Get ready to get mad again — and by mad, we mean Madison Avenue, of course. One of the most beloved and critically acclaimed dramas of the 2000s is coming to streaming, and will be available to watch in 4K for the very first time. Have you guessed which one yet? It’s none other than the AMC original Mad Men.
All seven seasons of the iconic series will be available on HBO Max — again, in glorious 4K — from December 1.
"Mad Men continues to show truly remarkable staying power with audiences a full decade after concluding its network run, and we couldn't imagine a better home for it than HBO Max," President of worldwide television distribution at Lionsgate, Jim Packer, explained in a statement.
"HBO sets the bar for premium entertainment, making it the perfect place to celebrate one of television's defining series while introducing Mad Men to new viewers and reintroducing it to longtime fans in 4K."
The legendary drama was created by Matthew Weiner and kicked off in 2007. It ran for seven seasons with Jon Hamm at the helm, alongside a stacked supporting cast that included Elisabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks, January Jones, Vincent Kartheiser, John Slattery, and more. Several of the cast members, Hamm included, were catapulted to superstardom through the success of the series, which followed the employees and executives of an advertising firm on Madison Avenue — get it? Mad Men? — in the 1960s.
The show went on to collect a whopping 116 nominations over the course of seven years, cementing it as one of the most recognized and appreciated shows of all time. And soon, you’ll be able to rewatch — or watch it for the first time, do it! — in glorious 4K and remember, or discover, what made it so great.
Photo by Stephen Osman/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
Ghost of Yotei is set for New Game Plus mode on November 24 alongside a free patch, Sony has announced. Expect a harder difficulty, new armor sets and weapon dyes, the ability to replay missions, and new accessibility options.
Sucker Punch’s PlayStation 5 exclusive sequel gets New Game Plus as part of a free patch that includes new cosmetics, new Trophies, and new Photo Mode features.
As detailed in a PlayStation Blog post, New Game Plus will let you replay Atsu’s quest from the beginning with everything you earned throughout the campaign. “Yes, that means it’s time to bring a gun to a sword fight, with all of the armors, abilities, and weapons from your first playthrough available from the start of the game,” Andrew Goldfarb, Senior Communications Manager at Sucker Punch Productions, said.
Ghost of Yotei New Game Plus details:
New Game Plus will unlock after you’ve finished the main story, and will add new harder difficulty options and two new Trophies. There’s also a new currency called Ghost Flowers that you can exchange with a new vendor for more than 30 new cosmetics including new armor sets and weapon dyes, plus 10 new charms. You’ll also be able to earn an additional tier of upgrades for your existing armor sets and weapons.
New features for the base game coming with the new patch include the ability to replay content in the post-game after you’ve completed the main story, including a new stats display. Sucker Punch is also adding new accessibility options including directional button remapping. New Photo Mode features include shutter speed, a composition grid, and new filters.
Last week, Sony announced that Ghost of Yotei had sold 3.3 million copies in its first month on sale (October 2 to November 2). Predecessor Ghost of Tsushima sold 2.4 million copies in its first three days after going on sale exclusively on PlayStation 4 on July 17, 2020, then hit 5 million after 118 days (just shy of four months). It’s now up to 13 million copies sold, including sales of the PC and PS5 Director’s Cut.
So it’s worth remembering that while we don’t have a figure for a comparable period of sales, it looks like Ghost of Yotei is selling about as well as Ghost of Tsushima before it, a suggestion backed up by sales data from the U.S. and across Europe.
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.
Fan-favorite Pokémon Zeraora will gain a Mega Evolution in the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mega Dimension DLC. However, a fresh trailer revealing the creature's design has warned that it may be tough to unlock.
Today's trailer showcases the latest all-new Mega Evolution that owners of Pokémon Legends: Z-A will need to pay another $30 for, meaning a total outlay of $100 for the game and its DLC on Switch 2. The upcoming expansion was first announced alongside two Mega Evolutions for Raichu, though many more are also expected.
Mega Zeraora, which upgrades the black and gold electric cat species with a new and more ferocious blue-tinged look, will apparently require some work to acquire.
"It looks like getting Mega Zeraora for your team will be a little difficult," reads an accompanying description of the trailer. "Keep your eyes peeled for a way to encounter it as you play through the DLC!"
Pokémon Legends: Z-A's base game already holds back access to some Mega Evolution species by requiring players log on and battle online over time, with several previously-announced creatures still yet to be made available. It's currently unclear if Mega Zeraora will similarly be time-gated, or just unlocked late in the DLC's story.
"The electric energy it stores in its body is equivalent to 10 bolts of lightning," an official blurb for Mega Zeraora reads. "Protrusions on its forehead, chest, back, and the backs of its hands are where the electric energy is particularly concentrated. The protrusions steadily emit a pale blue light. If Zeraora stores up lots of energy and then unleashes attacks, those attacks will pack enough power to take down multiple nearby opponents at once."
I trust DBrand with some of my most important devices. Its screen protectors (and applicators) have been top-notch, and its cases have wrapped a few of my phones, including my Samsung Galaxy S25. This time, I trusted them with my Nintendo Switch 2 in the process of reviewing the inventive Killswitch 2 grip and case combo – its premium build quality and sleek design complement the ergonomic advantage it provides. If you can contend with an awkward solution to docking your Switch 2 while keeping the grips and back protector on, this is an excellent case that covers several bases all at once. It's easy to recommend to any Switch 2 owner looking to protect their handheld in style.
The Killswitch 2 case is difficult to wrap your mind around at first. Instead of the standard grip and a separate case with a zipper, padded innards, and elastic game slots that wear out, the Killswitch 2 marries multiple ideas into a unified thing. It’s one part rubberized grips and protective shell that attach to the Joy-Con and back of the console, respectively. The second part is a hard plastic cover that goes over the front to provide full protection, and a strong elastic cord wraps around the console and slots into hooks on the cover to keep everything tightly secured. This semi-translucent screen cover doubles as a game holder for up to 10 physical game cartridges on the inside of it as well.
It's a sturdier solution to protecting your screen than the average case, with much less give than even most hard-shelled cases. DBrand claims this screen cover can tank as much as 100lbs of pressure, though I haven't had a chance to put that to the test (and, frankly, I don’t think I will). One frustration is that you can’t charge your Switch 2 with the screen cover attached.
Aside from the cord’s hooks and anchors, this screen cover adds very little profile to the Switch 2, offering extra protection without taking up too much space. But what this screen cover boasts in protection and efficiency, it lacks in space. I think the designers at DBrand made the bet that nobody's just carrying a Switch case by itself, but I do wish there was room for carrying stuff like Joy-Con 2 straps in their grand design. I have room in my backpack for stuff like that, but rifling around between extra pockets kind of defeats the purpose of a bespoke carrying case.
This reinforces the primary design ethos of the Killswitch 2: It feels designed for a standard handheld like a Steam Deck, not something that's meant to connect to a TV, and certainly not a device with as many use cases as the Switch 2. That’s not to say it’s wholly dysfunctional; it’s much nicer than your average grip case, but we’re still early enough into the Switch 2 lifecycle that I want to have easy access to its full range of gimmicks, mouse mode and all.
But you know what isn’t a gimmick? Docking the console. Half of the Switch 2’s appeal is playing it on a TV to enjoy Nintendo’s first 4K console. Unfortunately, the Killswitch 2 case doesn’t fit inside the standard Switch 2 dock. Instead of redesigning the case, DBrand offers an awkward fix to a problem it created. Each Killswitch 2 case ships with an extra dock-like cradle, which has a USB-C input on a rail that gets slotted into the Switch 2 dock and has a USB-C plug in the front that functions as an adapter.
In theory, this should allow you to dock your Switch 2 without taking any extra precautions, but I had some trouble getting my unit to work at first. Maybe it was the fit, maybe it was just that I kept missing the adjustable USB-C plug when slotting the console into place, but it took me multiple tries before the console was properly docked and connected to my TV. It’s a minor inconvenience, sure, but when other high-quality grip cases like Genki’s are comparable while still dockable, this gets annoying quickly.
That’s not to mention the inconvenience of needing to carry an extra accessory just to dock your Switch 2. I left it at home for a recent trip, so I couldn’t dock my Switch 2 without completely removing the case from my console. This extra cradle may be cool for displaying your Switch 2 in your entertainment console, but it’s not the most portable or convenient.
Should you forget your adapter, you’ll run into another of the Killswitch 2’s biggest issues: adhesives. The Killswitch 2 ships with a case for the tablet itself, alongside a cover for the kickstand for a uniform feel in handheld mode. Both have adhesives on them, which ensure the console doesn’t move or wiggle around in the case or potentially even slide out altogether. It’s a great idea in theory, but if you’re taking the case off for any reason, it can complicate things. Especially that kickstand cover.
The Killswitch 2 also comes with thumbstick covers that add extra grip and profile to the Joy-Con 2’s analog sticks. This might secretly be the best part of the whole bundle. These grip covers worked together with the ergonomic hand grips on each Joy-Con to make a long cross-country flight much more comfortable. Even after moving on to test out other cases and grips, these covers have stayed on thanks to their textured, comfortable feel.
Hot off of dozens of hours reviewing the sweatiest kind of game imaginable in ARC Raiders, wading into the cozy waters of Disney Dreamlight Valley once again was like stepping into a warm bath at the end of a hard day’s work. I’ve managed to mostly keep up with this charming, Disney-infused life simulator for the past three years, which has been content with adding a handful of new areas and characters here and there rather than innovating in that time. But with its latest expansion, Wishblossom Ranch, developer Gameloft Montreal promised a massive new region to explore atop the back of various recognizable steeds that seemed like a perfect reason to return for an extended stay. It’s without question the most ambitious update yet, with some interesting mechanical tweaks, like the focus on riding and building bonds with horses to unlock new abilities – but that ambition comes at the cost of this being the most buggy version of Disney Dreamlight Valley so far. Similarly, the new map has some of the most creative and unique regions I’ve seen in any cozy game, but that’s offset by new characters that I had a hard time connecting with and the usual, completely unnecessary grind to get through its main quests. All-in-all, I’m still glad to be back in the comforting embrace of this incredibly zen game, but the admirable risks Wishblossom Ranch takes only pay off some of the time.
If you’ve yet to visit Dreamlight Valley’s colorful, cartoonish world, this is a life simulator that’s centered around reconnecting with Disney characters from your childhood and the hopeful, optimistic sense of wonder you presumably had beaten out of you in the years since. You’ll run around performing low stress activities like gardening, cooking, and fishing while hanging out with the likes of Simba from the Lion King, Elsa from Frozen, and Goofy from… well, y’know, it’s Goofy. Wishblossom Ranch is the latest made up compound word followed by a location noun to be added to the mix, and it asks you to solve a mystery surrounding a place where one’s wishes are granted that seems to have run out of magic. While hot on the case, you’ll meet a handful of new Disney characters to befriend, explore and settle the biggest regions Dreamlight Valley has seen so far, and, most importantly, unlock a roster of iconic mounts to ride around on. When all of that is working, it’s some of the best-spent hours this chill adventure has offered me yet.
As the name Wishblossom Ranch implies, the main attraction this time around are the four-legged creatures you’ll tame, each with their own special ability to help you navigate the world and solve simple puzzles. The brave and bold Maximus from Tangled will let you leap across large gaps, while the mighty and battle-tested Khan from Mulan can kick apart physical barriers, and the goofy looking Pegasus from Hercules lets you fly to the highest heights of the mountainous area. You’ll also get to customize and name your own horse (mine was called Neighthan), which has the ability to push around heavy objects with its head like a big ol’ dummy. The puzzles you’ll solve using this suite of ponies are extremely basic, mostly serving as reminders that you can and should switch between mounts instantaneously and use their unique skills to push heavy blocks onto weighted pressure plates or kick obstructions to pieces, but they do a good job at giving you a reason to toggle between each of the loyal stallions and a good reason to level up your bonds with them.
This is definitely the most unstable version of Dreamlight Valley so far.
The best part of these new companions, though, is the fact that they solve one of my least favorite things about Disney Dreamlight Valley since the very beginning: how insanely slow you move. I’ve had a bone to pick with this game for many years now on how painfully sluggish it feels to move around, even when aided by fast travel from zone-to-zone, but hopping atop a mount makes travel times so much faster it’s completely resolved that issue. And since you can also train your mount to help with things like stomping on ore deposits to mine for gems or dig holes in the ground for gardening, you can do lots of activities without ever having to dismount, which is a great touch. Really the only issue is that now the old areas feel so claustrophobic and small because you can sprint across them so quickly, and they could already be fairly tough to navigate on foot. Thankfully, the new areas have been designed with mounted travel in mind and are properly expansive, and getting caught in small environments in the old regions is still a lot less annoying than spending minutes on end slowly crawling through them.
Unfortunately, the process for actually improving your relationships with each of these guys can be a bit of a slog, and represents the biggest timegate you’ll find in Wishblossom Ranch, which otherwise does a pretty good job of getting rid of annoying grinds like the one found in A Rift in Time. Every time you unlock a new mount, you’ll have to spend an increasingly long amount of time leveling up your relationship with them until you unlock their unique ability that’s needed to get through the next step in the main story, and the primary way to do that is by waiting for real-life days to go by so that you can feed, pet, and brush them for large XP boosts… or do what I did and spend hours riding around aimlessly, jumping over random objects in the world to brute-force your way through it. I’m sure it would’ve been far less annoying if I would have just played more casually over the course of a few days or weeks as is likely recommended, but I’m really not a fan of arbitrary obstacles to progression that have no point beyond padding out how long it takes to finish the story, and this one is particularly silly. I’m okay with having to earn my social links with each of these quadrupedal friends, but it shouldn’t prevent me from unlocking the next area until I do, especially if the only way to speed it up is by doing meaningless busywork.
The good news is that once I did get through the grind and proceeded to the next region, I was rewarded with some of the most interesting places that Dreamlight Valley has featured to date. For example, the Pixie Acres is a magically-infused garden area with golden honey waterfalls in the distance and waterballoon fish swimming in the rivers, while my personal favorite area, Glamour Gulch, is entirely fashion-themed, and has pincushion fruit growing on trees, flowers that are made out of needles and thread, and mushrooms on the ground that are actually little buttons. The flavor and themes of these places are easily the most clever and compelling yet, and would probably even top the list of some of my favorite locales in any cozy game. It’s especially cool when you start gardening with seeds found in these areas to grow things like a vegetable made out of silk thread or cooking recipes out of those ingredients to whip up an entree called button stew. This is exactly the type of over-the-top goofiness Dreamlight Valley really needed, as opposed to the quite grounded options in the first area where you were harvesting regular ol’ tomatoes to cook tomato soup.
On the other hand, I personally was less enthused about the new characters than the environments themselves. Snow White, Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians, Tigger from Winnie the Pooh, and Tinker Bell are the four new besties to befriend, only one of which didn’t completely annoy me over the course of the story. Snow White’s creepy cheeriness and impossibly high-pitched voice gave me the willies, Cruella de Vil was just straight up mean to me for several hours while I was forced run errands for her when I would have rather just told her to take a hike, and Tigger’s stretch of the story is so untethered from reality that I was just confused about what the heck I was doing the whole time, like one part where I had to reunite a family of balloons with faces drawn on them for some reason. Tinker Bell was genuinely the only one who was consistently helpful while also not boring into me with unnerving, wild eyes. I think this is probably the cast of added characters I connected with the least so far, even though Cruella de Vil did make me laugh by being such an irredeemable monster (as she should be). Don’t get me wrong: I’m sure lots of folks will enjoy adding these icons to Dreamlight Valley’s already impressive roster, and you can always just bring along an existing character you prefer, but man, Snow White is just not for me.
The main thing holding Wishblossom Ranch back, however, is the fact that it’s definitely the most unstable version of Dreamlight Valley so far, and that’s coming from someone who started playing during a preview period slightly before its Early Access debut back in 2022. I encountered all sorts of issues: I phased through an elevator that broke my ability to progress until I quit to the dashboard, my horses regularly hopped inside objects in the world in a super awkward and noticeable way, menus would randomly stop responding to me until I closed them and tried again, and quite a few other bizarre problems. And of particular annoyance, the absolutely atrocious camera problems Dreamlight Valley has always suffered from are amplified by the existence of bulky horses you spend a lot of time trotting upon, whose unwieldy nature cause the camera to clip through all sorts of pieces of the environment and cause a ton of issues. I appreciate that Wishblossom Ranch takes some really neat risks to make these maps bigger and add cool horse mechanics, but that seems to have come at the cost of everything feeling really janky at launch.
At one point I even found myself locked out of a critical quest line that would have resulted in me not being able to see the ending were it not for a developer-provided debug option that let me skip past the blockage. Were it not for the fact that I was working on this review, my journey would have come to a disappointing end right there. There were a few moments during the course of my adventure where it felt like I was walking on eggshells around the expansion’s bugs, and if I did a part of a quest too early or too late, I’d hold my breath hoping it wouldn’t result in a catastrophic error like the one I ultimately fell prey to. The devs at least know about this particular bug now, so hopefully they can fix it at some point, but I would recommend waiting for a round of polish or two before diving in yourself.
Fans of grounded, gritty fantasy RPGs might want to keep an eye on Fatekeeper, an upcoming first-person role-playing game fueled primarily by melee combat and spells. Its reveal clearly caught the eye of plenty of you, because the announcement trailer did a million views on IGN's YouTube channel (and you can watch it below if you missed it). But today's new video – which you can watch above – is the star of the day, as it's not only Fatekeeper's first official gameplay trailer, but it doesn't skimp on substance, serving up eight minutes of action.
We talked to the team at developer Paraglacial about their promising new title to learn a bit more in the wake of this gameplay reveal, including their inspirations, plans for a console release, whether or not they consider it a soulslike, and more!
Q: What are your inspirations for Fatekeeper? Are there any Hexen fans on the team? I definitely get some vibes from that classic, both tonally and in terms of the first-person melee combat.
Paraglacial: We have a lot of respect for Hexen and the way it blended spellcasting with first-person action. That said, Fatekeeper is a different experience, it’s a full-fledged first-person RPG. While we also put players in a first-person perspective with magic and combat, our focus is on character progression, tactical choices, and exploration rather than a pure action-first shooter approach.
Q: Would you consider Fatekeeper to be a soulslike? The enemy encounters definitely seem that way. I'm not sure I've seen a first-person soulslike, so it'd be pretty cool if that's what you're going for!
Paraglacial: Some players might see hints of a Soulslike in Fatekeeper’s combat — for example, the importance of timing and reading your enemies. While this serves as a base for our engagements, the combat as a whole is very different. It is designed to feel impactful, responsive, and flexible, letting players experiment with builds and approaches. The combat is generally designed to be challenging and meaningful while not overly punishing in regard to timing and patterns.
Q: Are you ready to talk more about your story yet? You mention on your Steam page that Fatekeeper "follows a focused narrative path," so I'd love to hear more about the story. Paraglacial: Of course! Here is a brief summary of the game’s setting, without going too much into detail when it comes to the overall, deeper lore: Eons ago, a faction of a culture rebelled against their tyrannical overlord and vanished into the planet’s deep crust, building a thriving technocratic society in isolation. Millennia later, natural tunnels reopened to the surface, and the clash between pragmatic progress and newly embraced faiths erupted into open conflict. When their ancient kin returned with vengeance, war consumed the lands, claiming the life of the Druid who once watched over the region.
You are their successor, sent to oversee the boreal archipelago of Solace. As a Druid — part of an ancient order forged to enforce balance across civilizations through decisive, often ruthless intervention — your mission is to navigate the war-torn lands, uncover the truth behind the conflict, and restore order to a world left fractured by rebellion and war.
Q: Fatekeeper is looking gorgeous, visually speaking. Is it Unreal Engine 5? Or what tech are you using? Paraglacial: We are using the latest iteration of Unreal Engine 5. We started the project back in 2021, when Unreal 5 was still in a Preview/Early Access phase, and our goal was to fully utilize its capabilities.
Q: The gameplay reveal video shows that there's a skill tree. Can players lean more heavily into spells if they prefer to have a bit more range than what melee combat allows? Paraglacial: Player progression in Fatekeeper is defined by a deep, flexible skill tree that supports wildly different playstyles. While every character begins with access to both magic and melee combat, the paths you choose can transform you into anything from a hulking, hammer-wielding brute to a cunning alchemist, a raging pyromancer, or something entirely your own.
"While every character begins with access to both magic and melee combat, the paths you choose can transform you into anything from a hulking, hammer-wielding brute to a cunning alchemist, a raging pyromancer, or something entirely your own."
The system is built to reward creativity and discovery — letting players mix disciplines, bend rules, expand their available combat moves, and craft unique identities that feel powerful and personal.
Q: Who's the rat at the beginning of the gameplay video?
Paraglacial: This will remain a secret for now! :D Some reveals will have to be saved for later.
Q: The endcard only mentions Steam. Any plans for a console release?
Paraglacial: Yep! Consoles are definitely part of the plan. As we’ve mentioned before, we’re aiming to launch Fatekeeper in Steam Early Access in 2026 — and once the EA run is wrapped up and the full game is ready, we’ll be bringing it to consoles too.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
The writer of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Running Man adaptation has offered his take on the new version’s box office struggles.
According to Deadline, Paramount‘s $110 million reboot The Running Man, headlined by Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You, and Twisters star Glen Powell, endured an opening weekend that brought in just $28.2 million globally. Directed by Edgar Wright, The Running Man is a modern adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel of the same name that comes nearly 40 years after Schwarzenegger’s iconic 1987 effort.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Steven E. de Souza, writer of the 1987 movie, responded to 2025's The Running Man’s box office stumble, saying complaints about its ending rekindle memories of similar complaints about the ending of his version.
“I read it and [felt that] on paper, they got the ending working,” de Souza insisted, having read the script of the new movie. “Even the reviews that love it say it stumbles at the end. It seems to me that this time around, something went wrong between the page and the stage again.”
Warning! Spoilers for The Running Man follow:
Both 1987's The Running Man and 2025's The The Running Man make a similar but significant change to Stephen King’s ending so that it is far less bleak.
As IGN discusses in our The Running Man ending explained article, in King’s ending, protagonist Ben Richards flies a plane straight into the Network building, which presumably kills everyone inside. 1987's The Running Man does away with this in favor of Arnold infiltrating the Network building alongside an army of rebels to kill demented showrunner Killian and secure his revenge.
In the 2025 version, Powell gets a plane scene, but Killian engineers a deepfake video showing Richards threatening to crash into the Network building. The video shows a missile taking out the plane, saving the studio audience from certain death and, it seems, killing Richards. But in reality, Richards survives, and Powell ends up doing his best Arnie impression and infiltrating the Network building for a showdown with Killian.
In THR interview, de Souza said adaptations of King’s book had to change the ending because it was so depressing.
“The book’s ending is a downer, so you need a new ending. I would say that both the '87 version and this version tweak the ending in pretty much the same way, except that in our version, we had less money, so it’s a little simpler.”
“Maybe the third version in 2045 will stick the landing.”
de Souza also agreed that The Running Man failed to appeal to women ahead of its launch, saying the pre-release marketing skewed male. “There definitely is some validity to that,” he said. “Science-fiction always skews male.”
While there’s still a chance for The Running Man to recover at the box office, it is now unlikely to make its money back during its theatrical run. The finish line, it seems, has already been crossed. IGN's The Running Man review returned a 7/10. We said: "The Running Man survives but Edgar Wright and Glen Powell get caught between the bleak sci-fi of Stephen King’s novel and the campy satire of the Arnold Schwarzenegger version."
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.
It's once again time for Sony's PS Plus library to get an update, which means if you've been thinking of giving games like Sonic Frontiers, Forspoken, or Battlefield 2042 a go but haven't gotten around to it yet, you better make it quick — they'll disappear on December 16.
While all PS Plus subscribers get access to free monthly games, online multiplayer, and discounts, subcribers of the Extra and Premium tiers also get to access a digital game catalog. These are the titles we'll be waving goodbye to in December:
Games leaving PS Plus Extra and Premium on December 16:
For more on PS Plus — including what games are currently available in the no-extra-cost digital libraries — IGN's got you covered.
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.
Months after Riot Games pulled the plug on Hypixel's Minecraft-esque sandbox game, Hytale, a new 16-minute trailer is showcasing how the game currently plays as the original co-founder fights to keep it alive, starting with an early access release.
This week, League of Legends developer Riot Games confirmed it had sold the rights to Hytale back to one of the original co-founders after it acquired the game back in 2020. Riot said that after considering "a range of options," it decided to sell the IP rights back to Simon Collins-Laflamme as this "gives players the best chance to one day experience a revised version of the game they've been waiting for."
Development on the game had been stagnating despite its sale to Riot, but Collins-Laflamme is set on resurrecting the dying IP, confirming he has "rehired more than 30 developers who know this game inside and out, with additional returns expected in the coming days."
As part of the revival efforts, Collins-Laflamme also shared a chunk of "raw and broken" gameplay taken on the "original legacy engine," which he then shared on YouTube.
"This Hytale footage reflects the latest chapter in the game’s revival," the video description said. "Recorded in a single morning and put together by Simon. No bells or whistles. Just the game as it is. Raw and broken, but still beautiful. There’s a long road ahead, but early access is coming soon."
Collins-Laflamme left a personal note to would-be players, too, writing: "I promised players videos, screenshots, and blog posts. One day after the acquisition, I’m keeping that promise. Now that you’ve seen the first gameplay footage in a long time, I’m heading back to work on the early access launch. The team will share more clips and screenshots as we go.
"It mattered to me to release raw footage today so we break the curse once and for all."
In a blog post celebrating that Hytale had been "saved," Collins-Laflamme wrote: "Transactions like this are rare in the games industry. Thank you to everyone for keeping hope alive."
Hytale was announced in December 2018 with a trailer that has an incredible 61 million views on YouTube. Here’s the official blurb, as it was back then:
Hytale combines the scope of a sandbox with the depth of a roleplaying game, immersing players in a procedurally generated world where teetering towers and deep dungeons promise rich rewards throughout their adventures. Hytale supports everything from block-by-block construction to scripting and minigame creation, delivered using easy to use and powerful tools.
Excitement around Hytale was fueled by the experience of the developers themselves, who co-founded Hypixel, one of the most influential Minecraft servers in the world. Riot invested in the project and eventually bought the studio.
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.
Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe has revealed the words of encouragement he's passed down given to Dominic McLaughlin, the young star of HBO's upcoming TV series adaptation.
Radcliffe, now 36, was the same age as 11-year-old McLaughlin when he began filming the original Harry Potter film series 25 years ago. Now, the Wizarding World veteran has said he contacted his successor to wish him well.
"I know a few people that are working on the [TV series] production," Radcliffe revealed during an appearance on Good Morning America. "So I wrote to Dominic — and I sent him a letter and he sent me a very sweet note back."
"I just want to say, I do not want to be a specter in the lives of these children at all," Radcliffe acknowledged. "But I just wanted to say, 'I hope you have the best time, and an even better time than I did. I had a great time, but I hope you have an even better one.'"
"And I do," he continued. "I just see those pictures of him and all the other kids and I just want to hug them. They just seem so young. I do look at them and I go, 'Oh, it's crazy that I was doing that at that age.' But it's also incredibly sweet, and I hope they're having a great time."
As part of the same interview, Radcliffe expressed admiration and support for his fellow Potter movie co-star Tom Felton, who has just reprised his role as Draco Malfoy in the Broadway production of Harry Potter sequel play The Cursed Child. "I'm so happy," Radcliffe said. "I'm super excited he's in this, he's on Broadway and in this show."
Earlier this year, Sophie Turner, who began playing Sansa Stark on HBO's Game of Thrones aged just 13, offered some words of warning for McLaughlin — as well as Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton, who will play Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, respectively — after saying that growing up in the spotlight "almost destroyed" her.
If you've been spending time with Dispatch and feeling that Malevola's practically humming with early 1990s supermodel energy, it turns out you're absolutely right.
Talking to IGN, Adhoc art director Derek Stratton explained how a '90s Pepsi advert starring supermodel Cindy Crawford was the inspiration for the "sexy demon lady" voiced by former IGN host, Alanah Pearce.
The iconic 1992 Pepsi commercial features Cindy Crawford in a white tank top and denim shorts, popping open a can of Pepsi by her red Lamborghini at a gas station as two awestruck young boys look on. It was a huge hit for Pepsi, and went on to cement its place in pop culture history.
"Malevola, so she represents 'sexy demon lady,'" Stratton said in the video interview, below. "There was a commercial — it was a Pepsi commercial. Out comes Cindy Crawford in a white bodysuit and cut-off jean shorts, and high heels — everybody lost their mind. And that's what Malevola was based off of."
That's not all, though. While Crawford inspired Malevola's signature look, inspiration for her ripped body came from someone else: influencer LeanBeefPatty.
"She is Cindy Crawford from that commercial meets that sort of, like, hot rod demon lady, and the body type of LeanBeefPatty, who is an influencer who's ripped," Stratton explained.
As one fan lamented, responding to the story on YouTube: "Bro combined Karlach, Patty and Cindy Crawford, and didn’t give us an option to romance her?" They then appended a crying face emoji.
Dispatch — hailing from AdHoc Studio, which was founded by several former Telltale Games devs — is a superhero workplace comedy where choices matter. You manage a dysfunctional team of misfit heroes and strategize who to send to emergencies around the city, all while balancing office politics, personal relationships, and your own quest to become a hero.
It stars a solid mix of traditional Hollywood actors and video game- and streaming-adjacent talent including Aaron Paul and Laura Bailey, as well as Jeffrey Wright, Erin Yvette, Jacksepticeye, Moistcr1tikal, Alanah Pearce, Travis Willingham, Joel Haver, Lance Cantstopolis, Matthew Mercer, and Thot Squad.
IGN's Dispatch review returned a 9/10. We said: "Dispatch is a sharp-witted workplace comedy that charms with its smart dialogue choices, great writing, and lovably aggravating cast."
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.
HECU Collective has released the Caretaking Update for its remake of Half-Life: Blue Shift in the Black Mesa Engine, Black Mesa: Blue Shift. This update brings important fixes, tweaks, and changes to this fan remake. So, let’s take a closer look at it. Half-Life: Blue Shift was an expansion of Half-Life that came out in … Continue reading Half-Life Black Mesa: Blue Shift Remake Gets Caretaking Update→
The Simpsons has abruptly killed a veteran Springfield character, and said the death will not be reversed.
The series' latest episode, Sashes to Sashes, sees elderly Springfield resident Alice Glick collapse at the church organ she was often seen playing.
Glick has made dozens of minor appearances within The Simpsons over the years, beginning in the show's second season which aired back in 1991. Alas, after 34 years, the organist has played her last — and according to the show's co-executive producer Tim Long, the death is final.
"In a sense, Alice the organist will live forever, through the beautiful music she made," Long told EW, in a report that states the development was permanent. "But in another, more important sense, yep, she's dead as a doornail."
The death comes just months after The Simpsons aired the high-profile demise of Marge Simpson (albeit in an episode set in the future), something which kickstarted a war of words over what exactly in the series is now treated as canon.
As fans pointed to instances where characters have been killed off for good (including Maude Flanders, Edna Krabappel and Larry the barfly), the series' co-showrunner Matt Selman railed against the idea that The Simpsons had a set canon.
"It's a f***ing paradox," Selman told EW previously. "People suck it up anyway. Our show is still very popular in both America and internationally. I am not worried about messing with the timeline."
In the case of organist Alice Glick, the matter is not helped by the fact that she had been seen dying previously — back in 2011 episode Replaceable You, where she was killed by a robot pet and is later seen in heaven. The fan-run Simpsons wiki now considers that episode non-canonical, with the reason being that Glick appears in numerous episodes afterwards.
After months of scarcity, thankfully, preorders for the Avatar set have just seen a major restock across multiple retailers, giving anyone who missed the first wave a clean shot at sealed product before launch day. That includes the elusive Scene Boxes, Collector Boosters, Commander's Bundle, and more.
This was $550 only yesterday, so a massive reduction, all things considered. This is much cheaper compared to the market price, as seen at TCGplayer, which has it listed at around $528.
These collector boosters have been incredibly hard to come by, hence the high pricing. You can also pick up individual boosters for $37.99, if you're feeling flush.
Each includes a series of cards to be displayed together to make a scene, but also a trio of Play Boosters to help kickstart your collection. Amazon has them for $41.99 each, both recently restocked after months of being unavailable, so snap these up ASAP.
We also recently got an exclusive look at a handful of cards that make up a single scene set after the end of the TV show (as well as a couple cards from the bonus sheet of the main set).
Titled "Tea Time at the Jasmine Dragon," the six cards that make up this panomaric art scene are not technically part of the main set, instead available together in a standalone Scene Box and limited to use in Magic's Eternal formats like Commander.
That's a big part of the reason why four of the cards are multicolored legendary creatures with abilities that are meant to be built around – though the somewhat novel twist of this particular scene is that most of them feature couples from the end of the show, making it a peaceful epiloque of sorts.
Flip through the gallery above to see all eight cards.
Commander's Bundle
Commander’s Bundle Explained
As with Marvel’s Spider-Man, there are no Avatar Commander Decks, but a new product type, the Commander’s Bundle, aims to fill the gap somewhat.
This bundle costs $109.99, contains 9 Play Boosters and one Collector Booster, and also includes classic Commander staples like Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Swiftfoot Boots, and more.
But, it's already sold out at Amazon. We're expecting preorders to go live at Best Buy soon, which will be your best betat securing the Commander Bundle over the coming days.
Still, we're expecting this to be one of the most popular picks for those preordering MTG x Avatar cards, so snap it up ASAP to avoid missing out.
Once that's sorted, you're guaranteed 30 boosters to open, eaching containing at least 1 shiny Traditional Foil card and 1–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher, alongside the heart-racing possibility of finding special cards featuring beautiful borderless alternate art.
As is the case with Spider-Man (and most Magic sets), there’s a new Bundle coming, too. This $72.99 set includes nine Play Boosters, 15 foil and 15 non-foil lands, 1 spindown life counter, and a Foil promo card.
Beginner Box
For the first time since Foundations, a Beginner Box will offer an entry-level product for Avatar fans who want to check out Magic: The Gathering.
It will offer Jumpstart decks that can be mixed and matched to allow players to learn to play as Aang or Zuko. It costs $34.99, and can be preordered at Amazon right now.
IGN's Tom Marks has also previewed the Beginner Box, awarding some high praise to the latest introductory MTG box, saying: "...if you’re an Avatar fan who is curious about what this crossover entails but is intimidated by the three-decade old reputation Magic carries around with it, it’s hard to think of a better place to start than this."
The idea is simple: Players take two packs of cards, put them together, and make an instantly-playable deck. It’ll be available in Booster Boxes or as individual packs.
Card reveals for the set are in full swing through next week, with prerelease events kicking off at local stores on November 14.
It then launches digitally on MTG Arena November 18 before becoming available in paper on November 21.
MTG's Avatar doesn't drop until November 21, but we're already seeing top chase cards in the wild, which are ridiculously hard to pull. Feel free to try your hand at the Collectors Booster Box, but you'll likely save money just buying the cards you need outright.
Here's the top five chase cards right now, including where to buy and up-to-date market pricing information. But, also note that these prices will rapidly change come release on November 21, so it could be worth holding out until then as well.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He's a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's dismay.
This article contains contributions from Robert Anderson.
The director of the Marathon reveal cinematic short has expressed his disbelief that he feels forced to come out and defend the work as “not AI.”
The Marathon cinematic short, below, is over eight minutes long and sets the scene for Bungie’s upcoming extraction shooter with a voice cast that includes the likes of Elias Toufexis and Ben Starr. It was written and directed by Alberto Mielgo, who created The Witness for Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots, and won an Oscar for The Windshield Wiper in 2022.
In an Instagram post, Mielgo hit out at those who accused the Marathon cinematic of being built using generative AI, insisting it took 155 staff months to put together.
“I can’t believe we’ve reached a point where I have to clarify this, but here it goes: this is not AI,” Mielgo said. “HELLO. Everything you see in this film: paintings, animations, 2D and 3D work, compositing, and renders done with huge team — 155 incredible people and hell of hours, days, months… Yes, our Achilles’ heel: time.”
He continued: “Many of you ask me what my opinion on AI is… Honestly, I have no idea. But one thing is certain: AI will never take away my (your) urge or joy for making art and painting. That part will never be replaced.”
As technology improves, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between videos created via generative AI prompts and traditional animation efforts. And with a lack of legislation forcing generative AI disclaimers onto output, audiences are left to try to work it out themselves.
Marathon has certainly endured a troubled development. After having a September 2025 release date set (the cinematic was released when this release date was still planned), Bungie delayed the game into 2026 to make adjustments based on feedback from playtests.
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.
The mystery of who plays Dorothy in Wicked: For Good has now been revealed — even though you won't see the character's face on-screen.
It's now been confirmed that British theater actress and pilates teacher Bethany Weaver portrays the iconic character within the Wicked sequel — which goes to great lengths to keep the character as anonymous as possible.
The Sun reports that Dorothy only appears on-screen for 69 seconds of the movie's 2 hour 17 minute runtime, and says just six words. Behind the scenes, too, there's been an effort to keep Weaver out of the spotlight, with the actress reportedly stopped from attending major premieres. Other cast and crew were also banned from publicly interacting with Weaver on social media.
Weaver's Instagram is empty of any suggestion she is starring in one of the year's biggest movies, presumably by design.
"I didn't want to step on who you think Dorothy is in whatever story that you came into this with," Chu previously told People. "She is a pawn in the middle of all of it."
The choice makes sense — after all, Wicked is Elphaba and Glinda's story, which happens concurrently with The Wizard of Oz. Elphaba and Glinda's portrayal by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande has been a focal point of the movie's marketing campaign, and introducing Dorothy as another major role could prove a distraction. And, of course, the second act of Wicked's stage musical also handles the character of Dorothy similarly, with audiences only getting a glimpse of the character.
Prior to this confirmation — which has only come after the movie's review embargo lifted — there had been intense speculation on who would play Dorothy, with Matilda star Alisha Weir and even Taylor Swift suggested.
"Wicked: For Good has all of the great parts of the first movie — opulent sets, heart-wrenching songs, the perfect lead cast — and all of its problems, too," we wrote in IGN's Wicked: For Good review, awarding the film a 6/10 score.
Update 11/19: These Transformers X NFL figures went up for preorder way back April, but they're finally shipping out now. They're also still available to order, meaning they haven't sold out. So if you or someone on your holiday gift list would like a transforming football helmet based on the Packers, Chiefs, Cowboys, or Steelers, you can order one now and it'll arrive in the next week or so.
At the moment they're each listed for $24.99 and all have the same release date of December 15. If they've caught your eye, head to the links below to get your preorders in today.
Preorder Transformers X NFL Helmets Figures
When in their usual robot form, each of these figures stands 5.5-inches tall. It takes 23 steps to transform them from this form into their chosen football helmet. On top of that, they also come with some fun little accessories, including a tiny football and helmet for the robot to wear. No matter which form you choose to have them in, they're sure to look great among a football fan's collectibles.
If you're on the hunt for more collectibles to bring home, there are plenty more that are worth keeping on your radar right now. Some of our favorites at the moment came out of the recent Star Wars Celebration, where Hasbro revealed some exciting new releases from The Mandalorian, Jedi: Survivor, and more. And if you're looking for some good deals, it's worth it to keep an eye on our breakdown of the best deals of the day. In it we feature a variety of discounts that are worth checking out, including some toys and collectible deals on occasion that are worth picking up while the deals are still live.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
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