Continued leaks of Marvel's Avengers: Doomsday marketing plans have left fans convinced they know everything in next week's Thor-focused trailer, prompting a stream of lookalike AI versions to hit the internet.

The past week has seen a flood of leaks and industry whispers detail Disney's Doomsday marketing, which officially kicked off yesterday with the reveal that Chris Evans will return as Steve Rogers, confirmed via a theatrical trailer attached to Avatar: Fire and Ash.

The Hollywood Reporter has stated that this Doomsday trailer will be swapped out for three others over course of the next three weeks, while FeatureFirst reported that these four would feature Steve Rogers, Thor and Doctor Doom in turn.

Another supposed leak has spilled the audio for Thor's trailer, which has since been widely-shared on reddit, and seemingly corroborated via Marvel tipster Daniel Richtman. The trailer apparently features a solemn prayer from Thor to his father during a quiet moment in a forest, as if reflecting on the eve of some fiercesome battle.

"Of all the crowns, the kingdoms, the pride, I ask for none.

"Father, hear your son. I am not worthy of life, but still I beg you to let the thread lengthen.

"Not for thunder, not for war... let me remain long enough to see my love once more."

Fans have noted — with no small amount of relief — that this version of Thor is clearly being pitched as more sober and less wacky than the character's last appearance in Taika Waititi's goat-screaming chucklefest Thor: Love and Thunder. There's not a sniff of the Russo Brothers' mopey takeaway-chomping, Fortnite-playing Infinity War version here either. Instead, the dialogue is spoken with a more mature and world-weary tone.

The other main point of discussion here is Thor's use of the word "love," which many fans have taken to mean his adoptive daughter Love seen in Love and Thunder. Without an official transcription, it's impossible to say for sure if Thor is using a capital L here or not, though it's likely intended to be ambiguous. Alternatively, it could also be a reference to Natalie Portman's Jane Foster, who now resides in Valhalla, or some character we haven't yet met.

Still, the reference to Thor's daughter would also be an obvious spark for a separate point of speculation: what is going on with the Avengers' kids, and why does Doctor Doom want them? Our first glimpse at Doom came at the very end of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, where he turned up seemingly to kidnap Reed and Sue's son Franklin. This week's reveal that Steve Rogers is now a dad has prompted fans to immediately expect Doom to turn up at his door too. Could Thor now be mourning the similar disappearance of his daughter?

Anyway, put all that discussion aside and fans have been left feeling pretty confident they know what next week's Thor trailer will look like, and if you head to YouTube right now it will serve you up a string of videos showing just that: Thor in a forest saying his prayer to his father, referencing love (or Love) at the end. One such trailer on the MCU Talk channel has 259,000 views. Another on the Snap Saga channel has 285,000 views. A third on the Everything Always channel has 154,000 views. A quick scroll downwards shows at least a dozen more.

Of course, none of these are real — and if they were, they'd likely be removed, as happened with the many, many uploads of the leaked Steve Rogers trailer. Instead, all of these videos are made with varying levels of poor quality by AI. Most are designed to look bad, shakily recorded on a potato phone at the back of some non-existant theater, in order to add to their 'authenticity.'

While fake trailers are certainly nothing new, it's still remarkable to see a situation where so many fakes have been made, all of which are near-identical to what fans believe the real thing will look like, when it arrives in theaters in less a week's time.

This week, it emerged that YouTube had killed two of its biggest channels dedicated to creating fake movie trailers. Both Screen Culture and KH Studio, whose fake movie trailer videos had collectively generated billions of views, are now unavailable, ending their ability to mislead fans into believing what they were watching was the real thing. As for Doomsday's next trailer, the real thing featuring Thor is now believed to be six days away. It'll be interesting to see how close those AI versions were when it does arrive.

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

Eiji Aonuma, the producer of The Legend of Zelda series, recently dropped some hints about what players can expect from the next game in the series in an interview with Japanese news site 4Gamer. He noted that the collaboration with Koei Tecmo on Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment may influence the next mainline Legend of Zelda title.

While the Wii got Twilight Princess and the Switch got Breath of the Wild as launch titles, there has yet to be any announcement about an upcoming mainline Zelda game for the Switch 2. However, owners of Nintendo’s latest console do have Hyrule Warriors: The Age of Imprisonment to play. Age of Imprisonment is the latest entry in a spin-off series that combines Dynasty Warriors-style 1 vs. 1000 musou gameplay with the characters, lore, and locales of The Legend of Zelda. It allows players to experience the Imprisoning War that sealed away the Demon King Ganondorf. Like previous Hyrule Warriors games, Age of Imprisonment was a collaboration between Koei Tecmo and Nintendo, with Koei Tecmo and its new AAA Games Studio handling the development.

Zelda series producer Aonuma said that his team wanted to be the first to release a new Zelda title on the Switch 2, however Koei Tecmo beat them to it. “The Legend of Zelda: Age of Imprisonment is the first Zelda title released for the Nintendo Switch 2. To be honest, we wanted to bring out the ‘first’ (Zelda game on the new console),” he laughed.

Commenting on the collaboration with Koei Tecmo on Age of Imprisonment, Hidemaro Fujibayashi (director of Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild) said: “it was incredibly fun. They always had ideas we never would have come up with on our own, it was truly stimulating.”

In turn, Age of Imprisonment’s director Koki Aoyanagi talked about how motivating it was to receive such positive reactions from the Nintendo team, saying: "since they (the Nintendo team) were playtesting the game, we wanted to give them big surprises and moments of awe to experience." Age of Imprisonment producer Ryota Matsushita described the Zelda team and Koei Tecmo’s team as being “on the same wavelength” when it came to collaborating on the game, noting that Fujibayashi’s knowledge of real-life castles enabled them to instantly understand each other regarding how Hyrule Castle should be depicted in Age of Imprisonment.

“We aimed to combine these two approaches; the Zelda-like, strategic back-and-forth of using Zonai gear and varied techniques against powerful foes with the exhilaration of musou (i.e. feeling mighty powerful as you cut down waves of weaker foes),” noted AAA Games Studio head Yusuke Hayashi. Even when Nintendo’s Zelda team gave feedback on points of concern, Fujibayashi said that Koei Tecmo would come back with “proposals that elevated it into something even better.”

Aonuma even suggests that this fruitful collaboration might influence the next mainline Zelda title. “The inspiration we received from this collaboration with Koei Tecmo may be reflected in the (next) Zelda we create. Please picture this while playing Age of Imprisonment, and look forward to our Zelda.”

Aonuma’s comment is mysterious, but this means that we might get elements from Age of Imprisonment’s gameplay in the next mainline Zelda adventure.

In September 2023, Nintendo said it had no plans to release DLC for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and was instead moving on to a brand new game in the series. However, Aonuma failed to rule out a return to the Hyrule of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, potentially setting up a third game.

“In the first place, the reason I decided to make this a sequel to the previous work was because I thought there was value in experiencing a new game in that Hyrule place,” Aonuma said. “If that's the case, if a new reason arises, we might return to the same world again. Whether it's a sequel or a new work, I think it's going to be a completely new game, so I hope you're looking forward to it.”

Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi also chimed in with his own comment: “We are very grateful that so many customers have been playing Tears of the Kingdom for so long and deeply, so we will do our best to make the next game even more enjoyable.”

Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launched last month to become the best-selling game of November in the U.S. by dollar sales. That's a pretty good showing, right?

If you're still looking to pick up the new game, it's down to $35 at Best Buy for one day only, and around $40 at most other retailers right now. That's up to 50% off the game, only a month after release, on PS5, PS4, and Xbox consoles.

Your Labubu is about to be a star — a movie star that is. Last month, Sony snagged the rights to bring the hugely popular kids accessory to the silver screen in a major way, and now, it has announced Paddington director Paul King will direct the upcoming Labubu feature.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, King will produce as well as direct, alongside Department M and Wenxin She. Plus, Sony is working directly with the Chinese retailer of Labubu, brand owner Pop Mart, on this movie adaptation. As far as someone to write it, the project is so early in its development that they’re still looking to lock in a writer, so more on that in the future.

Labubu is the name of the lead monster doll of the brand, who will undoubtedly be featured in the film. Other named characters, who will also most likely show up in a movie adaptation, include Zimomo, companion Mokoko, and boyfriend Tycoco.

While it might appear to most fans that Fallout Season 2, Episode 1 answered any lingering questions about the true identify of antagonist Mr. House, there are lingering theories that the character may not be who he seems. Well, it really is that simple, Fallout fans are insisting — and no, that’s not his brother.

If all that sounds a little like word soup to you, let’s get some background in. Fallout Season 1 ended with Rafi Silver as Mr. House plotting to end the world with a nuclear bomb for profit. We saw a shadowy figure watch on, a character who was not named.

Season 2, however, “recast” Mr. House with Justin Theroux taking over. But as becomes apparent in the first scene from Episode 1, this isn’t a recast situation. Rather, there’s a perfectly good in-universe explanation for why we all of a sudden have a new actor playing Mr. House.

We see Rafi Silver’s Mr. House on the TV, calling on the government to let his company, RobCo, do all sorts of things a company really shouldn’t be doing. This is the public-facing Mr. House, the Robert House the people of Fallout’s alternate history believed to be the real boss of the company. But watching on in a bar is Justin Theroux as Mr. House. He’s his own biggest fan, he admits. That’s because he’s the real Robert House, pulling the strings from the shadows, and the obvious candidate for that shadowy figure from the end of Season 1.

Justin Theroux’s Mr. House, it turns out, has a horrible mind control device that he ends up testing out on a hapless goon. Perhaps he was using this to control his body double at the end of Season 1? It will surely play a crucial role in what’s to come, either way.

In the Wasteland of the future, Lucy and The Ghoul are traveling to New Vegas, where Mr. House rules the roost. We haven’t seen him yet, but post-apocalyptic Justin Theroux will be waiting for The Ghoul in what looks like the computer form we saw him in the much-loved video game.

Why is all this important? Because there is a theory doing the rounds that Theroux is playing Anthony House, Robert House’s brother. Anthony House is a character mentioned only in Fallout: New Vegas, and the show would have to be doing some deep and potentially confusing cuts here to work him into the events of the show.

But fans now believe the body double theory to be the answer here, based on what we’ve seen in Episode 1 and various pieces of promotional material released to support the second season. And then there’s a quote from Rafi Silver himself, speaking to Deadline on the Fallout red carpet: “I’m a dude playing a dude disguised as Robert House.”

“Thank goodness,” one fan said. “Tired of the overexplaining theories. Some things are just... that simple.”

The question is, to what extent does Silver’s body double believe he is in fact the real Mr. House? And what happened to him in the last 200 years? And, which Mr. House do we meet in Fallout: New Vegas, really?

We’ve got plenty more on the Fallout TV show. Check out IGN's Fallout Season 2 Episodes 1-6 review to find out what we think of it, as well as our roundup of details and Easter eggs.

Image credit: Lorenzo Sisti/Prime.

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.

Pokémon TCG's Phantasmal Flames Mega Charizard X ex Ultra-Premium Collection is pretty spectacular, and certainly worth the splurge if you can find one in stock.

It's mighty high MSRP is $120, but if you don't mind paying a little more, Amazon has got the elusive set down to $139.99 right now (sold and shipped directly from Amazon, not a dodgy third-party). That's below market price, around $150, and even better than trusted resale sites like TCGplayer.

If you need to get last-minute shopping done before Christmas, Amazon has a wide variety of deals available at the moment that can ship to you just in time. Right now, that even includes a couple of fantastic discounts on select amiibo.

The Yunobo amiibo from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is currently marked down to just $8 at the retailer, and the amiibo of Donkey Kong and Pauline from Donkey Kong Bananza is on sale for $20. Usually these both come with $30 price tags, so this is a great opportunity to pick them up. Amazon even notes that they'll both arrive before Christmas, so the timing couldn't be better.

Amiibo on Sale at Amazon

Total War: Warhammer 40,000 will launch with four factions: Space Marines; Orks; Astra Militarum; and the Aeldari. But based on comments from developer Creative Assembly, it will eventually come to include pretty much every faction in the setting, added over the course of years.

Creative Assembly announced Total War: Warhammer 40,000 at The Game Awards with a flashy trailer that combined CG and in-engine gameplay, showing off the scale of the hotly anticipated strategy game. We saw the Space Marines faction fighting against the Orks in a classic boots on the ground matchup, before the camera pulled back to reveal the galactic strategy layer you’ll be able to manage campaigns on.

But the Sega-owned developer, which is based in Horsham in the UK, has a grand plan to add many more factions to Total War: Warhammer 40,000 as part of a vision that may take a decade to realize.

In a year-ending thank you post to the developer’s fans, Roger Collum, VP of Total War, said Creative Assembly’s goal is to create “the ultimate game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe,” one that will see “all your favorites from the setting eventually coexist with a vast galactic sandbox.”

“Some of you have already pointed out that this is what the next 10 years looks like for CA,” Collum continued. “It’s going to take quite a bit of time to get everything in the massive 40k catalogue that deserves a place in the galaxy.”

That’s an exciting proposition of fans of Warhammer 40,000, which is packed with factions to choose from. Some of the more high-profile factions currently not announced to be in Total War: Warhammer 40,000 include the Necrons, the Tyranids, the Adeptus Mechanicus (tech-priests of Mars), and Chaos Space Marines (come on Death Guard!). But there are many more on top of those to consider, such as the Tau, Genestealer Cults, the Drukhari (Dark Eldar), and Adepta Sororitas (Sisters of Battle). The list goes on.

Total War: Warhammer 40,000 doesn’t yet have a release date, so putting a year on when these factions may turn up in-game is impossible. But it sounds like Creative Assembly is here for the long run, as it has been with its Total War: Warhammer games, which began in 2016 and is still seeing updates for Total War: Warhammer 3. It stands to reason that Creative Assembly will look to employ a similar model for Total War: Warhammer 40,000, which means fans can reasonably expect most of the setting’s factions to get some time in the sun, perhaps via the release of Total War: Warhammer 40,000 2 and 3 (that’s a lot of numbers, though!).

There are few Total War: Warhammer 40,000 details that have emerged in the wake of the game’s announcement worth pointing out here. In a follow-up developer roundtable video, Creative Assembly confirmed you’ll be able to blow up a planet in the game, although described this as a last resort. In-universe, this is called Exterminatus, and can only be done with the go-ahead from the highest authorities within the Imperium of Man. Sometimes, there really isn’t any other option in the grim darkness of the far future.

And the level of faction customization really does look impressive. Clearly, this isn’t a game about forcing players down the Ultramarines route, or any other Space Marine chapter for that matter. The hope is you’ll be able to not only realize that faction you’ve always dreamt about in aesthetic terms, but gameplay terms.

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.

Sony and Honda have announced plans to get PlayStation 5 owners gaming on the go, with Remote Play support for Afeela 1 vehicles rolling out next year.

The two companies are working together as Sony Honda Mobility, a joint venture focused on the development of electric vehicles, which has now announced the PlayStation-infused Afeela In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) system.

This technology will let you sit in an Afeela 1 vehicle and play your PS4 or PS5 games as a passenger, though only via Remote Play — meaning you'll also need your console switched on back at home in order to stream gameplay.

As with any online technology, there are caveats. Of course, this is not cloud gaming in the traditional sense, so you will need to own a PS5 yourself to use it. Sony also recommends you have a "stable connection of at 15Mbps... for a smooth Remote Play experience." Why isn't Sony using the same cloud gaming technology available elsewhere? It is unclear.

"The introduction of PS Remote Play embodies Afeela's vision for mobility: transforming the traveling space into a captivating and emotional one," Sony Honda Mobility president Izumi Kawanishi said in a statement. "Through this integration, we are elevating the customer's entire travel experience to an unprecedented level of entertainment."

An image of the Afeela IVI system shows someone holding a DualSense controller while playing on a small screen in the rear seat of their snazzy Honda vehicle. In a press release, Sony and Honda suggests a driver can enjoy gaming while "waiting in your parked car," presumably by clambering into the back, or alternatively the IVI can be used to keep "passengers entertained on a road trip."

All of this seems somewhat redundant as Sony allows full cloud streaming of games via its handheld PlayStation Portal device, and one of these is far cheaper than buying a brand new electric Honda. (Nintendo Switch consoles exist too.) But hey, anything to keep your passengers in the back seats quiet.

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

Great RPGs can live or die by their final chapters – what's been built up through a long journey could pay off with major revelations that leave a lasting mark or fall flat with cliches that undermine its best ideas. I spent over 100 hours with Octopath Traveler 0, and although I'd say about 80 of those are pretty good overall thanks to a fair share of ups and downs, it's those last 20-or-so hours where it ascends to true greatness. If that sounds far too daunting, I get it, it's a big time investment – but what you get in return is something that only games of this scale can pull off, making good on its various story branches and stunning you with one moment after another as you approach its wild conclusion. While Octopath already had a brilliant turn-based combat system, this iteration adds its own quirks to freshen things up as the HD-2D art style delivers its unique brand of modernized nostalgia yet again. And along with an outstanding soundtrack to beautifully frame both pivotal and quiet moments alike, Octopath Traveler 0 shows that this series can and has pushed the genre to new heights.

Octopath Traveler 0 is largely a repackaging of the mobile game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, which is a prequel to the original entry. But by axing the microtransations and gacha elements used to recruit party members, as well as introducing some very important additions to story and gameplay, it has become a fully fledged RPG worthy of this wider release. I'm a bit shocked that this game in particular was once a mobile exclusive because it's built as a traditional RPG, and I'm thrilled it exists in this form since I would have otherwise missed out on some of my favorite moments from any recent game.

However, it's not always a smoothly paved road, and I'm not terribly surprised as any 100-hour game leaves plenty of room for valleys between its peaks. Story is where I had most of my reservations in the first half-or-so, and while I wasn't expecting the most beautifully written script or deepest character study, I found some of the dialogue and plot beats rather shallow. Comically evil villains made for bosses who were satisfying to take down, but when their unabashed cruelty and simple thirst for power is the primary hook without much nuance, I didn't feel quite as compelled by them as characters. But despite the inconsistent quality of its storytelling, Octopath Traveler 0 still runs at a decent pace and doesn't sit on any one thread for too long.

That's mainly due to how the main quest is structured. After a tragic prologue where your hometown is burned to the ground, you're given three story branches in order to pursue the trio of villains who were responsible. Themed around power, fame, and wealth, those three paths then converge into a conclusion for what is roughly the first half of the overall story (at about 40 hours). And don't be fooled by the fakeout credits roll, because you've barely seen what Octopath Traveler 0 has up its sleeve. It then splits into three new questlines that pick up those themes once again, and although they retread similar territory, the stakes get higher as more of Octopath's world gets involved and your understanding of it deepens. Warring kingdoms and corrupt religious institutions across the land of Orsterra, where betrayal is more common than loyalty, start to face greater consequences as the full picture comes into focus and the story gains real momentum.

Rather than trying to build eight separate stories for characters that have to run in parallel, this game is able to tell a tighter tale by weaving its themes together, putting your custom character at the center of it, and elevating the important figures when needed. While your silent protagonist may seem like a typical "chosen one," having the story revolve around the world's eight rings that grant godly power turns a cliche setup into a strong foundation for its deeper messages. Octopath Traveler 2 was very successful with its cast of eight and made for one of my favorite games of the last decade, but this change of pace is a smart direction. Unfortunately it does mean most of the 30-plus party members you can recruit through sidequests feel rather disposable, but the dissonance that creates is worth the trade-off.

And like many of the seemingly frivolous features of Octopath Traveler 0, that roster eventually means something important in the grand scheme. There's a reason why you want to recruit as many of these characters as possible, and this pays off in unpredictable ways that even had me – someone who's played nearly every major JRPG under the sun – absolutely stun-locked. That's a powerful example of how this game makes you care about the seemingly mundane things in retrospect and earns its big moments. Perhaps it could've benefitted from trimming its lesser parts (especially where it runs into problematic tropes or naive politics), but the time you spend along the main questlines builds an intimate understanding of the people who embody Orsterra and the leaders you collaborate with in earnest.

Avoiding any specific spoilers, once you hit the "final" questline, Octopath Traveler 0 mashes the gas and does not stop; it almost felt like I was playing a whole new game. Dungeons get more intricate, boss fights get a lot tougher, character arcs come full circle, and motives begin to make much more sense. Plenty of stories go for the complex and sympathetic villain or antihero, but the true antagonist of this tale represents an incredibly thoughtful, fully realized, heartwrenching, and intense exploration of this archetype. I was floored by the revelations therein because of how they're grounded in things that feel real, with both gameplay mechanics and music wielded as storytelling devices to paint a complete picture without having to explain itself out loud. The more I peel back the layers that make its final chapters so moving, the more it's stuck with me well after I rolled credits on the 0-exclusive true ending after 106 hours on the dot.

I've been on record saying Octopath Traveler 2 has one of my favorite turn-based combat systems ever; it shines here as well and for slightly different reasons. The Boost and Break systems give the typical dynamic of hitting elemental affinities some extra depth to devising how turns should play out. Playing the guessing game of discovering what enemies are weak against gets a little tiresome, but once that part is solved, scheming for your plan of attack based on turn order to Break enemies and tee up the big hits is oh so satisfying. Building each party members' Boost points to add extra hits or increase spell potency gives you something to plan around for turns well in advance. And lining up all these variables while juggling the threat of hard-hitting bosses, who can impose some impactful status ailments or wipe party members in one turn, had me feeling like a genius tactician. Octopath might be playing on our nostalgia with its HD-2D retro-style visuals, yet this series has continually set a high bar for turn-based combat systems in modern gaming.

Party composition is quite different this time around since you have eight active party members at all times – four in the front row and four in the back. With well over 30 characters in my roster, it's an overwhelming amount to process and manage. While the fundamentals of Octopath's combat system are familiar, matching character duos for the row they occupy is a unique strategic layer that allows for a lot of flexibility. And because they all build Boost points individually, you can dole out the big hits more frequently and keep up a brisker pace in battle compared to previous entries. You sacrifice individual character depth, however, as each party member has just one Job to progress through (aside from your protagonist), but you can at least master specific Job skills to then equip on other characters to diversify their moveset.

I found Octopath Traveler 2's character progression more meaningful, especially as it tied to their individual stories, but Octopath 0 offers a welcome change of pace that hits the turn-based highs that've made the series special. The slow-motion cinematic camera cuts for Max Boost attacks and each party member's tide-turning limit break still get me hyped up, giving combat the visual flair that truly makes the HD-2D style stand out when the action picks up. The tactical considerations you need to make in order to inflict damage well past the 9,999 soft limit requires effort and foresight that isn't spelled out for you, but figuring out how to wield these systems and mechanics yourself is as satisfying as it is necessary to stand a chance in late game fights. Random encounters throughout dungeons and the overworld get overbearing, but that tedium pales in comparison to the gratification of landing a Break and busting out every full-powered ability to overcome a boss you had no business defeating.

While that turn-based combat supports much of the A-plot I’ve already praised, there's also a B-plot that revolves around reconstructing your hometown of Wishvale. In the process of bringing it back to life narratively, you actually rebuild it with a town-building system in a similar vein as Fallout 4 or Ni no Kuni 2. You collect crafting materials naturally throughout which then allow you to build housing, shops, and decor within certain parameters on a grid-based layout. It’s an enjoyable side activity, with tangible benefits that come from new buildings and recruiting new residents, such as discounted shop prices, a self-sufficient flow of materials, and a training ground for inactive party members to continue leveling up. Town building may seem optional at first and isn't particularly deep, but it becomes almost essential the further you get, especially when you consider the story's broader message about what home means to you and the people you care for. And seeing the town you put together yourself in the background of cutscenes is a heartwarming touch that is its own small emotional reward.

This questline's story can be a bit cheesy at times, but its heart is in the right place as it gets sentimental about what it takes to rebuild after losing everything. Like the previous game, the way poverty shapes a person and going from nothing to something remains a prominent motif, and even though it fumbles the messaging at times here, it's willing to talk about those topics with clarity. In the same way the branching questlines eventually converge sensibly, the town-building system and story attached to it enrich the main quest in tangible ways. By having you take the actions necessary to pick up the pieces and offer survivors some semblance of the past lives of your hometown, Octopath Traveler 0's overarching themes about holding onto your humanity comes across as more genuine.

After 100-plus hours, I look back on this journey often teary eyed. Its prevailing messages and star characters really resonated with me, offering perspectives on how tragedy changes people. That hits hardest when I listen back to my favorite songs on the soundtrack that evoke those feelings. Series composer Yasunori Nishiki has a particular style that lends itself extremely well to the genre, but is an absolute madman when you break down the musicality of his work, especially here in Octopath Traveler 0. A rock orchestra with swelling strings, horns, and drums (sometimes backed by opera vocals and chanting choirs) boss battle themes make me feel like I can run through a wall; hell, even the initial normal battle theme slaps hard. It's also in the softer town themes that round things out, and specific motifs that punctuate important moments and work their way into the most impactful songs. Twice during late game bosses, I had to put my controller down absolutely stunned by what I was hearing before picking it back up and using the power of music to propel me to victory – so yeah, Yasunori Nishiki deserves to be mentioned alongside the GOATs.