 has already reached an impressive player count on Steam despite its official launch still being days away.
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Forza Horizon 6 has already reached an impressive player count on Steam despite its official launch still being days away.
Although publisher Xbox Game Studios and developer Playground Games won't officially pull their latest open-world racing game out of the garage until next week, those who own the pricier Premium Edition have already started taking advantage of early access, which launched for PC (Xbox App, Steam) and Xbox Series X and S today, May 15. Despite the bundle's $119.99 cost, the Steam version has already reached an impressive peak of 172,093 users (via SteamDB) and is hovering around 160,000 players as of this article's publication.
That puts Forza Horizon 6 head-and-shoulders above the Steam launch for Forza Horizon 5, which managed to pull in a little more than 80,000 players for its all-time peak in November 2021. It's unclear if the Xbox racer is on a path to attract even higher player counts today or through the weekend, but there's a pretty good chance we'll at least see that number go up when its official release date rolls in next week.
Five years after Xbox and Playground took players to their version of Mexico with the last installment, Forza Horizon 6 finally lets drivers loose in streets inspired by locations in Japan. It's a setting that seems to be at least partially responsible for its roaring success out of the gate following the strong reviews published yesterday. We here at IGN also found a lot to love about Playground's latest, as we called it a "Masterpiece" in our 10/10 review. "The new standard in open-world racing is here, and it’s a gundamn masterpiece," we said.
If you're playing, you might have noticed that shrines, temples, and cherry blossom trees are indestructible. Well, there's a very good reason for that.
The base Forza Horizon 6 experience launches across PC and Xbox Series X and S on May 19, 2026, and costs $69.99. You can catch up on everything you need to know about the Xbox game's launch plans here. You can also check out the first Festival Playlist rewards ahead of their launch May 21.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Forza Horizon 6 makes cherry blossom trees and shrines indestructible — here's why.
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Forza Horizon 6 finally brings the racing series to Japan. Players can cruise around a highly detailed, stylized and condensed version of the country, taking in everything from downtown Tokyo, famous landmarks, and scenic country roads in all seasons as they test their mettle against other racers.
The game also rewards you with experience points for letting out that road rage by smashing your car into other vehicles or your surroundings. However, The Japan Times’ recent interview with design director Torben Ellert revealed that while you can destroy most things in Forza 6 by crashing into them (whether on purpose or because you understeered on a hairpin bend), culturally important things like shrines, temples, and cherry trees are indestructible.
“Almost all trees in the game are smashable to ensure that traversing the world map is both fun and rewarding,” Ellert explains. “However, several tree types are not — for example, the cherry blossom trees — because they’re an iconic element of Japanese culture. Certain temples or other cultural elements are also excluded so that players aren’t tempted to drive through shrines or locations of cultural importance.”
Cherry blossoms are historically and culturally important in Japan, often appearing as a key symbol in Japanese literature, art, and poetry. Their pink blossoms are a sign of rebirth and the coming of spring, but also a reminder of how fleeting life is. In ancient times, farmers made offerings and held feasts underneath the cherry trees in the hope that the spirits of the fields would bring a good harvest. In the 800s, the emperor and nobles also kicked off a tradition of holding parties to admire the cherry blossoms. These traditions have evolved into modern day hanami — cherry blossom viewing parties where people have picnics under the trees and enjoy the blossoms.
Cherry blossom trees in real life can be easily damaged. Tampering with or shaking the branches of cherry blossom trees in public parks is punishable by fines in Japan. Furthermore, some of the countries’ oldest trees are over 1,000 years old and protected as natural treasures by the government (like Uozumi Zakura in Gifu). Consideration for their cultural importance explains why UK studio Playground Games decided to make cherry trees invincible in Forza Horizon 6.
As for shrines and temples, last year, Assassins Creed Shadows received heavy pre-release backlash in Japan due to a preview that showed that players could smash up shrines. Ubisoft addressed this in a day-one patch that made shrine objects indestructible and prevented unarmed NPCs from bleeding when attacked (thus preventing bloodshed on sacred grounds). Forza Horizon 6’s devs have opted to be culturally sensitive regarding what the player can do to religious and cultural sites.
“Japan has been on our shortlist for several games now,” Ellert told The Guardian. “But we just didn’t feel like we were ready to take on the challenge of building it.” The team conducted in-depth research for the game, right down to the smallest details, hiring experts including cultural consultant and former Porsche ambassador Kyoko Yamashita to advise on their depiction of Japan and its racing scene. “Because it’s a culture we see a lot, there’s a temptation to think you know it better than you do, which is why we tried really hard to get people to course correct us if we were drifting,” added Ellert.
While those who pre-ordered the premium edition of Forza Horizon 6 are already burning rubber, the game officially releases on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on May 19. While you wait, check out IGN's Forza Horizon 6 review.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
Forza Horizon 6 makes cherry blossom trees and shrines indestructible — here's why.
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Forza Horizon 6 finally brings the racing series to Japan. Players can cruise around a highly detailed, stylized and condensed version of the country, taking in everything from downtown Tokyo, famous landmarks, and scenic country roads in all seasons as they test their mettle against other racers.
The game also rewards you with experience points for letting out that road rage by smashing your car into other vehicles or your surroundings. However, The Japan Times’ recent interview with design director Torben Ellert revealed that while you can destroy most things in Forza 6 by crashing into them (whether on purpose or because you understeered on a hairpin bend), culturally important things like shrines, temples, and cherry trees are indestructible.
“Almost all trees in the game are smashable to ensure that traversing the world map is both fun and rewarding,” Ellert explains. “However, several tree types are not — for example, the cherry blossom trees — because they’re an iconic element of Japanese culture. Certain temples or other cultural elements are also excluded so that players aren’t tempted to drive through shrines or locations of cultural importance.”
Cherry blossoms are historically and culturally important in Japan, often appearing as a key symbol in Japanese literature, art, and poetry. Their pink blossoms are a sign of rebirth and the coming of spring, but also a reminder of how fleeting life is. In ancient times, farmers made offerings and held feasts underneath the cherry trees in the hope that the spirits of the fields would bring a good harvest. In the 800s, the emperor and nobles also kicked off a tradition of holding parties to admire the cherry blossoms. These traditions have evolved into modern day hanami — cherry blossom viewing parties where people have picnics under the trees and enjoy the blossoms.
Cherry blossom trees in real life can be easily damaged. Tampering with or shaking the branches of cherry blossom trees in public parks is punishable by fines in Japan. Furthermore, some of the countries’ oldest trees are over 1,000 years old and protected as natural treasures by the government (like Uozumi Zakura in Gifu). Consideration for their cultural importance explains why UK studio Playground Games decided to make cherry trees invincible in Forza Horizon 6.
As for shrines and temples, last year, Assassins Creed Shadows received heavy pre-release backlash in Japan due to a preview that showed that players could smash up shrines. Ubisoft addressed this in a day-one patch that made shrine objects indestructible and prevented unarmed NPCs from bleeding when attacked (thus preventing bloodshed on sacred grounds). Forza Horizon 6’s devs have opted to be culturally sensitive regarding what the player can do to religious and cultural sites.
“Japan has been on our shortlist for several games now,” Ellert told The Guardian. “But we just didn’t feel like we were ready to take on the challenge of building it.” The team conducted in-depth research for the game, right down to the smallest details, hiring experts including cultural consultant and former Porsche ambassador Kyoko Yamashita to advise on their depiction of Japan and its racing scene. “Because it’s a culture we see a lot, there’s a temptation to think you know it better than you do, which is why we tried really hard to get people to course correct us if we were drifting,” added Ellert.
While those who pre-ordered the premium edition of Forza Horizon 6 are already burning rubber, the game officially releases on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on May 19. While you wait, check out IGN's Forza Horizon 6 review.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
2K has announced its brick racing game Lego 2K Drive will be delisted from digital storefronts on PC and console starting May 19, 2026.
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Publisher 2K has announced its brick racing game Lego 2K Drive will be delisted from digital storefronts on PC and console starting May 19, 2026.
A message alerting players to the delisting was published on the game's Steam page and shared online today. The same text can be found on the Xbox and PlayStation Store pages.
Players will be able to purchase Lego 2K Drive digitally until it is removed from online shops, this Tuesday. Although it will remain available to play and redownload after this date, 2K added that multiplayer servers will also go offline starting May 31, 2027. All online services tied to the game will be unavailable from then on.
Developer Visual Concepts launched Lego 2K Drive May 19, 2023, for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S. Its gameplay aims to click players into the open-world land of Bricklandia to race, build vehicles, and compete to earn the big prize in story mode.
"In LEGO 2K Drive, your awesome transforming vehicle gives you the freedom to speed seamlessly across riveting racetracks, off-road terrain, and open waters," an official description reads. "Explore the vast world of Bricklandia, show off your driving skills, and build vehicles brick-by-brick!"
Although multiplayer features will be shut down in a little more than one year, offline features will remain available to players who own the game. Those interested in picking up Lego 2K Drive before the delisting can purchase it for $19.99.
We gave the Lego racing game an 8/10 review upon its release in 2023. At the time, we called it a "wild and whimsical all-ages kart racer with an incredible custom vehicle creation tool that’s just about worth the price of admission alone." As Lego 2K Drive leaves digital stores, the gamers supporting the Stop Killing Games initiative are still fighting to keep the games they love (and even the ones they don't) around for years to come after reaching 1 million signatures last year.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
2K has announced its brick racing game Lego 2K Drive will be delisted from digital storefronts on PC and console starting May 19, 2026.
Show full content
Publisher 2K has announced its brick racing game Lego 2K Drive will be delisted from digital storefronts on PC and console starting May 19, 2026.
A message alerting players to the delisting was published on the game's Steam page and shared online today. The same text can be found on the Xbox and PlayStation Store pages.
Players will be able to purchase Lego 2K Drive digitally until it is removed from online shops, this Tuesday. Although it will remain available to play and redownload after this date, 2K added that multiplayer servers will also go offline starting May 31, 2027. All online services tied to the game will be unavailable from then on.
Developer Visual Concepts launched Lego 2K Drive May 19, 2023, for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S. Its gameplay aims to click players into the open-world land of Bricklandia to race, build vehicles, and compete to earn the big prize in story mode.
"In LEGO 2K Drive, your awesome transforming vehicle gives you the freedom to speed seamlessly across riveting racetracks, off-road terrain, and open waters," an official description reads. "Explore the vast world of Bricklandia, show off your driving skills, and build vehicles brick-by-brick!"
Although multiplayer features will be shut down in a little more than one year, offline features will remain available to players who own the game. Those interested in picking up Lego 2K Drive before the delisting can purchase it for $19.99.
We gave the Lego racing game an 8/10 review upon its release in 2023. At the time, we called it a "wild and whimsical all-ages kart racer with an incredible custom vehicle creation tool that’s just about worth the price of admission alone." As Lego 2K Drive leaves digital stores, the gamers supporting the Stop Killing Games initiative are still fighting to keep the games they love (and even the ones they don't) around for years to come after reaching 1 million signatures last year.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
The suave, smashing – and sometimes positively shocking – 40-year history of James Bond Games.
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James Bond: the ultimate spy. The secret agent that other secret agents check under the bed for at night, although that’s probably less to do with their concerns about his martial arts prowess and more about his penchant for sexual congress. Hey, honey, whose Aston Martin is that in the driveway? And why is it beeping?
At any rate, conceived by WWII British Naval Intelligence officer Ian Fleming as a cocktail of the many killer elite commandos and secret agents he met during his time in the service, the iconic James Bond has clearly come a long way from his literary beginnings in 1953. Bond quickly migrated from the pages of Fleming’s novels to radio plays, comic books, and – of course – a film series that’s lasted over 60 years. There aren’t many movie franchises that have been around longer. Not this side of Godzilla, at least.
Now, James Bond’s video game history obviously isn’t quite as storied as his silver screen exploits, but it still stretches back well over 40 years. So, whether you’re unfamiliar with Bond games, or you’re just after a quick refresher, we’ve assembled a full history of James Bond games right here, so all you need to do is pour yourself a dry martini and slip into something more comfortable.
To uncover the very first James Bond game we need to go back to 1982, but there is a slight twist to it. 1982’s Shaken but Not Stirred! was developed and published by Richard Shepherd Software for the ZX Spectrum computer, an underrated icon of 8-bit gaming that played an instrumental role in the home computer revolution – and helped inspire an entire generation of UK game designers in the process. Richard Shepherd, a certified accountant, was one such man. Urged on by his wife, Elaine – who suggested he look into adventure games after she’d been shown one while visiting a work client – Shaken but Not Stirred! came together as a classic text adventure.
In 1982, text adventure games were at the peak of their popularity – and the genre was the only real way to have complex adventures in interactive form at the time. ‘Complex’ may be a slight overstatement when it comes to Shaken but Not Stirred!, though it is bizarrely impenetrable at times. That is, I began the game by being instantly abducted and shot dead, before being reincarnated by the game designer, and I left sometime after getting lost in a randomised ocean and shooting my second octopus.
However, what’s particularly interesting about Shaken but Not Stirred! is that it was never actually an official Bond game at all. Richard Shepherd Software never had the rights to make an official Bond game, something that seems obvious when you note Moneypenny’s transparent name change – but admittedly less so when ‘Miss Cashcoin’ is introduced directly beneath the sentence “A James Bond Adventure.”
Yes, perhaps – especially since, by 1982, the Bond license had already been secured by Parker Brothers. Unfortunately for Richard Shepherd Software, the American toy and board game giant was ramping up its video game efforts at the time after snatching up the lucrative rights to publish Star Wars games, and Bond was another hot property it jumped on. Resultingly, Shaken but Not Stirred! was rapidly re-issued as Super Spy and, in 1983, Parker Brothers released what’s technically the first official Bond video game: James Bond 007, for Atari, ColecoVision, and Commodore 64. A version called 007 James Bond was also released in Japan for the SG-1000, Sega’s first-ever home console.
James Bond 007 is a side-scrolling vehicle shooter with three or four levels, depending on the version you played. Each is extremely loosely based on a moment from four Bond films released between 1971 and 1981: The Spy Who Loved Me, Diamonds are Forever, Moonraker, and For Your Eyes Only. You don’t control Bond himself so much as you control a transforming Bond car, although it realistically spends most of its time as a kind of jumping submarine.
James Bond 007 otherwise plays like a short and safe clone of existing side-scrolling vehicle shooters from the dawn of the ’80s, and you can certainly argue the bulk of the Bond flavour comes from the 007 logo slapped on the front. The official license did, however, bring along with it the opportunity to use the Bond theme for the first time – which is an admittedly crucial component of the Bond experience.
1985 arrived with two separate Bond games, both based on A View to a Kill. It was the new Bond film for that year, and the final featuring Roger Moore.
The first is an action game for a variety of home computer platforms, including ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, and Commodore 64.
Published by Domark Software – a short-lived company that spent the late ’80s and early ’90s publishing only Bond games before merging with Eidos in 1996 – its version is broken up into three chunks. It opens with a driving level, which is followed by two rudimentary action sections. The three-games-in-one approach was novel enough, but ultimately the game was not especially well-received.
A View to a Kill’s other game tie-in was a text adventure for MS-DOS, Apple II, and Macintosh, and one of the first games published by Mindscape. Interestingly, A View to a Kill’s text adventure was written by Texas author Raymond Benson. 12 years later Benson would be tapped to take over writing duties for the continuation of the James Bond novel series, stepping in for the retiring John Gardner who had stewarded the Bond books throughout the ’80s and ’90s.
Benson would go on to contribute to the next Mindscape Bond game in 1986, which was another text adventure for the same platforms – this time based on 1964’s Goldfinger.
However, while Mindscape returned to a past Bond adventure, Domark decided to remain in the present with its 1987 tie-in for Timothy Dalton’s Bond debut: The Living Daylights.
For The Living Daylights, Domark opted for a traditional, side-scrolling shoot’em up approach, developed for what appears to be just about every major home computer system of the era. The result wasn’t revolutionary, but it was a considerable step-up from A View to a Kill.
Beginning with Bond’s training exercise against the SAS in Gibraltar and ending in the villainous Whitaker’s mansion, The Living Daylights might be a bit basic, but it at least effectively mirrors the plot of the movie upon which it's based. The ability to choose a different weapon before each level also adds some additional replayability.
With no new movie in cinemas in 1988, Domark’s next Bond game for home computers was loosely inspired by 1973’s Live and Let Die – which had been the first to feature Roger Moore. The key word here is loose, as Live and Let Die is exclusively a… speedboat shooter.
While it’s true the iconic speedboat chase is one of the most memorable moments of Live and Let Die, basing a whole game around it stretches the concept to breaking point. It has just four levels, only the last of which is ostensibly focused on disrupting Dr. Kanaga’s drug operation. The remainder are extra training levels set about as far away from the setting of Live and Let Die as you can get. How far? The Sahara Desert, and the North Pole.
However, there is a reason that Live and Let Die barely feels like a Bond game, and that’s because it was never meant to be one. In truth, Domark simply got wind of a speedboat shooter at UK software house Elite Systems called Aquablast. Domark subsequently pulled the plug on a boat blaster project it already had on the boil with a different developer, slapped a 007 logo on Aquablast, and published that instead. It seems Live and Let Die was always going to be stuck in a boat, but going with Elite got it done faster.
In 1989, Timothy Dalton’s second and unfortunately final Bond film hit the big screen, and Domark unsurprisingly had a game to coincide with it. Licence to Kill, again developed for all major home computers of the era, was yet another new approach for a Bond adaptation – this time it was a top-down, vertically-scrolling shooter. It was rather tricky, but arguably serviceable enough compared to similar games of the era. 1989 also saw a light-gun enabled version of 1987’s The Living Daylights bundled into Amstrad’s Christmas relaunch of the Spectrum +2.
The James Bond 007 Action Pack included two generic shooting gallery games to justify the inclusion of the Magnum Light Phaser, though neither are worth remarking on.
In 1990, Domark again resurrected a slice of the Roger Moore era with The Spy Who Loved Me for home computers, which is perhaps notable for having the funkiest remix of the Bond theme ever partially stolen from Run-D.M.C., Rob Base, and DJ E-Z Rock.
The Spy Who Loved Me was a Spy Hunter clone: a top-down, vertically-scrolling vehicle shooter that has a few flourishes to call its own, but overall is pretty similar to Midway’s 1983 classic. The comparison is potentially a little unfair considering how heavily inspired Spy Hunter was by James Bond in the first place – down to the Interceptor’s suspiciously close resemblance to Bond’s iconic white Lotus Espirit – but either way The Spy Who Loved Me was certainly a little derivative.
1990 also saw the arrival of Interplay’s 007 James Bond: The Stealth Affair, a point-and-click adventure for Amiga, Atari-ST, and MS-DOS – which was officially licensed but wasn’t actually a bona fide Bond game at its core. The Stealth Affair had previously been released in Europe as a Bond-adjacent adventure called Operation Stealth, starring CIA agent John Glames. For the North American release, Interplay simply changed Glames to Bond, but left him taking orders from the CIA rather than MI6.
On the topic of Bond games that aren’t quite Bond games, in 1991 THQ’s James Bond Jr. – developed by Eurocom – was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System. A distinct (and worse) Super Nintendo version, developed by Gray Matter, arrived in 1992. If you’re unfamiliar with James Bond Jr, it was a cartoon series that ran for around six months back in the early ’90s focusing on the nephew of James Bond; a man who is canonically and famously an only child, and not an uncle to… anyone.
1992 also saw the release of a completely unofficial adaptation of the Roger Moore film Octopussy, developed by a Bratislava-based studio and released only in Slovakia. Octopussy was the final Bond game for the then-ancient ZX Spectrum and, while the game was totally unlicensed, it’s certainly possible it helped shift a few more systems down in central Europe before it was discontinued that same year.
1992 additionally marked the arrival of the final Bond game from Domark: James Bond: The Duel. It was released on Sega consoles – first for Mega Drive in Europe in late 1992. A North American release on Genesis followed in early 1993, as did a version for the Master System, and a Game Gear version emerged in 1994. It was made by the same internal development team at Domark that made The Spy Who Loved Me, which I didn’t mention before, but was rather ironically known as The Kremlin.
James Bond: The Duel is notable for being an original Bond story – that is, not based on a film or book – that nonetheless features the official Bond of the era. In this instance, it’s the likeness of Timothy Dalton, several years after his final big screen appearance. Dalton was intended to make a third film, but legal issues between MGM and the film’s producers dragged on for too long and the actor hung up his Walther PPK. There’s no denying that James Bond: The Duel remains an indefensibly boring title that captures none of the intrigue or charm of an actual Bond novel or movie name, but the game itself is a passable action platformer – even if it is hilariously seedy that Bond’s means of replenishing his health is rescuing blondes.
In 1995 we got a new Bond in Pierce Brosnan, and a new film with GoldenEye. What we didn’t get, however, was a game. Not initially, anyway; not after the commercial failure of the Virtual Boy saw Nintendo cancel a Bond driving game based around GoldenEye. No, the actual GoldenEye 007 as we all know it wouldn’t come until two years later, but it would change everything.
Developed by legendary UK software house Rare and published by Nintendo itself for the Nintendo 64, 1997’s GoldenEye 007 was lightning in a bottle. With a rookie director Martin Hollis at the helm, GoldenEye was eventually assembled by a small team of around a dozen developers with no meaningful experience building a shooter. In fact, eight members of the team had never even worked on a commercial game before.
To say that there were a variety of factors conspiring against the success of GoldenEye 007 would be an understatement.
To say that there were a variety of factors conspiring against the success of GoldenEye 007 would be an understatement. It wasn’t just a movie tie-in; it was a late movie tie-in. Hell, Brosnan’s second Bond film – Tomorrow Never Dies – was already complete and set to hit cinemas later in 1997. Furthermore, GoldenEye 007 was a first-person shooter, which was a genre that mainstream console gamers had yet to prove they had a real appetite for. FPS games simply had no firm footprint on consoles at that stage.
On top of this, the team was missing deadlines, and began working 100-hour weeks in the lead-up to launch. The multiplayer mode was squeezed in just six months out from release. Expectations for GoldenEye 007 were low. Even esteemed Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto was unconvinced, with a fax to Rare late in development warning of his unease with the amount of close-up killing and suggesting that the team consider having Bond visit his vanquished enemies in hospital at the end of the game to shake hands with them.
Thankfully, the team at Rare opted against this advice, and the result was more than just the greatest Bond game to date; GoldenEye 007 is frequently regarded as amongst the greatest games ever made. It was a smart and layered story-based shooter with an absolutely essential splitscreen component that literally revolutionised the genre.
GoldenEye 007’s multiplayer, which was brimming with characters, weapons, and clever modes, may have come about as almost an afterthought, but it became the template for four-player FPS fun – years before the internet would swoop in and try to crush same-screen shenanigans. Slappers only, anyone?
GoldenEye 007 wasn’t the first FPS to hit consoles, but its immense success gave the genre a whole new trajectory. It even helped pioneer the idea of dual analogue controls, since one control scheme allowed gamers to play using a separate N64 controller in each hand. Following this, using two analogue sticks to control an FPS on console quietly made its way into the original Medal of Honor as an alternate preset, and it was still very contentious by the time it appeared as the default control solution in 2000’s Alien Resurrection. The controversy is quaint in retrospect, considering how surprising an FPS without dual analogue controls would be today.
Ultimately, GoldenEye 007 sold more than eight million units, grossing $250 million dollars on a budget of just $2 million. Globally, it is the third highest-selling N64 game on the console. In the US, it’s the bestselling N64 game ever. It is far and away the single most important game in this list, and we could talk about it for a good deal longer if we didn’t have so many more games still to get to. After a gutbusting development period, Hollis and a few of his team declined an offer to make a sequel to GoldenEye 007 and, regardless of Rare’s plans, EA swooped in and reportedly “dramatically outbid” all comers for the Bond license, anyway. As such, the Bond games moved on without Rare, and so must we.
Following Nintendo’s James Bond 007 in 1998 – a top-down, RPG-style adventure for Game Boy – Bond began a lengthy tenure at EA.
The first game was 1999’s Tomorrow Never Dies. Developed by long-defunct Black Ops Entertainment and published exclusively on the original PlayStation, Tomorrow Never Dies was initially intended to be called Tomorrow Never Dies: The Mission Continues and pick up where the movie left off.
While the final product was extensively reworked to follow the plot of the film instead, it was a very different sort of game to GoldenEye 007. For one, it was an entirely conventional third-person shooter, as opposed to a trendsetting first-person shooter. Two: it had no multiplayer whatsoever.
And three? It wasn’t very good.
EA was able to effect somewhat of a course correction with its next attempt, which was based on The World Is Not Enough. Three separate versions of the game were produced – one for PlayStation and one for N64 in 2000, and a clunky and forgettable Game Boy Color version in 2001.
The World Is Not Enough on PlayStation was again developed by Black Ops Entertainment, which immediately pivoted from its Tomorrow Never Dies approach and built The World Is Not Enough as a first-person shooter. The result was undoubtedly an improvement, but the solid but scrappy PlayStation version again had no multiplayer. The original PlayStation only had two controller ports compared to the N64’s four, and perhaps asking PlayStation owners to wear the additional expense of purchasing a Multitap was too optimistic to ask for.
At any rate, The World Is Not Enough on PS1 paled in comparison to the N64 version which, funnily enough, was built by James Bond Jr. developer Eurocom. The World Is Not Enough on N64 doesn’t carry the same esteem as its predecessor, but it still packed four-player splitscreen multiplayer – this time with optional bots – and was nonetheless an excellent shooter for its time.
2000 also saw the release of 007 Racing, a PlayStation-exclusive action driving game that played out from entirely behind the wheel of a fleet of recognisable Bond vehicles. Developed by Eutechnyx, the developer of PS1 racing games like Total Drivin’ and Max Power Racing, 007 Racing was a good concept for resurrecting the idea of a SpyHunter-inspired, vehicle-based Bond game – but it was impossible to recommend over something like the Driver series, which was the king of 3D action driving at the time. A sequel to 007 Racing was planned but never eventuated.
The turn of the century brought with it exciting new consoles with the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube, and alongside this new hardware came a new era of Bond games – beginning with James Bond 007 in Agent Under Fire.
Agent Under Fire initially began life as the PS2 and PC versions of The World Is Not Enough. However, after development delays – and concern that interest for the film would’ve cooled off too much by the time it was released – The World Is Not Enough for PS2 was rebuilt into a new and original Bond adventure, albeit one that didn’t actually feature Pierce Brosnan as Bond this time around. This should be immediately clear from badly-lit Bond on the box art, which looks as if someone’s tried to take a picture of 007 without using a flash.
Released on PS2 in late 2001, and ported to GameCube and Xbox in 2002, Agent Under Fire was a short but solid Bond shooter – and far better than its fractured development might have suggested it should have been. Developed internally at EA, Agent Under Fire’s mix of first-person blasting and driving missions – which were more robust than one might expect thanks to EA’s Need for Speed experience – was entertainingly slick based on the standards of the era. It even introduced optional, cinematic-inspired flourishes throughout the action called Bond Moments, where keen-eyed players could tackle certain moments throughout the levels with a well-aimed shot or smart decision. Speaking of smart decisions, Agent Under Fire also boasted four-player splitscreen on all consoles, with usable jetpacks, no less.
EA followed Agent Under Fire with James Bond 007: Nightfire in 2002, which added Pierce Brosnan’s likeness back into proceedings, albeit not his voice. The home console versions were led by Eurocom, and the result was a slightly more refined evolution of Agent Under Fire that has the distinction of being the first Bond game with its own original song, and the first time we got to see an Aston Martin turned into a submarine.
In confusing circumstances – especially since Nightfire is typically considered one of the strongest Bond games in the history of the series – Nightfire’s PC port is an entirely different game to Eurocom’s console version, and it’s terrible in contrast. Developed by Gearbox, Nightfire on PC runs on a totally different engine, features no driving levels, and is regularly broken.
Indeed; let’s.
EA subsequently made a risky pivot, and 2003’s James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing arrived as a third-person shooter. In other words, EA had opted to follow up Nightfire, an otherwise well-received first-person shooter, by returning to territory previously soiled by the disappointing Tomorrow Never Dies. The shift to third-person probably represented better value to the EA beancounters – after all, if you’re going to pay for Pierce, you may as well try to put his head on screen as much as possible. But it certainly didn’t represent a sure-fire strategy.
Fortunately, it worked. Everything or Nothing was the best-looking Bond game to date, with a lengthy set of levels, explosive action, and quality driving missions. It also had a stacked cast of voices AND likenesses, featuring not only Bond alumni Brosnan, Judi Dench, and John Cleese, but also Heidi Klum, Shannon Elizabeth, and Richard Kiel as the famous Jaws. EA even got Willem Dafoe on deck to play the villain.
However, while the single-player component of Everything or Nothing was pleasingly strong, the multiplayer wasn’t quite up to the same standard. While Everything or Nothing introduced a fun, but slightly less-polished, co-op mode, the GoldenEye-inspired brand of four-player, FPS deathmatches was cast aside.
Unfortunately, after a robust three-year run, EA fumbled the bag with 2004’s GoldenEye: Rogue Agent for PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and DS, which was a disappointingly bland and cynical attempt to marry mid-2000s edginess with a recognisable brand.
Set in an alternate Bond timeline, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent is an FPS that follows an ex-MI6 agent who, after being ejected from the service for being reckless, recklessly joins forces with a host of Bond villains, including Goldfinger and Scaramanga – most of whom betray him. Lacking in the swagger or spirit of a true Bond game, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent also had the misfortune of being a first-person shooter released in November 2004 – the same month as Halo 2 and Half-Life 2.
For clarity, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent has absolutely nothing to do with the 1995 film or the N64 classic. It’s just called GoldenEye because the main character has… a golden eye.
Despite ending with a clear sequel tease, that was the end of the road for the GoldenEye: Rogue Agent experiment, and EA’s final Bond game in 2005 was a return to how things were before – and in more ways that one. That is, not only was it a third-person shooter like Everything or Nothing; EA turned the clock way back to 1963 for an adaptation of the Sean Connery classic From Russia With Love – starring Connery himself, no less, in his video game debut.
Developed for PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and the PSP, From Russia With Love was perhaps a little shallow overall, but its ’60s setting oozed charm and it was a significant step up from GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.
Unfortunately, the fun was just about to come to a dead end.
In May 2006 it was announced that Activision had acquired the Bond video game license. After a pair of spin-offs and half-a-dozen mainline entries, the EA cadence of yearly Bond games fans had enjoyed was suddenly over.
Unfortunately, things haven’t been quite the same ever since. In 2008 Activision released Quantum of Solace on a host of platforms, including PS2, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and even DS. It was fine enough, but Daniel Craig’s video game debut was otherwise pretty unremarkable, even by contemporaneous standards.
Things did improve a little in 2010, with the release of two separate games: Blood Stone, developed by Bizarre Creations for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, and a remake of GoldenEye 007 for Wii by Eurocom. Both games also had a DS version built by n-Space.
Blood Stone, an original Bond adventure featuring the voices and likenesses of Daniel Craig and Judi Dench, was a third-person shooter with a variety of driving sequences – the latter being a natural fit for the studio behind the Project Gotham Racing series. It was a well-produced action game, but it just wasn’t a long or revolutionary one.
GoldenEye 007 on Wii fared better. Replacing Pierce Brosnan with Daniel Craig and updating the story made for a pretty… iffy reimagining of the source material, but it gathered a good deal of praise for being one of the better first-person shooters for the Wii. For Bond fans without a Wii, GoldenEye 007 was ported to PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2011.
But then, in 2012, we got 007 Legends.
007 Legends, for PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and Wii U, was the last Bond game published by Activision. Unfortunately, it was also the last ever game made by regular Bond developer Eurocom, which was shut down less than two months after the game’s release, after 25 years of operation.
Released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the film franchise, 007 Legends had grand plans to celebrate the entire series, and its single player campaign was built to contain missions from films featuring all six different Bond actors. That is, Goldfinger for Sean Connery, On Her Majesty's Secret Service for George Lazenby, Moonraker for Roger Moore, Licence to Kill for Timothy Dalton, Die Another Day for Pierce Brosnan, and Skyfall for Daniel Craig. However, like the GoldenEye 007 remake, it simply used Daniel Craig’s likeness in place of all the previous actors.
Unfortunately the end result was a tepid Call of Duty clone that did very little to capture the spirit of Bond, and even less to translate what fans love about these films.
007 Legends doesn’t just misunderstand Bond; it gets him totally wrong. Hell, he even completely flubs his most famous line, “Bond. James Bond.”
Mowing down mooks with a mounted minigun may be pretty typical shooter stuff, but it isn’t what James Bond is about. He’s a spy, not a super soldier. There are parts of 007 Legends you can play by keeping a low profile, but they mainly boil down to slinking around slapping blokes on the arse so firmly they die.
All Activision Bond games were suddenly pulled from Steam and the publisher’s own web store in January 2013. The move, which happened less than three months after the release of 007 Legends, came completely unannounced and without explanation. Since Activision originally announced its deal with MGM was supposed to last until 2014, the premature termination of the license led to speculation that things had soured significantly.
The spirit of Call of Duty killing James Bond was deeply ironic considering it’s been suggested that the James Bond game series very nearly prevented the Call of Duty series from ever happening in the first place. That could have happened if EA had partnered with Call of Duty creators Vince Zampella and Jason West, who had pitched for the PC port of Nightfire back in the early 2000s. As it turned out, EA went with Gearbox, and Zampella and West accepted a deal from Activision and founded Infinity Ward.
At any rate, the funk of 007 Legends has sadly hovered for some time, and there have been no new Bond games for over a decade. He didn’t quite disappear completely, though. 10 classic Bond cars, complete with gadgets, made their way to Forza Horizon 4 in 2018, and two Bond Aston Martins hit Rocket League in 2021. In 2023 the original GoldenEye 007 fought its way out of licensing purgatory and onto Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. In 2024 a confidential sizzle reel concerning a past pitch to make a LEGO James Bond game even leaked onto the internet; the idea looked and sounded incredible, but it obviously never made it into production.
Happily, Bond’s long hiatus is just about over thanks to the imminent arrival of IO Interactive’s 007 First Light in May. A modern and original origin story for Bond, which appears to be a more explosive riff on the sort of gameplay IO has been refining within its Hitman series for the past two decades, First Light features Irish actor Patrick Gibson as Bond, with Lenny Kravitz aboard playing the villain.
The suave, smashing – and sometimes positively shocking – 40-year history of James Bond Games.
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James Bond: the ultimate spy. The secret agent that other secret agents check under the bed for at night, although that’s probably less to do with their concerns about his martial arts prowess and more about his penchant for sexual congress. Hey, honey, whose Aston Martin is that in the driveway? And why is it beeping?
At any rate, conceived by WWII British Naval Intelligence officer Ian Fleming as a cocktail of the many killer elite commandos and secret agents he met during his time in the service, the iconic James Bond has clearly come a long way from his literary beginnings in 1953. Bond quickly migrated from the pages of Fleming’s novels to radio plays, comic books, and – of course – a film series that’s lasted over 60 years. There aren’t many movie franchises that have been around longer. Not this side of Godzilla, at least.
Now, James Bond’s video game history obviously isn’t quite as storied as his silver screen exploits, but it still stretches back well over 40 years. So, whether you’re unfamiliar with Bond games, or you’re just after a quick refresher, we’ve assembled a full history of James Bond games right here, so all you need to do is pour yourself a dry martini and slip into something more comfortable.
To uncover the very first James Bond game we need to go back to 1982, but there is a slight twist to it. 1982’s Shaken but Not Stirred! was developed and published by Richard Shepherd Software for the ZX Spectrum computer, an underrated icon of 8-bit gaming that played an instrumental role in the home computer revolution – and helped inspire an entire generation of UK game designers in the process. Richard Shepherd, a certified accountant, was one such man. Urged on by his wife, Elaine – who suggested he look into adventure games after she’d been shown one while visiting a work client – Shaken but Not Stirred! came together as a classic text adventure.
In 1982, text adventure games were at the peak of their popularity – and the genre was the only real way to have complex adventures in interactive form at the time. ‘Complex’ may be a slight overstatement when it comes to Shaken but Not Stirred!, though it is bizarrely impenetrable at times. That is, I began the game by being instantly abducted and shot dead, before being reincarnated by the game designer, and I left sometime after getting lost in a randomised ocean and shooting my second octopus.
However, what’s particularly interesting about Shaken but Not Stirred! is that it was never actually an official Bond game at all. Richard Shepherd Software never had the rights to make an official Bond game, something that seems obvious when you note Moneypenny’s transparent name change – but admittedly less so when ‘Miss Cashcoin’ is introduced directly beneath the sentence “A James Bond Adventure.”
Yes, perhaps – especially since, by 1982, the Bond license had already been secured by Parker Brothers. Unfortunately for Richard Shepherd Software, the American toy and board game giant was ramping up its video game efforts at the time after snatching up the lucrative rights to publish Star Wars games, and Bond was another hot property it jumped on. Resultingly, Shaken but Not Stirred! was rapidly re-issued as Super Spy and, in 1983, Parker Brothers released what’s technically the first official Bond video game: James Bond 007, for Atari, ColecoVision, and Commodore 64. A version called 007 James Bond was also released in Japan for the SG-1000, Sega’s first-ever home console.
James Bond 007 is a side-scrolling vehicle shooter with three or four levels, depending on the version you played. Each is extremely loosely based on a moment from four Bond films released between 1971 and 1981: The Spy Who Loved Me, Diamonds are Forever, Moonraker, and For Your Eyes Only. You don’t control Bond himself so much as you control a transforming Bond car, although it realistically spends most of its time as a kind of jumping submarine.
James Bond 007 otherwise plays like a short and safe clone of existing side-scrolling vehicle shooters from the dawn of the ’80s, and you can certainly argue the bulk of the Bond flavour comes from the 007 logo slapped on the front. The official license did, however, bring along with it the opportunity to use the Bond theme for the first time – which is an admittedly crucial component of the Bond experience.
1985 arrived with two separate Bond games, both based on A View to a Kill. It was the new Bond film for that year, and the final featuring Roger Moore.
The first is an action game for a variety of home computer platforms, including ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, and Commodore 64.
Published by Domark Software – a short-lived company that spent the late ’80s and early ’90s publishing only Bond games before merging with Eidos in 1996 – its version is broken up into three chunks. It opens with a driving level, which is followed by two rudimentary action sections. The three-games-in-one approach was novel enough, but ultimately the game was not especially well-received.
A View to a Kill’s other game tie-in was a text adventure for MS-DOS, Apple II, and Macintosh, and one of the first games published by Mindscape. Interestingly, A View to a Kill’s text adventure was written by Texas author Raymond Benson. 12 years later Benson would be tapped to take over writing duties for the continuation of the James Bond novel series, stepping in for the retiring John Gardner who had stewarded the Bond books throughout the ’80s and ’90s.
Benson would go on to contribute to the next Mindscape Bond game in 1986, which was another text adventure for the same platforms – this time based on 1964’s Goldfinger.
However, while Mindscape returned to a past Bond adventure, Domark decided to remain in the present with its 1987 tie-in for Timothy Dalton’s Bond debut: The Living Daylights.
For The Living Daylights, Domark opted for a traditional, side-scrolling shoot’em up approach, developed for what appears to be just about every major home computer system of the era. The result wasn’t revolutionary, but it was a considerable step-up from A View to a Kill.
Beginning with Bond’s training exercise against the SAS in Gibraltar and ending in the villainous Whitaker’s mansion, The Living Daylights might be a bit basic, but it at least effectively mirrors the plot of the movie upon which it's based. The ability to choose a different weapon before each level also adds some additional replayability.
With no new movie in cinemas in 1988, Domark’s next Bond game for home computers was loosely inspired by 1973’s Live and Let Die – which had been the first to feature Roger Moore. The key word here is loose, as Live and Let Die is exclusively a… speedboat shooter.
While it’s true the iconic speedboat chase is one of the most memorable moments of Live and Let Die, basing a whole game around it stretches the concept to breaking point. It has just four levels, only the last of which is ostensibly focused on disrupting Dr. Kanaga’s drug operation. The remainder are extra training levels set about as far away from the setting of Live and Let Die as you can get. How far? The Sahara Desert, and the North Pole.
However, there is a reason that Live and Let Die barely feels like a Bond game, and that’s because it was never meant to be one. In truth, Domark simply got wind of a speedboat shooter at UK software house Elite Systems called Aquablast. Domark subsequently pulled the plug on a boat blaster project it already had on the boil with a different developer, slapped a 007 logo on Aquablast, and published that instead. It seems Live and Let Die was always going to be stuck in a boat, but going with Elite got it done faster.
In 1989, Timothy Dalton’s second and unfortunately final Bond film hit the big screen, and Domark unsurprisingly had a game to coincide with it. Licence to Kill, again developed for all major home computers of the era, was yet another new approach for a Bond adaptation – this time it was a top-down, vertically-scrolling shooter. It was rather tricky, but arguably serviceable enough compared to similar games of the era. 1989 also saw a light-gun enabled version of 1987’s The Living Daylights bundled into Amstrad’s Christmas relaunch of the Spectrum +2.
The James Bond 007 Action Pack included two generic shooting gallery games to justify the inclusion of the Magnum Light Phaser, though neither are worth remarking on.
In 1990, Domark again resurrected a slice of the Roger Moore era with The Spy Who Loved Me for home computers, which is perhaps notable for having the funkiest remix of the Bond theme ever partially stolen from Run-D.M.C., Rob Base, and DJ E-Z Rock.
The Spy Who Loved Me was a Spy Hunter clone: a top-down, vertically-scrolling vehicle shooter that has a few flourishes to call its own, but overall is pretty similar to Midway’s 1983 classic. The comparison is potentially a little unfair considering how heavily inspired Spy Hunter was by James Bond in the first place – down to the Interceptor’s suspiciously close resemblance to Bond’s iconic white Lotus Espirit – but either way The Spy Who Loved Me was certainly a little derivative.
1990 also saw the arrival of Interplay’s 007 James Bond: The Stealth Affair, a point-and-click adventure for Amiga, Atari-ST, and MS-DOS – which was officially licensed but wasn’t actually a bona fide Bond game at its core. The Stealth Affair had previously been released in Europe as a Bond-adjacent adventure called Operation Stealth, starring CIA agent John Glames. For the North American release, Interplay simply changed Glames to Bond, but left him taking orders from the CIA rather than MI6.
On the topic of Bond games that aren’t quite Bond games, in 1991 THQ’s James Bond Jr. – developed by Eurocom – was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System. A distinct (and worse) Super Nintendo version, developed by Gray Matter, arrived in 1992. If you’re unfamiliar with James Bond Jr, it was a cartoon series that ran for around six months back in the early ’90s focusing on the nephew of James Bond; a man who is canonically and famously an only child, and not an uncle to… anyone.
1992 also saw the release of a completely unofficial adaptation of the Roger Moore film Octopussy, developed by a Bratislava-based studio and released only in Slovakia. Octopussy was the final Bond game for the then-ancient ZX Spectrum and, while the game was totally unlicensed, it’s certainly possible it helped shift a few more systems down in central Europe before it was discontinued that same year.
1992 additionally marked the arrival of the final Bond game from Domark: James Bond: The Duel. It was released on Sega consoles – first for Mega Drive in Europe in late 1992. A North American release on Genesis followed in early 1993, as did a version for the Master System, and a Game Gear version emerged in 1994. It was made by the same internal development team at Domark that made The Spy Who Loved Me, which I didn’t mention before, but was rather ironically known as The Kremlin.
James Bond: The Duel is notable for being an original Bond story – that is, not based on a film or book – that nonetheless features the official Bond of the era. In this instance, it’s the likeness of Timothy Dalton, several years after his final big screen appearance. Dalton was intended to make a third film, but legal issues between MGM and the film’s producers dragged on for too long and the actor hung up his Walther PPK. There’s no denying that James Bond: The Duel remains an indefensibly boring title that captures none of the intrigue or charm of an actual Bond novel or movie name, but the game itself is a passable action platformer – even if it is hilariously seedy that Bond’s means of replenishing his health is rescuing blondes.
In 1995 we got a new Bond in Pierce Brosnan, and a new film with GoldenEye. What we didn’t get, however, was a game. Not initially, anyway; not after the commercial failure of the Virtual Boy saw Nintendo cancel a Bond driving game based around GoldenEye. No, the actual GoldenEye 007 as we all know it wouldn’t come until two years later, but it would change everything.
Developed by legendary UK software house Rare and published by Nintendo itself for the Nintendo 64, 1997’s GoldenEye 007 was lightning in a bottle. With a rookie director Martin Hollis at the helm, GoldenEye was eventually assembled by a small team of around a dozen developers with no meaningful experience building a shooter. In fact, eight members of the team had never even worked on a commercial game before.
To say that there were a variety of factors conspiring against the success of GoldenEye 007 would be an understatement.
To say that there were a variety of factors conspiring against the success of GoldenEye 007 would be an understatement. It wasn’t just a movie tie-in; it was a late movie tie-in. Hell, Brosnan’s second Bond film – Tomorrow Never Dies – was already complete and set to hit cinemas later in 1997. Furthermore, GoldenEye 007 was a first-person shooter, which was a genre that mainstream console gamers had yet to prove they had a real appetite for. FPS games simply had no firm footprint on consoles at that stage.
On top of this, the team was missing deadlines, and began working 100-hour weeks in the lead-up to launch. The multiplayer mode was squeezed in just six months out from release. Expectations for GoldenEye 007 were low. Even esteemed Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto was unconvinced, with a fax to Rare late in development warning of his unease with the amount of close-up killing and suggesting that the team consider having Bond visit his vanquished enemies in hospital at the end of the game to shake hands with them.
Thankfully, the team at Rare opted against this advice, and the result was more than just the greatest Bond game to date; GoldenEye 007 is frequently regarded as amongst the greatest games ever made. It was a smart and layered story-based shooter with an absolutely essential splitscreen component that literally revolutionised the genre.
GoldenEye 007’s multiplayer, which was brimming with characters, weapons, and clever modes, may have come about as almost an afterthought, but it became the template for four-player FPS fun – years before the internet would swoop in and try to crush same-screen shenanigans. Slappers only, anyone?
GoldenEye 007 wasn’t the first FPS to hit consoles, but its immense success gave the genre a whole new trajectory. It even helped pioneer the idea of dual analogue controls, since one control scheme allowed gamers to play using a separate N64 controller in each hand. Following this, using two analogue sticks to control an FPS on console quietly made its way into the original Medal of Honor as an alternate preset, and it was still very contentious by the time it appeared as the default control solution in 2000’s Alien Resurrection. The controversy is quaint in retrospect, considering how surprising an FPS without dual analogue controls would be today.
Ultimately, GoldenEye 007 sold more than eight million units, grossing $250 million dollars on a budget of just $2 million. Globally, it is the third highest-selling N64 game on the console. In the US, it’s the bestselling N64 game ever. It is far and away the single most important game in this list, and we could talk about it for a good deal longer if we didn’t have so many more games still to get to. After a gutbusting development period, Hollis and a few of his team declined an offer to make a sequel to GoldenEye 007 and, regardless of Rare’s plans, EA swooped in and reportedly “dramatically outbid” all comers for the Bond license, anyway. As such, the Bond games moved on without Rare, and so must we.
Following Nintendo’s James Bond 007 in 1998 – a top-down, RPG-style adventure for Game Boy – Bond began a lengthy tenure at EA.
The first game was 1999’s Tomorrow Never Dies. Developed by long-defunct Black Ops Entertainment and published exclusively on the original PlayStation, Tomorrow Never Dies was initially intended to be called Tomorrow Never Dies: The Mission Continues and pick up where the movie left off.
While the final product was extensively reworked to follow the plot of the film instead, it was a very different sort of game to GoldenEye 007. For one, it was an entirely conventional third-person shooter, as opposed to a trendsetting first-person shooter. Two: it had no multiplayer whatsoever.
And three? It wasn’t very good.
EA was able to effect somewhat of a course correction with its next attempt, which was based on The World Is Not Enough. Three separate versions of the game were produced – one for PlayStation and one for N64 in 2000, and a clunky and forgettable Game Boy Color version in 2001.
The World Is Not Enough on PlayStation was again developed by Black Ops Entertainment, which immediately pivoted from its Tomorrow Never Dies approach and built The World Is Not Enough as a first-person shooter. The result was undoubtedly an improvement, but the solid but scrappy PlayStation version again had no multiplayer. The original PlayStation only had two controller ports compared to the N64’s four, and perhaps asking PlayStation owners to wear the additional expense of purchasing a Multitap was too optimistic to ask for.
At any rate, The World Is Not Enough on PS1 paled in comparison to the N64 version which, funnily enough, was built by James Bond Jr. developer Eurocom. The World Is Not Enough on N64 doesn’t carry the same esteem as its predecessor, but it still packed four-player splitscreen multiplayer – this time with optional bots – and was nonetheless an excellent shooter for its time.
2000 also saw the release of 007 Racing, a PlayStation-exclusive action driving game that played out from entirely behind the wheel of a fleet of recognisable Bond vehicles. Developed by Eutechnyx, the developer of PS1 racing games like Total Drivin’ and Max Power Racing, 007 Racing was a good concept for resurrecting the idea of a SpyHunter-inspired, vehicle-based Bond game – but it was impossible to recommend over something like the Driver series, which was the king of 3D action driving at the time. A sequel to 007 Racing was planned but never eventuated.
The turn of the century brought with it exciting new consoles with the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube, and alongside this new hardware came a new era of Bond games – beginning with James Bond 007 in Agent Under Fire.
Agent Under Fire initially began life as the PS2 and PC versions of The World Is Not Enough. However, after development delays – and concern that interest for the film would’ve cooled off too much by the time it was released – The World Is Not Enough for PS2 was rebuilt into a new and original Bond adventure, albeit one that didn’t actually feature Pierce Brosnan as Bond this time around. This should be immediately clear from badly-lit Bond on the box art, which looks as if someone’s tried to take a picture of 007 without using a flash.
Released on PS2 in late 2001, and ported to GameCube and Xbox in 2002, Agent Under Fire was a short but solid Bond shooter – and far better than its fractured development might have suggested it should have been. Developed internally at EA, Agent Under Fire’s mix of first-person blasting and driving missions – which were more robust than one might expect thanks to EA’s Need for Speed experience – was entertainingly slick based on the standards of the era. It even introduced optional, cinematic-inspired flourishes throughout the action called Bond Moments, where keen-eyed players could tackle certain moments throughout the levels with a well-aimed shot or smart decision. Speaking of smart decisions, Agent Under Fire also boasted four-player splitscreen on all consoles, with usable jetpacks, no less.
EA followed Agent Under Fire with James Bond 007: Nightfire in 2002, which added Pierce Brosnan’s likeness back into proceedings, albeit not his voice. The home console versions were led by Eurocom, and the result was a slightly more refined evolution of Agent Under Fire that has the distinction of being the first Bond game with its own original song, and the first time we got to see an Aston Martin turned into a submarine.
In confusing circumstances – especially since Nightfire is typically considered one of the strongest Bond games in the history of the series – Nightfire’s PC port is an entirely different game to Eurocom’s console version, and it’s terrible in contrast. Developed by Gearbox, Nightfire on PC runs on a totally different engine, features no driving levels, and is regularly broken.
Indeed; let’s.
EA subsequently made a risky pivot, and 2003’s James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing arrived as a third-person shooter. In other words, EA had opted to follow up Nightfire, an otherwise well-received first-person shooter, by returning to territory previously soiled by the disappointing Tomorrow Never Dies. The shift to third-person probably represented better value to the EA beancounters – after all, if you’re going to pay for Pierce, you may as well try to put his head on screen as much as possible. But it certainly didn’t represent a sure-fire strategy.
Fortunately, it worked. Everything or Nothing was the best-looking Bond game to date, with a lengthy set of levels, explosive action, and quality driving missions. It also had a stacked cast of voices AND likenesses, featuring not only Bond alumni Brosnan, Judi Dench, and John Cleese, but also Heidi Klum, Shannon Elizabeth, and Richard Kiel as the famous Jaws. EA even got Willem Dafoe on deck to play the villain.
However, while the single-player component of Everything or Nothing was pleasingly strong, the multiplayer wasn’t quite up to the same standard. While Everything or Nothing introduced a fun, but slightly less-polished, co-op mode, the GoldenEye-inspired brand of four-player, FPS deathmatches was cast aside.
Unfortunately, after a robust three-year run, EA fumbled the bag with 2004’s GoldenEye: Rogue Agent for PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and DS, which was a disappointingly bland and cynical attempt to marry mid-2000s edginess with a recognisable brand.
Set in an alternate Bond timeline, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent is an FPS that follows an ex-MI6 agent who, after being ejected from the service for being reckless, recklessly joins forces with a host of Bond villains, including Goldfinger and Scaramanga – most of whom betray him. Lacking in the swagger or spirit of a true Bond game, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent also had the misfortune of being a first-person shooter released in November 2004 – the same month as Halo 2 and Half-Life 2.
For clarity, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent has absolutely nothing to do with the 1995 film or the N64 classic. It’s just called GoldenEye because the main character has… a golden eye.
Despite ending with a clear sequel tease, that was the end of the road for the GoldenEye: Rogue Agent experiment, and EA’s final Bond game in 2005 was a return to how things were before – and in more ways that one. That is, not only was it a third-person shooter like Everything or Nothing; EA turned the clock way back to 1963 for an adaptation of the Sean Connery classic From Russia With Love – starring Connery himself, no less, in his video game debut.
Developed for PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and the PSP, From Russia With Love was perhaps a little shallow overall, but its ’60s setting oozed charm and it was a significant step up from GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.
Unfortunately, the fun was just about to come to a dead end.
In May 2006 it was announced that Activision had acquired the Bond video game license. After a pair of spin-offs and half-a-dozen mainline entries, the EA cadence of yearly Bond games fans had enjoyed was suddenly over.
Unfortunately, things haven’t been quite the same ever since. In 2008 Activision released Quantum of Solace on a host of platforms, including PS2, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and even DS. It was fine enough, but Daniel Craig’s video game debut was otherwise pretty unremarkable, even by contemporaneous standards.
Things did improve a little in 2010, with the release of two separate games: Blood Stone, developed by Bizarre Creations for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, and a remake of GoldenEye 007 for Wii by Eurocom. Both games also had a DS version built by n-Space.
Blood Stone, an original Bond adventure featuring the voices and likenesses of Daniel Craig and Judi Dench, was a third-person shooter with a variety of driving sequences – the latter being a natural fit for the studio behind the Project Gotham Racing series. It was a well-produced action game, but it just wasn’t a long or revolutionary one.
GoldenEye 007 on Wii fared better. Replacing Pierce Brosnan with Daniel Craig and updating the story made for a pretty… iffy reimagining of the source material, but it gathered a good deal of praise for being one of the better first-person shooters for the Wii. For Bond fans without a Wii, GoldenEye 007 was ported to PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2011.
But then, in 2012, we got 007 Legends.
007 Legends, for PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and Wii U, was the last Bond game published by Activision. Unfortunately, it was also the last ever game made by regular Bond developer Eurocom, which was shut down less than two months after the game’s release, after 25 years of operation.
Released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the film franchise, 007 Legends had grand plans to celebrate the entire series, and its single player campaign was built to contain missions from films featuring all six different Bond actors. That is, Goldfinger for Sean Connery, On Her Majesty's Secret Service for George Lazenby, Moonraker for Roger Moore, Licence to Kill for Timothy Dalton, Die Another Day for Pierce Brosnan, and Skyfall for Daniel Craig. However, like the GoldenEye 007 remake, it simply used Daniel Craig’s likeness in place of all the previous actors.
Unfortunately the end result was a tepid Call of Duty clone that did very little to capture the spirit of Bond, and even less to translate what fans love about these films.
007 Legends doesn’t just misunderstand Bond; it gets him totally wrong. Hell, he even completely flubs his most famous line, “Bond. James Bond.”
Mowing down mooks with a mounted minigun may be pretty typical shooter stuff, but it isn’t what James Bond is about. He’s a spy, not a super soldier. There are parts of 007 Legends you can play by keeping a low profile, but they mainly boil down to slinking around slapping blokes on the arse so firmly they die.
All Activision Bond games were suddenly pulled from Steam and the publisher’s own web store in January 2013. The move, which happened less than three months after the release of 007 Legends, came completely unannounced and without explanation. Since Activision originally announced its deal with MGM was supposed to last until 2014, the premature termination of the license led to speculation that things had soured significantly.
The spirit of Call of Duty killing James Bond was deeply ironic considering it’s been suggested that the James Bond game series very nearly prevented the Call of Duty series from ever happening in the first place. That could have happened if EA had partnered with Call of Duty creators Vince Zampella and Jason West, who had pitched for the PC port of Nightfire back in the early 2000s. As it turned out, EA went with Gearbox, and Zampella and West accepted a deal from Activision and founded Infinity Ward.
At any rate, the funk of 007 Legends has sadly hovered for some time, and there have been no new Bond games for over a decade. He didn’t quite disappear completely, though. 10 classic Bond cars, complete with gadgets, made their way to Forza Horizon 4 in 2018, and two Bond Aston Martins hit Rocket League in 2021. In 2023 the original GoldenEye 007 fought its way out of licensing purgatory and onto Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. In 2024 a confidential sizzle reel concerning a past pitch to make a LEGO James Bond game even leaked onto the internet; the idea looked and sounded incredible, but it obviously never made it into production.
Happily, Bond’s long hiatus is just about over thanks to the imminent arrival of IO Interactive’s 007 First Light in May. A modern and original origin story for Bond, which appears to be a more explosive riff on the sort of gameplay IO has been refining within its Hitman series for the past two decades, First Light features Irish actor Patrick Gibson as Bond, with Lenny Kravitz aboard playing the villain.
At the time, developer Unknown Worlds acknowledged in a statement to IGN that leaked copies were now being downloaded, though cautioned that these were "incomplete development versions" that "do not reflect the content or gameplay experience being prepared for the official release."
It's unclear exactly what issue the leaked copy owner contacted Unknown Worlds about, but it seems clear enough that they were trying to play an incomplete version of the game, and a staff member quickly wised up.
"It took some doing, but this guy self-reported," Unknown Worlds developer Anthony Gallegos said of the user via the game's official Discord (as spotted by RespawnFirst). "Thanks for pirating a game that I've spent years working on. I'm disappointed that you'd do that when it's kind of how we make our living. I hope you rethink your life choices."
"Just to be clear, pirates are gonna do their thing. We were all kids once," Gallegos continued later. "Money and the economy is very hard. I get it. It wasn't the piracy that bothered me. It was the people that flagrantly walked in here and wagged it in the faces of people who were waiting to play legitimately. That was the part that aggravated me.
"I understand and thank you for supporting the studio ultimately. I cannot condone piracy, but I get why people do. I would much rather people buy the game, try it for an hour, and return it than go play it illicitly."
News that illegitimate copies of Subnautica 2 were being spread online bizarrely followed several other high profile video game leaks in quick succession, including at least one user being able to access their pre-ordered copy of LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight days early.
Still, the leaks don't seem to have sunk Subnautica 2 — quite the opposite. Already, the game has sold a stunning 2 million copies within 12 hours of its early access arrival. Peak concurrent players across all launch platforms exceeded 651,000, with Steam alone reaching a peak of more than 467,000 concurrent players. That’s nearly nine times the all-time peak concurrent player count of the original Subnautica, which launched in 2018.
Fresh from its huge launch, underwater survival and crafting adventure Subnautica 2 now has an early access roadmap detailing the updates players can expect to see over the next few months.
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Fresh from its huge launch, underwater survival and crafting adventure Subnautica 2 now has an early access roadmap detailing the updates players can expect to see over the next few months.
Unknown Worlds said it’s working towards a “big drop” that will expand the world with biomes, creatures, resources, tools, vehicles, and the next chapter of the story. But in the meantime, improvements will be added to the game. The first update will include quality-of-life fixes that Unknown Worlds said “should help adjust and address some areas that need a little tweaking to make your Subnautica 2 experience even better.” The second update, meanwhile, will focus on improving the co-op experience.
Unknown Worlds stressed that the roadmap is subject to change, but there’s plenty here that should excite fans — and there are a lot of them. Subnautica 2 sold an incredible 2 million copies in just 12 hours, and obliterated the first game’s Steam concurrent player peak. IGN’s Subnautica 2 early access review returned a 7/10. We said: “It’s pretty impressive that wading in the shallow tides of Subnautica 2's early access debut is as fun as it is already, and that should be a great sign of things to come, but I also wouldn’t blame anyone for waiting for these waters to rise a bit before getting their feet wet.”
Subnautica 2 early access roadmap:Early access 1.1 quality-of-life update
Planned improvements to:
Biomods system
Blight encounters
Wrecks gameplay
Vehicle docking and fabrication
PDA Databank
Voicelogs priority system
Planned additions:
More passive Biomod slots
Storage cache
Sprint
Early access 1.2 co-op centric update
Planned improvements to:
HUD signals
Base builder tool
Pinned recipe system
Planned additions:
Voice chat
Emotes
Player trading
Player revive
Additional customizations
Future major expansion updates
New region:
Expand the world
New biomes
New creatures
New resources
New tools
New vehicle
Next chapter of the story
Ongoing improvements:
Big fixes
Balance tuning
Optimization
And other continuous updates
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
With Forza Horizon 6 available now to those who’ve purchased the more expensive premium editions – and May 19 for the standard edition – developer Playground Games has outlined the first batch of free reward cars that will become available for players when the Festival Playlist functionality is switched on come May 21.
Series 1, dubbed ‘Welcome to Japan’, will run from May 21 to June 18 and make 10 new cars available to collect, listed below.
1999 Toyota Altezza RS200 Z EDITION (earn 20 points during the Summer Season)
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR (earn 40 points during the Summer Season)
1997 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec (earn 20 points during the Autumn Season)
1991 Honda CR-X SiR (earn 40 points during the Autumn Season)
2019 Subaru STI S209 (earn 20 points during the Winter Season)
2016 Toyota Land Cruiser Arctic Trucks points (earn 40 points during the Winter Season)
1996 Toyota Starlet Glanza V (earn 20 points during the Spring Season)
1974 Toyota Corolla SR5 (earn 40 points during the Spring Season)
2008 Mazda Furai (earn 60 points over the course of the whole 'Welcome to Japan’ series)
2010 Nissan 370Z (earn 120 points over the course of the whole 'Welcome to Japan’ series)
This structure ought to sound pretty familiar to anyone who participated in the playlist structure in Forza Horizon 5, though Playground has reiterated there has been a change to the format, noting that Forza Horizon 6 will be introducing “unique secondary rewards to the Festival Playlist.”
According to the team’s latest post, “Series History Rewards” will include “exclusive cars that are unlocked based on the lifetime Playlist Points that you have obtained from playing the game.”
It’s not entirely clear how this will work in practice, so we’ll have to dig into it next week. Forza Horizon’s Festival Playlist structure has copped criticism for embracing its FOMO sensibilities a little too seriously.
If you haven’t already, you can check out IGN’s review for a deep dive into what makes this 10 out of 10 speedster the best open-world racer in the business and, if you’re already laying rubber all over Japan but need some pointers on where to find its pesky treasure cars and barn finds, we’ve got you covered there, too.
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
In honor of Pokémon’s 30th anniversary, we explore how its relatively consistent approach to accessibility has made it a comfort play.
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Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise. With over 1,000 pocket monsters to collect, battle, and trade, dozens of mainline and spinoff games, a lucrative trading card game, various animated shows and movies, as well as a plethora of merchandise, Pokémon is one of the most profitable franchises in the world. It also happens to be my favorite.
I’ve spoken ad nausea about how much I love Pokémon. I’ve collected all but one of the mainline games, my room is adorned with statues, posters, and plushies of my favorite monsters, and my social media profiles are labeled with custom Pokémon artwork. This franchise means more to me than any other. And for this Access Designed, in honor of Pokémon’s 30th anniversary, I want to explore how its relatively consistent accessibility has shaped me, not only as a disabled player, but as a disabled reporter.
Catching Them All
My first introduction to the series wasn’t a video game. It was actually a single trading card: a Machop, effortlessly holding a massive boulder above its head. My older brother had been forced to reluctantly share it with me. And from that moment on, all I wanted was to collect more. I watched my brother trade with his friends, slowly developing my favorites from afar.
It wasn’t until the age of five, when my mother picked me up from kindergarten with a copy of Pokémon: Blue Version, that I experienced my first foray into the digital world of Pokémon. Back in 1999, my disability had yet to progress to where it is now. Yes, I was weak and required a wheelchair, but my hands had yet to atrophy into their current shape, and so it was far easier to use handheld consoles like the Game Boy. And because early Pokémon games had simplistic movement and play-at-your-own-speed turn-based combat, I could spend hours catching and battling without physical fatigue or strain.
For years, well into Pokémon’s third generation with games like Ruby, Sapphire, Fire Red and Leaf Green, that classic, accessible gameplay design remained the same. While the different iterations of Game Boys changed their shapes and sizes, Pokémon’s overall play style was the only accessibility constant in my gaming life. Whether relaxing after school or stuck in an ICU room with IVs and tubes coming from my body, I was always able to play Pokémon.
When Change Creates Conflict
Pokémon’s inclusive gameplay design is inherent to its overall accessibility. The games are meant to be played by everyone, with difficulty being exclusive to the individual. Do you want to breeze through the game with just your starter and a legendary? Go for it. Do you want to build an intricately competitive team with proper stat distribution and type matchups? Nothing is stopping you. There is a level of freedom offered by Pokémon games that, for me, is unmatched in terms of accessible design.
Even as Nintendo evolved, with new handhelds that chased new ambitions, Pokémon’s core gameplay loop remained the same. While the DS and 3DS games used the touchscreen for minigames, I was still able to play the entirety of each Pokémon entry released on those consoles. That streak was brought to an end, though, with the release of the first Pokémon game for the Nintendo Switch.
Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee were released in 2018. They are both remakes of the original generation’s Yellow Version, albeit with some notable differences. All Pokémon are visible on the overworld, making it easier to find your favorites and even hunt for elusive shinies. The overall difficulty is significantly easier, with an emphasis on attracting a new generation of Pokémon fans. Both of those changes were more than welcome. But the most controversial difference was the inclusion of forced motion controls.
Catching Pokémon meant flicking the Joycon, imitating throwing a Pokéball to activate the controller’s motion systems. There was no alternative to this mechanic, no ability to catch using traditional controls. For the first time ever in a mainline entry, Pokémon changed one of its core gameplay principles, and the result was a less accessible game. For the first time in my life, I was unable to play a Pokémon game due to its overall inaccessibility. And while I wasn’t disappointed to be missing another first-generation remake, I was fearful that this gimmick would set a precedent for future games.
In 2018, I wrote my first article exploring the negative accessibility impact of the Let’s Go games. In a uniquely beautiful, full circle moment, the series that was my accessibility constant helped launch my career as a disability and accessibility reporter. With gaming journalism in this field still within its infancy, it was refreshing to see a publication take a chance on a new writer to essentially call out one of the largest franchises in the world. My piece was deeply personal, but also spoke to the greater concerns of accessibility as a whole – can innovation be dangerous in the face of accessibility? Thankfully, Let’s Go were the only games to incorporate forced motion controls, but Pokémon continues to try to innovate.
An Uncertain Future
Pokémon’s recent Legends entries once again redefine what it means to capture and battle powerful monsters. While 2022’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus kept the series’ classic turn-based battle system, it implemented real-time catching without providing any accessible tools. And so while I was able to play Arceus to completion, I needed to use a specialized controller in combination with Nintendo’s native system accessibility settings, activated through the Switch itself rather than in-game. Fast forward to 2025’s Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and for the first time in a Pokémon entry everything was real-time. It meant that I found it a struggle to play for consecutive hours. So while I did complete both Legends games, I did so while grappling with a level of physical fatigue and strain that I’ve never experienced with Pokémon before. And even though I love these new interpretations of this 30 year-old classic series, I’m slightly apprehensive when thinking about the future of Pokémon. Will there be another Let’s Go-esque game I can’t play? I don’t know, and that quite frankly terrifies me.
I will always love Pokémon. I will always view it as my emotional comfort series. And as I’ve grown, I’ve learned to appreciate the nuances behind each game. Competitive battling, shiny hunting, and even Pokédex completion have historically been aspects of each game that I can comfortably engage with despite my physical disability. While I’ve become hesitant to let my accessibility guard down with new games and announcements, Pokémon’s vast library means I can always return to my comfort place. And for that reason alone, I’m excited to see where the next 30 years take us.
Grant Stoner is a disabled journalist covering accessibility and the disabled perspective in video games. When not writing, he is usually screaming about Pokémon or his cat, Goomba on Twitter.
IGN is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and I couldn’t be more excited to give you all a sneak peek at the year-long festivities we have in store. From deep dive retrospective interviews with the biggest names in entertainment, to an in-person celebration in downtown Los Angeles, we’re inviting you to celebrate 30 years of pop culture with us.
Everything Everywhere All At Once
It’s fitting we’re celebrating this milestone now, at such an incredible time for games, movies, and streaming. Super Mario is now a huge movie franchise. The Last of Us and Fallout are smash-hit shows. Netflix now hosts an ever-growing collection of video games. And in turn some games, like Dispatch, look and behave a lot like Netflix shows. Thanks to the rise of collab culture in general, fans of everything from Stranger Things to Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn can show off their fandom in Fortnite. You can get Dwight Schrute as a Magic: the Gathering card.
Crucially, it isn’t just the megabrands that have benefitted. At this same time, the expansion of digital distribution platforms like Steam and streaming have empowered formerly niche communities to reach new heights as well. If you like chill, cozy games, they’ve never been bigger. Or if you’re like me and want to optimize conveyor belts and production chains, automation games are also having a moment. On the streaming side, we all have a friend that has found some amazing new subtitled show no one is watching but them, but might blow up into the next big thing (looking at you, Peer). Nowhere is this feeling more prevalent than the incredible growth of anime and manga over the last three decades.
In other words, whatever you’re into, pop culture has evolved to allow you to go deeper into your passions, or discover something amazing and new you didn’t even know you were interested in.
In short, it’s an exciting time to be a fan of…. just about anything.
At IGN, we’re privileged to have been right in the middle of this all for 30 years. IGN Entertainment company co-founder Peer Schneider has published an image gallery from the very earliest days of IGN you have to see.
"I am what I choose to become"
In some ways the entertainment landscape has been completely transformed from what it was in our earliest days. One somewhat startling fact is that IGN has been around longer than YouTube, Netflix, and Xbox, just to name a few. But in other ways, everything old becomes new again. In 1996 we were dreaming about what Zelda would look like on the Nintendo 64. In 2026, we’re dreaming about what Zelda will look like in theaters. Tomb Raider made its debut in 1996, and now in 2026 we’re excited to be covering both the new show and the duo of upcoming games. It’s like poetry… they rhyme.
But it’s these rare periods of more rapid transformation - like the one we’re in right now - that have always fascinated me most. I joined IGN in 2011 as Mobile Games Editor, reviewing games like Angry Birds Star Wars and Infinity Blade (bring it back you cowards!). I spent another couple years running features, and had a lot of fun (and headaches) shepherding insane projects like the Top 125 Nintendo Games. I recently moved into a role overseeing IGN’s absolutely amazing editorial team.
After more than 15 years, the thing that excites me most about working here is still the same: it’s the moment when someone says “...what if we tried this?” when thinking about how to solve a tricky problem.
Around 20 years ago, a little website called YouTube was just taking off. More video game fans were interested in watching videos about their favorite games and movies, and not just reading about them. IGN adapted quickly, and we now have 35 million subscribers watching more than 2 billion videos every year.
Around 10 years ago, Snapchat was the biggest thing on the planet, with TikTok and Instagram reels hot on its heels. IGN got on board, and now has more than 60 million social followers watching more than 5 billion vertical videos annually.
A decade later, we’re now in the midst of another transformative moment. In an online landscape increasingly dominated by text, videos, and entire people that were created at the click of a button, authenticity, transparency, and helpfulness are more important than ever.
Every single piece of IGN content is created by a human.
You’ve seen a little bit of this from us already, and we’re excited to double down across the rest of 2026 and beyond. As one small step, we’re now including an extended discussion with our critics at the end of most reviews, to learn more about the reviewer’s specific tastes, history with the genre or franchise, and more.
Every single piece of IGN content is created by a human. We will give you more opportunities to get to know individual creators’ quirks and tastes in ways beyond just our stable of podcasts, including more letters from the editor like this one. (Seriously - hit me up if you’re playing any new factory automation games).
We’re also doubling down on making ourselves as helpful to all of you as possible, in big ways and small. HowLongToBeat does exactly what's in the name: work with the community to log data on exactly how many hours it takes to clear any video game. Tools like Maxroll and Mapgenie have also joined the IGN family in recent years, serving as complement to our human-powered cultural commentary, helping you get the most out of your games.
Finally, just as we want to find more opportunities for you to get to know us, we’re also excited to connect with and open a closer conversation with all of you more directly, as well. Again, this isn’t something brand new. Among other things, our annual Reddit AMA gives us a chance to chat with you all directly and hopefully demystify how IGN works a bit. The AMA has been one opportunity for us to remind everyone that IGN reviews have never and will never be paid for - every once in a while it’s important to restate the obvious.
But for me personally, IGN Live is the most exciting way we show up for our audience, and it’s been amazing to see so many of you show up for us, too. The (for now) once-a-year event kicked off in 2024, with attendees getting to play dozens of unreleased games, and to see live on-stage interviews with head of Xbox Phil Spencer, the cast of Critical Role, film director Eli Roth, and plenty more. We grew to a second floor in 2025. And in 2026 we’re excited to share more soon about what we have in store. But it may not surprise you to hear it's not just going to be a look ahead at this year’s biggest games, shows, and movies, but will double as a massive celebration 30 years in the making.
I’d love to see you there this June.
A Year-Long Celebration
In addition to IGN Live, you’re going to see special 30th anniversary-themed content on IGN all year long.
In IGN30: Icons, we’re conducting deep dive, longform interviews with industry luminaries from across gaming and entertainment to learn more about what they were doing in 1996, get their take on the last 30 years of groundbreaking changes, as well as their look ahead at the next 30 years.
1996 was an incredible year for games, featuring the debut of Super Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and Pokemon Red & Blue, just to name a few. And although we didn’t want too much of our IGN30 celebration to just be pure nostalgia, we couldn’t pass up this opportunity to revisit those all-time greats. So this year we’ll be producing special IGN30 editions of Art of the Level, Is It Still Fun Today?, and more. IGN Cinefix is also joining in on the fun, with Art of the Scene: IGN30 Edition.
This year we’re getting you involved in the celebrations too, via interactive face-offs, polls, and brackets to help settle some of the greatest and most storied characters, games, and consoles from the past three decades.
Finally, IGN Store and Humble Bundle will be getting in on the IGN30 celebrations, with throwback merchandise and a best-of-the-best game bundle.
I want to close with a genuine thank you, whether you’re here with us every day, or if this is your first time back in a while. I grew up poring over issues of EGM, and then just a few short years later obsessively checking websites like CheatCC, AICN, The GIA and yes, ign64.com (among so many others). So to have the opportunity to talk about the games, movies, and shows I love for a living is truly a dream come true.
It’s an honor and a privilege to have you here with us at all, and on behalf of everyone at IGN, I’m so excited to celebrate with you this year.
IGN is celebrating its 30th Anniversary on September 29, 2026. Before it was later rebranded IGN64, our first site, N64.com launched the same day the Nintendo 64 came out in the US back in 1996.
While we didn’t found the company, IGN Entertainment, until February 1999, IGN’s first article – a news story about Howard Lincoln commenting on the decision to drop the N64’s launch price from $249 to $199 – is dated September 23, 1996 and published a few days before IGN’s first site launch: N64.com.
A Celebration of 3D Gaming
IGN's story began with the advent of 3D console gaming and the desire to go beyond the monthly magazines with long lead times and share daily content about N64, PlayStation, and Saturn for our favorite pasttime. Content preservation wasn’t a big thing in the ‘90s, but many of the original articles are still online, along with prelaunch damage control like “Why is the site so slow?”, early examples of story formats that now dominate the internet (like text-and-image-only unboxings), and previews of games that would never see the light of day. Other content is lost to the ages, victims of media server migrations gone wrong, or someone not confirming with the content team that yes, we would like to keep the articles written on Saturnworld.com after merging them all into the new site, IGN.com, in 1999.
Spun out from publisher Imagine Media, IGN.com combined existing gaming content from a few formerly standalone websites, such as IGN64 and PSXPower, the movies and lifestyle site The DEN (Daily Entertainment Network), and GameSages, a gaming community with codes and tips. From there, we expanded IGN with new channels, new formats, experimented with new platforms, and eventually got to where we are today: a content brand covering the things you love that you can find wherever you like to hang out. I’ll spare you the corporate rah-rah with reach and follower numbers, but we’ll never forget to be thankful for the many fans that watch and read our content and use our tools every day.
Want to know what IGN looked like in the very beginning? Check out the IGN30 homepage gallery:
Though one of gaming’s biggest players, Nintendo, is nearly as old as Hollywood, video games were still a relatively young art form when IGN first arrived on the scene. Sticking with the example of 1889’s hippest playing card company turned video game giant, we witnessed the rise and fall and rise of Nintendo, SEGA doing what nintendidn’t and making games for all platforms, FPS dev royalty Steam and Epic making fortunes by building stores and making engines, and a little comic book company rising from bankruptcy to become one of the biggest players in entertainment. The heroes we once only read about are now the characters we watch and play as. In a glorious full-circle, the heroes we played as are now greeting us at theme parks and packing seats in movie theaters.
Party Like It's 1996
Creating content for YouTube, podcasts platforms, and social media has ensured that IGN has continued to grow over the years even as the way people browse the “internet” has fundamentally changed. Those of you who have visited us via office tours, hung out at IGN Live in LA, or tuned in to our podcasts hopefully encountered that same small team spirit that we feel whenever we get together to plan a new event, video, article, strategy guide, or map.
Community-Powered
IGN's community couldn't pass up the two pictures we posted in a hype thread about Nintendo a year apart. Following the candid "disappointment" pic from 2003, the IGN Nintendo Team's staged (but entirely real) excitement for Twilight Princess's impending reveal at E3 2004 turned into a lasting meme called the Reaction Guys ("Gaijin 4Koma"). I'm the very, very happy guy on the right. From My.IGN to IGN comments, Podcast Facebook Groups, Playlist, HowLongtoBeat, and Maxroll, community will continue to play a big part in our future.
Lots of work goes into publishing IGN every day – and I’m just as thankful for the contributions from staff members present and past – but instead of making this anniversary celebration entirely about us, we’ll be rolling out lots of fun pieces of content that celebrate the last 30 years of games and entertainment throughout 2026.
If you’re interested in traveling down memory lane with us, IGN’s newly crafted editorial lead, Justin Davis, is sharing what we’ve got in store all year long for IGN30. Check that article out here: Why Now is the Most Exciting Time for IGN.
If you’re not sick of me yet, take a look at my occasional retro gaming column, Forgotten Gems, or join Daemon, Sam, Justin, and me for a special video episode of IGN Game Scoop as we open some dusty boxes with gaming artifacts in IGN’s storage space, right here and now:
Thanks for sticking with us! I hope you enjoy our lookbacks throughout 2026 -- and see you in 2046 for IGN50! (In space.)
Peer Schneider is one of the founders of IGN Entertainment, the company that runs IGN. After two decades of heading up editorial, he created a tools and game help group a few years ago and oversees the next generation of content publishing via IGN Guides, Maxroll, Map Genie, Gamer Network, HowLongtoBeat, and more.
From Dinky the T-Rex to prototype Mesmetron tech, here’s all the video game nods we spotted in the Fallout Season 2 premiere.
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The Fallout TV show is packed full of characters, factions, locations, and items familiar to any who has played the beloved RPGs. There are so many easter eggs to spot that we found 111 video game details in Season 1 alone. With Season 2 heading to a fan-favourite region of the Fallout universe, New Vegas, there's naturally a whole new flood of iconography set to make its way from the games into the Prime Video series. So, we’ll be digging into each and every episode and picking out everything we’ve noticed that relates to the source material. Without further ado, let's take a look at every video game easter egg and details we spotted in the season premiere of Fallout Season 2.
Characters and Factions
1. The likes of Lucy and The Ghoul obviously return in Fallout Season 2, but one less obvious returning character is Robert House, who first appeared at the end of Season 1, albeit looking a little different. That’s because he’s now been recast, with Justin Theroux taking over (sort of) from Rafi Silver, in anticipation of a presumably larger role this time around. It makes sense, too, as New Vegas is where the founder of RobCo Industries is found in the game, declaring himself as CEO, President, and Sole Proprietor of the New Vegas strip. We first see him in a flashback sequence at a local bar.
2. New Vegas is also home to some iconic factions that battle for control over the Mojave wasteland. One we see prominently in this episode is the Great Khans, a raider tribe inspired by Mongolian culture of the old world. This can clearly be seen in their horned helmets and recognisable logo that’s proudly on display in Novac.
3. A number of corpses wearing fur hats can be seen as Lucy and The Ghoul investigate an abandoned vault. These are similar to the hats worn by the People's Liberation Army, as seen in Fallout 3 and its Operation: Anchorage DLC, although these are not actually dead members of the PLA, but the rotting carcasses of Americans brainwashed into thinking they’re communists.
4. Before the bombs dropped, we also get a look at a Vault-Tec salesman who looks to be dressed pretty much exactly like the one who rings your doorbell at the start of Fallout 4. We’d be highly surprised if it’s the exact same one, considering they’d have to be in both Boston and Los Angeles near the beginning of the apocalypse, but it's great to see that Vault-Tec enforces a strict dress code policy.
Locations
5. In fact, the whole neighborhood that the salesman is roaming around is similar to the one seen at the beginning of Fallout 4. Even a military Vertibird can be seen flying over the street, exactly like it does in the 2015 game.
6. Lucy and The Ghoul walk past a sign pointing towards the Starlight Drive-In Theater as they wander the wasteland. This drive-in cinema is actually a location you can visit in Fallout 4, but I guess there must have been a large chain of these that spread throughout America.
7.Vault 24 is a curious one. Strictly speaking, it doesn’t exist in Fallout: New Vegas, but following its 2010 release, a Vault 24 jumpsuit has been found in the game files of Obsidian’s RPG. It seems like this was a location that was ultimately cut, so it's nice to see it get its moment in the limelight here, even if it doesn’t seem the most welcoming of places.
8. One location that is definitely in Fallout: New Vegas is the Dino Dee-lite Motel. Arguably one of the Mojave wasteland’s most iconic landmarks, in this part of the timeline, the Great Khans have seemingly taken control of it at the expense of the game’s previous occupant, Jeannie May Crawford, who ran it fifteen years earlier in 2281.
9.Dinky the T-Rex is the motel’s looming dinosaur mascot, and he looks just like he does in New Vegas. In a clear reference to the video game, Lucy uses its gaping mouth as a sniper’s nest, just as Craig Boone and Manny Vargas once did.
10. The Dino Dee-Lite motel is what the town of Novac is built around, having gotten its name from the damaged “No Vacancy” sign that sits outside of it. In the game, its residents describe it as “a small oasis in a big desert”, but it looks like it's seen better days in the show.
Items and Iconography
11. A nice little detail is the shield and skull decoration seen in Novac. This is a reference to the Great Khans ending slide from the first Fallout, which you may have seen based on the choices you’d made in that original Interplay Productions game.
12. And of course, it wouldn’t be Fallout with Nuka Cola. A vending machine for the wasteland’s favourite carbonated drink can be seen in Novac by the motel.
13. Caffeine isn’t the only drug rife in the Mojave, though. This Great Khan member can be seen inhaling some Jet, a powerful hallucinogenic chem that gives the user a brief period of enhanced awareness. In the games, this translates as slowing down the action around you to give the player an edge in combat. Incidentally, the most common form of Jet is created using the fumes emanating from the dung of Brahmin (Fallout’s multi-headed bovine).
14. The Ghoul can be seen using a device that produces a green light or mist to heal the cuts on his neck. We initially wondered if this was a miniaturised version of Fallout 76’s Stimpack Diffuser, which creates a cloud of green healing mist. However, IGN reader ZaFreesh pointed out this is actually a damaged Fusion Core, the devices used to power many of the universe's devices (you can see its yellow body and connecting prongs through The Ghoul's fingers.) In all of Bethesda's Fallout games, ghouls are able to use radiation to heal. That green light is leaking ionizing radiation.
15. Of course, there are also more traditional ways of harming your insides. Big Boss cigarettes are a very common brand in the Fallout universe, and we can see Mr House with a pack of them in the opening.
16. If you’re more of a straight-edge kinda person, perhaps we can interest you in some of the wasteland’s more precious items – purified water. A bottle can be seen on the floor of a vault back in Los Angeles.
17. Another great way to restore some health in the Fallout games is by eating some Sugar Bombs. An incredibly sugary breakfast cereal, a box can be spotted in the far less sweet-looking medical facility inside Vault 24.
18. Back in the very Fallout 4-looking town in the middle of the episode, we can spot a Vault-Tec van, presumably belonging to the aforementioned salesman. In case you don’t know, Vault-Tec is the company responsible for building and maintaining the hundreds of nuclear bunkers across North America.
19. And don’t get too excited, but that isn’t the only van-related detail, as in the episode’s opening scene we are shown a Radiation King van behind Robert House. Radiation King is an electronics company that, among other items, makes many of the televisions spotted across Fallout’s wasteland.
20. Speaking of technology and Mr House, could the neck-mounted radio chips that he uses to overpower the construction worker’s brain be an early prototype of the Mesmetron, or perhaps a competing design from RobCo Industries? The Mesmetron is a mind control device that we’ve only previously seen in Fallout 3. This unique weapon was developed by Implied Hypnotics Inc. and grants the player the ability to confuse enemies, and even make their heads explode.
21. Speaking of non-Fallout: New Vegas-related items from the games making their way into the TV show, the Whack a Commie! arcade machine from Fallout 4’s Nuka World expansion can be seen being played by Cooper’s daughter, Janey, in a flashback.
Music
22. Music is a huge part of the Fallout games, and that’s no different in the show. During the Novac shootout, we can hear “Big Iron” by Marty Robbins. This track features in Fallout: New Vegas and has lived a long life since, becoming a meme in its own right.
23.“It’s All Over” by The Ink Spots can also be heard in the episode. This is from Fallout 4, with The Ink Spots being a 1930s and ‘40s group that has become synonymous with the games, having had songs featured in multiple entries.
24.“Make the World Go Away” is a country song originally written by Hank Cochran. Though not in any Fallout, a cover of it has been used in a video game: GTA San Andreas, which also visits Las Vegas as one of its key locations.
25. A couple of other tracks also get aired throughout the season two premiere: A cover of “Cheek to Cheek” by Frank Sinatra, and “Workin’ For the Man” by Roy Orbison. These have no connection to the already established Fallout universe as far as we can tell, but do fit the vibe perfectly.
And that’s everything we spotted in the first episode of season two of the Fallout TV show. Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments. For more Fallout, check out our review of the premiere, and stay tuned next week for all of episode two’s easter eggs.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
Speedrunning charity drive Games Done Quick is holding a Disability and Neurodivergence Special this weekend, and is an important step for accessibility in gaming events.
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The Games Done Quick (GDQ) community regularly celebrates the art of speedrunning while raising money for different charities. Last year’s Awesome Games Done Quick event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania raised approximately $2.5 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, marking the organization as one of the largest global fundraisers. Not only is each event a testament to the skills of runners, but it also highlights the generosity of this subsection of the gaming community.
GDQ is not just known for its impressive speedruns, though. It’s commonly praised for its diversity. From Games Done Queer, to Black in a Flash, the speedrunning charity regularly creates safe spaces for marginalized identities. And this year, across the weekend of November 29-30, disabled and neurodivergent runners and community members alike will have their own platform to raise awareness and money for the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network, as well as showcase their speedrunning skills in games such as Tetris, Tunic, Dark Souls 3, and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.
Speaking with IGN, GDQ Disability and Neurodivergence Special event leads and speedrunners Madeleine “SatanHerself” Callan and Jaida “Anarchyasf” George discuss the importance of disability representation in the speedrunning scene, as well as the logistics of planning this event.
Making Speedrunning Inclusive
In March, Callan joined the GDQ team. She notes that the organization actively encourages the creation of different showcases, sometimes focused on specific games, and other times rooted in communities, like disabled and neurodivergent. After conferring with GDQ and formulating the idea for several months, she thought it appropriate to align the first disability speedrunning charity drive with International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which takes place on December 3. And to help organize and host the showcase, Callan brought on George, a speedrunner known for highlighting marginalized voices.
“I jumped at the opportunity when Maddie asked me to be on,” George says. “My Hotfix show [part of GDQ’s regular scheduled programming] that I started last November is called Hidden Heroes, and the point is to showcase marginalized speedrunners. Sometimes, when you are looking at the speedrunning space, it can seem overwhelmingly one kind of person, and you don’t often see people like me or people like Maddie on the big stage.”
George explains that her presence in the speedrunning scene is directly attributed to black speedrunners offering her opportunities to perform and compete. With over a decade of experience in the hobby, she was welcomed within black-led spaces and events at GDQ. And for Callan, her speedrunning career at GDQ is a tribute to the Frame Fatales community, an all women and femme speedrunning group. These groups, which offer safe and welcoming spaces within the greater speedrunning scene, were direct catalysts for the creation of the GDQ Disability and Neurodivergence Special. For Callan and George, elevating this community speedrunners, just as they were welcomed, is the most important aspect of building a new showcase.
“I often feel in professional spaces I can’t say the word Autism,” says Callan. “It makes people feel uncomfortable. I can’t say a myriad of the types of [disabilities] we’re going to be talking about during the event. I feel like in this space we made for ourselves, we can talk about [disabilities], and so many people are excited to.”
Callan explains that some runners have designed their showcases to highlight and educate audience members about their specific disabilities. “If you provide the safe space then people are going to flock to you. Do something that you’re excited about. And if you need more time, float around the space, and then, maybe you’ll feel more comfortable.”
Making Speedrunning Accessible
Establishing a safe and healthy environment for disabled and neurodivergent speedrunners is only one part of the overarching challenge of creating an accessible event. While most modern triple-A and indie games include some form of accessibility options or inclusive designs, they still cannot fully account for the individualistic nature of the disabled experience. This, according to Callan and George, helped drive discussions around ensuring that competitors could run from the comfort of their own homes.
That’s just one of many decisions made by the team to ensure the event is accessible to all. Another example is particularly beneficial for cognitive disabilities: “People who have speech impediments, or who are nervous about speaking for one reason or another, can get commentary buddies,” Callan reveals. “We’ve been linking people up with people who will help them with commentary, sort of like having a buddy support system. I’ve been enjoying seeing that come together and seeing people look at their limitations and saying, ‘I still want to try and see what I can do within this space.’”
To coincide with providing accessibility for casters and their specific runs, the disability and neurodivergent event also removes any kind of restriction on controls and control types. GDQ does traditionally allow unique controllers and control schemes to complete runs, like using a bicycle to beat Undertale or Peanut Butter the Dog’s makeshift paddles to beat Gyromite. But for disabled runners that need accessible controllers or schemes, George is making it very clear that GDQ encourages everyone to use what is necessary.
“Whatever it is you need to do to complete your run in a way that allows you to do it is encouraged,” she says. “I know there are people who play with alternative control styles. There is a particular person I know, who did not submit for the event, but uses a modified controller in a way that is helpful for them to do the hobby that they like to enjoy. Whatever people need to use, we are totally accepting.”
Callan does explain that there’s a chance that runs may be denied, not from an accessibility standpoint, but from a “technological limitation on the type of run that we can do, not the actual control scheme.”
Disability inclusion is still lacking across the greater gaming industry. From official fighting game tournaments restricting certain controls and settings, to companies like Microsoft outright banning third-party hardware, it’s difficult for disabled players to participate in events. Combine the lack of controls with little representation across major events, and disabled individuals struggle to fully belong in the scene. Callan and George ultimately want to rectify these missteps with the GDQ Disability and Neurodivergence Special. And, as Callan notes, creating a space where disabled runners can be welcomed and supported is what’s most important.
“My main message with this [event] and in general, as a person in this space, is to be proud of yourself,” she says. “Look at our positions in life and say ‘This sucks, and the world isn’t built for us, and it’s difficult when the world doesn’t want us to succeed, but that doesn’t mean we can’t come together and have fun and make a space for ourselves in the world that we want to see.’”
The GDQ Disability and Neurodivergence Special takes place this weekend, November 29-30, ahead of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, on December 3. You can watch the event streamed live on the GamesDoneQuick Twitch channel from 1pm ET/10am PT each day. You can find the schedule here.
Grant Stoner is a disabled journalist covering accessibility and the disabled perspective in video games. When not writing, he is usually screaming about Pokémon or his cat, Goomba on Twitter.
Forgotten Gems is a column about notable games that have moved out of the public eye and may not be easily accessible anymore. To see all the other games I've covered so far, check out the previous issues of Forgotten Gems in our Columns section.
It’s been four years since Nintendo brought the first batch of Nintendo 64 games to its Nintendo Switch Online service, now redubbed Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Classics. For someone who started his games media career covering N64 games, this modern take on Nintendo’s legendary Virtual Console era was a very welcome addition. I ended up playing through a few of the games over the months that followed and was surprised how well some of them aged (special shoutout to Rare’s Banjo games)!
It’s not all sunshine, of course. The games aren’t running natively and may not feel as snappy as you remember them. Some early emulation challenges, like Ocarina of Time’s fog rendering, were addressed pretty quickly, even if some others still linger (F-Zero X is still not as we remember it). And while there are many all-time classics to be found in the emulated library, I would’ve honestly expected a bigger lineup by now with a few more first-party hits as well as some third-party gems that have firmly entered the forgotten gems realm. Which means, Nintendo Classics is a convenient and cost-effective solution to relive the N64 age, but not a perfect one.
Already on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2
Nintendo’s official site for the service lists the full 35 games so far, not including the five M-rated games – Turok, Turok 2, Perfect Dark, Shadow Man, and Forsaken 64 – released via the awkwardly-separated Nintendo Classics: Mature 17+ app. That’s 0.8 games released per month of the service – so almost a game per month – but the cadence was far more irregular since Nintendo launched the service with a set of nine games.
Analogue 3D: Nintendo 64's 2025 Offspring
Enter the Analogue 3D, a modern – but costly – take on the Nintendo 64 hardware. See Seth’s review for more:
If you’re not familiar with the company, it’s known for making extremely capable high-end solutions to play classic games on modern screens, such as the Analogue Duo (PC Engine/TurboGrafx), the Super NT (SNES), Mega NT ( Genesis/Mega Drive), the Analogue Pocket (all Game Boy systems – with adapters for Game Gear, NGPC, Lynx, and more), and now, the $270 Analogue 3D, capable of bringing both NTSC and PAL games to 4K screens, lag-free, and with additional bells and whistles, like CRT-style display options, overclocking, and VFR. It’s not a replacement for the Switch consoles’ ability to emulate Nintendo 64 on the go, but for purists who have or are willing to build a sizable N64 cartridge collection and want the games to feel and look as good (or better) as they remember, it’s surely the best way to play them on modern screens.
I preordered one day one, mostly because I anticipated some major N64 games that I still own to never come to the Switch service – though I’ll concede that Nintendo has surprised me before. For starters, I did not have the Japan-only Custom Robo and Custom Robo V2 on my Switch Online bingo card. Perhaps there’s more where that came from?
People interested in game preservation usually know their way around a classic gaming library and if you’re part of the Analogue 3D club, you likely have some N64 carts at home already. But as someone who reviewed Nintendo 64 games for a living some three decades ago, I humbly present this non-exhaustive list of personal favorites that are worth going back to and AREN’T yet – and in some cases never will be – on Nintendo’s service.
10 Nintendo 64 Must-Plays
Let’s kick it off with 10 must-plays, in alphabetical order. I've included IGN's Top 25 N64 games at the bottom of this article -- but these picks and other picks in this column are specifically games you can't get yet play on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.
If you want to keep track of the games mentioned in this article, hit the "..." button on the right side of the game cards that accompany every pick and use the "add to a playlist" option to create yourself your very own "Want to Play on Analogue 3D List". You can even number-rank your list, score the games, and more.
Beetle Adventure Racing
I wrote a whole column about this one as well, but EA’s Battle Adventure Racing is more than just a – now – obscure entry in the Need for Speed series. It’s a genuinely good racer in which the hunt for its imaginative shortcuts is as entertaining as the actual racing action. Given that the VW Beetle car license comes with strings attached (VW isn’t making Beetles anymore and may not be motivated to rubberstamp an emulated re-release), the Analogue 3D is surely the best way to play it today!
Read my column, Raising the BAR, for more on the history of Beetle Adventure Racing -- and its canceled sequel.
Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Conker’s Bad Fur Day didn’t age as well as Rare’s best platformers, Banjo Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, partially because of its dated humor and references, but it’s still a great time. I actually played the original saccharine Conker’s game before it was retooled into the M-rated adventure we all know and love today. Historic significance of that “design 180” aside, there still isn’t anything as outrageously funny as the Great Mighty Poo boss battle -- even without the context of Conker’s roots. Perhaps replaying it will finally purge the Ugas’ chant from my brain, too. Note also that the Conker: Live and Reloaded remake is playable on modern Xbox consoles via backwards compatibility.
Diddy Kong Racing
It’s very strange Nintendo added Rare’s much worse Jet Force Gemini to Nintendo Switch Online before adding Diddy Kong Racing, but perhaps the combination of Microsoft-owned game code with Nintendo characters made it a much trickier title to negotiate a re-release contract for. Or maybe it’s still coming. Regardless, Diddy Kong Racing merged the stylings of Mario Kart and Mario 64 into a racing game with multiple vehicle types and an explorable overworld hub – decades before Mario Kart World. The Analogue 3D even smoothes out some of DKR’s framerate issues thanks to its ability to overclock. Given how long it takes Nintendo to make a new Mario Kart, I’m still hoping we’ll eventually get a true remake or a sequel – but lest you want to grow Cranky Kong's beard waiting, you may want to just cave and revisit the original.
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
Bonus Pick: Goemon's Great Adventure
Konami’s been issuing classic game collections left and right, which is why we haven’t seen some of its best classics, like the Castlevania GBA games, on Nintendo's service. Goemon games may be more likely additions since Konami hasn’t revisited them in a long time, but the fact that the only Mystical Ninja game playable on modern hardware today is the obscure arcade original should tell you something. Though they’re not as good as Goemon’s best outings on SNES, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon is a surprisingly daring Ocarina of Time-style 3D action adventure – and it came out before Nintendo’s mega hit. Plus, with overclocking, it’s actually much more playable than ever. Great Adventure, on the other hand, is a return to the 2D side-scrolling co-op action that may not be as original, but aged much better. Both are still fun to play.
I wrote an entire column about this true gem of strategy RPG and its predecessor, but at the risk of repeating myself: Ogre Battle 64 still rocks. Unfortunately, it’s also exceedingly rare and will cost more than a hundred bucks (without box or manual). If you don’t own it yet, always keep a weather eye out for a copy at the next neighborhood garage sale. See: Forgotten Gems: The Legendary Ogre Battle for more.
Ogre Battle 64 hit the Virtual Console on Wii in 2010 and saw a late release on Wii U in the US in 2017, as well. Neither Ogre Battle title has seen multi-platform or compilation releases nor an announcement for Nintendo Switch Online. Given that Square titles have been entirely absent from Nintendo’s subscription service, it’s unlikely we’ll see them added anytime soon.
Rocket: Robot on Wheels
You’ve probably never heard of Rocket, but its developer’s pedigree has improved a thousand fold since its debut back in 1999. I’ve always had a soft sport for developer Sucker Punch’s inaugural game, but those curious what the people behind Ghost of Yotei, Infamous, and Sly Cooper did before they were famous will find a slower-paced, physics-based puzzle platformer featuring a long-forgotten unicycle robot mascot. Given that Sony owns Sucker Punch and publisher Ubisoft likely let the license lapse, here’s probably your one chance to play it again or for the first time. Criminally underplayed when it first came out, Rocket is worth another look.
Space Station Silicon Valley
I’m convinced that DMA’s Space Station Silicon Valley will eventually join the Nintendo Classics lineup – after all, both its publisher, Take Two, and the developer – known now as Rockstar – are still alive and well. But until then, this obscure platform puzzle game is best played on original N64 hardware or the Analogue 3D. Silicon Valley has you switch between a variety of robotic animals to solve increasingly complicated puzzles. It’s odd, funny, and endlessly creative.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Bonus Pick: Star Wars: Battle for Naboo
It’s surprising this graphical showcase hasn’t returned to a Nintendo platform given that you can buy the PC port for a few bucks on Steam. Until it does, you could do worse than play the Expansion Pak-enhanced shooter on an Analogue 3D or original hardware today. A technical achievement for its time, Rogue Squadron is still a very playable and fun experience today. I was actually surprised how good it looks compared to pretty much every other N64 game when I plugged it into my Analogue 3D. The Analogue, of course, also supports the high resolution display mode that requires the 4MB Expansion Pak on original hardware. Bonus: try Star Wars: Episode I Battle for Naboo. It may not have the benefit of the more memorable battles from the original trilogy, but it’s a quality shooter in its own right.
Super Smash Bros.
Yes, I know. It’s insane the original Smash Bros. has not been released on Nintendo 64 Classics. Whatever the reasons, it still feels great and is a wonderful reminder as to how even the biggest hits started small. It’s the weakest game in the series with its limited roster of just 12 characters, but the genius of the series is already on full display here.
WWF No Mercy
Bonus Picks: WWF Wrestlemania 2000, WCW/NWO: Revenge, WCW vs. NWO: World Tour
I’m not a wrestling guy, but even I could tell that developer Aki’s run of Nintendo 64 wrestlers was something special. WWF No Mercy was always our internal top pick at IGN64 (we played it for many late, late hours), but any of the four Aki-made games are still worth playing. And given the complications with character and league licenses, the chances of them ever coming to Nintendo’s service are very slim.
Those 10 picks should be enough to get you started.
Even More N64 Picks for Your Analogue 3D
And here are a few more games worth checking out, based either on gameplay quality or historical significance, as noted:
Bakuretsu Muteki Bangai-O
Inferior to the Dreamcast version, but still a great example of what made Treasure’s games such rare delights, Bangai-O has you steer a tiny flying mech through a maze filled with enemies and relentlessly blast the opposition. Only released in Japan in limited numbers, it’s so ridiculously expensive to buy for N64, it would be really nice to get a digital rerelease.
BattleTanx and BattleTanx: Global Assault
Nintendo 64 was the multiplayer console of the ‘90s – but some of us kept playing four-player split-screen years afterwards, too. Stemming from failed console-maker 3DO, the two BattleTanx games were lesser known, but managed to serve up such addictive tank PVP gameplay, we ended up playing it almost as much as GoldenEye. Sadly, 3DO went under before they managed to pull off a hat trick. Prism Entertainment snapped up the license and maintains the trademarks for BattleTanx, but hasn’t done anything with them. Might as well grab the carts for cheap at a garage sale.
Body Harvest
Body Harvest is not a great game – and its visuals definitely didn’t age well. But it’s an experiment so ahead of its time, it deserves to be played again. From the makers of Grand Theft Auto comes a fully polygonal alien invasion action adventure that lets you command any vehicle you see. If you’re intrigued, please see my column for more: Body Harvest: The Game Nintendo Walked Away From. Killer soundtrack, too.
Bomberman X4
Nintendo 64 is home to four Bomberman games. Let me break them all down so you know which one's which. The first, Bomberman 64, known as Baku Bomberman in Japan, is notable mostly for bringing Bomberman into polygonal 3D. It’s not as snappy as its 2D predecessors, but it’s still fun to revisit. It was followed by the single-player Bomberman Hero. The lack of multiplayer was confounding and the action is decent enough, but it's at the bottom of the Bomberman list for me. It was followed by Bomberman 64: Second Attack. This underrated sequel to the inaugural 64 outing ffeatures more multiplayer options, including two-player co-op and a four-player splitscreen mode. Not all of them hit, but it’s still a quality game to revisit.
Now, things get confusing. There’s also: Bomberman 64.
No, you’re not seeing double. This Racjin-developed game takes everything back to 2D. Which much better results. Only released in Japan, it’s a shame the real Bomberman 64 from the makers of Snowbo Kids is more obscure than the inferior earlier title.
Castlevania: Legacy Of Darkness
Konami tried really hard – and struggled – to bring all its classic 2D series into the third dimension. It gave up on Contra 64 outright and canceled the project, while Goemon fared slightly better and saw two N64 releases, covered above. But you have to laud Konami for not giving up. Legacy of Darkness is basically a redo of Castlevania [64]. Its foggy, blurry visuals won’t dazzle you, but it’s a flawed and forgotten gem worth remembering. I still love that oversized “Home Depot Skeleton” battle.
Cruis’n USA and Cruis’n World
Take a deep breath. I don’t love these games. Actually, I don’t even like these games. I had some fun with Cruis’n USA in the arcades, but only when there weren’t better racers around to play – which was rare, because contemporaries like Daytona USA were always near. The N64 version isn’t a great conversion, but I know many older arcade fans are nostalgic for both Cruis’n games, so it feels right to include them with a special callout. I do appreciate Williams/Midway's early attempts to recreate arcade games on Nintendo 64 -- a key reason why Nintendo of America included them in their much-publicized Dream Team.
Donkey Kong 64
While I’m making old-school N64 fans cranky, let me tell you that I have very mixed feelings about DK 64 as well. The two Banjo games are definitely superior in every way, which is no doubt why both were prioritized for release on Switch. But for all the collection bloat, Donkey Kong 64 still has some memorable moments -- and music -- that make it worth revisiting. Plus, that yellow cartridge looks mighty good in either the white or the black Analogue 3D. Overclocking helps with its erratic framerate, but the drop in quality from Banjo-Kazooie is palpable when you play them back to back.
Doubutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing)
Animal Crossing on GameCube was actually a port of Doubutsu no Mori, a Nintendo 64 “communication game” that predates it by a full year. You’ll have to be able to read Japanese kana to fully enjoy it – but also note that you’ll mostly be playing the same game that later came to GameCube as Animal Crossing and Doubutsu no Mori+.
San Francisco Rush and Rush 2049
The original arcade conversion was surprisingly competent, but the Nintendo 64 version of its sequel, Rush 2049, manages the rare feat of being better than the arcade original. The key to its success was the ability to control the vehicles while airborne, which made all the difference for this version’s battle and stunt modes. “Rush… It’s DANGEROUS.”
Gauntlet Legends
Atari was intent on reinventing each one of its arcade classics in 3D for the new millennium, and Gauntlet Legends turned out to be one of the few that made it and left an impression. Ironically, its blocky polygonal graphics didn’t age as well as the OG’s top-down sprites, but I remember having a plenty of fun playing four-player in both the arcades and at home on N64.
Hybrid Heaven
It’s not as good as you remember it to be, but it remains a really unique attempt at marrying Metal Gear-style action with classic roleplaying gameplay. Ultimately, the world you explore is just not interesting enough to keep most player’s attention, but it’s historically interesting as the only sci-fi action RPG from Konami’s Osaka team and because it featured a widescreen mode way back in 1999. Hybrid Heaven supported the physical Expansion Pak for higher resolution output on N64 hardware, which the Analogue 3D supports virtually as well. For all its faults, Hybrid Heaven remains a cool experimental game that unfortunately ended up a mere footnote in Konami console game history.
Mickey’s Speedway USA
I’m no fan of Mickey’s Speedway USA – to me, it’s the game where Rare’s considerable design chops fell victim to having to color in the lines of a high-profile license. But it’s unlikely we’ll ever see this Disney take on Mario Kart (with way too wide tracks) re-released, so snap it up if you encounter it in the wild. The marriage of Nintendo, Rare, and Disney seemed like the start of a beautiful friendship and Speedway USA is more of a dead end -- but it's still cool to see Rare try something very "American", even if its NASCAR with mice and dogs didn't quite work out.
Micro Machines 64 Turbo
Here’s a surprisingly good racing game, on the other hand. Unfairly overlooked, Micro Machines 64 Turbo is a top-down multiplayer racer that offers up super-fun four player action with 32 different vehicle types – cars, tanks, boats, helicopters – across 48 different tracks. It even features an eight-player mode via what it calls “pad share” (yes, it’s as awkward as it sounds, but you have to appreciate the total commitment to create the ultimate party game).
Mischief Makers
Mischief Makers bucked the trend of making every game 3D on N64 and it’s still good for some fast and fluid action from storied developer Treasure. It’s not as good as Treasure’s own Gunstar Heroes for Genesis, but hey, not many games let you play as a brawling robot maid. We haven't gotten a new Treasure game since 2014, so even its lesser efforts are worth digging up.
Mission: Impossible
The movie-licensed Mission: Impossible may not be a great game, but it's worth adding to your physical cart collection as something that will likely never see a re-release on any platform due to licensing issues and the fact that it's a better museum piece than a video game. Mission: Impossible was a hugely ambitious game development project that didn’t quite make it to the desired finish line. It was pared down and became considerably less ambitious to get it out the door, but some of the great ideas are still to be found in what could’ve been a Hitman game before there were Hitman games.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Though not as good as the Dreamcast version, Rayman 2: The Great Escape on Nintendo 64 is an excellent platformer that shows the limbless hero could hang with Mario and Banjo (unlike Ubi’s very similar 3D platformer attempt that year, Tonic Trouble). Rayman’s 2D outings have aged better, but The Great Escape is still surprisingly good.
December 2025 Update: Rayman 2 and the inferior Tonic Trouble are available as part of Switch Online as of December 17, 2025.
Snowboard Kids 1 and 2
Nintendo 64’s four controller ports and early success with Mario Kart 64 multiplayer inspired some developers to experiment with “Mario Kart, but with…” games. With Snowboard Kids, Osaka-based Racjin found the winning formula. Never as good as Mario Kart – or 1080, for that matter – both Snowbo Kids games do conjure up plenty of happy memories of playing against friends.
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
I know there are plenty of N64 fans who would put this in their top 10 based on the strength of its excellent Hoth level. Visually, it was way ahead of its time. But unfortunately, most of the game is marred by sluggish and unbalanced first-person shooter sections and a repetitive, highly compressed mono soundtrack. It’s an interesting failure that has its fans. Worth playing just for the Snowspeeder bits and the fuzzy memories.
Top Gear and Friends
I wrote about the original Top Gear on SNES in a previous installment of this column, but N64 is a home to a slew of Top Gear titles, all quite different from each other. There’s Top Gear Rally, Top Gear Rally 2, Top Gear Overdrive, and Top Gear Hyperbike. The first one is still arguably the best in the bunch – Boss Game Studios, how you’re missed! Top Gear Rally and the Boss-developed street racing successor World Drive Championship showed what was graphically possible on Nintendo 64, while the Saffire-developed Top Gear Rally 2 added equipment failure to the mix for a more authentic endurance racing experience. Top Gear Overdrive, finally, is an obscure attempt at challenging Beetle Adventure Racing – and it’s quite competent. It’s from Snowblind Studios, the people behind Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. That same team also made Top Gear Hyperbike – a decent racer, but not in the same league as Excitebike 64.
The Battle of the Top Gears
If these games ever reappear on modern devices, don't expect the names to be the same. Kemco and the BBC, who broadcast the TV show Top Gear, tangled over the name "Top Gear" as far back as 1998. The trademark registrar’s office ruled in 1999 that Kemco could not register the trademark and ordered a payment of £1,000 to the BBC to offset legal filing costs. Kemco kept using the name Top Gear until 2003 sans European trademark, then quietly switched the brand name to the Japanese one: Top Racer. Top Racer Rally. Doesn't quite sound the same. Developer Boss Game Studios seems to agree, since it issued a Top-Gear-license-free version on PC, named Boss Rally back in 1999.
Tetrisphere, The New Tetris, Tetris 64, and Magical Tetris Challenge
Nintendo 64 was home to many quality puzzle games, some of which have already been released on Nintendo Switch. But there’s a quadrilogy of Tetris games that never got there that’s still worth playing. The visually-exciting but also confusing Tetrisphere and the more traditional The New Tetris are mostly notable for their kicking soundtrack (the same composer scored both), while the Japan-only Tetris 64 mixed things up significantly with new block sizes and different modes (and a bio sensor you can clamp to your ear). Capcom’s quality attempt, Magical Tetris Challenge, combines two complicated licenses – Disney and Tetris – and thus will never be seen again outside its limited console run (and the arcade original it’s based on).
There's Even More
How’s that for a list to keep you busy? No, they're not all great -- but they're all interesting games that are surely worth another look. There’s plenty more, of course, from the oddball liquid puzzler Wetrix, to WipEout 64, platformers Chameleon Twist and Glover, box animal sim Cubivore, rally racer MRC, and some quality sports games like NFL Blitz, ISS ‘98, and NBA Courtside. Bored with GoldenEye? Eurocom’s The World is Not Enough isn’t bad. Plus, there are the excellent (but widely available) Worms Armageddon, Spider-Man, Vigilante 8, and some fun and goofy ports of StarCraft 64, Command & Conquer, Quake, Quake II, Rainbow Six, and Duke Nukem to keep you busy. Speaking of ports, Residen Evil 2 on N64 may not be the best version, but it's a landmark of clever programming to squeeze it into cartridge form. And yes, I know about Quest 64 and the Army Men games – more power to you if you enjoy them – but they’re not on my Christmas List.
Do you have any favorite Nintendo 64 games that I didn’t mention? Share your recommendations with others – and let me know if you’ve gotten your hands on an Analogue 3D and what your first impressions are.
Peer Schneider heads up Game Help & Tools across IGN, Maxroll, Map Genie, Eurogamer, RockPaperShotgun, and VG247 and has played every single game named in this article. Likely before you were born (no offense).
IGN Senior Executive Editor and Unlocked podcast host Ryan McCaffrey reacts to Microsoft's recent price increases on consoles, software, and Xbox Game Pass and how they fly in the face of the player-first decisions that Xbox had continually made since Phil Spencer took over the Xbox business.
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Phil Spencer has been the head of Xbox (now officially the CEO of Microsoft Gaming) for over a decade now. And up until very recently, I’d argue that under his watch, the brand really did put players first, even if Xbox has continued to lose market share to PlayStation. As a reminder: Phil immediately unbundled the Kinect from the Xbox One, removing the $100 albatross weighing the console down. His first big initiative as boss was championing backwards compatibility, which is inarguably a huge success. FPS Boost on Xbox Series later made many of those old games run even better. He dragged Sony kicking and screaming into normalizing cross-play. The Xbox One X one-upped the PS4 Pro by offering true, native 4K. And Xbox gaming has undeniably become more inclusive in the Phil Spencer Era thanks to the Xbox Adaptive Controller as well as laudable ASL features in multiple first-party games. Finally, there’s Xbox Game Pass, whose mystery economics continue to make it controversial amongst both gamers and developers alike, but has nevertheless been a tremendous value for subscribers.
Until now, at least. On IGN’s Unlocked podcast, I (far too) often make reference to that Simpsons gif where Sideshow Bob keeps stepping on the rakes he’s surrounded by. And the reason I do that is because Xbox always seems to find a way to ruin any momentum it builds up, typically through no fault of anyone but itself. Take the month of October, for instance. Microsoft is shipping not one or two but three really exciting new games in the next 30 days: the very-awesome-so-far Ninja Gaiden 4, which revives the beloved fast-action franchise after a dormant decade; Double Fine’s promising Keeper, the studio’s next project after its Game Awards Game of the Year-nominated Psychonauts 2; and ever-reliable Obsidian Entertainment’s RPG/shooter sequel The Outer Worlds 2, which we’ve loved every time we’ve seen or played it. That’s a potentially huge month for Xbox – particularly when so many Xbox fans remember how it wasn’t long ago when we’d be lucky to get three ultra-promising first-party releases in an entire year, let alone a single month.
All three will drop onto Xbox Game Pass on day one – but this is the part where Xbox starts stepping on all those rakes. Effective immediately, you’ll need to pay a whopping 50% more for that privilege. Microsoft has raised Game Pass prices for the third year in a row, with the give-me-all-the-day-one-releases tier now setting players back $30 per month. Fourteen months ago, by the way, Game Pass Ultimate was $17. That’s how high and how fast the price has risen.
Fourteen months ago, Game Pass Ultimate was $17. Now it's $30. That’s how high and how fast the price has risen.
In fairness to Microsoft, the company has added more to Ultimate: Ubisoft+ Classics, Fortnite Crew, and higher-resolution cloud gaming. It’s also worth mentioning that multiple likely Game of the Year candidates hit Game Pass Ultimate on day one this year: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Blue Prince. But we all know that the biggest appeal of Game Pass are those day-one benefits for Xbox-published games, and this price increase feels directly targeted at that. (For the record, PC Game Pass is going from $12 to $16.49 per month.)
This comes immediately on the heels of the company jacking up Xbox console prices for the second time in the past four months, with the top-end Xbox Series X now carrying an eye-watering price tag of $800. But that $800 almost sounds like a damn bargain next to the much-hyped ROG Xbox Ally X handheld gaming PC, which weighs in at NINE-HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE U.S. DOLLARS. Sure, there’s a less powerful, more affordable version for $599, but nobody knows if that one’s worth a damn, because Microsoft has only ever let media and influencers get their hands on the more powerful Ally X. Hopefully it proves useful, as the Series S has for the non-hardcore gamer part of the market.
Heck, the only thing the Xbox folks haven’t raised prices on are first-party games. Oh, they tried with The Outer Worlds 2, to be clear – and they inevitably will next year when Fable, Gears of War: E-Day, Forza Horizon 6, etc. drop – but the Xbox community wasn’t having any of that, and Microsoft relented.
I realize we live in crazy times, and that Sony and Nintendo are not exactly blameless here either after each of them raised prices on their own aging hardware in the past year (with Nintendo also aggressively raising software prices for the Switch 2 generation as well). Blame the Trump tariffs if you want to (heck, Microsoft does), but I’m sorry: at the end of the day, the buck stops with Microsoft. This is a company with a market cap of nearly $4 trillion, who has done layoff after layoff, after spending upwards of $80 billion on studio and publisher acquisitions. And it’s fair to wonder if those naysayers who question the sustainability of Game Pass and its business model are being proven right with this latest, deepest round of price hikes.
We’ve reached a sad point where gaming is becoming less accessible to new players rather than more.
What’s worse is that, in the bigger picture, we’ve reached a sad point where gaming is becoming less accessible to new players rather than more. Historically, console prices go down and the size and quality of the game library goes up over the course of a generation, leading to more units sold and a healthier ecosystem for everyone inside it. And while again, the blame for the absence of that this generation does not rest squarely on Microsoft’s shoulders, the actions of Team Xbox are of a company that isn’t showing a lot of empathy towards its customers as the cost of groceries, gas, and other bare essentials keeps going up. Again, these larger economic issues aren’t Microsoft’s fault, and it has to contend with rising development costs too, but they are choosing profit over players.
As such, while I recognize that this Xbox console generation isn’t over yet, it’s almost certainly going to be remembered first and foremost for Microsoft’s greed: two hardware price increases (and counting), three Xbox Game Pass price increases (and counting), one software price increase (so far), and tens of thousands of layoffs as well as multiple studio closures.
It’s kind of a monkey’s paw situation, really: all Xbox gamers have wanted since the start of the catastrophic Xbox One generation was a steady supply of great first-party games. Well, in 2025 we’re finally getting that – and as I’ve already mentioned, 2026 is shaping up to be a banger too – but it’s coming at the cost of, well…practically everything else. But it’s not our fault. Instead, Microsoft’s greed is to blame.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
There are overarching accessibility problems in the Metroidvania genre, and Hollow Knight: Silksong is just perpetuating and reinforcing inaccessible barriers.
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After years of waiting, Hollow Knight: Silksong is finally in the hands of the people. By this point, many will even have completed it. Gone are the days of applying clown makeup during each major gaming event, replaced instead by widespread love for Team Cherry’s sequel. Yet, for me, I’m struggling to be excited about Silksong, despite the fact it’s the latest entry in one of my favorite genres.
For this issue of Access Designed, I’m not going to be analysing Hollow Knight: Silksong in the traditional sense. The game’s demands of speed and precision, combined with a lack of accessibility features and my own disability, has meant that I physically can’t play it. And so I’m unable to give an accurate analysis of gameplay, story, and even the art direction of different zones, all of which can be examined through an accessible lens. Instead, I want to talk about the overarching problems of the Metroidvania genre itself, and how Silksong is just perpetuating and reinforcing inaccessible barriers.
It Goes Beyond Difficulty
Like its predecessor, Silksong continues the trend of challenging players with complex platforming and boss battles. While difficult experiences have become mainstream successes in recent years, some Hollow Knight players have noted that Silksong can be particularly punishing. Those concerns have been at least partially addressed by the developers, who notably nerfed two early game bosses within the first week of Silksong’s release. And while difficulty is absolutely an accessibility issue, I’m not going to argue for or against it in Silksong.
Difficulty is the proverbial low hanging fruit of accessibility critiques. Accessibility consultants, champions and journalists have written articles about what difficulty is or isn’t, produced clips or reels talking about the importance of difficulty settings, and created countless threads on social media, advocating for more diverse accessibility tools to adjust a game’s difficulty. We spend so much time championing the inclusion of difficulty options that we often miss other crucial barriers that prevent a variety of disabled individuals from enjoying a new game. Is Silksong difficult? According to reviews and conversations, yes. Should we focus all our accessibility arguments on that alone? Absolutely not.
What Silksong Lacks
Aside from no accessibility settings for difficulty, Silksong’s overall settings options are minimal, especially for a game released in 2025. Volume can be adjusted through sliders, the HUD can increase in size, and some actions can be rebound, but only on specific buttons. For disabled players looking for a variety of accessibility menus, Silksong is objectively a disappointment.
While I acknowledge that studios do not all share the same engine and thus don’t have a unified toolbase to create accessible options, nor do developers all have the same level of knowledge to implement these features, I do wish Team Cherry had taken direct inspiration from Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s Memory Shards system. Ubisoft’s smart new addition to Metroidvanias allows you to take a screenshot of a location and pin it to the map, which provides a persistent reminder of previously-visited zones that may require specific items to traverse, or places to return to once you’ve become stronger. This option revolutionized the Metroidvania genre, with The Lost Crown becoming one of last year’s most accessible games. While Silksong does feature the ability to purchase and place markers on your map to help remember safe areas and other important points of interest, there’s nothing that comes close to The Lost Crown’s Memory Shards. I understand Team Cherry may not have the same resources as Ubisoft, but to offer nothing that aids accessibility beyond the bare minimum in the form of map markers is frustrating.
What Silksong Gives
As I’ve mentioned through previous editions of Access Designed, options are not the only form of accessibility. While Silksong fails to provide numerous accessible settings, its use of inclusive design, particularly through Tools, can give some relief. The Fractured Mask, for instance, prevents a fatal blow from killing Hornet. This is fantastic for physically disabled players that struggle with precise motions, or cognitively disabled players that need more time to memorize boss attack and movement patterns, allowing for a second chance at life before returning to a rest bench. The Fractured Mask is also great for difficult parkour sections, and the fact that this Tool recharges on rest means you always get that second chance on every attempt. The Compass, meanwhile, tracks your position on Silksong’s sprawling map, and is another helpful item for cognitively disabled players. And my personal favorite Tool that I’ve discovered through watching let’s plays is the Magnetite Dice, which randomly nullifies a single hit. Despite the random chance associated with this item, this is great for physically disabled players that may lack energy during extensive play sessions.
But these Tools aren’t offered immediately. Players are forced to progress through the game, beating challenging bosses and completing side quests before unlocking them. While I’m a firm believer that disabled people deserve to be challenged by the games they play, offering crucial pieces of accessibility from the very start of the game doesn’t limit that challenge – it just enables us to play like everyone else. In Silksong, some players may not make it far enough to unlock the Tool that would provide them with a vital accessibility feature.
The Overarching Metroidvania Problem
Silksong’s difficulty and lack of accessibility offerings make for an inaccessible challenge, but that’s not why I can’t play. As my disability progressed and I lost function in my hands, I found the speed and precision required to play Metroidvanias became too much. Even The Lost Crown, with its accessibility offerings, was too taxing for me to finish.
Before I decided to purchase Silksong, a friend advised me to wait until he could play. After several hours, he told me not to buy the game because the speed, combined with the dexterity needed to platform, fight, and use items, would undoubtedly leave me exhausted and frustrated. Therein lies my biggest critique of this genre – beyond what we’ve seen in The Lost Crown, no accessibility settings or system designs have yet to address the speed and inaccessibility of the core combat and platforming gameplay.
I am the first person to admit I am no game designer. I also acknowledge it’s virtually impossible to make every game accessible to every disabled player. Yet, as a lifelong fan of the genre, I genuinely miss playing these games. I’m not critiquing them out of baseless anger, but rather a desire to play one of my favorite genres once again.
Hollow Knight: Silksong, from the perspective of a sequel, is an achievement. Yet, for disabled players looking to dive deep into Team Cherry’s newest game, it’s an accessibility failure. Difficulty aside, disabled players have few offerings to help them navigate the map and defeat challenging enemies. And for those comments undoubtedly proclaiming that not every game is made for everyone, let it be for the individual to decide – not based on inaccessible practices, but rather just a fondness of the genre. For developers looking to Silksong’s success, I ask that they please use its lack of accessibility as motivation. As a lifelong fan of the Metroidvania genre, I hope someone will use Silksong’s failures as inspiration to make me return.
Grant Stoner is a disabled journalist covering accessibility and the disabled perspective in video games. When not writing, he is usually screaming about Pokémon or his cat, Goomba on Twitter.
Sakurai's legacy sequel iterates on the original Air Ride, like the jump from Smash 64 to Melee.
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When I was 13, my dad let me drive his car for the first time. It wasn’t on city streets – just in a big, empty parking lot – but I will never forget that’s the day I learned that a car creeps forward even when the driver’s not pressing the gas. Sure, I was only going a few miles an hour, but as a terrified, inexperienced driver, my heart was pounding and I felt totally out of control. I hit the brakes like a kick drum, starting, stopping, starting, and stopping, until I finally got a handle on the machine. It was a steep learning curve; before then, the closest experiences I had to real-life driving were go karts and Mario Kart, and I naively thought my hundreds of laps of motion control steering on Coconut Mall would give me some idea of what to expect.
Strangely, I thought about this memory a lot just a few days ago during my first hands-on demo with Kirby Air Riders. There are certainly a number of similarities: your character moves forward automatically without pressing any buttons, I was going completely off the rails and heavily relying on the brakes until I got the hang of things, and – most notably – my Mario Kart skills didn’t transfer whatsoever. But surprisingly, it was my Smash Bros. muscles that I found flexing instead, with Air Riders feeling like a strange pseudo-sequel to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in the same way that Donkey Kong Bananza gave the Super Mario Odyssey treatment to another franchise. Let me explain.
Ever since Mario Kart World and Kirby Air Riders were formally revealed for Switch 2 back in April, lots of us have wondered the same thing: “Why is Nintendo releasing two kart racers in the same year?” It’s a fair question, one that even Air Riders director – and the creator of Kirby himself – Masahiro Sakurai posed in his presentation last month, joking that it “basically is like Mario Kart,” and one that he even brought up when Nintendo asked him to make Air Riders years ago.
On the surface, it’s an obvious comparison. Mario Kart World and Kirby Air Riders both feature a large roster of characters racing through colorful courses on various karts/machines, as they weaponize a wide lineup of power-ups to try to take first place. It’s easy to see why onlookers (and even Sakurai himself) would question the choice to place both of these games in Switch 2’s first six months on the market. But once I got Air Riders in my hands, I realized that Mario Kart World and Air Riders really don’t play like each other at all, even in their respective racing modes.
I got to try out the same pair of race courses as our previewer Leanne Butkovic did late last month, first speeding through the starter track, Floria Fields, before taking on the more intense Waveflow Waters. I was immediately struck by how fast Air Riders is compared to the GameCube original, where the racing always felt a bit sluggish. It echoes the jump from Smash 64 to Smash Melee: Melee is faster, more competitive, and stacks a ton of new mechanics on top of the original, just as Air Riders does when compared to Air Ride.
The difference is that Melee came out two years after the first one, and Air Riders is arriving more than two decades after its original, and it’s honestly really cool to see Sakurai pick up right where he left off, creating an iterative sequel that builds upon and fixes issues of what came before as if no time has passed at all. When Air Riders was first teased, I didn’t know what to expect from a legacy Sakurai sequel as he returned to a series from so long ago, and the answer being that it’s basically a GameCube game, but better, is a pretty cool direction to take.
Kirby Air Riders echoes the jump from Smash 64 to Smash Melee.
Air Riders felt like a roller coaster ride at first, as I swung around tight turns and glided through exciting setpieces like a stretch of road with rumbling waterfalls on either side of it. The strategy for these races is nothing like Mario Kart World, where it’s all about knowing your route on the track, crossing your fingers for the right item at the right time, and executing shortcuts when you get the power-up you’re looking for. Air Riders is more about attacking and reacting to your opponents – Nintendo even opened its behind-closed-doors presentation to the media by calling it a “Vehicle Action Game” rather than a kart racer. To play Air Riders successfully, I needed to focus on combat and my opponent’s positioning while racing around the course, both by attacking enemies to charge up my devastating special and following the leader’s exact path to take advantage of the new Star Slide ability that increases your speed when you collect the trail of stars machines leave behind. Once I wrapped my head around these core mechanics, I started to understand that from a gameplay perspective, Mario Kart World isn’t the immediate comparison point for Kirby Air Riders: it’s Sakurai’s other darling, Super Smash Bros.
Smash is technically classified as a fighting game, but it has really carved out its own niche with its focus on advanced platforming and knocking opponents out of the arena rather than depleting a health bar, and the same concept can be applied to Kirby Air Riders. Both Smash and Air Riders exist on the outskirts of their traditional genres, resulting in games that can be intimidating at first glance due to how they defy expectations, but ones that provide shocking mechanical depth to those who heavily invest in their systems. As I said, I was incredibly overwhelmed during my first Air Riders play session, but determined to understand its intricacies, I returned to the demo three additional times during PAX West, gradually getting better and more confident each time. I was reminded of the first time I played an eight-player match of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. It was overstimulating, chaotic, and hard to follow, and I thought there was no way it was a mode I’d ever get attached to. But Sakurai games have a way of drawing you in, and it wasn’t long before eight-player matches became a staple on game nights with friends.
I could see the same thing happening with Air Riders’ City Trial mode, which I’ve now had the chance to play eight times. This returning fan-favorite from the GameCube original drops you into an open city alongside up to 15 other players, giving you five minutes to find a better machine to ride and upgrade, with stats and powerups that spawn throughout the map. At the end of five minutes, you compete in one of a lineup of competitions with the machine you developed which range from seeing who can glide the furthest to the straight-up speed test of a drag race.
Air Riders presents itself as a cute, simple racer, but in reality, it’s a complex action game.
Despite Sakurai warning against it in his presentation, I spent my first few City Trial runs gobbling up every power-up I could find, and it resulted in a machine that was way too fast for the minigames that followed. I was completely off the rails, and I initially felt punished for being too greedy during the exploration segment of City Trial. But for subsequent runs, I started being more selective about which power-ups I grabbed and which I left behind, trying to make a machine well-suited for any of the possible minigames that could show up.
Sakurai’s fingerprints are truly all over Air Riders. From the slick menu and UI design – which is traditionally designed by his wife, Michiko Sakurai – to the dramatic, slow-motion, red and black finish zoom that punctuates destroying an opponent’s machine just like the final knockout in a match of Ultimate. Even the main menu’s basic black title set on a white background is the same style as Ultimate, and Air Riders’ Japanese website could easily be confused with Sakurai’s other series at a quick glance, complete with character renders and alternate costume designs that scream Smash Bros. Each character’s unique special move instantly reminded me of a Final Smash, and the sheer level of polish and attention to detail across every facet of my demo was unmistakably Sakurai.
I’m so interested to see how the public perceives Air Riders when it comes out in a couple of months. It’s more nuanced than it appears, and for that reason, I don’t think Air Riders demos very well to people playing it for the first time. I spent about two hours watching various groups demo it at PAX West, and the vibe of players felt very familiar to my very first hands-on session: overstimulated, overwhelmed, and generally confused. Air Riders presents itself as a cute, simple, approachable racer that only uses the control stick and a couple of buttons, but in reality, it’s a deep, complex action game that demands your full attention. That tough, contradictory first impression, combined with the surface-level comparisons to Mario Kart, and Air Riders’ hefty $70 price tag, makes me worried that people won’t give it the time of day when it launches in November. I hope not, because after meeting Air Riders on its own terms and working across several demo sessions to understand it, I walked away very excited for a fascinating sequel from one of my favorite creators.
Logan Plant is the host of Nintendo Voice Chat and IGN's Database Manager & Playlist Editor. The Legend of Zelda is his favorite video game franchise of all time, and he is patiently awaiting the day Nintendo announces a brand new F-Zero. You can find him online @LoganJPlant.
The Steam Deck came out more than three years ago now, starting at $399. Even at the time it seemed incredibly affordable for a system that let you play pretty much any PC game you threw at it. But fast forward to 2025, on the eve of a new generation of handheld gaming PCs powered by the AMD Z2 Extreme, and it seems like a downright bargain.
We finally got pricing for one of these new handhelds, the Lenovo Legion Go 2, and that'll start at $1,099. That's already a steep bump from the last-gen version, which started at $699, but it only gets more expensive – if you want it with the Z2 Extreme, you're looking at up to $1,479. That's getting into gaming laptop territory, for a system that almost certainly won't be as fast as a gaming laptop. And while the Legion Go 2 is only a single system, it does signal that the entire category is about to see a massive price bump next month.
The Ally In The Room
We know the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X are coming out October 16, but at the time of writing neither Asus nor Microsoft have revealed the price tag. Hell, you can't even preorder the thing yet, and it comes out in six short weeks. But given that the new Ally's specs line up pretty closely with the $1,049 Legion Go 2, it's really starting to look like the Xbox handheld is going to be a pricey little handheld.
It's possible that Microsoft's involvement means Asus can subsidize the cost of the Xbox Ally a bit, but I don't know if it'll be enough to keep it around the same price as its predecessor, which launched for $599 with the non-extreme AMD Z1. There's a universe where the ROG Xbox Ally costs nearly twice as much as its predecessor.
However, the Legion Go 2 and the ROG Xbox Ally are not the same system. The Legion Go 2 has removable controllers, along with an OLED display – both things that apply a bit of upward pressure on the price. The Xbox Ally, on the other hand, is a single unit with a more traditional LCD screen, even if the weird controller grips make it look quite different. This more traditional design could stop the new Ally X from seeing the same steep price jump as the Legion Go 2 – but only time will tell.
Is It Worth It?
It's easy to look at these new handhelds with their shiny new processors and say the speed justifies the higher price. That's the thing though, we don't actually know how fast the Z2 Extreme will actually end up being. The AMD Z1 Extreme is still a powerful little chip, packing 12 RDNA 3 graphics cores, along with 8 Zen 4 CPU cores. The Z2 Extreme does upgrade that, but only updates the GPU to RDNA 3.5, rather than just going all-in with RDNA 4.
What RDNA 3.5 is especially good at is graphics performance in low-power packages, like, well, the Z2 Extreme. It should greatly improve efficiency, leading to longer battery life, which is definitely something this first generation of Z-powered handhelds has struggled with. However, even though the Z2 Extreme does pack 4 extra graphics cores, it probably won't improve gaming performance that much – at least not enough to justify nearly doubling the price.
I'll ultimately have to wait until I get either the Legion Go 2 or the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X in the lab, but I expect the gen-on-gen difference to be the most pronounced when it comes to battery life. At the end of the day, these handheld gaming systems are probably going to struggle with high-end AAA games in the same way their predecessors did.
Whether the extra battery life is worth the cost is up to you ultimately, but if handheld gaming PCs are going to cost as much as a budget-to-mid-range gaming laptop, it's going to be harder to recommend them to just anyone. I'm definitely still in that niche audience, but the rising price is only going to narrow the appeal.
Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra
After having had a chance to play the Switch 2 for over a month, we have a lot of positives to say about the way Nintendo's newest console is more accessible than ever.
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The Switch 2 has been out for over a month after what felt like an eternity of waiting. Gone are the days of speculating over how powerful it is, what features it has, and, for disabled players especially, how accessible it will be. The answer is here: Nintendo’s newest system is certainly an upgrade, and for me, the most accessible Nintendo system to date.
Unlike Xbox and PlayStation, Nintendo and accessibility are not synonymous, at least in the traditional sense. The company’s first-party titles don’t offer dozens of accessibility options like PlayStation and Xbox games do, and Nintendo has no official accessibility controller. While they recently joined other publishers as part of ESA’s Accessible Games Initiative, a resource that gives accessibility information for games through a tag system, some disabled players are still hesitant to call their games and systems accessible. And while I acknowledge these criticisms and fears, the refined system settings, mouse movement, and new Joy-Cons push the Switch 2 towards better accessibility.
System Settings
Like its predecessor, the Switch 2 features a variety of system accessibility options that benefit multiple disabilities. Returning settings include options to zoom on the screen, switch to mono audio, and even change the display colors. But the most important returning feature for me is the fully customizable controls, with five presets for each controller. That means each Joy-Con, as well as alternatives like the Pro Controller, can have separate control presets depending on the game. It’s one of my favorite features introduced on the Switch, and it’s especially helpful for physically disabled players. Even better, my Switch control profiles automatically carried over when I transferred my data to the Switch 2. This allows me to seamlessly begin playing games like Pokémon Violet without needing to remember how I configured it previously.
Thankfully, the Switch 2 adds several new options that further improve the overall accessibility of the system. Players can now adjust the text size, enable speech-to-text for Game Chat, and even enable a screen reader, an important tool for blind and low-vision players. While these offerings are available on both Xbox and PlayStation systems already, it’s nice to see Nintendo finally add these options and help welcome more disabled individuals to the platform.
The Pros and Cons of Mouse Movement
The Switch 2 adds a unique function to each Joy-Con – mouse movement. By flipping Joy-Cons face down on its sensors, players can drag the controller on any surface to mimic a computer mouse. And surprisingly, the transition from standard controller to mouse is perfectly seamless. There is minimal lag, and aside from the awkwardness of holding a Joy-Con on its side, mouse movement is one of the few Nintendo system gimmicks that I can use.
However, its longevity and extended use cause severe fatigue and strain on my wrists. Games like Drag X Drive – releasing on August 14 – which purport to rely heavily on mouse movement, will undoubtedly become inaccessible after a few matches. Even now, as I use mouse movement to search the eShop, I regularly find myself reverting to standard Joycon movements because of how uncomfortable it is to hold. Yes, the mouse cursor glides with ease, but constantly needing to slide back and forth is not conducive to my needs. For example, my computer mouse has a DPI (Dots Per Inch, which measures mouse sensitivity) of 11000. Anything lower mimics the Joy-Con’s mouse movement, and that’s not something I can use long term.
Joy-Con Upgrades
The Switch 2 keeps the same relative button layout as its predecessor despite being larger. However, I find the new size is beneficial for my disability. As it has progressed, so too did the atrophy in my hands, forcing me to rely on larger controllers, mice, and keyboards. The new Joy-Cons, while not substantially bigger, allow me to easily glide my hand over the buttons, especially when placed on a table.
Nintendo also reduced the resistance on each button. On the original Switch, I regularly struggled to press the ‘Home’ button unless the Joy-Con was positioned in the exact same spot on my desk each time. And the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons were impossible to use without outside assistance. With the Switch 2, I no longer struggle to press any button, nor do I need each Joy-Con to be precisely placed. For some, this is a relatively minor improvement, but for me, the ease of pressing buttons drastically increases my independence when using the system.
My only critique when using the Switch 2 in handheld mode isn’t with the button layout or system settings. It’s with the handheld battery life. While in handheld mode, the Switch 2 battery life lasts for approximately two hours before I get a notification that I need to charge the device.
If my hands worked, and I could use the Switch 2 in docked mode, this wouldn’t be an issue. However, because I require the system to be on a surface as the same height as my desk, I can only play my Switch 2 on my desk, away from any TV. And because this is uniquely a me issue, I can’t necessarily fault Nintendo. Yes, it’s annoying that the Switch 2’s battery means I have to regularly stop playing to charge the system, but at least I can play the system without fatigue or physical discomfort.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is a Switch but bigger and better in every sense, with all of the original’s successes as well as most of its faults accounted for. Its hybrid nature is still just as good of an idea today as it was eight years ago, and a lot of its best games benefit massively from the beefier tech inside that allows for 4K, higher framerates, and faster load times. But all of that feels more like Nintendo getting back to treading water as the Switch started to fall a little too far behind what people expected from their game consoles rather than providing a compelling reason of its own for you to pay 50% more for this upgrade. The updated Joy-Con take an impressively creative swing at giving you that reason, but while its innovative mouse controls are a game changer on paper, they are so ergonomically uncomfortable to use in practice that I can still feel the strain in my arm as I type this. The end result is a console I really like for all the same reasons I loved the original Switch, but one that’s also left me strangely underwhelmed after actually spending time with it for a while. It’s a step up that’s vital if the Switch 1 is the only way to play games that you have access to, but feels about as exciting as a long-overdue phone upgrade in the larger scheme of things.
The Switch 2 is unmistakably an upgrade over its predecessor in terms of accessibility. I would go as far as to say it’s the Nintendo system I’ve been needing for years. Its gimmicks aren’t detrimental to playing, at least not yet, its controllers are beyond comfortable and conducive to my needs, and most importantly it’s just fun to play. Is it perfect? No, but no system can be, especially when accounting for the individualistic nature of the disabled experience. And the Switch 2, even in the early stages of its cycle, is by far my favorite console to play. And as more games are released, I’m sure it will undoubtedly replace my other systems.
Grant Stoner is a disabled journalist covering accessibility and the disabled perspective in video games. When not writing, he is usually screaming about Pokémon or his cat, Goomba on Twitter.
The Last of Us Season 2 strayed from canon in some ways and remain painstakingly faithful in others, but did a couple of irreversible decisions kill the show's momentum for good?
This column contains spoilers for Season 2 of The Last of Us on HBO Max as well as The Last of Us Part II game.
When Joel was brutally killed in the second episode of HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2, it confirmed what many fans of the games expected was coming. But as the season progressed after that point, Joel’s death came and went without any significance. Replacing it was, for me, a certainty: what was a controversial decision for the The Last of Us game franchise would prove to be a killing blow for the television series.
Now, I realize that an adaptation fundamentally deviating from its source material can be polarizing in and of itself, but the HBO series simply did not need to kill Joel to successfully tell its story.
First and foremost, I think it’s important to note that there’s a reason that this column is being written at the end of the season rather than immediately after Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) death in Episode 2. I did want to be wrong, for whatever that sentiment might be worth. I dutifully watched the rest of the season, hoping that the show’s writers would find a way to reset their story and carry on their narrative in any kind of meaningful way. But, despite the best efforts of Bella Ramsey and newcomers Isabela Merced, Kaitlyn Dever and Young Mazino, there’s little to be done when your blockbuster show’s first season was fully reliant on a relationship that no longer exists. The show’s audience — which is made up of plenty of folks who have never played the games — signed up for a series that no longer exists.
The Last Of Us Series Messes With Canon, But the Wrong Parts
The Last of Us has implemented a series of story elements that deviate from the game, and vary in impact, but have broadly served the medium shift. Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank’s (Murray Bartlet) Season 1 episode wasn’t just the best of the series, it was one of the best episodes of television that year, it hasn’t mattered at all that Dever’s Abby isn’t jacked the way she is in the game, Season 1 had tendrils instead of spores, Stalkers play more of a role in the series than they did during gameplay, etc.
But the Big Joel Death Scene™ features both 1:1 scenes and major canon divergence, and the core problem with the majority of Season 2 is that the series stayed loyal where it shouldn’t have and diverted where it should have remained true to story. In killing Joel and revealing Abby’s motives from the start, The Last of Us series removed any reason for the audience to return in Season 3.
In the game, players stuck around when it came time to play Abby because they needed to know why the hell she did what she did. By the time that information is revealed, Abby had become interesting enough for people to keep playing. In the series, since Abby’s motivations were revealed pretty much in the season premiere, all viewers have to look forward to now is wondering who’s going to shoot who or who is going to forgive who first. And, with respect to what I know is a long adored franchise, I’m forced to ask why should the television audience care?
The series either needed to keep Joel alive, choosing to have Abby beat him within an inch of his life and have Ellie believe that he was dead before leaving Jackson on her revenge tour, or leave Abby’s motives a mystery. Joel may have been the inciting incident that made the forgiveness meaningful in the game, but let’s not pretend it’s the only way to get to the desired end result. This series has wildly talented writers attached. It can be done. Meanwhile, while the mystery of Abby’s motivations wouldn’t have been enough to keep me around personally, I can see why it would appeal to a broader television audience. Now though, we’re all stuck in an impending future of no catharsis.
Not One, Not Two, But Three Shows in One [Derogatory]
Ellie spent much of this season insisting she’s not like Abby despite her rising body count and similar obsession. This will remain a throughline for the upcoming season (or seasons, if co-creator Craig Mazin has his way) even though Ellie will continue to make rash decisions on her quest for revenge. All of this will come after Ellie’s current pickle, as we left her with Abby’s gun pointed squarely at her face.
Season 2’s odd “cliffhanger” is another 1:1 pull from the game, as this is the moment where you shift from playing Ellie to playing Abby. This means that we can likely expect the central focus of the series to shift yet again, giving us not one show, not two shows, but a surprise third show.
The thing about these focus and perspective shifts is that they totally could have worked if they had billed The Last of Us as an anthology series with the overall wrap-around (the narrative treatment surrounding the individual stories that ties everything together) being the apocalypse they’re all sharing. But because this was presented as a traditional prestige series, there are rules and expectations as to how the story is meant to play out. Storytelling rules are made to be broken, but Season 2 does not inspire any faith that the rest of The Last of Us series will succeed in doing so.
Television has always played with the death of the mentor. It’s a trope that often offers more meaning than most, forcing the protagonist to finally take said mentor’s lessons to heart or otherwise reckon with the devastation of their loss. The difference here is that there is typically a broader ensemble to rely on to avoid shaking up the core of the series. We get a little bit of that from Season 2 in Merced’s Dina and Mazino’s Jesse, but they aren’t meaningfully established before the core relationship of the series is destroyed. By introducing them later — and then giving us little reason to care about them until after that still — the foundation of the series remains fractured in a way that seems beyond repair. But that fracture was always avoidable.
All signs point to Season 3 being told from Abby’s perspective.
Season 1 set the expectation for television viewers that this was a show about Joel and Ellie. Season 2 haphazardly shifted that focus to a story about Ellie, Dina and their quest for revenge against Abby. All signs point to Season 3 being told from Abby’s perspective as she rescues defecting Seraphites Lev and Yara three days before murdering Jesse and holding Ellie and Tommy (Gabriel Luna) at gunpoint.
While I cannot stress enough that Kaitlyn Dever is doing great work with the material she has been given, what reason do folks have to stick around at this point? Television viewers with no knowledge of the games aren’t going to buy into the show suddenly being told from the perspective of someone that they’ve been given no reason to care about. I am from the outside looking in when it comes to the game, but it doesn’t seem likely that the WLF vs. Seraphites war was engaging enough to watch a second time in TV form, even with Isaac’s (Jeffrey Wright) expanded involvement in the series. Is there enough interest in seeing Ellie and Abby’s anticlimactic ending to keep viewers already in the know around?
It’s All a Competition
Games as a medium have plenty of hurdles, but they have the benefit of fewer releases than television by a remarkable margin and, whether the audience loves or hates a game, it’s already bought and paid for. The Last of Us Part II may be plenty controversial (all of the best art is!) but a key factor in any television show’s success is giving the audience a reason to return episode after episode. The story format's constantly shifting perspective is a tremendous hurdle in and of itself. Add in The Last of Us’ wildly short seasons, long hiatuses, and Season 2’s lackluster story, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a pickle when it comes to getting fans back for Season 3.
The rest of The Last of Us Part II’s arc is one focused on forgiveness and how being hellbent on revenge tears everything apart. Sometimes the journey on the way to an already well-known ending is worth it for the ride (looking at you, Andor)! But given that The Last of Us Season 2 featured exactly one compelling episode focused on a flashback with its now long-dead protagonist, is that journey worth it? The cast sure is doing their damndest to ensure that’s the case, but will that be enough for the audience?
Season 2’s penultimate episode may have been great, and Neil Druckmann has confirmed that we’ll have more Joel flashbacks to come, but it’s just not a bandaid to the show’s problem. No amount of strong performances or stellar production value can fix a failure to adapt your story to a new medium. Joel ain’t coming back to life and there’s no putting Abby’s reveal back in the proverbial bag. The Season 2 finale was lackluster at best, the rest of the season wasn’t much better, and knowing where the story heads next forces me to wonder if The Last of Us’ best days are behind it.
It’s a dog eat dog world in the land of TV, and people’s time is a zero-sum game. With such high competition and waning interest from viewers, maybe it’s just time to take the show to look at a pretty lake while it rides out its last moments before losing itself to the infection…
The more people playing the pound-for-pound champ of open world racing, the merrier.
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Put simply, there’s nothing on PlayStation 5 quite like Forza Horizon 5.
The Crew Motorfest? Close. Leaning hard into the philosophy of ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’, its fully fledged festival approach certainly makes Motorfest more like the Forza Horizon series than either of its predecessors.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown? Sadly, no. The Forza Horizon series itself may owe a significant debt to the trendsetting MMO racing of the original Test Drive Unlimited, but Solar Crown went on to fly too close to the sun in this department. An always-online racer with no dedicated solo component? The Horizon series has allowed players to seamlessly slip between offline and online play since 2014’s Forza Horizon 2!
Need for Speed Unbound? Well, there are definitely several areas of Need for Speed’s impressive customisation suite that handily eclipse Horizon, but Unbound’s arcade focus on high speed hot pursuits means it’s not really a like-for-like comparison.
No, the pound-for-pound champ of modern open world racing is Forza Horizon 5 – and now it’s available on PlayStation 5 for the very first time. Its broad and beautiful Mexico map. Its delectably drift-friendly vehicle dynamics. Its mammoth, 900-odd car garage that goes way beyond just featuring the essentials, and is brimming with cult favourite cars that simply aren’t available in any other racing game. The whole box and dice. PlayStation users are being immersed in all of this, many for the very first time.
This influx of brand new players has been something the team has been particularly looking forward to.
“Yeah, I’m super excited,” confirms Playground Games art director Don Arceta. “Like, brand new people; for many, this will probably be the first Forza Horizon game that they’ve ever played. So it’s super exciting just to think about that, and think about what our first Horizon experiences were.”
Arceta is especially keen to see what kinds of places and races PlayStation 5 players begin creating with Forza Horizon 5’s huge set of customisation tools – the Event Lab.
You’ll actually get some pretty good Halo content too on the PlayStation, with the event lab props!
“We have over 800 props now in the Event Lab, and just seeing what the community’s done with that feature and mode – and the creativity of the community – it’s just mind blowing,” he continues. “I’m super excited, once we get into the PlayStation 5 users, about what they'll build, and the creativity that will come from that community.”
“You’ll actually get some pretty good Halo content too on the PlayStation, with the event lab props!”
In pleasing news, the port itself is proving to be as technically impeccable as its Xbox and PC counterparts, which is some flex considering the sheer girth of the game – and the fact that the engine that underpins it has never been unleashed on PlayStation before.
“As you can imagine, because the series has been based around the Xbox environment and architecture, there’s a lot of code and engineering that’s worked with that,” says Arceta. “So when we brought it to the PS5, it was no small undertaking. It was quite a huge task.”
“The PlayStation 5 version was developed by Panic Button, in collaboration with Turn 10 and ourselves, but Panic Button did an amazing job. So you get that amazing, quality experience that you get on Xbox and PC – now you get on the PlayStation, and it’s just amazing work that Panic Button has done.”
Personally I’ve never been able to look past the Forza series as a whole as home to the biggest and best bag of Hot Wheels on the block. No other racing series contains more weird and wonderful cars that I want, piled on top of a cavalcade of cars I didn’t even know I wanted. As a car fan, I love the idea of a whole new cohort of players potentially discovering their favourite cars in Forza Horizon 5 – cars their other racing games just haven’t been serving them.
For Playground Games lead game designer David Orton, however, it’s the sheer breadth of Forza Horizon 5 that he’s anticipating will impress new players.
“The breadth of Horizon is quite staggering,” says Orton. “I think what we find is players go in and find what they really enjoy but, because there’s so much freedom, that can really be whatever you want it to be.”
Horizon is the space where really everyone is welcome, and there’s something in it for everyone.
“We always pride ourselves on giving the player that kind of agency and freedom to do whatever they want, and the game will reward them and react in that way. I’m really looking forward to players just discovering the breadth of the content. If you just want to do road racing, or if you’re really into Rivals and track racing, you can totally do that. But if you love taking incredible photos, you can totally do that. If you’re into Event Lab, and you want to create content for other people, you can totally do that. Horizon is the space where really everyone is welcome, and there’s something in it for everyone. I think the feeling of people going in and realising this is more than just a racing game is what’s really exciting for me.”
“For me, a victory would be, like, ‘I can’t believe I’ve never played this game before,’” says Arceta. “I think the surprise.”
“That, for me, is a victory, because once they’re surprised, they’re engaged – and they want to learn more. So I’m really looking for that. The delight from players; just hearing their surprise and hearing their stories.”
Here, Orton is in agreement.
“Yeah, I think it’s that,” he adds. “Players who’ve never tried Horizon before – whether that’s because it’s on a different platform, or they’ve just never had the time to do it – to actually jump into this world and realise that it’s actually a really warm, welcoming place that’s full of fun, and finding a home at Horizon.”
“Players who’ve never played before realising that, ‘Oh my goodness, how have I never played this game before? This is incredible.’ That, to me, is a win. We’re about to target a cohort of players who may have never played a Forza title before. There’s a bit of an unknown to how people react to that, but I think when you look at the history of our titles, we’re continually perfecting our craft. We feel so excited to bring this to PlayStation. I think we’re going to bring in a whole load of new players and that’s really exciting.”
If there’s any hobby that’s more tribal than car culture, it’s those who hinge their identities on their video game console of choice. For racing game fans, however, one big wall has come down.
Let’s hope it’s not the last.
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
Ted Sarandos mentioned at a recent event that he believes that Netflix is saving Hollywood. While that isn't the case, Netflix isn't what's killing Hollywood either. But if Netflix wants to go back to being a meaningful service to its customers, here's what it needs to do.
Despite Yoda’s advice (“Only Siths yadda yadda…”), media commentary has become a culture of absolutes. It’s common that people insist a film, show or game is always the best or worst ever, when the reality is that the vast majority of art is just OK (and, perhaps more importantly, it’s OK that most art is just OK). It’s that acknowledgement that makes Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos’ commentary on whether or not he believed Netflix was killing Hollywood all the more funny. His response to the question was a very simple “no, we’re saving Hollywood,” followed by an interesting tidbit about theaters.
I’m going to give you a moment to pause and take that quote in before I get rolling because phew… much to unpack here. (And yeah, we're gonna get to the theater shenanigans in a bit.)
Let’s set aside the fact that it was a silly question to begin with. Sarandos was never going to agree that he was killing his own industry. The best that you can hope for is the “maybe the industry needs breaking,” that so many self-labeled “disruptors” such as Netflix, Uber and AirBnB like to lean into. The overused and often trite sentiment of “move fast and break things” would have ultimately been closer to the truth than either the question presented or the answer given, because there are certainly plenty of things about Hollywood that need fixin’. But Netflix isn’t the sole problem and it could not be further from the solution.
Right now, Netflix has two key problems: competition and ego. So much of Netflix’s strategy still operates as if they are the only streamer in town, something that hasn’t been true for years at this point. Once they started competing with streaming originals from studios with more experience in creating original works, their name started coming up less and less in conversation. They’ve succeeded from time to time with savvy acquisitions like Cobra Kai and the Fear Street trilogy, and for a time had a remarkable original series output that included heavy-hitters like Ozark, Narcos, Orange Is the New Black, Mindhunter and more. But the last remaining vestiges of that heyday — shows like Stranger Things and Bridgerton — are right on the cusp of ending or far enough into their runs that it’s well past time that Netflix should be sweating about their next move. That’s the competition part covered, but the ego aspect of it goes hand in hand.
With so many players in the streaming landscape, most of which are lapping Netflix on series quality (with a few noteworthy exceptions like the first seasons of Squid Game and The Sandman), the way for Netflix to return to being a meaningful service for its customer base is also the very last thing it’s ever going to do. It needs to scale back its original production significantly (and get smarter about its spend on the films and shows that it does move forward with) and go back to being the primary destination to watch films missed in theater and shows for folks who broke up with cable. Why is that never going to happen? About 30% business acumen and 70% hubris.
The legitimate concern of going back to its roots and returning to being the premier watch-from-home destination for cord cutters and folks who missed movies in theater is that you never want your business model to be reliant on someone else’s. Of course, there’s less risk to that when your business model is reliant on an entire industry vs. one or two companies. Still, it’s a risk. But that whole ego thing takes us back to Sarandos’ follow-up comment to his “hollywood saving” nonsense.
“I believe it is an outmoded idea, for most people — not for everybody,” Sarandos said of the theatrical experience after admitting that he himself quite enjoyed going.
There’s an ocean-sized can of worms to be opened with this statement alone, but for the sake of this column I’m going to boil it down to two truths that exist in tandem: movie theaters are too damn expensive, making it difficult for the average American to enjoy theatrical releases in the way we used to, and people still love going to the movies.
The theatrical experience isn’t an outmoded (which means unfashionable or unusable for those who don’t speak old rich guy) idea. It’s just an un-economic one when the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 and the average movie ticket is $11.31. Theaters large and small alike have tried to find ways around this problem in the post-quarantine era to varying degrees of success, but the model still needs a drastic shift if it’s going to survive. Meanwhile, Netflix has raised prices consistently since 2014 when its service has actively gotten worse according to 1 out of 4 users. Movie theaters aren’t a perfect experience currently either, with so many people treating them like their personal living rooms, but there’s a glass house aspect to be had there when no matter which industry or corporation is on top, it’s the average American that continues to lose out.
Streaming’s existential threat to the theatrical experience may not rest solely on Netflix’s shoulders, but if Netflix was “a very consumer-focused company” that “deliver[s] the program to you in a way you want to watch it,” as Sarandos said at the event, it would be thinking of their customers rather than their algorithms, constant price hikes, and consistently lighting money on fire to make borderline unwatchable nonsense like The Electric State, Red Notice, Rebel Moon and The Gray Man (even if I have been laughing about Chris Evans’ delivery of “I was shot in the ass, Susanne!” since 2022).
IGN's Ryan McCaffrey – who reviewed The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for Official Xbox Magazine back in 2006 – discusses the just-announced-and-released Oblivion Remastered and why Oblivion hit harder for him than Skyrim did...and why he's both happy for and envious of the generation of players who grew up on Skyrim and will be playing Oblivion for the first time with this remaster.
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Ask most gamers who were around for the Xbox 360 and, Red Ring of Death aside, odds are most of them will share a lot of fond memories with you. And The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion generated plenty of those memories for a lot of Xbox 360 owners. I’m one of them. I worked at Official Xbox Magazine at the time, and for whatever reason, the hugely successful port of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind to Xbox never quite hooked me. But right from the jump, Oblivion – which was initially planned to be a day-one launch title for the second Xbox – did. We did multiple cover stories on Oblivion leading up to launch – the screenshots alone blew everyone away – and I eagerly volunteered for each trip out to Bethesda in sleepy Rockville, Maryland.
Then, when it finally came time to review Oblivion – and this is back in the days when exclusive reviews were a common, accepted thing – I again eagerly jumped at the chance. I returned to Rockville one more time and holed up in a conference room in Bethesda’s basement for four days. I spent four consecutive – and glorious – 11-hour days almost literally living in Cyrodiil, spending almost every waking moment inside this stunning, wide-open, next-gen medieval fantasy world. Before I boarded my return flight home, I’d clocked 44 hours prior to penning OXM’s 9.5 out of 10 review of Oblivion, which I wholeheartedly stand by to this day. It was an incredible game, filled with gripping quests (Dark Brotherhood, anyone?), off-the-beaten-path surprises (if you know about the unicorn, you know), and so much more. Because I was playing a submission build at Bethesda – meaning, a mostly finished version of the game on an Xbox 360 debug kit rather than a regular retail console – I had to start over when I got my final boxed disc copy of the game I’d already put about two full real-life days into.
I dropped another 130 hours or so into The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion without hesitation,so it’s probably no surprise to hear that I’m absolutely thrilled it’s been remastered and re-released on modern platforms.
For the younger generation of gamers who grew up on Skyrim, the just-released The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered will be their first “new” mainline Elder Scrolls game since Skyrim first released.
In fact, I’m envious of the whole generation of younger gamers who grew up with Skyrim and thus, that is The Elder Scrolls for them. Because for them, the just-released The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered will be their first “new” mainline Elder Scrolls game since Skyrim released (for the first of many, many times) over 13 years ago – while franchise fans of all ages continue to wait for The Elder Scrolls VI, which is likely another 4-5 years away.
Although if I’m being honest, I doubt Oblivion will hit the same way for them as it did for me in March of 2006, because, for starters, it’s a two-decade-old game (side note: shout-out to Bethesda for delivering this week instead of waiting an extra year when Oblivion will hit its far-more-elegant-sounding 20th anniversary instead of just having passed its 19th). Other games have built upon what Oblivion did, including several by Bethesda itself: Fallout 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield. And second, it just doesn’t pack the same visual punch that it did in 2006, when I’d argue it was the first true next-gen game of the HD Era ushered in by the Xbox 360. Obviously the remaster looks better than the original release – that’s the point, of course – but it doesn’t stand head and shoulders above nearly every other game as something that you’ve never seen before. By definition – or at least in practice – remasters aim to make an older game look modern on current platforms. It’s a sharp contrast to a proper remake a la Resident Evil, which carries the expectation of starting from scratch and, in turn, looking as good or better than anything else on the market.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was the right game at the right time. By taking full advantage of HD televisions and expanding the scope and scale of what gamers could expect from an open-world game, it was a punch in the face to console gamers who, up to that point, had spent their entire gaming lives seeing their interactive worlds through an interlaced 640x480 television. (Although speaking of punches in the face, prior to Oblivion’s March release, in February 2006, EA released Fight Night Round 3, which was jaw-droppingly gorgeous itself.)
My memories of Oblivion are plenty, as it was a world with so much to discover and so much to do. For first-time Oblivion players, let me give you a recommendation: either blast through the main quest as quickly as possible, or save it until you’ve exhausted every last sidequest or open-world activity. Why? Well, the Oblivion gates will start randomly spawning and pestering you once you start down that main questline’s path, so for my money it’s best to seal them off straight away.
Anyway, the technological leap made from Morrowind to Oblivion might not ever happen again – though I suppose if we wait long enough for The Elder Scrolls 6, maybe it will. But at the very least, playing Oblivion Remastered won’t present such a staunch difference from any release of Skyrim, and for that I suppose those same younger gamers who grew up with Skyrim won’t get what I had. But no matter if you’re playing Oblivion for the first time or you’ve clocked hundreds of hours with it, its fully realized medieval fantasy world and the surprises and adventures contained within it have always made it my favorite Elder Scrolls game. And I’m thrilled it’s back, even if its surprise release was spoiled many times over before it finally showed up again.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
After it was cancelled, the Mythic Quest team made the decision to change its Season 4 ending. That change didn't just water down what ended up being the series finale, it also resulted in Apple TV+ pulling the original ending.
This column entry contains spoilers for the series finale of Mythic Quest.
For those who may have missed it, Mythic Quest, Apple TV+’s beautifully weird show about a game studio and its messed up leadership, has come to an end. Apple TV+ announced that the series was cancelled after Season 4’s, uh, polarizing season finale about two weeks after it aired on March 26, leaving fans of the show somehow more frustrated than they were before. As a result of the cancellation, Apple TV+ has decided to pull the original ending entirely, replacing it with a different finale meant to “tie up loose ends”. But the change isn’t only unsuccessful, it also continues an ugly precedent in streaming.
The original finale was met with mixed response due to a sudden kiss between leads Ian (Rob McElhenney) and Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao). Some found the out of the blue smooch jarring, while others have been waiting the duration of the series for it to finally happen. But the real ire came when fans learned that the shocking moment wouldn’t have any followup after the series’ messy leads finally made out. The original plan had been that Mythic Quest Season 5 would explore the fallout of Ian and Poppy’s kiss.
With future episodes off the table, series producers Megan Ganz, David Hornsby and Rob McElhenney issued a joint statement that ended with “Because endings are hard, with Apple’s blessing we made one final update to our last episode — so we could say goodbye, instead of just game over.”
The updated episode, released on April 18, removes the controversial kiss, swapping it out for a hug and returning Ian and Poppy to their previously existing status quo as they plan to continue work on their game expansion. Is the new ending more palatable? Perhaps. But no one has ever once described a good finale — season or series — as palatable. Big swings might not always work but they are, at least, always interesting. The update does nothing to assuage the disappointment of the cancellation and, worse still, the original ending no longer exists on Apple TV+ at all. This means that the change to the ending doesn’t just mean the series comes to a close with a whisper instead of a bang, it also opens a complicated can of worms when it comes to movie and TV curation and streaming as a whole.
Ultimately, the fact that Poppy and Ian work as characters because of their complicated platonic relationship doesn’t end up being what’s most important here. Hell, even the fact that they made a weaker ending for their series isn’t even the biggest issue. It’s that the original ending was removed entirely that leaves me with so much concern. Alternate endings existed long before streaming, though they’re mostly relegated to film rather than television. But removing access to the original ending entirely is a separate can of worms, one more akin to what Max and Netflix have been up to as they’ve started disappearing films and television series from their respective platforms.
When you exist solely in a digital space, erasure from platforms means that you simply cease to exist. Though there’s a chance that Apple TV+ eventually decides to add the original ending back or offer it later in special features should the series ever get a physical release, its current non-existence continues a frustrating trend in digital media. Having a boring ending is obnoxious in and of itself, but knowing that there was another one that dared to take a risk even when that risk didn’t ultimately pan out? Infuriating!
The change was made to “tie up loose ends,” but all it really accomplishes is watering down the final version for all to see. The creators may have instituted the change themselves, but erasing the original version entirely is a disservice to both them and the fans of the series. Said erasure feels especially egregious given that we were discussing Netflix playing with the Mandela Effect just last week when the streamer released two different versions of the same episode of Black Mirror to mess with fans’ heads. There is absolutely no reason that both versions of the finale can’t exist alongside each other.
It’s a pity that Season 4 of Mythic Quest came and went with little fanfare despite Apple TV+ having enough confidence in the story to give it a spinoff (an anthology series set in the world but without any of the existing characters), but it’s a much bigger bummer that we’re seeing the trend of art disappearance continue, whether that art is good, bad, messy or absurd notwithstanding.
In our newest column, we look at how the Switch 2 marks a major improvement for how Nintendo is approaching accessibility in its game and hardware design.
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After months of intense speculation, rumors, and leaks, Nintendo fully unveiled the Switch 2 with its own Direct. Not only did we receive trailers for new games like Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and even Nintendo GameCube games exclusive to Switch 2 Online, maybe more importantly we also got a good look at the system itself. I’m happy to report that, from an accessibility perspective, the Switch 2 is looking undoubtedly like an upgrade to its predecessor in almost every way.
Several months ago, I explored my accessibility predictions for Nintendo’s latest console. I wanted more robust accessibility offerings, better usage of Joy-Con controllers, and unique inclusive design practices. And to my surprise, Nintendo answered every wish while also giving extras. For this Access Designed, let’s examine the exciting and confirmed accessibility of the Switch 2
New Accessibility Settings
The Direct offered little in terms of tangible accessibility options, aside from fully customizable controls for each virtual GameCube game, respective of the system settings. Instead, Nintendo released an accessibility page detailing a bevy of returning and new features.
Fully customizable controls are back, with the feature performing exactly like the original Switch. Settings to adjust text size to three different variants also return but with the additional capability to also implement High Contrast and change general display colors. Even the Zoom functionality is making a comeback, a necessary inclusion for blind/low vision players. Yet, Nintendo’s biggest surprise comes in the form of a new “Screen Reader” setting.
Blind/low vision individuals often need settings like Text-to-Speech to help navigate menus and settings. While the option is only available for the HOME menu and system settings, this accessibility feature is a necessary tool, allowing disabled players to independently navigate the Switch 2. Options to choose different voices, read speeds, and volume levels accompany the Screen Reader feature. We still don’t know if individual games will support these tools or come equipped with their own accessibility offerings, but Nintendo’s acknowledgment of their disabled audience is a welcome sight, one that absolutely piques my interest regarding the future of accessibility at the company.
Innovative Design
While not within a specific menu, Nintendo did advertise a new inclusive tool that not only adds more depth to a beloved franchise, but also vastly improves the cognitive, physical, and blind/low vision accessibility. Within the renamed Nintendo Switch App, is Zelda Notes, a companion app for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. With the Navigation option in the app, players can choose to locate shops, areas of interest, and even the elusive Korok’s all within the app’s GPS-like UI. The app, which comes with audio cues and voices, will direct players to the exact location of their selected object. While not perfect, as the app does not help with precise navigation or enemies, it helps blind/low vision individuals navigate the overworld while reducing the cognitive overload of having to travel across a vast world.
For cognitive, blind/low vision, and physically disabled players in particular, another feature in the app — the Autobuild Sharing tool — lets players share their custom Zonai tech creations. By scanning a QR code, disabled individuals can automatically build a Zonai machine if they have the corresponding materials. For me, especially, I immensely struggled with the control layout and required buttons to properly build Zonai machinery in Tears of the Kingdom. But thanks to this new tool, I only need to worry about gathering materials, and not the actual building process of Zonai contraptions. And all of this is done with Inclusive design, something I’ve regularly praised Nintendo for in the past.
Finally, disabled individuals can even share items with one another through Item Sharing, a feature identical to Autobuild Sharing. By scanning a QR code, I can immediately access items that my friends send me, reducing physical strain by no longer having to continuously scour the world for weapons and food. Does this make Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom fully accessible? Absolutely not. However, it’s an incredible step forward.
Wheelchair Sports
The biggest surprise for me was by far the announcement of Drag X Drive, a Rocket League-esque game that lets players control characters in manual wheelchairs on a basketball court. Not only is this surprising announcement a fantastic way to show proper disability representation, but it also highlights one of the Switch 2’s few new hardware changes – mouse control.
By flipping the Joy-Con on its side, players can move the controller across any surface, making the device behave similarly to a computer mouse. While we still don’t know how much force is required to move the cursor, – for comparison, my mouse on my ultrawide monitor has a DPI of 6400. But any new way to play will no doubt have accessibility benefits for an array of disabled players. It’s exciting to imagine just how Nintendo will utilize this new feature, but more importantly, it’s yet another tool for disabled individuals. Combine this with the multitude of controller types already available on the Switch and Switch 2, and Nintendo continues to innovate with controller usage.
As a Nintendo fan, I’m beyond excited for the Switch 2. While I’m admittedly hesitant to spend upwards of $450 for the system, my love of gaming began with Nintendo. And with each new system comes exciting accessibility additions that continue to demonstrate Nintendo’s commitment to accessibility and inclusive design. While we still don’t have a first party accessible device like the Xbox Adaptive Controller and PlayStation Access Controller, Nintendo is in its own way innovating with new ways to play for disabled individuals.Combine these innovations with the recent announcement of Nintendo joining other developers to create standardized accessibility tags, and I believe we'll see Nintendo continue to elevate accessibility for the better.
Grant Stoner is a disabled journalist covering accessibility and the disabled perspective in video games. When not writing, he is usually screaming about Pokémon or his cat, Goomba on Twitter.
Doctor Doom has well and truly cemented his status as Marvel’s greatest villain by now. What’s not to love? He’s got boundless ambition and an even bigger ego. He’s successfully taken over the world more than once. He had a brief stint as the self-proclaimed God Emperor of all reality. And none of that can fully disguise the fact that he’s a deeply flawed and self-loathing man who can’t get over his decades-old feud with his intellectual rival and former roommate.
Strangely enough, Doom has also emerged as Marvel’s most compelling hero over the past two years. Not the traditional Doom, who’s currently reigning over the Marvel Universe yet again in Marvel’s One World Under Doom crossover. Rather, the Doom of the new Ultimate Universe. He represents a very different yet still utterly fascinating take on this iconic Marvel character.
The Ultimate Universe’s Rebirth
To understand why this version of Doom is so compelling, you first need to wrap your head around the concept of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe imprint. The original Ultimate line, which ran from 2000-2015, was dedicated to giving readers updated and streamlined versions of characters like Spider-Man, the Avengers (rebranded as The Ultimates), and the X-Men, all reimagined to suit the 21st Century and the age of the War on Terror. It was great stuff… up until Marvel lost the plot after a few years.
The new Ultimate line, which kicked off in 2023, is more purposeful and directed in how it changes the traditional Marvel formula. This world, Earth-6160, was meant to be a close copy of the regular Marvel Universe, Earth-616. But thanks to the time-traveling machinations of The Maker (the twisted version of Reed Richards from the original Ultimate Universe), Earth-6160 has gone badly astray. The Maker worked to systematically suppress the emergence of Earth’s superheroes. Most of those superhumans that do exist serve on The Maker’s Council, a shadowy, autocratic cabal that secretly rules this dystopian world.
Yet, there is a resistance movement. Together, the Earth-6160 versions of Tony Stark and Reed Richards have been seeking out those who were robbed of their opportunity to be heroes and giving them a second chance. That’s the whole premise behind Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto’s chart-topping Ultimate Spider-Man, which features a married, older Peter Parker becoming Spidey for the first time. It’s also the idea fueling Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri’s The Ultimates, as Tony and Reed lead a ragtag band of heroes to liberate the world while the clock steadily counts down to The Maker’s return.
I’m of the opinion that the Ultimate line is the best thing Marvel is publishing at the moment (especially with the X-Men’s Krakoan era now over), and there’s a reason why The Ultimates was IGN’s best comic book of 2024. More than any other book at Marvel or DC, The Ultimates feels like the comic for this strange and frightening age in which we find ourselves. It’s so refreshing to read a superhero comic where the heroes aren’t simply defending and upholding the status quo, but actively fighting to tear it down and build something better.
Who Is Ultimate Doom?
If the new Ultimate line represents the best of Marvel’s current comic book crop, then Ultimate Doom is its greatest and most compelling character. That’s because, in this universe, Doom is Reed Richards. In the Ultimate Universe, one Reed is a terrible, seemingly unstoppable villain, while another is its potential savior. What can I say? He’s a malleable character, and not just because he can stretch and twist himself into literal knots.
Books like Ultimate Invasion and The Ultimates have established a detailed backstory for Ultimate Doom. When he came to Earth-6160 and started building his secret empire, The Maker made a special project out of tormenting his multiversal doppelganger. The Maker quietly sabotaged Reed’s scientific work, so that the cosmic accident meant to give the Fantastic Four their powers instead killed Johnny and Susan Storm and caused Reed to be thrown in prison.
From there, The Maker spent years physically and psychologically torturing Reed. He didn’t stop until Reed finally accepted that he is truly Doom - a black hole of a human being who sucks the life out of everyone and everything he loves. Even though Reed has since been liberated and joined the resistance against The Maker, he still carries the profound scars from those years of torture. He still wears the visage of Doctor Doom, like a modern-day Man in the Iron Mask. But where Doctor Doom’s mask projects power and regal authority, Ultimate Doom’s mask represents nothing but caged pain and anguish.
The question of why The Maker devoted so much effort to tearing down a version of himself is a fascinating one. His hatred of Earth-6160’s Reed is due to both personal and entirely practical reasons.
A refugee of the original Ultimate Universe, this Reed once served on his own version of the Fantastic Four, before everything collapsed and he lost his found family. This Reed has gone more than a little insane after sealing himself away for a thousand years and becoming an immortal tyrant with an oversized brain. He clearly hates the man he used to be as much as he secretly yearns for what was lost, so punishing Earth-6160’s Reed is a way of exorcising his own demons. It’s been a real wild ride for this character over the past 15 years, and I’m still amazed at how The Maker (and fellow Ultimate Universe refugee Miles Morales) continues to thrive as a character long after his universe has been consigned to the dustbin of the comic book industry.
There’s also the fact that, in their last encounter, The Maker asked the Reed Richards of the main Marvel Universe a pointed question - “If you had the chance, would you erase me from existence?”. That Reed admitted he would. So The Maker knows with certainty that the greatest threat to his new empire is Reed Richards. Only one Reed can stop another. The solution? Destroy him utterly and completely, so that Reed’s unparalleled mind becomes impotent and worthless.
Ultimate Doom’s Battle with Depression
Did The Maker succeed in his goal of destroying Reed Richards? That question is at the heart of what makes Ultimate Doom such a compelling character. He’s a profoundly damaged individual. Who wouldn’t be, after what he’s suffered? He’s a brilliant scientist who failed in his life’s ambition yet still strives against overwhelming odds to build a better world. He’s an admirable guy in a lot of ways.
Yet, there’s something inherently sinister about anyone who wears the mask of Doctor Doom. Reed is no exception. The Ultimates frequently leaves us to wonder if The Maker has done too good a job of stamping out Reed’s heroic flame. He’s shown to hold his fellow heroes in contempt for what he sees as half-measures. Given the opportunity, he’d use time travel to rewrite and reshape the fabric of their universe just as The Maker did before him. And he can’t seem to escape his obsession with correcting his botched work. Doom constantly toils away in his lab, experimenting on mice and trying to recreate the Fantastic Four.
Many of the characters in The Ultimates are depicted as being neurodivergent in some way. Tony/Iron Lad is autistic. Giant-Man is wracked by anxiety and a whole mess of phobias. And Ultimate Doom suffers from a depression so debilitating it makes every day a struggle. Doom vocalizes this in the truly incredible The Ultimates #4, an issue that explores four parallel threads of time simultaneously. Here, Doom refers to his depression as his “Negative Zone,” a clever spin on the deadly dimension from the core Marvel Universe.
“I… suffer from periods of… extreme despair,” Doom tells Tony. “During these periods it is as if I am… oppositely charged. Lost in an all-consuming universe where nothing is possible. I call it my ‘negative zone’.”
This, more than any other scene in The Ultimates, serves to humanize Ultimate Doom and make him more relatable than the larger-than-life Doctor Doom of Earth-616 could ever be. How many among us can understand the plight of situational depression and the thought of being ground down by the world and the endless deluge of bad news? Who doesn’t have days where they feel trapped in their own personal Negative Zone? I can certainly relate.
All of this helps to mold this version of Reed Richards into the most complex and layered character in the new Ultimate Universe. He’s a man once destined for greatness who had that life stolen away. He’s someone who fights an uphill battle every day simply to get out of bed and keep moving forward. He bravely resists, yet it remains to be seen how much of his battered soul he’s willing to sacrifice in the process. He’s an unusual and very damaged hero in a universe that has far too few heroes. And he’s the single biggest reason why anyone even remotely interested in superhero comics should be following Marvel’s Ultimate Universe line.
Podcast Beyond! revisits Bloodborne, one of the top souls games created all month long as they discuss what makes a game rooted in so much pain so magical.
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Few games nowadays can make the wider gaming audience roll their eyes or jump out of their chairs excitedly. Yes, there are plenty of games that people are excited about their inevitable release, like Grand Theft Auto 6. Still, a darker, almost esoteric magic happens when the inevitable rumor mill starts to swill about games like Silksong and Bloodborne, the latter of which happens to be the Beyond! Game Club Game for April.
Bloodborne is one of those experiences that can be transformative for some. At the same time, many will often play it, slaughtering their prey up until they see the credits or get fed up with it before eventually throwing in the towel. Those who overcome what lies in wait often become addicted to the challenging and precise combat of many souls’ games, while segments of that group become radicalized by the world and its lore that enthralls them as they traverse the extensive map draped in gothic and Lovecraftian themes. It’s no surprise that many of the hosts of podcast Beyond! are big fans of Bloodborne, and we look forward to our return to Yharnam once again, with it celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
Mid-Month Update:
Jada:
Returning to Bloodborne has been an eye-opening experience for me. My return has confirmed many of my initial feelings about the game from when I first visited it 10 years ago. However, like the sparse glimpses of the sun, the elements that have evangelized many of its fans have started to reveal themselves to me. Exploring in Bloodborne has been more enjoyable this time around as I find paths I previously overlooked in my haste to move through them last time. It also reminded me of the fun I have when uncovering neat little treasures or how much it gets my blood pumping when I unlock a shortcut after a series of death-defying battles.
The boss and enemy design alone has helped me appreciate the adoration Bloodborne gets from my co-hosts and the rest of its fan base. The variety I've seen so far in the first dozen hours while exploring the main areas and chalice dungeons is unlike most of the bosses I've seen in other Souls games. And while none have pushed me other than the fire-based bosses that are resistant to my fire-based arcane build, the difficulty is what I remembered from my first trip through Yharnam. Though I still haven't grown fond of the gun parry mechanics in place of my tried and true shield parries in other Souls games, it's moved up from being a system I hated to a system that I use when the circumstances necessitate it. I fully expect the 'git gud' elements of the parry system will eventually kick in so I can go from hoping I land this parry to landing them more consistently to devastate the other hellions that lie ahead, but until then, I will just run enemies through on my flaming saw-spear.
How's your progress going in our return to Yharnam? How many blood echoes have you forfeited due to an untimely death? What kind of build are you pursuing? We hope you're enjoying this Bloodborne homecoming as much as we are and that your endeavors to slaughter the numerous beasts, ghouls, and other ghastly creatures have been entertaining enough to see it through to the end with us. But let us know in the comments below how your experience has been! And be sure to check back in throughout the month as we update you with our latest thoughts, triumphs, and, of course, the many failures that await us in Bloodborne.
Daredevil: Born Again's penultimate episode gave even more credence to a popular fan-theory surrounding Foggy Nelson, but would the show really go there?
This column contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again through Episode 8.
Fans were aghast when Foggy Nelson took his last breath in the series premiere of Daredevil: Born Again. After all the outcry and fanfare to get Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll back as Foggy and Karen respectively, it felt like madness that the first thing the writers did was tragically kill off one of the Avocados at Law. But eagle-eyed fans immediately noticed an Easter egg that may give hope that Foggy could have another day in court. The fan theory gained traction once it was confirmed that Henson would be in Season 2 of the series — despite the likely possibility that he's in a flashback or a dream — and the end of Season 1’s penultimate episode offers one final tidbit that may confirm it all. Let’s go on a journey, shall we?
First, the Easter egg. The address for Nelson, Murdock and Page is 468. There have been 680 total issues of flagship Daredevil comics, but they’re not always numbered that way. The 468th issue of Daredevil is actually numbered Daredevil #88 (created by Ed Brubaker, David Aja, Frank D’Armata, and Cory Petit). In that issue? Foggy narrowly avoids death to go into witness protection. “The Secret Life of Foggy Nelson” has some differences from Daredevil: Born Again like, for instance, the fact that Foggy’s death in the previous issues “The Devil in Cell Block D” and “Heaven’s Half Hour” is way more ambiguous than Born Again’s version where Matt hears his friend’s heart stop beating while Karen screams on the street. But hey, the MCU has always been prone to take some liberties.
The question remains though: would they really bring Foggy Nelson back to life in Born Again after his death played such a pivotal role in the story arc so far? The official Daredevil account fueled the fan theory flames when they posted pages from Daredevil issues related to the arc of Foggy’s death being faked, but that could be as simple as a social media manager seeing an opportunity for engagement. What’s way more interesting now as we head into the last episode of Daredevil: Born Again is the revelation that Vanessa Fisk (Ayelet Zurer) was behind Foggy’s murder. We learn in the last moments of this week’s episode that it was she, rather than Fisk, who contracted Bullseye to pull the job which, once again, adds to the chances that Foggy might be alive after all.
Like before, the comic run plays out a little bit differently than what we’re seeing unfold on screen, with Vanessa being terminally ill in the comic but what’s important here are the parallels of her being frustrated with both Daredevil and her husband and her being the one to facilitate the whole Foggy Nelson death scare situation.
The fact of the matter is that there are a whole lot of parallels between the comic and what we’ve seen play out on screen, even if they aren’t 1:1. In addition to the possibly coincidental number 468 and Vanessa Fisk orchestrating everything, “The Devil in Cell Block D” features Matt being persecuted for being a vigilante. In Daredevil: Born Again, it is Hector Ayala (Kamar de los Reyes) being punished for his role as White Tiger. So, once again different, but also once again close enough to make you wonder.
But the real question kind of boils down to why. Why would Foggy agree to such a thing? Some have theorized that it’s to get Matt back for choosing the cowl after all of their back and forth in Season 3, others have wondered if he thought his death would be the only way to show Matt how far he would go as Daredevil when pushed, but I’m not quite convinced Foggy could be so cruel.
Frankly, while I definitely see the signs and want all of them to be true, I don’t know that I’m on board with the theory that Foggy Nelson is alive to begin with. I think it would be poetic if it were true, but my skepticism is because of Bullseye. He’s not missing a shot on an unmoving target unless he was paid handsomely to miss on purpose. The end of this week’s episode made it abundantly clear that he and Vanessa are not on good terms and, given that he was rotting in a cell and then was moved to gen pop against his will, I can’t imagine that money would be a meaningful motivator. Add that to the fact that he had ample time and plenty of reason to tell Matt that Foggy was still alive while he was begging his lawyer to get him moved back into solitude, and it just doesn’t add up.
That being said, I want nothing more than to be wrong here. Long live Foggy Nelson.
