After eight whole years of Nintendo’s console-handheld hybrid, its successor, the Nintendo Switch 2, is finally in our hands. While it’s an all-new system, there are some old accessories that still work with the new platform. But because of its bigger screen and the new magnetic Joy-Con, that old Switch case isn’t going to fit the new system. You’ll need a handful of new accessories to get the most out of your next-gen Switch. From finding the best grips for your Joy-Con 2 to the easiest bubble-free screen protectors to guard that shiny new display, we have you covered in this Switch 2 accessories guide.

I’ve researched the best Switch 2 accessories you can buy during the launch window based on both hands-on experience and research from some of our favorite Switch 1 accessory manufacturers. Of course, we’re still in the early days, and plenty of companies are still shipping their products to retailers as I’m writing this. Some haven’t even made them available for preorder yet, so I’ll continue to update this list over time with my favorite new accessories as I go hands-on with them over the next few months.

Let’s get up to speed on what you need to know about buying accessories for your Nintendo Switch 2. There are a few accessories that warrant their own articles because both categories come with some caveats that you need to know before buying anything for your Switch 2.

Best MicroSD Express Cards for Switch 2

Bigger games with great graphical detail meant the Switch 2 needed a faster storage solution for your downloaded games. That means your old SD cards from the Switch 1 will not work here. You need to get a MicroSD Express card for the Switch 2, which is faster (and more expensive) than the basic model. We'll be updating our guide to the best MicroSD Express cards for Nintendo Switch 2 as we do more testing now that the console is out.

Best Switch 2 Cases So Far

The Switch 2 may be portable, but it’s not invincible. If you’re gearing up to take Mario Kart World or Cyberpunk 2077 on the road, you’ll need to protect your console with a sturdy, reliable case. Again, your original Switch case is not going to fit your Switch 2, so you will need to purchase a new one. In addition to materials, construction, and form, I specifically made sure to look for extra features like comfort grips, game cartridge storage, bundles, and tested brands when making my suggestions. Of course, whether you want to go with a slim soft case like the one from Tomtoc that we reviewed and loved or a bulkier hard case like CoBak's, you have options for your preferences.

Best Switch 2 Screen Protectors So Far

Even though the Switch 2 has a built-in layer that acts as screen protector – don't peel that off – a good screen protector is non-negotiable for handheld devices. Since the launch of the original Switch, tons of companies have stepped up their game, offering new applicators, matte finishes, and kits to make sure your protector doesn’t trap dust or air bubbles when you apply it. Some are also built to take hits like a tank (though we’d never suggest testing this out yourself).

I use some of these brands to protect other devices I own, like my Steam Deck and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra smartphone, and many of the same design principles are applied across different designs, including the Switch 2. Most of these also come with extra units in case your first protector gets damaged.

Best Gaming Headsets for Switch 2

The Switch 2 still has a standard audio jack, yet it’s the small but major secondary USB-C port that makes wireless gaming headsets even more useful. A majority of the best gaming headsets are compatible, and since Bluetooth isn’t the best idea for gaming (as was evident on the original Switch) I recommend checking out our picks for headsets that go particularly well with the Switch 2 rather than just using the earbuds you’re probably wearing right now.

Best Switch 2 Controllers

Unless you want to stick with the packaged Joy-Con 2, you’re going to want the new Pro Controller that we reviewed, or one of the gamepads made in its image. Especially if you’re playing more sophisticated games that demand precise controls or need something more comfortable for long sessions, a proper controller will probably be the most beneficial accessory for your Switch 2.

While you could certainly use an original Pro Controller or whatever your previous gamepad of choice was, the Switch 2 brings new features to the table – notably, a 3.5mm audio jack that allows you to use a wired headset for audio and chatting in-game without being tethered to your console. You may be interested in Switch 2’s GameChat feature, and you can seamlessly go into a video and/or voice chat room with friends with the new C button. Not every new controller has it, but licensed manufacturers like PowerA do include it. Lastly, the built-in programmable back buttons on the official Pro Controller can be a game-changer, letting you map normal inputs to them, and that can improve performance or comfort across many different types of games.

If you’re just looking for a solid Pro-style controller, our favorite original Switch controllers will serve you well. Something like the Gulikit KK3 Max has programmable back buttons, Hall Effect sticks, high polling rate for smoother inputs, and is versatile enough to use on PC without trouble. Either way, you have plenty of great options.

Best Switch 2 Handheld Grips

Although it promises some ergonomic enhancements from the original Switch, the Switch 2 still won’t have fully formed grips on the new Joy-Con – the likes of the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally X still have an ergonomic advantage that can help make long handheld play sessions more comfortable. But you already have ways of improving the ergonomics of the Switch 2 with a handful of attachments available now. The grips above are the best we could find for playing in handheld mode from reliable manufacturers, including ones I’ve already gone hands-on with like DBrand’s Killswitch 2 grip and case combo and the Genki Attack Vector.

Best Switch 2 Joy-Con Grip / Handles

Even though the Switch 2 ships with a central grip to attach both Joy-Con to use like a singular controller, they’re not perfect. Especially for intense games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there are more comfortable ways to play using the Joy-Con. Some companies are even starting to offer stands to help prop up your Joy-Con in the new Mouse Mode as well, which comes in handy for navigating menus and playing games like Civilization VII. Getting a proper connecting grip can be a more cost-effective solution compared to buying an entirely new gamepad, so long as you’re happy with the inputs of the Joy-Con. And many of these options will also charge your Joy-Con while they’re in use, which is a neat little cherry on top.

Best Switch 2 Joy-Con Charge Stations

Nintendo has stated that the Switch 2 Joy-Con could last as long as 20 hours on a full charge, which is the same amount of time as the original Joy-Con. When looking at wireless controllers nowadays, 20 hours is fairly decent, although they still go by pretty quickly compared to other wireless controller options. It’s intuitive to just reattach your Joy-Con when they’re not in use to keep them charged, but if you plan on having multiple sets ready to go at all times, it’ll be a good idea to have a charging station on-hand. For those who often host multiplayer get-togethers with the likes of Super Mario Party Jamboree’s new Jamboree TV content or Mario Kart World, a Joy-Con charging station will make your life easier. I made sure to include models that feature as many ports as possible so you never run out of charged controllers.

Best Switch 2 Portable Chargers

The original Switch’s battery life remains one of its weak spots depending on the game you’re playing (some drain more power than others), even after a mid-gen refresh that brought some welcome improvements. It’ll remain something you have to manage by nature of using a portable gaming device especially if you’re taking the Switch 2 on long flights, trips, or car rides. That maximum battery life of 6.5 hours won’t always hold up and looking for an outlet is less than ideal when charge times can be quite longer than something like a smartphone.

Being able to charge in-between sessions untethered comes in clutch more often than you may expect, so having an extra battery pack to get some extra juice can be a total game-changer. I personally love Anker’s line with built-in USB-C cables, but Magsafe options like Genki’s Energy Pack are also really enticing. Either way, make sure you check the capacity and wattage of a portable charger before purchasing one you plan to use with your Switch 2 – some might simply be overkill for what you need.

Other Switch 2 Accessories Worth Considering

It feels like every new Nintendo console comes with a mountain of weird accessories. From Wii Sports-style tennis rackets to fishing rods, there’s a lot of extra and niche add-ons mixed in with the core accessories that are typically more practical. That’s not to say there aren’t some cool ideas that stretch the imagination of gaming on the Switch. Hori’s Piranha Plant camera is a fun example – while it costs $5 more than the first-party camera we reviewed, it’s a fun alternative that’s can double-up as some themed decor. (Though don't expect it to work miracles: The camera has a pretty dismal 480p resolution.) While it’s not an ideal way to play everything, the steering wheel attachment can be a fun and more accessible way for younger kids to play Mario Kart World. These accessories don’t fall into the conventional categories like controllers and cases, but they’re worth considering regardless. I’ve also thrown in a couple of "starter kits" that make for decent one-and-done purchases that include most of what you’ll want on day one.

Charlie's a freelance contributor for IGN. You can reach them via Twitter or Instagram at the handle @chas_mke.

I've had a Kindle Unlimited subscription for a few years now and I'm not sure I could ever go back to not having one. Reading is my primary leisure activity and being able to quickly download books on my Kindle Paperwhite has been a huge time saver. It's also saved me quite a bit money on new books because I primarily read LitRPG.

Kindle Unlimited is a great service if you read a lot of books, but only really if the genre you like to read actually has popular options included. There are a lot of great reads on Kindle Unlimited at any given time, but it certainly doesn't include everything. Popular new releases like Sunrise on the Reaping and Onyx Storm, for example, were not included with the subscription and needed to be purchased separately. That being said, if you mostly read LitRPG books like I do, Kindle Unlimited is an incredible value — especially with the early Prime Day deals going now.

Kindle Unlimited - Get Three Months Free

Valve may have revolutionized mobile PC gaming with the Steam Deck, but more and more handheld gaming PCs are coming to market, giving it some stiff competition. Formerly, the Asus ROG Ally X knocked Steam’s offering from our top spot thanks to its impressive performance, fast memory, and long-lasting battery, but we've got a brand-new favorite: the Lenovo Legion Go S (Z1 Extreme, SteamOS). With the Xbox Ally X announced at the Xbox Games Showcase, you'll have plenty of options for gaming on the go in the future. Whether you’re after the Steam Deck itself or one of the best Steam Deck alternatives, we’ve selected excellent handheld gaming PCs ready to chew through the top PC games – as long as you don't try to run Doom: The Dark Ages.

TL;DR – These Are the Best Handheld Gaming PCs:

Rather than dealing with the bulk a gaming laptop, handheld gaming PCs keep far more compact dimensions, making it easier to play from just about anywhere. Even though these devices are obviously significantly smaller than a gaming PC, it doesn’t mean they’re underpowered. Many handheld gaming PCs are packing the performance prowess to cruise through AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077. If you get sick of playing on a smaller screen, a great Steam Deck dock works seamlessly with most handheld gaming PCs so you can hook up to your gaming TV.

While we’re on the cusp of a handheld gaming PC revolution, we've gotten our hands on a good chunk of these highly-capable devices. Below are the current four we deem worthy of consideration.

1. Lenovo Legion Go S (Z1 Extreme, SteamOS)

The Best Handheld Gaming PC

When the Lenovo Legion Go S first came out back in February 2025, it was a hot mess. The configuration Lenovo initially released was bogged down by the weak Z2 Go processor, which didn't pair well with Windows. And because it was both running Windows 11 and had 32GB of memory, this weaker handheld was just as expensive – if not moreso – than the original Legion Go that preceded it. But Lenovo has righted the ship by launching the Go S with the Z1 Extreme and SteamOS built-in.

This system is still expensive. You're looking at $829 to get this model, but that's only a bit more than the Asus ROG Ally X, which ended up being slower, if only by a bit, in my tests. When I reviewed this new Lenovo Legion Go S, I found that the SteamOS-powered handheld beat out the Ally X in synthetic benchmarks by as much as 9%. That's not bad, considering that handheld had the performance crown before this system came out.

The elephant in the room is the Steam Deck. Even three years after its release, it's still an incredible and popular handheld, and it's not hard to see why. It's easy to use, and it's literally half the price of the Go S. But not only do you get a higher resolution display with this Legion Go S, you also get as much as double the performance. I was able to get a solid 60fps playing Baldur's Gate 3, and that's something I straight up couldn't do on the Steam Deck. Whether or not that's worth the higher price tag depends entirely on what you're looking for.

A great handheld gaming system is about more than just raw performance, though. It also needs to be comfortable to use, and despite the sytem being one of the largest I've used – and I've used a lot of them – it's extremely comfortable. The Lenovo Legion Go S has rounded edges that give you something to hold on to, and the textured finish makes it harder to slip out of your hands.

The Go S also has one of the most beautiful LCD displays I've seen in a while and proves that OLED isn't the only way to get a great picture in 2025. It's not quite as colorful as the Steam Deck OLED, to be fair, but it still made any game I played on it look awesome. Now that we're waiting for Microsoft and Asus to launch the ROG Xbox Ally X later this year, the Legion Go S is the PC gaming handheld to beat.

2. Asus ROG Ally X

The Best Windows Handheld Gaming PC

3. Valve Steam Deck

The Best Budget Handheld Gaming PC

4. Lenovo Legion Go

The Best High Performance Handheld Gaming PC

Upcoming Handheld Gaming PCs

Now that the Lenovo Legion Go S is here, we have a first glimpse of the next generation of handheld gaming PCs. It had a rough start with the AMD Z2 Go, but the newer one with the Z1 Extreme is great, knocking the ROG Ally X down a peg in my rankings. There will be more handheld gaming PCs coming out over the rest of the year that are powered by the more powerful versions, like the Z2 Extreme. Just keep an eye out for the Lenovo Legion Go 2.

Finally, Microsoft has announced the ROG Xbox Ally X, an Xbox-branded follow-up to our second-favorite handheld gaming PC. Because it's made in collaboration with Microsoft, it's going to have a level of software optimizations that might put it on the same level as the Steam Deck. I'll have to wait to see how it holds up when I get it in the lab, but after going hands-on with it, we're definitely excited.

Handheld Gaming PC FAQ

Should I buy a handheld gaming PC or a gaming laptop?

Depending on how you want to game and what games you want to play will determine whether you should grab a gaming laptop or handheld PC. Handhelds score higher points in longevity, battery life, optimization, portability, and thermals. But handhelds are only designed to play games up to a certain specification. Gaming laptops cram in the latest GPU, CPU, and RAM, likely sacrificing battery life, thermals, and price. However, some are absolute beasts ready to take on even the most graphically intensive games. Laptops offer more functionality when it comes to editing and other work.

Check out our guide on the Steam Deck vs. gaming laptops for more information.

What’s the best Steam Deck alternative?

The Asus ROG Ally X is one of the best Steam Deck alternatives. This gaming handheld offers an easy-to-use interface, speedy performance, and stunning design. Most importantly, the Windows 11 gaming handheld lets you access your entire PC gaming library.

How does the Switch 2 compare to the Steam Deck?

On spec, the Switch 2 is delivers better performance than the Steam Deck. Check out our in-depth comparison to find out more.

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

The Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED are some of the best handheld gaming PCs you can get. They offer a perfectly sized display, responsive controls, and a decent amount of processing power to cruise through the action in your favorite PC games. However, the Steam Deck only comes with a basic carrying case and charger, so a few great accessories can boost your experience while playing at home and on the go.

TL;DR – These Are the Best Steam Deck Accessories:

The best Steam Deck accessories make the already brilliant handheld gaming PC even better. Sure, the OLED model brought some needed improvements to the battery life and storage compared to the original LCD Steam Deck, but if you’re looking to play for longer away from an outlet or save more than just a few games, a long-lasting power bank and microSD card are easy solutions.

Want to witness the action on a bigger screen? A great dock and HDMI cord provide a simple way to connect to a gaming TV or monitor for a major step up from the 7-inch display. That’s not all, as a screen protector, a larger carrying case, and earbuds are ideal for traveling with the Steam Deck. Best of all, these items are surprisingly inexpensive.

Below are seven top-notch Steam Deck accessories chosen by IGN experts. Even if you don’t have a Steam Deck, many of our picks work great with the best Steam Deck alternatives, like the Asus ROG Ally X or Lenovo Legion Go S.

Additional contributions by Zoë Hannah

1. Jsaux Docking Station HB0603

Best Steam Deck Dock

2. SanDisk Extreme microSDXC

Best Steam Deck Memory Card

3. Jsaux Power Bank 20000mAh 65W

Best Power Bank for Steam Deck

4. Dbrand Tempered Glass Screen Protector

Best Steam Deck Screen Protector

5. Jsaux Carrying Case

Best Steam Deck Case

6. PowerBear 8K High Speed HDMI Cable

Best HDMI Cable for Steam Deck

7. SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds

Best Wireless Earbuds for Steam Deck

How to Choose the Best Steam Deck Accessories

When choosing what accessories to grab for the Steam Deck, setting a budget for what you’d like to spend on everything is perhaps the most important. We kept that in mind when making our selections for this guide, so none of these items should set you back an exorbitant amount, and the pricer items are cross compatible with other devices. Even when veering away from our picks, most essential accessories should set you back about $100 or less.

After setting a budget, comes deciding which accessory to buy first. It’s really a matter of personal need more than anything else, but we think a memory card is a great place to start, especially if you have a Steam Deck model that’s light on storage and a large gaming library. It’s an inexpensive way to save you a ton of hassle. Once that’s sorted, protecting the handheld gaming PC with a screen protector, case, or both should be a top priority. There’s no point in buying accessories for a bricked device.

From there, choosing the best items to pair with the Steam Deck depends on how you want to play. Game away from home often? A power bank ensures you’re never without juice – a major issue with the Steam Deck. If you’re looking to play on a bigger display, a dock is an invaluable tool. No matter what accessory you grab, it should amplify your experience with the Steam Deck – and be compatible.

Steam Deck Accessories FAQ

Is 256GB enough storage for Steam Deck?

The original Steam Deck came with only 64GB of eMMC storage. While that model has been discontinued, the current LCD base model is available with a 256GB NVMe SSD, which is plenty of space for cloud gaming and storing some indie titles. When it comes to space for AAA games, like Red Dead Redemption 2 or GTA 5, only a few can be played locally. Still, 256GB is easy to get away with, especially given that the microSD card slot provides a cheap and easy way to increase storage. It’s also possible to install a higher capacity SSD, which should be relatively simple for anyone with PC-building experience.

However, if you want a better display, longer battery life, and faster RAM, the Steam Deck OLED doubles the storage from the LCD model to 512GB. There’s also a 1TB OLED option to bump up capacity even further.

Does the Steam Deck come with any accessories?

If you're purchasing a new Steam Deck, there are a few things you will receive alongside the handheld gaming PC. Every type of Steam Deck comes with a carrying case and a charging cord. If you're hoping to connect your Steam Deck to the TV, you will need to purchase either a docking station or an HDMI cable separately.

Are my PS5, Xbox, or Switch accessories compatible with Steam Deck?

Yes. Many accessories made for other platforms can be used for the Steam Deck since it’s essentially a mini gaming PC. Just about any USB-C dock, power bank, and wall charger (with enough wattage) should seamlessly work with the Steam Deck and other gaming PC handhelds. Most controllers and headsets designed for specific consoles can be used with the Steam Deck, especially if they connect via Bluetooth or USB. Occasionally, additional software or drivers may need to be downloaded for compatibility. Additionally, an adapter may be required if the device doesn’t offer the proper ports. Some gadgets also have more limited capabilities when connected to the Steam Deck, but are still usable.

Of course, not all accessories will work well with Steam Deck. For example, a Switch or PlayStation Portal screen protector, always-on case, or skin won’t fit on the Steam Deck. However, some bigger cases made for those handhelds can work in a pinch. Just be sure to do your research before committing to a purchase.

Danielle Abraham is a freelance writer for IGN based in Los Angeles who spends most of her time updating tech buying guides.

Pairing a camera with your Nintendo Switch 2 might not be the first thing to cross your mind when thinking about all the Switch 2 accessories to consider. However, I’ve been surprised by the novelty and seamlessness of GameChat, Nintendo’s built-in video chat room for Switch 2 that lets you connect with friends conveniently. While most USB webcams will work just fine with the system if you want to get on video, Nintendo’s first-party offering with the Switch 2 Camera is pitched as the ideal solution. And from a design perspective, it is – but its $55 price tag doesn’t entirely line up with what you get.

Getting the tech specs out of the way, the Switch 2 Camera runs a solid 1080p resolution, but I would put the video quality itself just a notch above my Thinkpad laptop camera and a step below my Razer Kiyo USB webcam (which also does 1080p). The Nintendo camera’s colors are more washed out than I would’ve liked and are a tad too green, and I wish I could tune color grading in some way. However, the low-light performance is quite good, and I’m able to come through clearly with just ambient room light and without needing a dedicated key light.

One of the aspects that makes this camera unique is its extra-wide 110-degree field of view (FOV), well above what you’ll find on most webcams, which helps it capture group settings much better. You get that fisheye lens effect when it’s used up-close, but considering that it’s meant more for a living room-style environment, it doesn’t really become an issue. I had the camera about five feet away from me, and with a full shot, you could comfortably fit around six people on screen. Compared to my Razer Kiyo that has an 82-degree FOV, at the same distance you’d be able to have four people on screen sitting next to each other.

Check out our roundup of the best Switch 2 accessories.

The Switch 2 Camera is natively recognized as a webcam on Windows as well. I just plugged it into my PC and was instantly ready to go like any other device. I’m not sure how much crossover there is between the crowd that’s in the market for a webcam and those who would consider the Switch 2 Camera, but it’s kind of cool that it doubles-up in this way.

So, the Switch 2 Camera fulfills its specific purpose competently, but the question becomes whether or not you should be spending $55 on it – that puts it around other 1080p webcams, but it pales in comparison from a pure image quality perspective. While features like the high FOV that’s good for big groups and the stand that holds it upright are nice, there are still more cost-effective or better performing options out there: the Razer Kiyo I use goes on sale for under $50, the popular Logitech C920x is at $60, and the budget-level Lenovo Essential FHD (that also has a wide 95-degree FOV) sits around $30. GameChat isn’t exactly the kind of platform that demands the best quality feed – I know I’m just here to get a kick out of the reactions of friends in Mario Kart World, Mario Party, or Smash Bros. Ultimate in an online party setting. In the realm of webcams, however, Nintendo doesn’t exactly stand out in terms of price or features. Rather, it’s an easy solution for those who want to jump into GameChat on video and don’t want to think too much about the absolute best webcam to get.

If you're in the market for a new Switch (not Switch 2) console, here's a deal worth consideration. AliExpress is currently offering a Nintendo Switch OLED console for just $237.49 with free delivery from a local US warehouse. AliExpress offers several guarantees, including a token discount if the package is delayed, and a complete refund if the package is lost, damaged, or not delivered within 20 days after you place an order.

This is a brand new, genuine Nintendo Switch console, but keep in mind that it is an imported model and the manufacturer's warranty it comes with will not be valid in the United States (however you do get a 15-day return policy). The packaging and materials might also be written in another language. Functionally, however, every Switch console is region unlocked so you'll be able to play it in the US without any problems. You'll be able to select English as your default language just like any console you buy here.

Update: This was originally a sale I found on Woot. However, the Woot listing has since expired and AliExpress is offering a similar import model for a lower price.

Nintendo Switch OLED for $237.49

International model

28 Years Later opens in theaters Friday, June 20.

28 Days Later is widely credited with vivifying zombie movies in the early 2000s. Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland shook the subgenre out of rigor mortis and pushed it into a full-blown sprint, and the dead have been running and walking (and Walking… and Walking… and Walking...) onscreen ever since. But as great horror usually does, 28 Days Later spoke to a moment – specifically the terror attacks of September 11 and the resulting geopolitical fallout – and hauntingly captured how easily rage and fear can trap people in cycles of violence in the wake of a disaster. Following more recent upheavals like Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, the new sequel 28 Years Later feels like a bookend to that idea, turning its focus to what it takes to break the cycle. Boyle and Garland dive back into their infected hellscape headfirst, and the decades of perspective they bring back to post-apocalyptic Britain leave 28 Years Later’s musings on what matters most feeling right on time.

Boyle sidesteps the wider spread of the Rage virus suggested by the end of 2007’s 28 Weeks Later by quickly establishing that the infection has been pushed back and contained to the U.K. mainland. Enough time has passed that an entire generation has sprung up without any first-hand experience of how the world fell apart after the outbreak. , 28 Years Later wisely centers its action on 14-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams), a citizen of the heavily fortified Holy Island who’s taking his first steps into the wilderness as a hunter-in-training with his dad, Kraven Jamie (Aaron Taylor Johnson). Young enough to want to bring a toy on the hunt, but old enough to know that’s kid stuff, Spike’s vulnerability and bravery are at constant odds as he witnesses the terrors of the Rage virus.

Williams (in his film debut) effortlessly shoulders the swings between those poles, helping to ground 28 Years Later in an emotional realism that evokes what Cillian Murphy achieved in 28 Days Later. Yes, Spike makes mistakes and hesitates, but rarely if ever do these feel like the actions of a helpless child in such a cruel world. Instead, Boyle consistently drives home the idea that Spike and his peers have been forced to grow up too quickly. The way Holy Island’s citizens are lionizing Spike’s ascension to the hunter role, good-natured though it is, has a haunting, violence-begets-violence quality to it, underlined by the montages of child soldiers and the war poetry of Rudyard Kipling peppered into the edit. Holy Island makes for an effective, if not all that subtle, microcosm of isolationism, and the threats that seem to get under the citizens’ skin most – like Ralph Fiennes’ Kelson, who we’ll get to in a moment – will feel deeply familiar to anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock for the last five years.

Taylor-Johnson’s Jamie, who would’ve been about Spike’s age at the time of the initial outbreak, presents a thornier take of how manhood has evolved in this decades-long quarantine. He’s incredibly patient and supportive – tender, even – towards Spike in their one-on-one time, but Jamie embellishes Spike’s prowess with boorish bravado. It’s enough to make the boy more insecure about his survival fundamentals. Taylor-Johnson embodies those conflicting sides of fatherhood without either becoming too one-note. Jamie’s detached treatment of Spike’s ailing mom Isla (Jodie Comer) further drives a wedge between the two, especially once Spike realizes that there’s more that both of them could have been doing to help her. Isla experiences near-constant bouts of disorientation and pain, putting Spike into a position of caretaking that further accelerates his coming-of-age. It's rich work from Comer, and though Isla’s scattered mind makes her a slightly less-focused character in her own right, her love for Spike shines through her pain. The lessons she has for him end up feeling even more valuable than Dad’s tips for taking infected out in one shot.

28 Years Later’s greatest challenge is one of Boyle and Garland’s own making: the explosion of zombie fiction inspired by 28 Days Later means a lot of points of comparison for both the action and the drama. The infected action is slick and well-staged, but it’s here that the hordes of imitators have most watered down Boyle’s brand of zombie violence. 28 Years Later introduces some new subspecies of infected that feel like they could’ve shambled right out of Left 4 Dead, some of which pose questions about the nature of the infection that beg to be answered in the already-shot sequel 28 Days Later: The Bone Temple.

Most effective are the Alpha infected, a truly hilarious name for the brutes given the themes Garland’s script trafficks in. These crazy-ripped, nigh invincible hulks immediately ratchet up the tension any time they’re on screen, with finishers that would make even Sub-Zero exclaim “flawless victory” in satisfied wonder. A chase scene involving an Alpha making its way towards Holy Island results in one of the most unbearably tense moments in the film, like if the oncoming train from that scene in Stand By Me were a naked bodybuilder running full-tilt at the leads... a hog-wild encounter, to be sure. But as great as the makeup and digital effects in 28 Years Later are, it’s just not as exciting to see a person kill a zombie (or vice versa) as it was in 2002. Boyle and Garland seem content to let their imitators and acolytes try to outdo each other. 23 years later, they’re more concerned with matters of the heart.

Boyle chases the guerilla-filmmaking textures of 28 Days’ groundbreaking digital cinematography by shooting 28 Years Later mostly on iPhone 15 Max Pros. The small size of those phones compared to big unwieldy movie cameras does allow for seriously kinetic coverage during the action scenes. As Boyle himself dubbed it, there’s a “poor man’s bullet time” effect accentuating some killshots that looks so cool the first time, but loses just a bit of its luster by its fifth or sixth deployment. That shifty camera move is also infrequently used to accentuate character, like when Boyle wants to underline Jamie’s bubbling lower case “r” rage by focusing on a knife in his hands and performing just a little shift to remind us that the virus doesn’t create fury, it merely amplifies it past all reason. Boyle puts the iPhone camera to work in low-light situations as well, painting Spike’s zombie nightmares in angry night-vision reds.

It’s a testament to how far technology has advanced since 28 Days Later that the “shot on iPhone” acknowledgment rarely feels that relevant – though the professional-grade lenses that Boyle and his frequent cinematographer Andrew Dod Mantle strap to their consumer-grade smartphones probably have something to do with that. They highlight the beauty of the British countryside so well that it never feels like an unfavorable trade for 28 Days’ chillingly empty London. Drone shots similarly add a propulsive new view on the action, weaving in and out of groups of infected with dizzying speed.

But as is often the case in zombie fiction – here, let me just lean in and whisper real quick… maybe we’re the real monsters. 28 Years Later teases out the significance of Kelson , a mysterious outcast drawn as a Colonel Kurtz-type with a penchant for burning bodies en masse, and his relatively late entrance opens the door to some of the story’s most potent material. Kelson’s presence narrows the scope of the third act considerably, but, without being too specific about what he’s up to wandering around that there Bone Temple, it’s absolutely the right call for Spike’s final test. And Fiennes turns in a simple, yet devastatingly effective performance to augment it.

I’m not going to lie to you, folks. When I hear the word “soulslike,” my eyes start to glaze over, and I imagine the sweet release of death. It’s the same way I feel when someone says “metroidvania,” or “roguelike.” There’s nothing inherently wrong with soulslikes, metroidvanias, or roguelikes, for the record. There’s just an awful lot of them. I love a good steak, but you can’t eat fillet mignon every day. Sometimes you need some sushi, a taco plate, hell, even just a burger. A little variety goes a long way. So when I got asked whether I wanted a one or two-hour appointment with Wuchang, I only signed up for an hour. But I was allowed to play for two, and I’m really, really glad I did. Wuchang may be a soulslike, but it’s got unique ideas, and by the time I put down my controller, I knew I wanted to see more of what it has to offer.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers sets itself apart from the jump with its unique art and setting. It takes place in the land of Shu during the latter part of the Ming Dynasty. That single choice sets what I played of Wuchang apart from just about every other soulslike. Most games in this genre aren’t shy about their dark fantasy aspirations. In theory, that should mean everything looks a little different. In reality, that means most games look like Dark Souls, which means that most games really look like Berserk. I like Berserk, but it’s not great when everything looks like it stepped out of one of Kentaro Miura’s panels. Wuchang’s dark fantasy, make no mistake, but its setting means a lot of what I saw looks and feels unique (and colorful).

The story’s got an interesting setup, too. You play as Wuchang, a pirate with a nasty bout of amnesia. In my demo, she woke up without knowing who she was or what was going on. Unfortunately for her, amnesia might be the least of her problems. You see, Wuchang has contracted a disease known as the Feathering. It starts small; feathers form on your limbs. But as the disease progresses, you lose your memories, go mad, and undergo a “monstrous transformation.”

There’s no known cure, but that doesn’t mean our girl is just going to lie down. She’s healthier than most, so she’s going to look for a cure. The problem is, once most people realize you’ve contracted the Feathering, they’ll attack you on sight. It’s a neat reason for why just about everyone in Wuchang (though not all; there are plenty of people willing to help you) will attack you as soon as they see you. And the Feathering isn’t entirely a curse; it also gives Wuchang access to very powerful magic. Unlike most other Souls games, you don’t have to equip or spec into magic for it to be useful. It just is. That’s pretty slick.

The other big thing Wuchang does is make each of its weapons unique. Each one is different in very subtle ways. The greataxe in my demo could block, but parrying was a technique that was essentially reserved for a longsword. Other weapons didn’t have either ability, opting instead for attack skills to lay on the hurt. And you can’t just fire off these skills anytime, either. Using them (aside from block and parry, which you always have provided you’ve equipped a weapon with them) take charges, which you build by pulling off perfect dodges or parries. Nailing perfect dodges and parries also charges your magic.

Wuchang isn’t quite as fast as Bloodborne, but it’s faster than most souslikes and encourages you to be aggressive to build those charges. The dance is still here against bosses, and you shouldn’t charge in blindly, but Wuchang is less about waiting for enemies to whiff an attack and punishing them and more about forcing them to swing at you, building those charges, and then cashing in for big damage, either through weapon abilities, magic, or attacks that deal damage while switching to your other equipped weapons. It’s a nice change of pace from traditional soulslike, and forces you to take risks to get access to your best stuff.

Even leveling up is its own thing. Instead of dumping points into your core stats, you fill out a skill tree for everything from your weapons to upgrading your flasks. If you want specific stats, you’ll get them through the armor you equip. There’s no shortage of outfits in Wuchang, from the traditional to the risqué (and there is no shortage of fanservice in Wuchang), but you’re not just playing Fashion Souls or looking at core stats here. You always want to be sure you’re picking the right resistances. If you’re losing to enemies with swords, you might want some slashing resistance. Getting smashed by a big hammer? Bludgeoning resistance is the way to go. Magic got you down? Get some magic resistance in you. These choices matter, and I appreciate that your gear matters, even if I could have done without some of the fan service.

There are still bonfires (here, they’re shrines) and resting at them, which in Wuchang is known as “entering the Dream,” still respawns any enemies you’ve defeated. Even that, though, isn’t necessarily safe. The first time I entered the dream in my demo, I was attacked by a large, bird-like boss. I lost the fight that followed, but when I went back to the dream, the boss wasn’t there. I couldn’t tell you what the deal with that was, but it was interesting, and I kept wondering when (or if) I would get another shot at him. I didn’t, but I am interested in getting another crack at him and figuring out what all that stuff is about.

Speaking of bosses, I did get to square off with three of them during my time with Wuchang, and none of them corresponded to the “Big Dude in Armor” stereotype. From Software got that right with Artorias the Abysswalker, and they (and many others) have leaned on similar versions of that fight since. Often imitated, never duplicated, as the saying goes. Wuchang isn’t interested in sitting down at that table, though.

Instead, every one felt very different. The first was a masked man with a halberd. He definitely had a range advantage on my longsword and greataxe combo, but that was fine with me. I wanted him to swing at me so I could build charges and then use my greataxe to lay down the law. This boss took me quite a few attempts, mostly because I’d think I had an opening when I really didn’t, and get cooked for trying to attack when it wasn’t actually my turn. Once I got his patterns down, though, I was building charges and spending them efficiently, dodging through his attacks and landing big swings of my own. And when I needed to back off? I could cover myself with magic.

The second fight was against someone who seemed to have been transformed by the feathering. This was more acrobatic. The boss would leap into the air and attack from range, forcing me to time my dodges to avoid projectiles and keep from committing until I absolutely had to. I didn’t find it nearly as hard as the first (it took me just s couple tries), but I did appreciate the change of pace.

The last fight… whew, that last fight. Only one person at the entire event beat the final fight in the Wuchang demo, and I’m sad to say it wasn’t me. While the other two fights were all about dodging, this one (against a woman wielding a sword), forced me to parry. Even with the right weapon and good timing, she was a hard fight: incredibly fast, aggressive, and damaging. Every time I tried to back off to heal, she was in my face. Even when I parried her successfully, I had to be careful; I often only had time for a single counterattack before she’d hit me again. It was a brutal fight, and I didn’t win, but I appreciated how hard it was, and how I’d had to change my strategy for each boss. I can’t wait for another crack at her from the comfort of my couch.

And that sums up my feelings with Wuchang as a whole, really. I got a ton of time with it, far more than anything else I played at Summer Game Fest, and I left satisfied with what I’d seen. But I was also excited to see more. Not bad for a souslike, right?

Most filmmakers, if they’re lucky, will see a long career with both ups and downs. Few, though, have enjoyed (endured?) as much of a rollercoaster as Danny Boyle. He came out swinging in the mid ’90s with a pair of films that remain among his best before immediately stumbling with a pair of vanity projects. Boyle then reinvigorated the “zombie” horror scene only to chase it with another misfire. Rinse and repeat a couple more times and you have a wildly unpredictable filmography.

Boyle is back in theaters this weekend with his first film in six years: 28 Years Later. So if you’re looking to revisit some of Boyle’s best, here’s our ranking of all 13 of his theatrically released films to date.

13. Yesterday (2019)

It feels almost like bullying putting such a sweetly saccharine movie at the bottom, but labeling it the worst of Boyle’s filmography still feels appropriate. Yesterday is competently made and performed, and it has an engaging hook – an unknown musician named Jack wakes one day to discover that The Beatles never existed, but he still knows all their songs – but it’s just so cloying and sticky in its desperate need for our affection that it threatens to move from instantly forgettable to mildly irritating. Still, and at the very least, you know the soundtrack is pretty darn good.

12. A Life Less Ordinary (1997)

Boyle isn’t above throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, and A Life Less Ordinary is exhibit A in the argument against doing just that. In theory, at least, this is a romantic comedy with thriller elements and supernatural asides, but not a damn thing lands here (even as it all slides down that metaphorical wall to find an ignoble end on the floor). It’s a mess, start to finish, but it’s a watchable mess thanks to an absolutely stacked cast including Ewan McGregor, Cameron Diaz, Holly Hunter, Delroy Lindo, Dan Hedaya, Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub, and more.

11. Trance (2013)

Boyle is no stranger to twisty thrillers – his best one sits at number three, below – but Trance shows there’s a limit to how many times you should twist, turn, and pull the rug out from under your audience. Trance goes well past that limit, resulting in a film that grows emptier and emptier the longer it goes leaving it wholly out of steam at the end of its hour and forty minutes. Boyle spices things up on the visual front, and the cast (including James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, Vincent Cassel) do good work, but nothing can break the increasingly numb feeling you’re left with.

10. The Beach (2000)

You can look at the box-office for The Beach – the third-highest of Boyle’s career – and argue that it’s a success, but you’d be hard-pressed to claim that was due to anything other than Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role (as Ralph, not The Beach). He was still riding high on the Titanic wave, and seeing him wash up on the shore with other attractive, scantily clad young people was irresistible. The movie itself? Not so much. Its themes and ideals are tossed around like chum in the water, and we all know what that leads to. That’s right, the only great scene in the film.

9. Millions (2004)

Filmmakers aren’t above cannibalizing their own work for something new, and Boyle seems to do just that with his “family friendly” romp, Millions. The film sees two young boys come across some dirty money which leads them on a journey involving visitations from the dead and a determined baddie looking to reclaim his cash. It’s basically a splash of Shallow Grave’s plotting and a dash of A Life Less Ordinary’s ethereal Catholicism, but mashed together with messy thoughts on grief, morality, and the UK’s regret over not adopting the EU’s currency standard, the Euro.

8. 127 Hours (2010)

Conflict in movies is typically presented as a tale of someone against someone else, but 127 Hours shakes things up with a story about a young man at war with himself. Trapped in a desperate situation – his arm, literally trapped beneath an immovable boulder – his will to live goes head to head with the unthinkable realization as to his only chance at survival. The film, based on a true story of survival, is as compelling and engaging a tale of resilience as you’re likely to find. Part character study, part dramatic thriller, it’s a fantastically effective film with a strong lead performance.

7. T2 Trainspotting (2017)

Creating a sequel to a groundbreaking film you made decades earlier in your youth can be daunting, but few have pulled it off as well as Boyle does with T2 Trainspotting. Sure, this sequel can’t touch the highs of the original, but it’s still its own terrifically affecting look at people trapped by circumstances wholly within their control. The energy level is lower, as befitting now middle aged characters, and the laughs are far less edgier, but the palpable sadness and sliver of hope remain as Boyle once again shows love for these people and this place.

6. Steve Jobs (2015)

Just as he did with The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin’s script for Steve Jobs adapts one man’s complex history into a simple but captivating and compelling character study that entertains in its caustic wit and confusingly smooth abrasiveness. Boyle takes that simple framework of following Jobs through three pivotal product launches and finds life and energy despite the frequently and deceptively static environments. Conversations become living, breathing set pieces through Boyle’s kinetic sense of style. His cast (Michael Fassbender, Seth Rogen, Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels, and more) then brings those sharply written words to fiery life, capturing both the man and the movement he helped create.

5. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Haters and people prone to using the term “poverty porn” gonna hate, but Boyle’s energetic ode to luck, fate, and living your best life no matter the obstacles thrown your way remains a thrilling delight. Slumdog Millionaire introduced the world to the great Dev Patel, and his character’s journey from the Mumbai slums to a seat of power on a popular game show is an electric ride winding its way through thrills, pathos, and romance. Where Yesterday (way above) really, really needs you to feel good after watching, this one gets you there effortlessly with style, talent, and enthusiasm to spare.

4. Sunshine (2007)

Sometimes everything just clicks into place, and as the first of four stone-cold masterpieces on this list, Sunshine is a powerful example of that relatively rare occurrence. It’s a sci-fi epic that sends a crew on a suicide mission to reignite the sun in the hope of saving an increasingly chilly Earth. Science and faith go head to head, fundamentalists for truth and fantasy butting heads as their time – our time, because the film is no less prescient for its fantastical setting – races to an end, and their journey is as thrilling as it is profound. It also just looks damn cool and sports a killer cast in Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, and more.

3. Shallow Grave (1994)

Boyle’s first theatrical feature should be the envy of every aspiring filmmaker as he gathers a small group of insanely talented young actors, plies them with a good time and an airtight script, and then delivers a wickedly entertaining thriller that still holds up beautifully three decades later. Ewan McGregor, Kerry Fox, and Christopher Eccleston are close friends who ultimately tear themselves and their lives apart after finding a lot of cash in their flat, and each gives a brilliant performance in the face of twists, turns, betrayal, violence, and a corpse doing the full monty in their spare bedroom.

2. 28 Days Later (2002)

Call them zombies, call them the infected, call them angry jerks – whatever name you give them, just know that these rabid monsters are as scary now as they were when you first watched this movie over two decades ago. 28 Days Later’s lo-fi cinematography creates a feeling of raw immediacy adding to the nightmare fuel that is a world overrun with violent people (both infected and otherwise). The film got a solid-enough sequel in 2007’s 28 Weeks Later, and a planned trilogy is heading our way starting with 28 Years Later, which marks Boyle’s long overdue return to horror. Our bodies are ready.

1. Trainspotting (1996)

As the list above attests, Boyle’s career is one filled with numerous and memorable highs, but his second feature remains the pop culture fixture sitting atop them all. Beyond capturing a time, a place, and a people, Trainspotting walks a delicate line with its honest exploration of both the orgasmic highs brought on by heroin and the utterly devastating results of its inevitably addictive embrace. Hilarious, heartbreaking, beautiful, and disgusting, the film is a genre-bender (and arguably Boyle’s true first horror film) that implores you to choose life – no matter how you define it.

Those are our rankings, but what do you think? Vote in our poll above, and let’s discuss in the comments!

Patience debuted on PBS Sunday, June 15. New episodes air weekly.

Despite its endeavor to take a new approach to the police procedural, Patience – British screenwriter Matt Baker’s plodding six-part series revolving around an autistic police archivist-turned-investigator – leans on tired tropes at every turn. Much like staples of the genre like Psych or Monk, it hopes to cash in on the dazzling special skills and enigmatic unconventionality of its central detective. But there’s a limit to Patience's interest in carving out any proper depth to its protagonist, giving her a meaty backstory, or venturing beyond her surface-level motivations. The result is a series that – in spite of some valiant attempts by its actors to lift a clunky script – is mechanical, soulless and stale. Considering the general lack of autistic women on TV, it’s a real missed opportunity.

The titular main character, hard-nosed puzzle-lover Patience Evans (Ella Maisy Purvis, who, like her character, is neurodivergent), works in the criminal records department hidden in the basement of a police bureau in the quaint UK town of York. The opening sequence follows her at home, timing herself as she solves a gift-shop puzzle to a backing of whimsical orchestral music. Simultaneously, in a bank, a glassy-eyed man takes out a hefty lump sum before heading to a car park, dousing himself in gasoline, and lighting a match. From the first beep of Patience’s stopwatch, there’s a tonal rift between cozy crime drama and gritty cop thriller that can’t quite be bridged. It’s also an early giveaway of a tendency to see Patience as an oddity rather than a rounded, relatable character.

This is the latest in a string of apparent suicides Patience is semi-miraculously able to link together into one murder investigation. When she starts dropping hints by sending additional, unrequested files upstairs to the investigations department, she catches the attention of Detective Inspector Bea Metcalf (Laura Fraser), an unusually, slightly disconcertingly warm antithesis to the stereotypical hard-as-nails police constable.

Discovering the 20-something’s handy flair for identifying crucial details and patterns that neurotypical officers in the department miss, Bea takes Patience under her wing, ensuring her talents are no longer squandered in the storeroom. Patience becomes unofficial “assistant investigator,” presumably without the pay rise. But Bea’s colleagues take less kindly to Patience’s arrival: One minor character remarks that Patience got her name because it will “take every ounce of yours to deal with her.” She’s surrounded by a cast of characters who are endlessly frustrated by their new coworker, each proving their backwardness in a way that feels stage-managed and slightly absurd rather than totally believable.

Even as Patience is lured out from the safety of the criminal records department and bravely enters this new realm, she’s oddly sidelined by her namesake show. Episodes alternate between scenes with the budding detective and ones with the senior police officers. These quip-heavy check-ins seem intended to leaven some of the heaviness of Patience’s storyline – except the sparkless dialogue and feeble humor mean they function as little more than dressed-up exposition.

Though Patience is supposed to unfold from its main character’s perspective, her lack of involvement in numerous parts of the plot, the narrow, unsubtle gamut of ways she makes her presence felt onscreen (briskly walking York’s streets while wearing noise-cancelling headphones, storming off, furrowing her eyebrows, clenching her fists), and the dogged emphasis on how others perceive her as an outsider suggest otherwise. At every point where we start to empathize, we’re reeled back into the point-of-view of her colleagues. And, wherever Patience goes, she’s accompanied by the show’s sweeping, fanciful score, encouraging us to see her from a distance – to view her not as a person living her life or doing her job, but as an object of patronizing awe.

Much of Baker’s problem lies in trying too hard to make Patience’s internal world external, forcing her to constantly explain away her behavior and feelings in a script that is both artificial and trite. Too much of the screentime manages to feel like a rote exercise in teaching non-autistic viewers about autistic traits, while bulldozing over any of the autistic characters’ nuances in the process. There’s also a confounding lack of consistency and attention to detail, from incongruity between shots to plot holes to uneven character development. One of Patience’s few redeeming qualities is that its cases of the week each start out with an intriguing premise for a crime – but even these wind up rushed-through and half-baked, with a distinct lack of riveting murderers.

Over the last eight years, the Nintendo Switch has become one of the most successful and influential consoles of all time, confidently securing a place in my regular gaming rotation on the couch while simultaneously becoming a handheld staple of my train commutes and trips abroad alike. But over that same time, its aging innards have become steadily more distracting. That’s why it’s such a relief that the Nintendo Switch 2 has magnetically snapped into our hands at long last, giving games the Switch was struggling to run a shot in the arm and opening the door for a whole new generation of third-party support. At the same time, apart from a creative new mouse control option that works better than it is comfortable to actually use, this sequel system doesn’t provide many of its own novel reasons to upgrade at the moment beyond bringing its out-of-date predecessor into the modern age – and it’s charging a substantial premium ($449) in order to do that.

Let’s start with the basics: From the outside, the Switch 2 looks almost identical to a slightly scaled-up version of Nintendo’s original handheld/console hybrid system (roughly 13% bigger, 10.7 inches across with both Joy-Con controllers attached), but a whole lot of smart tweaks make it a much more refined device – although many of these were carried over from the Switch OLED model. That includes a new kickstand that’s far more robust and versatile, as well as system buttons that are just a bit sleeker. However, there are also welcome additions unique to this device like a second USB port on top so you can finally charge while playing in tabletop mode (anyone who has taken their Switch 1 on a long flight knows how huge of an improvement this is) or plug in certain peripherals like the official camera while docked, as well as a very comfortable 256GB of base internal storage so you don’t immediately have to buy a MicroSD Express card to expand it.

The biggest change to the body of the Switch 2, of course, is the new magnetic attachment system for its updated Joy-Con. This replacement for the original’s slide-on rails is genuinely fantastic, letting you satisfyingly snap them on and off with ease while feeling entirely sturdy and secure when you want them to be. (You can pull them off without pressing the release button if you really want to, but it's almost definitely not going to happen by accident.) In a similar way to how Tears of the Kingdom somehow made Breath of the Wild feel small, it’s the type of upgrade that makes something I previously loved suddenly seem like a first draft that’s a little awkward to go back to.

We’ve now covered pretty much all the major physical differences between the two systems, however, which I do think represents a missed opportunity. Most notably, it’s disappointing that the Joy-Con themselves didn’t get a more ergonomic redesign. As much as I really love the convenience and flexibility of being able to use them attached to the screen, detached to play games with my arms relaxed at my sides, individually for simple multiplayer games, or snapped onto the included grip to form something closer to a conventional gamepad, these controllers are far from the most comfortable around. They are still missing analog triggers, and the button layout has always been cramped and misaligned, but their size increase hasn’t been taken advantage of to make any of that better. In fact, it sort of makes things worse in handheld mode, as the larger device and heavier weight (1.18 pounds with the Joy-Con attached, compared to the original’s 0.88) adds just a little more strain over time. It’s not much worse if you are already used to a Switch 1, but after using the substantially more ergonomic Steam Deck (which is 0.29 pounds heavier) for the past three years, the reused design of these small, flat controllers now sticks out like a sore thumb – quite literally sometimes.

Of course, the new Joy-Con do have one exceptionally cool trick up their sleeve: Pop one off and turn it on its side (with the connecting edge down) and you get quick access to an impressively precise mouse control option as you slide it around your coffee table or couch cushion. Simply put, this works well enough to be every bit the game-changer I was hoping it might be… with a couple of major caveats. The good news here is that this mouse option really, truly gets the job done – it’s not going to rival the precision of a high-quality PC gaming setup or anything, but it’s more than accurate enough for your average player, and blows the lid off what kinds of games can be conveniently played at your couch or on the go.

The first time I plopped onto my sofa, propped my Switch 2 on my legs, and then popped off the right Joy-Con and started casually playing Civilization 7 with all the precision of sitting at my desk, something clicked. That same feeling came back when I set my Switch 2 up on a table at an outdoor coffee shop and played Cyberpunk 2077 with the wide arm of a wooden recliner chair as my mousepad. Those weren’t perfect experiences – Civ has an issue where it would occasionally misunderstand my inputs and swap to a different control mode when I clicked, and Cyberpunk’s button mapping demands a little bit too much of your right thumb (which I go into more detail about here). But those felt more like software and implementation problems rather than the fault of the tech itself, and these native mouse controls still stand out to me as the killer feature that sets the Switch 2 apart from any other gaming system available today.

So, what’s the catch? Well, much like using a single sideways Joy-Con on its own, it feels as though Nintendo designed the shape of this controller with the assumption that nobody would ever actually use it this way for longer than the minigames in Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour demand, and in doing so ensured few would ever want to. Mice are shaped the way they are for a good reason, supporting your hand in specific spots and reducing strain wherever they can – and the ergonomics of how your arm is positioned while sitting are important for that as well. In contrast, the Joy-Con 2 is a candy bar with triggers used in whatever position provides a flat enough surface, and there isn’t really a comfortable way to hold it that stays comfortable over long sessions.

When I played Cyberpunk 2077 with The Switch 2’s mouse controls for more than two hours in a row, I could still feel the strain in my hand the next day. Playing Civ for just 45 minutes while reclined on my couch inflamed a tendonitis issue in my forearm (which had been gone for three years) so badly that the pain actually woke me up that night. I even resorted to 3D printing a mouse-shaped Joy-Con shell to ease the hand strain, which did help (and it’s truly crazy Nintendo doesn’t have an official accessory like this available already), but that doesn’t do anything to solve the ergonomics of how you have to hold your arm – especially if you are playing with the mouse on your thigh as Nintendo over-ambitiously recommends.

The end result is an extremely innovative idea that I am as excited about as I am apprehensive to use more. Mouse controls work just fine in short bursts or to navigate menus, but are so uncomfortable in most practical scenarios that I doubt I’ll look to play any large games this way for prolonged sessions. It’s hard to imagine sitting down with Borderlands 4 later this year, for example, and playing an entire FPS campaign like this, which is a true shame. (And if you’re left-handed, you better hope the developer of whatever game you’re playing included an option to flip the controls – Civ and the Switch 2’s menus do, but Cyberpunk 2077 seemingly does not, and there doesn’t appear to be anything built in at the system level to account for this.) That said, if Nintendo were to make an official wireless Mouse-Con or snap-on accessory with all the buttons that are needed and a physical shape that wouldn’t hurt my hand to hold I would pick it up in a heartbeat, so the potential for this control method to be truly great is here.

It’s worth noting that certain games like Cyberpunk 2077 do have out-of-the-box support for a regular USB mouse – and even keyboard! – to be plugged into the dock, turning the Switch 2 into something that could function more like an ultra-portable gaming PC. (Although, notably, that doesn’t currently work in system menus.) That lack of limitation is really great to see, and I hope more games that are also available on PC make use of that potential going forward. I initially thought this might also mean I could plug in a mouse and use that as a more comfortable FPS option in Cyberpunk, but you can’t just use the mouse to replace the right Joy-Con and still use the left for movement without the UI swapping rapidly between the two input methods, and you can’t rebind any of the additional buttons your mouse might have to replace the controller buttons you’ve lost, so it’s not really a full-time solution. It’s all mouse and keyboard or all Joy-Con.

Moving from the Joy-Con to the screen nestled between them, the LCD touch display of the Switch 2 is a pretty big upgrade over the base Switch, and sort of a sidegrade compared to its OLED update that makes up for a lack of vividness with more pixels and frames per second. The jump from a 720p resolution to 1080p is a big one, and the doubled 120fps cap is some very welcome icing on that cake whenever a game can take advantage of it (though currently that’s reserved to only a minigame or two in Welcome Tour). Those improvements shouldn’t be understated, but the move back to LCD does mean the screen doesn’t perform quite as well outdoors and on the go compared to an OLED Switch. It’s still a good looking screen with pretty solid speakers to accompany it, and I was able to play Mario Kart on a sunny day in the park with no visibility problems, but a darker game like Cyberpunk 2077 was basically impossible to make out at times. All in all, it feels like a bit of a wash depending on your play habits and priorities, but since we’ve been forced to choose, I'm personally happy with the resolution and framerate bump.

Thankfully, that upped output isn’t isolated to handheld mode. In addition to finally having an integrated ethernet port (another perk that was on the OLED version first), the redesigned dock allows the Switch 2 to display beautiful 4K with HDR and higher framerates (up to 120 FPS at 1440p on compatible games). That’s thanks in part to a built-in fan and a thoughtful eye toward cooling in general, letting the Switch 2 pump out more power without overheating. Apparently it really needs that, too, because it could get pretty hot to the touch whenever I was playing games in 4K, even something innocuous like Welcome Tour – never to the point where it caused problems or threatened to burn my hands, but at least to a degree that surprised me given how consistently cool it stays while handheld.

This is where we start to peek inside the system, because the Switch 2’s ability to run games like Tears of the Kingdom with improved resolution and zero lag is probably its biggest selling point for anybody who had been feeling the Switch 1’s age more and more each day as we all cried out for the “Switch Pro” that never came. If you’ve only ever gamed on the original Switch in the last eight years, the upgrade being offered here is substantial – the free updates and paid Switch 2 Editions that have been released for many existing games make them look better, load a whole lot faster, and run the way it feels like they were always meant to. That backward-compatibility support is truly great to see when the Switch has so many still-awesome bangers in its library, and especially when Mario Kart World is the sole significant launch game.

It’s also easy to see how much of a jump has been made here when you compare the games of one developer, CD Projekt Red. The version of The Witcher 3 that came to Switch 1 was almost a novelty, with muddy graphics and a passable framerate that made it seem like a marvel it was able to run at all. Cyberpunk 2077, on the other hand, runs more than respectably on Switch 2 – it’s not on par with other modern platforms or anything, but it’s far more than a consolation prize, and a totally fine way to play an excellent RPG if you haven’t otherwise had the opportunity. The Switch 2 is never going to threaten the PlayStation 5 Pro in terms of raw power, but it’s a whole new world as far as third-party support is concerned. Hopefully it will be a little while before major third-party games start skipping Nintendo’s platform again (because if it has to run on the Xbox Series S anyway, it could probably be made to run here, too).

That said, if you have gamed on devices besides the Switch 1 since 2017, the technical upgrade here is not exactly what I would call exciting in the larger scheme of things. The Switch 2 is Nintendo playing catch-up, and things like HDR and 4K haven’t been thrilling new features for over half a decade. They are great to finally have, don’t get me wrong, and games on the Switch 2 no longer feel stranded on a console that was underpowered even when it first came out. And yet, there’s a part of me that worries we’ll be right back to begging for a Switch 2 Pro when the PlayStation 6 inevitably arrives in a few years time, because this one still hasn’t fully closed the gap with the consoles that launched back in 2020. (I mean, Microsoft announced it is working with AMD on the next Xbox console generation literally as I was writing this.)

Of course, Nintendo has always been more focused on doing a lot with a little in that regard, and that has largely worked to its benefit – the newest Pokemon games were certainly struggling on the 2017 hardware, and have received a big boost here, but it’s hard to argue Breath of the Wild doesn’t still look fantastic today even running at 720p and 30 frames per second (on a good day) thanks to its outstanding art direction. The same can be said for console-defining games like Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, among others. Even just playing catch-up is a big deal because any caveats that accompanied those already amazing games have now vanished. I don’t mean to undersell how great it is to feel like the training wheels have finally come off.

But that’s part of my point: This does not feel like a whole new bike. You could say that it’s not supposed to, given this is the first time Nintendo has ever put a 2 at the end of a piece of hardware’s name. But, functionally speaking, the Switch 2 feels closer to that mid-generation "Pro” update we never got than a brand-new console, and the gap is even smaller if you are only making the jump from an OLED Switch. And, yes, that was similarly true of the PlayStation 5 and Series X when they launched – I even wrote a whole article at the time about how generational leaps were going to stop being as jaw-dropping as we were used to. But for those systems, their top-of-the-line graphics power was at least somewhat novel on its own when it came to features like ray tracing, which is not the case here unless the Switch 1 is all you know. (Not even in the context of handheld gaming, given the rise of portable PCs like the Steam Deck in recent years.)

Instead, the “big” additions are things like GameChat, which is basically Nintendo’s own version of Discord with a dedicated button on the right Joy-Con to open it – and while it’s certainly a neat way to connect with friends and share your screen (at a comically low framerate), it’s also so hilariously overdue that IGN literally named a podcast Nintendo Voice Chat 17 years ago as a goof because it’s, to quote the 2008 announcement article, “the only place you'll find reliable voice support and "Nintendo" in the same area.” That joke could almost vote before it stopped being true. Meanwhile, Nintendo still isn’t interested in letting us customize the home screen (or even rearrange our game icons), still won’t support most media apps beyond YouTube (and some Switch 1 options like Hulu and CrunchyRoll no longer work at all on Switch 2), and still uses an obnoxious friend code system that’s a hassle next to all the other major platforms. There’s at least a welcome redesign of the eShop, which was painfully slow on the original Switch, but the system menus and interfaces are otherwise close to identical.

This kind of incremental system upgrade isn’t necessarily a bad thing in a vacuum, but it stands out to me when this console is also a whopping $449 compared to the original Switch’s $299 despite having slightly worse battery life in handheld mode – when playing big games like Mario Kart World, Cyberpunk 2077, or Civilization 7 on the go, I’ve yet to make it far past the two-and-a-half hour mark without having to plug in. Pair that with only a single launch exclusive worth playing and, apart from revisiting games I’ve already beaten at a resolution and framerate I’ve been used to seeing elsewhere for a half decade, there’s just not much that’s got me actively excited to play my Switch 2 at the moment. That will surely change when the phenomenal looking Donkey Kong Bananza and other new games start to arrive in the coming months, but for now this launch feels a little subdued.

Looking for a cheap power bank to extend the playtime of your brand new Nintendo Switch 2 console? Then this is the best power bank deal I've seen for today. Amazon is offering an Iniu 10,000mAh 22.5W USB Power Bank for just $11.87 after you clip the 10% off coupon on the product page and apply promo code "F4M479K9" during checkout. Iniu power banks generally have great reviews and are less expensive than equivalent Anker models. This particular power bank shares its 18,000 4.6-star Amazon reviews with one other model.

INIU 10,000mAh 22.5W Power Bank for $11.87

If you scan the shelves of your local board game store, any number of well-known video game adaptations will likely leap out at you. There’s Mass Effect: Priority Hagalaz for example, or Slay the Spire: The Board Game, alongside many other board games based on video games. But one very well-known name you won’t see is that of Lara Croft, or her beloved Tomb Raider franchise. For the series’ legions of fans, that is all about to change, but not necessarily in the way that they might think.

“We wanted to create a solo board game where Lara Croft is on a new adventure,” Luke Meila, designer of the upcoming Tomb Raider: The Crypt of Chronos, explained to IGN at his stand at the UK Games Expo, boldly supported by a hirsute gentleman cosplaying as Lara Croft. “We’ve seen Lara in video games, movies, comics and her adventures are always tailored to whatever the medium is, so that’s what we did with this: make a board game as if Lara has always been in a board game.”

That’s the core conceit driving the unusual solo nature of the game, which Melia feels is a pretty bold decision. “There are lots of franchises that create one-player modes in their board game adaptations, but we’ve never seen one build a complete solo game,” he continued. “While there are some great solo games like Under Fallen Skies and Final Girl, there’s nothing with a license this big. I was worried someone would get cold feet and pressure us into turning this into a more traditional multiplayer game.”

Luckily, that didn’t happen, and Melia has been free to realize his vision in the form of a game with two different ways to play. “There’s the adventure book, which is fifteen structured missions,” he said. “It’s designed to tell the story of how Lara got to the island of Kairos and what she’s looking for there. It kind of teaches you how to play, using a minimal set of components.”

Once you’re familiar with that, you can move onto campaign play. “This is much more of an open world, much more expansive” said Melia. This involves moving Lara across a map of the whole island, with different terrain hexes divided into jungles, deserts, mountains and tombs. “Each of the tombs has a token on it, and one of those tokens hides a map, while another hides a key,” he added. "When you get both, you’ll gain access to your big final mission.”

Each hex on the map has you drawing a card which shows you how to set up a level to play through, built from modular tiles supplied in the box. Traversing this has its own set of challenges depending on the terrain. “Jungles are quite balanced,” Melia said. “Deserts are hot and dangerous, wide open spaces that require a lot of traversal and enemies can see you from far away. Tombs are more puzzle-based with fewer enemies.”

Putting puzzles in board games has always been a double-edged sword. Puzzling and strategy feel like very close bedfellows, but once you’ve solved a puzzle, there’s little point in doing it again, making your game obsolete. Melia has found an ingenious way to get around this problem by making parts of each puzzle highly dynamic.

“So in this tomb we have to collect an artifact, which is locked behind a door,” he demonstrated. “We've got a boulder that you have to push around and you've got to try and work out how to get to the artifacts. So you need to work out where to put the boulder to get access to the unlocked corridors, and work out the correct order to throw the switches. There are twelve different tombs in the game, with different maps, different objectives and different switches. That would be a lot to try and memorize.”

And even if you do, Melia has designed things so that the game will keep on throwing you curveballs. “How each tomb plays out is going to be different on each replay,” he continued. “The events are going to be different, the enemies are going to be different. You’ll create a plan at the beginning of each tomb, but you have to continually adjust that plan according to what’s going on around you. You might learn where to push a boulder but that will be complicated if an enemy wanders into the area.”

He’s spent a surprising amount of time ensuring that his invention continues to puzzle even experienced players. “I experimented with all kinds of different puzzle options because having stale solutions was exactly my worry,” he confessed. “I wanted this to be endlessly replayable. But we’ve done a lot of playtesting and so far we’ve not had an issue where someone has done the same tomb twice and it’s not felt different each time. There’s enough variation in there to throw you off, whatever your plan is.”

Outside of tombs, you’re faced with more traditional challenges such as jumping, sneaking, and fighting, which are handled with a palette of six different actions and a pool of six dice that you can spend to boost your action. “ You can use as many dice as you want on an action and the more you use, the more powerful it is,” said Melia. “However, once you've used all six, your turn is done. If I want to run across the board, I could roll four dice for movement, but then if I find myself in a combat situation, it only leaves me with two.”

Once you’re out of dice, the enemies get to react. “They move on patrol routes,” Melia said. “Unless you’ve created noise in which case they’ll go and investigate and if they see you, they’ll attack. Then there’s an event phase where you’ll draw a card. There are lots of different kinds, like a dart trap you’ll have to try and dodge, or enemies spawning onto the board, or bonus resources. As you uncover resources, you can use them to craft new weapons and new outfits, and new actions as well.”

In the campaign game, enemies don’t just spawn and move in the level you’re playing but on the island map as well. “On the island enemies are NATLA, one of the famous villains from the Tomb Raider games,” Melia revealed. “Their invasion is spreading across the island, and every time you run out of event cards, more and more will appear. So if you draw helpful events like bonuses, they’re out of the deck and the game gets harder because enemies appear more frequently.”

Individual missions take about 20 to 60 minutes, so it can take a while to play through the 15 scenarios in the adventure mode. But, happily, the campaign missions are a bit shorter, allowing you to fit the whole thing into an evening’s play, which takes about three hours. However, the game has still been designed so you can “save” it in the midst of a campaign if you so wish. “We’ve included a save box,” says Melia. “You put in what you’ve crafted and it tells you how to save the decks.”

Video game adaptations to tabletop always face a barrier of how far to replicate the twitch action of the screen to the more sedate pace of the table. That’s why Melia tried to focus on the puzzling aspects of the franchise, but he made sure to try and make taking actions in the game feel like those of the original as much as possible. “You climb up to different levels of terrain in the game,” he explained. “Originally, I made moving and climbing two separate actions, with a roll to climb, because that’s how it works in the video game. You stop in front of the wall, jump and then climb up. But it just wasn’t fun on the tabletop, it got in the way of itself. We made them into one fluid action and it costs movement points to climb up and down.”

There are lots of other subtle nods to the original experience, too. “There’s a cooperative mode called pass the controller,” Melia said. “You take the dice, take a turn and then pass it to the other player. My wife and I play together quite a lot and we make joint decisions on what Lara is doing. It’s great until Lara gets surrounded by enemies and we disagree on how to get her out!”

And after months of design work and internal testing, Melia, who admits to being a devotee of the series from the very first game, finally got to try it out with some fellow fans. “They said it felt like an authentic Tomb Raider experience,” he beamed. “During one puzzle, one of them said that it couldn’t be done. That it was impossible. And I didn’t say anything, I just watched him reverse engineer it until finally I saw it click, and he smiled and solved it. And that was excellent.”

There can’t be many finer moments for a game designer, nor a player who loves the series, and it won’t be long before you get the chance to experience it on your own tabletop, too.

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

Alienware is offering competitive prices on RTX 5080 equipped gaming PCs to kick off June. Right now you can pick up an Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5080 gaming PC for $2,374.99 shipped. This is a good price for a well-engineered gaming rig with powerful current generation components, 240mm AIO water cooling, and sensible airflow design that can handle 4K gaming at high frame rates. In the current market, buying a prebuilt gaming PC is the only way to score an RTX 5080 GPU without paying an exorbitant markup. If you were to try to find a 5080 GPU for your do-it-yourself PC build, you'll probably spend nearly as much for the GPU as you would for an entire system.

Update: Price has dropped slightly from $2450 to $2325.

Alienware Aurora RTX 5080 Gaming PC From $2,375

Final Fantasy’s Magic: The Gathering set has been a huge success, with fans getting to wield cardboard versions of iconic characters from the series. While the set is home to some fantastic chase cards all of its own, it’s also led to some price increases on cards that play nicely with the new Universes Beyond additions.

Not only that, while there's been a rapid price increase, none of these cards are overly expensive to buy standalone on the secondary market right now (maxing out at $15 at most). From card draw engines to Saga skippers, these are three of the best cards you can snap up right now, and what to use them for.

Harmonic Prodigy - Modern Horizons 2

If there’s one thing beyond doubt after having played well over 100 hours with Dune: Awakening, it’s that Funcom has done its homework in crafting the most authentic take on the Dune-iverse imaginable. As a longtime fan of Frank Herbert’s iconic sci-fi setting, that’s an incredible thing to experience more often than not, and my time on Arrakis has been filled with moments of genuine shock. It’s very clever how the harsh environments and empty space are repeatedly used as progression checks, turning what seem like they should be weaknesses into strengths. Other times, that stubborn adherence to established lore results in annoying or just plain boring irritations, like how you’re all but forced to adopt a nomadic lifestyle in a genre where putting down roots and building up your base is one of the fundamentals. There have also been plenty of technical issues and bugs, an endgame that could use a bit of hydration, and combat that never stops being underwhelming, but on balance my friends and have had an absolutely awesome time nerding out.

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

The story is an interesting twist on the Dune world that takes place in an alternate reality where Paul Atreides was never born and House Atreides doesn’t collapse as a result. It’s a smart decision that allows for Awakening’s developers to play in the Dune-iverse without tying themselves to canon events or being obligated to kill off the various fan-favorite characters that the novels dispose of with reckless abandon. The plot is full of lore, familiar faces, and a few compelling twists and turns, but unfortunately each of those chapters is separated by about a dozen hours of gameplay and grinding that makes it pretty hard to keep track of or enjoy in any comprehensive way. Plus, Funcom makes the classic mistake of randomly throwing in a stealth level, and though it’s not quite as annoying as these one-offs tend to be, it’s definitely not playing to Awakening’s strengths. All in all though, I quite enjoyed the story that’s told, in large part because it makes such good use of the universe and worldbuilding.

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

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

But there are other times where this fanatical adherence to Dune conventions can be quite obnoxious, like how you’re encouraged (and in some cases required) to move your base of operations from place to place as you unlock access to higher-level regions. Pulling up stakes means you either have to abandon all you’ve built up to that point or tediously relocate as much of your equipment as you can, piece by piece.

Then there’s stuff like the fact that guns are often useless, since many enemies make use of the all-important Holtzman shields that completely protect from ranged attacks. This creates a weird situation where you’re juggling back and forth between guns and melee weapons depending on which enemy is currently running towards you, oftentimes having to choose between addressing the swordsman barreling down on you or the guy a few feet behind him with a chaingun, which can create a really oppressive rhythm to combat. While using guns is more effective at the start, once enemies start getting shields here’s little reason to ever use a gun. Melee is much better at killing enemies, since you can sprint through almost any bullets that bounce off your shield, then stun and stab enemies relentlessly until they die, but this becomes extremely monotonous, since every encounter plays out identically with almost no variety.

That’s just part of the reason that, like almost every single one of its peers, Dune: Awakening has pretty awful combat. I knew going into a survival MMO that would be the case, but it’s still a particularly bitter pill that never gets any easier to swallow. I spent half of my time playing with ranged weapons before switching to a vastly more effective melee build, but both are repetitive, sloppy, and downright janky. I honestly kinda respect how much Dune: Awakening sticks to its guns by making said guns ineffective to keep with Dune lore, even as it sometimes comes at the expense of me having a good time.

There are, at least, some neat little tricks like Bene Gesserit powers that let you command enemies to stop dead in their tracks for stretches of time, or an anti-gravity grenade that suspends everyone in the air, but very little of this stuff mixes things up enough to make up for the hours of blandness forced upon you. What’s more, there’s also some really irritating bugs, like how sometimes the parry button is unresponsive, or for some reason you simply won’t be able to swing your weapon at all until you unequip and re-equip it, which requires running away frantically to find a hiding spot where it’s safe to do so. Again, in the world of MMOs and survival games alike, I don’t expect anything as polished as Gears of War, but if you were hoping Dune would get this bit right I’m afraid that it definitely does not in its current state.

Thankfully, the combat miss is more than counterbalanced by the absolutely stellar survival mechanics, which are some of the most thoughtful and polished I’ve seen in a while. There’s a constant stream of new technologies to research, equipment to craft, and material to hunt for with almost no filler or repetitive grind along the way. Every time I collected the right materials to craft the latest shiny thing I want, I immediately had another enticing item to chase, and with unique schematics dropping left and right, I was always making interesting decisions on whether to spend my rarest materials on a cool item with a special effect versus taking the more conservative route and just crafting common items to save those resources for a rainy day (it’s gotta rain on Arrakis eventually…right?) There are some instances where the exact amount of materials needed to craft something, and the time it takes for those recipes to be cooked up, are a bit much, especially in the endgame where you can go through ornithopters quite quickly during PvP. But aside from these more extreme, late-game examples, the progression is incredibly well paced.

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

Though it took me over 80 hours to complete the campaign and master the main map of Hagga Basin, there’s still quite a bit to do once you reach the end of the grind and are inevitably pushed out to the Deep Desert to begin the endgame. This PvP-heavy zone is the only source of the materials necessary to reach the highest heights currently available in Dune: Awakening and has some really great ideas, like how the Coriolis Storm sweeps through each week and destroys everything in its path, leaving behind a new procedurally generated map to explore and fight other players to build settlements on. Unfortunately, those maps are absolutely massive and largely empty (and not in a good way, like the Hagga Basin), and what structures and shipwrecks there are to explore are mostly carbon copies of one another and almost instantly become a chore to explore.

But worse than that is the fact that the main event of the Deep Desert is the PvP experience, which is presently pretty awful – and not just because combat in general isn’t great in Awakening. The current meta involves everyone on the map flying around in ornithopters, carpet bombing one another into oblivion as they fight for a small amount of minerals needed for crafting. There’s very little in the way of gunplay, and hand-to-hand combat is fairly rare unless you get caught inside a shipwreck or cave, which isn’t all that likely when so much of the map is barren dunes. It’s a massively unrewarding experience that leaves those without guilds or powerful ships to live under the oppressive regime of their fellow players. If your ornithopter is destroyed in a dogfight, which is fairly likely, then you’ll need to haul your defeated butt back to Hagga Basin for another few hours of grinding to make a new ship, just for the chance to get your teeth kicked in and your mouth filled with sand all over again.

What’s hilarious is that even if you’re on the winning side of that brutal equation, you’re rewarded with basically nothing since players only drop the loot in their backpack and hang on to the much more valuable items they likely currently have equipped on their person. You’re at least able to grab some high-value materials, including the all-important spice, which helps you craft some of the most potent items on Arrakis, but those can also be scavenged from the world if you simply get lucky and swoop in undetected to grab what you need and leave before someone blasts you. It’s a meta that simply isn’t very fun for either side, and combined with the lack of rewarding things to do, I suspect this underdeveloped part of the Dune journey will be the focus of some serious revamping in the weeks and months to come.

Speaking of which, there’s still some technical work to be done as well. It’s certainly better than it was during the beta, but even as improved as it is, I’ve had disconnects, seen entire mountains disappear and reappear before my eyes, and even had a few hours where all sand worms just up and deleted themselves from existence, making everyone on the server swarm to the resources normally protected by their constant threat. It’s not been the smoothest launch by any stretch – but also far from the worst.

IGN can exclusively reveal that Fathom Entertainment and Dark Sky Films have designated August 18, 2025 as Texas Chain Saw Day, a nationwide theatrical celebration honoring the iconic and influential horror film, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

For one night only, on August 18th, audiences across the United States will be able to watch the original 1974 film in cinemas and in 4K.

Why August 18th, you may wonder? Because the events of the original film take place on August 18, 1973, so Texas Chain Saw Day marks the 52nd anniversary of the events depicted in the Tobe Hooper-directed classic.

Texas Chain Saw Day theatergoers will also get a sneak peek of Chain Reactions, an upcoming documentary about the Texas Chain Saw Massacre franchise directed by Alexandre Phillipe (The People vs. George Lucas, William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill, Lynch/Oz).

Chain Reactions, which won the Golden Lion at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, chronicles the impact the 1974 film had on Stephen King, Patton Oswalt, Takashi Miike, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Karyn Kusama.

“Texas Chain Saw Day will create the ultimate cinematic experience for fans of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. With a 4K restoration and an exclusive new look at Chain Reactions, August 18 will be a day of celebration for fans of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” said Fathom Entertainment CEO, Ray Nutt in a statement.

“Horror has long been a staple in the wide array of classic and genre-based theatrical movies Fathom brings to audiences nationwide, and Texas Chain Saw Day will be a cinematic experience like no other.”

Tickets for Texas Chain Saw Day will be available next month at Fathom Entertainment and participating movie theaters.

IGN has listed 1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre among our Top 25 horror movies of all time and as one of the 15 best slasher films ever made.

Today’s lineup includes some big names in gaming and collectibles, with Nintendo Switch 2 preorders for Kirby and Donkey Kong Bananza leading the charge. Both titles look like must-plays for platformer fans, with Kirby’s upgraded edition offering smoother performance and new post-game content, and Donkey Kong getting the full 3D treatment for the first time since the N64 days. Collectors will also want to check out the pixel-perfect FiGGYZ and the 50th anniversary SteelBook edition of Monty Python and the Holy Grail on 4K UHD.

Featured in this article

On the tech side, deals include a $499 Mac Mini M4, a $699 MacBook Air M3, and a big drop on Samsung’s ultra-wide Neo G9 monitor. We’re also seeing discounts on the Anker 4K HDMI Switch and accessories for the Switch 2 like JSAUX’s 3-pack screen protector and tomtoc’s slim carrying case. If games are more your speed, two new Humble Bundles are live—one for story-driven indies and another stacked with brawlers like River City Girls and Final Vendetta. Scroll on for the best savings.

Hulu + Live TV Free Trial

Pokémon Restock Updates

Checking these prices against TCG Player secondary market values, a lot of these products aren't far off the mark. Make no mistake, they're still way off MSRP, but finding Pokémon products on shelves that haven't been marked up past the point of anyone caring is a positive. Still refusing to pay over MSRP for new sets? Well played, I'm proud of you. Here's some single card highlights for you to shuffle through instead. Spoiler, there's plenty of deals to be had.

Destined Rivals Singles Are On The Rise (Again)

It's hard to stick a pin on Destined Rivals single card values right now, and the dips in value seem to match the little bits of stock distributors release to stores. Looking at the tracking charts for each of these cards, we can see mostly plummets from day one, then either upticks or cards for sale that exceed the original value at launch. It's crazy, but we now know how low these cards can go. Sure there's always attempts at market manipulation, but I wouldn't buy any cards on the rise right now.

The Most Expensive Pokémon Cards In Packs RIGHT NOW

We're not talking about vintage or out of print sets, all of these are incredible chase cards you can pull from booster packs available now. You can probably put money on their value going up as soon as their respective sets go out of print. If you don't want to spend mega money ripping open packs, market values on these single cards are quite reasonable for the most part..

Destined Rivals Sealed Stock

Wew're look to market values for Destined Rivals at the moment, seeing as big box stores are either fresh out of stock or charging over MSRP and what they're worth on the secondary market. So here's the full lineup to pop on your shelf or rip open like THAT Tyranitar. If you know you know.

Discounted MTG: Aetherdrift Boxes

Magic: The Gathering discounts at a big box store like Amazon? Surely not! Aetherdrift turned the MTG meta on its head introducing vehicles and other unique mechanics. This is a great time to jump into it and rip open some packs, it's deffinately one of the most "out there" twists on the ever popular trading card game.

Where To Buy MTG: Final Fantasy

It's finally here, Magic the Gathering: Final Fantasy is out in the wild. If you got a preorder for MSRP, well played, but many TCG and Final Fantasy fans missed out. Fear not, there's still some options on sealed products available right now, including options from the secondary market with TCG Player which is around the same or lower than the pricing of big box retailers right now.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch 2)

Donkey Kong Bananza

FiGGYZ

Monty Python And The Holy Grail - 4K UHD Combo + Steelbook

Badass Brawlers Bundle

Self Adhesive Hook And Loop Cable Ties

Anker HDMI Switch

JSAUX 3-Pack Tempered Glass Screen Protector Switch 2

Switch 2 tomtoc Slim Carrying Case

The Legend of Zelda Master Sword

Borderlands 4 Preorders

Borderlands 4 preorders have finally landed, and the started edition is just under the $70 mark in a suprising move after the comments made by Randy Pitchford. We've had a bit of a behind the scenes look with the beggining of the "Beyond the Borderlands" video dropping on how to make a vault hunter, and it's all looking good.

Narrative Arc Bundle

Apple Mac and iPad Deals

Need an upgrade or a good introduction into the Apple ecosystem? There's plenty of choices here, with the M4 chip powering the MacBook and Mac Mini, it's just a case of thinking about if you'd like a traditional desktop setup or something you can take on the go. iPad A16 is perfect for pretty much anything too, even a bit of Apple Arcade.

Samsung 57" Odyssey Neo G9 Gaming Monitor

Big Discounts On Crucial DDR5 and Storage

Crucial are one of the most dependable brands when it comes to M.2 and portable drives, and is a great option for those wanting the benefits of DDR5 RAM without flashy RGB and it's price tag. Here's some of the best deals in the Crucial price slashing marathon on Amazon right now. I currently use the X10 Pro 4TB for backing up files and folders on my PC and for watching videos on my projector, just a solid piece of kit.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (PS5)

DOOM The Dark Ages Art Print

Power Up Pride Bundle

Florence Pugh has revealed Marvel shot a fake Thunderbolts* ending scene that included a title that wasn’t The New Avengers.

The movie ends with villain Valentina Allegra de Fontaine tricking the Thunderbolts into taking part in the announcement of The New Avengers in front of the world’s media.

This dramatic MCU plot beat was subsequently mirrored in real-life, when Marvel officially changed the name of the movie to The New Avengers. Marvel even dragged the on-screen dispute between Sam Wilson’s Avengers and this new superhero team into the real world.

The ending scene, the truth behind the Thunderbolts* asterisk, and The New Avengers title were all kept a closely guarded secret, and keeping that secret involved shooting a fake scene with an entirely different name for the team.

Yelena actress Florence Pugh revealed the anti-spoiler ploy in a video published on Entertainment Weekly: "We shot a version where she was like, 'The New Thunderbolts!' And everyone was like, 'Woo!' And then we took all of the background [actors] out and shot Julia's line, which was kind of cool."

It turns out Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who plays Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, knew about the twist years ago, when she was first approached to join the MCU, but kept it a secret all this time.

Marvel Studios has form when it comes to keeping secrets. It planted fake leaks to protect secret Deadpool & Wolverine cameos, and Spider-Man: No Way Home star Andrew Garfield outright lied to fans about his appearance in the film.

As for Thunderbolts* / The New Avengers, its second post-credits scene teases this July’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which may or may not feature Giganto.

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

DC Comics is poised to relaunch its flagship Batman series in September under new writer Matt Fraction and returning artist Jorge Jiménez. That issue is sure to be one of the top-selling comics of 2025, but especially now that DC has announced a new variant cover promotion called "Blind as a Bat."

Batman #1 will feature variant covers from a number of major artists, including J. Scott Campbell, Gabrielle Dell'Otto, and Frank Quitely. As part of the "Blind as a Bat" promotion, fans will have the opportunity to purchase a $9.99 blind bag that includes a foil version of one of those covers. You can check out the slideshow gallery below to see the covers included:

The full lineup of variant cover artists on Batman #1 includes:

• David Aja
• J. Scott Campbell
• Gabriele Dell’Otto
• Jorge Jiménez
• Andy Kubert
• Stanley “Artgerm” Lau
• Jim Lee
• Frank Quitely
• Marc Silvestri
• Julian Totino Tedesco

Additionally, DC will be selling a Batman #1 Giant-Size Special Edition that reprints the issue in oversized 11"x17" format. That version will be available either as a $14.99 cardstock cover or a $19.99 foil variant.

As mentioned above, Batman #1 kicks off a new era for the franchise, as Fraction makes his return to DC and establishes a new status quo for Batman. The series will introduce a new Jiménez-designed Batsuit that restores the classic blue cape and cowl.

Weeks ahead of The Fantastic Four: First Steps releasing in cinemas, fans have their first look at classic villain Giganto — via a commercial for Little Caesars pizza.

The 30-second advert reveals Giganto, a giant green monster with an enormous mouth seen bursting through the street in a nod to its original appearance, on the cover of 1961's Fantastic Four issue 1.

Here, Giganto is shown picking up and then trying to eat a Little Caesars employee, before the Fantastic Four arrive on scene to save the day. It's meant to be a fun reveal, but fans have expressed surprise and confusion over the character's appearance in the ad — and have also criticised the quality of Giganto's CGI.

HQ and English version of the Little Caesars x ‘THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS’ ad has been released.

pic.twitter.com/btN7drQ9Cp

— Fantastic Four Updates (@F4Update) June 18, 2025

To be clear, this is a scene featuring the Fantastic Four but not an actual clip from the upcoming movie. Instead, the action was shot specifically for the Little Caesars' commercial, using the sets and — briefly — the actors themselves (though, perhaps tellingly, of the four stars we only see Vanessa Kirby's face).

According to Comicbook, the commercial was written and produced by Marvel Studios' Marketing Partnerships team and directed by The Fantastic Four: First Steps production designer Kasra Farahani — so this is about as official as it gets, without necessarily being canon.

Still, fans believe Giganto will likely pop-up somewhere in the film's story — perhaps in a montage of previous villains the team have defeated — and therefore think this pizza advert serves as an underwhelming place to first see the monster.

There are complaints, too, about the quality of Giganto's CGI effects, even if this is just a commercial — which would of course have a lower budget than a Hollywood blockbuster.

Elden Ring Nightreign's status as a co-op PvE excursion introduced a fresh mechanic for previously solo players in revives. Those who fall in battle hit the ground and can get picked back up, if their teammates wail on them hard enough to knock out the purple bars of their circular dial.

I'm probably not alone in feeling like, sometimes, this mechanic seems to get more arduous as players fall more often. If you fall once, it's only one pip on the bar; but by third death, you've got the whole radius covered in purple, and it can feel quite difficult to chip that much purple bar down while a Nightlord is attacking you.

As it turns out, there are some hidden mechanics that may be helping or hindering your efforts to pick your teammates back up. YouTuber Zullie the Witch has been on the Elden Ring Nightreign beat, and recently put up new video in which they try to understand how revives work. (Thanks for the spot, PC Gamer.)

Per Zullie's investigation, the first time a player falls in battle, they get one bar at a total of 40 HP. But as they continue to fall, this escalates at a surprising rate, with 45 per bar at second death and a whopping 80 per bar at three, for a grand total of 240 HP total if you're on three bars.

Hitting the player who's downed chips away at those totals, but if they're left alone for 3.5 seconds, the death timer around their dial resumes (unless you're in a Night boss fight) and the gauge starts to refill. The fill time also speeds up as you gain more bars, going from 2-per-second at one bar to 40-per-second at three bars.

That's a lot of math to say: the more you fall, the harder it gets (exponentially so) to pick you back up. There is some good news though, as penalties gradually wear off over time or whenever one visits a Site of Grace.

Zullie also highlights some hidden math in how weapons work on the revive bars, too. It's about what you'd expect, compared to regular attacks; giant weapons, like Halberds, Reapers, and Greatswords have more impact on the revive bar than Claws, Daggers, Torches, or Fists on a per-swing basis.

In fact, Revenant's Cursed Claws make for uniquely effective revival tools in this regard, as they have the same base numbers as a Greatsword. Revenant mains can effectively play both White Mage and Summoner, I guess?

Zullie's video goes into even more math around the revival numbers, but for the average Elden Ring Nightreign player, the solid takeaways are that higher bars get increasingly harder to clear as Nightfarers fall. Honestly, it makes certain characters like the Revenant even more valuable as teammates, when they have both summons to help out and an ultimate that will pick teammates back up regardless of their bar's status.

We’ve got plenty of Nightreign tips and tricks to help you take down all the eight Nightlord Bosses, and if you’re wondering how to unlock the two locked Nightfarer Classes, check out How to Unlock the Revenant and How to Unlock the Duchess, plus How to Change Characters.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Are you ready to return? We finally have a release date for the upcoming sequel film Return to Silent Hill — which means we’re just one step closer to getting back to the town that started it all for many horror and gaming fans.

The third installment to the Silent Hill film franchise, which will be produced by Terrifier producers Cineverse, is set to arrive in theaters on January 23, 2026. The film is set to star Hannah Emily Anderson and Jeremy Irvine in a story that will probably be recognizable to those who know the games.

The film will follow “James (Irvine), a man broken after his relationship with the love of his life, Mary (Anderson), ends. When a mysterious letter from her calls him back to Silent Hill, he finds a once-recognizable town transformed by an unknown evil. While James desperately searches for Mary he encounters terrifying creatures and begins to unravel the mystery of what happened to the town.”

Previously, the folks behind the film revealed that they think the film will be as true to the games as possible. “Silent Hill is one of the best video game franchises, period,” Brandon Hill, executive director of acquisitions for Cineverse, told Variety last month. “And Christophe Gans did a phenomenal job capturing the atmosphere of the games once again with Return to Silent Hill.”

“I am delighted to partner with Cineverse, which has shown a genuine understanding of fanship,” director Christophe Gans, who also directed the original 2006 Silent Hill, told the outlet. “Return to Silent Hill is an adaptation created out of deep respect for a true masterpiece of a game, Konami’s iconic Silent Hill 2. I hope fans will enjoy and be fulfilled with the experience this new film has to offer."

This will be the third film in the franchise, with Silent Hill: Revelation following the original installment in 2012.

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