Omelet You Cook, a roguelike cooking game on Steam, has been having a great early access it seems. It recently passed 500 player reviews, and every last one of them was positive, making it one of a rare few games on Steam to have 100% positive reviews.

Until today.

As pointed out to us by developer Dan Schumacher of SchuBox Games, the game received its first negative review today. And sure, negative reviews are just part of the deal when releasing a game on Steam. But what really bothered Schumacher is that according to the text of the review, the reviewer didn't actually dislike the game. They played for 0.8 hours total, 0.2 hours when they posted the review, and wrote the following:

"Game is amazing. I just like to be different."

IGN reached out to the reviewer for further comment ahead of this piece but didn't hear back.

The community appears to have sprung to Omelet You Cook's defense, as the game has received almost 40 new positive reviews in the 14 hours since the negative review was posted, and a number of people have commented scolding the negative reviewer for ruining the positive streak just for kicks, though some of those comments are unfortunately far harsher than the negative review itself.

"Seeing this review was very draining for us," said Schumacher to IGN. "We knew 100% wouldn't last forever but it hurt to have the streak ended by someone who in their own words thinks the game is amazing. Emotionally I think I'd feel better if it was someone complaining about bugs, or design choices, or just feeling the game isn't for them."

A single negative review is hardly the end of the world for SchuBox Games, but it does make a difference. There are very, very, very few games on Steam with perfectly positive reviews, or at least in meaningful amounts like this. The more you get, the more likely it is someone will have something bad to say. There's a game called Shooters, Ready! on Steam that's only available in Japanese and similarly has over 500 positive reviews and 0 negative ones. But at least using the built in search by user reviews, there don't seem to be any others.

According to Schumacher, having no negative reviews actually did afford him some benefits, too:

"Having 100% positive reviews was a huge benefit for us because it's extremely abnormal for a game with hundreds of reviews," he told IGN. "People see 100% and become curious enough to read through some of the reviews to understand why it's so beloved or to check out the demo for themselves. We've had multiple people join our Discord or leave their own review and mention that they gave the game a chance because they couldn't believe it was maintaining 100% for so long.

"...The biggest impact this will have on Omelet You Cook is losing that mystique of a perfect 100%. That led to some opportunities for Omelet You Cook to be mentioned because it was atypical. But honestly for players coming across the Steam page, I don't think 99% vs 100% makes any difference at all. Some users like to filter by negative reviews to understand where the pain points are and I have to appreciate that this negative review frames Omelet You Cook in a very positive light."

It's long been known that engagement with games on Steam in the form of Wishlists and reviews can be a massive boon, especially for small developers. There are simply too many games, and getting attention on such a crowded storefront is impossible if you don't already have a built-up audience or a lot of advertising money. Having lots of positive reviews and few negative ones gets games like Omelet You Cook visibility when searching under certain filters or ranking systems, including third-party ones. That's certainly been the case for Omelet You Cook

"We're very fortunate and grateful to have reached 507 positive reviews before our first negative," Schumacher said. "We worked incredibly hard to achieve that with 15 content updates over 5 months. But we also got incredibly lucky and it's nowhere near a flawless game. There's plenty of valid reasons somebody might have a negative experience with the game and we're grateful to all 507 chefs who took the time to write a positive review. Each one helps Omelet You Cook reach a wider audience."

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Amazon has officially kicked off its Black Friday sale of 2025 a full week early and the discounts so far are actually quite good. As part of the IGN Deals Team, I have been covering the early Black Friday sales all November long, and these discounts are the first I've seen that truly give off Black Friday vibes. If you're planning on doing some deals shopping this year, there's really no reason not to start right now.

The Best Amazon Black Friday Deals Today

Some of the most notable deals so far are of course Amazon's own devices. The Fire TV sticks were discounted before the official sale started and I'd expect those deals to last all the way through Cyber Monday. Both the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Colorsoft have dropped to the lowest prices we've seen all year as well, making it a great time to pick up one of the best reading tablets if you don't already have one. And if reading isn't really something you have time for right now, the classic Audible deal has returned and you can get that service for only $0.99 per month for the first three months. I'd definitely recommend trying that out, even to just listen to the new full-cast Harry Potter Audiobook, which I thought was actually really good.

Some of the surprising deals here are on gaming PCs and gaming laptops. Dell kicked off its Alienware sale earlier this week, but these are the first decent Amazon deals we've seen all month. I'd definitely expect these deals to go quickly, so jump on them now while they are still available.

Will there be more Amazon Black Friday deals later?

While it's true that this is Amazon's official Black Friday sale, not all of the deals are live yet. Amazon and Best Buy are the only two retailers who have launched "official" sales so far, so what we're seeing here is only the first round of big deals before Black Friday proper. The next round will actually start tomorrow when the PlayStation Black Friday sale officially begins. Amazon will most likely price match all of those deals, which include discounts on PS5 consoles, games, and accessories. There was also the Nintendo Black Friday announcement a few weeks back, that stated the official Nintendo sale would be starting on November 23, so there's unlikely to be many Switch games on sale until then. Most of the video game deals available now are thanks to GameStop's early Black Friday sale starting this week, but rest assured that more are on their way.

Outside of video games and consoles, you may have noticed that there is a significant lack of good LEGO deals in this round one of Amazon's Black Friday sale. That's most likely because the LEGO Store Black Friday sale doesn't actually begin until actual Black Friday. Some discounts will be available early, but I'd expect the bulk of the LEGO deals to drop on November 28. There will likely be even more toy deals before that when the Walmart Black Friday sale goes live on November 25.

You Don't Need a Prime Membership to Shop These Sales

Amazon doesn't require you to have a Prime membership to access its Black Friday sale. Unlike Prime-exclusive events like Prime Day and Prime Big Deal Days, Black Friday is open to everyone. There are some exceptions to that, and you may run into some deals marked "Prime Deal", but for the most part you shouldn't run into any issues if you don't have a subscription.

There are quite a few benefits available to Prime members that can be helpful during Black Friday shopping, however. Most notably the free shipping comes in handy if you're buying anything for less than $35. There are a couple of different free trial options available to new subscribers you can check out during this sales event, with the base option giving you 30-days free.

Jacob Kienlen is a Senior SEO Strategist and Writer for IGN. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he has considered the Northwest his home for his entire life. With a bachelor's degree in communication and over 7 years of professional writing experience, his expertise is spread across a variety of different topics -- from TV series to indie games and popular book series.

Amazon is kicking off its Black Friday sale with some of the best Kindle deals we've seen all year. Pretty much every model is now on sale at the lowest price of 2025, so if you've been hoping to pick up a good e-reader at a discount, now is the time to do so. I've had my Kindle Paperwhite for over a year now and it's one of the only devices I use every day. If you do a lot of reading, I highly recommend getting a Kindle for yourself and changing your life for the better. It's literally thousands of books in the palm of your hand.

There are four core models currently discounted in Amazon's Black Friday sale: The Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Colorsoft, Kindle Scriber, and the standard Kindle.

The Best Kindle Deals at Amazon Today

The last time I saw Kindle prices drop this low was during Prime Day in July, and Amazon has matched or gone lower for each model for Black Friday this year. The Kindle Paperwhite is currently IGN's top pick for the best reading tablet, and it is currently matching its lowest price ever at $124.99. Perhaps the overall best discount here, however, is on the Kindle Colorsoft. Amazon's full color e-reader has dropped to a new low price of $169.99, which is a full $80 off its usual price. The standard Amazon Kindle has also dropped to its lowest price ever at just $79.99, which is getting into dangerously affordable territory.

Which Kindle should you buy?

With multiple models discounted, it's worth considering the advantages and disadvantages of each before you buy. If all you need is a regular e-ink reading tablet that can function as a replacement for physical books, then it mostly comes down to a choice between the Kindle Paperwhite and the standard Kindle. I've used both myself and the only real difference is in the size of the screen itself. The Kindle Paperwhite has a 7-inch screen while the regular Kindle is only 6-inches. I personally like the additional reading room, but since you can change the font size easily it isn't necessarily worth the extra $45 in this case. Both options also include the adjustable backlight, so reading at night is super easy either way.

The Kindle Colorsoft is what I'd recommend for anyone planning on reading digital comics and manga. The standard Kindles can load comics and graphic novels, but only in black and white. The Colorsoft will allow for full color, making it the best overall option for anything with pictures. An iPad is probably a better choice for comics, but it's a lot more expensive and doesn't feature the same soft e-ink display as a Kindle does.

Lastly, there's the Kindle Scribe, which is essentially an e-ink digital notebook. It can function as a normal Kindle, but with the added benefit of allowing you to write and take notes on it as well. It's great for anyone who is looking to quickly jump between reading a book and being productive in an instant, though it is the most expensive option here.

Kindle Unlimited Is Also on Sale

The IGN Deals team has more than 30 years of combined deal-hunting experience. We've been finding discounts long before it was even our job to do so and will continue to do so long after we retire. The art of saving money is something anyone can learn to do, but only a select few have the dedication and drive to truly master it.

Thankfully, our team of experts will be doing most of the deal-hunting for you during Black Friday season this year. We'll be using various tricks of the trade to seek out the best deals each day to help guide you toward discounts on the things you actually want to buy this holiday season.

Meet the IGN Deals Team

Eric Song, Commerce Manager

Eric started his professional deal hunting career at Techbargains back in 2007, later taking on additional managerial roles at LogicBuy and ExtremeTech. In 2016, he assumed his current position as IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time. The best deal he's recently found was a LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon 751982 kit for about $200 (normally $800) thanks to a Target price error. When he's not racking up freemogems in Genshin Impact or attempting to lose weight with Beat Saber, Eric's out in the Pacific ocean on his kayak fishing for salmon and halibut.

Robert Anderson, Senior Commerce Editor

Robert has been with IGN for almost seven years, first starting his career writing about broadband and mobile phone contracts in the UK. He's since gone on to be IGN's resident gaming deals expert, and has lent his bargain hunting skills to a handful of IGN's sister sites like Eurogamer, RockPaperShotgun, VG247, PCMag, and Mashable. Alongside his knack for gaming deals, he loves a dive deep to find elusive discounts on TCGs like Pokémon or Magic, 4K UHD Blu-rays, comics, and a plenty more. When he's not writing for IGN, you'll find him playing Darkest Dungeon on his Steam Deck with a piping hot cup of tea. Cheers!

Chris Reed, Commerce Editor

Chris has been writing professionally for 15 years. It all started when he got an iPod Touch and started looking for games and thought, “I could review these things.” In short order, he got a job as a mobile gaming editor before moving on to cover console and PC games at sites like The Cheat Sheet and GameSpot. He’s always had an eye out for a good deal, so joining IGN as a commerce editor was an easy fit. He’s covered Black Friday and Cyber Monday for seven years and counting, digging up all the best deals available at any given moment.

Seth G. Macy, Sr. Social Commerce Producer

Seth has been writing about video games professionally since 2009, starting at 1UP.com and moving to IGN as a news freelancer in 2014. He was hired on full-time in 2018 as Tech & Commerce editor before moving to Executive Editor, IGN Commerce and now Sr. Social Producer, Commerce. Since the start of 2025 he's grown the IGN Deals social commerce accounts by 38,000 followers, an almost 11% increase YoY. A mixture of up to the minute deals, clever graphics, and timely postings have pushed this growth. He also shows up in a lot of IGN's video content, due to his boyish charm.

Jacob Kienlen, Senior SEO Strategist

Jacob has been writing professionally for a little over eight years now, but he's been clipping coupons his entire adult life. He first got his start working at Digital Trends where he naturally fell into commerce coverage around tech deals and discounts. There, he led the team's Black Friday and Cyber Monday coverage for two years before moving into a broader role. Since he's been at IGN, he has continued to work on larger content projects, but still helps assist with sales event coverage throughout the year. Jacob's role on the IGN Deals Team during Black Friday this year will be covering broad sales trends at major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target.

Blythe Dujardin, SEO Coordinator

Blythe is the newest member on the IGN Deals team. After two years at a digital marketing agency, she arrived at IGN in 2024 to support general coverage strategy while pitching in during major sales events. She largely handles streaming coverage because she suffers from extreme FOMO any time she misses a discount. Over Black Friday, she’ll be keeping an eye on Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, and Crunchyroll in particular. As a collector herself, Blythe’s also always looking for physical media deals from major retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Her major points of interest are books, DVDs, and TCGs like Magic: The Gathering.

Lindsey Salzer, Director of Audience Dev. and Commerce

Lindsey (she/her) has a background in digital marketing, SEO and audience development, spanning over 10 years. She has worn many hats in her career, but has most recently been overseeing the affiliate business at IGN, ensuring IGN's audience gets the best shopping guidance on all of the cool tech, gadgets, toys and games every day. She will be very hands on during Black Friday, supporting the team any way she can to optimize and promote IGN experts' deals during the craziness that is Black Friday week. On a personal level, Lindsey grew up thrift shopping with her mom, so bargain hunting is in her blood. (She even had a fashion blog at one point.) That said, she's a big fan of resale sites like Depop and eBay.

Get a jump start on your 2026 New Year's resolution to get fit or build muscle with Speediance. Speediance is a revolutionary fitness brand offering AI-powered gym systems designed to keep you on top of your goals, all from the comfort of your own home. From weight training to cardio, these unique, smart workout machines deliver results—and help ease some of the guilt from all the yuletide delights you’ll be enjoying in the coming months.

Now’s the time to buy one of these awesome home gym systems, as Speediance’s Black Friday sale is live. You can score up to $1,200 off its machines, including the all-in-one Gym Monster and Gym Monster 2. That’s up to 33% savings. IGN also scored an exclusive code: MEDIA120, which can be stacked on top of the current deal, knocking off an additional $120. However, supply is limited, so once the product is gone, it’s really gone.

Save Up to $1,200 on Speediance Home Gym Equipment

Chances are good you won’t see sales this great again this year, but there is a 60-day price match guarantee if a Speediance machine happens to become cheaper (excluding flash sales). And to sweeten the deal even further, the Gym Monster and Gym Monster 2 include exclusive free accessories with purchase to elevate your workout, such as hooks, straps, docks, and handles.

Speediance Smart Gym Lineup

The Gym Monster and Gym Monster 2 are Speediance’s flagship gym equipment. These systems keep relatively compact dimensions while delivering up to 220 pounds of resistance, adjustable by one-pound increments. The versatility is unmatched, allowing it to be transformed into a squat rack, pulley machine, dumbbell, rower, and beyond. However, the standout feature is the 32-inch monitor, which is packed with training sessions, curated workouts, real-time feedback, and more. Using AI enhancements via Speediance’s Wellness+, you can even enjoy extremely personalized insights into your fitness.

The all-in-one Gym Monster and its accessories aren’t the only equipment Speediance offers. If you like the sound of the Gym Monster, but are pressed for space, there’s a more compact option, Gym Pal, which delivers up to 200 pounds of resistance and offers ample training opportunities.

Speediance also has the VeloNix, an indoor bike equipped with AI insights, ample adjustability for the perfect fit, and excellent simulation to bring the outdoor riding feel inside. Best of all, the Black Friday discounts also apply to the VeloNix and it comes with a few free accessories.

Anyone who’s been looking to grab new fitness equipment should act now. Deals this good won’t last long. Be sure to check out some other great Black Friday sales that have already dropped and big deals to anticipate.

Danielle is a Tech freelance writer based in Los Angeles who spends her free time creating videos and geeking out over music history.

Ahead of Black Friday, Lenovo is offering a really, really good deal on one of its highest end laptops. For a limited time (and maybe not until Black Friday), you can pick up a Lenovo Legion Pro 7 Gen 10 gaming laptop, equipped with a 16" OLED display, AMD Ryzen 9 X3D CPU, and RTX 5080 GPU, for just $2,301.69 with free shipping when you apply two stackable coupon codes "LEGIONRMN6" and "EARLYHOLIDEAL". The Ryzen 9 X3D is the most powerful mobile gaming CPU on the market, easily besting anything that Intel has in its repertoire, and the GeForce RTX 5080 GPU is no slouch either.

Lenovo Legion Pro 7 RTX 5080 Laptop for $2,300

After codes "LEGIONRMN6" and "EARLYHOLIDEAL"

The holiday season is here and AliExpress is kicking off is early Black Friday Sale with some incredible deals on hundreds of its locally shipped products, including best sellers like electric bikes and scooters, gaming handhelds, imported Switch 2 and PlayStation 5 consoles, brand name 3D printers, and more. These deals are roughly 10%-20% cheaper than previous lows thanks to a combination of coupon codes and a Retailmenot cash back offer. All the products listed below ship from a local US warehouse, which means you don't need to worry about tariffs or obnoxiously long shipping times.

AliExpress Coupon Codes (Tested and Verified)

Most of these deals are made better by using one of these tiered coupons:

• AEUS04 ($4 Off Orders $20+)
• AEUS06 ($6 Off Orders $30+)
• AEUS08 ($8 Off Orders $40+)
• AEUS10 ($10 off Orders $50+)
• AEUS12 ($12 Off Orders $60+)
• AEUS20 ($20 Off Orders $100+)
• AEUS26 ($26 Off Orders $130+)
• AEUS32 ($32 Off Orders $160+)
• USDEAL44 ($44 Off Orders $220+)
• AEUS56 ($56 Off Orders $280+)
• AEUS64 ($64 Off Orders $320+)
• AEUS80 ($80 Off Orders $400+)
• AEUS100 ($100 Off Orders $500+)

Extra 15% Cash Back at Retailmenot

Portable Gaming Handhelds

AliExpress is widely regarded as the best online store to pick up a portable gaming handheld at an outrageously low price. These portable gaming handhelds feature small 3.5" displays, 32-bit or 64-bit processors, and usually run off Android or Linux. Despite the low price, these gaming handhelds are well built and feel like a professionally engineered product.

1,000W Electric Bikes Starting at $276

350W Electric Scooters Starting at $109

Arzopa Portable USB Monitors Starting at $50

A portable USB monitor has many practical uses, such as a secondary display for your laptop or a travel-friendly screen for your Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck handheld gaming PC. Ahead of Black Friday, Arzopa is hosting some big markdowns on its popular lineup of portable USB monitors via its official AliExpress storefront. Combined with some general AliExpress coupon codes, these deals are the lowest prices I've seen all year long. All of the portable monitors listed ship free from the United States, which means you don't have to worry about tariffs or long shipping times.

3D Printers Starting at $163

Power Stations Starting at $88

With the winter season approaching, you should seriously consider picking up a power station in case of emergencies. Fortunately for you, the best time to score a great deal on a power station is during Black Friday. AliExpress has already come out of the gate early with the lowest prices I've seen all year on several power stations from trusted brand names like Allpowers and Bluetti. The deals I've listed below are sold by the manufacturers' official seller accounts, so you're sure to receive a genuine product with full warranty. These power stations also ship free from a local US warehouse, which means you don't need to worry about tariffs or obnoxiously long shipping times.

Imported Nintendo Switch 2 Consoles, Controllers, and Games

If you still haven't yet picked up a Nintendo Switch 2 because it's too expensive, there is an opportunity to get one at a discounted price. AliExpress is offering a Nintendo Switch 2 Mario Kart World console bundle for as low as $4100 (normally $500). It ships free locally from the United States (which means no tariffs and no obnoxiously long wait times).

Note that the console is a Hong Kong import. All international Switch consoles are region unlocked, meaning they can be used in the US without any problems and without any modification. Likewise, all Switch 2 hardware (like controllers) and physical games are also region unlocked.

Sofirn SP36 Pro 8,000-Lumen EDC LED Flashlight

Licensed JoyToy Warhammer 40K Figures

Audible's Black Friday deal has already kicked off, and it's one of the best I've seen in quite a while. Starting now and running through December 1 (Cyber Monday), new and returning Audible subscribers can sign up for three months of Audible Premium Plus for just $0.99 per month. Even better, you also get a bonus $20 in Audible credit that you can use on any audibook of your choice. Finally, as part of the Premium Plus subscription, you also get a free audiobook of your choice every month, and you get to keep it indefinitely even after your subscription expires.

Since this is an Amazon Prime exclusive deal, you'll need to be logged into your Prime account to see this promotion. As long as you're not a current subscriber, you should be eligible. After the three months is up, your subscription will convert to the standard $14.95/mo, so make sure to cancel beforehand if you don't want to continue with the service. I haven't confirmed this, but you could potentially use your bonus Audible credit to get one more free month of Premium Plus.

3 Free Months of Audible Premium Plus

Epic Games is teasing an explosive return to Fortnite story content with a Chapter 6 Zero Hour Finale Live Event teaser trailer that packs in heavy-hitter cameos ahead of the inevitable launch of Chapter Seven.

The description for the new Fortnite story video teases that some familiar faces will “assemble in the final endgame to save reality,” and the footage proves it. In just 30 seconds, we see Jonesy dodging giant tentacle monster attacks as Godzilla, King Kong, and Star Wars X-Wings battle overhead. Naturally, a giant, half-naked Homer Simpson then shows up before Uma Thurman’s Kill Bill character, The Bride, swoops in, with the trailer then finally telling players to expect the Fortnite Chapter 6 Zero Hour Finale event to take place November 29 at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET.

There’s a lot to unpack here, but the reveal most will pick up off the bat is that Kill Bill appearance. Fans have spent weeks speculating about how Quentin Tarantino’s legendary action series may soon find representation in Fortnite, with today’s teaser finally revealing a first look.

It’s an unveiling that will also surely reinforce rumors that Tarantino himself is involved in some of Epic’s upcoming festivities, with some believing the filmmaker directed its new cinematic. There’s been no official word on what exactly the big finale has in store, but with some eagle-eyed fans already spotting a Fortnite-related premiere at Tarantino’s The Vista Theatre in Los Angeles, the evidence is only getting harder to deny.

As everyone from Godzilla to Homer stomps in for what is poised to be one of the biggest Fortnite events ever, fans can’t help but look forward to how Chapter Seven may shake up the long-running live-service experience’s formula. Some believe Epic is dropping hints that The Seven, a star-studded group that has largely been MIA from Fortnite story content for years, could somehow make a comeback for the Seven-themed Chapter, for example.

Should The Seven return to Epic’s grand video game multiverse, it would likely mean the stars who play them, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Brie Larson, would be back, too. We should find out more about the Fortnite Chapter 6 Zero Hour Finale and Chapter Seven in the coming weeks

In the meantime, players have spent November gallivanting around none other than The Simpsons’ Springfield, as the long-running animated series made its debut with themed skins, Easter Eggs, and more. It’s a crossover that’s been particularly successful for Epic, with players also enjoying the new Sidekicks feature and the return of the Omniverse.

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).

HP just unloaded an excellent deal on one of the most powerful gaming laptops currently available. The OMEN MAX 16 RTX 5080 gaming laptop starts at just $2,309.99 with free shipping after applying 30% off coupon "OMENMAX30". The RTX 5080 is an absolute monster of a mobile GPU that surpasses the previous generation's top performer, the RTX 4090.

OMEN MAX 16 RTX 5080 Gaming Laptop for $2,309.99

As a fighting game fan, I’ve grown to enjoy the process. Spending extended amounts of time in training mode learning the timing of memorized button presses in the hopes that, when it really counts, that practice will pay off. This might be why I found Forestrike, a 2D martial arts inspired roguelite that lets you plan out your approach to solving a gauntlet of combat encounters before executing upon them for real, so uniquely appealing. It successfully evokes the feeling of classic kung fu fight choreography by mixing straight up hand-to-hand combat with clever moments of using the environment to your advantage, or turning an enemy’s own weapon against them, or causing friendly fire simply with an effortless step to the side, all on a 2D plane with minimalist spite art. The precision and memorization needed to accomplish these impressive looking feats can be brutal, especially considering how easy it is for one mistake to cascade into many more, eventually cratering a run, but this clever concept still manages to pack a heck of a punch.

Forestrike puts you in control of Yu, a young martial artist who is part of the Order of the Foresight, a faction dutifully devoted to serving their Emperor, and one that becomes dedicated to the mission of saving said emperor from the manipulation of a being known as The Admiral. There’s a surprising amount of dialogue in Forestrike as we learn more about The Order and the various masters that guide Yu along his journey in between each run. In that way, it’s a lot like the intermissions between runs of Hades, but instead of always looking forward to the new things characters had to say, I generally found myself eager to get on with it so I could get back to fighting. A complete lack of voice acting certainly contributed to this, but the writing and characters themselves also just weren’t strong enough to keep my interest for very long.

Once you’re in an actual run, Forestrike flexes its muscles. It’s structured like a gauntlet of combat encounters against increasingly difficult foes, but before the actual fighting starts you’re able use your foresight technique to essentially do a practice run. That lets you find the right combination of attacks, dodges, and techniques to defeat all of the enemies in the most efficient way possible. Defensive resources like blocks and dodges are extremely limited, and it’s rare that you’ll go into an encounter with more than one of either. At first it felt rather frustrating as I just continuously found myself being forced to burn my dodge or block against the first tough enemy, which meant I wouldn’t be able to avoid the attacks of the last one. Eventually, though, a visual language started to develop as I learned how enemies would react to my actions and how I could use those predictable tendencies to my advantage.

If one enemy was charging me from the right, I could use my dodge resource to move an enemy on my left to the other side, putting him right in the way of that attack. If I was up against an enemy with spikes on the front of their body, I could look for a type of puppet enemy that drops its head when killed, which could then be picked up and thrown to kill the spiked foe from a distance. Figuring out this visual language organically was super satisfying, and I felt like I was getting further and further in my runs not because my character was becoming more powerful, but because I was simply getting better, which is always a great feeling in a roguelite.

What really makes the gameplay sing are the different martial masters that you take along with you in each run, which dictate what techniques you’re able to use. There’s Talgun, who is the master of the Leaf style, which focuses primarily on redirecting enemy attacks so that your foes take each other out; Nodai of the Cold Eye style, which focuses primarily on blocking, restoring health, and brute force; and my favorite, Monkey, who utilizes a wild fighting style that relies on surprising foes with dropkicks, bananas, and resting on the floor so that enemy attacks go right over and slam into the foe behind you.

Each style requires a completely different approach to solving the puzzles of combat, and I loved jumping between them and seeing the many different techniques that unlock the further you get in a run. Each time you beat the boss of one of the four regions, you unlock more techniques that get added to the pool of randomly selected rewards, which essentially acts as the permanent progression that helps give you the extra edge you’ll need to conquer each of the four regions of the campaign.

The one big issue with this formula is that the amount of precision required in some of the later stages can get pretty out of control, especially considering how quickly things can go off the rails with just one error. I’ve had multiple combat encounters where all of my practice runs went flawlessly, but on the actual attempt I was just a hair off on the timing of a single strike, which would essentially cause my whole plan to break down and force me to improvise the rest of the way, which usually leads to either death or near death. That’s just part of the design, but it doesn’t stop it from being extremely frustrating to lose an otherwise great run to what ultimately amounts to being off by just milliseconds one time.

The sprite based art style is intentionally minimalist – much like Skeleton Crew Studio’s previous game, Olija – and for the most part is very charming. The sprites themselves are surprisingly expressive despite their lack of detail, the 2D art is fantastic, and the actual combat animations are great – but for whatever reason the same attention was not given to the walk and run animations, which are some of the most awkward I’ve seen in 2D pixel art. It’s not a huge deal since Yu only really walks and runs in between runs at the monastery, but it’s still a very strange quirk in a game that otherwise looks great.

Not only is Reiner Knizia certainly the most prolific designer in hobby board games, but The Hobbit: There And Back Again isn’t even his first (or second, or third) game based on Tolkien's book for children. First was a 2010 game where players were the hobbit’s dwarf companions, helping on his adventure and trying to escape with as much gold as possible. Then came two 2013 cooperative games. None were particularly well-received, especially when you consider how many Knizia titles could count among the best games of all time. So now he’s back for a fourth bite at the hobbit’s ample table, with an all-new design.

What’s in the Box

Rules and How It Plays

The Hobbit: There and Back Again is fundamentally a path-drawing roll and write game. However many players are competing, someone rolls the five dice, three of which will come up with path symbols that draw a line, often with turns and branches, across one, two or three squares. The other two roll resources, like bread and swords. There are eight scenarios in the game, each with its own page in the included flip-book, and in most of them the goal is to use path symbols to draw a line from a starting point to an end goal, ideally hitting certain squares and avoiding others along the way.

This being a Reiner Knizia game, however, there is a great deal more to this than first meets the eye. For starters, most games of this kind see all the players sharing the results of the roll, marking them up on their own sheets. But this involves dice-drafting so, on your turn, you pick one and remove it from the pool. Instantly this makes the decision more interesting as you’re not only picking to optimize your own route but potentially deny it to other players. For this reason the game works best as a 2-player board game, as it’s easier to keep a close eye on what others are doing. It’s still fun with more, but loses a bit of that interactive edge.

Every scenario also has its own specific requirements to explore. A couple of them are too similar, but for the most part they’re impressively diverse, given the relatively simple core rules. In the first, for example, you have to link 12 starting squares, containing the dwarfs heading to Bilbo’s unexpected party, to his hobbit-hole at Bag End. The second sees you trekking a single route across a dangerous, troll-filled wilderness on your way to the elves at Rivendell. Following adventures involve picking shapes determined by a die roll to surround specific squares, filling in flight routes for eagles to rescue stranded dwarfs, and using paths to rescue burning houses while shooting arrows at the marauding dragon, Smaug.

Further tricksiness is baked into the scoring that determines the winner. In the first adventure you’ll score points for each dwarf that you successfully link to Bilbo’s home, but get a bonus if you have a bread resource ready to feed them first. Except if you look at the available scores closely, you’ll note that might not always be the best idea. You can also get extra points if you connect and feed Thorin, the dwarf leader, and the wizard Gandalf except, crucially, the scenario ends for all players as soon as one of them collects the other 12 dwarfs. There’s also extra score available for collecting sword icons, even though they’re useless in completing the scenario. So there’s a constant temptation to cede ground in the race, fishing for those tasty bonuses.

As you can probably imagine, this setup turns every scenario into a race, with the catch being that you don’t always want to finish first, if falling behind gets you enough extra points to take the win. There are mini-races, too, with a pot of glory points available for the first player to reach particular sub-objectives, like surrounding each riddle symbol in the Gollum chapter. Between the various chases, the random dice rolls, and the uncertainty of who’s going to pull what in the draft, The Hobbit: There and Back thrums with excitement and uncertainty right down until the points are totted up at the end.

Where the game begins to get into stickier territory is replay value. Once you’re played through a scenario and worked out the best way to approach it, the appeal of going through it again begins to drop. But the game has yet another smart twist to try and maintain your interest: unlike most path-making games you can partially draw over previous paths, using your selected shapes to add new bends and junctions, allowing you to reach new areas of the map.

This enriches the spatial puzzle of each scenario tremendously, because there’s no one best route, and you have enormous scope to change up your path each time. When connecting the dwarfs to Bilbo's hole, for instance, you can draw individual paths but you can also link several dwarfs together and then connect them to the hole as a group. Most maps also have squares that give you bonus resources or points, and other squares that you’re discouraged or outright banned from entering. So even when you’ve figured out the scoring, the way the dice fall creates a novel challenge, and there’s always the thrill of the race to anticipate.

What you definitely don’t get is anything other than path-drawing. You can collect wizard hat symbols to unlock one-off extra paths or resource rewards, and if there’s really nothing to do with a die you can assign it to Bilbo the burglar for a wild extra, but this isn’t deep decision-making. And the game is pretty minimal in its evocation of the Hobbit’s narrative. Each scenario tips its hat to Tolkien in visual and spatial terms, but it’s pretty hard to imagine surrounding a troll icon as watching it turn to stone with the break of dawn, especially when the same mechanic is used later to answer riddles.

Where to Buy

• Asmodee Store

I was driving my daughter home from seeing Wicked: For Good last night (a pretty enjoyable experience in my book - the very last shot of the movie is going to stick with me for quite a while) and loaded up Apple Music, as I often do on long car rides in the dark when my 8-year-old passenger is conked out after two-plus hours of binging M&M and Icees. About halfway through the drive, a song I put into heavy rotation more than a decade ago came on: “O Children,” a 6-minute 50-second ode to life, sorrow, and the slow march of time, by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

I’m not what you would call a huge Nick Cave fan. I haven’t spent a ton of time listening to his catalogue. I find his music enjoyable, but it’s not something I seek out on a regular basis. Except for “O Children.”

I ended up adding the song to my music library for one reason alone: it was featured prominently in 2010’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (in my book the second-best Harry Potter film, runner-up only to Alfonso Cuaron’s masterpiece Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). I remember seeing the movie in a theater the day it was released exactly 15 years ago today and immediately Googling “What song do Harry and Hermione dance to?” on my Blackberry.

A decade and a half after the movie’s debut, that scene, a 2-minute non-canon sojourn that barrels through grief, joy, and the heavy burden of young adulthood, stands as the single best moment of the entire eight-film Harry Potter cinematic experience.