As part of its Memorial Day Sale which continues to run through this week, HP is offering a great deal on one of its 17" gaming laptops. Right now you can get an HP Omen 17" RTX 4070 gaming laptop for only $1199.99 with free shipping after you apply a 20% off coupon code "LEVELUP20" in cart. You don't need to pay an exorbitant sum for the latest and greatest Nvidia Blackwell GPU to get great gaming performance from a laptop. The RTX 4070 is a generation old, but it's still an excellent GPU that actually goes toe to toe with its RTX 5070 successor.

HP Omen 17 RTX 4070 Gaming Laptop for $1199.99

Have you won the battle to secure a Nintendo Switch 2 preorder? Well, now it's time to set your sights on the new Pro Controller, which is also available starting today. It's currently orderable via Target, Walmart, Gamestop, and Best Buy for $84.99 with a release date of June 5. Just like the Switch 2 console itself, we expect this item to become much harder to find and possibly more expensive if tariffs go back up, so this may very well be the best opportunity to secure one.

Preorder the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller

Even some of the best gaming headsets aren’t the best lookers – housing large audio drivers and packing in cutting edge features along with a big battery does take up space. But every now and then, we get a hybrid that balances the design principles of a pair of casual headphones while still delivering what you expect from a proper gaming headset; it’s one aspect that makes the Alienware Pro headset one of my current favorites. You can also include the HyperX Cloud Mix 2 in the conversation thanks to its smart, sleek design and solid sound quality – and if you need something that can do it all, and do it well, HyperX offers a great option here.

HyperX Cloud Mix 2 – Design and Comfort

When I took the Cloud Mix 2 out of the included hard case, I was a bit surprised at how understated it is as a gaming headset. It sports a fairly low profile with smaller earcups and a super lightweight design. It saves a significant amount of weight by mostly using plastic for its frame but still has aluminum forks and internal headband, so it still has some of the durability you see in HyperX’s other offerings. You can twist and contort the headset a reasonable amount, retaining some of the build quality from the likes of the Cloud III, and the swiveling earcups are a convenient touch considering the Cloud Mix 2’s multiple use-cases.

Despite the smaller footprint, the earcups still fit around my ears, although ever-so-slight. This is an over-the-ear headset after all, but if you have bigger ears, you may have some issues since there isn’t much room inside the earcups. However, the Cloud Mix 2 remained comfortable for long sessions thanks to the soft memory foam earpads and the relatively light clamp force. One minor thing to note is that since the circumference of the earpads is smaller, it puts some pressure on areas around my ears that are a bit more susceptible to pain, but thankfully it wasn’t too much of an issue after adjusting the headset periodically.

Other than the low-key HyperX logo on each earcup, you aren’t going to see extravagant branding or RGB lighting on the Cloud Mix 2, which further helps the headset be used like normal headphones. Each earcup has a tab you can pop out and presumably customize yourself, but there’s also a little slot inside the left earcup to store the 2.4GHz wireless dongle if you take this headset on the go. While you get USB-C and 3.5mm cables in the box, there’s also an extension hub for the 2.4GHz USB-C dongle to help keep the signal clear in more complex or spread-out PC and console setups.

As for controls, the onboard button layout is a bit messy and took some time to get used to. On the right side, you’ll find the noise control button that cycles through active noise cancellation, transparency/ambient mode, and standard listening. Next to it are the connectivity button, which is a little hard to distinguish since there isn’t really a tactile difference, and then the volume wheel. On the left side is the power button, microphone mute toggle, 3.5mm audio jack for wired use, and the USB-C port. You may be wondering where the microphone is – well, there is no boom mic and is actually built into the headset itself, similar to Sony’s Pulse headsets for PS5; again, this helps maintain a slim profile without sacrificing features.

HyperX Cloud Mix 2 – Software and Battery Life

Since there isn’t any RGB lighting or fancy features, there isn’t much to customize with the Cloud Mix 2 outside of a handful of EQ presets built into the HyperX Ngenuity software. Here, you can also toggle the noise control settings (ANC or transparency mode) and set the volume and microphone gain. Downloading a whole software suite for just those things is a rather minor inconvenience, and I wish I could cycle EQ presets on the headset itself to save myself from having to pull up the software.

Monitoring battery life through the Ngenuity software is the way you’d keep tabs on the headset’s charge, but didn’t need to check very often thanks to its impressive capacity. Without any noise control from a full charge, the Cloud Mix 2 is said to last around 70 hours on 2.4GHz connectivity and 110 hours via Bluetooth. What’s better is that it maintains around 50 hours and 70 hours, respectively, with ANC on, which puts it above my current headset-heaphones hybrid in the Alienware Pro. I used the Cloud Mix 2 for about 10 hours a day for five days, bouncing between noise control modes and only got to the low battery notification on the fifth day – I’d say battery life is a big win here.

HyperX Cloud Mix 2 – Performance

Solid comfort, some smart design decisions, and superb battery life are all well and good, but how does the Cloud Mix 2 sound? Pretty damn good, all things considered. It uses 40mm drivers, which are fairly standard for gaming headsets to pack a decent punch, and they’re tuned to create a great balance across all frequencies and without much distortion at high volumes. That said, it has a somewhat flat audio profile, which isn’t inherently bad, it’s just that the finer details in the sound experience tend to blend with others rather than jump out at you in pronounced ways.

The Bass Boost EQ preset in the Ngenuity software helped it uplift the low-end a bit more without drowning out the other frequencies. I found the other EQ presets to be too compromising in some way, either with the Gaming setting sounding a little too tinny and the Music setting sounding slightly muffled. I wish I could tune it myself in the software because it seems there’s untapped potential here, but what’s here performs just fine.

I liked jumping across music genres, from bass-heavy hip-hop to synth-laden J-Pop, to hear how the Cloud Mix 2 held up and loved how full the headset sounded despite its more compact build. It didn’t feel like the slim design came at the expense of the part that really matters: sound quality – especially considering the natural noise isolation is fantastic. And when it comes to ANC itself, I was genuinely impressed. While I’d give the slight edge in straight-up sound quality to the Alienware Pro, the Cloud Mix 2’s ANC is just a tier above in blocking out your surroundings.

Looking to upgrade your keyboard, too?

If your day involves spending hours at a desk, having a great chair may be more important than you realize. Office chairs come in a range of styles and price points, but the very best allow you to sit in comfort with proper support to ensure that when your day is done, you can go on with your day pain-free. But with so many to choose from, nearly all offering an end to back pain, how do you choose which brands are being truthful and which simply hope to make a sale?

That’s where I come in. Whether you’re looking something to elevate your workday or to play games all weekend without paying for it on Monday, I have the best picks to enhance your comfort, decrease neck and back pain, and protect your health.

TL;DR – These Are the Best Office Chairs:

A great chair is determined by many factors, from features to materials to even subtle contours and seemingly small adjustments. For breathability, mesh chairs are a great choice, followed by those with fabric upholstery. For easy cleaning and that luxury touch, a chair with leather might be a better fit.

No matter what you choose, if you're going to be sitting for more than an hour or two at a time, you should always look for visible lumbar or pelvic support, whether that's with an individual piece such as a Dynamic Variable Lumbar (DVL) or just a noticeable contour that aligns with the spine.

Adjustability is also important to make sure that it can be tailored for your specific body.

How to Choose the Right Office Chair

"If it fits, I sits" might be a great motto for a cat, but it doesn't work for human beings. If you're on the hunt for your next office chair upgrade, these are the factors you should consider, in order of importance:

Price

The first thing you need to decide upon is the budget you're willing to allow for your new chair. It's possible to get a basic computer chair for well under $100, but it's also true that you get what you pay for.

These very low-cost chairs often feature thin padding and construction that's not made to last. Fake leather will begin to crack and peel, and fabric will pill, fray, and tear – often sooner than later when you cut corners on a piece of furniture you'll be using regularly every day.

If you don't mind replacing the chair every year or two, this might not matter. However, if you're looking for something that will last years into the future and offer you proper support so you can go on with your day pain free, you should plan on spending $200 to $300 at minimum.

The very best chairs often cost hundreds of dollars, if not a bit over $1,000. These chairs are robustly made, are usually very ergonomic and adjustable, and frequently feature warranties of at least a decade.

No matter where you fall, you should consider your chair an investment. If you'll be using it for work, it can enhance your productivity by improving your focus and concentration. But even more important than that, it's an investment in your quality of life and long-term health, and that's worth paying for. I advise taking the upfront cost and dividing that by the warranty term to determine your true per-year cost, and deciding if it's worthwhile based upon that.

Size (including the backrest) and Capacity

The next thing to consider is the size of the chair you need. While it might seem strange to look to size before ergonomics, my experience tells me that this can be one of the most important factors in the whole decision-making process.

Do you want a high-back chair with a headrest, or a more traditional office chair that goes up to your mid-back? Do you need it to hold 500lbs, or would 250 be enough?

These factors are important in determining the type of chair that would be a fit for you, but don't stress over it: There are ergonomic options in every style.

Ergonomics and Adjustability

Finally, we come to ergonomics but make no mistake: While the previous considerations pointed you in the right direction for the market you'll be shopping in, ergonomics and adjustability can be the key deciding factor.

In my experience, just about every brand says it offers fantastic support. This is not always true. Pay close attention to the backrest, and particularly the lower back, to see if there is an outward contour or an adjustment option to support your lumbar region (some chairs have an internal mechanism you'll need to adjust with a knob or lever).

Likewise, look for the ability to raise or lower this support or the backrest entirely, because our backs and bodies come in different sizes – we don't all need the lumbar support in the exact same place. Often, you can find a middle ground if it's not vertically adjustable due to the size of the contour. In general, you want as much adjustment in this area as possible.

Other ergonomic features and adjustments to look out for include:

Height: Your chair should be tall enough to comfortably use your keyboard with your knees at a 90-degree angle.

Tilt, Angle Lock, and Tilt Tension: Office chairs usually approach tilting differently than gaming chairs. It's not common to see a lever that allows the backrest itself to recline, as is typical in racing seats. Instead, the backrest, or even the whole chair, will tilt within a defined range.

Many chairs have a knob or lever that locks the chair at a certain angle that you find comfortable. This can be useful if you like to put your feet up or prefer “zero-gravity” seating. Some chairs allow you to lock the chair at any angle while others have set steps.

More important than angle locking, in my opinion, is the ability to adjust the tension of the chair's movement. This is how much resistance you feel when rocking backward. Too much resistance will make you feel like the chair is pushing you forward, while too little will make you feel like you're falling backward.

Often, tilt tension is adjusted using a knob to precisely dial in the proper amount of resistance. Ideally, you want your chair to move freely with your body and to hold its position when leaning back without fighting you or making you feel unsupported. Beware chairs that do not allow for any adjustments to tilt tension.

Cushions and Seat Depth: This can be a bit harder to get a read on, but the best office chairs have contoured cushions that are thick enough to prevent you from feeling the frame without looking bulky.

For the seat, look for chairs with a waterfall edge to promote proper blood circulation to your legs. Some chairs feature seat depth sliders to help ensure you have two to three fingers of space between the back of your knee and the seat cushion. This is ideal, but if not, that waterfall edge will be even more important.

Armrests: The final major design consideration is the type of armrests the chair uses and their adjustability. Try to avoid stationary armrests if possible. At minimum, look for a chair that has height-adjustable armrests, but multi-directional or 4D (height, width, angle, and depth) adjustments are ideal. Also take note of the material used on top. Chairs that use plastic or very firm foam on the armrests can easily cause elbow pain over time.

In this guide, note that there is no best leather option. That’s because most of the best office chairs offer customization options that include leather upholstery, so that particular option is embedded into all but two of my picks (Best Budget and Best Mesh are excluded).

1. Anthros Chair

Best Office Chair

The Anthros chair is one of my favorite chairs of 2025, and maybe all time. Since my review, the longer I've spent with it, the more I've come to appreciate its pelvis-first approach to comfort and support. It’s so effective that every time I’ve had to switch out to review another chair, I’ve immediately noticed the impact on my back and couldn’t wait to switch back. It’s a chair that needs to grow on you but is genuinely hard to go back from.

The key to the Anthros chair's magic is that it splits its backrest into pelvic and upper back supports that are each individually adjustable. The lower back/pelvis support aligns your spine into the proper position. The upper backrest is then adjusted outward to support you in a comfortable yet properly postured seating position without needing to think about it. This chair ensures that your body is aligned for your long-term health and comfort.

Its backrest is supported by a wide, highly contoured seat that cradles you in its center. Two cutouts under your bottom are invisible from the outside but reduce pressure on your body, enhancing its ergonomics. The width of its seat is also acommodating to the occasional leg tuck or “criss-cross apple-sauce" when you need a change of pace. The overall design ensures, as long as you’re sitting back, your spine will remain aligned, and you won’t need to worry about stiffness or soreness the next day.

Its two-part backrest also lends a unique look that at first appears a bit alien but is all the better for its uniqueness.

The chair comes in fabric or leather upholsteries. I've tried both and found they each have their unique appeal. The leather is supple and luxurious, while the fabric is soft and pleasant to touch while also being more breathable. The rear of the chair also features panels that can be removed and changed if you're looking for a change of pace. Natural wood tones are available for an elegant aesthetic, but there are also ESL-themed plates as well as some cybernetic variants if you're looking for something a little more fitting for a gaming setup.

It's also worth highlighting that Anthros was born from a team of wheelchair developers that saw a lack in the ergonomic seating industry when it comes to real biomechanics. In fact, there are practicing physical therapists on the team and have ensured that the mechanics of the chair align with the mechanics of the human body. This is where the pelvic support system was born, and it's always worth appreciating when real health science works to improve consumer products such as this.

Like most high-end chairs, it doesn't come cheap. But with a 12-year warranty, it's an investment that is well worth considering. Broken down over that time becomes far more reasonable when you consider the enhancement to your day and health.

2. Sihoo M18 Ergonomic Office Chair

Best Budget Office Chair

3. Haworth Fern Ergonomic Office Chair

Best High-Back Office Chair

4. Steelcase Amia Ergonomic Task Chair

Best Fabric Office Chair

Steelcase has been making top-tier office furniture for more than, no joke, 100 years. The Amia has been a highly recommended choice since its introduction in 2010. Though it looks simple, it's exceptionally comfortable and promises to enhance the quality of your workday or long hours slaying enemies at your PC.

The big takeaway from my review earlier this year is that the Amia is a sleeper. Its mid-back fabric at first looks like any other office chair, but turn it around and you'll find an elegantly enclosed back, and you may even notice that it's more contoured than typical office chairs. Sit in it, and you'll find that its back support is simply leagues above the standard employer-issued seating most of us have grown used to.

Condensing that review down to just a few words: This chair is crazy comfortable. If it had a headrest or high-back version, it might just be my top pick on this list. The seat is deep and wide enough to accommodate a range of users and sitting styles. The backrest has a way of filling in all the nooks and crannies of your body's natural curvature, so you always feel supported.

While I wish it had a headrest or a taller version, this is mainly because I prefer to lean back and put my feet up when it's time to play a game with a controller. For normal work use, where you'll be sitting upright and typing at a keyboard, or gaming where you'll be doing the same, I didn't much miss its absence.

One thing I did miss, however, is any kind of angle lock. This chair allows you to adjust recline tension, but the only position it can be locked in is upright. Zero gravity seating just isn't an option with this chair.

Even so, it's well worth considering, especially if you're not ready to shell out over $1,000 for other options within Steelcase's lineup or other brands competing in the same space.

5. Hinomi H1 Pro Ergonomic Chair with Footrest

Best Mesh Office Chair

“A chair is a chair.” We've all heard a similar sentiment at some point in time, and though it's clearly an oversimplification (and flat out untrue), seats like the Hinomi H1 Pro absolutely blow this misconception out of the water.

Before testing it for myself, the company had already managed to catch my eye through its viral marketing campaigns – maybe it's because Facebook knew I was a guitar player, but I was well aware of its foldaway armrests well before I knew anything else about the chair or if it was even worth paying attention to. But it caught my attention, and I'm glad it did.

The H1 Pro is a full mesh chair designed to provide options and space savings in a way that virtually everything else simply does not. For example, when it comes to ergonomic adjustments, it offers just about everything you could ask for and more. The lumbar is adjustable to match your body, the seat depth shifted in and out, there's an angle and height adjustable headrest, tilt tension, tilt locking – all of these features are present and accounted for. At just over $600, you would expect as much. Though as I've monitored its pricing, it can often be found for closer to $550 if you keep an eye out for a sale.

But this is where things get interesting. You may have heard of 4D armrests, but have you heard of 5D? That's what the Hinomi H1 Pro offers. In addition to the typical height, depth, width, and angle adjustments, these armrests can also be moved up and entirely out of the way on their rotating arms. This is perfect if you are doing something where armrests might get in the way, such as playing guitar, or if you just prefer the freedom of not having a pair of arms surrounding you.

That's not the only fold-away part of the chair, however. Beneath the seat is a hidden footrest that slides out on a pair of bracketed arms and then folds outwards for added length and improved usability. It's padded and more comfortable than most other embedded footrests I've tested. Case in point: I actually used it when most others just get tucked away and forgotten after testing. When it’s not in use, it tucks completely away.

But that's not all. The H1 Pro's biggest party trick might be its most important if you live or work in a small space. When not in use, the backrest is able to fold completely down, allowing the chair to slide away underneath a desk. I found this especially useful in my office, which is always space constrained with boxes and products awaiting testing. It's a feature I wish more chairs had and is an absolute asset of the H1 Pro.

6. Steelcase Gesture Ergonomic Office Chair

Most Comfortable Office Chair

Office Chair FAQs

Why are office chairs so expensive?

Office chairs come at many different price points, but it's true that some of the most well-known and highly recommended are very expensive. Brands such as Herman Miller, Steelcase, and Haworth will all set you back hundreds of dollars, if not well over $1,000+ for the top models.

Here’s why:

1. These major brands often invest significantly in research and development and utilize large teams of product designers, ergonomic experts, and medical practitioners to come up with their designs. They also go through rigorous product testing to achieve industry certifications for durability, longevity, and safety. All of this costs money that is then passed on to you, the consumer.
2. Perhaps because of the above, the very best office chairs (and the most expensive) often offer levels of ergonomic support, adjustability, comfort, and, importantly, style that lower-cost options may neglect. A chair like the Steelcase Gesture, for example, offers tons of adjustments on top of an already-comfortable ergonomic design. Its armrests are the best and most adjustable in the business, and it’s also one of the best-looking chairs you can buy – even now, more than a decade after its release.
3. Many of these brands are targeting the luxury and business markets. Realistically, you do not need to spend $1,000 to get a great chair. However, if you are outfitting an office or using a budget supplied by your employer, choosing one of these top-tier brands is a great way to improve your day while also promoting health, safety, and ergonomics.
4. Finally, these very high-end options tend to be made to last many years into the future. While you will always find cases of every product failing, the biggest manufacturers typically offer warranties of 10 to 12 years, ensuring that if anything breaks or wears down too quickly, you can have it replaced at little or no cost. In contrast, the average gaming chair, if you're lucky, might offer a five-year warranty. Many will only provide a single year with limited scope.

Are office chairs good for gaming?

They definitely can be! Gaming chairs tend to be defined by their style and sometimes extra features like built-in cup holders, massage functionality, and footrests. Office chairs may lack these things, but they can still be quite comfortable.

In fact, due to the improved support on the very best options, they can even be a better fit than many gaming chairs when it comes to long-term comfort. You'll usually trade some style points for those benefits, but if you can get up without feeling sore or having trouble sleeping that night, it can be worthwhile.

What is the best brand of office chair?

Like most products, there really is no best brand when it comes to office chairs, though there are better-known brands, which can be important. Steelcase, Herman Miller, Secretlab, Anthros... all of these brands have earned their name recognition through quality products and support. The each also have a particular style and visual identity, and the same can be said for most of the best office chair brands.

When shopping, I recommend avoiding locking yourself into a single brand unless you are absolutely in love with its style or a particular staple feature. Instead, begin with what you need from a chair, collect a range of options that meet those needs and your personal sense of style, and then look to reviews and product demonstrations to find the best blend of features, comfort, support, and durability.

Christopher Coke has been a regular contributor to IGN since 2019 and has been covering games and technology since 2013. He has covered tech ranging from gaming controllers to graphics cards, gaming chairs and gaming monitors, headphones, IEMs, and more for sites such as MMORPG.com, Tom’s Hardware, Popular Science, USA Today’s Reviewed, and Popular Mechanics. Find Chris on Twitter @gamebynight.

Indie publisher tinyBuild had their second annual tinyBuild Connect showcase today. IGN streamed the Connect live, and the showcase was packed with reveals of new games and release date announcements. Best of all, you can try almost all of the new games shown today via a playtest or demo — either now, or very soon. If you weren’t able to watch it live or just want a rundown of everything that was shown, we’ve got you covered. Here’s everything we saw during the show:

Ferocious Is a Survival FPS with Dinosaurs You Can Team Up With

The showcase opened with a brand-new look at Ferocious, where dinosaurs, mercs, and mechs clash in a lush but lethal survival FPS. The trailer teased the ability to tame apex predators and flip the food chain in your favor. The Steam playtest is live now, so it’s time to find out if you can survive the island’s deadly welcome.

New Sand Trailer Shows More Desert FPS Action

New footage rolled out featuring hulking, customizable “Trampler” walkers stomping across sun-scorched dunes, frantic PvP action, and a confirmation that the extraction shooter will be coming to consoles later this year. A fresh playtest is also on the horizon, so get your squad together and see if you’ve got what it takes to rule the sands.

Trainfort Is a Co-op Survival Game with Guns and Steam Engines

The world-premiere trailer introduced Trainfort, a co-op survival crafting game where roving dwarf nomads build and drive a steam-powered fortress across a procedurally generated wasteland. The developers are promising that a tactile first-person hand-control system will make every action from chopping trees to assembling your mobile base feel grounded and physical. The playtest for Trainfort also went live right after the show.

Hozy Is a Cozy Living Spaces Restoration Game

Hozy invites players to restore a forgotten neighborhood, one cozy room at a time. Revealed for the first time during the showcase, the debut trailer showed players scrubbing grime, slapping on fresh coats of pastel paint, and dialing in lighting to turn derelict rooms into homey sanctuaries. Hozy also dropped a public Steam playtest right after the show, so you can already get a taste for its fixer-upper gameplay.

All Will Fall Lets You Build a City That Can Collapse at Any Time

Physics-based construction meets post-apocalyptic survival in this vertical city builder where every ramshackle tower can topple like Jenga. The team confirmed an open beta for Steam Next Fest on June 9, giving players a chance to stack homes sky-high — or watch them spectacularly crumble. All Will Fall has a demo available on Steam right now.

Roguelite Kingdom Builder The King Is Watching Launches This July

CarbotAnimations’ tongue-in-cheek trailer revealed a July release window for this unique strategy title, where peasants only work under your royal gaze. Each run tasks you with juggling production, training armies, and adapting to unpredictable events. The playable demo is still available on Steam for those eager to test their royal authority.

Of Ash and Steel Shows Off Its Gothic-Coded Fantasy Open World

A sweeping world overview trailer showcased sun-bleached fortresses, misty marshlands, and brutal third-person combat that rewards stance-switching finesse. Playtest sign-ups went live alongside the trailer, inviting would-be island wanderers to chart their own, marker-free adventures.

Streets of Rogue 2 Gets a New Gameplay Trailer Where Everything Goes Wrong

A new trailer proved that everything can go wrong at any moment with this anything-goes sandbox, capping the segment with a confirmation that it hits Steam Early Access in 2025. From hijacking tractors to accident-prone heists, chaos is king in Streets of Rogue 2, and you can check out its demo on Steam right now.

Voin Unveils Its Next Major Update Called “Permafrost”

A new, action-packed devlog unveiled the upcoming “Permafrost” update, promising new frosted realms to carve through and fresh gear to master in this hack-and-slash created by a solo developer. Judging by the slicing, dashing footage, the chill won’t slow the carnage one bit. You can grab Voin with a limited-time discount during tinyBuild’s publisher sale on Steam.

SpeedRunners 2 Unveils a 64-Player Tournament Mode and Cutthroat Racing Gameplay

The cult-classic competitive platformer is turbo-charging into the new era. The latest trailer confirmed a massive 64-player tournament mode and showed more cutthroat racing gameplay across some new maps. A Steam playtest will launch this summer, and sign-ups are open now. SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed will launch on PC in 2025, with the console release to follow in 2026.

Duckside Brings Hat-Wearing, Gun-Wielding Duck Extravaganza to Consoles This August

The new trailer dove onto the screen, confirming that Duckside lands on consoles this August and showing off full-flight PvP mayhem, complete with crafting, base building, hat-wearing ducks, and of course, quack-tical base raids. The game is on sale with a limited-time discount on Steam.

Drill Core 1.0 Releases July 17, Nintendo Switch Version Coming Later This Year

Become a true Corporate Mining manager in this strategy roguelite builder game. Whether you prioritize profits or workers' safety is up to you! The devs locked in a 1.0 launch for July 17 and surprised Switch owners with a port arriving later this year, but you can hop into the Early Access right now, as Drill Core is currently on sale on Steam.

Hello Neighbor 3 Drops a New Playable Prototype

Hello Neighbor franchise creator Nikita Kolesnikov popped up in a devlog to give a first look at the eerie living sandbox town of Raven Brooks, where every NPC has its own agenda. Prototype 2 shadow-dropped during the show, so the curious (or the brave) can sneak in and test the new systems right now.

Medieval Shooter/RTS Hybrid Kingmakers Sets Early Access Release Date for October 8

Medieval England never looked so doomed: a frenetic new trailer for the shooter/RTS hybrid finally showed off four-player co-op, with assault rifles mowing through armored knights before revealing an October 8 Early Access launch on Steam and Epic Games Store. Time-travel paradoxes be damned — Kingmakers is ready to bring an attack chopper to a sword fight.

It looks like some folks have gotten their hands on a Nintendo Switch 2 console early, despite Nintendo's best efforts. But unfortunately for leak-enjoyers, not only is it unusable without a day-one patch, but also the video was copyright struck almost immediately.

This comes from an eight-second YouTube video, viewed by IGN but now struck over a copyright claim, from user Ali Almarzooqi, which showed what convincingly seemed to be a Nintendo Switch 2 box being opened to reveal the console inside, wrapped in plastic. That's it. Just the hardware in a box.

If it's not real, it's a convincing fake, and the speedy copyright claim from anti-piracy firm Web Capio suggests it's likely real. But per the poster, they won't be able to confirm its legitimacy until June 5, copyright or not, as it allegedly needs a launch day update to work:

"Nintendo locked the switch 2 it needs update to function so I am waiting for June 5th to unlock it" https://t.co/vNT0AHHX3F pic.twitter.com/gNwJL8JhPT

— Wario64 (@Wario64) May 27, 2025

Popular deals poster Wario64 followed up on the above post by saying a second person had gotten in touch to show photos of a Nintendo Switch 2 in their possession, but who also received a message when they tried to boot a Switch 1 game: "Please connect to the internet and update your system."

It is of course entirely possible that these are elaborate fakes, though their veracity may soon be confirmed if either Switch 2 owner does a full unboxing or shows the system message telling them to update. In that case, videos like these will seemingly be the only early look we get at Nintendo's new console.

Until June 5, then, we're reliant on the steady trickle of information from Nintendo directly to piece together the entire Nintendo Switch 2 experience. So far, we've played Mario Kart World on the system, and more recently we've gotten all sorts of new bits of info like free performance upgrades for Switch 1 games, variable refresh rate support stipulations, and more details about GameChat, which will require your phone number for verification in order to work. Though pre-orders flew off the digital shelves when they dropped last month, Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser reassures that Nintendo will have enough systems to meet demand through the holidays.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Square Enix and Disney announced Kingdom Hearts 4 at the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary event in 2022, giving us a fresh new look at Sora and what he’s been up to after he left his friends for a solo adventure at the end of Kingdom Hearts 3. To no one’s surprise, there haven’t been many updates for the sequel since it was announced, but a recent spread of screenshots affirmed the game's continued development.

To further ease our impatience for Kingdom Hearts 4, Square Enix brought the entire Kingdom Hearts series to Steam on June 13, 2024. Well, almost the entire series, including Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, Kingdom Hearts III + Re Mind DLC, and Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece — the latter of which is a bundle that released on the Nintendo Switch in cloud streaming form in 2021.

While we wait for more updates and a potential release date for Kingdom Hearts 4, we’re giving you a list of Kingdom Hearts games to play in chronological order. As convoluted as the series’ plot may be, this list should give you a clear perspective on the history of the Kingdom Hearts world, how Sora was set up to be the Keyblade’s chosen one, and how Master Xehanort keeps trying to plunge the world into darkness, hence the name of the series’ first arc: the Dark Seeker Saga.

Jump to:

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

How Many Kingdom Hearts Games Are There?

The Kingdom Hearts series includes 13 games across multiple platforms, including the PSP and Game Boy Advance. There will also be a new game in the mainline series, which was officially announced in April 2022.

What Kingdom Hearts Game Should I Play First?

If you are new to the Kingdom Hearts series, we highly recommend starting off with Kingdom Hearts 2. When you play as Roxas in the beginning of the game, you get flashbacks of the most important scenes from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories to get you up to speed on the story of the series thus far, and give insight on how Sora and Roxas are connected in the first place.

The gameplay in Kingdom Hearts 2 is also more straightforward than Kingdom Hearts, and you don’t have to play through every Gummi Ship mission more than once even when you revisit worlds. Thank us later.

How to Play Kingdom Hearts Games in Chronological Order

Kingdom Hearts χ / Unchained χ / Union χ

Apologies for grouping all the titles in one section, but Kingdom Hearts χ [chi], initially a Japan-exclusive title for PC, had been subsequently rebranded into Unchained χ and Union χ [Cross] for mobile users worldwide during the eight years it was running online. The χ refers to the χ-blade, a coveted weapon designed by two Keyblades in an “X” shape capable of unlocking Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts Union χ is set hundreds of years before the series' events, in an era leading up to the Keyblade War. You control a newly minted Keyblade wielder in the 2D world of Daybreak Town who joins one of five factions and works to ensure its supremacy over the other four as they fight over the finite light available to the world. Union χ occurs shortly after Unchained χ, but in an alternate data world where the player relives the past to forget the Keyblade War. The game shut down in May 2021, but you can still watch cutscenes of it online. If gacha games are not your style, you can watch HD cutscenes of the events in the cinematic Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, which is included in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue.

Kingdom Hearts Dark Road

As the title suggests, Kingdom Hearts Dark Road is the origin story of villain Master Xehanort set 70 years before the events of Birth by Sleep. As a young man, Xehanort is taken from Destiny Islands to Scala ad Caelum to train alongside Master Eraqus to become a Keyblade wielder and is tasked by Master Odin to search for the Lost Masters, triggering a chain of events that leads him to become the Seeker of Darkness.

Dark Road employed the same 2D graphics present in Kingdom Hearts χ and its subsequent rebranded titles, which aren’t very impressive, but the game still contained details integral to the entire series. You may not be able to play the game, but you can still watch cutscenes on YouTube to get the full scope.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Set 10 years before the events of Kingdom Hearts, Birth by Sleep is told from the vantage points of Ventus, Terra, and Aqua — all Keyblade Apprentices of Master Eraqus living in the Land of Departure. Shortly after Aqua and Terra finish their Mark of Mastery exam, with the former passing and obtaining the title of Keyblade Master and the latter failing for not keeping his darkness in check, the trio go on separate journeys to find Master Xehanort, who disappeared without a trace, and defeat the Unversed, creatures created by Xehanort’s apprentice Vanitas to attack other worlds.

Birth by Sleep dives into the origin of Sora and Master Xehanort, as Ventus had part of his heart patched up by a piece of Sora’s heart. Xehanort, meanwhile, created Vanitas from the darkness he purged from Ventus’ heart, which Xehanort deemed too frail for him to use as a vessel to forge the χ-blade, forcing him to go after Terra instead. It also explores how Sora and Riku could wield the Keyblade in the first place, as Terra bestowed the power of the Keyblade to Riku, while Aqua sensed strong ties with Sora and Riku to Ventus and Terra, respectively.

Read our review of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.

Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep — A Fragmentary Passage

Although it’s safe to place A Fragmentary Passage (included in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue) before the first Kingdom Hearts game, it acts as an epilogue to Birth by Sleep and a prologue to Kingdom Hearts 3. However, the story for this game begins shortly after the events of Dream Drop Distance because King Mickey tells the story of how he came across Aqua in the Realm of Darkness to Riku, Kairi, and Master Yen Sid.

After sacrificing herself to save Terra from the Realm of Darkness at the end of Birth by Sleep, Aqua has been wandering in darkness for 10 years, trying to find a way back to the Realm of Light. She visits the dark versions of Castle of Dreams, Dwarf Woodlands, and Enchanted Dominion to battle hordes of Heartless that form into Demon Towers, fight apparitions of Ventus and Terra, and save Terra’s heart. Meanwhile, Mickey went to the Realm of Darkness to save Riku. When he meets Aqua after using her lost Wayfinder to find her, he tells her 10 years have passed since they last met and proceeds to Destiny Islands after fighting another Demon Tower. There, the door to Kingdom Hearts is spotted, and Mickey helps Sora and Riku seal it shut, leaving Aqua to dwell in the Realm of Darkness once more.

Kingdom Hearts

In the very first entry of the series, Sora sets out on a journey with Donald and Goofy to reunite with Riku and Kairi after the Heartless destroy Destiny Islands and plunge the world into darkness. Along the way, he travels to different worlds aboard the Gummi Ship, meets various Disney and Final Fantasy characters, and helps defend their world from the Heartless by sealing Keyholes. Meanwhile, Maleficent leads a group of her fellow Disney villains to seek out the seven Princesses of Heart to unlock the last keyhole leading to Kingdom Hearts, and she employs Riku.

By the time Sora reaches Hollow Bastion, Kairi’s body is found with her heart missing as it was transferred to Sora’s body during the apocalypse at Destiny Islands; Riku becomes possessed by Ansem, who was manipulating Maleficent to open Kingdom Hearts; and Kairi is revealed to be the Princess of Heart, hence the heart transfer from her to Sora, who then frees Kairi’s heart after impaling himself with Ansem’s Keyblade, turning into a Heartless in the process. Kairi manages to turn Sora back to human form by recognizing his Heartless and embracing him, and from there Sora defeats Ansem and seals the door to Kingdom Hearts with help from Riku and Mickey from the other side.

Read our review of Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

While searching for Riku and Mickey after sealing the door to Kingdom Hearts, Sora, Donald, and Goofy visit Castle Oblivion, causing them to lose their memories upon entry. They’re told by Marluxia, the lord of the castle who is revealed to be a member of Organization XIII, that the deeper they go into the castle, the more memories they’ll lose, but they'll uncover new ones in the process. The group is given a deck of cards called “world cards” based on Sora’s memories, and they meet memory versions of the characters they met in the previous game and fight a few members of the Organization aside from Marluxia — Axel, Larxene, and Vexen — as they progress through each floor of the castle. Meanwhile, Riku is going through the basement levels of the castle, wrestling with the darkness inside him and Ansem’s attempts to control him while fighting two other members of Organization XIII: Lexaeus and Zexion.

Aside from the cards being decried as an ineffective battle system, Chain of Memories introduced new characters that became essential players in the Kingdom Hearts series, such as Naminé, whom Sora gradually remembered as being an old friend only to find out later she was manipulating Sora’s memories of Kairi by replacing them with fake ones of herself under Marluxia’s orders. After Sora fights Marluxia for his life and Naminé’s freedom, Naminé places him and his companions to sleep in pod-like machines to help them regain the memories they lost.

Read our review of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days

358/2 Days is set during the events of Chain of Memories. It explores the birth of Roxas as Sora’s Nobody when Sora turned into a Heartless during Kingdom Hearts, his daily life as the 13th member of Organization XIII, and his friendship with Axel and Xion, who mysteriously arrived as the 14th member.

As time progresses and their bond deepens, it is revealed that Xion is an artificial replica created after Sora’s memories of Kairi as a fail-safe if Sora and Roxas are proven to be useless for the Organization to achieve their goal of summoning Kingdom Hearts and becoming whole, all the while delaying Sora’s memory restoration process by absorbing them. This discovery causes Roxas to defect from Organization XIII to find himself, and later Xion, who fights to merge with him to become whole, stopping Sora from waking up. Ultimately, Roxas defeats Xion, who disintegrates into light with all the memories she absorbed returning to Sora.

Fun fact, but not precisely fun: 358/2 was dedicated to the memory of Wayne Allwine, the voice actor for Mickey Mouse, who died 12 days before the game’s release in Japan in May 2009.

Read our review of Kingdom Hearts 358/2.

Kingdom Hearts 2

The game begins in Twilight Town, where Roxas enjoys his summer vacation with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, having no memories of his time with Organization XIII nor Axel, who remembers him during their encounters while waking up with dreams of Sora, who had been asleep for a year at that point. Once Sora wakes up along with Donald and Goofy after Roxas merges with him, they set out to once again protect the worlds from the Heartless and visit new ones to stop Organization XIII from creating another Kingdom Hearts that would give the Nobodies their hearts back.

As Sora and the gang explore the concept of the heart even further, they learn that the Ansem they fought was Xehanort’s Heartless; Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII, is Xehanort’s Nobody; and that Xehanort was an apprentice of the real Ansem, named Ansem the Wise, the sage-king of Radiant Garden (renamed Hollow Bastion and then Radiant Garden again) who studied the heart alongside Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, Ienzo (human versions of Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion, respectively) to protect his people from darkness before he was exiled to the Realm of Darkness for corrupting them with the same darkness and taking on the new identity DiZ (Darkness in Zero). Even more shocking, they learn Roxas and Naminé are the Nobodies of Sora and Kairi, respectively.

Read our review of Kingdom Hearts 2.

Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded

Initially released as an episodic mobile game called “Coded” in Japan, Re:coded centers on King Mickey and a digital version of Sora as they work to repair Jiminy Cricket’s journal, which chronicles the real Sora’s adventures fighting the Heartless and Organization XIII, after it got corrupted. It was being digitized to analyze a secret message Jiminy did not write: “Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it” (originally written as “We must return to free them from their torment” in Coded). In the dataspace, Data-Sora and Mickey fight the bugs, who take the form of red-and-black blocks and Heartless, and work to decipher the message's meaning.

Square Enix originally released eight parts of Coded and a preview to Japanese mobile users from June 2009 to January 2010, making it run almost like a full season of a television series. To make the game accessible to fans worldwide, the entire game was repackaged into Re:coded for the Nintendo DS.

Read our review of Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

To prepare for Master Xehanort’s return, Master Yen Sid proctors the Mark of Mastery exam to Sora and Riku in the most unconventional way possible: sending them back in time to unlock the keyholes of seven worlds that were left in a sleeping state after being destroyed by the Heartless, including the worlds of Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pinocchio, Tron: Legacy, and Fantasia. Though they go through a different chain of events in the same worlds, they work to defeat the “Nightmare” Dream Eaters with the help of their “Spirit” Dream Eaters and the power of Flowmotion.

Throughout the Mark of Mastery exam, they run into the younger version of Xehanort, who reveals that he, Ansem, and Xehanort, who were supposed to have been defeated, lured Sora into a trap at The World That Never Was and put him into a deep sleep (where he was protected by Ventus’ armor), and Riku has been running through Sora’s dreams as a Dream Eater the whole time. To save Sora from the darkness, Riku fights the young Xehanort, and the revived, older Master Xehanort arrives with intentions to turn Sora into his 13th vessel for the new Organization XIII, comprised of mostly his past selves from across time, and create the χ-blade by pitting the 13 seekers of darkness and the seven guardians of light against each other. Thankfully, Xehanort’s plans are foiled by King Mickey, Lea (the human version of Axel), and Riku, who ultimately passes the Mark of Mastery exam, with Sora failing for losing the power of waking, which is the ability to restore hearts.

Read our Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance review.

Kingdom Hearts 3

In the final chapter of the Dark Seeker Saga, Sora sets out to reclaim the power of waking and gather the seven guardians of light to prepare for the final showdown with Organization XIII and Master Xehanort, who is hellbent on not only creating the χ-blade, but also keeping darkness and light in proper balance. Meanwhile, Kairi trains to become a Keyblade wielder with Lea, and Riku goes with King Mickey to search for the missing Keyblade wielders.

Kingdom Hearts 3 took 13 years to make, with a few trailers released between 2013 and 2018 before finally being released in 2019. To this day, it remains the best-selling Kingdom Hearts game.

Read our review of Kingdom Hearts 3.

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory

Melody of Memory is a rhythm game where Sora and the other Keyblade wielders defeat the Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed, and Dream Eaters to the beat of every song in the series. It’s set against the backdrop of Kairi being in the lab at Radiant Garden, as she gives a summary of the series’ events as the narrator.

Kingdom Hearts Games in Release Order

1. Kingdom Hearts - September 17, 2002 (PS2)
2. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories - December 7, 2004 (Game Boy Advance)
3. Kingdom Hearts 2 - March 28, 2006 (PS2)
4. Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days - September 29, 2009 (Nintendo DS)
5. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - September 7, 2010 (PSP)
6. Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded - January 11, 2011 (Nintendo DS)
7. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance - July 31, 2012 (Nintendo 3DS)
8. Kingdom Hearts Union χ [Cross] - April 7, 2016 (Android, iOS)
9. Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix - March 28, 2017 (PS4)
10. Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue - January 24, 2017 (PS4)
11. Kingdom Hearts 3 - January 29, 2019 (PS4, XBO, PC)
12. Kingdom Hearts Dark Road - June 22, 2020 (Android, iOS)
13. Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory - November 13, 2020 (PS4, XBO, Nintendo Switch, PC)

What's Next for Kingdom Hearts?

Kingdom Hearts 4 was announced in 2022, though Square Enix has been quiet about KH4 since its announcement and has yet to reveal a release window. The most recent development, a series of screenshots, came out of almost nowhere, but hopefully indicates we'll be getting our hands on Kingdom Hearts 4 sooner rather than later. I wouldn't be surprised if the game ends up releasing on the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.

Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications, including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.

Whether you’re trying to access your favorite streaming service from abroad or you’re at home but suffering heavy ISP throttling, a VPN is your best friend. Slow speeds and blocked IP addresses mean some VPNs aren’t up to the task of making your streaming life easier. Of course, you also want to make sure that whichever VPN you’re using, you’re not opening yourself up to security and privacy risks either.

My speed tests measure each VPN’s speeds across multiple locations. I evaluate their unblocking against popular streaming platforms including Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Prime Video, and Disney+. I also test for data leaks and read through the lengthy privacy policies. This data-driven approach helps narrow down the many options to find the best VPNs for streaming.

TL;DR: These Are the Best VPNs for Streaming

A VPN encrypts your internet traffic and hides your real IP address and location, letting you stream anonymously. For example, if you travel outside the U.S. and want to access Hulu, you’d connect to a server back home to get a US IP address and unblock it. The best VPNs for streaming consistently unblock popular streaming services and have fast speeds for lag-free streaming.

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The Japanese government has released a Minecraft map of the world’s largest underground flood prevention facility. Not only is it free to download, but it lets you explore one of the Tokyo area’s lesser-known iconic locations from the comfort of your home.

The Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, known as G-Cans for short, is a real-life disaster prevention facility. It is best-known for its “pressure adjustment water tank” — a huge cavernous space with 59 massive pillars. A truly epic looking, boss battle-worthy location, it is G-Can’s most iconic sight, and even has the nickname “underground temple” (chika shinden) in Japan. With bags of atmosphere, it also gets used as a location for music videos, Japanese TV dramas (like Kamen Rider) and movies.

This article contains spoilers for The Rehearsal Season 2 finale.

The second season of HBO’s The Rehearsal begins with a simple, but wild question given the circumstances: Can you change the world with a comedy show? The circumstances, by the way, are that star Nathan Fielder is trying to get to the core of what causes plane crashes in order to stop them from occurring. But with the season finale now out on HBO and Max, it’s clear that the answer Fielder is trying to express is that, yes, you can make change through comedy. The only thing is… Fielder doesn’t. Or at least he won’t, until he relinquishes control of the show, the situation, and his own life. And more specifically, accepts his potential autism diagnosis.

There’s a lot to unpack here, and in the finale in particular. Fielder’s premise is that plane crashes are caused at least in part by a lack of communication between pilots and co-pilots. As he and viewers discover over the course of the season, the duo flying passenger planes usually meet for the first time shortly before taking off, rarely talking before they’re suddenly flying a large metal tube, with the lives of a hundred or more people in their hands. And because of the disparity in rank between pilots and co-pilots, Fielder posits that plane crashes happen because co-pilots often don’t feel comfortable speaking up when they see something going wrong.

The twists and turns as Fielder has explored this premise have been entirely off the wall, including a fake singing competition titled Wings of Voice (that has stirred up a fair amount of controversy in the real world), and an entire episode where he lived through the life of Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, including dressing up as a baby and drinking milk from an enormous puppet of Sully’s mother. But what happens in the finale, “My Controls,” is more white knuckle terrifying than anything Tom Cruise does in the Mission: Impossible series.

What Fielder reveals in the finale is that two years prior to the start of The Rehearsal, Season 2, he started lessons to become a licensed commercial airline pilot. The goal is that in order to prove his premise, he himself must be ready to fly a commercial airline, rather than just observing the process. It’s an extension of what happened in the first season of the series, where Fielder subbed out the male member of a couple he was observing and started to live a life with a fake wife and fake child (which also caused a fair amount of real-world controversy).

While your mileage may vary about how well Season 1 was executed, the underlying issue Fielder was clearly dealing with was the fact that he got divorced in 2014, and still hadn’t quite recovered. In Season 2? While there’s no conclusion here, Fielder is, like the plane he ends up flying, circling around the idea that he may be a person with autism.

It’s something that is brought up in the season’s fifth episode, “Washington,” when Fielder notes that the first season of the show resonated with viewers on the spectrum because they, too, often need to rehearse life events in order to feel comfortable when those events happen for real. And even before that, fans of Fielder have been drawn to his approach on previous shows like Nathan For You because he often exhibits “masking,” where those on the spectrum suppress their neurodivergent traits so as to better fit in with what society expects of them. As a not insignificant side note, Fielder researched Asperger’s Syndrome when developing his character for Nathan For You, though at the time denied that either he or his character were on the spectrum.

The extremely roundabout reason Fielder introduces this idea is that he wants to lobby Congress about a technique he’s developed to get pilots and co-pilots talking, but is turned down. So he approaches CARD (Center for Autism & Related Disorders) about donating to them in order to get on their board, so he can lobby a member of the Transportation committee who is also supportive of autism research. Like previously mentioned: roundabout. But what Nathan discovers while doing a mock autism quiz is that he can’t quite identify expressions people are making, seemingly indicating that perhaps there is more to his Asperger’s research and identification with those on the spectrum than a character. Unless it is a character, of course… Given the fuzzy nature of reality around The Rehearsal, it’s hard to tell how much Fielder is pretending for effect.

But things come to a head in the finale when Fielder has to officially register for his pilot’s license, and in order to do so, he needs to disclose “any and all conditions you may have,” as Fielder explains. That includes anxiety, so Fielder heads to the Medical Imaging Center of Socal to get officially checked out… And in the process of signing up for an fMRI, he discovers the test doesn’t just scan the brain for signs of anxiety, it can also test for – you guessed it – autism.

To cut to the chase here, Fielder gets the scan… But ultimately barrels ahead with getting his pilot’s license anyway. And the white knuckle moment mentioned earlier? He loads an airliner with actors and proceeds to fly it around for several hours himself. Of course, as a viewer, you know that if Fielder had crashed an airplane full of actors, this would have been major news. But watching the act is a breathless, harrowing sequence, particularly given that we’ve seen Fielder throughout the episode screw up his flight training multiple times, whiz through the final training in only a simulator, and during the flight a camera crew keeps flying dangerously close to the plane.

Fielder lands the 737 successfully, but that isn’t the conclusion of the show. Despite how jaw-dropping the whole sequence is, to the point that Fielder starts it by completely breaking character to assure the viewing audience “there’s really nothing to worry about,” this show isn’t about preventing plane crashes. Not really. It’s about whether Fielder himself can relinquish his own control of the situation he’s in, aka his life. During the fake finale of Wings of Voice, as the “winner” of the “show” performs a cover of Evanescence’s “Bring Me To Life,” Fielder stares at a voicemail he’s gotten from Dr. Jordan’s office. Rather than get the test results of the fMRI, Fielder deletes the message.

From there, we discover that Fielder has been working in his spare time for Nomadic, a company that relocates empty 737s. He’s been to foreign military bases, flown over the Amazon in the middle of the night, and spent hours over the Atlantic in otherwise empty airplanes.

“They only let the smartest and best people fly a plane of this size, and it feels good to know that,” Fielder says in his closing narration. “No one is allowed in the cockpit if there’s something wrong with them. So if you’re here, you must be fine.”

What the show ends on is not Fielder triumphantly lobbying Congress to change transportation law, nor really changing anything, other than through the generous gift HBO made to CARD on Fielder’s behalf. But the point Fielder makes in the show stands, that what he is attempting to do through his comedy, and in The Rehearsal in general, is foster communication. That can be through a pilot and a co-pilot to prevent plane crashes by acting out a scenario that separates them from their regular selves. It can be through a first officer named Colin, who is bashful about dating, finally getting to kiss his crush Emma, albeit through the lens of a scene Fielder has created. An essential role in any type of comedy is trust, relinquishing a section of that control in order to allow your partner, whether that be another person, a group of people, or even your audience in the case of stand-up, to gain a part of that control as well. To share responsibility.

Through his own example, Fielder seems to be implying that we also need to communicate with ourselves. By avoiding a potential autism diagnosis, and instead flying literally solo, Fielder is refusing to relinquish control of his own life to someone else. That could be doctors. It could be sharing his real self with the audience, which he does only briefly. Whatever it is, Fielder doesn’t fully reveal because that’s the whole comedy bit he’s been playing for decades now. Instead, he stays the course, flying straight and never looking back. It’s clear from that final speech that he knows he’s not emotionally fine, he needs to face even the potential of his issues, to let go of the controls for a moment. He won’t be able to make real change in his own life, let alone change the world through comedy, if he doesn’t trust a co-pilot, any co-pilot at all. And until he does, it’s all only a rehearsal.

Although the Harry Potter franchise has pretty much been spread across every medium in 2025, it was the Harry Potter books that first truly captured the magic. I started reading these novels back when you still had to wait in line at your local bookstore for the midnight release of the next book in the series. Nowadays, there are a lot of different ways to enjoy the Harry Potter books, including illustrated editions and audiobooks.

If you're completely new to the wizarding world, it can be a little daunting. For those of us who grew up reading the books and watching the movies, the reading order probably seems really obvious. But if you just happen to have a used copy of one or two of the novels, you may have no idea where to start. There are now even additional works outside of the main series that have become plays and an entirely new film series. To help you figure out where to begin, we've put together this quick guide to reading the Harry Potter books in order below.

How Many Harry Potter Books Are There?

If you're looking at just the main series, there are a total of seven Harry Potter books written by J.K. Rowling. These are the novels that inspired the original Harry Potter movies (which was actually eight movies). Outside of the main series, Rowling has also published three side books which make up the Hogwarts Library Texts. And although it isn't a book exactly, there's also Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which is a play that is currently on Broadway.

Harry Potter Book Sets

The Harry Potter Books Reading Order

Below, we've split the Harry Potter book series into two different sections: the Harry Potter novels and additional reading. The main series tells the story of Harry Potter and his friends through their seven years at Hogwarts, while the additional reading includes other texts written by J.K. Rowling outside of the main timeline.

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

The rivalry between Marvel and DC may be legendary, but the two companies are putting aside their differences long enough to publish their first crossover comics since 2003's JLA/Avengers. And who better to usher in this new era of cooperation than Batman and Deadpool?

As revealed by Entertainment Weekly, Marvel and DC are teaming for a pair of one-shot specials featuring the Dark Knight and the Merc With a Mouth. Marvel will publish Deadpool/Batman #1, by writer Zeb Wells (The Amazing Spider-Man) and artist Greg Capullo (Batman), while DC will publish Batman/Deadpool #1, by writer Grant Morrison (Batman) and artist Dan Mora (Superman/Batman: World's Finest). Both comics will also include "backup adventures" that pair more characters from the Marvel and DC Universes.

Season 2 of The Last of Us has just wrapped and the team behind the series is headed to IGN Live. Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin, and the crew responsible for crafting the series will dive deep into all your burning questions and break down everything that went into pulling off the complex production during a special panel at the event.

IGN Live attendees can watch the conversation in person on June 8. Then, later that day, the panel will stream across IGN platforms.

Check out the full line-up for the special The Last of Us Season 2 panel at IGN Live below:

• Craig Mazin (Co-Creator / Executive Producer / Writer / Director)
• Neil Druckmann (Co-Creator / Executive Producer / Writer / Director)
• Ksenia Sereda (Cinematographer)
• Ann Foley (Costume designer)
• Timothy Good (editor)
• Don Macaulay (Production Designer)
• Alex Wang (VFX Supervisor)
• David Fleming (Co-Composer)

Tickets to IGN Live are on sale now. The event takes place throughout the weekend of June 7-8 at the Magic Box @ The Reef in downtown LA and streams across IGN platforms. Fans of The Last of Us can pick up discounted tickets using the code SPORES.

IGN Live will feature exclusive reveals, trailers, playable games, celebrity interviews, gameplay, and demos from partners like Critical Role, Xbox, Netflix, ID@Xbox, and more.

Beware: The Abyss has opened and the curse of death is spreading across a world that's falling into despair. In the free-to-play Wizardry Variants Daphne, you do everything you can to brace yourself before diving into the pit that's the source of the curse. Expect failure, expect death, but also expect an RPG journey built around Wizardry's hardcore dungeon-crawling legacy.

Wizardry Variants Daphne takes place in a doomed world that's being consumed by the forces of the dead. A generational seal holding back a twisted warlock has failed, and now the warlock's curse emanates from the depths of the Abyss.

The decay needs to be stopped, but a job like stopping a death-obsessed warlock comes with a very high body count. Wizardry Variants Daphne lets you build up a party of up to six fellow adventurers from a wide variety of classes and races. As with previous Wizardry games, your party's balance of skills and battle chemistry is vital to your long-term success. Wizardry Variants Daphne balances tough difficulty with compelling visual design, making it a great game for established fans and a good entry point for anyone curious about Wizardry.

Wizardry fans are already familiar with the brutal bite of the monsters and traps that live in its narrow dungeon corridors. Newcomers to the series who pick up Wizardry Variants Daphne should expect a challenge that's tough, but not insurmountable if you're the type of person who can make observations and learn from their mistakes.

Take heart: Your manpower isn't as low as it seems. Your right hand is capable of reversing time, allowing you to revive the skeletons of dead adventurers and restore them to their previous selves. This is the unique gacha mechanic of Wizardry Variants Daphne that allows you to recruit new characters. You'll gather items called Adventurer's Remains, which you can take into the Ruins and use to restore and recruit new characters. Once you've revived a skeleton, you'll get info like their name, class, alignment, and stats.

Both old and new fans can appreciate the names on Wizardry Variants Daphne's creative team. The detailed characters are designed by veteran manga artist and character designer Yusuke Kozaki, whose work has appeared in Fire Emblem Awakening, No More Heroes, AI: The Somnium Files, and dozens of other games. The bosses are designed by Katsuya Terada, an illustrator whose work goes back to previous Wizardry adaptations and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Its eerie, moody music comes from celebrated game composer Hitoshi Sakimoto, whose credits include Final Fantasy Tactics, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Dragon's Crown, and dozens more games.

Whether you're ready to feel Wizardry's burn again or you're ready to travel down its grimy corridors for the first time, Wizardry Variants Daphne is waiting for you. It's been downloaded more than 1 million times worldwide, so it's clearly making its mark on fans. It's available for free on the App Store, Google Play, and Steam.

The live-action remake of Disney’s classic Lilo & Stitch arrived in theaters over Memorial Day weekend — and since it dropped, the film has been on the receiving end of nearly equal amounts of praise and criticism. The new version of the beloved story does make quite a few glaring changes to the original, but the one that seems to really be firing fans up is the decision to have Nani, Lilo’s older sister and guardian, take the complete opposite approach to her and Lilo’s future in the new ending.

Warning! Spoilers for the Lilo & Stitch live-action remake follow:

“Nani agreeing to give custody of Lilo to the state and then Lilo going to live with other people so Nani could go to California for college is so amazingly stupid I can't believe they went with it,” one fan put it bluntly in a comment on a discussion post about the film in the r/Disney subreddit.

A few other fans who hadn’t quite made it to the theater yet were shocked to read about the changes made to the ending. “Is this real?” one user inquired in a reply comment on the post. “This is shockingly different from the original movie and subsequent sequels/animated series.”

“Don’t you remember the iconic line? ‘Ohana means giving your orphaned sister to the state to study marine biology,’” another user quipped sarcastically, indicting the change for being irreconcilable with the story’s message. But not everyone felt the movie’s tweaked finale was bad, or even that it was straying from the original intention.

“Only if you're toxic enough to believe that going to college and trying to secure a future for yourself beyond minimum wage resort work means that you left behind and forgot your family,” a fan wrote in response to the comment about the movie’s iconic line. “The remake emphasizes that 1) family is not just blood related and 2) when family moves, they're still your family and have not forgotten you.”

A debate was sparked about the addition of Nani’s desire to go to college to study marine biology — which, according to some fans, is both achievable on very little money in Hawaii, where the programs are world class due to the locale, and generally unnecessary for the story.

“I don't know why moving to Honolulu was more unrealistic than going all the way to San Diego to study marine biology while giving your sister up to foster care where she can be adopted out," another user replied to the defense of the changes. "Like yeah, ‘oh she's going to get an education to get a better job to help take care of her sister,’ but the point in the original film was that she does have the found family of Jumba, Pleakley, and Cobra to help her with Lilo and Stitch. She didn't even talk about college in the original film. They invented an entirely new storyline that didn't need to be there.”

One user made it a point to full-on explain why it wouldn’t make sense for Nani to go out of state for her education. “I don’t know why you’re doing backflips defending a storyline that did absolutely zero research on Hawaii or how its schooling system works,” they wrote in a reply. “For example: the university of Hawaii at Mānoa allows native Hawaiians to receive in-state tuition. There are also options for some of them to get tuition completely waived if they study marine biology. It’s an incredibly dumb storyline done to push whatever weird messaging they’re trying to push, on top of being completely nonsensical.”

Ultimately, though, there were more naysayers than defenders it seemed. “Sacrificing for family after tragedy, losing out on a possible future, and working hard in the lower class are NOT character faults,” one Redditor replied in agreement with the folks who were against the choices. “The original navigated a complex issue where a loving family sticking together was more important than personal pursuits.” Another Redditor replied in response: “A personal pursuit that could better their lives?” to which the original user mic-dropped with: “The same personal pursuit that could be had right there in the same state, at what are literally the globally leading schools in her chosen major? The movie is nonsensical.”

"Ohana" was trending over the weekend on X (Twitter), with fans taking to the social media platform to discuss changes to the live-action Lilo & Stitch ending. pic.twitter.com/qAS8tUrDzm

— IGN (@IGN) May 27, 2025

For many fans, it’s the poignant and powerful themes being erased — but it’s also the sanctity of Hawaiian culture being erased too.

“Of all the overblown complaints in the last several years about all the other live-action remakes, I cannot f—ing believe that this one which actually strips away all the beauty and depth and themes of the original is getting praise,” a fan lamented in the comments. “I’m starting to think people did not get the messages in the original and just saw it as a shallow cute alien movie set in ‘exotic Hawaii.’”

Another fan added: “But also, why does Nani have to pursue some ‘greater’ goal? What’s wrong with a native Hawaiian wanting to raise her sister, work for a living, and then vibe on the beach until sunset? Literally thousands of native Hawaiians live perfectly happily this way. It’s also such a weird idea to make Nani unable to chase a dream as a caregiver when it’s done by amazing single parents all the time.”

At the end of the day, it seems as though this change isn’t sitting right with some fans — and is even making some decide to sit it out. “I just heard about this, which is the whole reason I will not go see this movie,” a fan wrote on Reddit. “You cannot change what the theme of the movie is about.”

Despite the reaction to the ending, the Lilo & Stitch live-action remake is already hugely successful for Disney, with a huge $341 million global box office haul. Disney knows it's on to a winner, and is already considering sequels.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

Today’s deals are stacked with a mix of stuff I’d genuinely grab for myself, so let me break it down. If you’re like me and hate carrying around a million cables, the INIU 45W Power Bank is a game-changer. It’s slim, charges fast, and has a built-in USB-C cable so you can leave the tangled mess at home. At $26.99, it’s a solid pickup. On the other hand, the UGREEN USB-C to USB Adapter 4 Pack is perfect for those moments when you need to plug a USB-A gadget into your laptop or phone—super handy and only $6.98. For the cable chaos in my workspace and garage, I’m eyeing the HAVE ME TD Cable Zip Ties (400-Pack) at $3.99. It’s just a simple fix for a mess I know I’ve been ignoring. And if you’re a PC gamer who’s tired of blurry upscaling and sketchy frame generation on gaming handhelds, Lossless Scaling is a neat little program that smooths things out.

TL;DR: Deals For Today

Now for the fun stuff. The Fallout Pip-Boy Die-Cast Replica is just ridiculously cool. It’s a 1:1 replica straight from the TV show, complete with a screen that runs Fallout animations, an FM radio, and a working clock. At $199.99, it’s a bit of a splurge, but man, if you’re a fan, it’s the kind of thing that makes you stop and stare every time you walk past it. Before I break these deals down, let's take a look at what Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon TCG wins i've found this morning:

MTG Final Fantasy Bundle Walmart Preorder

MTG Marvel's Spider-Man Preorders

Whilst there's only the Play Booster Box and Scene Bundle for MTG: Marvel's Spider-Man live on Amazon right now, TCG Player has every sealed product that will hit the market on launch day. I've even found some pricing on cases of sealed product for those looking to rip open a tonne of boosters, so get on it before the market value on these products shoot up.

MTG Spider-Man Single Cards

Unfortunatley there's no listings for Spider-Man single cards right now considering we're a few months out from release, but I've managed to round up the listings for cards currently sitting on TCG Player waiting for presale allocations, so keep your eyes peeled.

Slashing Legends Tin In Stock At Walmart

This Weeks Pokémon TCG Crashers and Climbers

The Single Pokémon TCG market on the other hand is going through a grand reset right now, which is down to a few factors. The crypto bro mentally to reselling products is dying down a little and more product is becoming available thanks to reprints. We're not out of the woods yet by any means, but this weeks Crashers and Climbers show recent cards going down in price and cards from the X and Y era shooting up in value. We're 100% moving in the right direction.

Lossless Scaling

UGREEN USB C to USB Adapter 4 Pack

Fallout Pip-Boy

Cable Zip Ties 400 Pack

INIU 45W Power Bank

Javascript, Scripting And Web Development Book Bundle

Peacock TV

Expedition 33 Merch

The HBO Harry Potter TV series is moving full steam ahead with the first six cast members revealed back in April for the roles of Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, and more. And now the news has arrived regarding who will be playing Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Read on to find out who has been officially confirmed for this new take on Harry Potter as well as who has yet to be cast.

Confirmed Harry Potter TV Series Cast:

The sophomore effort for Electronic Arts' college football revival is on its way, as EA Sports College Football 26 had its cover stars revealed today. While it still features the star athletes on the field, the Deluxe Edition widens the lens to incorporate the traditions, fans, and even mascots behind the players.

Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams and Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith are front-and-center on the Standard Edition cover, in front of a massive banner featuring team logos from across the college football landscape.

The Deluxe Edition cover, meanwhile, still has Williams and Smith centered, but also incorporates numerous college football legends, mascots, and traditions. Yes, that is the Oregon duck in the back. Don't stare at it too long, it will stare back.

Destined Rivals is one of the best Scarlet and Violet era sets, it's banger after banger as far as chase cards go. In our preview, we pulled 18 big card across 46 packs. This includes a load of regular ex cards, 1 hyper rare, 1 SIR, 1 ultra rare and 5 illustration rares. It's good odds for sure, but chasing down Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex SIR or Ethan's Ho-Oh ex SIR is likely to take a lot more than 46 booster packs.

TL;DR: The Best Destined Rivals Single Pokémon Cards

Let the cost of those booster packs sink in. Of course, you'll probably find some cool cards, and there's always a chance you'll get the chase card you want, but what if you could just pay the market value of the card you wanted for less instead?
Destined Rivals single card market is already booming before the official release date, which is just day's away on May 30. To save trainers the trouble of stressing about stock and paying MSRP at big box retailers (good luck with that), here's the best chase cards from Destined Rivals. They're available as presale items now, then will be shipped to you on release day. Let's get into it:

Hyper Rare

Hyper Rares have become the black sheep of the Scarlet and Violet era. They're more of an aquired taste, but Ethan's Ho-Oh ex looks fantastic in this style, as goes Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex. it's also around half the price of collecting the secret art rare variants, which are supposed to be easier to get than hyper rares. Go figure.

Secret Art Rare

Secret art rares are the absolute bangers of every Scarlet and Violet era set. Whilst Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex SIR is an eye watering $599.99, Ethan's Ho-Oh ex SIR and Arven's Mabosstiff ex SIR are far reasonably prices at $225 and $49.99 respectively.

Illustration Rare

The two best cards of Destined Rivals are Illustration Rares in my option, so it's a good job I have them already! Cynthia's Roserade's artwork is stunning, it's got that late 80s anime vibe and is so well-made. Ethan's Typlosion is one of the best artworks of the entire Scarlet and Violet era so far. The movement of the artwork and blatent bond it shows between trainer and Pokémon is what Pokémon is all about for me. It's going to take something epic to beat this cards artwork for me personally.

Destined Rivals Sealed Preorders

TCG Player is also running preorders for sealed product too. It's market value prices, which will likely be cheaper than most big box retailers on release day. Everything, including Pokémon Center Elite Trainer Boxes are available for presale right now. Don't sleep on this set, it's one of the best we've had in the last 12 months.

This Weeks Pokémon TCG Crashers and Climbers

The Single Pokémon TCG market on the other hand is going through a grand reset right now, which is down to a few factors. The crypto bro mentally to reselling products is dying down a little and more product is becoming available thanks to reprints. We're not out of the woods yet by any means, but this weeks Crashers and Climbers show recent cards going down in price and cards from the X and Y era shooting up in value. We're 100% moving in the right direction.

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.

And just like that, The Last of Us Season 2 is over. And if it's left you wondering just where, exactly, things are going to go in Season 3, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have let us in on a little secret: they don't yet know "how much, or rather how little" some of our favorite characters will be around.

Warning: this story contains spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2.

“Even if I thought I knew now exactly how it was going to go, I’m experienced enough to know that two weeks from now we may have a different idea of how it should go,” Mazin told Variety. “All I can say is we haven’t seen the last of Kaitlyn Dever [Abby] and we haven’t seen the last of Bella Ramsey [Ellie], and we haven’t seen the last of Isabela Merced [Dina], and we haven’t seen the last of a lot of people who are currently dead in the story.”

But even if we don't see living characters on screen, "their presence will be there throughout," game creator and director Neil Druckmann said. This includes Ellie actor Bella Ramsey, who said they expect to have a smaller role come Season 3.

“I haven’t seen any scripts, but yes, I do expect [to have a smaller role in Season 3],” Ramsey added. “I think that I’m going to be there, but not a whole bunch. We’ve had conversations about that. I sort of have a rough idea of what it’s going to be, but I can’t tell you.”

It is worth bearing in mind, though, that Mazin didn't specify how these characters will return. Perhaps, like last week's adolescent Joel and Tommy's surprise appearance, we'll get to see characters' lives before the apocalypse. Alternatively, maybe we'll see them in more temporary flashbacks, much like Ellie and Joel's interaction with Eugene. Either way, it should be good news for fans who've seen their favorite character succumb in both Season 1 and 2 (for me, that's Jesse's demise in the finale this week. It's all so quick and brutal!).

As for the living characters that we may see less often, such as Ellie, Dina, and Tommy? It'll be interesting to see how Season 3 develops as we spend more time with Abby and her crew, and less time with those who've come to know so well from the Jackson community.

HBO has hailed the success of The Last of Us Season 2, saying an "influx" of viewers has raised the series' global audience to over 90 million since Season 1 ended. In the U.S., Sunday night’s Season 2 finale saw 3.7 million cross-platform viewers. The Season 2 premiere episode enjoyed 5.3 million viewers, which shows a decline from series opener to series closer, but Warner Bros. said it expects the audience for the Season 2 finale to grow “significantly” due to low viewing levels over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

It's also worth noting that the Season 1 finale set an audience record of 8.2 million viewers, so the Season 2 finale has some way to go before beating that figure.

Last week, showrunner Craig Mazin indicated a fourth season is pretty much essential for the series. In an interview, Mazin agreed that in order to wrap up The Last of Us’ story from the two Naughty Dog-developed video games in Season 3 would mean Season 3 itself "would take forever." So, while there's a "decent chance" Season 3 will be longer than Season 2, at the end of the day, "there’s no way to complete this narrative in a third season."

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.

HBO has announced the cast for the key roles of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley for the upcoming TV series.

The HBO Original Harry Potter television series has cast newcomers Dominic McLaughlin in the role of Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley.

Five Nights at Freddy’s is finally coming to Dead by Daylight, but developer Behaviour Interactive still has a solid list of horror icons it wants to add to its collection.

The team behind the popular asymmetrical horror experience spoke about its hopes and dreams during a conversation with IGN. As you might have guessed, the studio is always thinking about the next Killers and Survivors it can add to its lineup. What you might not know, though, is that some members of the team have their sights set on specific names.

Killer Designer and horror aficionado Jason Guzzo has helped bring infamous Killers, such as Chucky, Dracula, and Springtrap, into the Entity’s world in the past. Any crossover marks an important moment for Behaviour and its fans, but Guzzo says the one franchise he’d bend over backward to make happen is The Thing.

“As far as I know, it’s not something that is being discussed above me, but my dream – and probably my favorite horror movie – is the obvious one: The Thing,” Guzzo said. “I would love to get The Thing into [Dead by Daylight]. I have been here for two and a half years, and I have been on a crusade to figure out how to get The Thing into Dead by Daylight.”

Guzzo reiterates that his desire to work on a The Thing Chapter isn’t a hint at what’s to come, and there are a few factors that might keep such a collaboration from ever materializing. He acknowledges the “potential design problems” that come along with creating a playable video game version of what is essentially a complicated mimic murderer. That said, it’s still the one series he is “on a crusade to get done at some point.”

Dead by Daylight Creative Director Dave Richard, meanwhile, points out that conversations about dream Killers are nothing new for the Behaviour team. While a name like Pennywise comes up as one villain he feels would “be amazing,” Richard doesn’t want to stop there.

“There are other kings of horror that would be amazing to have,” Richard tells us. “You could guess any one of them, I’m thinking. Frankly, I just want to collect them all.”

There are obviously many monsters who have yet to appear in Dead by Daylight, but some of the not-so-obvious names have come up in discussions, too.

“The other ones that we always share, too,” Richard added, “they could be mostly a joke, but I think there’s a way to make it work, especially now in the timeline: Cujo. Christine.”

Cujo, of course, is the titular rabid dog from Stephen King’s novel and its 1983 movie adaptation. A dog Killer would be quite out of character for a game that primarily features human characters like Ghost Face and Michael Myers, but it’s not exactly impossible. Richard’s reference to King’s Christine, meanwhile, would see a killer car join the roster if Behaviour could ever figure out how to make it work.

If one thing is for sure, it’s that Dead by Daylight is showing no signs of slowing down as its barrels toward its ninth anniversary. The Five Nights at Freddy’s Chapter will officially launch come June 17, adding Springtrap and a pizzeria map into the fold. For more on how the asymmetrical horror experience is growing, you can read our full interview with Guzzo and Richard.

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

Dead by Daylight is just weeks away from celebrating its ninth anniversary, so developer Behaviour Interactive is rolling out the party favor fans have begged to see for years: Five Nights at Freddy’s. A Chapter based on Scott Cawthon’s legendary animatronic horror series will finally, officially arrive in Dead by Daylight June 17, marking the end of a long wait and the beginning of another year of more crossovers, quality-of-life fixes, and more. It’s a collaboration years in the making, and we got a first look at how it’s shaping up.

IGN sat down to interview Dead by Daylight Creative Director Dave Richard and Killer Designer Jason Guzzo ahead of the upcoming Chapter’s public test build (PTB), which launches today at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET, to learn more about how this latest collaboration stays true to the looks and lore of Five Nights at Freddy’s. Alongside learning more about how the new Killer, Springtrap, uses doors, cameras, and jump scares to terrorize Survivors, our chat revealed more details about some of the other horror icons Behaviour would love to add and exactly how much Markiplier they watched to prepare for the new update.

Eager Nintendo Switch 2 fans will also be happy to know that Behaviour confirmed with IGN separately that Dead by Daylight's startup issues on the device will be resolved by the time the new console launches next week, June 5. Meanwhile, the team has an explanation behind why they opted out of including a new Survivor this time around, but if we’re lucky, Freddy Fazbear’s time in Dead by Daylight is just getting started.

Behaviour Interactive has revealed a closer look at its new Killer, Springtrap, and how his creative abilities will help Five Nights at Freddy’s fans feel right at home in Dead by Daylight when launch arrives June 17, 2025.

Behaviour shared new information about its latest horror crossover with IGN ahead of the upcoming Chapter’s public test build (PTB) today. This deep dive includes first details on Springtrap’s classic Five Nights at Freddy’s-inspired powers following his reveal earlier this month, along with how the lumbering animatronic will utilize a jump scare mechanic unlike anything seen in Behaviour’s asymmetrical horror game thus far.

The studio says its highly anticipated crossover Chapter is positioned to be “one of the game’s biggest to date.” That’s thanks mostly to Springtrap, a stalking, axe-wielding yellow rabbit known in the world of Dead by Daylight as The Animatronic. The menacing villain has a long, complicated place in Five Nights at Freddy’s lore but has never actually appeared as a playable character, which gave Behaviour freedom to toy with what fans think they know about him.

Springtrap uses a giant pizza knife as his primary weapon and a fire axe for his Power. It’s the latter that players will find most useful, as it can be used as an AOE tool that reveals Survivors to the Killer. If a thrown is timed well enough, it can be lodged in another player’s back, presenting an opportunity to trigger a Five Nights at Freddy’s-style jump scare if Springtrap is the one to remove it.

Adding to Behaviour’s special sauce is the inclusion of Five Nights at Freddy’s movie star Matthew Lillard, who provided his voice and likeness for those who pick up The Animatronic’s Yellow Rabbit Legendary outfit. Other outfits for Springtrap include the Legendary Glitchtrap outfit and the Very Rare Clown Springtrap and Toxic Springtrap outfits, as well as Freddy Fazbear’s t-shirts for the Survivors.

Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Comes to Dead by Daylight

Springtrap is the Killer Dead by Daylight fans have wanted to see introduced for years, but he really only represents half of what the new Chapter brings to the table. While there’s no new Survivor, players can enjoy running for their lives in the new Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria map, which features a ground-up recreation of the iconic pizza restaurant with a few twists from The Entity.

Highlights from the new location include its Front Entrance, Kitchen, Janitor Room, and Dining Hall, and yes, Freddy’s band, including Bonnie and Chica, showed up for the party, too. Freddy’s Fazbear’s Pizzeria is another haunting map for Dead by Daylight players to run and hide through, but it also comes with Easter Eggs and jump scares of its own. We’ll have to wait and see what secrets it hides until players get their hands on it for themselves.

Thankfully, you won’t have to lock into the new map to get a taste of that familiar Five Nights at Freddy’s gameplay. Anyone who finds themselves fleeing from Springtrap on any map will find that new security doors, cameras, and a special office have spawned. These are more than an authentic callback to the classic experience, as these elements can be used by Survivors to keep track of Springtrap – as long as you have enough battery power.

If you’re interested in trying Springtrap for yourself but don’t want to wait, we have good news: the Five Nights at Freddy’s Chapter PTB launches today at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET. If you want to wait for the full Chapter, which will bring its own order of quality-of-life improvements and more, you can look forward to the full launch next month. For more on Five Nights at Freddy’s and Dead by Daylight, you can read our interview with Behaviour, where we learned more about what it took to create the first-ever playable version of Springtrap and what the team is hoping to work on in the future.

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

For physical media fans, Tom Cruise's final outing (maybe?) as Ethan Hunt is now available to preorder on 4K. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is getting a 4K steelbook and a standard 4K UHD release, both complete with Blu-ray and digital copies of the film as well. A release date is still to be announced for it, but by securing your copy now you can be ready for a watch (or re-watch) once it's officially available.

Below we've listed where you can preorder the 4K steelbook and standard 4K right now. Special features aren't announced yet, but we'll make sure to detail them as well once they've been revealed.

Preorder Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning 4K Steelbook