Starting today, Amazon has dropped the price on the officially licensed WD Black C50 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series consoles to $109.99 shipped. That's a 30% price drop from its original $158 list price and the best price we've seen for an officially licensed 1TB Xbox expansion card since Black Friday. The C50 is one of the best SSDs for the Xbox, which isn't surprising since your options are pretty limited.

WD Black C50 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox for $109.99

1964 was a busy year. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, The Beatles made their way to New York City, and the Olympics were held in Tokyo. But for our purposes, it also marked the wide release of the board game Acquire. Now, more than 60 years and multiple editions later, Renegade Games has the reins on this historic hotel-building powerhouse, releasing both a premium 60th Anniversary Edition in 2024 and its retail counterpart in 2023. While these new versions may have a fresh coat of paint, they still maintain the same wonderful gameplay that has kept it around for six decades and landed it on our list of the best classic board games.

Acquire plays with two to six players, where everyone lays tiles, establishes hotel chains, and purchases shares of stock – all with the hopes of getting big returns on their investments. While the theme may not sound the most enthralling compared to other games on your local game store’s shelves, there’s a reason Acquire has been around for more than 60 years. It’s easy to teach and has a deceptive amount of strategy involved – so much so that it was even featured at the World Series of Board Gaming tournament last year.

On your turn, players will pull a tile – each with a grid coordinate printed on it – and place it on the board in its corresponding spot. When a tile is placed and creates a minimum of two adjacently connected ones, a hotel is formed, and its founder gets a share of its stock. The larger a hotel chain grows, the more expensive each share of stock becomes, but also, the greater the payout when that hotel gets acquired and absorbed into a bigger hotel. So, buying low and selling high is the name of the game.

These latest versions from Renegade Games offer a new variant rule known as Tycoon Mode, which makes it easier for players who aren’t in the lead to stage a comeback. In the traditional Classic Mode, only the first- and second-place owners of a hotel chain – the two who own the most stock – get the payout when it’s acquired. Tycoon Mode expands this benefit to the third player as well. While I prefer the classic option, I appreciate this variant’s inclusion to help ease new players into the game.

Unique to the 60th Anniversary Edition are a set of special power cards that tweak the gameplay further. These cards provide powerful bonuses, such as playing four tiles at once or buying three stocks for free. While these cards dramatically change the game, I found them to be too powerful and game-altering for my tastes. After a single playthrough with them, I haven’t gone back and have no real desire to. However, like Tycoon Mode, they are optional, so they're worth trying out to see if they suit your style.

Regarding the differences between the main retail release and the 60th Anniversary Edition, the $50 price difference comes with enough tweaks and adjustments to make the premium edition worth considering. Gameplay and core components (tiles, board, and cards) remain the same – with the exception of the power cards – so the main differences lie in the components.

There are three main upgrades in the premium version that make the investment worthwhile: a drawstring bag for tile selection, a removable insert for organizing share cards and hotel miniatures, and replacing paper money with sturdy poker chips.

On the surface, these may not seem like major upgrades – or worth the additional cost – but the improved organizer and drawstring bag significantly enhance the experience. Storing and blindly grabbing tiles from a bag eliminates the need to manually flip over tiles during setup, making the game flow much smoother. If you opt for the base edition, I highly recommend finding a bag to use.

Another helpful addition exclusive to the Anniversary Edition is the redesigned plastic organizer, which stores share cards in their own separate container with a plastic lid. This allows the cards, which are held upright in grooves alongside their corresponding hotel miniatures, to be placed more conveniently. In contrast, the base edition’s organizer is the size of the entire game box, which, while functional, takes up more table space. Most players would likely prefer having the cards placed separately on the table.

The last exclusive upgrade is purely cosmetic: replacing paper money with poker chips. Personally, I detest paper money in board games and believe it should have stayed in the 1960s. A significant portion of the Anniversary Edition’s increased price comes from this component upgrade, but what an upgrade it is. The chips have a nice weight to them, are neatly stored in their own container, and help keep the game organized. Plus, they’re simply more satisfying to handle than flimsy paper bills – there’s just something about that clinky sound.

Where to Buy

Acquire: 60th Anniversary Edition (MSRP $99.99)

• Amazon | Atomic Empire | Walmart

Standard Edition (MSRP $49.99)

• Amazon | Atomic Empire | Walmart

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Stop me if you've heard this pitch before: a warrior is summoned to another world to fight hordes of enemies in the name of a deity usurped by an evil force. Yeah… but while its story and its boss fights might be phoned in, Warriors: Abyss still manages to confidently put the "1v1000" spin of its Dynasty Warriors roots onto the tried and true room-to-room roguelite template of games like Hades, and that’s something I haven’t seen quite as many times before. Combined with one of the most extensive rosters of characters I’ve seen in this genre, a simple yet impactful upgrade system, and screen-filling special attacks, this new roguelite managed to get at least a fair number of those good old “just one more run” hooks in me before its story trailed off.

Without a doubt, the 100-character roster is the strongest part of Abyss because they function as both playable characters and as summonable upgrades who join your hero as you go. With a selection of characters rounded up from Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi, that includes characters like Nobunaga Oda and Goemon Ishikawa to join forces with iconic Dynasty Warriors characters Zhao Yun, Cao Cao, Sun Jian and dozens more. After taking over a third of them for a spin, I’ve gravitated towards characters with specific abilities or ones I've favored in past games: Guan Yu, Liu Bei, and especially Lu Bu, who makes defeated enemies explode and deal damage to other enemies nearby. While each run never really felt all that different from the last, even when venturing outside my favorites, I still enjoyed the feeling of when my build came together to deal massive damage or overwhelm my enemies with multiple status effects.

Unfortunately, the story never did. I often struggled to connect with it due to the way every conversation doled out after defeating a boss is limited to mostly monologues from the ousted ruler of the underworld.

Despite Warriors: Abyss having a cast of 100 playable characters, or maybe rather because of that, none of them get a chance to shine. Every opportunity for dialogue gives options that either say the same thing two ways or result in a very similar response, so there are no interesting decisions to make and the characters are interchangeable. The shops and random events that occur during runs are also devoid of other characters, so even these were wasted opportunities to add a little bit of personality to the story.

After the minimal setup you are sent out to clear four stages, each consisting of eight rooms and ending with a tougher but uninspired boss battle. There’s an ogre, a skeletal griffin, and other supernatural things and while that's more creative than we typically get in a Warriors game they never managed to wow me. The main issue, though, is that even if they had wild visual designs every boss battle would still play out the same way, with telegraphed attacks and rechargeable barriers to be broken before you can damage their health bar. You don’t have to look very hard to find isometric action games with bosses that are more outside the box than this.

Downing one for the first time triggers a very short conversation about the lore, but that's about it, and none of these chats were revelatory or offered any conclusion – including the final one. It essentially just ends with a “You won!” like an arcade game from the 1980s.

However, the big evil is still here, and we need you to continue fighting until it's eradicated. And that's expected, since the nature of roguelites is to clear multiple runs before getting some grander resolution. But at this point I’ve played for over 40 hours and completed over 30 runs with 20 different characters, each of which taking 45 minutes to an hour, and there’s no end in sight or even any hint I’m making progress toward it.

Thankfully, the large roster of characters and entertaining combat kept the repeated runs enjoyable, even if the story wasn’t there. Every time you beat a room you have the opportunity to recruit someone into one of your six slots, and they work something like boons in Hades except you can swap people in and out between rooms once they’re in your inventory. There are also 30 different unlockable formations to choose from that add depth to your options, like empowering characters placed in odd-numbered slots or improving your main hero’s stats based on how many of a certain elemental emblem you’ve collected that run.

By changing who I played as and which warriors I was recruiting to assist me on each run, there’s enough variety to keep things interesting. While each character uses similar enough variations for basic combos that learning to play a new one is easy, they all come with a set of traits that match their backgrounds; combinations of emblems for stats or elements like Strength, Speed, Fire or Ice; a special attack they use when summoned as an ally; and finally a passive buff offering things like summoning extra characters, increasing the attack power of their special move, or buffing your main warrior’s emblems or traits. They also have unlockable unique weapons that give permanent buffs to their owner and act as something to chase beyond the story.

Abyss also does a great job of converting the traditional Dynasty Warriors combat into something more flashy to fit the more fantasy-based setting. Every character has their various normal and charge attack combos, and new summoning attacks, those basic moves feed the Assemble bar that powers the new assemble attack at a quick and satisfying pace. And if you execute a musou move while it’s active, it unleashes a room-clearing explosion that never failed to get me out of a tricky situation or put a bow on top of a battle.

In practice, though, the 100 warriors don’t fight all that differently. Outside of a few characters with unique special attacks, most deal one of five elemental damage types by creating zones of AoE damage, summoning tornadoes that pull enemies in, or conjure elemental blades from the ground. A select few grant buffs or inflict debuffs, and that's just a few of the options available. But even though summoning attacks and certain passives are repeated across the roster with only slight differences, there’s enough variety there that I found I could easily create some level of synergy regardless of the warriors I had available on a run.

There are some creative combinations you can pull off. And, once you've recruited six heroes, you unlock the Assemble Attack, which is as powerful as it is cool looking.

That said, Abyss swings its difficulty pendulum from fairly difficult to too easy depending on your progress through the meta-progression between runs. Your first few runs of any roguelite are meant to be nearly insurmountable: you deal low damage to bosses and take a lot until you build up your attack and defense stats. Looking at the progression tree for character unlocks, that’s pretty quick and easy to do as you pick a path and unlock your favorite characters or characters with the preferred permanent stat bonuses. As a Lu Bu fan, I made a beeline for him while unlocking other nearby characters that offered good bonuses and found the tide of battle quickly shifted in my favor.

There are plenty of other great characters to unlock along the way. Some come with extra abilities, like Nobunaga, who gains a temporary power up enabling additional attacks after using a specific combo. And characters gain cumulative levels the more you play them; every 50 levels, they gain permanent bonuses to their attack and defense, meaning that with enough time and effort even characters without special traits can gain enough power to tackle the most difficult challenges.

But, speaking of those difficult challenges, even the five challenge runs disappointed me in the end: my only reward for accomplishing this supposed great feat was alternate costumes for a couple of characters – not even the one I’d played with. I’d have even settled for unlocking some good lore to flesh the story out, but while there are some diary entries and memoirs in the collections menu, even that failed to move the needle of interest for me. I suppose there is always the chance that the story may be resolved, or at least have more revealed, after completing it with 30 different characters or more, but at this point I don't have my hopes up.

I will say that this last thing for it, though: Warriors: Abyss has given me a new perspective from which to experiment with characters that I’d skipped over in the main Dynasty Warriors games. Playing with the likes of Zhang Liao and Sima Yi here has me interested in giving them more attention the next time they appear in a mainline game. So I can at least thank it for broadening my Dynasty Warriors horizons!

It was almost exactly one year ago that I walked into a meeting during the Game Developer’s Conference and first got introduced to Jump Ship, a four-player sci-fi PvE shooter that blends mechanics from Sea of Thieves, Left 4 Dead, and FTL into something I thought was extremely special. I recently had a chance to play the latest build with a few of the developers, and let’s just say that if any indie game can break out big in what’s already an absolutely stacked year of releases, I’d bet my money on Jump Ship. As it heads towards an Early Access launch this Summer, it’s more polished and more fun than ever.

If you aren’t familiar with Jump Ship already, it’s a non-grindy space romp for up to four players — and I specifically didn’t say multiplayer because the team at Keepsake Games told me they’re responding to feedback and building on what they hope will be a clever way for solo players to enjoy Jump Ship. In short, if you want to treat it like a single-player game, there will be narratively constructed AI assistants to help you man the ship. You get a taste of this in the Prologue, which serves as one part tutorial — introducing you to gameplay mechanics like shooting, flying in your space suit, manning and piloting the ship, and ship combat — and one part lore-builder.

Yes, Jump Ship now has a much-appreciated story behind its core PvE gameplay. A malicious virus has infected machines throughout the galaxy, and it’s up to you and your fellow Atirans to get to the root of it at the heart of the galaxy and stop it. You’ll run through procedurally generated chains of missions in each sector in order to get there. Some take 10 minutes, others might take an hour. You’ll know roughly what to expect going in, as each one of your branching choices on the Jump Map is color-coded to let you know how much danger you’re voluntarily wading into. But of course, the greater the danger, the greater the reward…

Aiding you is a non-infected AI you discover in the Prologue called Iris, who acts as something of a narrator on your missions. It’s a welcome bit of structure around the solid foundation of gameplay Jump Ship brings to the table. As is the Hangar, which is the sort-of base of operations from which you can cash in your in-game currency to buy and customize your outfits, look at the greater Galaxy Map, and even engage in a bit of soccer in your downtime.

But back to that core four-player gameplay. Boy oh boy is it fun! As you embark on your mission, things naturally won’t always go according to plan. Your ship will get attacked en route to your destination, requiring one of you to pilot the ship and fire the meager pilot’s chair weapons, while another sits down at the ship’s proper weapon station to wield the 360-degree-pivoting cannon at any annoying targets. Meanwhile, the other two of you might be mag-booted to the ship’s hull outside, taking shots at passing ships. That is, until an enemy vessel damages your ship, requiring one or more of you to run inside, grab a fire extinguisher, crawl into a vent, and put out the flames. After all, you’ve gotta keep that pineapple pizza-maker in full working order!

When you do get where you’re going, all four of you disembark and make your way on foot inside the structure that houses the loot you’re after. These evil, infected robots will keep coming and they won’t play nice, so teamwork is essential at each step of the mission. Your grappling hook helps zip you around areas both on the ground and in outer space much quicker, and once you’ve got the big loot, one of you has got to get it back aboard the ship while the others protect your defenseless, arms-full self.

Both my demo last year and my latest one just the other day were short. On the one hand, it proves that Jump Ship is a blast in short bursts, and thus you don’t have to quit your job in order to keep up with it. On the other hand, though, I haven’t seen enough of the larger mission structure and the procedurally generated variety to know if it will deliver on its endlessly replayable promise. But everything I’ve seen so far absolutely screams potential hit. Jump Ship has all the right ingredients to become something special, and I can’t wait to play a lot more.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as 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.

Here are best deals for Monday, February 24, including the best game ever for cat lovers, SSDs for your PS5 or gaming PC upgrade, a tiny noise machine that's great for travel, a MagSafe power bank with updated Qi2 wireless charging, a Nintendo Switch OLED consoler for a bargain price, and more.

Check out "the best deals under $30" for any impulse buys on items that you never knew you needed until you visited this page. Read on lower for some great deals that cost over $30 and may require a bit more involved decision-making.

40% Off Stray for PC

This article contains spoilers for the premiere of Suits LA.

For a show called Suits LA, the premiere episode of the new spinoff series, titled “Seven Times A Week and Twice On Sunday” spends a fair amount of time in New York. That’s because that’s where Ted Black (Stephen Amell) is from, but perhaps more importantly that’s where his father is from. And in a moment meant to be extremely serious but is, in fact, unintentionally hilarious, Amell’s character flies cross-country to, essentially, tell his dying dad to drop dead.

To jump back and give this a little bit of context, we’re told right at the top of the episode that back in 2010, Ted Black was a criminal attorney known for putting mob bosses behind bars. There are multiple flashbacks throughout the pilot as we slowly fill in the details of how Ted went from champion of the people to the callous center of the world he is in the present day, running a firm that deals almost exclusively in sports and entertainment law.

At least one of the reasons? Ted’s father, played by actor Matt Letscher, who is an otherwise nameless character.

Here is where our troubles begin. Not only is Letscher a mere 11 years older than Amell – which is par for the course for actors in Hollywood, but usually with a male actor playing the son of an actress who is two years younger than him – they look essentially the same age. Then there’s the fact that, if you happen to be a fan of The CW’s Arrowverse, it’s hard not to watch the pair and their lack of age gap while imagining that it’s simply the Green Arrow and the Reverse Flash having a moment.

The Letscher casting is a symptom of what happens when you set a production in Vancouver, which Suits LA did (the show was moved to LA proper after the pilot): you end up with the same five actors from Vancouver in every single show. So while it’s pretty funny to see Oliver Queen tell Eobard Thawne that he’ll never be like him without having Arrowverse flashbacks, it’s mostly a mental bridge you can traverse if you want… Even if Letscher’s character was trying to lure Amell’s character to the dark side of the law. All we’d need is Ted shouting “You’ve failed this city” and we’d be right back in vintage CW circa 2015.

Casting and age aside, though, Amell’s Ted spends most of the present scenes in the episode with characters helpfully reminding him that his dad is dying back in New York. An 84-year-old actor named John Amos, played by none other than veteran actor John Amos, sits around the law offices demanding they get him an audition for, possibly, a Hpnotiq ad, despite them not being agents. It’s somewhat unclear (and even confusing for the characters on the show), but he is mostly there for a later scene where he provides advice to Ted about seeing his father and forgiving him before he dies.

Today's ID@XBox showcase featured a surprise appearance from everyone's favorite trickster, Jimbo, with a big announcement: Balatro is coming to Xbox Game Pass starting today, and some new friends of Jimbo are coming along with it.

During a showcase trailer today, we saw that Balatro is getting another "Friends of Jimbo" update, adding several more face card customizations to the game. Based on the trailer, these appear to include Bugsnax, Civilization, Assassin's Creed, Slay the Princess, Dead by Daylight, and Fallout.

Past Friends of Jimbo updates have included The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077, Among Us, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Vampire Survivors, Stardew Valley, and more. This is the fourth Friends of Jimbo update to be released, and past updates have been purely cosmetic - don't expect any new major gameplay changes.

However, you can expect to find Balatro available on Xbox Game Pass right now, no waiting involved. While it was already out on Xbox for purchase, this makes it even easier to get really, really addicted to Balatro's card-slinging antics like we already have. Jimbo would be proud.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Dragon Ball fans, rejoice.

In the same week we got what might be the best Dragon Ball video game yet, we also got the start of a new Dragon Ball show. Dragon Ball Daima has officially premiered in Japan, featuring an original storyline from the series' legendary creator, Akira Toriyama. You can check out IGN's review of the premiere for our take on the first episode.

If you’re wondering how to watch Dragon Ball Daima online, check out the details below.

How to Watch Dragon Ball Daima Online

All of the Dragon Ball series is available on Crunchyroll, while a couple of the shows are also streaming on Hulu. You can check out where to stream all the Dragon Ball anime online below.

Dragon Ball (1986-1989)

• Crunchyroll
• Hulu

Dragon Ball Z (1989-1996)

• Crunchyroll
• Prime Video

Dragon Ball GT (1996-1997)

• Crunchyroll
• Hulu

Dragon Ball Super (2015-2018)

• Crunchyroll
• Hulu
• Prime Video

Dragon Ball Daima Voice Cast

Dragon Ball Daima was produced by Toei Animation. Yoshitaka Yashima and Aya Komaki directed the series, which was the final anime written by Akira Toriyama.

The following voice cast has been revealed so far:

• Masako Nozawa as Goku
• Koki Uchiyama as Glorio
• Fairouz Ai as Panzy
• Yumiko Kobayashi as Supreme Kai
• Shotaru Morikubo as Gomah
• Junya Enoki as Degesu
• Yoko Hikasa as Dr. Arinsu

Blythe (she/her) is an SEO Coordinator at IGN who is always looking for the next great horror story and fantasy RPG.

IGN is excited to have partnered with ID@Xbox for this latest ID@Xbox Showcase, which featured some big announcements from the brightest indie games out now and on our way in the future. From Balatro being available on Xbox Game Pass RIGHT NOW to new looks at Lies of P: Overture and Tron: Catalyst and so much more, there was a lot to celebrate today.

To ensure you don't miss a thing, we've gathered all the biggest announcements and reveals from this latest ID@Xbox Showcase below, and we'd love to hear what your favorite was in the comments!

Balatro Is Now on Xbox Game Pass and Has Card Customizations From Fallout, Assassin's Creed, and More

Balatro had some big announcements for this ID@Xbox Showcase, including that it is now available on Xbox Game Pass. Additionally, Balatro is getting another "Friends of Jimbo" update that will bring with it card customizations from Fallout, Assassin's Creed, Bugsnax, Civilization, Slay the Princess, and Friday the 13th.

Tron: Catalyst Brings Players to the Grid to Take Down Overlords and Master Mysterious Abilities

Tron: Catalyst is set to welcome players to the Grid on June 17, 2025, and a new gameplay trailer introduced fans to more of its world. In this new adventure, players will take on the role of Exo, a "highly resilient and resourceful program with an incredible ability to initiate time loops." With the power, Exo will take on "overlords of a crumbling grid" and evade a malevolent agent of CORE named Conn.

Lies of P: Overture Takes Us Back to the Beginning For an Exciting New Adventure

The 'One More Thing' of the ID@Xbox Showcase was a new look at Lies of P: Overture, the DLC for the beloved soulslike from 2024. This DLC will once again follow Geppetto's Puppet as he travels back in time to see how events led to the start of the original game. This trailer also gave us a good like at the Legendary Stalker named Lea.

33 Immortals Is All Set For an Early Access Launch This March

The upcoming co-op action-roguelike called 33 Immortals is set to be released in Early Access on March 18, 2025. To celebrate this announcement, 33 Immortals also got a new gameplay trailer that shows the chaotic action in real time.

Revenge of the Savage Planet Brings the Creative and Wacky Fun This May

Alongside confirming that Revenge of the Savage Planet will be released on May 8, 2025, a new trailer showcased a few of the many wild and creative weapons players will get to use on their adventure. This includes a Goo Canon, and electric lasso, Conductive Fero Goo that will shock or slow down enemies as well as open doors, and so much more.

Jump Ship Brings Co-Op Fun to Space This Summer

The ID@Xbox Showcase gave us a preview of the much-anticipated Jump Ship, which is headed to Early Access this summer. If you'd like to learn more about Jump Ship, be sure to check out our recent preview of the game we said is a mix of Sea of Thieves, Left 4 Dead, and FTL.

Patapon Spirtual Successor Ratatan Gets a New Gameplay Video and Release Window

Ratatan, the spiritual successor to Patapon, recieved a brand-new gameplay trailer and a release window of 2025. The gameplay trailer showed off its rhythm and side-scrolling action, a giant crab boss, and much more.

Echo Weaver Is a Metroidvania That Wants You to 'Perfect the Loop'

Echo Weaver is an upcoming Metroidvania that wants players to "perfect the loop." Players become the last Weaver, a character who just so happens to be from a ruined society and stuck in a "fatal time loop." They will need to uncover all the secrets this world holds to break out of this madness.

Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Will Arrive on Game Pass on Day 1

Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault will arrive later this year and it will be part of Game Pass the moment it is out in the world. To help with the wait, 11 Bit has revealed a new gameplay trailer that shows fans how this sequel is turning out.

Blue Prince Is a Strategy Puzzle Adventure Game That Want You to Unveil the Mystery of Room 46

Blue Prince is a new strategy puzzle adventure game that takes place in Mt. Holly, a place where "every dawn unveils a new mystery." Everything around you continues to shift and change, but that can't stop you from uncovering the mystery of the rumored Room 46.

Blue Prince will be released on April 10, 2025.

Herdling Is All About Herding Mystical and Fantastic Creatures

Herdling is a game headed to PC and Xbox in Summer 2025 that is all about herding mystical and fantastic creatures through an equally mysterious world. This won't be an easy journey, but your herd is counting on you to help them through to the end.

Outbound Wants You to Go on a Relaxing Trip into Nature With Your Camper Van

There are many stressful and challenging games out there, but Outbound hopes to slow things down with a relaxing open-world adventure in the wilderness. In Outbound, players will have their trusty camper van with them and they will need to build upon it and live on the land. This means collecting resources, making the space your own, and much more.

Outbound will be released in 2026.

Hotel Barcelona's Star Has an Insane Serial Killer Living Inside of Her

The ID@Xbox Showcase gave us a new look at Suda51 and Swery65's Hotel Barcelona, a game starring a novice federal marshal named Justine who just so happens to have an insane serial killer named Dr. Carnival living inside of her. This mystery horror action game will task players with helping out Justine by killing all the other evil serial killers and escaping from a cursed hotel.

Hotel Barcelona will be released in 2025.

Tanuki Pon's Summer Follows an Adorable Raccoon Who Is a Part-Time Mailman and Has a BMX Bike

Tanuki Pon's Summer stars an adorable raccoon and his BMX bike and follows the pair as they work as a part-time mailman in a beautiful Japanese town. Deliver packagers, pull off incredible tricks, help locals, and so much more when Tanuki Pon's Summer is released later in 2025.

Wax Heads Is a 'Cozy-Punk Slice-of-Life Narrative Sim' All About Managing a Record Store in Need of Some Help

Wax Heads is self-described as a 'cozy-punk slice-of-life narrative sim about managing a struggling record store." This means dealing with quirky customers, exploring and preserving your extensive record collection, supporting bands, and so much more.

Wax Heads will be released in Summer 2026.

RockBeasts Lets You Live Out Your Dream of Being in a 90s Rock Band in a World of Human-Like Animals

One of the big ID@Xbox Showcase's world premieres was RockBeasts, which lets players live out their dream of being in a 90s rock band in a world filled with human-like animals. This mature game will go through all the highs and lows of the rockstar lifestyle when it is reelased in 2025.

Descenders Next Welcomes Players to the Snowy Slopes This April

Descenders wants players to live out their snowboarding and mountainboarding dreams and is set to welcome players to its extreme world on April 9, 2025.

Tempopo Brings a Music Puzzle Game to the Sky

Tempopo is an upcoming music puzzle game that is billed as a "psychedelic soundscape in the sky." Players will experience different seasons as they rescue musical flowers, design and populate their garden, and much more.

Tempopo will be released on April 17, 2025.

Woodo Is a Striking Game About Bringing Gorgeous Dioramas to Life

Woodo is a striking game all about solving diorama-style puzzles and bringing scenes to life with color and character and so much more. This game looks so unique and looks like a cozy, good time.

The Lonesome Guild Is All About Adventuring as a Ghost and Being Nice to Your Adorable Animal Friends

The Lonesome Guild is an upcoming game from DON'T NOD and Tiny Bull Studios that stars Ghost and some very cute animal friends that are all setting off on a grand and dangerous adventure. Being a good friend is a big part of the game, and players will be able to see why when The Lonesome Guild is released in Fall 2025.

Horror Game Buckshot Roulette Will Soon Bring High Stress to PC and Xbox Game Pass

Horror game Buckshot Rouletter, which has players playing a VERY tense game of Russian Rouletter with a 12-gauge shotgun, will soon be making its way to PC and Xbox Game Pass.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.

The free-to-play first-person shooter Delta Force recently launched a co-op campaign mode called Black Hawk Down, which is inspired by the film of the same name and reimagines the campaign of 2003’s Delta Force: Black Hawk Down.

Rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5, the campaign takes you through the streets of Mogadishu with a level of immersion that wasn’t possible in the original 22 years ago. It’s also designed to present a legitimate challenge.

You can technically beat it solo, but it will be very difficult — you won’t face fewer enemies or easier firefights. The developers recommend building a squad of four with a good spread of character classes, relying on teamwork to successfully fight your way through the campaign’s seven chapters.

For more details on the campaign, you can read this article. To celebrate its release, we got a chance to talk to studio head Leo Yao and game director Shadow Guo about the decision to reboot the classic campaign, why they’re not charging any money for it, and more.

First things first: Why did you want to reboot the classic Delta Force campaign? What excited you about this opportunity?

Leo: Delta Force was a childhood favorite for me and many developers from Team Jade – the 2003 Delta Force game was just so iconic. We also love the 2001 movie so much, and both have been huge inspirations for us. The opportunity to revisit such a beloved story and bring it to today’s audience was something we couldn’t pass up. It wasn’t just about recreating the nostalgia, though; it was about expanding on it with love and respect. With today’s technology and tools, we felt like we could breathe new life into the experience while paying homage to the original.

Were there other options for setting or time period that you considered, or was the Mogadishu operation always the focus?

Shadow: It was love at first sight with the OG Black Hawk Down game for me, and our team has always been drawn to the Mogadishu operation. So we never seriously considered other options because we felt Black Hawk Down aligned perfectly with our vision for rebooting the Delta Force campaign. It’s a story that combines high-stakes drama, tactical depth, and a display of resilience, which are core to the Delta Force identity. It’s an iconic setting that not only respects the roots of the franchise but also provides a rich canvas for the gameplay experience we want to deliver to players.

Was there ever a time you considered not having a campaign at all? Why is it important to offer this to players?

Leo: We were on the fence before Gamescom 2023, where we revealed the game to the world. During the event, we had the chance to meet a lot of players who shared their memories and hopes for the franchise. Their passion really moved us, and it became clear just how much a campaign meant to them. While we always wanted to include a campaign, their enthusiasm gave us the final push we needed to commit fully.

It’s clear that a lot of time and effort went into creating this campaign. What made you decide to offer it for free?

Leo: That is exactly why — we poured our hearts and souls into this campaign, and we want players to enjoy it without any barriers. It’s also about building goodwill with the community and showing our commitment to providing value and respect for their support.

Shadow: The campaign’s difficulty means it’s not for everyone, but we want to give the choice to players.

With the campaign itself being free, will there be a battle pass or microtransactions?

Shadow: No, there won't be any battle pass or any microtransactions in the campaign. Our goal is to offer a free and accessible experience to all players. For those who would like to support the game further, we will offer a selection of optional campaign-related bundles that players can purchase and use in the game’s multiplayer mode.

Obviously, technology has developed considerably in the 22 years since the original game was released. What were you able to do now that wouldn’t have been possible back in 2003?

Shadow: It’s quite amazing to think that the OG Black Hawk Down is already 22 years old. One of the biggest improvements is in the graphics. We were able to create a living, dynamic Mogadishu with tons of details for players to explore and immerse into. We’ve also implemented a class system that adds more strategic depth to the game, giving players more freedom in how they approach missions.

You’ve recommended that players form a squad of four to complete the campaign in co-op. It’s playable solo, but very difficult. What went into that decision?

Shadow: From the very start of development, we knew we wanted to stay true to the spirit of both Black Hawk Down classics, where teamwork and camaraderie played a huge role. We didn’t want the game to feel like just another shooter where you go in guns blazing as a lone wolf. The campaign is designed around the idea of brotherhood and working together to overcome challenges just like how Delta Force was challenged in 1993. We strongly believe that the best experience is one where players coordinate as a team, supporting one another through difficult missions. Playing solo is certainly possible, but it’s much more challenging, and we wanted to encourage players to collaborate in co-op for a more rewarding experience.

Are there rewards that players can expect for completing the campaign? If so, what are they?

Leo: Yes, we wanted to make sure that players feel a real sense of accomplishment after completing the campaign, hence the difficulty. In addition to the fun and satisfaction of finishing challenging missions, there will be some cosmetic rewards available. These items can be used in multiplayer modes and reflect your performance and progress throughout the campaign.

How did you approach the chapter structure of the campaign, and how important was it that you diversify gameplay between those chapters?

Shadow: Just like in the original Delta Force games, we wanted to create a campaign structure that feels dynamic and keeps players engaged throughout. We’ve designed a variety of mission types, each emphasizing different aspects of gameplay. Without spoiling too much — one mission may involve escorting vehicles, where you’ll need to protect and navigate through hostile areas while exploring maze-like indoor areas to identify and eliminate threats; another could be a last-man-standing-style defense scenario, where you have to hold a position against waves of enemies.

What goes into balancing the different character classes and how they interact with each other?

Shadow: The class system in Delta Force is key to fostering teamwork and providing players with varied gameplay options. We wanted to create distinct roles for each class, making sure they complement each other during missions. For example, the Sniper class is perfect for long-range engagements, making use of sniper rifles and providing intel for the team. The Assault class is more frontline-oriented, excelling in close-quarter combat and heavy fire support. The Support class is essential for keeping the team alive with medical supplies and equipment. Each class has its strengths and weaknesses, and it’s important that players work together to cover each other’s gaps. The interaction between these roles is what makes teamwork so critical to success.

How important do you think narrative and storytelling are to a campaign mode in a shooter? How do you go about including that storytelling while still keeping the action intense and pace fast?

Leo: Storytelling is essential to giving the player a deeper connection to the game and making the action feel more meaningful. The good news is that we already have a great story to work with. As for narration: We use a combination of cinematics and gameplay to tell the story. For cinematics, about 60% of the cinematics are faithful remakes from the original, while the remaining 40% introduce original scenes inspired by historical events. But we don’t just rely on cutscenes — we also use the gameplay itself as a way to tell the story. For example, as you progress through the missions, you’ll encounter challenges that showcase the weight of war. This allows us to keep the action fast-paced while still delivering an emotional and immersive story that resonates with players.

Are there any other things you’d like to say to players?

Leo: We’re really excited for players to try the game! This is our first attempt at a new Delta Force campaign, and we’ve put a lot of work into making it as engaging and fun as possible. We hope that you’ll enjoy the experience as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it.

Shadow: Absolutely! We’re really grateful for the support from the community and encourage players to share their thoughts with us. We’re always looking to improve, and your feedback will help us make the game better for everyone. We hope you enjoy the game, and we look forward to hearing what you think.

In 1993, a military operation was conducted in Mogadishu, Somalia with the goal of capturing two lieutenants of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Known as Operation Gothic Serpent, it became a rescue mission after two Black Hawk helicopters went down, trapping their passengers behind enemy lines. What ensued was a bloody, intense firefight that ultimately sent reverberations beyond military boundaries.

Now, the free-to-play shooter Delta Force has a new co-op campaign that will drop you and your squad into the thick of that battle. Called Black Hawk Down, it draws inspiration from the iconic film of the same name and reimagines the original campaign of 2003’s Delta Force: Black Hawk Down.

Powered by Unreal Engine 5, the campaign has been rebuilt from the ground up. The city of Mogadishu and the enemies within it are now much more detailed, making the setting more immersive and the action more visceral. And make no mistake, that action is intense and will test the skills of you and your squadmates.

You can play the campaign solo, but it will be extremely difficult if you do. The objectives and enemies don’t give you a break just because you’re alone. The developers recommend using a co-op squad of four, which is the max allowed, and you’ll need everyone at their best. This isn’t a shooting gallery where you’re just competing with each other to see who can get the most kills. This is war, where every time you turn a corner, you’ll be met with fierce resistance. You’ll need to move as a unit and work together as a team.

The campaign is split into seven chapters, with your host’s unlocked chapters determining which are available to start with. Completing a chapter will unlock the next for everyone in the squad, and upon completion, you’ll get a letter grade based on how well your squad performed.

Each chapter has its own unique challenges and goals. In one, you’ll act as the vanguard of a convoy escorting injured personnel through chaotic streets. In another, you’ll need to reach a crash site to conduct emergency rescues. Another will see you navigating blockades as you attempt to escape the city.

In each instance, you’ll need to prioritize objectives rather than just killing enemies. However, you shouldn’t rush into areas without taking time to observe first. You and your team members will need to stay alert and cover each other. Blindly and recklessly running into a new area is a good way to get ambushed and see your run prematurely end.

Every member of your squad will choose a class and customize their loadout before deploying. Each class has its own strengths, and an optimized loadout can enhance those strengths. Some classes come equipped with medical supplies or ammo kits that can help their squadmates. And no matter what class you are, you can revive downed allies. So make sure to have your allies’ backs.

As you make your way through the campaign, you’ll unlock rewards for your account. When you successfully finish your first chapter, you’ll get a rare calling card. Completing all chapters will net you an epic calling card and badge. Getting an S rank on all chapters in co-op will net you a second badge. And if you really like a challenge, you can get another badge by getting an S rank on all chapters solo. Best of luck on that one.

Black Hawk Down is available now on PC and is free for all players. The system requirements and recommendations are in the image above. For more info on the development of the campaign, check out our interview with two members of the dev team. You can download it directly from Steam, through the in-game Black Hawk Down menu, or through the Black Hawk Down tab in the main game’s launcher. For more information, you can visit the game’s official website or join the community on Twitter or Discord.

The upcoming free-to-play online shooter Mecha Break really does well to evoke the exciting, breakneck sense of action from classic Japanese anime like Gundam Wing or Macross Plus. Focusing on the dizzying combat and thrills of piloting giant robots tearing through environments and enemy steel, it so far looks to deliver on its potential of over-the-top mechs duking it out in stylish fashion.

Ahead of the open beta, I got to dive into several hours of a near-final build of Mecha Break, seeing its opening storyline set on a post-cataclysmic Earth and a suite of multiplayer skirmishes that range from familiar match types to a surprisingly ambitious take on a squad-based Mecha extraction shooter on a large-scale map. So far, Mecha Break offers an impressive suite of mechs and modes for its upcoming debut.

Set in a far future where an ecological disaster has torn Earth apart, you play as a pilot in an organization known as S.H.A.D.O.W., which fights rival mech pilots and works to stop the spread of a crystalline virus that infects both organic life and even mechs. By engaging in strike missions and amassing more resources to upgrade and unlock new mecha, you can help the war effort and improve humanity's chances of survival.

For anyone who's watched any mecha action series or tried their hand at building Gunpla over the last 30 years, Mecha Break's influences are obvious – and the lead developer was clear about what type of game he wanted. During our chat at the preview session, Kris Kwok, CEO of Amazing Seasun Games and executive producer of Mecha Break, stated that the team aimed to capture the experience of watching a classic mecha anime with giant robots weaving through missile fire and landing a slick finishing shot.

"I've had a wonderful childhood experience watching a TV station in Hong Kong, which introduced me to Japanese anime. My favorites were Gundam and Macross, and they are my biggest influences on Mecha Break," said the CEO of Amazing Seasun Games. "I've always wanted to make a multiplayer game like this, and I drew upon a lot of military tactics to offer different types of experiences for players – you have strikers with light or heavy armor, and you have a sniper role, or mechs that fly and move swiftly through the environment. Our core design philosophy was to have a roster of mechs that all capture the experience of piloting giant machines of war, regardless of your role in a match."

The opening missions are the most story-driven moments of Mecha Break, but considering there are no present plans for a dedicated campaign, it was a little disappointing to see it's not much of a focus. However, the existing plot did well in framing the multiplayer engagements, and you'll even be able to have your custom pilot explore the massive hangar to talk with other characters and observe your mechs. The heart of the gameplay is the multiplayer engagements, and as seen in last year's beta, Mecha Break features the traditional 6v6 multiplayer match types such as territory control, guiding payloads, and a twist on capture the flag, which involves delivering fuel to a rocket ship while avoiding enemy fire.

But what elevates these engagements is the awesome suite of mechs that lean into the hero-style archetypes. Aquila is the long-range heavy sniper that can hover in mid-air to time a shot, Falcon is the agile, flight-focused mech that can rain down missiles, and Tricera is the heavily armored mech that can tear through enemies with its twin Gatling guns. I was impressed by how well-designed and visually striking each mech was, and I had some fun decking out the robots with custom decals.

Mecha Break is gorgeous to see in action, and I was very pleasantly surprised with the current state of its level of craft and polish. Since last year's beta, the developers have taken in feedback to fine-tune the player interface and balance between mechanisms. Considering how fast and exciting the matches can get, seeing how well-layered they are is impressive. It's also a multiplayer game that's not focused on racking up kills, but on helping the team achieve objectives and offering support. Still, I definitely had my moments where I became an absolute menace in the air as Falcon, only for the team's sniper to adapt to my tricks and pick me off from afar.

The pacing of Mecha Break is incredibly fast, and yet I sometimes found myself forgetting about capturing objectives because I was so swept up in the action and the dizzying pace. In some cases, I spent so much time focusing on enemy movements and attacks that I missed clear opportunities to help the team's larger goals.

One mode that was more recently added is Mashmak, which is Mecha Break's take on an extraction shooter. In this large-scale mode with several other players, a squad of 3 will hot drop onto a random spot on the map and take out AI mechs and elite foes to collect forces, all the while facing off against other players and even the environment as tornadoes and deadly swells rip through the environment. By upgrading your mech with mods and other gear – such as a glider that I missed out on using – your team will have been able to boost up and eventually provide you coordinate and pick your battles.

It's an impressive concept for sure, and I appreciate just how expansive the mode is – especially when piloting mechs – but given that it's a much slower-paced mode, it felt at times felt like the matches took a little while to properly get going, even with the AI mechs to battle. I also felt generally underpowered when facing some battalions of enemies, which prompted my team to move on to other places to avoid wasting time. Still, I see the potential of this mode, and storms in game really do well shake up the match and instill some tension.

It took some time for the developers to properly get Mashmak into shape, but they stated they found a nice balance for the experience by offering variety.

"It took some trial and error to get this right, as we were never happy with how it initially turned out – our first prototype was not that positive," Kwok recalled. "So we had to rework everything, and sometime later we had a better version of it, but it still was not there. So after iterations, we finally brought Mashmak together and it was very important to offer variety within these matches. The auxiliary weapon systems you can collect, the [hazardous weather] storms, and the boss enemies you can find really do add a lot to these matches, especially on a large map to explore with a team."

So far, Mecha Break's fast action and stellar selection of mechs present a fun and thrilling package for its online multiplayer. As a live service game, it'll definitely offer a lot of options right out of the gate, but I do have some lingering worries about how the in-game store will be set up, which is a normal worry to have these days. Mecha Break's combat and style is in great shape, and it'll certainly make for a solid option for fans looking to get their next mecha action game fix.

NetEase Games rolled out its Season 1 mid-season update for Marvel Rivals last week, and with it has come a reign of terror from the hero shooter’s growing list of flying heroes.

Fans of the popular competitive multiplayer game hopped in to check out the update after it went live Friday, February 21. It came with headlines such as new characters The Thing and Human Torch, alongside a new Central Park map, an army of balance tweaks, and more to keep fans of the Marvel spinoff game entertained while work on Season 2 continues. Players have found plenty to love so far, but for every change the community welcomes, there is one thing hogging all of the attention: the sky.

Marvel Rivals matches for players of all skill levels have been plagued with flying heroes, specifically the likes of Iron Man, Storm, and Human Torch, since the update went live a few days ago. Characters previously seen as minor aerial annoyances have graduated into all-around menaces thanks to a few new key elements. The emergence of a legion of aerial hero experts is far from enough to break the experience, but it has seen players diverting their attention from objectives as they work to deal with this new trend.

There’s one obvious culprit behind the community’s newfound fear of flying heroes: Human Torch. As with any major content drop, new heroes are going to attract attention from those looking to try out new content for themselves. Marvel Rivals’ mid-season update adds a whopping two new heroes into the mix, so it’s no surprise to see one of each on either team in both casual and competitive modes. In the case of Fantastic Four’s Johnny Storm, that means almost always having to worry about one friendly and one enemy Human Torch for every match. It's a lot on its own, but Marvel Rivals has more than just one hothead to worry about.

Last week’s update also introduced buffs to the already popular Iron Man and his Unibeam ability. These are nothing to scoff at, as NetEase moved to increase its damage from 120/s to 140/s, while also pumping up its Armor Overdrive damage by 10/s. Iron Man lives in the air regardless of map choice, and with buffs enticing players to hop into matches as Tony Stark more often, it’s leaving those on the ground with no choice but to counter-pick or start praying.

Storm, meanwhile, was hit with several small nerfs to her kit but remains a secret weapon for players with the skill to effectively use her in battle. She’s been slowly crawling her way up Marvel Rivals’ Hero Hot List following balance tweaks earlier in Season 1, meaning players are still being pulled in by the X-Men hero’s weather-based abilities.

In theory, your average 12v12 Marvel Rivals game could have all three of these heroes pop up on both teams, giving players six flying characters to watch out for. Toss in those with flying abilities like Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange as well as high mobility names like Spider-Man and matches can quickly become a nightmare for anyone unable to land their shots. It's making for an especially brutal time for melee heroes like Wolverine as they do their best to find opportunities to sneak in a few swings. Those who favor Marvel Rivals' Strategist support role are running into their own issues as they aim at their teammates in need of healing.

As NetEase continues to roll out more updates and playable heroes from across Marvel canon, the balance between the land and sky will surely shift. Still, players are looking for new strategies to combat their fear of flying characters, including picking hit-scan heroes like Punisher and Hela. Another thing keeping fans grounded during these trying times are copious amounts of memes about their struggles.

A team of melee heroes fighting off a horde of flying heroes pic.twitter.com/X9xo8rIhjy

— Lucas Evan Fryman (@LucasFryman) February 22, 2025

pic.twitter.com/qe8QvwoeXC

— MarvelPlays (@PlaysMarvel) February 22, 2025

Why is no one talking abt how hard it is as a support to heal them😭 esp with sue… maybe we buff her range soon😭🙏

— Su 🤍 🇹🇷 (@marieannfred1) February 22, 2025

Marvel Rivals launched in December and instantely became a huge hit for Marvel and NetEase. Last week, we learned about why its success almost never came to be. We also spoke with the indie developer behind a handmade Doctor Octopus concept that was good enough to win over thousands of fans. For more on Marvel Rivals, you can read up on recent NetEase layoffs that impacted members of its Seattle team.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor 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).

Last year, the publisher and developer of popular card game Balatro found themselves in an unusual argument with a ratings board after Balatro received an 18+ rating. But today, Balatro successfully won that appeal in Europe, earning itself a PEGI 12 rating and a lot more visibility on digital storefronts as a result.

This all started in March of 2024, shortly after the release of Balatro, with players noticing the game missing from certain digital storefronts overseas seemingly due to an unexpected change in its age rating post-launch. Per a post at the time by publisher Playstack, it received this rating “due to a mistaken belief that the game ‘contains prominent gambling imagery and material that instructs about gambling.’” The PEGI 18 rating covers "depiction of gross violence, apparently motiveless killing, or violence towards defenceless characters. The glamorisation of the use of illegal drugs and of the simulation of gambling, and explicit sexual activity should also fall into this age category," per the PEGI website.

In December, the PEGI ratings board dug in on the 18+ rating, despite Balatro not involving any actual gambling. At the time, developer LocalThunk called out PEGI for inconsistencies, pointing out that games like EA Sports FC (with heavy microtransactions and randomized elements) had a 3+ rating.

But today, the PEGI ratings board announced it has releneted and reduced the age rating of Balatro from PEGI 18 to PEGI 12 after a successful appeal. "The Complaints Board concluded that, although the game explains the various hands of poker, the roguelike deck-building game contained mitigating fantastical elements that warranted a PEGI 12 rating," reads the announcement on the PEGI website.

Update 10:15am PT: Following this news, LocalThunk shared the following statement on Bluesky: "After an appeal from my publisher, Balatro has been reclassified by PEGI from 18+ to 12+. This is a good step from PEGI - bringing nuance to their ratings criteria that used to be 18+ or nothing. I hope this change will allow developers to create without being unfairly punished."

Original story continues below:

In the same decision, PEGI also changed the PEGI 18 rating for the game Luck Be a Landlord to PEGI 12 for the same reasons - it has a slot machine mechanic, but it's a roguelike deck builder and there are no "specific transferable gambling skills" involved.

Going forward, PEGI will reconsider how it evaluates simulated gambling. As the board states:

At this moment, any teaching or glamorisation of simulated gambling automatically leads to a PEGI 18 rating. On the basis of these appeals, the PEGI Experts Group will develop a more granular set of classification criteria to handle gambling themes and the simulation, teaching and glamorisation of gambling in different age categories, which will now include 12 but also keep 18 as an age category for games that simulate gambling typically played in casinos and betting halls.

Balatro is currently available on all major platforms, though in the 35 regions that use PEGI ratings, it was often not immediately visible on digital storefronts due to the PEGI 18 rating. This seems likely to change in light of the recent decision. In the United States, Balatro is rated E for Everyone 10+ by the ESRB.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Civilization 7's Antiquity Age is all about setting up your empire's foundation. Winners and losers aren’t decided until the Modern Age, but if you can get a solid early advantage, you'll be even stronger when the finish line approaches. Because of that, you’re going to want a strong start, and choosing the right civilization is key to that.

The Antiquity Age offers ten civilizations for you and your Leader to choose from. To help make your selection easier, here’s our Civ 7 Antiquity Civilizations tier list.

Civ 7 Antiquity Civs Tier List

S: Persia, Han, Greece

A: Rome, Mississipian, Maurya

B: Aksum, Egypt, Maya

C: Khmer

S-Tier Antiquity Civs

S - Persia

• Hamarana Council - Infantry Units receive +3 Combat Strength when attacking. +30% Production towards constructing the Gate of All Nations.
• Immortal - Persian Unique Infantry. Heals 15 HP after defeating an enemy Unit.
• Hazarapatis - Persian Unique Army Commander. Starts with the Initiative Promotion.
• Pairidaeza - +1 Culture and Gold. Persian Unique Improvement. Ageless. Does not remove Warehouse bonuses on a tile. Cannot be placed adjacent to another Pairidaeza.

Persia is the quintessential military-minded civilization for the Antiquity Age. A great choice for those who want to be aggressive, get out early, and take over other Settlements. The +3 bonus to all attacking Infantry is a welcome buff, and since Immortals heal after defeating enemies, this creates a great synergy that allows you to continue your assaults with more sustain.

Claiming land early is so important in this Age, and a strong military will help you take your rivals’ lands and defend your territory.

While Persia lacks some of the multi-layered dimensionality of other civilizations that get nice Districts and Builds to bring varied yields, sometimes a battering ram solves all problems. Plus, you can always just take over your rivals' established cities and benefit from their bonuses, too.

S - Han

• Nine Provinces - The Capital and new Towns gain an additional Population with their first growth event. +30% Production towards constructing Weiyang Palace.
• Chu-Ko-Nu - Han Unique Ranged Unit. Has Zone of Control and a higher Defense Strength. +5 Combat Strength when attacking adjacent Units.
• Shi Dafu - Shi Dafu: A Great Person with one charge. Can only be trained in Cities with at least 10 Population, and the specific Shi Dafu can only be received once. Cost increases per Shi Dafu trained.
• Great Wall - +2 Culture. +1 Happiness for adjacent Great Wall segments. Han Unique Improvement. Ageless. Counts as Fortification, +6 Combat Strength when defending. Does not remove Warehouse bonuses on a tile. Can only be built in a line. Cannot branch or fork.

Han allows you to build your borders without getting aggressive and taking Settlements from your fellow civilizations. Getting extra population will help spread your borders and claim key resources within your vicinity early on. This can be a very powerful strategy, especially if you can keep this growth exploding with an abundance of Food.

What’s nice though, is that Han is also self-protecting. While your Settlements explode in population, the Chu-Ko-Nu is an exceptional defensive ranged unit that will stop any militaristic-minded Civilizations who might try to take your land off of you. The Great Wall is also an excellent defensive structure that brings the benefit of a boost to Culture and Happiness too.

S - Greece

• Demokratia - +3 Influence per turn on the Palace. +30% Production towards constructing the Oracle.
• Hoplite - Greek Unique Infantry Unit. +2 Combat Strength if adjacent to another Hoplite.
• Logios - A Great Person with one charge. Can only be trained in Cities with an Acropolis, and the specific Logios received is random, Each Logios can only be received once. Cost increases per Logios trained.
• Acropolis - Greek Unique Quarter. Created by constructing the Odeon and Parthenon in the same District. +2 Gold on the Parthenon for each City-State you are Suzerain of
• Odeon - +3 Happiness. +1 Culture Adjacency for Quarters and Wonders. Greek Unique Happiness Building. Ageless.
• Parthenon - +4 Culture. +2 Influence if placed on Rough Terrain. +1 Culture adjacency for Wonders. Greek Unique Culture Building. Ageless.

Greece has a lot of excellent traits that will really help you create a powerful and varied foundation. For one, Demokatia is a great source of Influence, which can be very valuable in your opening interactions with your fellow Civilizations, allowing you to have open borders for easy-to-navigate routes, as well as start various agreements to try and boost yields you might be falling short on.

Hoplites are a relatively strong Infantry Unit too, that, when attacking in a swarm become near impossible to overcome in the early game. They are versatile too, good on both attack and defense, just as long as you have enough resources to make and maintain several.

Greece also offers a really nice, varied selection of Unique Buildings. If you make the Acropolis by constructing an Odeon and Parthenon in the same district, all of them together will be a source of Gold, Happiness, Culture, and Influence. This gives you access to lots of yields, making Greece probably the best jack of all trades in the Antiquity Age.

A-Tier Antiquity Civs

A - Rome

• Twelve Tables - +1 Culture on Districts in the Capital and City Centers in Towns. +30% Production towards constructing the Colosseum.
• Legion - Roman Unique Infantry Unit. +2 Combat Strength for every Tradition in the Government.
• Legatus - Roman Unique Army Commander. Gains 1 charge to create a new Settlement for every 3 Levels it has.
• Forum - Roman Unique Quarter. Created by constructing the Basilica and Temple of Jupiter in the same District. +1 Culture and Gold for every Unique Tradition in the Government.
• Basilica - +4 Gold. +1 Influence Adjacency for Culture Buildings and Wonders. Roman Unique Gold Building. Ageless.
• Temple of Jupiter - +3 Happiness. +1 Culture Adjacency for Happiness Buildings and Wonders. Roman Unique Happiness Building. Ageless.

Rome has several advantages that are pretty straightforward to leverage. This is an excellent choice if you expect to be expanding the amount of Settlements you have quickly. +1 Culture on Districts in the Capital and City Centers can add up if you have a lot of Settlements.

Interestingly, their Army Commander, the Legatus, acts as a hybrid Settler, though you will need to level them up three times to be able to make a new Settlement. However, it’s a good option that saves you the production of several Settlers. The Legion is a decent Infantry Unit, too, that can become very powerful if you are slotting Traditions into your policies.

The Forum also benefits from Traditions, adding Culture and Gold for each one. You’ll likely want to be outputting a lot of Happiness, which is what the Temple of Jupiter is for. This is a relatively well rounded Civilization for those looking to play wide and enact a lot of policies.

A - Maurya

• Dhamma Lipi - You can choose an additional Pantheon after unlocking Mysticism. +30% Production towards constructing Sanchi Stupa.
• Purabhett - Maurya Unique Cavalry Unit. +5 Combat Strength against Fortified Districts. Ignores Zone of Control.
• Nagarika - Maurya Unique Settler. Civilian Unit capable of founding new Towns. Adds +2 Happiness on City Halls.
• Matha - Mauryan Unique Quarters. Created by constructing the Dharamshala and Wihara in the same District. +10% Happiness in this Settlement.
• Dharamshala - +3 Happiness. +1 Science Adjacency for Quarters and Wonders. Mauryan Unique Happiness Building. Ageless.
• Vihara - +3 Happiness. +1 Culture Adjacency for Mountains and Wonders. Mauryan Unique Happiness Building. Ageless.

The Maurya civilization may not jump off the page as a strong Civilization right away, but when you consider how powerful Happiness is in Civilization 7, it makes more sense. High Happiness means plenty of Celebrations and Social Policies, and if you have enough, you may even be able to ignore Settlement Caps.

The Matha District provides a percentage based buff on a Settlement that will scale with you through the game, and is an exceptional source of Happiness long into the future. You’ll also be getting big boosts from the Dharamshala and Vihara you needed to produce to make the district. The Nagarika will also give you that boost of Happiness when founding a new settlement. While the Purabhett can be a little situational, it’s still a decent Cavalry unit too.

A - Mississippian

• Goose Societies - All Buildings receive a +1 Food Adjacency for Resources. +30% Production towards constructing Monks Mound.
• Burning Arrow - Mississippian Unique Ranged Unit. Increased Bombard Strength. +3 Combat Strength against Siege Units. Applies the Burning status to tiles for 2 turns.
• Watonathi - Mississippian Unique Merchant. Civilian who can establish a Trade Route to import Resources from a foreign Settlement. Gain 25 Gold per Resource acquired when creating a Trade Route.
• Potkop - +1 Gold. +1 Food for each adjacent Resource. Mississippian Unique Improvement. Ageless. Does not remove Warehouse bonuses on a tile. Must be placed on Flat Terrain.

The Mississippian civilization ties together two powerful resources: Gold and Food. Its Goose Societies will likely align with your natural play, where you try to hoover up as many Resources as possible. If you can get your hands on a lot of them, you will see your cities growing fast. This is an excellent synergy for the Economic Legacy Path. On top of that, the Potkop will only enhance your benefits for doing so.

The Burning Arrow Ranged Unit is also an excellent defensive or even hybrid Siege unit. Though you may not attack Siege units too often, the Burning status on a tile can make it really difficult for your enemy’s armies to navigate your lands and attack you. Denying that space can be a real decider in a war. It also makes it a good option to bombard Settlements too - just don’t end up burning your own troops with it.

B-Tier Antiquity Civs

B - Aksum

• Kingdom of Natural Wealth - +2 Gold on Resources. +30% Production towards constructing Great Stele.
• Dhow - A Unique Naval Unit. +4 Combat Strength on Coast. Has 1 charge to create a naval Trade Route.
• Tankwa - Aksum Unique Trade Ship. Cannot be pillaged. +10 Trade Route range.
• Hawlit - +2 Gold. +1 Culture for adjacent Wonders and other Hawilti. Aksumite Unique Improvement. Ageless. Does not remove Warehouse Bonuses on a tile. Must be placed on Flat Terrain.

If you want Gold, there aren’t many civilizations better at generating it than Aksum. The Kingdom of Natural Wealth trait that gives you +2 Gold for Resources can add up ridiculously quickly, making you an early-game economic powerhouse, able to buy buildings and units to ensure your cities remain modern with your technological advances. You can also build Hawlits next to each other for a further boost of Gold.

However, if you find yourself landlocked, or have to travel great distances to get to other Civilizations, you may struggle to maximise your benefits. By water, the Dhow and Tankwa may not be useful in every situation. They lack a land presence that other civilizations may take advantage of with powerful unique units, and unlike Persia, their singular focus on Gold may leave you falling behind elsewhere. That said, if the going really gets tough, the Aksum can just buy themselves an army (though, this can take a couple of turns, so don’t find yourself on the back foot.)

B - Egypt

• Gift of Osiris - +1 Production on Navigable Rivers. +30% Production towards constructing the Pyramids.
• Medjay - Egyptian Unique Infantry Unit. Has no maintenance. +3 Combat Strength in friendly territory, doubled when stationed in a Settlement you own.
• Tjaty - A Great Person with one charge. Can only be trained in Cities with a Necropolis, and the specific Tjaty received is random. Each Tjaty can only be received once. Cost increases per Tjaty trained.
• Necropolis - Egyptian Unique Quarter. Created by constructing the Mastaba and Mortuary Temple in the same District. Grants 100 Gold (on Standard Speed) when any Wonder is completed in this City.
• Mastaba - +3 Culture. +1 Gold Adjacency for Navigable Rivers and Wonders. Egyptian Unique Culture Building. Ageless.
• Mortuary Temple - +4 Gold. +1 Happiness Adjacency for Navigable Rivers and Wonders. Egyptian Unique Gold Building. Ageless.

Egypt is a good Civilization. Activating their unique perks only requires a Navigable River, and since most Settlements should be on a source of water, you should generally be dandy. That said, there's nothing overpowered about Egypt. 100 Gold per Wonder on a Necropolis is nice, as are some extra Gold and Happiness for being Adjacent to Navigable Rivers from the Mastaba and Mortuary Temple. Add the Gift of Osiris, with some extra production, and Eygpt benefits from a nice collection of buffs that certainly add up to a solid package - though without ever offering anything too flashy.

The Medjay are a great defensive Unit too, deterring any would-be attackers from taking your Settlements. They are particularly good at withstanding pressure from an aggressive city-state, though they lack some of the offensive versatility that other unique Units offer.

B - Maya

• Skies of Itzamna - The Palace gains +0.5 Science for adjacent Vegetated Terrain. +30% Production towards constructing Mundo Perdido.
• Hul’che - Maya Unique Ranged Unit. Can see through Vegetation and ignore movement penalties from Vegetated Terrain.
• Jaguar Slayer - Maya Unique Scout. Can initiate combat. Has 1 charge to place a Jaguar Trap that is invisible to enemy Units, dealing 25 damage and ending movement. This ability recharges 5 turns after placing a trap.
• Uwaybil K’uh - Mayan Unique Quarter. Created by Constructing the Jalaw and K’uh Nah in the same District. Every time you research a Technology, the Settlement gains Production equal to 15% of it’s cost.
• Jalaw - +3 Happiness. +1 Culture Adjacency for Quarters and Wonders. Mayan Unique Happiness Building. Ageless.
• K’uh Nah - +3 Science. +2 Science if placed on Vegetation. +1 Science Adjacency for Wonders. Mayan Unique Science Building. Ageless.

The Mayans have one very strong district attribute going for them. Their Unique Quarter, Uwaybil K’uh, means throughout the rest of the game, every time you research a Technology, the Settlement gains a nice chunk of Production. The fact that this district is percentage-based means this scales exceptionally well through Ages. This is strong enough on its own that you may want to consider choosing Maya, even if the rest of its traits aren’t the best on offer.

Vegetation is not the hardest of the terrains to get access to, but the buffs you get for being on those tiles are relatively middling. Of course, if you start in a heavily vegetated position, you can get some nice benefits, but even then the rewards for meeting those conditions are unlikely to be game-changing.

0.5% Science for the Palace being adjacent to Vegetated Terrain is nice, but likely won’t decide your Age. The Hul’che are a great in these cases too, as enemies will have to fight through vegetation to get at you with their armies, allowing you to hit them ranged from safety. That said, if they are not in Vegetation, than they might as well not be Unique units - and other civilization’s units will more likely run you over if so.

The K’uh Nah is a really nice boost to Science that is definitely a great option for the Scientific minded, so there is certainly value here. If you find yourself in dense vegetation, the Mayans can certainly do well for themselves, and offer awesome benefits later in a game. However, they are a little dependent on other factors, and are better for banking on your future.

C-Tier Antiquity Civs

C - Khmer

• Ksekam Chamnon - Districts on Rivers do not remove the natural yield of the tile. +30% Production towards constructing Angkor Wat.
• Yuthahathi - Khmer Unique Cavalry Unit. Higher Combat Strength, but slower Movement. Immune to flood damage. Ignores Zone of Control.
• Vaishya - Khmer Unique Merchant. Civilian who can establish a Trade Route to import Resources from a foreign Settlement. Immune to flood damage. Ignores movement penalties from Wet Terrain.
• Baray - +3 Food. +1 Food on all Floodplains in this Settlement. Khmer Unique Improvement. Ageless. Does not remove Warehouse bonuses on a tile. Must be placed on Flat Terrain. One per Settlement.

The Khmer definitely have benefits, and could be very strong in the right circumstances. However, they are strong when there are a lot of floods, and though they are relatively common in the Antiquity Age, this means they're still a little situational. Retaining the natural yield on Districts placed on the River isnice to have, but not a universally powerful effect.

The Yuthahathi is definitely a very interesting unit too, as it is one of the most powerful units in combat in the Age, however, they are slow and lose a lot of ground to Cavalry other Civilizations may be running. The unit is best used as battering rams against armies and Settlements, but if they are smart, your rivals should be able to deal with them by keeping their own Cavalry out of range.

The Baray is a nice Unique Building too that really helps boost Food which is certainly powerful in the opening portions of a game. However, you need to be on floodplains for it to become supercharged, which is situational. Again, the Khmer have their place and even have very high potential, but if you spawn on a map and don't have the correct terrain, you may struggle against Civilizations with more reliable abilities.

Patrick is a freelance journalist with over 13 years of experience who loves going deep on games and getting into their systems. His four-figure hours in both Overwatch 2 and Destiny 2 are a testament to that.

James Gunn and Peter Safran have confirmed The Brave and the Bold will introduce a new Batman into the DCU, ruling out actor Robert Pattinson in the process.

Speaking during a DC Studios presentation attended by IGN, co-chiefs Safran and Gunn said Pattinson will play Batman in director Matt Reeves’ Batman universe, dubbed The Batman Epic Crime Saga, only.

“It's certainly not the plan,” Gunn said of the possibility of Pattinson crossing over into the DCU. “It's certainly not the plan. No.”

“And we love him, but we've got to introduce a Batman into the DCU,” Safran added. “That's imperative. And so that's the plan with The Brave and the Bold.”

Speculation about Pattinson possibly playing Batman across the entire DCU was sparked earlier this year when Reeves himself left the door open to the possibility.

“It really comes down to whether or not it makes sense,” Reeves told reporter Josh Horowitz at the Golden Globes. “What’s been great is there was a story that I wanted to tell with what we’re calling The Epic Crime Saga and all that, which is the thrust of what we want to do. And it’s been important to me to be able to play that out. And James and Peter have been really, really great about that and they’re letting us do that.

“What the future brings? I can’t really tell you. I have no idea right now except that my head is down now about getting The Batman Part 2 shooting and to make it something really, really special which, of course, is the most important thing.”

To that end, Safran said both he and Gunn “love” Reeves’ vision for The Batman Part 2, “and we're looking forward to this film as much as you are.” Safran said Reeves has yet to turn in a script, “but what we've read so far is very encouraging.”

The Brave and the Bold, meanwhile, is in “very active development,” and the story is “coming together very nicely.” But is The Flash director Andy Muschietti still directing? Gunn and Safran are developing the script, and will show it to Muschietti "when we have it in a place where we think it's ready to go... and see if it's a fit for him," Safran said. "I'm very, very actively involved in that script," Gunn said. Safran teased more on The Brave and the Bold will be announced “very soon.”

Last year, The Batman Part 2 was delayed once again, this time by a year to October 1, 2027. If this date stands, it will end up being five years between the world first seeing Robert Pattinson become the Dark Knight and in its sequel.

What does this new release date for The Batman Part 2 mean for a potential release window for The Brave and the Bold? “Well, I think we've announced October, 2027 there will be a Batman movie,” is all Safran would say. “That is all we can tell you right now.”

While fans now have to wait for The Brave and the Bold to see Gunn's Batman, Episode 6 of DCU canon kickstarter Creature Commandos showed Batman standing on a rooftop looking down at crime boss Doctor Phosphorus. The image revealed a mega-stacked Caped Crusader in his iconic costume, but there was little else that could be discerned about Gunn’s take on the superhero.

Based on comments Gunn issued to Rotten Tomatoes TV following the release of Episode 6, it’s easy to see why this brief look at Batman was so generic. Gunn said he asked for "more silhouette" after the original Batman on show was more detailed than he was ready to commit to at the time.

It sounds like DCU movie The Authority is in trouble after DC Studios co-chief James Gunn admitted it had been put on the “back burner.”

The Authority was one of the surprise projects announced as part of Gunn and Peter Safran’s overarching Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters DC Universe reboot two years ago. The Authority is the infamously brutal superhero team from the WildStorm Universe. At the time, Gunn described the project as a "big movie," but it appears to have run into significant issues since.

Speaking at a DC Studios presentation attended by IGN, Gunn called The Authority the “hardest” of the announced Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters projects, and pointed to Amazon’s smash hit adaptation of The Boys as one of the contributing factors.

“Honestly, Authority's been the one that's been the hardest, both because of the shifting overall story and because of getting it right in a world with The Boys and a world with all the things that The Authority influenced that came out after it,” Gunn admitted.

“And also having a lot of characters that we've fallen in love with that we've already filmed and have that we want to continue their stories and see them meet each other. So I will admittedly say it's a little bit more on the back burner right now.”

One character from The Authority is set to appear in DCU kickstarter Superman: electronics prodigy The Engineer / Angela Spica. The Engineer is arguably the most powerful member of the group as she can self-duplicate, is a technopath, and has a genius-level intellect and radio-induced telepathy. Check out IGN's article, Who Are the Authority: The WildStorm DCU Characters Explained, for more.

The Authority isn’t the only Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters project to have run into trouble. Gunn said Waller, a spinoff of Gunn’s own HBO Max hit series Peacemaker, “has had a couple of setbacks, frankly.” However, HBO Max series Booster Gold “is going pretty strong,” and Paradise Lost is "totally, still important and we're working heavily on it," Gunn said. "It seems to be going pretty well." "The pilot's being written right now," Safran confirmed.

As for Swamp Thing, Safran said DC Studios is willing to wait for Logan and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold to be ready to make it.

"Our writer-director went off to make another little movie, A Complete Unknown, and we hope that he'll come back to Swamp Thing when he's ready, because again, that was one of those ones that we love him as a filmmaker, so we're happy to wait for him," Safran said of Mangold, referring to his upcoming Star Wars movie, Dawn of the Jedi.

However, "Swamp Thing is not integral to the larger story that we're telling." "Right. Yeah, it was always outside of that," Gunn added. "I mean, it was because James came to us with it, frankly."

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

DC Studios co-chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran have confirmed it will be a couple of years before fans see the first DCU video game.

Speaking at a DC Studios presentation attended by IGN, Gunn and Safran said everything DC, from movies to video games, now runs up through the co-chiefs, which means they get to see projects at their earliest stages and work closely with video game development teams such as Mortal Kombat maker NetherRealm and Batman developer Rocksteady on character design and story.

“We work incredibly closely with JB Perrette [CEO and President, Global Streaming and Games], who runs that division, and it's really the first time it's ever been this way at Warner Brothers,” Safran explained.

“James and I sit with literally the guys that run the studios underneath JB, whether it's NetherRealm or whether it's Rocksteady, sit with them and talk about characters and stories that we're interested in and that they're interested in.”

Gunn added: “We see designs for the projects in their very earliest stages. We talk about those. We talk about when they're talking about what the story might be, we say, ‘Well, maybe you want to go this way because we're planning on maybe doing something with this character and so forth and so on,’ and help to deal with that.”

“But it's been great, and we've enjoyed it enormously,” Safran said. “Everything had been so siloed, and now that's completely broken down, and it's been great. Because it also applies to consumer products and experiences and everything that DC touches runs up through us now, which is awesome.”

As for when the first game in the DCU will be revealed, Gunn said “a couple of years.”

“Yeah, it's a couple years, but we've had some pretty active involvement in some stuff coming up,” Safran continued. “It's really interesting.”

Warner Bros. Games has had an extremely difficult 12 months, first with the catastrophic release of Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, then the disappointing release of Smash Bros.-style brawler MultiVersus.

Warner Bros. Discovery has said Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s failure contributed to a $200 million hit to its business, and MultiVersus added another $100 million on top. Warner Bros. Games' only other recent release was Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, which failed to make an impression.

Speaking in a financial call, Warner Bros. Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav said: "We recognise [the games business] is substantially underperforming its potential right now.”

Since then, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League post-launch content has come to an end with the delivery of its year one roadmap, and Warner Bros. has announced the impending closure of MultiVersus. Rocksteady, meanwhile, has suffered significant layoffs.

There are also question marks over Mortal Kombat 1’s financial performance, although NetherRealm chief Ed Boon recently announced over five million sales and teased future DLC following the release of the T-1000 Terminator guest character.

During the same financial call, Zaslav said Warner Bros. was doubling down on just four games: Hogwarts Legacy (a sequel is already in the works), Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, and DC, "in particular Batman."

"We are focusing our development efforts on those core franchises, with proven studios to improve our success ratio," Zaslav added.

Earlier this month, a new report shed light on the turmoil at Warner Bros. Games, while providing an update on the various projects in the works at its developers. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported on concern about the upcoming slate of games from Warner Bros. Games following the exit of chief David Haddad.

Bloomberg said Monolith Productions’ Wonder Woman game is in trouble after reportedly rebooting and switching directors early last year. It’s already cost more than $100 million and is still years away from release, Bloomberg added.

Gotham Knights developer WB Games Montreal, meanwhile, pitched a John Constantine game but it was never approved. A Flash game was scrapped after the DCU Flash film bombed. It’s now helping out with other games and is reportedly working on a pitch for a new Game of Thrones game.

Hogwarts Legacy developer Avalanche is, as officially announced, working on new content for Hogwarts Legacy as well as a sequel.

And following the failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Rocksteady “is looking to return to Batman for a single-player game,” but according to Bloomberg it’s years away. There was no word in Bloomberg’s report on what’s next from NetherRealm.

One question is whether Rocksteady’s new Batman video game will be a continuation of its much-loved Arkham series or a DCU video game. There is currently no indication that Monolith Productions’ troubled Wonder Woman game is a DCU video game. So far, no DCU video games have been announced, although in prior comments Gunn has said they will be triple-A titles, as opposed to movie tie-ins.

In the shorter term, it seems more DC crossovers are coming to Fortnite.

“When you talk about interaction with our video game guys, with our gaming department, those are also things that historically there wasn't a lot of collaboration on,” Safran said. “Now it's, hey, we're talking to Fortnite. Which characters should we focus on? Literally, James is signing off on designs.”

“I'm giving notes on designs,” Gunn confirmed.

Given the first DCU movie, Superman, launches in July, a potential crossover with Fortnite perhaps comes as no surprise.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

DCU co-chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran have discussed the upcoming movie Clayface, confirming its DCU canon status and R rating.

Clayface, a former criminal in Gotham City with the power to change his clay-body to become anyone or anything, is one of Batman's oldest foes. The first iteration of the character, Basil Karlo, first appeared in Detective Comics #40 (1940).

Last month, DC Studios announced a September 11, 2026 release date for the Clayface movie. The decision to go with Clayface was reportedly made following the success of HBO’s The Penguin series. Horror visionary Mike Flanagan will serve as the film’s writer, with Lynn Harris set to produce alongside The Batman director Matt Reeves.

However, speaking at a DC Studios presentation attended by IGN, Gunn and Safran explained why Clayface had to be part of the DCU, as opposed to Matt Reeves’ The Batman Epic Crime Saga.

“Clayface is totally DCU,” Gunn confirmed. “The only thing that's in Matt's world, his Crime Saga that he's telling, is the Batman Trilogy, the Penguin series, that's in that lane," Safran clarified. "So still under DC Studios, still under us. We have an incredible relationship with Matt, but those are the only things.

“It was important that Clayface be part of the DCU. It's an origin story for a classic Batman villain that we want to have in our world.”

Gunn then said Clayface wouldn’t have been a great fit for the more grounded The Batman Epic Crime Saga.

“It was very outside of the grounded non-super metahuman characters in Matt's world,” Gunn said.

Safran confirmed DC Studios is currently in negotiations with Speak No Evil helmer James Watkins to direct Clayface, but it sounds like a done deal. Shooting is set to kick off this summer.

“This summer, cameras are going to roll on Clayface, an incredible body horror film that reveals a compelling origin of a classic Batman villain, and this is another title that we added to the slate on the strength of an exceptional screenplay by Mike Flanagan,” Safran said.

“I think some of you are probably aware that we're in negotiations with James Watkins now to direct, and we'll start casting this as soon as we have the director deal done and we'll shoot this summer. It's slated for a fall 2026 release. Clayface might not be as widely known as The Penguin or The Joker, but we really feel that his story is equally resonant, compelling, and in many ways, more terrifying than one of those.”

At various points in the DC Studios presentation, Safran called Clayface “experimental” in the sense that it is not “your traditional superhero tentpole movie,” and an “indie style chiller.” Gunn called Clayface “pure f***ing horror, like, totally real. Their version of that movie, it is so real and true and psychological and body horror and gross.”

Gunn confirmed Clayface is, perhaps unsurprisingly, “definitely R rated.”

“I think that one of the things Peter and I talked about when we first got the script is if we were producing movies five years ago when we were doing Belko Experiment and all of that stuff, and somebody had brought us this horror script called Clayface about this guy, we would have died to have produced this movie, because it was just a really excellent body horror script, and the fact that it's in the DCU is just a plus,” Gunn continued.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Whether you're talking about its fandom or its stars, Monster Hunter Wilds is one of the biggest games of 2025, and it's not even had its official release yet. The development team at Capcom aren't slacking though, and IGN sat down with Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and Director Yuya Tokuda at IGN Fan Fest to find out what's next for Monster Hunter Wilds once the game launches on February 28. There's a new area that will have you wanting to pull on the thermal underwear, a special item pack for Fan Fest viewers, and a live-action trailer that will leave you more excited than a Lala Barina at a floristry convention.

Brand new to the series, Iceshard Cliffs region is described as "a frigid land swept with snowy blizzards." If you missed the trailer that gave us a sneak peek at it, think gorges constructed of ice and rock, ruins peeking through glaciers, and treacherous looking caves.

"The new locale is called the Iceshard Cliffs, which has [a lot of] cold weather, and during the inclemency, which is the harsh weather in the game, it kind of looks very dark, especially in the trailers that were revealed, but when you're actually playing it's very dynamic in the colors, and you can see a different side of the locale as you're playing," promises Tokuda.

The scenery might be desktop wallpaper worthy, but what hardened Monster Hunters really care about is the wildlife roaming around those snowy sites, and Monster Hunter Wilds' Iceshard Cliffs sounds like they won't be disappointing anyone on that front.

"There are, outside of the returning monsters that have the ice element, there are some other monsters that were also shown in the trailer, such as the flying Leviathan-type monster, Hirabami," says Tokuda.

"Hirabamis move in herds, and you can see in the trailer, but there's also a larger monster behind the herd of the Hirabami, which is the apex monster of the Ice Shard Cliffs, and it's a very large monster and has various attacks, and we hope everybody enjoys it."

Gaga for Gore Magala

Since the interview, it's been revealed that the new apex monster is called Jin Dahaad, which looks kind of like if a dragon fell into a silverware drawer and then had a nap in your freezer. Another monster fans might have spotted is our old friend Gore Magala, who appeared in Monster Hunter 4.

"We also had a popularity poll with the monsters, and it was in fifth place, and it's also very popular in the North American region, and we hope everybody looks forward to fighting this monster," added Tsujimoto.

Tsujimoto and Tokuda also had some advice for players facing a couple of the tougher monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds - the 'White Wraith' Arkveld and Nerscylla - either during the beta or when the game is released in a few days.

"So in Monster Hunter Wilds, we have the flagship monster, Arkveld," says Tokuda.

"It wasn't completely tricky, but it sometimes goes on with full-strength attacks. It has, like, a mix of both. The attacks that Arkveld uses, it uses its wings, which can stretch from short to pretty long. And it has a wide range of attacks, so it's really hard to get used to at first. Hopefully, during the open beta test, too, everybody enjoyed fighting Arkveld. I think that using SOS flares to have other people play with you and help you hunt, enjoying multiplayer, really helps with this monster.

Pro-style controllers are a dime-a-dozen nowadays, but Scuf has pioneered the third-party gamepad that comes with extraneous features that are supposed to give a competitive edge. Things like programmable back buttons, swappable thumbsticks, hair trigger stops, and finely tuned analog control can genuinely make for a better gameplay experience, particularly for competitive scenarios where precision and split-second inputs matter. With so many options already available, where does that leave the new Scuf Valor Pro? It’s in the smaller details.

While there are a few new additions that aren’t necessarily game-changing, like onboard volume-chat wheels (and an upcoming 1000Hz polling rate for PC users), what matters is how it iterates on familiar features to make them feel better to use. It only comes wired, however, and that narrows its appeal, as it's geared more towards competitive play – and $100 is a tough ask for a wired controller, but aside from a few quirks, it’s one of the better controllers for PC and Xbox.

Scuf Valor Pro – Design and Features

With this primarily being for Xbox, it takes on the same layout and similar ergonomics as the stock Xbox controller. Nearly across the board, however, every button has a better and more responsive tactile feel. The face buttons have a nice bounciness that makes them easier to tap rapidly, and the eight-way directional pad still has a distinct clickiness but it doesn’t have that stale crunch of the normal Xbox controller.

What’s arguably the biggest upgrade with the Valor Pro is the switch to magnetic Hall Effect analog sticks. As the concern over stick drift on traditional controllers leaves folks burned by defective parts and expensive options for replacements, Hall Effect sticks have been increasingly common in high-end third-party gamepads. They’re much more durable since the magnetic parts create less friction, and it also feels great from a performance standpoint here on the Valor Pro.

Another noteworthy addition is the unique onboard volume and chat balance control. On the bottom next to the 3.5mm audio jack are two scroll wheels – the left one handles in-game volume and the right one controls chat volume. Many wireless gaming headsets have a volume-chat mix dial of their own, so the one on the Valor Pro is strictly for devices plugged into the audio jack. This limits its use-case somewhat, but can make things convenient for those who go with a wired analog headset.

As for the more minute details, the left and right bumpers have a great mouse-like click to them, making them much easier to press with a light touch while providing good tactility. The triggers are smooth and consistent all the way through so it’s easier to apply a specific amount of pressure. On the inner side of RT and LT are trigger stops to put the hair trigger mechanism in place – it creates a much shorter throw distance so you can theoretically actuate and reset trigger inputs faster.

Back paddles are key to any good pro-style controller and the four programmable buttons are decent, but not exactly my favorite of the many controllers I’ved used in the past. The two main buttons, labeled P1 and P2, sit along the inner side of the controller’s grips where your middle fingers would typically rest. While their positioning and tactility are great, they’re a tad too stiff for my liking – at least I never accidentally pressed them even with a tight handle on the controller.

The back buttons labeled P3 and P4 are interesting in that they’re more like hunches that sit closer to the center of the controller’s rear. You can either flick them with the backside of your middle finger or press down on them directly, which makes them easier to use than P1 and P2 thanks to their soft, mouse-click feel. If you only need two back buttons and/or find the inner P3 and P4 buttons to get in the way, you can easily remove them by plucking them out from the notch on the inner side.

The rubberized texture that lines the handles creates a firm and comfortable grip – with all these extra features and pieces built for performance, having a solid grip on a controller that has a decent weight brings it all together.

Scuf Valor Pro – Customization and Software

With Scuf being under the Corsair umbrella, you’ll have to use the iCue software suite on PC to configure the controller manually. It’s one of my least favorite software suites among the major peripheral manufacturers, and as of now, iCue does not even recognize the Valor Pro. A near-future update will bring 1000 Hz polling rate to PC users – polling rate refers to the frequency at which the controller sends registered inputs to the device it’s plugged into. High polling rates are increasingly common in gaming mice and keyboards, and there’s a theoretical advantage to that, and while I find polling rates over 1000 Hz to bring a minimal to negligible benefit, I’d be curious to see how bringing a controller to a 1000 Hz standard could help. But until that update comes, I’ll be waiting.

A nonexistent customization app isn’t the end of the world since there just isn’t much to fiddle with on the Valor Pro. Mapping the back buttons is done easily on the controller itself – just hold down the profile button the back, press the back button and normal button you want to map together, and that’s it. You can even map d-pad directions and stick clicks in rare cases that would help more. The profile button swaps between three different settings (indicated by the LED color on the top right) so you don’t need to keep remapping things if you need specific setups for different games.

Like other Scuf controllers, you can lift the Valor Pro’s faceplate off since it’s held in place magnetically. Customizing a faceplate is cool and all, but this is how you swap out the thumbsticks by just pulling them out. The normal concave-style sticks are on by default, but I quite like the convex-style sticks, especially since there’s a taller one I can use as the right analog stick to create more room for precise motions (which helps aiming in a shooter).

Looking to upgrade your audio game?

Check out our roundup of the best gaming headsets for Xbox!

Scuf Valor Pro – Performance

Now, for the fun part – I played a good amount of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 multiplayer, Avowed, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, and Forza Motorsport to get a full picture of how it performs in various scenarios. And from hours of playing these games, the Valor Pro stacks up against some of my favorite third-party controllers in recent memory.

The first thing I did before jumping into Black Ops 6 was map the face buttons to the back buttons to make sure my right thumb never had to leave the stick. As I mentioned above, the P1 and P2 buttons are quite stiff, but that wasn’t too much of a problem when having jump and crouch set to them – being able to initiate a slide while constantly aiming felt great and the P2 button worked well for that. Reload and switching weapons often need to be done in heated moments so setting them to P3 and P4, and giving them a light flick, did the trick in intense firefights.

Call of Duty is the type of game that would benefit from hair triggers, and it’s the one area the Valor Pro falls short. I tend to avoid using hair triggers on account of the fact that I just don’t like how it feels, despite the potential benefit. But even more so with the Valor Pro, I was even less inclined to use them since they make the triggers stiff as a board. It takes far too much pressure to initiate the trigger, which defeats the purpose of a hair-trigger that’s supposed to be light and fast on the draw. And if anything, it hindered my ability to get the jump on my enemies. If this is a feature you rely on with high-end controllers, it’ll be a dealbreaker.

A wired controller for $100 is a somewhat tall ask, but you’ll be getting one of the better options available for PC and Xbox.

I quite enjoyed my time with Avowed using this controller simply because I can map jump to a back button (there’s surprisingly a lot of parkour in the game). The overall build and feel shined throughout a long session, which is something I can also say from playing through more of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. It being an action game that requires lots of rapid pressing of the face buttons, the bounciness of A, B, X, and Y made the experience a bit more enjoyable and took some pressure off my right thumb. Ninja Gaiden also has a few button combos for special attacks, so using the back buttons to more easily press A + B or B + Y turned out to be a nice convenience.

Forza Motorsport proved the finesse of the triggers. The smooth and consistent throw of RT and LT let me feather the gas and brake with precision, more so than the stock Xbox controller. The triggers find a good balance between being firm and light, and manage to have no friction, stickiness, or unwanted resistance along the travel distance. So, while the hair triggers leave a lot to be desired, its normally set triggers have the edge over some of the best controllers on the market.

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Mecha Break, the mecha-driven battler from Amazing Seasun Games, had a historic weekend. Its newest round of open beta play went live on February 23, and saw player counts reach high enough that it even momentarily overcame the likes of Marvel Rivals.

As spotted by PCGamesN, the player count on Steam for the new Mecha Break Demo launched up and over NetEase's Marvel hero shooter, reaching over 317,000 concurrent players on Steam. As of this writing, the demo has reached an all-time peak of 317,522 on Valve's platform (per SteamDB), with a 24-hour peak of 303,991.

Concurrents are fickle though, as Marvel Rivals quickly took back its spot, hitting a 344,535 player-count peak in the last 24 hours (via SteamDB). Still, making Marvel Rivals sweat is a pretty big achievement for an open beta.

It wasn't all sunshine, though. The huge influx of pilots into Mecha Break's hangars apparently caused distress on the servers, resulting in some disconnects and other issues.

Amazing Seasun has already responded to Mecha Break players frustrated with the server issues, promising three batches of "Ultimate Maintenance Box" gifts delivered through in-game mail. Those server issues seem like they could be a contributing factor to the demo's current 'Mostly Negative' rating on Steam, where users also cite the anti-cheat measures and monetization concerns.

Either way, it looks like Mecha Break is one to watch moving forward. Our own hands-on with Mecha Break back in August had similar takeaways, contrasting compelling mecha combat with concerns over out-of-game structures. We'll see if Mecha Break can keep up momentum, and appease naysayers in the process, on its way towards a launch sometime this year.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.