Desks are an easy part of your gaming setup to overlook, but having a proper platform for your gaming PC, console, gaming monitor, and other peripherals can make a big difference. Most of us will start out using whatever surface is available, but making the jump to a specially chosen gaming desk can provide some key advantages.
The most important is a tabletop that is big enough and strong enough to accommodate whatever you want to put on it, but there are also more specialized features such as motorized sit/stand functionality, cable storage and organization, power management, and mounting points for accessories. Of course, there are aesthetic considerations in play too, whether you prefer a warm and inviting space with natural materials or something a bit more modern, stark, and streamlined. There's plenty to consider, so I've rounded up six of the best gaming desks we've tested to get you started.
I've been reviewing gaming desks for years, with four desks currently crammed into my home office in the name of research, so I feel confident about these recommendations. Whether you're looking for something compact and affordable, a fancier electric sit/stand option, or a premium option with some extra gaming-specific features, you'll find at least one suitable option among these contenders.
Additional contributions by Chris Coke and Danielle Abraham
The Secretlab Magnus Evo is a cheaper variant of the Magnus Pro, ditching the unique cable management run in favor of a simpler design that sees metal used along the back and on the front corners of the desk, allowing magnetic accessories like headphone hangers or cable tidies to be quickly and firmly attached. The desk otherwise incorporates the rest of the features that made the Magnus Pro excellent, including electric sit/stand functionality with controls sleekly integrated into the desk surface, an integrated power point, an included monitor mount, and a capacious cable storage cavity underneath the desktop.
The Magnus Evo is still compatible with a good range of accessories, including an assembly that lets you attach your entire PC to one of the legs, obviating the need to use extra-long cables for a desktop PC that sits on the floor but is used with a sit/stand desk at maximum extension. This attachment feels a little shaky with wide and heavy PCs, but it's still a neat trick.
Given that the Magnus Evo delivers the best features of the Magnus Pro while costing significantly less, it's our new No. 1 pick overall – though the Magnus Pro is still worth considering and can be found below.
When you’re tight on space and constrained on budget, a smaller and more affordable option like the FlexiSpot Comhar Electric is great to have. Its 48x24-inch size can easily house a full gaming rig and even a second (smaller-ish) monitor. The desk is durable and stable with a steel frame and solid bamboo desktop that supports up to 110lbs. It's not the most powerful sit-to-stand desk, but it can lift even the heaviest gaming rig without taxing its electric motor.
The Comhar doesn't look much like a gaming desk, but it's surprisingly feature-rich for its affordable price (I've seen it as low as $230 and it is often on sale). In addition to looking classy with its contrasting desktop and steel frame, it features a built-in storage drawer (a rarity in standing desks), a USB hub for charging your devices, and cable management underneath to tidy up your wires.
I've used numerous FlexiSpot standing desks over the years and they always manage to impress for their cost, even given that their instructions are sometimes less well written than their competitors. If you're looking for something that looks good and performs even better, the Comhar is definitely worth considering.
The Secretlab Magnus Pro is the "full-fat" version of the Magnus series, with an entirely metal surface that allows magnetic accessories to be used throughout, plus a cable channel towards the back that is excellent for routing cables without looking cluttered. It also offers electric sit/stand functionality, an increasingly common feature amongst premium gaming desks that might help your long-term health by reducing the amount of time you spend sitting down.
Like other Magnus desks, the Pro comes with an accessory ecosytem that allows you to add on RGB lighting, accessory mounts and even a full PC rest. There are also some dedicated cable management widgets which help tame any remaining wires. The Pro does come at a premium versus the Evo, but for those with a larger budget, it's well worth mulling the upgrade.
The Corsair Platform:6 is a uniquely specialist desk ideal for content creators and streamers, thanks to its surfeit of rail mount points for lights, cameras, monitors, Stream Decks, and other accessories. There are three variants available: the base model is a fixed-height desk, the Elevate adds electric sit/stand motors for height adjustability, and the Creator Edition tacks on a peg board that sits at the rear of the desk. All three models are premium propositions, with the base model just under $1,000, the Elevate model at $1,400, and the Creator Edition costing $1,900.
You do at least get plenty for the money, including a robust underslung cable storage solution that's among the biggest I've seen, a small cable cubby built into the surface of the desk, powerful sit/stand motors that can lift up to 330lbs, and a 72x30-inch span that can be further augmented with one or two 12-inch side extensions. (However, these extension pieces aren't compatible with the peg board on the Creator Edition and can be added separately to other models.)
The most critical element though is the rail system, with one bar across the top of the desk and one on each side, where you can mount various accessories using T-nuts. You get various mount accessories in the box, plus a dual monitor mount. These all work well, though I ended up removing the top rail so that I could use more traditional friction mounts and separate monitor arms instead.
If you make full use of the rail system and have plenty of accessories to mount, the Platform:6 is a dream option. However, something like the Secretlab Magnus Evo or Magnus Pro offer a bit more flexibility when it comes to choosing accessories and mounting methods.
Built like a tank with a steel frame and a massive desktop area, the L-shaped ToughDesk 500L truly is a battle station. Its L shape gives an extra side desk to play around with, and the large surface area is no match for the desk's three motors that take the desk from sitting to standing with a button press. (The controller can store up to four height settings.)
An L-shaped gaming desk isn't very common, but it's a fantastic choice if you're gaming in the corner of a room. When I tried this desk, I realized right away how beneficial it could be. The extra side is perfect for a laptop or some extra shelving to store your peripherals. Or, if you'd rather get your gaming PC off the floor, you can position it out of the way on that side, allowing you to have a wide open desk space in front of you without dust bunnies cluttering up your PC fan.
Beyond its impressive surface area, the ToughDesk 500L is built with gamers in mind, including useful features like cable management to fun ones like built-in RGB lighting, which can sync with Razer Chroma and TT RGB Plus. One especially handy addition is its big mouse pad, covering the surface area of both the main and side desks. Just be prepared to shell out about $1,500.
The Eureka Aero Pro is an absolute beast of a gaming desk with enough surface area for multiple gaming monitors, a beefy PC, and a bunch of accessories. Its unique winged shape makes it easier to grab things. Three shelves at the back of the main desk are adjustable and ready to house a few monitors or a couple of computer speakers for a more immersive gaming experience. Under the main desk is a dedicated keyboard tray, allowing a 360-degree horizontal rotation and 15 degrees of tilt for better ergonomics when tapping away at keys.
While it was a bit of a pain to put together and the seams where the wings connect aren’t the most attractive, the desk is sturdy and comes in several sleek finishes perfect for a gaming setup or workstation. To keep a tidy gaming space, the desk comes with handy channels to help manage your cables, headphone and cup holders, and integrated slots to prop up a tablet or smartphone.
The best gaming desks must provide a stable and robust place to house your rig and a few great gaming accessories. From there, you have more flexibility in choosing the right desk for your setup.
The first thing to consider is shape and size. Whether you're looking for something small and compact that can fit into a dorm room or a spacious setup with multiple levels and storage space, options are available at different budgets. Knowing how much surface area you need can, obviously, help narrow down your choice.
The next thing to plan for is what features you would prefer to have, which also includes appearance and materials. It's pretty common for gaming desks to have features like cupholders or built-in mouse pads, while more premium offerings include modular systems for mounting streaming accessories, peripherals, or even your entire PC. Storage space and convenience features, like built-in USB ports or even full power points for charging your devices, are another value-add common to the best gaming desks.
Finally, consider the adjustments you'll need. Many gaming desks are non-adjustable but others offer the ability to raise or lower their height. So-called "standing desks" typically do this with powered motors at a higher cost, but others are adjustable with levers and locking legs.
Have a plan for your shopping because once that massive package is unboxed, you won't want to disassemble it and try to ship it back for something else.
Standing desks have plenty of potential health benefits like improving your posture, relieving shoulder and back pain, promoting more movement to increase circulation – sitting too long puts you at risk for blood clots – and even helping with focus. But when you’re gaming, things get a little tricky.
Finding a sturdy standing desk to hold your PC setup is essential. Then you need to worry about positioning your peripherals for enjoyable gameplay and the prevention of accidents. That said, it’s not like we haven’t gamed standing up before – look at all those classic arcade cabinets. These days, most standing desks have powerful motors that’ll safely lift or lower your battle station with the push of a button.
A standing desk probably won’t improve your gameplay, but in my experience, being able to sit or stand at will is quite freeing. I'll admit, it's a feature I wasn't sure I would even use very often when I tried my first one. But having the option is great if you need to stretch your legs or change position in the middle of a long gaming session. Now I couldn't imagine not having the option.
The differences are fairly subtle. Any office desk can be used as a gaming desk and vice versa, but there are some additional features that make a desk more suitable for gaming. For example, gaming desks are more likely to include cable management solutions, powerful electric motors capable of holding heavy PCs and monitors, or modular systems to easily mount monitors, headphones cameras, lights or other accessories. Aesthetically, gaming desks are also available in colour schemes to match popular gaming PC cases, and may include RGB lighting. Ultimately though, the line here is a blurry one, and it's best to focus on a desk that meets your requirements regardless of how it's described.
Will is deputy tech editor for IGN, specialising in PC hardware, sim racing and display tech. He has been publishing about games and technology since 2001 (age 12). Will was formerly Deputy Editor at Digital Foundry. He is currently playing Battlefield 6.
We’re just shy of a week away from Black Friday 2025, but the sales have already begun. To wit: Amazon is running a massive Black Friday sale on “Amazon Resale” products that gets you an extra 30% off at checkout. Tons of items are eligible (nearly 1,000), including video games and accessories like controllers. Since these are resale products (i.e. “used”), they’re already listed for lower than MSRP. This sale takes an additional 30% off at checkout, which means you can get this stuff at fabulously low prices. You can check out the full sale here, or just check out the video game items.
Note that, when you click a link, Amazon may default to new (non-Resale) version of the item. To get the sale price in that case, you’ll need to click the “Save with Used - Like New” option underneath the “Add to Cart” button. Make sure you see the “Save 30% at checkout” in green text as well.
Finally, a word of advice before we get into the thick of it. Amazon always lists the condition the item is in, and I always look for items that are marked “Used: Like New” or “Used: Very Good” to make sure I’m not getting anything in, shall we say, rugged condition. That said, the lower the condition, the lower the starting price, so feel free to pick up whatever you feel comfortable buying.
As for what items are on sale, it’s a lot. PS5 DualSense controllers are on sale. Xbox wireless controllers are on sale. So are Beats headphones, JanSport backpacks, and much, much more. You name it, basically. One word of advice: if you see something you want, grab it. Lots of items are flickering into stock and then vanishing from the sale page as they sell out almost instantly.
For more, check out the Amazon and Best Buy Black Friday sales, both of which are now live. For a catch-all, check out when to expect Black Friday sales, which has info about when they start at all the major retailers.
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.
Nintendo Switch 2 owners have reason to rejoice because there's a new Black Friday deal on one of the most important accessories you can get for your console. Starting now, Amazon is offering the recently released Samsung P9 512GB MicroSD Express card for just $74.99 after a 25% off instant discount. Alternatively, the 256GB model is also on sale for $47.47, but you might want to pass on that deal; Nintendo has already announced that the official Switch 2 256GB memory card (which, by the way, is also made by Samsung) will drop to $39.99 on Cyber Monday.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is only compatible with MicroSD Express memory cards. Samsung's P9 is pretty much identical to the official Switch 2 memory card but without the Switch 2 branding. The P9 is also available in a 512GB capacity, unlike the official card which is limited to 256GB. The Samsung P9 boasts transfer (sequential read) speeds of up to 800MB/s, far far faster than any former generation MicroSD card, which caps at well under 200MB/s for even the fastest models.
If you don't yet own a Switch 2, now might be a good time to get one. It's now in stock everywhere, including Amazon, without any invitation required. Nintendo also recently raised prices on Switch 2 accessories and warned that the console itself might see a price hike in the near future. I don't expect any sales on Nintendo Switch 2 consoles during Black Friday and the only way to get one cheaper would be buying an imported model from AliExpress or used consoles from eBay or other marketplaces. Check out our Nintendo Switch 2 review, in which Tom Mark aptly describes the new console as "a vital but unexciting upgrade to a console I already love."
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
When I played Escape From Tarkov for the first time in 2018, I remember being captivated by its obtuse, insanely challenging structure. Like PUBG was to the battle royale genre, this promising prototype of an extraction shooter had so many unique elements going for it that made me absolutely certain it would be the next big thing, even if it was sometimes completely broken in its Early Access state. All these years later, now finally hitting 1.0, it’s pretty shocking how much has changed while it also remains exactly as exasperating as I remember it. The hands-off approach to onboarding that forces newcomers to beat their heads against its unforgiving mechanics for dozens of hours before claiming even a single victory captures the same relentless challenge I’ve always adored, while other frustrations, like its continued bugs, poor technical performance, and inability to address an abundance of cheaters, remains disappointingly worse than ever. I’ve only spent 30 hours with the 1.0 version so far, which (as any veteran player will surely tell you) is no time at all, but right now it feels like this progenitor may have been left in the dust of the genre it spawned.
Escape From Tarkov isn’t just the original standalone extraction shooter, but also the one most fanatically adherent to the ruthless principles on which the genre was founded. Not only are you thrown into a deadly hellscape filled with lethal NPCs and merciless human opponents, but you’re given absolutely no guidance in your quest for survival and loot. Practically none of the progression systems are explained to you, there’s no map for you to look at while out in the field to indicate where the extraction points are, and you could easily spend tens of hours studying weapon attachments and ammo types just to understand how the heck to use the tools of death you’ll find in your journey.
In some ways, I really admire how unrepentant Tarkov is – its beautifully exacting game design, and the sense of discovery that takes place across hundreds of lessons learned the hard way can be incredibly rewarding. But then there are times where it’s all just so dang frustrating, like how atrociously the UI and menus are organized, as if they were designed specifically to offend you. Whether or not the payoff of finally feeling comfortable enough to bring your best equipment out and try for a proper extraction is worth it will ultimately depend on couple things: your tolerance for pain, and your drive to master something designed to really test your expertise of systems Tarkov refuses to teach you. At least in these early hours with 1.0, I find myself somewhere in the middle of enamoured by its harsh edges and utterly disgusted by outdated design choices.
Unfortunately, the intentionally punishing design is marred by completely unintentional issues that have made this full launch that much harder to enjoy. The servers so far have been incredibly unreliable, with regular disconnects and wait times greater than 15 minutes to get into a match, and cheaters are very prevalent since accounts and items can be sold for real money in the gray market. As a result, I decided to spend most of my time this first week just focusing on the PvE mode for the sake of my sanity.
There’s also the matter of just how bad this thing looks and performs by the standards of the day. I remember thinking Escape from Tarkov already didn’t look great when I last revisited it, and coming back to it again a few years later has not done it any favors. Objects in the environment are blurry and low res, and with the exception of the vendors you’ll chat with as you complete quests, human faces look like they were modeled using the monster-generator that is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’s character creator. It’ll take me a while before I’ve played enough to call this review final, so hopefully developer Battlestate Games will smooth out the worst of these issues before they drive me insane, but it’s been an incredibly rocky start.
Anyway, I should get back to it – between the PvE mode, PvP mode, and Arena, I’ve got plenty more to see and do before I can make a recommendation either way. For now, diving back into this influential, daunting game has been equal parts fascinating and irksome, but I’m looking forward to going as deep down the rabbit hole as I can.
“What makes you happier? Is knowing the truth going to make you happier, or is living with a happy illusion the way to go? Which is the right choice?”
That, according to actor Jared Harris, is the question that lies at the heart of Reawakening, the Virginia Gilbert-directed film which is making its digital debut this week. The story of a husband and wife whose teenage daughter went missing a decade ago, only to have her – seemingly – reappear in their lives one day, Reawakening is part mystery, part heartbreaking what-if? tale, and part acting tour de force for Harris, who plays John, the dad of the family, Erin Doherty (Adolescence), who co-stars as the daughter Clare, and Juliet Stevenson, who plays the mother Mary.
I jumped on a Zoom call with Harris this week to talk about Reawakening, what’s going on with his sprawling Apple TV sci-fi series Foundation, his time on Mad Men, and the career-altering advice he once received from none other than Danny DeVito…
The thing about the return of Clare in Reawakening is that what should be an incredibly happy occasion is nothing but. You see, Harris’ character John doesn’t believe that this 24-year-old woman is actually the same person who disappeared 10 years earlier.
“Is she who she says she is?” says Harris. “Why do the parents have such a different reaction to her? One of them immediately welcomes her, and then the other one doesn't think that it's her. The ironic thing is the one who's not convinced is the person who never stopped looking for her. You would expect that he would be the one who would go, ‘Oh, she's home!’ And then the mother would go, ‘Hang on.’ But it's the opposite way to that.”
Indeed, in the scene where John first finds that Clare, or someone claiming to be Clare, has returned home, he has a panic attack and then literally runs from the house and down the street, banging his hands against his head. It’s a fight or flight reaction.
“He'd imagined this moment and he'd thought there'd be this incredibly powerful connection that would occur between them,” says Harris of that scene. “She'd come running into his arms, and he'd say, ‘I never stopped looking for you sweetheart.’ ‘Oh, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.’ … And it doesn't happen. He looks at her and he doesn't feel that instant pulse of recognition.”
And yet somehow his wife Mary is accepting this person, this apparent stranger, into their home with open arms.
“‘Am I nuts?’” is what John is thinking according to Harris. “He's actually been gaslit, and I think that what he doesn't understand is, why don't I feel that it's her? What's wrong with me? Because my bellwether is Mary, and Mary knows that it's her, so what's wrong with me?”
As for whether or not this Clare really is the Clare who disappeared 10 years ago, well, you’ll have to watch the movie to find that out. But again, the movie is as much about that as it is what the arrival of this person at John and Mary’s doorstep means for the rest of their lives. The film is called Reawakening, after all.
“Mary says, ‘This has made me happy. Why pull it apart?’” explains Harris. “There was this terrible emptiness in our life, and then this thing has come and it’s filled in this gaping hole. Just accept it as a gift. What does it matter?’”
One of the aspects of Reawakening that appealed to Harris was the smaller-scale story and more intimate production as compared to the huge undertaking that is Foundation, which is based on the classic books by Isaac Asimov and in which he stars as Hari Seldon, the inventor of “psychohistory,” a sort of math that allows Hari to predict the future. The actor was in the last week of filming Season 3 of the epic series when the script for Reawakening arrived. The original lead actor had dropped out due to pandemic delays, which meant Harris only had 10 days prep time before shooting.
“[It was] a relief,” says the actor of switching gears for Reawakening. “Because the thing you are always fighting with on something that's on the scale of Foundation… the sci-fi world with these big ideas and everything, is you are arguing with the showrunners – and arguing in the most positive and collaborative sense – for the human element, because there's an obsession with plot. Because they've got so many storylines that are spinning, and they're all trying to bring them to the same crescendo at the right time at the end of the season.”
Harris also points out that not only is Foundation meant to take place over the course of a thousand years – each season has seen a time-jump so far – but there have been four versions of Hari to date, thanks to his tendency to reincarnate as a holographic version of himself: “The original version of Hari. There's the Hari that exists in the Vault. There's the Hari that was on [the ship] the Raven. And that version of Hari gets his body back.
“My way of solving those things with [the showrunners] is to make it as humanly accessible as possible. It's very difficult with a character like Hari Seldon, who isn't real. He doesn't physically exist in the same sense that we are aware of that. What you are always doing is saying, ‘Yeah, but he couldn't do that,’ or, ‘He couldn't know that. What can he know? What can't he know? What can he do? What can't he do?’”
The danger with Hari is that he can wind up being the guy who “knows everything.” But for Harris, that’s boring.
“That's just not interesting. There's nothing to add,” he says. “You end up just being superior and then proven wrong all the time. What's the point? And then also the character's somewhat redundant because once they gave [Lou Llobell’s character] Gaal a superpower, what does it matter if you've got a mathematical structure like Cambridge Analytica that can predict the events of people? This person's got a superpower. You don't need it. It's always been a struggle to try and find the relevance of the character and the humanity of the character.”
David S. Goyer (who has written for everything from the Blade trilogy to the Dark Knight films to some Call of Duty games) was the showrunner on Foundation until stepping back prior to Season 3’s production. Not surprisingly, the circumstances of his departure and to what degree he was involved in Season 3 has remained fairly opaque, and Harris says the same was true for he and his castmates. That said, Ian Goldberg and David Kob will be co-showrunners starting with Season 4, and Harris has already had a positive experience with the new team.
“David Kob, who took over the creative side of it once Goyer left, he is a wonderful person,” says the actor. “You can have really good chats with him. He'll tell you why something isn't going to work. He says, ‘No, we can't do that,’ and he'll give you an X, Y, and Z rather than... Often what happens is no one wants to say no to anybody in Hollywood. They go, ‘Oh, yeah, that's a great idea,’ and it just never happens. You know why it didn't happen. But he's a good person, and he'll tell you why. And then you go, ‘OK, well let's think of something else. Let's think of a different solution to that problem because the problem still exists. But what if we solve it this way? What if we solve it that way?’ It's a proper dialogue and a proper collaboration.”
Harris relates a specific back and forth he had with the producers regarding an idea that was floating around involving the return of the Lethe Syndrome which Hari had been revealed to be suffering from in Season 1.
“Bill Bost, who took over as the producing showrunner, he trusted David and occasionally would jump in with things,” says Harris. “I said, ‘It's an interesting idea, but if that's what we're going to play, this five-page scene that you've written for us, it's going to take 25 minutes because I've got to keep forgetting what's going on.’ Bill Bost went, ‘Yeah, you know what? Let's just leave. Let's just push that to the side.’ That was a bit of bullshit that he told Gaal just to get her to shut up and get her to agree with him in Episode 7 of Season 1. It wasn't real.”
“Good luck kid, because you're going to need it.”
That’s what Danny DeVito told Harris years ago during an audition session. He was talking about Harris’ career prospects, but not in a mean way – if anything, DeVito was admiring the actor’s chameleon-like ability to disappear into a role. But it was also meant as a warning for Harris.
“I went, ‘What are you talking about? What do you mean?’” laughs Harris. “He goes, ‘You really need me to explain this to you? You're so different in everything you do.’ I say, ‘Isn't that the idea?’ He goes, ‘A successful actor is a recognizable actor. You are trying to start from scratch every single time you appear in a role. You have to hope that one day it will catch up with you.”
Harris had been working as a professional actor since the late 1980s, but he hadn’t broken through in a major way at the time of the meeting with DeVito.
“I'd done a lot of independent movies, and largely because I grew up watching the movies of the ’70s,” he recalls. “I foolishly thought that I could have a career like that without recognizing that that world had moved on.”
DeVito’s words apparently had an effect on him, however. 2008’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in which Harris had a part, proved to be an important project for the actor. Mad Men showrunner Matthew Weiner saw it and that led to Harris’ landing the role of Lane Pryce in Season 3 of the AMC show, which was already a huge critical hit. Lane started off as a stuffy interloper at Sterling Cooper from the other side of the pond, until he wasn’t anymore and became one of the most tragic figures in the series’ entire run.
“[it was] not seen by a lot of people, but seen by everybody in the business,” says Harris of Mad Men. “Its cultural significance can't be overstated. It changed the way men looked, the way men dressed... They actually dressed like adults for the first time, and it revived cocktail culture in the United States. The idea of glamour for men and women.”
That led to getting the role of the villainous Professor Moriarty in the Robert Downey, Jr. sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, a memorable turn as King George VI in Season 1 of Netflix’s The Crown, and then 2019's Chernobyl, for which he won a British Academy Television Award in the lead role of Valery Legasov.
All of which leads to the question. Was DeVito right?
“Has it caught up with me?” laughs Harris. “Is that what you're saying? Has it caught up with me? I hope so. I hope so. I'm still childishly attached to the idea of being different in everything.”
Are handhelds the future of Xbox? It’s a question that’s been bouncing around my head since the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X launched. Of course, I don’t think Xbox is ditching its console line entirely, but it begs another question – is Xbox better in the handheld market or is the Xbox Series X superior?
The Xbox Ally X is now our favorite handheld gaming PC, and that’s thanks to Asus’ slow perfection of its handheld series. On the other side of that, the Xbox Series X isn’t exactly the most popular current-generation console.
While the Xbox Series X may not be the best console, can it beat the best gaming handheld? Let’s see how it stacks up against the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X.
The Xbox Series X is five years old, but can a handheld like the Xbox Ally X really outpace it?
Both Xbox devices are rocking AMD hardware, with the Xbox Ally X debuting the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chipset, and the Xbox Series X featuring custom AMD Zen 2 and RDNA 2 chips.
Both the Xbox Ally X and Xbox Series X feature 8 CPU cores, except the former is clocked at 2 GHz while the latter hits 3.8 GHz. The Xbox Ally X does support more RAM, at 24GB compared with the Xbox Series X’s 16GB. However, that doesn’t change the gap in GPU performance. While the Xbox Ally X is built on the new RDNA 3.5 architecture, its 16 Compute Units still won’t hold up compared to the 52 RDNA 2 Compute Units in the Xbox Series X.
In real-world practice, the biggest selling point of the Xbox Series X is 4K gaming at 60 fps. Of course, modern games have a shoddy track record achieving that on console, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is that the Xbox Ally X sports a 7-inch, 1920 x 1080, 120Hz display, so you won’t be getting 4K or even 1440p gaming, if that’s something you care about.
Winner: Xbox Series X
The Xbox Ally X and the Xbox Series X cater to two completely different kinds of experience. Sure, you could play both on your couch, but one of them you can take wherever you want, while the other provides a more stationary experience.
With the Xbox Series X, you’re stuck playing in one place, you can’t play any PC games, and you don’t get to prioritize the graphics settings that matter to you. Modern AAA games are getting better about adding graphics settings on consoles, but it's nowhere near as thorough as PC.
With the Xbox Ally X, you need to worry about battery life, being trapped on a 1080p screen, and getting stuck with an inferior controller experience. Don’t get me wrong, the Xbox Ally X’s controller is the best in a handheld so far, but it still won’t be as comfortable as a traditional controller. Yet, despite some of those shortfalls, the Xbox Ally X offers so much. I can play it on the train on my way to work, which is a lot, but nothing beats snuggling up in bed and dying to Simon for the umpteenth time in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Another key factor is the display. The Xbox Ally X may only feature a 1080p screen, but it is more vibrant and vivid than most 1080p monitors or TVs. That means you'd have to spend hundreds of dollars for a 1440p or 4K screen that would look just as good. Sure, you get the bump in resolution, but that just reinforces that the Xbox Series X isn’t technically ready to go out of the box (you need a display).
Then there's the PC game stores. I'll get deeper into it in the next section, but it is incredibly convenient to swap over from the Xbox Store to Steam with the Xbox Ally X. With my Xbox Series X, I’d need to get up off my couch and go to my office, where I keep my PC. Of course, not everyone has the same set-up, but there’s still a massive separation between Xbox and PC with an Xbox Series X. The Xbox Ally X closes that gap, albeit at the cost of a few games.
Winner: Xbox Ally X
If you aren’t deep into the PC gaming scene, you might be shocked that the Xbox Ally X can’t play every Xbox game. It seems like false advertising, but the truth of it is that the Xbox Ally X is a PC, not an Xbox. Although, that does come with its advantages.
With the Xbox Series X, you can play most AAA games, as well as older Xbox 360 and original Xbox games. That includes games not available on PC, like Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3, and Halo 5: Guardians.
Those games may come to PC one day, but right now the Xbox Ally X still has access to a significantly larger library than the Xbox Series X. You not only get all the games on the Microsoft Store, but also games from Steam, Epic Games, Battle.net, and GOG. One of the great things about that is some stores periodically give out free games, especially the Epic Games Store.
So yes, you’re losing out on a few console-exclusive games with the Xbox Ally X, but you’re gaining a landfill’s worth compared to the Xbox Series X.
Winner: Xbox Ally X
You’d think the biggest divide between the Xbox Ally X and Xbox Series X would be their functionally, but from where I’m sitting it's their price tag.
The Xbox Ally X with its Z2 Extreme chipset costs $999 at Best Buy. That’s an extreme jump from the baseline Xbox Ally with its Z2A chipset, which costs $599 at Best Buy.
Most notably, the Xbox Ally X is over $300 more than the Xbox Series X ($649 at Best Buy), and that’s after its price increase.
Unfortunately, this makes the Xbox Ally X a more niche product. Most console gamers aren’t going to opt for a device breaking the quadruple digits. There are more affordable handhelds and consoles out there.
However, there are some things to consider with the price gap. You’re paying for an all-in-one package, namely for the display, speakers, and controller wrapped into one product. You also get access to Windows 11 and a bunch of other PC game stores. Those aspects are worth considering, but it doesn’t change that the Xbox Series X is the more accessible way to game, at least for the price – but it’s also much less portable.
Winner: Xbox Series X
This may seem like a cop out, but it’s the truth. Console gamers are going to struggle with transitioning to the Xbox Ally X if they’re expecting a traditional console experience. Sure, it’s branded as an Xbox, but it’s a PC first and foremost. That means you have to deal with Windows 11, and you need to navigate different apps the same way you would on a PC.
The Xbox Series X is a ready-to-go experience that doesn’t require any tinkering on your part. Unless you’re willing to accept that the Xbox Ally X is nothing like that, then you should stick to console gaming. You also get to seamlessly play games at 1440p and 4K.
However, if you're just a PC gamer or enjoy both PC and console, the Xbox Ally X is incredibly tempting. Not only do you get an all-in-one package, but you get access to all the PC game stores that the Xbox Series X doesn’t feature. You just need to come to terms with that wild asking price.
Rami Tabari is a contributing writer at IGN with over 9 years of experience in the tech and gaming industry. You can find his bylines at Laptop Mag and Tom's Guide (and on a random Predator review at Space.com). When Rami isn't wading through a sea of the latest gaming tech, he's agonizing over the worldbuilding in his upcoming novella.
Don't miss this great opportunity to pick up a Google Streamer 4K for over 50% off during Black Friday. Amazon Resale is currently offering Used: Like New units for just $49.87 after an extra 30% off discount is automatically applied during checkout. Alternatively, you can buy it brand new for $74.99 after a 25% off Black Friday discount. The Google Streamer 4K is one of the most fully featured Android-based 4K streaming devices available with updated features like smart hub functionality and Thread compatibility. It's also considerably less expensive than other similar options like the Apple TV, Roku Ultra, and Nvidia Shield TV Pro.
Amazon Resale (formerly Amazon Warehouse) is Amazon's official account for used goods. The products are sorted by condition, with "Like New" being the best. There's a good chance these items haven't been used at all and were returns from customers who have changed their minds, or simply products with blemished packaging. All Amazon Resale items also get the same 30-day return policy as any other Amazon purchase. Most "Like New" items still have a majority of its original manufacturer's warranty remaining (and sometimes the full warranty if the item was never sold).
The Google Streamer 4K was released in September of 2024. It is the successor to the Chromecast 4K, but improves upon it in nearly all respects. The new processor is up to 22% faster, with double the memory (2GB) and quadruple the onboard storage (32GB). Both wireless 802.11ac and wired gigabit ethernet options are available. It features a USB Type-C charging port, which makes it easier to track down a power brick if you lose the included one. The remote has also been updated with a handy remote-finder feature for those inevitable times you misplace it. The Steamer can also control your smart home devices and it functions as both a Thread border router and Matter hub.
Like other top-shelf models, the Google Streamer 4K can stream at up to 4K resolution in HDR, including Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HDR10+ formats. Although it's equipped with an HDMI 2.1 port, it's limited to 4K @ 60Hz refresh rate. The Google Streamer does, however, support Dolby Atmos if you pair it with Atmos-compatible speakers like the Sonos Arc.
Feature-wise, the Google Streamer 4K is comparable to the Apple TV or Roku Ultra but at a lower price point. The Nvidia Shield TV Pro does offer even more functionality (for example, it can be used as a Plex media server), but it retails for a much higher $200. Because you get the added bonus of smart home functionality and Matter and Thead compatiblity, the Google Streamer is an attractive option even at its retail price. When there's a deal, the value is hard to beat.
If you want to test out a streaming service for free before you decide to go all-in, we've compiled a list of our favorite platforms that are currently offering free trials. These include Hulu, Paramount+, Apple TV+, and Crunchyroll. Sign up for all of these trials and you'll have more shows than you'll have time to watch them before the subscriptions expire.
If you're wondering what our favorite paid subscription is, the Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ package bundle is hard to beat at just $16.99 for all three services. Considering what it offers, Disney Plus is one of the best streaming services on the block. From classic Disney animated films to the latest Marvel shows and Star Wars movies, excellent kids' programming like Bluey, and so much more, Disney Plus puts an incredible range of high-quality viewing options at your fingertips.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
The Walt Disney Company has been telling some of the most beloved stories in all of entertainment for over 100 years, but it's taken stepping aboard the Disney Destiny for me to feel more a part of them than I ever have before.
After inviting me to Papenburg, Germany, in August to see how the Disney Destiny was built, Disney welcomed me back aboard its newest cruise ship ahead of its maiden voyage on November 20 to experience what makes this Heroes & Villains-themed ship so special. After departing Ft. Lauderdale’s Port Everglades for three way-too-short days, it was those special story moments we were part of - whether it be Loki taking over the Grand Hall and declaring himself king or Cruella de Vil storming into her own lounge - that truly won me over.
The Disney Destiny is the third Wish-class ship in the ever-growing Disney Cruise Line fleet, and it joins the Disney Wish, the Disney Treasure, and a fourth yet-unnamed ship that is currently being built as we speak. All of the ships in this class have the same layout, but the pieces of the puzzle inside them vary. Whereas the Wish has a Princess and the Frog-themed Bayou lounge, the Treasure and the Destiny have a Jungle Cruise-themed Skipper Society and Doctor Strange-themed Sanctum, respectively.
The Sanctum, which is the first-ever Marvel lounge at sea and a space we exclusively revealed, is just one of the new pieces that fits into the Heroes & Villains theme of the Destiny, complete with Doctor Strange’s Cloak of Levitation, the Eye of Agamotto, and even some magical floating drinks. With such a huge focus on the good and the bad of Disney's cast of characters, however, the team had to approach things a little bit differently this time around.
"This is the first time ever that our guests are coming face to face with villains at sea," Jen Bascom, Creative Director at Disney Live Entertainment, said. "When you engage with a hero, whether they're from a fairytale, a royal, Mickey and his pals, or a superhero, it's a huggable and warm experience. Villains are not huggable, and that is awesome. So, we were able to create experiences like Dr. Facilier's Parlor, where you enter a space and have an intimate encounter doing a card trick. You are playing a dangerous game of cards with a villain, and it's so exciting.”
Dr. Facilier’s Parlor is a perfect example of these “meet-and-play” story moments that immerse you in a way that kept making me think of the now-closed Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. This encounter with the villain from The Princess and the Frog takes place in a small room that fits only 12, and the Shadow Man himself is there when you walk in, bowing, with his way-too-big hat being the first thing you see in a very unsettling way before he turns on his charm.
I won’t spoil everything that happens in this parlor, as it’s an experience you aren’t even allowed to take any pictures or videos of, but I felt a tinge of fear being in the same room as this iconic villain. This was all thanks to an incredible performance by the actor, some truly spooky jazz music that featured sounds from the other side, and interactions that made each participant feel included. This was so much more than a character meet-and-greet, and it was that much more memorable for it.
While Dr. Facilier’s Parlor was a contained experience, some of the biggest meet-and-play moments happen right in the Grand Hall for all to see, where a stunning statue of Black Panther stands tall in the three-story room inspired by Wakanda. One of the biggest new additions to this rendition of a Wish-class Grand Hall, and what sells what’s happening inside of it, is a brand-new lighting system that changes depending on which character is in the room.
For Loki, everyone’s favorite god of mischief, the Grand Hall gets enveloped in a green light that makes it feel as if he is taking over this space in a tangible way. These story moments happen throughout the cruise, and sometimes they will involve multiple heroes and villains interacting in a really fun and surprising way, and the lighting of the Grand Hall really does add to the effect.
What makes these meet-and-play moments special, too, is that they are tied together by two storytellers - Zayah and Gamble - who are another pair of incredibly talented and hilarious actors who provide a bit of throughline for the whole adventure. They are also a sign of things to come.
While many of these meet-and-play encounters are on your schedule, some are a surprise. For example, you could be sitting in the 101 Dalmatians-themed piano lounge called De Vil’s and Zayah and Gamble may come strolling in. Before you know it, you could be wrapped up in a story moment where you have to write a new song for Cruella because she can’t stand how her famous song just gets her all wrong.
These are but a few instances of these story moments, and there are many more in store featuring such characters as Maleficent and Captain Jack Sparrow, but the ones I was a part of were the highlight of the Disney Destiny adventure for me. They were cast perfectly, they felt random enough that I could and actually did stumble upon them, and they were thoughtful experiences that paid homage to the stories they came from.
I hope Disney continues to expand upon this meet-and-play concept, because they elevate the character meet-and-greet experience and give you a memory you can hold on to and a feeling that, for but a moment, you were able to live in these stories you hold closest to your heart.
Beyond the meet-and-play experiences aboard the Disney Destiny, Walt Disney Imagineering has also created some remarkable spaces that not only house lounges and restaurants, but also Broadway-style shows that give you even more ways to celebrate your favorite films.
Pride Lands: Feast of the Lion King is a dining experience that transports you into the world of the classic Disney film and offers a musical retelling of Simba’s story while you enjoy African-inspired dishes. This is the same space on the Wish and Treasure that held the Frozen and Coco dining experiences, respectively, but the team took a different approach to this venue.
“Everybody loves The Lion King. Everybody knows the movies, has seen the films, and has also seen the Broadway shows,” Walt Disney Imagineer Jay Abruzzese told me. “So, how do we take a fresh look at it? How do we kind of create something new? We looked early on about how to create this sort of stylized version of a Boma. And a Boma is really a gathering place in African culture where families come, tell stories, eat, drink, have a good time, laugh, and connect with one another.”
As Abruzzese’s words may indicate, there are no puppets in this story or characters popping up. Instead, guests are treated to an incredible performance of songs from The Lion King and its spin-offs, as well as a track that has never been heard before, called Serengeti Rain. The show is led by the phenomenal Regina LeVert and others who have been part of past Lion King productions, as well as a group of drummers who are from or have played in Africa that add a whole new, authentic layer to the show.
There are also a ton of little touches that guests may not know on the surface but are supremely important, including that South African members of the 12 Lion King Broadway companies around the world recorded the Zulu chanting guests will hear. The team also included a special song in South Africa called Shosholoza, which is basically the country's national anthem, and the cast even jokingly told some of the creatives that “they won’t even let you into the country” until they sing Shosholoza.
And the food! I love dining experiences like this that let us broaden our culinary horizons. While The Disney Destiny has a Marceline Market buffet and a Mickey & Friends Festival of Foods that feature your classic chicken fingers, burgers, tacos, pizza, and more, I love learning about a new culture through its cuisine.
“I'm from France, but originally I was born in Ghana,” Eric Damoah, manager of culinary standards, told us. “So, working on this project was very special for me because I was able to bring some of the dishes I ate growing up to Disney and its guests. Everyone is talking about the Berbere Spiced Roasted Chicken, and that tomato and pepper rice with it was actually my favorite rice dish that my mother used to cook when I was a kid, and it was really nice to see guests enjoying something from my childhood.”
I can attest that that dish was the best thing I ate on the entire cruise, and was only one example of African cuisine that I’ll be searching out now that I’m back on land, in addition to the Cape Malay Shrimp Curry, Vegetable Tagine, Peri-Peri Shrimp, and the wonderfully named Pumbaa’s Cocktail Ya Matunda.
The show and food were all great, but this space still has the same issue as the ones that came before it - your enjoyment and experience may vary depending on where you sit. We were relatively close to the stage, but there were still moments when it was hard to tell what was going on because people got in the performers' sightlines, who really attempt to do a great job of making sure everyone can see. Unfortunately, if you are in one of the far corners of the restaurant, as I was at Plaza de Coco on the Disney Treasure, it becomes much more challenging to enjoy the show.
While Pride Lands: Feast of the Lion King was the highlight of the dining experience aboard the Disney Destiny, Hercules is the big Broadway-style show guests will be lining up for (alongside Disney Seas the Adventure and Frozen), and it tells the story of our favorite Greek gods in a brand-new way.
This show had a lot to live up to for me as I said Disney Treasure’s Tale of Moana was one of the greatest shows I’ve seen for its focus on the power of authenticity and love. I’m happy to report that Hercules is a very worthy successor, even if it didn’t dethrone Moana in my heart.
This new take on Hercules, which is different from the show currently running in London’s West End, takes everything we love about this zero-to-hero story and adds some more gospel, R&B, and unique touches that let it stand on its own winged feet and become an inspiring tale for the choices made behind the scenes.
For example, the Muses are now composed of women and men, and Hercules himself is played by Black actor Corey J. Bradford. I had the chance to speak to Bradford, who absolutely lives up to the legend of Hercules with his performance, and he left me even more excited for people to experience this aboard the Destiny.
“I don't want to get too cheesy, but it feels like I was destined to play this,” Bradford told me. “Without getting into too much detail, it’s because of the trajectory of where my life has gone and what I've had to go through. We all have had to jump through hoops and overcome obstacles, and challenges arise that we don't necessarily know how we're going to get through while we're in them, but we do. And so now, to bring it here to where we are today, I'm just super thankful.
“Being up here and knowing that there might be someone else who looks like me out there, who may have thought that they can't do that, well, you can. You're seeing it; it can happen, and I'm happy the door is being opened in this space.”
Beyond the big steps in representation, the show itself has jaw-dropping moments that bring to life such iconic moments as the battle with the Hydra and Titans, and it’s simply impossible not to dance and sing along to the soundtrack with a theater filled with many others who share the same love for Hercules as you do.
There are so many more spaces aboard the Disney Destiny that allow guests to fulfill their dream of stepping into the stories and experiences they love, and one is a returning favorite that I’m happy will allow even more guests to experience it.
Yes, I’m talking about The Haunted Mansion Parlor, which I still believe is one of the best spaces Walt Disney Imagineering has ever created and is the perfect extension of the beloved Disney parks attraction. It’s the exact same as it was on the Disney Treasure, although it does have a few new drinks, but that’s not a knock because the first at bat was a grand slam. No matter where you are in the lounge, you can experience haunting surprises like Madame Leota or hitchhiking ghosts floating about or the aquarium with ghost fish that was actually a concept from Imagineer Rolly Crump that never made it to the real attraction. The roughly 40-minute looping show is a treat for the senses, and I could spend hours in there taking it all in.
Another new highlight is the Pirates of the Caribbean-themed Cask & Cannon, which is not to be confused with the recently opened Beak & Barrel at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Whereas the Beak & Barrel is more focused on being an immersive extension of the attraction at Walt Disney World, Cask & Cannon is more of an homage to all the Pirates attractions around the world.
From sketches by Disney Legend Mark Davis that influenced the original attraction at Disneyland to lanterns that callback to the attraction at Disneyland Paris to a little Rummy bird at the bar that is an Easter Egg for Beak & Barrel itself, there are so many fantastic touches that fans will love discovering. And yes, Jack Sparrow himself may stop by from time to time to provide one of those meet-and-play moments I can’t stop talking about. However, even when he’s not there, his compass can be found on the carpet below and will always be pointing to the bar.
There is so much more to discuss about the Disney Destiny, including the Incredibles-themed sweet shop called Edna À La Mode Sweets and the world-class kids clubs that make me wish I was young again, but I’m going to end our story here just as we began.
The Disney Destiny is another stellar achievement for Disney Cruise Line and one of the greatest examples of Disney pushing its storytelling capabilities to a new level. In a beautiful way, it also harkens back to the reason why Walt Disney chose to build Disneyland, and I’m going to let Jen Bascom bring this story home by explaining why.
“When Walt created Disneyland, he talked about how he wanted a place where adults and children can feel like they can play and experience something together, and we really chose to dig deep into that,” Bascom said. “When guests enter that Grand Hall and the Disney Destiny, we are not only inviting them to step into a story, we're not only inviting them to experience a story, we are telling them that they are the story.”
During my few days on the Disney Destiny, I couldn’t agree more, and I can’t wait for the next chapter.
For more, check out check out our ultimate guide to the Disney Treasure, what it was like visiting the real-life Parr House from Incredibles 2 at Disney's first Storyliving Community called Cotino, and our thoughts on Disney Parks first step into Fortnite.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.
Developer Poncle says its newly announced Vampire Crawlers is more of a spinoff than a sequel, but it sounds like Vampire Survivors 2 may actually be in the works, too.
Fans had their eyebrows raised when the studio behind the hit monster-slaying video game announced Vampire Crawlers as its new game during today’s Xbox Partner Preview. While the roguelike deck-builder might seem like a proper Vampire Survivors sequel at first glance, Poncle says in a new interview with Xbox Wire, this isn’t the case.
“This is just a spin-off of Vampire Survivors – hopefully the first in a series of spin-offs!” studio founder and CEO Luca Galante said. “The idea is to take some of the core pillars behind the development of VS and to apply them to existing genres. I’m talking about accessibility, immediacy, affordability, replayability, and sparkly stuff. Tons of sparkly stuff!”
It’s no doubt an idea a wide range of Vampire Survivors fans will gravitate to, especially as Poncle teases what could be more than one spinoff. Alas, the lack of a 2 next to the title means Vampire Crawlers is planned to offer something different from the core experience, but fans hoping for a proper follow-up may not want to count out Vampire Survivors 2 just yet.
“With regards to a sequel to Vampire Survivors, we’re working on something, but we’re not talking about that just yet,” Galante adds.
It's just one sentence of acknowledgement, but it’s still enough to confirm that Poncle has multiple ideas brewing when it comes to the future Vampire Survivors. Whether that lands a 2 next to the original title's name or results in something else entirely, we’ll have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, Vampire Crawlers seeks to bring the humor the series is known for together with a new gameplay loop. A trailer for the spinoff, which Galante says Poncle has been working on for around four years, reveals a switch to first-person gameplay with some dungeon-crawling to boot.
Vampire Survivors 2 could be years away. In the meantime, players can look forward to Vampire Crawlers when it comes to PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S in 2026. For more, you can read our Vampire Survivors 1.0 review, where we gave Poncle’s popular monster-slaying game an 8/10.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Sony's newest flagship wireless noise cancelling headphone has dropped to the lowest price ever, and it's not even close. As part of Amazon's Black Friday sale, Amazon Resale is selling "like new" Sony WH-1000XM6 wireless noise canceling headphones for as low as $248.43 after an automatic 20% off discount is applied during checkout. It normally retails for $450 and the current "Black Friday deal" for buying it new is still nearly $400 on Amazon.
Amazon Resale (formerly Amazon Warehouse) is Amazon's official account for used goods. The products are sorted by condition, with "Like New" being the best. There's a good chance these items haven't been used at all and were returns from customers who have changed their minds, or simply products with blemished packaging. All Amazon Resale items also get the same 30-day return policy as any other Amazon purchase. Most "Like New" items still have a majority of its original manufacturer's warranty remaining (and sometimes the full warranty if the item was never sold).
The Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones is the 2025 successor to the WH-1000XM5 that was released way back in 2022. Both sound quality and noise cancelation have been noticeably improved on the XM6 thanks to a more powerful QN3 audio processor and a total of 12 beam-forming microphones that do a great job of picking up and cancelling out unwanted noise. The XM6 is also more comfortable to wear because of the hinged earcups. The same design also allows the XM6 to be more easily stowed away since the earcups can be folded inwards to fit in a smaller carrying case. It can last up to 30 hours on a single charge, and a quick 3 minute top-up over USB Type-C will give you up to 3 hours of continuous playback. You can save some money by going with an older generation XM5 or even the XM4, but as long as it is within your budget, the XM6's improvements in sound quality, noise cancelation, and ergonomics makes the new model worth it.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Amazon’s Black Friday sale is officially live. Yes, a week ahead of time. Deals will rotate in and out until the day of Black Friday itself, which does make it a bit challenging to figure out whether you’re actually getting the best possible discount.
One of the big draws of any Amazon sale is the amount of discounts on physical media, and the retailer has highlighted a whole section for Black Friday anime deals. There are hits and misses here, for sure, but I managed to pick out quite a few great deals that are at or very close to their all-time low prices.
As with any Amazon sale, I recommend doing a bit of scrolling and searching for your favorite series. If you're looking for some inspiration, Dan Da Dan is a personal favorite from the past couple years, in large part because I still haven’t gotten the banging intro out of my head. The anime adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man has also become a massive hit, and the limited edition Blu-ray of Season 1 includes a 72-page Booklet and digital art galleries. Both of these Season 1 releases have dropped to all-time low prices, making them the best deals from the current generation.
From a little further back in the day, you have the combination of anime that got me personally into the medium. Death Note is nothing short of a classic, worthy of a spot on any collector’s shelf. While not quite at its lowest ever price, a 60% discount is nothing to scoff at.
On the wackier side of things, the complete series of Soul Eater has hit an all-time low. I stand by it as one of the greats in large part for having some of the coolest character designs. (Looking at you, Death the Kid).
There’s a somewhat slimmer spread of anime movies on sale, but there are certain deals that are pretty much unbeatable. This includes one of the more recent steelbook releases, Grave of the Fireflies, hitting a new lowest ever price. While the rest of the Studio Ghibli movies have small discounts right now, I’d expect better deals on those closer to Black Friday. (For reference, they're pretty much always on sale.)
If you’re not necessarily looking to add to your physical collection, and also happen to have Prime Video, (included in general Amazon Prime subscriptions), you can grab two months of Mega Fan Crunchyroll as a Channel Add-On for $2.99/month. That’s 70% off the standard price of $11.99, but you’ll have to access the Crunchyroll library through Prime Video.
This is as low as you can get the service right now, but there's a small chance we see some sort of discount straight from the anime streaming site closer to Black Friday.
Blythe (she/her) is an SEO Coordinator at IGN who spends way too much time in character customization screens and tracking down collectibles.
Best Buy's Black Friday Sale has officially kicked off with some great deals on gaming hardware. Possibly the very best deal I've found so far is on the Lenovo Legion Go S Z1 Exterme SteamOS handheld gaming PC, which has dropped to just $649.99 after a massive $250 instant discount. This is the lowest price I've seen by nearly $130. Note that this is the more powerful model with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip and it is easily one of the best Steam-based gaming handhelds currently available. It's essentially a souped up Steam Deck alternative.
This particular Lenovo Legion Go S model is equipped with an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, which is significantly more powerful than the Ryzen Z2 Go (which we didn't like very much at all) and the Steam Deck's custom APU. It's supplemented by a generous 32GB of RAM and 512GB storage capacity. Since it runs on the SteamOS client, it outperforms the Steam Deck in most games. Graphics also look sharper with more fluid movement, thanks to a bigger 8" 1200p display with a higher 120Hz refresh rate. Battery life remains roughly equivalent, however the Legion Go S does benefit from a much faster maximum charging rate (up to 100W input if your charger can support it).
Check out Jacqueline's 9/10 review of the Legion Go S (Z1 Extreme, SteamOS model), in which she concludes that it is one of the "best handheld gaming PCs on the market, and a legitimate Steam Deck alternative."
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Godfall developer Counterplay Games reportedly shut down earlier this year, so seeing it suddenly reappear with Armatus, a full-blown roguelite shooter coming to PC and consoles in 2026, might be somewhat of a shock.
A trailer, including everything from far-along cinematics and tense gameplay, materialized during today’s November 2025 Xbox Partner Preview. It’s undeniably got that Godfall flair to it, as its main character can be seen smashing and blasting their way through a post-post-apocalyptic Paris.
It’s not often a game developer seemingly closes down only to reemerge months later with a brand-new video game for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S. We sat down with Counterplay studio head and creative director Ming Zhang to learn more about Armatus, its roguelike gameplay, and what it’s been like for the team to continue its work when those rumors were kicked up. You can see the full interview below.
IGN: To set the stage, tell me about Armatus and this trailer we're going to see. What are players looking at in this first trailer?
Ming Zhang: What you see in this trailer is snippets of gameplay, largely with a little bit of cinematic footage from our game. You know, it's been a number of years in the making, and this is Counterplay's next entry in our love of visceral combat. You see some of the abilities, some of the enemies, and some of the cool moves that you're going to be you're going to be able to do, in this case.
What can you tell me, in a little more detail, about its gameplay, its story, and, especially, the world it takes place in?
Zhang: It's a third-person roguelite shooter, and in order to build the world, what we did, is we took the concept of urban fantasy, which is the grim supernatural underneath the real world, and we took it to the nines. What happens in the post-post-apocalypse of an urban fantasy world? Well, you know, the real world kind of starts to break apart, and underneath, all the supernatural stuff starts to spill forth, right? When you think about, 'What is a city that evokes classic but also modern, and has all the right tone and tambre, even un-supernatural?' It would be Paris. Starting from there, we then said, 'Well, what is the kind of character that we would have bring here? We wanted to create the supernatural character, who was powerful and had access to these celestial abilities that you would be able to use, but we also wanted to take the sound and fury of modern firearms and put that in the hands of this supernatural being. So, you've got the magic and the firepower, and put it together.
I saw The Vanishing is what triggered this Paris to look like this. What can you tell me about that event and how it resulted in something like that?
Zhang: There's something about the word spoiler that is coming up (laughs), so you'll have to, you'll have to play and find out, but it is the pivotal event. That kicks off the game.
That's totally fair. You talked about it a little bit there, but what else is it about Paris that makes it the location you go to for this instead of somewhere else around the world?
Zhang: Paris just has incredible visuals, as a city. Again, when you think urban fantasy, it's impossible to avoid a lot of the gothic undertones. The architecture of the city already evokes the emotions that we wanted from those from the supernatural side of the world, so combining that real world with the supernatural was a big part of the setting as well.
I'm curious if you can tell us more about the different tools players will have at their disposal. Are there different guns, weapon modifiers, or abilities? What can we generally look forward to?
Zhang: This is a run-based game, and the primary, I say, means of combat that the player has is, of course, your gun. So, you have your gun, you will be able to shoot it, but you also have a melee weapon at your disposal, and you have several locomotion kits and several abilities that you will be able to pick. One of the things that was really important to us was that players do this thing that we internally call 'creative expression through combat,' where not only is it that, you have all these amazing tools that you can use in your in your player kit, it's that you get to customize the player kit that you're taking on the run as you play each run. Just as it's important to have visceral fidelity in the gameplay, it was important for us to have the build craft to go along with it.
Armatus is described as a third-person, roguelite shooter. Are there any specific games that inspired Counterplay when crafting its gameplay?
Zhang: We have a lot of references, as all game designers do. I think you'll have to play and discover all the references, but I think fans of the genre will be very pleased with what we have to offer.
I don't know if maybe you'd have the same answer, then, for some of the different movies, books, and games or shows that inspired the story and universe this takes place in?
Zhang: Well, one of the things that we always look for at Counterplay, and we've done this since the beginning, was interesting genre blends. Without getting you know too nerdy (laughs), we always look for combinations. We always look for the chocolate and peanut butter or whatnot, and so I think a lot of the fun in doing that is for our players to figure it out on on their own, but I think you'll see the inspirations worn pretty heavily on our sleeves.
Roguelite, I think, is a term that a lot of people hear, and they feel like if they've played one, they've played them all. What does Armatus do to stand apart from other rogue lights and shooters?
Zhang: I tend to think of roguelite as a design framework. It'd be like saying, 'If you played one RPG, you played them all.' The design framework is the thing that you scaffold the game on top of, but it's not the only thing in the game. As we emphasized, our game really sings when you get into the combat. Creative expression through combat is a core pillar of what we wanted to do. If you came into this game and you just wanted to slaughter demons using abilities and guns and melee, this is the game for you, and if you wanted to be the kind of person who strategically picks every single upgrade in order to hit the perfect combination and eradicate rooms that way, this is also the game for you. So that's kind of how we think about it.
How long is your average run going to be? Is this the kind of thing where you can play quick run before bed, or do you really need to sit down and lock in for hours and hours?
Zhang: We're still working on the game, so I prefer not to give a number at this at this point, but what I will say is, like many games that have come before and after, both in the third-person action genre, as well as the roguelite genre, the choices that you make have a big impact on how much you can do.
I think at the end of the trailer, you tease a boss fight. I'm not looking for specifics here, but are bosses something players can look forward to in Armatus, and what can you tell me about them?
Zhang: Yeah, bosses are definitely a part of the game. Thank you for that. Bosses are definitely a part of the game, and we call them Greater Demons. What they represent is, if you think of the demonic incursion that's happening in Paris, in the post-apocalypse that we talked about, the Greater Demons are the ones that anchor. They're more solid than the other ones. They're bigger, they're scarier, they are figures of nightmare, and I think players will have a great time being killed and killing them as well.
So would you call Armatus a particularly difficult game, then, or is that in the hands of the player through different options?
Zhang: I think that's going to be up to the player, but I guess you'll have to wait and see on that one, too.
What are some of the lessons the team learned from, specifically, Godfall, because it's really easy to compare these two, that the team brought into the development of Armatus?
Zhang: I think the biggest one is this: Coming out of Godfall, one of the things we consistently received feedback on, and it was almost all positive, but basically the big discussion point was the starting point in the game felt almost primordial. Then, as you unlocked moves in the skill tree, suddenly you were doing this and you were doing that. The combat in that game felt like a conversation with the developers. Again, I'm paraphrasing, you know, one or two reviews here, but that was a major source of feedback we got across the board. Fans really resonated with the dynamic combat that we had in Godfall, and they really liked this conversation with the developer-style of play that they had. So as we moved into our next project, we said, 'Hey, we did it for melee. Can we pull it off for shooters as well?' So we took that, and that's where this emphasis on build craft comes from.
I saw a lot of rumors earlier this year that Counterplay had shut down, and sitting here now, that's obviously not the case. So, I'm curious if you have any comment on that situation you'd like to share, and more specifically, what it's been like for the studio to see those rumors swirl while knowing full well that Counterplay's next game is very much still in development, despite that.
Zhang: I think most of the studio was too busy working on the game (laughs) to really pay attention to rumours that don't really apply to their day-to-day. I think the only comment I really have on it is, the announcement and future release of Armatus is a celebration of Counterplay Games, of our camaraderie, and this team that has gone through thick and thin together. It means the world to us that players are going to be able to see this game. They're going to play it, and we think that people are going to have a lot of fun. So, my comment is, go play Armatus, and then you can tell us how you feel about, right? (laughs)
Moving back to the game itself, I couldn't tell based on the trailer alone. Is this an entirely single-player experience, or are there any multiplayer elements, even scoreboards, or anything like that?
Zhang: It's a single-player game, and as for features, again, we're, we're still in development, so wait and find out.
I get it. It’s hard to talk about these things when the pieces are always moving, I'm sure.
Zhang: I think it's harder not to talk about these things, right? That's kind of the challenge here.
PC, PlayStation, and Xbox versions are on the way, but I also saw that a Nintendo Switch 2 version is in development. Were there any challenges in bringing Armatus to that console, and is the Switch 2 version expected to launch at the same time as other platforms?
Zhang: Yes, they are all expected to launch together. The challenge with these things is always optimization, but if you've seen Godfall, a PlayStation 5 launch title, you know that, if there's one thing that we do well, it's optimizing game systems.
Is there anything about Armatus that you want to talk about or that you want players to know now that they're finally seeing what this looks like?
This game is a love letter to action combat in all its forms. It's a love letter to the urban fantasy, gothic horror inspirations that we see in so many games and fiction all over, and the thing that is most important to us here at Counterplay is for players to see this letter that we've written. So, I can come up here and yammer about systems and features all day long, and all I would be doing is making promises to the audience, but the promise I will make is that if you play our game, you're going to have a really great experience of butchering all these demons.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Publisher Lyrical Games and developer Plot Twist have revealed Erosion, a twin-stick roguelike set in a post-apocalyptic wild west that is set to launch into early access early next year.
The Xbox Partner Preview trailer for the next title from the Kraków, Poland-based studio teases a change of pace for The Last Case of Benedict Fox team as it targets a spring 2026 early access release for PC via Steam and Xbox Game Preview. A full launch is expected to follow later the same year for PC platforms, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S.
Where Plot Twist’s previous title leaned on 2D visuals and a Lovecraftian tale, Erosion seeks to let players loose in a mad open world with fast-paced combat and lots of character. The trailer promises to keep players entertained with destructible voxel environments, a poker mini-game, customizable vehicles, duels, loads of weapons, and boss fights, but that doesn’t mean the team is leaving story at the door.
“In Erosion, players find themselves in a distant future where a mysterious, sentient rock formation called the Pillar is consuming civilization piece by piece,” an Erosion story summary says. “They will descend into the mysterious Pillar to battle through chaotic, fully destructible dungeons, fighting to get one step closer to saving the protagonist’s daughter or losing her entirely to time itself. Every decision changes the story, and every death takes time off the clock.”
Years pass with every death in Erosion, meaning players will want to be extra careful if they don’t want to see everyone – including their daughter – grow old throughout the course of their journey. It’s a twist that’s teased in the trailer, with even the environment seeming to take a beating as time runs its course.
We’ll learn more about Erosion in time, so while we wait, be sure to check out our review for The Last Case of Benedict Fox. We gave it a 6/10 upon its release in 2023, saying, “The Last Case of Benedict Fox is a disappointingly uneven Metroidvania that’s just as likely to engage as it is to enrage.”
For everything else you might have missed during today's show, click right here.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Connexion