Who doesn’t love a pirate game, especially a pirate game that involves racing your ships around an archipelago of islands? And, extra-especially, a pirate game that’s currently on sale? Glory Islands, from Rio Grande Games, typically retails for $45, but Amazon has it on sale right now for the oddly-specific price of $32.17. To save you a calculation, that's a 28% discount. Not bad.

Glory Islands for 28% Off

In Glory Islands, you’ll be dropping off your scurvy crew onto the spaces in the hope of winning treasure and scoring points via a fun mishmash of different mechanics that adds up to a shipshape whole. Ship movement is governed by playing numeric cards from your hand that also have special powers, such as the five allowing you to pause and drop a second pirate. But be careful, as using too many high-value cards will cost you points at game end. Occupying an island space wins you small bonuses but, once an island is full, it bags a bunch of points for the player with the most crew members there.

Glory Islands is a fast, fun, family-friendly board game that doesn’t have the depth to sustain itself over repeat plays or for hardcore hobbyists, but it’s plenty enjoyable if you pick it up at sale price. Getting the balance right between doing well in the race, while still hitting the spaces you need to score with your crew and not incurring a penalty for sailing too recklessly is surprisingly hard. And there’s real tension in watching where other players drop their sailors, as islands you think are in the bag can swing away from you with surprising speed.

The game also comes with neat wooden ships and sailor pieces, plus miniature barrels of rum you can stockpile to really feel like a miniature pirate king.

Check out more cool board games:

Matt Thrower is a contributing freelance writer for IGN, specializing in tabletop games. You can reach him on BlueSky at @mattthr.bsky.social.

ASUS ROG Ally is an incredible handheld gaming PC, but after spending a solid amount of time with both ROG Ally Z1 Extreme 512GB and ROG Ally X 1TB, I can confidently say the upgrade was worth it. Both models deliver fantastic performance, but the Ally X’s improved battery life, additional USB-C port, and increased RAM make a real difference in daily use. If you’re trying to decide between them, you can’t go wrong with either, but if you're going for long gaming sessions or need more expandability, the Ally X is the one to get.

ROG Ally Z1 Extreme vs. ROG Ally X – Which One Did I Prefer?

The Ally X’s better battery, extra port, and upgraded RAM make it a clear winner for me, but both models are fantastic handhelds. Obviously ROG Ally X is the most expensive, but the white ROG Ally is a cracking handheld for the money.

The Ally X’s bigger battery means I actually get proper portable gaming, and the extra USB-C port has made docking a lot easier.

Optimisation Guide – How to Make the ROG Ally Even Better

The first thing I did after setting up both models was check for updates. ASUS provides BIOS, firmware, and GPU driver updates right out of the box. Using Armoury Crate SE and MyASUS, I made sure everything was fully up to date. The difference was noticeable—better power management and smoother performance across the board.

Lossless Scaling (Steam App)

Little Apps

Winaero Tweaker

Avast

Best Micro SD Cards for ROG Ally

Storage expansion is essential for handheld gaming, and I’ve tested a bunch of microSD cards to see which ones are worth buying.

The SanDisk Extreme 1TB has been the best performer, with fast load times and reliable performance. The Samsung PRO Plus 512GB is great for speed without breaking the bank.

Best Power Banks for ROG Ally

A 65W USB-C power bank is a must-have, and these are the ones I’ve tested.

I use the sharge SHARGEEK 170 the most—it charges fast and has a cool display. The UGREEN Nexode 200W is a great mid-range option with fast charging.

Best Docks for ROG Ally

Docks are essential for turning the ROG Ally into a full gaming setup. Here’s what I recommend.

The UGREEN 9-in-1 Dock is what I use for docking to an external monitor. The Asus 65W Dock Charger is great for fast charging while docked.

Do you know something I don't? Maybe a better Windows de-bloater or frame generation software for Window's AMD handhelds? Let me know in the comments!

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

"Mankind has colonized many worlds in a time when travel faster than the speed of light has been made possible by the harvesting of exotic matter from the eggs of the largest species mankind has ever seen. Those that take part in the hunt for the matter are mostly involuntary labor."

Last fall, it was reported that powerhouse writer/producer/director Simon Kinberg was to oversee a new Star Wars trilogy at Lucasfilm, which may not encompass Chapters 10-12 of the Skywalker Saga (the nascent films are very much in creative flux right now) but are believed to be based around the continuing story of Daisy Ridley's Rey Skywalker. It is unknown if these are related to the Jedi Academy film that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is still set to direct starring Ridley, and from which screenwriter Steven Knight recently departed.

The expanded involvement of Kinberg in the Star Wars universe has been criticized by some fans, considering the disastrous results of his last two directing outings: 2019's Dark Phoenix and 2022's The 355. Yet Kinberg has been involved with Kathleen Kennedy's Lucasfilm since 2012, co-creating Star Wars Rebels, penning an unmade Boba Fett movie, and advising on The Force Awakens and Rogue One. He is considered in the industry to be a reliable, studio-friendly craftsman who can execute notes and works well with talent. He may be a status quo choice to lead creative on the next phase of the galaxy far, far away, but Kinberg has also shepherded some terrific original sci-fi to the screen including Neill Blomkamp's Elysium and Ridley Scott's The Martian. Then there's the big fish that got away…

On March 16, 2015, director Ruairí Robinson posted to the web his 3-minute proof-of-concept film “The Leviathan,” about a future where man hunts giant sky whales in order to harvest them for exotic matter that enables lightspeed travel via an Alcubierre drive. While the key Herman Melville elements of an obsessed captain and an even larger granddaddy space whale would be present in the proposed feature, the focus would be the exploited crewmen on the ground. The short amassed millions of views and hype posts on movie sites around the globe. Eleven days later, on March 27, it was announced that the X-Men franchise's Simon Kinberg had signed to produce a feature version of “The Leviathan” alongside Blomkamp. Then… nothing happened. Despite having the support of powerful producers alongside a script by Jim Uhls of Fight Club fame, “The Leviathan” is one great white whale that hasn't been harpooned by movie cameras.

“I get a lot of people asking, ‘What’s happening with Leviathan more than any other thing I’ve done,” Robinson told us in late 2023.

We're going to look at how “The Leviathan” came to be, then not be, as well as how Kinberg's involvement in Star Wars may or may not have conflicted with Robinson's movie. More than anything, this is a story of how hard it is – even with every advantage of extremely qualified creatives – to summon unique large-canvas stories to the screen when we need them the most.

Streaming Wars is a weekly opinion column by IGN’s Streaming Editor, Amelia Emberwing. Check out the last entry Daredevil: Born Again — An Unexpected Connection to the Netflix Series Could Right a Decade-Old Wrong.

This column contains spoilers for Severance Season 2.

Earlier this week, I wrote about Severance Season 2’s penultimate episode being a lot darker than it seemed. Dylan G’s decision to effectively die by suicide is a pretty jarring moment, even if it’s difficult to wrap our heads around due to him (presumably) continuing on in the series as his outie. There’s a lot more to the episode, with our boys Burt and Irving having what feels like but probably isn’t a last farewell and Mark dealing with everything going on with his brain at the moment. But there’s something outside of all of that that I actively cannot stop thinking about.

WTF is going on with Helena and Helly R.?

We start the episode with a brief swim before Helena (Britt Lower) heads to her father’s estate for breakfast. As is always the case with the Eagens, literally every second of their encounter is weird. Helena eats a hard-boiled egg, to which her father says “I wish you would take them raw” in the creepiest way humanly possible. This is followed later on in the episode by an equally unnerving encounter, this time on Lumon’s severed floor. As Helly R. tries to memorize the directions left by Irving to get to the dark hallway, she is interrupted by Jame (Michael Siberry). He tells his daughter’s innie that she “tricked” him, and calls her “My Helly.” True to character, Helly responds with a simple “WTF?” But, dear reader, “WTF” is somehow not enough for whatever the hell is going on here.

There is something wrong going on with both versions of Helly in this episode, I can’t put my finger on it, and it is driving me mad. The likelihood of all of this being easily explained is not small, but for some reason I need that answer. The goats don’t even drive me into this kind of hyperfixation spiral.

As mentioned, meetings with any Eagan are always on the unnerving side. But there is something different about Helena at the beginning of this episode. At first, I thought the episode title “The After Hours” was a hint toward the overtime contingency rather than just the cabin Cobel (Patricia Arquette) was taking Mark (Adam Scott) to, implying that Helly R. somehow found a way to take over her outie’s body for the morning. I’d talk myself out of it one moment, and then talk myself right back into the theory the next. But this proverbial brain tennis eventually took me in a completely new direction.

What if it isn’t Helly R. pretending to be Helena? There’s something too simple about that theory. It feels too clean. What if, instead, they’re not flipping the earlier story of Helena taking Helly’s place on the severed floor, but coming back to it? Stick with me here.

At first, this line of thinking seems absurd. Nothing’s happened to nudge the woman – who was literally homegrown inside a cult – outside of her loyalist tendencies, right? Wrong!

Two inciting incidents have occurred that may have snapped Jame Eagan’s daughter out of her Lumon fugue state. The first is the aforementioned overtime contingency. A woman who has, as far as we know, never rebelled a second in her life got the opportunity to be free. To dissent. To speak up and speak out about something she didn’t support. We also know that she was following Helly R.’s rebellion in Season 1. How refreshing (and possibly terrifying) that must be for someone who grew up an Eagan!

The second inciting factor was getting to live as Helly when she was masquerading as her innie. Adventures, rebellions, sex?! Helena has grown up in a world that looks down on laborers, but doesn’t seem like the type of person who has ever been confronted by the idea of being free, even if that freedom was occurring while trapped in a dead-end job.

Two non-Eagan focused scenes in “The After Hours” seem to corroborate this line of thinking. All Helly R. has done from the moment we met her is stand up and/or defy every authority figure she encounters. Still, there was a strange spark in her when she looked Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) in the eye after he accused her of insubordination and she responded “yeah, no shit,” with a grin before slamming the door to his office. Additionally, Dylan G. (Zach Cherry) may have been unnecessarily mean to his friend during his heartbreak, but he has a line during their conversation where he brings up the fact that no one can tell when Helena takes over her body, not even Mark.

The final salvo in this strange line of theorizing comes by way of Jame Eagan himself. At first, Helly’s “WTF?” to her dad (who she had never met) convinced me that Helly and Helena were each where they belonged, Helena with her father in his compound, and Helly on the severed floor. But, once I realized the possibility that we spent the whole episode with Helena rather than Helly, it all made sense.

“What the fuck” seems like a strong response from Helly R. However, “what the fuck” is a completely reasonable response to seeing your father in a place where he absolutely does not belong.

Jame’s little “you tricked me” confounded me for days, but it seems Daddy dearest may have cracked the code on Helena’s little game.

If it is Helena living her alternate life as a woman unbeholden to anyone and on a newfound mission to say “eff the man,” then the follow-up question becomes “to what end?” Has Helena had a change of heart after experiencing a brief taste of what it’s like to live outside of her family’s monotone cult, or is it just a phase?

To that, I don’t have an answer just yet. But I can say that it all has me damn excited for next week’s Season 2 finale. What are your Helly R. theories?

One of the most memorable moments in the entire Assassin’s Creed series happens near the start of Assassin’s Creed 3, when Haytham Kenway has finished rounding up his band of assassins in the New World. Or at least, the player is led to believe they’re assassins. Haytham, after all, uses a hidden blade, is just as charismatic as previous series protagonist Ezio Auditore, and has – up until this point in the campaign – played the part of a hero, busting Native Americans out of prison and beating up cocky British redcoats. Only when he utters the familiar phrase, “May the Father of Understanding guide us,” does it become clear we have actually been following our sworn enemies, the Templars.

To me, this surprising setup represents the fullest realization of Assassin’s Creed’s potential. The first game in the series introduced an intriguing concept – find, get to know, and kill your targets – but fell short in the story department, with both protagonist Altaïr and his victims being utterly bereft of personality. Assassin’s Creed 2 took a step in the right direction by replacing Altaïr with the more iconic Ezio, but failed to apply the same treatment to his adversaries, with the big bad of its spinoff Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Cesare Borgia, coming across as particularly underdeveloped. Only in Assassin’s Creed 3, set during the American Revolution, did the developers at Ubisoft devote as much time to fleshing out the hunted as they did the hunter. It lent the game an organic flow from set-up to payoff and, as a result, achieved a delicate balance between gameplay and narrative that as yet hasn’t been replicated since.

If you’re after Pokémon TCG Lost Origin, Astral Radiance, or Brilliant Stars booster packs but don’t want to overpay or fork out a fortune for Prismatic Evolutions and Journey Together? these Pokémon V Boxes are epic.

V Boxes are an underrated way to get booster packs at retail prices. You get promo cards and an oversized collectible card too. Trying to track down Lost Origin, Astral Radiance, or Brilliant Stars booster packs without paying inflated prices is bloody impossible as Pokémania 2025 rolls on. Single packs from these sets can now cost £5 to £10 each, especially for the more popular expansions. That’s where Pokémon V Boxes come in.

Pokémon TCG: Hisuian Electrode V Box

Pokémon TCG: Virizion V Box

Lost Origin boosters are my main target (Giratina V Alt-Art is my dream pull), Hisuian Electrode V Box is the best choice. It includes two Lost Origin packs along with Astral Radiance and Brilliant Stars, two sets loaded with Trainer Gallery hits. Considering individual packs can run you £6 or more on eBay, this is an easy win.

Want Lost Origin packs but don’t mind swapping out Brilliant Stars for Fusion Strike? Virizion V Box is another bargain. Fusion Strike has some strong chase cards, including Gengar VMAX and Espeon VMAX Alt-Art, so it's well worth ripping open. Lost Origin’s Giratina V, Astral Radiance’s Origin Forme Dialga, or Brilliant Stars’ Charizard VSTAR are all solid reasons to grab these V boxes before they sell out or go out of print. Both aren't far off.

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

The LEGO Dinosaur Fossils: Tyrannosaurus Rex set, available exclusively at the LEGO Store, is a visually stunning, ambitious build. You're first taken aback by its size; this is a 1:12 scale model of a real T-Rex.

Years later, however, the scientific community concluded that the T-Rex, contrary to popular imagination and depiction, did not walk upright with its tail dragging on the ground. The T-Rex actually stood more like this, with its spine parallel to the ground and its tail serving as a counterbalance to its head:

That Christopher Nolan! What an unpredictable guy he is, with his “movies told out of order” games, “is it a dream or reality” stories, “what timeframe are we witnessing things happen in” trickery, and his “screw it, let’s just run time backwards” hijinks.

All of which is to say, for someone with such a notably wacky outside-the-box storytelling track record, it’s a bit surprising that Nolan’s next movie is seemingly a straight-up adaptation of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey.

Sure, we don’t really know all that much about the film yet. Matt Damon is playing Odysseus, who is of course the main character of Homer’s story, and an extensive group of noteworthy actors have been cast in as-yet unannounced roles in the film, including Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Lupita Nyong'o, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, and Charlize Theron, among others. The Odyssey is shooting now and has a release date of July 17, 2026, with Universal Pictures calling the film “a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology.”

Matt Damon is Odysseus. A film by Christopher Nolan, #TheOdysseyMovie is in theaters July 17, 2026. pic.twitter.com/7a5YbfqVfG

— odysseymovie (@odysseymovie) February 17, 2025

Real quick for those who skipped it in high school, The Odyssey tells the 10-year story of Odysseus’ attempt to get home to the Greek island of Ithaca after the events of the Trojan War, an effort that is made all the more difficult when he angers the god of the sea, Poseidon. And this after already being stuck at Troy for 10 years! Waiting for him at home are his now adult son Telemachus and his ever-faithful wife Penelope, although things have grown increasingly dicey for both of them as a group of “suitors” vie for Penelope’s hand in marriage. As he fights to get home, Odysseus encounters all manner of mythological creatures and challenges.

It’s freaking great, and one of my favorite books. But it’s also proven challenging to properly adapt to the screen. There have been a bunch of attempts over the years, dating back at least as far as the 1911 Italian silent film L'Odissea, but often the scope of Odysseus’ story has been truncated or mismanaged in translation to movie or TV form. However, Nolan, fresh off the financial and critical success of the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer, is perfectly placed to finally get Homer’s story right on the big screen.

But again, what exactly is the director drawn to in this story? He’s often got sci-fi or sci-fi adjacent concepts in his films, and while Odysseus certainly exists in the realm of the fantastical, that’s not quite the same vibe. (A cyclops is not sci-fi, sorry!) Still, I think there’s a good chance that Nolan’s real obsession… no, not dead wives, his other obsession… could be why he’s making this movie, and also why he’s perfect for this movie: It’s his interest in playing with time, or how the viewer perceives time in relation to the story being told, that is perhaps the key to nailing The Odyssey.

One of the reasons why The Odyssey has always been a challenge to properly adapt to movies and TV (aside from the obstacle of convincing visual effects until relatively recently) is the nature of the main character’s story. While his time away in the Trojan War isn’t technically part of The Odyssey (that’s The Iliad, for those who also skipped that class), those first 10 years away from his family are a necessary bit of backstory that infuses The Odyssey with a lot of its emotion. Add to that the 10 years that it takes Odysseus to finally get back home and then the actual re-taking of that home when he battles the suitors (this last part was its own movie alone just last year – The Return starring Ralph Fiennes), and you’ve got a lot of story taking place over a very long period of time.

I’ve always thought that biopics always run the danger of being the CliffsNotes version of a person’s life, which is why when a movie like James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown focuses in on just a few years of a historical figure like Bob Dylan’s life, it can be a much more effective way of telling a story. Equally, trying to do The Odyssey in, what, three hours? It’s a tall, tall order.

But here comes old Chris Nolan with his timey-wimey and, let’s be fair, highly creative ways of dipping in and out of a story, using the very nature of time as a tool rather than an obstacle. Look at Interstellar, where Matthew McConaughey’s Cooper takes off into outer space for what is basically a one-way mission where time gets all kinds of weird for him and his crewmates, even while his children grow to adulthood back on Earth and, eventually, mourn their apparently lost father. There are certainly Odyssey parallels right there in terms of the missing father on a lost voyage, whose family faces disaster back home, but it’s the way that Nolan tells the story, despite the challenges of, well, time, that is so affecting. He’s not deterred by the vast gulf between the father and his children, but instead uses it to his advantage.

Odyseuss fights a giant Cyclops, sees a bunch of his men turned into pigs, and confronts a bunch of other crazy shit in his story, but he also faces time as an enemy, and in a variety of ways. Not only is he literally 20 years away from his family by the end of his journey, but seven of those years see him trapped on the island of the nymph Calypso, who loves him and offers him immortality (another aspect of time or the perception of it) if he’ll stay with her. He and his crew's visit to the realm of the Lotus-Eaters plays with time in a different way, in that those who eat the fruit of the land lose any interest in returning home, content to stay and eat the fruit forever. And then there’s our hero’s trip to the Underworld, where he finds lost friends and family, including his mother and his comrade Achilles, who are doomed to exist, if not quite live, for eternity as mere shades of their former selves.

Then there’s the situation back home, as Telemachus was just a baby when his father left and is now a young man. Odysseus’ father Laertes is a sad shell of his former self, having lost his wife to grief over the past 20 years, while assuming his son is gone forever too. And in one of the most effective passages in Homer’s poem, even Odyseuss’ dog Argos has been waiting for him all this time!

Will Nolan be able to tell Odyseuss’ full story effectively by utilizing his particular brand of stylized filmmaking? The guy is fixated on time, and by extension memory, and that certainly seems to be a quality he shares with the hero of The Odyssey as well, a man who eventually has nothing but memories – of his family and the life he once lived – to rely on as he fights the great gulf of time to get home.

Star Wars has invaded every inch of our culture, including Star Wars toys, Star Wars LEGO sets, and even the tabletop. It may come as a surprise, but the slate of board and roleplaying games based on this popular intellectual property includes several absolutely killer options.

The diversity here is strong. There are smaller, less complex options, as well as sprawling games with mounds of miniatures, each its own compelling experience that captures aspects of this beloved film series. All of these are currently available and can be picked up and played right now.

TL;DR: The Best Star Wars Board Games

Short on time? Click the links above to check out each game on the list. Read on for details about each one.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian Adventures Board Game

Streaming services are getting increasingly bloated, more competitive, and more convoluted, and many people are realizing it's actually more expensive than a standard cable subscription if you want to have it all. However, if you're looking for a simple solution that offers live TV, sports, news, plus a massive back catalog of content that includes just about everything from Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and more, then Hulu + Live TV just might be the perfect service for you. And if you don't care about live TV, then the Disney+, Hulu, Max bundle is what you're looking for.

Hulu + Live TV Free Trial

Hulu + Live TV features over 95 channels in the base service including local network affliliates and news from ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. Additionally, it features popular channels such as Comedy Central, ESPN, FX, Food Network, Disney Channel, HGTV, The History Channel, ID, Lifetime, MTV, NFL Network, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, and more.

Can You Watch Live Sports on Hulu + Live TV?

Yes! You can watch many of the most popular sports on Hulu + Live TV including NFL, NCAA, NBA, MLB, NHL, international soccer, UFC, and more. Whatever's airing live on TV will be available to watch, so if you're looking to watch your favorite non-local team, you may need to subscribe to a premium service to catch those games. However, there are a number of sporting events regularly available on local channels as well as CBS Sports Network, NFL Network, ESPN, and FS1, just to name a few.

This means that you can watch March Madness games and stream NFL games with this service as well.

Matthew Adler is a Commerce, Features, Guides, News, Previews, and Reviews writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream on Twitch.

If you’re interested in unusual or innovative games, then Maps of Misterra should be on your radar, especially since it’s currently selling at a hefty sale discount. It normally runs in the $30 range, but Amazon currently has it on sale for $12.99, which is less than half price. That's quite a deal on a game that's worth a look.

Maps of Misterra on Sale for $12.99

In Maps of Misterra, players are cartographers, seeking to chart an unknown island. You’ll start with some end-game goals of what you think the island is supposed to look like, and initially you’ll place terrain tiles on a shared board trying to match that map. But exploration is a tricky business and you can be mistaken: other players can overwrite your placements with their own until someone takes an extra action to confirm that tile, fixing it in place. Terrain effects, such as being able to see further atop mountains, or travel further over steppe, lend extra weight to the strategy and flavor to the theme.

The result of this clever, two-step, discover and confirm mechanic is a fascinating dynamic and interactive puzzle where your goals push and pull against those of other players, and the island takes shape around them. This also provides a real sense of revelation, of venturing into the unknown as every version of the island is different.

If you enjoy getting into the theme of a game, you can also have a great time loudly proclaiming that your suggestions are the absolute truth against the nonsense other players are trying to foist on the map. It’s fun as a solo board game, too, against an automated opponent so you still get the sense of playing against an active player. The slightly messy interaction might put off some players, but at this price it’s worth a look for its sheer oddness.

See more cool board games

Matt Thrower is a contributing freelance writer for IGN, specializing in tabletop games. You can reach him on BlueSky at @mattthr.bsky.social.

The new Hunger Games novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, is my most anticipated book release of 2025. It's been sitting on Amazon's best sellers list for most of the year so far, and has even broken into the top five ahead of its release date. It's no surprise that the new Suzanne Collins book is already super popular considering all of the Hunger Games books have been turned into movies already. In fact, even Sunrise on the Reaping will be getting a movie adaptation in 2026. The book is thankfully coming much earlier.

Sunrise on the Reaping will be released on Tuesday, March 18. Amazon is currently discounting hardcovers and Kindle editions of the book. You can also find exclusive editions from Barnes and Noble and Target that offer little extras.

Sunrise on the Reaping - Where to Buy

In today’s world of seemingly endless streaming platforms and bundles, shopping for the right one(s) can be a trying ordeal. Since so many have their own expansive media libraries, it can be hard to commit to a monthly payment for one or multiple options. Do you want access to every Transformers movie before watching Transformers One? Paramount+ would be a good option. How about all the anime your heart desires? You’ll want to try out Crunchyroll to satisfy that craving. Luckily, most streaming services these days offer a sneak peek via free trials into their cache of goodies. So whatever you’re looking to watch in 2025, these nine free trials are a great way to test the waters of the streaming landscape.

1. Hulu (30-Day Free Trial)

The mecca of popular series both original and classic, Hulu has almost everything a series-binger would need. Adding to its impressive library over the years with some quality, sought-after films as well as TV shows, Hulu also has a wealth of groundbreaking, interesting, original content to dive into. After exploring every nook and cranny that Hulu has to offer in this generous 30-day trial, there are a wide range of subscription options to opt into, from $9.99 a month (with ads) all the way up to just over $100 a month – if you want to include live TV or premium add-ons such as Max, ESPN+, Disney+, Cinemax, Paramount+ with Showtime, Starz, and more.

It's worth noting that Disney now offers a bundle that combines Hulu, Disney+, and Max into a single streaming package. While that bundle does not have a free trial, it is arguably the best streaming deal available.

Hulu + Live TV Also Has a Free Trial

If you're looking for an OLED TV from a reputable brand name at a great price, then Best Buy has got a solid deal going on right now. The Sony Bravia XR A75L 4K OLED smart TVs are on sale right now with the 55" model priced at $999.99 and the 65" model for $1,299.99. These prices are lower than what we saw during Black Friday (the 65" model was $1499 at the time). Although the A75L is an older generation (2023) TV, it's still one of the best TVs out there in terms of image quality and gaming performance. Especially for the 55" model, you won't find a better TV for under $1,000.

55" Sony OLED 4K Smart TV for $999.99, 65" for $1,299.99

After a press tour that recently featured Jack Quaid looking progressively more beat up at a Clippers game, Novocaine has arrived in theaters. The R-rated action comedy stars Quaid as a man who feels no pain, so it's starting to seem like 'The Boys' veteran goes out of his way to get covered in fake blood.

In her review for IGN, critic Lena Wilson states that “Novocaine offers more depth than its gimmicky 'man who feels no pain' premise may lead you to believe," with "clever storytelling and character writing that reminds us of a time when seeing movies in theaters was just plain fun.”

If you're planning to catch Novocaine in theaters or want a sense of when the movie will be available to stream, check out the details below.

How to Watch Novocaine - Showtimes and Streaming Status

Novocaine just released in theaters. You can check for showtimes near you at the main theater links below:

• Fandango
• AMC Theaters
• Cinemark Theaters
• Regal Theaters

Novocaine Streaming Release Date

Novocaine will eventually stream on Paramount+ instead of Netflix or Hulu. Recent Paramount movies, like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Gladiator 2, arrived on the streaming service about three months after releasing in theaters. Assuming the new action comedy follows a similar release schedule, Novocaine will likely be streaming on Paramount+ by late June.

Stream Similar Movies:

What Is Novocaine About?

Novocaine is an original action comedy movie about a man who can't feel pain. Here’s the movie’s official synopsis:

Novocaine Cast and Crew

Novocaine was written by Lars Jacobson and directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen. The movie stars the following actors:

• Jack Quaid as Nathan "Novocaine" Caine
• Amber Midthunder as Sherry Margrave
• Ray Nicholson as Simon Greenly
• Jacob Batalon as Roscoe Dixon
• Betty Gabriel as Mincy Langston
• Matt Walsh as Coltraine Duffy
• Conrad Kemp as Andre Clark
• Evan Hengst as Ben Clark
• Craig Jackson as Nigel
• Lou Beatty Jr. as Earl

Novocaine Rating and Runtime

Novocaine is Rated R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, and language throughout. The movie runs for a total of one hour and 50 minutes.

One of my main frustrations with playing the Nintendo Switch in handheld mode is how uncomfortable it gets. The Joy-Con controllers that come with the Switch are great in a pinch, but they just weren't built for longer gaming sessions. I love the Nintendo Switch Pro controller for playing games on my TV, but whenever I play on the go I use the Nitro Deck.

I purchased my CRKD Nitro Deck during Prime Day last year when it dropped in price, but Amazon has just discounted the price on the white model even further. Right now, you can pick up this great Switch accessory for 24% off its normal price.

CRKD Nitro Deck Deal on Amazon

With all the trailers, showcases, and dev diaries that can lead up to a game’s launch nowadays, it’s harder than ever for one to be a real surprise – and that’s especially true of a multiplayer first-person shooter when, like me, you are a Certified Old Gamer™ who’s been playing them since the genre began. Yet FragPunk has done just that. What I worried might end up being a Valorant clone with a card gimmick and a big list of other buzzword features has instead impressed me with how fresh it all feels. That said, a messy mishmash of in-game currencies and rewards hurts the fun that can come from leveling up and chasing cosmetics.

In many ways, FragPunk reminds me of a reverse Ship of Theseus. If every component of a game came from somewhere else, does it eventually become something original? It’s hard to say, but the result here is quite amusing regardless. Like Overwatch, it has very distinct characters with big personalities and unique tools to match them. Like Valorant or Counter-Strike, the primary game mode, called Shard Clash, revolves around teams of five competing to plant or defuse a Converter (aka bomb) or eliminate one another across multiple rounds. And like Fortnite, it has a deep bag of cosmetic items like costumes, weapon skins, stickers, and emotes to entice you to spend some money on this otherwise free-to-play shooter.

FragPunk’s playable characters are called Lancers, and they are an entertaining group to choose from. Some are relatively typical archetypes, like a sniper named Hollowpoint and her abilities that help reveal enemies. Others are way out there, like the punk rocker Axon, who shoots lightning from his guitar. Unlike Valorant, where abilities can give you an edge but are rarely what win a fight, Fragpunk places a much bigger emphasis on using them to dominate the map, which I like. When abilities like Broker’s rocket launcher can instantly erase someone, it feels good to use it yourself or devise a counter on the fly as you see it coming, like throwing down a shield wall as Nitro to provide cover and then returning fire from a remote controlled combat drone.

Naturally, Fragpunk isn’t all lightning guitars and rockets. Your standard assortment of shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles, and more forms the backbone of combat. I don’t mind that the guns really aren’t the star of the show here, but I do wish there was more variety to choose from. There are two options in each category you can select as your primary weapon, and they all shoot pretty much exactly how you’d expect. But the gunplay is at least smooth and responsive, and the fast time-to-kill does a good job of emphasizing the importance of positioning over raw gun skill.

The other aspect of shooting that stands out is how little movement affects your aim. Unlike Valorant, where stopping and popping is often essential if you want to be accurate, Fragpunk fully embraces running and gunning. I found myself repeatedly lagging behind my squad in kill count until a teammate pointed out that I’m better off treating gunfights like Call of Duty with powers – advice that put me right at the top of the next match’s leaderboard. That style of shooting isn’t necessarily better or worse than the more deliberate action of other games, but it does stick out as atypical for an objective-based tactical shooter in a way that’s a perfect fit with the general FragPunk vibe.

The real star of the show is the Shard Card system. Before every round, each team has three random cards pulled that players can then put Shard Points into, effectively voting on which ones will be active. The costs of their effects vary, and you earn more Shard Points either by getting kills or picking them up off the ground mid-round. Some Shard Cards are simple, like one that increases your movement speed, while others are extremely powerful, like another that forces the next round to play out as a melee battle – or one called Big Heads, which (as advertised) gives the entire enemy team overgrown, easy-to-hit craniums. A few are even downright weird, like Egg King, which causes everyone to lay an egg after crouching for 10 seconds, which you can then eat to regain health. It’s hilarious, utterly bizarre, and unlike anything I’ve ever seen in a shooter before.

I’m surprised by how much I enjoy the card-collecting aspect of FragPunk. You start with access to less than a third of the 169 total Shard Cards that are currently available, and you can earn more after completing matches. Getting more matters, as the cards that are randomly selected before each round are based on what each team member has unlocked. It’s pretty exciting getting a new card and reading what weirdness it’s going to introduce. I also appreciate that you can easily see your collection, read the effect, and, in some cases, watch a quick video showing you exactly what it does.

Rounds of Shard Clash go by fast – possibly too fast. In theory, one team is trying to plant the Converter on one of two objective points, which the other team would then need to defuse… but in practice, the overwhelming majority of rounds end when one team wipes out the other, often in just a few minutes. That means that matches rarely have the same sort of strategic back and forth that makes hard-fought games of something like Valorant so engaging. It also means that Lancers with abilities that have more of a nuanced, tactical focus have seemed less viable overall. I’d love to hunker down with Nito’s turrets and drone to hold a point, but so far that’s just a recipe to have all the action happen elsewhere. Hopefully some balance tweaks will arrive to make the objectives a more relevant part of the action.

A match ends when one team wins four total rounds, but if both teams reach three wins before that happens, it activates one of my favorite twists: Duels. This has each team face off in a series of 1v1 fights in a small arena, and whoever survives sticks around to face the other team’s next champion until every member of one has been eliminated. Health and abilities don’t regenerate round to round, which makes it tough for one great player to run the table. The action is as exciting as it is tense, and spectating while you root on your teammate and wait for your own turn is thrilling, especially when you get the win that clinches the Duel and, by extension, the entire match for your team.

Ranked competition isn’t available until you reach level to 30, which can potentially take up to 10 hours. That’s a little on the long side, and I was pretty done with no-stakes matches well before I was able to start playing for rank. Shard Clash is the same in ranked, apart from the fact that you are now playing to six wins rather than four, but the random element of the Shard Cards might be a little too random in this context. It’s tough to be fighting with actual stakes and feel like bad draws are costing you wins. There’s an advanced version of Shard Clash you get access to once you reach Diamond rank that gives teams some control over selecting and banning cards to mitigate that, but I can’t help but feel like it should be the default for ranked competition across the board.

A few other modes add some variety, though none stand out. Simple Deathmatch is nice for shooting practice, and Duel Master is a similarly good gametype to train for those one-on-ones, though it not being the finale of a long match takes a lot of the drama out of it. Outbreak is the most interesting option: Like Halo’s Infection playlist, most players start with weapons while a few turn into Zombies, and everyone who is killed turns and starts hunting the survivors. Unfortunately the matches are much too long, and the mix of zombies with too much health and guns that slow them down tends to make fights frustrating for both sides.

Like so many free-to-play games, FragPunk relies on incentivising people to spend money on things like cosmetics as a source of revenue, rather than game sales. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that model, and it can even be a fun motivator if there are cool things to chase. Here, however, the cosmetic hunt suffers from a mixture of being too complex without having a lot of enticing options that make it feel worth investing in.

There are way too many different currencies. There is Gold, which you use to buy items and new Lancers, and there’s Glunite, which also buys items – those are both earned largely through playing matches and progressing along the battle pass. Then you can buy FragPunk Coins, which cost real money and are also used to unlock characters and items. If you buy into the premium version of the battle pass for 900 FragPunk Coins, which will cost you around $10USD, you’ll earn Battle Pass Tokens to spend on a different set of cosmetics. Meanwhile, playing ranked matches will get you Ranking Coins, which let you pick from an exclusive pool of weapon skins. That’s not to be confused with the Membership Pick, obviously, which you cash in for weapon skins from a different pool. And, of course, if you or create an in-game Club, you can get Club Supplies. These are all spent on basically the same types of things, but from separate catalogs, which creates unnecessary confusion with no benefit to you as a player.

It’s a mess, and that’s without including the additional currencies that will presumably rotate in and out for special events. It’s too scattered, and way too much to keep track of. It’s also hard to feel any interest in figuring it all out when most of the prizes aren’t very appealing. None of the additional skins stand out the way the best options in Marvel Rivels do, for example. Many of the things Gold (the currency you earn the most of) gets you are random pulls for small touches like gun stickers. The most valuable thing Gold can buy, the Lancers, are prohibitively expensive, resulting in a far too coercive push towards spending real money to buy new characters outright – when it took me 10 hours to unlock a single Lancer, that $10 price tag starts to look less like a suggestion.

Even the battle pass, a staple of games like this, misses the mark. There are very few rewards on the free tier of the 60-level pass, and they consist primarily of stickers, icons for your profile, and pop cans that give out random rewards. Paying for the premium tier gives you access to many more prizes, including several bland character and weapons skins… but there’s also an Ultimate level on top of that, which adds very little other than doubling a few of the random pull rewards, two weapon skins, and one Lancer skin. That seems absurd given the Ultimate Pass is more than double the cost of the premium version at a whopping 2500 FragPunk Coins, or around $25.