Star Wars has invaded every inch of our culture, including Star Wars toys, Star Wars LEGO sets, and even the tabletop. It may come as a surprise, but the slate of board and roleplaying games based on this popular intellectual property includes several absolutely killer options.
The diversity here is strong. There are smaller, less complex options, as well as sprawling games with mounds of miniatures, each its own compelling experience that captures aspects of this beloved film series. All of these are currently available and can be picked up and played right now.
TL;DR: The Best Star Wars Board Games
Short on time? Click the links above to check out each game on the list. Read on for details about each one.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian Adventures Board Game
If your love of Star Wars got refreshed by the The Mandalorian series, you can now put your own personal spin on the best episodes with this excellent tabletop adaptation. Players take the role of heroes from the show, including IG-11 and, of course, Mando himself, and select an episode to play from the ring binder of maps. You’re all cooperating using a novel action system whereby a buildup of action cards will eventually trigger enemy responses, ensuring everyone needs to plan together to control the pace of events and counter threats. With lots of narrative references to the series and envelopes of surprising variants to add replay value, each play through The Mandalorian: Adventures is a whole new adventure to enjoy.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters
If you’ve ever wanted to play as the villains and delve into the role of one of Star Wars’ iconic bounty hunters, now’s your chance with this simple, frenetic drafting game. You draw cards from four decks: hunters, targets, contracts and the Jawa Market which contains droids and other goodies. Then you play one and, to mix things up, pass the reminder to your neighbor. The aim is to have enough hunters, which cost points, and droids on a target to match its shield values and take it down, earning you points, with contracts earning you a bonus for particular combos. Fast, fun and full of your favorite characters, it’s a great chance to explore your dark side with some scum and villainy.
Star Wars: Shatterpoint
Shatterpoint is the newest Star Wars tabletop design. This comes from Atomic Mass Games, the studio that took over X-Wing and Legion, and which conceived the exceptional Marvel Crisis Protocol miniatures game. Atomic Mass is fully behind this new release and has already released many additional miniatures with shiny new content.
Following in the footsteps of Crisis Protocol, Shatterpoint focuses on a small number of units with players fielding squads from the Clone Wars era. Aesthetically, it’s a more vibrant and focused experience in comparison to Legion. The larger-sized 40mm miniatures are impressive and offer a striking presentation. Gameplay is dynamic and swift with several unique flourishes. It is rather detailed, however, and offers plenty of tactical fat to chew on. This comes at the cost of complexity, which can occasionally bog down play. For those looking to engage in this exciting new title, you will find a rather sophisticated game full of modern touches.
Star Wars: Unlimited
Following the success of 2023’s Disney Lorcana, the trading game format has found new life. Disney wants to keep the cash flowing, and that’s arriving courtesy of Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars: Unlimited. This one hit the market in March 2024 to a great deal of buzz. With a little focus, you can hear the millions of wallets crying out in terror.
Gameplay is relatively straightforward and leans into concepts common to the TCG format: Spend resources to put new equipment, characters, and vehicles into play. One novel concept is alternating actions, following a pattern common to miniatures skirmish games. This establishes a unique cadence to play that offers some distinction from its peers. Veering away from Decipher’s old CCG, they’ve opted for new illustrations as opposed to stills from the films. This helps to bolster the game’s personality and enhance its attraction.
Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace – A Love Letter Game
Love Letter is the popular card game that made serious waves in 2012. It’s seen a large amount of spinoffs since, including Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace. This functions much like the other variants, taking the core framework of Love Letter and adding a twist to freshen up the experience.
Players choose between two cards to play each turn. Each has a different effect and includes iconic characters from Return of the Jedi. For instance, Boba Fett allows you to take a card from another player, while Salacious Crumb lets you look at their hand. The goal is to outlast your opponents by using a degree of intuition and bluffing. This particular edition adds a new Agenda mechanism which changes scoring each round. It’s a solid changeup that adds some variety and tactical nuance to play. This is a simple game, one that is appropriate for a wide age range. Better yet, it’s incredibly cheap.
Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game
If you and a friend or family member want to duke it out in a galaxy far, far away, Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game is an excellent choice. Rather than making you buy booster packs to assemble a deck, this standalone game comes with all the cards you need to pit the Reble Alliance against the Empire. It's a great pick for newcomers to deckbuilding games, but it has enough depth and strategy for diehard fans.
If you've played Pandemic (and not just by living through one!), you know the basics for how this game works. Set during the Clone Wars era of Star Wars, this board game pits the Jedi against Count Dooku and the Sith Lord's forces. It comes with four scenarios to play through, giving it lots of replay value.
Star Wars Villainous: Power of The Dark Side
Following on from 2018’s very successful Disney Villanous, this amped-up version lets you pilot some of the most famous villains from the Star Wars franchise to succeed in their evil plots. You’ll need to shepherd resources and cards wisely as you pursue your character’s unique objective, such as Darth Vader turning Luke to the dark side. But beware: other characters can draw from your fate deck and play pesky heroes and deleterious events onto your board, setting your plans awry unless you can deal with them. With new resources and the potential to move into deep space, this is a more complex and challenging game than the original, but it pays off with crunchier strategy and more engaging theme.
Star Wars: Outer Rim
Star Wars games tend to focus on the epic struggle or the details of one battle. Outer Rim fills the wide gap between with a strategic story of the lives of the scum and villains who ply their trade on the galaxy's edge. Except since they're your scum and villains, it's up to you how villainous you want them to be.
As you fly missions and smuggle cargo from system to system, your choices will shape your character. The cleverly linked mission cards give each game a cohesive but unique narrative. You'll upgrade your skills and ship along the way. But whether you choose to be a heroic rogue or a sky bounty hunter is up to you. Why not both?
Star Wars X-Wing (2nd Edition)
The success of this tactical space \war board game has spawned imitations across the hobby. But X-Wing has two things its mimics do not. First, it's Star Wars. Second, the figures are pre-painted to a high standard, so you can have amazing-looking games for zero effort. And if you collected Star Wars toys as a kid, the nostalgia appeal is impossible to ignore.
The game became a victim of its own popularity, bloated with confusing expansions. But a second edition has cleaned things up and added a bunch of cool rules tweaks. Now, as well as the squad building and hidden movement tactics of the original, you can deploy force powers to aid your cause. Existing players can get upgrade kits with new dials and cards for their collection.
And the core game remains fantastic fun, a fast-paced snapshot of movie action. There are ship lines not only for Rebels and the Empire, but ones from the prequels and newer films, alongside iconic rogues in Scum and Villainy.
Star Wars: Imperial Assault
Spaceship combat in Star Wars is spectacular, but it's not where the real heart of the films is. That's in the unfolding story, the Jedi powers, the blaster battles. It's in Han and Leia, Luke and his father. If that's where you are with the movies, Imperial Assault is your game.
Borrowing heavily from the mechanics of dungeon-crawling game Descent, this is a grid combat game. You set up a map of interlocking tiles and play out a battle between Imperial and Rebel forces using plastic models of film characters. Turn by turn you need to position your models and use their abilities to best effect in order to win an edge over the opposition.
That's only half the story. This is two games using similar mechanics. One is a battle game where you pick your models and fight it out. The other is an ongoing adventure where one player controls the Imperial forces and the other plays the Rebel heroes. Over the course of many sessions – and with a vast number of expansions to extend your game – your own Star Wars saga will unfold.
If controlling Star Destroyers or AT-AT's isn't big enough for you, how about a Death Star? In fact, how about several Death Stars? That's what's waiting for you in this grand board game, which lets you replay the entire rebellion on your dinner table.
Of course, as befits the movies, the Rebel player can't hope to hold a holo-candle to the might of the Imperial navy. But they don't have to: they have to fight a clandestine war of insurgency and politics, swaying planets to join them while poking thorns in the Imperial side. The Emperor and his minions, meanwhile, merely need to destroy the Rebel base to win. Except they have to find out where it's hidden first.
Rebellion takes a long time to play, but it's engrossing, strategic and surprisingly characterful. Players do get to control a lot of popular film heroes and villains, albeit relegated to a single card.
Star Wars: Destiny
In a move as bold as Obi-Wan confronting Grievous, Destiny resurrects the collectible card game. You begin with a fixed starter set, either Rey or Kylo Ren, and expand it with blind boosters. From this collection you build decks that span across space and time, featuring the likes of Count Dooku pairing up with General Hux.
The unique hook is that Destiny isn't only about playing cards – you’ll be tossing dice around, too. Each character in your deck brings custom dice to the fight, and rolling them partly dictates what you can do with your turn. While this might sound a strategic no-no, it keeps the game varied, fast and exciting, much like the battles it seeks to recreate.
Plus, the variety of the dice themselves help build tactical options. Dice that are more reliable are also less flexible, so it's up to you how you build your force.
Star Wars: Legion
Legion is the ground-based equivalent to X-Wing, a miniatures title with troops and tanks instead of spaceships. The miniatures don't come painted or assembled for this. But don't let that put you off. Publisher Fantasy Flight has learned well from other popular miniatures games and put out a doozy.
At heart, there's the measuring and moving, estimating and dice rolling you'd expect from a game of this type. Two clever tweaks to the formula catapult the game to the next level. First is the activation system in which you have to balance moving what you want against when you want to move it: you won't get both. Second is the card-based scenario creation which puts a tactical twist on making each game unique.
There are sculpts of all your favorite characters and vehicles from the movies to expand your collection. The fact they make up a varied strategic challenge to build an effective army is just a bonus.
Star Wars Board Game FAQ
What is a miniatures game, and how do the various Star Wars ones differ?
Miniatures games share a lot of DNA with board games which, confusingly, often have miniatures as playing pieces. The difference is twofold. Firstly, miniatures games have much higher quality figures and for many players, painting and converting them is an additional hobby in its own right. Second, miniatures games are generally played on an open table with scenery of your choice, on which you move pieces by measuring distances with a tool or tape measure, rather than a fixed board with spaces.
There are currently four different Star Wars miniatures games, a reflection of the franchise's popularity and visual appeal. The easiest one to get into is space dogfighting game X-Wing, which comes with fantastic pre-painted starfighters, like the iconic titular ship and TIE fighter. It has the simplest rules of the four, you don't have to do any modelling at all, the starter set is fun to play with by itself, and you don't even really need any scenery. Next up is Armada, which represents fleet level action with pre-painted scale models of huge capital ships like the Star Destroyer. Although it has a smaller range of models they're also more expensive and you'll need more than just the starter box to properly appreciate what it offers. Some of the expansion content comes with miniscule starfighter wings, and they won't look great next to your painted models unless you take the plunge and paint them up yourself.
The ground combat games, Star Wars: Shatterpoint and Star Wars: Legion are very different beasts, as both come with unpainted models and the expectation is very much that you'll paint them up yourself. You'll also need a collection of scenery although both starter boxes come with some for you to play with. Shatterpoint uses bigger models for smaller-scale action, skirmishes between famous characters from the Star Wars franchises. It's the most complex of all four games but rewards you with movie-like narrative action. Legion depicts bigger battles and is slightly more anonymous in the sense that most of your forces will be stormtroopers or rebel soldiers, with the occasional better-known character as a leader. But while its easier to learn, you'll also have a lot more painting to do to get those larger forces tabletop ready!
Streaming services are getting increasingly bloated, more competitive, and more convoluted, and many people are realizing it's actually more expensive than a standard cable subscription if you want to have it all. However, if you're looking for a simple solution that offers live TV, sports, news, plus a massive back catalog of content that includes just about everything from Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and more, then Hulu + Live TV just might be the perfect service for you. And if you don't care about live TV, then the Disney+, Hulu, Max bundle is what you're looking for.
Hulu + Live TV Free Trial
Hulu + Live TV offers a three-day free trial that allows you to take the live TV streaming service for a spin. This is one of the overall best streaming free trials because it gets you a bundle of services. It is quite a bit shorter than the standard Hulu free trial of 30 days, but it's a great way to test it out over the weekend.
Plans and Prices, Explained
If the name wasn't obvious enough, Hulu + Live TV is the base Hulu service (with ads) in addition to a live TV service complete with over 95 channels, unlimited DVR space, and a hassle-free monthly subscription fee that doesn't include any hidden fees. If that doesn't sound great enough already, Hulu + Live TV also includes Disney+ (with ads) and ESPN+ (with ads) as part of the streaming package. That means you've got access to the massive Disney catalog that includes the Marvel movies and TV shows, Star Wars movies and TV shows, Pixar movies, and so much more. If you're looking for a great replacement for cable that ticks just about every box, well, Hulu + Live TV is one of the best options available.
Since Hulu + Live TV includes the base Hulu (with ads) service, you'll have access to Hulu's rich library of TV shows and movies. This includes Hulu Originals such as Paradise and Only Murders in the Building as well as popular FX programs such as The Bear, Shōgun, and What We Do In The Shadows. Plus, you can watch thousands of additional TV shows and movies from Hulu's extended streaming library.
With Hulu + Live TV, you can watch over 95 of your favorite channels live, or catch up on some of the best programming that you may have missed on demand. You can record as much live TV as you'd like with the included DVR service, as well, to ensure you don't miss the shows or movies you're currently watching. By default, you can watch Hulu + Live TV on two supported devices, but you can upgrade to have unlimited simultaneous screens if you'd like the whole family to have access.
You can watch Hulu + Live TV on every device that supports the standard Hulu streaming service including Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV devices, PS5, PS4, all modern Xbox consoles, select Samsung, LG, and Vizio smart TVs, Nintendo Switch, and more. Simply put, if it's capable of streaming TV shows and movies, it's likely able to stream Hulu + Live TV.
How Much Does Hulu + Live TV Cost?
Hulu + Live TV costs $82.99 per month and can be canceled at any time. Keep in mind, this includes the base Hulu (with ads), Disney+ (with ads) and ESPN+ (with ads) streaming services as part of the overall price, which normally runs $16.99 on its own.
Additional premium channels such as HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Cinemax can be added on if you desire, and you can upgrade your subscription to include unlimited screens at home and up to three screens on the go — perfect for the whole family.
What Channels Does Hulu + Live TV Include?
Hulu + Live TV features over 95 channels in the base service including local network affliliates and news from ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. Additionally, it features popular channels such as Comedy Central, ESPN, FX, Food Network, Disney Channel, HGTV, The History Channel, ID, Lifetime, MTV, NFL Network, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, and more.
Can You Watch Live Sports on Hulu + Live TV?
Yes! You can watch many of the most popular sports on Hulu + Live TV including NFL, NCAA, NBA, MLB, NHL, international soccer, UFC, and more. Whatever's airing live on TV will be available to watch, so if you're looking to watch your favorite non-local team, you may need to subscribe to a premium service to catch those games. However, there are a number of sporting events regularly available on local channels as well as CBS Sports Network, NFL Network, ESPN, and FS1, just to name a few.
This means that you can watch March Madness games and stream NFL games with this service as well.
Matthew Adler is a Commerce, Features, Guides, News, Previews, and Reviews writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream on Twitch.
If you’re interested in unusual or innovative games, then Maps of Misterra should be on your radar, especially since it’s currently selling at a hefty sale discount. It normally runs in the $30 range, but Amazon currently has it on sale for $12.99, which is less than half price. That's quite a deal on a game that's worth a look.
Maps of Misterra on Sale for $12.99
In Maps of Misterra, players are cartographers, seeking to chart an unknown island. You’ll start with some end-game goals of what you think the island is supposed to look like, and initially you’ll place terrain tiles on a shared board trying to match that map. But exploration is a tricky business and you can be mistaken: other players can overwrite your placements with their own until someone takes an extra action to confirm that tile, fixing it in place. Terrain effects, such as being able to see further atop mountains, or travel further over steppe, lend extra weight to the strategy and flavor to the theme.
The result of this clever, two-step, discover and confirm mechanic is a fascinating dynamic and interactive puzzle where your goals push and pull against those of other players, and the island takes shape around them. This also provides a real sense of revelation, of venturing into the unknown as every version of the island is different.
If you enjoy getting into the theme of a game, you can also have a great time loudly proclaiming that your suggestions are the absolute truth against the nonsense other players are trying to foist on the map. It’s fun as a solo board game, too, against an automated opponent so you still get the sense of playing against an active player. The slightly messy interaction might put off some players, but at this price it’s worth a look for its sheer oddness.
See more cool board games
Matt Thrower is a contributing freelance writer for IGN, specializing in tabletop games. You can reach him on BlueSky at @mattthr.bsky.social.
The new Hunger Games novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, is my most anticipated book release of 2025. It's been sitting on Amazon's best sellers list for most of the year so far, and has even broken into the top five ahead of its release date. It's no surprise that the new Suzanne Collins book is already super popular considering all of the Hunger Games books have been turned into movies already. In fact, even Sunrise on the Reaping will be getting a movie adaptation in 2026.
Sunrise on the Reaping will be released on Tuesday, March 18. Amazon is currently discounting hardcovers and Kindle editions of the book. You can also find exclusive editions from Barnes and Noble and Target that offer little extras.
Sunrise on the Reaping - Where to Buy
Preorders for the standard version of the hardcover is the only option currently discounted on Amazon (30% off). The Kindle eBook version is cheaper than the hardcover at $18.99 and will be available as soon as the book is released. There isn't a paperback version of this book yet, but you can usually expect one to release about a year after the hardcover edition.
If you're looking for a special edition of the new Hunger Games book, you have a couple of different options. Barnes & Noble has an exclusive version that includes an in-depth conversation between Suzanne Collins and her publisher. Target also has an exclusive edition, but it's unclear what extras come with it. Additionally, Amazon has a hardcover boxed set for sale that is set to release on June 3, 2025.
See more Hunger Games books:
The Audiobook Is Releasing at the Same Time
If you'd prefer to listen to the new Hunger Games novel, you'll be happy to know that the audiobook will be releasing at the same time. The book will be narrated by Jefferson White, who you may already know from Yellowstone where he played Jimmy Hudstrom. The audiobook has a listening time of about 12 hours and 48 minutes. You can purchase it for $20.47 or get it for free when you sign up for an Audible free trial.
Jacob Kienlen is a Senior SEO Strategist and Writer for IGN. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he has considered the Northwest his home for his entire life. With a bachelor's degree in communication and over 7 years of professional writing experience, his expertise is spread across a variety of different topics -- from TV series to indie games and popular book series.
In today’s world of seemingly endless streaming platforms and bundles, shopping for the right one(s) can be a trying ordeal. Since so many have their own expansive media libraries, it can be hard to commit to a monthly payment for one or multiple options. Do you want access to every Transformers movie before watching Transformers One? Paramount+ would be a good option. How about all the anime your heart desires? You’ll want to try out Crunchyroll to satisfy that craving. Luckily, most streaming services these days offer a sneak peek via free trials into their cache of goodies. So whatever you’re looking to watch in 2025, these nine free trials are a great way to test the waters of the streaming landscape.
1. Hulu (30-Day Free Trial)
The mecca of popular series both original and classic, Hulu has almost everything a series-binger would need. Adding to its impressive library over the years with some quality, sought-after films as well as TV shows, Hulu also has a wealth of groundbreaking, interesting, original content to dive into. After exploring every nook and cranny that Hulu has to offer in this generous 30-day trial, there are a wide range of subscription options to opt into, from $9.99 a month (with ads) all the way up to just over $100 a month – if you want to include live TV or premium add-ons such as Max, ESPN+, Disney+, Cinemax, Paramount+ with Showtime, Starz, and more.
It's worth noting that Disney now offers a bundle that combines Hulu, Disney+, and Max into a single streaming package. While that bundle does not have a free trial, it is arguably the best streaming deal available.
Hulu + Live TV Also Has a Free Trial
If you're looking for a more robust option, the Hulu + Live TV free trial gets you access to a lot more content. This service includes live TV channels, Hulu, ESPN+, and Disney+ all in one subscription. The free trial only lasts three days.
Much like Hulu, Paramount+ has dug deep into the nostalgia bin while also offering a breadth of modern shows and movies to choose from. Paramount+ offers exclusive access to media such as the Transformers movies, the Halo series, and the entire Star Trek film/series universe. With new shows and movies added every week along with some well-made originals of its own, Paramount+ is quickly becoming a contender with the big names in streaming. After the seven-day free trial of its services, the recurring monthly amount to stay subscribed will be as low as $7.99 (or $59.99 a year) with limited ads, or $12.99 a month (or $119.99 a year) to add Showtime’s full library and remove almost all ads. You can also get access to Parmount+ via a Walmart+ membership if you're hoping to avoid a free trial all together.
An up-and-coming streaming service in the streaming wars, Apple TV+ takes exclusivity to a whole new level. Featuring some highly praised original shows (Ted Lasso, Severance, Shrinking, The Morning Show, Masters of the Air) and movies (Killers of the Flower Moon, Spirited, Napoleon), Apple is quickly gaining momentum in the race against its competitors. After the seven-day free trial has expired, the monthly subscription will cost $9.99 at base cost, depending on how many users are added to the account. As a disclaimer for those without Apple products, you will have to create a verified Apple ID to access the premium Apple TV+ streaming library. With season 2 of Severance and season 4 of Mythic Quest happening right now, this is a great service to try out.
For viewers looking to expand their Anime horizons and join in on the millions of viewers worldwide, Crunchyroll free trial is an offer that is hard to beat. While there are three different membership tiers to choose from ($7.99/mo to $14.99/mo), Crunchyroll also has a decent amount of anime content streaming for free. With the various membership packages available, subscribers can also gain access to Crunchyroll games as well as discounts at the Crunchyroll online store. Any fan of anime knows that Japan is the leader in anime production, which is why Crunchyroll gives users premium access to brand-new episodes shortly after its initial release in Japan. It's arguably the best place to watch anime online in 2025.
Another streaming service targeted on live TV streams with a focus on sports, fuboTV is the leading streaming service for sports fans across the globe. While it may be most popular for streaming sporting events, fuboTV has subscription packages that offer up to 10 screens, 1,000 hours of Cloud DVR space, 4k streaming quality, up to 448 TV channels, and even a premium Showtime add-on option. Besides these features, there is also a catalog of popular shows and movies available for on-demand streaming. Once the seven-day trial has expired, subscribers will pay as low as $59.99 for the first month, then $79.99 for the remainder of the membership.
Although many may remember DirecTV only as a satellite TV service, the company also offers a pretty solid streaming service. DirecTV Stream has an array of streaming options that include various movies, series, and live TV access. Though the trial may be a short one at five days, DirecTV sweetens the deal with some premium content offered upon subscription. When customers sign up for one of three packages ranging in content and priced from $79.99 a month to $119.99 a month, it includes Max, Paramount+ with Showtime, Starz, MGM+, and Cinemax in the first three months of the subscription.
It's worth noting that DirecTV was able to reach an agreement with Disney over various channels. Because of this DirecTV subscribers now has access to ESPN channels again in 2025.
7. Philo TV (7-Day Free Trial)
An additional option for those looking to stream premium TV channels from their living room, Philo TV offers similar options but for a bargain. While many consider this simply an alternative to cable TV (considering its 70+ channels for a much cheaper rate), it also has over 70,000 titles to stream on-demand even without utilizing the DVR capabilities. Set at a constant monthly rate that includes everything Philo has to offer, subscribers only pay $25 a month after their seven-day free trial to keep using one of the more underrated TV services the internet has to offer.
8. Mubi (7-Day Free Trial)
A streaming service catered to the arthouse/foreign film cinephiles, Mubi takes streaming subscriptions to a whole new level. Headlining with some of the more obscure and cerebral films to date, Mubi takes pride in its appreciation of the auteur and the directors who made it happen. Presented as a movie theater in a subscription, users can pick from 30 available films – every day one is added and one is removed. After the seven-day free trial, subscribers will be charged $14.99 a month to retain their membership. With the add-on of a fairly new premium feature called MubiGo, users (in select cities) have access to one movie theater ticket every week – a movie chosen by Mubi – and the Mubi library for $19.99 a month.
9. Amazon Prime (30-Day Free Trial)
As one of the biggest competitors in the streaming wars, Amazon Prime offers a surprisingly long trial of 30 days to decide if you enjoy what it has to offer. Responsible for the production of more high-quality films and series every year (including Rings of Power and the new Fallout series), it’s hard to look away from the Amazon Prime catalog. With access to exclusive content as well as a vast library of established films, much of the content is included with the membership but with an option to rent much newer releases. After the 30-day trial is concluded, users will be charged $14.99 a month (or $139 a year) to continue viewing and enjoy free shipping on orders from Amazon’s shopping center. There is also a student discount of $7.49 a month (or $69 a year).
If you're looking for a streaming service that is permanently free, there are actually quite a few. One of the biggest names in free streeming is the Roku Channel, which offers tons of movies and shows without the need for a paid subscription. Tubi is also a great option for free movies, TV shows, and live TV channels. Alternatively, if you just want access to live TV directly from the air, you can buy a TV antenna and get access to local channels.
Unfortunately, if you're looking to get a free trial to Netflix, you're out of luck. Netflix does not offer any free trials and is unlikely to ever do so. If you're hoping to add Netflix to your list of subscription services, however, you can take a look at our guide to Netflix plans and prices for more info or dive into some of the best Netflix alternatives.
Does Disney+ have a free trial?
When Disney+ first launched, there was in fact Disney+ free trial. That is no longer the case, and you will need to pay for a subscription to get access to the service in 2025. That being said, it's possible to bundle Disney+ with other services to save some money. You can check out our guide to Disney+ bundles for more info or checkout some of the best Disney+ alternatives.
Does Max have a free trial?
Similar to Netflix and Disney+, Max does not currently offer a free trial. However, the HBO/Discovery streaming service has been known to offer discounts on its service at various points throughout the year. You can check out our guide to Max deals for more info.
If you're looking for an OLED TV from a reputable brand name at a great price, then Best Buy has got a solid deal going on right now. The Sony Bravia XR A75L 4K OLED smart TVs are on sale right now with the 55" model priced at $999.99 and the 65" model for $1,299.99. These prices are lower than what we saw during Black Friday (the 65" model was $1499 at the time). Although the A75L is an older generation (2023) TV, it's still one of the best TVs out there in terms of image quality and gaming performance. Especially for the 55" model, you won't find a better TV for under $1,000.
55" Sony OLED 4K Smart TV for $999.99, 65" for $1,299.99
Generally speaking, OLED TVs are considered the best TVs you can buy right now. Compared to traditional LED LCD TVs, they offer better image quality, deeper blacks, better contrast ratio, wider color gamut, and super fast response times. Because of these advantages, the OLED TV are easily the best type of TV for viewing 4K HDR content in all of its intended glory.
OLED technology aside, the A75L has the features you'd want in a current generation gaming TV. It has a native 120Hz panel as well as two HDMI 2.1 ports that can run games in 4K at up to 120fps on a PS5 or Xbox Series X gaming console. The OLED panel benefits from a near instantaneous response time (sub 0,.03ms) and supports features like variable refresh rate (VRR) including G-SYNC and auto low latency mode (ALLM). Note that despite this being a Sony TV, it pairs equally well with an Xbox console.
Sony OLED TVs use Google TV as its smart interface. Google TV is intuitive to use and supports voice commands through Google Assistant. You can also pair it with an Android phone to use as a remote.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
After a press tour that recently featured Jack Quaid looking progressively more beat up at a Clippers game, Novocaine has arrived in theaters. The R-rated action comedy stars Quaid as a man who feels no pain, so it's starting to seem like 'The Boys' veteran goes out of his way to get covered in fake blood.
In her review for IGN, critic Lena Wilson states that “Novocaine offers more depth than its gimmicky 'man who feels no pain' premise may lead you to believe," with "clever storytelling and character writing that reminds us of a time when seeing movies in theaters was just plain fun.”
If you're planning to catch Novocaine in theaters or want a sense of when the movie will be available to stream, check out the details below.
How to Watch Novocaine - Showtimes and Streaming Status
Novocaine just released in theaters. You can check for showtimes near you at the main theater links below:
Novocaine will eventually stream on Paramount+ instead of Netflix or Hulu. Recent Paramount movies, like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Gladiator 2, arrived on the streaming service about three months after releasing in theaters. Assuming the new action comedy follows a similar release schedule, Novocaine will likely be streaming on Paramount+ by late June.
Stream Similar Movies:
What Is Novocaine About?
Novocaine is an original action comedy movie about a man who can't feel pain. Here’s the movie’s official synopsis:
Novocaine Cast and Crew
Novocaine was written by Lars Jacobson and directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen. The movie stars the following actors:
Jack Quaid as Nathan "Novocaine" Caine
Amber Midthunder as Sherry Margrave
Ray Nicholson as Simon Greenly
Jacob Batalon as Roscoe Dixon
Betty Gabriel as Mincy Langston
Matt Walsh as Coltraine Duffy
Conrad Kemp as Andre Clark
Evan Hengst as Ben Clark
Craig Jackson as Nigel
Lou Beatty Jr. as Earl
Novocaine Rating and Runtime
Novocaine is Rated R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, and language throughout. The movie runs for a total of one hour and 50 minutes.
One of my main frustrations with playing the Nintendo Switch in handheld mode is how uncomfortable it gets. The Joy-Con controllers that come with the Switch are great in a pinch, but they just weren't built for longer gaming sessions. I love the Nintendo Switch Pro controller for playing games on my TV, but whenever I play on the go I use the Nitro Deck.
I purchased my CRKD Nitro Deck during Prime Day last year when it dropped in price, but Amazon has just discounted the price on the white model even further. Right now, you can pick up this great Switch accessory for 24% off its normal price.
CRKD Nitro Deck Deal on Amazon
Multiple colors of the Nitro Deck are currently on sale, but only the white version has dropped to its lowest-ever price. You can purchase the black, gray, blue, and pink versions for just $2 more. There are also various special editions that are quite a bit more expensive that are discounted.
The selling point of the Nitro Deck is comfort. The grips fit my hands wonderfully, and the controller itself includes gyro compatibility and rumble support. There's also a convenient kickstand that lets you set your Switch upright on a flat surface. Unlike some Joy-Con, the joysticks offer zero stick drift. You can also remap the buttons if you want to take customization further.
See more design options:
Will the Nitro Deck Work With Switch 2?
Now that we know the Nintendo Switch 2 is coming out later this year, you may be wondering if this particular Switch accessory will be compatible with the new hardware. The answer is no. The Switch 2 will be larger than the standard Switch, so the Nitro Deck will not be compatible with it. You will only be able to use it with the standard Switch model and the Nintendo Switch OLED.
Jacob Kienlen is a Senior SEO Strategist and Writer for IGN. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he has considered the Northwest his home for his entire life. With a bachelor's degree in communication and over 7 years of professional writing experience, his expertise is spread across a variety of different topics -- from TV series to indie games and popular book series.
With all the trailers, showcases, and dev diaries that can lead up to a game’s launch nowadays, it’s harder than ever for one to be a real surprise – and that’s especially true of a multiplayer first-person shooter when, like me, you are a Certified Old Gamer™ who’s been playing them since the genre began. Yet FragPunk has done just that. What I worried might end up being a Valorant clone with a card gimmick and a big list of other buzzword features has instead impressed me with how fresh it all feels. That said, a messy mishmash of in-game currencies and rewards hurts the fun that can come from leveling up and chasing cosmetics.
In many ways, FragPunk reminds me of a reverse Ship of Theseus. If every component of a game came from somewhere else, does it eventually become something original? It’s hard to say, but the result here is quite amusing regardless. Like Overwatch, it has very distinct characters with big personalities and unique tools to match them. Like Valorant or Counter-Strike, the primary game mode, called Shard Clash, revolves around teams of five competing to plant or defuse a Converter (aka bomb) or eliminate one another across multiple rounds. And like Fortnite, it has a deep bag of cosmetic items like costumes, weapon skins, stickers, and emotes to entice you to spend some money on this otherwise free-to-play shooter.
FragPunk’s playable characters are called Lancers, and they are an entertaining group to choose from. Some are relatively typical archetypes, like a sniper named Hollowpoint and her abilities that help reveal enemies. Others are way out there, like the punk rocker Axon, who shoots lightning from his guitar. Unlike Valorant, where abilities can give you an edge but are rarely what win a fight, Fragpunk places a much bigger emphasis on using them to dominate the map, which I like. When abilities like Broker’s rocket launcher can instantly erase someone, it feels good to use it yourself or devise a counter on the fly as you see it coming, like throwing down a shield wall as Nitro to provide cover and then returning fire from a remote controlled combat drone.
Naturally, Fragpunk isn’t all lightning guitars and rockets. Your standard assortment of shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles, and more forms the backbone of combat. I don’t mind that the guns really aren’t the star of the show here, but I do wish there was more variety to choose from. There are two options in each category you can select as your primary weapon, and they all shoot pretty much exactly how you’d expect. But the gunplay is at least smooth and responsive, and the fast time-to-kill does a good job of emphasizing the importance of positioning over raw gun skill.
The real star of the show is the Shard Card system.
The other aspect of shooting that stands out is how little movement affects your aim. Unlike Valorant, where stopping and popping is often essential if you want to be accurate, Fragpunk fully embraces running and gunning. I found myself repeatedly lagging behind my squad in kill count until a teammate pointed out that I’m better off treating gunfights like Call of Duty with powers – advice that put me right at the top of the next match’s leaderboard. That style of shooting isn’t necessarily better or worse than the more deliberate action of other games, but it does stick out as atypical for an objective-based tactical shooter in a way that’s a perfect fit with the general FragPunk vibe.
The real star of the show is the Shard Card system. Before every round, each team has three random cards pulled that players can then put Shard Points into, effectively voting on which ones will be active. The costs of their effects vary, and you earn more Shard Points either by getting kills or picking them up off the ground mid-round. Some Shard Cards are simple, like one that increases your movement speed, while others are extremely powerful, like another that forces the next round to play out as a melee battle – or one called Big Heads, which (as advertised) gives the entire enemy team overgrown, easy-to-hit craniums. A few are even downright weird, like Egg King, which causes everyone to lay an egg after crouching for 10 seconds, which you can then eat to regain health. It’s hilarious, utterly bizarre, and unlike anything I’ve ever seen in a shooter before.
I’m surprised by how much I enjoy the card-collecting aspect of FragPunk. You start with access to less than a third of the 169 total Shard Cards that are currently available, and you can earn more after completing matches. Getting more matters, as the cards that are randomly selected before each round are based on what each team member has unlocked. It’s pretty exciting getting a new card and reading what weirdness it’s going to introduce. I also appreciate that you can easily see your collection, read the effect, and, in some cases, watch a quick video showing you exactly what it does.
Rounds of Shard Clash go by fast – possibly too fast. In theory, one team is trying to plant the Converter on one of two objective points, which the other team would then need to defuse… but in practice, the overwhelming majority of rounds end when one team wipes out the other, often in just a few minutes. That means that matches rarely have the same sort of strategic back and forth that makes hard-fought games of something like Valorant so engaging. It also means that Lancers with abilities that have more of a nuanced, tactical focus have seemed less viable overall. I’d love to hunker down with Nito’s turrets and drone to hold a point, but so far that’s just a recipe to have all the action happen elsewhere. Hopefully some balance tweaks will arrive to make the objectives a more relevant part of the action.
The cosmetic hunt is too complex without having a lot of enticing options.
A match ends when one team wins four total rounds, but if both teams reach three wins before that happens, it activates one of my favorite twists: Duels. This has each team face off in a series of 1v1 fights in a small arena, and whoever survives sticks around to face the other team’s next champion until every member of one has been eliminated. Health and abilities don’t regenerate round to round, which makes it tough for one great player to run the table. The action is as exciting as it is tense, and spectating while you root on your teammate and wait for your own turn is thrilling, especially when you get the win that clinches the Duel and, by extension, the entire match for your team.
Ranked competition isn’t available until you reach level to 30, which can potentially take up to 10 hours. That’s a little on the long side, and I was pretty done with no-stakes matches well before I was able to start playing for rank. Shard Clash is the same in ranked, apart from the fact that you are now playing to six wins rather than four, but the random element of the Shard Cards might be a little too random in this context. It’s tough to be fighting with actual stakes and feel like bad draws are costing you wins. There’s an advanced version of Shard Clash you get access to once you reach Diamond rank that gives teams some control over selecting and banning cards to mitigate that, but I can’t help but feel like it should be the default for ranked competition across the board.
A few other modes add some variety, though none stand out. Simple Deathmatch is nice for shooting practice, and Duel Master is a similarly good gametype to train for those one-on-ones, though it not being the finale of a long match takes a lot of the drama out of it. Outbreak is the most interesting option: Like Halo’s Infection playlist, most players start with weapons while a few turn into Zombies, and everyone who is killed turns and starts hunting the survivors. Unfortunately the matches are much too long, and the mix of zombies with too much health and guns that slow them down tends to make fights frustrating for both sides.
Like so many free-to-play games, FragPunk relies on incentivising people to spend money on things like cosmetics as a source of revenue, rather than game sales. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that model, and it can even be a fun motivator if there are cool things to chase. Here, however, the cosmetic hunt suffers from a mixture of being too complex without having a lot of enticing options that make it feel worth investing in.
There are way too many different currencies. There is Gold, which you use to buy items and new Lancers, and there’s Glunite, which also buys items – those are both earned largely through playing matches and progressing along the battle pass. Then you can buy FragPunk Coins, which cost real money and are also used to unlock characters and items. If you buy into the premium version of the battle pass for 900 FragPunk Coins, which will cost you around $10USD, you’ll earn Battle Pass Tokens to spend on a different set of cosmetics. Meanwhile, playing ranked matches will get you Ranking Coins, which let you pick from an exclusive pool of weapon skins. That’s not to be confused with the Membership Pick, obviously, which you cash in for weapon skins from a different pool. And, of course, if you or create an in-game Club, you can get Club Supplies. These are all spent on basically the same types of things, but from separate catalogs, which creates unnecessary confusion with no benefit to you as a player.
It’s a mess, and that’s without including the additional currencies that will presumably rotate in and out for special events. It’s too scattered, and way too much to keep track of. It’s also hard to feel any interest in figuring it all out when most of the prizes aren’t very appealing. None of the additional skins stand out the way the best options in Marvel Rivels do, for example. Many of the things Gold (the currency you earn the most of) gets you are random pulls for small touches like gun stickers. The most valuable thing Gold can buy, the Lancers, are prohibitively expensive, resulting in a far too coercive push towards spending real money to buy new characters outright – when it took me 10 hours to unlock a single Lancer, that $10 price tag starts to look less like a suggestion.
Even the battle pass, a staple of games like this, misses the mark. There are very few rewards on the free tier of the 60-level pass, and they consist primarily of stickers, icons for your profile, and pop cans that give out random rewards. Paying for the premium tier gives you access to many more prizes, including several bland character and weapons skins… but there’s also an Ultimate level on top of that, which adds very little other than doubling a few of the random pull rewards, two weapon skins, and one Lancer skin. That seems absurd given the Ultimate Pass is more than double the cost of the premium version at a whopping 2500 FragPunk Coins, or around $25.
Entertainment has hit critical mass over the last decade, with more shows and movies being produced and released than ever before. It’s impossible to keep up with everything hitting the digital space, whether it be Premium Video on Demand (PVOD) or a traditional streaming network. With that in mind, we figured it was well past time for us to whip up a little something to help you keep up (and catch up) with all there is to watch in the big, wide world of digital viewing. And thus, the Streaming Rewind was born!
We’ll update this list at the end of each week so you can check out what you may have missed, and what’s coming up on the weekend. We’ll keep it a mix of popular releases and noteworthy lesser-known titles to help you find what’s worth taking the risk on as well as dive into a few things that we loved and why we loved ‘em, or just break down a show or movie that left us with some opinions. Sometimes, we’ll even have guest entries from other members of the IGN staff. If you’re not interested in all that and just want to see a bulleted list of what’s out there, pop on down to the New and Noteworthy and ICYMI sections.
Control Freak (Hulu)
While Shal Ngo’s Control Freak isn’t reinventing the wheel when it comes to depicting generational trauma in horror, Kelly Marie Tran gives a strong enough performance to warrant a viewing of Hulu’s latest original film. The story follows Tran’s Val, a life coach who, you guessed it, is a bit of a control freak. She becomes plagued by an itch on the back of her head that no amount of scratching can soothe, a fact that not-so-subtly runs parallel to Val’s insistence that all you need to ditch a bad habit is discipline.
Severance (Apple TV+)
We’re rocketing towards the Season 2 finale of Severance next week, and the show has so far delivered a second season that is consistently firing on all cylinders. While we weren’t sure they’d be able to keep up the momentum after such a long hiatus between seasons, the innies and outies of Severance have us collectively sad that the finale is right around the corner. Here’s hoping there’s much less of a gap between Seasons 2 and 3 but, in the meantime, what in the heck was going on with Helly (Britt Lower) this week?
Daredevil: Born Again (Disney+)
Daredevil: Born Again, unlike Severance, is still early on in its season. Be mindful of schedules though, because Disney+ will be releasing some episodes in batches rather than just the premiere as they have for their live-action offerings in the past. This week continues to the trial of Hector Ayala (Kamar de los Reyes) and features Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) throwing a Hail Mary to get his client acquitted that leads to a reveal to the jury that Murdock had no right to share with the court (even if he saw no other path to freeing his client).
New and Noteworthy This Week:
Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney, March 12 — Netflix
Control Freak, March 13 — Hulu
The Wheel of Time Season 3 Premiere, March 13 — Prime Video
The Electric State, March 13 — Netflix
ICYMI:
If you had too much going on last week, here are some of the notable things that premiered or debuted on streaming and digital that you may have missed.
One of my issues with the Next-Gen Update for The Witcher 3 was the way most – if not all – NPCs looked. During dialogues, all NPCs looked a bit out of place. And we now know why. From the looks of it, CDPR did not use Ray Tracing to enhance them. Thankfully, though, we … Continue reading The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Mod adds Ray Tracing to all NPCs→
The developer of Bulletstorm and co-developer of Gears of War: E-Day, People Can Fly, has signed a deal with Sony Interactive Entertainment to develop a new game, codenamed Project Delta.
This comes from a report published by People Can Fly describing the agreement, which stipulates Project Delta will be made as a work-for-hire game, but does not provide further description of the project.
Just last December, the studio announced it was suspending work on its in-progress Project Victoria, and scaling down another in-development game, Project Bifrost. Prior to that in April, it announced it would be cancelling Project Dagger, which was supposed to be an action-adventure title in partnership with Take-Two interactive.
That still leaves People Can Fly with eight total projects in the works that we know of, including the upcoming Gears of War: E-Day in partnership with The Coalition. We don't have a release date on that one yet, though the Square Enix partnership game, Project Gemini, was last known to be due out in 2026.
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.
The LG UltraGear 27GX790A-B gaming monitor was released at the tail end of 2024. This was LG's first ever OLED monitor with an incredible 480Hz refresh rate. It launched at a starting price of $999.99, which hadn't been discounted at all - until now. For a few days only, the LG online store is offering a 25% off coupon code "SAVE25" that drops the price by to $749.99 shipped. This is one of the best 27" QHD gaming monitors you can get right now, especially if you're aiming for the highest frame rates possible in your FPS games.
$250 Off 27" LG UltraGear 480Hz OLED Gaming Monitor
The LG UltraGear GX790 is a 27" monitor with a 2560x1440 resolution (109ppi), 480Hz refresh rate, and G-Sync compatibility. This monitor uses LG's latest generation WOLED panel, which offers near instantaneous response times (0.03ms) and true black levels that can't be matched by any other panel type, including Mini-LED. The GX790 also boasts a 98.5% DCI-P3 color range, HDR True Black 400 certification, and is factory calibrated. Connectivity wise, the GX790 includes one DisplayPort 2.1 port (which you will need to use to get 480Hz), two HDMI 1.4 ports, and two USB 3.0 ports.
Because the GX790 combines an OLED panel with a super high refresh rate, it excels at games with a lot of fast or twitchy motion like shooters. To achieve framerates of up to 480fps at 2560x1440, you'll need to make sure your PC is equipped with the appropriate video card. Depending on the game, you'll probably need at least a graphics card like the GeForce RTX 4070. Games like Counter-Strike or Fortnite have less demanding needs than Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Here are the best deals for Friday, March 14. Highlights include Sony Bravia OLED TVs at surprisingly affordable prices, a weekend only discount on a recently released LG OLED gaming monitor with a blistering 480Hz refresh rate, 50% off a cordless car jump starter that would be a great addition to your emergency kit, a cheap precision electric screwdriver, the best Hulu and Disney+ streaming bundle deal we'll see this year, and more.
55" Sony OLED 4K Smart TV for $999.99, 65" for $1,299.99
If you're looking for an OLED TV from a reputable brand name at a great price, then Best Buy has got a solid deal going on right now. The Sony Bravia XR A75L 4K OLED smart TVs are on sale right now with the 55" model priced at $999.99 and the 65" model for $1,299.99. These are slightly older (2023) models, but they are bona fide true OLED TVs with HDMI 2.1 inputs and a native 120Hz refresh rate for 4K gaming at up to 120fps.
$250 Off 27" LG UltraGear 480Hz OLED Gaming Monitor
The LG UltraGear 27GX790A-B gaming monitor was released at the tail end of 2024. This was LG's first ever OLED monitor with an incredible 480Hz refresh rate. It launched at a starting price of $999.99, which hadn't been discounted at all - until now. For a few days only, the LG online store is offering a 25% off coupon code "SAVE25" that drops the price by to $749.99 shipped. This is one of the best 27" QHD gaming monitors you can get right now, especially if you're aiming for the highest frame rates possible in your FPS games.
4 Months of Hulu and Disney+ for $2.99/mo
For a limited time, Hulu is offering four months of Disney+ and Hulu Basic (Ad-Supported) Bundle for just $2.99 per month. The normal cost of this subscription is $10.99 per month. This deal only comes around a handful of times per year and worth it for just the Disney+ subscription alone.
Hoto Precision Electric Screwdriver Set for $24.95
For anyone who is constantly fiddling with small electronics, building PCs, or modding consoles and controllers, a precision electric screwdriver is an extremely handy tool to have around. For a limited time, Amazon is offering an excellent deal on just that. The Hoto 25-Piece Precision Electric Screwdrive Set is down to only $24.95 after you clip a 23% off coupon on the product page and apply promo code "36M37S7E" during checkout.
AstroAI S8 1,500A 12V Cordless Car Jump Starter for $25.99
Amazon Prime members only
Here's a good opportunity to pick up a jump starter for your car's emergency kit. Amazon is offering Amazon Prime memberships the AstroAI S8 1,500A 12V cordless car jump starter for only $25.99 when you clip the 35% off coupon on the product page. This jump starter features a 10,000mAh lithium (NMC) battery for more than enough jump starts on a single charge. Alternatively it can be used to charge your smartphone in a pinch.
Playstation 5 Slim Astro Bot Console Bundles Available Today
Starting today, PlayStation Direct is offering two PS5 console bundles that include a digital download voucher wonderful Astro Bot game, which won the coveted Game of the Year at the Game Awards this year. The PS5 Slim Disc Edition console bundle is priced at $449.99 and the Digital Edition bundle is $399.99. All PlayStation 5 consoles also come with Astro's Playroom, the original game/tech demo that kicked off our infatuation with the adorable robot.
60% Off Bose Smart Soundbar 550
If you bought a brand new TV over the holidays and you're looking for a good audio solution at an excellent price, then one of the best Black Friday deals is back. Walmart is currently offering the Bose Smart Soundbar 550 for just $199 with free shipping after a massive $300 off instant discount. At this price, it's certainly one of the best soundbars you can get, especially if you're looking for an affordable soundbar that supports Dolby Atmos.
PlayStation Portal (Used: Like New) for $161
The PlayStation Portal has never been discounted, but at least you can save on a used one. Amazon Resale (a rebranded Amazon Warehouse) currently has Used: Like New condition PS Portals in stock for only $161.37 shipped. It retails for $199 new, so that's a substantial 20% in savings. A Sony warranty may or may not be included, but Amazon Resale items benefit from the same 30-day return policy you get for buying a new item. We expect this item to sell out pretty quickly.
Sony PS5 DualSense Controller for $54
Lenovo has just dropped the price of the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller to slightly lower than what we saw on Black Friday. Right now you can choose Sterling Silver, Volcanic Red, or Cobalt Blue for only $54 plus free shipping after you apply coupon code "PLAY5" in cart. This is probably going to be your last chance to get a DualSense controller at this price for quite a while, especially one that's decked out in a eye-catching metallic colorway.
Apple AirPods Pro for $169.99
Apple's best earbuds are on sale today. Amazon is offering the second generation Apple AirPods Pro wireless noise-canceling earbuds for only $169.99 shipped, a savings of 32% and the best AirPods deal so far this year. That's about $20 more than the Apple AirPods 4 with ANC, down from its usual $70 price premium. Between the two, the AirPods Pro is still the superior earbuds because it offers better sound quality and noise cancelation.
New March Humble Choice Bundle Starts Now
If you're searching for your next new game to play, Humble Choice March is now live, and this is the perfect bundle to discover something new! This month, Homeworld 3 headlines the bundle, with other PC games like Wild Hearts, Pacific Drive, Zau, and Gravity Circuit also included. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars to grab these games individually, you can get all eight games for just $11.99 at Humble Bundle for this month only.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
When you’re setting out to build a gaming PC, the most consequential decision you’re going to make is choosing the best graphics card for your build. There are a lot of options out there, but picking an AMD graphics card makes a lot of sense, especially if you don’t want to fork over a lot of extra money for gimmicky extras. All of AMD’s current-generation graphics cards support ray tracing and feature support for FSR, or FidelityFX Super Resolution, an upscaling method supported by most major PC games.
While there are more powerful graphics cards out there, AMD graphics cards like the Radeon RX 9070 XT provide excellent 4K performance, but without a price tag that regularly sneaks into the $2,000 range. And if you’re in the market for a mid-range graphics card for 1440p, Team Red particularly shines, delivering excellent performance for the money you’re spending.
TL;DR: These Are the Best AMD Graphics Cards
Plus, it has to be said that AMD’s graphics architecture powers both the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X, which makes it easier on developers to optimize for AMD’s hardware when console games make their way over to PC. This by no means guarantees perfect optimization on PC games when you’re running an AMD graphics card, but it does help. Of course, AMD isn’t the only GPU maker in town, so if you’re more interested in Team Green’s offerings, head over to my guide to the best Nvidia graphics cards.
Like with any other graphics card, picking the best AMD GPU isn’t just about getting the fastest card on the market and calling it a day. Instead, you need to decide what resolution you want to play your PC games at and, more importantly, how much you’re willing to spend on a graphics card.
Graphics Card Basics
Graphics cards are, by their very nature, incredibly complex devices. While you don’t need to know everything about them to find a great GPU, there are a few things you should know ahead of time. For AMD graphics cards, the first thing you should keep an eye out for is whether or not it's a current-generation part.
Unfortuantely AMD just completely changed its naming convention. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT just launched as Team Red's top-end graphics card, succeeding the RX 7900 XTX. Not only did AMD skip the 8, but it swapped some of the numbers around. The most important thing to know is that any AMD card with a '9' as the first digit is a current-generation card, with '7' and '6' being the preceding generations.
Some AMD graphics card model numbers will be followed by an “XT” or an “XTX.” This just means that the graphics card is a step up, but without quite being in the next performance class.
This naming convention is relatively new, starting with the Radeon RX 5700 XT in 2019. Before that, the common naming convention for AMD graphics cards was three digits instead of four, like the AMD Radeon RX 580 or RX 480. These graphics cards are old news at this point, so you should avoid buying one, unless you find it for $100 or less.
As a general rule, you can follow a general rule of “higher number = better performance,” but there are specs you can drill down into to further determine performance.
The easiest spec to understand is the VRAM, short for video memory. Typically, having more VRAM is better, especially when you’re playing at a higher resolution. If you play at 1080p, 8GB is going to be more than enough for the majority of PC games. At 1440p, though, you’re going to want to aim for 12GB–16GB of VRAM, especially for more graphically intensive games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Black Myth: Wukong. If you want to play at 4K, though, you should get as much VRAM as you can afford. At this resolution, you really can’t get too much memory, which is why the Radeon RX 9070 XT comes with 16GB.
You can also look at how many compute units a graphics card has. Every graphics card will have multiple compute units, each of which will have dozens of streaming multiprocessors. These are commonly referred to as shaders, or CUDA cores for Nvidia graphics cards. For the latest AMD graphics cards, each compute unit will have 64 Streaming Multiprocessors. So, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which has 96 Compute Units, has a total of 6,144 SMs.
The last few generations of AMD graphics cards have also included dedicated hardware for ray tracing in each Compute Unit. In the latest cards, each CU has 1 RT Core, totalling 96 for the 7900 XTX. As a general rule, the more RT Cores a card has, the better it’ll be at handling ray tracing.
Once you know what graphics card you want, you need to make sure your PC can actually handle it. Measure your case to make sure it has space for it, especially if you’re going for a high-end GPU. Also take a look at the power supply – as graphics cards get more powerful, they need more power, so you’ll want to make sure your PSU has enough wattage. Each graphics card will have a recommended power supply listed, so just make sure yours is beefy enough.
If You Just Want the Best: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT did something incredible: went back to the days when Team Red genuinely beat Nvidia graphics cards from a value perspective. And while right now it's hard to see that, given the shortages every current-generation graphics card is facing, that doesn't change the fact that this graphics card launched at $599, way cheaper than the $749 RTX 5070 Ti. What's more, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is faster on average.
When I reviewed the Radeon RX 9070 XT, I found that it was on average 2% faster than the RTX 5070 Ti across my entire test suite. That's not a huge difference, to be sure, but the fact that AMD's graphics card beat the competitor's more expensive option is a huge win for Team Red. It ends up that this is a $599 4K graphics card that can even handle ray tracing admirably – albeit not quite as well as Nvidia cards, though its getting closer.
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT also introduces FSR 4. Unlike FSR 3.1, which uses a traditional temproal upscaling solution to improve performance, FSR 4 uses AI to upscale games to your native resolution. There is a catch, though: I found that FSR 4 has around a 10% performance loss compared to FSR 3.1, but that's not really the reason to go for FSR 4 anyways. Instead, FSR 4 offers much better image quality, which will make up for the small performance hit, especially in single-player games where a super-high frame rate isn't quite as important.
It remains to be seen whether or not AMD will follow up on the success of the Radeon RX 9070 XT with a more powerful graphics card, but it doesn't really need to. Right now, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT provides excellent 4K performance for the money, and that's all that really matters.
Best For 4K: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Even if 1440p and 1080p are the most popular PC gaming resolutions, there’s always going to be the folks who want to empty their wallet for the best gaming PC money can buy. If that’s what you’re going for, check out the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. This is an expensive graphics card, costing around $900, but you get incredible performance for that money.
As time has gone on, and I’ve retested the Radeon RX 7900 XTX again and again, the numbers continue to impress me. When I threw the RX 7900 XTX in my test bench for my RTX 4080 Super review, I found there were a number of games where AMD’s flagship continued to match or outpace Nvidia’s more expensive card, particularly in games that didn’t rely on ray tracing. For instance, in Forza Horizon 5, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Nvidia RTX 4080 Super are neck-and-neck with 158fps and 159fps, respectively. AMD’s card even takes the win in Total War: Warhammer 3 – by up to 8%.
AMD has released a successor of sorts, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT which does beat the 7900 XTX in a number of games at 4K. However, because the 7900 XT has 24GB of RAM, there are going to be 4K games that will always perform better on the 7900 XTX – those high-resolution textures are particularly demanding on VRAM
If you’re willing to drop a thousand bucks on a single component, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX will get you the most for your money, especially if you’re playing a lot of games that rely on traditional performance rather than ray tracing.
Best for 1440p: AMD Radeon RX 9070
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is a little outclassed by the 9070 XT. After all, you can theoretically spend just $50 more and get a more powerful GPU that can push into 4K gaming. But if you already have your heart set on a 1440p gaming monitor, that extra $50 might not be worth it – after all both GPUs still come strapped with 16GB of VRAM.
Because when I reviewed the AMD Radeon RX 9070, I was amazed by how well it handled games at 1440p, easily able to hit triple-digit frame rates in most of the games I tested. And even in the games where it "only" hit 70 fps at 1440p, you can just turn off ray tracing and get much better performance. What's more, the 9070 makes a mockery of its direct competition from Nvidia, the RTX 5070. Even though both cards ostensibly cost the same, the RX 9070 beats the 5070 by an average of 12% across my test suite.
What's more, the AMD Radeon RX 9070, along with the 9070 XT, brings FSR 4 to AMD graphics cards for the first time. This AI upscaling solution doesn't necessarily improve frame rates over FSR 3, but it is way more accurate, leading to much better image quality in games that support it. Luckily, FSR 4 is an entirely optional feature, and you can turn it off in the AMD Adrenalin software if you'd rather just have a higher frame rate and can live with a softer image.
Best for 1080p: AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT
For better or worse, 1080p remains the most popular resolution for PC gaming. Both the monitors and the graphics cards that power them are more affordable at this resolution, and it can still look pretty damn good. You don’t need a high-end flagship at 1080p – instead, a low-to-mid-range graphics card like the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is perfect.
You can find the Radeon RX 7600 XT for as little as $309 right now, making it the perfect price for a high-end 1080p gaming PC. When I reviewed the Radeon RX 7600 XT, it failed to impress me at higher resolutions, but there’s no denying its power at 1080p.
In games like Forza Horizon 5, this affordable graphics card is able to manage an average of 113fps with all the settings cranked at 1080p. Likewise, it delivers 128fps at max settings in Far Cry 6. That’s enough power for a high-refresh monitor in both of those games.
Even when the Radeon RX 7600 XT doesn’t deliver higher than 100fps in games, it’s still competitive. Total War: Warhammer 3 sees the 7600 XT managing 89fps at 1080p, which shows off the GPU’s strength in games without ray tracing.
In games with ray tracing, it gets a bit more complicated. While Forza Horizon 5 and Far Cry 6 both have ray tracing enabled whenever I test them, their ray tracing settings aren’t as intense as Cyberpunk 2077. In that game, the RX 7600 XT still manages an average of 44fps at 1080p on the Ray Tracing Ultra preset. That’s playable, but if you really want to push your framerate in that game, you should turn down the ray tracing effects a bit.
AMD also pairs the RX 7600 XT with 16GB of GDDR6, which is a lot of memory for a 1080p graphics card. There are certainly games around these days that can eat up that frame buffer, but having 16GB on this card will make it last a bit longer. After all, PC games are getting more VRAM-hungry as time continues its inevitable march into the future.
Best on a Budget: AMD Radeon RX 6600
It might be a bit older than other picks on this list, but the AMD Radeon RX 6600 is still a great option, especially if you want to find a graphics card for less than $200. Though, admittedly, it just barely squeezes in under that limit at around $199.
I reviewed the Radeon RX 6600 in 2021 for TechRadar, and I was surprised at how well it was able to keep up with more expensive cards at the time at 1080p. And that was when the RX 6600 would run you $329. Fast forward to 2024, and the 6600 is still being sold, but for much less, and is still able to keep up in PC games – especially if ray tracing isn’t a concern.
For instance, in my review I found that it delivered 134fps in Final Fantasy XIV at 1080p. And in Horizon Zero Dawn, the RX 6600 delivered around 85fps at 1080p. It might have been a couple of years, but this graphics card can still easily handle most PC games at 1080p, especially if you just play a lot of lesser-demanding genres like MMOs, shooters, and MOBAs.
There are some more demanding games that have come out recently, like Black Myth: Wukong, that’ll cause some problems for the Radeon RX 6600. But for most people who just want a serviceable graphics card to play multiplayer games with friends, there aren’t many that the Radeon RX 6600 can’t max out these days, even three years later.
What is FSR?
FidelityFX Super Resolution, or FSR, is AMD’s solution to upscaling tech on PC. This is a software upscaler that takes information from recent frames, as well as motion vector information provided by the game engine, and upscales a lower resolution frame to your native resolution.
Before FSR 4, this was a software-based solution, the brunt of the work is done in the same streaming multiprocessors that the rest of the frame is rendered on. This means there’s less of a performance uplift than an AI-based model that uses dedicated hardware (like Nvidia’s DLSS), but FSR definitely improves your framerate over rendering at a higher resolution natively.
This is simply because running the FSR algorithm as a post-process effect after rendering a game at 1080p still takes much less compute power than rendering a game natively at 4K. However, because FSR is essentially a post-process effect, it does leave some room for fuzziness in some frames. Luckily, AMD has worked around this, and implemented features like contrast-adaptive sharpening, or CAS, to sharpen up images.
However, with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT, AMD has updated FidelityFX Super Resolution to FSR 4, which now uses AI accelerators in the GPU to upscale, instead of a software-based temporal solution. This does come with a performance cost, but its much more accurate, and produces a much cleaner image. You can swap between both versions of FSR if you choose, opting for FSR 3 if you want the absolute maximum framerate, or FSR 4 if you just want a cleaner image.
FSR has also implemented a frame generation method to further improve performance. FSR frame generation takes the same information from previous frames, along with motion vector information and UI data provided by the developer to add extra frames between each ‘real’ frame. This also drastically improves frame rate, but can introduce latency if you turn it on at a lower frame rate. Instead, you should only turn on FSR frame generation if you’re already getting 50–60fps.
What is Ray Tracing?
Ray tracing is a method of realistically rendering light in 3D scenes. Instead of having a static light source that projects light only where the developers have specifically directed it, ray tracing allows light sources to project light naturally, tracing each ray of light as it bounces around the scene. Naturally, this adds a lot more work for the GPU, especially when it has to be done in real time.
For a few years, this was addressed by ray tracing being limited in games. Early ray tracing games like Battlefield 1 limited ray tracing to just reflections or shadows. This drastically improved these elements, but every other aspect of the game’s lighting was using the same indirect lighting methods games have been using for decades.
More recently, as RT cores in graphics cards have advanced, games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong have started implementing full ray tracing, or path tracing, to their lighting engines. This completely replaces all light sources with ray traced lighting, transforming the game’s presentation. This is only possible because of the RT Cores in AMD and Nvidia graphics cards, and still demands an upscaling method like FSR for playable performance.
Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra
Sony and game developer Santa Monica Studio have revealed the Dark Odyssey collection, a God of War Ragnarök update coming to players next week that features in-game equipment themed after one of the franchise's most iconic outfits.
Sony detailed all of the goodies included in its God of War 20th anniversary plans in a PlayStation.Blog post. Dark Odyssey is the real headline here, as it includes a war chest of cosmetic treats for all God of War Ragnarök owners across PlayStation 5 and PC. It’ll arrive as a free update March 20.
Everything included in Dark Odyssey features a clean, black-and-gold look that will no doubt have Kratos and co looking better than ever as they tear their way through Norse mythology. Atreus and Freya both receive their own cosmetic sets as part of the patch, too, as do a variety of the player’s shields and weapons.
The show-stealer, though, is a Dark Odyssey appearance and armor set for Kratos that hearkens back to a skin originally only rewarded to players who managed to beat God of War 2 on God Mode difficulty. Players can claim the content in any Lost Items chest in the base game or immediately in God of War Ragnarök’s roguelike Valhalla mode after the update drops. The patch will also finally introduce the option to customize the appearance of Kratos’ weapons without sacrificing each weapon’s respective ability.
Dark Odyssey Armor & Appearance for Kratos
Dark Odyssey Kratos Appearance
Dark Odyssey Armor Set for Kratos (Dark Odyssey Breastplate, Dark Odyssey Bracers, Dark Odyssey Belt)
Dark Odyssey Companion Armor
Dark Odyssey Vestment for Atreus
Dark Odyssey Witch Frock for Freya
Dark Odyssey Weapon Appearances & Attachments
Dark Odyssey Leviathan Axe [Appearance] & Dark Odyssey Knob [Attachment]
Dark Odyssey Blades of Chaos [Appearance] & Dark Odyssey Handles [Attachment]
Dark Odyssey Draupnir Spear [Appearance] & Dark Odyssey Hind [Attachment]
Dark Odyssey Shield Appearances & Rönd
Dark Odyssey Guardian Shield [Appearance]
Dark Odyssey Dauntless Shield [Appearance]
Dark Odyssey Stone Wall Shield [Appearance]
Dark Odyssey Shatter Start Shield [Appearance]
Dark Odyssey Onslaught Shield [Appearance]
Dark Odyssey Spartan Aspis Shield [Appearance]
Dark Odyssey Rönd
God of War Ragnarök released in late 2022, so one simple update was never going to do the series’ 20-year history justice. Also included in Sony’s plans to celebrate God of War is a long list of other activities and offers for those who have stuck with Kratos’ story since the beginning. Highlights include a collection of some snazzy social media assets (that you can download here), an art showcase coming as part of a collaboration with Los Angeles’ Gallery Nucleus, new merch, sales, multiple vinyl releases covering the franchise’s history, and more.
“On behalf of everyone at Santa Monica Studio, we are immeasurably grateful to have had the chance to build the legacy of this series with and for you, the fans of God of War,” the studio said.
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).
The first two episodes of Dope Thief are now streaming on Apple TV+. New episodes debut Fridays through April 25.
Based on the 2009 novel by Dennis Tafoya, Dope Thief does an amazing job depicting the aftermath of a heist gone wrong. When best friends Ray (Brian Tyree Henry) and Manny (Wagner Moura) decide to rob a large-scale drug lab, they can’t anticipate their plan (and the lab) going up in smoke. The signs are there though, and this captivating, often thrilling Apple TV+ drama does a great job of laying them out: This isn’t Ray and Manny’s first time posing as DEA agents in order to “confiscate” illegal goods, but they’ve never worked with an unvetted third party before as they do here. With a doped-up new recruit, itchy trigger fingers, and some highly volatile substances in the mix, the fiery outcome is predictable to a fault. And yet, the chaos that follows this explosive blunder still manages to deliver some exciting twists and turns across Dope Thief’s eight episodes – the first of which is directed by legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott.
Being pursued by real DEA agents as well as the gang they stole from constantly places Ray and Manny in dangerous situations. A vehicle with tinted windows slowly patrolling Ray’s neighborhood adds some suspense, but it’s the menacing voice over a two-way radio threatening his family and friends that’s truly nerve-racking. The same is true when Manny discovers the remains of a torture victim, with evidence suggesting that their killer is still at large and in the vicinity. As the stakes escalate, so do the duo’s worries. The mounting tension never becomes exhausting though: The uneasy atmosphere usually leads to a surprising reveal or some violent encounter or other. At one point, a thrilling foot chase ends with a character trying to sidestep a truck, only to be ground up as they’re repeatedly spun against a nearby wall.
Within Dope Thief’s fresh spin on crime-drama conventions, Brian Tyree Henry delivers an outstanding portrayal of a two-bit criminal. Burdened by his troubled past, Ray struggles to keep it together while dealing with the ramifications of his actions. As much as he’d like to give up – on his sobriety, his dreams, and at times his life – he knows that there are people counting on him. So he puts on a tough façade as he tries to fix everyone’s problems. Henry captures this inner turmoil with convincing displays of emotion, like his heart-wrenching line delivery upon learning about the death of a loved one. It’s one of the acclaimed actor’s best performances to date.
The rest of the cast doesn’t lag far behind him. Moura does a great job as Manny, his sullen demeanor and gaunt appearance conveying both the guilt of a lifelong Catholic-turned-brief-criminal and the character’s heavy drug use. It’s when Moura plays opposite Henry, however, that he’s most convincing. He’s always engaged and seemingly willing to match Henry’s energy in a way that makes Ray and Manny’s friendship feel genuine. Marin Ireland and Nesta Cooper’s portrayals of, respectively, an undercover agent and defense attorney are similarly elevated by Henry – Dope Thief’s most moving scenes are the ones carried by their collective talents. And Kate Mulgrew charms as Ray’s adoptive mother Theresa, giving her a blunt way of speaking and a harsh, but well-meaning tone that helps to establish how Theresa’s style of caring for her son might also tip into overbearing.
Despite all the nail-biting it inspires and the stellar acting it boasts, Dope Thief does have some sticking points. A few plot holes hinder what’s otherwise a decent story; some of the final twists don’t make complete sense because some characters' actions aren’t aligned with their motives. And while its ending is fitting – considering the show only covers the first half of Tafoya's book – it’s also abrupt, building to a pseudo cliffhanger that would take this limited series into a second season that may or may not happen.
Hulu has been around for a while and, for our money, it's one of the absolute best streaming services available. From great movies like Anatomy of a Fall and Prey to excellent television series like the Golden Globe-winningShogun, Abbott Elementary, and The Bear there is always something awesome to watch. Oscar Best Picture winner Anora is also set to drop on the streaming service on March 17, so there's no better time than now to get set up with a plan.
Get Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic for $2.99/Month for Four Months
For a limited time, until March 30, you can score the Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic plan (previously called the Duo Basic bundle, which offers both streaming services with ads) for just $2.99/month for your first four months. This saves you 85% per month on the bundle, which is a great little springtime deal to take advantage of. New and eligible returning customers can subscribe to the bundle deal as well.
How to Get The Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max Streaming Bundle
The Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle can be purchased on any of the three streaming services and starts at $16.99/month for the ad-supported tier or $29.99/month for ad-free access across all three platforms. If you're looking to cut down on streaming costs and currently own all three of these, this is an excellent bundle to invest in. It'll save you quite a bit compared to what you'd pay for the three of them separately - 43% on the ad-supported plan and 42% on the ad-free plan.
Hulu deal for students — Get Hulu (With Ads) for just $1.99/month
If you're a student enrolled in a university (a US Title IV accredited college or university, per Hulu's website), you can sign up for Hulu (With Ads) for $1.99 a month. That's an excellent deal if you're a student, saving you $8 on the usual monthly price.
Hulu subscription tiers
Hulu is available in a couple of different tiers. The least expensive option is the ad-supported tier, which comes in at $9.99/month. This gives you access to everything exclusive, tons of movies, Hulu Originals, children's programming, and more. If you want to ditch the ads, the ad-free plan is $18.99/month.
Hulu: Bundle to Best
If you want a more affordable option when it comes to a Hulu subscription, you can't go wrong with a bundle, and Hulu has several to choose from:
Hulu + Live TV (With Ads) —Hulu + Live TV (With Ads) is $82.99/month and includes Disney+ and ESPN+. It also gives you access to more than 75 channels with live TV and unlimited DVR functionality. The Hulu + Live TV plan also has a three-day free trialto test out the service.
Hulu + Live TV (Ad-Free) —The ad-free version of Hulu+Live TV is $95.99/month and comes with ad-free versions of Hulu and Disney Plus, although ESPN still shows ads.
Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic —This is the most economic bundle. It will set you back $10.99/month and comes with subscriptions to Disney+ and Hulu. It lets you stream on multiple devices at once and comes with ad-supported versions of both Disney+ and Hulu.
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Basic —This bundle adds ESPN+ into the mix alongside Disney+ and Hulu, bumping up the price to $16.99/month. You can also download and watch select content on ESPN+ at this level.
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Premium — This bundle is $26.99/month and comes with ESPN+ (with ads) and ad-free versions of Disney+ and Hulu. You can also download select content across all three streaming services.
What can you watch on Hulu?
There is a bonkers amount of shows and movies you can watch on Hulu. Let's start at the top and simply talk about the verticals on offer with the base subscription, because if we also talk about what is available via Disney+, ESPN+, or live TV, we'll be here forever. (You can also sync up Hulu with HBO to gain access to things like Succession and House of the Dragon.)
Here's what you get:
Network and Hulu Original television shows (AMC, Adult Swim, ABC, A&E, FX, etc.)
Movies (HBO, Hulu Originals, anime films, etc.)
Sports (NHL, Soccer, MLB, Auto Racing, NFL, College Football, PGA, Tennis, etc.)
News (ABC News Live, Good Morning America, World News Tonight, 20/20, The View, etc.)
Hulu television
Hulu has some amazing shows, both those that are finished and many which are ongoing. For comedy, there are plenty of options to choose from, including New Girl, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, What We Do In The Shadows, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Broad City, Abbott Elementary, and so much more.
There are also some big Hulu originals to watch, including The Bear, The Old Man, The Handmaid's Tale, and Only Murders In The Building.
As far as animated fare, there are modern adult classics like Rick and Morty and Bob's Burgers, as well as Futurama, Family Guy, and King of the Hill. Anime staples like Cowboy Bebop are also available. And if you want to bring more youth-friendly fun, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and Curious George are just a small sample of what Hulu has available.
Easter eggs and secret messages are old hat for many ongoing games, and Helldivers 2 is no stranger to them either. So it's little surprise that amid an ongoing, calamitous conflict with the Illuminate, players are poring over the messages for hidden details.
If you're not caught up with the running narrative in Helldivers 2, here's a quick catch-up: developer Arrowhead has the Illuminate back and pushing the lines of galactic warfare as the latest threat to Super Earth. The eerie foe is using a massive black hole to slowly consume entire planets, pushing it to Angel's Venture and, now, Moradesh.
Ironically, the black hole was initially created on Meridian by Super Earth, in an effort to wipe out a Terminid Super Colony. Arrowhead's got a particular penchant for "yes, and"-ing the outcomes of the galactic campaigns. The slow build to right now, with the Illuminate pretty much pushing a black hole slowly towards Super Earth, is the latest in a long line of dominoes.
So, now we're here: Moradesh is evacuating, and Helldivers are anticipating the next step of this cataclysmic campaign. Yet some are digging into the evacuation orders, trying to suss out a hidden meaning from the messages Arrowhead is broadcasting.
Reddit user Pinglyadya shared an image of what looks like an egg, hidden in the Moradesh videos. In the comments, they go further, breaking down the potential morse code strings into dots and dashes, surmising that it all results in a few different codes: "045a5, 06efbc, e1b5f0 then 21232. We don't know what this is the code to but have fun."
The "06EFBC" code caught attention in another thread, as it could correspond with the hex code for a shade of teal called Last Straw. Sounds ominous! Nothing concrete has surfaced beyond that, but at least a few fans are convinced there's something hidden in these messages.
It wouldn't be the first time players have gone diving for secrets in Arrowhead's updates. With the Meridian Singularity slowly approaching Super Earth, though, I do wonder whether Helldivers have time to spare for this.
Arrowhead has, since the destruction of Moradesh, issued a new Major Order for players, tasking them with defending planets so Super Earth can construct a Penrose Energy Siphon and effect a "one-time reduction" in Dark Energy Accumulation.
MAJOR ORDER: Following days of diligent resource collection and repurposing of enemy combatants, the Helldivers have enabled the construction of a partial blockade of the Meridian Singularity. The blockade is porous, but still moderately effective, and has slightly reduced the… pic.twitter.com/ye33V6VKa6
Hopefully, this can put a stop to the giant tear in space that's slowly encroaching on everything the Helldivers hold dear. And, possibly, put a few more secret messages out into the ether.
This is all part of Helldivers 2's ongoing, community driven Galactic War, which has captured the attention of the game's community for over a year now. The Illuminate invaded in December with an initial alien force that added new enemies to fight against as well as brand new Super Earth colonies to fight on. These colonies introduced Helldivers 2’s first urban environments, with city streets packed with innocent civilians mind-controlled by the Illuminate. The Voteless, as they’re called by Super Earth, are little more than zombies who want nothing more than to team players limb from limb.
Today in weird news, recent Oscars host Conan O’Brien revealed that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences refused to allow him and his team to clothe an Oscar statue or lay it horizontally for promotional ads they pitched for the ceremony. Uh, who knew the Academy was so stuffy?
Speaking on his Oscars head writer Mike Sweeney’s podcast Conan Needs a Friend, O’Brien set the scene: he pitched a series of ads in which he and a 9-foot tall Oscar statue were in a domestic partnership, but the Academy wasn’t exactly receptive to how he wanted to utilize the statue specifically.
“We’re fighting about things couples fight about,” O’Brien explained of one of his ideas. “At one point, I thought, wouldn’t it be great if it’s just on the couch? Let’s lay it on a really big couch and I’ll be vacuuming and say, ‘Could you at least lift your feet? Or could you at least get up and help? Load the dishwasher?’ We wanted to do it and they just said, ‘No, no no, that can’t happen.’ ”
For such a benign — and generally cute — idea, it doesn’t make a ton of sense as to why the Academy was so emphatic about not doing it. But it turns out they have a few super weird rules for their statue iconography.
“One of the people from the Academy came forward and said, ‘Oscar can never be horizontal.’ And that blew my mind,” O’Brien added. “Like, wow, this is like the thigh bone of St. Peter. This is a religious icon.” The comedian also noted on the podcast that the Academy reps also demanded that the statue is “always naked,” so their idea to have the statue serving O’Brien leftovers as an apron-clad housewife was also a no-go for the organization.
Again, there isn’t much sense in these decisions to the naked eye, but the Academy has a right to them all the same. Still, it’s a bummer we couldn’t see the full breadth of O’Brien’s comedic chops in these promos. Hopefully, he’ll come out of the gate with something equally as witty next year — and yes, we’re Team Conan Oscar Host 2026.
Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
Considering what it offers, Disney Plus is one of the best streaming services on the block. From classic Disney animated films to the latest Marvel shows and Star Wars movies, excellent kids' programming like Bluey, and so much more, Disney Plus puts an incredible range of high-quality viewing options at your fingertips. And with so much to check out, including Moana 2, you'll want to find a plan that best suits you. We're here to help.
Get Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic for $2.99/Month for Four Months
For a limited time, until March 30, you can score the Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic plan (previously called the Duo Basic bundle, which offers both streaming services with ads) for just $2.99/month for your first four months. This saves you 72% per month on the bundle, which is a great little springtime deal to take advantage of. New and eligible returning customers can subscribe to the bundle deal as well.
How to Get the Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max Streaming Bundle
The Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle can be purchased through any of the three streaming services and starts at $16.99/month for the ad-supported tier or $29.99/month for ad-free access across the three platforms.
If you currently own all three and want to cut down on costs, this is a great way to bundle them together and save big on what you'd pay for them separately – 43% on the ad-supported plan and 42% on the ad-free plan.
What Is the New Paid Sharing Plan on Disney Plus?
In an effort to crack down on password sharing, Disney has unveiled a paid sharing plan for individuals outside of your household. Basically, anyone using your account that's not within your household will have to be added as an "Extra Member" to your account. This costs an additional $6.99/month for the ad-supported Basic subscription and $9.99/month for the Premium ad-free plan, and only one Extra Member slot is available per account. You can learn more from Disney's paid sharing explainer here.
What Are the Different Disney+ Subscription Tiers?
Disney+ is available in a couple of different tiers. You can get the least expensive option (called Disney+ Basic) for $9.99/month, which gives you access to everything except the ability to download select shows to watch on the go. This tier is ad supported. If you want to get rid of ads and be able to download certain shows, you can spring for the $15.99/month or $159.99/year Disney+ Premium package.
What Are the Different Disney+ Bundles?
Want a way to save on your Disney+ membership? Bundles are a great, affordable way to go. As far as bundles go, there are two ad-supported bundles and two ad-free bundles. Here's the breakdown:
Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic is $10.99/month and comes with subscriptions to Disney+ and Hulu. This plan lets you stream on multiple devices at once and comes with ad-supported versions of both services.
Disney+, Hulu Bundle Premium is $19.99/month and comes with Hulu and Disney+ with no ads. It also includes Disney+ Premium features like the ability to download shows to watch on the go.
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Basic adds ESPN+ (With Ads) to the mix alongside Disney+ (With Ads) and Hulu (With Ads), bumping up the price to $16.99/month. You can also download and watch select content on ESPN+ at this level.
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Premium is $26.99/month and comes with ESPN+ (With Ads) and ad-free versions of Disney+ and Hulu. You can also download select content across all three streaming services.
Disney+ Gift Cards
If you want to help someone out and give them a gift that will keep on giving, gifting a one-year Disney+ card is a great way to go. It provides all the great things Disney+ offers and it costs a fraction of what it would take to buy even a small sampling of those movies physically.
What Can You Watch on Disney+?
There is a bonkers array of shows and movies you can watch on Disney+. Let's start at the top and simply talk about the verticals on offer here with the base subscription.
Here's what you get:
Disney
Pixar
Marvel
Star Wars
National Geographic
Disney on Disney+
On the Disney front, you have awesome classic movies like The Sword In The Stone, Robin Hood, 101 Dalmations, Hercules, and Sleeping Beauty, modern classics like The Princess & The Frog, Tangled, and Frozen, and a wide range of animated shows, including Phineas & Ferb.
You also gain access to a ton of vintage content like Escape to Witch Mountain, The Apple Dumpling Gang, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, The Love Bug, and a whole lot more. The Disney Junior section is home to absolutely top tier animated shows like Bluey (which, for my money, is worth the price of admission on its own).
There's way more on offer, too, including a ton of Muppet movies, new live-action films and adaptions, nature programs, documentaries, Pirates of the Caribbean, and musical programs featuring Taylor Swift (like her wildly popular The Eras Tour), Elton John, Ed Sheeran, and more.
Pixar on Disney+
When it comes to computer generated films, Pixar stands alone. Kicking off the revolution with Toy Story, Pixar has consistently put out fantastic films, and they are all here. From the Toy Story series to Finding Nemo, Cars, and more recent hits like Inside Out 2, there is a ton to love.
Beyond even that, there are incredible shorts like Bao and Party Central, as well as a wide range of originals and series based on major films, such as Dory's Reef Cam, Forky Asks A Question, Cars On The Road, and more.
Marvel on Disney+
The MCU has become a true juggernaut, and there are many viewers who subscribe to Disney+ purely for access to nearly the entire MCU lineup of films and shows.
Whether you are a fan of the blockbuster action films, you are an appreciator of the classic 90s runs of "Saturday morning" cartoons like X-Men, or you are currently vibing to the funky theme of the 1981 Spider-Man series, there is a ton of Marvel to enjoy on Disney+. And with new movies and shows being added to the MCU all the time, including most recently Deadpool & Wolverine and Your Friendly Neigborhood Spider-Man, there is always more coming.
Star Wars on Disney+
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a film that changed everything. The original Star Wars is a seminal sci-fi fantasy work that inspired generations of creators, but there is still nothing quite like that far away galaxy. Disney+ grants access to all things Star Wars, including the remastered versions of the original trilogy (hopefully some day they'll add the theatrical cuts, too), as well as the prequels and sequels.
You can also stay up-to-date on all the latest shows, including The Mandalorian and the critically-lauded Andor, which some viewers say is "the best Star Wars has ever been." There are also fantastic short series like Star Wars Visions, and longer-form series like The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch, Young Jedi Adventures, and a whole lot more.
This article contains spoilers for Severance Season 2’s penultimate episode. Yes, it is actually the penultimate episode this week, we triple checked.
It’s always impressive when an episode tailor-made to make viewers ask “what comes next” has something in it, a singular moment that makes you stop and revel in a singular moment. Theorizing about Severance is, of course, half of the fun of the series, especially as the mystery gets deeper and richer with time. But, as we head into the Season 2 finale, Dylan G. managed to stop me in my tracks.
It was a hard episode for Dylan (Zach Cherry) both in Lumon and outside of it. His wife Gretchen (Merritt Wever) revealed to his outie that she kissed his innie, admitting that she saw the spark there that Dylan used to have when they were first married. Dylan takes this information poorly, noting that maybe he’ll just quit, before storming out of the house. At first it seems like an innocuous threat from a man who’s learned that he’s been cheated on — even if the logistics of the infidelity are a bit complicated — but it quickly becomes more after Gretchen ignores his wishes and goes to see his innie one last time.
During her visit, Gretchen tells Dylan G. that she can’t see him anymore and that she needs to save their marriage. Little does she know that her husband’s innie had been prepared to propose to her before he knew anything of what transpired outside of Lumon earlier that day. She declines his proposal and his handmade paper ring, apologizing as she runs out of the room and leaves her severed husband for good.
That “for good” isn’t because Gretchen is stalwart in her decision, though. It’s much, much worse than that.
After a brief and slightly hostile conversation with Helly R. (Britt Lower) — who is, by the way, the only person staying on mission when it comes to sticking it to Lumon and finding Gemma despite losing more of her autonomy than anyone on the team after what happened between Helena and Mark (Adam Scott) in the forest — Dylan G. marches to Mr. Milchick’s (Tramell Tillman) office and quits on the spot.
It’s such an innocuous thing to say, that Dylan G. quit. But for the purposes of the show and most certainly from Dylan G’s perspective, he didn’t just quit his job. He chose death by suicide, with the doors of the severed floor elevator closing decisively in Dylan G's final moment in the episode.
He watched his best friend be fired (murdered), and was, in his eyes, spurned by the woman he wanted to be his wife, but ultimately was his wife… but also really wasn’t. He had the mystery Irving (John Turturro) left behind still waiting to be solved, but it wasn’t enough to keep him going. Nor was Helly’s friendship, as Dylan G. made it clear that he would never be able to trust that it wasn’t Helena walking among them. It feels unlikely that Mark’s presence (who is currently on a side quest) would have made much of a difference, either.
Work is nothing to live for.
Dylan G’s choice feels like a crescendo in Severance’s song about autonomy. This season has approached the idea of multiple souls, expanded on Season 1’s question of consent between innies and outies and featured the deaths of multiple characters (Irving's innie this season and Burt's innie before him). The show is constantly forcing us to grapple with questions not just surrounding its central mystery, but of what autonomy really means if part of you doesn’t have it at all. It’s often compelling and sometimes, like this week, deeply sad. On his last day, Dylan G. simply decided that enough was enough. Work is nothing to live for, so he chose removing himself from existence instead.
Connexion
