For over 35 years, the Final Fantasy franchise has captivated fans with its anthology storytelling, keeping things fresh in its magical fantasy world by continuously introducing new characters and stories. The Final Fantasy games are mostly standalone, meaning you can jump into them in any order because they each have a fresh story. In general, Final Fantasy games tend to be set somewhere between the past and the future, staying connected with the same overarching, universal themes: a group of young heroes gathering to fight a great evil threatening their world while exploring their internal struggles and relationships with each other.

If you’re new and want to get into the Final Fantasy series, there are technically 16 numbered games, a few direct sequels, and a prequel to the first game. Each numbered game has its own stories, characters, and world to dive into, though a number of remakes and remasters can make things confusing at a glance. It sounds like a lot, but we’re here to help you make the journey a little smoother.

Jump to:

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

Which Final Fantasy Game Should You Play First?

Looking at the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole can be overwhelming as most of them have hundreds of hours of content to play through. If you want to ease yourself into the franchise, we recommend starting with Final Fantasy VII. This game left an indelible mark on the game industry for having the easiest gameplay and combat systems to get the hang of, especially with the Limit Break system, and giving us the most memorable characters, like Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Sephiroth. Its popularity inspired Square to create Kingdom Hearts in collaboration with Disney so that some of its characters could interact with Disney characters. If you want the OG experience, FFVII is available on Steam and has been re-released for most consoles, including Nintendo Switch.

Square Enix is in the process of remastering Final Fantasy VII in three separate parts: Final Fantasy VII Remake hit consoles back in 2020, while Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth just launched on PC following its console release in 2024. A third and final part to the remastered trilogy is currently in development. Gorgeous graphics, endless minigames, and awe-inspiring motion capture performances make these Game of the Year-nominated remakes our recommendation of where to start with Final Fantasy in 2025.

How to Play Final Fantasy Games in Chronological Order

If you want to do a deep dive into the Final Fantasy franchise and play all of them in chronological order, here’s the full list. That said, there is no direct continuity between the Final Fantasy games, so I'd recommend trying out the game with the story that seems most interesting to you.

1. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin takes place in the kingdom of Cornelia, a dark fantasy world version of the setting of the original Final Fantasy game. Jack Garland and his companions and fellow Warriors of Light, Ash, Jed, Neon and Sophia — each carrying a darkened crystal representing earth, wind, fire and water — set out to find Chaos and destroy him, restoring light to the world. Despite what the prophecy foretold about the heroes, each Warrior grows skeptical about their role.

You can change characters’ jobs on the fly, but with Jack as the player character you can only switch between two positions. No matter his job title, Jack has a decisive finishing move that crystallizes enemies and shatters them to restore a portion of his magic meter once the enemy's break gauge is depleted.

Read our review of Strangers of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

2. Final Fantasy

Centuries after the events of Stranger of Paradise, Final Fantasy introduces four new young Warriors of Light, each of them carrying an orb representing the four elements that have been darkened by the four Elemental Fiends. At first, they’re tasked by the King of Cornelia to rescue Princess Sarah from the evil knight Garland, but their journey expands to defeating the fiends and restoring the orbs to their former glory, thus saving the world from eternal darkness.

Final Fantasy gets its name from series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s threat to leave the games industry and go back to university if it didn’t sell well, and Square Enix dealing with the notion of the game being its very last due to the threat of bankruptcy. Ultimately, the game sold over 1.3 million copies worldwide and grossed over $21 million, saving both the company and Sakaguchi’s career.

Read our review of Final Fantasy.

3. Final Fantasy II

In Final Fantasy II, Firion, Guy, Maria, and Leon become orphans after the Palamecian Empire destroys their hometown and kills their parents, rendering them orphans. They join the Wild Rose Rebellion and, under the guidance of Princess Hilda, who initially deemed them too young to join the army, journey to stop Emperor Mateus’ plans to take over the world with his hellspawn.

Unlike the first Final Fantasy, the sequel had no character creation or job system because Square wanted the game to be more story-driven rather than filled with heavy gameplay mechanics. This game is notable for introducing a couple of staples that would forever define the series: chocobos and the recurring inventor character Cid.

Read our review of Final Fantasy II.

4. Final Fantasy III

Another group of four orphaned teens — Arc, Refia, Luneth, and Ingus — are drawn to a crystal of light in the Altar Cave after an earthquake hits the village of Ur. The crystals grants the youth a portion of its power, their first set of jobs, and instructs them to restore balance to the world.

Final Fantasy III is the first numbered game in the series to feature the job-change system, allowing players to change how the characters would battle monsters throughout the game. Instead of staying in one job or class, they could explore other job options and see which one suits each character. The 2006 Nintendo DS remake retained the elements of the original game, but gave the characters more well-rounded personalities.

Read our review of Final Fantasy III.

5. Final Fantasy IV

Final Fantasy IV centers on Red Wings captain Cecil Harvey, who questions the King of Baron’s motives after he and his knights steal the Water Crystal in a raid on Mysidia. After the king strips him of his title as punishment for disloyalty, Cecil sets out on a quest with Kain Highwind and the allies they meet along the way to stop the sorcerer Golbez from seizing the other crystals in order to save the world.

This game introduced the Active Time Battle (ATB) system, which allows characters to perform a move when their gauge is full. Whereas a party is limited to four people in the previous games, Final Fantasy IV allowed a party of five characters.

Read our review of Final Fantasy IV.

6. Final Fantasy V

Adventurer Bartz Klauser comes across a fallen meteor and finds four strangers, including King Tycoon’s daughter Lenna, and set off on an adventure to save the Crystals from falling apart, a phenomenon caused by Exdeath, an entity trying to free himself from imprisonment and gain the power of the Void. The group becomes Warriors of Light and focuses their attention on defeating Exdeath and stopping the Void’s energies from plunging their world into darkness.

Final Fantasy V expanded on the job system, giving players more than 21 jobs to choose from. To make the job system even more interesting, you can combine a skill you learn from a certain job with a different skill from another job in order to defeat challenging dungeons and bosses.

Read our review of Final Fantasy V.

7. Final Fantasy VI

Set in a steampunk-style world filled with technology resembling that of the Second Industrial Revolution, Final Fantasy VI centers on a rebel faction known as the Returners fighting the Gesthalian Empire, which gained the power to take over the world by experimenting on magical creatures known as Espers. The Returners, including amnesiac former imperial soldier Terra Branford, work to free the regions under Gesthalian control using the magic they seek out and put a stop to the empire’s reign.

Final Fantasy VI, which was released as Final Fantasy III in North America and heavily censored due to Nintendo of America’s policies at the time, has 14 playable characters to choose from throughout the story, making it the largest cast in the series’ history. It also deals with mature themes of immoral military dictatorship, use of chemical weapons in warfare, the pursuit of a magical arms race, personal redemption, and the renewal of hope and life. This is also the first Final Fantasy game to not be directed by Sakaguchi, who handed the reins over to Yoshinori Kitase.

Read our review of Final Fantasy VI.

8. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Set in Midgar seven years before the events of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII centers on fresh-faced SOLDIER Zack Fair, who is assigned to look for missing SOLDIER and defector Genesis Rhapsodos, who went off on a rampage for reasons unknown. During his search, he discovers Genesis’ origin, Project G (or the Jenova project) and how it’s connected to the two aforementioned high-ranking SOLDIERs, and eventually battles him and other products of the project, which involves injecting Jenova DNA into them.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII was notable for exploring the sensitive side of Sephiroth, the most successful SOLDIER beloved by everyone before he went insane after discovering the unnatural circumstances of his creation and quickly fell from grace, as well as some of Cloud Strife’s life as a SOLDIER before leaving Shinra Electric Power Company. It was originally a PSP-exclusive title, but managed to get remastered as Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in honor of the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII.

Read our review of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

9. Final Fantasy VII

In one of the most iconic games of the series, ex-SOLDIER turned mercenary Cloud Strife joins Avalance (led by Barett Wallace) in the fight to stop Shinra from lining the company’s pockets by mining all the mako from the planet to use as an energy source. Cloud initially fought for personal gain and to keep a promise he made to Tifa Lockhart when they were kids, but eventually developed friendships with other members of Avalanche, including Aerith Gainsborough, and works with them to save Midgar from both Shinra and Sephiroth, who was hellbent on destroying the planet in order to be reborn as a demigod.

Afters its original release in 1997, Final Fantasy VII grew so popular that most of its characters appeared in the Kingdom Hearts series and spawned the CGI sequel film, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It also spawned the full-blown and critically reclaimed remaster, Final Fantasy VII Remake, which will be released in three parts. The first Final Fantasy VII Remake was released in 2020, while Final Fantasy VII Rebirth came out on Leap Day 2024. Little is known about when we can expect the third and final game in the trilogy.

Read our review our reviews of the original Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

10. Final Fantasy VIII

In this contentious follow-up to Final Fantasy VII, a group of young SeeD mercenaries led by Squall Leonhart (or Leon, as he’s known in the Kingdom Hearts series) help out a group known as the Forest Owls, an endeavor that escalates into a conflict by Sorceress Edea, who has seized control of a powerful military state and intend to destroy time itself. As they fight to stop Edea, Squall struggles with his role and falls in love with Forest Owls leader Rinoa Heartilly.

Final Fantasy VIII still incorporates ATB as part of its gameplay, but it overhauled the character leveling system. As far as spell-casting goes, the game threw out the Magic Points-based system, making characters collect, draw, and create magic from items to power themselves up using the junction system instead. This is also the first game to incorporate a vocal theme into its soundtrack with “Eyes On Me” by Hong Kong pop star Faye Wong.

Read our review of Final Fantasy VII.

11. Final Fantasy IX

In the first Final Fantasy game of the millennium, a thief named Zidane Tribal is tasked with kidnapping the Princess of Alexandria, Garnet Til Alexandros XVII, as a part of a war wage against the neighboring nation of Lindblum. His thief troupe ends up becoming the princess’ guardians, and Zidane teams up with Garnet to defeat her mother, Queen Brahne, who started the war.

Despite Final Fantasy IX being released in 2000, when most game franchises transitioned from 2D to 3D graphics by then, Square Enix designed the game to look like a retro-style RPG. However, it still managed to render CGI graphics for the characters and everything else in the world of Gaia.

Read our review of Final Fantasy IX.

12. Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X is one of the most beloved games in the series next to Final Fantasy VII — and we’re not just saying that because it’s the first Final Fantasy game for the PS2. The story revolves around star blitzball player named Tidus, who is taken to Spira — a world inspired by the South Pacific, Thailand, and Japan — by Auron after his hometown of Zanarkand is destroyed by a colossal monster named Sin. He joins summoner Yuna and her guardians on a quest to defeat Sin and bring about the Calm after learning its true identity is Tidus’ missing father Jecht.

This game replaced ATB with the Conditional Turned-Based Battle system that uses an Act List in which characters’ turns are determined by their stats. It also introduced a new leveling system called the Sphere Grid, which sets characters down a specific path with stats and abilities and allows them to unlock all their abilities once it opens up.

Read our review of Final Fantasy X HD Remasters.

13. Final Fantasy X-2

In the follow-up to Final Fantasy X, Yuna becomes a sphere hunter and a member of the Gullwings, comprising Rikku and Paine. She sets out to find Tidus — or at least, a mysterious man who looks like Tidus — but gets caught in a political conflict that the Gullwings must resolve before it escalates to a war involving a secret weapon that was built to destroy Spira.

In addition to being the first game in the series to be an official game sequel, Final Fantasy X is also the first to feature an all-female cast and have multiple possible endings. It brought back ATB, but enhanced it to allow characters to interrupt enemies while preparing to attack. It also introduced dresspheres and the Garment Grid, which allow characters to change their character class mid-battle to alter the course of the battle.

14. Final Fantasy XI

Square Enix took a page out of World of Warcraft and made Final Fantasy XI an MMORPG instead of a regular console game. Players could customize their characters and make it into one of many races of being roaming the land of Vana’diel — Humes, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Mithra, Galka, etc. The plot revolves around defeating a demonic leader called the Shadow Lord, who rose from the ashes of the Crystal War and sent his beastmen armies off to terrorize the land, albeit in a less organized fashion.

Support for the PS2 and Xbox 360 versions of Final Fantasy XI ended in 2016, but fans can still play it on PC. Rumors circulated last year that the game would shut down, given that it’s over 20 years old, but director Yuji Fujito stated that that was not the case. In other words, it’s still alive and well and beloved by many retro Final Fantasy fans.

Read our review of Final Fantasy XI.

15. Final Fantasy XII

Final Fantasy XII is set in the kingdom of Ivalice, where the Archadia and Rozarria empires are fighting an endless war with each other. When Dalmasca is annexed by the former nation, Princess Ashe forms a resistance movement and meets Vaan, who dreams of becoming a sky pirate, teaming up with him to rally against the tyranny of the Archadian Empire.

Final Fantasy XII took three years for Square Enix to develop after Final Fantasy X-2 was released, and it paid off. It won several Game of the Year awards and spawned the Nintendo DS sequel, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, in 2007. Over a decade later, the remastered version of the game, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, released on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows.

Read our review of Final Fantasy XII.

16. Final Fantasy XIII

Lightning, the series’s first female protagonist aside from Yuna in Final Fantasy X-2, is a former soldier living in the floating world of Cocoon whose sister Serah goes missing after she’s branded an enemy of Cocoon by the government, Sanctum, for coming in contact with a god-like creature from Pulse. As Lightning searches for her sister, she’s joined by a band of allies to rally against Sanctum for authorizing a purge on citizens who also came into contact with Pulse, leaving the fate of the world at risk.

This game wasn’t received well not because it had a female lead, but rather because it had confusing battle systems — Command Synergy Battle and Paradigm Shift — and linear maps. Even so, it was well-received and spawned two more direct sequels.

Read our review of Final Fantasy XIII.

17. Final Fantasy XIII-2

Three years after the events of Final Fantasy XIII, Serah takes the lead and teams up with Noel Kreiss, a young man from the distant future, to travel across time and space to find Lightning. Meanwhile, Lightning finds herself in Valhalla, a realm between death and chaos at the edge of time in the distant future, ruled by the goddess Etro, who she protects as a knight during a war with Caius.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 retained the Command Synergy Battle and Paradigm Shift systems, but they were improved upon to make battles flow better. Mog Clock was added to the mix, which prompts players to attack monsters on the field before time runs out to gain the upper hand in battle.

Read our review of Final Fantasy XIII-2.

18. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

In the last installment of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, Lightning awakens from her 500-year hibernation to discover that the world is about to end in 13 days. She is chosen by the god Bhunivelze to save everyone, but along the way she learns the truth about the world’s fate and Bhunivelze’s real motives.

Players slammed this game because it featured a ticking clock that signifies how long you had until the game was over, putting a strict time limit on missions and side quests. Its saving grace was the heavily modified version of the Command Synergy Battle system, which employed real-time features, like freely taking control of Lightning’s movements and attacks.

Read our review of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

19. Final Fantasy XIV

Final Fantasy XIV has several storylines, but the main one involves the player character traveling five years into the future to escape the destruction of Eorzea at the hands of the primal dragon Bahamut. They enter Eorzea in the Age of Calm and work to rebuild the land, but must deal with the threat of invasion by the Garlean Empire.

The circumstances surrounding Final Fantasy XIV’s development were pretty complicated — especially since it’s the second MMORPG title in the series. The original 2010 game was embroiled in controversy because it was released in an unfinished state, although its servers remained active until November 2012. The next year, Square Enix released Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn with favorable acclaim.

Of course, Square Enix hasn't forgotten about its MMORPG. Dawntrail, the fifth expansion for Final Fantasy: XIV Online, launched this past July, and more expansions and updates are sure to come in the future.

Read our review of Final Fantasy XIV.

20. Final Fantasy XV

The previous installment revolves around Noctis, a prince from the kingdom of Lucis is set to marry his childhood friend Lunafreya when he goes on a quest to rescue the Crystal from Niflheim, who stole it during an attack on the Lucian capital of Insomnia, killing his father in the process, on the eve of peace negotiations between the two empires. During his journey, he learns of his destiny to use the Crystal’s powers to save the realm of Eos from eternal darkness.

Final Fantasy XV received critical acclaim for its stunning visuals, gameplay — like driving around the world in the Regalia and the Active Cross Battle system — and its visceral soundtrack, including a rendition of “Stand By Me” by Florence + The Machine used as the game’s theme song as well as a few contributions from Afrojack. The game spawned a few spin-off games, the anime series called Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, and a feature film Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV.

Read our review of Final Fantasy XV.

21. Final Fantasy 16

The latest Final Fantasy game in the franchise has arrived, and it has essentially redefined the series. With a third-person action style and fast, reflexive combat, there are a lot of new things to love about Final Fantasy 16.

If you're wondering whether or not you can hop right into the series with this game, the answer is a definitive yes. While the gameplay may be quite different than previous titles, the characters and story fulfill that core Final Fantasy feeling.

Read our review of Final Fantasy 16.

How To Play The Final Fantasy Games By Release Date

If you want to play the Final Fantasy games in the order in which they came out, here’s the list of games by release date. Keep in mind that most titles were released in Japan first, followed by the U.S. at a later date. The first six games are remastered for the Nintendo Switch in Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster.

1. Final Fantasy - December 18, 1987 (JP) / May 1990 (NA) - Famicom/NES
2. Final Fantasy II - December 17, 1988 (JP) / April 8, 2003 (NA) - Famicom, PlayStation
3. Final Fantasy III - April 27, 1990 (JP) / August 24, 2006 (NA) - Famicom, Nintendo DS (remake)
4. Final Fantasy IV - July 19, 1991 (JP) / November 23, 1991 (NA) - Super NES
5. Final Fantasy V - December 6, 1992 (JP) / October 5, 1999 (NA) - Super Famicom, PlayStation
6. Final Fantasy VI - April 2, 1994 (JP) / October 11, 1994 (NA) - Super NES
7. Final Fantasy VII - January 31, 1997 (JP) / September 7, 1997 (NA) - PlayStation
8. Final Fantasy VIII - February 11, 1999 (JP) / September 7, 1999 (NA) - PlayStation
9. Final Fantasy IX - July 7, 2000 (JP) / November 14, 2000 (NA) - PlayStation
10. Final Fantasy X - July 19, 2001 (JP) / December 18, 2001 (NA) - PS2
11. Final Fantasy XI - May 16, 2002 (JP) / March 23, 2004 (NA) - PS2
12. Final Fantasy X-2 - March 13, 2003 (JP) / November 18, 2003 (NA) - PS2
13. Final Fantasy XII - March 16, 2006 (JP) / October 31, 2006 (NA) - PS2
14. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - September 13, 2007 (JP) / March 28, 2008 (NA) - PSP
15. Final Fantasy XIII - December 17, 2009 (JP) / March 9, 2010 (NA) - PS3, Xbox 360, PC
16. Final Fantasy XIII-2 - December 15, 2011 (JP) / January 31, 2012 (NA) - PS3, Xbox 360, PC
17. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII - November 21, 2013 (JP) / February 11, 2014 (NA) - PS3, Xbox 360, PC
18. Final Fantasy XIV - August 27, 2013 - PS3, PS4, PS5, PC
19. Final Fantasy XV - November 29, 2016 - PS4, Xbox One, PC
20. Final Fantasy VII Remake - April 7, 2020 (PS4) / June 10, 2021 (PS5) / January 22, 2026 (Xbox, Switch 2)
21. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion - December 13, 2022 - PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
22. Final Fantasy XVI - June 22, 2023 - PS5 / September 17, 2024 (PC)
23. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - February 29, 2024 - PS5 / January 23, 2024 (PC)

Upcoming Final Fantasy Games

While this longstanding saga isn't going anywhere anytime soon, we'll probably have to wait a couple more years for word on Final Fantasy 17. Square Enix has admitted that FFXVI and FFVII Rebirth both underperformed in terms of sales, though Part 3 of the remake is still in the works and tentatively targeting a 2027 release window.

Going forward, it's pretty likely we'll see more remakes, especially as Square Enix pushes for a multiplatform strategy. The most recent Nintendo Direct confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade will be making its way to Switch 2 and Xbox on January 22, 2026.

We're also getting a new remake from the Tactics sub-series, titled Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. The remake comes with new content in addition to a number of enhancements, including full voice acting, for the original PS1 game. The Ivalice Chronicles is set to release on Switch 2, Xbox, PS5, and PC on September 30.

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As a brilliant scientist with an almost limitless bank account, Bruce Wayne can afford the best of the best when it comes to his Batsuit. But there's one question DC has never answered before now. Does Batman wear socks underneath those fancy boots? That's finally changed thanks to the new Batman #1.

The reveal comes as DC announces that Batman #1 has sold over 500,000 copies, likely making it the best-selling single issue of 2025 (though we'll see what the numbers for Deadpool/Batman #1 and Batman/Deadpool #1 end up being). The publisher will be issuing a second printing of the book in October, featuring a pair of new covers by artists Jorge Jiménez and Dan Mora. And Jiménez's cover addresses the all-important socks question at long last:

Ever since LEGO's slow pivot to adult-targeted sets, the separation between traditional LEGO bricks and LEGO Technic – the rods, beams, pins, and gears that builders use to create simple machines – has become increasingly blurred. Nowadays, one is often an accompaniment to the other. Technic creates a sturdy skeleton, and the bricks form a decorative shell around it, which gives the model its form and outward appearance.

TL;DR - These Are the Best LEGO Technic Sets

It's a product of LEGO's ambition – that the builds got so massive that the designers needed an underlying structure to stabilize them. It also eased many LEGO fans into a whole new sub-genre of building techniques, and if you're one of those fans, you might want to check out a proper LEGO Technic set, which do away with the bricks almost entirely. It's become one of the most popular LEGO themes available in 2025.

Here are the best LEGO Technic sets that you can purchase in 2025.

LEGO Technic Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit

Ferrari FXX K

Ducati Panigale V4 S Motorcycle

LEGO Volvo FMX Truck & EC230 Electric Excavator

LEGO Technic Liebherr Crawler Crane LR 13000

LEGO Technic McLaren Formula 1 Race Car

LEGO Technic Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance

LEGO Mercedes-Benz G 500 PROFESSIONAL Line

LEGO Technic Lamborghini Sián FKP 37

LEGO Technic Mars Crew Exploration Rover

The LEGO Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory set aspires to capture the detail, color, and eccentricities from the original story. Any question of which Willy Wonka the set is inspired by is answered on the back of the box, which features a picture of Gene Wilder in the original role.

I’ve always been an avid chocoholic, and Willy Wonka was a go-to rewatch when I was growing up. I don’t think I was alone in finding it rather terrifying, but who could resist the appeal of this entirely edible chocolate factory? When LEGO announced this set, I couldn’t help but wonder how it would capture that balance of magic and danger.

The plastic brick version of this factory is part of the LEGO Ideas collection – sets that were originally designed by and then voted on by fans. Get enough votes, and your set may become LEGO official. The final set typically ends up with tweaks and changes from the original design, but keeps its heart and central features. This build actually went through quite a few changes before becoming an official set, but keeps the central feature of a chocolate waterfall feeding into a delicious-looking river.

As we’re seeing more and more often, the set is marked as 18+, with the number of pieces and level of detail geared toward adults. That said, I think anyone who’s old enough to avoid trying to eat the candy-like pieces would enjoy it. I'd just recommend a big table or solid organization system; some of these pieces are tiny.

Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory comes in 16 bags that contain a whopping total of 2,025 pieces, including nine minifigures. You get one massive instruction booklet as well as a small sticker sheet. While larger LEGO sets occasionally go for a more “co-op friendly” building experience, this factory is about as chaotic to work through as it is to look at. You’re bouncing between layers, adding details and decorations on the fly as you build up three main areas: the candy gardens, the chocolate waterfall, and the “factory” itself.

Before working on any of those structures, however, the very first step of the build is putting together your Charlie minifigure and handing him a golden ticket. These golden tickets (you get five total) are printed onto small bricks, no stickers required. While it doesn’t make a lot of sense to start here in the build from a structural perspective – you have nowhere to put him yet – it does create a narrative. You begin the story as Charlie, who just got his ticket to go see an eccentric chocolatier's mysterious factory.

You then start building the base of the structure, which I found to be the most arduous part of the set. For several bags (and hours), you work on a base that just keeps getting wider and wider. Per LEGO tradition, there is a mix of colors underneath the green platforms, but the big trend of this build is, naturally, a ridiculous amount of brown.

Eventually you have a chocolate river separated by two green platforms, as well as a pillar to support eventual waterfall. Just when you start to realize what you’ve been working on this whole time, you’re promptly swept away to an entirely new section: the factory.

An element I did not expect in the build based on the original promotional images was the amount of detailing on the back side of the factory. Two small cutouts you can only see from this angle are hints at the “interior” of the factory. This is where most of the sticker sheet comes into play, creating details like the mysterious contract the children are forced to sign, the TV screen Mike gets shrunk into, and the fruit banners you can “taste” in the movie (I did not try the LEGO version).

While you work on these bigger structures, you’ll be placing smaller decorations across the build. This helps break up the monotony of placing big brown blocks on top of each other and also leaves a bit of mystery around what exactly you’re building at any particular time. You discover the factory as Charlie, of course, with little idea of what to expect.

On the factory’s tiered front side, you’re building essentially the setting of the original Oompa Loompa song, complete with a pack of cane sugar and a pipe system you can imagine feeds milk into the river. Interestingly enough, the two Oompa Loompa minifigures are the only ones without leg hinges. This does make them shorter than the rest of the minifigs, but I found myself feeling sad that they couldn’t dance.

Then you begin work on the primary feature of the original build – the chocolate waterfall. You use a sequence of technic pieces to create a railway of sorts, then layer the “chocolate” brown pieces on top. This technic waterfall then connects to itself on top of a small small cog system hidden inside the build, creating a conveyer belt. Spin the gumdrop wheel and the waterfall “turns,” giving the illusion of an endless supply of falling chocolate.

You promptly build a curved cover to hide the top of the mechanism. However, to give the “conveyer” enough room for movement, you unfortunately do have to deal with a slightly annoying amount of space between said cover and the waterfall. This creates an awkward section where you can see the technic pieces LEGO is usually so good at hiding in their builds. The gap doesn’t seem like something LEGO is trying to hide – its apparent on the box itself – but it does lend to “posing” the set at certain angles.

Once the waterfall is complete, you move to the other side of the build to whip up the bridge that connects the gardens to the factory, effectively completing the “background.” Then you can start on another centerpiece of the build entirely unique to LEGO’s final version: the Wonkatania.

This sizable row boat is the cornerstone of one of the trippiest movie scenes I’ve ever seen. The building experience isn’t quite as terrifying; LEGO forgoes its colorful traditions to instead give you the illusion that the boat itself is made of chocolate, building a shell of brown bricks you then cover in blue and white detailing. The rest of your stickers are used to create gold decals and the classic “W” on the ship’s front.

One of the final steps, unsurprisingly, is creating your Willy Wonka minifigure. This is one of the most detailed minifigs I’ve seen, with his patterned purple suit, his off-center top hat, and even a cane you can fit in his hand.

By the end of the set, you’ll have nine minifigures total: Charlie, Grandpa Joe, Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, Mike Teevee, two Oompa Loompas, and Wonka himself. Each minifigure has two expressions, generally one smile and one serious look, but some have unique expressions to their character. Augustus Gloop has one expression where his face is covered in chocolate, alluding to his fate in your glorious waterfall.

From this point on, you essentially become an eccentric decorator, building mushroom flowers, gumdrop bushes, and candy cane trees to fill your gardens. Even the smallest of these decorations is a pointed reference to the original movie, including the teacups you delicately place inside some of your flowers.

Plenty of these decorations are also built on hinges, allowing you to rotate them on a single axis. While building, I couldn’t help but imagine a really cool LEGO stop-motion movie using this set to depict some of the musical sequences from the film.

A set this big also comes with a hefty amount of extra pieces. Each of the 16 bags came with well over a dozen extras, mostly the smaller pieces you might lose track of while building. However, these colorful pieces are also fun to try and find spaces for across the factory’s gardens. Nothing looks out of place in a set this whimsical.

And that is certainly the word I’d use to describe this build as a whole. The looming dangers of the factory are there for those with the knowledge to recognize them, like the image of Mike trapped in the TV screen. However, at a glance, this is a magical place, filled with colorful details and a million things it looks like you could eat.

Nothing looks out of place in a set this whimsical.

LEGO’s takes on movie franchises typically try to capture a specific setting or scene, like our recent build of The Shire from The Lord of the Rings. But the original Roald Dahl story and Willy Wonka movie are all about the setting; it’s in the title! As such, the LEGO adaptation manages to pack what feels like an entire movie into both the building experience and end result.

While it may be a bit of a pain in the butt to build by yourself (I don’t know how you’d split up any of the work), figuring out what you’re building as you go becomes a process of mysteries and reveals that feels like you, yourself, are taking a tour through this wonky place.

LEGO Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, Set #21360, retails for $219.99, and includes 2025 pieces. That’s a hefty price, but stacks up to a relatively standard 10 cents per brick. I spent about 10 hours total on the build, split over the course of several days, and am now very pleased with the burst of color sitting on my shelf.

You can get the set yourself at the LEGO Store. LEGO Insiders can also enter a "Golden Ticket" sweepstakes to win the Willy Wonka set and a $1,000 LEGO gift card.

Blythe (she/her) is an SEO Coordinator at IGN who spends way too much time in character customization screens and tracking down collectibles.

Magic: The Gathering has seen some big leaps in popularity, but this next one across the New York skyline, courtesy of a crossover with Marvel’s Spider-Man, might just be one of the biggest.

The new set (which will be standard legal, by the way), officially debuts on September 26, but you can play it earlier at a prerelease event if you can find a participating location near you.

Here’s all you need to know about what it is, when you can play, and what to expect.

What Is A Prerelease Event in MTG?

Prerelease events are a way in which players can go hands-on with a new set, usually the week before launch.

They use cards from the upcoming set (in this instance, Spider-Man), and allow you to get a bunch of cards, hopefully find some synergies, and maybe even make new friends.

The nuts and bolts may vary depending on where you’re playing (contact your local game store to see if they’re holding an event), but with Magic The Gathering the basics are as follows:

• Open a prerelease box
• Spend some time building a 40-card deck from the cards in the box
• Play against other players in a 1v1 match where each player has 20 life
• Winning games can earn you a few bonus packs

What’s In a Prerelease Box?

Sony's official professional grade PlayStation DualSense Edge wireless controller is rarely discounted from its list price of $200. The best price I ever found it for brand new was for $169 during the Days of Play Sale back in July. Fortunately, if you don't mind getting a "like new" one instead, there's a way to get it for way less.

Amazon Resale (Amazon's official used goods store) has "Like New" DualSense Edge controllers for just $145.73 after a 25% off coupon that's automatically applied during checkout. "Like New" items are usually brand new, often with damage to the packaging but not to the contents themselves. You're still covered by Amazon's excellent 30-day return policy, so it's a safer option than buying something off Facebook Marketplace.

PS5 DualSense Edge Controller (Used: Like New) for $145

Borderlands 4 developer Gearbox has released the first meaningful update for the looter shooter that it said improves stability and “smooths out” progression — but there are no balance changes yet.

“This update improves stability on PC, smooths out progression, and updates the Gilded Glory Pack loot and rewards for a more seamless experience,” Gearbox said in a post on the 2K Borderlands website alongside the patch notes, below. “Please restart your game to ensure that the update goes through and to prevent connection errors in matchmaking.”

Meanwhile, Gearbox said Borderlands 4 will see weekly minor updates. These involve changes to which Weekly Big Encore Boss and Wildcard Mission is live. Maurice’s Black Market Vending Machine is also on the move. The Weekly Big Encore Boss is a tougher variant of an existing boss with an even more rewarding loot pool. Weekly Wildcard Missions add challenging new traits to an existing mission. These missions feature a guaranteed Legendary drop that you can repeatedly earn to get your ideal roll.

And here’s the official blurb on Maurice’s Black Market Vending Machine:

Go in search of where the Black Market Vending Machine has moved to and discover what’s available in your game every week. Remember, while the location is the same, your vending machine items are different from other players, so ask around to see if someone has the item you’re looking for!

Borderlands 4 is currently on a mixed Steam review rating, with most of the negative comments revolving around PC performance. The tech experts at Digital Foundry have said their initial analysis of Borderlands 4 on PC shows significant stutter problems, and have advised against running the game on its ‘Badass’ graphics setting, which suggests there are indeed problems with the Unreal Engine 5 title. From the look of the patch notes, the focus here is on crashes, rather than performance issues. Gearbox recently said PC performance problems were its "top priority," so hopefully more to come on that front soon.

In the meantime, Gearbox has posted a Borderlands 4 Nvidia Optimization guide on Steam, advising players how to optimize their graphics settings for “better performance and framerates” on PC with the Nvidia app, although users report mixed results.

Gearbox has also issued a piece of advice to PC gamers that to me reads like an effort to prevent players from making knee-jerk reactions to the game's performance as soon as they’ve changed their settings: “Please note that any time you change any of your graphics settings, your shaders will need to recompile. Please keep playing for at least 15 minutes to see how your PC's performance has changed.”

While this patch mentions the PC version, there’s no word on improvements to the performance of Borderlands 4 on console. Console players have reported performance getting worse the longer they play, suggesting Borderlands 4 suffers from a memory leak issue. Gearbox development chief Randy Pitchford has said Gearbox is looking into this one on PS5 Pro specifically, but it doesn’t look like a fix is in place just yet.

And there are no balance changes yet, which means those overpowered builds of yours are safe… for now.

Borderlands 4 September 18, 2025 update patch notes:

Stability

• Addressed crashes tied to animation states, audio, and collision checks
• Addressed various GPU-related crashes

Gameplay & Progression

• Resolved an issue where the Reward Center could stop working after claiming the Gilded Glory Pack rewards
• Addressed a progression blocker in the mission “Talk to Zadra,” where the objective could fail if players exited and relaunched mid-dialogue
• Corrected “Doesn’t own DLC” warnings incorrectly showing up on non-DLC gear
  • This will be fixed on consoles in the coming days.

Loot & Items

• Updated loot pools so Gilded Glory Pack guns no longer appear in standard chests

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.

Dell Outlet restocked its inventory of Clearance, Like New (Refurbished) and Scratch & Dent Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5080 gaming PCs. There are several configurations available, but the best deal is the least expensive one: an RTX 5080 system with Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD for for just $1,691. That's over $400 less than buying a similar system brand new, and it even comes with the same manufacturer's warranty.

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5080 PC Deals from $1,691

When setting out on my fourth journey of leaping across rooftops while slicing zombies in twain via the Dying Light series, I’d wondered if I’d feel any less joy from this violent survival horror-parkour this time. But after another 40+ hours of tucking and rolling I’m pleasantly surprised to say it’s still loads of fun, despite the basics not having changed much at all since 2022’s Dying Light 2: Stay Human. This trip through undead Eurasian cities and countrysides does up the ante somewhat by having you play as a human infused with a monster’s DNA, giving you the ability to rip people’s heads off with your bare hands. That’s as satisfying as it is unsettling, and it’s still absolutely horrifying to get caught out at night and get swarmed by Volatiles you’ve no hope of defeating. The only major disappointment is that The Beast doesn’t add a whole lot aside from its hulking out mechanics, and after a decade of games with few innovations, that hasn’t left room for a ton of surprises. Still, there’s something to be said for a reliably entertaining series, and I happily dug my fingernails through every side quest and climbing puzzle I could find.

This sequel continues the story of the first game’s protagonist, Kyle Crane, who through a series of quite gruesome events he’s been transformed into a half-man, half-beast monstrosity capable of leaping 50 feet in the air and screaming so loud it makes the undead take psychic damage… so, still very weird. There’s not much more than that to the paper-thin plot, which has you squaring off against the world’s most generic Bond villain and mad scientist on a revenge quest that goes down exactly like you think it does, but it’s at least a good enough excuse to hunt down bosses and engage with the side quests that are usually better written and sometimes downright silly. Plus, even though the story is about as minimum effort as it gets, the characters you meet and befriend along the way are at least memorable enough that I didn’t feel like skipping the lengthy conversations where you get to know them.

As you sprint toward your final confrontation (which took my completionist self about 40 hours, but could pretty easily be done in under 20), you power yourself up by hunting dangerous, genetically modified zombies with super powers called Chimeras and injecting yourself with their blood. This is where the main new mechanics of The Beast comes into play, like the ability to shoulder-charge through a crowd of zombies without breaking a sweat and really silly ones like one where you can change directions in mid air by yanking on your grapple hook with obscene force. Turning yourself into a Hulk-like abomination in the pursuit of revenge makes for a neat twist to an already awesome framework, and being able to throw down your machete and punch 20 zombies to death in the span of 10 seconds is quite satisfying.

That said, even this is a fairly small tweak to the established Dying Light blueprint, as you only get to go full werewolf every so often after you’ve charged up your rage meter from taking and dealing damage. For the rest of the time you’re still swinging lead pipes and running away from Volatiles per usual, so if you’ve played a Dying Light game before the vast majority of your playtime will feel quite familiar. That’s by no means a bad thing since it’s a reminder of some good times, but it does seem like a bit of a run/jump/slide down memory lane.

One other thing that makes The Beast distinct from its predecessors is the boss fights against souped-up infected that unlock your new abilities. The first time you come across each of these encounters it introduces a new type of baddie that then starts showing up in the wild, like a fast-moving skeletal zombie that leaps through the air, dances on top of lesser undead, and tackles you with sharp claws in the blink of an eye; or another where a muscular, brutish ghoul gains the ability to turn invisible, leaving you frantically looking over your shoulder and listening for growls in the dark. They’re cool the first time, but by the end of the campaign it feels a bit like they ran out of steam because they start rolling out variations of the same bosses you fought prior, like a muscular, brutish zombie whose only differentiated by his gas mask and weakness to poison. Still, they’re always at least entertaining highlights along the way – I mean, who doesn’t love a boss fight?

The open-world valley of Castor Woods is the new setting you’ll spend all your time in while seeking your revenge, and it combines time-worn elements we’ve seen in other Dying Light games into a cozy little package. It’s got spacious rural areas reminiscent of the original’s The Following expansion, as well as a city area with plenty of stone structures to scramble up. Castor Woods is fairly small compared to the sprawling maps of Dying Light and its first sequel, and you can definitely see the roots of The Beast being originally conceived as an expansion to Dying Light 2 when you run into the mountains that box you into a circular area that can be crossed by car in a couple minutes, but that’s not such a bad thing since they make good use of the space they’ve got without large expanses of emptiness padding it out.

It also includes what any good Dying Light game needs: When in the major urban area I was reminded of the virtues of sticking to the rooftops and leaping from place to place to avoid the hordes below, and while stepping out into the woods and swamps that make up the majority of the map I tried my best to make use of cars to bash my way to my destination and avoid getting caught out in the open. Like a lot of The Beast, everything about Castor Woods is perfectly acceptable while also not doing a whole lot to stand out, but I still made plenty of new memories while leaving a terrifying path of destruction in my wake.

Finally, I do have to hand it to Techland for making The Beast the most technically sound Dying Light game yet – I was able to get through without major or consistent bugs along the way. I played on my high-end PC, so likely got just about the best experience one could hope for, but it’s notable that aside from one crash and a bit of pop-in here and there, it was a pretty smooth ride throughout – and that’s with me having mostly played before the day-one patch, too. There were a few annoying moments where I got stuck in a vent due to some buggy geometry and couldn’t progress through the area until I’d jiggled my character around for a couple of minutes, and a few times where my character got stuck in the environment at the worst possible time and jeopardized my mission, but these were rare enough situations that they didn’t make me want to hulk out and throw things at the screen.

The ongoing wait for Marvel to finally begin production on its long-announced Blade movie forced the Marvel Zombies creative team to pivot its plans for the character.

Speaking to IGN this week, Brad Winderbaum, head of streaming, television and animation at Marvel Studios, told us that the new animated mini-series had initially been developed "believing that there would be a Blade movie out well before."

Of course, as we now know, that didn't turn out to be the case — despite numerous attempts by Marvel to get the Mahershala Ali-starring Blade project off the ground, sometimes at a relatively late stage. Ultimately, as uncertainty over the live-action movie continued, Winderbaum's animation team were forced to pivot their own plans for the character, and ultimately land on the Fists of Khonshu version of Blade that's featured in Marvel Zombies now.

"We never, in a million years, thought that the Zombies show would proceed a live-action Blade," Winderbaum told IGN. "We developed this show believing there would be a Blade movie out well before Zombies.

"So the fact this is the first Blade in the MCU on screen is really just kind of a surprising privilege to us, and that's one of the reasons why we made him The Fists of Khonshu, was that they were discovering Blade in the live-action side, and we knew that we could end up having to pivot if we tried to hew close to what they were creating in live action.

"So by making him a version of Moon Knight, we were able to kind of create something original and have a little bit more freedom with the character."

While Winderbaum did not explicitly confirm that Marvel Zombies would have once featured Mahershala Ali's Blade, the suggestion here is that the show's creative team reached a point where they were unsure enough about clashing with any live-action version that the decision was made to feature a wildly different take on the character — ultimately, the mash-up between Blade and Moon Knight that's been referred to as Blade Knight. Voiced by Invincible and Starfield veteran Todd Williams, the character stole the show in the first Marvel Zombies trailer, above.

First announced back in 2019 and once set to begin filming in 2022, the Mahershala Ali-starring live-action Blade movie has struggled to get off the ground. To date, all Ali has contributed to the MCU is a post-credits off-screen cameo for The Eternals, where the actor's voice can briefly be heard.

Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige recently revealed that, after years of pre-production and "three or four" different versions of the film being considered, Marvel had finally nailed down the fact its long-awaited Blade reboot would be set in the modern day.

As for when a live-action Blade will finally materialise, Feige was less certain. Noting that the next few years were already looking busy with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday, and Avengers: Secret Wars (and after that, Black Panther 3 and the X-Men reboot), there was "no sense of urgency" for Blade to launch.

Interview conducted by Jim Vejvoda.

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 a fan of Kirby the adorable pink puff ball, you’re surely looking forward to Kirby Air Riders, which hits Switch 2 on November 20. As Nintendo is wont to do, the company is also releasing a pair of amiibo figures to go along with the new game. There’s a Kirby and Warp Star amiibo and a Bandana Waddle Dee and Winged Star. They both retail for (a somewhat shocking) $49.99, and are set to release the same day as the game itself.

The reason for the extra expense is that these are more elaborate than most amiibo figures. With each of them, you get a character and a vehicle that work together in interesting ways, particularly if you have both figures. Read on for the details.

Kirby and Warp Star amiibo - Kirby Air Riders Series

Bandana Waddle Dee and Winged Star amiibo - Kirby Air Riders Series

How the Kirby Air Riders amiibo Work

So how do these things work, exactly? When you put Kirby on the Warp Star vehicle and tap it on your Switch 2 controller, it creates an in-game Figure Player (think NPC) that will race around the tracks in your matches. As the FP competes in races, it will level up, and its machine proficiency level will also increase. (Machine proficiency is basically a score for that character-and-vehicle combo).

If you have both of the above amiibo figures, you can swap riders on the vehicles. That way, you can have an FP of Kirby riding on the Winged Star, or Bandana Waddle Dee riding on the Warp Star. When you do this, the FP character maintains its level, but starts from zero in its machine proficiency since it’s a new vehicle. You can watch the video above to see it in action.

Nintendo says more of these Kirby Air Riders amiibo will be released in the future, creating more character/machine combinations for your FPs. Also, Nintendo is planning a second Kirby Air Riders Direct hosted by Sakurai, during which he may offer additional details about these (and upcoming) amiibo.

Preorder Kirby Airy Riders

Over the past decade, video game remakes have become more and more prevalent. Most years see at least one major remake attempt to rekindle the nostalgia of old fans and show new players the achievements of days gone by. And while there’s an argument to be had about games being stuck in the past, we can’t deny what a thrill it is to see our favourites of yesteryear given a modern makeover. Remember when Final Fantasy 7’s Cloud was six purple polygons and a yellow spike? Well, he’s a supermodel these days. (The spikes are still there, thankfully.)

But what are the qualities of a good remake? That’s an increasingly difficult question. Once upon a time it was enough for a remake to simply update something with modern graphics. But as the games industry has evolved, so have tastes and gameplay systems, and thus remakes have changed, too. Now a remake can offer a truly new experience to both long-term and new fans, with fresh new takes on decades-old ideas. The very best remakes are carefully-observed balancing acts that find the sweet spot between faithful recreation and exciting new ideas. In some cases, that’s the game exactly as you thought you remembered it, now unshackled from old hardware limitations. In others, its radical recreations that provide an alternate vision of the original’s core idea.

With all that in mind, let’s explore the very best video game remakes. These are the 15 strongest examples of remakes, judged not by their overall quality as games, but by how each project achieved its new, upgraded ambitions and brought new perspectives to old classics.

15. Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver

Pokemon Gold and Silver, though only the second in the long-running Pokemon series, are the only entries that allowed you to travel across two different regions and collect 16 badges instead of the standard eight. That meant two "end-game" challenges to conquer, two sets of Legendary Pokemon to collect, 16 different gym leaders to defeat, and more. The enhanced Nintendo DS remakes bring that sprawling journey into full color and utilizes the superior hardware to seamlessly bring improved music, better UI, and WiFi capabilities. With the addition of new content like the National Dex, increasing the total Pokemon from 251 to 493, the grueling battle frontier, and everyone’s favorite, the Pokeathlon mini-games, there is so much more to explore.

More importantly, HeartGold and SoulSilver introduced to the Pokewalker, the original Pokemon Go, which allowed you to take your favorite Pokemon outdoors and gain levels by walking around… or cheat by shaking the Pokewalker. Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver added new life to the classic adventure, reimagining the original experience with fun and challenging additions to appeal to both new and returning fans.

14. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Following the mammoth success of Breath of the Wild, Nintendo did a complete 180 for its next The Legend of Zelda project. Rather than the grand and ambitious open world of Hyrule, it looked back to the compact and twisty overworld of 1993’s Link’s Awakening. The 2019 version of this Game Boy classic is near enough a beat-for-beat remake, just reimagined with a delightfully cute toy town aesthetic. This faithful approach means that the distant memory of one of Link’s earliest adventures is fully restored, now elegantly elevated thanks to its seamless map and more easily-navigated dungeons. A number of quality-of-life improvements are the cherry on top, including the ability to mark important discoveries on the map, and doors that remain open after being unlocked (seriously, you wouldn't believe how frustrating that one was back in the ‘90s.) This Switch remaster does unsuccessfully try something new with the lacklustre build-your-own Chamber Dungeons system, but everything it recreates it does so with an enchanting touch.

13. Live A Live

Plenty of wonderful games are deserving of remakes, but none perhaps needed one as much as Live A Live, the 1994 Square Enix RPG that preceded Chrono Trigger and laid the groundwork for not only that game, but numerous beloved classics that followed. Live A Live’s unique structure, following seven characters from different eras through distinct vignettes, was groundbreaking both back in the day and once again in the 2022 remake, to say nothing of the ways in which it ultimately threads its themes and overarching narrative through its separate parts.

The 2022 remake gave Live A Live a desperately-needed makeover in gorgeous HD2D and reorchestrated its fantastic soundtrack, all while keeping its wonderful story intact with its first-ever localization outside of Japan. In a final flourish, Live A Live’s remake adds a small but massively impactful piece of new content in its final hours that throws its ending into a hopeful new light, and makes its emotional conclusion all the more powerful.

12. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

The philosophy behind many remakes is unlocking ambitions that were once hindered by technological limitations. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater makes the interesting decision to embrace those limitations – its sprawling Soviet jungle remains divided by load screens, the scope of its playspaces defined by the limits of the original PlayStation 2 hardware. You’ll see the term “faithful remake” used a lot through this list, but none are as faithful as MGS Delta – this is a PS2 game in PS5 clothing.

But what a PS2 game it is. Arguably the pinnacle of Hideo Kojima’s career, what was once a groundbreaking stealth game is now an enduring classic, thanks to its playful approach to Cold War espionage and its dramatic, cinematic story. Snake Eater has been iterated upon many times across the years, and MGS Delta collects together years of improvements and enhances them all with incredibly glossy modern graphics and an updated control system that finally turns Snake into the nimble operator he was always meant to be. This may not be a revolutionary remake, but it does a solid job of preserving perfection for a brand new generation.

11. Black Mesa

There are a number of remakes on this list that were developed by studios that didn’t create the original game, but there is only one that was developed by fans of the original. Black Mesa is a complete remake of Valve’s Half-Life, created by enthusiasts and officially supported by the original developer. And you can easily see why it won that support: this is a truly phenomenal rebuild of one of the most important first-person shooters of all time. It captures the distinctly creepy atmosphere and excellent combat that made Half-Life such a pioneer, while also augmenting almost every level with something new, be that a reimagined combat encounter or a Half-Life 2-style physics puzzle.

But it's the final missions that really make Black Mesa a vital part of the Half-Life story. The original game’s final arc, set on the world of Xen, is infamously a bit of an under-developed slog. Black Mesa completely redesigns that final stretch, eliminating the tedium and injecting a sense of creative, alien wonder. And while it’s true that Black Mesa took so long to create that, by the time of its release, it already looked dated, that’s only true if you consider it from a purely technical standpoint. Take one look at Xen, or the eerie abandoned corridors of the titular facility itself, and there’s no denying that Black Mesa is an artistic triumph.

10. Final Fantasy 7 Remake

It may literally be in the title, but Final Fantasy 7 Remake is more than just a remake. It’s also a reimagining of the 1997 JRPG classic, a reinterpretation of its achievements, and – somehow – also a sequel to the game it recreates. Oh, and it also only covers around the first 30% of the original story, which has been transformed from a brief journey through the city of Midgar into a massive, 30+ hour adventure. This approach certainly isn’t for everyone, but you can't deny the ambition of this lavish project.

This first chapter of the three-part Final Fantasy 7 remake is a stunningly gorgeous RPG that gives new life to some of gaming’s most memorable characters and settings. With all that extra time, it successfully expands upon the story and weaves in new plot threads, such as robust backstories for members of the Avalanche team, more believable relationships between protagonist Cloud and his new buddies, and a better sense of life in the Sector 7 slums. On top of all that, it also completely revamps the combat system, creating a brand new, action-heavy, real-time system that feels both exhilaratingly new and highly evocative of the original game’s turn-based battles. FF7 Remake’s approach is exemplary, and makes many other games on this list feel more like remasters than remakes.

9. Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus was a landmark achievement when it hit the PS2 in 2005. Developer Team ICO built a lonely, desolate, deeply affecting world using hardware that could barely render its vision. While the game itself undeniably stands the test of time, it's clear to see that technical performance and visual clarity held back the studio’s incredible ambition.

Fast-forward 13 years and Bluepoint Games crafted an incredibly faithful remake, focused on overcoming those technical limitations so that the soul of the project could achieve its true ambitions. With a much steadier framerate, gorgeous graphics, and a commitment to keeping the events, systems, and mechanics of the original intact, Bluepoint absolutely hit it out of the park. It was such an achievement, in fact, that it won the studio the chance to remake Demon’s Souls, as well as laid the groundwork for its acquisition by PlayStation.

8. Demon's Souls

After reaching the heights of Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne, it was hard not to see 2009’s Demon’s Souls as the ageing, hollowed precursor to FromSoftware’s mighty success story. But it was undeniable that a fantastic, paradigm-shifting game remained, and Bluepoint Games’ 2020 remake of Demon’s Souls was a project dedicated to making those qualities shine again. It completely stripped away the technical shortcomings that held the PS3 version back, while adding several subtle quality of life upgrades that succeeded in modernizing the game to the point where if you’d never played the original, you could very likely be fooled into thinking that this was the latest entry in the Souls series as opposed to the very first one.

While Bluepoint managed to stay completely respectful to the original vision in many ways (it is, for the most part, the exact same game just with modern, photo-realistic graphics and refreshed animations,) the alterations made to the art style and design of some locations wasn’t fully embraced by some fans of the original. Nevertheless, Demon’s Souls helped elevate what was already one of the best games of the PS3 era and bring it to a whole new, post-Dark Souls audience.

7. Metroid: Zero Mission

The original Metroid was a groundbreaking NES game back in 1986, but when looked at through a modern lens, it’s hard to argue that it holds up. Fortunately, Metroid: Zero Mission exists. Developed 18 years later, rather than opting for a 100% faithful remake with a couple of modernization tweaks, Metroid: Zero Mission is instead a game rebuilt from the ground up using the original Metroid as a blueprint for its story and level design. By allowing itself to explore beyond the boundaries of the source material, Nintendo was able to draw new inspirations from the more modern 2D Metroids, like Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion.

Zero Mission is now over 20 years old, and so the idea that it’s a “modern” version of Metroid is something of a bygone era. However, it remains an expertly crafted reinterpretation of one of Nintendo’s best ever games, and is both young and strong enough that it still holds up to this day – not only as one of the best Metroid games, but also one of the best remakes.

6. Resident Evil 4

Capcom has become somewhat synonymous with the idea of remakes, having now rebuilt no less than four of its Resident Evil games. Among them is the legendary Resident Evil 4 – Leon S. Kennedy’s action-packed descent into the Las Plagas-infected Spanish countryside. Of all the games Capcom has reinvented, Resi 4 was the one least in need of a refresh, but despite that, the RE4 remake is an astonishing feat that helps elevate an all-time classic.

Purist fans may have been annoyed by the erasure of the original’s more eccentric ideas, but they have been replaced by an altogether darker, more horrifying tone that syncs Resident Evil 4 with Capcom’s other recent remakes. It also benefits from snappier, more energetic combat, complete with an excellent knife parry that makes fighting both the Armadura enemies and the Krauser boss battle much more intense. Perhaps most importantly, it vastly improves Ashley, both in terms of her depiction and the mechanics around protecting her, eliminating any sense that Resident Evil 4 is an annoying, multi-hour escort quest. Combine all that with an incredibly handsome graphical makeover and you’ve made a masterpiece feel even more essential.

5. Persona 3 Reload

Fans of the Persona series are no strangers to new versions of the beloved Atlus RPGs arriving soon after their initial release – Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal both added significant social link, story, and dungeon additions, for example. But in terms of a full-on remake, Persona 3 Reload is the first to have undergone a complete overhaul. Reload took the game’s foundational bullets and rechambered them into a much more stylish weapon — one that borrowed the best-in-class UI and menu systems of Persona 5 and rebuilt its colorful high-school surroundings and spooky shadow realm from the ground up.

Perhaps its most exciting addition is the way Reload tweaks Persona 3’s battle system. Informed by the series entries that came after it, combat is a much more enticing prospect, thanks to the introduction of new skills, the ability to directly control each party member and shift between them baton pass-style, and the brand-new Theurgy system that allows for Personas to perform devastating Ultimate attacks. All of these changes, among others, breathed new, exciting life into an already treasured RPG, meaning Reload is now the definitive way to Persona 3.

4. Silent Hill 2

Team Silent’s original Silent Hill 2 is rightfully considered one of the most affecting survival horror games of all time, and Bloober Team’s 2024 remake does nothing to diminish that. While the PS2 original has an incomparable, unsettling atmosphere thanks to its technological limitations, the remake uses modern graphical and sound techniques to generate a complimentary oppressive tone. As you explore the strange, abandoned town of Silent Hill, you can't help but let the dread creep in.

Bloober’s creation is incredibly faithful to the original game, following the same plot beats and exploring the same environments, but its new over-the-shoulder camera both pulls you deeper into its terrifying world and makes combatting the town’s grotesque inhabitants more intuitive. Those combat enhancements can really be felt in the boss battles, which are now reinvented as terrifying engagements rather than repeating the attritional slogs they once were. But really it’s the modern presentation of this bleak story that really makes Silent Hill 2 a vital remake: actor Luke Roberts breathes fresh new life into protagonist James Sunderland, providing a deeply troubled, nuanced performance that anchors this tale in inescapable grief and guilt.

3. Resident Evil

When it comes to faithful remakes that largely stick to the core design established in the original and focus instead on bringing everything else up to modern standards, there aren’t many games better than the original Resident Evil remake. The “REmake” adheres to everything that was intrinsic to the original, from the pre-rendered backgrounds, to the tank controls, to the limited inventory that forces you to make tough decisions on what to keep and what to toss. All these may be incredibly familiar for those who were there back in 1996, but they’re polished up to beautiful new standards. It may have old ideas, but it plays fantastically… which is impressive, considering this remake is already much older than the original game was when it was made.

But Resident Evil isn’t just a shinier version of its source material. It also adds several entirely new features that change up the experience and give it its own identity. Whether it's the terrifying addition of dead enemies resurrecting as powerful Crimson Heads (unless you have the foresight and resources to burn the corpses) or the brand-new plot thread involving the horrifying Lisa Trevor, Resident Evil’s remake shines because not only is it a faithful remake that brings a PSOne classic into a modern light, but also because of the ways that it separates itself from that classic to become something even better.

2. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

After having successfully pulled off a radical re-imagining with the first game in the trilogy, Square Enix faced a more daunting challenge with the second chapter of its Final Fantasy 7 remake project. It needed to recreate the most expansive section of the original game, redesign a huge variety of locations (including a whole theme park), add a number of new characters, and re-stage one of the most important emotional beats in RPG history. As with its predecessor, not all of these ambitions are met equally, but Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is nonetheless an incredible, transformative achievement.

The most immediately impressive factor of Rebirth is its scope. While it doesn’t totally leave Remake’s linear structure behind, much of Rebirth takes place in sizable open hub worlds. While there is a touch of the Ubisoft box-ticking about them, they’re elevated by a smart approach to exploration that introduces a brand new gimmick with every zone, from buggies to planes to Chocobos that can climb walls and glide across chasms. It’s a smart reinvention of the original game’s freely-explored-but-ultimately-empty overworld. But it’s the continuation of Remake’s story and emotional core that makes Rebirth so strong – these modern interpretations of the core trio of Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith are among Square’s strongest-ever characters, and their journey here – which feels more authentic to the original than Remake’s more expansive efforts – is unforgettable. Oh, and that overhauled combat system? It’s even better here – perhaps the best Final Fantasy has ever had.

1. Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 2's remake took what the original did so well - its labyrinthian level design, its disgusting enemies, its omnipresent sense of dread - and molded it into a horror game designed for modern audiences. The Raccoon City police station is cleverly reworked and expanded upon, enemies are faster, deadlier, and more unpredictable, and gorgeous lighting casts shadows over nasties waiting to grab you unawares. And, of course, the static camera angles and tank controls are traded in for third-person, over-the-shoulder shooting, which truly transports the PS1 classic into the modern era.

Perhaps Resident Evil 2’s biggest achievement, though, is the way Capcom has played with the original’s most iconic encounters. When you think you’ve got a terrifying moment figured out, Capcom twists it ever so slightly, removing any certainty as you slowly make your way through its carefully curated collection of memories. This is a remake designed to both terrify you in today’s horror landscape and scratch that nostalgic itch, and miraculously achieves both right until its breathless end. And even though multiple other Resident Evil remakes have arrived since, this remains the ultimate gold standard for video game remakes.

And that’s our pick of the 15 best video game remakes. Did your favourite make our list? Did we rank your best pick a little too low? Let us know in the comments.

Marvel has greenlit a third season of Daredevil: Born Again, which will begin shooting in 2026.

Brad Winderbaum, head of streaming, television and animation at Marvel Studios, told IGN of the series' renewal in an interview this week, following earlier confusion over whether the project would wrap up after its sophomore run.

"In terms of Daredevil, yeah, we are greenlit for Season 3 and we start shooting next year," Winderbaum said.

Before its release, Daredevil: Born Again had been one of Marvel's most anticipated TV projects. A revival of the beloved Daredevil series on Netflix, Marvel's Disney+ series once again stars Charlie Cox as lawyer vigilante Matt Murdock and Vincent D'Onofrio as his archrival Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin.

Response to the series' first season was mostly positive, though Born Again's first run of episodes still show the joins from Marvel's mid-development story pivot. Initially the show had been planned as something of a full reboot, but those plans changed after execs saw early versions of episodes. Amid a filming hiatus, Marvel incorporated feedback from both the series' actors and fans calling for a more direct continuation of the Netflix series, prompting a new pilot and finale episode to be written and shot.

Confirmation that Daredevil: Born Again will now continue on for a third season will likely come as a relief to fans left confused by a recent comment by Cox incorrectly referring to the show's upcoming second year as the "final season," before D'Onofrio subsequently suggested there was still a "good chance" of more.

Daredevil's upcoming second run, set to air in early 2026, will offer the show's first full season written with Born Again's new identity in mind — something that fans hope will provide for something of a more coherant feel, and more frequent appearances for past regular characters such as Deborah Ann Woll's Karen Page and Wilson Bethel's Bullseye.

For now, full details of season two remain under wraps, though we know that Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones will appear — opening the door to other members of the Netflix Defenders returning also. Additionally, Winderbaum has said that Elden Henson, who was given a brief cameo as Foggy Nelson in Born Again's reshot pilot episode, will also appear in some capacity — and there's a popular fan theory over how he may return.

Interview conducted by Jim Vejvoda.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

The ship was on fire. My crewmates were off-ship capturing the nearby defense cannons to aid our fleet, and I was fighting half a dozen Legion vessels. I wasn’t sure how long I could last solo, but if they didn’t get me, the fire would. I pointed the bow of our C-3 Catamaran away from the fighting, locked in the ship’s cruise control, and got up from the pilot’s seat, and turned to find most of the top level covered in flames. The lower decks weren’t much better.

I grabbed the closest extinguisher and sprinted across the ship, putting out the inferno as fast as I could. Fortunately, the Legion ships gave me a few moments to breathe. When the fire was smothered, I turned us around. The cruise control had taken the Catamaran much farther away from the action than I anticipated, and the rest of my crew needed help. Our core integrity still wasn’t great; a few good hits, and we’d be just one more of the floating hulks we’d passed to get to this sector. But I didn’t have the materials for repairs. Not a great hand, but you play the cards you’re dealt. I angled the Catamaran’s nose toward the cannons – and the Legion ships surrounding them – kicked on the boosters, and prayed.

Jump Space excels in the moments when you and your crew are surviving by the skin of your teeth, putting out fires, repairing damaged thrusters, making ammo as fast as your weapons can fire it, and fighting attackers that have just jumped in to ruin your day. The successes are exhilarating; the failures, usually at least memorable. But like a run that ends early and leaves you wondering what might have been, the limits of the early access version become apparent on just about every mission. There’s no doubt that the potential for an epic game is here; it’s just a matter of whether or not it will be reached, and how long it’ll be until then. For now, though, Jump Space is definitely worth at least a short trip through the stars.

There are technically characters in Jump Space, but aside from your ship’s AI Iris and Buddy (an adorable robot that accompanies you on missions if your crew is shorthanded), I couldn’t tell you their names without looking them up. They’re there to give you quests and rewards and provide some flavor about the backstory of a robot uprising that drove humanity into exile between missions, but once you select a mission from the galaxy map and head out, they quickly disappear from memory.

Each mission consists of a roguelike-style run of several jumps, each chosen from a few paths on your route from your base to where you need to go. Each choice closes some options and opens others, and each individual jump offers different rewards including components for your ship, fragments of maps that open up new parts of the galaxy, or artifacts that provide upgrades for that run, such as restoring health when your crew is close together or dealing damage absorbed by your ships’ shields back to attackers. Choosing the right route is crucial to maximize the stuff you’ll need for that run, but also what you’re looking to bring back to the hanger as a permanent get, so it’s usually a decision you’ll want to take a moment to think about.

Every jump also brings its own trials, whether you’re navigating the wrecks of other ships and avoiding a solar flare from a nearby star, fighting off a fleet of Legion ships patrolling the sector, or simply exploring an uninhabited sector and scavenging the floating hulks around you for supplies before moving on. The joy here is in the act of playing, of launching out of your ship into the unknown, flying through space under your suit’s power, using your grapple to pull yourself to a nearby buoy or boarding a ship after you disable it. Mastery allows you to flow from on-foot combat to zero-G flight to piloting your ship or manning its guns smoothly, but there’s also something relaxing about scouring a floating wreck blessedly free of evil robots, too, or simply sharing a pizza you made in the ship’s food processor with your crew. In many ways, Jump Space is an interactive chat room, an excuse to hang out with friends while enjoying a fun little space-themed co-op game.

That is, until the Legion shows up. Most Legion ships, aside from the missile-barragging Corvettes or “What just hit me?” Snipers, are easy to deal with individually, but the challenge comes from (as their name suggests) their numbers. On foot, things are harder, whether you’re dodging the small spider-bots that scurry up to you before unleashing their flamethrowers or the floating bots that pepper you from range, and everything from bipedal walkers to spider-tanks. Despite how much more difficult the on-foot missions can be, though, they’re not necessarily more engaging. Movement options aside (which aren’t always available because you need either a point to grapple to or a place where you can engage your suit’s jet drive boosters) Jump Space is a pretty standard shooter with pretty standard weapons like shotguns, rifles, and machine guns. If it were just these on-foot fights, it wouldn’t be a notable game at all.

But of course, that’s just one aspect of many, and the best moments combine everything: battling other ships, repelling boarders or leaving half your crew to activate an objective while the others defend your ship from assault, coordinating repairs and who is manning what, spending your limited resources to craft the right thing at the right time, and deciding whether to save scrap for permanent resources when you get back to your hanger or to disassemble it to build what you need right now.

It leads to some fun improvization. In the mission I described in the opening, things got so hectic that I wasn’t even landing the ship to pick up my crewmates when they needed to move between the cannons we were trying to capture and hold; I was just getting close enough that they could grapple to the ship, and then I’d get them close enough to launch themselves to the objective. We didn’t have time for anything else.

The biggest issue that will hopefully be resolved in future content updates, whether it’s on-foot or aboard ship, is repetition. Moving a bunch of batteries, or finding and installing nuclear fuses to power a door is fun the first time, but it gets less fun when you’ve played just a few hours and you can already enter an area and know exactly what the objective will be because it’s what always takes place in that space. The big, run-ending finales which can involve defending a capital ship, activating those cannons, grabbing and ferrying cargo from a downed ship before Legion forces jump into the system, or doing something as simple as playing King of the Hill to establish communications hold their novelty longer because you know what you’re going to get from the mission select screen, and you can avoid one if you’re tired of it. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case for the stuff you’ll have to do on the en-route jumps because your choices can lock you into certain objectives.

And then there’s the early access of it all. Some of it is cute, like placeholder text that says “Not Made :(“ when an asset isn’t there. Others are less charming, like when Legion ships and bots defy the bounds of Euclidian space and travel unencumbered through walls or asteroids. Now, maybe I missed something in the lore that allows them to do that, but my first thought was, “Man, I wish I could do that!” right up until one of my buddies actually did but got stuck in the ceiling during an on-foot segment, which isn’t as funny as it sounds. Combine that with frequent disconnects and crashes, which often cost my friends progress, and it’s hard to say that Jump Space’s airlocks are fully sealed.

It’s also a little short on features you might expect from a game like this, like being able to buy artifacts for your runs before that run starts (those are teased but not available yet) and the limited number of pilotable ships and customization options. I love being able to slap another railgun on the Catamaran, too, but in about 15 hours it was the only other thing we found that seemed useful. And yeah, more reactors are neat (and playing Tetris with your components to find the right way to power everything is fun), but I still haven’t found one that matches the Split Reactor you start with.

Even the second ship you get, the smaller, faster DT-4 Dart, feels lesser than the Catamaran. I understand the appeal for teams of two or solo players, but as far as we could tell it was lacking basic things like an ammo-refill station, and walking around the outside of the ship was so difficult it was essentially impossible, which is a problem when you need to go outside and fix something. My crewmates hated it so much that we got halfway through a run before abandoning ship and swapping back to our beloved C-3.

But there are plenty of smart decisions, too. The missions scale to player count nicely, and you seem significantly less likely to have major ship malfunctions with a crew of two than a crew of three, when it’s easier to deal with. I also love Buddy, who will not only help out on the ship when there’s just two humans playing, but will actually leave the ship when you’re flying solo to help you out in an on-foot fight. And when he revives you and then gives you a little fistbump, or you hear him trash-talking the Legion bots after he takes them down with his tiny pistol? Perfection. That’s my boy right there. Ride or die. I thought playing solo would be a slog but it was anything but, and that’s all due to Buddy. You can even play soccer in the hangar between missions, complete with dialogue for when you score – or accidentally punt the ball into the nearby canyon.

It’s also just a funny game, even when you’re downed because you held an irradiated fuse too long and are begging your friends to save you, or are unable to get off of an exploding ship in time and floating in space, waiting to be revived. And being able to survive a jump, which requires you to be seated, while sitting on the toilet? Talk about boldly going.

If I have one major complaint beyond the technical stuff and the early access growing pains, it’s how long some missions are. While there are 20-minute missions, many of them start at 40 minutes and you’ll regularly see ones that are an hour plus. That’s a long commitment, especially if you fail and lose most of what you would have gained. I mean, I’m not saying the starting pistol is bad, per se, but when you lose all the other, fancier weapons you had and have to either craft or find them again, you notice. The same is true of a quest you might have to do again. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be friction and failure; I’d just like to see more bite-sized missions when I’m not ready to devote my whole evening to a single run.

Nioh 3, the Warring States Period Soulslike, allows players to switch instantly between two different battle styles with the press of a button. Use Samurai Style if you want to fight with a solid, grounded approach; or use Ninja Style for swift and stylish combat.

While the standard approach will likely be to select the style that best matches the enemy you're facing, the developers say that you can still beat the entire game while sticking to just one. According to them, their philosophy while creating the game was to not force a certain playstyle onto players.

In our previous article, the developers explained that Ninja Style was added as "A new kind of action that would act as a major centerpiece, making players feel that the game has taken a step forward." In this article, General Producer Fumihiko Yasuda and Producer Kohei Shibata explain in even further detail about the differences between Samurai Style and Ninja Style.

No enemies require a specific style

Please explain the two styles to players who will be experiencing Nioh 3 for the first time. When is it best to switch between them?

Fumihiko Yasuda: We've been creating samurai action throughout our time with the Nioh series, and what we've valued the most in that action is creating a sense of contrast between stillness and motion. Nioh was the first Team Ninja title with a stamina (Ki) system, and through Samurai Style we're careful to create a sense of switching between stillness and motion, or defense and offense. In Ninja Style, we had an image of ninja in motion. They fight while constantly attacking and moving, and we hope that players will consider that as they decide when to use which style.

Kohei Shibata: As far as when to switch between them, Samurai Style has powerful guards and attacks, so it should be used when going at an opponent head-on. Ninja Style is very mobile, so it should be used when quickly avoiding attacks or circling behind an enemy.

What's interesting is that even if we as developers feel that there's a certain moment when it'd be better to fight using Samurai Style, for example, players actually testing the game out might do the opposite. And there are times when you can fight perfectly well by doing that, so I think it ultimately comes down to personal preference. That's why I'd say to switch between them whenever you want to make use of a given style's characteristics because you think it'd best suit you at that moment in battle. If you take a strong liking to a specific style, you can even go all-in on it. There's a high degree of freedom there, so I think it'd be best to pick for yourself as you play.

Yasuda: We never arbitrarily force the player to use a specific style in order to progress. In the Nioh series so far, you've been able to use ninja or onmyo techniques even though you're a samurai, giving players a wide selection of tools as they progress through the game. They're very tough games, and we wanted players to be able to overcome their challenge in whatever way they wanted. That applies to this game as well, so we've done away with any enemies that require a specific style to beat.

That said, there are times when your ninja gauges will be building as you fight as a samurai, allowing you to use a ninja technique by switching at the right moment. You can then switch back to Samurai Style if you want, but there are these sorts of systems that promote switching styles. Of course, the game is beatable using Samurai or Ninja Style alone, so you're free to play through it however you want.

There are even times when devoting your skills or resources to just one style will make it even more powerful. As the game's developers, we of course want players to use both styles, but we aren't preventing players from using only one.

So you don't intend for the game to force certain playstyles onto players?

Yasuda: Ninja Style is of course more nimble when jumping and such, so I do think it'd be better to run around as a ninja when exploring the map. But players are still free to run around as a samurai if they want. The two styles also have completely different equipment, so you can specialize within each one. For example, you can experience more mobile action even as a samurai by using the low stance, or you can use heavy weapons in Ninja Style for more samurai-like action. We saw players creating lots of different builds during the alpha demo. We think that having these two styles resulted in this greater diversity, highlighting the variety of available builds.

When you looked at the results of the alpha demo, did you feel like you’d succeeded at allowing players to progress using whatever method they want?

Yasuda: The players were even more skilled than we imagined, so we were surprised at how well they could use Ninja Style. Watching people play made me feel like things were going as we hoped.

There were both samurai and ninja skills in previous games as well. Why did you decide to fully split the skill tree into two different styles?

Shibata: While there are differences in abilities and performance between Samurai and Ninja Style, we wanted to make it clear that you're able to build two types of characters. Once you grow accustomed to each, you'll start to understand what makes them unique, and we think that players will begin to see the sorts of samurai and ninja builds they want. We split the skill tree in two to create a clear distinction between builds for each style.

Did you feel like adding the ability to switch between styles mid-battle opened up new possibilities in gameplay?

Shibata: We first added the Style system out of a desire to create a new feeling of gameplay and combat. When we watched players in the alpha demo, we saw some who frequently switched between the two as they fought. Seeing that made me feel like we’d made something that looks and feels different from combat in the previous games. For example, you can move in and strike as a samurai before becoming a ninja and pulling back, or attack from afar as a ninja before finishing off an opponent as a samurai. There are lots of different patterns. We felt that we'd created combat that essentially allows you to roleplay, truly becoming a samurai or a ninja. We made it so that players can switch between styles with the press of a button, and it seems that it really does feel good to do so. Allowing for this instant switching appears to have opened up so many possibilities in this regard.

Yasuda: There was actually a cooldown when we first implemented switching between styles, so you couldn't just do it whenever you wanted. But we made it so that you can do it at any time as the development team looked into the game's action.

Did you feel any need to change the style-switching system from how it was in the alpha demo?

Shibata: We had users give us their opinions on the demo, and while we do think small tweaks and system improvements are necessary, we believe that our big-picture approach is fine as it is. I found it interesting that in the alpha demo survey, the two questions "Did you enjoy Samurai/Ninja Style?" received about the same percentage of positive responses. That was our goal, and it seems like we were able to hit it. We'll continue to make improvements based on the feedback we received from the alpha demo up until release.

What did you find difficult when balancing the two styles? Did you ever worry that one style was stronger than the other?

Shibata: To be honest, balancing them was difficult. It was like playing whack-a-mole at the start of development. We added Ninja Style, and people said that it was too strong. Then when we tried to change Samurai Style, they'd say that was too strong. If you go too overboard with those adjustments, the game will end up seeming like it's suggesting that you play just one of the styles.

Our decision in the end was to make sure that each style had its own clear identity. Samurai Style has powerful, samurai-like attacks and defense, while Ninja Style makes use of its mobility to dodge and use Mist [a system where you press a button after attacking to create a clone of yourself while you move] to move behind an enemy. By focusing on making these characteristics of each properly powerful, we ended up with a solid balance in the end. Tweaking the balance wasn't easy, but I think we're getting close to how we ultimately want it to look.

As far as my experience with the game, I never felt like there was a single approach that was the only thing I needed. I'd say you succeeded.

Shibata: As you play the game, you might start to feel your thoughts changing. For example, you may think Samurai Style is strong as you're starting, but then Ninja might seem strong if you were able to learn a specific technique. We think players will enjoy it if they explore their own ways to build and play their characters.

Different weapons are usable between the two styles. How did you decide what samurai could use versus what ninja could use?

Yasuda: While the Nioh series has been about samurai, you have had unusual weapons like tonfa at your disposal. Now that we have the ninja concept in this game, we've split those weapons into Samurai Style and Ninja Style. It's easier to imagine how the action will go when you have weapons that match a style's characteristics, and it's allowed us to design them in a way that makes sense to players.

Dual-wield weapons are available for both the Samurai and Ninja Style, but the action is very different between the two. How did you go about distinguishing these dual-wielding combat styles?

Shibata: For those weapons, we made them so that it would make sense for either style to use them. The game is designed so that Samurai Style fights head-on, so we focused on samurai-like action that's weighty and grounded. Ninja Style uses a reverse grip for its weapons, and so you move around in the way you'd expect a ninja to when dual-wielding.

Also, Ninja Style looks clearly different from Samurai Style at first glance, even down to its neutral animation. The game would be difficult to play if you didn't know which style you've switched to, so we've been looking into ways to depict ninja-like swiftness in combat movement.

Look out for more exclusive Nioh 3 coverage during this month's IGN First, including our exclusive boss battle video and even more details about Ninja Style.

Yuichi Shigeta is a freelance writer for IGN Japan. This article was translated by Ko Ransom.

The last few years of The Amazing Spider-Man comics have been a real wild ride for Norman Osborn. Ever since Norman had his sins erased and his sanity restored, he’s been doing his best to walk the straight and narrow path. Even Peter Parker has been forced to accept that Norman truly wants redemption.

The strange saga of a post-Green Goblin Norman Osborn has taken an even weirder turn of late. With Peter himself trapped in deep space, Norman has taken it upon himself to carry on the mantle of Spider-Man. Can a man with this much blood on his hands truly live up to Spidey’s example? That’s one of the main questions fueling Joe Kelly, Pepe Larraz, and John Romita, Jr. 's run going forward.

IGN was able to chat with Kelly via email to learn more about the future of the series as it divides its focus between Peter’s cosmic misadventures and Norman’s fight back in New York. Check out the slideshow gallery below for an exclusive first look at October's The Amazing Spider-Man #13 and the cover art for December’s The Amazing Spider-Man #17 and #18, and then read on to learn more.

The Amazing Spider-Man #11 dropped the big reveal that Norman has taken on the mantle of Spider-Man for himself. No one seems ready to trust Norman with his newfound responsibility, least of all Ben Reilly, who has an agenda of his own as he impersonates his clone brother. As Kelly explains, the possibilities of exploring Norman in this new role were too good to ignore.

“On shock value alone it's a fun beat, but the post-sins version of Norman is fascinating. He's not suddenly a ‘good person’ - everything that he ever did wrong still happened, but he has an opportunity to move forward as a sane person for the first time, maybe ever,” Kelly tells IGN. “What does a person like that do with a second chance, especially when they are still prone to ego, anger, and the rest? Norman has been letting himself get close to Peter, becoming someone Pete truly relies on. When Peter disappears, how does Norman fill that vacuum? Is it the best idea to put on a Spider-Man suit? Why would he think he could take on that mantle? What's he trying to prove? All great stuff to explore.”

Needless to say, it’s going to be an uphill battle for Norman, especially as he’s dragged into a conflict involving fellow Goblins like Queen Goblin and Hobgoblin. Some mysterious foe is hunting Goblins, and that includes the former Green Goblin himself.

Amazon has finally listed the Nintendo Switch 2 - Pokémon Legends: Z-A bundle, which is also now up for preorder, and it's better late than never. While this comes months after other major US retailers put the bundle up for preorder, more notably, this is currently the only way to buy the Switch 2 from Amazon.

While Amazon thankfully resumed its sales of Nintendo products in 2025 after a year-long freeze-out, the listings for the standard console and the Mario Kart World bundle are currently out of stock, and invite requests are no longer being accepted on either.

Last year, popular YouTuber and podcast host John Allen made the jump to comics with MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious, a graphic novel that adapted some of the many true tales of horror featured on the MrBallen channel. Now Allen and his collaborators are back with a sequel called MrBallen Presents: Where Nightmares Live.

With the second graphic novel set to release in stores later this month, IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of MrBallen Presents: Where Nightmares Live. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:

As with the original book, MrBallen Presents: Where Nightmares Live adapts several of Allen's stories from his YouTube channels, along with several new stories for good measure. Robert Venditti (X-O Manowar) assisted in the adaptation process. All the stories are illustrated by Andrea Mutti (Haunt You To the End), while Rob Prior provided the cover art. The book is published by Ten Speed Graphic, a division of Penguin Random House. Here's the official description for the book:

In MrBallen Presents: Where Nightmares Live, John Allen, known popularly as “MrBallen,” is back with another heart-stopping collection of strange and mysterious stories exploring terrors that lie just beyond our comprehension. From skin-melting encounters in Brazil to a ghost that stalks the English countryside to a bell ringing deep in the Arizona wilderness, MrBallen’s spine-chilling tales—four of which are exclusive to this graphic novel—span multiple centuries and expose bizarre, terrifying, and utterly unforgettable experiences of the unnatural world.

Compellingly creepy, deeply researched, and based on unsettling real events, MrBallen Presents: Where Nightmares Live proves that sometimes our deepest fears are about the things we cannot see. In collaboration with New York Times bestselling graphic novelist Robert Venditti and acclaimed comic book artist Andrea Mutti, this is Allen’s most frightening collection yet.

Welcome. Your nightmares are waiting.

MrBallen Presents: Where Nightmares Live will be released in both hardcover and paperback on September 30, 2025. You can preorder a copy on Amazon.

In other comics news, Dark Horse is releasing The Art of Star Wars: A New Hope - The Manga, and Absolute Batman #12 provides twisted new origin stories for several iconic DC villains.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

Live and Learn is more than just one of the best songs in Sonic history; it also feels like a philosophy SEGA has taken to heart with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. I've spent over 35 hours drifting, boosting, and gathering rings across an excellent set of tracks that span Sonic's 34-year history. Minutes effortlessly turned into hours, perfecting my drifting technique, customizing my vehicles, finding the optimal race lines in time trials, and frantically competing with friends to be the Grand Prix champion. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds could have been just another pit stop among a Grand Prix of 2025 kart racers, but instead it put the pedal to the metal and refused to let me take my hands off the wheel.

I've played my fair share of kart racers over the past few decades starring Sonic, Mario, Crash, and plenty of other popular characters. While most are amusing enough, only a few reach that upper pantheon of party games that dominate every get together. With 39 tracks, 24 characters, a nice suite of multiplayer options, tons of challenges to complete, and such a long list of unlockable cosmetics that I still can’t see its finish line, CrossWorlds doesn’t just want to be part of the rotation: it has set its sights on taking the top spot for me and my friends.

CrossWorlds’ racing is quick to pick up thanks to its intuitive and straightforward controls, essentially boiling down to four main actions: accelerate, drift, brake, and use an item. Racing feels great whether you're zipping into shortcuts, landing massive trick combos for a big boost, or nailing a complicated drift that asks you to rapidly change direction on a curvy path. I love how the vehicles feel, as every action fluidly transitions from one into the next, allowing me to chain drifts into jumps into tricks into boosts before launching into another drift to repeat the process again… provided my opponents didn’t send any items my way.

Getting hit with items, messing up a turn, or colliding with a wall definitely cost me a few races, but more often than not they felt more like small speed bumps thanks to the generous placement of boost panels and item capsules on most courses. Those hits do reduce your ring count, which in turn lowers your top speed, but it rarely took me more than a few seconds to get back on track – and you can reduce that lag time even further depending on how you tune your vehicle. The type of ride you pick will help you eke out extra advantages: Power vehicles are great at shoving other racers around, Handling vehicles make it easier to nail even the trickiest of sharp turns, and the long-awaited return of Sonic Riders' hover boards enabled me to boost like no other when hitting dash panels or using the boosting Wisp items.

The headlining feature is the fantastic CrossWorlds mechanic that not only keeps every race interesting but also adds a good amount of depth. Outside of Grand Prix Mode, the second lap of each race almost seamlessly transports everyone to a different course, similar to the dimension jumping done in 2021's Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Warping from the naval scenery of Metal Harbor to the prehistoric Dinosaur Jungle or the incredibly curvy Dragon's Road kept me on my toes every race. This was already my favorite part of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds’ public test demos before my review, but I began to see the true brilliance of it as I put more time into the full game.

Different vehicle types excel on different tracks, so making the second lap random adds depth when customizing your ride since you need to consider variables beyond just the course you’ve chosen. My speed-focused vehicle would sing on tracks with many straightaways or boost panels, but would often give up a few positions to racers who tuned for acceleration or handling on tracks filled with constant curves and sharp turns. Since some tracks have portions where you transform into a boat or plane, I found myself making one loadout that could adapt to whatever course ended up as the second lap while still maximizing my potential for the first and final lap on the main track.

Transforming into Flight and Water Forms is as simple as passing through a gate with the matching plane or boat icons. Some transformations are required, such as the Water Form swap at the start of Kraken Bay, while others are optional, like the short Flight Form path on Coral Town if you take a specific branching path, but I was never unhappy to seize the opportunity to change things up – in fact, I would have loved a few more CrossWorlds that gave me extended periods of time in the sky. Flight Form in always handled like a dream, letting you drift vertically to reach items, rings, and boost gates at different elevations. However, a few of the Water Form sections can feel clunky until you figure out the correct rhythm and timing to accelerate, drift, and trick on each course. Vehicles with better handling seem to perform the best during these transformations, so whenever I was having a hard time with a specific section , I would practice in one of those vehicles before returning to my preferred Speed type options.

No lap during CrossWorlds feels like another, and though the last lap returns to your original track, there are significant changes during it. Paths that were inaccessible open up, improved item boxes appear with better drop rates for stronger options, and more hazards show up on the course. There are even significant structural changes, like a rocket in Metal Harbor finally launching, which removes two paths and forces everyone into a newly formed spine (or two quarter pipes placed back to back, for those who don't skate).

Even without the CrossWorlds mechanic, the courses available at launch are all excellent. There are 15 tracks that can only arrive during that second lap, and then 24 main courses for them to show up in, with Coral Town possibly being my favorite. Its looping paths create so many routes that I'm still wrapping my head around which one is the most ideal in time trials – I always found myself changing the route I took depending on my position, character, vehicle, and lap number. Other standouts are classic stages like Market Street, which originated as Rooftop Run in Sonic Unleashed, and Radical Highway from Sonic Adventure 2, the latter of which had me riding the main cables to the top using boost pads to leave my competitors behind.

Every course feels perfectly tuned with risks and rewards; different routes have different advantages, with some having more rings to help you reach your maximum top speed, while others have more boost panels to provide some speed in the short run in the hopes you will either get far enough ahead not to need the extra rings or at least have enough breathing room to pick them up later. One course that proved to be my Achilles heel: Pumpkin Mansion. The final third of the track is full of giant pumpkins that vanish as you approach, but until the first person reaches them, they hide a section full of sharper turns. They always affected the timing of my drifts until I took the time to memorize their positions through time trials and figured out which paths I should take.

Finally, a kart racer would just be a basic racing game without items to inject a little chaos into them. CrossWorlds has 24 different items that can be pulled from boxes placed all over each course, most of which had me shouting with equal amounts of either excitement or bitterness depending on if I was on the giving or receiving end of each. The iconic Wisps from Sonic Colors are here and offer items in the form of a boost, laser, and drill, which are all helpful to either catch up or extend your lead. These were always welcome as they enabled me to cut across off-road sections and dodge certain attacks, like the punishing Slime and Weight items, if used with proper timing. There are plenty of other cool options as well, like a bomb that grows in size the longer you hold it, eventually becoming a giant wrecking ball that flattens enemies it collides with until its detonation.

The Tornado quickly became my favorite item because of its ability to negate most incoming attacks while also dealing damage to as many opponents that I could bump into. There is also the Monster Truck, which is sure to be a standout for many, as it transforms your vehicle into a massive machine that flattens opponents, renders you immune to all other items, and allows you to drive off-road without any penalties. By default, you can hold two items at a time, but you can also add the option for a third item or swap between your two items by installing specific upgrades in your customizable Gadget Panel if you really want to lean into the chaos, though I typically leaned toward Gadgets that made me faster, not fiercer.

Gadgets offer a wide range of extremely impactful bonuses, with more than 30 different options to place on your Gadget Panel before a race. Now, they won’t suddenly craft you a win out of thin air, as your racing skills still remain the most important factor – but when utilized to their maximum potential, Gadgets can be the difference between getting first and fourth place. There are Gadgets to alter your vehicle's stats, improve drift performance, increase the rings you can carry, and grant unique starting items that can't normally be found in races, like a Warp Ring that teleports you on top of the racer just ahead of you, causing you to squish them. The tricky part is figuring out what combination to use; each Gadget Panel has six slots in a two-by-three pattern, and each Gadget requires between one and three slots. Building my Panel became a tiny puzzle with no wrong answers, and it scratched the min-maxing itch I love in games.

You can prebuild five Gadget Panels and then swap between them before each race, which helps you adjust to specific situations, modifying the base stats of your character and vehicle selection as needed. The roster has nearly all the major characters you’d hope to see from each generation of Sonic: in addition to the usual Team Light and Dark, you’ve got characters from the Sonic Heroes, Riders, Advance, Rush, Colors, and even recent newcomers like Sage from Frontiers. It didn't take long for me to find my favorite in Shadow using a modified Speed-type vehicle, so much so that I used him to clear all eight cups on the Sonic Speed and Super Sonic Speed difficulty (the equivalents of 150cc and 200cc in Mario Kart), only needing minor tweaks outside of regularly adjusting my Gadget Panel. While it was rare for most CPU opponents to give me trouble, a few of the Grands Prix still had the ideal amount of challenge thanks to CrossWorlds’ modular rival system.

Before starting each Grand Prix, a random character appears as your rival, and they then act as a supercharged CPU to race against with a challenge level from one to 10, similar to raising the heat level in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate campaign. Your rival isn't just a CPU racer with better stats, they interject with snarky comments of frustration and glee throughout the races, adding a bit of character to what could have just been a slightly more competent CPU racer. While I haven’t tested every combination of racer and rival, the 20 or so I’ve seen so far all had unique voice lines, which really helped breathe even more life into them. Rivals also behave more intelligently, holding onto defensive items until they need them, taking better racing lines as they drift around corners, and even moving to ensure they take items they expect those behind them to go for. I had to use a not-insignificant amount of retries when racing rivals that were level eight or higher, which is just the right amount of pushback.

Thankfully, CrossWorlds does something I wish every other racing game would do with its in-game currency, Donpa tickets. I would usually net anywhere between 10 and 40 tickets per race, depending on my performance and if I achieved certain feats. That includes things like using the most items, choosing which course is selected for lap two by being in first when reaching the travel ring at the end of lap one, or picking up the series’ iconic red rings. Tickets have a variety of uses, including unlocking various car parts or customization options, increasing your friendship with a character for rewards unique to them, and – my favorite use – retrying a race for better placement.

Now, I know what you're thinking: retrying a race is hardly new, but CrossWorlds differs in that you can spend a measly 20 tickets to retry in the middle of a Grand Prix without entirely starting over. So if you get hit with three items on the final turn of the final lap of the final race only to watch your rival and six other racers pass you in the homestretch, you can rewind and try again as many times as you can afford, which cuts down on pointless repetition a lot. Grands Prix also get an exciting and welcome shakeup: instead of racing on a fourth course to end things, the final race is a combination of one lap from the previous three, which tests how well you can adapt to each. That said, I do miss the mission-based Story Mode from Team Sonic Racing, which gave you interesting bonus challenges to accomplish during each stage.

I also have to dig into the friendship system more, as it will take thousands of races to complete if your goal is to maximize your ranking with each character. Instead of funneling tickets into car parts, you can give them to your favorite characters to receive cosmetics like titles, decals, and alternate costumes in return. These specific unlockables get really expensive really fast: it took me 3000 tickets to earn the first four rewards for Shadow, including one alternate costume, and there is still more for me to unlock. It's clear that SEGA is hoping this will be a system that keeps you drawn in, as with 24 characters, that's a ludicrous number of tickets to unlock everything. I have mixed feelings on this because it gives the most dedicated fans something to chase, but the rate for earning tickets currently feels a bit too stingy when compared to the cost of unlocking some cosmetics.

That sticker shock gets even worse when you consider the fact that new characters are already on the horizon, including Hatsune Miku, Joker from Persona 5, and Ichiban from the Like a Dragon franchise, all of which have been announced as upcoming free additions. There will also be characters and tracks for SpongeBob, TMNT, and Avatar: The Last Airbender coming as part of the paid season pass. While I don't necessarily need them since I already have more favorites on the Sonic roster than I do fingers, it is exciting to think of what other characters and tracks could be joining even later down the road. In fact, during my interview with Takashi Iizuka of SEGA at Gamescom, they said they plan to support CrossWorlds with new content like this each month for at least the first year after launch, which is an impressive pace given there’s already plenty of unlockables and alternate modes to keep those who blaze through the cups busy at launch.

One of those distractions is the Race Park, which consists of six different rule sets, but also allows you to create custom matches to fit whatever you and up to three others want to play locally. These are all available online as well by joining the Friend Match option, though they are limited to one player per console, but it at least allows you to race with groups of up to 12 friends. Currently, every mode boils down to a race for points, but the modified rules change how they play out. In addition to the regular 12-player free-for-all race style, there are also special team modes with rules that grant bonuses for grabbing the most rings, colliding with teammates, using the most dash panels, or landing the most item hits on opponents. These modes were a blast with friends, as they didn't fully rely on who knew the courses the best. It's also something worth playing for a bit, as there are eight different rival CPU teams to take down that unlock special vehicles you can then customize with other parts. The custom rule set is a standout feature here for local multiplayer, too, giving you control over how many races you do back to back, which courses can appear as the Crossworld second lap, what items appear in item boxes, and the speed and difficulty level while racing.

The Race Park's one drawback is that, while not necessary, the Gadget Panels can be overly influential to the outcome of races, so it was a let-down that there were no pre-built ones for newcomers. They did have access to everything I had unlocked, but that meant spending time for them to decipher what each one did and figuring out which ones they wanted to set into their Panels. I hope Sega alleviates this with a patch that adds some default Gadget Panels optimized for different vehicle types and playstyles.

In addition to the Race Park, there is also a Time Trial mode that challenges you to race for the best time on both the Sonic and Super Sonic Speed settings. I initially went into Time Trial mode expecting to run through a few tracks just to see what it offered, but it ended up being where I spent more time than anywhere else. After clearing some courses with an A rank (the minimum rank necessary to earn progress towards rewards), I was suddenly hungry for more. Each race, I found myself tinkering with the various car parts and Gadgets, and rewatching my own ghost to see what I could change or where I could improve. What if I save my boost for this turn vs that turn, or what if I sacrifice a bit of my speed to improve my handling stat to nail that hairpin? Before CrossWorlds, I was never a huge Time Trial person, but these hooked me by putting the most enticing thing they could behind them as a reward: my favorite Sonic music to listen to while racing.

A Sonic game would be incomplete without a banger of a soundtrack, and CrossWorlds rarely fails to impress with its nearly 100 unique tracks. The primary songs are excellent, with popular tracks like Radical Highway, Market Street, Ocean View, and plenty of others all getting the CrossWorlds treatment. And for you Sonic Adventure 2 fans, don't worry, because Escape From the City is here, but you will need to clear all 79 time trials with at least an A ranking to unlock it. All the great artists that have created music for Sonic games here are: Tee Lopes, Tomoya Ohtani, Takahiro Kai, and plenty more. Similar to Sonic x Shadow Generations from last year, unlocking this music does more than just let you listen to them in a jukebox; you can also gather your favorites and slot that playlist (or any of the other six premade albums) as the music for each of the three laps of every race. Possibly the most impressive part of that is how seamlessly they all transition into each other, with each song starting at a different point depending on what lap it plays on. I only wish I could create multiple favorites playlists to have even more control.

The last and potentially one of the most critical elements that could decide whether CrossWorlds takes the podium is how online play functions. Ahead of launch, we had a few days to test it and see what it offered. To my enjoyment, it worked as well as I'd hoped, with the caveat that my not-quite-full lobbies were regularly supplemented with CPUs to fill out all 12 spots. Online does have a drawback compared to this year's Mario Kart World since it's limited to just one player per console, but the inclusion of crossplay is a decent trade off, and I saw virtually no lag with my wired connection.

Online functionality is simple but effective – you can see other players on your specific console’s friend list, your CrossWorlds in-game friend list, a history of others you’ve raced against, and your fair play points, which is a 100-point gauge that decreases anytime you abandon an online race. This appears to be CrossWorlds’ method for ensuring players who are behind don’t just up and leave the race entirely, which is an appreciated inclusion even if I can’t yet say how effective it will be. Another incentive is that I unlocked even more Gadget options to alter my driving style as I rose through the ranks from E- to an eventual C- during the short prelaunch review window. And while it's too soon to tell how the difference in ranks will affect queue times, I usually found a match in less than a minute during the review period, which has a much smaller pool of players than will be there on launch.

Also, it’s great that my custom soundtracks and everything I had earned in offline mode carried over, making me all the more prepared for facing real opponents. The good news is that even fans that want to join online races on day one will still be able to earn all the Gadgets I got offline simply by racing, meaning that each online race will not only move you closer to the Gadgets from higher ranks but also the ones that unlock based on total number of races. However, those players will be at a disadvantage compared to others like myself who spent time earning them before going online, which could also be mitigated with preset Gadget Plates.

10 years ago, Metroid Prime series producer Kensuke Tanabe sat down with me at E3 2015 and said he'd like to make a new game in the franchise with a time travel mechanic.

This was, obviously, a long time ago — so long ago that the Nintendo Switch was still only known by its codename NX — but the chat remains one of Tanabe's most forthcoming interviews on the Metroid Prime series' future, discussing the stories of Dark Samus and Phazon, bounty hunter Sylux, and an idea for a new Metroid Prime game that focused on a single planet across multiple points in its timeline.

"Instead of broadening it to more planets I would have one and would focus on the timeline, and being able to change that," Tanabe said to me, at Eurogamer at the time. "That's one interesting idea I have in mind... but I understand many people thought that [Echoes] was too difficult."

By evoking Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Tanabe is referring to its dual-world gameplay that saw players shift between light and dark versions of the same space — a concept that prompted a mix of reactions from players. Still, the idea of time travel appears to have stuck with Tanabe, who has once again returned as the producer of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond — a game which contains other similarities to the concept he discussed back then.

Take the bounty hunter Sylux, for example, a character that even fans of the Metroid Prime trilogy might struggle to remember. A rival of Samus, Sylux was introduced in the Nintendo DS spin-off game Metroid Prime Hunters (for which Tanabe was also a producer). As part of the same interview a decade ago, Tanabe confirmed the spaceship seen during the cliffhanger tease at the end of Metroid Prime 3 belonged to Sylux, potentially setting up a rivalry in a future game.

"It was Sylux, another hunter from Metroid Prime Hunters at the end of Metroid Prime 3," Tanabe said to me at the time. "Personally I'd like to create a story centring around Sylux and Samus."

Well, roll forward a decade and Sylux is indeed a major presence in Metroid Prime 4 — and last week the character was even announced as getting an amiibo figurine, too.

As for the idea of a game featuring time travel, fans have long held onto Tanabe's suggestion — and even pointed to the black hole shape seen in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond's logo in the hope that it might mean Samus can create some kind of time-dilating space hole to travel into the past or future.

Now, supposedly leaked box art for the game posted on reddit appears to mention Samus as being stuck on the game's planet of Viewros after being transported across space and time — prompting more chatter that time travel, just like Sylux, has remained part of Tanabe's plans.

"I'm assuming it'll work exactly like how Dark Aether works in Prime 2," wrote Metroid fan Spinjitsuninja on reddit, before the supposed box art leaked. "We see several portals in the recent trailer anyways, so unless those are awkward warp points, I think it shows similar world design. They could always have the game take you to different eras, with more than two 'worlds' to go between? But that might be ambitious."

"Calling it now: you have to hit a certain speed on the bike to time travel, back to the future style," added another fan, Gleethor on ResetEra. "Could even see it near instantly changing the landscape around you when you time travel, which could certainly explain why it's relatively sparse."

Last week's Metroid Prime 4: Beyond trailer finally revealed the game's release date and also showcased a new open-world motorbike for Samus, though the video felt something of a low-key showing within the wider Nintendo Direct. Here's hoping we get to see more of the game before its December 7, 2025 release date — if only we could time travel to that.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

We love LEGO (who doesn’t?) and we’re always looking for deals on our favorite brick-filled kits across all shapes, sizes, and budgets.

Thankfully, Amazon outlet Woot has deals on plenty of our favorite sets across all aspects of pop culture, although it does appear many are starting to sell out quickly, so you’ll want to move quickly!

Save On LEGO Sets From Harry Potter, Star Wars, and More

Over at Woot, there are some hefty savings to be had, with the first one to catch our eye being the 4,210-piece LEGO Gotham City display set.

It looks just like the skyline from the iconic animated series starring the late Kevin Conroy, and has subtle easter eggs hidden behind a series of panels. There’s even an adorable little Batmobile and four classic minifigures of Batman, Joker, Harley Quinn, and Catwoman.

It’s down to $249.99 from $296.99, a 16% discount off of the MSRP.

From Gotham to Gringotts, the Harry Potter Wizarding Bank set is reduced by $100. It’s still $399.99, but it’s an awesome build with the bank above and the dragon-guarded passages below, as well as minifigs for Harry, Ron, Hagrid, Griphook, Bellatrix and more.

Sticking with fantasy, the Lord of the Rings Barad-Dur set has an 18% discount, bringing it down to $369.99. It’s a 5,471-piece set with ten minifigs and that all-important Eye of Sauron to watch over your home.

Star Wars fans will also be pleased to know that there’s 20% off the ridiculously impressive 7,500-piece Millennium Falcon. It’s now $679.99 and remains one of the best LEGO sets around.

There’s 17% off the Legend of Zelda Deku tree, too, but it appears it’s sold out. Still, if you want to pick one up for $249.99, it’s worth bookmarking in case fresh stock arrives.

Finally, it’s not discounted, but as a big X-Men fan, I just love this 3,093-piece X-Mansion set. It has the mansion (including Danger Room), a Sentinel figure, and ten minifigs including the likes of Wolverine, Professor X, Gambit, Storm, Cyclops, and Magneto, among others.

It’s $269.99 at Woot right now.

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.

Hollow Knight: Silksong’s storefront-crashing launch may be behind us, but the debate about its difficulty rages on.

Silksong is one of the biggest games of the year, hitting huge player concurrent numbers on Steam alongside a positive reception from critics. But amid the excitement over Team Cherry’s long awaited sequel is a debate within the community about whether the game is too hard — perhaps even unfairly so. It comes as no surprise to see Silksong’s early days mods dominated by those which make the game easier.

IGN has already reported on how some Silksong players had expressed criticism across social media, subreddits, Discords, and Steam reviews about the game’s difficulty scaling and brutal runbacks. There’s one very early miniboss causing a lot of players a whole heap of trouble, too.

“Is it just me, or are some of the things that make Silksong ‘difficult’ just cruel?” wondered redditor Machi-Ato. “The game has artificially inflated difficulty and playtime due to overtuned numbers and menial tasks/runback,” reads a post on Steam.

Now, speaking at the launch of a new gaming-focused exhibition at Australia’s national museum of screen culture, ACMI, attended and reported on by Dexerto, Team Cherry’s Ari Gibson and William Pellen addressed Silksong’ difficulty for the first time since the game came out.

Gibson said that because new playable character Hornet is “inherently faster and more skillful” than the Knight from the first game, Team Cherry had to make enemies tougher.

“Hornet is inherently faster and more skillful than the Knight, so even the base level enemy had to be more complicated, more intelligent,” Gibson said.

Pellen revealed: “The basic ant warrior is built from the same move-set as the original Hornet boss.

“[There's] the same core set of dashing, jumping, and dashing down at you, plus we added the ability to evade and check you. In contrast to the Knight’s enemies, Hornet’s enemies had to have more ways of catching her as she tries to move away.”

Team Cherry thus made enemies more powerful to present Hornet with a challenge, or as they put it, they had to “bring everyone else up to match [her] level.”

Team Cherry also talked generally about its design philosophy for Silksong, insisting that by presenting the player with the choice to constantly divert from the main path, they are able to dance around Silksong’s now infamous steep difficulty curve.

“Silksong has some moments of steep difficulty,” Gibson admitted, “but part of allowing a higher level of freedom within the world means that you have choices all the time about where you’re going and what you’re doing.”

Gibson also reminded players who are struggling against a particular boss for hours on end that “they have ways to mitigate the difficulty via exploration, or learning, or even circumventing the challenge entirely, rather than getting stonewalled.”

Still, Silksong’s first post-launch patch made the early game easier, so clearly Team Cherry has acknowledged the game was at least in partly tuned a little too hard at release. A second patch is out soon.

Playing Silksong? Here are some essential guides for your journey upwards: the Silksong Interactive Map, how to grind for Rosary Beads, our ever-expanding Walkthrough with boss videos and guides, how to get your first life bar upgrade (first four mask shards), and a great guide to the Simple Keys and the doors they open.

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.

With the build-up to the next big Amazon Prime exclusive sale (Prime Big Deal Days, or October Prime Day, as it's better known) well underway, we're already starting to see some notable early discounts that you should absolutely consider snapping up ASAP.

That now includes a handful of new Nintendo Switch 2 games down to record low prices at Amazon, including Donkey Kong Bananza, down to $53.54 (previously $69.99). Other discounted games include Cyberpunk 2077, Mario Kart World, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Breath of the Wild, with the additional discount automatically applied during checkout.

So what's the catch? These are technically sold under Amazon Resale. Now hold your eye rolls, as we've seen deals like this before, and these discounts are some of the IGN Deals team's most anticipated offers going into the biggest sale period of the year.

Most of what I'm recommending in the sale is classified as "Used - Like New," essentially what Amazon deems almost brand new, never used, with small damage to the packaging, but not to the contents themselves. So you're not losing anything, or buying a game that looks like it's been recently run over repeatedly.

We've also already noted some PlayStation deals at Amazon Resale, with the PS Portal dropping to around $140 (but now sold out), and the DualSense Edge controller, also down to around $140 right now (also likely to sell out soon). In case you hadn't already realised, the main with kind of deals is stock tends to be extremely limited, so be fast to the trigger if you don't want the disappointment of missing out.

This is one of the best ways to buy into some of the most expensive new games available, and find rare discounts where you normally wouldn't (I'm looking at you, Nintendo). Plus, you still get the 30-day Amazon return policy, so it's still a much safer option than just buying a used game off some random on Facebook Marketplace.

If you're looking for more Switch 2 game deals, we also recently covered discounts on other games sold by Amazon this week (not resale either), including Split Fiction, Sonic x Shadow Generations, Madden NFL 26, and more.

Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN's resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.