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Developer Embark Studios says Arc Raiders update 1.12.0 patched some infamous out-of-bounds exploits – but players say "rats" still live in the walls of Stella Montis.

Community lead Ossen took to the official website to publish full patch notes for the January 20 adjustments, revealing a smaller set of targeted fixes for the massively popular extraction shooter. Exploits are in the line of fire this time, with the update said to fix glitches related to item and ammo duplication, the ability to damage other players from behind certain geometry, and a bug that let players reach out-of-bounds locations – specifically on Stella Montis.

The cold, labyrinthian halls of Stella Montis have already garnered a reputation for being perhaps the most cutthroat topside area Arc Raiders has to offer, and its abundance of cheaters isn’t helping. Streamers and everyday Raiders alike have reported dying to cheaters on the high-difficulty map for some time, with the out-of-bounds exploit proving to be especially problematic for months. The clip (above) showcases how the glitch has been used to steal some of the best Arc Raiders loot from players who are looking to extract back to Speranza or even just play some music.

Finally, update 1.12.0 is here to take care of what is maybe Embark’s most infamous exploit, but it sounds like it’s more of a speed bump than a stop sign. Just as the patch made its way to players across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S, Discord users began to report they were still losing runs to Raiders behind walls in Stella Montis. The developer’s patch notes do say that “various” – and not necessarily all – out-of-bounds map locations had been addressed, but that isn’t stopping fans from expressing their disappointment.

“There is still a wall glitch in Stella (somewhere in the lobby area),” one Discord user said. “Embark is incapable of fixing their game.”

“So, I guess they didn’t fix wall glitches because I just got killed by 3 people inside the seed vault extract in Stella Montis,” another added.

“This patch notes seems like it only attracted rats into walls on Stella,” another player said.

Disattisfaction with the update seems to stem from a December 11 patch, which was said to have tackled an out-of-bounds glitch related to zipline use on Stella Montis, only for players to find themselves still dealing with cheaters weeks later. Players have also shared reports of wall exploits at Dam Battlegrounds and Spaceport, with an ongoing issue related to an unopenable door in Stella Montis adding to the pile of glitches riling up the community.

Embark shared earlier this month that out-of-bounds glitches had been added to a list of anti-cheat fixes it hoped to implement “over the next few weeks,” suggesting update 1.12.0 may be just one step in a larger plan. While players have waited weeks for exploit fixes, and Stella Montis may have a few holes to fill yet, some say they’re willing to give the studio more time to get Arc Raiders into shape.

“I don’t know much about game design, but I’m sure it takes a while to find and fix problems within coding,” one Reddit user argues. “So I think people should be happy that they’ve fixed the exploits that have been such a source of complaints for so long.”

Arc Raiders launched October 30, 2025, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S. Recent content updates include the introduction of Stella Montis November 13, as well as the limited-time Cold Snap event December 16. While streamers and PvP fans both battle cheaters on and off stream, two content creators have (temporarily) found themselves caught in the line of fire of Embark’s anti-cheat efforts. We'll have to wait and see just how long it takes for the studio to get wall exploits – and cheaters as a whole – under control.

Arc Raiders Update 1.12.0 Patch Notes

Hey, Raiders!

The store rotation is going live now and with it a few fixes:

• Fixed an item duplication exploit.
• Fixed an ammo duplication exploit.
• Fixed some cases where players were able to damage others from behind geometry.
• Fixed various out of bounds map locations on Stella Montis.

Restart your client to download.

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).

Don't miss out on this rare headset deal direct from Steelseries. For a limited time, you can pick up the popular Steelseries Arctis Nova 7X Destiny 2: The Final Shape Limited Edition wireless gaming headset for just $118.99 when you apply a 10% off coupon code "EXTRA10". The Nova 7 is still one of the best headsets you can get at this price.

Note that the Nova 7X is compatible with the Xbox, PS5, and PC platforms.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Gaming Headset Destiny Edition

Newly-released sandbox adventure game Hytale originated as a Minecraft mod, Hypixel, only to eventually be spun off and transformed into the early access, standalone game we now know. But even so, I don't think anyone had "Minecraft x Hytale crossplay" on their Bingo card.

Bedrock / Pocket <-> @Hytale <-> Java pic.twitter.com/RCBsbRtjd3

— iamcxv7 (@iamcxv711) January 19, 2026

This wizardry comes from modder u/ssquadteam, also known as iamcxv7, a 15-year-old modder who has also managed to get things like Windows 95 running in Hytale and, separate from the guy who did it pre-launch, Doom. iamcxv7 has managed to figure out how to get Hytale and Minecraft to talk to one another so that players in one can play alongside players in the other, seeing one another's characters rendered in their own game's style, interact, build, chat, and even fight one another.

What. On. Earth. How? I'm not savvy enough to parse the technicalities behind this, but here's iamcxv7's explanation for it: "It's all just Packet Trickery. You could say I am running a Minecraft Server in the Hytale JVM which uses the Coordinate System of the Hytale World (As its the same) As well as takes a Snapshot of the Hytale World and reconstructs it and then send it to to the Client via Packets"

But a bit more simply, what's cool here is that Hytale and Minecraft are so similar in how their worlds are constructed and what kinds of things they invite players to do that gameplay in one can easily map to the other. There's still some work to do: the mod isn't public yet, as iamcxv7 says it's still "really unstable" and there are some features, such as world generation and how to render certain blocks that exist in Hytale but not Minecraft, still missing. Given that Hytale is only a week old, this feels extremely reasonable! The fact that this is going to be possible at all is brain-breaking enough.

Hypixel Studios co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme shared an update today, saying that saving the game after it was dropped by Riot Games last year was “the most challenging but rewarding experience of my life." Previously, Collins-LaFlamme had called the game's salvaging a "damn miracle" after years of development, scope increase, and delays. Prior to the launch, Collins-Laflamme said that Hytale had already made enough money to cover the next two years of development. And those next two years stand to be busy ones, with Hypixel already working on Update 2 for the game later this week.

If you're heading into Hytale, check out IGN's comprehensive Hytale Progression Guide for a step-by-step walkthrough on how to get copper, thorium, adamantite, and more. To get around Hytale's Zones and Biomes fast, you'll need to know how to set up and use teleporters - and if you'd like to experiment with what the sandbox game can do, use Hytale commands to bend reality to your will, or install Hytale mods to add new creations to your game.

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

Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has reacted to the poop scene in HBO spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which has quickly become the main talking point following the release of Episode 1.

Warning! Spoilers for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1, Episode 1 follow:

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms adapts George R. R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novella trilogy, itself a prequel to Game of Thrones set 100 years before the events of the main books. Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell play Ser Duncan the Tall and Egg, respectively.

Season 1 (Season 2 is already confirmed) kicks off with wandering knight, Ser Duncan grieving the death of his lord, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb). We hear the iconic Game of Thrones theme song before it is rudely interrupted by a shot of Duncan letting rip in a rather violent fashion, while clinging on to a tree for dear life.

It turns out that this shock poop scene came as something of a surprise to George R.R. Martin, who told The Hollywood Reporter: “Not to say that my characters don’t take shits, but I normally don’t write about them at any length. When I saw the rough cut, I wrote, ‘What is this? Where did this come from? I don’t know if we really need the shit.’ But [showrunner Ira Parker] liked it for whatever reason.”

So, what are those reasons? Parker told The Hollywood Reporter that the poop scene and the way it interrupts the Game of Thrones theme song isn’t meant to be disrespectful to the original show. Rather, it’s meant to highlight reality kicking in as Ser Duncan realizes just how scared he truly is at the prospect of becoming a hero, which “turns his guts to water.”

“Because he’s not a hero yet, you know?” Parker continued. “All we’re trying to say here is that Dunk is not a hero yet. He’s just a nervy kid with a nervous stomach — just like me. And as badly as you want to do something great, as soon as you actually have to go off and do it, it becomes trickier. And that’s what the whole season is for him.”

Despite not being sure about the poop scene, George R. R. Martin has expressed his enthusiasm about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms in the past. Indeed, Martin teased last year that he couldn’t wait to see Dunk and Egg’s story come to TV screens.

“I’ve seen all six episodes now (the last two in rough cuts, admittedly), and I loved them," Martin said in a blog post in January. "Dunk and Egg have always been favorites of mine, and the actors we found to portray them are just incredible. The rest of the cast are terrific as well. Wait until you guys meet the Laughing Storm and Tanselle Too-Tall.”

Martin continued to celebrate A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, adding: “It’s as faithful an adaptation as a reasonable man could hope for (and you all know how incredibly reasonable I am on that particular subject).” Check out IGN’s review of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1 for more.

His view on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is in stark contrast to his view of fellow Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon. In a recent interview, Martin opened up about his "abysmal" working relationship with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal. Meanwhile, we've heard the first word of a potential HBO Game of Thrones sequel series starring Arya Stark.

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.

After a decade of storytelling, Square Enix has decided to wrap up the story of Max Caulfield and Chloe Price in the newly-revealed Life is Strange: Reunion, which is set for launch on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on March 26, 2026.

A direct sequel to 2024's Life is Strange: Double Exposure, featuring many of the same secondary characters, Reunion will also finally answer fan wishes by bringing back both beloved faces from the franchise's original 2015 game.

Max, who returned as the protagonist of Double Exposure, will reunite with her former lover/best friend Chloe for one final adventure — and for the first time in the same game, both characters will be playable.

Once again, there's a sci-fi mystery to solve and limited time to do so — this time, Max's Caledon University must be saved from a deadly fire — and once again, Max can rewind time to remake decisions, while Chloe can use her risk/reward "Backtalk" ability from 2017's Life is Strange: Before the Storm to provoke further responses from others.

How is Chloe back, if players previously saw her demise? The story here seems to be that Chloe is now alive regardless after Max merged a pair of disparate timelines in Double Exposure's finale. Returned to life with memories of a past she never lived, Chloe is prompted to seek out Max for answers.

"This game builds on all the character-led, grounded storytelling for which the Life is Strange series is known, with meaningful choices that affect the outcome of a dramatic and surprising narrative – all culminating in an epic climax that serves as a finale to the Max and Chloe saga," Square Enix wrote today.

Fans may be surprised to learn that Max and Chloe's stories will end here, but after a lengthy and often bumpy development road for the franchise, now perhaps feels a good point to ensure their tale gets a definitive ending, with both characters together one final time.

Remember that Don't Nod, the series' original developer, never planned for the characters' stories to continue beyond its initial hit game. Remember also that both Don't Nod and current maker Deck Nine have experienced mixed fortunes with the series since, with the original game's emotional climax still considered by many fans to be the franchise's high point. Finally, there are likely narrative advantages to letting players decide on a final outcome for the pair — something that doesn't need to be unpicked or worked around in any continuation.

Will Life is Strange continue without Max and Chloe? Square Enix doesn't go as far as stating that Reunion is the last Life is Strange game ever — though this feels an ending, for now.

HP is offering one of the lowest prices I can find right now on a gaming laptop that can run games just as well as a desktop PC. The OMEN MAX 16 RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop drops to just $1,449.99 when you add any HyperX accessory to the same order. You also get free shipping. The RTX 5070 Ti is a powerful mobile GPU that should easily handle the newest and most demanding games, even if you decide to upgrade to the higher resolution OLED display.

OMEN MAX 16 RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Laptop for $1,450

Conceptual designer and comic book creator Ricardo Delgado made his mark on Dracula with 2021's Dracula of Transylvania, a book that re-imagined Bram Stoker's iconic villain as "a complete horror." Now Delgado has a follow-up to that terrifying book, one that blends fact and fiction to create Vampyre: A Costa Rican Folktale.

With the crowdfunding campaign for Vampyre: A Costa Rican Folktale now live, IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of the book. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:

Vampyre: A Costa Rican Folktale is a 200-page illustrated novel that features a mix of historical maps, Delgado's illustrations, and photos of real-world locations. The book is published in a mix of English and Spanish. The book tells a story set in the same world as Dracula of Transylvania, in this case in 1940s Costa Rica.

“Part folktale. Part autobiography. This gruesome novel is a captivating celebration of urban legends, horror stories and the power they hold over us,” said Clover Press Publisher Hank Kanalz in a statement. “Inspired by elements of the classic 1980's illustrated novella Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King and Berni Wrightson, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Costa Rican folklore, Delgado weaves his family history into an ambitious new multi-media mythology that must be seen and read to be believed.”

The Kickstarter campaign for Vampyre: A Costa Rican Folktale is live now.

In other comic book news, find out which series was selected as IGN's best comic book of 2025, and see which comics we're most excited for in 2026.

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

If 2025 felt busy, 2026 is already shaping up to be a big year for the Pokémon TCG with the expansions it’s got coming up.

The Pokémon Trading Card Game is charging into its 30th anniversary year with the rest of the Pocket Monsters franchise, with a renewed focus on Mega Evolution, anniversary celebrations, and tightly curated sets designed to keep both collectors and competitive players fully locked in.

While the full year’s roadmap hasn’t been revealed yet, three major products are already confirmed, and they give us a very clear idea of what kind of year we’re in for.

Here’s everything we know so far about the confirmed Pokémon TCG releases for 2026, including when they launch, what makes them special, and where you can actually buy them right now.

Mega Evolution: Ascended Heroes – Releasing Jan. 30, 2026

Pokémon’s 30th anniversary is on February 27, but you’ll be able to celebrate early when the commemorative Pokémon Day 2026 Collection also drops on January 30 with Ascended Heroes.

Announced back in December 2025, this is a very small release with one confirmed card: a unique stamped foil promo card of Pikachu looking cute as standard, along with a logo’d metallic coin, and a trio of TCG booster packs from different sets. Available imagery seems to show the packs being a mixture of one Phantasmal Flames and two Mega Evolution, but we like to warn that the contents may always differ from unit to unit.

The Pokémon Day 2026 Collection is currently marked as “Coming Soon” at Best Buy, but it can be bought now at Amazon for $49.99, or from around $64 on TCGplayer if that sells out.

The Pokémon Company started releasing annual holiday calendars back in 2022, inspired by the Pokémon Countdown Calendar from 2008.

These products are surprisingly good value in the current TCG market, as well as for casual fans of the series in other forms. You can see the listing here at Amazon or scroll on for more details.

The 2025 Pokémon Holiday Calendar released on August 22 and initially retailed for $49.99 at Target before quicklly selling out. It's now available at Walmart for a pricier $64.99 or at Amazon for $69.

Black Bolt and White Flare - Released Jul. 18, 2025

Hitman developer IO Interactive has announced that cross-platform progression is finally coming to World of Assassination, allowing you to pick up your stealthy murders wherever you last left off.

Released exactly five years ago today, Hitman 3 initially launched for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. In the years since, IO's assassination masterpiece has since also launched for Switch 2, iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Next month, on February 3, a fresh update will unlock Hitman: World of Assassination cross-progression across mobile, consoles and PC — though the ability to carry over progress from Hitman 2 will cease as a result.

Cross-Progression will allow you to assign a specific platform as your Primary Account, with your progress there saved to IO Interactive's servers and accessed wherever you log in with your IOI Account. This progression includes:

It's worth noting, however, that Cross-Progression does not mean Cross-Purchase. So, just because you might own the game on PC, don't expect to suddenly be able to fire it on PlayStation. The same goes for its DLC packs, which similarly must be bought for any platform you wish to play their content on.

Older saves not tied to your Primary Account won't be deleted, though you will need to toggle off Cross-Progression to regain access to them. Doing so will let you pick up your older save specific to that platform.

One wrinkle to all this is the end of IO Interactive's ability to carry over progression from Hitman 2 to Hitman 3. The ability to do this will end on February 3, alongside the addition of Cross-Progression.

"This guarantees data integrity and prevents conflicts between legacy progression systems and the new unified WOA progression," IO Interactive wrote in a blog post on the changes. "Past February 3rd 9:00 UTC players won’t be able to proceed to the Hitman 2 to Hitman 3 carryover, giving you two weeks to proceed to the carryover if you are yet to do so."

IO Interactive has three main productions right now: ongoing work on Hitman: World of Assassination, including work on a co-op mode, James Bond blockbuster 007 First Light, and a new fantasy IP appropriately codenamed Project Fantasy. Beyond all that, there are also plans to release Hitman 4 — eventually.

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

The chief developer behind the saving of Hytale has celebrated the game’s early access launch, declaring: “I have no regrets.”

Hypixel Studios founder Simon Collins-Laflamme issued an update a week on from Hytale’s release on PC (check out IGN's Hytale early access review so far to see what we think). He said saving the game and releasing it had been “the most challenging but rewarding experience of my life.”

Hytale has endured a tumultuous development. It was announced in December 2018 with a trailer that so far has an incredible 62 million views on YouTube. The idea was to expand on the likes of Minecraft by combining the scope of a sandbox with the depth of a roleplaying game, all set in a procedurally generated world.

Excitement around Hytale was fueled by the experience of the developers themselves, who co-founded Hypixel, one of the most influential Minecraft servers in the world. League of Legends developer Riot Games invested in the project and, in 2020, bought the studio outright.

But in June last year development on Hytale stopped and Hypixel Studios began winding down operations. It was thought Hytale was canceled, destined never to release. But in November, Riot confirmed it had sold the rights to Hytale back to Collins-Laflamme as this "gives players the best chance to one day experience a revised version of the game they've been waiting for."

In a statement published at the end of 2025, Collins-Laflamme expressed his "anger" at what had happened to Hytale over the years.

"The game has insane potential, but four years of engineering went into rebuilding the engine rather than gameplay features," he said. "That leaves us with a four-year gap and a lot of catching up to do, and that rebuilt engine is never gonna be used.

"When you don’t invest in gameplay, you don’t just lose time. You lose momentum, iteration, and player feedback. Now the focus has to be on gameplay first and rebuilding trust by actually shipping things at a rapid pace.

"It’s a damn miracle we were able to salvage Hytale. It was barely playable. All basics were broken. Camera, movement, combat, crafting, building, gameloop, sounds, rendering. Everything, everything was wrong.

"It should have taken years to fix, but within weeks, we got the game into a playable, fun state. And now, instead of slowing down or celebrating a release, we have to keep pushing for years to make up for the time that was lost.

"So yes, I feel anger. And I’m turning that into focus and execution. I’m committing more money, more time, and personal sacrifice to deliver the game this vision deserves."

Fast forward to the early access launch, and it sounds like all the heartache was worth it. Even before the early access launch, Collins-Laflamme said Hytale had already made enough money to cover the next two years of development. And now, he’s told fans he can call the launch a success.

“It’s now been seven days since early access launch and I can confidently say that I have no regrets saving Hytale, it’s been the most challenging but rewarding experience of my life,” Collins-Laflamme said in a post on X / Twitter.

“Thank you everyone for the amazing support, and a big thank you for the rebuilt Hytale team for trusting me to get this to the finish line in just a few months. I haven’t been involved with Hytale development for many years and coming back was a big unknown and risk for me, and my family. I fully trusted the people and it just worked. Amazing team, every single one made a big difference.”

Work on updating Hytale continues, with Update 2 coming this week. If you're heading into Hytale, check out IGN's comprehensive Hytale Progression Guide for a step-by-step walkthrough on how to get copper, thorium, adamantite, and more. To get around Hytale's Zones and Biomes fast, you'll need to know how to set up and use teleporters - and if you'd like to experiment with what the sandbox game can do, use Hytale commands to bend reality to your will, or install Hytale mods to add new creations to your game.

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.

Between the premise and the creative team involved, the new Top Shelf graphic novel Punk'n Heads is immediately on our radar as one of the first must-read graphic novels of 2026. This new book about punk rock and the pitfalls and joys of being young is the latest project from Mary Tyler MooreHawk's Dave Baker, again reuniting him with Forest Hills Bootleg Society and Everyone is Tulip collaborator Nicole Goux.

Check out the cover art to Punk'n Heads below:

LEGO has had a very strong start to 2026 so far. January has already featured a variety of cool new sets, and the company is showing no signs of slowing down in February. Joining the lineup of new sets next month on February 1 is the ridiculously cute LEGO Golden Retriever Puppy, and if it immediately stole your heart when it was revealed, the good news is it's now available to preorder for $139.99.

Preorder LEGO Golden Retriever Puppy

If you're a dog lover, this looks like an absolutely delightful set to build. It's recommended for adult LEGO fans, ages 18 and up, and comes with 2,102 pieces to create the very good pup. Its head is posable alongside its ears, tail, and front paw, which can be lifted up to add a little bit of character to the display. Its mouth can even be opened up which shows off teeth and a little pink tongue can be added in as well. Just look at how cute it is.

Thankfully, February 1 isn't too far away, so if you're dying to get your hands on this set the wait isn't too long. It's not the only LEGO set dropping in February that's worth keeping an eye on, either. Next month also sees the arrival of the first Pokémon LEGO sets on February 27. If you're a fan, these certainly seem worth preordering right now.

Looking ahead to March, LEGO has also revealed a new Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time set that's now available to preorder as well. If you're interested in any of these new releases, it seems like a great time to start clearing out some space on your shelves for putting everything up.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.

Oni Press is starting off the new year strong with a new graphic novel called The Demon of Beausoleil. Even though it deals with demons and exorcism, this book is actually a surprisingly lighthearted romance about a half-demon exorcist who falls for his eternally put-upon bodyguard.

IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of The Demon of Beausoleil. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:

The Demon of Beausoleil is written and illustrated by Mari Costa. Here's Oni's official description of the book:

A half-demon socialite-turned-exorcist and his disgruntled bodyguard have no trouble facing down the hordes of darkness—but facing their feelings for each other? Well now, that’s a whole different story . . .

Helianthes is a Cambion—a child born touched by demons. Horned, clawed, and tailed, Helianthes—Hell for short—is a devil-may-care exorcist whose devil-may-care attitude has succeeded in alienating those closest to him—all save for his long-suffering bodyguard, Elias, who sees him as less a strange, mythical being and more just a . . . nuisance.

Together, the two venture into the streets of this psuedo-remix of Victorian London to exorcise demons (and maybe cause a little mischief on the way). But as Hell becomes increasingly drawn to his enigmatic bodyguard—and as Elias becomes increasingly aware of his feelings for his trouble of a charge—the two find themselves faced with a growing, chaotic dark that might threaten everything they’ve been working toward . . .

A world of half-demons and the boys who love them await in this epic queer romance by writer/artist Mari Costa!

"The only thing I hate about Helianthes’s parents is I don’t get to draw MORE OF THEM!!" Costa tells IGN. "The real tragedy of Yanthe’s life is a lot of his suffering is self-inflicted. I think it’d be really easy to excuse his behaviour with a shitty family or a rough upbringing, but it makes him just that bit more complex that he was surrounded by love growing up. There are a lot of things you end up internalising even under the best of circumstances."

Costa adds, "Also, throughout the entire timeline of this comic, nobody ask me how old Kirby is. Kirby is three months old. He’s a little puppydog. He’s five days old. And he’s immortal."

The Demon of Beausoleil will be released on January 27. You can preorder a copy on Amazon.

In other comic book news, find out which series was selected as IGN's best comic book of 2025, and see which comics we're most excited for in 2026.

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

Envisioning an alternate-universe, retro futuristic apocalypse teeming with mutated monsters, soldiers in hulking power armor and sinister human experiments disguised as bomb shelters, the Fallout franchise has spent over two decades establishing one of the richest settings in video games.

With Season 2 of the Fallout TV series now streaming on Prime Video, there’s never been a better time to strap a Pip-Boy to your wrist and reacquaint yourself with the world of Fallout. But where’s the best place to start? Below, we’ll run through the franchise’s entire chronological history, as well as some advice on where to start for those embarking on their first-ever Fallout adventure.

Jump to:

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

How Many Fallout Games and Expansions Are There?

In total, there are nine main Fallout games - eight on home console and two on mobile devices. There are also thirteen major expansions spread across Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4. The Fallout franchise is a core Bethesda game that will likely continue to receive support.

How to Play the Fallout Games in Order

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

One thing to note before we get started: We will not be counting two games on our chronological timeline. The first is the mobile (and now online) vault management simulator, Fallout Shelter. Although the game does follow the lore of Fallout’s vaults, it also features characters and items hundreds of years before they appear in the Fallout storyline, making it non-canon.

We also didn’t count Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, which Bethesda has confirmed takes place in its own chronology. That being said, we have included Fallout Tactics, despite its canonicity being questioned. Although Bethesda has since retconned elements of Tactics’ story, certain events from its narrative have been referenced in future games, making it at least semi-canon to the timeline.

Finally, we won’t be including any expansions that don’t contain story content. For example, Fallout 4’s Wasteland and Contraptions Workshop expansions aren’t featured on the list. The same goes for New Vegas’ Courier Stash DLC.

1. Fallout 76

Bethesda’s most recent addition to the Fallout canon is the first on the chronological timeline. Fallout 76 is an online experience that follows the first vault dwellers to enter the wasteland 25 years after nuclear war eviscerated the world.

Taking on the role of one of these pioneers, the player’s journey begins as they exit the titular Vault 76 and embark on a journey through Appalachia in search of their missing overseer. Along the way, they discover the world they once knew has been transformed into a nuclear hellscape, complete with mutated monstrosities, long-dormant killer robots, and zombie-like irradiated humans known as Ghouls. To survive, they can team up with other survivors, build bases, complete quests, and reestablish a community among the ruins of a fallen world.

Fallout 76 was Bethesda’s attempt at creating a fully online Fallout game for the first time, allowing players to explore the wasteland with friends. Although it was received poorly at release, it has been updated frequently in the years since, with the Wastelanders and Steel Reign updates adding NPCs and new questlines.

2. Fallout

Fast forward 59 years and we reach the events of the first game in the series. Developed by Interplay Productions, Fallout follows a vault dweller living in a bomb shelter known as Vault 13. Hiding away from the apocalyptic wasteland outside their doors, the player’s peaceful lifestyle is thrown into chaos after the vault’s water systems stop working, threatening the lives of everyone living in Vault 13.

They’re tasked with a seemingly simple mission: venture into the wasteland, recover a new water chip, and return home to save their fellow survivors. However, the stakes of the vault dweller’s mission become far grander after they encounter an army of mutated abominations known as Super Mutants and their leader, the Master. Not only do these monsters jeopardize the future of Vault 13, but they pose a major threat to the entire wasteland.

Offering a markedly different gameplay style to the Bethesda-developed Fallout games released years later, the first Fallout was an in-depth CRPG, featuring turn-based combat and a top-down camera. That being said, much of Fallout’s future was present in its first entry, including a heavy focus on player choice and immersive role-playing.

3. Fallout Tactics

Three decades later, we reach the events of Fallout Tactics: a strategy spin-off developed by Micro Forté. Although some of the lore of Fallout Tactics has since been retconned and is considered non-canon by Bethesda, certain events from its story have been referenced in future games, making it at least partially part of the timeline.

The game itself sees players lace up the boots of an initiate of the iconic power-armour-clad faction, the Brotherhood of Steel. Joining the army’s ranks and leading a group of fellow soldiers, they complete various missions across the Wasteland.

Fallout Tactics took the gameplay of Fallout in a new direction, as players command their squad through a series of strategic battles against iconic foes such as Super Mutants, Ghouls and Deathclaws.

4. Fallout 2

Fourty-four years after Fallout Tactics concludes, the events of Fallout 2 take place. With Black Isle Studios taking the reins as developer, Fallout 2 was the series’ first major sequel, this time following a descendent of the Vault Dweller from the original game known as the Chosen One.

After their settlement is hit by a long drought, the Chosen One is selected to leave the confines of their home in search of a terraforming device known as a G.E.C.K. Their adventure takes them across the vast reaches of the Wasteland, landing them in the sights of a highly advanced faction known as the Enclave. As the Chosen One dives deeper into the faction’s goals, they discover the group’s hard at work on a sinister experiment.

5. Fallout 3

After Bethesda purchased the rights to the Fallout license in 2007, Bethesda Game Studios took its first crack at the franchise with Fallout 3. Set three decades after Fallout 2, Fallout 3 picks up the story in the new setting of the Capital Wasteland, casting players as a vault dweller known as the Lone Wanderer.

Living a mundane life within the sealed walls of Vault 101, the Lone Wanderer’s life is thrown into chaos after their father mysteriously disappears, causing the protagonist to be exiled from their home. Beginning a journey across the Capitol Wasteland in search of their father, they discover his disappearance may be more significant than it first seemed and eventually become embroiled in a sinister plot concocted by the Enclave.

Fallout 3 acted as a major reinvention of the Fallout series, trading in the previous entries’ CRPG gameplay for a fully 3D world with real-time shootouts, a first-person camera, and the series’ now-signature V.A.T.S. targeting system.

6. Fallout 3 - Operation Anchorage

The first expansion for Fallout 3, Operation Anchorage offers players a series of new quets set during the events of the main campaign. The story follows the Lone Wanderer helping the Brotherhood of Steel enter a sealed pre-war armory. The only way in is to survive a simulation of the infamous Battle of Anchorage, which took place in Alaska prior to the nuclear war that destroyed Fallout’s world.

Throughout the campaign, the player steps inside the simulation and takes on the role of an American soldier fighting against Chinese troops, experiencing Anchorage firsthand. The DLC allows players a lengthy glimpse of a previously unseen part of Fallout’s lore, as well as offering plenty of new combat encounters.

7. Fallout 3 - The Pitt

Fallout 3’s second major expansion, The Pitt also takes place during the events of the main campaign. It adds a new locale for players to explore in the titular Pitt, a ruthless, plague-infested city found amongst the ruins of Pittsburgh.

After meeting a slave that escaped the city, the expansion begins with the Lone Wanderer venturing to The Pitt to find a cure for a rampant disease that’s been transforming the population into blood-thirsty monsters. Along the way, they become involved in the conflict between the enslaved citizens and their raider masters, making tough decisions that will forever alter The Pitt and its inhabitants.

8. Fallout 3 - Point Lookout

Fallout 3’s fourth add-on, Point Lookout is set during the events of the main campaign and takes players to an all-new setting, with the Lone Wanderer setting sail for the haunting swamps of the titular coastal town. The expansion begins with the Lone Wanderer offering to help a mother find her missing daughter, Nadine, who recently embarked on a journey to Point Lookout.

Upon arriving in the town, they quickly discover the truth behind Nadine’s disappearance runs much deeper than expected. Lodging themselves in the center of a long-standing rivalry between the owner of a local mansion and a tribe of cultists, the Lone Wanderer is forced to contend with the swamp’s eerie mutated inhabitants, confront buried secrets, and even endure impromptu brain surgery in a bid to survive.

9. Fallout 3 - Mothership Zeta

The last expansion added to Fallout 3, Mothership Zeta is set during the events of the main campaign and offers a unique, B-movie sci-fi spin on the franchise.

After responding to a radio signal out in the wasteland, the Lone Wanderer is abducted by a UFO, experimented on by aliens, and imprisoned on their craft. Escaping their cell, the player teams with the aliens' other human prisoners to overthrow their extraterrestrial captors and return to Earth.

10. Fallout 3 - Broken Steel

The third expansion for Fallout 3 but the only add-on to take place after the events of the main story, Broken Steel acts as an epilogue with a new ending. Although players were originally unable to continue their Fallout 3 save after the credits rolled, Broken Steel added the ability to resume their adventure, alongside delivering a short series of new missions.

Surviving their encounter with Colonel Autumn in the Purity Project control room, the expansion sees the Lone Wanderer team once again with the Brotherhood of Steel, assisting the group in eradicating the Enclave from the Capitol Wasteland for good.

11. Fallout: New Vegas

In the years following Fallout 3, Obsidian Entertainment took its crack at the Fallout license with a spin-off titled Fallout: New Vegas. Set four years after the events of the previous game, New Vegas tells the story of a courier who’s ambushed, shot, and left for dead in the Mojave Wasteland while transporting a priceless package to the glitzy, reclaimed streets of Las Vegas.

Found and patched up by a group of local settlers, the courier rises from their grave and proceeds to track down the man who attempted to kill them, unwittingly becoming the center of a power struggle between the various factions vying for control of the New Vegas strip. As they dig deeper into the package they carried and the man who stole it from them, the Courier realizes their decisions have the potential to change the Mojave Wasteland forever.

12. Fallout: New Vegas - Dead Money

The first expansion released for Fallout: New Vegas, Dead Money is set during the events of the main campaign and offers a new locale to explore. Taking players to the Sierra Madre, the story sees the Courier kidnapped, fitted with an explosive collar, and forced to rob a seemingly impenetrable pre-war casino with the help of three unlikely allies.

The task, by all accounts, is a suicide mission. The casino is surrounded by a cloud of deadly toxic gas, while a faction of ruthless survivors known as the Ghost People patrol the streets eliminating any and all treasure hunters. It falls to the Courier to organize a daring heist with the help of their allies to bypass the casino’s defenses and access the legendary loot behind its walls.

13. Fallout: New Vegas - Honest Hearts

The second expansion to hit Fallout: New Vegas, Honest Hearts falls within the events of the main campaign and sees the Courier venture to Zion National Park. There, they stumble across Joshua Graham, the legendary “Burned Man” who has become something of a bogeyman to Caesar's Legion after surviving a seemingly fatal run-in with the faction’s ruthless leader.

Finding themselves in the center of a war between the Burned Man’s army and a rival tribe known as the White Legs, the player must team with Graham to save Zion and its people.

14. Fallout: New Vegas - Old World Blues

The third New Vegas expansion, Old World Blues takes place during the main campaign and begins with the Courier tracking down a crashed satellite projecting a mysterious message. After interacting with the satellite, the Courier is knocked out and taken to a scientific facility contained within Big Mountain, where they discover they’ve undergone a mysterious surgical procedure.

Exploring the facility, they meet a panel of nonsensical AI scientists, who inform them that their brain has been stolen by a nefarious robot known as Doctor Morbius. Teaming with their new AI allies, they adventure across the research facility to defeat Morbius, retrieve their brain, and learn more about Big Mountain’s secrets.

15. Fallout: New Vegas - Lonesome Road

The fourth and final New Vegas expansion, Lonesome Road takes place prior to the conclusion of the main campaign but wraps up a lot of outstanding story beats established during the main game and previous DLCs.

The adventure sees the Courier venture into a new area known as The Divide in search of Ulysses, the courier originally designated the job of transporting the platinum chip before it was entrusted to the lead protagonist. Promising answers about his real identity, Ulysses summons the Courier for one final confrontation, putting the pair on a crash course that will unveil their dark pasts.

16. Fallout 4

Returning to the IP for the first time since 2008’s Fallout 3, Bethesda released Fallout 4 in 2015. Beginning on the day the bombs fell, players take on the role of a civilian known as the Sole Survivor who takes refuge in Vault 111 with their spouse and son. Cryogenically frozen inside the vault, the Sole Survivor wakes up two hundred years later, finding their spouse dead, their son missing, and the world destroyed.

Emerging into the Commonwealth, Bethesda’s apocalyptic take on the Greater Boston region, they begin a tireless journey to track down their son. Along the way, they lock horns with a mysterious, scientifically advanced faction called the Institute, which kidnaps wastelanders and replaces them with sentient robots known as synths.

As their fight against the Institute rages on, the Sole Survivor learns the dark secrets behind the Institute's plans, eventually teaming with the various factions of the wasteland to bring the group down.

17. Fallout 4 - Automatron

The first story expansion for Fallout 4, Automatron takes place during the events of the main story and sees the Sole Survivor go up against an antagonist known as the Mechanist.

It features a short chain of new quests in which the Sole Survivor battles the Mechanist’s robots and eventually tracks their foe down to their lair. The main purpose of the add-on, however, is adding the ability to build and mod robots you can take with you around the wasteland.

18. Fallout 4 - Far Harbour

The second story expansion for Fallout 4, Far Harbour is set during the events of Fallout 4’s main campaign, and sees the Sole Survivor sail to the eerie titular island in search of a missing girl. There they find a secret community of independent synths led by advanced AI known as DiMA.

As DiMA reveals new information about his community and Far Harbour, it becomes clear that the island is caught in a struggle between the locals and a radiation-worshipping cult known as the Children of Atom, who are attempting to cover the island in radioactive fog. It doesn’t take long for the Sole Survivor to get caught up in this dispute, giving them the power to make decisions that will irreversibly change the spooky locale and its citizens.

19. Fallout 4 - Vault-Tec Workshop

A small expansion released after Far Harbour, Vault-Tec Workshop takes place during the campaign and sees the Sole Survivor take on the task of building their very own vault. After liberating Vault 88 from raiders, the Sole Survivor meets an overseer trapped within the ruins who intends to revamp the abandoned bomb shelter.

Assisting her, the player is able to build their dream vault, recruit dwellers to live inside it and increase the shelter to maximum efficiency.

20. Fallout 4 - Nuka World

The final story expansion for Fallout 4, Nuka World is set during the events of the main campaign and hands the Sole Survivor the keys to an all-new area containing a massive, Nuka-Cola-themed amusement park.

After arriving and immediately being pitted against a series of ruthless raiders, trap rooms and robotic enemies, the player is granted the title of Nuka-World overboss. However, the position is hardly the dream job it's cracked up to be. Their new-found leadership requires that they deal with three raider factions living in the park, forcing the Sole Survivor to decide whether to appease them and grow their territory or eradicate them altogether.

What’s Next for Fallout?

The latest addition to the Fallout universe is the Fallout TV show, which is currently streaming its second season on Prime Video. Telling a new story, the series takes place in the ruins of Los Angeles with a vault dweller played by Ella Purnell venturing out into the Wasteland alongside The Ghoul, played by Walton Goggins, and Maximus, a Brotherhood of Steel recruit played by Aaron Moten. The show has a stacked roster of talent behind it, including Westworld creator Jonathan Nolan.

The first season quickly became one of Prime Video's most successful series ever. Season 2 brings us to New Vegas, though is taking a "fog of war" approach to the multiple endings from the original game. New cast members include Macaulay Culkin as a member of Caesar's Legion and Justin Theroux as none other than Mr. House. Feel free to check out our recap of Season 1 if you can't squeeze in the time for a rewatch.

As for video games, Bethesda has made it clear Fallout 5 is on the way, thought it won’t be anytime soon. Speaking to IGN back in 2022, Fallout director Todd Howard confirmed Fallout 5 will come after The Elder Scrolls 6. Howard has also teased additional projects, which may include a Fallout 3 and/or New Vegas Remaster. For now, what we do know is there's a Fallout countdown that's lined up with the TV series' Season 2 finale.

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

As Avatar: Fire and Ash rumbles on at the box office and it becomes increasingly clear that James Cameron’s sci-fi epic won’t come close to matching the enormous amount of money Avatar 1 and 2 made, some superfans of the franchise are calling on each other to return to the theater for a repeat viewing — although others aren't thrilled with the idea.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is now up to $1.319 billion worldwide after five weekends ($363.5 million domestic and $955.3 million international). Writer and director James Cameron is yet to signal that Avatar 4 and 5 are definitely going to happen, as box office watchers wonder whether Fire and Ash has done well enough to convince the powers that be at Disney to move ahead.

The special effects-heavy Avatar films cost a huge amount of money to produce, but they have historically made billions of dollars at the box office. 2009's Avatar 1 remains the highest-grossing movie of all time (not adjusted for inflation), earning a staggering $2.9 billion across several theatrical runs. 2022's Avatar: The Way of Water has earned $2.3 billion, meanwhile, cementing its place as the third-highest grossing film of all time. Fire and Ash looks like it will top out at around $1.5 billion.

But the bigger question is whether it will end up doing well enough to convince Disney to greenlight Avatar 4 and 5. Disney has given both sequels release dates already: Avatar 4 currently has a December 21, 2029 release date, with Avatar 5 due out December 19, 2031. Cameron, now 71, would be close to 80 years old by the time it all wraps up.

Now, some fans are mobilizing. One issued a call to arms on reddit in a thread titled ‘Pandora needs us (this is not a drill).’ The thread, upvoted 1,300 times, saw redditor Silver-Squirrell call on their fellow fans to watch Fire and Ash multiple times if possible.

“If you love the Avatar franchise — which I'm sure everyone in this community does — consider seeing Fire and Ash more than once in the theater,” they said. “Actually, please see it at least twice. Heck, bring a sibling or a friend.

“If I had to choose, I'd say Avatar: Fire and Ash is my favorite out of all three movies. It's got everything I loved about the first and second movie and more. So, I'm sure I speak for a lot of us when I say I want to see it do really well in the box office. Especially with talks of Avatar 4 and 5 depending on this movie's success.”

Then, in a final plea to the 1 million-strong Avatar subreddit community, Silver-Squirrell said: “Maybe this post won't make that much of a difference to the final box office numbers, but then again, maybe it will. As they say, every dollar counts. Every little bit adds up to a lot.”

The response from the community is mixed, with some saying they think Avatar 4 and 5 will happen regardless. Others are answering the call, saying they will indeed go see the movie again. Some have said they simply can’t afford to go even once, tapping into the “depressed” theatrical business, as James Cameron himself has put it. As one fan put it:

“Honestly, this is probably partially why the movie isn't doing as well as the other two. Like it's still dominated the box office and is sitting pretty high on the list of highest grossing movies as is, but I think people are finding it harder to justify seeing the movie once let alone more than once with the cost of everything else these days.”

In response to that, some Avatar fans are offering to pay for strangers’ tickets. One fan who said they couldn’t afford to see Fire and Ash at all in theaters saw support from a number of people in the community who said they wanted to help out. “I’m serious I'll buy you the ticket,” said 0nlythebest. “Everyone should be able to enjoy the movie!”

Another fan in the UK actually posted an image of a ticket they had bought to see Avatar 3 in their local theater, offering it up to anyone who fancied it. "I just bought a ticket to help the movie get to top 10 box office," they said.

Not everyone is reacting well to this community drive. Some have called for fans to stop panicking over Avatar 3’s box office, pointing out Disney is the last corporation that needs “help” from fans. “Oh we have so lost the plot,” said one. “Sorry but a multi-billion dollar media franchise does not NEED help from us,” said another. “If a movie doesn’t get a sequel after $1.5 billion then the whole system is beyond broken.”

James Cameron recently said Avatar 3 would need to make a lot of money, and he’d need to figure out a way to make Avatar 4 and 5 for less money in order to get the thumbs up from Disney.

“Here’s the thing: the movie industry is depressed right now. Avatar 3 cost a lot of money. We have to do well in order to continue. We have to do well and we need to figure out how to make Avatar movies more inexpensively in order to continue,” he said.

“If we continue and we do 4, we also do 4 and 5 together. So we made 2 and 3 together, one big story. And then 4 and 5 is another big story.”

Cameron’s comments here echo those he made in the run up to Fire and Ash’s release, where he admitted he was feeling nervous about the film’s box office performance and expressed concern about the “forces” working against theatrical releases in 2025. Speaking on The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast, Cameron said there was potential for “sequelitis.”

"People tend to dismiss sequels unless it’s the third Lord of the Rings film and you want to see what happens to everybody, which in my mind this is — this is the culmination of a story arc, but that may not be how the public sees it,” he said. And there’s the “one-two punch” of streaming and Covid, which means fewer people are going to the movies — 75% of the number in 2019, Cameron suggested.

1968's classic and influential sci-fi film, Planet of the Apes (based on French author Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel), spawned a franchise that dominated the first half of the '70s with four more movie sequels, tie-in books, a live-action TV series, and and even an animated. This global conflict pitting humans against intelligent humanoid apes thrilled the imagination while also touching on social issues like racism, animal cruelty, and the Cold War. It makes for some of the best sci-fi movies of all time.

It would take three decades before a reboot landed in our laps, but Tim Burton's 2001 reworking of the original movie wasn't enough to revitalize the dormant franchise. It wouldn't be until 2011's reboot prequel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, that 20th Century Fox would find success once again, this time with a full new trilogy.

Now is it possible to take a full chronological journey? Not exactly, but we can do our best. This unsettling saga, one where humans find themselves supplanted by a fast-evolving new species and struggling with subservience and subjugation, is worth the watch, so let's look at how to catch the Planet of the Apes films in order. And when you're done here, be sure to also check out our detailed explanation of the Planet of the Apes timeline!

Jump to:

• How to watch in chronological order
• How to the original movies in order
• How to watch by release order

How Many Planet of the Apes Movies Are There?

There are a total of ten movies set within the Planet of the Apes universe, starting with the 1968 original and its four sequels. The 2001 reboot makes six and then the four prequels, which showcase how the world fell to the apes, round out the ten.

The Planet of the Apes Movies in Chronological Order

Here's the caveat: The three prequels from the last decade or so are not connected to the original series of films. They represent a fully rebooted timeline, presumedly with a different future than the one Charlton Heston's astronaut discovers in the 1968 film. But there's no harm in still watching them first...

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Motion capture technology and digital characters were on the extreme rise in the Aughts, allowing the Apes saga to move beyond practical makeup and into a new special effects arena that would allow for more emotion in performance from the lead Apes. Gollum himself, Andy Serkis, lent his extraodinary abilities to Caesar, a chimpanzee whose intelligence is increased through science, and becomes the heart of a prequel story all about the beginnings of the end for humankind. Set in the "present day," Rise of the Planet of the Apes also stars James Franco, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, and Freida Pinto, planting the seeds for what will become a world-wide war.

Read our review of Rise of the Planet of the Apes here.

2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

The prequels bring in The Batman's Matt Reeves as director for the next two movies, starting with the superb Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which brings back Andy Serkis' Caesar, years after the Simian Flu has decimated Earth' human population while the intelligence Apes have established a colony near San Francisco. Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, and Toby Kebbell co-star in this tale of the initial truce talks and attempts at peace that go so so badly because of treachery on both sides.

Read our review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes here.

3. War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

Past the point of no return, the conflict between apes and humans has escalated into full war in Matt Reeves' War for the Planet of the Apes as Andy Serkis' Caesar sets out to avenge those he has lost. Woody Harrelson and Steve Zahn join the franchise for this acclaimed ending to the Apes' Caesar Trilogy, originally intended to drop us off on the doorstep of Planet of the Apes (in its own way since it's these are reboot prequels) except that it made a good amount of money and, thus, per rules of Hollywood, needed a sequel.

Read our review of War for the Planet of the Apes here.

4. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

Although Kingdom follows the events of the previous film, it actually takes place a full 300 years after War for the Planet of the Apes. At this point in the story, the apes have fully taken over and human civilization and their technology are now a distant past.

Read our review of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

5. Planet of the Apes (1968)

Planet of the Apes, starring Charlton Heston as an adrift astronaut, George Taylor, who emerges from deep cryo-sleep to find marooned on planet populated by ape-like beings with human intelligence, is iconic sci-fi -- all while containing one of the best twist endings in cinema history. A twist brought to us courtesy of the king of "gotcha!" endings, Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling, who adapted the original book and added his own special brand of shock and awe.

6. Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

Charlton Heston only returned briefly for this 1970 follow-up, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, which switched up the leads and focused on a different astronaut, Brent (James Franciscus), who arrives on a mission to find the missing Taylor. Discovering a hidden population of telepathic humans who worship an ancient nuclear weapon, Brent must survive this new harsh realm while also preventing everything from being destroyed by the doomsday bomb. A decent, albeit insane, sequel.

7. Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971)

In a biting bit of time-travel upheaval, a trio of Apes escape the events of the previous film -- Cornelius (Roddy McDowall), Zira (Kim Hunter), and Dr. Milo (Sal Mineo) -- and arrive in 1973 Earth where they face the worst of humanity's persecution. Escape From the Planet of the Apes is more touching and character-driven than the films before it, blending light with dark...until it goes super dark.

8. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

Roddy McDowall returns to the franchise for Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, though now playing Caesar (yes, kinda/sorta Caesar the reboot prequels focused on), the intelligent ape son of Cornelius and Zira, out to lead a rebellion against humanity in the wake of a pandemic that's turned society into fascist slave-owners. You can debate as to whether we’re in an alternate timeline here or the same one George Taylor found himself in when he crashed landed in the future, in Planet of the Apes. Regardless, Conquest is still filled with mass death as a full Ape revolt occurs and humanity finds itself on the brink of downfall.

9. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

In the final sequel to the original film, McDowall's Caesar once again tries to keep the peace amongst the humans and apes, after humans have been defeated, but uprisings spring up and the message is hammered home that power eventually corrupts all those in charge, whether they're human or not. Billed as The Final Chapter, Battle for the Planet of the Apes wasn't received well by critics or audiences, though it capped off the sci-fi story that began five years previous.

N/A. Planet of the Apes (2001)

Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes reboot can honestly be watched whenever, since it doesn't officially belong on any timeline, but we advise at least checking out the 1968 original before indulging in the remake. Mark Wahlberg stars as the wayward astronaut here, with Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Paul Giamatti in Ape roles. The story is similar to the O.G. film but the characters are new, and there's even a new stab at the classic twist ending.

How to Watch the Original Planet of the Apes Movies in Order

1. Planet of the Apes (1968)
2. Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
3. Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971)
4. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
5. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

Upcoming Planet of the Apes Movies

The next Planet of the Apes movie is targeting a 2027 release, according to 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell (via THR). Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa, the duo behind the rebooted film franchise, said they planned 2024's Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes to be the start of a new trilogy. They also said their reboot was conceived with nine films in mind, meaning there may be as many as five new Apes movies to come.

Despite his busy schedule (including the live-action Zelda movie), director Wes Ball recently confirmed production on the Apes sequel was underway in a conversation with Collider. The director went on to say "Movie two is almost always the best one of the trilogy. That's the way it works. That's where all the drama is, where all the conflict is."

What is an Xbox? Microsoft has spent 25 years trying to answer the question, but for fans, the answer is easy: “Xbox” evokes one-eared headsets wired into the memory card slots of massive controllers with breakaway cords. A dashboard with gleaming skeuomorphic blades and avatars adorned in earned accessories. That sound that plays when a hard-earned Achievement finally pops. “Xbox” means heavy-duty hardware. Tactile sensations. Friends connecting for the first time. And that’s before we even get to the games.

It may be that the very idea of an Xbox game is coming to an end. Microsoft has undeniably shifted its tactics, with a new focus on multi-platform releases, handheld Xboxes that are actually miniature Windows computers, and the potential that future Xbox consoles may simply be gaming PCs. So now seems as good a time as any to look back at the entire history of Microsoft’s console journey and rank the best Xbox games, with help from our friends at Outside Xbox, the multimillion-subscriber channel that serves up weekly videos about video games and video game-adjacent things

When we say “the best Xbox games,” we mean the ones that most evoke that weighty sense of “Xboxness.” Some are first-party, most are exclusives, and all of them are indelibly tied to the legacy of and fondness for a platform that’s left a massive mark on gaming. These are the 100 Best Xbox Games of All Time. We'll be updating this list daily with 25 games at 7am PST/10am ET/3pm GMT from Tuesday, 20th January to Friday, 23rd January, until number one is revealed.

100. 1 vs. 100

A large-scale, online multiplayer game show, played in real-time by actual players who could win actual prizes? It was a bold idea, and Microsoft's 1 vs. 100 actually did it. Adapted from the TV show of the same name, players were randomly dropped into one of three pools whenever the show went live: the Crowd, the Mob, and the One, with the One competing against the Mob in trivia rounds where reaction times were just as important an ingredient to victory as the correct answer to the question being asked. Prizes ranged from 80 Microsoft Points ($1) to a free Xbox Live Arcade game, to 10,000 Microsoft Points ($125). 1 vs. 100 was a true social and technical experiment in the world of gaming, and here's the thing: it worked! Sadly, it was canceled after two "seasons" and can't be played now, but it lives on in the memory as one of the best and most innovative Xbox games ever made.

99. Conker: Live and Reloaded

When Microsoft acquired Nintendo's second-party darling Rare for $375 million, the possibilities were endless. One of the first games Xbox got from the British studio was Conker: Live and Reloaded, a remake of N64's Conker's Bad Fur Day that added online multiplayer. And while that competitive play was quite fun, thanks in part to the juxtaposition of over-the-top violence and adorable characters on screen, it was the technological level-up from the N64 original that was truly stunning. The action-platformer was now "fur-shaded," giving the manes of Conker and his buddies a unique "next-gen" new look. Ironically, Live and Reloaded was actually more heavily censored than Bad Fur Day, but both campaign and multiplayer were nevertheless a great way to introduce Rare to its new Xbox player base.

98. Top Spin

Believe it or not, there was a time when EA didn't support Xbox Live. And so Microsoft started building its own sports games that would take advantage of its online service, and of those titles, Top Spin was by far the best. It was a tennis sim featuring a career mode full of real-life pros, but what made Top Spin memorable – in addition to its core gameplay being so pitch-perfect, of course – was its online play. You'd create your character, build them up, and take them online, pitting yourself against other players in ranked matches that, if you won, would move you further up the global rankings. It all worked perfectly (and even tied in XSN, if you remember that little experiment), and made Top Spin the best tennis game the Xbox has ever been served up.

97. Binary Domain

The Xbox 360 was a treasure chest full of those “7 out of 10s” that you just couldn’t put down; those rough-around-the-edges cult classics that kept us more than entertained for a weekend before we moved on to the next. Binary Domain is a perfect example – a third-person shooter from Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, this sci-fi story didn’t play too differently from established cover shooters such as Gears of War, but came with its own unique quirks. Direct control of your squadmates was chief among these, with the ability to command them in six different languages via a headset or the Kinect sensor, a fun little gimmick that took advantage of the Xbox’s ultimately doomed experiment with its camera peripheral. Binary Domain may have never fully reached the heights of its lofty ambitions, but it still finds a place in our hearts.

96. Steel Battalion

The original Xbox was a maximalist, brutalist brick of post-Y2K design and Steel Battalion is the purest expression of its commitment to inconvenience. The Capcom-developed mech game is arguably nothing special by itself, but the humongous HOTAS horror with which it came bundled has earned it Xbox immortality. Weighing in at a whopping 17 pounds, boasting three panels, three foot pedals, and industrial-grade divorced dad energy, Steel Battalion is the video game equivalent of “rolling coal:” an excessive, magnificent, indulgent peripheral that cost $200 in 2002 money. Xbox is a burly, hefty console that demands a burly, hefty experience, and Steel Battalion more than fits the bill.

95. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath

Xbox was a console designed to change the game, and so it made sense that the Oddworld series shifted direction when it arrived on the platform. Munch's Oddysee saw the sidescrolling platformer leap into the third dimension, but it was 2005’s Stranger’s Wrath that really reinvented the series, delivering a bizarre gunslinging action-adventure in which you played a bounty hunter, bringing in targets dead or alive, rather than saving legions of Mudokons. As Stranger, you’re armed with a crossbow and a bandolier of “Live Ammunition”, as in, ammo that’s literally alive. Your chatterbox bullets, each an insect or tiny mammal with unique abilities, turn each hunt into a tactical showdown with more than a fistful of good laughs.

94. Fuzion Frenzy

It's gritty. It's neon. It's Fuzion Frenzy, an undeniable classic for the original Xbox that's still fun today (if you don't stay too long in the Waterfront minigames, that is). This party game gem was one of the few local multiplayer games that just about anyone could play, regardless of their experience with gaming. Simple yet helpful options like practicing a minigame before the real event, bots to fill open spots with varying levels of difficulty, and custom lengths for tournaments made welcoming others to the party even easier. Its wide span of minigames acted as a great introduction to all kinds of genres, too; from racing to rhythm, to strategy, to defense, Fuzion Frenzy has it all – and a sick visual aesthetic to boot.

93. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is a perfect relic from a time when it seemed like almost every third-party game that delivered a visual showcase on the Xbox 360 struggled to run properly on the PS3. Capcom’s mech-suit shooter played host to some memorable creature design that evoked some of sci-fi fiction's greatest threats, and delivered spectacle that, at the time, was compared to games as well as thought of as Shadow of the Colossus. While its story may have left quite a bit to be desired, its action was well-received, as it took cues from Capcom classics such as Mega Man and Bionic Commando and modernised them to great effect. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is by no means a classic in its own right, but is a great example of a time when, if you had the choice to play a multiplatform game on any console, it would always be the 360.

92. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

Nuts & Bolts began life as a remake of the original Nintendo 64 Banjo-Kazooie game, before developer Rare made the decision to create a completely new entry in the series for the Xbox 360. An ambitious project that stretched itself far beyond its 3D platforming roots, this 2008 sequel placed an emphasis on building vehicles in a flexible world that could be navigated in many different ways. 15 years before Nintendo experimented with similar ideas in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Rare was arguably ahead of the curve when it came to player freedom in wide open spaces, even if the final product never delivered the sort of game of the year-winning quality that Link’s adventures have. There’s no denying that Nuts & Bolts was divisive at launch, but its legacy only grows stronger over time, and it remains the most recent entry into the Banjo-Kazooie series.

91. Condemned: Criminal Origins

We'd argue that Condemned: Criminal Origins was the most underrated of the Xbox 360's day-one launch games. A first-person horror game with melee combat from the decorated developers at Monolith Productions, it got scarier and scarier the deeper you pushed into its campaign – and yes, we mean it got even more terrifying after the memorable department store mannequin sequence. As an FBI agent you had a toolbox of forensic tools to work with, but it was more what you had to work against that made this experience special – namely, an impeccably bleak atmosphere that heightened the fear that enveloped you as you played. It remains unique amongst horror games even today.

90. Castle Crashers

Indie games have grown so ubiquitous that the word itself has become a battleground, but 18 years ago, “indie” largely meant games on Xbox Live Arcade. XBLA was to indie games as Toonami was to anime: an influential pipeline that reshaped distribution and expanded our ideas of what games could be and who was allowed to make them. Headlining the inaugural “Summer of Arcade” in 2008, Castle Crashers was a colorful, chaotic belt-scroller with stylish hand-drawn art straight from Newgrounds, the anarchic animation scene that would later spawn the likes of Smiling Friends. It set a new standard for four-player co-op and helped spark a modern beat ‘em up revival alongside fellow XBLA stalwart Scott Pilgrim: The Game.

89. MechAssault

MechWarrior had long been a sci-fi giant-robot simulation staple on PC. In MechAssault, the BattleTech universe came to console as a faster-paced, gamepad-friendly version of everyone's favorite 31st-century-set franchise, and it translated beautifully. You still got to pilot all of the coolest mechs from the PC series, and you could still target specific areas of your enemies in order to disable them or, in the case of a leg takeout, cause them to fall over and explode. But MechAssault boiled it down to purely the action, taking a lot of the between-mission simulation gameplay out of the equation. The revised formula worked, both in the single-player campaign and in the Xbox Live online multiplayer, where MechAssault quickly established itself as one of the most popular games on Microsoft's then brand-new, broadband-only online gaming service.

88. Peter Jackson's King Kong

A launch game for the Xbox 360, Peter Jackson’s King Kong comes from a time when a huge graphical leap could be noticed from just one glance at a screen. The lush jungle of Skull Island set the stage for a licensed game that stood tall in an era when many fell flat, thanks to its relatively open approach to level design, immersive first-person perspective devoid of cluttered UI, and overall cinematic presentation that reflected the ambitions of The Lord of the Rings’ director’s remake. Sure, it’s not quite as revolutionary to play now, but it is representative of a moment in time when, much like its lead character, Xbox was about to become top of the food chain.

87. Full Spectrum Warrior

Full Spectrum Warrior famously started out not as a for-public-consumption video game, but as a training tool built for the US Army. It's a real-time tactics game, but unlike just about anything that came before or since. Its entire premise revolves around the proper positioning of your squad of soldiers; it's up to you to literally put your men and women in position to not just succeed, but also survive, as one wrong move will see just a few bullets quickly wipe out your squad. Tension is the primary emotion you'll feel throughout Full Spectrum Warrior's campaign, but in the very best and most enjoyable of ways.

86. Dead or Alive 3

At the time of the original Xbox’s arrival in November 2001, it was seen as a necessity for a console to launch with a strong fighting game offering, one of the most popular genres at the turn of the century. In preparation for that, Microsoft moved to obtain exclusivity on Team Ninja’s Dead or Alive series, which had previously appeared on both Sony’s PlayStation and Sega’s Dreamcast. The gamble paid off: Dead or Alive 3 instantly became a huge hit thanks to its lush visuals and slick combat, selling over 1 million copies in its first five months alone. It would go on to become one of the 10 best-selling games on the original Xbox console and help establish the platform’s solid foundations around the world.

85. Perfect Dark Zero

A sequel to Rare’s hit N64 shooter, Perfect Dark Zero began life on the Gamecube before it was ordained as a flagship first-party launch title for Xbox 360 following Microsoft’s acquisition of the studio in 2002. While its development was a frantic sprint to meet the console’s release, the final product is a technical stunner of a stylish spy thriller that dazzled early adopters with glossy visuals and a sprawling multiplayer suite that supported a then-whopping 32 players– the perfect proving ground for a new generation of Xbox Live. Microsoft was clearly strapping the rocket to Joanna Dark as a triple-A franchise candidate, but her series struggled to find a lane among the Master Chiefs and Call of Dutys that dominated the platform. Even so, Perfect Dark Zero endures as an ambitious, feature-rich launch showcase, and after decades of false starts and development hell, it remains the last, best word on an Xbox almost-icon.

84. Panzer Dragoon Orta

Panzer Dragon Orta showed that, even following the very public disaster of the Dreamcast, Sega was a company still willing to take risks and experiment. In this case, it meant rewinding time and returning Panzer Dragoon to its rail shooter roots, following a brief venture into the RPG space with 1998’s Panzer Dragoon Saga. The result was Panzer Dragoon Orta, an Xbox exclusive interpretation of the dragon-riding series that felt both comfortingly old-school and daringly modern. A beautiful, deceivingly complex slice of action, Orta took full advantage of the power of the Xbox to create one of the best examples of the on-rails shooter to date.

83. Rayman Legends

Is 2013’s Rayman Legends the greatest platformers that Nintendo never made? A personality-packed cartoon world, impeccable control system, sublime level design, and an ever-evolving set of mechanics would argue yes, it's certainly in the running, and that’s even before we’ve gotten to the brilliantly bonkers rhythm-based challenge level set to a Mariachi band cover of ‘Eye of the Tiger’. Fun solo but absolutely joyous with three friends in tow, Rayman Legends is couch co-op perfection. Its 120 levels are full of surprises and crafted at such a consistently high standard that no sooner do you think you’ve found your favourite stage than another one has come along to dethrone it. There’s so much giddy gameplay stuffed into Rayman Legends that it even spills over into its loading screens, themselves mad scrambles for a bonus heart during the handful of seconds before each level begins. Beautiful, bountiful, and bouncing with energy, Rayman Legends is as good as 2D platforming gets, and proved a real treat in the dying days of Xbox’s golden 360 era.

82. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas

Rainbow Six: Vegas isn't just memorable for being a massive jump for the Tom Clancy series into the next-gen on the Xbox 360, but for its perspective shift: as you took cover from gunfire behind one-armed bandits and beside doorways, the camera pulled back from Rainbow Six's typical first-person perspective and brought it into third-person, settling over each Operator's shoulder - a trick that would be later copied by Brothers in Arms and Deus Ex. Meanwhile, Las Vegas proved to be a gorgeous and memorable setting for this bold new entry in the series, giving us glitzy shootouts on casino floors. And multiplayer, already a huge hit on Xbox Live with Rainbow Six 3, blew up again with Vegas, offering an unparalleled tactical, team-based competitive experience online. At the time of release, we called it “the best first-person shooter on the Xbox 360”, and while it may not have held onto that crown later in the console’s lifespan, it still remains a high point for the genre.

81. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

A game with perhaps the single saddest press of a button in all of games, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons set the template for what director Josef Fares would go on to achieve. A story-first puzzle game in which the game’s two playable brothers are controlled by an analog stick each, its smart approach to how you use an Xbox controller made it an instant under-the-radar hit when it landed with timed exclusivity on the 360. Fares would leave developer Starbreeze Studios after Brothers’ release to set up Hazelight and craft some of the best co-op games ever released, and while the likes of It Takes Two and Split Fiction push the bounds of creativity when it comes to gameplay, nothing since has quite packed the narrative punch that this journey of two boys trying to save their dying father does.

80. Titanfall

After a litigious split from Activision, the co-creators of Call of Duty jumped ship to EA and formed Respawn, determined to reinvent the online FPS for Xbox and beat their old game at its own game. 2014’s Titanfall dropped as the disappointing Ghosts left Call of Duty vulnerable, with acrobatic movement and wall-running gunfights that made “boots on the ground” shooters feel instantly archaic. While the MOBA-influenced multiplayer featured farming minions and screen-shaking ultimate mechs summoned from the sky, the lack of a campaign limited Titanfall’s impact, and by the time its multiplatform sequel more than rectified that mistake, it was far too late to conquer CoD.

79. The Outer Worlds 2

Obsidian Entertainment has quietly become one of Microsoft's most important studios, thanks to its consistently strong output ever since its 2018 acquisition. Following recent forays into oversized undergrowth in Grounded and Pentiment’s 17th-century Germany, the Pillars of Eternity developer returned to their roots in 2025 with not one, but two action RPGs. Avowed was great, but it was The Outer Worlds 2 that led the pack and sprinkled some of that Fallout: New Vegas magic onto the foundations of its solid, but not entirely successful predecessor, producing a significantly improved sequel. With trademark humour powering a sci-fi satire full of memorable moments, warring factions, and malleable skills and combat systems, The Outer Worlds 2 is one of Obsidian’s best RPGs to date, and as a result, one of Xbox’s.

78. Keeper

Considering Microsoft’s recent history when it comes to the mishandling of its studios, it feels like somewhat of a miracle that we’re lucky enough to get brilliant little games like Keeper from Double Fine. A short and colourful trip, it takes a humble walking lighthouse and its bird companion on a journey full of puzzles that surprises with each turn and tumble its story and characters take. What starts out seeming so simple steadily reveals its secrets and joys in a hidden gem that feels like the exact sort of experience Game Pass was created for.

77. Jade Empire

BioWare’s oft-forgotten 2005 RPG is the evolutionary link between Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect. The Chinese mythology-inspired Jade Empire builds upon the moral choices of KOTOR, but leaves behind its cumbersome D&D-rooted combat in favour of real-time battles that better convey the fluidity of martial arts. With its wonderful companions, engaging romances, and richly detailed original worldbuilding, Jade Empire is very clearly the starting point for BioWare’s glittering 360 era, even if its achievements were quickly eclipsed by Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

76. Gears 5

Where Gears of War 4 reflected many of the themes of its predecessors, Gears 5 shattered the mirror to take the COGs into something bigger. Kait Diaz, JD Fenix, and Del Walker are joined by Marcus Fenix and other familiar faces in a story that expands the Gears of War lore in an exciting way as they are pitted against the Swarm's escalated aggression. New combat additions like Jack's abilities make for great campaign gameplay updates without straying too far from the focus on excellent cover-shooting, and its larger sandbox environments keep things fresh with optional exploration and, of course, more combat challenges. The iconic, gory mess of gunplay is also fantastic in the variety of multiplayer modes and Horde. Developer The Coalition put the cherry on top of this fantastic third-person shooter with the Hivebusters DLC, which features entirely new characters and a story that complements the main campaign. This complete package is easily on the Xbox One's finest games.

Come back tomorrow (Wednesday 21st) for picks 75-51!

Doug Bowser, former president and chief operating officer at Nintendo of America, has joined the board of directors at Hasbro.

Bowser departed Nintendo on December 31, less than a month ago. He had served more than a decade at the company, and six years as Nintendo of America's final boss, following the departure of previous president Reggie Fils-Aimé. Bowser's time at the company was notable as he oversaw the success of Nintendo Switch and then the record-breaking launch of Switch 2, while gamely acknowledging all the jokes about his surname.

Nintendo's former chief will be joined as a newly-installed member of the Hasbro board by Carla Vernón, CEO of The Honest Company.

Xbox Game Pass is set for a big hitter at the end of January: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.

This marks the debut of Saber Interactive’s hugely popular third-person action game in a subscription library, and comes one-and-a-half years after its September 2024 release.

For the uninitiated, Space Marine 2 sees you assume the role of Titus, a member of the Ultramarines chapter of Space Marines. He goes up against the monstrous Tyranids in a campaign that can be played with up to two friends. But there are a number of PvE and PvP modes to keep you busy after. Following the success of Space Marine 2, Titus has become something of a poster boy for the Warhammer 40,000 setting, and was even rewarded for his heroic exploits with a promotion in the ongoing tabletop narrative. Space Marine 3 is already confirmed to be in the works, with updates still coming for Space Marine 2.

What else is coming to Game Pass? As revealed by Xbox Wire, Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding Director’s Cut (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X|S) hits Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass on January 21. Also on that day, RoadCraft (PC) and Ninja Gaiden Ragebound (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) join Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass.

Moving on to January 27, first-person puzzle game The Talos Principle 2 (PC and Xbox Series X|S) hits Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass. A day later, on January 28, Anno: Mutationem (Cloud, PC, and Console) arrives on Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass, alongside hybrid rogue-lite Drop Duchy (Cloud, PC, and Console).

MySims: Cozy Bundle (PC) comes to Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass on January 29, the same day Space Marine 2 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) hits Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass.

Creeping into early February, we have Indika (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X|S) on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass on February 2, and Final Fantasy II (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S), the remodeled 2D take on the second game in the Final Fantasy series, on Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass on February 3.

Xbox Game Pass January 2026 Wave 2 lineup:

• Death Stranding Director’s Cut (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X|S) – January 21 Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC Game Pass
• RoadCraft (PC) – January 21 Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC Game Pass
• Ninja Gaiden Ragebound (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – January 21 Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC Game Pass
• The Talos Principle 2 (PC and Xbox Series X|S) – January 27 Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC Game Pass
• Anno: Mutationem (Cloud, PC, and Console) – January 28 Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC Game Pass
• Drop Duchy (Cloud, PC, and Console) – January 28 Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC Game Pass
• MySims: Cozy Bundle (PC) – January 29 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – January 29 Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC Game Pass
• Indika (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X|S) – February 2 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Final Fantasy II (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – February 3 Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC Game Pass

As usual, a number of games leave Xbox Game Pass later this month. You can save up to 20% on your purchase if you buy these games while subscribing.

Leaving Xbox Game Pass on January 31:

• Shady Part of Me (Cloud, PC, and Console)Cataclismo (PC)
• Starbound (Cloud, PC, and Console)
• Lonely Mountains Snow Riders (Cloud, PC, and Console)
• Paw Patrol World (Cloud, PC, and Console)
• Citizen Sleeper 2 Starward Vector (Cloud, PC, and Console)
• Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap (Cloud, PC, and Console)

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.

Former World of Warcraft producer Raymond Bartos has joined Riot Games, giving fans renewed hope that the League of Legends MMO might actually come out.

We found out Riot Games’ highly anticipated MMO project — announced half a decade ago now — would be “reset” back in 2024, after Riot co-founder Marc Merrill let players know that the team had decided to go back to the drawing board “some time ago.” Now, however, Bartos has confirmed his move to Riot, following in the footsteps of fellow Blizzard colleague, Orlando Salvatore.

"I’m incredibly excited to be joining Riot on the MMO team!!!" Bartos wrote on LinkedIn (first reported by MassivelyOP). "I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to join such an inspiring group of people, and I can’t wait to get started — showing up every day to provide value for Riot gamers and help deliver an MMO experience players truly enjoy.

"And as a fun bonus I’ve been barely able to contain: I’ll be re-queuing with my longtime duo partner, Orlando Salvatore," Bartos added. "Given our track record on World of Warcraft, I have a feeling we’ll be moving fast on day one."

And best of all, Bartos' LinkedIn profile gives us a clear insight into what he's working courtesy of his role descriptor: "senior game producer on the MMO [at] Riot Games."

Concern grew in 2022, when then-executive producer Greg Street warned fans that there is “no guarantee this game will ship.” The lead then went on to announce his departure from Riot in early 2023. Two years ago, when he announced the development reset, Merrill said he understood fans' frustration at the lack of progress on the MMO, but insisted the time spent in the dark would “help provide space for the team to focus on the incredible amount of work ahead of them.”

“Remember, 'no news is good news,' as it means we're hard at work, pouring our hearts and souls into making something that we hope you’ll love," he continued.

League of Legends was first released in 2009 and remains one of the world's biggest, most-played games. A multiplayer online battle arena (or MOBA), it was originally inspired by Warcraft 3 custom map Defense of the Ancients, and played a massive role in pioneering and popularizing the MOBA genre. It has gone on to inspire a number of spin-offs, including digital card game Legends of Runeterra, a mobile version of the game called Wild Rift, and a popular TV series: Arcane.

Last month, we reported that Riot was working on a total makeover of League of Legends. Called "League Next," the upcoming overhaul will be an update to the existing League of Legends rather than a standalone game. It's thought the update will fully revamp the game's visual aesthetic, including characters, UI, and arenas and make some adjustments behind the scenes to help make future updates smoother, although it's currently unclear if the changes will impact game mechanics.

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

Matt Damon has discussed how tough it was filming Christopher Nolan’s next epic, The Odyssey, which he said had a “profound” effect on him.

The Odyssey, written and directed by Nolan and due out July 17, 2026, is based on Homer’s saga, and is described as “a mythic action epic” shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology. Matt Damon plays Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the star of the film.

Shots revealed by the debut trailer, below, show Matt Damon walking on sand, trudging through a forest, exploring a cave, desperately trying to sail a boat, and, alongside his soldiers, hiding inside the famous Trojan Horse as it’s dragged from the sea.

In an interview with Netflix to promote new movie The Rip, Damon said he was still “unpacking” the experience of filming The Odyssey, but admitted “it did have a profound effect on me.”

“If I look objectively at what was required to do that job, I think it came at just the right time in my life,” he revealed. “I think I would've been miserable 20 years ago trying to do that job. Because you were uncomfortable every day, but I really enjoyed… like, deeply enjoyed every minute of it.”

“Intellectually I understood that concept of, you're not in control of what happens, but you are in control of how you feel about it,” Damon continued. “It's easier said than done. But to really feel gratitude. And I think because it was tied into not only the joy in being able to have a role that great, with a director that great, with a group of people that great, and a story that great, but in that sense of nostalgia I had for how I started, how I came into the business, the feeling I had when I was shooting School Ties, and Freddie Francis was the cinematographer, and, I was like, this is really happening. Back to, like, the very first feature, like the one line I had in Mystic Pizza, it was like three nights of shooting this dinner table scene, because there was a lot of coverage in the scene. And I just remember being elated for three straight nights. Just completely joyful.

“Doing The Odyssey this last year, it felt like my one chance in my life to make a David Lean movie, that I was making the last big movie on film that I was ever gonna get to make. And it's so funny to think that it really is all in how you look at it. Like, yeah, I was wet and I was cold and I was hungry and I was… yeah, all that happened.

“But there was a guy who works with Chris on a lot of his movies who was a Navy Seal named Duffy. And Duffy said to me towards the end of the film — because those guys… like to become that there is a lot of discomfort you have to experience and tolerate. Almost nobody can do it. A very, very tiny percentage of human beings can even do it — and he said to me towards the end of the movie, ‘You never remember how cold you were. That's not the memory that you have. That's a fleeting feeling and it's gonna pass, and you're gonna be warm again. You're just not warm now. And so get comfortable in the discomfort. Just see it for what it is. It's not forever.’”

Earlier this month, Damon revealed he slimmed down to his high school weight for the role. "I had a beard like yours for like a year," he told Jason and Travis Kelce on a recent episode of their podcast, New Heights. "I was in really good shape. I lost a lot of weight. [Nolan] wanted me lean but strong."

He also noted that a specific change in diet helped him get there. "Just because of this other thing that I did with my doctor, I stopped eating gluten,” Damon explained. “I used to walk around at between 185 and 200, and I did that whole movie at 167. And I haven't been that light since high school. So it was a lot of training and a really strict diet."

The Ocean’s Eleven star also told the hosts how training so intensely for the role felt like playing a season of professional sports. "I imagine what that feels like for you guys, where you're preparing," Damon said to the Kelces. "It's just part of your day, it's part of your job, and you get really routinized about it and kinda build your day around all that stuff."

The Odyssey is expected to perform particularly well following the breakout success of Nolan's Oppenheimer, the Cillian Murphy-led biopic that fuelled one half of the Barbenheimer phenomenon. Oppenheimer earned a staggering $975 million during its theatrical run, and walked away with Best Picture at the Oscars. Following the debut trailer for The Odyssey is out in the wild, age-old debates about “historical accuracy” reemerged.

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.

Concept artwork for Microsoft's upcoming Fable reboot has been shared online, showing what looks to be a large open world.

The images, originally highlighted by MP1st, reportedly originate from an unnamed artist who previously worked on the project at British development studio Playground Games.

More than two dozen images show brooding fantasy landscapes that stretch off into the horizon, dilapidated thatched cottages in pastoral scenes, and familiar-looking towns with spired roofs. Several images also make reference to "Bloodstone" — suggesting we'll see locations from past Fable games return.

Fable | Concept Arthttps://t.co/OuQzqybQut pic.twitter.com/ci23N0n0xW

— Klobrille (@klobrille) January 20, 2026

Overall, the images offer a slightly darker color palette than seen in Lionhead's original Fable trilogy, with moody skies and a rugged world that's reminiscent of Hogwarts Legacy. How big is Fable's new world? That remains to be seen, though perhaps it featuring large open spaces shouldn't be too surprising, since it is being built on the same open world engine that powers Forza Horizon (albeit likely with fewer cars).

Another set of art showcases a dank dungeon-like area, where water pours down through sewer-like tunnels as cages hang above. One particular image sees the hero confront a werewolf-like creature, as bodies hang in chains nearby.

While concept art naturally shows a work-in-progress look at a project, this werewolf encounter has popped up in a previous trailer. The hero figure used throughout the concept art also matches the character seen in trailers released over the last couple of years. The suggestion, then, is this vision of the game likely isn't too far off the finished article — though of course we'll be seeing much more of it later this week to find out for ourselves.

Microsoft's annual Xbox Developer Direct showcase will air this Thursday, January 22 at 10am PT, and include gameplay footage of Playground Games' long-awaited new take on Fable, plus Forza Horizon 6, Game Freak action RPG Beast of Reincarnation, and more. You can watch it live here on IGN or on IGN's YouTube channel.

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

If you're looking for DTI codes, IGN's got you covered! In this article, you'll find a list of all the active and working Dress to Impress codes in January 2026 that you can redeem for free rewards and bonuses in DTI, including outfits and accessories like hats, bags, and jewelry.

Active Dress to Impress Codes (January 2026)

Here are all the active Dress to Impress codes in January 2026 and the free rewards you get for redeeming them:

• CH00P1E_B4CK_AGA1N - Choopie set rework
• 2YEARS - Dress
• 2GETHER - Classic DTI Doll
• RDC2025 - Lanyard and belt accessory
• VANILLAMACE - Headscarf
• PIXIIUWU - Dress
• ANGELT4NKED - Helmet
• 3NCHANTEDD1ZZY - Wand
• ELLA - Skirt
• 1CON1CF4TMA - Sweater dress
• MEGANPLAYSBOOTS - Boots
• CH00P1E_1S_B4CK: Streetwear outfit set
• S3M_0W3N_Y4Y: Axe
• KREEK: Bear hat
• LANA: White shorts, shirt, and legwarmers
• LANABOW: White bow
• BELALASLAY: Black jacket with pink halter top
• LANATUTU: White dress
• IBELLASLAY: Red, green, and blonde hairstyle
• M3RM4ID: Orange mermaid set
• TEKKYOOZ: White handbag
• LABOOTS: Black boots
• ITSJUSTNICHOLAS: Black jacket
• ASHLEYBUNNI: Bunny slippers
• LEAHASHE: Sweatshirt and sweatpants
• KITTYUUHH: Black cat
• C4LLMEHH4LEY: Puffy dress and bear headband
• SUBM15CY: Necklace and eyelashes
• D1ORST4R: Bag and bow

All Expired Dress to Impress Codes

Below, you'll find a list of expired DTI codes that no longer work and can't be redeemed as of January 2026:

• GLINDA
• ELPHABA
• B3APL4YS_D0L1E
• Your unique Twitch Cyberpunk Wings code
• LNY2025
• HAPPYNEWYEAR
• Your unique Easter 2025 Easter Bunny Set code
• UMOYAE
• FASHION
• BADDIE4LIFE
• Your unique April Fools' Day 2025 Flamethrower code
• M0T0PRINCESSWAV
• CUPIDSCLOUD
• SWEETHEART (was only redeemable between February 15 and February 16, 2025 at 8AM PT)
• YEAROFTHESNAKE
• NY2025
• WINTERUPDATE (was only redeemable between 8 AM - 11 AM PT on Saturday, 14 December!)
• 4BILLION
• CHOOPIE10K
• THEGAMES
• EYELASHES
• REWARD4CLASS1C

Roblox Gift Ideas

How to Redeem Dress to Impress Codes

Follow the steps below to redeem Dress to Impress codes and claim free rewards in DTI:

1. Open the Dress to Impress Roblox Experience.
2. Click on the handbag icon on the left-hand side to open the DTI Codes menu.
3. Enter your code in the "Type here..." field.
4. Check for any spelling mistakes or errors.
5. Click the checkmark icon to redeem the code.

Why Isn't My Dress to Impress Code Working?

If the code you're trying to redeem in DTI isn't working, it's likely because of one of two reasons:

• The Dress to Impress code is expired
• There's a spelling mistake in the code

When inputting a DTI code in Roblox, make sure it's spelled correctly (for example, a capital I isn't a lowercase l, 0 and not O, and vice versa) and that there are no spaces before or after the code. We'd recommend copying and pasting codes straight from our article to ensure they're correct as we've tested and verified that the codes on this page are working ourselves.

If your DTI code still isn't working after checking for typos, it's more than likely expired and can no longer be redeemed in Dress to Impress.

How to Get More DTI Codes

To get more Dress to Impress codes, the best way is to join the official DTI Discord server. While we check for new codes daily, the quickest way to know about new Dress to Impress codes is to follow the Roblox experience's official Discord server where updates are posted in real time.

You can also check the Dress to Impress X account and the official DTI Roblox Group page.

Are There Any Upcoming DTI Codes?

We currently don't know of any upcoming DTI codes now that the two-year anniversary codes have been released. We'll update this article once we find out more information on new Dress to Impress codes.

What is Dress to Impress in Roblox?

Dress to Impress is a popular dress-up Roblox Experience available on PC, console, and iOS and Android mobile devices. In it, you put on your best outfit to complete a specific theme and walk the runway in a bid to earn votes from other players and become a top model. As you gain votes, you gain ranks and can access more clothing and accessories, so make sure you're truly dressed to impress! Also, for toy lovers and collectors, you can now pre-order a mystery pack of 2 Dress to Impress minifigures right now for $30 at Walmart.