Owlcat Games has announced The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, a narrative-driven action role-playing game set in the universe of the sci-fi TV series of the same name.

The developer, best known for isometric role-playing games such as Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, is stepping firmly into Mass Effect territory with The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, which has an over-the-shoulder third-person perspective, cover-based gunplay and class-driven powers, party management, and companion romance.

Owlcat said fans of the TV show will encounter familiar faces, with some of the actors reprising their roles, but stopped short of naming any. The canon story sees players assume the role of a Pinkwater Security mercenary trapped on Eros Station during a deadly lockdown. You lead a crew, take command of a ship, and navigate the solar system.

“We’ve been dreaming about building a sci-fi action RPG of this scale for a long time, and The Expanse is the perfect universe to bring that vision to life,” said Owlcat’s Creative Director, Alexander Mishulin.

“It’s a world grounded in realism and complexity, perfect for telling a story how we like — mature and character-driven, where your choices truly matter. We are excited to bring this new experience to our players and look forward to sharing more soon, especially knowing how many questions our fans will have.”

Game Design Producer Yuliya Chernenko admitted the original Mass Effect trilogy “was absolutely an inspiration to the team.”

“It was iconic for the Xbox 360 generation of gamers,” Chernenko continued. “Many of us first played it in our teenage years, and it left a lasting impression. We are building on that legacy and expanding what players anticipate from this experience. Our story is deeply rooted in hard science fiction, one of the core reasons The Expanse universe resonates so well with its fans. The combat reflects the standards of modern action gameplay. The narrative emphasizes political tension and moral complexity. And yes — there’s romance too.”

Like in Mass Effect, in The Expanse: Osiris Reborn you get to create your own captain (play as an Earther, Martian, or Belter and take command of the system’s most advanced ship), lead a crew (your companions have “pasts, motives, and a voice in your story”), and experience tactical third-person combat, with real-time cover mechanics, various abilities, and squad coordination. And, just like in Mass Effect, you bring two companions into combat while others support from behind the scenes.

The Expanse fans will be pleased to know you get to visit familiar locations from the show and books, such as Ganymede, Ceres, Mars, and Luna. This is a story-driven RPG, with a narrative “grounded in tension, consequence, and the complexity of humanity’s future among the stars.” Yep, that sounds a lot like The Expanse, and, it turns out, Mass Effect.

There’s no release date just yet, but Owlcat said The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is “coming soon” to Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG, Xbox Series X and S, and PlayStation 5.

It’s a busy time for Owlcat Games, which is working on the just-announced Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy as well as DLC for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. But it described The Expanse: Osiris Reborn as its “flagship project.”

“Rest assured, the team behind The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is completely separate from Owlcat’s other projects and will not hinder excellence elsewhere,” Owlcat insisted.

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.

Fortnite has just wrapped up its latest explosive live event, detonating the Death Star looming over the Island and welcoming DC Comics hero Superman in the process.

Tonight's event, Death Star Sabotage, saw nearly 6 million players infiltrate the Empire's fully operational battle station that has hovered menacingly over the Fortnite battle royale Island throughout its Star Wars mini-season. Happily, and perhaps unsurprisingly, players were able to stop the station's deadly space laser from obliterating the game's map — although not without causing a bit of damage in the process.

As destruction rained down, the event's closing moments saw Superman arrive — presumably to try and help with clean up duties during the game's incoming superhero-themed season, which begins in just a few hours' time.

Fortnite's big Star Wars event began in orbit around the game's battle royale Island, giving players a rare glimpse at the game's setting from outside its usual boundaries. Fortnite's setting exists as a bubble of reality floating through the multiverse (which handily allows any character from any franchise to turn up at any time!) and here, players were able to pilot X-Wings and TIE-Fighters to blow up orbiting Star Destroyers and engage in fun dogfights. In the continued absence of a Star Wars: Battlefront 3, this was a fun riff on its space battles to get things started.

The action then swiftly moved to within the Death Star itself, as Fortnite heroes Jonesy (Troy Baker) and Hope (Suzie Yeung) led players through the bowels of the station, initially disguised as Stormtroopers and their captives. Ultimately, players found themselves in an encounter with Star Wars' Emperor (was that the voice of Sheev Palpatine himself, Ian McDiarmid?), and able to escape the Death Star as it exploded.

IGN exclusively debuted the new trailer for the upcoming third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds at IGN Live today. Now you can watch it too via the player above or the embed below.

Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premieres on Paramount+ on July 17th.

“In season three, when we reconnect with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, still under the command of Captain Pike, they face the conclusion of season two’s harrowing encounter with the Gorn,” according to the official synopsis.

“But new life and civilizations await, including a villain that will test our characters’ grit and resolve. An exciting twist on classic Star Trek, season three takes characters both new and beloved to new heights, and dives into thrilling adventures of faith, duty, romance, comedy and mystery, with varying genres never before seen on any other Star Trek.”

The new trailer sees the crew of the Enterprise trying to repel an invasion, leaning into the cosmic action as much as the humor and whimsy fans have come to expect from the series.

All the cast – – Anson Mount as Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley, Ethan Peck as Spock, Jess Bush as Christine Chapel, Christina Chong as La’An Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura, Melissa Navia as Erica Ortegas, Babs Olusanmokun as Joseph M’Benga, Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk, Martin Quinn as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, and Carol Kane as Pelia – pop up throughout the trailer.

For more Star Trek coverage, boldy go read our op-ed on why the TNG-era holodeck appearing in Season 3 of Strange New Worlds doesn't break continuity and our Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 review, which we hailed as "another must-see season of Star Trek."

IGN Live was able to exclusively reveal the first five minutes of SYFY's upcoming adaptation of Revival, and we also had the chance to speak to the series' co-creator and showrunner, Aaron B. Koontz, about why this show about the dead coming back to life in surprising way will be well worth a watch.

Revival is set to debut on SYFY on June 12 and is based on the Harvey Award-nominated comic from Tim Seeley and Mike Norton that ran for 47 issues from 2012-2017. In our exclusive clip you can watch below, we are introduced to this world on 'Revival Day,' which is the day the dead rise. However, these aren't zombies; the undead are very much the same as they were when they were alive.

These few minutes are very much the same as the opening of the comic, and Koontz shared why that was such a great thing.

"It's one of the first scenes in the comic, and we were like, this hooked us," Koontz said. "I thought it was really cool and had no idea where this was going to go. And I will say, without giving things away, this scene is also more than just a scene. You'll see, after watching later episodes, that these first few minutes were hiding so much more than you realized."

One of the big moments from the clip is one of the undead being cremated at Randy's Crematorium in Wausau, Wisconsin, and trying to break free and then running around on fire. That was all practical and not some CG wizardry.

"I wanted to be ambitious," Koontz said. "I wanted to set people on fire and I didn't want to do CG. We were also in such a small town where there weren't a ton of extra ambulances and we felt really bad because so many medical personnel were there. I remember thinking, 'I hope nothing bad happens in the town tonight because they're all sitting on our set!'"

And of course, we got to spend some time with Randy himself, who is played by Graeme Barrett of Divorced Dads and Court of Chaos fame. Koontz actually found him on Instagram and thought he "fits the vibe of what we want juxtaposed against the serious business."

"I think one of my favorite things in the script was like, okay, but these are not our main characters," Koontz added. "So, how do you get them right to the main characters and what's there? And I love that Randy saying it's not my fault is also similar to the very first line you hear Wayne Cypress say. And you're immediately in a fight with Wayne and Dana, and so you're seeing and feeling the dynamic of the Cypress family, which is important because the Cypress family is the heart of this whole show."

So, all in all, Revival isn't meant to be a "super serious scary thing." Instead it aims to have scary moments, melodramatic moments, and also a lot of fun moments. Koontz said it's a mix between Mare of Easttown and Fargo, filled with weird, quirky characters, full on horror thriller elements, and the good parts of the zombie tropes with a twist that makes it unique.

Revival will premiere on SYFY on June 12 and will be available on Peacock the following week. The series stars Melanie Scrofano (Wynonna Earp), Romy Weltman (Backstage), David James Elliott (JAG), Andy McQueen (Mrs. Davis), Steven Ogg (The Walking Dead), Phil Brooks aka CM Punk (Mayans M.C.), Gia Sandhu (A Simple Favor), Katharine King So (The Recruit), Maia Jae (In the Dark), Nathan Dales (Letterkenny), Mark Little (Doomlands), Glen Gould (Tulsa King), Lara Jean Chorostecki (Nightmare Alley), and Conrad Coates (Fargo).

The series is based on the Harvey Award-nominated 2010s comic title of the same name from writer Tim Seeley and artist Mike Norton, which ran for 47 issues from 2012-2017 from Image Comics.

For more, check out our exclusive trailer reveal for Revival and everything else happening at IGN Live.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.

The fourth entry in a periodic run of docuseries that began with 2004’s Long Way Round, the current Long Way Home, airing weekly on Apple TV+, once more follows friends Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman as they go on another motorcycle journey together - this time from McGregor’s home in Scotland to Boorman’s home in England, except it’s by way of a rather eventful and time consuming adventurous long route through fifteen countries in total.

At IGN Live today, a brand new clip from the next episode of the series debuted, which you can watch above, showing McGregor and Boorman enjoying a sunny day on the road - something that can still feel refreshing based on where they call home, but particularly so thanks to how much rain the duo have encountered on this particular trip.

In conjunction with IGN Live, McGregor and Boorman spoke to IGN about Long Way Home, with McGregor describing the entire Long Way series as “a very, very important part of my life. The four trips we've done, we couldn't have imagined when we started doing Long Way Round that it would lead to all of the places we've seen and all the people we've met and all of the experiences we've gone through together. I don't think we could have imagined it, but now it's a large part of my life. The Long Way trips have become something really special to me.”

Though he very much agreed with how fulfilling it was, Boorman noted that filming the Long Way series “is always a lot more work than you think when you are doing these jobs. I remember a long time ago, 20 years ago, when we were doing all sorts of training for Long Way Round and we didn't really have a clue what we were doing… and we still are not really that sure about what we do! But this ex-SAS [Special Air Service] guy was saying to us, ‘Charley, if you can get to the start line – and it's so hard to get to that start line – then the adventure part is easy.’ That's the easy part because you've done all the hard work at the beginning to set things up, to get everything going. And that's the truth for anybody who does any journey.”

But while filming the series is technically a professional job, since the footage ultimately airs on TV, McGregor noted that compared to his film and TV roles, “It’s a different thing. It doesn't, to me, feel like part of my acting work. It's not. It's a different thing that I do and I love it. I love it very much.”

Boorman added that as much as they do their best to prepare, especially having done this so many times now, they can still be thrown for a loop, noting that when they began Long Way Home, “We hadn't ridden together for a little while and we left Ewan’s house and we went down the road and we had these old bikes and we looked great. We had all the gear on that you want, and we got down to the end of his driveway and it started to rain and we had all the wrong clothes on, and we were putting on all these waterproofs. And Ewan looked at me and he said, ‘Charlie, we've been doing this for 20 years… You would've thought we'd learn something!’ But off we went and it rained for four weeks.”

Asked about locations from the four series that particularly stand out, both men mentioned Mongolia from their first trip in Long Way Round as particularly impactful, with Boorman stating, “Mongolia was an extraordinary place that kind of tested us on every level.”

McGregor has an especially deep and personal connection to their time in Mongolia, recounting to IGN how they had a particularly tough time there initially thanks to a variety of reasons related to weather, terrain and more, which began to fill them with frustration. “It was wet and muddy and we were really doing like 14, 15 miles a day or something when we were used to doing many more than that.”

Because of that, he and Boorman were highly considering detouring down a road to the left into the nearby Russia instead of staying in Mongolia and called one of the show’s creators and producers, David Alexanian, to tell him their new plan. Recalled McGregor, “David sort of talked me out of it. He said, ‘Look, don't bail out of Mongolia just because it's hard. This place is amazing.’”

Because of Alexanian’s convincing words, McGregor and Boorman continued on to Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, and McGregor recalled, “When we were there, we had a UNICEF visit with kids who live in the streets and in the winter they live underground near to the heating pipes because it's so cold there. And the next day we went to this identification center where these kids, when the police find them, they take them to this place. And we met a little girl there who is called Jamyan, who became my daughter. I adopted her with my ex-wife, Eve.”

Remarked McGregor, “If we had turned left, I never would've met her. And her life and our lives would all have been very, very different. And so it's a funny moment to be able to look back in time and go, ‘Jesus, that one choice to go left or straight on really affected our lives.’”

Unlike some actors who might want to keep a distinct separation between the roles they’ve played and something like Long Way Home, where they are being filmed as themselves, McGregor is able to easily have fun with his cinematic history during his travels - at one point pretending to use the Force to open an elevator door.

McGregor laughed that he really doesn’t give it that much thought, remarking, “It's something that's difficult to not do when there's an automatic door. It's just like a tick.”

New episodes of Long Way Home debut Fridays on Apple TV+.

As part of IGN Live, we can exclusively reveal the initial two terrifying yet adorable minutes of the first episode of Crunchyroll's Nyaight of the Living Cat anime and announce that the show will be getting its very own Dead by Daylight in-game collection collaboration.

The first two minutes, which you can see below, introduce us to the characters and this horrific world that is also kind of cute in a twisted way? As our characters try to escape a dark mass hiding in the shadows, it's finally revealed that what's been chasing them is a horde of very cute cats.

When one of our heroes falls and lets the horde catch up to him, he's not eaten or mauled or anything as he would be if this were a zombie apocalypse, but he is instead given a ton of kisses. Sadly, those kisses and even the mere touch from one of these cats turn him into a feline as well.

As for the Dead by Daylight collaboration, we don't have any more details to share, but fans won't have to wait long to find out what cuddly terrors will be joining Behaviour Interactive's game as details will be announced in the "near future."

Nyaight of the Living Cat will debut in Japan on TV Tokyo and other stations, and Crunchyroll will simulcast the series in the U.S. and more on July 6, 2025.

For those unfamiliar, Nyaight of the Living Cat began as a Japanese manga series in series that was written by Hawkman and illustrated by Mecha-Roots. In this world, a mystery virus that turns anyone who comes in contact with a cat into a cat. Our hero, Kunagi, has to try their best to resist the urge to snuggle one of these adorable kitties to survive.

For more, check out the first trailer for Nyaight of the Living Cat and everything else happening at IGN Live!

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.

Father’s Day is on June 15th, which means there’s only one week left to shop for all the father figures in your life. Luckily, I’ve found some great Father’s Day gifts that also happen to be discounted at the moment. Whether your Dad is into collectible figures and arcade machines or wants to dabble in flying drones and VR, there’s a solid deal to be had. Maybe you just want to buy yourself something fun? Well, a cheap espresso machine or on-sale AirPods might be right up your alley. Check out all my favorite deals today below:

TL;DR: Best Deals Today

The Switch 2 just came out a couple of days ago, and while some accessories have jumped back up in price, there are still a few great deals on cases, power banks, screen protectors, and grips. PlayStation’s Days of Play sale should also still be on your radar, as it's bringing deep discounts to DualSense controllers and more until June 11.

McFarlane Toys Figures — Up to 50% Off at Best Buy

If your dad is into collectible figures, Best Buy has McFarlane Toys figures on sale for up to 50% off. Founded by comic book creator Todd McFarlane, McFarlane Toys is known for creating detailed, realistic collectibles. Right now, you can grab everything from a DC Multiverse Batman to Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man for significantly discounted prices.

Meta Quest 3S

My Arcade Pole Position Racing Player: Retro Mini Arcade Game Console

CASABREWS 5700Gense

Apple AirPods Pro and AirPods 4 Are on Sale Now

BLINORY GPS Drone with Camera

Therabody Theragun Mini 2nd Gen

Nintendo Switch 2 Accessory Deals

If you were lucky enough to score a Nintendo Switch 2, chances are good you’ll want to accessorize the handheld to keep it safe and get the best gaming experience. Luckily, there are already loads of deals on everything from cases and screen protectors to thumbstick grips and portable chargers.

You can grab a screen protector for under $5 using the coupon code we provided. One of our favorite power banks for Switch 2 is also down to its lowest price of the year for a limited time, offering a built-in USB-C cable for added convenience. Maybe you want to switch up the grip on your Joy-Cons? Well, some comfort handles are on sale and bring a more typical controller experience to the Joy-Cons. Even the best lap desk for Switch 2 is discounted for Prime members and ready for you to make the most of the Joy-Cons’ new “mouse mode” when lounging on the couch with the Switch docked.

DualSense Controller Deals

PlayStation’s Days of Play sale continues, bringing some killer discounts on games and accessories. So, if you’ve been waiting to grab a new DualSense controller, now’s the time. A wide range of colors are all discounted below $60 for savings of $15 or more. These are the biggest deals we’ve seen this year on this wireless gamepad that’s comfortable to use, compatible with a range of gaming devices, and full of reliable controls.

Lenovo Legion Go

SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1 Wired Multi-System Gaming Headset

Anker Power Bank (20K, 87W, Built-In USB-C Cable)

OMEN Max 16 GeForce RTX 5090 Gaming Laptop

Sportdo Solid Wood Vintage Cornhole Sets

You’ve got your MTG Final Fantasy cards, they’re all sleeved up, and you’ve even got yourself some fancy new dice and counters for the occasion, but something is missing.

That’s right, you need one of Ultra Pro’s latest Final Fantasy playmats. Ultra Pro, perhaps best known for its sleeves, tends to release a series of playmats for Magic: The Gathering sets, and they rarely disappoint. This time around, though, you can get a great new place to play while protecting your cards for just $26.99.

As is often the case, Ultra Pro has a series of playmats inspired by the Commander decks for the set. There’s Final Fantasy 14’s Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed, Final Fantasy 7’s Cloud Strife, Tidus from Final Fantasy X, and Terra, Herald of Hope from Final Fantasy 6.

These mats will set you back $26.99, and I’m definitely tempted to snag the Cloud one as a big Final Fantasy 7 fan. If you want to spend a little more, you can also get one of three two-sided playmats, which is a nice touch as there are a fair number of double-sided cards in the Final Fantasy set.

You can take your pick of Emet Selch/Hades, Sorcerer of Eld, Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant/Ifit, Warden of Inferno, or Sephiroth, Fabled Soldier/Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel. While we expect the latter will be popular, I’m more drawn to Final Fantasy 16’s Clive Rosfield, with a striking color scheme on a white background. The two-sided mats will cost you $39.99. Which one will you go for? Let us know in the comments.

So much of Dying Light is informed by the series’ melee-first design. Its impact can be seen in the damage system that causes its grotesque zombies to fall apart with every slash of your blade, as well as the weapon crafting, which turns household tools into hilariously impractical killing machines. And, of course, it influences the parkour movement, which allows you to keep well away from chewing teeth and clawing hands.

So what happens when you add guns to this close-quarters formula? And I don’t mean one or two rusty pistols, but a whole armoury stocked with shotguns, assault rifles, and plentiful ammo. That’s a question the next game in the series, Dying Light: The Beast, poses. The answer is not the obvious one. Far from transforming into a regular first-person shooter, guns have turned Techland’s latest into something that feels closer to Crysis or even (if you squint a bit) Dishonored. They’re another layer of an increasingly varied toolset that ensures every encounter is a sandbox solved by your own rules.

For this month’s IGN First, I was able to play an hour-long mission from an early section of Dying Light: The Beast. This meant stepping into the combat boots of Kyle Crane, the returning protagonist of the original Dying Light. Held hostage and experimented on for 13 years by a shadowy figure known only as The Baron, I join Kyle a few hours into his quest for revenge. Deep within the new, much more rural zone of Castor Woods, I infiltrate one of The Baron’s factories. And, standing on the facility’s roof, I realise my options are more varied than the last time I played Dying Light.

Using Kyle’s heightened “survivor” senses (a benefit of all those experiments he endured), I’m able to highlight the patrolling members of The Baron’s militia. Some are marked in orange, while others are red; an indication of who is armed with melee weapons or guns, respectively. It’s a colour-coded threat level that helps me set up a plan of action. Yes, it’s all very Batman: Arkham.

I start right in front of me with a blissfully unaware bowman. Approaching silently, I perform a melee takedown using a shiv I’ve crafted – much faster than choking him out – and then swipe the bow from his corpse. Bows were, of course, in Dying Light 2, but kept out of reach until the back half of the game. Their earlier introduction in The Beast promises a greater level of engagement options across the campaign, especially considering their ranged stealth potential.

Notching an arrow, I headshot the bowman’s buddies, including a rifle-wielding sniper on the opposite roof. No one hears him slump to the floor, so I’m free to parkour across and add his gun to my collection. Once again, my engagement opportunities expand: no longer limited to firing single arrows and enduring long draw speeds, I can take out groups of charging melee enemies before they make it into striking range… although everyone around me will know exactly what’s going on. Might as well make a spectacle of it, then.

I dive down to the roof below, where a further two riflemen, a squad of brawlers, and – delightfully – a pile of explosive gas canisters await. The dive triggers a slow-motion effect. It’s hardly the slick bullet time of Max Payne and the old FEAR games, feeling more as if you’re suddenly travelling through sticky air rather than becoming John Wick, but it nonetheless successfully emphasises Kyle’s military background.

With this expanded toolkit, Dying Light’s encounters have graduated into a space similar to Crysis and Far Cry’s sandboxes. Using Kyle’s survivor sense allows you to methodically remove enemies with guns from the playing field before going toe-to-toe with less dangerous foes. Flowing fluidly from stealth takedowns to silent headshots to shell-sputtering shoot-outs allowed me greater control over the space than I’ve come to expect from the typically messy melees of Dying Light 2. Combined with the parkour, which makes a respectable stand-in for teleportation, there’s even a little of Dishonored’s strategy to be found here, too – albeit less elegant in execution. My hope is that, beyond the boundaries of this demo, there are encounters that encourage a strong variety of approaches.

I’ve reason to be hopeful. As I explore Castor Woods, I encounter a zombie wearing a battery pack that detonates on contact, sending arcing forks of electricity through the horde. Another wears an explosive canister on its back – just one good shot will turn him and his buddies into barbeque. Talking of seared flesh, I later acquire a flamethrower. It’s clear that there are plenty of toys to experiment with, and I hope that Techland is playful enough to use these elements to coax players into cleverly absurd solutions for clearing out the undead and deadly alike.

It’s worth noting that Techland has upped its game when it comes to stealth, too. The bow, shivs, and tools like throwing knives are naturally all very good at silently dispatching human opponents, but there’s now a method for quietly avoiding zombies, too. Taking more than a few pages from The Walking Dead’s book, you can now smear yourself in undead guts in order to mask your human scent, and then casually walk through the horde. It’s a simple stealth tool, but one that’s incredibly evocative of the fiction Dying Light revels in.

But Kyle isn’t special because he can use a gun or take a bath in a zombie’s insides. Those aforementioned experiments have turned him into the titular Beast. It’s a similar backstory to that of Aiden Caldwell, the protagonist of Dying Light 2, but where Aiden’s infection gave him some zombie-like superhuman abilities, Kyle has become something much closer to a leaping wrecking ball. Triggered at will after taking and dealing enough damage to fill a meter, Beast Mode allows you to tear regular enemies apart with gory animations akin to Doom’s Glory Kills. A thunderous ground pound violently throws foes to the seven winds – using it indoors is effectively a screen wipe attack, sending zombies splattering into the walls and ceiling. All this came in handy against the demo’s final boss, a towering “Chimera” zombie known as a Behemoth, which is capable of hurling engine blocks and concrete boulders across the arena. The Behemoth has a number of easily recognised attack patterns, but the challenge is in its resilience, as well as the number of minions that shamble after you. With Beast Mode engaged, I was able to easily clear those mobs and inflict big damage spikes against the boss.

But as much as going toe-to-toe with another beast is good fun, I’m actually more interested in the utility aspects of Kyle’s mutations. Techland tells me that playtesters have used the Beast mode’s extended leap ability to bypass entire parkour challenges. And so it’s the unconventional uses of these abilities that promise to join the likes of guns and camouflaging yourself with guts in ensuring that The Beast feels like a meaningful upgrade over its predecessor.

The scope of this demo was pretty limited – in fact, it was largely a playable version of the hands-off presentation I saw at gamescom last year, and so there is almost certainly more to see in time. But being able to wander about this small slice of the world on my own time allowed me to enjoy some of the smaller details. The world feels like a substantial upgrade over Dying Light 2, not so much in level design (although much of what I liked about the old town section of Villedor returns) but in atmosphere. The new weather effects system is exceptional, with storms drenching the landscape with heavy rain and winds whipping trees, bushes, and long grass into a frenzy. And when the sun sets, the light really does die. It’s nearly impossible to see during the witching hour, forcing you to sparingly use your flashlight to navigate between the patrol paths of the much more difficult nighttime terrors. Long-time fans who pine for the scarier nights of the first game should hopefully be well catered for.

When I left my appointment with Techland at gamescom last year, I was somewhat skeptical as to how guns would affect the core ideas Dying Light is built on. Naturally, the studio wanted to show off its new toys, and that hands-off demo was played largely as a shooter. But having had the opportunity to play myself, in which I had the agency to choose when and where guns were deployed, I quickly learned that firearms are just one component of Dying Light: The Beast, not the main attraction. Their addition, alongside what feels like a strengthened inclusion of the bow and the series’ many trademark DIY melee solutions, made the demo’s encounters feel richer and more textured. Each combat scenario felt like a problem with a dozen solutions, rather than the melee mosh pits that I typically found myself in while playing Dying Light 2.

The question now is how all this evolves over the wider game. There are several tools and weapons that I didn’t get extensive or any time at all with, such as the aforementioned flamethrower and oddities like a throwable shock knife, and so my hope is that The Beast constantly adds weapons with unique utilities to the toolkit. And then, of course, there’s your mutations; each Chimera you kill allows you to inject more freaky DNA into your veins and unlock a skill tree of powers. I can only hope that the further down those branches you go, the more wild your ability set becomes. And provided the campaign continues to offer up interesting challenges that encourage the use of both abilities and tools, then I think The Beast could be a much more interesting sequel than it initially appears to be.

Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor.

If you're looking for DTI codes, IGN's got you covered! In this article, you'll find a list of all the active and working Dress to Impress codes in June 2025 that you can redeem for free rewards and bonuses in DTI, including outfits and accessories like hats, bags, and jewelry.

Active Dress to Impress Codes (June 2025)

Here are all the active Dress to Impress codes in June 2025 and the free rewards you get for redeeming them:

• ANGELT4NKED - Helmet
• 3NCHANTEDD1ZZY - Wand
• ELLA - Skirt
• 1CON1CF4TMA - Sweater dress
• B3APL4YS_D0L1E - Doll accessory
• MEGANPLAYSBOOTS - Boots
• CH00P1E_1S_B4CK: Streetwear outfit set
• S3M_0W3N_Y4Y: Axe
• KREEK: Bear hat
• LANA: White shorts, shirt, and legwarmers
• LANABOW: White bow
• BELALASLAY: Black jacket with pink halter top
• LANATUTU: White dress
• IBELLASLAY: Red, green, and blonde hairstyle
• M3RM4ID: Orange mermaid set
• TEKKYOOZ: White handbag
• LABOOTS: Black boots
• ITSJUSTNICHOLAS: Black jacket
• ASHLEYBUNNI: Bunny slippers
• LEAHASHE: Sweatshirt and sweatpants
• KITTYUUHH: Black cat
• C4LLMEHH4LEY: Puffy dress and bear headband
• SUBM15CY: Necklace and eyelashes
• D1ORST4R: Bag and bow

All Expired Dress to Impress Codes

Below, you'll find a list of expired DTI codes that no longer work and can't be redeemed as of June 2025:

• LNY2025
• HAPPYNEWYEAR
• Your unique Easter 2025 Easter Bunny Set code
• UMOYAE
• FASHION
• BADDIE4LIFE
• Your unique April Fools' Day 2025 Flamethrower code
• M0T0PRINCESSWAV
• CUPIDSCLOUD
• SWEETHEART (was only redeemable between February 15 and February 16, 2025 at 8AM PT)
• YEAROFTHESNAKE
• NY2025
• WINTERUPDATE (was only redeemable between 8 AM - 11 AM PT on Saturday, 14 December!)
• 4BILLION
• CHOOPIE10K
• THEGAMES
• EYELASHES
• REWARD4CLASS1C

How to Redeem Dress to Impress Codes

Follow the steps below to redeem Dress to Impress codes and claim free rewards in DTI:

1. Open the Dress to Impress Roblox Experience.
2. Click on the handbag icon on the left-hand side to open the DTI Codes menu.
3. Enter your code in the "Type here..." field.
4. Check for any spelling mistakes or errors.
5. Click the checkmark icon to redeem the code.

Why Isn't My Dress to Impress Code Working?

If the code you're trying to redeem in DTI isn't working, it's likely because of one of two reasons:

• The Dress to Impress code is expired
• There's a spelling mistake in the code

When inputting a DTI code in Roblox, make sure it's spelled correctly (for example, a capital I isn't a lowercase l, 0 and not O, and vice versa) and that there are no spaces before or after the code. We'd recommend copying and pasting codes straight from our article to ensure they're correct as we've tested and verified that the codes on this page are working ourselves.

If your DTI code still isn't working after checking for typos, it's more than likely expired and can no longer be redeemed in Dress to Impress.

How to Get More DTI Codes

To get more Dress to Impress codes, the best way is to join the official DTI Discord server. While we check for new codes daily, the quickest way to know about new Dress to Impress codes is to follow the Roblox experience's official Discord server where updates are posted in real time.

You can also check the Dress to Impress X account and the official DTI Roblox Group page.

Are There Any Upcoming DTI Codes?

The Dress to Impress Summer Update is set for June 28, 2025, so we'll likely see new DTI codes then. As always, we'll keep you updated as soon as any new codes drop, so bookmark this page!

What is Dress to Impress in Roblox?

Dress to Impress is a popular dress-up Roblox Experience available on PC, console, and iOS and Android mobile devices. In it, you put on your best outfit to complete a specific theme and walk the runway in a bid to earn votes from other players and become a top model. As you gain votes, you gain ranks and can access more clothing and accessories, so make sure you're truly dressed to impress! Also, for toy lovers and collectors, you can now pre-order a mystery pack of 2 Dress to Impress minifigures right now for $30 at Walmart.

Announced at Summer Games Fest, Chronicles: Medieval is an exciting freshman effort from brand new developer Raw Power Games. While this is their first title as a studio, the team is made up of legacy talent from games like Hogwarts Legacy, Hitman, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and more. The trailer debuted today gives a small taste of what Chronicles: Medieval is about, but we were able to take part in a special presentation to dive further into Raw Power Games’ ambitious history-carving title.

Set in 1313 AD Europe, players assume the role of a created character with little to no social influence on the world around them. It’s the player’s goal from the outset to take this character, perhaps just a lowly craftsman hailing from a no-name village, from rags to riches to ultimately become the most influential and powerful person of the age. While said craftsman may start from meager beginnings, nothing is stopping them from one day picking up a sword and becoming a mercenary, turning to a life of banditry for economic redistribution of a five-fingered variety, or joining the King’s Army to seek glory on the battlefield.

As the player climbs social ranks through honors and tournament wins and eventually achieves a leadership position, the game then tasks them with growing their sphere of influence over as much land as possible. While an empire may be made at the end of a sword, that is not the only way to gain control over much of Europe. Engaging in diplomacy, building trade routes, and forging alliances can all help you create a bloodless bridge to other nations. For players who are feeling a little malicious but do not quite have an appetite for war, subterfuge and espionage are also on the table. Chronicles: Medieval is about letting the player decide how they will build their legend and watch the world react to their actions.

Over the course of the campaign, proprietary simulation technology throws the occasional wrench into the players’ best laid plans by hoisting the unexpected. Famine, plagues, and other kinds of natural disasters will blaze their way across Europe and could either become a mutual enemy for the player and allied countries or an opportunity to grab more land. What better way to win a war than to strike when your opponent is at their weakest?

Of course, this isn’t to say that war is always a bad option. Raw Power Games wants to simulate the large-scale battles of yore by letting players prepare, command, and fight alongside armies in giant conflicts. The developer describes these clashes as a pillar of Medieval equivalent to the sandbox storytelling and is aiming for them to be equal parts historical and compelling. While the campaign is single-player, players who wish to have a friend join them in the brutal knight-on-knight melee battles can do so in the co-op mode made up of custom battles.

A major focus for Chronicles: Medieval is the ease for players to mod the game. Community Manager Clemens Koch insists that modding is not just supported, it is part of Raw Power Games’ DNA. “A hundred Thomas the Tank Engines vs. one Master Chief?” Koch pontificates. “That’s only doable by modding.”

Raw Power Games is aiming for an Early Access release for Chronicles: Medieval in 2026 on PC, hoping to build the game alongside the community playing it. While many things could happen in the meantime, the current plans are to stay in Early Access for about 12 months before officially releasing, then thinking about things like the console releases. Raw Power Games does not quite consider it a Game as a Service, however, as it is a premium title that intends to make full use of its time in Early Access.

And by the way, for those curious how The Dark Knight Rises and Inception actor Tom Hardy ended up narrating the trailer, the answer is quite a bit simpler than one would expect: they emailed him and asked. After Raw Power Games showed Hardy the trailer, identifying him as the ideal voice to introduce the game, Hardy loved it and agreed to lend his dulcet tones for the narration.

If Chronicles: Medieval makes good on all its promises, players should have a fantastic time exploring every narrative nook and cranny in rising to the top of 14th century Europe’s socioeconomic landscape. Whether it be through aggression, defense, or diplomacy, the crown of an emperor awaits players ready to take on the world in this ambitious title.

Capcom has confirmed the Year 3 roster of playable DLC characters for fighting game Street fighter 6.

Four new DLC characters were revealed during Summer Game Fest 2025. Sagat is out this summer, C. Viper this fall, Alex early spring 2026, and finally, Ingrid late spring 2026.

Street Fighter 6 Year 3 DLC characters:

• Sagat - Summer 2025
• C. Viper - Autumn 2025
• Alex - Early Spring 2026
• Ingrid - Late Spring 2026

The announcement was made in a trailer starring pro wrestler Kenny Omega, who dressed up as each DLC character. Artwork shown in the video, below, reveals the new designs of each of the upcoming DLC characters, and a snippet of Sagat gameplay. We see the veteran Street Fighter villain perform his trademark Tiger Shot, Tiger Uppercut, and Tiger Knee special moves against rival Ryu, as well as a twist on his iconic Street Fighter 2 Thailand stage.

Ryu Ga Gotoku's shiny, mysterious new alt-history action game, Project Century, got a new trailer at Summer Game Fest that contained a lot more information, a lot more questions, and a brand new name: Stranger Than Heaven.

Stranger Than Heaven was first revealed at The Game Awards last December as Project Century, but with very little information as to what the game actually was. We know it's being developed by Yakuza creator Ryu Ga Gotoku studio, and features similar-looking action combat to what we've seen elsewhere in the series...albeit dramatically upgraded. For instance, the menus are sleeker, the blood and fighting is more brutal, and the choice to "Show Mercy" or "Show No Mercy" isn't an option ever offered in Yakuza.

Though this new trailer has shed a bit more light on what to expect, it's also raised more questions. For instance, the initial Project Century trailer was set in 1915 in Japan. This one is apparently set in 1943. Why are there two different time periods? Is this a time travel game, or just a game with a really elaborate flashback/time skip? And where in Japan is this? Is this Sotenbori, as suggested by the bridge? Or Kamurocho? Or somewhere new?

Then there's the fusion in both trailers of traditional Japanese imagery mixed with classic Americana, like some sort of alternate reality where multiple eras and cultures crashed together. We've seen that dissonance in both trailers for their respective eras, and though it's clear the game takes place in Japan, it's unclear exactly what alt-history is going on here. Fans already have theories, and they're certain to form even more in the wake of this new trailer.

Finally, we learned the name of at least one character: Mako Daito. He seems to be the protagonist, but the way things are going, who even knows? He's got some wild blue eyes and suggests in the brief bit of dialogue that there's something strange about him, but it's unclear exactly what. Last year, an odd tease suggested that Snoop Dogg might be in this game too. That's...an interesting cast.

You can catch up on everything announced at Summer Game Fest right here, and stick with us for everything coming this weekend from IGN Live.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Marvel Studios is skipping next month’s San Diego Comic-Con and now, DC Studios will also reportedly refrain from promoting their films at the annual fan con.

“SDCC is two weeks after Superman arrives in theaters, so the company won't be doing anything on that front. And Supergirl doesn’t hit in theaters until June 26, 2026 so DC Studios is biding its time before making any reveals,” according to The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision newsletter.

THR adds, though, that “DC Studios is going all-in on Peacemaker, the hit John Cena The Suicide Squad spinoff created by DC co-chief James Gunn. Peacemaker will have a big footprint at the convention, a move that signals DC and Max’s confidence in season two, which bows Aug. 21. And, while DC had no comment, there could be a Hall H panel for the show.”

IGN has reached out to DC Studios for comment but had not heard back at time of publish.

If there is a Hall H panel for Peacemaker Season 2 then it would seem plausible that talent potentially attending could include DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran and cast members John Cena, Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, Jennifer Holland, Steve Agee, Robert Patrick, Frank Grillo, Sol Rodríguez, David Denman, and Tim Meadows.

If Peacemaker does have a panel at July’s SDCC perhaps the upcoming HBO Max series Lanterns will also be there. The show – starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as Hal Jordan and John Stewart, respectively – is currently in production.

We’ll know what DC Studios’ final SDCC plans are closer to when the convention takes place from July 24-July 27.

As revealed in the Peacemaker Season 2 trailer, there are two Peacemakers this season. Gunn and Cena appeared together at CCXP Mexico last week where Gunn said the mystery of how there could be two versions of Christopher Smith will be answered in the new season’s first episode.

Gunn also recently explained how Peacemaker, Season 2 is tied to his Superman movie and other upcoming DCU projects.

"You've seen what we call the QUC, the Quantum Unfolding Chamber, in the first season of Peacemaker, and we see more about that technology in Superman," Gunn said.

"The QUC is the center of the story in Peacemaker season 2. We see a lot of different characters from Superman in the [season], [including] Isabela and Nathan and Sean, and then we see a bunch of other characters later on in the season from other parts of the DCU and from Superman. There might even be one really, really, really big cameo near the end of the show."

Peacemaker, Season 2 launches on HBO Max on August 21.

It's official: Resident Evil 9 is coming, and we just got our first real look at it during Summer Game Fest 2025.

Resident Evil Requiem is a single-player survival horror game due out February 27, 2026 across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S.

On-stage at SGF, host Geoff Keighley said Resident Evil Requiem marks a "bold shift for the franchise both in tone and gameplay." Expect "high-stakes cinematic action" on top of survival horror.

Check out the debut trailer below.

The trailer appears to confirm a destroyed Raccoon City, which was nuked at the end of Resident Evil 3, via city shots that perhaps suggest open-world game design. There's a brief look at the Raccoon City Police Department in ruins.

We may have a brand new playable character on our hands in the form of FBI technical analyst Grace Ashcroft, who is investigating a series of strange deaths. She's ordered to return to the scene of her mother's murder, and in doing so must face her past.

We then see Grace strapped to a gurney and hear a mysterious figure say "I know now that you're the one that I've been searching for... special one. Chosen one." Is he talking about Grace? If Grace is a playable character, is she the only one? Are established Resident Evil characters like Leon in the game and playable?

Capcom's official website doesn't have any meaningful answers, but does point to "technological advancements" and "a story with rich characters and gameplay that's more immersive than ever before."

Here's the official blurb:

Requiem for the dead. Nightmare for the living.
Resident Evil Requiem is the ninth title in the mainline Resident Evil series.
Prepare to escape death in a heart-stopping experience that will chill you to your core.
A new era of survival horror begins in 2026. Technological advancements combined with the development team's depth of experience combine in a story with rich characters and gameplay that's more immersive than ever before.

We've known a new Resident Evil game was coming for a year now, with Capcom having teased the next game during its summer stream last July and then teased it yet again just last month while celebrating 10 million players of Resident Evil 4 Remake. That remake, which launched in 2023, was awarded a rare IGN 10/10, with our reviewer calling it "the series' most relentlessly exciting adventure rebuilt, refined, and realised to the full extent of its enormous potential."

If you need a catch up, check out everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2025.

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.

If you enjoyed the Dying Light: The Beast gameplay that was just shown off at the Summer Game Fest Showcase, good news: we've got a LOT more! That starts with a 30-minute exclusive extended gameplay video (watch it above) as the kickoff to our all-June-long coverage of Dying Light: The Beast through our IGN First "cover story" editorial program.

Dying Light: The Beast is the upcoming new standalone entry in the first-person melee- and parkour-fueled zombie-fighting franchise, set in Castor Woods decades after the zombie outbreak that turned the world into...what you see on screen.

Keep checking back all June long for more exclusive IGN First coverage!

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Following last year’s genuinely excellent Batman: Arkham Shadow, Meta is moving from DC to Marvel for this year’s big superhero VR game effort with Deadpool VR, the just-announced first-person action romp due out exclusively for Meta Quest 3 and 3S in late 2025. I got a chance to swing by one of Meta’s Bay Area campuses last week to don one of the wireless headsets and become the Merc With a Mouth in a 30-minute hands-on session, and I learned several things I wasn’t expecting from the first Deadpool video game since Activision’s mediocre attempt in 2013.

1) Neil Patrick Harris voices Deadpool

Perhaps you had the same thought I did as you watched the announcement trailer: “Gee, that Ryan Reynolds soundalike sure sounds an awful lot like Neil Patrick Harris.” And sure enough, it in fact is NPH himself, whose snark we’ve seen weaponized on film time and again going all the way back to When Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. The one-time Doogie Howser M.D. isn’t shy about letting the f-bombs fly as Deadpool, and assuming Reynolds’s price tag was too high, Harris sounds like a solid substitute.

2) It’s being developed by Twisted Pixel

If that name sounds familiar to longtime Xbox fans in particular, it’s because the studio made its name with a string of absolute banger Xbox Live Arcade games in the Xbox 360 days: The Maw, ‘Splosion Man, Ms. ‘Splosion Man, Comic Jumper, etc. It even made one of the few legitimately great Kinect games: The Gunstringer. After a fairly brief and uneventful period where they were acquired by Microsoft and subsequently parted ways with Microsoft, Twisted Pixel was picked up by Meta in 2021 after they made one of the best early-gen VR games: the black-and-white horror thriller Wilson’s Heart.

So what does all of this have to do with Deadpool VR? Simple: Twisted Pixel has a long track record of delivering good – and comedic – smaller-scale games, making them a potentially great fit for bringing the Merc With a Mouth to life in VR.

3) Marvel not only didn’t hold Twisted Pixel back, they encouraged more violence

There’s some give and take with Marvel when it comes to getting studio approval on the developer’s craziest ideas, admitted executive producer Jody Coglianese, but she told me that if they say no to anything it’s more about the character than any gameplay actions. But she said Marvel pushed Twisted Pixel more than the other way around, playing builds and then leaving feedback like, “What if holding your controller at a certain angle with one of your swords equipped enabled ‘x’ action?” And then the developer would put that new move into the game.

While IO Interactive stays hard at work on 007 First Light, the team made an appearance at Summer Game Fest 2025 to reveal another James Bond tribute that will see Hitman World of Assassination players taking out Mads Mikkelsen’s character from Casino Royale.

A trailer for the collaboration level was revealed today, showing Agent 47 as he heads to a Paris casino to take out Le Chiffre, the iconic poker-playing villain from 2006’s Casino Royale. This video game version of the character is even played by Mikkelsen himself, who returned to reprise his role as this latest Elusive Target, which is available right now.

You can take on an iconic 007 face in Hitman: World of Assassination starting today. You can also see the new trailer below.

“Le Chiffre is a character I have always enjoyed – he’s calculating, cold, and ruthless,” Mikkelsen said in a statement. “Bringing him into the world of HITMAN makes for a thrilling collaboration. Players can expect mind games, high stakes, and twists that only this character could orchestrate. To succeed, they’ll need to play their hand wisely.”

Premuim content additions include The Banker Pack, which comes with a King of Cards Suit, the Casino Monarchique Chip, The Banker Rope, and The Banker Silenced Pistol. Hitman players excited for 007 First Light can prep for IOI's James Bond video game by taking out this new Elusive Target. Those who play the mission between now and July 6, 2025, will also be gifted access to a special reward for the upcoming title.

This year's Summer Game Fest included the announcement of a brand new Wu-Tang Clan game from Brass Lion Entertainment: a cooperative action RPG called Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver.

Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver brings together up to four co-op players to fight...well, the titular Deceiver and save their home, Shaolin. The game meshes Afro-surrealism and anime, and has a soundtrack of both classic Wu-Tang songs and new music from DJ Just Blaze. Per a press release, this project was originally begun as a tie-in to upcoming horror film Angel of Dust from Wu-Tang members Ghostface Killah and RZA.

“Creating Angel of Dust has been an incredible journey," said Ghostface Killah in a statement. "Bringing the story to life through film was just the beginning. Now, with the development of the video game, we are immersing fans even deeper into this supernatural thriller universe. It’s about blending music, storytelling, and interactive experience. I can’t wait for fans to step into the darkness and discover what lies beneath.”

Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver will launch on PC and console at a later date. This is the second video game centered around the Wu-Tang Clan, following 1999 PlayStation fighting game Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style.

You can catch up on everything announced at Summer Game Fest right here, and stick with us for everything coming this weekend from IGN Live.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

If you’ve listened to your car radio at any point in the last decade, you’re almost certainly at least aware of the band Imagine Dragons. Best-known for hits like Radioactive, Demons, Believer, and Thunder, Imagine Dragons are among the best-selling and most decorated bands worldwide. Like them, love them, dislike them, whatever – just about everyone knows their music.

What they’re not known for is making video games. But band manager Mac Reynolds and his brother, lead singer Dan Reynolds, want that to change.

Back in 2020, the brothers founded Night Street Games, a new studio built to facilitate their other passion in life: game development. Speaking to Reynolds at the Game Developers Conference last March, he described making games as a “life long dream” that he and his brother have been quietly dabbling in for years now.

“Dan and I, we played a ton of games together [growing up]. And for us, I'm really dating myself now, but even in the Commodore 64 days all the way to Sierra. I was sneaking in the other room to call the Sierra helpline. And from there on, LucasArts and Delphine, where we would just wait for the next game. I remember playing Another World and Flashback came out and I needed to get it. And those games played a big part of our childhood and for me then, GoldenEye, that was a pivotal moment. So Dan and I, gaming was in our DNA. I even found this paper in my office just a couple months ago. Never remembered this at all. It was from third grade and it was like, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ And it said, ‘I want to run a game studio.’”

Of course, the brothers ended up in music instead, but Reynolds says their passion for games continued. The two still played and discussed games regularly. Mac learned 3D modeling and animation, and Dan learned how to code. And as a band, Imagine Dragons have done a number of collaborations with major games over the years, from writing a song for Starfield to playing Zelda music at The Game Awards with composer Koji Kondo, from composing the opening theme for Arcane to underscoring the Nintendo Switch’s Superbowl commercial. Dan Reynolds has even published a small, experimental game already, on itch.io.

With that context in mind, then, it’s hardly surprising that Imagine Dragons’ founders might eventually try their hands at game development. And they’re not doing it alone. Night Street Games consists of roughly 25 people, including multiple Activision Blizzard veterans with experience on games such as Diablo 3, World of Warcraft, and Heroes of the Storm. And they’ve partnered with Ukrainian studio Argentics to make Last Flag, a third-person hero shooter that is centered around a game show-style rendition of Capture the Flag, inspired by Dan and Mac’s childhood memories:

“Dan and I, we used to play Capture the Flag in the woods at night as Boy Scouts and had great memories and very much enjoyed some of the various Capture the Flag game modes over the years from Quake to Unreal Tournament to Warsong Gulch to whatever,” Reynolds recalls. “And I reflected on the fact that none of those really got to that heart of what it meant to hide and to find, and the magic of being in nature and sneaking around and being a hero. When Capture the Flag is an afterthought or a game mode, it tends to really be predictable bases, predictable locations.

“And so we started with this theory of: what would a pure Capture the Flag game feel like? And quickly found a couple things, which is number one, hiding and finding is super fun. It makes the experience different every single time. But number two, there are some challenges to that unpredictability. And you need to have a very thoughtful structure to be able to make it feel more like poker and less like roulette where if you play your cards right, you really have a good shot at winning regardless of how lucky somebody gets in finding the flag. And so that developed into what is today a game where everything from the ground up, from the core game mechanics, to the level design, to the heroes and their abilities is all centered around how to have the best Capture the Flag experience.”

Like the game it’s based on, Last Flag is conceptually simple: two teams of five, each side has a flag that they hide somewhere on their side. When the game starts, each team must try and find the opponent’s flag and bring it back to their own base, then defend it for one minute to win the game, all while protecting their own flag. Last Flag throws in a few twists, such as towers around the map that can be captured in order to narrow down the flag’s location, and of course the unique abilities of each member of the roster of heroes, all of which can be upgraded throughout the match. There are 10 playable characters at launch, each with a unique kit: there’s an archer, a thief, a scout with a cyber falcon partner, and more.

“Part of the magic in discovery is learning how to play the heroes in unexpected ways,” Reynolds explains. “Then there's all these fun shareable moments that get created by people discovering new synergies between some of the abilities or discovering new ways to use them or looking at a situation that's completely novel and being like, ‘Oh crap, you know what I bet I could do?’ And to me, that's some of the most fun. You get some of that in games that we love. You get some of that in the wildness of Team Fortress 2 or the over-the-top games of Super Smash Bros. where you have those moments you want to talk about and clip and share. We hope to create a lot of those.”

Reynolds and his team have big plans for Last Flag long-term. The game’s frame story is that of a 1970s dystopian game show run by a mysterious media mogul, and Reynolds hints to me that there may be a grander story waiting to play out over time, perhaps with nods to he and his brother’s love of ARGs. There’s also plenty of room to add new elements: new characters, new stages, or even new gameplay elements. Reynolds does suggest that while exact pricing hasn’t been decided on yet, he expects Last Flag to be a one-time, premium purchase game as opposed to a free-to-play game with microtransactions.

Last Flag is planned for launch in 2026 on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, and there’s a PC alpha planned later this year. When I ask Reynolds about a Nintendo Switch 2 release at GDC in March, he tells me he doesn’t have access to a dev kit just yet, but hopefully that’s changed by the time this piece publishes. Reynolds confirms the game is in development for console as well, so expect those other platform releases sometime later down the line. He and Night Street expect to be working on Last Flag for some time to come. He and his brother aren’t just musicians anymore, after all. They’re musicians and game developers.

“This is not a side project,” Reynolds says. “This is the next chapter of our lives.”

You can catch up on everything announced at Summer Game Fest right here, and stick with us for everything coming this weekend from IGN Live.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

A new Lego game has been announced at Summer Game Fest that looks suspiciously like Mario Party. And it's called? Lego Party! (Yes, with the exclamation point.)

Developed by SMG Studio, the Australian team behind Moving Out, this multiplayer party game includes 60 mini-games, hundreds of mini-figures and board games made out of Lego. Instead of Power Stars, you're competing with friends for Golden Bricks.

Announced at Summer Game Fest 2025, host Geoff Keighley claimed Lego Party! contained 1 million Lego bricks, 300 minifigures and over 700 trillion minifigure combinations. Which sounds like a lot.

A first-look trailer confirmed Lego Party! is coming to PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S later in 2025.

Lego Party is the second new Lego game announced today in quick succession. Just a few minutes ago we got our first look at Lego Voyagers, an adorable-looking co-op game for two players from Light Studio, the developer of Lego Builder's Journey.

Publisher by acclaimed indie publisher Annapurna Interactive, Voyagers offers a Split Fiction-style Friends Pass so two players can team up with just one copy of the game.

If you need a catch up on everything announced during tonight's show, here's everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2025.

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

Survival horror game ILL is showing signs of life...or death, as it were...in a new trailer at Summer Game Fest today.

The trailer gives us our first real, meaty look at the body horror gameplay of ILL, including its dismemberment mechanics. The game takes place in a research fort that keeps producing horrible Aberrations. Meanwhile, the player must save the thing that matters most to them, that's trapped deep inside.

Team Clout boasts that ILL will be a "realistic and terrifying experience" with "disturbingly realistic horrors", using gore, physics, and binaural audio to great effect.

ILL first appeared online in 2021 with intriguing concept trailer, but went relatively silent after that except for a few, brief signs of life. This is the first real, robust look we've gotten at the game from developer Team Clout at all, and a welcome sign for those interested in its unsettling vibes.

ILL is Team Clout's debut game, and comes into being thanks to the Mundfish Powerhouse initiative, an investment project from Atomic Heart developer Mundfish.

No release date yet for ILL, though you can wishlist it on Steam for now.

You can catch up on everything announced at Summer Game Fest right here, and stick with us for everything coming this weekend from IGN Live.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Wildgate, the space shooter from former Blizzard-led studio Moonshot Games and publisher Dreamhaven, will launch on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation on July 22 of this year.

This was announced today at Summer Game Fest, during which it was also revealed that there will be a cross-platform, open beta from June 9 through June 16 on all platforms. The beta will include two new characters, one with telekinesis (Kae) and the other with a jetpack (Adrian). Additionally, the beta will add three new explorable points of interest, new daily missions, a revamped mission system, and other improvements.

Wildgate was first announced back in March. It's a sci-fi multiplayer competitive shooter about a crew performing heists in space, with elements of both exploration and combat and a Sea of Thieves-like quality to the whole thing. We previewed it ahead of its announcement and our previewer said that it "will be one of those games where crazy things happen every single match that send me howling to my friends in victory or defeat, then swapping war stories with anyone who will listen the next morning, and if it manages to pull that off, it could very well be my next squad-based obsession."

We've chatted with Dreamhaven founder and former Blizzard president Mike Morhaime a few times now about his vision for the publisher. In March, alongside the announcement of Wildgate, he told us that he still hopes Dreamhaven can eventually be a beacon for the industry as he proclaimed he wanted it to be when the company first launched, but clarified his vision a bit:

“Really what I want to see happen is for Dreamhaven to build a reputation with gamers that the brand stands for something, a seal of quality, hopefully, that hopefully there's some trust that we've built up where players know that if a game is coming from Dreamhaven, regardless of genre, that it's going to be something very special and they'll want to have the curiosity to check it out.”

You can catch up on everything announced at Summer Game Fest right here, and stick with us for everything coming this weekend from IGN Live.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Techland showed up for Summer Game Fest 2025 to announce a Dying Light: The Beast release date of August 22, 2025, for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S.

The surprise puts the Dying Light spinoff out in just a few months, placing players back into the shoes of Kyle Crane following his absence in the 2022 sequel. It’s a release date announcement that comes with a fresh look at gameplay, as Techland teases some of the many, many ways players can beat, stab, and bash their way through hundreds of infected.

In its official description for Dying Light: The Beast, Techland calls the adventure a "blend of open world and action survival horror." It's set in Castor Woods, a dangerous valley that will require players to use all of their tools to stay alive.

"You are Kyle Crane. After being captured by the Baron and enduring his painful experiments for years, you escape," Techland's description says. "Left on the edge of humanity with both human and zombie DNA, you struggle to control your inner beast and the conflict that comes with it. But you’ll need to, if you want to get your revenge on the man who did this to you."

Dying Light: The Beast is a standalone story in Techland’s post-apocalyptic universe. It’s available for pre-order now, granting early purchasers access to exclusive items such as the Hero of Harran bundle. Its contents include the Ultimate Survivor Outfit, Harran Combat Knife, Follower Crossbow, and more.

During Summer Game Fest today, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree was announced from Bandai Namco. It's a new roguelike game made by developer Brownies that looks reminiscent of Hades, but derived instead from Eastern mysticism.

It's hard to piece together much about Towa just from the trailer, but from what we can tell it's a roguelike similar to Hades with a top-down view, action combat, and the ability to choose upgrades at certain junctures.

Towa appears to feature a cast of multiple characters to choose from who are all working together to fight some sort of demon bent on destroying the world, and you seem to be able to have multiple at once in the field fighting enemies. All the characters and the aesthetics of the world they inhabit are heavily steeped in classic Japanese art, and among the cast is what appears to be, delightfully, a giant shiba and a large talking koi.

You can catch up on everything announced at Summer Game Fest right here, and stick with us for everything coming this weekend from IGN Live.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Following the 2021 re-release of Ubisoft's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, the developers of TMNT: Shredder's Revenge are taking a crack at a brand new Scott Pilgrim game. It's called Scott Pilgrim EX, and it's coming to PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch in early 2026.

Scott Pilgrim EX is a brand new adventure made in collaboration with Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley. It's a four-player co-op brawler with a familiar retro look and a brand new story, where you can play as Scott, Ramona, and five other members of the cast as they fight demons, robots, and other enemies in a reimagined Toronto.

Appropriately, Scott Pilgrim EX will be backed by an all new soundtrack from Anamanaguchi, with art assisted by pixel artist Paul Robertson, and will be consulted on by Scott Pilgrim Takes Off director BenDavid Grabinski.

This will mark the second Scott Pilgrim game following Ubisoft's initial effort way, way back in 2010, not counting the 2021 remake for modern consoles. Tribute Games is a Montreal-based studio formed by former Ubisoft employees, and the team boasts a number of members who worked on the original.

If you need a catch up, check out everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2025.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

For those excited for developer Neowiz’s highly anticipated Overture add-on content, the wait is over: the Lies of P DLC is out right now.

The post-launch story content for Neowiz’s Pinocchio soulslike was shadow-dropped for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S during Summer Game Fest 2025 today. It means you can stop what you’re doing right now and go play it for yourself without the need to wait for a release date announcement. You can see what lies in store with the gameplay trailer below.

"Lies of P: Overture is a dramatic prequel to the acclaimed soulslike action RPG, Lies of P," an official description says. "It transports you to the city of Krat in its final days of haunting, late-19th-century Belle Époque beauty. On the brink of the Puppet Frenzy massacre, you follow a legendary Stalker—a mysterious guide—through untold stories and chilling secrets. As Geppetto’s deadly puppet, you’ll journey through Krat and its surroundings, uncover hidden backstories, and face epic battles that shape the past and future of Lies of P."

Along with its new story, Lies of P: Overture, of course, comes with new bosses and weapons to learn across its 15-20-hour average playtime. It'll also feature a first for the franchise: difficulty options. Director Jiwan Choi recently explained the reason Neowiz decided to add options for players looking for more or less challenge, saying that it came down to a desire to allow a "wider audience" to enjoy the game.

Lies of P: Overture is an exciting addition to Neowiz’s dark fantasy universe, but it’s surprise launch isn’t much of a surprise. The shadow-drop reveal actually leaked earlier today.

You can read our full Lies of P: Overture review here. For more reveals, be sure to read up on everything else shown during Summer Game Fest 2025.

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

Just announced at Summer Game Fest 2025, Lego Voyagers is an adorable-looking co-op game for two players from Light Studio, the developer of Lego Builder's Journey.

A soothing trailer showed two tiny brick characters — Red Brick and Blue Brick, as I'm calling them — work together to build, drive and sail through various Lego landscapes.

Lego Voyagers is set to launch sometime later in 2025 on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and offer a Split Fiction-style Friends Pass so two players can team up with just one copy of the game.

An accompanying press release describes the game as an adventure about friendship and play.

"When two friends make it their mission to rescue an abandoned spaceship, they embark on a journey beyond their wildest dreams, ultimately learning the value of being connected," the blurb reads. "Experience what it feels like to be a Lego brick. Tumble, jump, snap together, and build your way through rich brick worlds."

The whole thing looks like a Lego version of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons but with Lego bricks, which to be honest sounds like fun.

If you need a catch up on everything announced during tonight's show, here's everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2025.

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’ve marion-yet to play the fantastic, Pinocchio-inspired soulslike Lies of P, then its first DLC expansion, Overture, is filled with finely polished reasons to do so. Though it's whittled from the same timber and sticks very closely to the original stage directions, this 12-hour encore has plenty of new (and still deeply depressing) areas to explore, some additional tools to carve baddies into kindling with, and more impressively menacing bosses to drop the curtain on. Plus, it does a great job fleshing out an already awesome story by tugging on a few strings that were left dangling in the base game and landing some surprising ventrilo-twists, renewing my appreciation for just how well this fib-filled tale made me care about its characters. I was happy to put my elongated nose back to the hack-and-slash grindstone of this top-puppet-tier soulslike, which left me more excited than ever for a proper sequel.

If you’re just joining us after the intermission, Lies of P is one of the better soulslikes to take the stage in a very crowded genre. Aside from its unique weapon-crafting system, it didn’t introduce many new ideas to shine a spotlight on, but the stuff it borrowed is all done extremely well. Overture doesn’t try to fix what isn’t broken, adding a dozen hours of daunting challenges in the form of a time-traveling prequel that throws you back to the events preceding the main story. At roughly a third of the size of the original game, Overture feels pretty massive, following a similar (albeit at a much more modest scale) model as Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC by greatly expanding the amount of areas, bosses, and loot to collect. It does that while introducing an interesting second act to the story to boot, so there is enough meat on these wooden bones for me to remember how much I adored this devious adventure in the first place.

With a mostly new cast of characters, Overture could almost be enjoyed as a standalone adventure, were it not only accessible once you’re most of the way through the main story – plus it leans pretty heavily into existing lore, where a lot of the payoff requires you to know how it all ends. But still, as someone who hasn’t revisited Lies of P since launch, I didn’t feel at all lost, and Overture does a great job reintroducing you to the calamitous city of mechanical puppets and diseased creatures that is Krat. This new tall tale is every bit as heartbreaking and bleak as I’ve come to expect, with some interesting twists and turns that fill in existing gaps in unexpected ways and offer some very satisfying answers to questions I was left pondering over a year ago. It’s also got some of the most epic (and sometimes stomach-churning) moments I’ve seen in a game in a long time. I kinda forgot how full-anime this thing really goes at times, and that’s definitely a good thing in my book.

The main attractions in Overture, though, are the super weird new places you’ll visit and the evil monsters you’ll murder along the way. During one early section, you’ll walk through a zoo and get attacked by all manner of deranged animal, from apes to elephants to a giant alligator, while in another section you’ll run across a perilous lake of ice that falls apart under your feet while pirate-like puppets operate a cannon nearby in an attempt you to send you plunging into Davey Jones’ locker. There’s quite a bit of variety to this sandbox, and it’s especially cool to see the number of new enemies that have been added to the mix, like undead fish that leap out of the water and try to gobble you up while flopping about (this DLC really wants you to kill animals, if you couldn’t tell). That said, interesting new areas are also offset somewhat by curiously retread ground, including a carnival section that feels awfully familiar to the parade-themed spaces and enemies we’ve already seen before. There’s also plenty of rehashed enemies, like your standard psychotic humanoid puppets and undead dogs that have way more teeth than I’m comfortable with.

One of the standout parts of Overture is its new bosses, which are extremely original, mostly challenging, and serve as exciting climaxes after the slower lead-ups of slashing through chump minions and reading private documents you find lying around, you nosey little mannequin. I’ll avoid spoiling as many as I can, but there’s a good mix of absolutely massive, ugly monsters wielding such enormous weapons that it’s completely insane you can parry them with your tiny sword, and fast-moving humanoid enemies who dodge around and cross blades with you in a contest of reflexes and pattern recognition. The final boss in particular, who has some of the most hilariously convoluted attacks Lies of P has ever concocted, is especially fun to learn, and provided a satisfying conclusion and final skill check that made me feel like I’d really earned that ending. None of these encounters were as difficult as I remember some of the hardest fights in the base game being, but that’s partially because they were better balanced in general, so I had more fun dying and learning their ins and outs with better consistency. It’s also possible I’ve just gotten better at soulslikes since I’ve reviewed about 50 of them in the past few years, from Lords of the Fallen to Another Crab’s Treasure, but I definitely enjoyed what felt like a more predictable level of challenge all around.

Though there’s plenty of cool new sights to see and things to kill in Overture, not much at all has changed with the actual moment-to-moment gameplay. There are at least a handful of interesting new weapons to use, like some deadly hand claws that are a great option for dexterity-focused builds, as well as some new amulets to augment your build with, but nothing that’s outside of what you’d expect to find in the base game. And when it comes to things like actual combat strategy or exploration, this add-on is largely just more Lies of P – that’s definitely a good thing, but it does mean I still have all the same criticisms as before. The sections that lead up to each boss fight are still significantly easier than those eventual encounters, and the stiff combat system locks you into a pretty specific Bloodborne-like playstyle compared to the RPG-inspired nature of other soulslikes that give you more freedom.

It’s not a huge deal that these issues haven’t really been ironed out, but what is a little disappointing is how Overture plays it fairly safe when it comes to new mechanics. It only introduces one in the form of a fresh upgrade tree system that lets you further improve and customize passive benefits, some of which increase the damage you deal or make you more likely to survive a barrage of attacks from a boss. This system is certainly neat, but it mostly feels like an extension of the existing upgrade system that just adds more runway to leveling up, and there aren’t any major shakeups to the sorts of things you’ll be doing as you butcher your way through Krat, so it’s a good thing doing so is as fun as ever.

Embark Studios reappeared at Summer Game Fest 2025 to announce an Arc Raiders release date of October 30, 2025, for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S.

The release date was revealed alongside a new trailer today. The highly anticipated follow-up project to Embark’s The Finals will take a different route than fans of the developer may be used to. Instead of dropping players into a competitive, high-stakes FPS game show, Arc Raiders is a free-to-play, multiplayer extraction adventure game set in a sci-fi version of Earth that takes place far in the future.

Select players had the opportunity to check out Arc Raiders' three-player, PvPvE sandbox as part of a Tech Test held in May. Ebark says it went off without a hitch, encouraging the team to move forward with its fall release date while working a few new ideas into its plans, too.

"The tech test was the best rehearsal we could get, ahead of what's shaping up as a big release this fall. It’s clear that players recognize the passion, effort, and craftsmanship that’s been poured into the making of ARC Raiders," Executive Producer Aleksander Grøndal said in a statement.

“The test also honed in on concrete things we’re addressing in this last stretch of development. There are bugs to squash, as well as general polish and performance improvements to be done. We're also fine-tuning game balance and the player economy, and will work on an even better onboarding experience for players who come in new to this genre. At release, the game will be further expanded, with more locations to explore, more adventures to embark on, and more for players to strive towards and discover."

More details about Arc Raider’s full launch will be revealed closer to its October release date. For more, be sure to read up on everything else shown during Summer Game Fest 2025. You can also click here to read our preview.

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

During today's Summer Game Fest showcase, Square Enix took the spotlight to reveal a new social deduction game, Killer Inn.

Killer Inn is a murder mystery developed by Tactics Studio, where players are divided up into two teams, lambs and wolves, then dropped into a big mansion together. The goal of the wolves is to murder all the lambs, while the lambs' goal is to discover who the wolves are to put a stop to their murder spree.

Players explore the mansion, collecting survival tools, gear, and weapons from chests and merchants scattered throughout. Tokens can be collected from quest completion and spent to unlock certain chests for better gear. There are over 20 different characters to choose from, all with different abilities that can be leveled up throughout a match, and they all can equip all sorts of different weapons from guns to knives to grenades to fend off members of the opposing team.

When a player is murdered, a clue is left on their body as to who the murderer was, which players can use to try and deduce the culprit. The clues might be hair, skin, fingerprints, blood, or clothing, all of which can help you narrow down who the wolves are. Good news, it looks like the game tracks clues for you, helping you narrow down wolves with UI markers indicating that someone is getting increasingly suspicious.

Once a lamb has identified a wolf, it's their job to dispatch them before they can kill anyone else. You'll automatically be eliminated if you kill as a lamb as another lamb, so Killer Inn encourages you not to just go on a murder spree to try and save yourself. There are also safe zones scattered around where wolves are forbidden from killing lambs, because the staff in the vicinity will immediately out their identity to other lambs. There's another win condition, too: there's a boat at the harbor the lambs can unlock and use to escape, though its dispatch is challenging.

Killer Inn is gearing up for a closed beta over Steam sometime soon, but it doesn't have a release date just yet.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Game of Thrones: War for Westeros is a new real-time strategy game announced during tonight's Summer Game Fest announcement show.

Coming to PC via Steam in 2026, a cinematic trailer showcased one of the Game of Thrones series' epic battles, and the ability for you to guide the result to a different outcome than in the TV show or books.

As the smooth tones of Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) narrate events, we see the Night King claim Jon Snow (with the likeness of Kit Harrington) for himself. It's probably fine, he's died at least once already.

War for Westeros lets you command four factions — House Stark, House Lannister, House Targaryen or the Night King — to forge alliances or deceive enemies (and friends) as you wage war with familiar heroes and armies.

Set across Westeros, from the northern Wall to King's Landing, you can either play solo or in real-time multiplayer.

"This time, you’re not watching the Game of Thrones - you’re playing it," said game director Ryan McMahon. "War for Westeros puts you in the seat of power, whether you’re leading the Starks, Targaryens, or Lannisters, or even commanding the Night King and his army of the dead, you’ll wield real power and rewrite the fate of the realm.”

If you need a catch up on everything announced during tonight's show, here's everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2025.

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

During today's Summer Game Fest event, we saw a new trailer for Onimusha: Way of the Sword, which showed off more of the game's slashy smashy combat.

Today's trailer focused pretty heavily on battles, both with regular enemies and bosses. We got an especially close look at both a pretty hefty monstrous boss enemy, as well as an elegant and vicious fellow taunting our hero Musashi. At the end of the trailer, a beautiful woman manifests out of an orb and looks knowingly at the camera.

Capcom's latest Onimusha was first revealed at The Game Awards last year, and is being developed for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC as the first brand new, mainline Onimusha game since Dawn of Dreams way back in 2006. In February, we got a closer look at the game's protagonist, the historic swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, who will fight off an evil force known as Malic as it tries to take over Kyoto. Onimusha: Way of the Sword is currently planned for release sometime in 2026.

You can catch up on everything announced at Summer Game Fest right here, and stick with us for everything coming this weekend from IGN Live.

Geoff Keighley kicked off Summer Game Fest 2025 with the announcement of Mortal Shell 2.

The Soulslike sequel is due out at some point in 2026 across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S.

Mortal Shell 2 is developed by Cold Symmetry, creator of the first game.

Here's the official blurb:

Mortal Shell II is a standalone sequel to Mortal Shell that significantly expands on the original with unrestricted, adrenaline-charged combat, deeper weapon design with extensive upgrade options, and an emphasis on free exploration.

This action-RPG offers an immersive, interconnected open world, expansive yet deliberately compact, designed to unfold its twisted landscapes and hidden structures while respecting the player's time.

The dormant forms of forgotten warriors are scattered throughout Mortal Shell II’s shattered world. Once discovered, each Shell can be awakened and possessed, unlocking their innate strengths and unique abilities.

Evolve your own style of combat by harnessing the diverse unique abilities of each Shell, and unravel their secrets through the discovery of lost memories.

Mortal Shell II’s compact open-world connects over winding footpaths guarded by the desperate and fanatical. Those who wander are rewarded with new story elements, Shells, powerful and strange weaponry, upgrades, curiosities and more.

Step through derelict temples of ancient deities, across forbidden forests and icy graves, into citadels carved from bone.

Scattered between these lost landmarks are more than 60 dungeons, each providing a formidable challenge to the talents and weaponry you have accrued on your way.

You are the Harbinger, a being prophesied to reclaim the blessed Undermether’s stolen Ova from the daunting creatures that ruthlessly guard her unborn.

Mortal Shell II’s combat system is agile yet grounded. Unrestricted by stamina, players exploit multiple tactics to shatter enemy posture and strike critically.

If you need a catch up, check out everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2025.

Developing...

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.

When Sony launched the PlayStation 5 in late 2020, it came with an all-new controller, the DualSense, that completely redesigned the look and feel of its iconic controller. While it still retained the signature parallel thumbsticks and button layout, it added new features like Haptic Feedback and Adaptive Triggers to provide a deeper sense of immersion while playing. For a while, the DualSense was your only option if you wanted to game on PS5.

Five years later, there are plenty of third-party controllers to choose from, as well as a new console in the PS5 Pro. These DualSense alternatives provide options for players looking for a different button layout, more customization, or pro-level features. Check out our full rundown of the best PS5 controllers available in 2025.

TL;DR: These Are the Best PS5 Controllers

Whether you're interested in additional back buttons to enhance your gameplay or want a more customizable pro-style controller, there are plenty of options available now for PS5 controllers. My colleagues and I have tested and reviewed most of the controllers below and handpicked the best options.

1. PlayStation DualSense

Best Overall PS5 Controller

2. Sony DualSense Edge

Best Pro-Style PS5 Controller

3. Razer Wolverine V2 Pro Wireless

PS5 Controller With the Best Battery Life

4. Scuf Reflex Pro

Best Controller Grips

5. Nacon Revolution 5 Pro

Best Thumbsticks on a PS5 Controller

6. Victrix Pro BFG

Best Customizable PS5 Controller

7. Hori Fighting Commander OCTA

Best PS5 Fightpad

8. Victrix Pro FS

Best PS5 Fight Stick

9. PlayStation Access Controller

Best PS5 Controller for Accessibility

How to Choose a PS5 Controller

Think about what matters most to you as a player. Are you looking for a feature-rich controller with all the bells and whistles, or something more budget-friendly?

Most third-party PS5 controllers include some level of "pro" features aimed at competitive gamers. Customizable back buttons, interchangeable thumbsticks, enhanced grips, and multiple connectivity options are all things to watch for.

Battery life is another key factor. The standard DualSense doesn’t have the longest battery life, so you might want to consider a wired controller or one with a larger battery that can last longer between charges.

If price is a concern, the standard PS5 DualSense is still a great pick. It includes premium features like adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, a built-in microphone and speaker, and more all for under $80 (and often cheaper – it goes on sale fairly often).

Beyond traditional gamepads, you may also want to explore racing wheels, fight sticks, and joysticks for a more immersive experience in driving, fighting, and flying games.

How We Picked the Best PS5 Controllers

After more than five years of testing and reviewing PS5 controllers, I've assembled this list based on several key factors, including design, core features, customization options, battery life, and accessibility. While the standard DualSense will be more than enough for most players, these alternative controllers offer additional features like back buttons, interchangeable thumbsticks, and other pro-level enhancements that can make a real difference in play, competitive and otherwise.

PlayStation 5 Controller FAQ

What PlayStation 5 controller doesn’t drift?

Most PS5 controllers are susceptible to stick drift, a common issue caused by worn-down potentiometers in the analog sticks. Some high-end gamepads avoid this by using magnetic Hall effect sensors, which are far more durable and resistant to wear. The Nacon Revolution 5 Pro is one such controller, virtually eliminating stick drift thanks to its Hall effect sensors.

How do I fix stick drift on PS5?

If your controller is experiencing stick drift, it may be due to worn-down potentiometers inside the analog sticks, either from regular use or a manufacturing defect. Unfortunately, there is often little you can do to fix the issue yourself. DualSense controllers usually come with a one- or two-year warranty depending on your region, so if yours is still under warranty, it is worth contacting Sony for a repair or replacement. In some cases, the problem may be caused by dirt or debris, so try gently cleaning around the base of the analog stick to see if that resolves it.

Does the PS5 controller have a headphone jack?

Yes, the DualSense controller has a built-in 3.5mm audio jack at its base that a PS5 gaming headset or a pair of headphones can be plugged into. Many other third-party PS5 controllers also feature a headphone jack.

When do PS5 controllers go on sale?

Although discounts on PlayStation 5 consoles may not happen very often, PS5 controllers do go on sale throughout the year. Overall, the best time to buy a PS5 is also the best time to buy a controller. In terms of sales events, Amazon Prime Day in July and Black Friday season in November are when you will see the lowest prices on Dualsense controllers. That being said, you can usually also find deals during the PlayStation Days of Play sale every year.

Matthew Adler has written for IGN since 2019 covering all things gaming, tech, tabletop games, and more. You can follow him on the site formerly known as Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream on Twitch.

Summer Game Fest 2025 has arrived and promises to reveal a bit of the exciting future of video games. While we don't know exactly what secrets this year's show will unveil, we'll be here to gather all the biggest announcements in one place to ensure you don't miss a thing.

Make sure to keep checking back as we'll be updating this roundup throughout the show! Also, be sure to let us know which moment was your favorite from Summer Game Fest.

Developing...

Mortal Shell II Kicks Off Summer Game Fest With a Gory and Brutal Look From the Sequel

Check out the first look at Mortal Shell II, the sequel from Cold Symmetry that is filled with gory and brutal combat, terrifying creatures, and much more. Mortal Shell II will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in 2026.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach's Neil and Lucy Take Center Stage In a Brand-New Story Trailer

Luca Marinelli's Neil and Alissa Jung's Lucy take center stage in Summer Game Fest 2025's Death Stranding 2 story trailer. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach will be released on PS5 on June 26, 2025.

Want to let dad try out the latest and greatest in gaming tech? Why not get him a VR headset for Father's Day. The Meta Quest 3S is one of the most accessible VR headsets around - both in terms of pricing and the fact that it requires no PC or console - and right now Amazon has it for $30 off. To sweeten the pot, every Meta Quest 3S purchase gets you a copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow VR game and a three-month trial of Meta Quest+.

Meta Quest 3S VR Headset with Batman: Arkham Shadow

As one of Nintendo's most iconic characters, Mario is everywhere on the Switch. The plumber has had multiple releases every year since the system first came out with no signs of stopping, even as we head closer to the now officially announced Switch 2. Some of the best Mario games ever have launched on the Switch, like Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

From 3D platformers to the newest versions of Mario Kart, here's every Mario game available on the Switch, as well as upcoming Mario games set to launch on the Switch 2.

How Many Mario Games Are There on Nintendo Switch?

A total of 21 Mario games have been released for Nintendo Switch. This spans from the launch of the system in March 2017 to the present day. Below, we've compiled each of the original Mario titles available on Switch. Keep in mind that this list won't include games that are a part of Nintendo Switch Online.

All Mario Switch Games in Order of Release Date

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017)

The first Mario game on Nintendo Switch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, brought together all Mario Kart 8 had to offer on Wii U in one package. The game has gone on to receive a handful of new characters and 48 new tracks through the Booster Course Pass DLC. It is the best-selling title on the Nintendo Switch.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (2017)

A unique partnership between Ubisoft and Nintendo, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle brought together the worlds of Super Mario and the Rabbids. A turn-based strategy system was implemented to allow you to control Mario and friends around each map to take down enemy Rabbids.

Super Mario Odyssey (2017)

Super Mario Odyssey is a revolutionary release that reinvented and transformed the 3D Mario formula forever. You travel with Mario across all sorts of kingdoms to stop Bowser's plans to hold a wedding with Princess Peach. The big new feature of Super Mario Odyssey is the addition of Cappy, Mario's trusty cap. With Cappy, you can capture and transform into all sorts of enemies, allowing for a wide variety of gameplay. It's arguably the best Super Mario game to ever be released.

Mario Tennis Aces (2018)

Mario Tennis Aces was the first Mario sports title to release for Switch. The game had a large focus on its Adventure Mode, which was the first story mode in a Mario Tennis title since the Game Boy Advance's Mario Tennis: Power Tour. Content was released frequently after launch, with a total of 30 unique characters available to choose from.

Super Mario Party (2018)

The first Mario Party title for Nintendo Switch is Super Mario Party, which was coined as a refresh of the beloved series. Contrary to Mario Party 10, this game brought back to turn-based boards for the first time since Mario Party 9. Over 80 minigames are available with a handful of modes to play with friends.

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (2019)

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe hit Switch in early 2019. This package combines New Super Mario Bros. U and New Super Luigi U into one bundle. Between the two games, there are a ton of levels available for you to play through. Additionally, new playable characters Toadette and Nabbit were added to this Deluxe package.

Super Mario Maker 2 (2019)

The exciting follow up to the hit Wii U title, Super Mario Maker 2 implemented new tools like slopes, on/off blocks, seesaws, vertical areas, water levels, and more. Additionally, a style based on Super Mario 3D World is available to create courses with, allowing for items like the Cat Powerup and Clear Pipes to be used. A Master Sword powerup was even added, which transforms you into Link.

Mario & Sonic at The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (2019)

A staple series with each year of the Olympic Games, Mario & Sonic at The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 released for Switch in November 2019. A story mode featuring Mario, Sonic, Bowser, and Dr. Eggman is available, in addition to online play with events. A total of 32 different characters are available to choose from. It's one of the many Switch Sonic games worth adding to your collection.

Paper Mario: The Origami King (2020)

The main Paper Mario release for Nintendo Switch was released in July 2020. Paper Mario: The Origami King features a unique puzzle battle system that involves rotating rings to line up enemies. Like previous Paper Mario titles, The Origami King was developed by Intelligent Systems.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars (2020)

A collection of three 3D Mario titles, Super Mario 3D All-Stars was a limited release that celebrated the 35th Anniversary. It bundles together Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy into one package. Both Sunshine and Galaxy received substantial resolution upgrades with this collection's release.

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (2020)

You might have forgotten about this game, but Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit hit Nintendo Switch in 2020. The game utilizes AR technology to allow you to create Mario Kart tracks in real life with RC cars. The game combines the environment around you with the world of Mario Kart, featuring coins, powerups, and other racers to go up against.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (2021)

The Wii U's 3D Mario title made its way to the Switch in 2021, with an enhanced version of Super Mario 3D World. A new mode, Bowser's Fury, was added as a part of the package. Bowser's Fury brought a brand-new take on the 3D Mario formula, opting for one large, open sandbox environment.

Mario Golf: Super Rush (2021)

Developed by Camelot, Mario Golf: Super Rush released in June 2021. A story mode is featured, where you level up your Mii character across different courses. Multiple new modes were introduced with Super Rush, like Speed Golf where you run across the course to hit the ball into the hole as fast as you can. It's one of the best golf games on the Switch.

Mario Party Superstars (2021)

Mario Party Superstars is a classic take on the Mario Party formula, bringing back older boards from the Nintendo 64 titles. One hundred minigames were featured in this release, with returning favorites from prior games. Additionally, Nintendo and NDcube finally opened up online play for all modes.

Mario Strikers: Battle League (2022)

The first Mario Strikers game in more than 15 years, Mario Strikers: Battle League was developed by Next Level Games and released in June 2022. Plenty of new characters and abilities were made, with eight-player multiplayer added as well. The highlight of Battle League is the Strikers Club, which allows you to create clubs with up to 20 other players and take on competing clubs.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (2022)

The sequel to Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope completely revitalizes the combat system. The game opts for an open approach to combat rather than the Grid system found in Kingdom Battle. New characters like Rosalina and Edge join the battle in an action-packed adventure that spans the cosmos.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder (2023)

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the latest 2D Mario game in the Super Mario Bros. series. It introduced the Wonder Flower, a unique mechanic that allows everything you know about a Mario level to flip on its head and surprise you. A total of 12 characters are playable through more than 100 unique levels.

Super Mario RPG (2023)

Released in late 2023, Super Mario RPG, is a remake of the classic SNES title of the same name. The wacky and colorful title recreates each of the unique characters, environments, and battles with exquisite detail. Even composer Yoko Shimomura returned to recreate the magical original soundtrack with modern orchestration!

Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2024)

Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a remake of the 2004 GBA game of the same name. It's a puzzle-platform game that brings the the Donkey Kong and Mario franchises together once again for entertaining gameplay.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2024)

The Nintendo Switch remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is the most faithful remake of the original GameCube sequel to Paper Mario that released in 2004. The graphics are upgraded to give the characters and their environments a bigger pop of color, but the comedy threaded into the game's plot remains a classic. It's arguably the best Paper Mario game there has ever been.

Super Mario Party Jamboree (2024)

The third Mario Party game of the Switch generation, Super Mario Party Jamboree is the series' biggest entry to date with 22 playable characters, seven game boards, and over 110 minigames across its various single- and multiplayer modes. Jamboree notably intrdouces the Jamboree Buddies mechanic, which allows you to compete for companions through more complex minigames called Showdowns.

During the April 2025 Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced that Super Mario Party Jamboree would be one of the select games recieving an enhanced edition for the Switch 2. This enhanced edition is called "Jamboree TV" and will incorporate the Switch 2's mouse, voice, and camera features.

Mario and Luigi: Brothership (2024)

The most recent Mario game isn't just dedicated to one brother: Brothership launched in November as the first mainline "Mario and Luigi" game from Nintendo since 2015's Paper Jam. With a fresh new artstyle, gibberish voicelines, and even some turn-based combat, Brothership lets you take control of both brothers to restore the land of Concordia. And while our Mario and Luigi: Brothership review did say the game "feels designed specifically for ages six to 12 rather than ages six to 66," that could make this game a great gift or entry point for younger gamers.

Mario Kart World (2025) *Switch 2 Exclusive

The newest Mario game brings us into the world of the Switch 2: a new Mario Kart game launched alongside alongside (and bundled with) the new console on June 5. Mario Kart World introduces free roaming, weather conditions, and double the amount of racers on each track. That means tons of playable characters, including the Moo Moo Meadows Cow.

When it comes to gifts, I always used to think dads are notoriously hard to buy for. Now that I've become a dad myself, however, I realized just how wrong I was. Dads are actually quite easy to shop for because they usually have at least one or two very specific interests that they dedicate all of their limited free time to. If you can narrow down your search within one of these categories, finding the perfect Father's Day gift is an absolute breeze.

To help you find the perfect gift idea for the dad in your life, I've gone ahead and organized some options into some of the most common categories below. It should go without saying that every father is unique and I can't guarantee yours will fit within any of these categories I've listed below. If that's the case, you just have yourself a rare dad you should be proud of, but you'll have to do a bit more research yourself.

Gifts for the Dad Who Reads

Gifts for the Dad Who Builds

Gifts for the Dad Who Games

Gifts for the Dad Who Loves Movies

Gifts for the Dad Who Cooks

Gifts for the Dad Who Golfs

Editor's Note: Our review of the Nintendo Switch 2 console is currently in progress, as well as our review of Mario Kart World and review updates for games like Breath of the Wild.

Let’s be frank here: It’s kind of strange that we even have to review Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. This is essentially an interactive user manual, and it has big “pack-in game” energy coursing through every line of its code. But Welcome Tour isn’t a free bonus. An inexplicable $10 price tag means that you, a new or prospective Switch 2 owner, are forced to ask the question of not only whether it’s worth your time to run around this digital gallery of micro-sized minigames, nifty tech demos, and trivial trivia booths, but also your money. And while there are a few chuckles to be quietly snorted out, and some behind-the-scenes factoids that left me slightly above whelmed, I ended up wishing I had learned about all the cool things my new game system can do by actually playing a game on it rather than flipping through a series of marketing-approved PowerPoint presentations.

To its credit, a lot of care and attention has clearly gone into making Welcome Tour the nicest brochure it can be. It’s sleek and shiny in the way Nintendo games often are, and there’s a surprising amount to it as you travel across giant versions of nearly every official piece of Switch 2 hardware that is available at launch. Styling this environment like some sort of Nintendo-themed Apple Store full of badge-wearing employees is a strangely sterile choice when compared to stuff like the celebratory theme park of the Wii U’s Nintendo Land or the adventurous spaceship of the PlayStation 5’s Astro’s Playroom, but it is one that has at least been executed to the best of its intent.

There are four main types of activities as you explore: Collecting stamps at podiums that mark each point of interest on the accessory you are currently on, messing with tech demos that show off some neat little feature of the Switch 2, playing minigames that similarly flaunt the new tricks it has up its sleeve but with a more tangible goal or score to try and beat, and finally reading up at information desks that teach you a bit about a certain aspect of the console (and then have you parrot it back as part of a comically easy quiz). You’ll earn medals as you complete these tasks, and some activities are gated behind having a certain amount, turning Welcome Tour into one big checklist to slowly tick off.

The problem, however, is that you’re never given a compelling reason why you would try for 100% completion beyond the desire to say you did. Apart from the joy of learning, the chase is the entire pitch, because Welcome Tour is mostly just busywork outside of the minigames. The stamp collecting is the best example of this, as you can’t go to the next area until you’ve found all of the stamp podiums in the current one. Annoyingly, those podiums are invisible until you approach them, and stumbling upon one for something like the little rubber nubs a Joy-Con would rest on in the grip accessory isn’t exactly riveting stuff. It wasn’t uncommon for me to spend the last minute or so of each area aimlessly sweeping the level for the one invisible podium I’d missed before I could move on.

More enticing are the tech demos and minigames, which range from mediocre to fairly entertaining – but most fall somewhere in the realm of that meme of Bender from Futurama saying “neat,” taking a picture, and then immediately moving on. The tech demos are cool because they can sometimes allow you to slip behind the curtain in an interesting way, giving you precise control over the strength of the rumble in your controllers or letting you compare the effects of Super Resolution upscaling side-by-side. The coolest of them is probably the ability to play World 1-1 from the original Super Mario Bros. at one-to-one pixel scale on a 4K TV, which fits the entire stage on screen at once. I don’t really get why Nintendo stopped short and didn’t just make the rest of Super Mario Bros. playable this way too, but still: Neat.

The minigames are more hit and miss, and usually ask you to get certain scores or times to earn medals and unlock harder versions of them. That could be using the new Joy-Con mouse controls to pilot a UFO to avoid spiked balls, playing a matching game based on rumble alone, or contorting your face in front of a connected USB camera (if you have one) to match a series of expressions with inconsistent results. Some of these are pretty fun and occasionally even a satisfying challenge, like a speed golf game that demands precision with the mouse controls. However, others are borderline laughable. Two different options literally have you pixel hunting, while another has you slowly scraping paint off of a flat surface, and not in a satisfying Powerwash Simulator sort of way.

A lot of these feel like the first draft of a Mario Party minigame that didn’t quite make the cut: Entertaining for a second, or a cute way to show off a new thing the Switch 2 can do, but instantly forgettable in how thin they are. Again, this is one big tech demo in a shiny package, so it makes sense that we aren’t getting a WarioWare level of finished quality here or whatever. But demos are traditionally a free thing meant to convince you to buy something bigger. Selling Welcome Tour on its own sets expectations it just never tries to live up to.

When you do find a minigame that is a slightly more enticing endeavour, like that UFO one, Welcome Tour’s completionist mentality can often get in its own way. It will sometimes halt my enthusiasm for a game by arbitrarily blocking me from taking on its harder levels until I’ve gone off and collected more medals – sometimes a lot more – by doing something less fun. (And you better own a 4K TV, USB camera, and either a Pro Controller 2 or Joy-Con 2 Charging Grip, otherwise you’ll be stuck with the silver medals you earn by using a cheat code to skip certain uncompletable attractions.) So while there are a few nuggets of good ideas scattered about, none are really a repeatable draw on their own that might make me want to start Welcome Tour up again one day.

I have to give the minigames credit, though, because at least those give you something decently amusing to spend your time on. The quizzes, on the other hand, are so uninteresting that I eventually started walking right past some of them altogether. Little information kiosks can be found all over Welcome Tour, each sharing a series of slideshows about a different Switch 2 topic. Maybe that’s the mechanics of the new Joy-Con’s HD Rumble, joysticks, or magnetic attachments. Perhaps one will teach you about the cooling tech built into the new dock, or the stand on the official USB camera peripheral. No matter the subject, you can read up on each and then take a brief, pointlessly easy quiz on what you just read for no other reason than to get a checkmark and say you did. It’s roughly equivalent to paying money to do a second grader’s homework for them.

I can’t say it’s all tedious, because occasionally you will get an interesting bit of insight into how a specific piece of the Switch 2 functions, or why something was designed a certain way. Seeing how HD Rumble physically works is actually very cool, and learning that just one of the rubber feet on the dock has a little plastic section so that it stays put when you want it to, but is also more likely to slide rather than fall if a cable is tugged, is some genuinely fascinating insight into how much Nintendo’s engineers thought about every aspect of its design. But more often, what you’ll get instead is vapid, surface-level information where the important fact you’ll need to remember for the quiz is something like, “Nintendo Controllers have had control sticks for a very long time.” (Seriously, that’s a real one. Make sure you study up.)

I think these frustrate me so much because they feel like a missed opportunity. There are so many quiz desks, and I can count the number of times they elicited any emotion at all from me on one hand. Welcome Tour has you physically crawling into the system and walking along its circuit boards at certain points and, while it will tell you about why the Switch 2 has more capacitors than the original or how each Joy-Con has a computer built into it, it does so with all the intrigue and depth of a middle school science fair project. This was such a prime opportunity to truly document the design process behind this device, or dig into Nintendo’s hardware history in a more nuanced way, or just have a little more fun with it in general. Instead, you only get glimpses of that promise buried in what feels like pre-approved marketing copy that you’d be more likely to find in a press release than one of the only two first-party launch games.

The end result of all this is a museum without much of interest to teach you, a user manual that’s not very convenient to read, and a game that’s not all that fun to play. That might sound harsh, and it’s true that if Welcome Tour had been a bundled inclusion (or, at the very least, a perk included as part of your Nintendo Online membership) I probably wouldn’t be holding its feet quite as close to the fire. But as a “game” you have to buy, it’s hard to recommend what’s here to anyone except the most diehard of Nintendo fans – and even then, it’s good for little more than a day or so of taking photos like Bender.