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Exclusive: Ghost of Yotei Joins Magic's PlayStation x Secret Lair Crossover

22 octobre 2025 à 20:00

Magic: The Gathering’s next big collaboration brings PlayStation’s biggest worlds to the table, with Secret Lair drops inspired by God of War, The Last of Us, Horizon, and Sucker Punch’s Ghost duology. It follows June’s record-breaking Final Fantasy set, marking yet another major gaming crossover with Magic.

Fresh off the launch of Ghost of Yotei, we caught up with Jason Connell, Creative Director at Sucker Punch, along with Wizards of the Coast’s Jacob Covey, Steve Sunu, and Annie Sardelis, to learn how Jin Sakai’s world was reimagined in card form.

They shared how brushstroke met blade, and how Sucker Punch’s involvement went far beyond a simple seal of approval. And even more excitingly, IGN has also got an exclusive first look at Ghost of Yotei’s Atsu card, joining the upcoming PlayStation superdrop.

"Once we had the basics set up, it was a super collaborative process" - Jason Connell, Sucker Punch

A Cardboard Ghost

“Part of the fun of working with game studios is the mutual fandom between us—there’s usually a Magic fan or three on their side and a group of fans for their game on our team,” WOTC Art Director, Jacob Covey, explains.

When it comes to Sucker Punch, there are even a few tournament games being played within the development team.

“It's about 10-12 folks who play monthly, mostly Commander format,” Jason Connell explains. “A few people who regularly come into the office have decks at their desks just in case the mood ever strikes.”

As for making it happen, the conversation began a while ago, and it was Wizards who wanted to work on a PlayStation collaboration.

“Ben Jafari [a manager at WOTC] worked hard to not only make this happen between many different studios at once, but to do it on the same timeline,” Covey reveals.

“We knew we wanted to work with these iconic PlayStation properties, so it was difficult to narrow it down to just a handful.”

That initial discussion then fed down to the team at Sucker Punch, Connell said, and it was clear that the two Ghost titles would make for ideal fits.

“Across both the Sucker Punch and PlayStation side, it was pretty clear that Ghost could be a really great fit as one of the featured franchises, though, so it came together pretty naturally once they reached out. We were definitely excited by the idea.”

The rub? Ghost of Yotei hadn’t been revealed to the public yet.

Landing a Sucker Punch

“Our conversations with Wizards of the Coast began before Yotei had been announced, which we admit was probably frustrating from the Wizards' side since we had to be so cryptic,” he recalls.

“We just kept saying we had a great idea for a secret card, but then saying we couldn't elaborate yet, and thankfully, they were such great partners that they rebuilt the schedule to accommodate us delivering the information and art for Atsu after we announced the game last year, even though the rest of the cards had been locked in by that point.”

“We knew the drop would be coming right around Yotei’s launch, so it felt like a perfect fit to try to get her included, and we’re grateful it worked out.

"We aim to be authentically rooted in the Ghost universe while giving it our unique spin" - Jacob Covey, WOTC

As for card designs, the Sucker Punch part of the Secret Lair drop incorporates Jin Sakai and Atsu, the two protagonists of both games.

“On the art side, Sucker Punch was very trusting and also involved in helping us remain true to their carefully constructed universe, full of its own untold stories,” said Covey.

“We aim to be authentically rooted in the Ghost universe while giving it our unique spin, focusing on how the characters and settings relate to the Magic ecosystem and gameplay.”

“We had some great early conversations with the Wizards team, including an initial kickoff where we just explained the key points of Ghost of Tsushima and sent over some materials from the game,” Connell adds.

"We explained what we felt was important to capture, even discussed some specific artist names and our overall style. It was really interesting getting a glimpse into their process, meeting artists and writers and directors who oversaw all of the different pieces that go into making a card.

"Once we had the basics set up, it was a super collaborative process. While the actual writing and artist selection happened on the Wizards side, we had a ton of input and chances to provide feedback and went through multiple rounds making sure everyone was happy with the overall look and mechanics for the cards."

One of the ways Wizards and Sucker Punch helped bring Jin Sakai to Magic: The Gathering was to lean into the duality of his fighting styles in Ghost of Tsushima, where he’s torn between samurai combat and the stealthier ‘Ghost’ path.

"Jin Sakai is about a warrior torn between two identities — the honorable samurai and the shadowy Ghost,” Connell explains.

"From the start, I wanted to capture two ways of approaching encounters in Ghost of Tsushima..." - Annie Sardelis, WOTC

"Wizards of the Coast did a great job capturing this in the card with the Standoff ability, which represents his swordsmanship, while Ghost highlights his stealth and ability to strike fear into his opponents. The rest of the Secret Lair cards that Wizards of The Coast curated for this drop helped show his journey to support that theme: tools of conflict, sacrifice, and shifting control that echo Jin’s struggle between tradition and survival."

"From the start, I wanted to capture two ways of approaching encounters in Ghost of Tsushima," explains WOTC Senior Game Designer, Annie Sardelis.

"I combined elements of how Magic has classically expressed a lone fighter's skills by only giving that bonus to a single attacker. Since double strike and "can't be blocked" are phrases we've seen time and again on Magic cards, I added the words to help my coworkers become familiar with what I was going for. Flavor words, like flavor text, can help give creative definition to rules text, and we ended up keeping them."

A PlayStation Pantheon

Aside from Ghost of Tsushima and Yotei, there are sets focused on God of War’s Greek and Norse tales, as well as Horizon Forbidden West and two sets for The Last of Us.

Despite the mix of gods and robot dinosaurs, however, it was the gritty post-apocalyptic tale from Naughty Dog that gave Sardelis the biggest challenge.

"The hardest challenge I signed myself up for are the four "Survivors" Partners from The Last of Us series," she explains.

"I thought it was important to represent all the playable characters in the story, but I also wanted your Commander games to feature the infected. It was tricky to find out how to generate the Fungus Zombie tokens on characters that canonically fight against them!"

"Any player can make infected tokens with Ellie, Brick Master and Abby, Merciless Soldier riffs on cards like "Hunted Dragon" to create an increasing number of tokens. Once that was figured out, the rest of the pieces were designed to complement a token/sacrifice strategy- hopefully in a way that inspires mixing and matching between the two drops!"

As for Commander, it’s Magic’s most popular format, and I wanted to know which of the new PlayStation cards would make an ideal choice to helm a 100-card deck.

"If you’re sitting across from me, I think you can expect me to have an Aloy, Savior of Meridian deck or Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima deck somewhere on me," WOTC Senior Product Designer, Steve Sunu, says.

"Annie Sardelis really hit it out of the park for all these designs, Aloy and Jin specifically feel like the designs were created just for a player like me. Annie’s an incredible designer, and we were so lucky to have her lend her talent to these new-to-Magic designs."

Magic: The Gathering's Secret Lair x PlayStation Drop launches on October 27, 9 AM PT, at the official Secret Lair website.

Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He's a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's dismay.

This article also includes contributions from Robert Anderson, Senior Commerce Editor for IGN.

Wiccan Walks the Witches' Road in First Ever Solo Marvel Series

22 octobre 2025 à 20:00

It's safe to say that Wiccan is among the most important new characters introduced in the Marvel Universe over the past two decades. He was a founding member of the Young Avengers. He and his boyfriend Hulkling were central players in 2020's Empyre crossover. And even now, these two heroes have a key part to play in Jonathan Hickman's Imperial event.

At this point, it's surprising to think that Billy Kaplan has never had a solo comic to call his own, even after the character made his full MCU debut in 2024's Agatha All Along series. That's finally changing soon, with writer Wyatt Kennedy (Marvel United: A Pride Special) and newcomer artist Andy Pereira teaming up for Wiccan: Witches' Road.

Check out the slideshow gallery below for an exclusive look inside Wiccan: Witches' Road #1, and then read on to see commentary from Kennedy.

Kennedy agrees that Wiccan was overdue for his own solo series. He sees the series as a chance to better define Billy Kaplan on his own terms and develop a larger supporting cast and rogues gallery.

"I think the thing that I was most interested in exploring was creating a cast and environment that felt exclusive to Billy," Kennedy tells IGN. "The Marvel universe is wonderful in how sprawling it is, but what always attracted me to their books were the ways in which Spider-Man’s cast felt exclusive to his world, his own perspective. I wanted to give Billy his own villains both new and old as well as a firmly placed status quo that serves as a jumping off point for other creators to play with."

As mentioned, both Wiccan and Hulking are major players in the Imperial storyline still raging in the Marvel cosmos. Wiccan: Witches' Road essentially picks up right where that storyline leaves off for the two characters, with Wiccan making an unexpected return to Earth.

"I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say the series opens with Billy and Teddy (aka Hulkling) literally crashing down to Earth after they’ve lost their kingdom," Kennedy teases. "We’re definitely gonna explore that emotional fallout."

Obviously, the "Witches' Road subtitle" evokes the plot of Agatha All Along, where Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness is joined by Joe Locke's Wiccan and other witches on her fateful journey. We were curious how much inspiration this new book takes from that MCU series. As Kennedy reveals, while the road itself plays a part, fans shouldn't be expecting much overlap between the two projects.

"So, total transparency, I’ve not seen the show and to this day I still haven’t. I’m planning on watching it once my work’s concluded, but it felt important to me to not be overtly beholden to the show either consciously or subconsciously," Kennedy says. "There are no Agatha appearances, and iterations and discussions of what a “Witches Road” can be are present, but I wanted to craft something that felt wholly its own, but still rooted in gothic horror and dark fantasy."

As Kennedy says above, part of the goal with the new series is to give Wiccan a rogues gallery all his own. Kennedy is hesitant to reveal too much about the first villain anchoring the series, except to say that they may not be as much a villain as readers are expecting.

"All I’m willing to say right now is that they’re rooted in our own real world mythology and folklore, but they’ve never been explored like this in the Marvel Universe," Kennedy says. "I hesitate to even call them a 'villain' in the traditional sense, because they represent a big part of earth magic’s presence and what role Billy plays in protecting that."

Finally, Kennedy has plenty of praise for Pereira's artwork, saying, "Andy’s absolutely incredible, and a blast to work with! Everything I’ve seen exceeds how I imagined it at the time of writing, and he’s someone who I’m thrilled to work with again very soon."

Wiccan: Witches' Road #1 will be released on December 3, 2025. You can preorder a copy at your local comic shop.

In other news, check out our exclusive excerpt of the Batman 1989 sequel Batman: Revolution and see why Marvel seems serious about ending the new Ultimate Universe.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

We Build LEGO Star Wars Gingerbread AT-AT Walker, A Bundle of Christmas Joy

22 octobre 2025 à 19:56

I don’t know when or why or how, exactly, Star Wars became associated with Christmas. But in recent years, when the holiday season rolls around, I see giant inflatable R2-D2s and Millennium Falcons in people’s yards, right next to reindeer, Santas, and snowmen. Somewhere along the way, our collective unconscious seems to have linked Yoda with Yuletide. After building LEGO’s new Gingerbread AT-AT Walker set, I have to say, I’m officially a convert. This thing is an absolute delight.

LEGO Gingerbread AT-AT Walker (it feels ridiculous just writing those words) is a relatively modest set, made up of just shy of 700 pieces (see the just-released LEGO Death Star for a much larger take on the franchise). It comes in five bags, and the whole thing took me around three hours to assemble. Even though I don’t understand the connection between Christmas and walking Imperial war machines, I was consistently giddy as I put the pieces together. This murderous vehicle packs holiday flourishes into every part of its construction.

The build starts off on a towering high note, because the first thing you do is put together Gingerbread Darth Vader. It’s the standard Sith Lord minifigure, but from the tip of his helmet to the hem of his fabric cape, he’s gingerbread-brown. And his details look like cookie toppings. He comes with a Lightsaber accessory, of course, but in his other hand you place a cookie with red and green sprinkles. It might be the best minifigure I own.

You might not think things could stay at the extraordinarily high level of a gingerbread Vader for long, but they really do throughout the rest of the build, especially the first major portion. The first part of the AT-AT you build is the chunky body of the thing, the torso. That might sound like a boring piece to build, but within it lies a veritable Christmas miracle.

Somewhere along the way, our collective unconscious seems to have linked Yoda with Yuletide.

You build the base (the belly), complete with four circular pieces where you’ll eventually attach the legs. You then stack some blocks to make a wrapped Christmas present and a little fireplace, complete with translucent flames pieces. On the mantle goes a little green wreath and a pair of stockings. In front of the fireplace is a latticed grate and a table with a mug on it (we can assume Vader likes to relax with a warm cup of cocoa). Then you plop down a chair and decorate the wall behind it with another wreath and a candy cane. Later, you’ll enclose this room with hinged side panels that hide it from view entirely, unless you want to open it up to show it off.

This room is a hidden pocket of holiday cheer, and I absolutely love it. It’s a Christmas tableau for Vader to enjoy when he’s done blasting Rebel scum for the day. It’s the delightful surprise at the center of this set.

The rest of the build is quick and enjoyable to assemble as well. You make the AT-AT’s giant head and legs, which are decked out with colorful circular dots to add a seasonal touch. Some accent pieces are darker brown to add visual depth. The head is adorned with two candy canes in place of the blasters, and the feet are festooned with icing and ribbons. Along the sides flanking the AT-AT, you string up multi-colored Christmas lights.

Some of my favorite details are the white pieces where the flat brown panels come together. These are meant to evoke the frosting you’d use to connect the walls of a gingerbread house. They really tie the whole build together.

Overall, I have no real complaints about the LEGO Gingerbread AT-AT Walker. It’s one of those perfectly scaled sets that doesn’t take too long to build and, while it’s substantial, it doesn’t take up too much shelf space. The modest scope also keeps it in the $59.99 price range, which is just right for something as silly-yet-delightful as this.

I still don’t fully understand the connection between Star Wars and Christmas decorations, but it got us a LEGO Gingerbread AT-AT, and that’s a real gift. Any LEGO fan, either with kids or without, will get a ton of Christmas joy putting this set together. Merry Christmas, Vader.

LEGO Star Wars Gingerbread AT-AT Walker is available for $59.99, exclusively through the LEGO Store. For more, check out our picks for the best LEGO Star Wars sets available.

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.

Borderlands 4 Generated the Highest Launch Month Dollar Sales of Any Title in the Franchise’s History in the U.S.

22 octobre 2025 à 19:13

Borderlands 4 looks like a big hit in the U.S. at least, where it has outperformed Borderlands 3 in terms of money made.

U.S. video game data company Circana said Gearbox’s looter shooter was the best-selling premium video game of September, debuting as the third best-selling game of 2025 so far. It was September’s best-seller on both the Xbox and aggregated PC storefront charts.

Most importantly for publisher 2K Games, Borderlands 4 generated the highest launch month dollar sales of any title in the franchise’s history, nearly 30% higher than the previous best, Borderlands 3.

It’s worth noting this stat isn’t about unit sales, rather revenue generated. Borderlands 4 launched at $69.99 (eventually, after a weird kerfuffle online about whether it would jump to $80), with the Deluxe Edition priced $99.99 and the Super Deluxe Edition at $129.99. At its launch in September 2019, Borderlands 3 cost $59.99 for the standard edition, $79.99 for the Deluxe Edition, and $99.99 for the Super Deluxe Edition. It's also worth noting that Borderlands 3 was a PC exclusive to the Epic Games Store for six months after its release, whereas Borderlands 4 launched across PC via Steam as well as consoles.

So, we don’t have hard sales figures yet (2K Games has made no announcement so far). But according to Circana, Borderlands 4 was the first Borderlands title to launch as the best-selling game of its release month, so there’s that.

There were encouraging signs for Borderlands 4 when it came out last month. It set a peak concurrent player number record for the franchise on Steam (neither Sony nor Microsoft make player numbers public). But it has suffered from performance issues that have contributed to its ‘mixed’ Steam review rating on Valve’s platform. Gearbox has issued a series of patches since launch, but fans are waiting for the Borderlands 4 ‘Day 30 Update,’ which is due out later this week.

NBA 2K26, by the way, is 2025’s best-selling game year-to-date, ahead of Capcom’s Monster Hunter: Wilds. Helldivers 2 was the fourth best-selling game of September on Xbox platforms, after debuting third during its August launch month. Helldivers 2 ranked as the sixth best-selling game overall in September and was 19th for the 2025 year-to-date period.

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

The Iniu 20,000mAh 65W Power Bank Can Fast Charge the Xbox ROG Ally X for Just $23

22 octobre 2025 à 19:10

If you're looking for an affordable high-capacity power bank that will fast charge your most power hungry gaming handhelds, then this deal might be the one you've been waiting for. Amazon is offering the compact Iniu 20,000mAh 65W Power Bank for just $22.94 after an extra 49% off coupon that's automatically applied during checkout. The 65W power output is the same output as the charger that comes bundled with the new Xbox Ally X handheld gaming PC.

Iniu 20,000mAh 65W USB Power Bank for $22.94

This is one of the smallest 20,000mAh power banks I've seen, measuring 4.3" long and 2.8" wide (it's pretty chunky though at 1.1" thick) and weighing in at about 11 ounces. The ample 20,000mAh (74Whr) capacity can charge any gaming handheld PC, including ones with bigger 80Whr batteries like the Xbox Ally X, from 0% to 100% (or close to it). It can recharge smaller capacity gaming handhelds like the Nintendo Switch 2 or Steam Deck multiple times on a single charge.

The Iniu power bank has three total ports: one 65W USB Type-C port, one 36W USB Type-C port, and one 18W USB Type-A port. The 65W output can charge any gaming handheld even while you're playing on it at the same time. Some models like the Asus ROG Ally and Legion Go 2 can accept up to 100W of charging, but you don't necessarily want to max out the rate even if you can. Asus and Lenovo package them with conservative 65W chargers to reduce stress on the battery.

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

Dispatch Review in Progress

22 octobre 2025 à 18:23

Only the first two episodes of Dispatch's eventual eight have been released so far, but it's safe to say I’m already quite invested in this unique narrative adventure, which feels like a spiritual successor to the Telltale Games of the 2010s. Half TV show, half puzzle game, this superpowered workplace comedy quickly captured my attention with its cavalcade of oddball characters, engaging minigames, and giggle-inducing dialogue. It’s too early to say where the story will lead across the next three weeks of its episodic release schedule (and we'll have a final, scored review at the end), but the threads AdHoc Studio are pulling on are immediately compelling, and I’m cautiously optimistic.

Dispatch takes place in an alternative take on modern Los Angeles where superpowered beings, aliens, demons, and all manner of hyperpowered humanoids live amongst the regular folk. Naturally, some of these gifted beings use their powers for good, while others opt for a distinctly villainous approach. With so many supers roaming the streets, an organisation called the SDC has stepped in, launching an insurance-type racket that allows citizens to pay for the privilege of a powerful watchdog. One of the aforementioned good guys is the series’ protagonist, Robert Robertson — otherwise known as Mecha Man — whose heroic aspirations are quickly thwarted when a rogue explosive takes his suit out of commission and plops him into the role of a call centre worker at a small branch of the SDC. So far we've only experienced his first day on the job, but I’m already compelled by his predicament and curious to see how this desk job will impact his halcyon dreams of helping people.

Dispatch is split into two distinct parts: most of the time you’ll be chatting through beautifully animated scenes, picking amusing dialogue options, and doing quick-time events like those seen in The Wolf Among Us or the Life is Strange series. Certain decisions trigger a heart-pounding ‘X Person remembered that’ notification at the top of the screen, which feels like a refreshing jolt of nostalgia in 2025. Crucially, though, I often couldn’t feel the weight of my decisions until I had already committed to them. So far, my choices haven’t seemed false or meaningless — I was frequently surprised by how even the most nonchalant comment could impact the tale, and only time will tell how considerable these ripple effects may become.

The rest of your time in Dispatch is spent at work in the role of a titular Dispatcher, assigning superheroes to a variety of jobs. Unlike the animated sequences, these sections take place on a computer screen and resemble a point-and-click puzzle. Using your mouse and wits, you’ll monitor a city map where orange exclamation points periodically pop up with a timer, alerting you to various jobs SDC needs to handle efficiently. Each hero under your command has a stat matrix, similar to that seen in Pokémon, and as a job appears, you’ll receive a verbal description of the issue with aligned icons denoting the stats needed to successfully resolve it.

I was frequently surprised by how even the most nonchalant comment could impact the tale.

From here, your job is to match your best hero, or in some cases heroes, by their stats and personalities and then send them on their way. You'll be told right away whether you’ve passed or failed, with success earning you a stat boost you can apply to your hero for future shifts. It’s a moreish feedback loop that works well with the tonal complexity of the context surrounding it. Dispatch carefully balances your team’s tongue-in-cheek banter with the stressful necessity of saving citizens on time, which is a blast.

That’s not all, though, as there’s a secondary hacking minigame folded into your workday. Here, you’ll roll a 3D object through a cybernetic maze as the clock ticks down, using arrow key inputs to forge a path towards the end goal. Given that these scenarios are often blended with an intense event happening across town, the stakes feel high, and it was easy to get absorbed in the fantasy. Dispatch’s ‘augmented episode’ approach is compelling so far — it helps that the script is so witty and satirically acerbic, and delivered well by its ensemble cast.

As well as the puzzles in play, your team is another complication to your success. Robert Robertson is new to the job, so naturally, he’s not exactly running a gold star operation. The group you’re trying to control is entirely comprised of former villains who, after a life of crime, are trying to reintegrate into society. As you can likely imagine, it’s not going well. The concept of ethically murky superhumans has been explored across film and TV before, but Dispatch often diverts expectations through a steady mix of dirty jokes and sincere interactions that keep you on your toes.

For example, in a meeting after my first shift, my boss, Blonde Blazer, asked why I had a bloody nose. Moments earlier, due to some potentially ill-advised decisions during a conversation, one of my ‘heroes’ promptly smacked me in the face. I had a choice here: I could snitch on her, or pretend everything was fine. Hoping not to get hit again, I chose not to fess up, which led to a warm interaction between myself and another member of the SDC. Dispatch could have chucked in another joke here for a cheap laugh, but it didn’t. This measured restraint imbues the world with a sense of realism that’s easy to get emotionally invested in.

It's still early but, as of right now, I’m totally enthralled in this world.

It helps that the pool of characters I’ve met so far have wormed their way into my heart, even when their attitudes stink. No one is one-dimensional, and while it’s unclear what’s hiding in their layers, it already feels like there is a lot to unpack. There’s Invisigal – formerly Invisibitch – a bratty, quippy menace escaping a dubious past voiced by Laura Bailey; the SDC leader Blonde Blazer played by Erin Yvette, whose noble front hides a world of insecurity; and Jeffrey Wright's Chase, a retired hero and potty-mouthed veteran of the game, just to name a few standouts. I would be remiss not to mention Robert here, too, who, thanks to Aaron Paul's emotive and nuanced performance, feels deeply flawed but lovably human.

Just a quarter of the way through this story, it’s still too early to say where Dispatch might end up. It’s clear there’s lots still to come, from levelling up my heroes in the Dispatch minigame to living out Robert’s saviour fantasy after his accident. I'll be back with a scored review shortly after the release of the final episodes on November 12 – but, as of right now, I’m totally enthralled in this world, and I’m keen to get tangled up in Robert’s fractured personal life.

IT: Welcome to Derry Season Premiere Review

22 octobre 2025 à 18:05

IT: Welcome to Derry debuts on HBO on October 26, 2025.

The astronomical box office success of 2017’s IT: Chapter One led to a historically high volume of Stephen King adaptations in the years that followed, so there’s a sense of homecoming that permeates IT: Welcome to Derry, the new HBO Max series rooted in the cycle of Pennywise carnage which precedes the events of Andy Muschietti’s two-part movie version. Muschietti returns to help guide this prequel series as director for the first four episodes. Though the premiere episode rushes to lay a lot of groundwork, it suggests we’re in for a thoughtful and savage exploration of just how deep the rot of It runs through Derry.

Welcome to Derry has the benefit of starting off on incredibly solid ground: not only did the creative team - including producer Barbara Muschietti and co-producer Jason Fuchs, who serves as co-showrunner here with Brad Caleb Kane - have two feature films to establish their own version of Derry and its relationship to Pennywise, but this new series has a ton of untapped material from the original King novel to pull from: the interstitial Derry town history chapters which punctuate the interweaving kid and adult timelines. These passages give the reader a sense of how Pennywise’s hunger for fear has flared up in predictable 27-year intervals over time, usually in the form of child disappearances that crescendo into some sort of mass casualty event.

Muschietti’s films moved the events of the book up so that Chapter Two could be set in the modern day… or maybe it was more so that Chapter One could be set in the 1980s and take advantage of the decade’s Stranger Things-fueled popularity (casting Finn Wolfhard as Richie Tozier didn’t hurt those efforts.) That leaves the originally 1930s-set and racially-charged tragedy Welcome to Derry’s first season adapts to land squarely in the middle of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, which feels like a pretty compelling and dramatically fertile shift. And given that the 1990 miniseries set its kids storyline in the book-accurate 1950s, the 1960s time period here gives Welcome to Derry an instant sense of cohesion to what It should feel like onscreen, something helped along with some really fantastic production design and costume work already apparent through this first hour.

Welcome to Derry’s premiere tracks two storylines: the kids on the front lines of Pennywise’s latest cycle of torment, and the arrival into Derry of Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo). There’s a widely held opinion about pretty much every iteration of It that the Losers’ Club’s first encounter with Pennywise as children is more entertaining than their final confrontation with him as adults. Nothing about Welcome to Derry’s premiere is going to dispel the notion that the younger characters’ perspective on Pennywise is the more interesting one.

Welcome to Derry’s premiere is at its scariest and most effective while following the kids of Derry as they first begin to encounter Pennywise.

As Hanlon, a B-52 test pilot who will go on to be the grandfather of Losers’ Club founding member Mike Hanlon (he appears briefly in IT: Chapter One), Adepo brings a steadiness to Leroy that’ll be fun to see get challenged by the supernatural horrors ahead. But it’s on the airbase that the Welcome to Derry premiere’s efforts to lay groundwork for the season ahead feel the most laborious. Hanlon’s icy reception from some of his white colleagues, a “special projects” building no one will answer questions about, and the warning glances of another black airman (Andy Muschietti revealed at SDCC 2025 that this character is The Shining’s Dick Hallorann, played by Chris Chalk.) portend more sinister conflicts he’ll have to navigate as the season goes, but the intrigue they’re setting up here isn’t all that intriguing yet, and with no obvious connection to the more interesting Pennywise stuff going on in town, not even the attack Hanlon suffers from masked assailants elevates this storyline past feeling like more than setup, even if it’s for what will prove to be a critical fork of the plot going forward.

No, Welcome to Derry’s premiere is at its scariest and most effective while following the kids of Derry as they first begin to encounter Pennywise. Muschietti’s movies nailed the creeping weirdness and dread that sets in as kids get closer to It, and Muschietti marshals that surreal sensibility to great effect in this episode’s stellar opening sequence, as loner Matty Clements (Miles Ekhardt) hitches a ride home with the wrong family. As Matty realizes he’s in trouble, Muschietti dials up the intensity with increasingly quick cuts around to everyone inside the car as they act stranger and stranger… poor little Matty Clements, you were doomed from the second we met your nearly-teenaged ass sucking on a pacifier in a movie theater. That’s just not something you can do in a horror story and expect to make it to the end credits, kid.

The way Muschietti draws out the demise of the young outsider, and how he subjects Matty to satisfyingly shocking imagery before he goes, promises an eye towards plenty more psychologically-oppressive wind-ups to come in future episodes. The payoffs in this first episode, though, do yield mixed results. Scares that lean on quick glimpses of something that shouldn’t be there, or voices coming from where they shouldn’t, go a lot farther than ones reliant on letting the monster fully out from under the bed. If you found the scares in the It movies which leaned more on CG a letdown, the main form Pennywise takes when it does appear in this first episode will likely be more distraction than nightmare fuel. Still, Pennywise’s first attacks definitely communicate one thing about Welcome to Derry: there’s likely no shortage of blood and gore coming our way, and a few plot-armored characters aside, no kid or adult is safe.

What both the adult and kid storylines do highlight effectively, and set up as an important dynamic to follow going forward, is the parallel between Pennywise’s malice and the banal indifference of Derry’s citizenry towards the plights of others: how kids recognize and rail against it, how young adults get cynical and tend towards it, and how those in middle-age and beyond seem doomed to it entirely. Matty’s disappearance weighs heavily on classmates Lilly, Teddie and Phil, and though none of them were particularly close with the missing boy, all three feel varying degrees of guilt at having missed chances to connect with him before he disappeared. Lilly’s the most intriguing of the younger characters introduced, as the Matty situation is compounding some pre-existing grief that young actor Clara Stack handles capably. Lilly also brings along her no-bullshit best friend Marge, whose big personality and take-no-prisoners attitude already makes her a candidate for best character on the show.

And how’s Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise in this first episode? Well, if there was something to say, it’d have been said by now! He’s not around! No, Welcome to Derry seems intent to parse out its Pennywise appearances sparingly… and whether that's for purely narrative reasons or because Skarsgård’s schedule’s a lot more full than it used to be doesn't matter when the end result leaves Pennywise feeling as ominous a background presence as he should through the series premiere. Glimpses of Pennywise’s cocked eye or his giant buck teeth appearing in the mouths of those antagonizing the kids are as much as we see, but for now, that feels in keeping with the limited amount of information the kids have on the monster whose bloodthirst they’ve only scratched the surface of.

Deals for Today: Alienware Discounts And Refurb RTX 5000 Series Graphics Cards

22 octobre 2025 à 18:05

With new developments re: Xbox and they're rumoured future combining console and PC gaming come next generation, it's a good idea to get a PC gaming setup running that sweet Xbox full screen experience. Not a fan of Xbox? Well gamers usually save atleast $10 on new releases and have plenty of opportunities to get ridiculously cheap game key bundles for Steam from storefronts such as Humble and Fanatical.

TL;DR: Deals for Today

Luckily for our readers, Alienware has some fantastic discounts on gaming desktops and laptops from their latest Auorora and Area-51 lines. Already got a rig but need an upgrade? It's time to hop on the Nvidia RTX 5000 series line thanks to Woots deals on refurbished graphics cards. Let's get into it:

Alienware Gaming Desktop Discounts

Fancy a solid RTX 5080 build for under $2,000 including free delivery? You'll be able to take advantage of DLSS 4 with more gas in the tank than a RTX 4080 Super, which is one of Nvidias best graphics card releases last year. Buyers can look forward to high frame rate 4K gameplay with all the bells and whistles added. We're talking ray tracing and definition sharper than any console can currently output. Check our review out for more information on this epic GPU.

Alienware Gaming Laptop Discounts

When it comes to gaming laptops in general, picking one within your budget is the first major step. For something worth gaming on, the $1,000 mark is the price of entry. That will include a RTX 5060, going all the way up to $3,549 for a RTX 5090 build if you really want that mobile gaming flex.

Nvidia RTX 5000 Series Refurb Deals

Still running a Nvidia RTX 1000 to 3000 series? This is your chance to upgrade your rig to DLSS 4 and Ray Tracing with Woots RTX 5000 series refurbished sale. The sweet spot with this generation has to be RTX 5080 that includes 16GB of GDDRR6 RAM that can handle 4K gaming and all the frames. Need to upgrade on a budget? RTX 5070 12GB is a great option for $529 too.

MTG: Cheapest at Amazon

There's a handful of booster boxes available for slightly less at Amazon this week, but it's a bit of a poor turnout for Magic: The Gathering players. Most of the listing on Amazon are above MSRP and higher than secondary market values, but the carosel above are good deals when compared to TCGPlayer.

MTG: Cheapest at TCGPlayer

TCGPlayer's sellers are keeping away from the sneaker-heads and crypo bro mentality that's hit Magic and Pokémon TCG is 2025 and is keeping prices down. Market value for MTG sealed product goes off what people are willing to pay, and it shows. There's so much here that's at a lower price than big box retailers it's embarassing. But, it's great for your pocket!

Blaziken ex & Volcanion ex Premium Collection

Trainers and collectors will get five Destined Rivals Boosters and five Journey Together Boosters in this bad boy, so that's about the right kind of ball park for ten booster packs, plus you're getting the promo Volcanion ex and Blaziken ex promo card and a jumbo version of Blaziken ex.

I think these promo's would work great together in a fire-themed deck. Use Blazikens Seething Spirit to grab fire energy from your discard pile to build up Volcanion. In the meantime Volcanion can burn opposing Pokémon then use Scorching Cyclone for 160 damage then transfer all it's energy to a benched Pokémon. So many possibilities here.

Poké Price Check: Mega Evolution In Stock

Mega Evolution seems to be a well-printed start to the next era of Pokémon TCG. I'm seeing boosters in convienience stores and some products on physical shelves, not to mention the Booster Bundle ($52.89), Gardevoir ETB ($88.81) and Three Booster Blister ($28.90) available on Amazon. Like the rest of the products in this carousel though, the cheapest is TCGplayer right now.

Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of "Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior". Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.

Fallout Day Broadcast: Bethesda Reveals What It Has Planned for the Show

22 octobre 2025 à 18:02

Bethesda has outlined what it has planned for this week’s Fallout Day broadcast.

In a social media post, Bethesda said the broadcast, set for 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm UK tomorrow, October 23, will feature more on Fallout 76, Fallout Shelter, Fallout 4, and more.

Specifically on Fallout 76, Bethesda will show more of the Burning Springs update. This big expansion, due out in December, sees Walton Goggins reprise his fan-favorite role as The Ghoul from the Fallout TV show.

Fallout Shelter is also mentioned, as is Fallout 4 and Creations, which suggests the decade old role-playing game will get some new content soon. Creations are community created mods released officially for Bethesda’s video games.

Elsewhere, there are new merch drops, community in-person events, and a post-show celebrating the community. There is no specific mention of the Fallout TV show, either. Season 2 is due out in December.

There is no mention of any Fallout remaster, either. There are all sorts of rumors floating around about potential Fallout remakes now that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is out the door (Fallout 3 Remastered was leaked back in 2023, but those plans may have changed). And we know Bethesda plans to eventually get to Fallout 5, albeit after The Elder Scrolls 6.

October 23, 2077 is of course the day in the Fallout timeline the bombs fell, sparking The Great War that caused the irradiated wasteland fans of the franchise have been playing in over the last few decades.

The last we heard on Fallout 5, by the way, was back in June 2024, when Bethesda Softworks head Todd Howard said he wasn’t interested in rushing it out the door. Howard opened up about the future of the hit post-apocalyptic RPG series during an interview with YouTube content creator MrMattyPlays.

"For other Fallout games in the future, you know, obviously I can’t talk about those right now, but I would say, sort of rushing through them, or we kind of need to get stuff out that is different than the work we’re doing in 76… we don’t feel like we need to rush any of that," he said. "The Fallout TV show fills a certain niche in terms of the franchise and storytelling."

The last mainline Fallout game was Fallout 4, which was released in 2015. DLC content for the entry was steadily released for PC and consoles over the next year, and in 2018, Bethesda launched its multiplayer-centered offshoot, Fallout 76. While fans slowly flocked to the West Virginia-set open-world RPG, it wasn’t until the premiere of Prime Video’s Fallout TV show that the Bethesda series leveled up in terms of attention.

Still, Howard wouldn't budge when it came to desires for a substantial video game release. For him, it comes down to wanting to treat Bethesda's franchises with care.

"Totally get the desire for a new kind of mainline single-player game," he said. "And look, those things take time. I don’t think it’s bad for people to miss things. We just want to get it right and make sure that everything we’re doing in a franchise, whether it’s Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or now Starfield, that those become meaningful moments for everybody who loved these franchises as much as we do."

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.

Battlefield 6 Season 1 Trailer Highlights Blackwell Fields and Eastwood Maps Ahead of Next Week's Launch

22 octobre 2025 à 17:20

The first Battlefield 6 Season 1 trailer is here, revealing a first look at the new Blackwell Fields and Eastwood maps, new weapons, and more.

EA and Battlefield Studios published the debut trailer for the Season 1 update ahead of its launch next week, October 28. The two-minute video shows off glimpse of the team’s plans to keep Battlefield 6 content flowing following its strong October 10 launch for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S.

"Blackwell Fields spans besieged facilities and homesteads under a burning horizon, supporting all combat sizes with land and air," an official description for the new Battlefield 6 Season 1 maps says. "Eastwood turns a quiet villa and golf retreat into a frontline, with land vehicles and helicopters in play."

Today’s Battlefield 6 Season 1 trailer shows off first gameplay on the Blackwell Fields map and Eastwood map, but it also serves as an update for content fans have already been told to expect. BF Studios previously shared a roadmap for its first seasonal content run earlier this month, revealing three waves of updates that are set to roll out from next week through December 9.

Things kick off with the Rogue Ops update next week, starting with highlights like Blackwell Fields, the Strikepoint mode, Traverser Mark 2 vehicle, GGH-22 pistol, SOR-300SC carbine, Mini Scout sniper rifle, rail cover & LPVO attachments, and more. California Resistance content then follows November 18, bringing the Eastwood map and Sabotage limited-time mode, as well as a trio of new weapons. Finally, Empire State gets the Ice Lock makeover with the Winter Offensive update December 9. We know it includes at least one new tool in the form of the Ice Climbing Axe melee weapon.

Players have spent the weeks since launch combing over every weapon attachment, challenge, and camo Battlefield 6 already has to offer. When the community isn't recreating Call of Duty maps in Portal or using the Engineer class' repair tool to draw on walls mid-match, they've mostly spent their time encouraging EA and BF Studios to make tweaks to the overall experience. One recent change saw the developers outline a plan to address feedback regarding challenges, XP, and progression.

Today’s Battlefield 6 Season 1 trailer homes in on the content dropping throughout the next month. While we wait to see more, you can read about how EA and BF Studios are keeping tabs on the war between “zoomers” and “battledads.” You can also catch up on the recent decision to reduce Conquest ticket sizes, which was quickly reverted following fan outcry.

Finally, be sure to check out our full list of all currently available Battlefield 6 multiplayer maps. Those looking to brush up on their online skills can also read our multiplayer tips and tricks guide.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

No Man’s Sky Breach Update Released – Full Patch Notes

22 octobre 2025 à 18:44

Hello Games has released the Breach Update for No Man’s Sky. To celebrate this release, the team shared a new trailer for it. Moreover, it shared its full patch notes. So, let’s take a look at it. In Breach, players will explore a dark, empty universe filled with the wrecks of destroyed corvette ships. These … Continue reading No Man’s Sky Breach Update Released – Full Patch Notes

The post No Man’s Sky Breach Update Released – Full Patch Notes appeared first on DSOGaming.

Once Upon A Katamari Review

22 octobre 2025 à 17:00

Miraculously meditative and frantic in equal measure, Once Upon A Katamari scratches the same carnal itch that the rest of the series always has. It delivers relentless charm, a wheeze-laugh-inducing sense of humor, brain chemistry-altering music, and soulfully satisfying-but-simple gameplay in psychedelic technicolor. This time-trotting adventure rolls out the red carpet for The Prince, The King of All Cosmos, The Queen, and their cadre of silly little cousins with flamboyant aplomb. And with more levels and a greater focus on replayability, there’s more Katamari to go around than ever before. The first new mainline Katamari game in 14 years doesn’t try to reinvent the misshapen mass of things you roll around, and that’s fine by me, because Katamari doesn’t need fixing.

At first blush, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the original Katamari Damacy from 2004 and Bandai Namco’s latest iteration aside from the obvious jump from 480p to 4K. That’s because developer Rengame understood the assignment: Once Upon A Katamari is just as funny, satisfying, joyful, and energetic as the series has always been.

After showing off his juggling skills with a powerful scroll, the godlike King of All Cosmos flings it into the night sky, yet again destroying the heavenly bodies that inhabit it. It’s up to his son, The Prince, and his cousins to go to Earth and roll up everything in sight to make stars and planets to repopulate the sky. It might not make sense if you haven’t played a Katamari game (or, frankly, even if you have), but this setup has proven as reliable as Bowser kidnapping Princess Peach, and serves as a vehicle for some spectacularly funny stuff.

The King, a flamboyant, self-important, all-powerful – though overall benevolent – god who likes to wear really tight pants is beloved by all, even though he talks down to The Prince and his goofy-looking cousins. Making the most of every last syllable of dialogue, I chuckled at least once just about every time he mused on the nature of the universe or paid himself a compliment with his record-scratch-sound voice. Once Upon A Katamari is a masterclass of comedic writing and localization, efficiently using its humor to set up the goal for each level before the rolling starts without ever letting a joke get stale.

Once Upon A Katamari is a masterclass of comedic writing.

Completing a level will often reveal a quick and silly scene showing The King or The Queen getting up to some kind of shenanigans, like rolling a bunch of wild west outlaws into a katamari after a standoff that pays homage to The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, or The King catching a giant crab and flinging it into the sky. Even failing a level has some cheek to it, as The King berates you for messing up, softening the sometimes frustrating blow of falling short of the goal. Despite this pervasive sense of humor, it never becomes cloying or overly self-aware, reliably delivering a smile at nearly every turn beyond The King’s pompous monologues. The overworld level-select maps are just as full of funny touches, like cats and dogs wandering around the Ancient Greek agora in Spartan armor or a cow sitting at a campfire like a human, warming its hooves next to its owner.

Each level takes advantage of just how much stuff there is to find within the seemingly chaotic splatter of candy, flowers, statues, lanterns, and TVs that camouflage a subtle, effortless sense of humor and direction within the madness. Tumbleweeds chase cowboys around in circles, titanic Super Sentai-style heroes practice wrestling their moves on kaiju over the horizon, bears and cows prepare for an all-fronts war, and mummies make TV shows underneath the pyramids. Again: madness. But even in the immense, sometimes overwhelming, chaos of each level, every object you can roll up is placed with deliberate care for either comedic effect or a satisfying sequence, like an octopus wreaking havoc on a pirate ship or bottles of soy sauce set up like bowling pins that will quickly push you into the next weight class so you can finally pick up that bowl of ramen in the other room.

Controlling your designated roller, you’ll whirl your massive ball of stuff around different time periods like the Jurassic period or Edo-era Japan, picking up anything smaller than your dung beetle-like ball. You might start a level the size of a pushpin or matchstick, but you could end it picking up cities or even planets by the end. The classic goal is simply to get your katamari (which literally means clump or mass in Japanese) as big as possible, but sometimes you’ll need to follow special rules. They could be as simple as collecting as many fish as possible, or as complex as only rolling up sweet items while avoiding savory or bitter things like hot sauce or charcoal because the child who asked you to do so wants to eat something sweet after a big meal.

No matter what you’re picking up, snowballing your katamari into a bigger and bigger collection of books, cannonballs, eggs, and flatware is oddly cerebral. Tapping into the same inexplicably satisfying, brain-scratching sensation you get from games like Tetris or PowerWash Simulator, there’s a zen-ness to decluttering Japanese palaces, Ice Age caves, and the decks of pirate ships washed in a low-poly-day-glo look.

Once Upon A Katamari’s oddly gripping, maximalist soundscape counters this calm with gusto. Different items snap to your odd ball with a satisfying zhoop, with certain things making unique noises like a wailing cat or a street punk scatting, turning your katamari the strangest chorus you’ve ever heard. As you roll up a ball of various odds and ends, Once Upon A Katamari matches your collection with an equally eclectic soundtrack. Inspired by the poppy hodge-podge sound of J-Pop subgenre Shibuya-kei, Once Upon A Katamari’s soundtrack stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the musical giants it’s following as a spectacular album in its own right, with or without a game to accompany it.

The soundtrack stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the musical giants it’s following.

The only unifying themes among the notes are paying subtle homage to the Katamari riff (you know: that catchy one that goes na naaa nanana nana na na na na nana naaa) that permanently tattoos itself on your hippocampus after playing any game in this series. Otherwise, Once Upon A Katamari’s soundtrack is a diverse smorgasbord of different sounds and genres, from the energetic techno-rap opening theme, Katamari Time, to the funk-jazz-fusion jam, Power of Katamari Damacy, to the unexpectedly lovely choral title track from one of the series’ original composers, Asuka Sakai, featuring the San Francisco Boys Choir. There’s not a bad track among the 36-song bunch.

But Once Upon A Katamari is happy to oblige your sonic nostalgia for the other games, too, with nearly every track from the series’ 21-year history available in a music selector that has a handful of options to tweak. You can make a playlist of your favorite songs from across the series or loop a specific favorite over any of Once Upon A Katamari’s levels. It’s frustrating that you can’t just play an individual game’s soundtrack in order, and that multiple games are inexplicably clumped together in two separate eras instead of game by game, but the playlist feature at least more or less makes up for those shortcomings. The shuffle feature also has an odd hiccup where whichever song played last starts over when you start the next level. And since some of these levels are shorter than much of the near-100-song tracklist, you might wind up hearing some songs more times in a row than you’d want when choosing shuffle, but you can always select a new song before starting a level to fix that.

Rengame’s surgical approach to recreating the immutable charm of this series deftly avoids the uninteresting pitfalls of hollow nostalgia. Instead of treating iconic levels from the original as gospel doomed to be worn out in every Katamari game like the requisite recreation of 1-1 in the Mario series, nearly every stage here is wholly original. Katamari’s newest custodians toy with the formula with careful precision, supplementing the flow of what I’ve come to expect from a roll-icking good time with new level types and even power-ups to augment your rolling while taking care not to disrupt the delicate balance of calm and chaos that defines Katamari. Combining that with subtle modernizations established in more recent Katamari games, like a clearer scoring system, Once Upon A Katamari threads the needle between old and new surprisingly well.

For example, using both joysticks to control where and how you roll has always been deliberately awkward, with the mass becoming harder and harder to maneuver as you grow exponentially. Once Upon A Katamari makes zooming around at smaller sizes feel a little more precise than it used to, which I didn’t like at first, but this ultimately helped highlight the sense of scale this series has always been good at in bright yellow.

The power-ups add a nice layer to the rolling as well, and let Rengame play with new design ideas that emphasize the puzzle element of efficiently finding your way around – even breaking the trance-like flow for a certain level or part of one to instead experiment with puzzle-like problems to solve. The Rocket power-up, for example, helped me brave a powerful wind storm to pick up a few extra items, but only lasted for a short burst of speed, adding an extra layer of challenge and strategy I wasn’t normally used to. The Radar power-up helped me find specific items to complete a pharaoh’s series of requests in one of the Ancient Egypt levels as he asked for 10 bananas or a dozen eggs. None of these drastically reshape or redefine the rolling at Katamari’s core, but do open up new level design ideas that offer fun diversions from the standard “make your katamari as big as possible” levels.

Katamari’s newest custodians toy with the formula with careful precision.

Once Upon A Katamari is by far the biggest game in the series to date, though still relatively small in scope overall - it took me around 10 hours to complete every main level at least once. Rengame acknowledges and helps buttress this with new collectibles to find in each level and unlockable challenges to keep me coming back with a new approach. In addition to finding cousins who serve as additional playable characters and gifts that unlock new customization options for them, three crowns are hidden in each level, adding extra challenges and legitimately compelling reasons to revisit levels. Having a certain number of cousins or crowns will open up extra levels, too, adding even more reason to roll around the same place a few times. Challenges don’t offer the same rewards, but they’re a nice nod to players like me who regularly revisit completed Katamari games.

That all said, the stages that are available are unfortunately lopsided, with a majority of the levels taking place in Edo Japan – it holds more than double the amount of levels as the next biggest era. I understand that this series has always embraced Japanese culture, but in the context of Once Upon A Katamari’s time travel concept, it feels like a lot of ground was left uncovered across the nine other eras, some of which only host as few as three or four levels.

Rengame also builds on the multiplayer modes established in the other Katamari games with the series’ best take on multiplayer to date. While co-op control of a single katamari isn't available this time around, the PvP mode once again has you and other rollers try to pick up the most stuff. But unlike previous entries, you earn points by depositing your hard-earned stuff in a UFO, giving more utility to the new power-ups and adding a more dynamic flow to competition than just rolling as much as possible. Once your time’s up, The King intervenes to hand out bonus points in a Mario Party-style round-up that awards competitors for stuff like the number of times they’ve used a power-up or rolled up their opponents. It’s nothing revolutionary, but a step up that makes multiplayer feel like more than just an afterthought.

Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted Review

22 octobre 2025 à 17:00

Call it the sentiment of an aging millennial, but I can't help but feel somewhat comforted while playing Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted. It not only updates the original's stellar blend of approachable tower-defense and puzzle gameplay, but it's also a reminder of how quirky and endearing games were in the late 2000s. Developer PopCap Games returns to give this classic another well-deserved moment in the sun, adding new content, quality-of-life improvements, and features from other ports to create a more complete package. That said, Replanted struggles to balance its updates with its attempts to preserve the look of the original. In doing so, it presents an uneven remaster that is the most complete version of Plants vs. Zombies ever released, but also one that feels less polished in the ways that matter most.

The charm of PvZ comes from its cheerful and fun vibes, which feel akin to an afternoon cartoon show you'd watch on Nickelodeon. In keeping with the series, Replanted never attempts to explain how this quirky side of the zombie apocalypse started, or, even more strangely, how the plants gained heightened sentience to fight back. And honestly, that still works out for the best, because vibes alone have helped the Plants vs. Zombies series go far. The tone always stays fast and loose with its premise to keep the absurdity ramping up, which it does plenty.

The Replanted edition brings back everything from the 2009 PC release along with nearly all of the additions from the various console and mobile ports that followed – including material from the discontinued Chinese release of PvZ. Even the local co-op and competitive modes from the console ports make a return, which I missed the first time around. This makes Replanted such a neat opportunity to get reacquainted both with why the original still holds up today and the many upgrades it got over the years.

What made Plants vs. Zombies so engaging was how it blended real-time strategy with the feeling of placing pieces of a puzzle onto a table. It really leans into the satisfaction of finding a particular approach and adapting your units as needed. When the action gets going, and your squads of peashooters and walnuts are holding the line against zombie quarterbacks, 'zomboni' drivers, and other oddball undead, it's so captivating to see play out. Even as someone who played it plenty 16 years ago, I still found myself immediately drawn back in, arranging my plants in the best tactical positions to keep the zombies off my doorstep.

Even as someone who played it plenty 16 years ago, I still found myself immediately drawn back in.

The overall challenge of the original generally stayed fair and easygoing, but there were a few moments of unexpected difficulty spikes, and Replanted doesn't do much to fix that. Granted, many of the sudden challenges that arise are because of how breezy the campaign can be, which made the more difficult stages catch me off guard thanks to the tough new zombie units that came my way. I found the challenges to be reasonable overall, but the difficulty can still hit hard when you least expect it.

Replanted does make efforts to switch things up and add its own stuff that's not been seen elsewhere. One very welcome update for returning players is the ability to speed up battles. You can hit the fast-forward option to speed animations up three additional notches, which adds the challenge of making battles feel a bit more hectic at that heightened pace. It was generally helpful for clearing out the waiting periods in missions, which previously took up a lot of time. However, one downside of this is that changing the speed unfortunately alters the music, too. While I did like the remixed songs with faster beats, it means the classic music that ramped up as the battles escalated has been disappointingly removed from the soundtrack.

One of the more novel additions is the Rest in Peace Mode, PvZ's take on a permadeath run for the main adventure. With fewer defenses protecting your home, even one zombie breaking through your lines will result in an instant fail and send you back to the beginning of a run. As a concept, it fits perfectly with the style of PvZ, and I did feel that familiar tension that comes from the more intense missions. However, letting you bring in all your unlocked plants and seed slots at the start of a run does undermine a lot of the intended challenge, which is an odd choice if this is supposed to be the most difficult mode in PvZ. It's ultimately not as developed as I had hoped, so trying to make a go of the new mode mostly felt underwhelming.

The most interesting and inventive Replanted addition is the Cloudy Day mode, which combines elements of day and night gameplay into a single battle. This twist introduces an interesting change by making the sunny phase focus more on resource gathering and planning, while the cloudy phase is all about building units with the benefit of lower resource costs. It's a clever mash-up of the two battle styles of PvZ, and it kept me very engaged as I tried to maximize my moments in battle when the tide changed. It's by far Replanted's most impressive innovation.

This remaster generally looks great in motion as well, especially when the action heats up with zombie hordes in full force and your plants tossing everything they can to stop them. Unfortunately, the upgraded visuals often stick a little too closely to the style and structure of the original, and their expansion to larger resolutions can sometimes feel very artificial and uneven. This creates instances where the quality can be inconsistent and unintentionally below standard, such as blurry and rough character portraits or animations in menus, and the unsightly grim filter overlay in Rest in Peace mode.

This unevenness also contributes to one of the more bizarre changes: how the original iconic ending music video was handled. Without spoilers, instead of a rousing splash of an ending, this finale is shown as a video within another cutscene, condensed onto a classic tube TV set inside your character’s home. This unnecessary flourish diminishes the final sequence, which was previously on the same level as Portal's fantastic 'Still Alive' ending. It was an unexpected downer to see that celebration of the fun energy of Plants vs. Zombies instead turned into something that feels like I'm just watching a 16-year-old recording of the credits on YouTube in full 360p resolution. This type of decision is largely emblematic of the problems with Replanted overall, as it plays things overly safe as a remaster in order to avoid remaking elements of the main game, which has the downside of making it feel reductive in its attempt to preserve it.

Microsoft Announces Xbox Game Pass Wave 2 October 2025 Lineup

22 octobre 2025 à 16:58

Microsoft has announced Wave 2 of its Xbox Game Pass October 2025 lineup, fleshing out the rest of this month’s titles.

It’s worth noting today’s announcement on Xbox Wire follows Microsoft’s Game Pass price hike and rebranding of some tiers. So, we’re now talking about what’s on Game Pass Premium and Essential, rather than Standard and Core. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass keep their names.

Xbox Game Pass Tier and Price Changes, October 2025:

  • Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: $29.99 a month, up from $19.99 a month
  • Xbox Game Pass Premium: $14.99 a month, the same as the old Standard subscription
  • Xbox Game Pass Essential: $9.99 a month, the same as the old Core subscription
  • PC Game Pass: $16.49 a month, up from $11.99

So, available today, October 22, on Game Pass Premium, is Commandos: Origins (Cloud, Console, and PC), now with Game Pass Premium. Here’s the official blurb: “Commandos: Origins revisits the six iconic commandos from the original series. Witness elite stealth-tactics gameplay, use your team’s unique abilities to execute complex strategies, and combine your forces in 2-player co-op multiplayer. The battlefield is calling. Do you have what it takes?”

Also now on Game Pass Premium is Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S). “Pursue your aviation career with dynamically generated missions, compete against other pilots, and explore the most detailed digital twin of the world to date. Set out on your global adventure with our largest fleet of aircraft as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 takes simulation to new heights of authenticity and realism. The sky is calling!”

Tomorrow, October 23, PowerWash Simulator 2 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) hits Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass as a day one Game Pass launch. IGN's PowerWash Simulator 2 review returned an 8/10. We said: "PowerWash Simulator 2 smartly sticks to what made the original formula such a blast while throwing in some upgrades to deal with few of its pesky problems."

Also on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass as a day one title on October 23 is Bounty Star (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S). “Bounty Star is an over-the-shoulder 3D action game that marries mech combat and customization with farming and base building. The player takes on the role of a broken but powerful ex-soldier named Clem, a war veteran, talented fighter and expert mech pilot.”

The day one launches continue on October 24 with Super Fantasy Kingdom (Game Preview) (PC) via Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. “Rebuild your kingdom and explore a vibrant fantasy world in this roguelite city builder. Defeat hordes of monsters with a unique team of defenders as you harvest, build, mine, cook, brew, and grow. But if your defenses should fail, be prepared to watch it all burn!”

Halls of Torment (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) hits Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass on October 28. “Slay hordes of terrifying monsters in this horde survival roguelite. Descend into the Halls of Torment where the Lords of the Underworld await you. Treasures, magical trinkets, and a growing cast of heroes will grant you the power to vanquish these horrors from beyond. How long can you survive?”

Here’s a big one: Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds 2 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) launches straight into Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on October 29. “The Outer Worlds 2 is the eagerly-awaited sequel to the award-winning first-person sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment (just look at the exciting number of dashes in this sentence!). Time to clear your calendar – get ready for an action-packed adventure with a new crew, new weapons, and new enemies in a new colony! Pre-order the Premium Upgrade Edition now to get up to 5 days early access, the Commander Zane’s Anti-Monopolistic Battle Pack, DLC Pass for 2 future story expansions, and more!”

And moving into next month, 1000xResist (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) hits Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass on November 4. “1000xResist is a thrilling sci-fi adventure. The year is unknown, and a disease spread by an alien invasion keeps you underground. You are Watcher. You dutifully fulfil your purpose in serving the Allmother, until the day you discover a shocking secret that changes everything.”

Rounding out the lineup is another big hitter: Football Manager 26 (PC) via Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass as a day one launch on November 4. “New foundations set the stage for you to define your football destiny. Built on the Unity engine, FM26 is the legacy, redefined and where storytelling evolves, placing you at the heart of the beautiful game. A reimagined interface and more immersive matchday experience brings you closer to the action and combine to elevate every decision and match-defining moment.” This also includes Football Manager 26 Console (Cloud, Console, and PC) on the same day via Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

Xbox Game Pass Wave 2 October 2025 lineup:

  • PowerWash Simulator 2 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – October 23, Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
  • Bounty Star (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – October 23, Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
  • Super Fantasy Kingdom (Game Preview) (PC) – October 24, Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
  • Halls of Torment (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – October 28, Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
  • The Outer Worlds 2 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – October 29, Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
  • 1000xResist (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – November 4, Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
  • Football Manager 26 (PC) – November 4, Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
  • Football Manager 26 Console (Cloud, Console, and PC) – November 4, Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass

As always, a number of games leave Xbox Game Pass this month. You can save up to 20% off your purchase to keep playing.

Leaving Xbox Game Pass on October 31:

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.

KPop Demon Hunters Will Get a Ton of Branded Toys Through New Netflix Hasbro and Mattel Partnership

22 octobre 2025 à 16:44

Here we go: KPop Demon Hunters is poised to be a global phenomenon. Why are we just saying that now? Well, because Netflix has officially announced that the hit film will work in joint partnership with toy giants Mattel and Hasbro to license a ton of cool toys for HUNTR/X and Saja Boys fans alike.

Once a movie or TV show starts getting toy lines, it’s serious, folks. The global co-master licenses for both companies will allow them to both produce toys, games, collectibles, role-play products, and more.

“Kpop Demon Hunters unleashed a global fan frenzy — we’re talking dancing, singing, and more screaming than anyone was emotionally prepared for,” Netflix’s Chief Marketing Officer Marian Lee said in a statement. “HUNTR/X showed us that a truly great trio is more than the sum of its parts. Netflix, Mattel and Hasbro joining forces on this first-of-its-kind collaboration means fans can finally get their hands on the best dolls, games, and merchandise they’ve been not-so-subtly demanding on every social platform known to humanity. As Rumi, Mira and Zoey say — for the fans!”

With Mattel, Netflix plans to develop a full range of products that naturally will include dolls and action figures, as the company is responsible for the legendary and iconic Barbie doll line. Additionally, the collaboration with Mattel will also include playsets, collectibles, accessories, and even collaborations with co-brands. Mattel's first product drop will be a three-pack of HUNTR/X dolls, which will be available for pre-order beginning November 12, 2025.

As for Hasbro, Netflix will develop some new youth electronics products, special feature plush products, and role play products with the company. Hasbro’s first KPop Demon Hunters product to hit the market will be Monopoly Deal: KPop Demon Hunters, which will be a branded version of the Monopoly spinoff game. It is available for pre-order now at Amazon, Target, and Walmart, and will ship January 1, 2026.

Most of the Hasbro and Mattel lines will debut in spring 2026 and be available for the 2026 holiday season and onward. KPop Demon Hunters, which is the most watched original title in Netflix history, is available to stream on the platform now.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

'The Game We Are Making Now Is a Nintendo Game' — Metroid Prime Producer Kensuke Tanabe Reveals Creative Tensions With Retro in New Book

22 octobre 2025 à 16:41

Nintendo and Retro Studios brought Metroid into stunning 3D with 2002's Metroid Prime, rebooting the series in a first-person shooter style through a sometimes challenging but ultimately fruitful relationship between Japanese and Western teams -- each with their own unique backgrounds and perspectives. But it wasn’t always smooth rolling for Samus along the way.

That’s according to a new book: Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Retrospective, in which Metroid Prime series producer Kensuke Tanabe comments throughout, sharing memories and insights from his perspective working with the U.S.-based Retro Studios on a Metroid game. This was a significant cross-seas, collaborative effort for Nintendo. Retro was working on a completely separate first-person game before series producer (and Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda creator) Shigeru Miyamoto proclaimed it should be a Metroid game. Metroid Prime was thus born. Tanabe recalls: “Metroid Prime was not a project that was originally planned. It was a title that came about by chance, as a result of Mr. Miyamoto clarifying the direction Retro should take… In a way it could be called a miracle.”

The game we are making now is a Nintendo game.

Tanabe frames the relationship between Retro Studios and Nintendo as ultimately hierarchical, with Nintendo having final say. “...Nintendo retained the final decision-making authority, there were many instances early on where our approaches to the specifications did not align, leading to disagreements. Retro often explained, ‘This is how Western studios approach and think about game development.' To help them understand our perspective, I told them, ‘Yes, but the game we are making now is a Nintendo game, and this is Retro’s first time working on one. I’ve been working on Nintendo games my whole career, so I believe I have the most experience in making Nintendo games. So please trust me first.'”

This led to creative tensions, with Retro holding its ground, clearly unwilling to totally cave to Nintendo. “One day, during a video conference about the Meta Ridley battle, our discussions kept clashing, and we couldn’t find common ground," Tanabe continued. "Time slipped away and by the time the meeting (which had started in the morning) finally ended, the sun was setting.”

Tanabe describes a Retro Studios that needed to be introduced to a set of design philosophies unique to Nintendo, for example enemy design beyond bosses was something Miyamoto had strong feelings about. “Many Nintendo developers have learned from Mr. Miyamoto that the appearance of enemy characters should be designed based on functionality… this had not yet been articulated quite so concisely. As a result, it took time for us to convey the concept clearly to Retro.”

You can see the collaboration working well in some cases, for instance, Retro won out in the implementation of morph ball rolling. In Metroid Prime, you generally view the game through Samus’s visor in first-person fashion, but for puzzles and tight spaces, Samus can transform into a rolling Morph Ball at which point the camera zooms out to third-person. Tanabe says of this: “The transition animation for shifting from first-person Morph Ball mode was proposed by Retro …however Retro also suggested a skip feature to reduce morphing time, but Mr. Miyamoto directed that it should be unskippable, as it was one of the opportunities to view Samus in third-person.”

It seems that Retro really pushed hard for the rolling mechanic to be expanded and ultimately won out, in an example of Nintendo relenting in the face of a great idea. Tanabe says: “Retro also proposed the mechanic of rolling through half-pipes in Morph Ball mode. Initially, Nintendo was skeptical, questioning whether it would actually be fun. However, Retro responded, ‘Please try it first before deciding.’”

The exchange of ideas and a willingness for teams to learn from one another paid off ultimately in a game IGN called a "must-have masterpiece” and which, for the 2023 remake, I scored a perfect 10/10. Tanabe reflects: “[The Metroid Prime Trilogy] was made possible by Retro maximizing the hardware’s potential through expert engineering, incorporating countless ideas without compromise to refine game design, and setting new standards for graphics in Nintendo titles.”

Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Retrospective is out October 28, 2025 and shares hundreds of pieces of concept art from the trilogy across Gamecube, Wii, and the Prime remake on Nintendo Switch. Comments from Retro Studios accompany Tanabe’s frequent notes, along with text taken from the game’s ample expository logs and scans. Metroid Prime 4, the latest team-up between Retro Studios and Nintendo, is set for Nintendo Switch 1 and Switch 2 on December 4, 2025.

Samuel Claiborn is IGN's managing editor and a fixes/breaks ancient arcade and pinball machines in his garage. TCELES B HSUP to follow him @Samuel_IGN on Twitter.

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire has been delayed until early 2026

22 octobre 2025 à 16:20

Fumi Games has announced that MOUSE: P.I. For Hire has been delayed, and that it will now release in early 2026. According to the devs, we’ll get a specific release date on October 23rd at the Galaxies Gaming Showcase. Mouse: P.I. For Hire will look like those cartoons from the 1930s with a noir vibe. … Continue reading MOUSE: P.I. For Hire has been delayed until early 2026

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