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

This Day in Gaming 🎂

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

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

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

Switch 2 Game Savings

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

Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card.

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

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

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

PlayStation 5 Pro for $606.49

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

20% Off LEGO Technic Lamborghini Super Car 42115

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

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

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

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

Why Is This Necessary?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amazon Buy One, Get One Half Off Puzzles Sale

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

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

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

What Else Is In Amazon's Sale?

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

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

How Many Yakuza/Like a Dragon Games Are There?

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

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

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

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

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

Which Yakuza Game Should You Play First?

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

Mainline Yakuza/Like a Dragon Games in Chronological Order:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. Yakuza 3 (2009)

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

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

5. Yakuza 4 (2010)

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

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

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

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

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

6. Yakuza 5 (2012)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2020)

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

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

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

9. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)

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

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

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

Mainline Yakuza games are marked in bold with an asterisk.

What’s Next for Yakuza/Like a Dragon?

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

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

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

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

25" Alienware AW2523HF 360Hz Gaming Monitor for $250

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

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

When Does Love Island UK Air?

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

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

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

TL;DR: These Are the Best Graphics Cards

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

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

What to Look for in a Graphics Card

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

The Best Graphics Card for Most People

2. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

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

3. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090

The Best Nvidia Graphics Card

4. AMD Radeon RX 9070

The Best AMD Graphics Card

5. AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT

The Best GPU for 1080p

Upcoming GPUs

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

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

Best Graphics Cards FAQ

AMD or Nvidia? Or Intel?

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

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

What power supply should I get?

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

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

GTX vs. RTX

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

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

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

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

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

Amazon Buy One, Get One Half Off Book Sale

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A new PlayStation Portal has never been discounted, even during the currently running PlayStation Days of Play Sale, but at least you can save on a used one. Amazon Resale currently has a Used: Like New PS Portal in stock for $156.83 shipped. It retails for $200 new, so that's 22% in savings. A Sony warranty may or may not be included, but Amazon Resale items benefit from the same 30-day return policy you get for buying a new item.

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

PlayStation Portal (Used: Like New) for $156.83

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10: Jumbo Cactuar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When you’re setting out to build a gaming PC, the most consequential decision you’re going to make is choosing the best graphics card for your build. There are a lot of options out there, but picking an AMD graphics card makes a lot of sense, especially if you don’t want to fork over a lot of extra money for gimmicky extras. All of AMD’s current-generation graphics cards support ray tracing and feature support for FSR, or FidelityFX Super Resolution, an upscaling method supported by most major PC games.

While there are more powerful graphics cards out there, AMD graphics cards like the Radeon RX 9070 XT provide excellent 4K performance without a price tag that sneaks into the $2,000 range. If you’re in the market for a mid-range graphics card for 1440p, Team Red particularly shines, delivering excellent performance for the money you’re spending.

TL;DR: These Are the Best AMD Graphics Cards

It has to be said that AMD’s graphics architecture powers both the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X, which makes it easier on developers to optimize for AMD’s hardware when console games make their way over to PC. This by no means guarantees perfect optimization on PC games when you’re running an AMD graphics card, but it does help. Of course, AMD isn’t the only GPU maker in town, so if you’re more interested in Team Green’s offerings, head over to my guide to the best Nvidia graphics cards.

Like with any other graphics card, picking the best AMD GPU isn’t just about getting the fastest card on the market and calling it a day. Instead, you need to decide what resolution you want to play your PC games at and, more importantly, how much you’re willing to spend on a graphics card.

Graphics Card Basics

Graphics cards are, by their very nature, incredibly complex devices. While you don’t need to know everything about them to find a great GPU, there are a few things you should know ahead of time. For AMD graphics cards, the first thing you should keep an eye out for is whether or not it's a current-generation part.

Unfortunately, AMD just completely changed its naming convention. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT just launched as Team Red's top-end graphics card, succeeding the RX 7900 XTX. Not only did AMD skip the 8, but it swapped some of the numbers around. The most important thing to know is that any AMD card with a 9 as the first digit is a current-generation card, with 7 and 6 being the preceding generations.

Some AMD graphics card model numbers will be followed by an XT or an XTX. This just means that the graphics card is a step up, but without quite being in the next performance class.

This naming convention is relatively new, starting with the Radeon RX 5700 XT in 2019. Before that, the common naming convention for AMD graphics cards was three digits instead of four, like the AMD Radeon RX 580 or RX 480. These graphics cards are old news at this point, so you should avoid buying one, unless you find it for $100 or less.

As a general rule, you can follow a general rule of “higher number = better performance,” but there are specs you can drill down into to further determine performance.

The easiest spec to understand is the VRAM, short for video memory. Typically, having more VRAM is better, especially when you’re playing at a higher resolution. If you play at 1080p, 8GB is going to be more than enough for the majority of PC games. At 1440p, though, you’re going to want to aim for 12GB–16GB of VRAM, especially for more graphically intensive games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Black Myth: Wukong. If you want to play at 4K, though, you should get as much VRAM as you can afford. At this resolution, you really can’t get too much memory, which is why the Radeon RX 9070 XT comes with 16GB.

You can also look at how many compute units a graphics card has. Every graphics card will have multiple compute units, each of which will have dozens of streaming multiprocessors. These are commonly referred to as shaders, or CUDA cores for Nvidia graphics cards. For the latest AMD graphics cards, each compute unit will have 64 Streaming Multiprocessors. So, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which has 96 Compute Units, has a total of 6,144 SMs.

The last few generations of AMD graphics cards have also included dedicated hardware for ray tracing in each compute unit. In the latest cards, each CU has 1 RT Core, totalling 96 for the 7900 XTX. As a general rule, the more RT Cores a card has, the better it’ll be at handling ray tracing.

Once you know what graphics card you want, you need to make sure your PC can actually handle it. Measure your case to make sure it has space for it, especially if you’re going for a high-end GPU. Also take a look at the power supply – as graphics cards get more powerful, they need more power, so you’ll want to make sure your PSU has enough wattage. Each graphics card will have a recommended power supply listed, so just make sure yours is beefy enough.

If You Just Want the Best: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

Best For 4K: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

Best for 1440p: AMD Radeon RX 9070

Best for 1080p: AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT

Best on a Budget: AMD Radeon RX 6600

What Is FSR?

FidelityFX Super Resolution, or FSR, is AMD’s solution to upscaling tech on PC. This is a software upscaler that takes information from recent frames, as well as motion vector information provided by the game engine, and upscales a lower resolution frame to your native resolution.

Before FSR 4, this was a software-based solution, the brunt of the work is done in the same streaming multiprocessors that the rest of the frame is rendered on. This means there’s less of a performance uplift than an AI-based model that uses dedicated hardware (like Nvidia’s DLSS), but FSR definitely improves your framerate over rendering at a higher resolution natively.

This is simply because running the FSR algorithm as a post-process effect after rendering a game at 1080p still takes much less compute power than rendering a game natively at 4K. However, because FSR is essentially a post-process effect, it does leave some room for fuzziness in some frames. Luckily, AMD has worked around this and implemented features like contrast-adaptive sharpening, or CAS, to sharpen up images.

However, with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT, AMD has updated FidelityFX Super Resolution to FSR 4, which now uses AI accelerators in the GPU to upscale, instead of a software-based temporal solution. This does come with a performance cost, but its much more accurate, and produces a much cleaner image. You can swap between both versions of FSR if you choose, opting for FSR 3 if you want the absolute maximum framerate, or FSR 4 if you just want a cleaner image.

FSR has also implemented a frame generation method to further improve performance. FSR frame generation takes the same information from previous frames, along with motion vector information and UI data provided by the developer to add extra frames between each ‘real’ frame. This also drastically improves frame rate, but can introduce latency if you turn it on at a lower frame rate. Instead, you should only turn on FSR frame generation if you’re already getting 50-60fps.

What Is Ray Tracing?

Ray tracing is a method of realistically rendering light in 3D scenes. Instead of having a static light source that projects light only where the developers have specifically directed it, ray tracing allows light sources to project light naturally, tracing each ray of light as it bounces around the scene. Naturally, this adds a lot more work for the GPU, especially when it has to be done in real time.

For a few years, this was addressed by ray tracing being limited in games. Early ray tracing games like Battlefield 1 limited ray tracing to just reflections or shadows. This drastically improved these elements, but every other aspect of the game’s lighting was using the same indirect lighting methods games have been using for decades.

More recently, as RT cores in graphics cards have advanced, games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong have started implementing full ray tracing, or path tracing, to their lighting engines. This completely replaces all light sources with ray traced lighting, transforming the game’s presentation. This is only possible because of the RT Cores in AMD and Nvidia graphics cards, and still demands an upscaling method like FSR for playable performance.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jump to:

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

How Many Persona Games Are There?

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

Which Persona Game Should You Play First?

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

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

Every Persona Game and Spin-Off in Chronological Order

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

1. Revelations: Persona (1996)

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

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

2. Persona 2: Innocent Sin (1999)

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

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

Read our review of Persona 2: Innocent Sin.

3. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (2000)

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

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

Read our review of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.

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

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

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

Read our review of Persona 3 Reload.

5. Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight (2018)

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

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

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

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

Read our review of Persona 4 Golden.

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

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

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

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

8. Persona 4 Arena (2012)

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

Read our review of Persona 4 Arena.

9. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (2013)

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

Read our review of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.

10. Persona 4: Dancing All Night (2015)

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

Read our review of Persona 4: Dancing All Night.

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

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

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

Read our review of Persona 5 Royal.

12. Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (2018)

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

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

13. Persona 5 Tactica (2023)

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

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

Read our review of Persona 5 Tactica.

14. Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (2018)

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

15. Persona 5 Strikers (2020)

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

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

Read our review of Persona 5 Strikers.

Every Persona Game and Spin-Off in Release Order

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

What's Next for Persona?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who Is Parker Robbins, aka The Hood?

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

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

The Hood's Powers and Abilities

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

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

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

The Hood's Rise in the Marvel Universe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

iOS 26 Launches Across Apple Devices This Fall

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

New Phone App Layout Options With iOS 26

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

iPhone Messages Get Updates With Liquid Glass

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

macOS Tahoe Says Goodbye to Sequoia With Liquid Glass

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

watchOS Is Changing How You Stay Physically Active With Workout Buddy

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

Windowing and Menu Bar Come to iPad With iOS 26

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

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

Translation Features Improved Across All Communication Apps With iOS 26

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

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

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

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

Apple Reveals All-in-One Game App

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#2: Hypercharges Are One-Hit Kills with Style

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

#3: Simon Says Is Cool Now

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

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

#4: Rollin’ with Kumori Rocks

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

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

#5: Exploring is Worth Your Time

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

#6: It Rewards Mastery

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

#7: It Hurts So Good

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Hardcover Box Set Deal

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

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

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

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

Those with Sam's Club memberships can currently pick up recently released Switch 2 Edition games, Street Fighter Years 1-2 Fighters Edition, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at a discount.

This comes only days after the Switch 2's launch, and great opportunity for anyone lucky enough to secure the new console to save a little extra while expanding their current games library for the new portable home console hybrid.

Sam's Club memberships are also down to just $20 at the moment for those looking to sign up and get more discounts on games, trading card games, and more in the future.

If you're looking to flesh out your Switch backlog that little bit more, Amazon-owned online retailer Woot has a massive "Video Game Super Sale!" on for its 21st anniversary this week, and there's a slew of OG Switch games included in the sale.

That includes Bayonetta 3 for just $34.99, Pokémon Legends: Arceus for $44.99, Kirby and the Forgotten Land for $39.99, Super Mario Party Jamboree for $44.99, and a whole lot more.

Looking for even more Switch 2 deals? We've rounded up all the latest and greatest offers here on IGN.

But, that's all well and good if you've actually got a Switch 2, so be sure to check out our full guide on finding the elusive console, and everything else, in stock here, alongside our articles on the best Switch 2 accessories, and our Switch 2 Review in Progress.

In the meantime, if you're curious to see what's on offer for other consoles, have a look at our roundups of the best PS5 and Xbox deals.

We also have an overall roundup of the best video game deals that highlights our favorite discounts at the moment that we've found across each platform, including PC.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Senior Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.

Humans like to consider themselves the top of the food chain, and while that idea might work on Earth, we barely scrape by in the galactic gladiator competition. The Predator franchise, which began with the classic Scwarzenegger film in 1987, is all about the "Yautja" - towering trophy-seeking hunters from space who travel to different worlds for lethal competition and have been known to kidnap species for hunts back on their home planet.

Two initial Predator films in 1987 and 1990 created a baseline for the Predator saga. Since Xenomorphs from the Alien moves are also a cinematic scourge for humanity, it made perfect sense in the 2000's to create a shared universe with two Alien vs. Predator flicks. In the following decade, directors such as Robert Rodriquez, Shane Black, and Dan Trachtenberg all put their spins on the franchise.

With Predator: Killer of Killers now streaming and another Predator movie arriving later in 2025 (which may point to another Alien crossover), it's a better time than ever to binge the original sci-fi classics. If you want to watch every Predator movie in order, we've got you covered! Below you'll find the full timeline of the Predator movies and where to watch them online.

Jump to:

• How to watch in chronological order
• How to watch by release order

You can also check out our guide to the Alien movies in order to incorporate the whole timeline.

How Many Predator Movies Are There?

There are a total of eight movies in the Predator franchise — four in the mainline series of films, two Alien crossovers, one prequel, and one anthology film. A new mainline Predator movie is set to release later in 2025.

Predator Movies in (Chronological) Order

1. Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)

Killer of Killers is an anthology film featuring different iterations of Predators doing what they do best across three different timelines. The first two timelines, set in the Viking Age and Feudal Japan, take place hundreds of years before even the prequel Prey. The third timeline, however, is set after World War 2, after Prey and before the original Predator. I'd argue Killer of Killers is best enjoyed with context from the original movie, but the animated anthology can be watched at any point in a Predator marathon.

Read IGN's review of Predator: Killer of Killers

2. Prey (2022)

Prey is a prequel and therefore designed to be watched after everything else (especially Predator 2) but if one is truly looking to take in the Predator franchise in chronological order this is the place to begin. Set in 1719, across the the Great Plains, Prey follows a young Comanche woman, Naru (Amber Midthunder), who gets more than she bargains for when she accompanies her brother on a hunt and winds up in the crosshairs of a (more primitive) Predator. Determined to prove herself, Naru sets her sights on taking the alien stalker down in this fresh and thrilling take from the three-decade saga.

Read IGN's review of Prey

3. Predator (1987)

It all started with 1987's Predator, directed by Die Hard's John McTiernan and starring heyday Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Bill Duke, and Shane Black (who would direct his own Predator film many years later). Predator is an awesome action classic where a near-unstoppable military rescue team gets their asses handed to them by a terrifying invisible force in the jungles of South America. When the attacker is revealed to be an alien hunter out on its own version of a sinister safari, Schwarzenegger's Dutch must figure out how to ambush and defeat a monster light years ahead of him in tech and tactics.

4. Predator 2 (1990)

A few years later, Predator returned to multiplexes for more massacres and mayhem, but this time with a complete change of cast and setting. Taking place amongst a near-future heatwave/crimewave -- 1997 Los Angeles -- Predator 2 follows cops played by Danny Glover, Bill Paxton, Ruben Blades, and María Conchita Alonso as they attempt to not only deal with a bloody Cartel war on the streets, but a badass alien Predator too, stalking the cityscape for victims.

5. AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)

After 14 years -- with novels, comics, and video games keeping the franchise flames lit -- Predator came back in a huge way with a full crossover movie, merging with the Alien saga, which hadn't been dormant but definitely struggled to find its footing in the '90s. Alien vs. Predator, from Resident Evil/Event Horizon's Paul W. S. Anderson, was a big hit, injecting new life into both sci-fi/horror properties. Set in "present day" America, AVP introduced a nasty bit of history connecting the Yautja and Xenomorphs. Namely that Predators had been conducting hunts on Earth for centuries using humans as breeding bodies for Xenos, and then hunting down the Xeno swarm for "right of passage" sport. Sanaa Lathan, Lance Henriksen, Raoul Bova, and Ewen Bremner star.

Read IGN's review of AVP: Alien vs. Predator

6. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)

The sequel to AVP, Aliens vs Predator: Requiem, picks up right where AVP left off, so timeline-wise this is all the same battle. Not as successful as its predecessor (hence it being the final crossover film) Requiem delivered an Alien-Predator hybrid, known as the "Predalien," as it attacked a small Colorado town and a Predator "cleaner" being dispatched to take down this new monstrosity.

Read IGN's review of Alien vs. Predator: Requiem here.

7. Predators (2010)

The only Predator movie to not take place on Earth, Predators, from Robert Rodriguez, looked to shake up the formula a bit by bringing audiences to a distant planet, a Yautja game reserve. With a killer cast including Adrien Brody, Walton Goggins, Laurence Fishburne, Topher Grace, and Alice Braga, Predators showed fans how humans, specifically "established killers," are abducted and used for sport between two warring Yautja tribes.

Timeline-wise, this is a tricky one. It's never clearly stated when this all happens. Meaning, the Earth year. But it's easy enough to just assume it's 2010, when the movie was released. Or, in the very least, based on the characters, the early 21st Century. So Predators can fit into your chronological viewing plans here, at number six, or you can save it for last.

Read IGN's review of Predators

8. The Predator (2018)

Despite Predators being a modest hit it would still be eight years before a new Predator film hit the big screen and with 2018's The Predator, director/co-writers Shane Black (Iron Man 3, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) would take the franchise back to its original formula (which he himself starred in) by presenting a squad of unstable soldiers -- played by the likes of Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane and Game of Thrones' Alfie Allen -- who take on a pair of rampaging Predators and thwart their Yautja schemes (which involve DNA splicing). The film ends with a tease for more, while alternate/unused endings featured time traveling versions of both Alien's Ellen Ripley and Rebecca "Newt" Jorden in a new grab for crossover gold.

Read IGN's review of The Predator

How to Watch the Predator Movies by Release Date

If you're looking to watch all the movies in theatrical release order, the correct list is below:

1. Predator (1987)
2. Predator 2 (1990)
3. AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)
4. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)
5. Predators (2010)
6. The Predator (2018)
7. Prey (2022)
8. Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)

The Future of the Predator Franchise

Two new Predator movies will be released in 2025. Predator: Badlands, in theaters November 7, 2025, will star Elle Fanning and feature Predator as the protagonist, according to director Dan Trachtenberg. The movie's first teaser appears to show Elle Fanning's character "rebooting" like a Weyland-Yutani synth, pointing to a possible Alien connection.

Matt Fowler is a freelance entertainment writer/critic, covering TV news, reviews, interviews and features on IGN for 13+ years.

Over the last few years, Steam’s Next Fest has become a valuable showcase of upcoming games, particularly from indie developers. It includes free demos from participating games, livestreams, and interviews with developers that can help shed a light on games made by passionate people.

Next Fest has regularly featured games from indie.io, a publishing platform that works with developers of all shapes and sizes. The latest Next Fest just landed today, will last until June 16, and has 25 different titles from indie.io — the most games the platform has ever had in one Next Fest. You can see the full lineup on this page, and there’s a little something for every type of gamer, including old-school co-op RPGs, rhythm-driven brawlers, spellcrafting roguelites, cozy farming sims, and party games.

There’s a lot to choose from, but we picked what we think are the six standouts of the group that all have playable demos and also show the wide range of options on offer:

Shrine’s Legacy

A clear throwback to the SNES era of 16-bit games, Shrine’s Legacy is an action RPG that follows a pair of heroes on a quest to save the world of Ardemia. You’ll need to find eight elemental magic gems to restore the fabled Sword of the Shrine and use its power to vanquish the evil force that threatens the world. The demo allows you to play a pretty sizable chunk of the game, with two towns, two dungeons, and three boss battles. You’ll get a glimpse at the character-driven story and a sense of the game’s tone, with some goofy moments and dramatic twists mixed in. You can play it in couch co-op where you each control one of the characters, or play it solo and have the game control the second character.

Troublemaker 2: Beyond Dream

Troublemaker 2 is an open-world action-comedy beat-em-up game, which is not a combination of hyphenated words you see very often. It’s the sequel to 2023’s Troublemaker and follows the Parakacuk gang from the original and a band called Beyond Dream through the city of South Jayakarta. The demo drops you into the city in the middle of the game with free roam unlocked, so you’ll have access to the whole city. You can walk around town getting in street brawls, find some side jobs to complete for the local populace, or just chill at the music studio, where you can play rhythm-based minigames. The demo has a total of 12 side quests and minigames (one of which turns you into a cow, so that should give you an idea of the tone).

Don’t Die, Collect Loot

Gotta love a game whose title pretty much spells it out, right? Don’t Die, Collect Loot is an arcade roguelite RPG where you mow through enemies in chaotic bullet-hell combat and gather loot. If you’re the type of person who finds it oddly satisfying watching your EXP bar fill up, then this is the game for you. In fact, you have three bars to watch fill up: your EXP, skill points, and research points. The demo lets you play as one of three classes: the Adventurer, Arcanist, and Beastmaster, each with their own skill trees and gear, and all with overpowered abilities to take advantage of. Whichever class you choose, you’ll tackle the Endless Nightmare mode, a never-ending challenge where the only goal is to last as long as possible and gather as much loot as you can. Perfect your build and compete for a spot on the global leaderboard. If you play the demo during Next Fest, you can face off with the exclusive superboss Alethia and obtain unique items that won’t be available any other time, so don’t miss out.

Mythrealm

Mythrealm is a single-player third-person fantasy RPG where you play as the adventurer Alaris, who has been summoned to this world by a mysterious magic. Demons have caused the wizards of Zelanar to disappear, putting the world in peril. You’ll need to use your wit, skill, and weapons to defeat the demons, rescue the wizards, and save the world. Alaris will start as a novice adventurer, but as she grows, you can choose whether to guide her down the path of a melee warrior, archer, or mage. You’ll also need to utilize jumping and platforming to navigate treacherous environments and find hidden items. The demo lets you explore the first level of Mythrealm, where a legendary warhammer is hidden. Can you find it?

Aris Arcanum

In this Victorian-era, spellcraft-focused roguelite, you are Clyde, a scholar who was on a path to becoming leader of the grand library of Aris. But now, an alien entity that was sealed within the library has twisted the minds of the other scholars, and the library is facing ruin. You must dive into its now-corrupted halls, defeat those who were once your fellow scholars, and face cosmic horrors on the path to cleansing the library. On each run, you’ll craft new spells that can lead to a variety of different builds, encouraging you to test different possibilities to find your favorites. The demo offers a look at an early build of Aris Arcanum, giving you a taste of the gameplay and narrative structure. You’ll also be able to take on an early side quest and face off against a boss encounter, and there’s always more to experiment with on subsequent runs.

Heroes of Mount Dragon

Heroes of Mount Dragon is a side-scrolling brawler developed by RuniQ, a Canadian indie studio largely made up of former employees of Activision, Beenox, and Ubisoft. You’ll choose from one of eight heroes, each of whom can transform into powerful dragons and lay waste to the battlefield. You can play solo or team up with three friends in couch co-op or online, and you’ll need to manage your hero’s unique abilities, dragon transformations, and powerful upgrades to make it through. You can also compete against your friends for supremacy, and you can use devious curses to disrupt them — electrify them, shrink them, or flip their controls. In the demo, you’ll have access to four of the eight heroes and can explore half of the game’s first kingdom (there will be a total of four kingdoms in the final game).

Fans of the classic sci-fi series The Prisoner have been getting the action figures they always craved thanks to Wandering Planet Toys. Previously, the company released two series of retro-style The Prisoner figures in 2021 and 2024. Now they're stepping things up a notch with a line of larger, 6-inch scale Ultimate Edition figures.

With the crowdfunding campaign for The Prisoner Ultimate Edition figures now live, IGN can exclusively debut new images of these toys. Check them out in the slideshow gallery below:

The first Ultimate Edition series features two mainstays from the original series - Patrick McGoohan's Number 6 and Leo McKern’s Number 2. Both figures are noticeably larger and more detailed than what we saw from Wandering Palnet Toys' previous The Prisoner releases, with all the articulation you'd expect from modern figures.

Backers who order both figures will get a special bonus in the form of a metal The Prisoner lunchbox, which you can also see in the slideshow gallery above.

"Ever since we released our first wave of retro-style 4-inch action figures, Prisoner fans have been messaging us, asking us to make modern, 6-inch, highly-articulated figures in the 1:12 scale as well,” said Wandering Planet Toys co-founder Chris “Doc” Wyatt in a statement. “Getting that many requests, we couldn't help but respond. PRISONER fans ask for them, and here they are!"

"We've been working on and carefully designing these deluxe The Prisoner figures for some time,” added Wandering Planet Toys’ Gavin Hignight. “I'm thrilled that we finally get to bring 1:12 scale, TV accurate, highly articulated figures to Prisoner fans everywhere... I can't wait to put No6 and No12 on my shelf!"

The Kickstarter campaign for The Prisoner Ultimate Edition figures is live now.

In other toy news, Hasbro recently revealed a series of Marvel vs. Capcom-inspired Marvel Legends figures, and Hot Toys is making the Jar Jar Binks figure we never knew we needed.

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

Kojima Productions has unveiled live gameplay of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.

The Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley hosted a panel alongside guests and Death Stranding 2 stars Shioli Kutsuna (Rainy), Troy Baker (Higgs), and Hideo Kojima himself wherein they talked about the game and provided a live gameplay demonstration. Elle Fanning, who plays Tomorrow, delivered a video message. The show was capped off by an update from Woodkid about the game's soundtrack.

This Los Angeles reveal was the first stop on the Death Stranding World Strand Tour 2, a series of live events going to 12 global locations to mark the upcoming release. The tour also takes in Sydney, Tokyo, Paris, London, Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Riyadh, Sao Paulo, and Lucca.

Death Stranding 2 is out on June 26, 2025. Hideo Kojima is also working on a live-action Death Stranding film with A24, and we recently learned that a Death Stranding anime is in the works. He's also working on a PlayStation exclusive action espionage project called Physint, and called the upcoming Xbox-published OD "a game I have always wanted to make."

Last week, the U.S. Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) suggested Death Stranding 2 players will be able to bash stuff to death with a guitar.

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 on-again, off-again threat of tariffs is already having a noticeable impact on the video game industry. Some companies have started pulling products from U.S. shelves or raising prices to offset rising costs. But Sony and Microsoft—two of the biggest names in consumer electronics—appear to be taking very different approaches.

Sony's Response to Tariffs

Shortly after the Trump Administration's "reciprocal tariffs" went into effect on April 5, Sony announced a price increase on PS5 consoles in Europe, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, due to "a challenging economic environment, including high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates." This is the second PS5 price increase in three years, although the U.S. has managed to dodge the price hikes each time.

Still, that may change soon. According to a recent interview with Sony CFO Lin Tao, he stated that the company is closely watching “the market trend” and may ultimately “pass on the price and also shipment allocation” to consumers. Tao also revealed that Sony has stockpiled a three-month supply of PS5 units in the U.S. to soften the blow of any short-term tariff impacts.

With the possibility of tariffs impacting Sony's overall business by as much as $685 million, it seems likely that the U.S. will eventually rise. After all, the U.S. represents roughly 40% of PlayStation's global market, and Sony can't weather that storm forever.

The PlayStation Days of Play Sale Has Lowered Prices

In a surprise move, though, Sony has temporarily gone in the opposite direction. As part of its annual PlayStation Days of Play sale, it's discounted just about everything from consoles and controllers to popular games, and more, including the lowest price ever on the PSVR2.

With economic uncertainty leading many U.S. consumers to cut back on nonessential purchases, Sony’s aggressive discounts may be one last push before prices climb. The Days of Play sale ends June 11, and with 145% tariffs on Chinese goods set to resume August 12, it could be the last major sale we see for a while with only Prime Day left on the calendar before that date.

Microsoft's Response to Tariffs

Microsoft's approach to the Trump Administration's tariffs couldn't be more different than Sony's. In early May, Microsoft raised prices across its entire Xbox hardware lineup in an effort to get ahead of the tariffs. Despite being a U.S.-based company, Xbox consoles and accessories are primarily manufactured in China, so the price increases are designed to protect its already slim margins on consoles.

The problem, though, is that Microsoft has massively underperformed this generation when compared to PlayStation, with the PS5 selling twice as many units as the Xbox Series X. In fact, it's sold fewer combined Xbox Series X|S consoles than the Xbox One in the same timeframe. The decision to raise prices now is a baffling decision. While Sony is slashing prices across its lineup—including its first-ever discount on the new PS5 Pro—Microsoft is raising them.

If you haven't purchased an Xbox console this generation, it's going to be a much harder sale now. An Xbox Series S, Microsoft's less-powerful entry-level console, now starts at $380. That's a hard bargain when you can get the more-powerful PS5 bundled with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 for only $20 more.

For those looking for the best experience possible, the flagship Xbox Series X had its base price increased by $100, and now costs $600 for the same console released in 2020. Meanwhile, Sony released the mid-gen refresh PS5 Pro less than a year ago, offering modest improvements over the base PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles. Now, PS5 Pro's $700 price tag (which doesn't include a disc drive or stand, by the way), looks like a bargain in comparison, despite being ridiculed online when it was first announced. Even worse, if you want the higher-capacity 2TB Xbox Series X, it's now more expensive than a PS5 Pro.

If that wasn't already a hard pill to swallow, Microsoft also confirmed that all Xbox first-party game prices will rise to $79.99 this holiday season. Nintendo has already begun to explore higher pricing, with the Switch 2 exclusive Mario Kart World launching at $80, a move that sparked outrage from fans. While PlayStation and many others are yet to follow suit, analysts expect others to follow Microsoft's lead if the current economic situation doesn't change.

Matthew Adler has written for IGN since 2019 covering all things gaming, tech, tabletop games, and more. You can follow him on the site formerly known as Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream on Twitch.

One Mario Kart World character in particular has caught the attention of the gaming public since the game launched alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 last week. Although Cow might appear to be a simple, adorable bovine — players have discovered that the background NPC-turned-playable character is one of the more powerful of the starting line-up of racers.

Now, Japanese social media has picked up on something else: Cow's butt. Specifically, some users seem to have a beef about how mucky Cow’s bottom is sometimes, such as in the shot below shared on X with the caption “Dirty butt!!!!!!." Another user responded with "I love this character so much that I feel sad when people badmouth her, but at the same I also feel like, yep it’s dirty."

ケツきったな！！！！！！#マリオカートワールド #NintendoSwitch2 pic.twitter.com/eSupIAP2Y3

— ゆゆキチ📛 (@YuyukichiRTA) June 5, 2025

As commenters continued to chew the cud on Cow’s butt, the discussion soon attracted the attention of a farmer, who expressed admiration for the game’s realism and attention to detail.

"Honestly, cow butts are about this mucky. Especially when set out to pasture, herds can end up covered in mud," Renta explained in a tweet viewed an incredible 8.4 million times. According to their Twitter / X profile, Renta studied livestock farming at university and now works as a rice farmer in Japan’s Gifu prefecture. “The strangest thing about this game is that the dirtiness of the cow’s butts has been recreated with incredible realism,” Renta enthused.

“I think you’d have to love cows to be able to do this.” Adding more info, Renta shared some cute photos of real cows and explained that farmers battle to keep cow butts clean every day: “They’re basically clean as long as you scrub the floors and make sure they are healthy.”

めっちゃバズっててわろた
補足すると農家さんも牛のケツと日々激闘しているので床掃除と健康を整えれば基本的には綺麗ですし、
ブラシやシャワーで落としたりしていますので、そこは誤解のないようお願いします。それも愛です。

あと牛はいいぞ、可愛いから。 pic.twitter.com/tchxn78Ojd

— 蓮田/Renta (@taihibansei) June 7, 2025

Mario Kart’s new milker racer also scrubs up apparently; her butt is clean when you start a race, however driving through mud makes her behind gradually get dirtier.

Although Moo Moo Cows have been spotted grazing in the background of Mario Kart games ever since 1996’s Mario Kart 64, this is the first time they have got behind the wheel. In a previous interview with IGN, the game’s art director Masaaki Ishikawa explained how the idea for a playable Cow racer came about:

“One of the designers came up with that silly sketch of Cow cruising along, and I thought to myself, 'This is it!' (Laughs) So that's when we realized the course surroundings actually contained a lot of untapped resources."

This led the developers to make other Mario series NPCs like the red fish Cheep Cheep and the cactus Pokey into controllable characters for the first time.

Cow’s reveal two months ago got fans all excited as the reaction videos on YouTube show. Since Mario Kart World came out last week, many players who managed to get the game and a Switch 2 have been maining the Cow, filling online lobbies with kart and motorcycle-riding bovines. It remains to see if Cow retains her popularity as more players unlock the game’s other racers.

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.

The upcoming Harry Potter HBO TV series has cast its Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy, Molly Weasley and a number of other key roles.

Katherine Parkinson, best known for The IT Crowd, will portray Molly Weasley, mother of Ron Weasley and matriarch of the Weasley clan, as played by Julie Walters in the previous Harry Potter films.

Newcomer Lox Pratt has been cast in the key role of Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter's blond Slytherin rival who serves as his Hogwarts antagonist throughout the series. Lovesick actor Johnny Flynn will meanwhile portray Draco's father, the scheming Lucius Malfoy.

Other roles cast today include a number of other newcomers as Harry (and Draco)'s fellow Hogwarts students, such as Leo Earley as Seamus Finnigan, Alessia Leoni as Parvati Patil, and Sienna Moosah as Lavender Brown.

The news follows other casting information shared earlier this afternoon, in which The Crown's Bertie Carvel was confirmed as Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, while Bel Powley and Daniel Rigby were announced as playing Harry Potter's aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley.

I never stopped thinking about wanting to repeat all of John Hammond's mistakes since the first time I saw him make them in 1993's Jurassic Park. And I've had many opportunities to do so in various park-builder games in the decades since, ranging all the way from pretty disappointing to pretty great. The latest, Jurassic World Evolution 3, is looking to deliver more features than we've ever seen in a dinosaur park management game before. And at least for my part, you had me at [insert signature T-Rex roar in your mind's eye here].

The thing that's always bugged me about the previous Jurassic World Evolution games is that they seemed a bit stripped-down compared to what Frontier has shown us is possible with their sister franchises, Planet Zoo and Planet Coaster. So the thing I'm most excited about with Evolution 3 is that it seems like we're finally getting the full Frontier feature set in a Jurassic game.

You can build your own hotels, gift shops, and staff buildings by snapping together tons of resizable and re-colorable props. You can reshape the terrain at will, make your own functional waterfalls, and even create dinosaur enclosures that use natural rock formations instead of electric fences as part of the perimeter. The devs want everything you build to feel like it still belongs in the Jurassic franchise, so the props and such are a bit more grounded-looking than what you might see in Planet Coaster 2. But for the first time, it doesn't feel like they're compromising at all on the sandbox elements that make their other games great for the sake of being a licensed game.

LIFE FINDS A WAY

The other major addition here is the inclusion of dinosaur breeding and baby dinosaurs for the first time. While the previous games in the series relied on artificial fertilization and incubation of eggs, Evolution 3 will actually allow you to clone fertile dinosaurs, place dinosaur nests, and even selectively crossbreed for specific skins, stats, and personality traits. And this, of course, comes with the addition of juvenile models for all of the more than 80 species included in the base game. On top of this, adult males and females will now exhibit varying levels of sexual dimorphism, like male triceratops having larger frills, meaning there will be more than 240 distinct dino and prehistoric reptile models in total.

This will introduce new challenges to manage within your enclosures, too. For instance, Frontier told us a male T-rex will not have any interest in coexisting with other adult males, though large groups of females can put up with each other. This will vary somewhat from species to species, as they have different social dynamics with each other and with other species. It even matters for breeding, since some species will only nest if they're out of view of pesky humans and don't have any other species around.

Evolution 3 will also be taking us to a variety of different worldwide locations that are new to the series, including the mountains of Japan and the Mediterranean island of Malta. They not only feature their own distinct plant life and terrain, but also building sets and props that can add a little bit of global flair to your park. The ones we saw included an East Asian-themed set, an Alpine European-themed set, a set based on the original Jurassic Park films with a kitschy jungle aesthetic, and one based on the newer Jurassic World films that looks more modern and shiny.

While we won't be fighting with the climate in different biomes the same way as in Planet Zoo, each one will feature different clients in the campaign mode that want you to focus on different objectives. Some might be interested in simply selling as many tickets and luxury hotel rooms as possible, while others lean more into conservation and science.

CHANGING WORLD

All the while we'll be working with the Dinosaur Integration Network, or DIN. To be honest, the newer films are mostly just a big mushy blob in my head, but I think the idea is that dinosaurs just live in the wild now and we're trying to learn how to coexist with them instead of putting them back in cages. It's whatever. The originals are still the ones that matter to me, and it sounds like we'll be fully able to build a dinosaur theme park in the spirit of the original films.

But there also seems to be something sinister going on with a secretive group who doesn't like DIN and might cause trouble at your park, based on an ominous moment in the trailer. And that could be interesting, too. In previous games, tropical storms and equipment malfunctions could lead to dinosaurs breaking out and running rampant. But the first book and film were about a human saboteur causing a massive disaster, so that feels in the spirit of the franchise for me as well.

If you are worried about your dinos going for a stroll and choosing to have the kind of snack that's going to require you to pay out millions to their family, there are some new tools for that as well. You won't be warned automatically, for instance, if a fence is in poor shape or being attacked by a hangry carnotaurus. For that, you'll need security cameras with full coverage along the length of the fence, allowing you to be notified as soon as there's a problem. And if the cameras go down, well, I hope you have good lawyers.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

At the end of the day, you don't have to work particularly hard to get me excited about a new dinosaur park management game. Especially one with the in-depth customization tools Frontier has become known for. Watching a baby triceratops play in the grass is adorable. I don't care who you are. And the breeding mechanics open up a lot of long-term possibilities for making not just the parks I want, but the kinds of dinosaurs I want, too. As a paleontology nerd who's a bit bummed the designs in the Jurassic franchise are a bit stuck in the 90s, I asked if I could breed my raptors to have feathers, but the devs were a bit tight-lipped about that. I guess we can hope.

Jurassic World Evolution 3 will be coming to Playstation 5, Xbox, and PC on October 21.

I've been curious about MindsEye ever since it was announced, but as the first game from former longtime Grand Theft Auto lead Leslie Benzies has neared release, I've become increasingly confused. Benzies’ studio Build A Rocket Boy's debut game is a linear-action adventure, with GTA-style mechanics used to tell a more direct, cinematic story. But it's also set in an expansive city that is, in theory, fully explorable. On top of that, it's also a digital platform that lets players create and publish their own game content, using bespoke tools that were used in-part to build the game itself.

It's a lot of different layers? But how do they all come together? Can you actually explore MindsEye's world freely? And what the hell happened to Build A Rocket Boy's previous project, Everywhere?

These are the questions that were on my mind when I visited Build A Rocket Boy's studio last week. Now that I've seen MindsEye in action, I have a much clearer picture of what it is and what it hopes to achieve. With that in mind, here are ten things you should know about MindsEye.

1) MindsEye is set in the city of Redrock, a near-future spin on Las Vegas

MindsEye's setting of Redrock is heavily inspired by Las Vegas, a desert city that arose to prominence as a hub for casinos and entertainment. But MindsEye takes place in an imagined near-future where those casinos have been shut down, and Redrock's economy has shifted into being a haven for tech companies. "You find a lot of companies moving to very specific places in America because of these tax breaks, and it's also a good place to go and hide," says Benzies, MindsEye's director. "There's a lot of characters, or groups of characters who are hiding from things."

As a virtual space, Redrock is fully mapped out, with a total map size of 9x9 kilometres, and a playable area measuring 6x6 kilometres. As you're driving around it, it has a definite GTA-ish feel, with a believable road network, a built-up downtown area, more suburban areas on the fringes, and sparser settlements on the outskirts. "We took a lot of inspiration from Las Vegas, of course, like the population, the way that the different demographics are working," says executive producer Misha Shmakov. "We have low-income areas, high income areas. So we see different cars, different people there."

2) MindsEye's story takes place at a tipping point in society's relationship with technology

Redrock is essentially a city-wide social experiment, where the residing tech companies have a heavy influence on society and, in some cases, operative control of social institutions. The city is "protected" by AI powered copbots, and citizens are monitored by a centralised surveillance system called 'CARE'.

These ideas were still far-flung concepts back when MindsEye began development, but have become more relevant as tech-like large-language models have emerged. "A lot of the things that we came up with back then weren't necessarily mainstream, or even really known about, and we just thought they would be great ways to present the world," Benzies says.

MindsEye's story sees Redrock at a crossroads with this technology – one inspired by Benzies' own perspective on the power and potential pitfalls he sees in real-life technological innovations. "Whenever I jump on and use AI and ask it questions, I am communicating with the most intelligent thing that exists on this planet right now, the collective intelligence of every single human being, and it's quite friendly to me," he says. "Used wisely, it's going to benefit humans. Used wrongly, which so many pieces of technology are, things could go pretty bad for us.

"That's the question that MindEye poses. What do you think? What's going to happen? Is it going to end up like this, like, this story we're telling you. Or is it all going to be happy and light?"

3) You play as Jacob Diaz, an ex-military drone pilot with a shattered memory

In MindsEye's campaign, you play as Jacob Diaz, a former military drone pilot who has been implanted with a MindsEye chip that allows him to interface with the drone directly. Players enter Diaz's story after he has left the military and his chip has been decommissioned, a process that left his memory in pieces.

At the story's outset, Diaz gets a new job as a security guard at Silva Industries, the manufacturer of the MindsEye chip. Through this, Diaz intends to conduct his own investigation of the company and attempt to piece together his past.

It's a story you experience through a sequence of missions that'll take you all across Redrock, in a similar fashion to the Mafia games. According to Benzies, the linearity of the experience is a storytelling decision. "It's sometimes difficult to tell a story in an open world, and you join Jacob at a very set point in his life, and then you leave Jacob at a very set point in his life," he explains. "If Jacob was to go off and pop into a casino and gamble for three days, it kind of breaks the illusion of being Jacob who's on a mission."

4) Missions will involve racing across the city by both land and air, and occasionally shooting enemies with a massive energy cannon

The mission I was shown involves Diaz escorting Silva Industries' CEO Marco Silva to a campaign rally for Redrock's mayor. After arriving at the rally via his personal VTOL, and engaging in a heated debate with mayor Vega over his plans to launch a rocket into space, Silva is drugged and abducted by an armed gang, and Diaz must chase them down.

The ensuing mission sees you pursue Diaz' abductors in a VTOL before continuing the chase in a car, weaving through the desert and barrelling through an ongoing dune buggy race. The vehicle handling is slightly lighter and more arcade-y than GTA, but still has enough weight and inertia that they require skill to control at high-speed, as I learned after repeatedly slamming my car into the boulders strewn across the desert.

The mission culminates in a protracted gunfight through an industrial backlot. At a basic level, combat is a familiar, cover-shooter affair, pressing yourself against cars and shipping crates as you pick off enemies one by one.

Your basic arsenal comprises slightly futuristic variants of familiar firearms like pistols, assaults rifles etc. While these are effective weapons (the shotgun in particular has a satisfying punch to it) they aren't vastly different from what you'd see in other cover shooters. But later weapons include a massive energy cannon that fires charged, explosive projectiles.

The developers stressed this would not normally be available at this point in the campaign, but I nonetheless enjoyed using it to obliterate cars and send enemies flying, and it was interesting to see how MindsEye's arsenal will expand over the course of the campaign.

5) Combat is designed to be tactical, with you using a drone to scout enemy placements and hack robots to fight by your side

When you're not causing havoc with a rocket launcher from the future, MindsEye's combat is designed to be a more tactical affair than that seen in GTA. Enemies will not only attempt to outgun you, but also outmanoeuvre you too. "Some of them will be more defensive. “Some of them will come and try to push you out of [cover], some of them will try to flank you," Shmakov says. "They also look at what type of weapon [you] use. If you use a shotgun, they will try to close the distance while others are putting pressure on you."

Initially, you'll have to deal with these foes using straight firepower. But eventually, Jacob will regain access to his MindsEye drone, which has several functions. It can scan the environment, highlighting enemy positions. It can stun enemies for a short duration, and it can hack robotic enemies to turn them to your side. You can also deploy these functions either as quickfire abilities, or through direct control of the drone, piloting it into enemy territory to survey the battlefield or disrupt enemies before engaging directly.

6) MindsEye also features optional side-missions that provide more insight into the world of Redrock

Although MindsEye's campaign is linear, there are side missions. As you follow Jacob's story, you'll occasionally encounter optional missions designed to provide a broader understanding of MindsEyes world. "These are narratively extra experiences that relate to the game but are not main story critical," says Adrian Butchart, creative strategist at Build a Rocket Boy. "We've got some that are young Jacob, and some that are just completely different characters that we meet."

One such example sees you play as Jacob in his military years, while another places you in the role of a member of the Back Niners, a criminal gang embroiled in a deal gone wrong. Both seemed like fairly straightforward combat sequences, but I didn't see the full extent of how they played out, because these side missions don't just exist to fill out the backstory, they're also intended to be a gateway into MindsEye's more creative side.

7) Build.MindsEye lets you create your own missions and experiences using MindsEye’s own assets

Part of the side content's role is to introduce players to Build.MindsEye, aka the creative tools. These can actually be accessed at any time during play, and are usable in any area of Redrock. But the portals are designed to showcase what's possible with the tools, and act as isolated bubbles for experimentation.

The tools themselves are designed balance accessibility with power. Assets like vehicles and characters can be added to the world through a simple drag and drop interface, while you can adjust their size, positions, and mess around with other parameters. Senior Level Designer Josh Mattyas demonstrates this in the side-mission set in Jacob's past, jumping into build mid-action and adding in several trucks that deploy copbots. Returning to the action, the mission plays out precisely as it would normally, cutscenes and all, but with the copbot trucks integrated. "It's quite powerful. It's tempting to throw in all kinds of crazy stuff," he says.

But Build can be used to construct the entire logic of a level or the ruleset of a game, via a node-based scripting system that Build a Rocket Boy describes as a blend of Unreal Engine Blueprint scripting and Minecraft Redstone. Users can also save groups of assets or scripted elements as stamps, which you can then place with a single click or publish for other people to use.

According to Benzies, the end goal of Build.MindsEye is to give players the tools to create games of blockbuster quality. "There's nothing really out there that allows you to build triple-A quality content with ease," he says. "Roblox, great for building in, but it's bloody difficult, whereas Minecraft is a lot easier, but you're not really getting that quality. We're trying to create something in the middle."

8) Build.MindEye is PC only, but there are plans to bring it to consoles in the future.

On launch, MindsEye Build will only be available on PC. Benzies says this is mainly a control issue. "Controllers are difficult. We will do it on console at some point. We just didn't have the time to do it properly." Moreover, if and when Build does arrive on console, it may not function in precisely the same manner as the PC version. "I can see there's certain things you wouldn't be able to do, but I think it will still [be able to] make a pretty compelling piece of content.

In the meantime, console players will receive monthly updates of new missions and other content via Play.MindsEye, the same menu that enables access to the existing side missions when you’re not near a portal.

9) While MindsEye's campaign is linear, you can explore Redrock openly through its "Free Roam" mode

Although MindsEye's campaign doesn't let you explore Redrock freely, players can wander around the city as they please through its recently added Free Roam mode. Free Roam takes place after the events of the story, putting you in the role of a character called the Preacher. "You can just explore the city, see what's happening, like, see what the other gangs are up to, fight them," Shmakov says. "You will have a functionality where you can just call a car, your car, to come to you."

It isn't clear how much there will be to do in Free Roam on launch, but Build a Rocket Boy plans to add more features with future updates. "[It's] a really big part of our post-launch, because we'll keep updating it and keep improving on it," Shmakov says. Part of this may well include making free roam multiplayer. "This is at first, it's single-player, then we'll think about how it can evolve."

10) Build a Rocket Boy plans for MindsEye to build into its larger project, Everywhere

MindsEye is designed to function as a standalone game, but it also forms part of Build A Rocket Boy's larger project, the massively multiplayer game platform Everywhere. "Everywhere still exists, we just closed it down," Benzies says. "It was in beta for a while, so we got a load of data from the players. It was a decent-sized community, a very engaged community. So we've learned a lot from that. We took all that learning [and] we put it into the Builder Tools."

Benzies says the tools players can use to build MindsEye are game and genre-agnostic. "Those builder tools don't really care if it's MindsEye, if it's Everywhere, or if it's any other game. They just work in exactly the same way," he says. "It doesn't matter what theme the game is, once you've learned the skills of the creator, they'll just work across anything."

As for how MindsEye and Everywhere relate, Benzies says the former ties into the overarching narrative of the latter. "MindsEye is a piece of content that probably sits in the middle of our big story," he says. "So Everywhere will come back online in a slightly different shape, but will be the same thing, and it will all be part of the story."

The new Harry Potter TV series continues to take shape, with more casting announcements for the upcoming HBO series. The Crown star Bertie Carvel, who played former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the historical drama, is now set to join the Potter cast as Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Additionally, Bel Powley and Daniel Rigby will take on the roles of Harry's aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley.

According to a reports from Deadline and Variety respectively, the actors will be joining a stacked cast, which now includes Paapa Essiedu as Professor Snape, John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Nick Frost as Hagrid, Janet McTeer as Professor McGonagall, as well as the three newcomers cast as central protagonists Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger: Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton.

Deadline reported that Carvel's role on the series will be a recurring one, which is in-line with Fudge’s appearances in the film franchise. Robert Hardy, who played the character in the Daniel Radcliffe-led series, appeared in four consecutive installments of the films, with his first appearance being in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. For their part, the Dursleys were originally played by Fiona Shaw and the late Richard Griffiths. Their son, Dudley — who was originally played by Harry Melling — has not yet been cast in the upcoming adaptation.

That said, HBO did, in fact, decline to confirm or deny the report of Carvel's casting. “We appreciate that such a high-profile series will draw a lot of rumor and speculation,” an HBO rep told the outlet in response to the tip. “As we make our way through pre-production, we will only confirm details as we finalize deals.”

Konami's hosting a live showcase, Konami Press Start Live, on June 12.

The livestream event will feature game updates and appearances from Konami developers and producers, and take an extended look at Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Silent Hill f, and more.

Live at 6am PT (9pm ET, 9pm CEST), the show will run for approximately 37 minutes. It's an opportunity to hear directly from the "creative minds behind some of Konami's most iconic franchises," gain insights into the development process, catch exclusive content, and stay up to date.

I, for one, am very much hoping Konami's reference to "and more" will include No Code's Silent Hill Townfall. It's been years since we've had a meaningful update, and I'm desperate to know more. I'm also still waiting for news on subsequent remakes, or possible DLC for Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 Remake.

Did you catch Silent Hill f during Sony's State of Play June 2025 showcase? For some, the emphasis on combat encounters may be surprising, as Silent Hill is a series that has tended to focus on environmental storytelling and psychological horror over combat.

However, producer Motoi Okamoto has said Silent Hill f's combat will have a heavier focus on melee and be more action-oriented compared to last year’s Silent Hill 2." It's out September 25.

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.

Through its (near-)consistent excellence, innovation, and longevity, Resident Evil games have earned their crown as the king of survival horror. Capcom debuted its world of mutants and mercenaries in 1996 and has since grown Resident Evil into a multimedia franchise that spans over two dozen console games, six films, two recent Netflix series, novels, comics, and even stage plays.

It can be an exciting franchise to explore given the amount of content it houses, though for the same reason, it can be an equally daunting series to approach in 2025. With the upcoming launch of Resident Evil 9, this article focuses exclusively on video games and cuts out the convolution by presenting two ways to play only the most narratively significant and accessible Resident Evil games in order.

Jump to:

• How to play in chronological order
• How to play by release order

How Many Resident Evil Games Are There?

There are 10 core Resident Evil games: RE 0-7, Village, and Code: Veronica. However, the total number of Resident Evil console games — including spinoffs and remakes — sits around 30. That number rises near 60 when accounting for mobile and pachinko games.

Which Resident Evil Game Should You Play First?

Our overall suggestion for where to begin is with Resident Evil 4 Remake. It's the most visually/technically impressive RE remake to date and, thanks to its masterful mix of action and horror, arguably the best overall Resident Evil game in the franchise's nearly 30-year history. It's a largely self-contained story that doesn't require you to play each game that came before it.

However, if you prefer first-person horror, we recommend starting with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. It's the beginning of the Ethan Winters storyline and an excellent game that uses the more immersive first-person camera to heighten the horror.

How to Play the Resident Evil Games in Chronological Order

For this list, we’re focusing on 12 Resident Evil games: all 10 core entries and the two Revelations spinoffs. While many others are considered canon, this is not an exhaustive chronology, but rather an approachable guide to entering and enjoying the world of Resident Evil video games.

Missing from this list are mobile and pachinko games, light gun and Wii shooters (Resident Evil Survivor, Survivor 2, Dead Aim, Umbrella Chronicles, Darkside Chronicles), and non-canonical/non-consequential/difficult to access spinoffs (Resident Evil Gaiden, Outbreak, Outbreak: File #2, Mercenaries 3D, Operation Raccoon City, Resistance, Umbrella Corps, Re:Verse)

With series newcomers in mind, the brief plot synopses below contain only mild spoilers such as broad plot points and character introductions.

1. Resident Evil 0

Resident Evil 0 is the fifth game released in the series but the first chronologically. It takes place just before the events of Resident Evil, with Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) medic Rebecca Chambers and former marine Billy Coen discovering a train full of zombies in the Arklay Mountains (home to the Spencer Mansion). Billy and Rebecca uncover valuable information related to series villains Albert Wesker and William Birkin. We also learn more about the origins of the sinister Umbrella Corporation and its deadly T-Virus. The game wraps with Rebecca headed toward the mansion, where she’d serve as a supporting character in RE 1.

2. Resident Evil

The first Resident Evil came to PlayStation in 1996, though for those coming to the franchise in 2022, you’ll want to play the 2002 remake (or its more recent HD remaster), as it improves gameplay and expands on the story.

RE 1 picks up right after RE 0. You play as one of two S.T.A.R.S. agents — Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine — who come to the Spencer Mansion while investigating a series of murders in the woodlands outside of Raccoon City. Chris/Jill encounters the murderous, mutated victims of the T-Virus and uncovers key information about Umbrella and its biological experimentation.

3. Resident Evil 2

Taking place two months after RE 0 and 1, Resident Evil 2 introduces two new protagonists — rookie cop Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield (Chris’s sister) — each with their own connected yet distinct campaign. RE 2 also introduces the recurring character Ada Wong and the iconic Tyrant enemy.

We learn more about William Birkin and his work on an even more threatening virus called the G-virus. Leon/Claire uncover more disturbing details about the clandestine work of Umbrella, as well as its ties to the Raccoon Police Department.

Resident Evil 2 is currently available to play for free with an Xbox Game Pass subscription.

4. Resident Evil 3

The chronology gets dicey with Resident Evil 3, but for the sake of simplicity, we recommend playing it after 2. The first part of RE 3 takes place before the events of RE 2; the second part takes place after. You could play halfway through 3, pause, play through 2, then return for the second half of 3. However, playing RE 3 after 2 won’t detract from the experience or your understanding of the story. We chose to place it fourth on this list seeing as its conclusion progresses the overall narrative beyond RE 2.

You begin RE 3 as Jill Valentine, still coping with her experience from RE 1, trying to escape from an overrun Raccoon City. For part of the game, while Jill is indisposed, control shifts to her mercenary ally Carlos Oliviera. RE 3 also introduces Nemesis and reveals the fate of Raccoon City.

5. Resident Evil: Code – Veronica

Resident Evil: Code – Veronica advances the timeline by a couple of months and sees Claire Redfield continue the search for her brother Chris that began in RE 2. This time Claire’s search takes her to an Umbrella facility in France, where she escapes captivity and follows the trail to the southmost region of Earth.

Chris Redfield, one of the protagonists from the original game, returns as a second playable character in Code Veronica. Chris, like Claire, is looking for his sibling, and the search results in a meeting with series antagonist Albert Wesker.

6. Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4, arguably the series' most beloved entry, puts players back in the shoes of Leon Kennedy six years after his time in Racoon City during RE 2. Leon travels to a rural village in Spain on a mission to rescue the U.S. president’s daughter.

There, Leon encounters a cult and explores its ties to a mind-controlling parasite. The story that unfolds weaves together the narratives of two characters from Resident Evil's past: Albery Wesker and Ada Wong.

Read our Resident Evil 4 Remake review to see the improvements that were made since the original.

7. Resident Evil Revelations

Resident Evil Revelations is set between the events of RE 4 and 5. It explores another consequence of Umbrella’s bioweapon development and introduces players to the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA).

Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield are now BSAA agents, with Jill serving as the game’s primary protagonist. The duo head to the Mediterranean to combat the use of T-Abyss, a new variant of the T-Virus.

8. Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5 is set five years after RE 4. Chris Redfield, as part of the BSAA, flies to Africa with his partner Sheva Alomar to prevent the black market sale of a bioweapon. The people of Kijuju, however, have already been infected with an enhanced version of the mind-controlling parasite seen in RE 4.

It’s a larger-scale story than past Resident Evils, though Chris also embarks on the more personal mission of finding his long-lost partner, Jill Valentine. We also learn of Albert Wesker’s latest nefarious plot.

Unlike past games in the series, RE 5 can be played cooperatively; the second player controls Sheva.

9. Resident Evil Revelations 2

Resident Evil Revelations 2 is set between RE 5 and 6. It brings Claire Redfield back into the spotlight for the first time since Code Veronica. The game is split into four episodes, with each episode divided into two parts: a past sequence with Clarie and Moira Burton and a present sequence with Barry Burton (Moira's father) attempting to locate them. The story introduces another antagonistic Wesker.

10. Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil 6 is an action-heavy adventure that tells an even more sprawling (and convoluted) tale than that of RE 5. It weaves together four campaigns starring Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield, Ada Wong, and a mercenary named Jake Muller.

The BSAA introduced in Revelations plays an important role in 6, as the quartet of protagonists work to squash the bioterrorist group Neo-Umbrella and prevent the spread of yet another mutant-creating virus (the C-Virus).

11. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

With Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Capcom reinvented the franchise in several ways: It’s RE’s return to mass acclaim and fandom following the largely disappointing fifth and sixth entries, it introduces a new protagonist in Ethan Winters, and most notably it switches the series’ longrunning perspective from third-person to first-person.

Despite all these changes, RE 7 still exists on the series canonical timeline, presumably taking place in the modern-day sometime after RE 6. The game is set in rural Louisiana, with the first part taking place in the home of the wonderfully insane Baker family. Its ties to past RE games are rather loose, though many of the series staples are here: clandestine human experimentation, bioweapons, and toward the end, a familiar face.

12. Resident Evil Village

Resident Evil Village is a continuation (and the conclusion) of Ethan Winters’s story, set three years after the events of RE 7. Biohazard and Village stand on their own as a duology of games. Though Village includes a few more ties to the series’ past, including a more prominent role for the aforementioned “familiar face” and further information about the origins of Umbrella.

A post-credits scene extends the timeline even further. We’ll save the details, but those curious can read on to the next section for a bit more context.

Bonus: Shadows of Rose DLC

Picking up shortly after Village’s post-credits scene (16 years after the main story of Village), Shadows of Rose progresses the Resident Evil timeline further than any game before it. Assuming the events of Village take place in 2021, Shadows of Rose brings the franchise into the near future of 2037.

The 3-4 hour DLC stars Ethan’s daughter Rose, who attempts to rid herself of the unwanted powers inherited from her father.

How to Play the Resident Evil Games by Release Date

• Resident Evil (1996)*
• Resident Evil 2 (1998)*
• Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999)*
• Resident Evil: Code – Veronica (2000)*
• Resident Evil 0 (2002)*
• Residet Evil 4 (2005)*
• Resident Evil 5 (2009)*
• Resident Evil: Revelations (2012)
• Resident Evil 6 (2012)*
• Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (2015)
• Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017)*
• Resident Evil Village/Shadow of Rose (2021/2022)*

*Mainline Resident Evil games

The Future of Resident Evil Games

There's plenty to look forward to from this iconic horror series. In late 2023, Capcom confirmed they're working on more RE remakes, and some reports suggest Resident Evil Zero and Code Veronica are up next.

Capcom isn't just looking to previous games, however. The studio confirmed that Resident Evil 9 is in development last year, and a full reveal trailer for what is officially titled Resident Evil Requiem was presented at Summer Games Fest.

Helmed by Resident Evil 7's director Koshi Nakanishi, the new trailer appears to show Raccoon City, from the original trilogy, after it was destroyed in an attempt to contain the virus. The trailer also introduces Grace Ashcroft, an FBI analyst and potentially the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft from Resident Evil Outbreak. There's surely more than meets the eye here, and some theorists believe the game will once again feature none other than Leon Kennedy.

Either way, Resident Evil Requiem is set to launch on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox on February 27, 2026.

Jordan covers games, shows, and movies as a freelance writer for IGN.

After the success of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 remake, more classic games in the beloved franchise are set to get revamped with the impending release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4. At IGN Live, the game’s director, Kurt Tillmanns, was on hand to talk about what this collection has to offer in terms of mixing new and old elements - including one bright green new inclusion in the form of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's resident party dude, Michaelangelo.

Said Tillmans, about including such an offbeat and notable new skater on the roster, “It was awesome working with Nickelodeon on getting Mikey in here. We were super passionate. Everyone who gets an opportunity to be part of a Tony Hawk game is just incredibly gracious and excited to be a part of it. They're wonderful collaborators. You know, we took great pride in building him for the game. He's also got three turtle-themed special tricks in the game that you can get when you unlock him, and you can equip those onto any other skater in the game. So, that's a ton of fun by itself!”

When it came to adding a two-minute timer element to this version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Tillmans remarked, “We’re rebuilding two of the best games of all time from the ground up. And we wanted this to be one game. It's got the concept from two awesome games, but it really is one game. So that means that Tony Hawk 3 is going to get some features and things that Tony Hawk 4 had and Tony Hawk 4, along with the classic goals that you remember, is going to be able to be played with a two-minute timer. That timer can actually be extended up to an hour for people who want to play more at their own pace. We've also got all of the classic game modes returning, so you can skate around in the four parks and free skate single session or speed run and continue to do things at your own pace in those modes.”

Tillmans said he was excited by the online play aspect of the game because he felt, for Iron Galaxy, “That is the heritage of our studio. So, we are extremely excited to be bringing this game to seven platforms. We’ve got both PlayStations, both Xboxes, both Switches, and three PC stores. And not only that, we are going to feature cross-play across every single platform. So that's huge. This game is coming to the widest audience, to the widest player base that any Tony Hawk game has ever had."

Asked about developing the Switch 2 version of the game, Tillmans laughed, “I mean, honestly, what's one other platform when we’re already doing six, right? As soon as we knew that we were going to be in the window and it was going to be possible for us to be able to support it, we just jumped at the opportunity.” As for the performance of the game on the new console, he noted, “We're going to run at 60 FPS on Switch 2 on every park, so it's going to be amazing performance.”

The soundtracks have always been a big part of the Tony Hawk games, and Tillmans said that for the remake of Pro Skater 3 + 4, “We have a ton of people who are just super passionate about the soundtrack. Obviously, when you start making a Tony Hawk game, that's one of the things that people are most excited about. We take it very seriously. Tony Hawk himself has a lot of opinions about the soundtrack and he probably knows more about the music that skaters are listening to than anyone else in the world, so we obviously hold his opinion in high esteem."

As for what it was like working with Hawk himself, Tillmans said, “He’s an awesome collaborator. He's great to work with. He takes this being kind of the lexicon for skating very seriously. He plays the game frequently and he will often tell us, ‘Hey, think this trick name is now called something else. Let me check with some people.’ And he will make sure that the trick list, which has been updated from 1 + 2, represents the language and the verbiage that skaters are using today."

Regarding the new skate parks the game includes, Tillmans said, “It’s a huge honor for us to be able to add, for the first time in over 10 years, three brand new parks into a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game. The game is going to feature the water park, the movie studio, and the pinball park. And the pinball park is super exciting. It fits in with that kind of park, like Roswell or Area 51 and Skater Heaven, where only Tony Hawk games could really take the skater into these fantastical places..”

As Tillmans explained, “When we come up with ideas for these parks, we think about the types of things that might be a forbidden place for a skater to go and skate, like a shut down water park that really fulfills that skater fantasy. And also those fantastic places, like a pinball park where the skater is actually like the size of a pinball in the machine skating around. The ball will ping pong around everywhere and wipe you out. And if you look up, there's actually a giant Tony Hawk playing the pinball machine that you're in. Then he'll react when you bail and cover his eyes. It's great."

So, now that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1-4 have gotten the remake treatment, should we expect the fifth game, Tony Hawk’s Underground, next? When asked that question, Tillmans remained mostly tightlipped, but he let it be known the interest is certainly there, replying “We’re focused on shipping [3 + 4]. I'm getting text messages right now from people working on the game. So we want to ship this game. We can't wait to get 3 + 4 out to the audience. Beyond that, we would absolutely love to keep working on this.”

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 will be released on July 11, 2025, and you can check our first impressions of the remake right here.

"Remakes and remasters are very much an 'in' thing at the moment, and while it's no surprise that we would eventually see what are arguably two of the best entries in the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series make their way to modern platforms, I definitely didn't expect this package to be as robust of a remake as it's shaping up to be," Our previewer, Nick Maillet said.