The Pokémon TCG market is moving, and not quietly. With Black Bolt and White Flare coming in hot, many Black and White-era cards are suddenly on every collector’s radar again.

We're seeing massive jumps on cards that have sat stable for years, all because Gen V is back in style. If you're looking to trade, cash in, or just gawk at how weird card prices can get, I’ve got you covered.

Here are five cards that are flying and five that are faceplanting. Some of these are smart buys. Others? Let’s say I wouldn’t want to be the one who paid full price three weeks ago.

Pokémon Card Crashers

Unless you're dead set on grabbing the promo cards and poster in the 151 poster bundle, grabbing booster packs from TCG Player is where it's at (Or just the poster and promos seperately).

Currently sitting at $10.33 a pack, it's obvious that Amazon is now going above MSRP and secondary market value. If you're not bothered about opening packs and just want 151 chase cards, here's some of my favorites as well.

If you've dedicated your life to pulling chase cards yourself, here's what we can find in stock right now. Just watch out for pricing over MSRP, we're in a weird spot as Pokémon trainers right now, so don't pay more than what you have to.

If you're desperate for some big box retailer products, here you go. Just make sure to be savvy before buying, as 9 times out of 10 TCG Player will be cheaper in this climate.

Here's the Pokémon TCG full Release Schedule so far for this year, too, so you don't miss anything. Buying singles is the cheapest way to collect right now, but don't feel like you have to "Catch Em' All!".

The AutoFull M6 Ultra gaming chair distinguishes itself from other premium offerings by providing built-in heating, cooling, and massage functionality. Fortunately, despite these unique additions, AutoFull didn't forget to make the chair itself high quality with the same type of comfort features found in some of the best gaming chairs that sometimes significantly more. It still has some room for improvement in certain areas, but the M6 Ultra nevertheless makes a compelling argument for becoming your go-to desk chair.

AutoFull M6 Ultra Gaming Chair – Options and Assembly

Available in black with gold accents, or white with blue accents, the M6 Ultra is the top-of-the line offering in AutoFull's M6 series, providing nearly every available option you’d see in a high-end chair. The M6 Ultra features an elastic lumbar massage, 3D ergonomic neck pillow, ventilated (cooling) and heated seating, dynamic tracking lumbar support, 6D adjustable armrests, and a retractable footrest.

Aside from the aesthetic differences, the rest of the M6 series, labeled Pro, Elite, and Basic, successively lose features as you go down the tiers – the M6 Pro lacks the M6 Ultra's massage option and headrest, the M6 Elite drops the cooling and heating, and the M6 Basic lacks the 6D armrests and retractable footrest. But the M6 Ultra is the full package that earns its higher asking price.

At roughly three feet long, just over two feet wide, and about 17.5-inches high, the M6 Ultra ships in a more compact box than similar chairs, but at nearly 80 pounds, is still a two person job to move. Per usual, the box arrived in bad shape from shipping, but the contents survived without damage.

Upon opening the box, you're greeted with a visual assembly poster, as well as a separate glossy sheet with a QR code leading to an assembly video on YouTube. As is typical, I found neither the assembly poster nor video sufficient on their own to put the chair together. For instance, although the video was clearer to me than the poster, it was also slightly out-of-date, with, for example, the arms not being shown pre-assembled like they are now out-of-the-box.

Overall assembly was relatively easy, however, requiring just the two included Allen key wrenches for tightening various screws and bolts. The only hard part for me, and a step that needed a second person, was sliding and aligning the backrest into the slots and screwing it in.

Further easing the assembly process is that the headset and lumbar support are already pre-installed on the seat’s back. Neither is surprising considering that the headrest is on a telescoping rail for adjustment and the lumbar both auto adjusts and has dual massage motors built-in.

AutoFull M6 Ultra Gaming Chair – Comfort and Performance

Once assembled, the overall feel of the M6 Ultra is solid. The cushioning inside the PU leather material is on the firmer side, but with just enough give, making me believe it would hold up well long-term even if a user was near the chair's maximum 396-pound weight limit.

Unlike a lot of chairs in this category, the headrest neck pillow is permanently attached. Fortunately, it moves both up and down, as well as forwards and backwards, for good adjustability. The sides of the neck pillow can also be bent inwards, which I like for the cradling effect it provides. While the neck pillow is also on the firm side, it's filled with gel, so it has more give. It's easy to adjust, and, more importantly, stays in place once set.

Marketing buzzwords for armrests have descended into meaninglessness of late, with everything from 360-degree to 4D used for how adjustable they are. AutoFull is no different, using the term "6D" for the armrests on the M6 Ultra. While they don't split like they would at the end of the "5D" armrests on the Cougar Armor Evo M, for example, the M6 Ultra's armrests do just about anything else you can think of.

The armrests can be raised up and down, tilted down, tilted up, tilted to the side, rotated 360-degrees, and more. In short, you can place these in just about any position that's needed, including out of the way. Even better, the arms generally stay in place once set, a seemingly simple concept other chairs have struggled with realizing.

The footrest slides out and unfolds when you want to use it. It's not the sturdiest footrest out there, but works well enough when reclining the chair to its maximum 160-degrees. Combined with the adjustability of the armrests, there are some good reclined use cases with the M6 Ultra, including reading a book or portable gaming with something like a Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch.

The firm seat is comfortable enough, although I would have preferred the better ergonomics of the more cradled design found on chairs like the Armor Evo M. It's likely that AutoFull chose this type of seat design in part to accommodate the ventilation and heating system, as well as the three control buttons accessible on the right top of the seat itself. Surprisingly, even after sitting for hours at a time over several months of usage, I never once noticed or felt any of the embedded electronics. If you like a supportive seat without a lot of give, then you'll no doubt like sitting on this for even your longest gaming or working sessions.

There's a single USB-A cable that extends about four feet from the back of the chair. This is used to power the graphene heating system and dual fans in the seat, as well as the dual massage motors in the lumbar support. As opposed to an insert, like on the Mavix M9, the M6 Ultra's massage and climate system is seamlessly integrated, which is why it's unfortunate that no battery pack is included. You either need to be tethered to a USB port, or, like me, supply your own USB battery pack, which I placed in the sleeve on the back of the chair. Fortunately, the M6 Ultra's massage and climate system is quite efficient, using only roughly 1 - 2% of my USB battery pack's capacity per session, even with everything set to maximum.

Heat can be set to three levels and tops out at a toasty 122° F, which is comforting, but can be intense. Cooling similarly has three fan levels, with the lowest setting barely audible. The coolest setting, although the noisiest in that it clearly sounds like a fan is running, does a surprisingly good job at chilling my bottom and keeping me cool overall during even the most intense gaming sessions.

The lumbar massage, surprise, also has three intensity levels to choose from. Although it's called massage, there's no movement up and down or left and right in the lumbar support, just two points of vibration at roughly the apex of the outward curve. It's not the most nuanced type of massage, but it does feel good for what it is.

Looking to upgrade your desk, too?

As part of its early Memorial Day Sale, Amazon has dropped the price on the 65" LG Evo C4 4K OLED TV. It normally retails for $2,499.99, but right now you can get it for $1,296.99 with free delivery. That's nearly half off the list price and the best deal I've seen for the 2024 65" model. It's also $1,000 less expensive than the 2025 65" LG Evo C5, which makes this the far better value. The LG Evo C-series of TV has consistently been our favorite high-end 4K TV for current generation console gaming thanks to its outstanding image quality, low input lag, and high refresh rate.

The Best LG TV Deal on Amazon Today

If you're looking for an affordable power bank that will fast charge your Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or Apple iPhone 16, then check out today's deal. Amazon has the Iniu 20,000mAh Power Bank with up to 45W of Power Delivery over USB Type-C for only $18.31 after you apply promo code "E58LOYPK". This particular model has about 800 reviews on Amazon with a 4.7 star average and a Fakespot "A" rating.

Iniu 20,000mAh 45W USB Power Bank for $18.31

Woot! is offering an excellent soundbar deal, but only for today (Wednesday, May 19). Right now the certified refurbished Bose Smart Soundbar 550 - which includes the same 1 year Bose warranty as buying new - is on sale for just $169.99, a huge 66% discount from its original $499 list price. Amazon Prime members get free shipping, the rest of us pay $6. It's easily one of the best soundbars you can get at this price, especially if you're looking for Dolby Atmos support. Woot! is owned by Amazon and is an authorized Bose reseller.

60% Off Bose Smart Soundbar 550

Amazon is already flooded with third-party Switch 2 gear, from protective cases to charging docks, and a surprising number of them are already discounted. One standout is the JSAUX Protective Grip Case, which is down to just $13.99 and looks like a solid pick for keeping your shiny new handheld safe on day one.

As Amazon rolls out surprisingly early Memorial Day deals, we've sorted through the noise to highlight the accessories that are actually worth your time (and cash).

For starters, we've got to mention that when buying more than one JSAUX Switch 2 accessory, you get an additional 20% off your order. That's a crazy good deal, so now is the perfect time to stock up.

JSAUX is the most notable of the third-party Switch 2 accessory developers at the moment, as we highly recommend them for other portable gaming devices like the Steam Deck.

Orders for its new line are now available, and our top pick from JSAUX is the Protective TPU Grip Case for $13.99 with the listed coupon (was from $19.99). Whilst its rear-mounted case provides enhanced grip for improved gameplay as you hold the Switch 2 the front TPU case acts as a shock absorption barrier for any accidental drops that may occur when travelling.

Also from JSAUX is the Dockable Case for $13.09 (with listed coupon and voucher at Amazon) acts as a fully transparent protective shell around both the Switch 2 and Joy-Cons, the latter of which are still detachable.

Remember that controller joysticks can experience wear and tear too, which is why the price drop of JSAUX Switch 2 silicone thumb grips to $8.99 is quite the steal as well. Pick a few of these up, and you could be decking out your Switch 2 with everything you need for less than $30.

Still on the hunt? There's an interesting variety of other Switch 2 cases and protectors to consider at Amazon as well, catering to whatever your preference for portable protection is. The cheapest among the best items you can grab so far is a four-pack of the Ferilinso Tempered Glass Screen Protectors for only $5.82, boasting anti-scratch and shatter-resistant features.

However, if you're open to spending a little bit more, you can get extra accessories for added value. For instance, the TZGZT Travel Carrying Case for $12.84 comes not only with two screen protectors but also slots to hold up to 24 game cards.

With those, you'll be able to take your physical Nintendo Switch 2 copies of Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on the fly when you're on the go.

Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.

Fortnite's Star Wars season has just dropped its biggest new skin yet from a galaxy far, far away — and stunned fans by locking it behind a 1.28 million XP grind.

Darth Jar Jar became available to buy from Fortnite's Shop over the weekend, but only after you earn the ability to do so. And even then, after accruing that 1.28 million XP, Darth Jar Jar still costs 1500 V-Bucks (around $13).

Fortnite has locked skins behind an XP requirement before, but only done so once in recent years and not with a skin that had been anticipated as one of the key cosmetic releases of this shortened Star Wars season.

Several weeks in, there's now less time for players to get the XP needed to nab Darth Jar Jar (Fortnite's Star Wars season ends on June 7), and anyone who had managed to finish their battle pass already now has a fresh chunk of level grinding to go.

"I was so hyped for this skin and was fine with it being behind a pay wall, after all it is just another skin," wrote one fan on reddit, in a long thread dedicated to Darth Jar Jar's release. "But this whole locked behind an XP wall is ridiculous. You want me to earn the right to give you money? I immediately closed the game."

Another common complaint is the fact that Darth Jar Jar has been released alongside a regular Jar Jar Binks skin, which does not have an XP requirement but still costs a separate 1500 V-Bucks.

Together with the various accessories for both Sith and Gungan variants of this skin, you could choose to pay 6,500 V-Bucks for everything Jar Jar Binks. Which is a lot.

"Regular Jar Jar alone is 20 dollars," another fan wrote. "If you want both that s**t is 52 entire ass dollars for something that ought to have just been 1 skin with 3 styles."

Others, meanwhile, have countered to say that Jar Jar is simply a cosmetic option — and there's no need to buy him at all if you don't want to. Ignore him, and your Fortnite locker will be as free of the character as George Lucas wanted to be after the backlash to Phantom Menace hit.

"It wasn't that hard to earn the XP took me around 8/9 hrs," wrote a third fan. "I had no plans on Saturday. I did it in 3 sittings, but all in one day. I played Rocket Racing and Ranked and did Alignment Challenges to farm as much XP as possible.

"Nothing is making anyone get every item in the Shop you can just pick and choose, and the fact he was just 1500 V-Bucks when Deathstroke was 1,800 V-Bucks I wasn't bothered at all by the price. I was pissed off at first than I realised after a couple hrs that I had over 300,000 XP already."

Fortnite's Star Wars season continues this week with a focus on Mandalorian warriors, and the highly-anticipated release of a new customisable Mandalorian skin in the game's Shop next.

Epic Games' battle royale will conclude its time in the Star Wars galaxy with a live narrative event on June 7 — which fans believe will see them boarding the Death Star that has been hovering ominously over the game's Island since the start of the season.

Earlier this month, Epic Games' ongoing feud with Apple escalated after Fortnite was "blocked" from returning to the iPhone App Store in the US.

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

There’s no denying how exciting it is to know there’s a new Final Destination movie in theaters right now. Final Destination: Bloodlines finally brings fans the sixth part of the iconic franchise, and it simply wouldn’t be a Final Destination film without the likes of legend Tony Todd. The late actor, who is best known for his terrifying turn as the original Candyman, gave a powerful monologue in the film — and it turns out the speech was unscripted, according to producer Craig Perry, who called Todd’s one final appearance “very bittersweet.”

“We all knew that he was obviously quite ill,” Perry told Deadline in a recent interview about both the new film and his experience producing on the entire franchise, which kicked off in 2000. “And it was pretty clear that this was going to be the last role he would play in a movie, and the fact that it was one of the Final Destination movies made it that more poignant.”

Perry revealed that directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein took a risk when shooting Todd’s scene, deciding to let him speak from the heart instead of the script.

“Our directors, they made a very shrewd decision to take the last couple of lines that were scripted and said, ‘Tony, just, just say what you would want to say to the fans. What would you like to impart to them in this moment?’” the producer explained. “So, everything that makes that scene so emotional is authentic because that was just Tony talking through the camera to the very fans who supported him for so many years. It was a very magical moment on set. It was an impactful moment, and it’s one I’ll take with me until I go to the grave.”

Warning! Spoilers for Final Destination: Bloodlines follow:

Those who have seen the film already know what a tearjerker the scene is, but for those who haven’t (or don’t mind a bit of a spoiler), Todd’s unscripted speech is short but sweet: "I intend to enjoy the time I have left. And I suggest you do the same. Life is precious. Enjoy every single second. You never know when... Good luck."

Final Destination was created by Jeffrey Reddick and hit theaters in 2000 to much acclaim. It spawned four sequel films (before Bloodlines, of course) over the years and is considered something of a cultural touchstone these days, if not for nothing else than that truck full of logs. You know the one. The previous film in the franchise, Final Destination 5, was released in 2011, so it has been nearly 15 years since we’ve had to decipher death’s design.

Todd died in November 2024 at age 69 after fighting a longtime illness. Final Destination: Bloodlines is in theaters now (and doing very well at the box office) — and when you go, don’t forget to say goodbye to one of the greatest horror, and acting in general, has had to offer us.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

Honkai: Star Rail, launched in 2023, was an instant hit for publisher HoYoVerse, reaching 20 million downloads in just a few days and pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars in the following years. Globally, many who hopped on board the Astral Express did so in the wake of enjoying another HoYoVerse-published game: Genshin Impact. But Honkai's origins, and the roots of its global success, go much further back than that.

The Honkai series has actually existed since 2011, when the tiny team at miHoYo released FlyMe2TheMoon on iOS. The studio has since exploded in notoriety and team members, including Honkai: Star Rail lead game designer Chengnan An. An joined the Honkai team for Honkai Impact 3rd, which launched in 2016 and directly preceded Star Rail. Having now been with the company across multiple generations of Honkai games and a decade of development, An has plenty to share about the philosophy of the series and why it took off the way it did with the release of Star Rail in 2023, after so many years remaining relatively unknown in the West. We spoke to An in the wake of the Game Developers' Conference (GDC) 2025 to get his perspective on Honkai as a whole, Honkai: Star Rail, and where the Astral Express is headed in the coming years.

IGN: Can you tell me a bit about your role in Honkai's origins? When did you join the team working on Honkai, and how have you seen Honkai evolve as a series since you came on board? What's the difference between Honkai in the early days (FlyMe2TheMoon, etc) and Honkai now (Star Rail)?

Chengnan An: I first joined the Honkai Impact 3rd team as the Lead Combat Designer, focusing on refining the game's action mechanics. It was an exciting time — we were constantly pushing the boundaries of what a fast-paced action game could feel like. Seeing players enjoy the combat we designed was incredibly rewarding, and it shaped how I think about game design even now.

Around 2019, I transitioned into a more strategic role as the Lead Game Designer of Honkai: Star Rail, which gave me a broader perspective on game development beyond just combat mechanics. At the time, we started thinking: Could we build on our existing expertise and explore new gameplay directions? Many of us on the team, myself included, are big fans of turn-based games, and by then, we had also gained a lot of experience designing action gameplay. That led to an interesting challenge—could we merge our knowledge/experience from action games with the depth and strategy of turn-based combat to create something fresh?

That’s how Honkai: Star Rail came to be. It was a natural evolution, not just for the series but also for us as developers. The core Honkai DNA — strong storytelling, deep character interactions, and engaging combat — remains the same.

Tell me about the initial conception and creation of Honkai: Star Rail. What led the team to make a third Honkai game? Were you taking lessons or cues from Genshin Impact, or other Hoyo games?

An: I can only speak on behalf of the Honkai: Star Rail team. At HoYoverse, in general, each title is developed by an individual team. But of course, we have accumulated valuable experience in terms of technical pipeline, project development, content output, localization, and so on through the development of previous titles, which always have, and always will be essential during the development and further amelioration of Honkai: Star Rail.

Besides, I'd like to elaborate on why Honkai: Star Rail is a space fantasy. This is our first attempt by HoYoverse to explore the science-fiction concept of an "interstellar journey," which provides players with a grand adventure as they traverse the galaxy, explore numerous distinctive planets, and resolve conflicts with the support of unique companions. On top of the science-fiction concept, we incorporated fantasy and mythological elements [Aeon] and [Stellaron] to create an extensive and fatalistic narrative.

What’s the biggest change between the original conception of Honkai Star Rail and its final version? Are there features or ideas you wished you could have used that were left on the cutting room floor?

An: The combat system evolved a lot throughout development — there were many mechanics we experimented with, refined, or even scrapped entirely before landing on the final version. One example — something we talked about at GDC — is the evolution of "Weakness Break QTE."

At first, we had this idea where breaking an enemy’s weakness would let players manually choose an action, like an attack, heal, or support move. On paper, it made sense, but in practice, it actually slowed down the flow of combat.

So we refined it. Instead of requiring manual input every time, we introduced automatic triggers. This led to what we now call "Follow-Up Attacks" — skills that activate under different conditions. For example, Herta automatically attacks when an enemy’s HP drops below 50%, rather than waiting for a weakness break.

Even better, follow-ups can chain together. Imagine this: Herta attacks, dropping an enemy’s HP below half, which triggers her own follow-up. That, in turn, breaks another weakness, activating her teammate Himeko’s follow-up. Just like that, one click sets off a powerful sequence.

This shift made combat more dynamic, intuitive, and rewarding, keeping battles engaging while allowing for deeper strategy. And that’s just one of the many ways the system changed over time.

Honkai: Star Rail is the third Honkai game, but it blew up internationally in a way that others didn’t. Why do you think that is? What is special about Honkai: Star Rail?

An: Honestly, seeing how much love the game has received has been both rewarding and a little unexpected. We set out to create something easy to get into while offering depth, and it’s been amazing to see both veteran fans and newcomers welcome it. The space-fantasy setting paired with turn-based combat provides a fresh experience, yet still stays true to what makes the series enjoyable.

There’s also something special about how players connect with the characters and the story. We’ve worked hard to balance humor, emotion, and adventure, and it’s humbling to see it all come together. Of course, the high production values, multi-platform support, and a passionate team have all played a part, but at the end of the day, it’s the players' feedback that truly gives everything its meaning.

How far out do you plan/write the story? How do you handle the challenges that come from telling a good story while constantly needing to expand the world and characters?

An: To provide players with the better experience, we have a well-structured pipeline in place for both story and gameplay development. We plan our storylines at least a year in advance, thinking ahead to new planets and the stories we want to tell. Honkai: Star Rail has been a passion project for the past five years — an ambitious effort driven by our goal to redefine RPGs for a broader audience. Right now, we’re diving deeply into Amphoreus, a world we’ve dedicated a lot of attention to. From Version 3.0 to 3.7, this will be a story arc spanning across 8 versions. We hope players will enjoy this Flame-chase journey as it unfolds.

Beyond the Trailblaze Mission (the main story), our Adventure Mission serve as more than just side stories — they offer a different lens into each world, its people, and their experiences. Amphoreus, for example, was once a collection of city-states, but as the Black Tide encroached, these cultures were forced to merge in the last refuge, Okhema. Through Adventure Missions like Where Shall We Go? we explore not just the history of Amphoreus but also the hopes, losses, and resilience of its people. The stories deepen the world-building and, more importantly, give players an emotional connection to the characters and civilizations they encounter.

How long is it sustainable to keep building such a huge world, story, and so many characters? Do you worry the game eventually becomes unwieldy or inaccessible to new people?

An: Developing a new world, such as Penacony or Amphorious, along with so many characters of that world, typically takes more than a year.

During the Core Concept speech at GDC 2025, The Three Design Principles were highlighted for Honkai: Star Rail, and two of them are Simple and Expandable. On the one hand, we emphasize simplicity. For example, in our battle mechanics, the turn-based gameplay allows players to take their time in making decisions. We have streamlined the selection of skills available to players, and additionally, there is an option to enable Auto Combat. This feature ensures that players are not overwhelmed when starting the game or adapting to a new battle strategy.

On the other hand, as a live-service title, we continuously expand the Honkai: Star Rail universe through regular updates. This approach enables us to introduce new content, including new worlds (as previously mentioned), characters, and gameplay elements. However, the expansion of content does not mean we aim to make Honkai: Star Rail overwhelmingly vast or inaccessible; we remain committed to our principle of simplicity. We have implemented various mechanisms aimed at simplification. For instance, leveling up characters has become more accessible and stragihtword through our guiding system. Moreover, we even offer quicker access to new content: in version 3.0, players can head straight to Amphoreus and experience the latest Trailblaze Mission.

Are you looking at the Switch 2 at all for Honkai: Star Rail? What about Xbox?

An: We have consistently aimed to attract more players to our space fantasy RPG. That’s why we made this title available on both PC and mobile devices from day one of its official release. In version 1.4, we also added support for PS5. Additionally, as a live-service title, we are committed to providing ongoing opportunities for our players as time goes on. For the latest updates, please stay tuned to our official websites.

Do you see a growing trend of Chinese-developed games succeeding on the international stage? Is that impacting how you approach game development at all?

An: This was my first time attending GDC, and I was thrilled to see developers from around the world connecting, sharing their insights, and collaborating to enhance the gaming industry. Meanwhile, I had the opportunity to meet some fans who were incredibly passionate about our title, which was truly an honor.

During my preparation for the GDC 2025 Core Concept, I dedicated significant time to carefully reviewing previous development logs and player's feedback. It was an enlightening experience that not only reminded me of the old days that we've spent on this space fantasy, but also underscored the importance of continuously listening to our players. Ultimately, a live-service title is not solely about providing content through updates; it also entails a long-term commitment to improving and fulfilling our players’ expectations.

How long do you expect to sustain Honkai: Star Rail? Will you eventually make a fourth Honkai game? What does this franchise look like in ten years?

An: Honkai: Star Rail presents an incredibly vast and intricate galaxy to explore. To be honest, to fully realize its potential is a long-term endeavor that extends far beyond just a few years.

What am I not asking you that you want me to ask you?

An: How about asking how I feel about the title as of right now?

We are on the brink of celebrating the 2nd anniversary of Honkai: Star Rail alongside the upcoming release of the Version 3.2. Although the game officially launched on April 26, 2023, its development actually began back in 2019. From the perspective of some of our development team members, myself included, this means we have been passionately invested in this space fantasy RPG for approximately more than 5 years.

I also want to emphasize that we have always listened to and communicated with our players and will continue to do so. We have many exciting developments in the works — including new content and gameplay optimizations — ready to be revealed to our players. A preview of some of these was shared during the 3.2 Special Program on March 28, and development and fine-tuning for future versions are progressing steadily. Stay tuned for more updates and thank you for your continued support!

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

If you're seeking the absolute best of the best in PC gaming performance, look no further. Dell has dropped the price of its flagship Alienware Area-51 prebuilt gaming PC, equipped with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card, for the lowest price I've seen. This particular model normally retails for $5,499.99, but a new $600 instant discount drops it to $4,899.99 with free shipping. The RTX 5090 is undisputedly the most powerful graphics card on the market.

Save $600 Off the Alienware Area-51 RTX 5090 Gaming PC

Whenever you check Steam's Global Top Sellers, you can expect a few usual suspects; the latest live-service hit, upcoming high-profile releases, or the current popular game everyone's eager to talk about. Open it up this morning, though, and you might have seen an interesting entry climbing the ranks: Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time.

The latest from developer Level-5 is out now in advanced access for those who buy into the slightly more expensive version, and available for all on May 21. Announced during the February 2023 Nintendo Direct, Fantasy Life i saw a few delays and a reportedly strenuous development cycle, alongside the departure of producer Keiji Inafune.

As of this writing, though, it's currently holding a #2 spot on the Global Top Sellers list of Steam and, on a Monday morning, boasting a respectable 26.6k viewers on Twitch. If you're unaware of what Fantasy Life is, you might be curious as to where this all came from, so let's explore just how this new slice-of-life sim game managed to bottle lightning twice.

The Life Fantastic

The first Fantasy Life was released for the Nintendo 3DS roughly a decade ago, arriving for the west in Fall 2014 after a December 2012 launch for Japan. Developed and published in Japan by Level-5, and internationally published by Nintendo, its set-up is simple: live a fantasy life, mastering a series of fantasy jobs.

There's a plot to follow, centered around the "Doomstones" and the dark energy they emanate, but the primary draw of Fantasy Life has largely been its cozy life-sim aspects. It uses various Life paths as "jobs" or "classes" for the player, giving them commensurate tasks to accomplish. You can be a Paladin or Magician for combat, sure, but you can also delve into the life of a Miner, Woodcutter, Cook, or Tailor.

In fact, the way each of this seemingly disparate jobs could link together ends up forming a lot of the appeal. "I could even combine my Life skills to complete special tasks for people, like using my hunting skills to forage for honey, then using my prowess as a gourmet chef to make them a honey pudding," reads IGN's 8/10 review of the original Fantasy Life.

While Level-5's life sim came out to a 73 average on MetaCritic, it still garnered love from those who clicked with it. Alongside Rune Factory 4, it gave the 3DS two solid cozy life sims, years before Stardew Valley would revolutionize the genre.

As time went on, Level-5 would try a few follow-ups. Fantasy Life Link! was released as an enhanced version for Japan in 2013, and most of its content was included in the international edition a year later. A mobile follow-up Fantasy Life 2 was planned and then turned into Fantasy Life Online, arriving in 2018 for Japan and 2021 for the west. Its online services were shut down in December 2021 for Japan, and in February 2023 for the west.

Comments from the time were bummed over the state of the series, so seeing a new, premium entry in the Fantasy Life series would likely invigorate the patient and hungry devotees. But the degree of sudden popularity here doesn't seem solely based on nostalgia.

The Game That Could Steal Your Time

It's hard to deny that games like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing: New Horizons catapulted the life sim genre to new heights in the general consciousness. Harvest Moon was certainly popular before, but it wouldn't be hard to see a "rising tides raises all ships" argument for why Fantasy Life i is catching a larger wave the second time around.

Fantasy Life i also seems to be doing quite well on its own merits, too. Early reviews point to this being a worthy successor to the 3DS debut. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time picked up a 36/40 from Famitsu (via Gematsu), with a 9/9/9/9 split from the four reviewers. And those picking the game up early on Steam seem enthused, too.

"Gameplay is just like Fantasy Life on the 3DS but refined and polished to an insane degree," reads one of the top reviews on Steam. "All of the sounds and music are back and better than ever and it's just nostalgia gut punches one after another."

Another Steam review notes that Fantasy Life i runs quite well on Steam Deck, and lists out a litany of reasons for why one might like Fantasy Life, including no breakable tools, save anywhere, NPC party members, and unlockable features over time.

It's not all roses, as there are apparently some gripes with the co-op mutliplayer. This particular reviewer found the options wanting compared to the 3DS' multiplayer capabilities, as it looks like story quests and Life Challenges have limitations on them while in multiplayer. "Running around the overworld feels totally pointless besides doing challenges of course, but that's a (maybe) 1hr gaming session vs. basically playing the whole game together (without the main story) which is what we had on the 3DS," the reviewer wrote.

Aside from the common refrain of multiplayer concerns, the consensus on the single-player side is that this is exactly what longtime Fantasy Life fans have wanted: quality-of-life adjustments, solid polish, and a new Fantasy Life to explore.

For those fans, it's nice to see this piece of Level-5 history make it through all the tumult and out the other side, keeping the series alive. But even if you haven't heard of the series before now, or only in passing, those looking for a chill summer game to pass the hours might find something to like in Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is out now for those who want to buy into the Digital Deluxe Edition. Otherwise, you can pick it up on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on May 21, with a Switch 2 version also in the works.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Anno 117: Pax Romana didn't take long to convince me it would be a worthy follow-up to 2019's Anno 1800. Sitting down at the preview event for Ubisoft's latest city-builder, held in Rome's Gardens of Sallust once owned by Julius Caesar himself, the vaulted Roman brickwork surrounding me quickly melted away in a hypnotic haze of infrastructural clicking. If you enjoyed 1800's gently gripping mix of city-planning, production-chain linking, and nautical exploration, Anno 117 delivers these fundamentals in an equally satisfying manner.

But as the first hour with the game passed, a question arose. Would Anno 117 be any more than that? Ubisoft Mainz certainly aspire for it to be so. Ancient Rome is to Anno what feudal Japan is to Assassin's Creed—the setting that everyone wants the series to depict. "Rome has been a wish from our fans since forever," says Manuel Reihner, Creative Director on Anno 117. "Not only our fans, but also our team. We have a lot of Rome fans in our team, because it's such an iconic and ever-present Empire."

But Anno 1800 came with a tremendous advantage for a city-builder—the industrial revolution. 1800 saw your cities not only grow over time, but also transform, evolving from agrarian villages built around subsistence farming, to modern metropolises replete with power plants and factories and fully functional railways. It wasn't just an evocative setting, but a journey through time that bore out at a mechanical level.

Ancient Rome certainly changed through its 1,000-year history too. But those changes weren't as dramatic, and Ubisoft Mainz admit up front that Anno 117 won't replicate that radical technological sweep. "It's not the goal to completely replace 100% the industrial revolution," says Jan Dungel, Game Director on Anno 117. "On the other hand, the Roman [setting] offers different options."

The ways in which Anno 117 will strive to evoke the period mechanically are myriad. But the goal is the same. Rather than building Rome specifically, Ubisoft Mainz want to give you a taste of managing the Roman Empire. Placing you in the role of a governor of a new Roman province, you're tasked with turning it into a productive part of the Empire following a natural disaster.

Initially, this plays similarly to Anno 1800. Settlements are primarily comprised of residences, which house your workforce, and production buildings, which provide workers with goods and services they need. Creating these typically involves multiple buildings all ferrying different resources to one another, but once the end product arrives in the homes of your citizens, they provide a boost in the amount of income each residence generates.

Complicating matters is the fact that there are multiple different tiers of citizenry, each of which has more complex needs and desires than the last. Your lowest class of citizen, the Liberti, will happily get by on nothing more than porridge and sardines, and will be positively thrilled if you provide them with a hemp-spun tunic, a sheepskin cap, and a nearby tavern to drink at.

A fully satisfied Liberti residence can be upgraded into a Plebian household, which provides more income but requires a significantly higher quality of life. Those upstart plebs have the audacity to demand bread, which means building farms, granaries and bakeries. They want to wash with lavender soap, necessitating the seeding of lavender fields, and the construction of pig farms and rendering plants. They want to be literate, which means building an educational institution called a Grammaticus. Most of all, they want exotic goods like olive oil. These can only be produced by claiming nearby islands with the right fertility, establishing a secondary settlement, and setting up a trade route between the two.

In this manner, your Roman city rolls out like a carpet across the idyllic Mediterranean landscape, slowly expanding into a hive of activity that's all built upon pleasingly pragmatic foundations. Unlike, say, Cities: Skylines, the joy of Anno is that every building is placed by you, and you know exactly what it does and why you put it there.

Thus far, however, this is mostly Anno 1800 cavorting about in a toga. Yet hidden among all this is a subtle yet massive change. While how you construct your city is familiar, where you place buildings can have almost as much of an impact upon your finances as the production chains themselves.

Previously, production buildings were all about, well, the end-product, so the impetus was to construct them as close as possible to their resource provider (or a warehouse where they could access resources fast). Now, production buildings also have more immediate effects on the buildings around them. For example, the spinner, which makes those hemp tunics for your Liberti, also conveys an automatic +1 income bonus on every residence within its area of effect. So if you drop one in the middle of a dense residential district, you can get a massive boost to your income.

Reihner says Ubisoft Mainz added this feature to encourage players to mix up their cities a bit. "We wanted to improve or make this traditional city building aspect a bit more interesting," he explains. "A lot of people end up with having residential areas and having production areas separated and the residential area city building was not that, let's say, challenging for players. Now it really matters where your place production buildings. Not on a grand scale, but you can modify, you can tweak, you can fine tune your economy."

Indeed, this system makes you think far more tactically about building placement. Some buildings, like the soap maker, convey both a positive and negative status effect on surrounding buildings, improving public health for reasons that are hopefully self-evident, but also decreasing nearby happiness because making soap stinks. These are not idle effects either. Low public health can trigger disease outbreaks, while low happiness runs the risk of revolts.

Careful city-planning isn't the only way you can boost production either. New to Anno 117 is a research tree, where you can unlock new technologies in three different fields—economic, civic and military. As an example, the speed of research is based upon knowledge, which is generated by residences near to the Grammaticus. But one technology you can unlock makes spinners generate knowledge too, thereby helping research progress faster.

One of these fields also hints at another major feature in Anno 117, the return of land-based combat. Although Pax Romana is set in the most peaceful period of the Imperium (hence the name), it will nonetheless allow you to assemble the military engine that drove the Rome Empire from the deserts of North Africa to the border of Scotland.

How exactly land combat will function isn't wholly clear, as the preview demo was focussed mainly on city construction. But Reihner says that building a large army will require you to dedicate your city toward supporting it. "To make it a really huge topic for you, you really need to be invested in it. And this means, going back to the core gameplay, [you need] to have a huge city, huge supplies to raise a big army." At the same time, Dungel points out that raising armies and engaging in combat will be entirely optional. "Anno is mainly about the city building and we want to stay true to that and that is super important for us, so you can pretty much also avoid the combat."

Another key element coming to Anno 117, but not shown in the preview session, is Albion, a secondary map that you'll manage alongside the cities you build in your initial archipelago, much in the way you had tropical colonies supporting your main city in 1800. Albion, which is based on Celtic Britain, will be very different from the lush Mediterranean pastures you start in, hence why Ubisoft Mainz picked it. "We were searching for a striking contrast," Reihner says. "During the ancient times, the most alien place in the Roman Empire was the Celtic world, Albion." Dungel compares the Roman understanding of Britain to Mordor. "It was like the superstition that the people have eight limbs."

Managing this distant land will mean not only dealing with a very different landscape, but a very different culture. Religion plays a big role in Anno 117, with you able to dedicate your temples to a specific god, like Mars or Neptune, and receive thematically appropriate bonuses to things like military or naval power. Reihner says that when players arrive in Albion, Celtic beliefs will also become available, and players will be able to choose whether to stick with the Celtic traditions of Albion, or attempt to assimilate the people culturally. "There will be the topic of romanization, where in Albion, you are able to choose the Celtic, the local path, or the Roman path," he says.

I can already see myself losing dozens of hours to Anno 117: Pax Romana. Much of what made Anno 1800 such a great time has been deftly carried over here, while the building-specific bonuses and dedicated research tree are each smart innovations that, deployed wisely, can supercharge your economy. But it's those later game ideas, the military management and the concept of cultural assimilation, that will ultimately determine how well Anno 117 captures its Roman setting.

Thankfully, the trips to Sesame Street are not over. The beloved kids television series, which has been running since 1969, will now be available to stream on Netflix and PBS after HBO and Max did not renew their longstanding deal with the series at the end of 2024.

New episodes of the show will be available on Netflix, as well as the show’s catalog of past episodes, worldwide, while new episodes will also be available on their air day via both PBS stations and PBS Kids. Additionally, because Netflix is also currently trying to ramp up their gaming arm — which will allow subscribers to play games via the app and using their mobile device as a controller — this deal will also allow the streamer to develop video games for the show, as well as the spinoff series Sesame Street Mecha Builders.

Sesame Street announced the new deal via their social media platforms on May 19. “The support of Netflix, PBS, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting serve as a unique public-private partnership to enable Sesame Street to continue to help children everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder,” they wrote in a post direct from the Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind the enduring series.

We are excited to announce that all new Sesame Street episodes are coming to @netflix worldwide along with library episodes, and new episodes will also release the same day on @PBS Stations and @PBSKIDS platforms in the US, preserving a 50+ year relationship.

The support of… pic.twitter.com/B76MxQzrpI

— Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) May 19, 2025

For season 56, the show will also deal with some structural changes. Each episode will now have an 11-minute story at the helm, which is an attempt to take a page from the books of other more character-driven children’s shows like the hit Bluey. That said, fans of the show can also expect the return of some favorite segments too, including Elmo’s World (yep, the one we all know and love) and Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck.

Sesame Street aired its first episode in November 1969 and became a part of the PBS network in the 1970s. The show has been a cultural landmark practically since it began and HBO and Max started working with the show in 2015, striking a $35 million deal for new episodes.

That partnership ended in late 2024 as the streamer pulled back from focusing on children’s programming, which they claimed at the time did not hit well with subscribers. That said, the Sesame Street library will still be available on HBO and Max through 2027, a slight extension of the original 10-year deal that was made but one that obviously omits the producing element.

Photo credit: STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

Nintendo has confirmed it will return to Gamescom to showcase Switch 2 this year, after skipping 2024's event.

Gamescom, the biggest games show by attendance in the world, will this year run from August 21 to August 24 at its usual home in Cologne, Germany.

A post by Nintendo on its German-language social media account has confirmed the company will be back on the show floor at the event. But does this mean we'll get a new Nintendo Direct for Switch 2 at the same time?

Nintendo has not yet said what it plans to showcase at Gamescom 2025, but it's worth bearing in mind that its two main titles for the Switch 2 launch window — Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza — will have been out for some time by that point.

What could Nintendo focus on next? Well, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 shooter Metroid Prime 4: Beyond currently still sits with a vague "2025" launch date, and seems likely to arrive this fall. We may see more of that, and a longer demo than the one previously shown to the public at the Nintendo Switch 2 Tour events made available.

There's also Pokémon Legends Z-A, another title set to arrive for both Switch and Switch 2, which is down for a "late 2025" launch.

And while Nintendo could sail through the second half of 2025 with those two games, it seems possible the Mario maker may also have something else for this year still tucked up its sleeve.

Last year, Nintendo raised eyebrows by skipping Gamescom's 2024 event — an ususual move that many saw as indication its aging Switch hardware was running out of steam, and the company did not have much else to show.

Gamescom is one of the key dates on the gaming calendar, with its in-person event regularly attracting more than 300,000 attendees. Online, the show is now accompanied by the Geoff Keighley-fronted Gamescom Opening Night Live, which in 2024 included looks at Borderlands 4, Monster Hunter Wilds and Dune: Awakening.

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

Earlier this month, Alienware announced its new mainstream lineup of 2025 gaming laptops, dubbed the "Alienware Aurora". The first 16" models are now available for pruchase at Dell. The Alienware Aurora 16 is the less expensive model, featuring an Intel Core Ultra Series 2 i9-270H CPU and GeForce RTX 4050 GPU with 85W TGP, for $1,949.99. The Alienware Aurora 16X is the higher end model, featuring an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU and GeForce RTX 5070 GPU with 115W TGP, for $2,299.99. These are expected to start shipping out in mid June. Both models also have the option to be equipped with RTX 5060 graphics, however those are currently on preorder status with no shipping ETA since the RTX 5060 hasn't actually been released yet.

New Releases: Alienware Aurora 16 and 16X Gaming Laptops

Last week, WizKids' Baldur's Gate 3 miniatures arrived, and they didn't exactly garner rave reviews. The public response seems to have been heard, and now WizKids is offering refunds to anyone who feels dissatisfied with their minifig boxes.

"As a company, WizKids seeks to create products that enhance and add to the enjoyment of game play," the company said in an announcement. "We want our customers to build long-lasting, fond memories around game nights with friends and family using our products.

"Unfortunately, we missed the mark on this goal with the D&D Icons of the Realms: Baldur’s Gate 3 Character Boxed Set. If you purchased this set through our online stores, we will be offering a full refund to those who are unsatisfied with their set."

pic.twitter.com/pKkkroQrWt

— Gale-LOD 😏 (@HighLODLar) May 13, 2025

WizKids went on to say it's aware of the reports, and its team is investigating the issues and taking action to both "make this right" and to ensure issues do not pop up again in future products.

The $49.99 pre-painted D&D Icons of the Realms: Baldur’s Gate 3 Character Boxed Set started rolling out to buyers last week, and the results surprised more than a few. Opening the box to strange paint jobs, off details, and a seemingly melting Withers left purchasers feeling frustrated.

WizKids is offering refunds through two options. If you bought the set online, you can contact customerservice@wizkids.com to start a request. If you went through a local retailer, you can return it at the point of purchase for a full refund. The company is also offering a product replacement through its replacement site, where WizKids says it will work to provide a replacement that "meets the standards expected."

It's not exactly the happiest ending for those hoping for a nice new set of Baldur's Gate 3 miniatures, but it's at least something for those disappointed with the outcome of their box of minis. Hopefully those affected can find some other figure-makers to fill the miniature-shaped hole in their hearts.

Larian just bid farewell to Baldur's Gate 3 with Patch 8, its final major patch for its 2023 RPG that took the world by storm. The studio's CEO Swen Vincke has dropped some hints about what's next for Larian, but aside from it not being Baldur's Gate nor Dungeons & Dragons, there's not too much more to go on.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Nintendo has announced plans to open a new official store in Fukuoka, Japan at the end of 2025.

Nintendo Fukuoka will be the company’s fourth official store in Japan, joining Nintendo Tokyo, Nintendo Osaka, and Nintendo Kyoto. However, unlike the other stores, Nintendo Fukuoka is the first not located on Honshu (Japan’s biggest main island). Instead, it is in Fukuoka City on Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu.

Japanese reactions to the news of Nintendo Fukuoka’s opening on X included many congratulatory messages as well as hopes that there will eventually be official Nintendo stores located throughout the country. Quite a few commenters added the opinion that Sapporo (the biggest city on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido) would be the next logical place in Japan for Nintendo to set up shop.

However, not everyone was happy. Many commenters were disappointed that Nintendo has seemingly skipped over Nagoya. Located in central Japan, Nagoya is the capital of Aichi prefecture and a major manufacturing hub. Despite being the fourth biggest city in Japan, it suffers from a rumor that it is “boring." This perception was driven into the spotlight in 2016, in a survey of Japan’s eight biggest cities, in which residents were asked to rank the cities in order of how attractive they were to travellers. In a show of local patriotism, most citizens ranked their own city as the best, except for residents of Nagoya who placed it third after Tokyo and Kyoto. Amusingly, the survey was conducted by Nagoya’s government.

Nagoya also has the misfortune to be located between Tokyo and Osaka, meaning that many events and tours skip right over it. The clip from the anime Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikke below explains this trend in more detail.

So, “Nagoya skipping” is a phenomenon that Nagoya natives and residents seem to be quite conscious of, which likely explains the sheer amount of comments voicing concern about Nintendo not opening a store there. Incidentally, Nagoya has been in the news recently, as a new 17,000-person arena is set to open there in July. City officials and news broadcasts have been voicing hopes that this new attraction will prevent the “Nagoya skipping” trend (source: Chukyo TV).

As for Nintendo Fukuoka, the new store will be located in a shopping mall within Kyushu’s biggest major railway station, Hakata Station, which is connected by bullet train to Japan’s largest island of Honshu, and by plane to Fukuoka Airport. With Nintendo Fukuoka being located in such a transport hub, this will provide people living in the surrounding prefectures with a much easier way to get their Mario fix. Also, since pandemic restrictions lifted, the number of inbound tourists visiting Fukuoka has been on the increase (with visitors from nearby South Korea making up the majority), and is predicted to rise further (source: Fukuoka Prefectural Government).

Nintendo’s official stores not only sell Switch consoles, games, accessories and all manner of Nintendo merch, but they also host events and hands-on previews with new titles. It seems likely that Nintendo Fukuoka will play a role in promoting the upcoming Switch 2 and getting it into the hands of more customers.

In the U.S., last week Nintendo opened its first West Coast store, Nintendo San Francisco. IGN toured the store and even interviewed Nintendo of America boss Doug Bowser to find out more.

Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images.

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.

I’m not complaining, but in the olden days (all of history up until maybe a year ago), you had to wait months for feature films to come to home viewing formats. But in 2025? The window of time between a theatrical release and a 4K steelbook version of the film going up for preorder has shrunk to roughly zero. All of which is to say that you can already secure a preorder for the limited-edition 4K steelbook release of Final Destination: Bloodlines, a film that’s currently (sorry) killing it at the box office. No release date has been announced yet, but it’ll likely be available sometime this summer.

Preorder Final Destination: Bloodlines

Final Destination: Bloodlines Bonus Features

• Feature Commentary - with Directors Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky
• Death Becomes Them: On the Set of Final Destination: Bloodlines - A behind-the-scenes cast and crew interview
• The Many Deaths of Bloodlines - Making of the best deaths
• The Legacy of Bludworth - with horror icon Tony Todd

In IGN’s 8/10 Final Destination: Bloodlines review, critic Tom Jorgensen wrote:

"In Final Destination: Bloodlines, death is the life of the party. There’s little novelty to the boilerplate family trauma plot of this sixth Final Destination movie, but what its comedy-forward take on the franchise’s established formula lacks in thematic depth, it more than makes up for with delightful, well-designed kills and boundless gallows humor. A testament to the powerful, simple joy of a well-executed setup and payoff, Bloodlines’ lethal Rube Goldberg machines are tactile and satisfying, benefiting from a solid blend of goopy practical and visual effects. It’s a fantastic jumping-on point for new fans, but the Final Destination faithful are well taken care of with cheeky references to previous movies and a truly poignant farewell from one of the horror genre’s late kings, Tony Todd."

For more of that sweet, sweet horror content, check out our Final Destination: Bloodlines Ending Explained. And if you’re a movie collector, also be sure to check out our list of all of the biggest upcoming 4K Blu-rays.

More 4K and Blu-ray Preorders

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN's board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.

Between redefining the mecha genre and inspiring an entire industry of model kits, I'd argue Mobile Suit Gundam is one of the most influential anime franchises of all time. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, the series is set in the far future, when giant robot suits are used as weapons of war in conflicts between Earth and its space colonies. As Japan's answer to Star Wars, Gundam features epic space battles, laser swords, and people with mind powers, but still feels grounded in its militaristic settings.

Whether you're a veteran completionist looking to fill gaps in your mobile suit knowledge or a total newbie who wants to see some cool robot fights (and perhaps some horrific, poignant explorations of the horrors of war), here's how to watch Mobile Suit Gundam in order.

How Long Is Mobile Suit Gundam?

The Gundam franchise has continuously produced anime shows and movies since its inception in 1979, but not all Gundam are the same. Though the most popular and "fleshed out" Gundam timeline is the original, known as Universal Century (or UC), there are enough alternate timelines and meta-narratives that you could spend decades trying to catch up on everything. At least in this article, we cover 14 timelines total.

Because of these different timelines, and because the franchise originated in anime rather than manga or books, every piece of media in Gundam is considered canon (to its own timeline, at least). However, we recommend starting with the Universal Century timeline before jumping into these alternatives.

Where Can I Watch Gundam?

The majority of the Gundam franchise, including the original series, is on Crunchyroll. Several movies and shows are also streaming on U.S. Netflix. Unfortunately, some entries are simply unavailable to stream at all — like the acclaimed, fan-favorite Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket. Your best (legal) bet is trying to track these down on DVD or Blu-ray.

Mobile Suit Gundam in Order: The Universal Century Timeline

The original Gundam timeline, and the largest in the franchise, starts with the One Year War between Earth and a nation of space colonies and follows the conflict's effects on the galaxy.

1. Mobile Suit Gundam - The Origin

2015-2018

An origin story for Char Aznable in the years leading up to the formation of Zeon and the One Year War. It's a fantastic introduction to the Universal Century.

2. Mobile Suit Gundam (aka Gundam 0079)

1979-1980

The show that started it all. The original Gundam introduced the mobile suit that gave the franchise its name, and tells an epic story of war and rivalry between hero Amuro Ray and the charismatic Char Aznable. The compilation movie trilogy is a great alternative if the '70s animation and pacing prove too much for newer audiences.

3. Mobile Suit Gundam MS-IGLOO

2004-2008

A show all about Zeon engineers trying to rush their technology, showcasing why they might have lost the war.

4. Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team

1996-1999

A side story in the war, focusing on a small squad, and what I consider one of the best Gundam stories. A self-contained story with great character writing and a fascinating look at the war from a more grounded perspective.

5. Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance

2024

Taking place in the last months of the war, the Netflix show follows a Zeon pilot tasked with defending the European front against the Federation's forces.

6. Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket

1989

A self-contained story all about the realities of war, shown from the perspective of a child who initially thinks soldiers are cool when the horrors of war come knocking at his door.

7. Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt

2015-2017

A rare glimpse at the non-Amuro or Char soldiers who risked their lives in the war. Be warned, don't get too attached to the characters.

8. Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory

1991-1992

What if Gundam was Top Gun? The answer is Stardust Memory, a show with great '80s power ballads, exciting combat, a crew of pilots you could easily see playing volleyball on the beach, and a great need for speed.

9. Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

1985-1986

The war is over, and the victors have become the new villains. The show blurs the line between good and evil, with a more complex story, a great redemption story for Char, and even more space fights.

10. Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ

1986-1987

A more humorous Gundam show, a bizarre attempt to balance out the darkness of Zeta with slapstick comedy and a goofy new group of characters.

11. Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack

1988

The story of Char and Amuro comes to a close with an epic movie. Mostly worth it for those invested in the rivalry of the two mecha pilots.

12. Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

2010-2014

In many ways, this is the conclusion to the Universal Century, a story of a normal boy who becomes a Gundam pilot on behalf of Zeon, threatening to bring down the Federation. This is a rare Gundam title that was adapted from a novel.

13. Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis

2017

This short film is one of the few Gundam titles to have a female protagonist. Sadly, the film's short runtime means it crunches the story into mere minutes.

14. Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative

2018

A year after the events of Unicorn, the discovery of a long-lost Gundam threatens the Federation. This film features some wild Gundam designs.

15. Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway

2021

It's been 12 years since Char's rebellion, and now a chance encounter between a Newtype, an officer, and the son of a major Federation officer from the original series results in an exciting spy thriller full of intrigue.

16. Mobile Suit Gundam F91

2004

The closest Gundam has come to actually being Star Wars, with a protagonist that's essentially Darth Vader and music that resembles the Imperial March.

17. Mobile Suit Victory Gundam

1993-1994

Even Tomino jokingly rejected this entry in the franchise. That being said, the French Revolution inspiration gives this show, at the very least, a cool premise.

18. G-Saviour

2000

A live-action movie about the Federation and the colonies battling over food shortages that serves as proof that Gundam works best in animation.

How to Watch Other Gundam Timelines in Order

The Cosmic Era Timeline

A timeline focused on the conflict between normal Earth-born humans known as "Naturals," and genetically altered superhumans known as "Coordinators." This is where the SEED series takes place, which is a good introduction to the Gundam franchise as an alternative to the original show.

1. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

2. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny

3. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73: STARGAZER

4. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom

The Our Century Timeline

What if Gundam weren't real giant robots, but a franchise with merchandise that regular people are fans of? This is the home of the Gundam Builders franchise, which takes place in our reality, and follows fans of Gunpla — plastic Gundam models — that fans use to fight in high-tech arenas.

1. Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G

2. Gundam Build Fighters

3. Gundam Build Fighters Try

4. Gundam Build Divers

5. Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE

6. Gundam Breaker Battlogue

The Correct Century Timeline

This is an alternate timeline with a rather cool tie to the UC that is best left unspoiled. There is only one title in this timeline, which boasts mecha designs by Syd Mead, a charming protagonist, and a unique premise that kind of reminds me of a western.

1. Turn A Gundam

The Future Century Timeline

The first alternate timeline, Future Century skips the One Year War for a more civilized and exhilarating alternative — a giant tournament. Only one show takes place in this timeline, which is the show for people who always wondered what a Matador Gundam could look like, or a Viking Gundam, or the best-named Gundam — Tequila Gundam. It's the Gundam equivalent of the Gremlins 2 skit from Key & Peele.

1. Mobile Fighter G Gundam

The After Colony Timeline

The timeline that gave Gundam its big break in the U.S. — the messy, campy, iconic Gundam Wing. Five young pilots are sent to Earth independently with Mobile Suits on a mission to fight against a hostile Earth on behalf of the rebellious colonies, but the boys end up finding kinship in each other and choose their own reasons to fight.

1. Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

2. Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

The After War Timeline

A timeline regarded by some fans as an alternate telling of the Universal Century where the One Year War ended in an even bigger tragedy — with 99% of Earth's population dying from colony drops. Only one show takes place in this timeline, featuring a young boy living on post-apocalyptic Earth decides to pilot a Gundam to save the life of a mysterious girl he has just met.

1. After War Gundam X

The Anno Domini Timeline

The only Gundam timeline to use our calendar, this is the home of the Gundam 00 show and movie. The paramilitary organization Celestial Being tries to rid the world of war by creating the most powerful weapon ever. Surprise, it's five Gundams. It has some elaborate worldbuilding and is the very first Gundam entry to feature actual aliens as antagonists.

1. Mobile Suit Gundam 00

2. Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – Awakening of the Trailblazer –

The Advanced Generation Timeline

Several hundred years after humanity has colonized space and endured an era of long-lasting peace, a new enemy appears. This is the home of Gundam AGE, a series that spans several decades as the protagonists grow from children to old veterans.

1. Mobile Suit Gundam AGE

The Regild Century Timeline

Created for the 35th anniversary of the Gundam franchise, this was the first series that Gundam's creator Yoshiyuki Tomino wrote and directed in 15 years. This timeline takes place a millennium after the Universal Century in a world that is more anti-technology.

1. Gundam Reconguista in G

The Post Disaster timeline

A post-Iraq War Gundam timeline that focuses on more grounded subjects like slavery, colonialism, and child soldiers (in a much less subtle way than past shows). This is the home of Iron-Blooded Orphans, one of the darkest Gundam shows yet, which is saying a lot.

1. Mobile Suit Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans

The Ad Stella Timeline

The home of The Witch From Mercury, this timeline is set in an era where space has become a corporate race, with a multitude of companies investing in different types of mobile suits. Additionally, Gundams here have a bit of a psychic connection to their pilots (think synchronization in Evangelion or Pacific Rim) which has caused many pilots to be killed and Gundams to be banned almost everywhere.

1. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

The GQuuuuuuX Timeline

Another alternate version of the Universal Century. In this timeline, Char Aznable gets his hands on the White Base and the original RX-78 Gundam instead of Amuro Ray, drastically changing the outcome of the One Year War. This is the home of the most recent Gundam series, Gundam GQuuuuuuX, which IGN's review called "exactly the kind of inventive reimagining of Gundam we deserve."

1. Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX

What's Next for Mobile Suit Gundam?

The gears of Gundam never stop turning. In addition to GQuuuuuuX, a new Gundam anime set in the Post Disaster timeline, titled Iron-Blooded Orphans: Urðr-Huntm, is in the works based on the mobile game of the same name. A prequel to SEED Freedom, titled Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom Zero, is also in development.

And, of course, there is also the live-action movie we've been threatened with for a few years. Though the film has (predictably) suffered setbacks, there is a small chance it could genuinely be great. As of now, one of the only details we have is the possibility of none other than Sydney Sweeney’s involvement.

If you're out of Game Pass Ultimate, or thinking about jumping in for the first time, there's a clever way to get back on board without paying the full £14.99 a month, and save up to £120 a year.

If you need a little help getting started, here's a further in-depth step-by-step guide on how to secure this brand-new deal and not overlook any of the key steps.

To start, you’ll need to purchase three 12-month EA Play subscription codes, which are currently available on Amazon UK for £19.99 each.

It’s important to buy these one at a time in separate orders, as Amazon may occasionally block multiple digital code purchases placed in a single transaction.

At this point, Tom Cruise might very well live forever — and if he does, at least we know he’ll still be making movies. The legendary actor and daredevil stunt performer recently doubled down on his past declaration that he would continue to make movies into his 80s, and he even took that claim to the next level.

“I actually said I’m going to make movies into my 80s; actually, I’m going to make them into my 100s,” he told THR recently while attending the Cannes Film Festival in honor of his new film Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, which played the festival out of competition. “I will never stop. I will never stop doing action, I will never stop doing drama, comedy films — I’m excited.”

Cruise has been the core of the Mission: Impossible franchise for nearly 30 years now, and it should come as no surprise that the actor has a treasure trove of memories from making the films, starting with the very first in 1996.

But in reflecting as the franchise comes to a close once and for all, Cruise claimed it’s impossible to pick just one because of how wonderful the entire experience has been.

“There's been so many levels of reward with the filmmakers that I’ve collaborated with, the crews, the people, the cultures that we’ve worked in,” he explained at the festival.

“Everything that I’ve learned and continue to learn about storytelling, about life, about leadership, about character and every aspect of filmmaking. It’s been exceptional, it really is exceptional. I feel very fortunate to be able to make the films that I make and I love it, I just [love] making movies.”

Earlier this month, Cruise revealed that M:I 8 director Christopher McQuarrie wanted him to do some actually impossible stunts for the upcoming film, but in order to illustrate how difficult the feat was, he quite literally put McQuarrie up to the trick himself.

Honestly, his life just sounds like a blast. Thankfully cinema has a hype man like him. Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, directed by Christopher McQuarrie, arrives in theaters May 23, 2025.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

The rebooted DCU is in full swing, with Superman waiting to get the main event underway in July. So, can fans a Disney+-style official chronological timeline? James Gunn has responded.

As has become apparent in recent months, there are a number of characters set to appear in Superman, Peacemaker Season 2, Supergirl, and Lanterns. It could get confusing, which begs the question: will the DCU will have a chronological timeline similar to what Marvel Studios' MCU has on Disney+?

That’s a question that was put to DCU steward James Gunn on social media, and he responded to say the DCU timeline is, for now at least, as the films and TV shows come out.

"As of now it's basically as the movies and shows come out — although of course some of these feature flashbacks — 'Creature Commandos,' 'Superman,' 'Peacemaker,' 'Lanterns,' 'Supergirl,' " Gunn explained.

That means this summer’s Superman is set before Peacemaker Season 2, which premieres on HBO Max (yes, they’ve changed the name back) on August 21, 2025. Supergirl comes out on June 26, 2026, but we don’t have a release date for Lanterns. Now we know both are set in-universe after Superman and Peacemaker Season 2. As for in which order, that will depend on when they come out, based on Gunn's latest comments.

Disney+ has a section that orders all the Marvel movies and TV shows in chronological order to create a really helpful and canon timeline. While Gunn’s response here makes it sound like HBO Max won’t have something similar, perhaps in the future when there are a lot of DCU projects to think about, the time will come.

Other upcoming DCU projects known to be in the works include Clayface, which has a September 11, 2026 release date. DCU movie The Authority, however, sounds like it’s in trouble. Gunn has said Waller, a spinoff of Peacemaker, “has had a couple of setbacks, frankly.” However, HBO Max series Booster Gold “is going pretty strong,” and Paradise Lost is "totally, still important and we're working heavily on it," Gunn has said.

As for Swamp Thing, Safran said DC Studios is willing to wait for Logan and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold to be ready to make it.

Speaking of cross-project characters, fans are wondering how the Superman movie is going to deal with all its side characters. The latest trailer showcased everyone from Mister Terrific to The Engineer, as well as newcomer The Hammer of Boravia and the mysterious Ultraman. Guy Gardner is also in Peacemaker Season 2, as is Rick Flag Sr., Maxwell Lord, and Hawkgirl.

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.

This is a spoiler-free review of Rick and Morty season 8, which premieres on Sunday, May 25. New episodes air weekly through July 27.

Eight seasons into its run, Rick and Morty has become two shows. Sometimes it clings to its roots as a science-fiction adventure that brews up a fresh parody of a genre staple every week. But it’s best when it spends time expanding its characters and world, exploring Rick’s dark backstory, his impact on the multiverse, and his relationship with his family. Unfortunately, the four episodes of season 8 that I’ve seen lean on the classic Rick and Morty formula, which is getting a bit tired.

In recent years, the show has challenged Rick’s dominance by having characters push back against his abusive and self-destructive behavior while simultaneously proving that the guy who fancies himself the smartest being in any reality isn’t right about everything. That progress seems to have evaporated in season 8. While Rick does get duped after making a big mistake in the season premiere, “Summer of All Fears,” he mostly gets what he wants and persuades others to fall in line with his amorality.

When Morty argues for trying to actually help people on their adventures, he winds up regretting the decision. Rick, meanwhile, finds that being kind rather than cruel can work to his advantage, but it’s not a lesson bound to stick. Judging by these episodes, season 8 takes a sadistic glee in undermining potential character growth, even as it provides a glimpse at what the Smith family is willing to do to each other to achieve their goals.

Rick and Morty still shines when it pairs its absurdism with sharp writing, pulling no punches when mocking Christianity and the War in Afghanistan with some very weird sci-fi twists. Its over-the-top use of gore, violence, and apocalyptic threats means the stakes are always high and prone to get improbably higher. And it’s never forgotten the value of a good callback – just wait to see how Morty’s decision to add a snorkel to a death-race car in “Summer of All Fears” pays off.

Yet its newest episodes also offer less rewarding reminders of things Rick and Morty has done before. Several of them feel like structural or thematic retreads: "The Rick, The Mort & The Ugly," for example, is a solid little Western that follows the model of “The Ricklantis Mixup,” focusing on the fallout from the destruction of the Citadel of Ricks while the primary versions of Rick and Morty remain blissfully ignorant of the larger plots unfolding around them. The body horror-heavy “The Last Temptation of Jerry” is a mashup of The Santa Clause and Prometheus, but beneath the surface, it’s just another opportunity to use Morty’s poor dad Jerry (Chris Parnell) as a punching bag – which would be less bothersome if it were as funny as (or offered the richer character arcs of) previous Jerry episodes like “The Jerrick Trap” or “Big Trouble in Little Sanchez.” Even with that killer snorkel punchline, “Summer of All Fears” has a bit too much in common with the season 6’s "Rick: A Mort Well Lived," which also combined zany action with an emotional arc about digital selves.

It feels as though Rick and Morty is at a crossroads: At similar points in their long runs, fellow animated comedies Archer and The Venture Bros. had evolved beyond their spoofs of espionage thrillers and Hanna-Barbera boy adventurers, staying fresh by allowing their characters to grow and change. Season 7 saw Rick kill his nemesis and Morty confront his fear of being abandoned by Rick, and yet neither major development seems to have an effect on the early parts of season 8. (Maybe we see that reflected in episode 2, “Valkyrick,” which wasn’t screened for critics.) The end of last season also saw the title characters admit that all the cosmic horrors and untold pleasures they’ve experienced have left them feeling a little jaded. If Rick and Morty isn’t careful, its audience might start to feel that way, too.

One of the most exciting trading card crossovers in years is nearly here. Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy releases on June 13, and the only set still available from major retailers is the Starter Kit, now back in stock and available to preorder at Amazon for just $19.87 (and £15.99 in the UK).

The upcoming set has been steadily building in hype since its announcement, and a new trailer has since kicked the excitement up an extra notch. Walmart also has the Final Fantasy bundle back in stock today for $69.87.

Market Price on the Play Booster Set seems to have surged, as on May 14, 2025, you could pick it up for $164.99 from TCGPlayer; it's now $185.59, a $20+ spike. Amazon had also restocked at $189, and still managed to promptly sell out as well.

There's also the nine-booster Final Fantasy bundle (plus bonus cards) that's shot up to $95 (was $87.99), despite still being available to preorder for $70 at Walmart, alongside single sealed boosters that have risen from $7.99 to $9.54 as well.

So, what is "Market Price"? Those collecting Pokémon TCG will be wildly familiar with the concept, but it's where retailers will take liberties with the "recommended" part of an MSRP, and list it for what they think folk will pay. Capitalism at its finest, I know, and for Final Fantasy MTG, "Market Price" is currently around $20-40 over MSRP, depending on what you're buying.

If you can stomach the cost, with the rest of the sets sold out and some singles already going for over $500, you'll want to lock in your preorders before everything vanishes faster than you can say Chocobo.

Prices in the singles market are looking remarkably high as well, with the borderless version of Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, currently sitting at $147.23, and the Surge Foil version is at an almighty $599, the most expensive of the entire FF set.

If you've already preordered, or are just on the hunt for rare singles, there are a few other clear standouts to keep an eye on in the coming weeks.

That includes the gorgeous borderless Kefka, Court Mage card, shown off in the new MTG teaser trailer from PAX East, and featuring longtime Final Fantasy artist, Yoshitaka Amano.

TCG Player is good spot for a wide collection of single cards you can purchase and add to your deck without having to hope for a good pull.

It's also a good resource for figuring out how much your cards are worth once the new set is out, so if you pull any Surge Foil cards in your booster pack preorders, you might suddenly find yourself with quite the nest egg. But, it's also worth noting that prices change all the time, so some cards may change in value closer to release.

Other highlights to look out for when opening boosters, or to consider buying standalone, include the Cloud, Ex-Soldier Commander card, which costs $45.99 at the time of writing. That’s not surprising, given how easy it makes it for equipping other creatures you might have in play on the field.

Then there's also the full-art version of the Yuffie Kisaragi - Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow, currently just under $100. That’s due to both the card’s use as a Commander and its rarity, especially in that classic late 90’s FF7 art style.

It’s when you get to some of the special cards where things get extra expensive, though. Alongside that eye watering $599 Cloud card, the borderless version of the Traveling Chocobo card, costs $169.98, while the standard version stands at a cheaper, but still expensive $114.97.

You can also buy the new Traveling Chocobo cards, which even had their own teaser trailer featuring a limited edition Gold Chocobo.

While it can be expensive when seeking out the rarest cards, quite a number of singles at TCG player can also be bought at a low price.

That includes the likes of Sazh’s Chocobo for $1.96, Tonberry for $2.49, the useful Summon: Shiva for $1.56, or even Gladiolus Amicitia for 33 cents.

Moreover, TCG Player is also hosting preorders for select Final Fantasy booster sets, albeit at over MSRP, but at current market price.

But, for those just preordering the Starter Kit today, it is also worth noting that each deck in the set is preconstructed, and doesn't feature boosters to open (so no surprise $600 cards).

Instead, it includes one traditional foil legendary creature, five brand-new non-foil cards debuting in Magic, and 54 cards from the main set.

The kit also comes with four non-foil double-sided tokens, two MTG Arena code cards (one per deck), and two deck boxes. That’s a lot of value packed into a $20 price tag.

For new Magic: The Gathering players, the Arena code cards are especially useful. You can redeem both decks to play online, giving you a chance to learn the game at your own pace through AI matches or competitive play.

More MTG Preorders and Restocks at Amazon

Looking for more? There's also plenty of other Magic: The Gathering products to buy now or preorder, such as the highly anticipated Edge of Eternities set.

The rest are a mixed bag, with older products going for an absolute fortune, such as the $749 Theros Beyond Death booster to the pricey Lord of the Rings sample bundles.

Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.