Prime Video’s Fallout is returning for its much-anticipated second season on December 17, 2025, and fans around the world can’t wait to see how the show brings New Vegas to life. While we have to wait a little longer to see if they can live up to the heights we felt playing Fallout: New Vegas, we’ve decided to help with the wait by looking at who the big players will be in these new episodes.

From returning favorites like Ella Purnell’s Lucy, Walton Goggins’ Ghoul, and the goodest girl Dogmeat (!), to new faces like Justin Theroux’s Mr. House and a ‘crazy genius-type character’ played by Macaulay Culkin, here are all the biggest characters that we know or can see returning to the wasteland for Season 2.

For more Fallout, check out our explainer of the ending of Season 1, 14 things we want to see in Season 2, our big interview with Todd Howard and Jonathan Nolan on the series, and 111 video game details we found in the show.

Ella Purnell as Lucy MacLean

Ella Purnell’s Lucy MacLean is one of the main characters of Prime Video’s Fallout, and that won’t change in Season 2, as one of the final shots of the first season featured her, the Ghoul, and Dogmeat following the trail of Lucy’s father, Hank, toward New Vegas.

She is still reeling from the truth about her father and his responsibility for the thousands of lives lost in Shady Sands, and her mother turning into a ghoul. Oh yeah, and she had to mercy-kill her mother; tough stuff.

Walton Goggins as Cooper Howard / The Ghoul

Walton Goggins’ Ghoul will be back for Season 2 in a big way, as we last left him with Lucy and Dogmeat heading to New Vegas in pursuit of Lucy’s father, Hank MacLean.

The Ghoul, who was once known as a famous Hollywood actor named Cooper Howard, actually met Hank over 200 years ago when he was a Vault-Tec executive. He was also the one who helped convince Lucy to let Hank go so they could follow him and hopefully find out who was really behind the Great War.

Dogmeat

The beloved Dogmeat, also known as CX404 and Four, was seen with Lucy and the Ghoul at the end of Season 1, and will be back in Season 2. We couldn’t be happier, because she is just the best.

Aaron Moten as Maximus

Aaron Moten’s Maximus is part of the Brotherhood of Steel, and has been building a very strong relationship with Lucy, even though they aren’t together following the events of Season 1. Maximus was knocked out by Hank after he donned Power Armor, and awakens to see that almost everyone has left him.

However, Moldaver is still around and had only a few moments to live. In one of her final acts, she activated the cold fusion reactor and brought power back to Los Angeles in a pivotal moment. Before she died, Moldaver warned Maximus of the dangers of the Brotherhood. When Dane finds the pair, he assumes Maximus killed her, promoting Maximus to a Knight despite his internal fears of the future and his place in it.

Kyle MacLachlan as Hank MacLean

Hank MacLean is Lucy’s father, and one of the main ‘missions’ of the first season involved Lucy trying to rescue him. However, Hank has a much darker past than Lucy could have ever believed, as he was integral both to the loss of thousands of lives during the bombing of Shady Sands, and Lucy’s mother, Rose, becoming a ghoul.

We last see Hank in Power Armor being held at gunpoint by Lucy, who doesn’t end up shooting him. The Ghoul does attempt to shoot him in the back, but Hank escaped after knocking Maximus out, heading to New Vegas with Lucy, the Ghoul, and Dogmeat hot on his trail.

Moisés Arias as Norm MacLean

Norm is Lucy’s brother and Hank’s son, and he is the one who discovers that Vault 31 has been secretly storing the cryogenically frozen Vault-Tec employees from before the Great War, including his father.

He was last seen with Bud (Michael Esper), who won’t let him leave this vault because he now knows too much. He is given the option to be put to sleep so he wouldn’t starve, but we have yet to learn his fate.

Justin Theroux as Mr. House

Despite Rafi Silver’s cameo as Dr. Robert House in Season 1, The Leftovers’ Justin Theroux will be playing House in Season 2 of Fallout. This is a very important character, and in a trailer for Season 2, we learn the Ghoul actually met him in Las Vegas before the war and that he claimed he was the main cause for the end of the world.

This is a big deal for fans of Fallout: New Vegas, as Mr. House also played a big role in the game.

Macaulay Culkin

It looks like Bethesda has begun teasing new content for Starfield, after fans spotted a hidden message in a social media video released to celebrate the game’s two-year anniversary.

The video, below, starts off innocently enough, but soon the tone of the music shifts and the image becomes garbled. Clearly, there’s a tease in there somewhere!

Celebrating two incredible years in the #Starfield. 🌌

Thank you to everyone who has explored the Settled Systems with us. We look forward to the adventures yet to come. pic.twitter.com/AeWN8DVlO2

— Starfield (@StarfieldGame) September 5, 2025

And indeed there is. It didn’t take long for Starfield fans to arrange the frames in such a way to form the words ‘Terran Armada,’ which has sent the game’s community down a rabbit hole of speculation.

Warning! Spoilers for Starfield follow:

The most obvious suggestion is Terran Armada is the name of Starfield’s long-awaited second expansion. If so, it suggests a DLC that revolves around Earth, people who left Earth, or people who still are on Earth. Some are speculating that Terran Armada, if this does in fact relate to DLC, will be about the return ships that left Earth at some point in the past, perhaps a fleet of generation ships. Another popular theory is that the Terrans are the name of a new enemy faction of survivors left on Earth after its destruction, which could evoke Mad Max vibes.

In Starfield, Earth became a barren, uninhabitable wasteland after its magnetosphere collapsed in 2203, leading to the dissipation of its atmosphere and the evacuation of humanity. The collapse was a direct consequence of the invention and widespread use of the Grav Drive, a technology enabling faster-than-light travel. The planet is now exposed to dangerous solar and cosmic radiation and is covered in toxic vents and impact craters, with no signs of life.

Or perhaps Terran Armada isn’t DLC 2 after all, and instead is a stop-gap update designed to tide fans over until the promised second expansion finally materializes.

Whatever this is, clearly Starfield fans who have stuck with the game since its launch in 2023 are chomping at the bit. Apart from vague words of reassurance, Bethesda has remained tight-lipped on the future of Starfield, only recently teasing improvements to space travel.

“We've waited 11 months for a three-second screen that changed colors and revealed a few letters of a broken up word (and we're probably gonna have to wait another 4-6 months for anything more),” said redditor Elkupalos. “We're beyond starved at this point haha. Next trailer or update of actual substance is gonna hit us fans like a nuke.”

Last month, Bethesda confirmed improvements to Starfield space gameplay “to make the travels there more rewarding” after datamined fragments of code suggested the developer had a more streamlined space travel experience in the works. Based on this datamine, while you may be able to travel between planets within the same system, you won’t be able to fly all the way between systems, nor fly directly from a planet's surface into orbit, like No Man's Sky.

In a new video discussing his career, veteran Bethesda developer Tim Lamb confirmed that the studio had been working on Starfield’s space gameplay, and that a new DLC story was still coming at some point.

“I think as it comes to Starfield, I'm really excited for players to see what the teams have been working on,” he said. “We have some cool stuff coming, including free updates and features the players have been asking for, as well as a new DLC story.

“I can't go into all the details just yet, but I will say part of the team has been focused on space gameplay to make the travels there more rewarding. We're also adding some new game systems, and a few other smaller delights. There's also some really interesting stuff coming down the pipe from our verified creators. There's some fun stuff.

“I just want to say thanks. We really appreciate the support and the enthusiasm. We can't wait to get it into the hands of our players.”

Last month it was reported that Starfield's second expansion and much-anticipated PlayStation 5 port would now arrive in 2026, following the poor reception to 2024 add-on Shattered Space. Bethesda boss Todd Howard had previously talked of expansions arriving annually.

Starfield launched in September 2023 as Bethesda’s first brand new IP in 25 years, but it was not as well received as the studio’s previous games in the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls franchises, and the Shattered Space expansion, released a year later in September 2024, has a ‘mostly negative’ user review rating on Steam.

Starfield went on to reach 15 million players, but the question of whether Bethesda might walk away from the game to focus on its other franchises has been a running theme since release. In June 2024, Bethesda insisted it remained committed to supporting Starfield, and confirmed at least one other story expansion would come out following Shattered Space. And in an interview with YouTube channel MrMattyPlays, Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard said the developer was aiming to release an annual story expansion for “hopefully a very long time.”

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.

We've rounded up the best deals for Saturday, September 6, below, so don't miss out on these limited-time offers.

Score an Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 for $79.99

Fallout studio Bethesda Softworks has been through a lot in the last few decades, and former marketing boss Pete Hines was there to see it through almost all of its changes.

Hines touched on how Bethesda became a gaming giant during a recent interview with DBLTAP. In addition to providing his perspective on the company’s early days, he took the time to recount how some of its biggest victories and hardest falls helped shape it into what it is today.

Hines started with Bethesda in October 1999, seeing it through everything from the launch of The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind in 2002, to Skyrim in 2011, to Fallout 76 in 2018. He also remained as a key figure at the gaming publisher throughout Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media, which was completed in 2021, before going on to announce his retirement in 2023.

Hines brought his time at Bethesda to an end after 24 years. However, it seems it was the quieter moments working with ZeniMax founder and CEO Robert Altman, who passed away in 2021, that he remembers most fondly.

“It was Robert Altman's company, and we were his employees, no question,” Hines said. “But he treated us more like family, and we found a culture that really fit us. When it was working, it was magical. We were a small, private company. It's way easier to stay out of scrutiny when you're not having to put your earnings reports out for the whole world.”

Bethesda, which now serves under the titan that is Microsoft, encompasses a variety of different game studios. This includes its development arm, Bethesda Game Studios, Doom developer id Software, Deathloop developer Arkane Studios, Wolfenstein studio MachineGames, and The Elder Scrolls Online studio ZeniMax Online.

Gamers have turned to the company for everything from giant, trend-setting RPGs to laser-focused first-person shooters, but in 2024, the Bethesda umbrella shrunk. Just three years after Microsoft completed its acquisition, the Xbox company announced it would be shutting down Redfall developer Arkane Austin and Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks (Tango was later acquired by Krafton).

Bethesda has gone through major shifts both before and after the Microsoft acquisition. For better or worse, Hines says there’s no denying the company he started at in 1999 has changed.

“There's just no question that the company is not the same,” he added. “It has been radically changed and altered from the company that we built. It is what it is. Things change. Things move on, but at its height, it was really a special thing to be a part of.”

Elsewhere in the interview with Hines, the former Bethesda executive touched on how he fought to change the name of Arkane’s Prey, as well as his thoughts on gaming subscription services like Game Pass. He also remembered the controversy surrounding Fallout 76 and how it led to “probably the dumbest thing” he ever did at Bethesda.

For more, you can read about how Bethesda became the first Microsoft game studio to fully unionize. You can also check out why one Bethesda veteran believes games like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls will always have load screens.

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

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 publisher Paradox is now offering PlayStation Store pre-order refunds as it makes “big changes” after a backlash to its decision to lock clans behind DLC.

The furore began with the confirmation that Bloodlines 2 would feature four clans: Brujah; Tremere; Banu Haqim; and Ventrue. While this selection provides four different starting options for how you build your protagonist, it’s a more limited offering compared to the cult classic original Bloodlines, which featured seven clans.

Developer The Chinese Room added a further two clans to Bloodlines 2 (Lasombra and Toreador), but these were only available as part of the Shadows and Silk add-on pack, which costs $21.99 as DLC, or included as part of the $89.99 Premium Edition. The standard edition costs $59.99.

This DLC is available from day one, which has created the impression that the “full” roster has been carved up, with only those paying extra getting the complete launch experience. As you’d expect, fans were quick to express their dissatisfaction.

At gamescom 2025, a representative for publisher Paradox told IGN the decision was a “business” informed choice, prompting further outcry. Then, last month, a post on Discord from Paradox suggested a significant change would be coming ahead of launch, and now the publisher has gone one step further by issuing PlayStation Store pre-order refunds.

“Hi,” a post on social media on the official Bloodlines 2 account began. “We’re making adjustments and will share the details on Sept 17. Big changes take time, and we want to do this right.

“PS Store pre-orders will be refunded on Sept 8. You’ll be able to pre-order again before launch on Oct 21.

“Thanks for your patience; we’ll share more soon!”

Fans are now wondering whether Paradox will include Lasombra and Toreador by default and not as DLC at base game price. Certainly, the sentiment online is that’s the expectation.

“Honestly nothing short of fully including them at base game price will turn me around on this,” said one social media user in response to the announcement. “Otherwise I'm skipping.”

“The only way to salvage this and regain trust with the community is to sell the base game as-is with all clans available and rather sell DLC with new side stories and cosmetics on the side or just add the cosmetics/side stories as part of a higher tier eg deluxe edition/premium edition, as that won't mess with the main story/narrative etc,” said another.

Some expressed thanks for the reaction to the backlash. “I'm very excited and hopeful to see what you came up with for the two clans locked behind DLC issue,” said one fan. “I'd like to thank you for listening to community feedback and working to fix the issue. I'm sure refunding store pre-orders was not an easy decision.”

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has suffered a difficult development and a number of high-profile delays, but it is a crucial release for Paradox. The publisher will be keen to give it the best chance possible to succeed, and backtracking on its DLC plans may be the only viable option at this stage. While you wait to find out, check out IGN's Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 hands-on preview.

Be sure to stay up-to-date with all the latest from IGN by clicking here and setting IGN as a preferred source in Google.

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.

Exit 8, a live-action horror movie adaptation of the anomaly-spotting indie game of the same name, opened at movie theaters in Japan on August 29. Despite enjoying a profitable opening weekend, the Japanese film has attracted some controversy in its home country over a scene that depicts a tsunami, as well as the production company’s delay in issuing an official warning about this potentially upsetting content.

Originally released on Steam in November 2023, The Exit 8 is a first-person puzzle game set in looping passageways of a Japanese subway station. Starting by the sign for Exit 0, players must reach the titular Exit 8 by looking out for anomalies - if they see something strange they must turn back. If everything seems normal, they must keep walking straight ahead. Make the correct choice, and the number on the exit sign goes up by one. Make the wrong choice, and you go all the way back to zero. With its creepy atmosphere and occasional jump-scares, the game quickly shot up in sales and gained widespread popularity with streamers. It has since been ported to multiple platforms and even has a VR version.

The movie Exit 8 uses the iconic elements of the game to present a psychological horror. Kazunari Ninomiya plays the main character, an asthmatic unnamed man stuck in the daily grind of commuting to work on the subway who is struggling to come to terms with becoming a father. Like in the game, Ninomiya’s character gets trapped in the looping subway passages and must successfully spot anomalies to reach Exit 8. The movie also touches on themes like bystander apathy, dissociation from reality, and how smartphones can make us lose track of our surroundings.

The film has an uneasy atmosphere and is almost exclusively set within the claustrophobic bounds of the subway station. The subway passages evoke the game, right down to the wandering salaryman NPC, posters, and the overly shiny white, tiled walls. Some of the anomalies are similar to those in the game, while others are unique to the movie (one of which will likely be appreciated by Parasite Eve fans).

On September 1, the movie’s official X account posted a content warning to potential viewers about “certain scenes that may evoke traumatic memories of natural disasters, like tsunamis." This post led to an outpouring of varied responses. Although some users thanked the production company for the heads-up, others criticized the timing of the warning, which came three days after the film hit theaters. “Shouldn't this have been issued on opening day?” and “I wouldn’t have gone to see it had I known,” are among the critical user comments reported on by Japanese news outlets like Yahoo! Japan/J-CAST.

Meanwhile, some commenters who hadn’t seen the film yet mused about whether the depiction could really be traumatic enough to warrant such a warning, considering the “mild” rising water that appears in the game, plus the film’s G rating (suitable for all) from Japanese film classification board Eirin.

League of Legends strategy game Teamfight Tactics is getting a temporary single-player PvE mode called Ao Shin’s Ascent later in September, Riot Games has announced.

Teamfight Tactics is the 2019 spinoff of Riot’s enormously popular MOBA League of Legends based on Dota Auto Chess. Eight players build teams and fight to be the last person standing, with their units automatically battling after being placed strategically on the game board between rounds. Riot describes TFT as “the world’s largest PC strategy game.”

TFT is traditionally a PvP game, but Ao Shin’s Ascent, due out September 24, is its first-ever progression-focused PvE mode. Players take on escalating PvE battles and bosses, with roguelite progression that grants permanent power in the mode’s Journey Track.

⛰️Get ready to climb! ⛰️
Ao Shin’s Ascent is a timerless PvE mode with permanent power progression & the all-new Guide mechanic.

Climb the mountain, save corrupted Little Legends, and push to the summit!

Launches Sept 24 for a limited time. pic.twitter.com/489UvyRvO3

— Teamfight Tactics (@TFT) September 6, 2025

Here’s the official info, from developer Riot Games:

SUMMIT THE MOUNTAIN: Climb the mountain while strengthening your board, arming yourself with powerful Augments, and preparing for an ultra-powerful Boss.

CRAFT YOUR PATH AND CHALLENGE: Select your difficulty, your Guide, the Boss you’ll fight, and more to make every run feel and play differently!

KEY MECHANIC; GUIDES: The odds aren’t stacked in your favor at the start — recruiting a selection of unlockable Guides can help turn the tides by giving you access to novel strategies and power! Take Zoe for random loot, or grab a bundle-exclusive Guide like Battle Queen Gwen to access powerful Items from various TFT sets!

PROGRESS TO THE SUMMIT WIN OR LOSE: Make progress on your climb win or lose, via the Journey Track. The more runs you take on, the stronger you get!

UNLOCK GUIDES AND POWER WITH THE FREE JOURNEY TRACK: Unlock Guides, and power through the Journey Track. Clear the summit with at least 12 Guides to claim a free Ao Shin’s Ascent Portal reward.

PURCHASE BUNDLES: The Ao Shin’s Ascent Guide Pack (575 RP) comes with an emote and both Bundle-exclusive Guides: Truth Dragon Yasuo and Battle Queen Gwen. And the Ao Shin’s Ascent Mega Bundle (2780 RP) comes with that Emote, both Guides, Legendary Little Legend: Awakened Ao Shin, the Little Legend Sol Harbinger Ao Shin, and the second K.O. Coliseum Pass Plus!

Christina Jiang, Events Product Lead for Teamfight Tactics, said: “Ao Shin’s Ascent represents everything we love about TFT — experimentation, strategy, and a dash of chaos — while introducing a roguelite twist that challenges players to adapt and persevere. This progression-based mode is our most ambitious PvE experiment yet, building on the strong global player engagement we’ve seen with Set 15, K.O. Coliseum. It marks a major step toward giving TFT players more ways to play, more ways to test themselves, and more reasons to return for the next climb.”

And here’s a comment from Michael “Skip” Scipione, Senior Game Designer for Teamfight Tactics: “With Ao Shin’s Ascent, we wanted to push TFT forward with bold new mechanics that expand on its core gameplay. Bosses evolve with shifting modifiers, and the new progression system means each run builds toward the next, letting players experiment with different approaches against an ever-changing challenge. It’s a way to expand TFT’s core mechanics while giving players new stories to create with every climb.”

Teamfight Tactics: Ao Shin’s Ascent launches on September 24 at 10am Pacific Time, shortly after the release of patch 15.5. The mode will be available until the end of patch 15.6 on October 8.

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.

Director Tetsuya Nomura has heard the cries for updates on Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 and Kingdom Hearts 4, and he’s happy to report that development is “progressing really smoothly.”

It’s a largely inconsequential but still welcome update for two of Square Enix’s most anticipated games that arrived during the recent Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis second anniversary broadcast. As reported on and translated by Gematsu, Nomura took the opportunity to address waves of comments from fans hoping to see the team make an announcement.

“Apparently, [co-director Motomu] Toriyama mentioned in an interview that something might be released around the second anniversary [of Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis],” Nomura said when addressing comments specifically related to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series. “So that’s probably where those expectations are coming from. Right, so things are progressing really smoothly. I can’t really say more — if I suddenly went, ‘Well, actually...,’ everyone would be really surprised! [Laughs.]”

Nomura goes as far as to say that the “release timing has already been decided” but stops short of clarifying when exactly Square Enix will share more. For now, he asks fans to be patient, adding that work on Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 is “moving forward according to that schedule.”

RPG fans have been on the hunt for news about the next entry in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series since its last installment, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, launched in early 2024. We know development started as early as June 2022, with Square Enix saying last year that its goal is to see it launch by 2027. Excitement for the third and final chapter in the trilogy grew even more when the team revealed that it had completed its story earlier this year.

Development for Kingdom Hearts 4, meanwhile, is progressing in a similarly positive direction, though Nomura says even less about when any further updates may arrive on this front.

“And this has also come up in the comments here and there,” Nomura added, “but Kingdom Hearts IV is likewise steadily moving forward according to schedule, so please look forward to it.”

Kingdom Hearts 4 was announced in 2022, and updates have been distressingly few and far between since. It wasn’t until May 2025, not even four months ago, that Square Enix was willing to share a substantial update, and even then, all fans had to hold onto was a handful of new screenshots and a short message from the team.

“We’ve seen how excited you are, and we are truly grateful from the bottom of our hearts," Square Enix said at the time. “We are equally excited and can’t wait to share more about Kingdom Hearts IV when the time is right. Until then, we appreciate your patience.”

There’s no telling when exactly we can expect to hear any additional updates on Kingdom Hearts 4 or Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3. In the meantime, you can read up on everything we know about the former here. You can also learn about why the team behind the latter says it “will not cheat” when it comes to Final Fantasy 7’s iconic airship.

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

LEGO has been hard at work producing sets targeted specifically at adults all year long. Some of the biggest new sets released this September were 18+ builds and there are already even more on the way for later in 2025. But of the new sets that just came out, perhaps the most interesting to me are the latest builds in the LEGO Wicked line. Similar to last year, LEGO released a bunch of new themed sets ahead of the upcoming film, Wicked: For Good. Though there was one major difference this year—two of the sets were targeted specifically at adults.

The two sets, a pair of Glinda & Elphaba Bookends and an Emerald City Wall Art Set, are currently the only new builds from the franchise that are on backorder at the LEGO store. While you can still find these sets at other retailers with faster shipping, the fact that LEGO is having trouble keeping up with demand is a testament to the popularity of these builds with an adult audience.

New LEGO Wicked Sets for Adults

Former Bethesda Softworks marketing boss Pete Hines has opened up about the Fallout 76 bag controversy of 2018, saying it led to "probably the dumbest thing" he ever did at the company.

Hines, who served as senior vice president of global marketing and communications at Bethesda before announcing plans to retire in 2023, touched on the infamous Fallout 76 Power Armor Edition during an interview with DBLTAP. The first true multiplayer Fallout experience came with too many issues to count at launch, but it’s the goodies promised with its collector’s edition that live with the former Bethesda executive to this day.

The company unveiled the pricey Power Armor Edition with the promise it would include a T-51B Power Armor Helmet, an exclusive steel case, collectible figures, and, of course, a canvas West Tek Duffel Bag. Players who picked up their copies upon the launch of Fallout 76 in late 2018, however, were surprised when the package included a cheap, nylon bag instead.

It led to quite the uproar from the Fallout community, which wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea that Bethesda may have pulled a fast one on the group of dedicated fans who paid $200 for the special release with only a small amount of in-game currency to show for it. It was a flub the company was quick to correct, offering fans an opportunity to request a replacement canvas bag by filling out a form by May of the following year.

Hines doesn’t remember this element of the launch of Fallout 76 fondly, recalling how his involvement in the contents of the Power Armor Edition led to one of his biggest mistakes at Bethesda.

“My first reaction was, ‘When the f**k did we add a canvas bag to this collector's edition?’ Because the version I approved did not have one,” he said. “They were trying to add more value to the Collectors Edition. We were always fighting with the finance people about margins, right? I would throw shit fits around. ‘We cannot charge $300 for this, it's f***ing insulting.’ But in this case, their hearts were in the right place.”

Hines continued, explaining that the decision to include a nylon bag came as a result of a canvas shortage.

“There was literally a canvas shortage, and some folks decided we're going to do this instead. My biggest failing there was not pushing immediately for making and sending one to everybody that wants one. Because I was still annoyed that the damn thing was in there in the first place, and nobody had told me and that this canvas shortage happened. It's probably the dumbest thing I ever did at Bethesda.”

Fallout 76 had a notoriously rough start but is generally regarded to be in much better shape these days. Bethesda has delivered an ocean of updates and post-launch content in the years since, with the CAMP Revamp update arriving just a few days ago. We gave the multiplayer Fallout game a 7/10 in our updated review last year.

For more on Bethesda’s history, you can read up on how Hines feels about gaming subscription services like Game Pass. You can also see what the former Bethesda executive had to say regarding the naming of Arkane Austin’s 2017 immersive sim, Prey.

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

Fede Alvarez will not direct the sequel to his hit 2024 film Alien: Romulus. The search is on for a new filmmaker to helm the sequel.

According to TooFab, Alvarez will remain onboard the project as a producer, He also co-wrote the screenplay with Rodo Sayagues. TooFab chatted with Alvarez on Thursday at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights.

"We just finished the script, actually, for a sequel for Romulus. But I'm gonna pass the torch on this one as director," Alvarez said. "I'm going to produce it, with Ridley Scott, we're gonna produce it together and we're right now trying to find a new filmmaker to come in."

"I think that's usually what has happened, except for Ridley, filmmakers come, you make one and you pass the baton to the next one," the filmmaker added.

"But we wrote the story because we really love what we started with Romulus and we want to continue the story. We love the story and now we just want to find a director that really wants to go for the jugular."

Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson are expected to reprise their respective roles from Alien: Romulus for the sequel, which will be released by 20th Century Studios.

IGN’s Tom Jorgensen was a big fan of Alien: Romulus, scoring it an 8 out of 10 in his review:

“Helped along by a talented ensemble of young actors and reference-quality production design, Alien: Romulus’s back-to-basics approach to blockbuster horror boils everything fans love about the tonally-fluid franchise into one film, and it’s one that you’re going to need to start making time for the next time you plan on marathoning Alien and Aliens.”

Although fans will have to wait awhile to see a Romulus sequel, there’s still plenty of the Alien franchise to enjoy these days.

Be sure to read our Alien: Earth, Episode 5 review, learn how Alien: Earth’s Morrow shares some similarities with Ripley and why The Eye is the true hero of Alien: Earth.

Full spoilers follow for Peacemaker Season 2, Episode 3 - “Another Rick Up My Sleeve.”

In this week’s Peacemaker, James Gunn pulls the rug out from under some of us at least by resurrecting a long-thought-dead character: Rick Flag Jr., Joel Kinnaman’s Special Forces badass who was killed all the way back in Gunn’s The Suicide Squad movie in 2021. Killed, of course, by John Cena’s Chris/Peacemaker himself… But you know, alternate dimensions do have a way of resurrecting folks! Or never killing folks in the first place, or… whatever.