Best Buy is offering a great deal on a high-end gaming PC during its 3-day Halloween DoorBOOsters Sale going on right now. Right now you can pick up a CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme Gaming PC equipped with a Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU for just $1,549.99 shipped after a $350 instant discount. This beats the previous lowest price I've seen for this prebuilt by $150. The Radeon RX 9070 XT is an outstanding GPU that can run the latest and most demanding games smoothly in 4K.
CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme RX 9070 XT PC for $1549.99
The CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme is equipped with a liquid-cooled AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU, 32GB of DDR5-6000MHz RAM, and a 2TB PCIe 4 M.2 SSD. It's housed in a modified Phanteks Evol X2 chassis, which was one of the coolest cases showcased at this year's CES. It's a high quality midtower chassis with a panoramic tempered glass design that makes it look like the motherboard is suspended in the air. Practically speaking, there is plenty of room for future upgrades and offers plenty of airflow for all of your heat generating components.
The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is still one of the best gaming CPUs
The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D has an established reputation of being one of the best gaming CPUs available. It's a slightly older model that has been replaced by the newer Ryzen 9 98000X3D, but it is still one of the best gaming CPUs you can get today. According to Passmark, the 7800X3D's gaming performance surpasses that of the latest generation Intel Core Ultra 7 265K. The 7800X3D is also more efficient than the 9800X3D, which means it will consume less power and produce less heat (and thus less noise because your fans don't need to spin as fast).
The Radeon RX 9070 XT Received a 10/10 at IGN
We rated the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT a "perfect" 10/10. Even though it costs $150 less than the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, the 9070 XT beats it out in several of the games we tested. In a few benchmarks, the results aren't even close. The 9070 XT approaches the performance to the older $1,000 RX 7900 XTX and is better at ray tracing and upscaling. It also has 16GB of VRAM, which means it scales well even at higher resolutions.
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.
Not only does November bring cooler weather, but it also offers an entirely new batch of PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, and PC games to entertain us. We're on the tail end of the big games of the fall, but the year isn't done with us yet. This month we get big releases like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Kirby Air Riders, and perhaps most importantly, Terminator 2D: No Fate. Read on to see release dates for all the biggest games and expansions coming out this month and beyond. Let's have a look.
If you're the preordering type, you can click the links for the platform of your choice to see the game at Amazon (if available).
November 2025 - Video Game Release Dates
Tavern Keeper - November 3 - (PC)
Age of Empires IV - November 4 - (PS5)
Europa Universalis V - November 4 - (PC)
Football Manager 26 - November 4 - (PS5, Xbox, PC, Mobile)
Satisfactory - November 4 - (PS5, Xbox)
Biped 2 - November 5 - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)
Dinkum - November 5 - (Switch)
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment - November 6 - (Switch 2)
Ahead of Black Friday, Best Buy is offering an exclusive Halloween "DoorBOOsters" deal on a massive 77" LG B5 4K OLED Smart TV. Right now you can pick one up for just $1,499.99 with free delivery after a hefty 50% off instant discount. The B5 is a current generation 2025 TV that can play PS5 games to their fullest potential. It's typically less expensive than the LG C5 or G5, but it still usually sells for $2000 or more. This is easily the best price I've seen since release.
77" LG B5 4K OLED Smart TV for $1,499.99
The LG B5 is equipped with a W-OLED panel that boasts superior image quality compared to non-OLED TVs thanks to its near-infinite contrast ratio, near-instantaneous response times, and ability to produce true blacks. Compared to the LG C-series TVs, it lacks the Evo technology which means it isn't as bright as the (way) more expensive C5 model, however, it's very similar to the previous generation's C4 because the generational performance improvement closes the gap. If I were to choose between a 77" LG B5 or 65" LG C5 because they are similarly priced, I would hands down go with the 77" model.
OLED TVs are considered the best TVs for gaming and the B5 is no exception. It has a native 120Hz panel and four HDMI 2.1 ports, which means it can run games in 4K at up to 120fps on the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X console. The LG B5 also supports variable refresh rate (VRR) and auto low latency mode (ALLM).
Is the LG B5 OLED TV a good TV for the Nintendo Switch 2?
Despite being a current generation console, the Nintendo Switch 2 has lax TV requirements compared to the PS5 or Xbox Series X. When the Switch is connected to its dock and a television, it is only capable of outputting a 4K resolution signal at up to 60 frames per second. Oddly, it doesn’t even get VRR when docked – that’s reserved for handheld mode only. All that aside, the Switch 2 will still benefit from an OLED TV's overall image quality, just like how the Switch OLED looks better than the original Switch, despite the fact that the screens share similar specs.
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.
Ahead of Black Friday, Amazon has slashed prices on the officially licensed Seagate Storage Expansion Cards for the Xbox Series X and S consoles. The 1TB model is down to $109.99 and the 2TB model is $189.99. Both sizes are sold by Amazon direct (not a marketplace reseller) with free delivery. The Seagate Storage Expansion Card is the best SSD for the Xbox, which isn't surprising since your options are pretty limited. The other recommended model - the WD Black C50 - is considerably more expensive at the moment.
Seagate Storage Expansion Cards for Xbox Series X
The Seagate Storage Expansion Card is essentially a 1TB or 2TB NVME SSD housed in an external enclosure with a PCIe Gen4 interface that plugs directly into a specialized port on your Xbox console. Unlike the more complex PS5 SSD installation process, which involves opening up the PS5 to access the SSD slot, the WD expansion card is literally plug and play. This expansion card offers the same speed as the internal SSD, ensuring that you won't sacrifice performance or encounter extended load times as you might with a regular USB drive. Even with just the 1TB expansion card, you can double the storage on the original Xbox Series X console and triple the storage on your (white) Xbox Series S console.
If you're looking for an officially licensed storage solution (which we strongly recommend), your options are limited to either the WD or Seagate expansion cards. If you see any other unlicensed hard drives sold by no-name brands, give them a hard pass; chances are they will either not work properly or not work at all.
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.
So, you're ready to ditch cable and embrace the future of streaming. Live TV streaming services make for a great replacement, allowing you to watch your favorite TV shows, movies, and live sports without being tied to a long-term contract. The best part? You can stream at home or on the go from your mobile phone or tablet. Plus, streaming services tend to be much more affordable, with no extra fees or hardware to worry about.
But with so many options out there, you might not know where to start. Don’t worry—we’ve done the heavy lifting and narrowed down the best live TV streaming services for you to try in 2025.
DirecTV Stream
Best Cable Alternative
DirecTV Stream is one of the best cable alternatives, offering endless flexibility to customize your ideal TV experience. The service features three Signature Packages, each with a different selection of channels to fit your preferences. The Entertainment pack includes over 90 popular channels focused on entertainment and family-friendly programming. The Choice pack adds 35 additional channels, including specialty channels and regional sports. For those who want it all, the Ultimate pack offers more than 160 channels covering everything from movies to sports to news.
For those with more specific tastes, DirecTV Stream also offers new Genre Packs—each focused on a particular type of content, like live sports, entertainment, or news. These packs are more affordable and perfect for viewers who know exactly what they want to watch.
With your subscription, you'll enjoy unlimited DVR storage, simultaneous recording, and streaming on an unlimited number of devices in your home. Plus, you can watch your favorite shows up to 72 hours after they’ve aired—even if you forgot to record them!
Hulu + Live TV
Best Streaming Bundle With TV
Hulu + Live TV combines the popular Hulu streaming service with a live TV package that features over 95 channels. It's an excellent choice for fans who want to experience the best of Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, and more, as it includes the Disney Bundle in its monthly cost, a service that would typically set you back $19.99 per month. This means, in addition to more than 95 live TV channels, you'll also get the base Hulu (with ads), Disney+ (with ads) and ESPN (with ads), which is one of the best ways to get ESPN access amid ongoing contract tension with YouTube TV.
With Hulu + Live TV, you'll also enjoy unlimited DVR space to record your favorite movies and shows. Plus, the service allows you to stream on two supported devices at the same time, or you can upgrade to unlimited screens so the whole family can watch without anyone getting kicked off.
Fubo
Best For Sports Variety
Fubo is a live TV subscription service with a strong focus on sports, offering more than 200 channels and unlimited Cloud DVR storage to record your favorite content. Known for having one of the most comprehensive catalogs among live TV streaming services, Fubo does come with a higher price tag. Most Fubo plans allow streaming on up to 10 devices simultaneously, and you can watch on up to three devices while on the go.
For sports enthusiasts, Fubo is the ultimate choice, providing access to over 55,000 live events each year, including NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, NCAA college sports, NASCAR, international soccer, golf, tennis, boxing, MMA, and much more. With over 35 regional sports networks included in the base plan, you'll always have a game to catch. There's a seven-day free trial of Fubo available for new subscribers that lets you test out the service for yourself.
YouTube TV
Best Alternative for Sports
YouTube TV is, as you can imagine, a live TV service provided specifically through YouTube. The base plan comes with over 100 live channels, including Fox, Nickelodeon, TLC, and NBC, and is generally a particularly good deal for live sports. The service lets you make up to six individual accounts, stream on up to three screens, and gives you unlimited DVR space. Right now, YouTube is offering $30 off the base plan, normally priced at $82.99/month, for your first three months.
There is a small catch to this one, especially for sports fans: YouTube TV is currently in the middle of contract negotiations with Disney, which has led to some of its major offerings, particularly ESPN, being removed from the service. These changes may be temporary, as they have happened before and then been reverted when a contract is reached, but it is possible, especially with the rise of ESPN Unlimited, that Disney really does just crack down on their licensing.
If what you're interested in is ad-free YouTube videos and unlimited downloads, you're probably looking for YouTube Premium, a separate subscription starting at $7.99/month.
Sling Freestream
Best For Free TV
If you're just looking for something to watch without a particular preference, Sling Freestream might be a solid option. It features over 600 channels with more than 40,000 on-demand movies and TV shows— completely free of charge. Of course, don't expect any recent movies or TV shows. You'll mostly find reruns and older content, but with such a wide variety, you're bound to find something interesting to watch.
While not required, creating a free Sling TV account gives you 10 hours of complimentary DVR recordings, allowing you to pause, fast-forward, and rewind content. Plus, you'll earn rewards and even have a chance to win prizes just by watching TV or movies through Sling Freestream. Sling Freestream also gives you the option to upgrade with various add-ons from the Sling TV plans later on from within your profile.
There are plenty of other free streaming services out there, but this version from Sling TV is our overall top pick.
Live TV Streaming FAQs
Can You Watch Live TV For Free?
Certain TV shows and channels can be viewed for free, but don't expect any major networks. One of the easiest ways to catch live TV is by utilizing a TV antenna to pick up your local channels and a handful of extras. Aside from that, your best bet is to check out a free streaming site or app like Sling Freestream (mentioned above), the Roku Channel, Tubi, and more.
Which Live TV Streaming Services Have Free Trials?
Most of the live TV streaming services mentioned above offers a free trial, though the duration varies slightly. DirecTV Stream offers five days, and Fubo is the most generous with a seven-day trial.
Should You Get Cable Instead?
Well, we've really come full circle now, haven't we? After years of cutting the cord and moving exclusively to streaming, many people are starting to feel the burn. With so many streaming services available, content being removed, and constant price hikes, it almost feels like going back to cable could make more sense.
While you can often find basic cable for around $50–$100 per month in most areas, these prices are usually limited-time promotional offers. Signing a contract often locks you in for a year or two, and once that time is up, the price can skyrocket. Then, you're faced with the decision of either sticking with the higher price or hunting for a new provider.
One of the main advantages of streaming services is the flexibility they offer with month-to-month billing. Once you’ve had your fill of a particular service, you can cancel with no hassle—and if something new catches your eye, you can easily resubscribe.
Ultimately, the decision is yours to make. If you’re fed up with the ever-expanding number of streaming services and rising costs, cable might be a good option to consider again.
Matthew Adler is a Commerce, Features, Guides, News, Previews, and Reviews writer for IGN. You can follow him on the site formerly known as Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream on Twitch.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for IT: Welcome to Derry Episodes 1 and 2!
Fans of Stephen King’s novels will know that these tales of small-town terror and tortured souls aren’t simply standalone stories. They’re all part of a larger storytelling multiverse, and crossovers can and do frequently happen. That’s certainly true for IT: Welcome to Derry – not only is this series a prequel to the It movies, it also includes nods to other King characters and storylines.
With the first two episodes having premiered on HBO Max, we figured now is a great time to break down the key Stephen King easter eggs in Welcome to Derry and explore how the series is taking advantage of the King multiverse. Keep checking back, as we’ll update this piece as more episodes air.
What Is Bill Skarsgård’s Villain Pennywise?
With Welcome to Derry taking place 27 years before the events of 2017’s It, it should come as no surprise that there aren’t many returning actors for this prequel. In fact, the only confirmed veteran of the series is Bill Skarsgård, who is once again playing the demonic, shapeshifting villain, It (whose favorite form is Pennywise the Dancing Clown). We don’t actually see Skarsgård in Episode 1, but the character’s nefarious influence is certainly felt. If there’s any takeaway from the pilot, it’s that Derry was a cursed place long before the Losers Club clashed with Pennywise for the first time.
With Pennywise being such an important part of the series, it’s worth taking a step back to explore what exactly this character is and how he fits into King’s monster multiverse. The It novel establishes that It is an alien entity created in the void outside the universe. It eventually crashed on Earth via an asteroid millions of years ago, at which point it took up residence in the area that would become Derry, Maine.
Ever since people began to settle in Derry, It has shown a pattern of emerging for a year or two to seek victims and feast on their fear; it is essentially a psychic vampire. After gorging itself, It then goes into hibernation for 27 years before reawakening and starting the cycle all over again. It tends to target children because their fears are more primal and easier to exploit.
It/Pennywise is easily one of the most terrifying creatures in King’s massive library, but it’s not necessarily unique. King’s Dark Tower novels establish that the multiverse was once bathed in a mystical energy source called the Prim. When the Prim receded like an ocean tide, it left behind a great many supernatural creatures embedded in the worlds of creation; Pennywise is just one of many of those monsters. One of the Dark Tower books even introduces a cousin of sorts – a similar psychic vampire who feeds on laughter rather than fear.
The Hanlon Family
Welcome to Derry may not feature many returning characters, but it does feature one family that should be very familiar to fans of the films. The first episode introduces Jovan Adepo’s Leroy Hanlon; Leroy is the grandfather of Mike Hanlon, who was played in the films as a child by Chosen Jacobs and as an adult by Isaiah Mustafa.
Welcome to Derry shows us how the Hanlon family first came to settle in Derry in 1962. Leroy is a decorated and well-respected Air Force major who is recruited by General Shaw (James Remar) to work on a top-secret program. Even at this early stage, Leroy is becoming exposed to the darkness lurking beneath the idyllic facade of Derry and the racism still rampant in the ranks of the military. In Episode 2, Leroy learns that Shaw is working to harness a weapon that can instill absolute fear in America's enemies. Apparently, Shaw wants to weaponize It.
Episode 2 introduces Taylour Paige as Leroy’s wife, Charlotte, and Blake Cameron James as his son, Will, neither of whom seem particularly enamored with their new home. But however bad things get this season, it’s not going to drive this family out of Derry.
The Shining’s Dick Hallorann
Welcome to Derry is going to draw on more than just the It movies and novel; that much has been apparent ever since an earlier trailer included a shot of a Shawshank Prison bus. But in what is easily the most significant King easter egg so far, the series’ cast includes a major character from The Shining: Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk).
Fans of The Shining and its sequel, Doctor Sleep, will remember that Dick is the head chef at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Because he has the psychic aptitude known as “the shine,” Dick is more sensitive than most to the many ghosts haunting the Overlook’s halls. Dick becomes rightfully concerned when he senses that young Danny Torrance, the son of winter caretaker Jack Torrance, shines especially brightly, and is therefore a ripe target for those ghosts. Eventually, Dick is forced to brave the harsh Colorado winter in order to rescue Danny and his mother from the hotel’s wrath.
Welcome to Derry takes place nearly two decades before The Shining; at this stage, Dick is serving on the same Derry air force base as Leroy Hanlon. We only catch a brief glimpse of Dick in Episode 1, but he seems intently interested in Leroy, as if he can sense something is supernaturally amiss with the major.
Episode 2 provides more context for Dick's presence in Derry and his interest in Leroy. Dick is using his psychic abilities to help the Air Force dig up and harness the slumbering It. Dick seems to sense that Leroy is special in his own way. A bullet to his brain has robbed Leroy of the ability to feel fear, which may make him the only person capable of standing up to It.
We fully expect Dick to play a central role in battling It in this series. Just as at the Overlook, Dick’s powers will make him more aware than most adults of the danger lurking underneath the town. It may even target Dick specifically, hoping to draw extra sustenance from his psychic abilities, much like the vampires in Doctor Sleep.
The Shining's Calumet Baking Powder
Episode 2 incldues another fun The Shining Easter egg, as we see a stack of Calumet Baking Powder cans in the grocery store, all displaying that iconic logo of an Indian chief. These cans were also seen in Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of The Shining, part of the Overlook Hotel's extensive larder.
The exact significance of the cans and the Indian logo has been the source of much debate over the years, with some arguing (like in the documentary Room 237) that Kubrick was trying to include subtle commentary about American imperialism and the genocide of Native Americans. The Indian chief image may also speak to the ancient history of the supernatural terrors in this world. Again, It has been in Derry for a very long time.
Juniper Hill Asylum
Episode 2 also introduces another iconic King landmark in Juniper Hill Asylum. We learn that Susie (Matilda Legault) was previously committed there after the death of her father, and she's forced to return at the end of the episode after suffering through another of It's terrifying hallucinations. That means we'll surely see inside its dark halls as the season unfolds.
Juniper Hill appears in the original IT novel as well as numerous other King works, from Insomnia to Needful Things to The Dark Half. It's a place every bit as twisted as you'd expect from a mental institution in Stephen King's multiverse.
The Importance of the Turtle
Welcome to Derry’s first episode includes another important, albeit more subtle, easter egg in the form of a charm on Susie’s bracelet – a turtle, a creature with deep significance in King lore.
Getting back to It’s cosmic origins, this demon was created at the same time as a benevolent turtle entity; the Turtle is It’s polar opposite and a sign of strength to the members of the Losers Club. The Turtle is also one of the 12 animals featured in the Dark Tower books who guard “The Beams,” invisible energy forces that lead directly to the titular tower at the center of existence.
We’d expect to see multiple turtle references in this series, all meant to serve as reminders that there are other forces at work in Derry beyond It/Pennywise…and not all of them are so sinister.
The Second Hand Rose
Episode 2 establishes a key throwback to 2019's IT: Chapter Two with the scene at the Second Hand Rose thrift shop. In the movie, that shop is run by Stephen King's character (that same character cameos as a younger man here), and it's where Bill Denbrough buys his beloved Schwinn bicycle. Back in 1962, it's where Leroy purchases a telescope for his son Will.
Like the turtle, the rose is an image with special significance in King's work, and it also ties back to the Dark Tower books and their central protagonist, Roland Deschain. The rose is a symbol of goodness and purity, though we definitely get a slightly creepy vibe from the shop in this series. If anything, we can't help but be reminded of Needful Things and its infamous shop of horrors.
Best Buy’s holiday sale event has officially begun. As detailed in an earlier announcement regarding Best Buy’s Black Friday schedule, the first event is the DoorBOOsters sale, which runs this weekend (October 31 - November 2). Best Buy is highlighting eight doorbusters in particular, within a variety of tech categories. We have a couple of TVs on sale, a Windows laptop for just $299.99, a pair of earbuds, and more.
Best Buy’s DoorBOOsters Deals Are Live
The LG B5 OLED 4K TV is a solid pickup at $529.99. It’s a bit on the smaller side at 48 inches, but that fits some rooms just fine. And while LG’s C5 series offers higher quality in terms of brightness and certain gaming features, the B5 series is no slouch. It’s a new 2025 TV, and this really is a terrific price, seeing as the MSRP is $1299.
Aside from that, you can grab a cheaper 40-inch QLED TV from TCL for just $99.99, or a Dyson V9 cordless vacuum to clean up before your holiday guests arrive. Ring doorbeels are on sale, as is an ultra-widescreen 49-inch Samsung Odyssey gaming monitor.
Best Buy Black Friday Schedule
Even if none of these deals appeals to you, you won’t have to wait long for more money-saving opportunities, as this is just the tip of the Black Friday season iceberg. Best Buy will be offering more doorbusters each Friday through Black Friday, with other items on sale throughout the month of November. The official Best Buy Black Friday sale runs November 20 - 29, followed by the “Cyber Sunday & Monday” sale November 30 and December 1.
And if you don’t get all your shopping done then, Best Buy is kicking off a “Last-Minute Savings” promotion that runs December 15 - 24. But do yourself a favor and try to get most of your gifts purchased before then. That’s around the time when brick-and-mortar stores are uncomfortably crowded and shipped items arriving before Christmas starts to become a dicy proposition.
When it comes to the horror genre, we’re all probably familiar with the likes of Stephen King and Shirley Jackson, but if you’re looking for something a bit different or a brand new release, we’ve put together some of the best horror books of 2025.
Perfect for Halloween and the spooky season, these are the stories that you won’t want to miss, with plenty of chills, thrills, guts, and ghouls.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
You might be familiar with some of Stephen Graham Jones’ previous tales. From the Indian Lake Trilogy to the 80s-inspired I Was A Teenage Slasher. And his latest book transports us to the American west in 1912. Let’s just say, if you’re looking for an intense vampire revenge, this is it.
The story begins with a diary, which has been found within a wall in the present day. In it is a series of transcribed interviews with a Blackfeet Indian named Good Stab, who shares the stories of his unnaturally long life over his visits to a confessional with the Lutheran pastor that the diary originally belonged to. Having lived through the massacre of his people, resulting in the murder of 217 Blackfeet, Good Stab haunts the fields of the Blackfeet Nation to seek justice. Even though it can be a difficult read, at times, the entire story is incredibly impactful while still having us on the edge of our seats.
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
You can’t really go wrong with a Grady Hendrix book, particularly as Halloween approaches, and his 2025 release focuses on all things witchy. Set in the swelteringly hot summer of 1970, 15-year-old Fern arrives at the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida. It’s where wayward girls – unwed expectant mothers whose families want to keep their current predicament a secret – are sent to give birth.
During their stay, the teenagers are forced to abide by the rules, under the understanding that it is all for their own good. That is until Fern is given a book about witchcraft and the occult. From it, the girls discover that not only do they hold a great amount of power, but, like anything in life, nothing comes for free – there’s always a price to be paid. And this time, it’s in blood.
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
A haunted house story with a twist, Play Nice explores family dynamics, repressed memories and how society treats ‘mad women’. When her mother dies, the supposedly possessed house that Clio and her sisters grew up in passes to them. While all her sisters can remember is childhood trauma, which eventually led to them being removed from their mother’s custody and inspired her mother to write a book about their experience, stylist and influencer Clio sees the opportunity to flip the house and document it on social media.
But as she begins to renovate, she quickly discovers that maybe her mother might have been telling the truth. As Clio finally starts to read her mother’s book and memories
begin to resurface, the demonic presence becomes all the more real and sinister, as do the truths that have stayed buried for far too long.
Bookish Deal Alert: 3 Months of Audible for $0.99/Month
Audible is currently offering three months of its Premium Plus plan for just $0.99/month / £0.99 in the UK, which is a big treat for audiobook fans. In addition to other Audible benefits, that means you get three audiobooks for $3. You might even find some of the best horror books of 2025 there as well.
This offer is set to last for quite a while, until December 16 this year, but if you're a big audiobook user it's a deal that's absolutely worth taking advantage of while it's available.
Exiles by Mason Coile
The year is 2030 and a crew of astronauts have been sent to prepare the first colony on Mars. Yet, when they get there, they find the newly created base half-destroyed and the AI robots that were deployed to set things up in chaos. In the four years since the robots arrived, they’ve formed alliances, chosen their own names and picked up some rather disturbing beliefs. And given that one of them is missing, it’s clear that none of them are safe.
A brilliant locked room-style horror, Exiles combines sci-fi with psychological horror, and at just shy of 200 pages, this is a book you can easily read in one sitting. So, if you happen to be lagging when it comes to your Goodreads Reading Challenge this year, we’d definitely recommend picking this one up.
You Weren't Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White
When a book is said to be Alien meets Midsommar, you know you’re in for a wild ride and that’s exactly what you get with You Weren’t Meant to be Human. You might need a strong stomach to make your way through this story though, that’s for sure. Transporting us to Appalachia in rural West Virginia, where festering masses of worms and flies have formed hives and taken over the area, only a few humans have managed to co-exist with them. However, this means giving them their unwavering loyalty and a slew of fresh corpses.
That all changes when Crane – who has found a chance to transition amongst the followers – gets pregnant and the hive demands the child. What follows is one of the most unhinged horrors that we’ve ever read, in a very good way.
The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
After a plague sweeps through the Mexican city of Zacatecas, Alba and her family flee to her fiancé’s isolated mine, but it’s not too long before she starts to suffer from strange hallucinations, violent convulsions and bouts of sleepwalking. She can’t shake the feeling that something is alive and moving around beneath her skin, and only her fiancé’s cousin, Elias, seems to notice it too.
With an atmospheric and gothic feel to it, as well as a touch of romance, as Alba and Elías become entangled with the occult, the Church, and each other, they work together in a bid to save her, while uncovering a number of long-kept secrets.
When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
A fast paced thriller of a horror, When the Wolf Comes Home seamlessly blends the paranormal with monster horror, as our protagonists flee for their lives. After struggling actress Jess finds a five-year old boy hiding in the bushes outside her apartment complex, it appears that he’s run away from his father. Yet, it’s not quite the domestic incident that you might expect. Actually, nothing is as it seems in this book.
Following a violent confrontation, one which sees a man seemingly turn into a wolf-like creature and leave a pile of bodies in his wake, Jess and the boy are forced to make a run for it. And it soon becomes clear that they, quite rightly, have plenty to fear as the beast is hot on their tails.
Futility by Nuzo Onoh
From the recipient of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement, comes a wickedly fun horror blending murder, revenge and soup, of all things. After being betrayed by the men in their lives, two women choose to take matters into their own hands in a rather unusual way.
Known for her beauty and popular hot pepper soup, both are quite deceptive when it comes to Chia. And when Claire pays a visit to the infamous restaurant, neither woman can resist the pull of a trickster spirit. With lots of dark humour and body horror, fans of Oyinkan Braithwaite's My Sister the Serial Killer and Bella Mackie's How to Kill Your Family will no doubt have a great time with this story.
Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave: My Cemetery Journeys by Mariana Enriquez
Author of the equally absorbing and unsettling The Dangers of Smoking in Bed and Things We Lost in the Fire collections of short stories, Mariana Enriquez delves into some of the most famous and notable graveyards in her latest release, Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave: My Cemetery Journeys.
From Highgate in London, to Montparnasse in Paris and Greyfriars in Edinburgh, as well as some more remote and decrepit ruins, it’s somewhere between a travelogue, a collection of essays and a memoir, as she marks her personal journey to each of the burial grounds. Finding herself in an almost flux state between the living and the dead, Mariana looks into famous figures like Elvis and Karl Marx, as well as all things voodoo, catacombs and plenty of skeletons.
Ellis is a freelance journalist, based in the UK, with a love of all things books. She also routinely chairs bookish events up and down the country, getting the scoop from some of the biggest and bestselling authors to keep you in the know.
When I load up Europa Universalis 5, Paradox's latest and most ambitious grand strategy game, I am reminded of a news report I once saw about a man who grew up in a tribal village seeing an airplane for the first time. This can't possibly be real, right? This giant piece of metal can't fly through the sky at hundreds of miles an hour? Attempting to conquer the 500-year period from 1337 to 1837 CE while modeling every single individual person in the world – yes, you heard that right – at a level of detail that's completely unprecedented, seems unbelievable. But it really does all of that. And it's generally quite engaging and enjoyable for a genre veteran like me. As for whether it can soar? Only just. There is a lot of turbulence, and I wouldn't stake my life on it getting me to my destination without crashing.
First, let me say that this review is mostly based on a version I received on October 16th, and to a lesser extent on a medium-sized patch that came out on the 22nd and fixed a lot of bugs that were bothering me. There was an even larger patch on the 29th, but I was not able to do more than kick the tires on that before I locked in this review. And there's even one more big patch scheduled before launch. Overall, I think these patches have been improving the balance situation I'm going to talk about later, but there's no way I can say if they will have cleaned up all of the annoyances by the time you get your hands on it. I can only speak to what I played.
From a systems perspective, EU5 is an unambiguous wonder. Paradox keeps pushing the envelope on how much they can simulate in fine-grain detail, and I could even accuse this absurdly huge historical epic of taking things too far. It's certainly unwieldy in its bulk, and I fear especially that this will make it very difficult to balance. Fix one small thing and the ripples it sends out through the various interlocking mechanisms for economics, geography, demographics, and politics could possibly create 300 more. There's a certain hubris to it, if I might be so dramatic, and I've already seen some evidence of the problems it can cause. But damn. DAMN! It is incredible to have the entire world depicted in this level of detail in a video game. For every one province in its predecessor, Europa Universalis 4, there are roughly seven individual locations in Europa Universalis 5. And while each space on the map could only have a single, monolithic religion and culture in EU4, EU5's population mechanics represent the culture, religion, and social class of every living human individually. Having to think about population creates a rich relationship with each location in my country, and acts to balance so many things in a naturalistic way, without abstract currencies like "Administration Points." In EU4, terrain type was a single modifier. In EU5, topography, climate, and vegetation are all separate factors that can affect everything from agricultural output to combat.
EU5 is for certified (or aspiring) grand strategy sickos only.
It is history nerd nirvana to simply scroll around the map and marvel at the amount of work that went into this. It's pretty slick-looking, too. I don't think it's necessarily Paradox's prettiest map. You will see some weird artifacts around areas of rough terrain and intricate coastlines that are a bit unsightly. For my money, Crusader Kings 3 and Victoria 3 are a bit nicer to look at. But it is certainly the most detailed. And especially with the ability to render units moving around with varying cultures, social strata, tech levels, and even degrees of professionalism modeled in their uniforms – up to 30 in one formation depending on the number of troops – it's never boring to zoom in on.
This does all mean that EU5 is for certified grand strategy sickos – and aspiring grand strategy sickos – only. Not for lack of providing a tutorial. That's here, and it's actually surprisingly good at getting you off to at least a walking start. Automation lets you hand off certain things to the AI until you're ready to micromanage them. The nested tooltips are very helpful, too, at least until you discover one of the many edge cases where they aren't. But I have over 2000 hours in EU4. It's my most-played game on Steam of all time. And even then, it took about an hour before I even felt comfortable unpausing EU5 – and dozens before I thought I knew what I was doing.
And for me, that's not a bad thing! I think that trial-and-error learning period is part of the fun of this type of grand strategy game, and part of developing a relationship with it. But it takes a lot of patience, and I don't think Paradox is going to be expanding its audience much with this one. EU5 knows exactly who it's for, and it caters specifically to those people – people like me – very unapologetically.
Getting into the groove of managing a nation can be incredibly engrossing. Planning out the site of a new market town, how it's going to connect up to my road network, and how I'm going to exploit the local resources in my workshops to turn a huge trade profit, is better than drugs. Control and proximity are brilliant new mechanics that model how you can’t necessarily govern something just because you painted it your color. And combined with a reworked estates system, there is an almost endless number of projects to do and challenges to face without ever leaving your borders. The geographic granularity here adds so much to nation management and warfare, which has evolved excellently with the new terrain modifiers and logistics systems.
That is, when everything is working correctly.
Major bugs were infrequent and generally not game-ruining for me. Most of EU5's current problems are in what I'd call tuning. The numbers, the balance, and the AI simply aren't quite dialed in yet to provide a satisfying or historical-feeling experience. I saw weird stuff like Bohemia with one port on the Baltic colonizing half of Canada. The Holy Roman Empire entirely failed to consolidate. There was no clear victor in Turkey. Bordergore is everywhere. China is… horrifying. And weirdest of all, the Europeans colonized most of Australia, but never even discovered India for some reason. It's hard to say how much of this is typical, but I didn't have thousands of hours to play a statistically significant number of campaigns.
Most of EU5's current problems are in what I'd call tuning.
This is kind of the vibe across the board. Nations will behave very strangely compared to what you'd expect. Borders become way too static after about 1500, even with the Protestant Reformation trying to mix things up. Historical countries don't often form. There are a lot of interesting situations and flavor events, but they don't result in a globe that reads as authentic. Also, despite efforts to slow down colonization, I still saw stuff like all of South America filled in with formal states by 1700, and the entire Kongo Basin speaking Italian. Either they invented Duolingo way early or cured malaria. Not sure which. And that stuff really bothers me. I don't need history to play out exactly as it did in our world, but some of this is just silly. I want it to look kind of plausible by the end. Historical-ish.
I did also run into inconsistent crashes on one of my two full playthroughs. I had only four crashes across the entire 500 years I played as the mighty Norse colony of Greenland in my first run. My second run, as Portugal, I would sometimes get more than that in a single decade. I was able to find some workarounds after consulting Paradox about the issue, so it was playable, but very annoying. (Pro tip: turn off the buildings tab in the outliner if this is happening to you a lot. Worked wonders.) Paradox has a history of supporting their grand strategy games for many years after launch, with one recent exception (the tragic Imperator: Rome), so I do have a pretty good amount of faith that this stuff will get worked out. But I wouldn't blame anyone for waiting six months for a little more polish before diving in. And the sheer complexity of EU5's simulation does stoke some fears in me about if it's even possible to get it to behave nicely at all.
What I didn't really have to worry about was performance, thankfully. For such a CPU-intensive game, I was apprehensive about that. But I tried it out on three different processors: A Ryzen 7 3700X, a Ryzen 7 5800XT, and a Core i7 13620H laptop. Most of my playtime was on the 3700X, because that's my main desktop, and I didn't find slowdown to be much of an issue, despite being below Paradox's recommended specs. It was measurably slower than the i7 especially, but I still found the speed to be very playable, only seeing significant sluggishness if there was a massive war going on in the last 100 years or so.
Days at the start of a run took less than a second to tick by on the 3700X, and it only got up to maybe around two seconds at worst by the 1800s, with a bit of extra lag at the start of each month when there are more things to calculate. An entire playthrough took me about 60 hours while playing at the fastest speed, including slowing down on purpose for most wars. It never ground to a halt or turned into a slideshow like Victoria 3 or Hearts of Iron 4 sometimes can in the late game, and the interface remains sharply responsive even when the simulation is chugging a little, which makes such a massive difference to me psychologically. Overall, I found the optimization to be almost astounding for the number of things going on.
Three weeks ago on this day, I featured Mega Evolution in my weekly Crashers and Climbers article, which focused on the set doing the typical evening out after the drop of a new set. Some cards were going up, some were going down, business as usual. Damn sneaker heads!
Fast forward to today, after a seemingly massive print run, everything is crashing. Literally every card you can pick out of this set is seeing new lows. For me, this is a market correction after a year of inflated prices both on the sealed and single card markets for a variety of factors I've discussed before.
Mega Evolution: All Crashers And Zero Climbs
Whilst I don't think we're seeing the bubble burst on the market just yet, we're seeing a massive market correction that could see a decline in scalped product and more availability across the board.
If you can't tell by now, I won't be including a "Climbers" section today, but I'll be diving into just how much values have crashed in the last three weeks and bag my readers a few bargains in the process.
Here's the top cards from Mega Evolution at a glance, and we're seeing between 8% and 33% drops in just three weeks. Full disclosure, the "Original Prices" on these cards are what I recorded on 10th October, just so we're on the same page.
Bulbasaur - 133/132
Like N's Reshiram Illustration Rare in Journey Together, this Bulbasaur Illustration Rare has a Mega Evolution Stamped version that's packed into every Enhanced Booster Box.
So it's a bit of a tough one to say which one is rarer, although I'd put my Pokédollars on the stamped version getting rarer over time. Needless to say it's a gorgeous card either way that's dropped by 23% from October 10.
Bulbasaur - 133/132 (Mega Evolution Stamp)
It's a similar scenario with the Mega Evolution Stamp variant of Bulby, but the floor on this card seems to be a little higher than the standard IR.
It still dropped by 23%, but we're seein it retain a couple of dollars more in value. When you're right, you're right.
Mega Kangaskhan ex - 182/132
Mega Khankaskhan ex SIR has only had an 8% drop, but it's a drop none-the-less. This card hardly broke expectations on the market, securing a low-end SIR level of value out the gate.
So whilst we're not seeing dramatic crashes here, we've got a solid value on this card that should only rise over time.
Mega Absol ex - 180/132
Mega Absol ex SIR is an absolute banger, and in my opinion one of the best from this set.
For some reason this card didn't go mad when Mega Evolution came out, but it's still had a drop of 9% to a respectable $96.01 at the moment.
This is such an underated card, and I'd highly reccomend snapping it up whilst values are down.
Alakazam - 003 (Staff)
Staff cards are always ridiculous value-wise due to the small distribution base and not being available in booster packs. A handfull are given out at Pokémon TCG events such as tournaments, and this one has actually dropped by 16%.
Secondary market prices always go off what people are willing to pay, but it's still a coin flip situation. If you collect staff cards, It might be worth picking up whilst it's nearly $30 less than October 10.
Mega Latias ex - 181/132
At over $20 cheaper and a 13% price crash, I'd bit for Mega Latias ex SIR for under $150. It's a gorgeous card and has ridiculously expresive artwork.
I can't see this card loosing a lot more value, so i'd recommend picking this bad boy up before it shoots back up.
Mega Venusaur ex - 177/132
Venusaur is the best generation one starter and i'll live on that hill, because I can't die with Venusaur at my side. Correct opinions aside, this card is getting more and more affordable has time goes on, In just three weeks this card has dropped by over $30, or 20%, to $174.80.
Personally I think this card can settle to $150, but that's just a gut feeling. Considering how playable it is with the help of Meganium, this feels like a good price.
Mega Gardevoir ex - 178/132
This is arguably the chase card of the set for those who don't like Gold Hyper Rares, just look at it. Not only is Gardevoir a fan favorite (Let's forget about that life-sized weeb plush), but its a work of art. This has crashed massively by over $80, to a much more respectable $234.99, and i'd put a solid bet on this card climbing right back up in no time.
Mega Lucario ex - 179/132
This is my favorite card of the set, featuring an expresive sky-high battle over Luminoise City between Mega Lucario and Mega Venusaur. For me it's a continuation of the Charizard V Alt Art from the Sword and Shield era featuring Venusaur. Top tier artwork and two fan favorite Pokémon and it's 20% down on Oct. 10, it's a great time to buy this card.
Mega Gardevoir ex - 187/132
This gold rare has had one of the biggest drops i've seen for a while. This was going for $600 on Oct. 10, and it's dropped by a massive 33% to $399, which I think is about the right value for it now. If history teaches us anything, Gold Rares go down not up. But the unique embossed patterns and rainbow holo effect Mega Evolution Gold Rares have seems to be turning more heads. Personally it's not for me, but it's a tied top chase card with Mega Lucario ex Gold Rare.
Mega Lucario ex - 188/132
If you think $530 is eye-watering, this card was a massive $630 three weeks ago, so it's deffinately moving in the right direction. One thing i've noticed about Mega Evolution cards today, is that we're at the point where the cards have hit a new flooor. This will bring more buyers in, create more demand and we'll see a rise once again. So if you were after this card, now is likely the best time to get locked in.
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.
The Witcher Season 4 is upon us, and as fans know, the series has strayed away somewhat from the books upon which it is based, which has sparked a backlash among some fans.
Showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich, however, has defended the approach taken for The Netflix show, which replaced Henry Cavill with Liam Hemsworth following the former Superman actor’s exit at the end of Season 3.
In an interview with Dexerto, Schmidt-Hissrich insisted that the Netflix show exists in addition to the books and CD Projekt’s much-loved video games, which still exist for fans to enjoy.
“You have book fans, you have video game fans, and then you have fans that knew nothing about this world until the show existed,” she said. “And the truth is we can’t choose one audience. We have to remember what we are doing, which is a television show.
“It is different than any other genre in any other form that you could tell this story, and we have to make the choices for that. We have eight hours every season to tell these stories, and we’re never going to be able to tell everything from the books.
“I also think that there have to be changes that you make for adaptation just to make this story keep going forward. Season 1’s the perfect example. Obviously we leaned into the two books of short stories, but you can’t just tell unrelated adventures in a season of television.
“You have to start to weave them together. You have to understand how these adventures lead our characters to be where they are meant to be. And so we had to start crafting… at that point it was connective tissue.
“We also have the privilege of knowing when we’re ending. Netflix picked up Season 4 and Season 5 at the same time, so we also had to write ourselves to that particular ending. So again, you make choices.
“One of the things that I’ve talked a lot to the author about and a lot to fans about is that the books still exist. No one is taking the books away. No one is taking the video games away. I think everyone can have their version of The Witcher and this is this version.”
It also sounds like Schmidt-Hissrich will step back from The Witcher after Season 5 is done and dusted. Also speaking to Dexerto, she insisted the show would not move past Andrzej Sapkowski’s books, so Season 5 really is it.
“By the time we wrap Season 5 fully, it will have been nine years of my life,” Schmidt-Hissrich said. “I think there are so many more stories to be told in The Witcher universe, truly. But I also think you have to step back and accept gracefully, what is the end of this story that we’ve been telling?
“Are there more stories? Maybe. But this one has to end at this point, so I think it’s a nice time for all of us to step back a little bit.”
IGN’s The Witcher: Season 4 Review returned a 7/10. We said: “Even with the Cavill/Hemsworth shake-up, The Witcher sticks to its guns (er, swords) and delivers a decent season of magic and mayhem.”
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.
Every now and then, some suit at a publisher looks at a beloved series they own, realizes they could make it into a live service co-op game, and says, out loud, “I know this has never worked for anyone else, but it might work for us.” It never does, of course; it makes the original fanbase angry, and oftentimes the franchise is old enough that new players don’t even know what it is. The result is a game for no one, a whole lot of nothing driven by market forces and the deluded belief that somehow, some way, this time the idea is just better than all of the previous times it’s been tried. This time, they, chosen by God, will be immune from whatever effects have frustrated lesser mortals. The latest game in this doomed genre is Painkiller, a reboot of People Can Fly’s 2004 cult classic, and the result is the same as it ever was. It’s fitting that it takes place in Purgatory. When it is consigned to the graveyard of history, its headstone will read “Here lies Painkiller, neither good enough to get into heaven nor bad enough to be damned to the inferno. You’ll wish you’d just played the original and called it a day, or simply booted up the Judas Priest song instead.”
This new Painkiller is one of those co-op games. You know the ones; a brief tutorial frontloads the meager plot, shows you the ropes and unlocks your base of operations. Once established, you pick from one of four visually-distinct-but-aside-from-one-passive-ability-virtually-identical-characters, all of whom come with pre-packaged quips that mostly sound like they were written by Dollar Store Joss Whedon. After selecting your weapons and loadout, you choose one of several missions, where you go to a place and kill a lot of bad guys, then return to your base with the spoils, where you can upgrade your stuff, and do it all again. You have seen all of this before, and I’m already bored describing it.
The story here is basically nonexistent. You are one of four souls stuck in Purgatory – Ink, Void, Roch, and Sol – approached by the disembodied voice of the angel Metatron to stop the demon Azazel, another faceless voice, from Doing Something Bad. Go on mission, go home, spend spoils, repeat. To Painkiller's infinite credit, there is no paid currency or battle pass here, just a Season Pass with skins and the like, But the loop never varies – once you get New and Better Stuff, it's just time to go do whatever Metratron determines needs doing next.
“That really doesn’t sound like Painkiller,” you might say if you played the original – and you, reader, you win the solid gold Kewpie doll, because it isn’t like Painkiller at all! If you squint, you can see the inspirations, though I use this term loosely. There are tarot cards, though you “win” a selection of them by spending gold in the Tarot Lottery because everything about video games is gambling now (even if you’re not spending real money), and equip them before missions for bonuses like +50 health and 30% more damage. Once the mission is over, your tarot cards are used up and you either have to spend more gold in the lottery or Ancient Souls, which you earn during missions, to restore one you’ve previously used. You can also use these currencies to buy and upgrade weapons, and you generally won’t have enough to do that and have tarot cards early on.
This isn't a Painkiller game; it's Warhammer 40k: Darktide wearing a Painkiller suit.
Speaking of, much of the original game’s iconic arsenal has been resurrected here like the Stakegun and Electrodriver, complete with their amusing alt fires. However, the titular Painkiller (which you always have) is now doing its best impression of Doom Eternal’s chainsaw, there to get you more ammo when your other guns run out. Sometimes, levels will lock you into a large, usually circular or rectangular space and make you kill a lot of enemies, though none of them are as visually striking or bats**t insane as the original rogues’ gallery. The similarities end there. This is not a Painkiller game; it is Warhammer 40,000: Darktide wearing a Painkiller skin suit, and hoping nobody cares enough to notice.
Painkiller looks good, but its problems really come down to mission design. Environments feel samey even when they look different, and each of the three acts (which are three levels apiece) finds a single gameplay idea and never lets go of it. Your progress will be stopped by something and the only way through will be Doing That Act’s Mechanic: in the first, that means filling barrels with blood by killing enemies near them and then slotting those into the proper place; in the second, you’ll need to find and use soul containers to power things; in the third, you’ll have to stand on ritual markers to activate dreamcatchers.
Occasionally, Painkiller will mix it up a bit – I actually liked the spots where my team had to use the soul containers to power a large cart we had to escort, but moments like that are rare. Mostly, you do the same things over and over again, moving through the environments, collecting gold, finding hidden chests, and picking up consumables –one plops down health; another plops down ammo; the third is a mostly useless decoy you will never pick up unless the other two are not available; and the fourth is an extra life; that’s it. You’re then locked into a combat arena until you either get enough blood canisters/soul containers/dreamcatchers to proceed or everything barring your path is dead.
Even the combat isn’t as satisfying as it should be. Most enemies are cohorts, harmless by themselves but potentially dangerous in large numbers (and they always come in large numbers) that die easily. There are also larger, more dangerous demons you can stagger by pouring on alt fires or kill outright, and the end of act Nephilim, who serve as bosses. None of these are all that engaging aside from the Nephilim, and while there are several different kinds of cohorts and a handful of demons, none of them have much of a unique visual identity. There are no Psychonuns or Hell Bikers or Evil Samurai or Freaks, nothing that made the original game’s wacky evil ensemble memorable. No, this is Purgatory by way of a heavy metal album cover if it were generated by AI. If you’re going to do Painkiller, it could at least look like Painkiller, you know?
It's Purgatory by way of a heavy metal album cover if it were generated by AI.
Perhaps most infuriatingly, Painkiller isn’t out and out bad. The movement is fast, precise, and a hell of a time – you can slide, dash, air dash, dashthrough enemies, bounce off walls for a double jump, and use the Painkiller to grapple to various anchor points (or enemies!). All six of the guns, whether it’s the Electrodriver, Rocket Launcher, Hand Cannon, Stakegun, Shotgun, or SMG, feel great, and I liked messing around with the various alt fires. A shotgun that freezes enemies so I can shatter them? Neat. A Stakegun that’s also a grenade launcher or can create a gravity well? Love it. Turning the Rocket Launcher into a minigun that shoots rockets that freeze? Sign me up. And getting a new upgrade on a weapon’s branching paths feels meaningful and changes how you play. Yeah, a lot of it is “we have Doom Eternal at home,” but if you’re going to steal, you might as well steal from the best.
I even came to enjoy the characters, particularly Sol, a haughty, eternally youthful priestess, and Void, a straight man with a self-described fishbowl for a head and no memory of his past. Even Ink’s sarcasm and self-loathing and Roch’s tragic backstory aren’t poorly written, really. (The bad stuff is reserved for in-combat dialogue.) The issue is you rarely get to hear them finish telling each other their stories because you’ll run into some enemies and the background heavy metal (which is good) will kick in, or another character will spout some inane combat dialogue and the story dialogue you were hearing will just stop dead and never resume. Yeah, you can read it in the codex at your home base, but it’s not voiced, and the voice cast does admirable work with what they have. Bummer.
The boss fights against the Nephilim are pretty good, too. They’re not groundbreaking – you’ve seen a lot of these mechanics before – but they’re engaging to play and they look cool, whether it’s a massive blood rat, a big statue hiding a secret, or a literal dragon. These are the best parts of the roughly four or so hours it takes to play straight through Painkiller’s Raid (read: campaign) mode, and a nice change of pace from the “we’re not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with us” standard encounters.
Painkiller is designed as a three-player co-op game, and that’s the best way to play it, but if you’re short on friends or nobody’s around online, the bots are pretty good and respond well to player commands. Ordering them to stand on a switch to open a secret area is less intuitive than one of your co-op partners seeing the switch and just doing it, but it works, and I didn’t mind playing with bots when no one else was on.
Disappointment still manages to creep in, though. I figured Painkiller’s blink-and-you’ll-miss it plot was setting us up for a showdown with Azazel when we finished all nine levels, but nope. You just get access to his empty tomb where his voice offers you the chance to work for him. Your character naturally declines and he pivots to offering, and I kid you not, this is an actual line of dialogue, “a higher difficulty” and the opportunity for more violence and chaos. Sure, Azazel, why not? I’m already having so much fun.
There is also a roguelike mode to try out, and I enjoyed it because, unlike the Raid levels, there’s a lot more variety, and you can take your rewards back with you. You might navigate a platforming segment between fights that hurts you for as long as you’re in it or have to bring soul canisters up to the top of a ziggurat. Even the “we’re gonna lock you in a combat arena until either everything else is dead or all of you are” bits are more fun here just because you haven’t seen these environments before, and the randomized nature of your weapons, alt fires, and tarot cards feels more natural. It’s like this is what the Painkiller reboot was supposed to be before someone decided it should have a campaign, too. Unfortunately, during my first roguelike run, my game crashed. Talk about being damned.
I've got a banger of a deals article just in time for payday weekend. Sick of your kids saying "Six Seven?" Well if you can stomach typing that in as a discount code for cheap Xbox Controllers and RTX 5070 12GB GPUS, we've got an epic sale to let you in on.
Fancy a new pair of headphones? How about Beats Studio Pros for $99? They're reconditioned, but they don't get this cheap even on Black Friday. With a solid deal on PS5 Dualsense Edge controller to boot, let's get into today's deals and save you some cash:
MTG: Avatar Preorders Back In Stock
Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender is back in stock for pre-order at Amazon, and pricing is either at or below market value. So it's worth getting a pre-order in for Amazon, especially as they don't take payment until your order ships, so it gives you three weeks to get the money together with no penalties.
Lenovo Xbox Controller and RTX 5070 12GB Sale
By using the discount code 'SIXSEVEN' (Sigh) you can get a small fortune knocked off a range of special edition Xbox Series controllers, including the standard Robot White. There's also significant discounts on two SKU's of Nvidia RTX 5070 12GB graphics cards, so this is 100% a sale you don't want to sleep on.
This is currently the cheapest RTX 5090 build on the market right now, and we don't think you'll find a better deal even on Black Friday. It's an amazing build and an even better bargain, this PC will handle anything you throw at it in 4K and ridiculous FPS.
Beats Studio Pro
Beats Studio Pro go for $250 brand new, so $150 off for a reconditioned set makes sense. And I can guarantee you won't find a better set of headphones at this pricepoint even on Black Friday. They usually drop to around $180 brand new during the event, so this deal is well worth grabbing now.
PlayStation DualSense Edge Wireless Controller - Midnight Black
$15 off a $200 controller is pretty awesome, and it's more money in your pocket. If you've been after a DualSense Edge that's brand new and has all the bells and whistles of the full price alternative, this is the moment.
Black Bolt Elite Trainer Box
Chasing Victini and Zekrom Black White Rares? How about getting your hands on any Secret Illustration Rare or Illustration Rare? Chances are you'll find one in a Black Bolt Elite Trainer Box, and I'm not talsking about the included promo card. It has eight booster packs and other goodies such as 65-themed deck sleeves and dice. Plus, it's very rare Amazon does competitive pricing on Pokémon TCG.
STAR WARS The Black Series Gaming Greats Kyle Katarn
Kyle Katarn is literally a legend in the Star Wars community, one for being Luke Skywalkers right hand man during the Dark Forces and Jedi Knight games building up the New Jedi Academy on Yavin IV. And he's literally part of Legends continuity, which at this point makes for a far insteresting post-Return of the Jedi Star Wars romp. Also, this figure is cool so buy it. Rant over.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners MADNESS Volume 1
Follow Rebecca and Pilar as they pursue their dreams of becoming an Edgerunner just like their Dad. This is going to be worth preorders thanks to Amazons preorder price guarantee and that it's written by the screenwriter of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunner anime, Bartosz Sztybor.
Pokemon Halloween Calendar 2025
Want some cute Halloween themed Pokémon figures for $9.99? Better hurry up, this is a fun little thing for everyone to look forward to opening on the leadup to Trick or Treating, even if you want to snag one and put it away for next year.
Meta Knight & Shadow Star amiibo
Kirby Air Riders is officially defying everyone's expectations with what's been revealed so far, and it's another lesson in why no one should underestimate Sakurai San. It's great to see new amiibo still up for preorder instead of being snatched up by scalpers.
8BitDo Ultimate 2 for Switch / Switch 2 / PC
8BitDo makes amazing controllers, end of. Riving first party options, this controller has every feature you can think of and for 10% off right now. I love the adjustable triggers and clicky buttons on this controller, and it even comes with a dock to keep it charged. How can you loose?
Creative Stage V2 2.1 Soundbar with Subwoofer
Creative have been making some of the best speakers for PC and gaming for decades at this point (and they still do Sound Blaster sound card, how awesome is that?). This setup is a bargain at a limited time deal of $69.99 and comes with all the connectivity options anyone will need, including Bluetooth 5.0 for you and your party guests to hook up too. Winner!
Shin Godzilla - Limited Edition Steelbook
Need more Godzilla and Steelbooks in your life? Good, because this is perfect for you. Featuring a boatload of extra features including cut scenes, outtakes, a making off and much more, this is the definitive edition of Shin Godzilla and great content value for money.
INIU Portable Charger
INIU power banks always do what they say on the tin, and I've never had an issue with their product lines. This one is perfect for a commute that doesn't require a big bulky power bank, with enough charging capacity and power to fast charge your Switch and mobile phone.
JVSCAM Cordless Electric Air Duster
I bought a similar model a couple of months ago and it's fantastic for cleaning out fans, PCs, keyboards and anything that requires precision cleaning. You will end up using all the tips of this and I can't recommend this desktop gadget enough.
2 Pack Hand Warmers
It's getting cold out, and those one-use hand warmers are OK if you fancy bringing a bag full for a day out. These bad boys are USB-rechargable and last for ages. This should be a winter coat pocket essential.
Paladone Nintendo NES Cartridge Retro Drink Coasters
This makes for a great gift this holiday, or just something run to buy for your dining table or coffee table. They're literal NES cdartridges modeled after fan-favorite games such as The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. Series and other gems. Just buy them, they're awesome.
10Pcs Model Tools
Into your Bandai Gundam building kits? This is the perfect tool set for you, providing everything you need for clean builds. It would even be a great little set for any kind of model building such as Warhammer and DnD. Not the biggest saving, but it's a handy bit of kit for the right job.
There's some crazy hype behind Mega Evolution right now, and for good reason. Gold rare Mega Lucario and Mega Gardevoir exs are fetching around $400 at the time of writing, and the artwork on the Secret Illustration Rares and Illustration Rares is phenominal (Looking at you Mega Lucario ex SIR). All of these deals are at market value or below, and in some cases knocking big box retailers like Amazon out of the Poképark.
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.
We're almost at the end of 2025, and one of the few certainties we have to close out the year is a new batch of arrivals on all of your streaming services. The cold is ideal for binge-watching anyways.
Netflix added a spread of spooky-themed movies in October, but you just know the streamer was itching for the holiday season. You will see so many Christmas rom-coms that look identical, and I completely respect it if you enjoy all of them. The streamer will also get some of the later movies from the DCEU, Netflix original movies like Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, and, of course, the final season of one of the biggest Netflix series of all time.
Let's get into it.
Everything Coming to Netflix in November
November 1
A Very Vintage Christmas
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
Baby Driver
Back to the Future
Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part III
Broadchurch: Season 1
Broadchurch: Season 2
Broadchurch: Season 3
Charlie's Angels
Crazy Rich Asians
Dear Santa
Doctor Sleep
Don't Worry Darling
Dr. Dolittle
Dr. Dolittle 2
Elvis
Frances Ha
Game Night
What always struck me the most about Flanagan’s take on this story is how it so deftly threads the needle between adapting the book and specifically acting as a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. I would have thought those two goals were incompatible (King himself famously dislikes Kubrick’s version), but somehow, it works. It captures the deeply creepy vibe of Kubrick’s movie while not losing sight of the fact that this is supposed to be a story of redemption. -Jesse Schedeen
Happy Christmas
The Hangover
The Hangover: Part II
The Hangover: Part III
I Know What You Did Last Summer
In the Heights
Isn't It Romantic
Judas and the Black Messiah
Just Mercy
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
Life of the Party
The Little Things
Merry Liddle Christmas
The Nun II
Ocean's 8
Paddington 2
The Patriot
Ready Player One
Tenet
This Is the End
Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas
The Way Back
Wonka
The start of the month always involves a big list of new (or returning) licenses. You’ll see an influx of older shows and movies that become available on Netflix, with this month's highlights including the Back to the Future trilogy, The Hangover trilogy, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
November 2
King Richard
The Outfit
Will Smith stars in the biopic Richard Williams, father and coach to Venus and Serena Williams. IGN’s review readily describes it as "Will Smith’s best performance in years," following "the inspiring origin story of two tennis greats.”
November 3
Dr Seuss’ The Sneetches
In Waves and War
Netflix has been rolling out a spread of Dr. Seuss inspired children’s series, with this month's addition adapting the tale of star-bellied Sneetches. On a very different beat, the documentary In Waves and War follows retired Navy SEALs exploring the benefits of psychedelic treatments for PTSD.
November 4
Leanne Morgan: Unspeakable Things
Minx S1-2
Squid Game: The Challenge S2
It should have been obvious that Netflix would bring Squid Game to life, but I’m still a little scared of the whole thing. The second season of Squid Game: The Challenge will feature 456 new contestants battling it out for a $4.56 million prize pool across both new and familiar challenges.
November 5
Heweliusz
Just Alice
November 6
The Bad Guys: Breaking In
Bride Wars
Death by Lightning
The Vince Staples Show S2
Following the release of The Bad Guys 2, The Bad Guys: Breaking In is a CG-animated prequel series coming straight to Netflix. The series will feature the voice cast from existing TV specials as opposed to the cast from the films.
November 7
Frankenstein
As You Stood By
Baramulla
Christmas in the Heartland
Groom & Two Brides
Labyrinth
Mango
My Dad’s Christmas Date
Guillermo del Toro’s take on Frankenstein is coming to streaming within weeks of its limited theatrical release as Netflix continues to re-hash its relationship with theaters. Scott Collura’s review of the movie for IGN describes it as “a crowning achievement for the beloved genre director and one of the most effective adaptations of the Mary Shelley story ever put to film.”
The streamer will also get Mango from Netflix Denmark, Baramulla from Netflix India, and As You Stood By from Netflix Korea.
November 8
Countdown: Jake vs Tank
Ahead of the Jake Paul vs. Tank Davis exhibition fight, Netflix is releasing a “Countdown” series following both fighters’ preparation for the event.
November 10
MARINES
Sesame Street S56 Volume 1
We’re entering a new generation of Sesame Street, with Season 56 initially pitched as “Sesame Street Reimagined.” The new season will be released in three batches on Netflix while airing on PBS Kids.
November 11
Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas
No Sleep Till Christmas
Same Time, Next Christmas
And so it begins.
November 12
A Merry Little Ex-Mas
Being Eddie
Dynamite Kiss
Eloa the Hostage: Live on TV
Mrs. Playmen
Selling the OC S4
The latest season of Selling the OC. A documentary about the life of Eddie Murphy. A new K-Drama. Oh my!
November 13
The Beast in Me
Delhi Crime S3
Had I Not Seen the Sun Part 1
Koati S1
Last Samurai Standing
Moulin Rouge!
The Sandiot
Tee Yai: Born to Be Bad
Unicorn Academy: Chapter 4
The Beast in Me is a new mini-series starring Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys that I will personally watch as an alternate universe crossover of Homeland and The Americans. Last Samurai Standing, another mini-series, adapts the manga of the same name about a samurai battle royale in the late Meiji period.
Also, because Nicole Kidman deserves all the flowers, Moulin Rouge! is coming (back) to Netflix.
November 14
Jake Paul vs. Tank Davis - 8pm ET
The Crystal Cuckoo
In Your Dreams
Lefter: The Story of the Ordinarius
Nouvelle Vague
Here’s when the Jake Paul vs. Tank Davis fight is actually happening, with Netflix exclusively streaming the exhibition fight at 8pm ET. Netflix’s Nouvelle Vague, which focuses on the production of Jean Luc Godard’s Breathless, will also become available to stream.
November 15
A Royal Date for Christmas
A Sprinkle of Christmas
A Vineyard Christmas
Becoming Santa
Christmas Casanova
Everybody's Fine
Just Like a Christmas Movie
Meet Me at the Christmas Train Parade
Royally Yours, This Christmas
Once we hit the mid-point of November, Netflix starts going all in on the holiday vibes. I think this list speaks for itself.
November 17
Blue Beetle
Gabby’s Dollhouse S12
Selena y Los Dinos
Zodiac
One of two DCEU movies coming to Netflix this month, Blue Beetle stands out as a superhero flick for what critic Alyssa Mora describes as "the deeply connected bonds of Jaime and the Reyes family." Netflix will also get the latest season of the massive children’s series (and recent film phenomenon) Gabby’s Dollhouse.
November 18
Gerry Dee: Funny You Should Say That
November 19
The Carman Family Deaths
Champagne Problems
Envious S3
The Son of a Thousand Men
Netflix will keep the true crime fans fed, for better or worse. The Carman Family Deaths chronicles a family tragedy at sea that turned into accusations of a man murdering his family. The other thing you can guarantee from Netflix? Rom-coms, like Champagne Problems.
November 20
A Man on the Inside S2
The Follies
The Great British Baking Show: Holidays S8
Jurassic World: Chaos Theory S4
A new season of the animated Jurassic World spin-off, Chaos Theory, will arrive on Netflix all at the once. We'll also get the annual holiday edition of the Great British Baking Show, which features returning contestants from previous seasons of the main series in a shortened competition for Star Baker.
November 21
Marry Christmas
Mistletoe Mixup
ONE SHOT with Ed Sheeran
Train Dreams
The director of Adolescence is teaming up with Netflix and Ed Sheeran for a particularly bold live event, following Sheeran as he performs and interacts with fans throughout New York City. Train Dreams will premiere on Netflix on the same day, with Joel Edgerton portraying a man experiencing the changes of America’s landscapes and people in the early 20th century.
November 24
Missing: Dead or Alive? S2
Santa Bootcamp
November 25
Is It Cake? Holiday S2
November 26
Jingle Bell Heist
Stranger Things 5 Volume 1
Yep, this is a big one. 10 years later, we’re getting the final season of Stranger Things. Well, Part 1 at least, because this is Netflix. With episode lengths climbing up to two hours, Stranger Things 5 will premiere four episodes on November 26. Volume 2 will premiere on Christmas, and the final episode will arrive on New Year’s Eve. It’s a whole thing.
November 27
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
As we near the end of the month, Netflix will pick up the final movie of the original DCEU, at least in terms of release date. While the reigns have now been handed over to James Gunn’s DC Studios (and an exclusive streaming partnership with HBO Max), I think it’s safe to say the grittier takes on the DC comics will always have a dedicated audience.
November 28
Left-Handed Girl
The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo
Left-Handed Girl marks Sean Baker’s first project since Best Picture winner Anora. Shih-Ching Tsou directs the film, shot entirely on an iPhone, while Baker serves as a co-writer, producer, and editor.
With all the indie titles being released on Steam every week, it can be hard to make your game stand out. Italian developer Fix-a-Bug accidentally gave its 2D dungeon crawler a big prelaunch popularity boost in Japan by accidentally naming the game “Shitty Dungeon” in Japanese.
Although the game’s English title is The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles, its Japanese language Steam Store page ended up displaying the title as Kuso Danjon. This means “Shitty Dungeon” or “Crap Dungeon,” if you want to be slightly more polite.
In a recent interview with Game*Spark spotted by Automaton, developer Paolo Nicoletti explained that the ‘shitty dungeon incident’ occurred back in August this year, when the team was releasing a demo version of the game and had yet to get a professional Japanese translation.
When they realized their mistake, Nicoletti says, "Everyone was cracking up, and honestly, I also laughed a lot about it. It was completely unintentional.” However the mishap did not flush the rogue-lite dungeon crawler down the toilet, rather, “It ended up bringing the game a lot of attention and the number of Wishlists soared." Nicoletti said the name change was “the best accidental marketing” the developer could have hoped for.
According to an earlier report by Automaton Japan, the Japanese language Steam page for The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles was named Shitty Dungeon back on August 8. By August 13, Japanese speaking users had begun discussing the topic on X and had reported it on the official Discord server.
It’s still not clear how or why this mistranslation happened, but it’s worth noting that the pre-release Japanese language demo of the game had some awkward machine translations when it was picked for Tokyo Game Show’s ‘Selected Indie 80’ in September. The developers announced that these issues would be fixed in the full release, and it appears the ‘shitty dungeon incident’ occurred around this time.
This amusing mistake made the indie game stand out from the crowd of new Steam releases. It soon became a topic of discussion on Japanese social media. According to Nicoletti, this contributed to an increase in Wishlist numbers for the then-unreleased game. After all, a title that seems to proudly proclaim it's bad can make people curious as to whether that’s really the case.
However, the quality of the game did not stink after all, and The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles currently has a 'Mostly Positive' rating on Steam. Reviewers have been praising its funny dialogue, satisfying gameplay loop and the overall care put into its development.
Japanese speaking commenters on X have also praised the demo and the full game for being surprisingly better than its initial Japanese title suggested. “Humor that lives up to the name,” and “great, detailed pixel art,” are among the plaudits given to the indie title. One Japanese language review on Steam noted that, “Despite the title Shitty Dungeon making me think it was a joke, it is actually quite well made.” The reviewer said that because they'd made a blind buy, “It wasn’t quite what I expected but the combat system is pretty interesting.” They also praised the game’s balance between humorous dialogue and tense combat.
Although good localizations are preferable, translation errors have produced some weirdly memorable dialogue over the years. If it hadn’t been for mistranslation, such lines would never have become so iconic. Lines like Zero Wing’s “All your base are belong to us,” and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night’s “What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets,” have endured beyond their source games to become well-known memes.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
Should there be a Shaun of the Dead 2? Not now, not ever, director Edgar Wright has insisted — and his explanation for why he has such a hard line on it makes perfect sense.
2004’s Shaun of the Dead, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, is considered by many fans to be the perfect zombie comedy film. It sees Pegg’s washed up Shaun go from zero to hero as a zombie apocalypse explodes around him and his friends in the Crouch End area of London. Many of its lines are often repeated by fans online ("Let's go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this all to blow over”), and it spawned Wright and Pegg's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, which includes 2007’s Hot Fuzz and 2013’s The World's End.
Over the years (21!), fans have wondered whether Wright and Pegg would return to Shaun of the Dead for a sequel. While Pegg has made clear his feelings that a sequel or reboot should never happen, now Wright has added his thoughts.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, he told Polygon he’ll never return to make Shaun of the Dead 2. Why? Because the characters go through their journeys in the first movie, and there’s not really much left to say.
"We weren't really interested in doing it because we didn't think there was any more story to tell," Wright said. Apparently he was asked to make a sequel after Shaun of the Dead came out instead of Hot Fuzz, but he refused.
"There are a lot of franchises where the sequels don't really earn their keep because all the story has been told in the first movie," Wright added. "When a character has gone through a massive change, it's very difficult to have a second installment. Shaun of the Dead has him going from being a kind of sad sack to being a hero by the end of the movie. So it's very difficult to start the next movie when there's no obvious arc. We are very happy with it being a one and done."
With any luck, that’s where Shaun of the Dead will stay: as a perfect movie of its time that still stands up today. No sequel ‘getting the band back together,’ and no remake with ill-judged recasting.
It’s worth noting at this point what Pegg has said in the past about a potential Shaun of the Dead 2. In May, he said that while he’s working out a project to do with Wright, it’ll be a surprise. “It’s lovely to be asked, and the following that film has is the best you can hope for as a filmmaker, but ‘Shaun’ is a story with a beginning, middle and end, and it’s a story that to add it it — like Alien 3 did to Aliens — might end up detracting from the original,” Pegg told Variety. “So certainly when Edgar and I make our next film, we’re gonna really disappoint everybody.”
In the short term, Wright has a reboot of his own, although this one is an adaptation of a novel: The Running Man.
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.
Halloween has taken over Roblox for the past three weeks, and as the day finally approaches, it's no surprise that the celebrations are continuing across the weekend. But this week, it's not just Halloween updates you'll see, as your favorite experiences return to their usual content. Whether it's spooky or not, this weekend is still packed with updates, so here's everything you can expect to see if you're looking for something to play this weekend.
Friday, October 31st Roblox Updates:
As usual, several experiences are getting their updates in before the weekend starts, and here are some of the ones to watch out for:
Blox Fruits Update
Blox Fruits has been one of the most popular Roblox experiences for years, and is a fighting game, where you'll defeat enemies to level up and gain powerful abilities. This week, they launch their Trick-Or-Treat Event that will run until the end of November, giving you plenty of time to test out all the new content.
Anime Eternal Update
First up is Anime Eternal, which is a fighting game that will take you through different anime-inspired worlds as you level up and build your strength to be the strongest player. This experience is planning to release Update 22 in three parts just like the previous one. The first part is planned to launch today, with the second part is due on Sunday, 2nd November. The final part will conclude on Wednesday, 5th November. The new updates are set to add a new island, champions, powers, and overall quality of life improvements.
Adopt Me! Update
Following this is Adopt Me! This notoriously adorable experience that lets you collect and trade pets has already launched Halloween content. The festival to celebrate Halloween has been in full swing for weeks, but a new update today will see players receive a Bonus Candy Weekend take place. Throughout this week, you can get a 1.2x boost to all Candy. To top it off, Adopt Me! will be running their very first Admin Abuse event this weekend as well.
Dandy's World Update
It's no surprise that the survival horror experience where you work together to explore the Gardenview Center is making the most of the spooky season. Dandy's World has had Halloween content running for two weeks, adding new Halloween toons, skins, and a limited-time Halloween floor. This weekend, they're amping up the Halloween goodies and giving everyone 2x Pumpkin Earnings, as well as new skins and the chance to optimize Toodles.
Brookhaven Update
Brookhaven is a roleplaying game where all of the inhabitants live on an island and can use vehicles and visit stores. The simulator experience regularly releases new items, clothing, and more to customize your character. Last week, it launched its Halloween content, and this week, we can expect to see Part 2. There will be more Halloween items to get, and Candy Corn hunts taking place.
Additional Roblox Updates for Experiences on Friday, 31st October
Those are not the only popular experiences launching updates today, you can also find:
Heading into the weekend, you'll see the most-played Roblox experiences launch their usual weekly content.
99 Nights in the Forest Update
99 Nights in the Forest has sat near the top of the Roblox charts for months, showing that survival horror isn't just for Halloween. For the unfamiliar, the game involves trying to keep your character fed, warm, and sheltered while you rescue missing children and avoid a dangerous deer-like entity at night.
The game has been releasing Halloween content for the past three weekends, and this one will be no different. As we enter the final week of Halloween updates, the experience is releasing The Hedge Maze. The carnival will be arriving in the forest, and you'll need to unlock The Hedge Maze by completing machines. Of course, you can expect to receive new rewards and candy as a special little treat. As a little added treat this weekend, on Sunday, there will also be a drop for Deer Plushies.
Grow a Garden Update
The gardening simulator, Grow a Garden, has an abundance of seeds, pets, and mutations to discover as you plant, harvest, and sell your crops. Grow a Garden launched their Halloween event three weeks ago with Ghoul Garden.
Sadly, tomorrow will signal the end of Halloween, but not before a Halloween Merchant has visited with exclusive and rare seeds, cosmetic items, and more. Tomorrow, a Safari Harvest will instead take the place of all the ghoulish NPCs that we've seen visiting the gardens. Along with a new Safari Harvest event, we'll also see a new season, along with the usual new pets, seeds, and weather events.
Steal a Brainrot Update
Steal a Brainrot is a particularly popular Roblox experience where you'll need to capture Brainrots from a conveyor belt and keep them locked away from other players. You can steal Brainrots and have your Brainrots stolen, so we advise you stick close to that lockdown button if you want to protect your Secret Brainrots.
The details of this weekend's event haven't been released yet, but the experience is planning to stick to it's typical weekly schedule. Expect the usual Admin Abuse and chances to get Godly and Secret Brainrots.
Plants vs Brainrots Update
This experience, which is a fusion of Grow a Garden, Steal a Brainrot, and Plants Vs Zombies, has quickly climbed the Roblox charts and is regularly releasing new content. In Plants Vs Brainrots, you'll plant seeds that attack Brainrots, helping you capture them. As you earn money, you can unlock better plants and take down rarer Brainrots.
Last week, we saw the experience launch Artist Frenzy, and although no details are available about the newest update yet, there's a good chance that the Central Island will see a new NPC requesting specific Brainrots. As always, Admin Abuse will also take place in PvB and the chance for rare mutations and Brainrots awaits.
Blue Lock: Rivals Update
Blue Lock: Rivals is a competitive 5v5 football experience inspired by the popular Japanese manga series. This weekend, it launches its Halloween Finale content, which will introduce a final Style and new Halloween quests to complete.
Additional Roblox Updates for Experiences on Saturday, 1st November
Those are not the only popular experiences launching updates today, you can also find:
This week, Sunday will be extremely quiet with little planned in terms of updates for the most popular experiences. So, that's everything for Roblox updates this weekend, but we're sure there's plenty more to cover as we enter November.
Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.
Arc Raiders has only been out a day, but it has already surpassed a Steam concurrent peak player count of 264,673, making it one of the biggest extraction shooters ever on Valve's platform.
This means more people played Arc Raiders on Steam in the last 24-hours than even free-to-play titles like Apex Legends and Marvel Rivals.
The true number of players Arc Raiders has will of course be bigger than its Steam count, as it also launched on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. Neither Sony nor Microsoft make player numbers public. It's also worth bearing in mind that Arc Raiders launched mid-week, so the expectation is for its player number to grow as the game heads into its first weekend. For now, we can say the launch is truly impressive on Steam, where Arc Raiders has a 'very positive' user review rating after over 8,800 reviews.
It'll be interesting to see how Arc Raiders fares when perhaps one of its biggest competitors, Escape From Tarkov, debuts on Steam next month. Another key competitor could be Marathon. Arc Raiders' design director previously said it was fortuitous timing to have Bungie's extraction shooter launch a playtest around the same time as its own, calling it "a great A/B test for us."
“I know. The insanity,” CEO Patrick Soderlund told The Game Business. “People may look at that [Arc Raiders' release date] and say, ‘What the hell are they doing?’ We have spent a lot of time looking at this from multiple angles and you know, for right or wrong, we believe that the game can launch there. This is the start of a long journey. It needs to start somewhere.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Love and Deepspace has been out for almost two years now, but its playerbase is growing increasingly exasperated over a persistent issue impacting players with dark-skinned custom main characters: their characters are literally invisible.
If you're unfamiliar with Love and Deepspace, it's an otome game developed by Chinese studio Papergames and published globally by Infinity Nikki developer Infold Games. Love and Deepspace is unique in that it's a 3D otome game with action RPG elements, where players can build relationships with five different potential love interests while also fighting off space monsters. But the romantic elements are the big draw, with visual novel segments and highly detailed, fully animated cutscenes between the player character, or MC, and their love interest, presented as gameplay rewards.
Love and Deepspace has now been out since January 2024, almost two years. It's been wildly successful during that time, too, with over 50 million players worldwide as of 2025. It won Best Mobile Game at Gamescom this year, and has been praised for its positive tone toward women and their needs in relationships. Admittedly, Love and Deepspace isn't exactly a pioneer on the diversity front: there's only one body type available for the MC, and all the available love interests are light-skinned. But there are a variety of customization options for the MC's looks, including multiple darker skin tones. It's a feature which hasn't historically been a common one in otome games, and which has helped players with darker skin create MCs that they feel represent them in the romantic scenarios the game presents.
But ever since its release, players have been reporting issues with the game's lighting causing MCs with darker skin tones to look weirdly shadowed, or occasionally become totally invisible during certain cutscenes. The complaints go back to the launch of the game and are still being posted as recently as this week, and they all look something like this:
That's, uh, pretty bad! The issue isn't consistent across every cutscene and varies depending on skin tone, but the common factor is that players whose MCs have darker skin tones never know, when a new update is released, if their characters will be visible in the cutscenes or not. Players experiencing this issue say they've reported it to Infold many times, and recently, IGN received a small flood of submissions to its tips email aliases from players upset about the issue. Until now, Infold hasn't said anything about the issue at all. But when IGN reached out for comment, Infold provided the following statement:
At Infold Games, we’ve always believed that our games are shaped together with the players who love them. The community’s feedback, discussions, and creative passion are what keep Love and Deepspace evolving and alive.
We’ve seen the conversations and truly value everyone who has taken the time to share their experiences and thoughts. Every comment, whether it’s about visuals, storytelling, or representation, helps us better understand how our work resonates across different perspectives and cultures.
Love and Deepspace is, at its heart, a shared world of emotion and imagination. We hope to keep building it hand in hand with our players, learning and improving together along the way.
Love and Deepspace players are understandably frustrated by this issue. After all, the game has explicitly been promoted by the company for its extremely in-depth technical achievements in getting every detail of the characters to feel real: hair, skin, clothing, everything. It would be one thing if this was a one-time issue with one card that was quickly fixed. But after two years and absolutely no acknowledgement, players with darker skin are linking the problem to long-time issues in games with racism and colorism. Even if it's not intentionally malicious, they say, it all goes back to developers prioritizing making sure white skin tones look good, and only throwing in darker skin tones as an afterthought, without taking care to make sure they look just as nice. As one player, StarPop, put it eloquently on Twitter back in May:
"In history, dating games has been set where it was just a fair/pale Mc and black/brown players don't invest in playing the game because they don't see themselves. For us, we are seeing someone else or pretending to be someone we're not. Because of racism and colorism, pale skin meant beauty as dark tones meant dirty, disgusting, unlovable just because they don't 'fit the beauty standard'. With dating games that doesn't suggest skin tone variation, it's another way of telling us that we aren't worthy of love nor attention. For games that's supposed to represent you falling in love and being treated fairly because the love interests love you for who you are, it excluded many potential players due to it. When Love and Deepspace came out, black/brown players got into it and it felt like heaven that the MCs skin tone can change."
In history, dating games has been set where it was just a fair/pale Mc and black/brown players don't invest in playing the game because they don't see themselves. For us, we are seeing someone else or pretending to be someone we're not. Because of racism and colorism, pale skin-
"Not properly lighting us basically tells us black/brown players that they don't care enough to consistently and properly light us up," wrote StarPop later in the thread. "Just doing lighting on a default mc when you implemented different tones doesn't work because not everyone has the same skin tone."
StarPop's thread is just one person's experience, but it reflects dozens of other comments from non-white players and content creators that have popped up across social media on Twitter, Reddit, Discord, YouTube, TikTok, and other platforms over the last two years. Unfortunately, many of the comments recently have begun despairing of there ever being a fix to this issue. Though the community is still encouraging players to report the issue to Infold during player surveys, it's without any real hope of change:
"I almost made a post about this but realized it wasn't worth getting my or anyone else's hopes up," wrote one Reddit user in a reply to another post on the subject from three days ago. "Not saying people should give up campaigning that they fix it (not even make dark skin MCs look perfect, just VISIBLE), but with the complexity of the lightning and the fact that they couldn't even be bothered to change the shading on the injuries in Edge of Continuum (my MC's "scratches" look like she tried to apply the wrong foundation, THERE ARE ONLY LIKE 5 SKIN COLORS BRO, COME ON), I'm resigning myself to having to submit another bug report that my MC looks like a shadow person and just enjoying the card as much as I can.
"And if by some miracle they actually addressed it and it looks decent, I will give InFold every last prop in my arsenal. All the props, straight to their inbox."
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
We have good news for patient Silent Hill fans who have been waiting for a chance to play Silent Hill 2 Remake on an Xbox console — a new rating listing has popped up on the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).
While the ESRB already had the horror game listed, of course, it previously only provided a rating for the game on PlayStation 5 and PC, giving a 17+ rating on account of its blood, gore, sexual themes, strong language, and violence. And now, a similar rating has been added to the site specifically for the "Xbox Series" platform.
It's unlikely to be a surprise to most — we already knew that the remake of the horror game was a year-long console exclusive for PS5, and that expired last month — but it's good news nonetheless given Konami itself had been a little coy about when we may see the port release on Xbox Series consoles (and silent completely on the highly anticipated Born From a Wish DLC).
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
It's officially Halloween, which means it's one of the best times of year to hunker down and have yourself a horror movie marathon. While you could just watch a bunch of horror classics, if you're looking for a binge with a bit more continuity, you won't find more long-running franchises to work through than in the slasher genre.
We've gathered some of the most popular horror movie franchises below as a starting point for what's on offer. So grab your popcorn, turn off the lights, and get ready to count how many kills you can keep track of.
Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees is one of the most iconic horror villains, and the Friday the 13th movies he originates from are some of the best slashers ever made. The original Friday the 13th movie was released in 1980, and as of 2024, there are 12 movies in the franchise, including one where Jason goes to space for some reason.
If you're looking to watch all of the Friday the 13th movies in order, it will take you a little under 17 hours. If you're determined enough, that's possible in a single weekend.
The Conjuring
The Conjuring universe is surprisingly large, and if you’re just entering its orbit for the first time, it can be a pretty confusing timeline. There are a total of ten movies you can watch right now, including The Conjuring, Annabelle, and The Nun films, and the most recent release, The Conjuring: Last Rites.
If you include all ten movies and the five shorts in your streaming marathon, you can potentially watch all of the Conjuring movies in just under 20 hours.
Child's Play
Chucky is another iconic slasher that just won't give up. There are currently eight Child's Play movies and a Chucky TV series with three seasons. If creepy dolls are up your alley, then we suggest starting with the original 1988 film and working your way through the series. You can also include the 2019 reboot, but it doesn't fit directly on the Child's Play timeline.
If you're planning on binge-watching all eight of the Chucky films, it will take you just over 11 hours and 40 minutes to get through them all, and that's not counting the TV series.
Halloween
Yet another classic slasher series, and perhaps the best one for an October binge-watch, the Halloween films feature Michael Myers in his iconic mask brutally murdering people. If you're hoping to watch the Halloween movies in chronological order, however, we regret to inform you that the timeline is incredibly complicated. The Michael Myers universe can be split into five different timelines.
Watching all 13 Halloween movies in marathon mode is a challenge we'd only pose to the truly hardcore. For more casual viewing, we suggest starting with the original 1978 film and then moving on to the newer trilogy. If you do want to try to watch all 13 of the Halloween movies, it will take you over 20 and half hours to do so.
Scream
If you're looking for a horror movie marathon that doesn't take itself too seriously, watching all the Scream movies in order is a great way to do so. Scream 7 is set to arrive in 2026, so if you want to watch all six of the Ghostface movies in marathon form before then, it will take you a little over 11 and half hours. Here's where you can watch all of the Scream movies online.
A Nightmare On Elm Street
If you do a Friday the 13th movie marathon, then you're going to end up with a Freddy vs. Jason matchup. If you'd prefer just a Freddy Krueger movie marathon, you'll be happy to hear there are currently nine films in the series. Although it's been almost 13 years since we've had a Freddy movie, the franchise is still iconic enough to be worthy of movie marathon status.
Before Insidious or The Conjuring, iconic horror filmmaker James Wan worked alongside Leigh Wannell on the gore-centric Saw franchise. There are currently 10 total movies across the Saw timeline, though without Tobin Bell appearing as Jigsaw, Spiral: From the Book of Saw is a bit of an outlier.
If you think you have the stomach to watch all the Saw movies in one go, it will take a little over 16 hours to do so. You can see our guide to where to watch the Saw movies online to get started.
More Horror Movie Binges
We have plenty more suggestions about what to watch during 2024's spooky season. Whether you're looking for a slasher binge or just want some vampire action in your life, these lists should help get you on the right track:
The kidnapping of a high profile figure isn’t an unusual plot device for a thriller. But add in an alien conspiracy, dark comedic elements and a preoccupation with bees, and the curiosity surrounding Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest release, Bugonia, begins to make more sense.
Wondering what all the buzz is about? Here are five things to know about the film.
A Lanthimos vision
If you’ve seen any of the acclaimed director’s previous works – The Lobster (2015), The Favourite (2018), and Poor Things (2023) to name just a few – you’ll know they have a distinct surreal, yet often darkly funny tone. And Bugonia is no exception.
The film follows two conspiracy theorists who kidnap a powerful CEO, convinced she’s an alien plotting to destroy the planet. The bulk of the action takes place in a claustrophobic basement, and throughout the tense hostage situation, the narrative explores a range of weighty socioeconomic, environmental and psychological themes. But in typical Yorgos Lanthimos fashion, the dialogue and visuals are also sprinkled with irreverence and absurdity.
This unpredictability – switching back and forth between the intense microcosm of the house and themes of global magnitude, as well as the characters’ shifting power dynamics and the repeated juxtaposition of horror and humour – heightens the sense of unease. It also provides a stark contrast to the kidnappers’ single-minded focus as their warped plans unfold.
Some familiar faces
Heading up the cast of Bugonia are Emma Stone, who plays Michelle Fuller (the ruthless head of pharmaceutical giant Auxolith) and Jesse Plemons as Teddy (the conspiracy-obsessed brains behind Fuller’s kidnapping).
Both actors have actually collaborated with Lanthimos before: Plemons appeared in his 2024 anthology movie Kinds of Kindness (which also starred Stone), and Stone has teamed up with the director on three other occasions; for The Favourite, a 2022 short film titled Bleat, and for Poor Things (a performance which won her the 2024 Academy Award for Best Actress).
A contemporary reimagining
As wild as the premise of Bugonia sounds, it’s not entirely new. The movie is actually inspired by a Korean film released in 2003, called Save the Green Planet!. The new script was penned by screenwriter Will Tracy during the early Covid lockdowns, and shifts the setting from South Korea to the USA to recontextualise the themes within contemporary American culture.
As one of the writers behind 2022’s celebrated horror comedy The Menu and TV behemoth Succession, Tracy's credentials for crafting narratives that offer biting commentaries on capitalist society and Western zeitgeist are top-tier. And Save The Green Planet! was put on his radar by none other than Ari Aster (of Hereditary and Midsommar fame), who also serves as a producer on Bugonia.
The bee(s) all and end all
Despite its modern setting, Bugonia’s title is lifted from ancient texts. Its roots are Greek – reflecting Lanthimos’s heritage – and translate to ‘ox birth’, describing the grotesque mystical practice the word represents.
The process of bugonia features throughout early Mediterranean literature, and it details how a beekeeper can miraculously restock their hives by spontaneously generating a new colony from the carcass of a young bull. This not only ties directly to Teddy’s hobby in the film, but his wacky conviction that by kidnapping eliminating Michelle, the world (and in turn, his beloved bees) can be saved.
The ‘truth’ is out there
As part of its marketing campaign for Bugonia, Focus Features has created a clever series of online in-world materials that enable cinemagoers to peek further into the worlds of both Teddy and Michelle.
Auxolith’s cold, capitalist polish can be explored on the fictional company’s LinkedIn page, where posts filled with corporate speak enthuse about innovation and the groundbreaking vision of its “fearless leader”. The fiercely controlled language mirrors one-percenter Michelle’s tightly scheduled, hustle-driven existence within her privileged bubble.
In contrast, the content on humanresistancehq.com is inspired by more niche corners of the internet, where conspiracy enthusiasts, like Teddy, congregate. You can browse grassroots ‘research’ and resources that have purportedly been collated by his fellow believers, giving insight into his echo chamber and shedding light on how his radicalisation came about.
Dive deeper into unsettling conspiracies and dark humour in Bugonia, in cinemas now.
Nintendo has won a lawsuit against a streamer who pirated games and livestreamed them ahead of their release dates.
The pirate, Jesse "EveryGameGuru" Keighin, infamously wrote to Nintendo "boasting" that he had "a thousand burner channels” to stream from and threatened to continue to use them, saying he could "do this all day." "You might run a corporation, but I run the streets," he wrote on social media at the time. He has now been ordered to pay $17,500 in damages.
Last November, we learned Nintendo had sued a gamer for streaming pirated Nintendo games such as The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom before their official release date. Nintendo filed a lawsuit in a Colorado court against Keighin accusing him of not only streaming 10 Nintendo games before they came out, but telling his viewers how to obtain them. The list includes The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Super Mario Party Jamboree, and Mario & Luigi: Brothership.
According to the lawsuit, Keighin obtained and streamed leaked Nintendo games at least 50 times since 2022, and provided links to the Yuzu and Ryujinx emulators for viewers. Nintendo alleged these actions amounted to “trafficking” in illegal “circumvention devices,” and insisted they caused “millions of dollars” worth of damage through “lost video game sales.”
According to TorrentFreak, however, the court did not agree to issue an injunction against anonymous "third parties" or order the "destruction" of the devices Keighin uses to circumvent Nintendo's piracy systems, saying the demand was "unclear" and "unreasonable" without knowing who those third parties were or what the circumvention devices specifically are.
An injunction against Keighin was granted, though, preventing him from "infringing Nintendo's copyrighted works, including by streaming, and from trafficking in Switch emulators, Nintendo's proprietary cryptographic keys, or other software or technologies that circumvent Nintendo's technological protective measures."
Keighin reportedly did not prepare a defense nor any objections, and the judgment is now final.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
The creators of Stranger Things have promised fans that Season 5 will finally answer one of the biggest questions left hanging since Season 1 made its explosive debut a decade ago.
Warning! Spoilers for Stranger Things follow:
This isn’t about an explanation for what the Upside Down is; Matt and Ross Duffer have already said the fifth and final season will reveal all on Stranger Things’ hellish alternate dimension. This is about the kidnapping of Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp.
Stranger Things began with the mysterious disappearance of Will, and Season 5 will finally answer why he was kidnapped and brought to the Upside Down in the first place. ‘Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers’ is the first episode of Stranger Things and the first episode of the first season. It was written and directed by the Duffer Brothers and premiered on Netflix on July 15, 2016, along with the rest of the season.
In the new Season 5 trailer, we see evil monster Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) in full control over Will’s body. “You are going to help me… one… last… time,” it says.
At long last… we can begin. The trailer for the epic final season of STRANGER THINGS is HERE. pic.twitter.com/5qi9memqSv
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Ross Duffer said that fans should go back to Season 2, Episode 6, called ‘The Spy,’ to help them understand what Vecna means here. This is, Ross said, “the most important episode,” and shows Will “working, in a way, for the Mind Flayer.”
In The Spy, Will is brought to Hawkins National Laboratory. At one point, a severed tendril from the tunnels is burnt, causing Will to experience paint. Will later points soldiers in the direction of a place the monster doesn’t want him to see, which turns out to be a trap. Will says "he made me do it" because "they upset him." Will, it seems, is the spy.
Fans have for years theorized about why Will was taken in Season 1, rather than simply killed like so many others. What happened to him when he was kidnapped, and to what end? Finally, we’re getting answers.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Season 5 begins in the fall of 1987, near the anniversary of Will’s disappearance in the Upside Down. “So much of the season was built around the idea of coming full circle, answering many of the questions that were posed all the way back in season 1,” Matt said. “I think the two biggest questions that we didn’t really answer in Season 1 that we do answer this season is ‘what is the Upside Down, truly?’ and ‘why was Will taken?’”
“We reveal really everything about the Upside Down, all of which was planned out in season 1,” Matt added. “It was fun to finally pull back the curtain on all of that.”
Here’s the official blurb on Stranger Things Season 5:
The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding. As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.
Stranger Things Season 5 debuts on Netflix in three parts, with the first four episodes arriving for the Thanksgiving holiday on November 26. The next three episodes premiere on Christmas, and the series finale will debut on the streamer and in over 350 theaters nationwide on New Year’s Eve.
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.
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