The next Free Comic Book Day may be half a year away, but that's not stopping Oni Press from revealing what they've got in store for 2026's big event. And it's a big one, as it offers a double dose of new stories from acclaimed writer/artist Matt Kindt and his Flux House imprint.

IGN can exclusively reveal that Oni Press will release Mind MGMT/Fort Psycho FCBD 2026 Special. This issue will offer readers a glimpse of both Kindty's Mind MGMT sequel Mind MGMT: New & Improved and Fort Psycho, his upcoming collaboration with The Sixth Gun artist Brian Hurtt. Check out the cover to the FCBD special below:

As the wait for The Elder Scrolls 6 goes on, some fans believe developer Bethesda teased its release year in a live-action Skyrim trailer.

Earlier this week, Bethesda shadow-dropped Skyrim on Nintendo Switch 2, and in doing so released a live-action comedy trailer that saw a bad Santa enlist the help of two of his elves.

The trailer, below, shows one of the elves raising their speech level to 27 after suggesting Skyrim launch on Switch 2, with their overall character level progress working towards 20. Why pick 20 and 27 specifically? Because The Elder Scrolls 6 is coming out in 2027, some fans are now saying.

“This honestly might be the best piece of evidence we have for a release date,” one fan said. “Those are very specific numbers and I don’t think they would use those numbers by accident.” “My god we’ve gotten so desperate,” countered another.

They are oddly specific numbers though, and you’d like to think Bethesda knew what it was doing by choosing them, rather than rolling the dice and coming up with random numbers. This is The Elder Scrolls 6 we’re talking about — it’s one of the most anticipated video games currently in development. Fans want — need! — to know when it’s coming out, and so anything like this was always going to set them off.

But is 2027 a likely release year? Last month, Bethesda chief Todd Howard said The Elder Scrolls 6 wouldn’t be out for some time yet despite being announced over seven years ago. In an interview with GQ magazine to celebrate the release of Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition, Howard said The Elder Scrolls 6 is “still a long way off.” He added: “I’m preaching patience. I don’t want fans to feel anxious.”

You can understand why patience might be difficult for some fans though. In January this year, The Elder Scrolls 6 announcement became as old as predecessor Skyrim was when The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced. Skyrim was released on November 11, 2011, and The Elder Scrolls 6 was revealed on June 10, 2018 — 2,403 days afterwards. It is now seven-and-a-half years since the announcement, and we’re no closer, it seems, to the release of the game.

When the six-year anniversary of The Elder Scrolls 6 announcement arrived in June last year, even Todd Howard paused to say, "oh wow, that has been a while." The Elder Scrolls 6 is at least in production, with Bethesda confirming it had entered "early development" in August 2023 and "early builds" were available in March 2024.

In the GQ article, Howard once again admitted that it has taken too long to get The Elder Scrolls 6 out the door, but did tease a The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered-style shadowdrop — without confirming anything.

“I do like to have a break between them, where it isn’t like a ‘plus one’ sequel,” Howard said of making The Elder Scrolls games again. “I think it’s also good for an audience to have a break — The Elder Scrolls has been too long, let’s be clear. But we wanted to do something new with Starfield. We needed a creative reset.” Bethesda is currently playtesting The Elder Scrolls 6, Howard revealed.

“I like to just announce stuff and release it,” Howard continued. “My perfect version — and I’m not saying this is going to happen — is that it's going to be a while and then, one day, the game will just appear.” The Oblivion Remastered shadowdrop was “a test run,” Howard teased. “It worked out well.”

As for what Bethesda has going on right now, hundreds of people are working on Fallout, Howard said, across Fallout 76 “and some other things we're doing, but The Elder Scrolls 6 is the everyday thing.”

Earlier this year it was confirmed that The Elder Scrolls 6 will include a character designed in memory of a much-missed fan after a remarkable charity campaign that raised more than $85,000 for Make-A-Wish.

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.

Kim Kardashian is joining Fortnite, and you'll be able to play as the TV and fashion icon beginning this weekend.

Two Kim Kardashian skins will become available in Fortnite this Saturday, December 13, cementing the star as one of the game's highest-profile public figures to date.

Leaning into the Kardashian's fashionable status, Kim's skins have been designed to be highly customisable. The Iconic Kim Kardashian skin features her in skin-tight attire with alterable colors, necklines and hairstyles. The regular Kim Kardashian skin, meanwhile, comes with a jacket you can toggle on and off.

The culprit behind the recent viral but very much fake Shenmue 4 trailer has apologized for creating false AI footage of the franchise's fictional fourth game.

In a post on fan forum ShenmueDojo, the creator, under the alias "JustAFan1," issued an apology for misleading the internet — just days after Shenmue developer Ys Net released its own statement that slammed the video for raising fan hopes and revealed it was now exploring legal action.

In their statement, JustAFan1 explained that they had made the video not "out of malice, but love for Shenmue." Indeed, their statement ends with the suggestion that "all the media attention this has received will do something to convince investors" that Shenmue 4 should be made.

"I just wanted to set the record straight for all those who think it might still be half real," JustAFan1 wrote. "It's not.

"I know many of you will want to hang me for dashing your hopes, but know this was not done out of malice, but love for Shenmue. I realize I went about it the wrong way, and I apologize for that. But I hope all the media attention this has received will do something to convince investors that Shenmue is very much alive and profitable if approached correctly."

As proof that they were the creator of the video, JustAFan1 posted a link to a new version of the trailer with additional music and footage, along with a lengthier apology statement in both English and Japanese.

"I want to be absolutely clear: I am merely a fan of the series and have absolutely no professional or personal affiliation with Ys Net, nor have I ever had any," this statement reads. "The creation and release of the trailer, which presented itself as an official piece of promotional material recorded behind the scenes, was a lapse in judgment. I take full responsibility for this action."

JustAFan1's statement continues by confirming that the fake trailer's story elements were made using publicly available lore and common fan theories about where the Shenmue series might progress in future, with nothing that specifically reflected any real development that may or may not be underway within Ys Net.

"While my intent was centered on a positive outcome, the method I chose to achieve it was misleading and unprofessional. I deeply regret creating and sharing information that was not factual, and I understand the negative impact this misinformation had.

"The sole purpose behind creating the 'Shenmue 4' trailer was to demonstrate the sustained and substantial market demand and community enthusiasm for this beloved series," the video statement concludes. "I meant no harm to Ys Net, its brand, or its loyal fans. My motivation was to champion the series and help encourage its continuation, not to mislead or create distress."

Reaction to the statement has been mostly supportive, with many agreeing that the trailer had created fresh buzz for the franchise amid hope for confirmation of a new game.

"Nah, you're good," fan hyo_razuki replied. "I knew it was fake from the beginning but it was fun and you generated some enthusiasm for Shenmue, so no biggie, no need to apologize."

As of now, it's unknown if a fourth major Shenmue game will ever get made, though the franchise's fans certainly hope it happens. Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki told IGN in 2023 that he wanted to create a fourth game at some point, though he is currently still working on an enhanced version of Shenmue 3. This, Suzuki hopes, will win the game a warmer reception across a wider set of platforms, after a middling response to Shenmue 3 at the game's initial launch.

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

Delta Force is kicking off its year-end festivities with a major splash. With the 2025 Delta Force Invitational: Warfare (DFIW) on the horizon and a jam-packed month of limited-time holiday content, players can dive into a slew of events. From pro-level missions to prediction brackets, exclusive cosmetic items, and chaotic game modes, there is a whole lot to explore this holiday season.

2025 Delta Force Invitational: Warfare Event Roadmap

To coincide with the DFIW, which will see the world’s first 20 vs 20 Warfare World Championship, Delta Force is rolling out a roadmap of four interconnected events.

Fans can tune into the 2025 DFIW starting December 11th at 05:00 UTC across X, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok.

1. Pick’em: Predict the Winners, Claim Exclusive Gear (December 9th – 17th)

The Pick’em event lets players place their predictions on tournament matchups, offering escalating rewards based on accuracy. Pick’em is a single submission only. Once the deadline hits, brackets are locked for good.

Rewards:

• ASV - Night Veil Skin: Earned just by submitting a bracket
• IFV - Zebra: Awarded for correctly predicting at least 2 of the top 4 teams
• Recon Helicopter - Action Time: Given to anyone who predicts the exact Finals matchup

2. Battlefield Challenge: “Play Like a Pro” Mission Track (December 5th – 18th)

This challenge series teaches players the same competitive strategies used by championship teams. Rather than a simple grind, each mission highlights a key tactic from the current esports meta.

Two-Phase Structure:

• Phase 1 (Dec 5): Infantry combat, recon scoring, squad support.
• Phase 2 (Dec 12): Tank gameplay, engineer roles, armour-focused strategies.

Rewards:

• Wheeled Tank Destroyer – Gear Shift
• 2,400 Glacial Tokens

3. Glacial Fortune Shop (December 5th – 18th)

Running alongside the Battlefield Challenge, the Glacial Fortune Shop allows players to redeem their earned tokens for limited Appearances at 600 tokens each. Total completion allows you to buy the full collection.

Available Skins (Glacial Strike Set):

• MK47 Assault Rifle
• SR-3M
• Mini-14
• Bizon

Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 4, which addresses a number of stability and performance issues, arrives on December 16, Capcom has announced.

As part of this, Capcom has "committed" to improving stability and performance, detailing what changes are coming and when, including CPU/GPU improvements, load reduction, and the optimization of "PC-specific processes and addition of options and presets to reduce processing load."

The commitment comes as Monster Hunter Wilds' impressive sales, especially on PC, were offset by its 'Mixed' Steam reviews at launch. Despite director Yuya Tokuda's commitment to stability and improvements, dissatisfaction persists, and even with new content and seasons, fans remain unhappy with the state of the game, to the point where some are taking things too far and harassing individual Capcom team members.

Now, Capcom says the free Title Update 4 will introduce "an array of performance improvements across all platforms," focusing on CPU and GPU optimization and reducing processing load "with more than 100 under-the-hood improvements, among others."

"We'll follow this up in January with a PC-specific update with even more improvements, and are looking into further optimization for implementation in the February content update," the team explained. "We're committed to making Monster Hunter Wilds a great experience for all players. Thank you for your patience and continued support."

Here's the full list of changes, with more to come on December 12:

Monster Hunter Wilds Commitment to Improving Stability and Performance:

December: Title Update 4

CPU/GPU optimization (All Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series, Steam)

• Processing Improvements: Processing time will be improved by distributing the process across frames for elements that demand the heaviest load, which includes players, monsters, and graphical user interfaces.
• Load Reduction: Processing load is reduced by comprehensively reviewing and streamlining various processes, such as reducing the number of simultaneous effects and improving collision detection for Palico and Seikret.
• Various other improvements, including optimization and reduction of memory usage, will be implemented.

January 2026: Steam Version Exclusive Patch

Optimization of PC-specific processes and addition of options and presets to reduce processing load (Steam)

• Adding new graphics and CPU settings as well as new presets, providing additional options to reduce processing load
• Improving shader compilation process (reduced stuttering)
• VRAM usage improvements
• High-resolution texture pack improvements (improving texture streaming speeds)

February 2026: Ver. 1.041 — Additional Optimization

• Adding level-of-details (LOD) quality levels to the polygon mesh for 3D models (reducing GPU processing load)
• We are also re-examining memory-related processes to identify further potential improvements.

Last week, at the PlayStation Partner Awards 2025 Japan Asia held in Tokyo, Monster Hunter Wilds won the Grand Award and the User's Choice Award. In an interview held before the award ceremony, Ryozo Tsujimoto, the producer of this work, and Yuya Tokuda, the director, answered questions from local media, and acknowledged the criticisms raised by players.

"Immediately after the release, we apologized for the inconvenience caused by the volume of content and the difficulty level," Tokuda said. "Despite this, we were delighted to receive various awards, including Users' Choice awards. We would like to thank all the players who have given their opinions and spoken warm words even in this situation. The development team was able to turn everyone's feedback into an asset and work on the update with all our strength, and I think the result was also the reason why players voted for us."

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead is working on a roguelite mode, the studio’s boss has revealed, although there's no guarantee it will actually come out.

Arrowhead CCO and Helldivers 2 creative director, Johan Pilestedt, responded to a fan on social media to say “we have a prototype of a roguelite mode — it changes the game fundamentally!”

That casual reveal has already set fans of the explosive co-op action shooter into overdrive imagining how a roguelite mode would work in the game, which revolves around open and shut missions restricted by time limits.

“Going to be us defending the Evac from endless patrols but the bird never shows up,” suggested one fan. “Wave complete. Choose a booster to add: Reinforcement budget, flexible budget, discount budget (reinforcing multiple teammates takes up only one call in),” suggested another. And here’s another take: “I think it would be cool to add that… a mission that has no helldiver limit, or no time limit with a limited amount of reinforcements… and just defend a fort from wave after wave of enemies, and we get rewarded based off of how many waves of enemies we can eliminate before time runs out, or the amount of reinforcements runs out…”

It’s worth pointing out that Pilestedt has only so far confirmed that a prototype for this mode has been built, so it may never come to fruition. But given Pilestedt mentioned it in a post on social media — already viewed over 120,000 times — you’d like to think the developers are confident it will eventually see the light of day.

Clearly, Arrowhead will continue to update the game for some time to come. Helldivers 2 is just coming off its big 5.0.0 patch as well as its jungle-themed Python Commandos Warbond, which adds a number of fan-requested weapons including a minigun. In September, the studio’s CEO confirmed Helldivers 3 is not in any plan developer Arrowhead has right now, saying that instead it wants Helldivers 2 to keep going for years and years, like veteran MMO RuneScape. And then there’s the Helldivers 2 movie, which is picking up steam.

In a subsequent tweet, Pilestedt posted a picture of a meeting with the Helldivers 2 directors to discuss the game's next four arcs, which one fan joked would take a few years to work through. Of course there will be plenty more coming to the game in between.

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.

Just a day after Bethesda announced and launched The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on Nintendo Switch 2, the publisher has acknowledged the game has performance issues.

In a lengthy thread on reddit that brands the port as a "disaster," there are widespread complaints about input lag and the game's locked 30 frames per second visuals. "There's like a whole second between me flicking the stick and my character moving its head," the post's author wrote, describing the experience as worse than "online Smash Bros."

Many have compared Skyrim's Switch 2 port with that of the far more recent Cyberpunk 2077, which offers 40 frames per second on Nintendo's new hardware while rendering considerably more detailed environments. And there has been criticism, too, of the fact the game hogs 53GB of space on the Switch 2's relatively limited internal memory, compared to just 25GB on PC.

A separate reddit post with more than 2,400 upvotes showing a video of the game's input delay can be seen below:

On Bethesda's official support site, the publisher has listed a question that asks: "Why am I experiencing frame rate issues with The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim following the Anniversary Edition update on Nintendo Switch?"

"We are investigating reports of performance issues on Nintendo Switch with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim after the Anniversary Edition update," is the official response. There's no word on fixes yet, but the publisher said anyone experiencing issues could subscribe to the article for updates.

"In addition, you can provide feedback and information regarding on this topic via the Feedback form," Bethesda concluded.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition is being sold for $59.99. Alternatively, anyone who owns Skyrim Anniversary Edition on the original Switch can pay $19.99 to upgrade the game and play on both consoles.

Included for your money are Skyrim's base game and the three official Expansions: Dawnguard; Dragonborn; and Hearthfire. Players on Switch 2 get experience enhanced resolution, improved load times, performance optimisation, Joy-Con 2 mouse support, motion controls, Amiibo support, and more versus the OG Switch version, taking advantage of the more powerful hardware.

This week, IGN talked with Bethesda Game Studios exec Todd Howard about the company's future plans. Intriguinly, Howard said that while The Elder Scrolls 6 was still the next big new video game to be in the works, Fallout is the franchise the studio is doing the most in right now.

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

Jim Ward, the voice of Ratchet & Clank's Captain Qwark, has died aged 66.

The news was revealed by his former co-host at The Stephanie Miller Show, who wrote on X/Twitter: "One of the saddest messages I have ever received from the amazing Mrs Jim Ward: Our wonderful 'voice deity' as Steph anointed Jim Ward, passed away today at 10:45am."

Ward co-hosted the show with Miller for 13 years until his departure in 2017. In 2021, it was revealed he had contracted a "severe case" of COVID-19 after being hospitalized for a mild cognitive memory issue, which "completely paralyzed" him for four months. He later developed Alzheimer's disease. It's for this reason that Ward did not feature in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.

Yet another leak ahead of tonight's The Game Awards 2025 has revealed a legendary music star as a new James Bond villain in 007 First Light.

In a now-deleted social post from the official 007 social media account, Fly Away singer Lenny Kravitz was unmasked as playing a First Light character named Bawma, who shares Kravitz's likeness. And while the post may have been swiftly removed, the internet still took notice — seemingly letting a further secret out ahead of tonight's big gaming awards and announcement event.

"He rose from nothing, broke free, and built his own Kindom of Aleph," the now-deleted post read. "Introducing Bawma, the largest black-market dealer in the Western Hemisphere who's as charismatic as he is unpredictable."

The accompanying video, now also deleted, shows clearly that Bawma is a villain, as he has strung up Bond and threatens to drop him into a pit packed with crocodiles.

Creative Assembly has confirmed it has a new Total War video game set to be announced at The Game Awards, but what is it? Warhammer 40,000 fans think they know — and one eagle-eyed viewer even spotted what looks like concrete evidence.

The Sega-owned strategy specialist behind Total War: Warhammer (the fantasy version of Games Workshop's much-loved tabletop setting) is rumored to be working on a Warhammer 40,000 and a Star Wars take on its long-running Total War series, and it looks like the Warhammer 40,000 game will finally get announced at The Game Awards tonight.

Redditor Knavbot took to the Total War subreddit to point to a blink-and-you’ll miss it reference to 40K in Creative Assembly’s recent showcase livestream (the one where the developer announced Total War: Medieval 3). I really do mean blink-and-you'll miss it because the files labeled 40k are incredibly hard to spot. I had to slow the video right down at the 32:42 mark and freeze-frame to see them, but yes, they are there:

Jonathan Blow has just "announced an announcement," teasing he just may be getting on a plane today to join a "gaming industry event coming up."

Blow — perhaps best known for 2008's Braid and 2016's The Witness — popped up on his YouTube channel with a brief video, revealing that a project that has likely taken "nine or 10 years to make" is "finally get[ting] out to people." And while it's probably not "a trailer for like an RPG where you fight monsters from hell" — "nothing wrong with that," he hastily added — whatever it is seems likely to be showing up at 2025's The Game Awards.

"We've been working hard on projects for a very long time. We have a wide variety of things that we've been developing. They're very complicated. Sometimes they take a while to come to fruition. Do we give up? No, we do not. We keep going, and we get them done because ultimately, even if something took nine years or 10 years to make, if you work hard for a long time, you can produce something that is tremendously good, much better than you ever expected in the beginning, and then you can finally get it out to people.

The Elder Scrolls 6 may be the next big brand new video game announced by Bethesda to be in the works, but Fallout is the franchise the studio is doing the most in right now, Todd Howard has told IGN.

Fallout Season 2 is set to hit Prime Video this month, and while Bethesda has a new Fallout: New Vegas bundle, there’s no word yet on a Fallout remaster or a Fallout: New Vegas 2 to capitalize on the surge of interest in the franchise.

There was no mention made during the recent Fallout Day broadcast of a Fallout: New Vegas remaster, which some (including Danny Trejo!) had called on Bethesda to develop. Indeed, there were no new Fallout games announced at all. Find out everything announced during the Fallout Day broadcast here.

But there are all sorts of rumors floating around about potential Fallout remakes now that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is out the door (Fallout 3 Remastered was leaked back in 2023, but those plans may have changed). And we know Bethesda wants to eventually get to Fallout 5, albeit after The Elder Scrolls 6.

The last we heard on Fallout 5, by the way, was back in June 2024, when Todd Howard said he wasn’t interested in rushing it out the door. Fast forward a year and a half, and IGN had the chance to quiz Todd Howard on all things Fallout, alongside Kevin Beatty, Head of Product for Samsung Gaming, Interactive Experiences, and Emerging Tech (Bethesda and Xbox recently announced a partnership with Amazon and Samsung to stream Season 1 for free on Samsung TV Plus ahead of Season 2). In the interview, Howard remained coy when asked directly about a number of unannounced projects, but did offer a tantalizing tease that should get Fallout fans excited.

We started by asking Howard if the explosive success of the Fallout TV show had caused Bethesda to alter its plans for new Fallout games, either creatively or timeline-wise. Howard denied that, saying Bethesda already had a plan for the Fallout games it wanted to make.

“No, it hasn't,” he replied. “We had a plan for the games we were going to make. The TV show was part obviously of our Fallout plan as far as a franchise. And in a lot of ways, I view it as an entry, as a game entry. Games are one lens into the world, the TV show is another lens into the world.

“The one thing it has led us to do is people are coming back to the games that are already available. So, you're seeing record numbers again back in Fallout 4, from the first season, again, in this season. Fallout 76 obviously is a game that we've continued to update for the last seven years. So that's probably the one where we really see engaged audiences.

“So, the one thing it's made us do is lean into that. We know that we have an audience there in that game in particular. And the Burning Springs update that just came out, and having Walton Goggins in the game is The Ghoul, just there's some really, really good opportunities there.”

We then asked Howard if Bethesda being owned by Microsoft had made it likely that the company might partner with, for example, Obsidian, developer of the original Fallout: New Vegas, or Wasteland developer inXile — both of which are Xbox studios — on a new Fallout: New Vegas game while fans wait for Fallout 5.

Again, Howard was coy in his response. “We've had a long-term plan for Fallout, and so I wish I could talk about all those today,” he said. “I'll just say this, it's the franchise that we're doing the most in right now.”

That cryptic tease at the end will be of interest to The Elder Scrolls fans patiently waiting for The Elder Scrolls 6 to come out. While that game is clearly of a big focus internally at Bethesda, it’s interesting to learn that there’s a lot more going on for Fallout.

And finally on this topic, we asked Howard if the success of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, which has seen over 4 million players since it shadow-dropped earlier this year, was a repeatable trick for a Fallout 3 Remastered. Howard once again kept his cards close to his chest, and reiterated a point he’s been making a lot in interviews lately.

“I will just say that the Oblivion Remaster, we're really, really pleased with how well it did, it was a very long project too, and not just in how it was received, the ability to shadow drop it, and the response to doing that,” he said. “I like to do that with games as much as possible. I love the moment that you find out about a game.”

Howard continued: “And I like to think about when somebody presses play, what is in their head? What do they think? What is their expectation? What's their excitement level? What do they think about the thing they're about to play? And so, I like to back up from that moment with how we talk about it, and sometimes there are big gaps.”

Big gaps indeed. The last mainline Fallout game was Fallout 4, which was released in 2015. DLC content for the entry was steadily released for PC and consoles over the next year, and in 2018, Bethesda launched its multiplayer-centered offshoot, Fallout 76. While fans flocked to the West Virginia-set open-world RPG over time (and after a rocky launch), it wasn’t until the premiere of Prime Video’s Fallout TV show that the Bethesda series leveled up in terms of attention.

Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images.

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.

Another day, another leak ahead of The Game Awards 2025 — which is set to feature a look at what's next for Tomb Raider heroine Lara Croft.

Ahead of time, cover artwork has leaked for Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, what looks to be a full remake of the franchise's original game. There are stills from a new trailer, too, showing Lara Croft in action.

Croft's design here appears to be a blend of the character's 'classic' design with her look from the franchise's more recent reboot trilogy, which showcased her origins. It's presumed that this remake will fully position the series' first Tomb Raider adventure as taking place after that trilogy, as had always been suggested.

Se habría filtrado "Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis", el remake del primer juego con algunas imágenes, portada incluida.

NeoRaider (Resetera).https://t.co/Ni4fGDRQ7F#PS5 pic.twitter.com/T0cBjaFWb1

— Universo PlayStation (@PlayVerso) December 11, 2025

More screenshots of the new Tomb Raider, it looks like a TR1 remake pic.twitter.com/BvmiNrMdAt

— Tarada (Ash)Croft (@JesuisJanice) December 11, 2025

After the images leaked online last night via video game forum ResetEra, fans quickly noted that Croft's box art pose perfectly matches that seen in The Game Awards' official social media teaser for tonight, where she is stood atop a rock, with one arm outstretched, iconic dual pistols raised.

The Game Awards' teaser boasted of "a look at the future of one of gaming's most iconic franchises" and tagged in the official Tomb Raider account, but is a remake really all that's in the works? It seems unlikely. Replying to the leak via ResetEra, noted gaming tipster Shinobi602 suggested that multiple projects would be shown tonight, and fans would not be disappointed.

Indeed, Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics has been working now for several years on its next chapter of the franchise. Here's hoping we get some word of that tonight too.

First announced in 2022, we are yet to see anything of the all-new Tomb Raider, though we did get a look at the Lara Croft redesign last year. Meanwhile, it has been a turbulent time for Crystal Dynamics with three waves of layoffs this year, including 30 individuals last month, an unknown number of workers in August following the cancellation of Perfect Dark by Xbox, and 17 people earlier in the year, as well as 10 others back in 2023.

Alongside all this, we know there's a live-action Tomb Raider series in the works at Amazon in partnership with Story Kitchen, starring Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner as Lara Croft. The show will, per Story Kitchen, "reinvent the franchise on a massive scale" and will interconnect "live-action television series and video games into a unified storytelling universe." How will it all connect? What else is in the works? We may well find out more tonight.

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

Hunger Games stars Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are set to reprise their roles as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, respectively, in 2026’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

No specifics of their planned appearance have been otherwise discussed but, as Sunrise on the Reaping is set 24 years before the events of the first film, it’s clear some kind of time jump will be necessary. Those who have already read Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping novel, published in March this year, will already have an idea of how and when Katniss and Peeta are likely to pop up in this adaptation.

The debut trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping was released last month, a year out from its November 20, 2026 release date. It will be the sixth installment of The Hunger Games film franchise.

Sunrise on the Reaping acts as both a prequel to the original series and a sequel to the first Hunger Games prequel story, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes arrived as a novel in 2020, and a film adaptation starring Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler followed in 2023.

Directed by Francis Lawrence (who has helmed the Hunger Games films since Catching Fire), Sunrise on the Reaping will star Joseph Zada, Elle Fanning, Ralph Fiennes, Glenn Close, Jesse Plemons, and Kieran Culkin.

Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.

Winter season is fast approaching (technically winter starts on December 21 here in the States). You should seriously consider picking up at least a power station to keep your mobile electronics topped up in case of emergencies. If you already are, then check out this great Ecoflow deal just in time for the holidays.

Right now, AliExpress is offering the Ecoflow River 3 230Wh LiFePO4 power station for just $113.45 after you apply $20 off code "AEUS20". It's sold through Ecoflow's official Aliexpress storefront and it ships from a local US warehouse so your order delivers quickly and you don't need to worry about additional tariff fees. Although the product images state a 5 year warranty, I think it actually comes with a 2 year warranty according to Ecoflow's website.

Update: If the page you land on says that the vendor "cannot ship to your location", just proceed to add the power station to your cart. Go back to the product page and it will refresh with the correct shipping options.

Ecoflow River 3 Power Station for $113.45

Sony's newest flagship wireless noise cancelling headphone is back on sale again. Just in time for the holidays, Secondipity via eBay is selling certified refurbished Sony WH-1000XM6 wireless noise canceling headphones for just $279.99 (normally $450) after coupon code "KLARNAUS50". It also comes with a 2-year Allstate extended warranty.

This is an amazing gift for anyone who would appreciate a pair of some of the best noise canceling headphones on the market. Your order arrives in 2-4 days, well before Christmas.

Secondipity is a well-established reseller of refurbished Sony products across eBay, Amazon, and more. The eBay storefront has over 100K reviews with a greater than 99% rating.

Sony WH-1000XM6 Headphones for $279.99

Certified refurbished

Every retailer insists the big sales are done for the year. Yet every time I blink, another discount swan-dives into my feed like it never got the memo. That being said, I've gone and scooped up the best deals still lurking in the wild. Get 'em before they're goneski.

Contents

• Retro
• Nintendo
• Xbox
• PlayStation
• PC
• PC Gear
• LEGO

This Day in Gaming 🎂

In retro news, I'm using the chain-reaction detonation of a TNT crate to light a 16-candle cake baked for Angry Birds, the original poultry-flingin’ puzzler that created an empire. I still remember playing it on my original iPhone 1 during morning train rides; the addictive sling-and-smash gameplay loop grabbed me harder than my previous iOS obsession: Paper Toss.

What really cracked me up back then was how Angry Birds basically set up a permanent nest atop the iOS charts. It felt like every commuter in the country was sneaking in a cheeky fling or two between stops, and the sales numbers backed it up as it perched defiantly at number one. Then came the merch, the cartoons, the spin offs, the film deals... before long, a simple pig-abusing time killer had evolved into a full-blown cultural kaiju.

Aussie birthdays for notable games.

- Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (PS) 1998. Redux

- Angry Birds (iOS) 2009. Sequels

- Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PC) 2011. Get

- Terraria (PSV) 2013. eBay

- Rune Factory 4 (3DS) 2014. Get

- Earth Defense Force 5 (PS4) 2018. eBay

Nice Savings for Nintendo Switch

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder (-20%) - A$64 A colourful platformer so charming it could convince Bowser to pursue therapy. Great for families, speedrunners, or anyone who loves to punch question blocks.
• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (-24%) - A$84 An explosive mash of Zelda lore and chaos. Perfect if your favourite part of the franchise is absolutely deleting hordes with godlike nonsense.
• EA Sports FC 26 NS2 (-55%) - A$49 The yearly footy fix at half price. Great for anyone who enjoys spreadsheets disguised as sports or wants to relive their five-a-side glory days.
• Everybody's Golf Hot Shots (-33%) - A$47 An absurdly fun swing-em-up that lets you whack balls in ways your real-life golf coach would frown at. Ideal for competitive couch chaos.
• Civilization VII (-37%) - A$57 Turn-based empire building that steals hours like a hungry time gremlin. One more turn? Sure. One more after that? Obviously.
• Overcooked! All You Can Eat (-75%) - A$14.20 The greatest relationship test disguised as a cooking game. If you survive this with friends, you can survive anything.

Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card.

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Exciting Bargains for Xbox

• Resident Evil 4 (-46%) - A$32.10 A horror classic rebuilt with enough polish to blind a Ganado. Gorgeous, tense, and tremendously replayable.
• The Crew Motorfest (-81%) - A$19 A massive open-road holiday where speeding is encouraged and consequences are fictional. A bargain for anyone with a need for speed and no actual licence.
• NBA 2K26 (-59%) - A$49 This year’s basketball juggernaut with enough stats to make a mathematician weep with joy. No actual cardio required.
• Grand Theft Auto V (-67%) - A$29.60 Somehow still alive, still kicking, still iconic. If you haven’t played it by now, the universe is giving you a very pointed nudge.
• Metal: Hellsinger (-75%) - A$14.90 Rip and tear to the beat. A rhythm-shooter hybrid that turns every firefight into a metal album cover come to life.
• Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 (-85%) - A$11.90 Tiny toy cars, big energy, absurd fun. Pure childhood joy without having to pick toys off the carpet.

Or just invest in an Xbox Card.

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Pure Scores for PlayStation

• The Outer Worlds 2 Premium Ed. (-27%) - A$109.90 Sci-fi satire with big personality and bigger lasers. If you love decision making and space capitalism takedowns, hop in.
• Armored Core VI (-72%) - A$28 A glorious mech brawler with the subtlety of a brick. FromSoftware chaos, now with extra rockets.
• Elden Ring (-62%) - A$38.20 The open world adventure that made everyone feel brave until they met a dog. Essential if you enjoy triumph through suffering.
• Sackboy: A Big Adventure (-67%) - A$36.20 Adorable platforming that feels like a warm hug made of yarn. Family friendly, dopamine rich.
• NBA 2K26 (-59%) - A$49 All the hardwood action without any sweaty laundry. Deep, flashy and dangerously bingeable.
• Hades (-60%) - A$15.90 The king of roguelikes. A repeated escape attempt that somehow feels like a date night with the Greek underworld.

Or purchase a PS Store Card.

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Purchase Cheap for PC

PC deals continue to be unhinged in the best possible way. Steam discounts hit harder than gravity and twice as often.

• Hi-Fi Rush (-40%) - A$26.90 A rhythm action delight so joyous it feels illegal. Bright, bouncy, and perfect for music tragics.
• Lies Of P (-50%) - A$44.90 A gorgeous soulslike where Pinocchio absolutely throws hands. Stylish, punishing and deeply moreish.
• Children Of Morta (-85%) - A$5.30 A heartfelt family of monster hunters with excellent storytelling. Huge value for the price of a servo sandwich.
• Yoku's Island Express (-90%) - A$2.80 A pinball metroidvania that should not work but absolutely does. Big charm, tiny price.
• The Stanley Parable: Ultra Del. (-60%) - A$13.90 A meta-comedy masterpiece that mocks you lovingly while you explore it. Impossible to spoil, essential to play.
• Sea Of Stars (-35%) - A$33.10 A modern RPG with retro spirit and immaculate vibes. Great writing and even better combat.

Or just get a Steam Wallet Card

Legit LEGO Deals

Just like I did last holiday season, I'm getting festive with the LEGO section. In Mathew Manor, my sons and I are again racing this year's batch of LEGO Advent Calendars. Basically, we open the City, Harry Potter, Minecraft, and Star Wars on the daily and compare the mini-prizes for "Awesomeness" and "Actual Xmas-ness". 2024's winner was the Lego Marvel one, but, weirdly, there's no 2025 equivalent. So it's anybody's race this year.

Here are the cheapest prices for the four calendars we're using. Score them yourself or just live vicariously through our unboxings.

• LEGO CIty Advent 2025 - A$59.95 $45
• LEGO Harry Potter Advent 2025 - A$59.95 $45
• LEGO Minecraft Advent 2025 - A$59.95 $45
• LEGO Star Wars Advent 2025 - A$59.95 $45

Full spoilers below for Season 2, Episodes 1 (I Play Dodgeball with Cannibals) & 2 (Demon Pigeons Attack) of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

The first thing you notice about Season 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is how much the kids have grown. In the two years since Season 1 streamed on Disney+, series leads Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri have gotten taller, yes, but also matured substantially in both their acting ability and on-screen presence. It’s indicative of the show as a whole, which was fun and whimsical during its first go-round but now exhibits more depth, higher stakes, and a lingering darkness that permeates each episode.

The show is still a ton of fun, but it’s morphed into something that parents might just want to watch with their kids instead of turning it on for them and walking away.

For those unfamiliar, the series follows titular character Percy, a young demigod (his mom is human! His dad is Poseidon, god of the sea!) and his best friends Annabeth and Grover (a satyr) as they navigate a world full of challenges both mythical (creatures, artifacts, and quests galore) and worldly (hormones, drama, and feelings galore). Much of their time is spent at Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for the myriad human children of Greek gods like Athena, Ares, Zeus, and Poseidon.

Season 1, which was based on Rick Riordan’s bestselling novel The Lightning Thief, saw Percy learning about his true nature and undergoing a quest to return Zeus’s Master Bolt to Mount Olympus (also known as the Empire State Building in the world of the series) in order to avert a war. Season 2 adapts Riordan’s The Sea of Monsters, which has Percy and his friends traveling to the Bermuda Triangle in search of a golden fleece to help protect their camp from impending doom.

As with Season 1, the acting is stellar across the board, particularly among the young leads. Scobell once again shines as Percy, imbuing the principal character with a sense of quiet determination occasionally painted by intense vulnerability. Jeffries plays Annabeth, Percy’s friend-slash-crush, with such strength and loyalty that you have to wonder if she ever had to defend Scobell in a fight. Simhadri, whose Grover is unfortunately separated from the others due to his being captured by Polyhemus while on a quest to find god / fellow satyr Pan, continues to bring a sense of wonder and enthusiasm whenever he shows up on screen.

Season 2 also brings new faces and characters galore. The always-hilarious Timothy Simons (Veep, Nobody Wants This) joins the cast as new Camp Activities Director Tantalus. A scene-stealing Daniel Diemer plays Tyson, Percy’s cyclops half-brother. Sandra Bernhard, Kristen Schaal, and Margaret Cho cameo in the season’s first episode as The Grey Sisters, who ferry the kids to camp in a taxi. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jason Mantzoukas return as Hermes and Dionysus (Mr. D.) respectively, adding some familiar faces to the all-around knockout cast.

Along with the acting, the action, production design, and visual effects for Season 2 are ramped up to 11. Numerous monsters try to invade the camp. A villain flies into the sky on a black pegasus. A prominent character (Tyson) has only one huge, blinking, emotive eye every time he’s on screen. Episode 2’s chariot race (a typical camp activity in the world of Percy Jackson) is a particularly impressive set piece, with loads of action, monsters, and age-appropriate violence.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is not high art. It’s not even prestige TV. The pacing of the show feels plodding at times and complex, mythology-heavy plot points are often clumsily blown through with a few lines of exposition. But this is not a show trying to be something more than it is. After a few middling attempts to bring the world of Percy Jackson to the big screen, the stories seem to have found their footing as a television series, which is probably the best possible format for an adaptation of Riordan’s novels (whose world has now expanded to games and beyond).

The world here is rich, both visually and story-wise, and the series consistently pulls off the trick of getting its (mostly younger) audience to learn something (in this case, Greek mythology) while remaining delightfully compelling and entertaining throughout. If you’re looking for a dark, moody, and intellectually challenging binge, look elsewhere. But if you want something for the whole family to dive into during your next session of joint family screentime, you could do a lot worse than Percy Jackson.

Season 2, Episodes 1 and 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians are streaming now on Disney+. New episodes premiere each Wednesday.

If you're looking to upgrade your gaming PC and want to keep your budget to under $1,500, then one deal stands out above all the rest. Walmart is offering the iBuypower Element Pro gaming PC equipped with an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU for just $1,449 with free delivery. This beats out the Black Friday price for the exact same configuration by $50. The Radeon RX 9070 XT is an outstanding graphics card that can run the latest games (like Battlefield 6) in 4K. See the deal below.

iBuypower Element Pro Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming PC $1,449

The pitch for Unbeatable is an enticing one: a visually striking rhythm-adventure hybrid about a punk rock rebellion in a dystopian city where music is illegal – kinda like Jet Set Radio meets a more story-focused Taiko no Tatsujin, which is great in theory. But the promise of that concept doesn’t always line up with the disjointed yet heartfelt mess we actually got. Unbeatable positions itself as a mix of both story-driven exploration and pulse-pounding musical battles, but what that means in practice is a conversation-heavy walking simulator with occasional rhythm segments and a few genuinely brilliant moments awkwardly wedged in… plus an endless arcade mode that has some real promise. That’s where the rhythm game “meat” is hidden away, and it’s decently fun for a few hours with a great selection of tracks and plenty of challenges to unlock, though it’s a shame part of its selection is locked behind day-one DLC.

Welcome to a world where music is illegal, nobody remembers what it is, and, miraculously, you’re the only one who can bring it back! The story mode follows the vocalist Beat and her bandmates as they fight against HARM – a police force defending the music ban with lethal imprecision. The musical names and quirky characters would be charming if the writing supported them with consistent cleverness or emotional weight. Instead, what you get is a script that infrequently touches on what it really feels like to try and become a musician in a world that barely has space for you. The rest of it reads like a long back-and-forth Discord conversation between teenagers who think random equals funny. It works well in short bursts, but gets tiresome across the roughly eight-hour campaign.

It’s a shame that there’s this much filler between the parts that are genuinely moving, especially towards the end. But even during those latter parts, Unbeatable lurches from location to location with minimal clear connective tissue. One moment you’re talking to a guard in prison, the next you’re suddenly in the prison cafeteria with no transition or explanation. Then the camera cuts again and you’re asleep. Then you’re in the factory doing work detail. Now you’re skateboarding on a pair of headphones through an entire platoon of guards. There is some logic behind these transitions, but most of the time, Unbeatable’s zones are disorganized – its story feels like a cassette tape of vignettes that just teleport you between scenes, doing the bare minimum to show you how you got there, and that happens constantly throughout. It's disorienting in the worst way – not as an artistic choice, but as a failure of basic storytelling. There are even a few drawn-out dialogue sequences that repeat themselves multiple times – you’ll literally see the exact same cutscene or conversation recycled for no clear reason.

But what’s most shocking about Unbeatable is how little rhythm gameplay actually exists in the story mode before the final chapter. You'll spend the vast majority of your time running through empty environments, talking to poorly-written NPCs, and participating in mandatory minigames that have nothing to do with the core rhythm gameplay found in the arcade mode. For instance, there's a bartending minigame with obnoxiously loud jazz providing sound cues. There's a batting cage that appears out of nowhere. You'll close sluices in a sewer in a "puzzle" that has you running back and forth while your incompetent bandmates keep turning valves back on as a "joke." Even when rhythm sections do appear, they're sometimes completely disconnected from what's happening in the story – you might be mid-conversation, and suddenly you're in a yard fighting someone with no setup or context. Thirty seconds later, it’s over and you’re back in your bunk talking about something else.

The story itself centers on bringing music back to the city by being punk rock rebels, which is a perfectly serviceable concept. But the execution is often so shallow and heavy-handed that it hardly feels like anything real is at stake until the emotional payoff at the very end, after the credits are already rolling. The villains are also written like annoying teenagers rather than any kind of credible threat. It's trying desperately to be edgy and rebellious, but never actually lets you in on what you're rebelling against or what rebellion truly costs in this world.

As a result, that world feels less like a believable dystopia and more like a caricature designed solely for game mechanics to happen in. Everything is music-themed to an absurd degree – you tie headphones to your feet to escape prison, Beat stops every few minutes to argue with another character about the specifics of being in a band, and every named NPC you meet is vaguely named after musical terms. It's aesthetic-driven to the point of parody, but the message it’s trying to communicate still somehow takes itself too seriously to lean into that absurdity effectively.

The silver lining is that if you’re big into music, you’ll appreciate a lot of these references, but Unbeatable tragically struggles to decide on a tone. It's simultaneously trying to be an irreverent internet-humor comedy and a heartfelt story about found family and artistic expression. Those two approaches could theoretically coexist, but Unbeatable rarely demonstrates the writing chops to pull it off. The result is a game that hamfists its themes into each interaction with breathless exposition and forced drama, with cutesy characters who desperately want you to think they're clever.

When Unbeatable actually lets you play its rhythm game, you can get through it by pressing exactly two buttons. You're either hitting ground opponents or jumping to hit aerial enemies, all synced to the beat. It's functionally similar to Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. To its credit, the rhythm synchronization at least works well – this review was played on PC at 1440p with a 180Hz G-Sync monitor, and the beats lined up perfectly with the refresh rate.

The problem is that, with only two real inputs, Unbeatable has nowhere to go for additional difficulty except "more notes, faster." On Normal difficulty, songs are almost laughably easy. Crank it up to Hard or Expert, and suddenly the screen is filled with so many simultaneous inputs while the camera shakes, zooms, and bounces around that it becomes overwhelming without necessarily being rewarding. You're just trying to parse visual chaos. That said, there is at least a welcome option to turn off the VHS filter enabled by default, which just makes everything look unnecessarily glitchy, as well as a reduced camera motion option, which is a good accessibility feature given how much it can bounce around during rhythm sections.

The music selection itself is at least decent overall. The story mode is a bit more middling; aside from the main themes and songs played by the virtual band, the campaign’s filler tracks feel like what people imagine Portland's indie music scene sounds like when they're making fun of it. But the saving grace is that Beat’s band puts out a few bangers before the end of the story. The arcade mode also has good music from top to bottom, which goes a long way toward making it a lot more fun to play than the story itself. There are tracks from artists like Alex Moukala and Peak Divide that are genuinely great. It’s a little questionable that some of them are locked behind day-one DLC, but you don’t need to pay extra for plenty of excellent beat maps that come along for free.

The arcade mode is structured like a proper rhythm game with unlockable songs, an expansive and fun-to-complete challenge board, leaderboards, and a good selection of difficulty tiers ranging from Beginner up past Expert and beyond. It has the replayability and polish that the main story mode completely lacks. Drop the “adventure” and that's where the actual, complete game lives.

One thing Unbeatable does nail is its looks, with a strong punk rock aesthetic and standout anime fusion art direction. The 2D character cutouts layered into cartoonish 3D environments look great, especially in locations like the town and beach, where the late afternoon light dances off the ocean. The pause menu also has this cool scratchy vinyl aesthetic that really sells the punk vibe. When you pause a session, there's a neat record-scratch effect. These are the moments where you can see the vision underneath Unbeatable’s jank.

But strong art direction can't save poor game design. For instance, the camera is frequently positioned in ways that make navigating each level confusing. You'll often need to run toward areas of the screen that are partially obstructed by walls to trigger the camera to pan to the next room, leading to constant moments where you're just wandering around trying to figure out where you're supposed to go. And these environments feel empty and lifeless, more like stage sets than actual places.

The UX is similarly messy. At first, it looks pretty clean due to a straightforward menu system and sharp dialogue boxes that have a cool, comic-book-inspired vibe to them. The rhythm gameplay cues are solid in the main rhythm game (the one you play during key story moments and in the arcade mode), but are totally incoherent in some of the minigames, like the game where you have to do quality control for bombs in the prison or mix drinks to screechy jazz music. And more than once, dialogue boxes will pile on top of one another or slide to the bottom corner of the screen as NPCs run straight into the camera or off-camera entirely.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Unbeatable is that there are moments that really do show promise. There’s a train sequence where your band is playing music while fighting enemies that’s genuinely cool, but it doesn’t arrive until several hours in. These highlights come way too late, and are immediately followed by more filler. It's almost like the entire game was built around the most promising sections of Unbeatable’s impressive demo from back in 2021, padding them out with fetch quests, repeated cutscenes, and unnecessary minigames rather than making more of what actually worked. That demo framed these moments as representative of the full experience when they're actually the exceptions amidst hours of aimless wandering.

The Samsung S84/S85 TVs boast all the advantages of OLED technology that makes them one of the best TVs for gaming, but at a much lower price tag than other OLED TVs. Best Buy is once again offering a 2025 65" Samsung S84F 4K OLED Smart TV for just $899.99 with free delivery. This was one of the lowest prices I saw for any 65" OLED TV during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and it's back for one more hurrah. The sale most likely ends on Saturday, December 13.

65" Samsung S84F 4K OLED Smart TV for $899.99

Smartphones aren’t exactly the most exciting gadgets to splash out on. Glass rectangles that most people use to message their friends, watch YouTube videos, scroll social media, and snap photos – they might be essential for day-to-day living, but cost a pretty penny if you want the latest and greatest. That’s why we’ve picked out the best smartphones to buy by seriously weighing the value against price.

TL;DR – These Are the Best Smartphones:

Of course, what everyone finds valuable is different. Some people will want excellent photo quality; others will want to get extreme performance for gaming on the go. If you watch a lot of TV and movies on your phone, it’s natural to look for a phone with a stunning display. We’ve tested phones that cover all the bases.

Here, you’ll find phones that let you do a bit of everything. Some phones may prioritize certain aspects over others, but you won’t find a phone that’s practical garbage or one that makes too many sacrifices just to hit a low price. You also won’t be looking at just the newest phones. Every now and then, the advantage an older model has from price reductions makes it all the more valuable, helping it to undercut newer alternatives. So, keeping in mind what you want out of a phone, have a look at the best options across the market.

1. OnePlus 15

Best Smartphone

2. Google Pixel 9 Pro

Best Camera Phone

3. Apple iPhone 17

Best iPhone

4. Google Pixel 8

Best Mid-Range Smartphone

5. Poco X7 Pro

Best Budget Smartphone

6. RedMagic 11 Pro

Best Gaming Smartphone

7. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7

Best Flip Phone

8. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7

Best Foldable Phone

How We Picked the Best Smartphones

The mobile phone industry relies on upselling. It tells consumers time and again their phone needs replacing with the flashiest new release, or that their standard model pales in comparison to the Pro, Max, or whatever other upgraded version has just hit shelves. To an extent, this is true. Those pricier versions always bring a clutch of useful new features. But for many people, those features will go unused.

I picked out the smartphones at a variety of budgets that offer the best value for money. Unless you’re a wannabe influencer, hobbyist photographer, or enthusiastic gamer, you probably don’t need all the snazziest features that are being sold your way, and can find a more suitable pick from the selection here. Additionally, I also opted for phones that are durable and hard-wearing, and guaranteed to receive ongoing software support from their manufacturers, extending their lifespan. You can also learn more about how we test phones here.

Best Smartphones FAQ

Is Samsung better than Apple for smartphones?

Not necessarily. Both Samsung and Apple have earned a reputation for producing high-quality, feature-rich premium phones that leave more than a dent in your wallet. Both the and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra are fast, sleek, sport excellent cameras that are capable of capturing crisp images in both high and low light, and are guaranteed software updates for years to come. More important is how familiar you are with their different operating systems: Android versus iOS.

Are iPhones better than Android phones?

For all the effort that Apple has put into cultivating a popular perception of itself as an unrivaled premium brand, modern iPhones are strikingly similar to premium Android alternatives. Any obvious lead that Apple once possessed has now all but diminished. Android and iOS operate similarly, are designed to fulfill almost identical functions, and are updated to new versions yearly. More important than which one you should pick is which you’re currently familiar with. iPhones sync with other Apple products more easily, while Android phones pair better with Windows devices.

Which Android phone is the best value for money?

The Google Pixel 8 is a superb phone for its price. It may be a little older, but it has potent performance, an elegant design, and gets one thing that most budget-friendly devices don't: long-term software support. At $500, it'll be really hard to do better. And going lower than this, you'll end up giving up a lot.

Mark Knapp is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything electronics and gaming hardware. He has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry with bylines at PCMag, Reviewed, CNET, and more. Find Mark on BlueSky at @Techn0Mark.

Additional contributions by Jacqueline Thomas, the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

DreamWorks Animation’s talking-animal movie classic, Madagascar, is coming back to theaters to celebrate its 20th anniversary next month.

The company behind Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and more animated classics announced its original fish-out-of-water story will make a surprise return to movie theaters when it premieres January 16, 2026. Accompanying the announcement is a trailer that reminds viewers, young and old, of characters like Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and their trip to Madagascar.

Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman are back. Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Madagascar, back in theaters January 16th. pic.twitter.com/mHEbrtNB2W

— DreamWorks Animation (@Dreamworks) December 10, 2025

DreamWorks’ move to bring Madagascar back to theaters arrives as a bit of a belated celebration, with the original film having released back in May 2005. Its plot tells the story of four Central Park Zoo animals – as well as a squad of talented penguins – who escape from captivity in hopes of discovering a new home in the wild.

Following some antics around New York, they find themselves lost at sea and eventually stranded on the titular island, where they run into a community of ring-tailed lemurs that really like to move it. Madagascar had generally positive ratings amongst fans and critics (we gave it a 7/10 review in 2005) and landed a worldwide box office total of more than $542 million (via Box Office Mojo).

DreamWorks took that success and ran, going on to unleash two direct sequels – Escape 2 Africa and Europe’s Most Wanted – which brought the animal troop out of the jungle and into new locations in 2008 and 2012. A penguin centered spinoff titled Penguins of Madagascar then followed in 2014. Madagascar has stayed caged since, but the January re-release should allow DreamWorks to gauge interest among fans.

While we wait for more details, you can see what else the animation studio is up to, including the latest details on Shrek 5. You can also check out our reviews for Madagascar 2 and 3, as well as its Penguins spinoff.

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