Baboo! Are you looking for Heartopia codes? You've come to the right place. Here you'll find all the codes that we've collected for the cozy sim. Redeeming these will give you currency, resources, and extra Gold to help you settle into your new home.

Working Codes for Heartopia (January 2026)

• z4p6n8r2 - Quality Timber x10, Chef's Special Saladx2, Branches x20 (NEW!) (Valid Until: 31 March 2026)
• letsdressup - Wishing Star x15, 5,000 Gold, Growth Booster x10 (Valid Until: 31 March 2026)
• letsbuild - Wishing Star x 15, 5,000 Gold, Fertilizer x10 (Valid Until: 31 March 2026)
• a7k9m2q8l - Wishing Star x5, Repair Kit x3, Blueberries x10 (Valid Until: 31 March 2026)
• mylittlepony - Moonlight Crystalsx100 (Valid Between: 8 January 2026 and 7 February 2026)
• heartopia0108 - Moonlight Crystalsx 100 (Valid Between: 8 January 2026 and 7 February 2026)
• specialgift0103 - Moonlight Crystals x100 (Valid Between: 8 January 2026 and 7 February 2026)

Expired Codes for Heartopia

There are currently no expired codes for Heartopia, so you've got lots of goodies to redeem above!

How to Use Heartopia Codes

Looking to play Heartopia and want to know how to redeem codes? Follow these steps:

1. Launch Heartopia on your phone or PC
2. Create your character and select "complete"
3. Press Tab on PC or tap the watch in the top-right corner
4. Click Setting
5. On the General Tab, look for the Redeem Code bubble button in the bottom right
6. Copy the code from this article and paste it into the bar that reads "Case Insensitive"
7. Click Redeem and if the code has been successful, it will say "Redeemed! Please check the mailbox for rewards."

FAQs for Heartopia

Have a particular question about Heartopia and codes? See our answers to frequently asked questions below.

How to Collect Heartopia Rewards

Rewards are automatically sent to your Mailbox once you've redeemed codes. To find your Mailbox, press Tab or tap the watch in the top-right corner. Click Mailbox. All of the gifts you've received can be then be claimed. You can do this individually by opening each mail, or by pressing Claim All in the bottom left corner.

Why Isn't My Code for Heartopia Working?

When a code doesn't work for Heartopia it's usually because of two reasons:

• The code for Heartopia has expired
• There's a spelling mistake or an additional space in the code

Codes for Heartopia are not case-sensitive, but sometimes, a series of letters and numbers. The best way to ensure you've got a working code is to directly copy it from this article. We check all codes before we upload them, so you can guarantee they're working. Just double-check that you haven't copied over an extra space!

How Do I Get More Codes for Heartopia?

We regularly check and test new codes, so the best way to get more codes for Heartopia is to visit this article. But if you want to mine for codes yourself, then the Discord server for Heartopia is the best place to go.

Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.

Nintendo's classic Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is now available on Switch 2, if you have a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription.

Originally released in 2005, this 3D strategy role-player is one of the better games in the Fire Emblem series, and the first to feature its turn-based combat in 3D, as the series shifted onto the GameCube following various entries for Game Boy Advance and SNES.

Path of Radiance is also notable for introducing its blue-haired hero Ike, who later returned in Wii sequel Radiant Dawn, and arguably found even greater fame as part of the Super Smash Bros. series cast.

"Two races, the human beorc and the half-human laguz, share a history of strife, mistrust, and uneasy compromise," reads a Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance blurb.

"Now, sinister forces have emerged from the shadows to shatter the fragile peace, pitting the two against each other. Only the young mercenary Ike and his colorful band of soldiers-for-hire stand between Tellius and chaos."

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance's arrival for Switch 2 was first teased during Nintendo's Switch 2 Direct last April, and it's notable that of the 11 titles shown, we're still waiting for Super Mario Sunshine, Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness.

Back in 2023, IGN listed Path of Radiance in ninth position within our 10 Best Tactics RPGs of All Time ranking. "Path of Radiance stays true to its predecessors’ core game systems, like the weapons triangle, but upgrades everything from the skills system to the flow of battles," we wrote at the time.

"Its innovations and tweaks have influenced every Fire Emblem game since then. The Battle Preparations and Base screens add important story details and character interactions, while expanded shove and rescue functions make for more strategic combat, and a smart bonus rewards system keeps battles flowing by setting turn-limits and providing specific sub goals.

"If you only know Path of Radiance because it introduced the world to Ike (of subsequent Smash Bros. fame), you’ll find a criminally underplayed strategy RPG that’s every bit as rewarding today as when it surprised GameCube owners back in 2005."

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Larian’s Reddit AMA on Divinity has concluded, and with it comes a number of new details on the Baldur’s Gate 3 developer’s next game.

We’ve rounded up all the new information revealed during the Reddit AMA from the various Larian members of staff who took part.

First up, Larian CEO Swen Vincke explained how the developer itself has changed since the blockbuster launch of Baldur's Gate 3 back in 2023. "We were 411 people at the end of BG3 and have around 500 people working on Divinity now," he confirmed. "Our teams evolve in function of the games we try to make and what we think the size of the market is. We grew a lot during BG3 because we wanted to make a cinematic RPG with loads of choice and consequence but we also knew there was a market and scaled accordingly. Our growth has slowed down a bit as we have most of the team in place to make a big cinematic RPG but there are still a few things that we didn’t do before that we are doing now."

Moving on, Larian confirmed Divinity’s looting system will include handcrafted items, as Baldur’s Gate 3 did, as opposed to random and level dependent loot seen in the Divinity: Original Sin games. As you'd expect, Divinity will have mod support via modding tools, but it's unclear if they will be available for launch.

Larian confirmed Divinity will have co-op at launch, and that modders will be able to up the player count. “Yes, coop will be available for release!” technical director Bert van Semmertier said. “The amount of players playing together will be depending on the final party size. But since modding is planned for this project as well, player will be essentially free to extend this. There is no hard limit to the amount of coop players.”

However, Divinity will not support native keyboard movement controls such as WASD right out of the box, which means modders will have to do their thing again, as they did for Baldur’s Gate 3.

Meanwhile, Divinity will run on Larian’s proprietary engine, which includes “significant changes.” “For each game, we are bringing significant changes to our engine,” head of gameplay Artem Titov said. “Since Divinity Engine is fully our own creation, it makes it easier to alter it to serve a new game rather than write a new engine from scratch.”

Divinity finally adds swimming to a Larian RPG?

As for new mechanics, head of design, Nick Pechenin, teased: “There was something that bothered me when I explored the starting areas of DOS1, DOS2 and BG3. It stares you right in the face if you think about it. In Divinity I can finally do the thing I wanted to do in every previous game.” Most believe this is about swimming.

As for the camera perspective, Divinity’s camera will work “very similar” to Baldur’s Gate 3’s, so expect a hybrid of top down and third-person camera.

Larian CEO Swen Vincke couldn't say when we'll see Divinity gameplay. "We'll see," he commented. "We're in full production mode now but still have truckloads of work." Larian wouldn't be drawn on the playable races and classes, either, but did say there are clues as to Divinity's races in the much-discussed announcement trailer.

Divinity tone, lore, and story

Writing director Adam Smith discussed the tonal difference between Divinity and Divinity: Original Sin 2, saying: "it's more grounded and you might have picked up on some folk horror vibes in our trailer. But with games the size of DOS 2 and Divinity, there are lots of tonal variations as you move through the world and meet new characters. I hope it'll make you laugh, frighten you, shock you and delight you."

Smith also commented on Divinity's place in the overall Divinity series lore. "It's in the same continuity, but it's a standalone story," Smith said. "Long-term Divinity fans will find lots of familiar things but it's never just fanservice - it has to serve the story we're telling. The Divinity universe is full of weird and wonderful characters, and I'm really excited to be part of that legacy."

Bert van Semmertier also touched on this, saying: "Divinity is a different universe than Baldur's Gate. While you do not need to play the previous Divinity games, it would certainly improve your enjoyment if you do! You'll perhaps recognize certain characters or situations or learn to explore the large universe the was already built for Divinity!"

Nick Pechenin confirmed Divinity will not keep the magic armor system from DOS2. "There will be ways to protect your characters from harm, but you will not have to wait before you can use your fun skill on enemies," he said. "We are still cooking a system that makes sure that you have to work harder to stunlock solo bosses with."

Divinity's character customization will be "even better" than Baldur's Gate 3's, art director Alena Dubrovina said, "more colors, more options, more control!"

Size and scope of Divinity compared to Baldur's Gate 3

Vincke touched on the size and scope of Divinity compared to Baldur's Gate 3, saying: "Divinity takes everything we learned from BG3 & D:OS 2 and improves from there. In regards to BG3 - I think the main thing will be more agency and a rulesystem that was made for videogaming in addition to higher production values. Oh - and some really cool new friends to meet."

Then: "more agency, more consequences. We don't know ourselves yet how big it will be. We're still making it."

Larian will do its best to make Divinity playable on Steam Deck, given how popular Baldur's Gate 3 proved on Valve's portable game machine.

Here's a fun one: will the new engine render moving ropes correctly and will we be able to look up in to the sky?

"There is no real engine limitation to allow looking at the sky," technical director Bert van Semmertier replied. "How the camera works is entirely a design choice. Alternative camera angles are always considered. If they benefit the game, we will for sure add it. As for the ropes: you can expect substantial changes to our physics engine in the future games!"

Divinity's combat and character progression systems

Head of design, Nick Pechenin, said Divinity will have a brand new combat system. "We went through our original ideas for DOS1 and DOS2, looked again at how they worked out in practice, picked up some inspirations from our BG3 EA and post-release journey, consulted the star charts to see what we need to do to stay competitive - and cooked a new action economy and character progression system," he said.

"Feedback from BG3 players trying DOS2 for the first time has been especially interesting to us, seeing the two worlds colliding. We hope that both fans of BG3 and fans of DOS2 will find the new system intuitive but deep."

It sounds like Divinity may indeed come to Nintendo Switch 2, eventually. "We have just released Divinity Original Sin 2 for Switch 2! We love the platform and we will certainly consider Switch 2 for the next Divinity game," technical director Bert van Semmertier said.

Lizard romance?

As a Larian RPG, romance will of course be in Divinity. And it sounds like the developer expects lizards to get on well with each other. Vincke said he was particularly excited for players to experience a spot of lizard romance: "there's a lot [he's excited for players to experience] but we prefer to show and not tell. That said - Lizard romance seems like it's going to be popular."

And will the orcs have a special twist in Divinity? "Without saying which species are in the game, all of them have something unique," is all Vincke would say.

As for companions, Adam Smith acknowleged the common criticism that Baldur's Gate 3's party members don't have as much of a relationship between each other or talk to each other as much as party members do in some other games. This is something Larian is looking to improve for Divinity. "Yeah, the goal is to have more interactions between party members, and it won't always just be talking," he teased.

Divinity senior writer Kevin VanOrd expanded on companion relationships, noting the narrative improvements he'd like to see for the game: "firstly, to have more interaction between companions - not just with more and better banter, but to have them develop deeper relationships with each other, just as they do with players. Secondly, to ramp up player friendship and romance more subtly, so relationship building feels natural."

Is Divinity going to be just like that gruesome announcement trailer?

What about Divinity's gruesome announcement trailer? Vincke responded to one fan who said they were put off playing the game because the trailer is "so nihilistic and viscerally depressing." Is the trailer an accurate depiction of what fans should expect from the game itself?

"We're creating a dark world so you can be the light in the darkness. It's a story about hope," Vincke insisted. "But of course - we do want you to experience agency - so there’s also plenty of ways to take away that hope and be the darkness that snuffs out the light."

Adam Smith also spoke of being this "light in the darkness." "If you've seen our announcement trailer, you have an idea of how dark the world of Divinity is," he said. "We want to give players the opportunity to be the light in that darkness - an inspiration, a hero, a champion. We'll also let them leave the world even worse than they found it. We're pushing as far as we can on player agency."

Larian, Divinity, and generative AI

As expected, Vincke addressed the generative AI controversy that emerged following Divinity's announcement. He insisted Divinity would not include any generative AI art, and confirmed it has ditched genAI tools during concept art development. However, Vincke confirmed Larian is using genAI across other areas of development.

Here's Vincke's full statement from the Reddit AMA:

"So first off - there is not going to be any GenAI art in Divinity. I know there’s been a lot of discussion about us using AI tools as part of concept art exploration. We already said this doesn’t mean the actual concept art is generated by AI but we understand it created confusion. So, to ensure there is no room for doubt, we’ve decided to refrain from using genAI tools during concept art development. That way there can be no discussion about the origin of the art.

"Having said that, we continuously try to improve the speed with which we can try things out. The more iterations we can do, the better in general the gameplay is. We think GenAI can help with this and so we’re trying things out across departments. Our hope is that it can aid us to refine ideas faster, leading to a more focused development cycle, less waste, and ultimately, a higher-quality game.

"The important bit to note is that we will not generate 'creative assets' that end up in a game without being 100% sure about the origins of the training data and the consent of those who created the data. If we use a GenAI model to create in-game assets, then it’ll be trained on data we own."

Machine Learning Director Gabriel Bosque expanded on this last point in a bit more detail:

"This is all new technology, so I totally understand why it’s difficult to see where the positive uses are. We believe Machine Learning is a powerful tool to accelerate and make game development more efficient and streamlined. This means that our creatives have more time doing the work that makes their jobs more rewarding and the game a richer experience.

"The important bit to note is that we do not generate 'creative assets' that end up in a game without being 100% sure about the origins of the training data and the consent of those who created the data.

"With over 100,000 voice lines scheduled to be in the game, recorded by hundreds of actors, and even hundred thousands more to be recorded that will not end up in the game, there are useful tools for us to reduce the ‘mechanical legwork’ and free up time for teams that would be bogged down doing tasks that kept them away from what they really want to be doing. Additionally, our ML R&D team monitors and experiments with anything that is state of the art and that might influence game development pipelines of the future. This is important to us because we make our own engine.

"But we draw lines in the sand too. We explicitly committed in our actor agreements to not using the recordings to train or build AI voice modelers, because we are aware of how sensitive it can be to artificially generate an actor’s voice. Even if an actor were willing to agree to this if we'd compensate them, we don’t currently feel comfortable with including an AI-generated voice in our games."

Writing director Adam Smith confirmed this stance on generative AI applies to writing, too. "We don't have any text generation touching our dialogues, journal entries or other writing in Divinity," he said.

"We had a limited group experimenting with tools to generate text, but the results hit a 3/10 at best and those tools are for research purposes, not for use in Divinity. Even my worst first drafts - and there are a LOT of them - are at least a 4/10 (although Swen might disagree :p), and the amount of iteration required to get even individual lines to the quality we want is enormous. From the initial stub to the line we record and ship, there are a great many eyes and hands involved in getting a dialogue right."

So what areas do Larian use genAI on and what does it mean by a "creative asset"? "There is currently one example of ML generated assets that end up in the game and that is within our cinematics and animation pipeline," Bosque explained. "In this pipeline we try to capture the actor's performances as best as we can, so we use ML models to clean, retarget and even add motion when it's not motion captured. These models are trained exclusively with Larian data."

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.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launched last year to become the best-selling game of November in the U.S. by dollar sales. That's a pretty good showing, right?

If you're still looking to pick up the new game, it's down to $35 at Amazon and Best Buy for one day only. That's 50% off the game, only a couple of months after release, on PS5, PS4, and Xbox consoles.

You'll need to act fast if you're looking to pick it up, however, as the deal will expire by the end of the day on January 9, 2026.

Magic: The Gathering had some great sets in 2025, but it also showed Wizards of the Coast perhaps straying a little too far from what makes the long-running card game special.

That’s not to say Universes Beyond was a total bust. Final Fantasy brought in record-breaking numbers of players, and Avatar: The Last Airbender was a return to some semblance of form after the disappointment of Spider-Man.

Still, cardboard waits for no Planeswalker, and there are more sets in 2026 - seven, in total. That’s before we even get into the myriad of Secret Lair drops, and perhaps most worryingly, four of those sets are Universes Beyond.

Will they end up being closer to Final Fantasy or Spider-Man? And will the in-universe sets live up to the high bar set by Tarkir: Dragonstorm or Edge of Eternities? Here’s everything coming to Magic: The Gathering in 2026.

Lorwyn Eclipsed - January 23, 2026

If you’ve been yearning for a return to Lorwyn, the first set of 2026 is here to get things started. The set is a Universes Within to kick off the year, and marks the debut of the Draft Night Box.

You can preorder it now, and it’ll see the return of Commander Decks for the first time since 2025’s Edge of Eternities with two options: A five-color, or a Jund option.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - March 6, 2026

Wizards of the Coast revealed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Comic-Con New York, with Universes Beyond going back to The Big Apple for the second time in a few months.

Still, expect colorful new art of the Heroes in a Half Shell, their assorted rogues gallery, and the debut of a Turtle Team Up co-op game mode.

We've got a full rundown of the product lineup, so be sure to check out the preorder guide, including a five-color Commander deck that stars all four Turtles.

Secrets of Strixhaven - April 2026

We still don’t know a great deal about our return to Strixhaven, but it is getting its own tie-in novel.

This Plane has been fertile ground for fun card designs and characters in the past, so here’s hoping for something good when it arrives in April.

Marvel Superheroes - June 2026

Spider-Man arrived in 2025, and now more Marvel heroes are coming to MTG, too.

We’ve already seen cards for Iron Man, Black Panther, Fantastic Four, and more, and the set will lean on comic book versions of the Marvel universe’s characters. Will it be better than the underwhelming Spider-Man set, though? We’re at least hoping the increased roster of heroes and (hopefully) villains will make this more exciting.

We’re expecting a Mentor/Sidekick theme, and for this one to be a popular entry point for new players. It might even be a good choice for a Beginner Box.

The Hobbit - August 2026

We’re going back to Middle-earth! Universes Beyond: Lord of the Rings was a colossal win for Magic: The Gathering, and the fact its fantasy theming fit so well with the card game means it feels a lot less jarring than other crossovers.

The only information we have so far is the following:

“Join Bilbo’s adventure of a lifetime with Dwarves to befriend, Trolls to trick, Elves to outwit, and songs to sing. There's gold or dragon’s fire at the end, so enjoy the journey!”

Give us some Five Armies Commander Decks, please, or at least a Smaug card that isn’t just a Token creature.

Reality Fracture - October 2026

The last in-universe set of 2026 is Reality Fracture, and it’ll feature callbacks to Tarkir: Dragonstorm and Outlaws of Thunder Junction.

The team has suggested it has a theme players have wanted for a long time, but that’s all we know so far.

Star Trek - November 2026

If you felt Wizards had got the sci-fi out of their system with the (excellent) Edge of Eternities, think again.

November 2026 will see the arrival of a Star Trek set to celebrate that franchise’s 60th Anniversary, and it’ll incorporate everything from the original series to Strange New Worlds. It even got a trailer.

Magic's 2025 Sets - At a Glance

It’s also good idea to take stock of 2025’s sets, because it was definitely a year that divided opinion.

• Innistrad: Remastered - January 24
• Aetherdrift - February 14
• Tarkir: Dragonstorm - April 11
• Final Fantasy - June 13
• Edge of Eternities - August 1
• Marvel’s Spider-Man - September 16
• Avatar: The Last Airbender - November 21

That’s seven sets in total, with three of those being Universes Beyond collaborations with the likes of Square Enix, Marvel, and Nickelodeon. And, from looking at the 2026 schedule, it looks as though Wizards is looking to stick to that ratio.

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

Before it became a movie that launched Christian Bale into stardom, American Psycho was a critically acclaimed, darkly comedic novel about the poisonous power of the American Dream. That classic Bret Easton Ellis book is now the latest to join The Folio Society's ever-growing lineup of illustrated hardcover editions.

IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of The Folio Society's American Psycho set, featuring new looks at the box design, endpapers, frontispiece, and replica business card. Check it all out in the slideshow gallery below:

This edition of American Psycho is a 512-page hardcover limited to just 750 copies worldwide. The book features illustrations by artist David Hughes, including the box cover, frontispiece, endpapers, and 10 interior illustrations.

And, as mentioned, this set comes with a replica of Patrick Bateman's business card, hearkening back to the iconic scene from the book and 2000 film adaptation.

“We at Folio have had great success with modern cult novels, and they hardly come more culty than this,” said James Rose, Head of Editorial at Folio, in a statement. “One of the most controversial and talked-about novels of all time, American Psycho has become more prophetic than ever as it charts the rise of narcissistic sociopaths in 1980s Wall Street—the sort of people that we're now seeing going to the top of US politics. Artist David Hughes is brave enough to tackle some of the more ghastly scenes, but always with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour and a keen eye on the novel's satire. By marrying Bret Easton Ellis' divisive and dangerous text with David Hughes' funny and disturbing illustrations, this will be the perfect edition of the iconic and brilliant satire.”

The Folio Soicety's American Psycho is priced at £450 / US $640. The book will be available for preorder on The Folio Society website beginning on February 3.

Also on the American Psycho front, director Luca Guadagnino is overseeing a film reboot, with Austin Butler among those eyed to star as investment banker/serial killer Patrick Bateman. Despite previous reports, the film won't be gender-swapping Bateman.

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

LEGO recently announced Smart Play, a new interactive system powered by Smart Bricks and Smart Minifigures that will be incorporated into LEGO sets. Now, the first Smart Play sets are available to preorder. LEGO is kicking things off with three Star Wars sets – the Emperor's Throne Room Duel, Luke's X-Wing, and Vader's TIE Fighter – all of which are set to launch on March 1. Here’s everything you need to know to preorder these first-ever LEGO Smart Play sets.

Featured in this article

If you're not a fan of reading blurbs, you can jump right to the new sets from the catalog above. For more information about what comes in each one, read on.

LEGO Star Wars Smart Play: Throne Room Duel & A-Wing

This set (see it at Amazon) lets you re-create the Lightsaber battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader as the Emperor looks on (as seen in Return of the Jedi). All three characters are represented here as SMART Minifigures. You also get to build an A-Wing Fighter with a (non-SMART) Pilot mini figure, as well as an Imperial cannon turret that’s equipped with a SMART tag. The two included SMART Bricks can reproduce the sounds of the Lightsabers and the ship’s engine, and even play “The Imperial March.”

LEGO Star Wars Smart Play: Luke’s Red Five X-Wing

This set has you build Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing ship (see it at Amazon), as well as an Imperial turret, transporter, and command center. The two SMART Minifigures included are Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, plus you get an R2-D2 droid. All of these items have interactive features, like laser-shooting sounds, engine sounds, and lights, plus refueling and repair sounds.

LEGO Star Wars Smart Play: Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter

This set (see it at Amazon) features Darth Vader as a SMART Minifigure, along with his iconic TIE Fighter ship, plus a Rebel Outpost and an Imperial Fueling Station. The ship has a SMART Brick in it that can emit the sound of the engines along with other things.

All of the sets come with a SMART Brick and charger, plus at least one SMART Minifigure and SMART tag. For more, check out our picks for the best Star Wars LEGO sets. And if you're worried that all future LEGO sets will be SMART Play sets, you can rest assured that standard LEGO sets will continue to come out.

What Is LEGO SMART Play?

LEGO SMART Play is a new system that will be incorporated into some LEGO sets. It offers interactive play capabilities that are somewhat like those found in the LEGO Super Mario sets, but quite a bit more intricate.

The key elements of SMART Play are SMART Bricks, SMART Minifigures, and SMART Tags. These three elements can interact with one another in a number of ways to make playing with LEGO sets more dynamic.

The SMART Brick is a key component in the system. A SMART Brick has various sensors, accelerometers, and a speaker that let it interact with SMART Minifigures and SMART tags. When used together, these elements can respond to sounds, light, and movement with appropriate sounds and behaviors. You can find out more at the LEGO Store page.

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.

Crimson Desert is an open-world action-adventure game set on the continent of Pywel. But how big is the open world, exactly? It’s “absolutely massive,” its developer has said, bigger even than that of Bethesda’s Skyrim and Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2.

Speaking on the Gaming Interviews YouTube channel, Pear Abyss’ Will Powers said that describing the size of Crimson Desert’s world in terms of numbers doesn’t do it justice, because doing so fails to capture the scope and scale of the game. But he did go as far as to compare it to two of the biggest open world games around.

"I don't think numbers really do it justice because, how big is that in terms of scope and scale?” he said. “But what we can say is that the world's at least twice as big as the open world, the playable area, of Skyrim. It's larger than the map of Red Dead Redemption 2."

Powers went on to insist that the size of Crimson Desert’s open world won’t determine its quality. Rather, what you actually do in it is the key factor.

"The continent of Pywel is absolutely massive, but size doesn't really matter if there's nothing to do,” he said. “Open-world games are about doing things, having activities, having distractions. So we wanted to create a world that's not only massive, but is also incredibly interactive."

Unlike Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption 2, in Crimson Desert you can fly around on a dragon, so despite the size of its world, you’ll be able to get about quickly. And don’t expect RPG elements in terms of decision-making and choice and consequence as it relates to your character, either. The sheer amount of things to do in the world will facilitate the role-playing part of Crimson Desert, which players will form through “head canon.”

“You choose the type of character you want to play as in terms of your progression within the systems in the game,” Powers explained. “And then through head canon you’re having this very different experience than other players because of the scope and scale of the game. You’ll be distracted by something, you’ll go on this quest line, you’ll have an experience that’ll be radically different than someone else, even though they’re playing the same game and the same canonical storyline that you both are going through.”

Indeed, the part of Crimson Desert shown off to the media in previews is just "a tiny corner of the map," Powers added. Crimson Desert is due out March 19, 2026.

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.

Fans are saying farewell to Anthem, BioWare's failed live-service blockbuster, as its servers are switched off and the game disappears forever — officially, at least.

Anthem publisher EA announced last year that the jetpack-fuelled shooter had just months to live, and cautioned that the server shutdown would render the game completely unplayable, with its world, characters and lore no longer available once the plug was pulled. Now, as this day has neared, new and returning players have loaded up the game for one last flight, and to push for the game's platinum trophy while they still can.

Others, meanwhile, have begun a small push to keep Anthem alive via custom private servers — though the effort has been hampered somewhat by the game's lack of reach.

"I missed the server closure announcement last year, and just learned about it a couple days ago," wrote one belated fan, CyberpwnPiper. "I had never played it so I decided to take the game for a spin before it's too late, and the game is quite good. I'm just playing casually and I'm still a noob after about 4 hours in, but there's a solid foundation here. There are good bones. The visuals are fantastic, the combat and action are fun, and the javelin flight is phenomenal (and unique)."

Upon release, after a lengthy and troubled development, BioWare received praise for Anthem's Javelin mechsuit combat and particularly its flight mechanic, which let you zoom around the game's open world like Iron Man alongside a team of friends. But players and critics alike were less sold on Anthem's threadbare attempt at storytelling, especially when compared to the studio's beloved Dragon Age and Mass Effect games. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Anthem never convinced players of BioWare's decision to pivot towards an online-only live-service, in an apparent attempt to recapture the crowd that had flocked to Bungie's Destiny.

Still, players are continuing to find reasons to enjoy a dip into Anthem's world, even if it is just to satisfy their curiosity before the game goes for good. "I truly wish I played it when it was released," wrote BRB1993. "I knew the end was coming and I wanted to get the chance to say, 'I was there'. I can honestly say that it scratched that same itch that Destiny does. The gunplay, the different Javelins (Colossus FTW!), the differing choice of abilities, the flying, the story (still can't believe Owen did what he did!), the differing style of enemies, there's too much to list!" Added CyberpwnPiper: "I wish I had started playing sooner to at least finish most of the story quests and experience different Javelin suits."

Some returning players have meanwhile set themselves the challenge of unlocking Anthem's full list of achievements/trophies, which will become unobtainable forever when the game's servers go offline. It has been a race against time — though many have completed the feat over the past week as EA's clock runs down.

"It's a bittersweet feeling getting this platinum," said AbsolutelyNotAClone. "I didn't think I'd push away all other games and throw another work week's worth of hours into it. But damn, I missed this game, and will miss it even more. I feel ashamed, I feel sad, but I feel so much better that I pushed for this platinum." Fellow fan Rymus, meanwhile, said they'd just hit Anthem's full Gamerscore on Xbox. "From the VIP weekend to the end this game will always be one of my faves despite the flaws," they wrote. "Learning the game was shutting down I wanted to give it the honor it deserved. My ranger with the VIP decal [has] been my main from the beginning."

"I wasn’t sure if I’d make it," wrote Seeby4, who also unlocked Anthem's platinum trophy. "Sooo many collectibles. I was getting burned out there following a YouTube guide but I locked in over the last four days and got it done! I didn’t have nearly as many hours as I know a lot of others did, but man, I’m gonna miss this game so much."

"I finally got it done on time!" wrote KingExile96. "I wish they wouldn't shut down. I wish they would just sell or give the game to another company, I want it to get another chance! It's got its potential. It was stressful getting the trophies but it was so fun at the same, roaming around, fighting bosses doing elements combo, man... I'm gonna miss this game so much. Anthem will be in my heart 🫶🤘"

While there's little chance Anthem will ever be officially revived or handed off to another developer, some fans still hope the game will become playable once again via custom PC servers. Several Discord groups have been set up to explore the possibility of making Anthem playable in future, the largest of which is The Fort's Forge — a community that has been asking players to capture records of the game's communications with EA servers, so these can then be backwards engineered.

This process has been slow, with just a handful of players helping out last year, but progress has now reached a point where a good amount of data has been obtained. Still, there's no suggestion the game will be revived at any point in the near future, and it remains to be seen whether EA itself steps in to block the project's progress. IGN has contacted the team behind the effort for more.

But while a handful of fans work on one potential future for the game, many others are now simply taking the chance to say goodbye. Dozens have recorded screenshots of their characters via one reddit thread for posterity, while others are simply reminiscing and sharing their thanks to BioWare and to their fellow players who served as the game's Freelancers.

"I enjoyed it till the end and I have a lot of good memories," wrote RobRagiel, who posted a video of their final flight around Anthem's world. "It was an honor, Freelancers. For the Legion of Dawn!"

"I had played the game since launch and I loved it," concluded Remarkable-Set-3340. "I wish this game had more time. See ya’ll in the sky’s till the sun sets one last time."

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Over two years after it was announced, Ubisoft is still working on The Division 3. And while it has yet to show off the game, its chief developer has said he thinks it will have as big an impact as The Division 1.

The Division 1 was announced at E3 2013 with a trailer that went down as one of the most talked about of the show. After a series of delays, The Division released on March 8, 2016, breaking sales records for Ubisoft. The Division 2 followed in 2019, although it failed to make as big a splash at launch as its predecessor.

While there’s no release date for The Division 3, the hope is Ubisoft will show it off at some point this year. Now, Julian Gerighty, executive producer of The Division franchise at Ubisoft’s Massive Entertainment, has provided a brief but tantalizing update.

Speaking during the New Game+ Showcase 2026, Gerighty said: “So, The Division 3 is in production, right? This is not a secret. It's been announced. It's shaping up to be a monster. I can't really say anything more than that. But this is, within these walls in Massive, we are working extremely hard on something that I think will be as big an impact as Division 1 was.”

That’s not much to go on, but clearly Ubisoft is hoping that The Division 3 will rekindle memories of The Division 1, which was certainly a hot topic when it was announced and enjoyed huge sales when it eventually came out. The pressure is on to deliver, especially with Ubisoft’s recent high-profile struggles.

Meanwhile, support for The Division 2 continues with various updates, and a team in Paris is putting the final touches of a The Division mobile game. The Division Heartland, a free-to-play spin-off, entered development in 2020 but was canceled in 2024.

Two months ago, Massive Entertainment introduced what it called a 'voluntary career transition program,' (the studio asked its staff to volunteer to be laid off) as part of a move to focus on The Division franchise and its Snowdrop game engine. It came as part of significant restructuring at Ubisoft that has seen multiple studio closures and rounds of layoffs. Massive Entertainment's Star Wars Outlaws, released in 2024, was a big sales disappointment for Ubisoft, despite significant development and marketing costs.

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.

Star Wars superfans are still trying to convince Disney to make canceled movie The Hunt For Ben Solo a reality — and they’re putting their money where their mouths are.

Last year, a ‘Ben Solo Missing’ poster was plastered all over Los Angeles and was subsequently seen across the world, having been translated into over 11 languages. Now, its creator has taken the next step and fully funded a takeover of two more billboards in Times Square.

One was featured on top of a building in Times Square on January 3, 2026, the other was visible in Times Square on January 5, right above the Pele store. This location also happens to be in close proximity to the Disney store — and it’s Disney these hardcore Star Wars fans hope will reconsider its decision to ditch The Hunt For Ben Solo.

Wrestling superstar CM Punk has compared the online anger at the ending of Stranger Things to the backlash to John Cena's final WWE match, saying both fandoms sometimes display “a slight mental illness" when events don't go the way they had built them up in their heads.

CM Punk, regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, hit out at fans who “just seem to want to be angry about everything because it didn't happen the way they fantasy booked it in their head.”

Stranger Things Season 5’s finale, which left it up to the audience to decide whether Eleven was alive or dead, has proven so divisive that some fans have concocted stories about secret 'Snyder cuts' and theories about a ninth episode that would have revealed the show’s true ending. Both were proven to be fake. Still, a petition to release this supposed “unseen footage” gained nearly 400,000 signatures — despite being debunked by the cast. Some fans are even using generative AI to make alternative Stranger Things endings.

Speaking on My Mom's Basement with Robbie Fox, CM Punk noted parallels between the Stranger Things and wrestling fandoms, expressing concern about people who react with anger to events that don’t go the way they had hoped.

“I see it in wrestling. I see it with fandoms, with Stranger Things,” he said. “People just seem to want to be angry about everything because it didn't happen the way they fantasy booked it in their head. To me that’s a slight mental illness.

“Like, hey I bought tickets to go to this wrestling show and then I look on Twitter and wrestling journalist 345678910 reports that there's going to be a big surprise guest, and I go to this show and there's no big surprise guest, and I spend an unhealthy amount of time complaining about that online. And it's just like, well you weren't promised a big surprise guest. Somebody that probably knows less about what they're talking about than you do and is just a fan just like you, made some shit up on the internet and passed it off as a journalism, and you're getting mad at that.

“I see the same thing with the Stranger Things fandom. People just straight up mad about the way it ended, and I thought the 45 minute epilogue… Mind you, I'm not a feverish Stranger Things fan. I've watched the entire show and it's hard to remember what has happened because they spend way too much time in between seasons, which I feel is a valid criticism. But I thought it was so poetic the way they wrapped it up. At the heart of the movie, it's a nostalgia bomb, but it's about these kids that are bonding over playing Dungeons & Dragons. They're the outcasts, so they find each other and there's a sci-fi element to it. And the way they wrapped it up was just like a dungeon master.”

On Eleven’s ending, specifically, and the ambiguity around her fate, CM Punk added: “I was super happy about it, but people have their opinions. It's just like the John Cena / Gunther finish. I feel like it's the same thing. Some people... maybe I don't think you understand what you're watching. But if you didn't like it, I can also understand that. But to overnight make it your entire personality and spend an unhealthy amount of time talking about it… put it this way, if John won, they'd be mad about that, too. But we wouldn't be talking about it anymore. And we're still talking about that finish. The smile, the tap. ‘Oh my god, The guy who said don't give up just gave up.’

“Everybody's an expert. I thought it was beautiful.”

The John Cena / Gunther ending refers to John Cena's emotional final WWE match in December 2025, where he lost to Gunther via submission, officially concluding his legendary career with a symbolic "passing of the torch" to a dominant new champion, though fans had mixed reactions to Cena's "Never Give Up" persona tapping out.

Let me level with you folks right up top: Code Violet is a bad game. No judgement (some judgement) if you saw tasteful (and sometimes not) screenshots and trailers featuring its beautiful brunette protagonist mixing it up with dinosaurs and felt compelled to pick this up just to ogle. But if you want anything else from Code Violet, like a compelling story with interesting characters or an engrossing crucible of tense and savvy action horror to conquer, then you’ve come to the wrong raptor-infested space station. The best it can give you is terrible third-person shooting, boring level design, and technical blunders that make stalking through this futuristic bloodbath feel prehistoric.

Code Violet’s story is unapologetically tropey science fiction, mixing far future space colonization, genetic modification, and more to make this final girl survival story as impenetrable as possible. Bits and pieces of the tale are interesting, though that’s mostly limited to side stories and lore found in the journal entries of victims scattered among the wreckage. But almost everything you play through and watch in cutscene form is derivative, awkwardly animated and acted, and forgettable. Avoiding spoilers, even when things get truly bonkers towards the end (in a similar fashion to developer TeamKill Media’s Quantum Error from 2023), all the new and drastic revelations that should be monumental to the story at hand instead feel rushed and full of twists and turns that are either undercooked or entirely too convoluted. The very few other characters you meet are barely more than one-note exposition dispensers who you’ll watch your hero, Violet, worry and cry over and never really understand why.

Violet herself is a hollow shell with no motivations outside of doing what others tell her to do, as well as being incredulous and weepy when weird and sometimes difficult events arise. She’s meant to fill a sort of Jill Valentine or Lara Croft archetype of tough gals that can think their way through most challenges, and shoot their way through the rest. But while those two video game legends have agency and capability developed through their laundry lists of heroic feats, snappy dialogue, and sometimes dense inner monologues, Violet’s own thoughts about the happenings around her seem absent from most interactions. She only feels particularly good at anything when I’m in the driver’s seat, tip toeing down hallways and filling dinosaurs full of lead.

This is doubly damning. Outside of being a missed opportunity to introduce a good new character into the greater video game lexicon, it also makes Code Violet’s leering, pervy camera work and extensive dress up options feel like it's crossing the line from fun into creepy. There are tons of characters in games who successfully make being sexy or flirty a major part of their schtick, and the best ones are those that come across as completely in control of their own image while they do so. So its an unfortunate irony that in a post-Baldur’s Gate 3/Stellar Blade world, one where people have never been more ready to accept hunky himbos and skimpy seductresses, Code Violet found one of the few ways to do it wrong.

I played on a regular PlayStation 5 rather than a Pro, and at mid-to-far distances, a few parts of Code Violet really do look good. That’s especially true in the more creatively designed areas, like when you’re outside looking up as islands float in the purplish void of the sky. When you get up close, however, textures can get muddied and metallic surfaces reflect light in gaudy ways that seem off putting for the grunge and grime that sometimes smears them. And most of the heavy metal halls you’ll skulk down are uninspired sci-fi staples that don’t feel any different than any other game that asks players to escape from a locked down hellhole of a science facility. Doom 3 pulled this aesthetic off far more effectively over 20 years ago.

There’s occasional flair, some statues that would look more at home in a medieval castle than a space base, for instance. There’s no real explanation for them, though you can make inferences based on some late-game happenings, but at the moment they come off largely as “it’s here just because.” One curious thing I did always stop to look at were the soda machines and various oil paintings that stick out like a sore thumb in this setting. Not because I found them to be particularly riveting (some were admittedly cool-looking), but mostly because I couldn’t stop trying to determine if they were AI generated or not – I’m no expert, so the jury is still out on that, but they certainly give off that vibe.

Those cool outdoor skyscapes hang over the rote and bland grasslands you’ll have to trudge through to get from one building to another almost mockingly. The limited time you spend in these zones is transitory. They basically serve as long hallways with bundles of tall grass to crouch behind when enemies are on patrol. You don’t even get a map to use, and you won’t need one as it will be very obvious where you need to go next, with very little opportunity to diverge from this critical path. Maybe these sections were meant to serve as some reprieve from the dark, claustrophobic halls of the various facilities on this planet, but other than having a brighter color palette, they feel exactly the same to navigate through.

Back indoors, rooms that might have something to investigate or shoot are separated by long hallways with nothing to spice up the transition from one action zone to another. This almost never changes across the handful of maps you’ll explore, creating a predictable, slogging pace between rooms. Part of what makes games like Dead Space so tense is that any and every room feels like one you could be maimed in. In Code Violet, you can be reasonably sure that most of its rooms exist just to be walked through by you and nothing else. Scoping out extra upgrade materials to strengthen your weapons or finding hidden keys or combinations to open certain lockers are the only good reasons to stray off the path, and even then I learned to go without these things pretty early on because the effort often wasn't worth the prize – they usually meant enduring the crumbling fossil of Code Violet’s combat system for longer than necessary.

Violet herself is agile and swift in line with most third person games of this ilk, and even has a Resident Evil-style back stepping dodge, which you will use a lot to create space between yourself and incoming dinosaurs. In a straight up skirmish with these scaly foes, a well-timed dash back can really befuddle the raptors, shattering their simple gameplan of running at you, taking a big swing, pausing, and doing it again. There’s limited space before you hit a wall or a door that might have automatically closed behind you, though, so you can only backdash so much before making yourself a much easier snack to catch. The camera will collide with these barriers far sooner than Violet will, rendering any encounter that doesn’t take place in the dead center of the room a completely unintelligible mess for as long as it takes you to get the camera refocused. Indoors, this was a frequent headache, and lingered like a second, scarier jump scare waiting to pounce after a raptor bursts out of the wall.

The variety of these jurassic jerks is a let down, with large or small velociraptors and poison-spitting dilophosauruses making up the bulk of the non-boss foes. Each type has its own behaviors, but they are shallow and predictable. Big raptors just run and swipe at you until either you or it are dead. Small raptors are usually in packs and make a conga line toward you, taking a swipe before running away, only to immediately turn around and do it all over again. The spitters just stand in one place and shoot, opting to close the distance only when you do so first. You’ll encounter some gator-like creatures in the last third of the approximately six hour campaign, but they barely bother to deal with you so long as you don’t enter their waters, making them extremely easy targets.

Any challenge I got from these mouthy menaces came from how erratic and stupid they could be, often getting caught in the environment while attempting to reach me or disengaging once I simply walked the other direction. Their bullet spongy, stun resistant nature also means that they can just run up and take a bite out of you before they die, not quite becoming a danger, but definitely becoming an annoyance since any hit from them could potentially cause you to bleed, which can kill you if you don’t treat it in time. This is all true for the remarkably few boss fights as well – you may be facing a scaly man-dino hybrid now, but almost nothing about the strategy of walking backwards, dodging on time, and then countering with a face full of lead has to change.

At the same time, all these lazy lizards have a sort of supernatural omniscience. Even when you make your best attempts to sneak into or around a room, there's a great chance that they already know where you are and are on their way to kill you. On top of that, so many encounters involve you opening a door to see dinosaurs staring directly at you or are scripted events where they have the drop on you, so there aren’t many attempts to stay quiet to begin with. Unless you’re using the GlassVeil function of Violet’s suit, which can render you sometimes comically invisible for a short period, stealth is a large waste of time in most areas. I say comically because you can use it mid-fight with a dinosaur, and there’s a good chance they will simply give up any attempt to find you and return to milling around aimlessly when you do. Hilariously, this strategy even works on bosses, who will completely stop and wait for you to reveal yourself, usually with gunfire, and then make a half-assed attempt to follow up until you reappear.

The real enemy are the myriad bugs that can’t wait to bite and peck at your progress. Sometimes the sound mix will run off the rails or a very important skybox, one that might hold valuable information about a puzzle, simply won’t load. Weapons sometimes display the wrong ammo counts, or just disappear from your inventory all together – which I guess is a fair trade for the fact that every item I used directly out of my storage box didn’t actually expend it in the review build we were provided, meaning I could always heal to full at any safe room I made it to. (TeamKill Media tells us it’s already aware and working on fixes for some of these bugs, such as the infinite storage item issue, but didn't say when those might arrive.)

Warning: This review contains full spoilers for The Pitt Season 2, Episode 1!

The Pitt is certainly a refreshing blast from the past in today’s streaming TV landscape. Not only does the relatively long, 15-episode structure hearken back to a simpler time, but it’s a series that doesn’t leave us hanging for years in between new seasons. The Pitt is already back for Season 2, almost a year to the day that the first season debuted, and it doesn’t miss a beat in the process.

Clearly, creator/showrunner R. Scott Gemmill has no intention of reinventing the wheel with Season 2. Once again, we connect with Noah Wyle’s Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch at the start of what promises to be another grueling day shift at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. The real-time format that worked so well last time around is still in full effect.

Things do seem to be looking up a bit for Robby compared to where we last saw him at the end of Season 1. As far as we can tell, he’s no longer plagued by PTSD-laden memories of the COVID pandemic, and he’s even gearing up for a badly needed three-month sabbatical. Something tells me he’ll be desperate for that escape by the end of the season…

The one real notable change from Season 1 is that Tracy Ifeachor’s Dr. Collins is gone, with Sepideh Moafi stepping in as new attending physician Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi. This is a bit of a disappointment, as Ifeachor was one of the highlights among Season 1’s uniformly strong cast. Moreover, it didn’t feel as though her story was finished after Season 1, despite whatever creative decisions led to this shake-up. That’s definitely a sore spot heading into the new season.

Not that Moafi struggles to float among that strong cast. She immediately makes a strong impression as a stern, methodical force trying to instill order in a sea of chaos. And as much as Robby and Collins butted heads at times in Season 1, it’s clear that Baran is meant to be a much more antagonistic presence in his life. If anything, this episode probably goes a little too hard on that front. It’s hard to react to the character as anything other than an annoying interloper, given her prickly demeanor and the way she’s so blatantly out of step with Robby’s managerial style.

Clearly, that’s the intent with her character. Robby is the closest thing we have to a focal point on the show, and we’re meant to mistrust this Gloria-approved rule stickler as much as he does. But, hopefully, over the course of this season, we’ll see different shades of Baran and come to appreciate her medical philosophy a bit more.

Easily the highlight of Episode 1 is reconnecting with Patrick Ball’s Dr. Frank Langdon. Not only is this Robby’s last day on the job before vacation, but it’s also Langdon’s first day back after completing drug rehab. He’s the character who’s grown and changed the most in the months since Season 1’s shift from Hell, and you get a great sense of that in Ball’s performance. The confidence and bravado are diminished, replaced by a man who’s unsure of himself and trying to regain some semblance of order in his life. Ball is great here, particularly during his touching reunion with Ernest Harden Jr.’s Louie (whose story I can only assume is going to take a dark turn this season).

Other than that, it’s mostly business as usual for the Pitt crew. The rest of the main cast returns, even Katherine LaNasa’s Dana Evans, the one character I would have thought was being retired after Season 1 (not that more Dana is a bad thing by any stretch). The various residents and interns have had the better part of a year to gain some experience, and it’s fun watching that evolution play out in the various subplots. Gerran Howell’s Dennis Whitaker in particular comes across as a whole new man compared to Season 1, and it’s fun watching him exercise a little authority for a change. The jury is still out on the new batch of trainees, however, and I’m sure it’ll once again take several episodes to even memorize their names.

It’s definitely the start of a slow burn for Season 2, and it’s going to take several episodes to build toward the sheer chaos and life-or-death stakes we eventually got with Season 1. If anything, this episode feels a bit more light-hearted, finding ample moments for humor and reminding us with Charles Baker’s Troy that compassion is often the best medicine. Things will get darker soon enough, and I’m very much looking forward to it.

I'm actually seeing more deals on prebuilt gaming PCs and solid laptops than usual, which is very strange considering we're in the middle of a chip shortage where RAM, DRAM, and solid-state storage are concerned. Whilst component prices are shooting up, products already on the market are dropping, and I've got some cracking examples in today's Daily Deals to build on from yesterday's finds.

TL;DR: Deals for Today

Laptops and PCs focused on gamers are currently available for every kind of budget, and with people looking at older GPUs and RAM to put into their builds to save money, this is the time to push the button on a new build or laptop before newer models come in with that AI-fuelled price increase. I've never known a time like this in the PC gaming space; it's like buying a Pokémon card whilst the price is low but you know it's about to skyrocket.

I've also found even more deals on gaming accessories, CPUs, gaming monitors, gaming TVs, and some hot Apple MacBook and iPad deals. Let's get into it:

More Gaming Laptop Deals

The best gaming laptop for the money here is the MSI Vector 16 HX AI for $1,648. Granted, the processor isn't as good as the $2,099.00 ROG Strix, but it's still more than capable at backing up the packed-in RTX 5070 Ti laptop GPU and rocks 16GB DDR5, which is plenty for solid high-frame 1440p gaming. The 512GB SSD isn't ideal, but it's an easy upgrade down the line. You could, of course, double your RAM, get a better CPU, and get a 2TB M.2 SSD with the ROG Strix G16, but I don't personally think it's worth the extra $450 to get there.

More Gaming PC Deals

The Alienware Aurora is the cheapest build here, but it's only got an RTX 5060 Ti. That's fine if you just want a 1080p gaming machine for Fortnite, but frankly, you're paying some brand tax even after a cheeky discount.

Whilst I'd love for everyone to have $2.6k to spend on a liquid-cooled Radeon RX 9070 XT build, I'd go with the HP OMEN 45L for $2,284.99. 32GB DDR5 RAM is going to be relevant for years to come, and that also means your motherboard is good for any DDR5 or Intel CPU upgrades down the line (check that socket type before you do!). With DLSS 4.5 and 6x Frame Generation either just dropping or coming later this Spring, an RTX 5070 Ti is going to be plenty of power for a solid 1440p experience. You could even try and push to 4K with some lower settings, but 1440p is 100% the sweet spot for PC gaming with ridiculous frame rates.

Apple iPad and Macbook Deals

If you're more about the Apple ecosystem, hats have to go off to their unified memory and M4/M5 SoCs. They're bloody rapid and perfect for all kinds of productivity and creative work, but gaming not so much. Any opportunity to shave off some Apple brand tax is a good deal, and I personally love iPad Pro M5s combined with an Apple Pencil for 3D sculpting, drawing, and painting. It's a seamless and smooth experience that rivals dedicated drawing tablets.

AMD Threadripper Sale

If you're wanting to put a Threadripper into your gaming setup, then you're wasting your money. But if you need some of the fastest rendering times, run complex simulations, manage engineering workloads, or run compile farms (and yes, fine-tuning, inference, and data pre-processing AI/machine learning), this is the CPU to get. It will also unlock support for large Gen 5 PCIe lanes, ECC DDR5 support, and AVX-512 acceleration. If none of this makes sense to you, this likely isn't an investment you need to make. But for the right person, all of these Threadripper deals are a steal.

Gaming Monitor and TV Deals

PC gaming belongs on gaming monitors, mostly due to them supporting far higher frame rates, G-SYNC/FreeSync support, and low latency. You won't be playing Fortnite at 170 FPS on any TV in 2026, sadly, but a gaming monitor will get you there depending on your budget.

That's not to say TVs aren't getting close. TCL is knocking out 120–140Hz on some of their latest panels up to 98 inches. They're more than capable of handling PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Switch 2, and PCs too. It just depends on how you want your setup to look and how you want to play.

Game Controller and Keyboard Deals

It's the most expensive on this list, but SteelSeries gear really is quality. Every keyboard and mouse I've tried from them felt amazing and purpose-made for my fat sausage fingers. In all honesty, every product listed is fantastic, but I personally would always go for SteelSeries. You've got their magical HyperMagnetic switches, which feel super responsive with a lovely bounce-back, and my Apex Pro TKL Wired Gen 3 handles absolutely everything from writing the words you're reading to Diablo IV to Fortnite.

Gaming PC and Laptop Deals

If you want a prebuilt gaming PC with legs and room for larger GPU upgrades down the line with ample cooling, I'd go with the Skytech Shadow Gaming PC. It's a good entry point for 1080p, high frame-rate gaming. Unlike the Storm and Crystal models, you're getting DDR5 RAM and an RTX 5060 Ti, which boasts higher performance over the standard 5060 and 5050 GPUs. Plus, the cheaper models only have a DDR4 RAM motherboard. If you're looking for a cheap build before RAM, GPU and SSD prices skyrocket, Skytech Shadow is a fair price by parts comparison and sets you up for future GPU upgrades without the worry of also replacing RAM and the motherboard.

If you'd prefer a gaming laptop, I'd 100% pay the extra $120 to get the Ryzen AI 9 270 CPU and RTX 5070 Mobile GPU. Yes, you're getting the same 32GB DDR5 RAM and 1TB SSD, but you're getting far better performance from the CPU and GPU.

Gaming Keyboard Deals

Gaming keyboards all do the same job more or less; it mostly comes down to the different type of switches and keycaps you prefer. If you like a low-profile laptop keyboard, Razer Joro is a good pick. If you want clicky button presses, wireless functionality and all the bells and whistles you could possibly want on a keyboard, ASUS ROG Azoth Extreme Wireless is $100 off right now.

A solid mid-range pick would be the Razer BlackWidow V4 Mini HyperSpeed Wireless. It has a massive 200-hour battery with quiet orange switches and pudding keycaps. For a budget gaming keyboard, I'd highly recommend Glorious GMMK for a cheeky 10% off right now. It has brown mechanical switches, which serve as a great hybrid for work and gaming. Plus, it's modular, making it a great modding platform.

Gaming Mice Deals

Again, it really comes down to preference when it comes to gaming mice. I prefer having something I can grip with some curves built into the sides. When it comes to a cheap wired option that's built well and has some RGB to make me game faster, I'd go for Glorious Model D (Minus) at a reasonable $28.68.

If we're talking wireless, I'd shell out $99.99 for ASUS ROG Keris II. The battery life is a respectable 127 hours, has up to 42K DPI alongside tri-mode connectivity. It's a versatile and responsive bit of kit with the ergonomics I look for in gaming mice.

Home Workout Deals

Half the challenge of going to the gym is getting into the mindset to get in there and put some graft in; it's intimidating for a lot of people. Luckily, there are a couple of ways to get a fantastic workout at home. The first route is equipment with a service, specifically Peloton. The deal is you can either pick a treadmill or exercise bike, grab a subscription and get that personal trainer experience in the comfort of your own home with all the bells and whistles of the latest high-tech, gym-quality equipment.

If you just want to go at your own pace whilst having quality gym equipment at home, EVKRun’s treadmill is $180 off right now at $399.98. It supports up to 400lbs, has 3.5HP and reaches speeds of up to 8.5MPH. If you're more interested in toning up over cardio, Pooboo's Power Cage is a squat rack, lateral pull-down system backed by a dual pulley cable configuration. It also includes various strength training attachments at a tidy $400 discount down to $1,199.99.

Portable Power Station Deals

Even if you're just looking for a power backup that you can charge at the wall, Portable Power Stations are products that you think you don't need until you get a power cut or you need some electricity whilst camping for a number of reasons.

I use an Anker SOLIX Power Station as a fail-safe for my office and gaming setup. If I have a power cut or surge, I have absolutely nothing to fear. Not only do I have that added protection of the Power Station keeping the electricity flowing as it should to my PC, but it gives me backup power to save my work or game progress before using it for something really important, like keeping my kids warm.

Picking a solar panel option makes sure you can stay powered on when camping or sitting in a field doing nothing whilst ignoring nature and gaming. Perfection.

MTG: Cheapest at Amazon

Amazon is putting out some decent pricing, with my favorite pick here being the "Game Edition" of Cloud Strife-themed Limit Break Commander Deck. It's around the same price as TCGPlayer, making it market value, with the artwork being based on in-game moments instead of the traditional MTG artwork.

The same can be said for the Marvel's Spider-Man Play Booster Box containing 30 booster packs with the following:
• 14 Magic: The Gathering cards
• 1–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher
• 3–6 Uncommon cards
• 6–9 Common cards
• 1 Land card (Traditional Foil Land replaces a Land in 20% of boosters)
• 1 card of any rarity is Traditional Foil; Foil Showcase Mythic Rare in 1% of boosters

MTG: Cheapest at TCGPlayer

Meanwhile, TCGPlayer is the place to go for MTG preorders. It's the cheapest for the Lorwyn Eclipsed Play Booster Box and Bundle, with the next Universes Beyond entry Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Play Booster Box, Turtle Power! Commander Deck and Bundle, the latter being over $15 cheaper than Amazon.

There's some gorgeous Final Fantasy scene boxes coming in cheaper than Amazon too, not to mention the standard Limit Break Commander Deck being just under $5 cheaper on TCGPlayer. It pays to shop around for sure.

Alienware Area-51 RTX 5090

2 Lisen 6.6ft 240W USB Type-C Cables

JVSCAM Cordless Electric Air Duster

Pokémon TCG: Market Value at Amazon

Well, the good news is you can get the Phantasmal Flames Elite Trainer Box with Prime delivery without getting stung. It has nine booster packs, a gorgeous Charcadet Illustration Rare promo, Mega Charizard X–themed sleeves, card dividers, a tournament-legal coin, alongside some nice-looking dice.

Cynthia’s Garchomp ex Premium Collection has four Journey Together and two Destined Rivals booster packs, so if Trainer Pokémon cards are your thing, you’re good to go.

Pokémon TCG: Cheapest at TCGPlayer

If it were me making a choice from the TCGPlayer selection here, I’d go for the Destined Rivals Booster Bundle. It’s $13 cheaper than Amazon right now and works out at $4.66 per booster pack, which is one of the best prices I’ve seen for Destined Rivals booster packs recently.

If you want a decent Mega ex card for your Grass-type deck, I’d recommend the Mega Venusaur ex Premium Collection. If you run Meganium alongside it from Mega Evolution, you can double your Grass Energy value while being able to move a Grass Energy from one Pokémon to another thanks to their abilities. That means you can set up and use Mega Venusaur ex’s “Jungle Dump” attack for 240 damage in one turn (it costs four Grass Energy).

You’ll also get the following booster packs:

• 2 × Mega Evolution
• 2 × Destined Rivals
• 4 × Journey Together

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

You might want to jump on a PC upgrade sooner than later. Prices of prebuilts are expected to go up this year because of the inflated demand for DDR5 RAM and production cuts on Nvidia's graphics cards.

For this week only, Best Buy just dropped the price on the powerful iBuypower Y40 Pro gaming PC, equipped with an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X processor and RTX 5080 graphics card, to just $2,109.99 shipped. Although this system was a bit cheaper during Black Friday, it's currently the lowest price I can find for a prebuilt RTX 5080 gaming PC.

iBuypower Y40 Pro RTX 5080 Gaming PC for $2,110

I went in intending to bookmark one or two deals and came out with a full-blown identity crisis about my free time. This list is stacked with more than a few all-timers, some are deeply silly, and a few are dangerously cheap for how much of your soul they will consume. Consider yourself warned.

Contents

• Retro
• Nintendo
• Xbox
• PlayStation
• PC
• PC Gear
• LEGO

This Day in Gaming 🎂

In retro news, I’m celebrating the 22nd birthday of Street Fighter Alpha 3 on GBA, a near impossibly good take of the PS One version. Though the BGMs and voice SFX weren’t always authentic, and the fighters had fewer animation frames, Crawfish Interactive otherwise shoryukened this shoehorned-down port out of the park. I got much RSI of the thumbs playing this on the go (especially using the “portable only” fighter additions of Yun, Eagle, Ingrid, and Maki). That progressed to early-onset arthritis when a mate got his own cart and a Ryu/Ken rivalry ensued via Game Link Cable.

The Dungeon Crawler Carl series is getting a new entry this year and you can already preorder yourself a copy. The popular LitRPG series has been seeing an explosion in sales over the last few years, but for those of us who have been reading since the very beginning, the wait for book eight has been the longest yet. The new book from Matt Dinniman is officially titled "Parade of Horribles" and is set to release on May 12, 2026.

Preorders for this book are now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and pretty much every other online bookstore available. Cover art has yet to be revealed for the hardcover edition.

A Parade of Horribles Is Now Up for Preorder

Kathryn Hahn (Agatha All Along, The Studio) is reportedly in talks to play Mother Gothel in Disney’s live-action Tangled remake.

Information about a popular fancast potentially coming true originates from a Deadline report. The site says Hahn hasn’t yet locked down the role of the villain for the reimagining of the Disney animated classic, but if she does, it will make a lot of fans online very happy.

Avowed is the latest Xbox Game Studios creation to head to PlayStation, developer Obsidian announced today.

This news came as part of an interview on the New Game+ Showcase, where Obsidian developers shared that the February 17 launch on PS5 would coincide with the game's promised anniversary update on all platforms.

The anniversary update contains a number of long-requested features, including a New Game Plus mode, a Photo Mode, the ability to play three new races (Aumaua, Orlan, and Dwarves), a new weapon type, the ability to change appearance in the overworld, and a number of other asked-for upgrades.

Pre-orders for the PS5 version will go live today, and the update will be available for free for those who already own it on other platforms.

Avowed came out almost a year ago (hence the anniversary update), and we gave it a 7/10 at the time. While we said it has "awesome worldbuilding and stellar character writing", it also "plays it quite safe with a by-the-numbers fantasy adventure."

Avowed's move to PlayStation is part of a larger trend of Xbox releasing its first-party games on its competitor platform, including recently Forza Horizon 5, Doom: The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and even Halo.. It's a strategy that seems to be working for them okay in some respects - in one quarter of last year, six of the ten best-selling games on PlayStation were Xbox-published. And its leadership has publicly embraced the idea that consumers find platform exclusivity to be "antiquated."

Will this strategy serve them well as hardware prices skyrocket and players gravitate more toward forever games? We took a stab at guessing how Xbox's 2026 will go, and you can read those predictions here.

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

If you're a Windows user who's looking for a PC version of the Apple Mac Mini, then one of the most popular models has dropped in price. Amazon is currently offering the AceMagic Kron Mini K1 AMD Ryzen 7 7730U Mini PC for just $385.56 shipped with coupon code "32GB1TBACE". This is a great opportunity to pick up a complete tiny PC package that includes everything - the CPU/GPU, RAM, storage, and OS - for less than the cost of a Mac Mini.

AceMagic Kron Mini K1 AMD Ryzen 7 7730U Mini PC for $386

Embark Studios says it ‘should do a lot more’ with trading in Arc Raiders, but some players are worried about how a potential in-game market might affect the experience.

CEO Patrick Söderlund expressed interest in a more robust trade feature for the popular extraction shooter during a recent interview with GamesBeat. The chat, which took place during an Arc Raiders session that lasted nearly two hours, saw the studio head touch on everything from movie deals to aggression-based matchmaking, but it’s the topic of trading that managed to get the community riled up.

keep it out. there’s no need for trading. All it will encourage is RMT or cheater services. leave out any type of player developed economy. Pls

— 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖜𝖓 (@shawnsafk) November 3, 2025

“We’re going to want to do more [with trading] because it’s fun. It’s a good part of the game,” Söderlund teased. “I agree: We should do a lot more of the trading component in the game, and also allow people to trade amongst each other, etc. I think it’s fun. It’s something that we absolutely have to look at long term.”

Although some players have found their own ways to swap weapons and other rare loot between each other, proper trading support is largely absent from Arc Raiders. While Embark is interested in changing that, portions of the community aren’t thrilled about how something like an in-game marketplace, or even auctions, could impact the sci-fi shooter.

As Söderlund’s comments made their way to the internet, so, too, did posts from users concerned that trading could take away from the thrill of extracting. For these players, it’s a matter of keeping the fundamental Arc Raiders gameplay loop intact.

“The entire point of this game is to find loot and extract safely with it,” one Reddit user explained. “If you add a system where people can stockpile coins and then purchase everything without any risk, what is the point? Where will be that moment where you find something you're looking for and rush to an extract on the edge of your seat?”

“I hope they won’t add a player to player trading system,” another added. “There is no need for that. All we need is nice events, new content/maps once in a while and a fix for micro stutters. Love the game.”

Fear of a fleshed-out trade system for Arc Raiders also seems to stem from those who believe players will simply be able to purchase any weapon or item they want. Some Escape from Tarkov fans have also stepped in to warn of how they feel trading affected that game, with one player saying, “Once trading is added, everything turns into a dollar value and that’s all that matters.” Others question how additional trade support would even work in Arc Raiders in its current form.

“What the hell am I supposed to trade with people?” another post asks. “Reset was 3 weeks ago and I have pretty much everything again. There's not nearly enough loot in this game for a trading system to work. Unless they introduce items with random attributes, like in Warframe or Diablo, which would destroy balance.”

There is a section of the Arc Raiders player base concerned about trading, but there are also those who believe slight changes for player-to-player exchanges could actually improve the experience. Some have already organized trading services outside of the game itself, with others believing that an in-game system, if done right, could encourage the more casual fans to stick around.

Either way, players should note Embark has far from confirmed that official Arc Raiders trading additions are on the way, nor has it explained what shape something like that could take.

“There’s nothing that we’ve decided yet, but that’s the fun part of building something like this: This is really the start of something,” Söderlund added. “We believe that there’s so many things that we can look into and do and add to the game. It’s fun.”

Now that the holidays have come to an end, Arc Raiders is gearing up for 2026. Today, Embark outlined its plan to tackle cheaters after fans and streamers began publicly voicing their concerns online. The studio is also looking into balance updates, with a new patch set to roll out soon, but don’t expect any leaderboards to make their way into the game.

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

Greenland 2: Migration arrives in theaters on Friday, January 9.

Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin are back as the extinction-surviving Garritys in Greenland 2: Migration, now joined by Roman Griffin Davis as their son, Nathan. In this above-average sequel to 2020's Greenland, our first family of of the apocalypse must find a new home after their quaint, claustrophobic years of living in a bunker get dangerously disrupted by moving tectonic plates.

There are about as many crazed, unbelievable moments here as one can expect from a global disaster flick, but Migration moves fast, and like the first movie, focuses on the three main characters, relying on our investment in their safety and well-being to pull us through the wreckage and suspend our discerning, doubting tendencies. The horrors and hazards in Migration are found in the ravaged post-apocalyptic world itself, from violent natural threats to the evils of desperate humans, and the story does a nice job of staggering, varying, and escalating these obstacles. It should be mentioned though that Nathan's diabetes, which was a major part of the first film, only gets lip service here, presumedly so that new complications can be explored.

Ultimately, in wasteland adventure like this, it doesn't matter if it's comet fragments or radiation storms or zombies (there are no zombies, to be clear). The message is simple: Outside is bad and shelter is good. The goal for John and Allison Garrity is to get their son to a possible paradise so that he can actually live and not just survive. Yes, the ginormous Clarke comet crater itself could contain a viable, thriving environment free of toxins and disasters, but it will mean getting all the way to Southern France.

Migration doesn't forge new ground or break any molds, but it is a mindful continuation that hits the right emotional notes and provides some solid jumps. Butler has played cops and soldiers, but he's even better as an "everyman," using his warm gravely voice and charisma to carry the weight of the (destroyed) world as he and his family squeak through cursed crucibles, sidestepping perils left and right. Butler knows his cinematic lane, and because of this, he's become one of the most stealthily successful B-movie bankabilities in the business. In fact, he and Jason Statham are probably the only two dudes getting theatrical releases for their mid-budget action movies right now; if they ever star in a film together, there might be a multiversal incursion.

With that said, Greenland is the latest of Butler's better-than-expected projects to get a sequel after his Has Fallen series, Den of Thieves, and 2023's Plane (though that's continuing as a Mike Colter vehicle). And Greenland worked in the first place both because of Butler's anchoring presence and the fact that the story focused on the Garrity family instead of just treating the story like a one-man show. Morena Baccarin is a big reason why the first movie resonated, with Allison sharing the spotlight as a full character during the global turmoil. Migration recognizes the importance of its three principal leads, and especially John and Ali's bond. It's a lean dystopian machine, swiftly taking our heroes through moments of brief chaos and briefer calm as they take a huge risk in betting on the crater containing some sort of natural utopia.

Migration isn't as ferocious as, say, a 28 Days Later, but it's also not cornball like most Roland Emmerich End Times movies. It resides in a safe, enjoyable middle that's both violent and bloodless. Director Ric Roman Waugh (who, yes, does have a Jason Statham movie coming out at the end of the month) keeps a confident hand on the wheel, providing only the necessary and delivering some cool, harrowing set pieces (like the gorge/ladder moment shown above). For those wondering if there was actually a story to tell after the first Greenland, the answer is yes, especially if you felt the first film was possibly leading up to a big character moment that never happened. Migration puts the Garritys through it again while also closing the Clarke comet hellscape book in a satisfying manner.

Primate arrives in theaters on Friday, January 9.

Primate is an inarguably silly movie and yet it leans into that silliness in just the right way. Though it never actually turns into meta commentary or self-parody, you still get the feeling that all involved, starting with director and co-writer Johannes Roberts, knew this should be a goofy good time. And crucially, Roberts also knew it would be best served as a goofy gory good time, delivering a movie far more brutal and graphic than the trailers have indicated, which helps make it an even more satisfyingly over-the-top experience. Seriously, they really should have gone with a redband trailer for this one to more properly sell what it has to offer!

Roberts sets the bar with the film’s in medias res opening, which includes a rather fantastic and attention-getting moment of killer chimp violence that elicited unexpected early applause from the audience I saw it with. I wouldn’t be shocked if the decision to begin with this flash-forward was done in the editing room, because the actual story set-up that follows feels a bit too drawn out for this type of movie. And yet the promise of that opening lingers over everything, as an assurance that we shouldn’t worry; the reason we’re all here is on its way and it’s going to deliver.

The eventual killer in question in the story is Ben, a domesticated chimp living alongside popular author Adam (Troy Kotsur) and his daughters, Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) and Erin (Gia Hunter), in their beautiful cliffside Hawaiian home. Lucy is just returning home after a long absence in the wake of her mother’s death, with a bit of backstory about her mom being a linguistics expert to explain how Ben came to live with them. If Primate is trying to suggest why you shouldn’t domesticate an animal like Ben, it’s only there as background rather than anything overt or meaningful, but that’s fine for this type of movie. Ben is a loving part of the family until he’s not, and though we get a quick glimpse of the chimp as the sweet-natured guy he always was until now, the movie’s tone ultimately goes to extremes that don’t ask us to cry about the tragedy of what’s happening so much as cheer on the mayhem like we would in a slasher film. If you sometimes end up still feeling Team Ben, well, that makes sense too, because he’s just giving the crowd what they want.

Once we get through the family drama backstory and the unnecessary inclusion of a brewing competition between Lucy and her pseudo-friend Hannah (Jessica Alexander) over the affections of Lucy's longtime crush, Nick (Benjamin Cheng), Primate is commendably lean and mean. The story takes place over one long night as Lucy, her sister, and her friends try to fend off Ben after he snaps and begins brutally killing anyone who crosses his path. At that point, it thankfully concentrates on delivering the goods in terms of tension and exciting kills vs. too many unnecessary elements for a story of this nature. My only big distraction? Trying to figure out why the book signing Adam has traveled to seems to be happening pretty damn late at night for such an event.

This story streamlining (Ernest Riera wrote the script with Roberts) includes skipping past some of the specifics for the how and why of what’s happened to Ben. We know from the start that it’s an oldie but goodie horror set-up – rabies – that will make Ben turn homicidal, as Primate kicks off with a helpful block of text to give us some rabies history. At one point, one character incredulously notes rabies isn’t found in Hawaii, but that line simply serves the purpose of acknowledging this fact rather than leading to a bigger reveal. We never get the expected scenes showing how, say, someone smuggled an animal they shouldn’t into Hawaii that turned out to be carrying rabies…and yet we really don’t need to get that. It’s enough to know that somehow rabies got to Hawaii, a mongoose with rabies bit Ben, and now we’re enjoying the bloody results.

Roberts, whose previous credits include The Strangers: Prey at Night and 47 Meters Down, does a very good job of mixing the straightforward, visceral thrills of his gruesome kill scenes with some genuine moments of tension. He probably has Ben suddenly appear right next to someone a couple times too many, but it works like a charm more often than not. You can also often feel that Roberts is in on the joke, most especially when two horny, drunken douchebag bros (Tienne Simon and Charlie Mann) who are absolutely begging to be massacred by a killer chimp turn up for just that purpose.

The cast, including Sequoyah and Victoria Wyant (as Lucy’s best friend), do solid work in the midst of this innately wacky scenario. Yes, it’s funny to see the charming Kotsur in this type of popcorn movie just a few years after winning an Oscar for CODA, but hey, that’s life in Hollywood. Roberts incorporates the deafness of both Kotsur and his character, Adam, into the story using effective cinematic methods we’ve certainly seen before, including moments of full silence when we cut to Adam’s perspective. Also providing a crucial element is composer Adrian Johnston, who gives the film a 1980s-style synth score that has a cool and creepy vibe.

As for Ben himself, huge kudos to everyone involved in the creation of this character. Rather than using CGI like you might expect these days, Ben was brought to life using an impressively complex animatronic suit created by Millennium FX, with actor and movement specialist Miguel Torres Umba actually wearing the costume and playing Ben. The end result of the partnership between Millenium FX and Umba is that Ben truly looks great; you can easily buy into him as a full-fledged and increasingly angry and deranged character, as he first hunts his prey and then bashes, smashes, and tears them apart in various ways.