We've only got a short week to refresh your library with some absolute corkers dropping to their lowest prices in yonks. Whether you’re keen to revisit a cult classic, try out a sleeper hit, or finally see what the fuss is about with that one GOTY contender everyone keeps yabbering about, there’s something in this haul for you. Let's get scrolling and saving...

This Day in Gaming 🎂

In retro news, I'm lighting a 16-candle cake for Prototype, a super-anti-hero sandboxer. I can vividly recall the first time I slipped into the leather hoodie of Alex Mercer, an amnesiac with a bad attitude and worse mutations. Also, it's tough to forget a protagonist who had a penchant for karate-kicking helicopter gunships.

Radical Entertainment's take on Manhattan was crawling with military goons and grotesque infected, and we could shapeshift into all manner of weaponry. I'm talking clawed arms for slicing mobs to ribbons, a giant blade that could cleave tanks in half, and tendrils that whipped enemies into buildings. He could also glide across rooftops, sprint up skyscrapers, and elbow-drop from 20 storeys up like a plague-powered missile. Top gameplay that holds up pretty well today.

• Suikoden I&II HD Remaster (-24%) - A$57
• Hogwarts Legacy (-29%) - A$64
• FC 25 (-62%) - A$34
• Bravely Default II (-21%) - A$63.10
• Biomutant (-40%) - A$36
• Octopath Traveler (-56%) - A$39.90

Switch 2 Game Savings

• Mario Kart World (-22%) - A$94
• Bravely Default HD Rem. (-18%) - A$49
• Zelda: Breath of the Wild (-19%) - A$89
• Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (-19%) - A$89
• Street Fighter 6 (-20%) - A$89
• Yakuza 0 Dir. (-12%) - A$79

Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card.

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A jump starter is an essential part of car's emergency kit and you don't need to pay a premium for a cordless model that gets the job done reliably. Amazon is currently offering the Lokithor J400 12V 2,000A cordless car jump starter for just $38.97 shipped after you clip both $20 and 35% off coupons on the product page. This is a really great practical gift idea for Father's Day; when the time comes that he'll need to use it, he'll know that you're the one that got him out of a jam.

Lokithor J400 12V 2,000A Car Jump Starter for $38.97

Don't miss out on this limited time opportunity to score a new PlayStation 5 Pro console for even less than the standard discounted price during the PlayStation Days of Play sale. Currently Newegg (through its eBay seller account) is offering a brand new, sealed, fully warrantied PlayStation 5 Pro console for $606.49 with free shipping after you apply $50 off coupon code "SDW435G8AJP9OV". You'll still have to pay taxes, of course. This coupon can only be used once per account. This is the best price we'll probably see for a new PS5 Pro console for this year.

PlayStation 5 Pro for $606.49

For a very limited time, Amazon is offering a 20% price drop on the LEGO Technic Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 42115 super car set. It's currently priced at $359.99 (originally $450), or about 9.7 cents per brick. This is LEGO's third-largest Technic car model by brick count. It was released back in 2020, so I expect LEGO to retire the set in the near future, after which the price will go up significantly. This is a challenging LEGO build not for the faint of heart, but it would make a great Father's Day gift for a dad with an eye for tinkering.

20% Off LEGO Technic Lamborghini Super Car 42115

Microsoft finally announced the ROG Xbox Ally X, its handheld gaming PC made in collaboration with Asus. The huge advantage of this handheld is that Microsoft has made software improvements to make Windows 11 more usable on this kind of device – and it seems like those improvements might come to other PC gaming handhelds.

Fan account Asus ROG Ally Life account tweeted that while the "Xbox full-screen experience" is coming to the Xbox Ally X first, the company will allegedly be working to update the existing ROG Ally and ROG Ally X. Plus, the account even suggested this experience could be coming to PC gaming handhelds as a category throughout 2026.

Keep in mind that this is from a fan account, so you should take it with a grain of salt. But still, if Microsoft did allow PC handheld manufacturers to implement this new version of the Xbox app, it would go a long way toward fixing the big bugbear most people have with Windows handhelds: the user experience. If the new Xbox App is good, and comes to all PC gaming handhelds, it could go a long way in challenging the Steam Deck's dominance.

I've reached out to Asus for comment, and I'll update this story if and when the company gets back to me. Either way, the Xbox Ally X will likely be launching sometime during the holiday season, so we have a long way to go before any new Xbox app can make its way into something like the Lenovo Legion Go.

Why Is This Necessary?

The Asus ROG Ally X that came out last year was easily the best handheld gaming PC I've seen yet, but it would have been even better if Windows on a touch screen wasn't so bad. Even though Armoury Crate, Asus' software that's also coming to the Xbox Ally X, does make the process easier, it's still a pain to set the system up initially.

The ROG Xbox Ally X being essentially a sequel to last year's device is exciting, because it looks to be taking an excellent handheld and using it to make handheld PC gaming better as a whole. I don't know whether or not this rumor is true, but if it is, PC gaming is going to have its best year in a long time.

To this day, I still recommend the Steam Deck to a lot of people who aren't super comfortable fiddling around with Windows. It is just so easy to turn the thing on, connect your Steam account, and start downloading and playing games. The only thing that really holds it back is that other PC game launchers aren't natively supported, at least not without installing Windows.

We're still a ways out from the Xbox Ally X actually hitting the market, and it's entirely possible that Microsoft is talking a bigger game than it can actually deliver. It wouldn't be the first time the company has fumbled a new Windows feature, after all. But if this full-screen Xbox experience is good, it should be made available to all PC gamers.

If there's one thing Microsoft has made clear over the last few years its that it looks at pretty much any device that can play Xbox games and says "this is an Xbox." Making these operating system improvements and the new Xbox app available to any manufacturer would only make sense, and would go a long way to truly uniting the Xbox and PC gaming audience.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

The Magic Puzzle Company puzzles are one of the most enticing jigsaw brands on the market right now. What makes these puzzles stand out from other options on the market is their unique approach to puzzling. Each one has over 50 easter eggs to find as well as secret endings you can only uncover once you've fully completed it. It's a fun experience that goes beyond just putting pieces together.

Although The Magic Puzzle Company originally started as a Kickstarter, it has since grown to offer four series' of options. Each jigsaw puzzle is 1000 pieces and normally costs around $23 per puzzle. I have never actually seen these puzzles go on sale before, so the fact that Amazon has a buy one, get one 50% off promotions on some of them is a rare treat. If you're a fan of puzzles, these Magic Puzzle Company puzzles are definitely worth a look during this sale.

Amazon Buy One, Get One Half Off Puzzles Sale

There are a total of five Magic puzzles featured in this sale with at least one option per series. The only series not included here are the latest series four puzzles, which only became available this year. Despite only a smaller selection being available, some of the best options are here. In addition to the unique surprise endings you'll find within each of these puzzles, they include unique artwork from different popular artists for each one.

For example, The Sunny City puzzle features art from Felicia Chiao, whose art style is prominent throughout all of her work. And true to its title, this puzzle features bright oranges and yellows, with a bustling city scene that has a "sunny secret", according to The Magic Puzzle Company's website.

Each of these are only available as 1,000-piece puzzles, so you won't be able to find easier versions to complete. The idea is that you'll get to experience a combination of tabletop games, magic, and puzzling all at once as you work your way through all 1,000 pieces.

What Else Is In Amazon's Sale?

Originally released as a PlayStation 2 game in 2005, Yakuza (Ryu ga Gotoku in Japan) spawned a lengthy and beloved video game series that follows the many conflicts and schemes of yakuza families in the game’s fictional neighborhood of Kamurocho, Tokyo. (The series was renamed to Like a Dragon, the English translation of Ryu ga Gotoku, in 2022.)

The games are notably action packed, melodramatic, cinematic, and super goofy all at once. (If you skip the side quests, you're missing out on an key part of the games' sense of humor.) It took years for the franchise to start receiving the renown it's finally achieved outside of Japan, and its reputation only grows thanks to a scarily consistent output of localized re-releases, spin-offs, and new games – including the upcoming Stranger Than Heaven that's set during the early/mid 1900s.

How Many Yakuza/Like a Dragon Games Are There?

Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku studio have released nine mainline Yakuza/Like a Dragon games, three remakes – Yakuza Kiwami (2016), Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2017), and Yakuza 0 Director's Cut – and 12 spin-offs since the series’ debut in 2005. They were originally PlayStation exclusives, but later ported to Xbox and PC, with every new game since Yakuza: Like a Dragon releasing simultaneously for every system with the exception of Nintendo Switch. However, as announced in the Nintendo Direct from August 2024, Yakuza Kiwami was the first of the Like a Dragon games to get a Switch port in October 2024 and Yakuza 0 Director's Cut was one of the titles exclusively available for Switch 2 launch.

In addition to the mainline games, Like a Dragon has tons of wildly different spin-offs. Kurohyō: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho (2010) and its sequel Kurohyō 2: Ryu ga Gotoku Ashura Hen (2012) are two games exclusive to the PlayStation Portable featuring Tatsuya Ukyo, a completely new character. Judgment (2018) and Lost Judgment (2021) star another new face, lawyer-turned-private detective Takayuki Yagami, who's investigating strange murders in Kamurocho, and has a peripheral crossover with Kiryu and the others in that he brushes up against Tojo Clan subsidiary families.

Then there’s the zombie-infested spin-off Yakuza: Dead Souls (2011), which features the classic cast of characters in a dystopian setting. Yakuza Online (2018) is a free-to-play TCG available on mobile and PC which soft-launched Ichiban Kasuga, the protagonist of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The popular Japanese series Fist of the North Star received the Yakuza treatment with Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise (2018), which shares Kiryu's games' structure and gameplay elements.

Two spinoff games are set in older Japanese eras and feature historic figures as their main protagonists: Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! (2008) and Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin! (2014). The latter has been released in the west as Like a Dragon: Ishin! in 2023.

In 2023, RGG released Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name, which takes place at the same time as Yakuza: Like a Dragon and explains what happened to Kiryu following the dramatic ending of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. The most recent spin-off is Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii starring fan-favorite Goro Majima as an amnesiatic protagonist in and around Honolulu six months after the events of Infinite Wealth.

Which Yakuza Game Should You Play First?

With such a sprawling saga available to play, where should a curious newcomer jump in? We'd recommend starting chronologically with Yakuza 0 – either the original or new Director's Cut – or jumping ahead to the clean slate of a new generation with Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

Mainline Yakuza/Like a Dragon Games in Chronological Order:

• Yakuza 0 / Yakuza 0 Director's Cut
• Yakuza / Yakuza Kiwami
• Yakuza 2 / Yakuza Kiwami 2
• Yakuza 3
• Yakuza 4
• Yakuza 5
• Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Beware: Mild spoilers for the plots, characters, and some major events of each game follow.

1. Yakuza 0 (2014) / Yakuza 0 Director's Cut (2025)

The sixth game released is actually the first chronological Yakuza game. In Yakuza 0, you play as two protagonists during the economic boom in the late 1980s. The first: a young Kazuma Kiryu, member of the Dojima family, who was set up for a murder that took place at the Empty Lot, a tiny undeveloped piece of land that will be a crucial asset for whoever owns it.

The second is former Shimano family member Goro Majima, who is working in a cabaret as a punishment for being part of an assassination years ago. He’s tasked by his ex-patriarch, Futoshi Shimano, to kill a blind woman named Makoto for unknown reasons. (It’s later revealed that she’s the legitimate owner of the Empty Lot.)

By the end of the game, Kiryu gets back to the Dojima family after defeating all the lieutenants, Majima leaves Makoto to live her life, and the Empty Lot is destroyed; the Millennium Tower, a key location in the series, is built on the land.

2. Yakuza (2005) / Yakuza Kiwami (2016)

The first Yakuza game stars Kazuma Kiryu after he goes to prison for taking the blame for a murder he didn’t commit in 1995. The victim was Sohei Dojima, Kiryu’s boss, who was murdered by Akira Nishikiyama, Kiryu’s best friend (who, fun fact, is voiced by the same person as Ichiban Kasuga). The reason behind this crime was that Sohei tried to rape Yumi Sawamura, a friend of both Kiryu and Nishikiyama.

When Kiryu is released from jail after a 10-year sentence, he’s expelled from the Tojo Clan, someone has stolen ¥10 billion from the clan’s account, and Yumi is nowhere to be found. In the middle of this, Kiryu meets Haruka, the daughter of a woman named Mizuki. Haruka has a pendant that seems to be a key element related to the lost money. Also, Nishikiyama shoots Kiryu’s former captain and adoptive father, becoming an antagonistic force.

During the climax, Kiryu finds Yumi and the lost money, and fights Nishikiyama. Kiryu is asked to be the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, which he accepts. Moments later, however, he names Yukio Terada, a former Omi Alliance yakuza, as the new chairman, and he quits the yakuza to raise Haruka as his adopted daughter.

3. Yakuza 2 (2006) / Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2017)

Yakuza 2 starts with Terada, the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, asking Kiryu to help him prevent a war between his clan and the Omi Alliance, their eternal rivals. After being shot in an ambush, Terada seems to be dead and Kiryu looks for Daigo Dojima, son of Sohei Dojima, to appoint him as the new chairman of the clan.

While helping Daigo, Kiryu meets Ryuji Goda, the son of the Omi chairman, and they become enemies because Ryuji refuses a truce with the Tojo Clan. Another character, detective Kaoru Sayama, comes into play and tries to help Kiryu while learning about her parents, who disappeared when she was young.

4. Yakuza 3 (2009)

The first game in the series released on PlayStation 3, Yakuza 3 starts with Kiryu far away from the yakuza lifestyle. Instead, in 2007, he’s taking care of the Morning Glory Orphanage in Okinawa. He’s assisted by Haruka, and he looks after many new kids living there.

Unfortunately, his peace doesn’t last for long. Kiryu has to face multiple troubles with different characters, involving new yakuza families, multiple assassinations, shootings, betrayals, an arms smuggling group, and even the CIA.

5. Yakuza 4 (2010)

One year after the events of the previous game, Yakuza 4 raises the stakes in a tale of families, betrayals, and crime from the eyes of four protagonists.

Apart from Kiryu, three other new faces join the streets of Kamurocho. The first one, Shun Akiyama, is a loan shark who runs his own firm, Sky Finance, and finds himself in the middle of a conflict between the Tojo Clan and the Ueno Seiwa Clan. He’s also asked for a ¥100 million loan from a mysterious woman named Lily.

Taiga Saejima, Goro Majima’s blood brother, went to prison after performing a hit against the Ueno Seiwa Clan in 1985. Twenty years later, after successfully escaping, he looks for Majima, who abandoned him when they did the hit.

Detective Masayoshi Tanimura, another new protagonist, is investigating one of the recent murders in the Tojo Clan. While doing so, he meets Lily, who is actually Saejima’s sister, and she’s being attacked by the Shibata family. Tanimura later finds out that the patriarch of that family was related to the hit Saejima participated all those years ago.

Ultimately, Kiryu meets his new partners and finds out what happened to all the characters involved in the ongoing conflicts.

6. Yakuza 5 (2012)

If Yakuza 4’s story got complicated with multiple protagonists’ points of view, Yakuza 5 went even further. This time, you play as five protagonists in different scenarios in 2012, making this one of the biggest and most ambitious games in the series.

First you follow Kiryu, who left Kamurocho and moved to Fukuoka without Haruka, leaving his orphanage behind. As usual, he won’t enjoy calm for long before he learns that Daigo is missing, and the peace between the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance is about to break.

Saejima is in prison once again, but he’s looking to escape with his cellmate Shigeki Baba when he hears that Majima is dead. (After they escape, they learn Majima had actually faked his death.) In the meantime, Haruka is already a teenager and she’s following her dream of becoming a J-pop idol. Things get complicated when the president of her talent agency, Mirei Park, is found dead in what seems like a staged suicide. Returning protagonist Akiyama appears to help Haruka learn who was really behind Park’s death.

The last piece of the puzzle is the brand-new character Tatsuo Shinada, a former professional baseball player who was banned after being framed for fixing an important match. A mysterious man, who’s actually Daigo, will meet Shinada and ask him to find out the truth of what happened.

7. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (2016)

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is presented as the final beat in Kiryu’s spotlight in the Yakuza series. Our protagonist spends three years in prison, but this time it's for his past crimes he actually did. At the end of the previous game, Haruka revealed in a concert broadcast that Kiryu was her father and that he was an ex-yakuza member.

After getting out of prison in 2016, Kiryu returns to Kamurocho, but only for a little while. He learns that Haruka is in a coma after a car accident, and she has a child named Haruto. Haruka was in Onomichi, Hiroshima (yes, hometown of of the Ono Michio mascot) for a long time before the accident, so Kiryu goes there to investigate what happened and who Haruto’s father is.

While finding clues, important characters like Daigo, Saejima, and Majima are imprisoned, and rival groups, the Chinese Saio Triad and the Korean Jingweon Mafia, are looking to make their moves in Kamurocho.

8. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2020)

A major turning point for the series, Yakuza: Like a Dragon begins the transition away from the Yakuza name. It also introduces a new turn-based combat system and a brand-new main character: Ichiban Kasuga, another Tojo Clan member who starts his journey by agreeing to take the hit on a criminal charge for his yakuza family and go to prison for a murder he did not commit. On his release 18 years later, Kasuga quickly learns that major changes have happened while he was away, chiefly that the Omi Alliance defeated the Tojo Clan.

Kasuga goes to confront Masumi Arakawa, his former patriarch and father-like figure who seemingly sold out the Tojo Clan, about what happened and is greeted by his former compatriats with hostility. Arakawa shoots Kasuga and dumps his body near a homeless encampment in Yohokama's Isezaki Ijincho. (New city unlocked!)

Ichiban wakes up and finds himself in the care of Yu Nanba, a former nurse who treated his gunshot wound. This is the starting point for Kasuga, who will meet multiple new faces for the Yakuza series to round out his fighting party, including members from area criminal groups the Yokohama Liumang, the Geomijul Mafia, and the Seiryu Clan. Together, they dig around Yokohama, Sotenbori in Osaka, and Kamurocho to uncover the bigger strategy behind Arakawa’s play.

9. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)

The biggest Like a Dragon game to-date teams up the old and new guard – Kiryu and Kasuga – in a true two-protagonist saga that takes the crew from Japan to Hawaii and back. Jumping ahead to 2024 after the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon (if you were curious, the pandemic also exists in the Like a Dragon universe), Kasuga and friends are trying to live above-board lives in Ijincho until a popular VTuber posts a viral video that upends everything. Soon after, Kasuga learns that his mother, who he thought was dead, is alive and hops on a plane to Honolulu to find her.

After immediately getting into some trouble after landing (classic), Kasuga runs into Kiryu, who is also in Hawaii to find Kasuga's mother on behalf of the Daidoji faction that agreed to give him sanctuary and keep him in hiding (play Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name for the full backstory there). Kiryu also reveals that he's been diagnosed with cancer from exposure to nuclear waste (which is connected to the Big Bad of the game). That's just the very tip of the setup to the massive story that embarks on new Hawaiian adventures, sentimentally reflects on Kiryu's past, and builds a dramatic arc that involves multiple international mob groups, a religious cult, live streamers, a national conglomerate, and world governments, just to name a few players in this soap opera.

All of the the Yakuza/Like a Dragon Games and Spin-Offs in Release Order

Mainline Yakuza games are marked in bold with an asterisk.

What’s Next for Yakuza/Like a Dragon?

The Like a Dragon story is far from over. Though Infinite Wealth, which quickly became the fastest-selling game in the franchise, closed the loop on its own story, it still ended on what felt like a big cliffhanger that leaves the door wide open for the next installment. We're sure to hear about another mainline Yakuza game at some point, especially after the release of the spin-off Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, which had Majima traipsing around Honolulu.

At the 2024 Game Awards in December, RGG revealed it was reviving Virtua Fighter, and the studio announced a new open world game under "Project Century" at the February 2025 State of Play. During this year's Summer Games Fest, RGG finally revealed the name of that game – Stranger Than Heaven – in a teaser introducing us to its protagonist (presumably Mako Daito) and the brutal combat in 1943 Japan. And, uh, Snoop Dogg might make an appearance.

Leanne Butkovic is an Editorial Project Manager at IGN who wishes they could befriend Seonhee.

Looking for an inexpensive monitor with a super high refresh rate? Right now Amazon is offering the 25" Alienware AW2523HF 25" 1080p gaming monitor with a blazing fast 360Hz refresh rate for just $249.99 shipped after a $100 off instant discount. This is an outstanding monitor for competitive esports gamers and the 1080p resolution means you'll be able to pair it with a graphics card that won't cost a thousand dollars.

25" Alienware AW2523HF 360Hz Gaming Monitor for $250

Love Island is back. Season 7 of the U.S. series started airing last week, and now the UK series returns for Season 12. In my opinion, the UK original is the true staple of the Love Island franchise and is easily the best version for discovering wild new slang. As such, plenty of US fans eagerly await to see which Brits will find love this year.

If you're one of these fans wondering how to watch Love Island UK in the U.S., here's a detailed guide to ensure you get all the drama, romance, and excitement.

When Does Love Island UK Air?

Love Island UK Season 12 airs Sundays to Fridays at 9pm GMT (4pm ET / 1pm PT) on ITV2. The new season premieres on June 9, 2025.

How to Watch Love Island UK in the U.S.

When you’re setting out to build or upgrade your gaming PC, the best graphics cards are often the first thing that comes to mind. There’s a simple reason for that: When it comes to PC games, GPUs are the most impactful component in determining your rig's raw frame rates. Quite simply, most of the time, a better graphics card directly results in better performance – at least up to a point.

TL;DR: These Are the Best Graphics Cards

These days, GPUs have legitimately become a luxury good. With graphics cards like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 costing upwards of $1,999, you can expect to pay top dollar for top performance. Prices are still way higher than they were when the GTX 970 blew my mind in 2014 – even when adjusted for inflation. However, if you temper your expectations, you can still get a solid gaming experience for a fraction of that price, especially if you're okay with gaming at 1440p or 1080p.

I’ve been reviewing graphics cards for the last four generations, and I’ve personally benchmarked, built with, and played games using every GPU on this list. However, if none of these strike your fancy, feel free to comment below what kind of gaming experience you’re looking for, and I’d be happy to help you find the perfect card for your build.

What to Look for in a Graphics Card

While it would be easy to just tell you to get the most powerful graphics card on the market for the best gaming experience, the truth is that picking a GPU is something you need to put a bit more thought into. Not all graphics cards are created equal, and everyone is going to need something a little different out of their PCI-E brick.

Decide on your resolution first. This is because a graphics card that's great at 4K isn't exactly going to translate to an amazing 1080p graphics card. Just take a look at the Nvidia RTX 5090. While the new flagship flies at 4K, it can actually be slower than much cheaper graphics cards at 1080p, due to CPU bottlenecking. Instead, if you're playing at 1080p, something like the Intel Arc B580 is going to be a much better fit. You're still going to get solid gaming performance, but at a much lower price, which you can use to, well, buy more games.

Set your budget. Price is also a huge concern, and graphics cards are only getting more expensive these days. It would be awesome if everyone could afford an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, but that's just not the world we live in. These days, the floor sits around $200-$250. For that price you can get a solid 1080p graphics card, without having to go back to a previous generation. If you have a bit more cash, something like the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT will unlock most of gaming's bells and whistles.

If you really want to go all-out, you can get an amazing graphics card for around $1,000. Both the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 will provide an awesome 4K gaming experience, and the one you choose should ultimately depend on how much you care about ray tracing. For most people that just want raw gaming performance, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is a better option, as it's a more affordable card that can still handle 4K, and it even comes with FSR 4, which is the first time AMD can really go toe-to-toe with Nvidia's DLSS.

Luckily, it looks like this generation of graphics cards is going to make 4K gaming much more accessible. When I reviewed the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti, I found that it had no problem breaking 60fps in even demanding games like Black Myth Wukong. However, more expensive and powerful cards like the RTX 5080 and 5090 are going to give you more breathing room for future PC games.

With more expensive graphics cards, however, power is going to be a big concern. You're going to want to make sure you check which power supply you have against the power requirements for the graphics card you're looking at. Something like the Intel Arc B580 can get away with a 450W PSU, but you're going to want to make sure you have something much more powerful for the Radeon RX 7800 XT, for instance. You don't need to go overboard and fork over the cash for a power supply that offers twice the recommended power – just make sure you have enough juice to keep your GPU going.

1. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

The Best Graphics Card for Most People

2. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

The Best Mainstream Graphics Card If You Want to Spend a Bit More

3. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090

The Best Nvidia Graphics Card

4. AMD Radeon RX 9070

The Best AMD Graphics Card

5. AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT

The Best GPU for 1080p

Upcoming GPUs

The new generation of graphics cards is now fully here, and a lot sooner than in previous generations. In just a few short months, Nvidia has released everything from the RTX 5090 to the RTX 5060 – which used to take an entire year. AMD has done things a little differently this time around, eschewing the high-end by leading its lineup with the mid-range RX 9070 XT. Either way, the full spectrum of current-gen graphics cards is here.

As for when new GPUs will come out, it's anyone's guess right now. We're likely going to see mid-generation refreshes announced at CES 2026, where Nvidia may announce something like a 5080 Super. Beyond that, we probably won't see a new generation of graphics cards until at least 2027. After all, this current run of graphics cards was the first in a long time to take more than two years to hit the market. After the RTX 4090 launched in October of 2022, Nvidia didn't announce the 5090 until January 2025. We're probably going to be waiting a while.

Best Graphics Cards FAQ

AMD or Nvidia? Or Intel?

When it comes to which brand of graphics card you should get, it ultimately comes down to your personal preference – even if each brand has its own unique advantages. Intel graphics cards are the most affordable option on the market right now, but its graphics cards aren’t exactly the fastest in the land. On the other hand, Nvidia makes the most powerful GPUs around, but you’re going to have to pay out the nose for that performance.

AMD graphics cards strike a pretty good balance between the two, but while the company loves to use open-source graphics APIs, it means you don’t get access to some of the exclusive features that Nvidia owners enjoy, like DLSS (and the new DLSS 4). AMD has alternatives for literally every Nvidia software feature, but some of them simply aren’t as good. See our guide to AMD vs. Nvidia GPUs for more info.

What power supply should I get?

Graphics cards, especially high-end ones, are sucking up more electricity with every passing year. If you’re looking to build a new gaming PC, or even upgrade from an older graphics card, you should really consider upgrading to one of the best power supplies.

Some of the graphics cards out there right now can take upwards of 450W of power by themselves, so you may want to consider a 1,000W power supply.

GTX vs. RTX

Nvidia has both an RTX, or Ray Tracing Texel eXtreme, and GTX, Giga Texel Shader eXtreme graphics cards series, with the RTX offerings being newer, more powerful, and more expensive.

That boosted performance is thanks to the architecture of RTX cards, which offer both Tensor and RT cores alongside CUDA cores for better graphics and rendering. Tensor cores enable AI and high-performance computing tasks bringing support for DLSS tech to help with upscaling and sharpening. RT cores are dedicated to ray tracing, allowing for more realistic lighting and shadows in scenes. Nvidia’s GTX graphics cards have a much simpler architecture and don’t offer Tensor or RT cores. Though they still work for budget builds, GTX cards will soon be obsolete.

Jacqueline Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN. When she's not helping her friends and family buy computers, you can usually find her tinkering with her own PC.

Amazon has dropped another buy one, get one 50% off sale on books ahead of Father's Day weekend. The online retailer has continued to be one of the best places to buy books online in 2025, and sales like these are the best time to buy new books for lower prices. This particular promotion includes a variety of popular new releases as well as ongoing bestsellers at lower prices than you'll find anywhere else.

Alongside books, this sale also includes some popular 4K movies as well as board games and puzzles. So if you're looking for a good Father's Day gift and also want to pick up something for yourself, this is a great chance to save. You can check everything included in the sale below or scroll down for some of my top book picks within.

Amazon Buy One, Get One Half Off Book Sale

Captain America star Chris Evans has suggested he is not in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday movie, although there is a healthy dose of skepticism around his comments.

Evans, who last appeared as Captain America / Steve Rogers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the end of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, spoke to ScreenRant in a new interview. Evans was asked if he’d talked to Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr., who’s set to return to the MCU as Doctor Doom, or Avengers directors the Russo brothers, since they signed on with Marvel for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Here’s his response:

“Yeah, I talk to them all the time. It's where Pedro [Pascal] is right now. I mean, it's sad to be away. It's sad to not be back with the band, but I'm sure they're doing something incredible, and I'm sure it's going to be that much harder when it comes out and you feel like you weren't invited to the party.”

That certainly suggests Evans will not be in Avengers: Doomsday, but should we take his comment at face value? Already MCU fans are reading much into the phrasing around his response, suggesting it leaves room for him to join the set of Avengers: Doomsday later than the actors who are already there. Evans, after all, is out promoting his new movie, Materialists, and so cannot be involved with the production of Avengers: Doomsday right now. But later, perhaps?

If Evans does return for Avengers: Doomsday, perhaps it won’t be as the Captain America we remember. After all, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson currently carries the MCU's most famous shield. Instead, perhaps Evans will play a different character, as RDJ is, like some sort of evil Cap variant. Or perhaps he will return as an alternate Steve Rogers, or as ‘Old Man Cap.’ Maybe he’ll get to play Johnny Storm / Human Torch again (was Deadpool & Wolverine a fever dream?).

Or, perhaps we should take Evans’ comments here at face value and believe him when he says he’s not been invited to the party. Evans’ name was not among the list of actors Marvel announced to be in Avengers: Doomsday, after all. And while Marvel has indicated it has more actors to confirm, Evans wasn’t the only big MCU name to fail to get a chair.

Last week, The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman commented on whether RDJ's Doctor Doom would make an appearance in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and seemingly confirmed the character will be absent. But, like with Chris Evans' comment, Shakman's awkwardly-phrased response left fans doubting the director's words.

And last month, Marvel star Chris Hemsworth released a Thor tribute video that sparked speculation that the character will die in Avengers: Doomsday.

Marvel recently delayed both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars to December 2026 and December 2027 respectively. The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and the two Avengers movies are currently the only upcoming MCU films with confirmed release dates.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

A new PlayStation Portal has never been discounted, even during the currently running PlayStation Days of Play Sale, but at least you can save on a used one. Amazon Resale currently has a Used: Like New PS Portal in stock for $156.83 shipped. It retails for $200 new, so that's 22% 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.

Note: You'll see the price of a new PS Portal on the product page ($199). Scroll down a bit to see the Like New price.

PlayStation Portal (Used: Like New) for $156.83

Make sure to select the "Save with Used - Like New" option

If there’s one thing beyond doubt after more than 35 hours with Dune: Awakening, it’s that Funcom has done its homework in crafting the most authentic take on the Dune-iverse imaginable. As a longtime fan of Frank Herbert’s iconic sci-fi setting, that’s an incredible thing to experience more often than not, and my time on Arrakis has been filled with moments of genuine shock. It’s very clever how the harsh environments and empty space are repeatedly used as progression checks, turning what seem like they should be weaknesses into strengths. Other times, that stubborn adherence to established lore results in annoying or just plain boring irritations, like how you’re all but forced to adopt a nomadic lifestyle in a genre where putting down roots and building up your base is one of the fundamentals. There have also been plenty of technical issues and bugs in the days immediately following launch, plus combat hasn’t landed with me much so far (though I’m admittedly still early in crafting my combat build), but on balance my friends and I are having an absolutely awesome time nerding out.

If you’ve ever played a survival game (and have seen a Dune movie) before, you’ll know most of what you need to feel at home among the giant sand worms: you gather materials from the world, build your own ugly-as-heck home, and upgrade your equipment to gain access to more dangerous areas with rarer materials. Like plenty of survival games, including Funcom’s own Conan Exiles or last year’s Once Human, all of this is happening on a server full of similarly sunburnt players in a perpetually online world, where cooperation and limited instances of PvP are both a distinct possibility, and which account for most of its best moments.

Where this game sets itself apart, though, is by just how much it adheres to its legendary setting, and that has a major impact on just about everything you do. For example, intelligent use is made of Arrakis’ harsh environment, which is weaponized against you quite literally every second you stay within its atmosphere. Standing directly in sunlight unprotected will bake you alive in a matter of seconds, sandstorms blow on a regular basis and will kill you if you aren’t able to get to shelter first, and most notably, there’s the issue of those pesky enormous man-eating worms which gobble you up if you dare tread upon their domain for too long. By leaning into the unforgiving world as much as it does, Awakening puts you in a constant battle against the planet itself. So instead of casually trotting around collecting resources at your leisure and settling your own little piece of the world, you’re frantically ducking behind rocks to avoid the sun’s harsh rays and drink what little water you have left, and playing a never-ending game of “the floor is lava” as you rush from one place to another with a shai-hulud hot on your heels.

All of these hazards give you obstacles to overcome. For example, early on you’re unable to leave the tutorial area thanks to a massive gap of empty space where sun exposure or, more likely, a massive worm would certainly kill you if you attempt to go on foot, so you have to craft your first vehicle in order to safely cross it. Later on, you start to encounter places that are too hot or irradiated to explore without proper equipment. There are plenty of examples just like this, where the unique nature of the setting is turned into an interesting mechanic. Similarly, you’re constantly starved for water, which is used both as a crafting material and a resource to keep yourself alive, and usually Awakening is a better, more interesting survival game for it.

But there are other times where this fanatical adherence to Dune conventions can be quite obnoxious, like how you’re encouraged (and in some cases required) to move your base of operations from place to place as you unlock access to higher-level regions. Pulling up stakes means you either have to abandon all you’ve built up to that point or tediously relocate as much of your equipment as you can, piece by piece. Then there’s stuff like the fact that guns are often useless, since many enemies make use of the all-important Holtzman shields that completely protect from ranged attacks. This creates a weird situation where you’re juggling back and forth between guns and melee weapons depending on which enemy is currently running towards you, oftentimes having to choose between addressing the swordsman barreling down on you or the guy a few feet behind him with a chaingun, which can create a really oppressive rhythm to combat. I honestly kinda respect how much Dune: Awakening sticks to its guns by making its guns ineffective to keep with Dune lore, even as it sometimes comes at the expense of me having a good time. Even when this stuff annoys the hell out of me, I can’t help but respect it.

That’s just part of the reason that, like almost every single one of its peers, Dune: Awakening has pretty awful combat. I knew going into a survival MMO that would be the case, but it’s still a particularly bitter pill that never gets any easier to swallow. I’m still quite early in unlocking all the options for battle and seeing some of the more interesting weapons and builds available, but so far gunplay is sloppy, melee combat is repetitive and janky as heck, and I’ve mostly just been trying to get through it as quickly as possible. It’s such a low point in a game I’m otherwise enjoying.

Thankfully, the combat miss is more than made up for by the absolutely stellar survival mechanics, which are some of the most thoughtful and polished I’ve seen in a while. There’s a constant stream of new technologies to research, equipment to craft, and material to hunt for with almost no filler or grind along the way. Every time I’ve collected the right materials to craft the latest shiny thing I want, I’ve immediately had another enticing item to chase, and with unique schematics dropping left and right, I’m always making interesting decisions on whether to spend my rarest materials on a cool item with a special effect versus taking the more conservative route and just crafting common items to save those resources for a rainy day. (It's bound to rain on Arrakis one of these days.)

It’s especially impressive that they accomplished this loop so well in a desert world where there are no other locations aside from hot sand, and almost no plants or wildlife available to harvest. A major hallmark of survival games is punching trees, and there are no trees on Arrakis – instead you’re making tools to pull water from morning dew collecting in the world at night and by pulling it from the air, which is just really smart and a welcome change of pace that embraces the weird and barren setting, even if it is still essentially the same thing.

When I played the beta for Dune: Awakening, I ran into tons of bugs and hoped the delay of its launch would improve things a bit. That certainly seems to be the case, as I’ve had a significantly more stable experience so far, but even as improved as it is, it’s still fairly troubled in the technical department. I’ve had disconnects, seen entire mountains disappear and reappear before my eyes, and even had a few hours where all sand worms just up and deleted themselves from existence, making everyone on the server swarm to the resources normally protected by their constant threat. It’s not been the smoothest launch by any stretch – but also far from the worst.

After more than 35 hours I still feel like I’m fairly early into my Dune: Awakening adventure, and still have new zones to visit, haven’t gotten very far into the main story, and have only had a few encounters with PvP. There’s a ton for me to do, so look for an update sometime this week as I work my way through to the endgame.

While some longtime Magic: The Gathering players may grumble about Universes Beyond’s growing importance to the game’s release calendar, it’s hard not to feel like it’s getting more eyes on the brand.

The latest Final Fantasy set has sold better than any other through preorders alone, and it’s not even out until this weekend (June 13). There's also the Secret Lair set to consider on June 9, but that's a whole other beast.

Still, suppose you picked up a prerelease box at your local game store last weekend, or you've got some more boosters on the way this week, you may be wondering which cards are seeing demand, particularly if you’re looking to offload some or just get the sweet satisfaction of owning what's hot.

Let's take a deep dive into the best-selling Final Fantasy presold cards right now, all according to the trading card marketplace TCGPlayer.

10: Jumbo Cactuar

At long last, Lenovo has finally opened up orders for its new 2025 lineup of Legion gaming PCs. Currently there are two configurations available: both are Legion 5i Gen 10 gaming PCs equipped with Intel Core Ultra 7 processors and your choice of an RTX 5070 or RTX 5070 Ti graphics card. Both are currently on sale when you apply two stackable coupon codes: "EXTRAFIVE" and "BUYMORELENOVO". Get your order in soon because both systems are nearly sold out.

Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 10 RTX 5070 Ti Gaming PC for $2,270

Animal Farm will be released at a date TBD. This review is based on a screening at the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

Though its chattering barnyard insurgents have been a classroom fixture for decades, George Orwell’s Animal Farm isn’t anyone’s idea of all-ages entertainment. Andy Serkis’ new, animated take on the satirical novel aims to change that – for better and worse. Gone are the specific allusions to the Russian Revolution and the stinging critique of Stalinism laced into Orwell’s “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” allegory. Instead, Serkis paints the terrifying rise of porcine dictator Napoleon (Seth Rogen, playing brilliantly to and against type) in a broader brush for a modern era of big business run amok. In toning down the more graphic elements of its descent into totalitarianism and simplifying the depths of its commentary, the director and performance-capture pioneer trades a dystopian tone for something a little more uplifting. It’s a fun movie with some creative visual choices and a great cast, but it’s also hard not to feel like it lost some teeth on its journey from the page to the screen.

The basic set up remains: When the livestock under the care of the neglectful Farmer Jones (Serkis) realizes they’re about to be sent not to a “laughterhouse,” but to a slaughterhouse, the seeds of rebellion are planted Unfortunately, the exuberance of the freedom (and the ability to read, write, and speak) won by the animals prove short-lived once Napoleon takes control. Some of the choices here are interesting: Part of the source material’s subtlety is buffed out, and the devastating swing from the idealism of original pig leaders Old Major (also Serkis) and Snowball (Laverne Cox) to the opportunism and populism of Napoleon is accelerated. His desperation to belong among ruthless human billionaires and their cyberpunk-esque vehicles strikes close to home in 2025.

Yet in reimagining Napoleon as a gangster rather than a politician, Animal Farm becomes a less-complex story about doing the right thing. Framed through the POV of a young piglet (Gaten Matarazzo) drawn into a corrupt world and attempting to fight his way out of it, the movie takes on traces of A Bronx Tale and Goodfellas. Serkis may be English, but his spin on the material takes place in the United States and plays like a nightmare version of the American Dream, with an antagonist whose methods mimic the hostile-takeover techniques of big banks and monopolistic companies.

Still, as a family movie – and the senses of adventure and humor at play here indicate that this is a family movie – with some heavier undertones, Animal Farm is rather entertaining. It helps that this is a rare case of animated stunt casting where the big names are actually allowed to play to their strengths. The recognizable voices of Seth Rogen, Woody Harrelson, Steve Buscemi, and Glenn Close work in favor of the story, particularly Rogen’s. In casting the star of The Studio as Napoleon, Serkis weaponizes Rogen's innocuous, charming, funny-guy persona; it makes the braggadocious bravado and good-hang vibes that Napoleon uses to mask his true intentions all the more convincing. Harrelson's soft and sympathetic voice makes the horse Boxer a tragic and inspirational character, while Matarazzo brings an innocence to the protagonist, Lucky.

On the heels of Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, Serkis shows himself yet again to be a very competent director with a strong eye. He grounds Animal Farm in live-action filmmaking techniques: He could harness the freedom of animation to send the camera flying here, there, and everywhere across the Brown homestead, but instead limits that movement and places the camera as if it were shooting on a real set with real animals. At the same time, he and the team of animators at Cinesite capture nuanced performances from their animated characters. As in the Oscar-winning Flow, the characters act like real animals and have a humanlike expressiveness to their faces. It’s a contrast and uncanniness that really helps once the pigs start doing things pigs don’t do in the real world.

Indeed, the principle of Animal Farm seems to be blending realism into a storybook sensibility. Its painterly, rustic look images look like illustrations brought to life, but with detailed and photorealistic textures. In abundant close-ups, we’re able to see the unique imperfections of each character, which makes it easy to tell them apart.

The same goes for Serkis’ Animal Farm and any previous telling of the story. His interpretation may not be exactly Orwellian, but it does make for an entertaining, distinct animated movie with big themes that stands out from other family-friendly fare.

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 without a price tag that sneaks into the $2,000 range. 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

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.

Unfortunately, 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

Best For 4K: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

Best for 1440p: AMD Radeon RX 9070

Best for 1080p: AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT

Best on a Budget: AMD Radeon RX 6600

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

Here’s some good news for anyone who likes to own their media in physical form: Amazon is running another Buy 1, Get 1 Half Off sale. It works on select books, board games, and puzzles, but also on movies and TV shows. So if you would like to grow your collection of 4K UHD Blu-rays without breaking the bank, now’s a good time to stock up. They also make terrific Father's Day gifts (it's coming up, on June 15).

4K UHD Blu-rays: Buy 1, Get 1 Half Off

You can check out the whole sale here, or just the movies and TV shows here. Please note that Amazon uses super confusing language that makes it look like you have to buy two items to get one half off, but that’s not the case. It’s buy 1, get 1 half off. You can filter the results if you want to limit it to a particular product type (like movies, which Amazon’s filter still calls “DVDs” which is hilarious in 2025). In any case, check out the sliding catalog above to scan through our picks for the best Blu-rays and 4K UHD Blu-rays in the sale.

What movies are on sale, you may ask? A bunch, including modern classics like The Dark Knight trilogy and Zodiac, as well as classic-classics like The Thing, Akira, and Alien. You can find a bit of everything here, and all you need to do is find two you want to save money.

You can even mix and match between categories, so you can take advantage of the sale by choosing, for instance, a book and a movie. And you’re not limited to buying just two, of course. Add four eligible items to your cart, and you’ll get half off two of the items. You have plenty of leeway here, so go nuts with it.

So yeah, it’s a pretty great sale. It’s a sale they should have called “Buy 1, Get 1 for 50% Off,” like any normal person would, but they didn’t, and they never do. Why? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN's board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.

Beginning its life as a Shin Megami Tensei spin-off, the Persona series has quickly launched into something entirely of its own and become one of the biggest names in modern RPGs. From multiple major sequels and remakes to anime adaptations and even stage plays, Persona is a multimedia sensation, and its popularity doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

With the official announcement of Persona 4 Revival, new players are probably wondering where’s the best place to start. Below, we’ll give you a full rundown of every game and spin-off, including the best entry point for newcomers and both the chronological and release order of the series.

Jump to:

• How to play in order
• How to play by release date
• Upcoming releases

How Many Persona Games Are There?

In total, there are currently twenty Persona games. Several of these are expanded versions of the mainline entries in the series, whether that’s in the form of re-releases featuring new story content or remakes. While we won’t include direct ports or remasters, we’ll make sure to note every alternate version of each game when listing them below.

Which Persona Game Should You Play First?

If you're looking for the perfect place to start, you can’t really go wrong jumping into Persona 3 Reload, Persona 4 Golden or Persona 5 Royal. They’re the latest versions of the third, fourth and fifth mainline entries in the series, and, aside from Persona 3 Reload missing Nintendo Switch, they’re all available on PC and every major console.

For those concerned about skipping the story by jumping into later entries in the series, you won’t miss anything by going straight to Persona 3, 4, or 5. Each game tells an entirely new story with original characters that’s largely disconnected from its predecessors, so they’re great launching points for those coming in fresh. To narrow your choices down, I'd recommend taking a look at some gameplay videos and some of the social links across each of the games to see what "stands out" to you.

Every Persona Game and Spin-Off in Chronological Order

These blurbs contain mild spoilers for each game, including characters, settings, and story beats.

1. Revelations: Persona (1996)

The first game in the series, Revelations: Persona was Atlus’ reaction to the positive reception of Shin Megami Tensei: If…, which was another Shin Megami Tensei spin-off centered around high-schoolers battling demons. Capitalizing on how much players enjoyed the central concept, Revelations: Persona offered a full dungeon-crawling RPG centered around a group of high schoolers battling a supernatural uprising throughout the town of Mikage-cho.

Along the way, they use the powers of their awakened Personas to take down shadows and explore dungeons filled with random encounters, leveling up their party and growing stronger over the course of the game. Revelations: Persona was the foundation of the franchise as we know it today, introducing elements like wielding Personas in combat, the Velvet Room and a teenage cast of heroes.

2. Persona 2: Innocent Sin (1999)

The second entry in the Persona series, Persona 2: Innocent Sin launched in 1999. The game follows a new set of high-school students led by protagonist Tatsuya Suou, who set out on a mission to take down a mysterious villain known as Joker and the cult of the Masked Circle.

Centring around an evil plot where malicious rumors spreading around the town of Sumaru come to life, Persona 2 once again focuses on exploring dungeons, wielding Personas, fighting shadows and leveling up your party. Unlike other entries in the series, it received a direct sequel just a year later, with Persona 2: Eternal Punishment acting as a continuation of the game's story.

Read our review of Persona 2: Innocent Sin.

3. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (2000)

Following up the events of Innocent Sin, Eternal Punishment promoted side character, Maya Amano, to the protagonist role. Sent to write an article about a new rumor regarding a phenomenon known as the Joker Curse, the game quickly sees Maya and her allies rally against a returning foe.

Acting as a direct continuation of Innocent Sin's story, it centers on the same style of turn-based, dungeon-crawling gameplay, as players build their party and wield their Personas to battle shadows.

Read our review of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.

4. Persona 3 (2006) / Persona 3 FES (2007) / Persona 3 Portable (2009) / Persona 3 Reload (2024)

The third mainline entry in the franchise, Persona 3 was a major evolution of the Persona formula. Opting to focus on its high-school premise, Persona 3 introduced a daily calendar, with one half of the game tasking players with attending school, developing friendships and studying, while the other sent them to fight shadows in the supernatural realm of Tartarus.

The story focuses on high school student Makoto Yuki, who finds he's able to experience a mysterious space of time known as the Dark Hour, where regular people are trapped in coffins and a demonic tower sprouts from his school. Teaming with his classmates, he explores the tower, uncovering a sinister plot that threatens the entire world. Persona 3 is considered a landmark entry for the series, introducing social links, day-to-day activities and many other mechanics that have since become synonymous with the franchise.

Read our review of Persona 3 Reload.

5. Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight (2018)

A rhythm-based dancing spin-off of Persona 3 that takes place during the main campaign, Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight sees Elizabeth challenge the S.E.E.S team to a dance-off in the Velvet Room. The events of the game are set during a dream but are completely canon to the story, and follow the team performing various dance routines to iconic Persona 3 tracks.

6. Persona 4 (2008) / Persona 4 Golden (2012)

The fourth mainline entry in the Persona series, Persona 4 takes place in the rural town of Inaba. Players assume the role of Yu Narukami: a high schooler from the city who moves to the country to live with his uncle and cousin for a year. After arriving, a string of violent murders begin to take place in the town, as Yu and his friends quickly discover they’re somehow linked to a mysterious otherworldly realm they can access by stepping through TV monitors.

Delving into this mysterious new world, Yu and his friends face supernatural forces as they learn more about the murders, using their powers to try and stop them. Building off the mechanics of Persona 3, Persona 4 once again utilizes the calendar system, as players build social links and attend school while also exploring vast dungeons and defeating enemies with their Personas.

Read our review of Persona 4 Golden.

7. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (2014)

Technically taking place during the Persona 3 and Persona 4 storylines simultaneously, Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is a crossover between both games. During the typhoon segment of Persona 3 and the Culture Festival segment of Persona 4, the S.E.E.S team and the Investigation Squad are trapped inside a warped version of Yasogami High School.

The time-bending event sees both teams come together to investigate the strange occurrence and escape back to their respective spots on the timeline. Along the way, players explore a labyrinth filled with new enemies and uncover an original story, with the spin-off acting as a callback to the series’ more traditional dungeon-crawler roots.

Read our review of Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth.

8. Persona 4 Arena (2012)

A continuation of both Persona 3 and 4’s narratives and the franchise’s first major spin-off, Persona 4 Arena sees Yu Narukami return to Inaba and stumble into a new adventure, as he returns to the TV world for a mysterious fighting tournament. Forced to battle against his allies and a group known as the Shadow Operatives, which is comprised of Persona 3's Mitsuru, Akihiko and Aigis, Arena offers a full fighting game boasting a roster of iconic Persona characters.

Read our review of Persona 4 Arena.

9. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (2013)

A year following the release of Persona 4 Arena, the spin-off received a sequel titled Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. Taking place directly after the events of the first game, the Persona 4 squad teams up with the Shadow Operatives to return to the TV World and battle against the mysterious forces running the fighting tournament. Ultimax was ultimately an upgrade for the first game, bringing in an expanded roster including returning characters like Yukari, Junpei, Ken and Koromaru.

Read our review of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.

10. Persona 4: Dancing All Night (2015)

The fourth and arguably most unexpected spin-off of Persona 4, Persona 4: Dancing All Night is a rhythm-based dancing game where the Investigation Squad performs routines to iconic Persona tracks. It offers a completely canon continuation of the storyline, following Yu and the team as they’re sucked into an alternate dimension known as the Midnight Stage.

Read our review of Persona 4: Dancing All Night.

11. Persona 5 (2016) / Persona 5 Royal (2019)

The fifth mainline entry in the series, Persona 5 hit shelves in Japan in 2016 before launching worldwide in 2017. Taking players to Tokyo, it casts them as a new protagonist known as Joker, who finds himself on probation after being framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Attending the local high school, Joker and his friends discover a supernatural alternate dimension, which allows them to infiltrate mystical palaces and change the hearts of evil-doers around the city.

Before long, the group becomes notorious on the streets of Tokyo, going under the alias of the Phantom Thieves. The game builds heavily off the formula established by Persona 3 and 4, including massive story-focused levels that unfold over a month, the return of the negotiation system and a new dungeon system known as Mementos. Persona 5 launched the franchise into the stratosphere, quickly becoming Atlus' best-selling game of all time and cultivating a huge fan base.

Read our review of Persona 5 Royal.

12. Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (2018)

A sequel to Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, New Cinema Labyrinth once again depicts a crossover between various Persona characters. After the Phantom Thieves find themselves trapped in a movie theater, they ally with Persona 3's S.E.E.S team and Persona 4's Investigation Squad to find an escape, traveling into the movies on the screen in an attempt to fix their endings.

Much like the original game, Persona Q2 simultaneously takes place during the Persona 3, 4 and 5 storylines, with the adventure pulling each group out of their respective timeline. There, they explore dungeons from a first-person perspective and fight turn-based battles against various enemies.

13. Persona 5 Tactica (2023)

Taking place during the events of Persona 5, Persona 5 Tactica is a strategy-focused spin-off that’s similar in style to the XCOM franchise. The story follows the Phantom Thieves mysteriously traveling to an alternate realm known as the Kingdoms. Unable to escape, Joker and Morgana are forced to abandon the rest of the Phantom Thieves after they're brainwashed by the realm's monstrous ruler, Tyrant Marie, forcing the pair to begin an adventure to save their allies and return home.

Along the way, they team up with the local resistance, helping them fight against Tyrant Marie's forces. The game revolves around a tactical grid-based combat system, as players direct three units across the battlefield and take out enemies.

Read our review of Persona 5 Tactica.

14. Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (2018)

Atlus’ third rhythm-based dancing spin-off, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight sees Caroline and Justine bring the Phantom Thieves to the Velvet Room and challenge them to a dance off. There, the group perform dance routines to several of Persona 5's catchiest tracks.

15. Persona 5 Strikers (2020)

A spin-off set four months after the events of Persona 5, Strikers sees the Phantom Thieves reunite for a summer vacation. However, the team find themselves sucked into the Metaverse after using an app known as EMMA. Escaping with the help of a new ally, the team don their Phantom Thieves gear once more and set out to discover the truth behind EMMA, the Metaverse, and what it means for the people of Tokyo.

Persona 5 Strikers is a crossover with the long-running Dynasty Warriors franchise, introducing real-time combat to the series. Battles center around the Phantom Thieves taking on large hordes of enemies, which they can deal with through combos or by calling on Personas.

Read our review of Persona 5 Strikers.

Every Persona Game and Spin-Off in Release Order

1. Revelations: Persona (1996)
2. Persona 2: Innocent Sin (1999)
3. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (2000)
4. Persona 3 (2006)
5. Persona 3 FES (2007)
6. Persona 4 (2008)
7. Persona 3 Portable (2009)
8. Persona 4 Arena (2012)
9. Persona 4 Golden (2012)
10. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (2013)
11. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (2014)
12. Persona 4: Dancing All Night (2015)
13. Persona 5 (2016)
14. Persona 3: Dancing in the Moonlight (2018)
15. Persona 5: Dancing in the Starlight (2018)
16. Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (2018)
17. Persona 5 Royal (2019)
18. Persona 5 Strikers (2020)
19. Persona 5 Tactica (2023)
20. Persona 3 Reload (2024)
21. Persona 5: The Phantom X (2025)

What's Next for Persona?

After the massive success of Metaphor (it picked up quite a few awards), Sega announced their desire to keep investing in Atlus, and the Persona IP in particular, in a developers' Q&A session.

The next Persona project is the free-to-play mobile game Persona 5: The Phantom X, which is getting a global release on June 26. The Phantom X is described by Atlus as "an original story set in the world of Persona 5 [in which] new characters rise from the shadows and don the masks of the Phantom Thieves."

Persona 4 Revival was announced at a recent Xbox Showcase, a new remake of the game that originally released on PS2 in 2008 before being remastered as Persona 4 Golden in 2012. The new teaser doesn't reveal much but does show off some detailed environments and Yu Narukami himself.

Otherwise, Persona 6 is (theorized to be) the anticipated next release in the RPG series, though Atlus has yet to officially confirm the game is in development.

Callum Williams is a freelance media writer with years of experience as a game critic, news reporter, guides writer and features writer.

The New Avengers may have capped off Marvel's Phase 5 theatrical slate, but this phase isn't truly finished until Ironheart arrives on Disney+. This new streaming series picks up where 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever left off, as Dominque Thorne's Riri Williams comes home to Chicago and builds a brand new suit of armor. She'll need it, too, because she's about to face off with Anthony Ramos' Parker Robbins, aka The Hood.

Who is The Hood, and why is he such bad news for this fledgling heroine? We're here to break down everything you need to know about the MCU's newest villain and his ties to a larger-than-life supernatural threat. These are the topics we cover here:

• Who Is Parker Robbins, aka The Hood?
• The Hood's Powers and Abilities
• The Hood's Rise in the Marvel Universe
• The Hood in Marvel's Ironheart Series

Who Is Parker Robbins, aka The Hood?

Parker Robbins used to be a small-time criminal pulling odd jobs to support his family. But then, one fateful day, a job gone wrong ended up granting Parker incredible power. After coming into possession of the boots and cloak of a Nisanti demon, he rebranded himself The Hood and began making more ambitious plays for power in the New York underworld.

Since then, The Hood has become a regular thorn in the side of the Avengers and other heroes. His ill-gotten power has given him great ambition, even if he doesn't fully understand that power. He'll stop at nothing less than claiming his palce as the new kingpin of Marvel's criminal underworld.

The Hood's Powers and Abilities

Parker Robbins started out as an ordinary human with no special powers or abilities, but that changed after he stole a mystical cloak and boots off the body of a Nisanti demon. These tools grant him useful powers like levitation, invisibility, and the ability to channel magical energy through his twin pistols. The Hood has been known to become possessed by his demonic benefactor, transforming him into a feral monster with super-strength.

The Hood also understands the value of strength in numbers. As part of his bid for control of the criminal udnerworld, he assembles a group of loyal followers that includes The Wrecking Crew, Madame Masque, Jigsaw, Chemistro, and The Wizard. It's the kind of muscle even Wilson Fisk could only dream of.

Demonic possession notwithstanding, The Hood's powers are fairly minor in the grand scheme of things. But his ambition has often led him to claiming artifacts of greater power and transforming himself into a true Avengers-level threat, including the Infinity Gems and the Asgardian Norn Stones.

The Hood's Rise in the Marvel Universe

The Hood was created by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artists Kyle Hotz and Eric Powell and first appeared in 2002's The Hood #1. That series depicts Parker Robbins as a flawed but basically decent man, one who turns to a life of crime to support his family. But after a botched job results in Parker claiming the cloak and boots off the body of a slain Nisanti demon, he finds himself drawn into a larger world.

Apple’s June 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) opening presentation has come to a close after pulling back the curtain on iOS 26 and Liquid Glass, as well as some of the other major changes coming to iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Vision Pro, and more later this year.

As the tech giant moves to name its software updates after the upcoming year, today’s showcase detailed how the leap to iOS 26 will be its biggest yet. Highlights from the show include a full breakdown of everything coming with the Liquid Glass design overhaul, macOS Tahoe, further enhancements for gamers, and the promise that so much of what was shown today will be out for the world this fall.

WWDC 2025 featured an hour and a half of Apple news, but we’ve gathered all of the highlights in our story here. You can catch up on everything announced below.

Apple Unveils Its New Design Coming With iOS 26: Liquid Glass

The last major iOS design update arrived with iOS 7 all the way back in 2013. Now, 12 years later, the tech giant has pulled back the curtain on iOS 26 and Liquid Glass, a sleek, bubbly design update that will arrive for all of its devices, refreshing the way iOS users view iPhone, iPad, tvOS, watchOS, and more for the foreseeable future.

“We are so excited about this beautiful new design and the way it brings greater consistency to our platforms,” Apple Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi said during WWDC, “which also gives us an opportunity to bring greater consistency to the way we name them. We’re unifying our version numbers across all our platforms. Our releases for the fall that will power us through the coming year, 2026, will be version 26.”

iOS 26 Launches Across Apple Devices This Fall

Apple has told us everything iOS 26 and Liquid Glass have in store, and we now know its release date window, too. Expect most of the announcements revealed at WWDC 2025 to launch in the developer beta today, with a public beta set to follow sometime in July. Finally, iOS 26 and Liquid Glass will launch for the public sometime this fall.

New Phone App Layout Options With iOS 26

Liquid Glass is changing everything we know about iPhone, and that can be seen in how the high-tech phone’s calling features work. Changes include the freedom to change the layout of your phone app to prioritize how you live your life, a screening feature that has callers leave a message before a call goes through, and the ability to detect hold music.

iPhone Messages Get Updates With Liquid Glass

The phone app isn’t the only social application getting a facelift with iOS 26. When the update eventually launches, users can expect to take advantage of new superficial features like backgrounds for specific conversations and added functionality that will help filter out spam messages. Group messages are getting a few changes, too, including the long-awaited addition of a text bubble indicator that alerts you when a member of your group is in the middle of typing up a message.

macOS Tahoe Says Goodbye to Sequoia With Liquid Glass

Mac owners can join in on all of the biggest Liquid Glass changes with an updated look. More customization options, a design that falls in line with other Liquid Glass updates, and the addition of its own phone app are the highlights here, revealing some of the biggest changes macOS has seen in years.

watchOS Is Changing How You Stay Physically Active With Workout Buddy

The new Workout Buddy uses artificial intelligence to recognize your training load, workout history, and more to encourage physical activity. It comes with a dynamic voice that speaks words of encouragement during a workout. The app will also soon feature custom workout options as well as new media features that keep all of your workout playlist needs in one place.

Windowing and Menu Bar Come to iPad With iOS 26

ipadOS 26 is shaking up Apple’s tablet in ways that will make organization easier and more intuitive. As announced at WWDC, the company is introducing a new windowing system to allow users to engage in more natural multitasking. Users can also take advantage of a new customizable menu bar.

“iPadOS 26 is our biggest iPadOS release ever, with powerful features that take the experience to the next level and transform what users can do on iPad,” Federighi said in a statement. “With a beautiful new design, an entirely new powerful and intuitive windowing system, even more features powered by Apple Intelligence, huge improvements to working with files, and new capabilities for creatives to power their workflows, iPadOS 26 makes our most versatile device even more capable.”

Translation Features Improved Across All Communication Apps With iOS 26

One major feature coming to all major iOS communication apps is the freedom to translate information from others on the fly. When receiving a text in another language from someone else, for example, you’ll notice that their message will be translated into your preferred language, while your messages can be translated into the preferred language of the individual on the receiving end.

Live translated captions will also be available when speaking with someone through FaceTime. The same option will be available for phone calls, with these conversations also featuring a spoken translation.

visionOS 26 on Apple Vision Pro Adds PSVR 2 Controller Support, Widgets, and More

Apple’s high-end augmented-reality (AR) headset is getting a variety of design changes that aim to change how Apple Vision Pro owners use their device. Widgets are one change that may sound small on the surface but actually have the potential to fundamentally change how the device is used. The AR headset will also benefit from new accessories, including support for the Logitech Muse pen and Sony’s PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers.

Apple Reveals All-in-One Game App

All of your mobile gaming needs will now be housed in a single gaming app. The new all-in-one gaming application aims to streamline gaming on iOS devices, allowing you to see how your friends game and even compete in challenges for both single-player and multiplayer games. From Vampire Survivors to Stardew Valley, all of your gaming needs can be found here.

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).

I often get excited when I get to preview an upcoming game. Who wouldn’t? Getting to check out a game pre-release, and then getting to share that experience is one of the joys of this job. But when a code for a new build of Ninja Gaiden Ragebound materialized in my inbox, I’m pretty sure I started drooling. It’s a Pavlovian response, really; see, us Ninja Gaiden sickos have been pining for the good old days for a while now, but this year has been like stumbling into an oasis in the desert, only the oasis has air conditioning, a made-to-order menu from your favorite local joint, and an open bar. Ninja Gaiden fans have been wandering these sands for a long time. But this year, it feels like we’re coming home.

I hadn’t played the demo we previewed last time, so Ragebound was a new experience for me. But it felt like slipping into a pair of old shoes. It took a second to get back into the swing of things — I haven’t played a 2D Ninja Gaiden in a hot second — but once I did, it felt like I’d never left. There’s so much to talk about here, but we’ve already done a more traditional preview that looks at the meat and potatoes experience of playing Ragebound, so this time, let’s dig into the nitty gritty. These are the 7 coolest things about Ninja Gaiden Ragebound.

#1: The Guillotine Boost Lets You Bounce on It (and “It” is Everything)

There are a ton of cool mechanics in Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, but I’m starting with the guillotine boost because everything else flows from it. Once you’re in the air, you can jump again when you’re about to make contact with an enemy to both attack them and bounce off of them for another jump. Cool, right?

But it’s not just enemies. You can do this to projectiles, too, and even some enemy attacks. Obviously, you can use the guillotine boost to get to places you wouldn’t otherwise be able to, but you can also use it to bounce between enemies and stay on the attack. I managed to bounce on Gurthka, the boss of the demo’s second level, for a solid few seconds while he was trying to attack me. And those weird samurai spirits with the spears? Just bounce off their attacks and keep going. Is the guillotine boost as cool as the Izuna Drop? No. Nothing is. But it’s pretty close.

#2: Hypercharges Are One-Hit Kills with Style

Okay, so the guillotine boost lets you get to hard-to-reach places, stay on the attack, and style on bosses. But what happens when you need to kill something in a single stroke? Well, that’s where the Hypercharge comes in. You can get Hypercharge by killing enemies with auras. Do so, and you’ll gain a Hypercharge for a few seconds. When you have it , your next attack will kill enemies instantly. To be fair, most enemies in Ragebound die in a single hit. But the ones that don’t? You don’t wanna go toe-to-toe with those cats. In a pinch, you can sacrifice some health to manually Hypercharge, but you’ll want to avoid that if you can. When you’re really cooking, you can chain these together to cut down enemies in rapid succession, or unleash them on a boss to stun them and lay on the hurt, and it feels great. Speaking of which, that brings me to my next point.

#3: Simon Says Is Cool Now

A lot of video games really like Simon Says combat design. You know what I mean; the enemy is a certain color, so you use a specific kind of attack (I’m looking at you, DmC: Devil May Cry), or they’re wielding a specific weapon, so you drop in a stance built to counter that (don’t think I didn’t notice, Ghost of Tsushima). Kinda boring, right?

Ninja Gaiden Ragebound flirts with Simon Says combat design, but it gets away with it because it does it in a cool way. You can still kill anything in the Ragebound demo I played any way you want. But some of those auras that give you Hypercharges? You gotta kill those enemies a certain way if you want that Hypercharge. A blue aura means you gotta slice ‘em up with Kenji’s katana, while a purple aura means you need to use a kunai. Once you get that Hypercharge, you can spend it however you want; but forcing you to match the aura to the right weapon on the fly adds a welcome element of challenge, especially when enemies are only on-screen for a few seconds and you have to react quickly.

#4: Rollin’ with Kumori Rocks

At some unspecified point in Ragebound’s story, our boy Kenji fuses with Kumori. Like any good member of the Hayabusa Clan, he’s pretty upset about cavorting around with a ninja of the Spider Clan, but he shouldn’t be. Palling around with Kumori has a lot of benefits. First, she gives Kenji access to a kunai to deal with enemies at range (and teleport to certain objects in the environment), but also a Spider Weapon. In my demo, that took the shape of a throwable sickle with an arc that reminds me an awful lot of the throwing axes from Castlevania. And she gives you access to the screen-clearing Ragebound Arts. When everything around you absolutely, positively has to die, accept no substitutes. So hey, more toys, right? But that’s not all Kumori brings to the table.

She can also commune with Demon Altars to navigate the otherworld. With her spirit separate from Kenji’s body and traipsing around the otherworld, she can go places he can’t, opening new paths. She also has access to her kunai, even without ki, something Kenji doesn’t have. The downside? She needs to constantly replenish a meter to stay in the otherworld. Otherwise, it’s back to Kenji, and you have to do it again. Sometimes, that means you’ll repeat a section a few times. It also breaks up the action and gives you a new way to play. Pretty cool. Also, Kumori says “Good grief” a lot. I love her.

#5: Exploring is Worth Your Time

One of the things I really appreciate about Ragebound is its purity. It’s not another roguelite in the endless sea of roguelites (thank God); it’s a side-scrolling action game, in the vein of the series’ original trilogy. But that doesn’t mean there’s not stuff worth going off the beaten path for. There are scarabs and crystal skulls to find, and while it was unclear what either of these do (the scarabs serve as currency for Muramasa’s shop, which was not available in my demo, so I can only guess at the goodies he’ll have on offer), it definitely gives you an excuse to explore. My favorite one of these “do an optional bit, get a cool thing” sections was one where I had to navigate a tricky, teleport-y platforming section as Kumori. It took me several tries to get it right (I kept messing up right at the end), but by the time I nailed it, I knew that thing like the back of my hand. And that feels good.

#6: It Rewards Mastery

Oh, and speaking of mastering something, Ninja Gaiden Ragebound wants you to play these levels over and over again as much as you want. Once you’ve beaten one, you can immediately access it again from the map. And each time you play, you’re scored on time, collectibles, number of enemies killed, and your best combo. And if that’s not enough, there are also optional challenges that range from completing levels without being hit to level-specific tasks like killing so many enemies with a lunge attack or beating Ryu Hayabusa himself in the tutorial. I… did not do that one. He Izuna Dropped my ass. It was rad as hell. I’ll get you one day, Ryu.

#7: It Hurts So Good

I wouldn’t call Ninja Gaiden Ragebound easy, per se, but it’s also not impossible on the regular difficulty, either. This series has something of a legacy to maintain when it comes to being hard, and you’ve gotta be kind of a masochist to see the deepest levels of depravity it has to show you. What can I say? I like pain.

Good news for me, then, because beating the demo unlocked a hard version of one of the levels I’d just played. And, uh… it’s a lot harder. There are new enemies! Everything’s on fire! Developer The Game Kitchen has put in something for the sickos, and I appreciate it.

I came out of my time with Ninja Gaiden Ragebound like a man who has just had a fine meal with portions that were far too small. Appreciative, but wanting more. What can I say? I love action games, and this series in particular holds a special place in my heart. I get the shakes when you’re not around, Ninja Gaiden. But it’s so damn good to have you back.

Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition launches on July 15 on both PC and consoles, marking the very first time Neverwinter Nights 2 is available on the latter.

The Aspyr-developed Enhanced Edition comes with all the DLC packs, as well as console controls and Steam Workshop, while "preserving everything you love about the acclaimed original adventure." It also features visual enhancements and full crossplay for up to four players on PC via Steam and GOG, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S.

You can also buy it as part of a bundle — which also launches on July 15 — that includes Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition and Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition.

Neverwinter Nights 2 was originally developed by Obsidian Entertainment and released in 2006 as the sequel to BioWare's Neverwinter Nights. It is of course based on the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy tabletop role-playing game, adapting the 3.5 edition rules.

Neverwinter Nights 2 is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, and as the name of the game suggests, in and around the city of Neverwinter.

"Anyone looking for a lengthy, complex, and engaging single-player role playing experience should look no further than Neverwinter Nights 2," we wrote in our original Neverwinter Nights 2 review way back in 2006.

"Thanks to the inclusion of fully controllable characters, there's plenty of enjoyable tactical combat to be conducted in the many dungeons the game runs you through. On top of that, there's an interesting storyline buffered by hours of fully voiced dialogue, an excellent soundtrack, good writing, and strong characters."

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Upcoming animated series Eyes of Wakanda is set to feature a Marvel character MCU fans had thought done and dusted: Iron Fist.

The first episode of the series premiered at the Annecy Animation Festival on June 9 and director Todd Harris opened up about some key details during a post-screening Q&A. The director first revealed that the series is “anthology adjacent” with 30 minute-long episodes. There will be four episodes in total, making up a total of two hours of stories.

According to Harris, those stories will be “hop-scotching through centuries” and as “mostly a spy story,” they will focus on stolen Wakandan technology that must be retrieved.

The first episode, which is titled “Into the Lion’s Den,” does some serious time-traveling right off the bat, bringing us to 1260 BC in a story where a woman named Noni (Winnie Harlow), a former Dora Milaje with a tense past, pursues a man known simply as Lion (Cress Williams). According to a synopsis from Variety, the character is a pirate leader who stole Wakandan tech to start his own kingdom.

That said, the most important tidbit Harris revealed during the Q&A was that there will be Marvel characters we know and love popping up throughout these different periods of time that tie everything together — with one exciting inclusion: Iron Fist. Though Harris noted: “There will be an Iron Fist in here, and not the Iron Fist you expect.”

I think we can all agree that Calvin and Hobbes is an S-tier comic strip, one of the best ever. Right now, just in time for Father's Day on June 15, you can get the hardcover box set of the complete run of Calvin and Hobbes on sale for $94.69 when you clip the coupon at Amazon. That's a lot cheaper than its usual $225 price. Not a bad deal for a box set of three gorgeous hardcover volumes filled with delightful art and writing.

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Hardcover Box Set Deal

Created by Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes ran from 1985 to 1995. It's about a boy named Calvin (who's something of a troublemaker) and his stuffed-animal tiger that comes to life in Calvin's imagination. All told, Calvin and Hobbes appeared in over 2,400 newspapers during its 10-year run.

This high-quality collection is comprised of three hardcover books, in full color where appropriate, that fit nicely in a sturdy slipcover case. The entire run of the syndicated series is here, presented across 1,440 pages. It's a gorgeous collection of what I consider the best comic strip of all time. You won't likely find another deal this good on this collection anytime soon.

These comics are also available in a four-volume paperback set that's currently on sale for $97.23, as well as a series of portable compendium sets. The various configurations of these strips are all well and good, but for my money, the hardcover set looks the best on the shelf. For more, check out where to buy books online.

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN's board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Threads.