Minor spoilers follow for “Hegemony, Part II,” which is currently available on Paramount+.
As Star Trek: Strange New World’s third season finally arrives, it comes with a sense of both relief ("Can you believe it’s been almost two years since season 2 ended?") and, well, frustration ("Man, I guess it’s been almost two years since season 2 ended!"). “Hegemony, Part II” is, after all, the follow-up to last season’s big cliffhanger finale, but geez, who can even remember what happened all the way back in August of 2023?
Of course, that’s not fair to the show, which had to wait for the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes to end before it could reveal how the USS Enterprise got out of its latest jam. And yet here we are, so a quick catch-up for those in need: The season 2 finale, “Hegemony,” ended with the crew facing those nasty lizard people the Gorn once again. Anson Mount’s Captain Pike just can’t catch a break: His girlfriend, Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano), winds up infected by the lethal creatures, meaning that she’s facing an Alien-esque eruption of Baby Gorn if Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) can’t figure out a solution. Meanwhile, most of Pike’s command crew – and a bunch of colonists – were beamed up to the Gorn ships where, well, they’re gonna wind up on the dinner menu. Admiral April (Adrian Holmes) commands Pike to retreat, but what’s a captain to do when half the stars of his show will be doomed if he follows orders?
A spinning camera move thrusts us right back into the action in “Hegemony, Part II,” beginning in space as Gorn ships attack the Enterprise, and continuing inside on the bridge as Pike, exhausted and seemingly out of options, rotates in the frame as well.
The fancy technique from episode director Chris Fisher isn’t out of place for modern Star Trek, which can do in one space battle the type of things that Gene Roddenberry only dreamed of in an entire career of Trekkin’. But it’s also illustrative of Pike’s state of mind in this story. Mount and the episodes’ writers, Henry Alonso Myers and Davy Perez, give us a Pike who is seemingly at the breaking point – it’s very un-Captain Kirk of him (which is totally fine, by the way). Even driven to prayer at one point – which Roddenberry would certainly have raised a Spock-style eyebrow at, to say the least – Mount continues to bring a vulnerability to Pike that has proven to be one of the character’s strong suits as far back as his time on Star Trek: Discovery and his trippy realization there that he’s facing an inevitable and horrific future.
What is very Captain Kirk of Pike here is the loophole he exploits to get out of Admiral April’s order to retreat. “Oh, he didn’t say retreat immediately…?” And so, in the opening scene of “Hegemony, Part II,” Pike does two things that only the greatest of Starfleet’s captains do: He breaks the rules and he relies on his crew to make him look better. Calling for ideas on how to track the Gorn ships, it’s ops officer Mitchell (Rong Fu) of all people – she’s not even a series regular! – who comes up with the “tag them with a dud torpedo” idea. Officer thinking, Lieutenant.
Speaking of creative visuals, there’s always plenty of that stuff in this show, but another shot that caught my eye this week involved our shifting perspective of the bridge viewscreen. With the Gorn firing on the ship – at the viewscreen, basically, from our POV – the camera slowly moves from left to right, so from behind the con station to behind Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding). As it does so, the perspective of what’s happening onscreen changes and the viewscreen goes out of focus as the camera trains itself on the back of our communications officer instead. It’s just a cool moment, the kind of thing that’s easily missed but which surely took a ton of planning and design work.
Perhaps slightly less effective are the practical effects of the Gorn cocooning chamber, where our pals La'an (Christina Chong), Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), Ortegas (Melissa Navia), and Sam Kirk (Dan Jeannotte) are stuck. It’s not that the set or the gunky pods that the crew are trapped in necessarily look bad, but they do ultimately feel like the modern-era equivalent of the old Planet Hell set from 1990s Trek. It just never feels real.
The team’s efforts to escape their situation and save the (mostly offscreen, conveniently cocooned) colonists is fine, if perhaps the dullest aspect of the episode. The actors are all game, and Chong’s character is positioned as if she’s dealing with the traumatic memories of her dealings with the Gorn from her youth, but there’s unfortunately no emotional payoff there beyond “let’s throw in some quick flashes of the past” here or there. It is fun to see La’an in charge of the landing party, however, and certainly her imperative to save every last colonist is rooted in what the Gorn have taken from her in the past.
The strongest material for any of the characters here belongs to Spock (Ethan Peck) and Chapel, whose developing romance has become a cornerstone of Strange New Worlds. As the pair work to save Captain Batel, teching the tech as it were, it’s the emotional throughline of their scenes that we’re most interested in. To see Chapel have to lay out for the scientific genius Mr. Spock that they are, in fact, broken up is both a) proof that Chapel is a superior human being of the 23rd century who understands that gentle and frank honesty is the best approach in such a situation, and b) one of the saddest moments of a half-human/half-Vulcan heart being broken ever committed to film. Peck and Bush win this episode, guys.
Questions and Notes from the Q Continuum:
The Happiest Place on Earth: The Incredible Story of Walt Disney's Disneyland is an illustrated history of the park that turned 70 yesterday, and today IGN can exclusively reveal five pages from the book that showcases an unprecedented look at the creation of the beloved park and a Disneyland that could have had Oz characters like Dorothy, a Thomas Edison square, and more.
This book is now available for purchase and features more than 750 images, previously unpublished documents, and concept drawings of Disneyland that are all organized by the park's original five lands - Main Street, U.S.A., Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland.
Furthermore, The Happiest Place on Earth is written by Don Hahn (award-winning producer of The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and more) and Christopher Merritt (former Disney Imagineer for over 25 years) and features a forward by Disney CEO Bob Iger.
“There’s a Disneyland that we experience as a child with our eyes full of wonder at the stories it tells," Hahn told us. "But as we peeled back those layers, we found another Disneyland story; an incredible origin story of unconventional creativity without boundaries, of upset, failure, persistence, and pioneering that gave birth to a new kind of entertainment that still resonates now more than ever. That’s the story we wanted to tell.”
As for the exclusive spreads, we've included them below with quotes from Merritt that explain why these are so important to Disney history and just a small part of what you'll find in The Happiest Place on Earth: The Incredible Story of Walt Disney's Disneyland.
For more, check out our look at the story of how a century of Disney magic began, our chat with Disney Imagineering head Bruce Vaughn about Disneyland's Avengers attraction and more, and 12 reasons to visit Disneyland for its 70th anniversary.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.
Let's make this simple: You want to know if there are any post- or mid-credits scenes in Superman. The answer is yes. The mid-credit “scene” is really more of a quiet moment of reflection, before a humorous post-credit scene concludes things.
Full spoilers for the movie follow!
Superman has finally hit theaters, acting as the official live-action launch of the new DCU, following the smaller-scale animated series Creature Commandos coming first in terms of release dates. There’s a lot at stake here, with Superman being tasked with laying the groundwork for this new DCU and providing a clean slate for the franchise after the previous DCEU ended in 2023 with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
The film involves Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) releasing information Superman (David Cornenswet) himself never knew about his Kryptonian parents (who intended him to “rule without mercy” on Earth) in order to turn the public against Superman and move forward with his own nefarious plans. So where does the movie leave off as far as setting up what’s to come? And why is its more broad approach to universe-building probably a wise call compared to some of the more blatant sequel-bait we’ve grown accustomed to in comic book movies? Let’s break it all down.
Luthor, who has successfully presented himself as someone standing up against Superman’s ominous plans, is able to press forward with his partnership with the president of the country of Boravia to invade Boravia’s neighbor, Jarhanpur – something Superman had put a stop to the first time Boravia tried it.
The third act of Superman involves two crises unfolding in two separate parts of the world. First, Boravia’s next attack is beginning, with the intention of absolutely decimating the people of Jarhanpur. Boravia and Luthor (who has been supplying Boravia with their weapons) intend to split the land between them after they conquer and kill anyone who gets in their way.
But Superman’s attempt help Jarhanpur is curtailed when he’s told by Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) that the world itself is now in danger because of a pocket universe Luthor had created to use as his own private prison (in which he imprisoned Superman himself for a time during the film) that is now causing a physical rift in Metropolis, literally ripping the city apart. And while Metropolis has been evacuated, the rift will continue to grow far beyond the city, endangering countless lives. Obsessed with killing Superman, Luthor ignores the warnings of his own men about what is occurring, sending his agents Ultraman and the Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría) to fight Superman and Mister Terrific.
In the ensuing fight, Superman is nearly killed by the Engineer, but when he manages to turn the tables on his foes, the mysterious, silent Ultraman is finally unmasked and revealed to be a clone of Superman created by Lex.
Superman and Ultraman have a vicious fight, while both attempt to avoid the black hole the rift has opened up, but ultimately Ultraman is pulled into it, ending his threat. Superman then confronts Luthor in his office, stopping him from escaping, while Mister Terrific is able to use Luthor’s equipment to shut down the rift, sending the split portions of Metropolis back together - albeit inelegantly, since it’s still obvious where things once had been torn in half. With the truth about Lex’s entire plot revealed publicly by the Daily Planet – thanks to Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio) sending info to Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) – Lex is arrested and sent to Belle Reve Prison, while Superman’s reputation is restored. Superman and his beloved Lois Lane (Rachel Bronahan), meanwhile, are reunited and share a mid-air kiss.
As for Jarhanpur, just when all hope seems lost for its people, they are saved by the arrival of Mister Terrific’s Justice Gang teammates, Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), along with Superman’s new ally, Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) - all of whom answered Superman’s offscreen request for help. As his army is defeated, the corrupt, genocidal president of Boravia then finds out the hard way that Hawkgirl does not follow Superman’s vow to never kill when she takes him high up in the air and drops him to his death.
The movie leaves one notable loose end where María Gabriela de Faría's Engineer is concerned. When last we see her, Angela is knocked out after Superman outmaneuvers her death trap and crashes back to Earth. At that point, Superman and Ultraman continue their brawl, leaving Angela to recover in the subway. We never learn what becomes of the character after that point.
That's not to say Gunn doesn't have future plans for The Engineer. When the DCU was first announced, one of the projects highlighted was The Authority, a movie about the post-modern team of superheroes who exist as a more proactive and militant alternative to the Justice League (or Justice Gang, as Guy Gardner prefers). The Engineer is a core member of the team in the comics, and presumably, de Faría was meant to reprise her role in The Authority movie.
Unfortunately, The Authority seems to have been put on the back burner as Gunn and Peter Safran prioritize other DCU projects. As Gunn explained, "Honestly, Authority's been the one that's been the hardest, both because of the shifting overall story and because of getting it right in a world with The Boys and a world with all the things that The Authority influenced that came out after it.”
But whenever and wherever she appears next, there's definitely more story to be told with The Engineer. The movie makes it clear she's a firm believer in Luthor's vision for humanity, so what happens when her beloved leader is disgraced and imprisoned. Does Angela carry on the fight without Luthor? Does she soften her stance on Superman after realizing how hard he fought to save the world from Luthor's malfunctioning portal? The time will come for The Engineer to find her place in the rapidly growing DCU tapestry.
In the film’s final scene, Superman returns to the Fortress of Solitude, where his Superman Robot assistants, trashed during the earlier break-in by the Engineer and Ultraman, have been rebuilt. They are interrupted by a large crashing sound that turns out to be none other than Superman’s cousin - Supergirl (Milly Alcock)!
It’s not the intro some might expect from a high profile superhero, as Supergirl comes stumbling into the Fortress, asking in a slurred voice “Why did you move the door?” before asking “Where is my dog?” - as we learn the superpowered dog, Krypto, who’s been accompanying Superman for much of the film, is actually Supergirl’s pet. This lines up with dialogue from earlier, when Superman said Krypto wasn’t actually his pet and their dynamic was more of a foster situation.
After allowing Krypto to play with her in an amusingly roughhouse manner -- which is to say, he stomps on her with his super strength, smashing the ground beneath her as she laughs hysterically – Supergirl and Krypto depart, with her exclaiming to her cousin, “Thanks for watching him, bitch!”
Superman then explains to his robots that Supergirl “likes to go and party on other planets. Planets with red suns. Because of our metabolism, we can’t get drunk on a planet with a yellow sun.”
For those who have read the 2021 miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, this will all sound very familiar. That comic first introduces a drunken and foul-mouthed Supergirl sitting at a bar on an alien planet, accompanied by Krypto, having traveled there specifically so she can actually get drunk on her 21st birthday. And this reference in Superman makes sense, because next year’s Supergirl movie is specifically based on Woman of Tomorrow (and until recently was actually titled Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow). Supergirl’s onscreen outfit in this scene – her usual Supergirl uniform, red skirt included, but with a brown jacket over it rather than any visible cape – also mirrors how she looks when we first meet her in that comic.
So for those expecting or hoping the first movie in the DCU to explicitly set up other DCU movies, it very much does with this Supergirl tease… but is there anything beyond that, specifically for Superman himself?
It has one of both… though calling what happens at the mid-credits a “scene” is wildly overstating things. The initial closing credits play, using the same style and font as Richard Donner’s iconic 1978 Superman film, and backed by the song “Punkrocker” by Teddybears, featuring Iggy Pop - a nod to a scene in the film where Lois and Clark banter about how “punk” someone as seemingly square as Clark could have been growing up, with Clark arguing that maybe his kindhearted approach to life is itself what’s punk these days.
When these main credits conclude, we then cut to a shot of Superman sitting with Krypto. Superman is only seen from behind, as he and his dog – sorry, foster dog – peacefully sit and look at the Earth from the vantage point of the moon, with the two lovingly embracing each other.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve seen a variation on this image from the film for quite awhile, since it first released as a photo last fall before then serving as the focal point of the IMAX poster for Superman. The moment, in turn, is a big comic book homage, since it’s based upon a page from the 2005 comic All-Star Superman, one of Gunn’s main inspirations for the movie.
It’s a sweet little touch to add to the mid-credits of the film, though it lasts mere seconds and isn’t really a scene as much as a moving snapshot.
The post-credits, though, feature an additional bit of interaction between Superman and Mister Terrific. In the scene, we see the two heroes standing next to each other, looking at one of the many Metropolis buildings that was torn apart by Luthor’s pocket dimension rift, and then brought back together by Terrific when he fixed things.
Superman, however, is clearly bothered by the imperfect nature of the building’s reconfiguration, and when he tells Terrific “It’s just a little off,” Terrific is pissed, replying, “What do you want me to do!? Do you want me to take it apart and put it back together!?” When Superman stammers no, “it’s just…” Terrific replies, “Just what!?” and storms off in frustration.
Superman yells after him, “Hey man, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bum you out! I shouldn’t have brought it up!” But when Mister Terrific continues to walk away, Superman says to himself, “Darn it, I can be such a jerk sometimes…”
It’s an amusing little moment between the two heroes, albeit not an hysterically funny one, but clearly there more as a bit of a slice of life for our clean-cut hero and one of his superpals than anything else. Though, yeah, it will likely lead to some “That’s it!?” reactions from some, who feel if they sat through the credits hoping for an extra scene, it also better be for SOME REALLY COOL THING.
But honestly, that’s asking for something that not only has been done many times but has often proven to be a precarious path, as James Gunn is well aware.
The lack of an “important” mid or post-credit scene underlines the feel of Superman as a film that is introducing a big new cinematic universe, yes, but also is telling its own self-contained story that’s making a statement in and of itself. Gunn does a deft job of layering in plenty of elements that can be used later in other projects without ever lingering on them or gratuitously highlighting that you should pay attention to this guy or to some doohickey because it’s going to be important in another show or film.
Yes, this film includes characters like Rick Flag Sr., with Frank Grillo reprising the role he originated in Creature Commandos and will continue in Peacemaker Season 2. But for those who aren’t aware of any of that, he’s just a Washington DC power player. Nathan Fillion will reprise his role as Guy Gardner in the Lanterns TV show, but the movie doesn’t go out of its way to name-drop Hal Jordan or John Stewart or belabor that Guy isn’t the only Lantern, it just presents him as the superpowered, arrogant a-hole he is.
This is a Superman film focused on this particular story, and Clark rightfully remains at the center of the movie from start to finish, despite the other superpowered characters in his orbit. It doesn’t repeat the mistakes of some messier superhero films, which often feel preoccupied with various plot threads and characters aiming towards something down the line.
Gunn’s “let this story stand on its own” approach extends to the credits and connects to his overall philosophy on how to craft a superhero universe now that he’s the guy calling the shots. As he recently explained to EW, he doesn’t love the idea of using a post-credit scene to tease a brand new character or storyline without a locked-in specific plan for them down the line. Gunn uses his own tease of Adam Warlock’s arrival in the credits of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as an example, noting that by the time he was actually writing Guardians Vol. 3, Warlock wasn’t an easy fit in the story he was telling, yet now he felt beholden to include him.
Gunn has also stressed repeatedly that no movie will be fully greenlit and produced by DC Studios without a complete script in place, and you can see some crossover with this mandate and why he didn't want to, say, put a scene in the middle of the credits of Superman where we meet Brainiac or General Zod. He’s acknowledged their plans to do more with this version of Superman, of course, but without a specific follow-up already 100% in place (script included), Gunn likely doesn’t want to bind himself to anything that might not actually make the most sense later on. Which is why the movie’s one actual blatant tease, for Supergirl, is the one that he would feel comfortable with - because that movie’s actually been filmed and is a done deal!
The most important goal for Superman, more than declaring “here is the new DCU,” was making sure this was a great Superman movie, and Gunn has excelled in that regard, delivering what is easily the best film for the character since Richard Donner’s beloved version in 1978. The Lois and Clark dynamic is excellent (fueled by the wonderful chemistry between Corenswet and Brosnahan), while the juxtaposition between Clark’s Superman HQ at the Fortress of Solitude and the loving home Martha and Jonathan Kent have given him is expertly defined. Martha and Clark feel like just the sort of salt of the Earth, loving, caring people you can believe raised a man as good as Clark.
This version of Superman is exactly the sort of sweet, kind and perhaps sometimes endearingly naive hero he should be, without feeling like he’s too old-fashioned or out of touch to invest in. The way this Superman goes out of his way to try and save every single life he can, whether it be innocent people targeted by villains, dogs and squirrels (!) in the line of fire, or even a giant kaiju he’s fighting, makes him stand out as someone who truly feels like a person everyone should, yet few do, pattern themselves after. But at the same time, when he needs to go all out in a fight, rest assured, he does so, and it’s awesome - just while making sure to also keep an eye out for anyone in danger as a result of the fight.
The movie is a joy to watch, exuding pure comic book-derived joy in a way we haven’t really seen in live-action since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, which is insane considering how many comic book movies have opened since then. When the credits began to roll on Gunn’s film, I knew I’d happily welcome more of this version of Superman, but most of all, I wanted to rewatch this movie as soon as possible (which is probably why I’ve already seen it twice, with a third viewing already planned).
So yeah, Gunn could have moved the Superigirl cameo so that it was the post-credits scene, to leave off on a bigger “here’s what’s next” hype move, but that just wasn’t necessary. Because even if Gunn had removed the Supergirl scene entirely, Superman would still be a joyous, exciting, feel-good movie that doesn’t require any baton passing to feel satisfying.
As Clark himself might say, that’s the darn truth.
Note - this article was originally published on July 10, 2025 and updated on July 18, 2025 with the latest news about Superman.
We’re a little over halfway through 2025, but there’s a strong case for calling the Game of the Year race over, even before the end of summer.
Typically, the time to start thinking about Game of the Year is after all the fall releases come out, and we can take stock of all the great games that came out across the 10 or 11 previous months. And while there are still some exciting games on the horizon, three have made a strong claim on the GOTY crown already, and it’s hard to imagine any of them losing steam anytime soon.
With under half a year left in 2025, let’s look back at our three front-runners and how they each captured everyone’s attention. Can they hold onto their status as this year’s best game? Or will we see an upset in the coming months?
There’s a popular consensus, both among IGN staff and in the public, that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from developer Sandfall Interactive, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach from Kojima Productions, and Donkey Kong Bananza from Nintendo EPD are leading the GOTY race in 2025.
Each of these games received rave reviews and captured the popular imagination for different reasons. What’s more, each of them is associated with one of gaming’s “Big Three.” Death Stranding 2 and Donkey Kong Bananza are PlayStation and Nintendo exclusives, respectively. Meanwhile, Expedition 33 launched day one on Xbox Game Pass to quickly become one of the service’s most popular games. So let’s start there…
Arguably, the biggest surprise of the year is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Made by a core team of around 30 developers, Sandfall Interactive’s debut has become the toast of the games industry, given that it’s a brand-new IP from a small studio that quickly went on to sell 3.3 million copies within 33 days.
Expedition 33 is about the eponymous exploration team sent to stop a god-like entity known as the Paintress. Each year, the Paintress draws a new number on a colossal stone pillar, and any citizen of the fictional city of Lumiere who is the same age or older than that number disappears. This event, known as the Gommage, has been inflicting a devastating emotional toll on the people of Lumiere each and every year, not least because the number decreases annually, thus extinguishing younger and younger citizens.
It’s not hard to see why Expedition 33 became such a success. This modern take on the classic JRPG formula is exhilarating to play thanks to the way it combines turn-based combat with real-time actions like dodges and parries. And the excellent, heart-wrenching story is led by a stellar cast of characters voiced by talented actors such as Charlie Cox, Ben Starr, and Jennifer English.
The remarkable thing about Expedition 33 is that it truly feels like it came out of nowhere. Initially announced at the 2024 Summer Games Fest with a striking trailer, not much was known about this game heading into launch. While two of the studio’s founders are former Ubisoft developers, many members of the team were found on sites like Reddit, ArtStation, and SoundCloud. While the reports about Expedition 33 being made by 33 developers are a bit misleading (Sandfall’s small core team worked with several specialist companies for QA, music, performance capture, and other development disciplines), it doesn’t take away from the impressive feat achieved with Expedition 33.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a return to form for one of gaming’s most famous directors, Hideo Kojima. While many fans enjoyed the first Death Stranding, I think few would say it was on par with Kojima’s previous work on the Metal Gear Solid franchise. Not so with his sequel, On the Beach, which improves on virtually every aspect of the first game.
The story of Death Stranding 2 picks up shortly after the events of the original, and once again stars Norman Reedus as the post-apocalyptic delivery man Sam Porter Bridges. This time, Sam makes his way across Mexico and Australia to reconnect the world following a mysterious catastrophe known as the Death Stranding. Along with the new environment, he’s joined by a crew of new characters like the transdimensional ship captain Tarman, a rain mystic appropriately named Rainy, a mysterious young woman called Tomorrow, the talking figurine companion Dollman, and Sam’s former delivery competitor, Fragile.
With Death Stranding 2, Kojima Productions refined the original game’s core traversal challenge gameplay experience to a fine point. Players are free to combine any number of tools, like ladders and floating carriers, to make their way through hostile terrain, and Death Stranding 2’s combat has been dramatically improved thanks to an expanded arsenal of weapons and skills. Why shoot bullets at enemies when you can karate kick them in the head using techniques taught to you by Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii?
Yes, Death Stranding 2 is a strange game, but it’s also unlike any other AAA game out there. Amid a wave of glowing reviews, Death Stranding 2 feels like a reminder that there’s no one quite like Kojima when it comes to game development. Not only are there all kinds of bizarre and wonderful little details in Death Stranding 2, but all the technical and visual improvements in the sequel make this the best game Kojima has directed since he left Konami.
Donkey Kong is perhaps Nintendo’s second-most famous mascot after Mario, but the prospect of a new 3D Donkey Kong game still raised plenty of eyebrows. Not only is Bananza the first 3D Donkey Kong platformer since 1999’s rocky Donkey Kong 64, but as a Switch 2 launch window exclusive, a lot was riding on the big ape’s massive shoulders – DK needed to propel Nintendo’s newest console to success.
Well, any skepticism has seemingly been put to bed as Donkey Kong Bananza looks like the Switch 2’s first killer app. DK is back in the spotlight, this time as a miner who spends his days digging deep below the Earth’s surface to find Banandium Gems, banana-shaped crystals that he loves to eat. One day, DK and his crew are swallowed up by a giant sinkhole in the ground and he, along with his new friend Pauline, must find a way back up to the surface where they belong.
We gave Bananza a 10 in our review, the first perfect score for a full-length game since 2023 (Our only full-marks reviews in 2024 were for Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC and a re-review of the then-newly updated Stardew Valley), and for good reason. This open-world adventure might seem like Donkey Kong by way of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild mixed with a “destroy everything in sight” gimmick on the (sub-)surface. But the Bananza team – the same developers behind Super Mario Odyssey – have plenty of tricks up their sleeves.
While I’d hate to spoil all that Bananza has to offer, considering it’s only just come out, it features moments that rival the best 3D Mario games. One standout detail is how there are different kinds of sediment in Bananza, from regular bedrock that can be easily crushed, to muddy clay or steel that require different strategies to manipulate. You’re practically an amateur geologist by the end of the game. Plus, nothing else in all of gaming feels as satisfying as smashing through entire levels as DK. Well, save for swinging Kratos’ axe in God of War, perhaps.
While these three releases have dominated the Game of the Year conversation, there are still yet-to-be-released games on the 2025 calendar that could elbow into the conversation. Biggest among them is Ghost of Yotei, Sucker Punch’s long-awaited sequel to Ghost of Tsushima.
The recent PlayStation deep-dive into Ghost of Yotei showed off a variety of exciting gameplay improvements and features, like the return of the different director modes, which will give Ghost of Yotei a different vibe depending on which director’s style you choose. Kurosawa Mode returns and turns the world into a classic, black-and-white samurai film, but new additions like Watanabe Mode will give the game a lo-fi hip-hop soundtrack similar to the director’s famous anime, Samurai Champloo.
There’s also the upcoming Borderlands 4. While the last Borderlands game left a lot to be desired, especially for long-time fans of the series, Borderlands remains incredibly popular. Gearbox says it’s heard your complaints about the last game and is promising a much better experience with the new title. 2012’s Borderlands 2 remains a series high-point and was nominated for several Game of the Year awards, and there’s no reason Gearbox can’t reach those same highs again.
The Outer Worlds 2 and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond are also exciting games to look forward to this year. While the first Outer Worlds was a generally well-received game, Obsidian Entertainment has been on a roll with games like Pentiment and Avowed, and The Outer Worlds 2 could continue this winning streak. Meanwhile, fans are no doubt excited for the first new Metroid Prime game in 18(!) years. It’s worth remembering that Beyond did undergo a complete reboot in the middle of its development, so we’ll wait and see how that impacts the final release.
Lastly, there’s Konami’s Silent Hill f, which looks to build on the massive success of the Silent Hill 2 remake with a brand-new entry that takes the series to Japan for the first time in series history. Konami seems fully invested in turning Silent Hill into a major franchise again, and between hiring famous Japanese writer Ryukishi 07 to pen the story for Silent Hill f, and bringing back original composer Akira Yamaoka, there’s reason to believe Konami can continue the Silent Hill renaissance.
The bar for GOTY has been set very high indeed with games like Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2, and Donkey Kong Bananza, and this great string of game releases isn’t likely to be over just yet. 2025 is shaping up to be quite the strong year if some fans are already calling the race for Game of the Year over by July. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing how we’re all feeling come this December when we make our official announcement for IGN’s Best Game of 2025, and see who takes the top accolade at The Game Awards 2025.
Matt Kim is IGN's Senior Features Editor.
Marvel has released the first image of Black Bird and Cobrai Kai actor Paul Walter Hauser in his role as a classic comic book villain set to appear in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Hauser first confirmed his involvement in the film back in May 2024, though said he was not able to say anything about the role he was playing at the time.
Now, with just a few days to go until The Fantastic Four: First Steps' release on July 25, Marvel has finally shown off Hauser in a production photo published by USA Today, fully revealing the character and his costume.
As many fans had previously suspected, Hauser plays Harvey Elder — a villainous character from the Marvel comics better known by his alias Mole Man.
The antagonist's appearance here in First Steps is a fitting one, as he was the first villain the team ever faced off against in the original Fantastic Four issue #1, published back in 1961.
A photo of the character shows Mole Man underground, wearing goggles. It's the same design previously seen in the film's official prequel comic, spotted earlier this month, which fans said at the time was tantamount to confirmation of Hauser's role.
Speaking to USA Today, The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman described the MCU incarnation of Mole Man as "really more of a union boss than a supervillain."
"He is living sort of in the shadows like a villain would," added Hauser, "but he's also taking care of an entire race of people and trying to live his life without being bothered.”
Fans previously saw the briefest of snippets of Sue Storm within Mole Man's underground home, and Hauser has now suggested the two will ultimately come to some form of peace agreement — which is handy, as both the Fantastic Four and Mole Man will have bigger things on their mind when Galactus arrives. Maybe Mole Man ends up teaming up with the Fantastic Four to protect their shared planet? Just a thought.
The official Fantastic Four prequel comic confirms Paul Walter Hauser is playing Mole Man pic.twitter.com/D2BVj5BBuF
— Spider-Fan77 (@spider_fan77) July 5, 2025
"I can't say anything about the character I'm playing but know that it is in the sort of lexicon and mythology of The Fantastic Four stories," Hauser told Deadline previously. "It's a very distinct character that I'm excited to play, and I'm kind of mapping out what I'm doing with that right now.
"All I can say is that I, in some iteration, am in the movie The Fantastic Four until I get fired or recast," he concluded.
Earlier this week, Marvel raised eyebrows by confirming it had cut the character of Red Ghost, set to be played by the legendary John Malkovich, despite the actor previously being seen in a trailer.
“It was heartbreaking not to include him in the final version of the movie because he’s one of my very favorite humans and one of my biggest inspirations,” Shakman said of Malkovich's removal. "[He] was brilliant in it, and gave it his all.”
With just days to go, it seems like Marvel is happy to now reveal every detail of the film's setup, though we don't yet know the identity of who Russian Doll star Natasha Lyone is playing. Still, with Malkovich not appearing and Mole Man now unmasked, it'll be nice if one character isn't revealed before First Steps' release.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Remedy has outlined what's next for its multiplayer Control spin-off, FBC: Firebreak, promising big changes.
It comes after Remedy posted a candid statement last month acknowledging "not everything had gone well" following FBC: Firebreak's mid-June release.
FBC: Firebreak launched on June 17 as a paid game as well as straight into Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus. Calling the launch an "exciting and nerve-wracking time," Remedy told players it had heard feedback "loudly and clearly," and admitted "it's clear there are features that need to improve, and they will improve."
Since launch, the studio has released "four patches that improve the game and partly address [player] feedback. Now that the game is live, our community plays a big part in shaping the future of the experience. This is just the start."
Remedy then warned that the speed at which it releases patches and updates will likely slow down now as it "puts more of our development focus on the first Major Update arriving in late September."
"We’ve seen many players come into the game and leave within the first hour. And that’s because our first hour can be frustrating; you feel ineffective and confused as to what to do. This needs to be improved," it added in an update posted to Steam.
"For many of you already playing FBC: Firebreak, us focusing on the opening experience may seem less exciting, but to keep the game healthy (and your matchmaking fast), we need to bring in more people with a better first-time experience than before."
For this, Remedy is working on helping new players understand the Control universe and your place in it, and balancing that between players who have played Control and those who have not. Remedy thinks better "narrative onboarding" will be achieved by playing an introductory video. From there, there'll be better tutorials to teach you core mechanics and features — as well as leaving some secrets to find unaided — and pop up tips will be introduced in the playable tutorial.
Next is gunplay – "our current upgrades can make guns feel weak early on" — so the plan is to "drop all generic upgrades from equipment and start players with a playable and powerful version of everything a Firebreak needs from the beginning." To do this, Remedy is developing a mod system to let you tweak your weapons — expect more as we get closer to September. There's also a big shake up for Jobs, and the content of them, on the way.
"To accomplish this, we are replacing Clearance and Corruption Levels with pre-made, exciting (you’ll have to take our word for that for now) variations of Job experiences that can still be short or long or filled with Corrupted Items, but also a whole lot more," the team explained.
"We are weeding out our least fun experiences, focusing on our best experiences, and adding brand new modes with plans for adding even more in the future. As part of this change, we’re also reevaluating our matchmaking flow, making it clearer and segmenting player pools more effectively, to ensure more and better matches." We should expect the placement of items like keys and ammo stations to get mixed up, too, to better keep us on our toes.
"As we hope has become clear, we are pushing a lot of improvements and changes into the game for our first Major Update," Remedy concluded. "Some of these ideas were improvements that we weren’t able to add before launch, but all were decided on and developed based on what we heard from you (listening to feedback) and seen from you (looking at data).
"We are extremely excited about these changes and about delivering even more than we’d originally been planning, but changes now also mean changes later. We need to see what’s working for you and to hear from you again before we can be certain that we’re prioritizing the right things. So, while we are still planning on the next Major Update in the winter, and the next one after that, the specific focuses and features are a lot more nebulous. There are a variety of topics that we are discussing and researching, but for now, we are heads down working on the first Major Update."
Despite the launch hiccups, FBC: Firebreak topped 1 million players. "FBC: Firebreak is a compelling co-op shooter that, despite its good looks, doesn’t have the depth to keep things interesting long-term," we wrote in IGN's FBC: Firebreak review, awarding it 6/10.
Remedy recently confirmed its plans for ongoing support post-launch, including two new Jobs (missions) coming in 2025. More updates will arrive in 2026, the developer said. All playable content released post launch, such as Jobs, will be free to all players. Players have the option to buy cosmetics, but none of these items will affect gameplay, and there will be no limited-time rotations or daily log-ins, Remedy insisted.
It's a busy time for Alan Wake developer Remedy, which has a number of projects on the go. As well as FBC: Firebreak, it's working on Control 2 and the Max Payne and Max Payne 2 remake compilation.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Zack Snyder has confirmed he's taking a break from Rebel Moon to work on other projects.
Star Wars-style sci-fi movie Rebel Moon launched on Netflix in December 2023 amid much hype. It's set in a galaxy ruled by the imperialistic Motherworld, whose military, the Imperium, threatens a village on the moon Veldt. As the titles suggest, a band of rebels fights back.
While Netflix had high hopes for Rebel Moon, critics panned the film. IGN's Rebel Moon review returned a 4/10. We said: "Zack Snyder's space opera is let down by a derivative patchwork script, mediocre action sequences and a superficial story."
Sequel Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver followed in April 2024, and it met with a similar reception. IGN's Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver review was another 4/10. "The second part of Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon space opera, The Scargiver, delivers a half-baked conclusion to a well-trodden story with flimsy character studies and lacklustre action." R-rated director's cuts of both Rebel Moon 1 and 2 followed in 2024 and met with a more positive reception.
“I got sidetracked into this — not sidetracked, it’s all uptown problems, as they say — for Netflix, I’m working on an LAPD SWAT movie,” Snyder told Variety in a recent interview. “So I was like, OK, well, I’m gonna just sort of let that Rebel Moon world boil for a minute, and I’m gonna go do this.”
The Man of Steel writer and director, who is perhaps best known for his work on the now rebooted DC Universe, also highlighted the complicated nature of working on two projects simultaneously.
“Frankly, it was a very exhausting, long process doing the two movies together. So it was nice to have a bit of a break from it,” he explained. “I love it like crazy, but it’s nice to have a bit of a break. So yeah, we’ll see after I finish this, when I come back, where we are with everything.”
As far as more stories or even more film adaptations specifically being planned in the Rebel Moon universe, Snyder was mostly tightlipped about any confirmations. “There’s tons of stories. So, I mean, I think it’s literally, it’s endless,” he said. “But, again, like I say, I’m waiting to see how we want to and in what way we would move forward, if at all.”
But it’s clear Snyder does feel like the possibilities for Rebel Moon are endless — because we now have a video game spinoff set in the universe to go along with the series, called Blood Line.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
Need for Speed fans, here is something for you today. This month, two cool fan remasters surfaced for the 2005 version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted. So, let’s take a look at them. The first fan remaster comes from YouTube’s DifferentAryya. This fan remaster brings to the game bright skies, vibrant roads, and a … Continue reading Need for Speed: Most Wanted Got Two Cool 2025 Fan Remasters →
The post Need for Speed: Most Wanted Got Two Cool 2025 Fan Remasters appeared first on DSOGaming.
Wonder Man, the upcoming Disney+ series from Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton, will see a recurring Marvel Cinematic Universe character return in a prominent role.
Agent P. Cleary, played by Succession actor Arian Moayed, previously popped up in Spider-Man: No Way Home as an agent of the United States Deparment of Damage Control. The character then returned for Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, appearing in three episodes.
Next, audiences will see Cleary back once again in Wonder Man, the first season of which is set to launch this December. The series stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams, AKA Wonder Man, an actor with superhero powers. The whole thing sounds like it'll be a fun self-referential riff on the real-life TV and movie industry, of which Marvel itself is of course a key part.
Deadline reports that Cleary will "feature prominently" in Wonder Man, though does not otherwise go into detail on the series' plot.
Presumably, though, Cleary will continue his role as an antagonist to the MCU's various heroes, getting in the way as a government suit trying to investigate those with enhanced abilities just trying to do good.
Wonder Man also features another recurring MCU character: Trevor Slattery, the cheeky actor from Croydon played by Sir Ben Kingsley in both Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi. Welcome back Trev!
Disney has, to date, kept much of its plans for Wonder Man under wraps, though finally began teasing the series earlier this month by including it in a 60-second sneak peek sizzle reel of upcoming Disney+ content. The clips we got as part of that briefly showed Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley having a quick conversation. You can watch that video above.
Next up for Marvel on Disney+ are a couple of short animated shows, Eyes of Wakanda and Marvel Zombies, which arrive on August 27 and October 3 respectively. After those, Wonder Man debuts sometime in December with eight episodes.
Currently-announced series set to arrive in 2026 include the second season of Daredevil: Born Again, the Paul Bettany-starring Vision Quest, and the second season of the animated Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
Several other Marvel TV projects have long been rumored, including a Doctor Strange spin-off series entitled Strange Academy, and Marvel's plans for a project featuring Nova. But, as of yet, Marvel is yet to confirm either.
Image credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
If you're looking for Infinity Nikki codes, IGN has you covered! In this article, you'll find a list of active and working Infinity Nikki codes that you can redeem for free rewards and bonuses in July 2025, including Diamonds and Energy Crystals.
Below, you'll find all the active and working Infinity Nikki codes in July 2025, the free rewards you get for redeeming them, and their expiry date (if known):
The Infinity Nikki codes listed below have expired and are no longer working as of July 2025:
To redeem Infinity Nikki codes, follow the steps below:
If the Infinity Nikki code that you're trying to redeem isn't working, it's likely due to one of the following reasons:
When inputting a code into Infinity Nikki, make sure there are no typos (Os instead of zeroes, capital Is instead of lowercase Ls, etc.) and that there are no accidental spaces before or after the code. If your Infinity Nikki code still doesn't work, it's probably expired and can no longer be redeemed. You'll get a message informing you that the code is wrong if it's expired.
The best way to get more Infinity Nikki codes is to join the official Infinity Nikki Discord server. Once you're in, head to the #self-assign-roles channel and opt-in for the Redeem Code role. You'll receive a notification when a new code is released so you can receive your free rewards ASAP!
Alternatively, bookmark this Infinity Nikki Codes article, as we update it each time a new code comes out. The Discord server has missed a couple of codes posted to other channels, so we'd recommend checking our article every so often.
Developed by Infold Games, Infinity Nikki is a cozy, open-world RPG. You play as Nikki, as she's whisked away to the world of Miraland, a place where people make Wishes with the help of Stylists. You'll find and create a plethora of outfits and accessories, take on quests, and gather many types of collectibles with the help of Momo, Nikki's adorable feline companion. As you play, you earn Diamonds, which can be spent on Revelation and Resonite Crystals, which are used to pull on the limited time and permanent outfit banners for 5-star and 4-star clothing.
Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides team, with a focus on trends. When she's not working, you can find her playing an RPG or spending time with her corgi.
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