When the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 came out, it offered a lackluster generational improvement over the RTX 4090 at a much higher price. And while the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti still isn’t much faster than its last-gen counterpart, it is more affordable, making it the most reasonable Blackwell graphics card to actually buy, especially if you don’t have unlimited cash to burn.

At its base price of $749, the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is an excellent 4K graphics card that all but pushes the more expensive RTX 5080 out of the picture. However, I have to be up front about something: the RTX 5070 Ti I received for review is an aftermarket model from MSI that’s much more expensive – $1,099 – which is more expensive than the $999 RTX 5080 – assuming you can find either of these graphics cards at their actual retail price. If you can find an RTX 5070 Ti at $749, though, it is probably the best graphics card for most people, especially if you have 4K gaming on your bucket list.

Specs and Features

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is the third graphics card built on Nvidia’s Blackwell architecture. While this architecture was initially designed for the supercomputers that run popular AI models like ChatGPT, Nvidia has ported it down into its new generation of gaming GPUs, while still retaining a lot of the AI focus.

This graphics card is based on the same GB203 GPU as the RTX 5080, just with 14 of the streaming multiprocessors (SM) disabled. That means the RTX 5070 Ti has 70 SMs, for a total of 8,960 CUDA cores, 70 RT cores and 280 Tensor Cores. Also like the RTX 5080, the RTX 5070 has 16GB of GDDR7 RAM, though it is a bit slower. The Tensor Cores are the star of the show, however. Because while the CUDA cores in the RTX 5070 Ti are certainly more powerful than their equivalent in the RTX 4070 Ti, Nvidia is banking on AI upscaling and frame generation to really push this graphics card over the edge.

This time around, though, the Tensor Cores aren’t on their own, with Blackwell now including a new AI Management Processor, or AMP, to help assign work throughout the GPU. This was a process that has historically been reserved for your CPU, and moving that work onto the graphics card makes processes like DLSS or frame generation much more efficient.

In fact, this efficiency has led Nvidia to fundamentally change how DLSS works, as it’s now running on a Transformer model, rather than a Convolutional Neural Network, or CNN. This won’t necessarily make DLSS any faster, but it absolutely makes a noticeable difference to image quality, eliminating much of the ghosting and other artifacts that have plagued Team Green’s upscaling solution since day one.

But it’s more than just better upscaling. DLSS 4 also includes a new form of Frame Generation that Nvidia is dubbing “Multi-Frame Generation” or MFG. Just like the first generation, MFG uses AI to generate entire frames, based on analyzing frames as they’re rendered, along with motion data gathered from the game engine. The key difference in this generation is that instead of one AI frame from each rendered frame, DLSS 4 now generates up to 3 frames off of each rendered frame. The tradeoff is higher latency, though Nvidia has another bit of tech, called Reflex, which can potentially help offset the increased latency.

With a 300W Total Board Power budget, the RTX 5070 Ti isn’t much more power-hungry than the last-gen RTX 4070 Ti, or even the RTX 4070 Ti Super, which both required 285W. Nvidia does recommend a 750W power supply with the 5070 Ti, but if you really want to be on the safe side, I’d recommend going for at least an 850W PSU, especially if you opt for the high-end MSI Vanguard Edition I got in for review.

DLSS 4 – Is It Worth It?

While the RTX 5070 Ti is faster than its predecessor, Nvidia’s real selling point for this generation is DLSS 4, and particularly multi-frame generation. If you have a gaming monitor with a high refresh rate, this technology will help you get the most out of your display, just don’t go hoping for dramatically better latency.

The way it works is the Tensor Cores will analyze each frame as it's rendered, and pair that data with motion vector information taken from the game engine to essentially guess where everything in the scene will be in the next frame. It then uses AI to generate entire new frames using this data. The underlying technology here isn’t new – the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 used similar tech – but the difference here is scale.

Rather than only being able to generate one frame in between each rendered frame, MFG allows the graphics card to generate up to three. This can theoretically increase your frame rate by as much as 4x, which can really help saturate high end gaming monitors. In reality, though, it’s rarely a straight 4x improvement.

In Cyberpunk 2077, with the Ray Tracing Overdrive preset, with DLSS set to performance, I was able to get 46 fps on the RTX 5070 Ti, with around 43ms of PC latency. When I turned on 2x frame gen, that number went up to 88 fps, but the latency also increased, up to 49ms, even with Reflex enabled. With 4x frame gen, I was able to get 157 fps, with 55ms of PC latency, making for a 3.4x increase to frame rate, though with worse latency.

In Star Wars Outlaws, the RTX 5070 Ti gets 67 fps at 4K Max settings with DLSS set to “performance”. With 2x frame gen, that number went up to 111 fps. What sets this game apart, however, is that latency actually went down from 47ms to 34ms when enabling frame gen, thanks to Reflex. However, when I bumped it up to 4x frame generation, the frame rate went up to 188 fps, with latency also increasing to 37ms.

So, while Multi Frame Generation will make your games look smoother on a high-refresh display, they won’t actually get more responsive. That’s not to say the games will be laggy with frame generation enabled. The increases to latency are minimal, as long as you’re getting a good frame rate to begin with.

This is because the higher your frame rate is, the more information the frame generation algorithm has to work with, and the better it is at predicting the next image. If you try to enable frame generation and you’re only getting, say, 30 fps, it becomes much more likely that you’re going to get noticeable lag and artifacts as the GPU struggles to predict images accurately. Luckily, that’s not something you’ll have to worry about with the RTX 5070 Ti, even at 4K.

Performance

At 4K, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is about 11% faster than the RTX 4070 Ti Super and 21% faster than the RTX 4070 Ti. That’s a much better generational uplift than the RTX 5080, and makes the RTX 5070 Ti the best value graphics card of this generation so far. Across my entire test suite, the RTX 5070 Ti was easily able to top 60 fps at 4K, even in demanding games like Black Myth Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077.

To be clear: while I did only get in the supercharged RTX 5070 Ti Vanguard SOC from MSI, I ran it at stock settings without overclocking in order to measure how the RTX 5070 Ti performs in general, even if it’s an MSRP card. As such, I’ll be scoring this review based on the $749 MSRP of the base GPU.

I tested all of these graphics cards on the current live version of every game, and with the most recent drivers. That means all Nvidia cards other than the 5070 Ti itself were tested on Game Ready Driver 572.42 and all AMD cards were tested on Adrenalin 24.12.1. The RTX 5070 Ti was tested on a prerelease driver provided by Nvidia. All the games here are tested without any form of Frame Generation, and upscaling is used in games that support both DLSS and FSR, using the appropriate tech for each graphics card.

In 3DMark Speed Way, the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti has a strong start, scoring 7,590 points to the RTX 4070 Ti Super’s 6,374 and the RTX 4070 Ti’s 5,552 points. That marks a 19% jump over the RTX 4070 Ti Super and a whopping 36% jump over the vanilla RTX 4070 Ti. Likewise, in Port Royal, the RTX 5070 Ti manages 18,839 points, compared to 15,670 and 14,136 from the 4070 Ti Super and 4070 Ti, respectively. This shows the potential performance of the RTX 5070 Ti, and how it has room to grow in the future as drivers evolve and games are better engineered to take advantage of Blackwell.

When it comes to actual games, the performance difference over the RTX 4070 Ti wanes a bit, with the RTX 5070 Ti getting 121 fps in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at 4K Extreme. Compared to the RTX 4070 Ti Super with its 115 fps, that’s only a 5% gen-on-gen improvement, a red flag to be sure.

But, in Cyberpunk 2077, one of the most demanding games out there, the RTX 5070 Ti ekes out a 9% lead over the RTX 4070 Ti Super and a 17% lead over the RTX 4070 Ti. Even at 4K with the Ray Tracing Ultra preset, the RTX 5070 Ti has no problem sitting at 75 fps, cementing this GPU’s status as a 4K card.

Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition is an odd game, in that the only upscaling solution it supports is DLSS, so I test it without it. Under those conditions, the RTX 5070 Ti is only able to manage 48 fps at 4K on the Extreme preset. However, the RTX 4070 Ti Super only gets 45 fps in the same test, with the RTX 4070 Ti lagging further behind with 42 fps.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a bit of an outlier, though, with the RTX 5070 Ti coming in 2% slower than the RTX 4070 Ti Super. The new card gets 113 fps, compared to 115 from the last-generation model, which is a high frame rate, but still a performance loss. Luckily, this is the only game where this happens.

I love testing Total War: Warhammer 3, because it doesn’t support ray tracing or upscaling in any form, so it gives a clear picture on pure rasterization performance. Even at 4K max settings, the RTX 5070 Ti manages an average of 78 fps, making for a 15% improvement over the RTX 4070 Ti Super and 30% over the regular RTX 4070 Ti. This is the closest the RTX 5070 Ti gets to showing off the potential demonstrated in 3DMark.

When I tested the RTX 5090, Assassin’s Creed Mirage had some driver issues that stopped it from showing the 5090’s potential. It seems like those have now been addressed and the RTX 5070 Ti manages 149 fps at 4K with the Ultra High preset. That’s compared to 141 fps from the RTX 4070 Ti Super and 132 fps from the 4070 Ti. However, this is still below the Radeon RX 7900 XT, which manages 150 fps in the same test.

Black Myth Wukong is extremely demanding and is a good showcase of where graphics tech is right now. But, even at 4K with the Cinematic Preset and DLSS set to 40%, the RTX 5070 Ti manages an average of 66 fps. Compared to 60 fps from the RTX 4070 Ti Super, that’s a 10% improvement, and helps avoid any situations where your frame rate will drop below 60 fps. Team Green also takes the performance crown back here, with the AMDRadeon RX 7900 XT also getting just 60 fps in Black Myth Wukong with FSR set to 40%.

While it’s getting old, games like Forza Horizon 5 reward high frame rates, thanks to the fast pace of the gameplay. Luckily, the RTX 5070 Ti does more than keep up, getting 152 fps at 4K with the Extreme preset. That’s a 15% improvement over the RTX 4070 Super and 21% over the RTX 4070 Ti. This is even a 10% lead over the Radeon RX 7900 XT, and Forza is a game that traditionally favors AMD GPUs.

We’re entering a time where even a mid-range graphics card is essentially a ‘4K GPU’. If you can find it around the starting price of $749, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti provides the best value for your money, especially if you have a 4K display. Not only is it the first RTX 5000 graphics card that provides a decent uplift over its predecessor, but it does so with a lower price tag than the $799 RTX 4070 Ti.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

If you're searching for Volleyball Legends codes (previously Haikyuu Legends), IGN has you covered! In this article, you'll find the latest active and working Volleyball Legends codes in February 2025 that can be redeemed for free rewards in Roblox, including Spins and Yen.

Active Volleyball Legends Codes (February 2025)

Below, you'll find all of the currently active and working Volleyball Legends codes in February 2025:

• NEW_NAME - 1x Lucky Style Spin (NEW!)
• 80M_VISITS - 10x Style Spins
• BIGGESTEVER - 5x Ability Spins
• RANKED - 2x Lucky Ability Spins
• NOTONTIME - 2x Lucky Spins
• UPDATE6 - 1x Lucky Spin
• PROTORIONTWITTER - 100x Yen

All Expired Volleyball Legends Codes

The following Volleyball Legends codes are expired and can't be redeemed anymore as of February 2025:

• MADNESS
• 40M_VISITS
• 250K_MEMBERS
• 50M_VISITS
• UPDATE5
• UPDATE4
• LAUNCH
• 200K_LIKES
• 180K_FAVS
• 15M_PLAYS
• 100KMEMBERS
• UPDATE1
• UPDATE2
• UPDATE3

How to Redeem Volleyball Legends Codes

Follow the steps below to redeem Volleyball Legends codes and claim your free rewards:

1. Open the Volleyball Legends Roblox experience.
2. In the Lobby, click on the Shop icon in the bottom toolbar to open the Shop.
3. Click on Codes on the bottom left of the Shop menu.
4. Input your Volleyball Legends code into the "Type code here" box.
5. Click "USE CODE." If successful, green text will appear informing you what your free reward is.

Why Isn't My Volleyball Legends Code Working?

If your Volleyball Legends code isn't working when you're trying to redeem it in Roblox, it's likely down to one of these two reasons:

• The Volleyball Legends code is expired and no longer able to be redeemed.
• The code is spelled wrong.

When inputting an Volleyball Legends code into Roblox, ensure it's spelled correctly, there are no accidental spaces either before or after the code, and that it's in the correct case (some codes are case sensitive). If a code is spelled wrong, you'll get a red message that says "Invalid Code."

All the codes on this page have been tested by IGN and work at the time of submission, so we'd recommend copying and pasting any codes directly from this article to avoid any errors. If the code still doesn't work, it's expired and can no longer be redeemed.

How to Get More Volleyball Legends Codes

Outside of checking this article, the best way to get more Volleyball Legends codes is to join the official Volleyball Legends Discord server. That way, you can be notified as soon as new codes drop.

Despite my avid love for all things sports, I've given up on the idea that I'll ever be good at golf. Something about the way the body must contort to successfully crank a ball down the fairway just doesn't compute in my mind. But like few other games can, PGA Tour 2K25 takes everything I visualize myself doing in real life and executes it virtually, thanks to its in-depth simulation gameplay that lets my thumbs and brain do what my actual body simply refuses to do.

To be honest, I went into PGA Tour 2K25 a bit hesitant. While 2K23 wasn’t the worst golf game I’ve ever played, it lacked any shine in its personality or gameplay, which came as a surprise considering HB Studios has been dutifully working on successful golf sims like The Golf Club for well over a decade. Couple this with the fact that, unlike most sports games, PGA Tour 2K took two full years to put out a new iteration, and it was safe to say my expectations were in check.

To my surprise and relief, that extra time paid off: it didn’t take long for PGA Tour 2K25 to impress me with its improvements, especially in terms of appearance. While it still can’t quite match EA Sports’ rival PGA Tour game head to head in their respective visual recreations of golf, the difference is nowhere near as stark as it had been. Player models look much closer to their real-life counterparts, courses are more detailed, and animations are crisper. I found myself pausing while playing multiple times to take in the water crashing against the rocks or comparing the cut of the fairway, fringe, and rough areas for each course. The putting and driving animations are also fluid, no longer stopping abruptly after contact or feeling too weighty. Performance is smoothed out as well, and the only time I ever ran into issues with dropped frames on my PlayStation 5 was due to internet connectivity issues. Even the single-player Career Mode is always online, so there were a few instances where my shot would stutter and even a couple of times where my round didn't save.

My biggest gripe with the look and feel of PGA Tour 2K25 is the low-energy commentary team of Luke Elvy and Rich Beem. While they are both very knowledgeable, describing approaches and conditions beautifully, their lines could not be more flatly delivered. I know golf isn’t the most exciting sport, but there is no need to sound like a robot when discussing it.

They also seem to have a vendetta against me. If I do any worse than getting on the green in two or birdie putting, Rich Beem will berate me like Bob Barker going at Happy Gilmore—the price is wrong, Richie! At least thanks to my experience dealing with FIFA commentary for years, tuning them out wasn't very difficult.

Other than that, it’s pretty much all good news. For example, it’s clear that HB Studios prioritized features that the community has been begging for. The most notable additions revolve around approaches, with the ability to change tee position and choose your hazard drop spot. It might seem like a small detail, but not being able to adjust position after a water hazard or move the ball at the tee for a better angle made for some of my most frustrating shots in PGA Tour 2K23. I love the amount of control that 2K25 gives me.

Another big change is that MyPlayer development has become an RPG system that allows you to unlock specific shots as you go, making your growth in the MyCareer campaign customizable to your specific strengths. Skills in the six trees vary from advanced shot types like the Stinger, which is ideal for dealing with high-wind situations, to proficiency boosts, which help buff each shot. I chose to build a Powerhouse archetype who focuses on driving down the fairway, getting my feet wet against other newbies in the Q-School.

It was here that I got comfortable with the new EvoSwing mechanics. The new-and-improved golf swing technique focuses on proper posture, torque, and arc size, and after each swing it even breaks down how good your contact, rhythm, transition, and swing path are so you have detailed information on how to improve. You can even customize how it controls by choosing the classic Swing Stick or the 3-Click Swing, depending on your skill level.

The Swing Stick simply requires you to pull the right stick back and release to swing, which is easy to get the hang of but it still has to be lined up well to get a good shot. The 3-Click Swing is certainly harder to master, since you have to press, hold, and release before clicking to push or pull the shot and finally click again to hook or slice, but it is something I love as a veteran golf (game) for the control it gives you over your shot. After using it to blow my competition out of the water, shooting 30 under par across four days, I moved on to the PGA Tour.

Like the real deal, the goal here is to compete for points in tournaments, finishing in the Top 70 to earn a spot competing for the FedExCup. But instead of thrusting you into each event blindly, PGA Tour 2K25 features training and scouting scenarios before each event as a way to earn stat buffs and get the lay of the land. Training scenarios are bite-sized minigames, such as target challenges or competing to land on the green quickest or to sink the most long putts. Completing these gives your character a temporary boost in specific attributes, which is applied to the coming tournament. At first, I shrugged these off as ways to pad playtime, but once I played on harder difficulties I realized how what seemed like a minor buff to my drive power could mean the difference between hitting the fair way instead of a bunker. Practice Rounds also give you an edge for the coming tournament in exactly the way you’d expect: being able to play and feel out the specific run and shape of every course just before competing there is a real difference-maker. It is so satisfying to strategize for a course just like the pros would.

Not every new feature in MyCareer lands on the fairway, though – especially the new personality and popularity mechanics. We’ve seen all this before in other games like Madden and EA Sports FC: Your pro spends time off the course gaining influence with fans, developing a following, and forming a personality based on the answers they choose in conversations and interviews. While this is a well-meaning effort to give MyCareer a bit more flair and make you feel like the belle of the ball, the system feels just as pointless as it does in other games. All conversations are done through text and don't have an effect on the actual gameplay, so it feels unpolished and isn’t a good use of time.

The actual way to get sponsorships and unlock questlines for XP is simply by doing well at playing golf. This was pretty easy to do at first because the default settings PGA Tour 2K25 feel like child's play: I was easily winning each tournament, destroying the likes of Viktor Hovland by -13 strokes a round.

At this point, I decided to experiment with the customizable sliders, which let you tune everything from CPU difficulty to green conditions to weather. The difficulty took the most time to experiment with, as it was hard to find the right percentages to match my own skills, and seemed uneven. In some games, one golfer would score 10 under the second-closest AI rival. However, once I adjusted weather and course conditions to random the playing field started to feel much more level, and scores were closer. Either everyone benefited from the smooth greens and shining sun, or everyone suffered the whipping winds and slick surfaces where the ball glides way too fast across them.

The Dynamic option, though, is my favorite addition to MyCareer since 2K23: With this, you can choose the number of holes you want to play within a course, and which specific ones, and any skipped holes will be simulated. I don't mind playing a full 18 most of the time, but having the option to shorten the time commitment for some rounds by simming dynamically is a nice touch.

Microtransactions are, unfortunately, still present in PGA Tour 2K25, but mercifully they are mostly cosmetic-based. Yes, you can dump real money into making your player a superstar stat-wise and decked out with flashy clothes right off the bat, but you'll also earn upgrade points and different outfits at a decent clip by completing tournaments, so they aren't entirely necessary and are less objectionable than what 2K has been doing in its casino-like approach to NBA 2K in recent years. So playing online with others is still enjoyable, since this isn’t a sport where you’re being dunked on by someone who can run faster and jump higher because they paid extra.

The same seven online modes from 2K23 return, including my favorite: four-ball. I loved competing against my partner and the other team, as it simply felt more competitive, fast-paced, and interactive than going against AI. For my money, this mode is the next best thing to being out on the course with your buddies competing in real life. Ranked and Casual games also let you choose between Swing Stick and 3-Click lobbies and select which gameplay features and aides you want off and on to make sure everybody’s on the same page. It’s also notable that Societies mode now offers crossplay features, letting you and your friends schedule asynchronous events regardless of platform differences.

NetEase Games has promised to release at least one new Marvel Rivals hero every half-season, but that didn’t stop one creative player from bringing his idea for a playable Doctor Octopus to life.

Reddit user WickedCube surprised r/MarvelRivals followers earlier this week with a 30-second video showing what looks like rough gameplay from NetEase’s smash-hit hero shooter. At a glance, the footage seems to focus on a pre-Hulk Bruce Banner suspended in midair in what appears to be a testing room – but it’s more than that. Marvel fans will recognize this eight-armed version of the gamma-infused doctor as an unpolished, Marvel Rivals-inspired take on classic Spider-Man villain Doctor Octopus.

It's stiff and a touch goofy, but the likeness is unmistakable. Squint and you’ll see a well-thought-out concept of what Doc Ock could potentially look and move like should NetEase ever decide to send Otto Octavius crawling into Marvel Rivals. With his arms able to magnetize the player up and around obstacles, WickedCube’s idea come-to-life essentially allows the character to fly so long as he’s close enough to a stable structure – an important note in a game with destructible environments. This rough Doc Ock concept even comes with named abilities, including Havoc Claw for the standard melee attack and a ranged move called Wrecking Grip. At 16,000 upvotes at the time of publication, it’s impressive, playable, and made entirely by one person.

“Doc Ock has always been one of the coolest villains in Spider-Man, and his tentacles would be a challenge to implement,” WickedCube tell us, describing where his inspiration stemmed from. “As far as I know, they haven't been fully implemented with playable 3D movement in a game before.”

The India-based indie game developer previously worked with Space Engineers studio Keen Software House before resigning to focus on his own project in January 2024. He's been looking for contract positions and prototyping mechanics since then, so character work usually isn’t a priority. Creating a controllable version of Doctor Octopus in Unity required clearing a few hurdles, but it’s this exact challenge that helped WickedCube pursue the idea. The rest of the push came from an unlikely source: the recent PSN outage.

“It all started when PSN was down and I couldn’t play Marvel Rivals,” WickedCube explains. “While browsing Twitter, I came across some really cool Doc Ock fan art. I thought, ‘Since I can't play right now, why not make it myself?’”

Doctor Octopus in the style of Marvel Rivals
.#MarvelRivals #MarvelRivalsfanart pic.twitter.com/d3XHXMZsCL

— CoryHarris.jpg (@LordDepis) January 26, 2025

The result has seen thousands of players appreciating his ideas for Doc Ock, with some calling for NetEase to bring him onto the team. WickedCube calls the reception “incredibly rewarding,” adding that he’d be more than happy to see the Marvel Rivals studio lift some of his ideas should Doc Ock officially make his way into the game. Although he has no plans to polish the design further, the goal is to release a playable version of the character in the near future.

“After seeing the response on Reddit, I want to share this and future concepts as a YouTube tutorial series,” WickedCube added. “I also plan to open-source the code on GitHub and make the playable versions available on Itch.”

NetEase will charge forward with its Marvel Rivals post-launch plans with two new official characters this Friday: the Human Torch and The Thing. Both heroes follow their Fantastic Four teammates, Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, who launched early last month. It’s a shockingly strong start that outpaces competitors in its field, but comic book fans can’t help but look to Marvel’s catalog of heroes and villains as a universe with limitless potential.

WickedCube’s post says his viral project was born out of the community’s desire to see more Vanguard, or tank-like characters, added to its roster. Not even the strongest rumor has suggested we’ll see Otto show up in-game any time soon, but the Doc Ock designer says he’s already cooking up more ideas for other potential heroes. Two names on his mind are X-Men mainstays Nightcrawler and Professor Xavier.

“The character roster at launch is large enough to keep the game enjoyable for a long time, and the rate at which they’ve promised to release new characters is mind-blowing,” he added. “The designers clearly understand how to make a fun game, which, in my opinion, is the hardest thing to get right.”

Marvel Rivals is primed to deliver its Season 1 mid-season update tomorrow, February 21. In addition to those aforementioned character releases, the content update will add balance changes, gameplay tweaks, and more. While we wait for launch, you can read up on layoffs that recently impacted the U.S. team at NetEase’s Seattle branch. You can also learn about why the studio isn't entertaining the rumors surrounding planted hero leaks.

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

Duet Night Abyss is a fantasy multiplayer game that’s hotly anticipated in the gacha gaming community. It’s all about cool-looking combat, grinding, and oh yeah – boobs. And based on what I’ve played so far, the busty barmaids and endless slog for incrementally better gear aren’t likely to capture your attention for very long.

I played an early PC build of Duet Night Abyss ahead of its closed beta test, with the caveat that I wasn’t able to experience multiplayer functionality, so consider this preview to be more about Duet Night’s mechanics, world, and the grand narrative that underpins it all.

Your player character, a beautiful waif in bandages, awakens in a swirling snowfield. Mysterious voices speak to you. You are helpless and breathy. But out of the snow, someone reaches for you.

It’s Berry, a major character who’ll see you through the basics of movement in this world: most notably, the Helix Jump – a slick way of vaulting yourself through the air. There’s no cooldown on that jump, and you’ll find quickly that it’s a fun and efficient way of getting around – and powerful in combat.

Once separated from Berry, you’ll really begin to come into your own – both gameplay-wise and narratively speaking. Broke in a strange new city run by the ominously named Empire, you must become a “Phoxhunter,” picking up “commissions” at a rough-and-tumble tavern owned by the world’s least believable barmaaid.

But wait. That’s only half the story.

Double Take

There’s a second protagonist, a male version who looks strikingly similar to the girl you just met. The idea is that these two show different sides of the same narrative. In the city, the girl sees townsfolk experiencing discrimination, violence, and cruelty at the hands of the Empire. Meanwhile, the boy is a part of the Empire, commanding the same brutish soldiers who are now wounded and pitiful after battle.

Much has been made of these dual protagonists and plotlines, but frankly, I don’t think they’re as revolutionary as the developer seems to think they are. There were no surprises, no events in one character’s story that might make the other’s revelatory. Of course, this is early on, and I hope to be proven wrong as more story content becomes available.

Anyway, solid story or not, this game’s art is beautiful. I loved the linework, the colours, the fluid animation. I tend to approach the anime aesthetic with skepticism, so trust that my praise says something about how polished and breathtaking the aesthetic was. Unfortunately, I began to feel less enthusiastic the boobier Duet Night became (more on that later).

The English voiceover is absolutely fantastic, one of Duet Night’s highlights. As I progressed and met more characters, I found each one’s voice and dialogue distinct and full of individual personality.

Once you’re through the initial story quests, you’ll be participating in a lot of combat. It’ll be familiar to anyone who has ever played any kind of hack-and-slash, but it’s fun for a while. All the shiny sword slashes and oversized guns look epic, especially paired with the Helix Jump ability.

Switching between melee and ranged weapons is seamless. And to really hone your killing skills, you can equip the ridiculously named Demon Wedges: equippable supplements to your weapons that bump up various stats. You can mix-and-match a few of these at any time, playing around with combinations to find synergies that could take your combat to the next level.

The Daily Grind

I still have an unclear sense of Duet Night’s intended monetization model. There are hints, of course, such as multiple currencies – I was overwhelmed trying to understand where to obtain each one, and what each one could buy. Though there didn’t yet appear to be an interface to spend IRL money, you can bet that’s coming.

I’m not going to mince words: Duet Night Abyss is a grindfest. Take the “Retrace” system, which is a dice roll to win a bunch of random new weapons to pick from. It’s literally “click a button and see what you get.” Your rewards may be epic, but are mostly not. Provided you have enough of the “Hourglass” currency, you can just hammer that Retrace button like a slot machine. It’s one of the least engaging things I have ever seen in my time as a gamer.

You can also pick up “commissions” from the aforementioned tavern, which are instances where you’ll do most of your flashy combat. They may have different themes (a church overgrown with grass, for example, or a mine), but they all follow the same formula: a bunch of rooms that look exactly the same, where you can defeat increasingly difficult – and boring – waves of monsters.

You can grind for weapons to craft into better weapons. Grind for coins to buy cosmetic items, like a chicken for your head. Grind to obtain new playable avatars (most of them busty women). Or you can enter “Sandrealm Meditation,” which is a euphemism for practicing your combat skills via – you guessed it – grinding.

But all the flashy abilities, gear, and flower hats you’re grinding for mean nothing without an audience to impress.

Unfortunately, I did not experience any of Duet Night's social aspects. The instances can match you up with three other players – friends or randoms – but given that I was playing before the closed beta began, there was no one for me to match up with.

Perhaps Duet Night will feel like less of a grind as it opens up to players and a community grows, though I’m not sure at this stage what that would look like.

Alone in a Crowd

I recognize that grindy games do have an audience, but as a game reviewer, I feel icky recommending them when there are so many more engaging, delightful, and dare I say interactive games out there.

In the beginning, I thought I might like Duet Night Abyss. In those first moments I felt like I was watching a beautifully animated film, and intrigued where the waif’s story might lead me – even if I did have to grind my way there.

But then the, uh, curvaceous women began appearing. This isn’t uncommon in anime – but it immediately narrows the audience down to one of… specific tastes. I personally felt isolated: as slick as Duet Night Abyss was, I could never fully appreciate the better parts of it, such as the art or cute side quests, knowing that this game wasn’t looking for players like me.

There’s an audience out there for Duet Night Abyss. But it isn’t me. Maybe it’ll be you.

The Apple iPhone is one of the most innovative inventions of the 21st century. To date, over 2.3 billion iPhones have been sold across the world. It's arguably one of the most revolutionary devices ever created. With 17 years since the first iPhone, it can be easy to get lost thinking about how many iPhone generations there have been. Apple released multiple iPhone lines in some years, and every year new phones are released regardless. Below, we've compiled every iPhone ever released in chronological order. With the latest iPhone being the iPhone 16e, there's an extensive history to uncover from 2007 to 2025.

• iPhone Release History
• Upcoming iPhones

How Many iPhone Generations Have There Been?

In total, there have been 24 different iPhone generations. The first iPhone debuted in 2007, and at least one new model has been released in each year following. This list counts separate models like the Plus or Max series with the mainline iPhone generation, but we did include new models like the iPhone SE 2 and the iPhone XR as separate entries.

Every iPhone Generation in Order of Release

iPhone - June 29, 2007

The revolutionary first iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. Revealed as a device that was capable of iPod, Phone, and Internet functionalities, the iPhone marked the large first step in the smartphone market we know today. Apple made a huge departure from traditional cell phones, choosing to eliminate the keyboard and offer a digital option within the screen. With its 3.5-inch display and 2 megapixel embedded camera, the iPhone is a fun device to look back on as it changed the world of technology forever.

iPhone 3G - July 11, 2008

The second iPhone ever released was the iPhone 3G. This device brought 3G functionality to the iPhone, allowing for much faster speeds when utilizing cellular data. Additionally, this iPhone was the first to include the Apple App Store, which opened the door to developers creating applications for mobile phones.

iPhone 3GS - June 19, 2009

iPhone 3GS was the first iPhone to introduce a camera upgrade, with a new 3 megapixel camera on the back of the phone. This allowed for clearer pictures, further moving the smartphone into replacing traditional cameras. Additionally, new storage options were introduced to allow users to download more apps on the App Store. Performance overall was also claimed to be twice as fast as the iPhone 3G.

iPhone 4 - June 24, 2010

FaceTime was the star of the iPhone 4, allowing for users to video call between devices from any given location. iPhone 4 featured a 5 megapixel camera, allowing for HD video capture for the first time. This camera also included an LED flash, which had not previously been available on the iPhone. Alongside these features, the iPhone 4 offered Apple's first Retina display, which sharpened the display to make text much more readable.

iPhone 4S - October 14, 2011

Most notably, the iPhone 4S is best known for the debut of Siri. The virtual assistant has gone on to be a staple of the Apple ecosystem, and it all started here. The iPhone 4S also featured 1080p video capture, thanks to its 8 megapixel onboard camera. Other major software like iCloud, iMessage, and more made their debut here on the iPhone 4S.

iPhone 5 - September 21, 2012

iPhone 5 was the first iPhone to support LTE technology, which created opportunities for large tasks and content to be available on cellular data. Audio was also a major focus, with new microphones added for crystal clear audio across both calls and FaceTime. This device was also the first iPhone to feature the Lightning port, a large departure from the previous 30-pin adapter.

iPhone 5S - September 20, 2013

The iPhone 5S marked the first appearance of Touch ID, a new technology that allowed you to unlock your iPhone by holding your finger against the home button. This became a staple in all future models up until the iPhone X. Alongside this feature, the iPhone 5S packed in the A7 processor and new camera technologies.

iPhone 5C - September 20, 2013

The iPhone 5C was Apple's first budget conscious iPhone. Released alongside the iPhone 5S, the 5C was made available in vibrant colors that caught the attention of anyone passing by. Internally, the device utilizing the same hardware as the iPhone 5 from 2012, so Apple was able to offer the 5C at a lower, more approachable price, making it one of the cheapest iPhones.

iPhone 6 - September 19, 2014

The iPhone 6 took a departure from the boxy design previously seen in the last three generations and offered a slimmed out device perfect for any pocket. Arguably, the biggest feature of the iPhone 6 was none other than Apple Pay, which was powered by NFC technology embedded inside the phone. This was also the first iPhone generation to introduce multiple models, with the iPhone 6 Plus offering a larger 5.5 inch screen.

iPhone 6S - September 25, 2015

The flagship feature of the iPhone 6S was 3D Touch, a technology that allowed the screen of the device to measure and take in different amounts of pressure. This allowed for multiple commands depending on how firmly you pressed against the screen, which led to new gestures all around. Additionally, the iPhone 6S was the first iPhone to have 4K video capabilities, which paved the way for iPhone to be used for filming.

iPhone SE - March 31, 2016

The iPhone SE (Special Edition) brought back the body style of the iPhone 5S and packed it with new, updated features. Capabilities from the iPhone 6S such as 4K video were included on the SE, offering a quality and compact option at a lower price point. This marked the first iPhone SE, with two more generations produced in the years following 2016.

iPhone 7 - September 16, 2016

iPhone 7 launched in Fall 2016 with a huge controversial twist - Apple decided to remove the headphone jack. This move shifted audio to either Bluetooth or through the Lightning port. This generation also added water resistance to the iPhone, in addition to a sturdy home button that utilized Apple's Taptic Engine for haptic feedback. Lastly, the iPhone 7 Plus was the first iPhone to offer a dual camera system.

iPhone 8 - September 22, 2017

iPhone 8 was largely the same design as the iPhone 7, with a few solid improvements to help the device stand out. First, wireless charging was added with a glass panel placed on the back of the iPhone. For the first time, you did not need to charge the phone through the Lightning port. Further, the iPhone 8 was the first phone to introduce the True Tone display. This display changes the colors and brightness of your device depending on your environmental surroundings.

iPhone X - November 3, 2017

The iPhone X was a huge departure from prior models, serving as the company's vision 10 years after the release of the original iPhone. The device made away with the home button, opting for a phone made entirely of just screen. New facial recognition technology called Face ID was revealed, which allowed users to unlock the iPhone X by directly looking at it. The iPhone X shaped all models that released after it, with each new iPhone utilizing a similar display and Face ID tech.

iPhone XS - September 21, 2018

The iPhone XS was a minimal improvement over the iPhone X, but there are some decent upgrades that future models benefitted from. Water resistance A largely overlooked new feature in the iPhone XS was the addition of a dual-SIM tray. This opened up the ability to load multiple SIM cards into one iPhone, which was a godsend for travelers overseas.

iPhone XR - October 26, 2018

The iPhone XR acted as 2018's budget friendly iPhone model. This device utilized a LCD display instead of the OLED display found on the iPhone X and iPhone XS. It also included only one camera on the back, similar to iPhone 8. Overall, the iPhone XR offered a similar experience to the premium iPhone X and iPhone XS at an affordable price point.

iPhone 11 - September 20, 2019

iPhone 11 increased the standard screen size across base models to 6.1 inches, moving from a Super Retina display to a Liquid Retina display. The device also opted for an Ultra Wide camera over the Telephoto camera found in prior dual camera models. The iPhone 11 was also the first generation to offer Pro models, which contained Super Retina displays, a triple camera setup, and HDR support.

iPhone SE (2nd Gen) - April 24, 2020

The iPhone SE 2 was a large improvement over the first SE model, with a new A13 Bionic chip that drastically improved performance. The screen size increased from 4 inches to 4.7 inches, with a True Tone display to offer the best picture quality no matter your environment. Additionally, Haptic Touch was added to the iPhone SE 2, as it was not present on the first model.

iPhone 12 - October 23, 2020

The iPhone 12 introduced MagSafe, a feature that allowed certain chargers and accessories to magnetically connect to the back of the iPhone. The base models received the Super Retina XDR display, providing a gorgeous OLED panel at an affordable price. iPhone 12 also added a Ceramic Shield, which proved to be tougher than glass and much more durable over time.

iPhone 13 - September 24, 2021

iPhone 13 brought massive leaps in battery life, with up to 19 hours of video playback. New features for photography were also introduced, like Cinematic Mode, which automatically focused on objects for perfect transitions every time. The iPhone 13 Pro models featured ProRes video, a type of capture that allowed for raw 4K30 videos.

iPhone SE (3rd Gen) - March 18, 2022

Released in the Spring of 2022, iPhone SE 3 brought back the home button for the first time in five years. Additionally, this model included 5G connectivity to take advantage of the new 5G towers that began popping up in 2021. Many of the photography features that were released in between the SE 2 and SE 3 were added to this model, including Night Mode, Photographic Styles, and more.

iPhone 14 - September 16, 2022

iPhone 14 brought new features like Emergency SOS, which utilizes Satellite connectivity to reach response teams in the event of an emergency. Additionally, the camera system across all models received sizable upgrades, such as improved ultrawide and zoom lenses. This generation also marked the return of the Plus model, a standard iPhone 14 with a larger screen.

iPhone 15 - September 22, 2023

The previous iPhone generation is now the iPhone 15. Similar to the iPhone 14, a standard, Plus, Pro, and Pro Max model are all available to purchase. The biggest changes with this generation mostly occur with the Pro models, with a new lens, titanium frame, and action button to replace to mute switch. Of course, by far the biggest change is the switch from Lightning to USB-C, which was made due to new EU regulations.

iPhone 16 - September 20, 2024

Apple officially revealed the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max back in September 2024. The biggest updates to the latest generation iPhone are faster CPU performance, a customizable action button, and the integration of Apple Intelligence.

In our review of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Prom Max, we detailed all of the differences the latest phones received over the last generation.

iPhone 16e - February 28, 2025

Apple has revealed the new iPhone 16e, announcing that would replace the outdated iPhone SE line from 2022. As the cheapest new iPhone, it comes with a price tag of $599, which is only $200 less than the standard iPhone 16. It's the first phone to feature Apple's C1 cellular modem, which we haven't had the chance to test just yet.

The iPhone 16e will be available to preorder on February 21 and will be officially released on February 28.

When Is the iPhone 17 Coming Out?

Although the new iPhone 16 was announced not that long ago, you may already be looking forward to the next generation. We know very little about the iPhone 17, but we can assume that Apple will release those phones around the same time as the iPhone 16. That means you can likely expect to learn more about the iPhone 17 in September 2025

Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium. His favorite series include Xeno and Final Fantasy.

Dungeon crawler board games are easily one of the deepest genres in the hobby – both in terms of gameplay as well as the sheer amount of fantastic options. Because there are so many great board games to choose from, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Dungeon crawlers can run the gamut from horror to fantasy and just about everything in between. Even franchises from Marvel to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have tried their hand in the space and have been met with great success.

TL;DR: The Best Dungeon Crawler Board Games

Defining the dungeon crawler genre can be a contentious topic among tabletop enthusiasts, but these games typically include tactical combat, character progression, loot, and, of course, dungeons. These dungeons don’t have to be literal, however. In fact, some of the best board games in the category aren’t stereotypical monster-battling RPGs set in a fantasy world. One other thing these titles do generally have in common, though, is that they are rich in lore and mechanics. For those looking for lengthy cooperative campaigns, you have come to the right place.

Frosthaven / Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion

On Wednesday morning, Apple pulled the wraps off the iPhone 16e, now the cheapest model in the company's current lineup. It essentially replaces the outdated 2022 iPhone SE as the "affordable" option, but it marks a shift away from the significant discount the older SE line was known for. The iPhone 16e starts at $599, narrowing the gap between it and the $799 iPhone 16 that came out last fall. It will be available for pre-order starting Friday, Feb. 21 with the street date following the next week on Friday, Feb. 28.

The iPhone 16e is also the first phone to feature Apple’s C1 cellular modem. Apple has had a lot of success with its in-house chips, such as the M1 and up in its computers and the A-series chips in its mobile devices. The cellular modem is a critical but oft-overlooked element in phones, and if Apple hasn’t stuck the landing on the C1, it could mean all sorts of connectivity issues. Hopefully Apple learned its lesson from the “Antennagate” scandal – when iPhone 4 struggled with cell signal strength because of the design and placement of the antennas – and ensured the iPhone 16e’s connectivity is up to snuff.

From the front, you’d be hard pressed to tell this phone apart from the iPhone 14. The specifications of the display are identical, offering a 6.1-inch OLED with a 2532x11170 resolution panel and 1,200-nit peak brightness. This isn’t as sharp or nearly as bright as the iPhone 16. The iPhone 16e does get the Action button and a USB-C port, though it misses out on the Camera Control.

Around the back, the iPhone 16e is more distinct from its iPhone kin, as it has just a single camera, much like the iPhone SE before it. It’s a 48MP sensor with a lot in common with the current iPhone 16’s main camera, but Apple reserves a few elements for the higher-tier phone, like sensor-shift stabilization, the latest version of Photographic styles, and the ability to adjust focus in portrait mode. Meanwhile, the selfie camera appears to be identical and brings Face ID to the iPhone 16e.

The phone is cased in aluminum, a glass back, and Apple’s Ceramic Shield on front. While Apple still suggests that this Ceramic Shield is “tougher than any smartphone glass” in its press release, it’s worth noting that Apple itself offers a newer blend of Ceramic Shield that claims to be “two times tougher than any smartphone glass.” That certainly raises some question about how tough the older Ceramic Shield on the iPhone 16e really is, especially when I saw plenty of wear and tear on the display when I reviewed the iPhone 16.

The internals of the phone are an interesting demonstration of product stratification. There was already a gap between the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro in that the Pro models got an A18 Pro chip with faster speeds and more GPU cores. While the iPhone 16e is packing an “A18” chip like the iPhone 16, it’s not quite the same. It has the same number of CPU cores, but it only gets a 4-core GPU, down from the iPhone 16’s 5-core GPU. Given the iPhone 16’s small performance deficit next to the iPhone 16 Pro, I’d expect the iPhone 16e to take yet another step down. Still, with the Neural Engine intact on the iPhone 16e, it will be able to tap into the various Apple Intelligence features, for whatever that’s worth.

Naturally, there is some compromise for the iPhone 16e – there had to be for it to land with a lower price than the other phones in Apple’s roster. All told, it doesn’t seem overly compromised, but it’s also not carrying as much of a discount as the early iPhone SE models did. Coming in at $599 may make it Apple’s cheapest phone, but Apple’s last budget model, the 2022 iPhone SE, launched with a $429 price tag while carrying the same chip as the then $799 iPhone 13. Its design was very dated at the time, but there was no ignoring the nearly 50% discount it provided. This time, Apple is at least basing the iPhone 16e on a design that’s just a couple years old, even if it's gotten minor tweaks every year since 2018.

We’ll have to see how well the iPhone 16e actually performs. But with the Android market already offering some compelling iPhone alternatives around $600, like the OnePlus 13R, Apple may have a hard time courting buyers who aren’t already locked into the Apple ecosystem.

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

It’s time to mobilise fellow bargain hunters because the new discount list just dropped. Leading the charge is Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a moustachioed Switch must-have alongside perennial PC classic Skyrim Anniversary for 77% less. I’m also mega impressed by a similar percentage off Shin Megami Tensei V on Xbox plus an all-out war on the RRP of Space Marine 2 on PlayStation. These deals won’t last forever, friends, so loot ‘em while they’re hot.

This Day in Gaming 🎂

In retro news, I'm celebrating the 22nd birthday of Rez, Tetsuya Mizuguchi's synesthesia masterpiece. One part Panzer Dragoon on-rails shooting and another part LSD degrees of "ohhh, I can seeee the muuuusic," this Dreamcast must-own stands up today, particularly inside of a PS VR2 headset.

The ROG Ally burst onto the scene in 2023 as a great alternative to the Steam Deck, offering access to even more games thanks to it running on a Windows operating system. Last year saw the release of the ROG Ally X that not only beefed up the internals, but also made the device far more comfortable to hold with better cooling.

While the ROG Ally's biggest selling point is its portability, it's nice to have the option to kick back on the couch and play games on the TV or on gaming monitor. Thankfully, both ROG Ally models can be connected to an external display so you can experience your games on the big screen. Check out the full rundown below to find out how to connect your ROG Ally to a TV or monitor, as well as step-by-step instructions and recommendations.

How to Connect With an Adapter

There are multiple ways to connect your ROG Ally to your TV or monitor, but an adapter is a simple solution that doesn't take up much space. Whether you prefer a small dongle-style adapter, direct cable, or the official ROG Gaming Charger Dock, there are plenty of options available.

What You'll Need

The next season of Daredevil is fast approaching and the creators are already thinking about what’s next, even maybe a Defenders reunion.

In a big profile on EW. Marvel Studios’ head of streaming and TV Brad Winderbaum is certainly exploring the opportunity to reunite the street level heroes of Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist, better known as The Defenders.

While there’s nothing officially set in stone, Winderbaum tells EW, “It’s certainly exciting to be able to play in that sandbox… Obviously, we don’t have the unlimited storytelling resources like a comic book, [where] if you can draw it, you can do it. We’re dealing with actors and time and the massive scale of production in order to build a cinematic universe, especially on television.”

He adds, “But I can just say that all those variables taken into account, it is certainly something that is creatively extremely exciting and that we are very much exploring.”

We already know Daredevil: Born Again will be a direct continuation of the Daredevil story started on Netflix. And that Netflix did briefly host their own Marvel universe albeit on a smaller scale thanks to shows like Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage. Based on Winderbaum’s comments, Daredevil: Born Again could be a launchpad to revive all those characters on Disney’s own terms through Disney Plus. After all, the new season already includes Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, so that’s another Netflix hero officially transferred over.

For now, we’ll have to see what happens in Daredevil: Born Again when it premieres on March 4 before speculating how Daredevil can tie into the larger MCU.

Matt Kim is IGN's Senior Features Editor.

A new Street Fighter movie has selected its challenger, I mean, director.

The Hollywood Reporter says Kitao Sakurai, writer, director, and executive producer on the absurd comedy show The Eric Andre Show, will direct a new film adaptation of Street Fighter for Legendary Entertainment.

Capcom is said to be “deeply involved” with the adaptation with the movie already given a March 20, 2026 release date.

This will be the latest attempt at bringing Street Fighter to the big screen, though who can ever forget the 1994 film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile, Ming-Na Wen as Chun-Li, and the late Raul Julia as M. Bison. A masterpiece, even if critics at the time didn’t think so.

No word yet on casting, but you can probably expect to see some of your favorite Street Fighter characters appear in this one.

A previous version of this film initially had Talk to Me directors Danny and Michael Philippou attached to helm the film, but they departed the project in the summer of last year. The choice of Eric Andre Show alum Sakurai could mean that Legendary is moving in a new, more absurdist direction for the film. As a fan of the more cartoony elements of Street Fighter, I’m actually excited if this is the case.

In the meantime, you can play the most recent Street Fighter game, Street Fighter 6 which recently released its newest fighter, Mai Shiranui. Check out our full Street Fighter 6 review here.

Matt Kim is IGN's Senior Features Editor.

After roughly a decade in development, Lost Soul Aside is finally scheduled for a launch. Originally the passion project of solo developer Yang Bing, Lost Soul Aside has grown to become a major Sony-published title under the company's 'China Hero Project,' with Bing now the founder and CEO of Shanghai-based studio Ultizero Games.

With a release date of May 30 on PlayStation 5 and PC closing in, IGN had the opportunity to sit down with Yang Bing to discuss the long road to launch. So many years of development went into this single-player action game, escalating from a solo creator's vision to a trailer reveal at Sony's State of Play. Through it all the hype has grown, with some calling Lost Soul Aside an exciting mix of Final Fantasy characters and Devil May Cry combat — even from the moment Yang Bing's initial reveal video went viral in 2016.

With the help of a translator, IGN asked Yang Bing about the early origins of Lost Soul Aside, its inspirations, what challenges the team has faced over the years, and much more.

It's been almost nine years since the first glimpse of Lost Soul Aside, on your YouTube channel. How did you get started on this project, and how old were you at the time?

Yang Bing: So I remember our first promotional video was released in 2016. I was born in 1990, so when the video was released, I was about 26 years old, so that was actually when the project started. I remember [Lost Soul Aside] probably started around, at the end of 2014, the beginning of 2015.

Are you looking for the opportunity to win new games, consoles, and accessories? Look no further than IGN Rewards! Multiple new giveaways and deals are now available for members this February! If you're not familiar with IGN Rewards, it's a platform free for all registered IGN users. You can enter into new giveaways each month, claim exclusive discounts, and so much more!

Note: Giveaways are exclusive to accounts based in the United States unless noted otherwise.

Win a Switch Lite and More During the Rainbow Arts Giveaway

The Last of Us Season 2 will premiere on HBO this April.

HBO confirmed that the next season of The Last of Us will air on Sunday, April 13 at 9pm ET/PT as well as stream on Max. It will run for seven episodes. The channel has also released new character posters of Joel, Ellie, and Abby to celebrate the release date.

Set five years after the events of the first season, The Last of Us Season 2 will pick up with Joel and Ellie who are living with Joel’s brother Tommy on their commune in Montana. The next season will adapt the second game in the series, The Last of Us Part 2, so players should be familiar with what is about to unfold.

Joining Pedro Pascal’s Joel and Bella Ramsey’s Ellie will be some new faces including Kaityln Dever as Abby, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazine as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, and Tati Gabrielle as Nora. Gabrielle will also be playing the main protagonist of Naughty Dog’s next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

Check out the character posters in the gallery below.

The first season of The Last of Us was a hit for HBO. Created by Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin and Naughty Dog studio head Neil Druckmann, the series won numerous Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards and was nominated for five Primetime Emmys including Outstanding Drama Series, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, Outstanding Director, and Outstanding Writing.

The success of the first season means HBO is very excited for more of The Last of Us with HBO’s Francesca Orsi seemingly confirming that the show will run for a total for four seasons. Meaning this new season will certainly not be adapting the full game.

Check out our review of The Last of Us season 1 here.

Matt Kim is IGN's Senior Features Editor.

Image Credit: HBO

Oni Press has found success recently with their reboot of the iconic EC Comics brand. That line of comics is set to expand this summer with the debut of Blood Type, a vampire-themed series that spins out of the pages of the anthology book Epitaphs From the Abyss.

IGN can exclusively debut the cover art for Blood Type #1. Check it out below:

Manscaped is a well known boutique retailer of men's haircare products, with a great name to boot. Its shavers boast great build quality, features, and performance, but they're also pretty pricey. Fortunately, if you buy from Manscaped directly, there's a 15% off coupon you can get when you sign up for the email newsletter. Manscaped is also offering free shipping on all orders, with no minimum threshold.

The Chairman Plus at Manscaped

Check out the best deals for Wednesday, February 19. The big news today is the Final Fantasy x Magic the Gathering collab. The commander decks, starter decks, and booster packs are up for preorder today.In other deal news, the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU is going in and out of stock today on Amazon Best Buy has dropped several Nintendo Switch games down to $39.99, and a 65" LG OLED TV is down to the lowest price of the year.

MTG: Final Fantasy Cards up for Preorder

Read more about this deal

Almost 30 years ago, Joss Whedon turned the just-okay movie he wrote -- but wasn't happy with -- into an exemplary, game-changing TV show that would influence dozens of sci-fi and fantasy projects to come while also elevating genre TV as a whole. Now Buffy the Vampire Slayer is said to be getting the legacy sequel treatment, with Variety reporting that Sarah Michelle Gellar is in final talks to reprise her role as Buffy Summers in a revival at Hulu.

With this in mind, we’ve decided to revisit the series and pluck out the 15 best episodes of this unexpectedly moving, thrilling, funny, and socially aware series. Debuting on the WB network on March 10, 1997, Buffy the Vampire Slayer showed the world that triumphant television could be made from stories featuring a teenage girl battling vampires, demons, and other assorted things that go bump in the night.

The show’s ensemble would help redefine the notion of a ragtag team while giving us teen, and eventually college-age, angst and anxiety amid the backdrop of a perpetually nigh apocalypse.

To celebrate the possible return of this peerless series, we're looking at the best from the original show. These episodes are the cream of the crop when it comes to Buffy and the “Scooby Gang” traversing absurd comedy, stark drama, and everything in between. Note: We cheated a bit here and did the whole "counting two-parters as one" thing. So here's the best o' "beep me, bite me" Buffy!

15. “Doppelgangland” (Season 3, Episode 16)

A ferociously fun follow-up to "The Wish" (which we'll get to), “Doppelgangland” brings Willow's depraved, evil vampire double into the real world after ex-vengeance demon Anya dabbles with magic she shouldn't in a desperate attempt to get her powers back. Considering how dark things get for Willow in later seasons, “Doppelgangland” acts like a jubilant primer.

14. “Chosen” (Season 7, Episode 21)

Buffy's series finale featured a brawl to win it all, a Slayer squad showdown with the First Evil. Sacrifices were made as bodies fell in this final episode, all leading to a glorious victory for Buffy Summers, who'd become overwhelmed and weary thanks to her thankless world-saving destiny. "Chosen" wasn't as strong a showing as series spin-off Angel's finale, with its Hail Mary efforts, but it still made for a strong finish, its pyrrhic triumph offering up more peace and optimism in the face of relentless darkness.

13. “Something Blue” (Season 4, Episode 9)

A rather hilarious episode, "Something Blue" offers up another Willow spell-gone-wrong, this time making every casual snarky thing she says become literally true. As Willow tries to climb out of her depressive shell in the wake of a break up, the Scooby Gang gets thrown into a tailspin as Giles loses his sight, Xander becomes an actual "demon magnet," and the Buffy/Spike ship gets kicked into high gear with an impromptu (magical) marriage proposal.

12. “Tabula Rasa” (Season 6, Episode 8)

All of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's strengths as a series get a fabulous spotlight in "Tabula Rasa," as jokes and japes mix with trauma and torment. Another blundered spell casts amnesia on all our heroes in a strikingly silly episode that shines bright in the midst of a season filled with a lot of weight and darkness. It's a great installment that balances all the characters nicely while also showing how far Willow will go to try to use magic to fix her life -- you know, before she goes way too far with it.

11. “Restless” (Season 4, Episode 22)

One of Buffy's most unique episodes -- made even more bizarre by the fact that it's the Season 4 finale -- "Restless" is a trippy, dream-filled chapter that bucks the trend of having a final "Big Bad" battle. It's a beautiful look at the core characters, filled with both clever callbacks and fun foreshadowing. With its surrealist, self-reflective take, and with super-soldier Adam dispatched the week before, "Restless" focuses on the story's four central heroes as they dream, confronting their specific fears while also being stalked by the world's First Slayer.

10. “Conversations With Dead People” (Season 7, Episode 7)

This spectacular entry from the seventh and final season featured several different stories (though none of them containing Xander or Anya) all taking place during one fateful night in Sunnydale. Buffy ran into an old high school chum (and recently sired vampire) in a graveyard, Dawn communicated with her late mother, Spike picked up some "food" at a bar, and Willow received a frightful message from The First.

9. "The Gift" (Season 5, Episode 22)

Season 5's fierce finale featured an all-out Scooby Gang battle with Hell god Glorificus -- AKA Glory -- and marked the second time that Buffy, who'd previously learned in a dream state that her "gift was death," sacrificed herself for the sake of stopping a cataclysm -- choosing here to die in the place of her retconned younger sister Dawn. Like her epitaph read, "She Saved the World. A Lot."

8. "Graduation Day, Parts 1 & 2" (Season 3, Episodes 21 and 22)

For a series that, initially, had a lot to do with "surviving high school," Sunnydale High surely wasn't going to survive the graduating class of 1999. Not with Mayor Wilkins having dire designs on turning into a massive snake demon and eating everyone at the commencement ceremony. "Graduation Day" Parts 1 and 2 -- whose second half was delayed for two months due to the tragic Columbine massacre -- featured Buffy battling and besting Faith, Willow kissing Oz, Wesley kissing Cordelia, Angel drinking from Buffy (to save his life), and a kickass final battle that incorporated Buffy's besieged classmates.

7. "Passion" (Season 2, Episode 17)

In what would become Buffy's first unsettlingly traumatic episode (of many to come), evil Angel -- in the form of Angelus reborn, playing the role of a demented ex -- methodically stalked the Scooby Gang and ultimately took the life of Giles' love, Jenny Calendar. Giles, out for savage vengeance, then went rogue and took the fight to Angel. "Passion" stands as one of the show's first ventures into truly dark territory, creating a "you'll always remember where you were when you watched it" moment for an entire generation.

6. "The Wish" (Season 3, Episode 9)

A spiraling Cordelia experiences an alternate timeline vampire apocalypse after she meets Anya (a stealth vengeance demon) and wishes that Buffy had never arrived in town. After Cordelia is killed mid-way through her own story, it's then up to Giles to figure out if the reality hellscape he's in was caused by a spell -- a spell that can be undone. "The Wish" took us on a haunting and fun journey filled with evil Sunnydale-2 doppelgängers and a final battle featuring all our main characters killing each other.

5. "Innocence" (Season 2, Episode 14)

In a truly game-changing episode, Buffy receives the ultimate awful birthday gift when she discovers that Angel, having slept with her and experienced a "moment of true happiness," has reverted back to being a soulless, psycho vampire thanks to an age-old gypsy curse. "Innocence" was a relentless and heart-breaking affair that saw a girl experience the mirrored horror of seeing her boyfriend change and become abusive after sex. Oh, and in the "there was still fun to be had" category, Buffy blew up the supposedly "no weapon forged can kill him" Judge with a freakin' rocket launcher!

4. "Hush" (Season 4, Episode 10)

In "Hush," Willow met Tara for the first time -- and it's a good thing she did because their shared-power spells sure came in handy when fending off the TERRIFYING VOICE-STEALING HEART-CARVING GENTLEMEN! Yes, in a mostly dialogue-free episode of Buffy, Joss Whedon gave us a floating, golf-clapping unforgettable quartet of folklore ghouls who magically silence a town before they collect innocent hearts. It isn't the "heaviest" episode of Buffy, but it's one of the creepiest and fun outings the show ever produced.

3. "Once More, With Feeling" (Season 6, Episode 7)

In Season 6, with Joyce gone, Buffy being unintentionally ripped out of heaven, and Willow's obsession with spell-casting crossing certain ethical boundaries, the Scoobies were in a bit of disarray. There was a lot of tension. Many secrets. So what better time to have everyone break into song? Songs that specifically reveal the secrets they were desperately hiding from one another! Well, you can thank Sweet the Songster Demon for this chapter's magical town takeover in a late-in-the-series-run musical episode that became an insta-classic.

2. "Becoming, Parts 1 & 2" (Season 2, Episodes 21 and 22)

In this one-two gut punch of season finale excellence, Buffy had to choose between restoring Angel's soul or saving the world from an awakened demon determined to suck everybody into Hell. Peppered with flashbacks to Angel's early beginnings -- from sired vampire to getting cursed with a human soul -- that would help set the stage for his own eventual spinoff, "Becoming" solidified Buffy's second season as arguably its best. Especially the wrenching finish that featured Buffy having to kill her love just as he was cured of his evilness.

1. "The Body" (Season 5, Episode 16)

In a "very special episode"-styled installment, Joss Whedon drew upon some of his own life experiences for the superb, soul-crushing "The Body," in which Buffy experienced a tragedy of non-supernatural origins. Buffy and her team had experienced death in many ways before, but nothing this random or unpredictable. In other words, nothing this real. "The Body" may be somewhat of an outlier in the Buffy-verse in terms of overall style and tone, but its attempt to capture the shocking and un-romantic nature of mortality was riveting.

What's your favorite Buffy episode? Vote in our poll and comment below!

Note: This list was udpated on Feb. 19, 2025, and expanded to 15 episodes. It originally was published way back in 2017.

IGN Fan Fest is back for it's fifth year! All next week, we'll be sharing exclusive reveals, trailers, gameplay, deep dives, and interviews with the people behind your favorite movies, shows, games, comics, and anime.

For 2025, there will be livestreams every day of the week, beginning Monday, February 24 with the ID@Xbox showcase, and concluding on Friday, February 28 with everything movies, shows, and comics. Each showcase will be premiered across IGN platforms, with even more exclusive content publishing on IGN.com. The full schedule and how to watch the reveals live each day, can be found below.

IGN Fan Fest 2025 Daily Schedule

Monday February 24

10am PT – ID@Xbox Showcase including previews of games from studios like:

• 11 Bit
• BigFan
• Critical Reflex
• Daedalic
• Game Source Entertainment
• No More Robots
• Panic
• Playstack
• Raw Fury
• Thunder Lotus
• Cult Games
• Team17
• Curve
• Akupara Games
• Don’t Nod

Plus, looks at new games throughout the day, including:

• Monster Hunter Wilds
• Despelote

Tuesday, February 25

10am PT – Horror Showcase featuring:

• The Monkey
• The Walking Dead: Dead City
• Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches
• In the Lost Lands
• Fear Street: Prom Queen
• Constatine
• The Last Breath
• Until Dawn
• The Alters
• Plus looks at several new unannounced games

Also, later in the day we’ll see exclusive reveals from:

• Sonic the Hedgehog Comics
• Heartworm
• The War of the Worlds: Siberia
• Pathologic 3
• Sonic the Hedgehog Comics Article
• It Was You
• Total Chaos

Wednesday, February 26

10am PT – Anime Showcase featuring:

• Fire Force Season 3
• Ishura
• Medalist
• The Apothecary Diaries
• The Beginning After the End
• Promise Mascot Agency
• The First Berserker: Khazan
• Bleach Rebirth of Souls
• Star of Providence
• Devil May Cry
• A special announcement from J-pop superstar Ado
• And more!

Plus, throughout the day we’ll have even more reveals from:

• Survivor Season 48
• Daredevil: Born Again
• Blade Runner Tokyo Nexus
• The Hidden Ones
• All System Dance
• Starlight Re:Volver

Thursday, February 27

10am PT – A huge Games Showcase featuring:

• Assassin's Creed Shadows
• WWE 2K25
• Prologue
• Gex Trilogy
• Brawlhalla
• AtomFall
• Alien: Rogue Incursion
• WWE 2K25 Clip
• Frag Punk
• Train Sim World 5
• Trailblazers: Into the March
• Cash Cleaner Simulator
• PlayerUnknown Prologue
• CRKD
• Stern Pinball

Then, later in the day we’ll have even more reveals from:

• Don't Stop Girlypop!
• Doctor Who: Fifteenth Doctor
• Don't Wake the Beast
• Lost Odyssey
• And more!

Friday, February 28

10am – We’re celebrating all things entertainment with a grand finale livestream featuring:

• Death Of A Unicorn
• Mickey 17
• The Surfer
• Novocaine
• A Thousand Blows
• Universal Studios Fan Fest Nights
• Survivor
• Mythic Quest
• Side Quest
• TMNT Comics
• McFarlane Toys:
• The White Lotus
• Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza
• DC Dark Legion
• Daredevil: Born Again
• And more surprises!

Plus, we’ll have more exclusive reveals throughout the day, including:

• Sand
• Esoteric Ebb
• Cairn
• The Relic: The First Guardian
• The Arch Project

How to Watch IGN Fan Fest 2025

IGN Fan Fest kicks off each day at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST, from February 24 - 28, 2025. Below, you can find all the places to watch the event, including IGN.com, YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, and more:

• IGN.com (homepage)
• IGN’s YouTube Channel
• IGN's YouTube - ASL version
• IGN's Twitch Channel
• IGN's Facebook Channel
• IGN’s Twitter
• Steam Fan Fest Page
• IGN's iOS App
• IGN's Android App
• IGN's PlayStation 4 App
• IGN App for Android TV
• IGN for Amazon Fire TV
• IGN 1 on Amazon Fire TV
• Pluto TV

This is Fan Fest's biggest year yet, with stars including Keanu Reeves, Jenna Ortega, Paul Rudd, Alexandra Daddario, and Rob McElhenney to George R.R. Martin, Stephen King, Bong Joon-ho, Paul. W. S. Anderson, Ashley Burch, and so many more. Check out our full list of everyone you can expect to see at Fan Fest this year, and let us know who you are most excited for in the comments!

Some of the best LEGO Harry Potter sets are expensive. If you want the coolest possible builds, you're looking at spending more than $100. So any time there's a discount on one of the more popular sets, I feel the need to let everyone know as soon as possible. One such discount is happening right now: Amazon has dropped the price of the Hogwarts Castle and Grounds for the third time this month, following its Presidents' Day sale.

If you're looking for a good Harry Potter gift idea, this is one of my top recommendations. With the 20% discount, this is the same price we saw during Black Friday and Prime Day last year.

The Best LEGO Harry Potter Deals at Amazon Today

As Marvel Rivals players plot how they’ll use the Human Torch to smoke enemy teams when he arrives alongside a mid-season update later this week, others are already worried the fiery Fantastic Four member will be overpowered at launch.

NetEase Games pulled back the curtain on its next Duelist hero addition yesterday, revealing a first look at how Johnny Storm’s gameplay will light up the Marvel Rivals battlefield. While it’s easy to look at things like flight as standout features for the character, there are a few specific abilities that have players fearful of Human Torch takeovers once the Season 1.5 update launches February 21.

Concerns about the fire-based Marvel hero’s impact really kicked off when content creator Necros shared an early peek at some of the character’s abilities. It was here players got a closer look at how the Pyro Prison ability, which allows Human Torch to burn enemies within a certain area, can be used to control a match. In short, Pyro Prison’s reach can extend across massive portions of a stage, inflicting constant damage to any enemy who steps in the affected location. It’s not an insignificant amount of damage either, as the viral clip shows training range bots losing health at a staggering pace.

Holy... Human Torch's Flame Walls does damage to EVERYTHING inside the walls.. #MarvelRivals pic.twitter.com/yDcnZsVebf

— Cozy (@ACozyGamer) February 18, 2025

There’s also Human Torch’s team-up ability with Storm, which allows the X-Men hero to create a giant fire tornado. The move seems to be one of Marvel Rivals’ stronger team-up moves, and although we don’t know exactly how effective it will be in your average match, there are plenty of players already worried about running into this exact strategy for the next few weeks. X/Twitter user @xBattledR0id is convinced this means we'll see Human Torch "perma banned" in upper-tier competitive games out of the gate.

"I am just being honest," they added in a follow-up post. "Between this and the Storm team-up there will be very few games where he isn't banned."

this is absolutely getting nerfed within a week😭

— Nery (@sadwestgoatfan) February 19, 2025

This ability looks like it was designed to ruin friendships

— leila🏳️‍⚧️ (@Transsleila) February 19, 2025

yea bro never seeing the light in ban phase

— Cuhso (@vummrs) February 19, 2025

Making matters worse is Human Torch’s ability to fly, a feature that has already had players fearful of Iron Man attacks from the sky since launch. As with any live-service title, new character additions will draw attention from players regardless of their preferred playstyle. In other words, expect to see a lot of Johnny Storms lighting up matches for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, some fans are looking for their own solutions to a potential Johnny Storm problem. Many have jokingly come up with the idea that water-based heroes like Jeff the Land Shark and Namor should be able to extinguish Johnny's flames or even do a bit of extra damage. There's no sign that any such mechanic will be made available in Marvel Rivals for now, of course. We won't really know how the new hero will shift the meta until he launches in a few days.

The Human Torch isn’t the only Fantastic Four member touching down this Friday. When the Season 1 mid-season update launches, it will also introduce The Thing as the newest Vanguard member. Although the rocky hero isn’t quite as scary as his silver-tongued teammate, he’ll almost certainly be showing up in most players’ matches in the weeks ahead.

For more on Marvel Rivals, you can read about NetEase’s recent decision to cut members of Marvel Rivals' U.S.-based design team in Seattle. You can also learn more about why NetEase those rumored hero leak plants are nothing to worry about.

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

The Nintendo Switch is going out in a blaze of glory, with some exciting games launching to make way for the console's successor: the now officially announced Switch 2. Whether they’re exclusively developed for the Switch or ported over from other platforms, these upcoming Switch games will wrap up the Switch's final year while also being compatible with the Switch 2 upon release.

In 2025, we'll get our hands on the last few games that were announced during last year's Nintendo Directs as well as The Game Awards 2024. Whether you own the original Switch or are looking ahead to what will release on the Switch 2, here are all the new Switch games we can look forward to in 2025 and beyond.

Take a look at our guide to all upcoming video games for release dates on every platform.

All Upcoming Switch Games With Release Dates

Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection (February 27, 2025)

Duelists, rejoice. This collection comes jack-packed with some of the earliest games in the Yu-Gi-Oh! series: 16 of them, to be precise. Most of the Konami-developed titles originally released in the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance generations, with highlights including 2001's The Eternal Duelist Soul and 2002's The Sacred Cards.

An all-new Godzilla connected universe is rising from IDW comics. Titled simply "Godzilla," it's an original take on the King's origins and introduces kaiju-powered super humans.

Written by Tim Seeley with art by Nikola Cizmesija, the story begins in 1954 much like the original film. This time, according to the official plot synopsis, "experimentation with a mysterious energy source known as Kai-Sei awakened Godzilla and a host of immortal kaiju." This led to decades of monster attacks and the creation of an American G-Force to fight back.

G-Force is a small group of eccentric characters, and fans will be delighted to see Jet Jaguar as part of the team on loan from G-Force Japan. Here his tech hasn't been upgraded since the '90s so he's a little slow and his only way to speak is by singing his '90s theme song.

Jacen is the powered-up teenager of the team, imbued with the power of Kai-Sei and actually able to punch kaiju. Seeley describes him as a combination of One-Punch Man, the Hulk, and Doctor Manhattan.

Godzilla isn't connected to any previous continuity in comics or film. In fact, it's launching a new continuity that IDW will explore with companion series. Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone explores an area where America tried to recreate the experiments that led to the creation of Godzilla back in 1954 -- with disastrous results. There is now a portion of the United States that is completely irradiated, and that's the Deadzone. It's a contained apocalypse filled with mutants and monsters, and the hero of this story ties back into Godzilla.

The other new series, Starship Godzilla, is set in outer space and involves pirates and alien races that have shown up in various Godzilla films. Seeley said: "If you love the cosmic side of Godzilla and Space Godzilla and the Xiliens and Planet X and everything like that, we've got a book for you."

Godzilla #1 is on sale July 23rd. Check out some exclusive images in our slideshow and watch our full interview with writer Tim Seeley above for even more info.

Don’t miss more awesome comics exclusive from IDW plus Monster Hunter Wilds, ID@Xbox, Daredevil: Born Again, The Monkey, Mickey 17 and much, much more at IGN Fan Fest streaming across IGN platforms February 24-28.

Hall Effect gaming keyboards are all the rage, yet there's still precious few options for fans of low-profile keys. The Zenaim Keyboard TKL aims to change that by filling the void. And with ultra low-profile switches, a top aluminum frame, and plenty of customizability, it has a lot to offer. However, its cost suggests it stands with the best gaming keyboards out now. But its price tag is far too high for its outdated build quality, especially when there are options like the Nuphy Air HE series that are readily available, more cost-effective, and better built.

Zenaim Keyboard TKL – Design and Features

Zenaim is a relatively new brand to the United States and I was a bit surprised to learn that it launched as a sub-brand to Tokai Rika, a Japanese auto parts manufacturer. Much of its product catalog has to do with human interface devices, decorations, and elements concerned with touch and feel, so it makes a bit of sense that a keyboard might be its first foray into the world of gaming.

The keyboard itself adopts a TKL form factor, which means it has all of the keys you would expect (including the full center column), but without the number pad. It is a bit more compact, however, with no space between the number row and function row, packing the essentials in a more limited space. It's also very low-profile, measuring about 25mm at its thickest point and curving downward to the desk at its lowest for comfortable typing access, mitigating the need for a wrist pad. Low-profile keyboards don't typically need these anyway, but the curvature is a nice touch that enhances its look.

Need to upgrade your audio game?

Check out our roundup and review of the best gaming headsets!

Unfortunately, its construction feels pretty cheap. It uses an aluminum top panel that doubles as the switch mounting plate, giving it a floating key design similar to the Corsair K70, for example. The bottom and rear of the keyboard are plastic and it feels lightweight and unbecoming of its $300 price point.

The same is true of the keycaps, which are simply put, bad. They feel like they're ripped from keyboards from 2014. They’re made of thin ABS and have a texture that feels like the cheap UV coating on old gaming keyboards. To their credit, they’re backlit and don’t seem to show oils and smudges like those older keyboards, but they certainly don’t feel high quality.

Upgrading these keycaps with something higher quality is also going to be difficult. Instead of using the MX-style cross stem that’s a standard on low-profile switches these days, Zenaim has opted for strange, two pronged Kailh Choc style stems, so most readily accessible keycap sets won’t be compatible.

The keyboard's claim to fame is its low-profile magnetic switches. Zenaim claims to have been first to market with this type of switch, but today it has competition and they aren’t particularly remarkable. They have a very short total travel distance with only 1.9mm to bottoming out, which could be a positive or negative depending on your taste – it is a characteristic that comes with the territory of low-profile keyboards.

Despite the things it does well, its build quality really shatters any perceptions of value it might offer.

I could see how having a shorter travel distance could theoretically help you register keystrokes more quickly instead of pushing through the actuation point and wasting extra milliseconds on needless travel. Here, you’re more likely to bottom out and get a hard stop that sends you on to the next keystroke.

To me, it feels like another feature pulled from an earlier time. I am reminded of early low-profile mechanical key switches that also had short travel distances. Over time, most low-profile switches have evolved to offer deeper keystrokes which not only feel closer to full-height mechanical switches, but are also more accurate. Like most aspects of the gaming peripheral scene, it comes down to preference, but to me, these just feel extra sensitive.

One interesting quality about the switches is that, apparently, Zenaim has incorporated a temperature sensor. According to the Keyboard TKL’s product page, magnetic switches are susceptible to performance differences as ambient temperatures shift from summer to winter and it will adjust the keyboard’s actuation point to compensate. I’ve never heard of switches changing performance in different environments before, but it’s a unique feature if nothing else.

Zenaim Keyboard TKL – Software

More importantly, since we’re working with magnetic switches, they do offer adjustable actuation points in 0.1mm increments, as well as Rapid Trigger support (called Motion Hack in the Zenaim software). With only 1.9mm of total travel, however, there’s less room to work with for customizing actuation and reset points compared to competing magnetic switches, like the Gateron Magnetic Jade switches on the Nuphy Air60 HE, for example.

The downloadable Zenaim software also allows you to remap keys and assign macros, so there’s a decent amount of programmability. It lacks more advanced features like Dynamic Keystrokes that tie multiple actions to different points along the travel of individual keys or some form of simultaneous opposing cardinal directional (SOCD) capabilities – while it’s a contentious feature in competitive gaming, its absence is surprising since it makes the keyboard less functional than some of its biggest competition.

You’re able to program the keyboard’s per-key RGB backlighting, which is a nice feature, though I wish there were a way to swap lighting settings on the keyboard itself. The options provided by the software are also quite limited.

One neat feature it offers is the ability to capture gameplay clips right in the software. There’s even a dedicated capture button to the right of the function row so it’s easy to access. It can be set to record up to 20 minutes at low, medium, or high bitrates and across high resolutions (1440p was the highest it displayed on my test system, but 4K may be an option if you’re using a 4K display).

Overall, it’s a pretty traditional design that feels minimalistic. You’d enjoy this design philosophy if that’s what you’re looking for, but when you consider that it’s straight-up missing features commonly found in keyboards in (and below) its price range, it makes you wonder what you’re paying extra for.

Zenaim Keyboard TKL – Performance

Gaming on the Zenaim Keyboard TKL is fine, but I struggled to find compelling reasons why gamers should choose it over competing low-profile Hall Effect keyboards. The biggest differentiator really does seem to be the shallow travel distance of the magnetic switches.

I found them easy enough to use out of the box for gaming thanks to their fairly standard 1.5mm actuation point at default settings. This can be shortened all the way to 0.1mm, so if you’re an aspiring pro gamer that wants hair trigger sensitivity and the best responsiveness that’s backed up by a quicker bottom-out, these might be the switches for you. For everyone else, I’d recommend sticking with a deeper actuation point especially for normal use like typing. You can extend the actuation point to 1.7mm, which is close to the typical 2.0mm found on mechanical key switches.

Typing on the keyboard is relatively quiet, which is a definite perk. It’s one of the quietest magnetic keyboards I’ve tested in fact, so if you share your gaming or work space, it’s a good choice if you’re mindful of minimizing the noise of your keystrokes.

I also tested the extra features like Rapid Trigger and it works as intended, and I like that you can save independent settings for each key. Likewise, recording macros and remapping keybinds both work flawlessly, giving the keyboard some much-needed utility.

The issue here is that Zenaim is asking $300 for this keyboard and covering the core features that you can find on keyboards that cost significantly less doesn't deserve big rounds of applause. These are basic checkboxes that you would expect it to be able to pull off flawlessly, so really you’d be shelling out big bucks for the novelty of the low-profile design.

In most other areas, it just falls short. Take the Nuphy Air75 HE for example, a $150 competitor that is only available in a slightly more compact layout – it has most of the same keys, much better keycaps, and a more interesting and eye-catching design, on top of having deeper, better sounding, better feeling, magnetic switches with better customization. The Air75 HE also runs with an 8,000Hz polling rate with a high scan rate for incredible real-world latency while Zenaim doesn’t disclose its polling rate.

Even if you like its look – which in fairness, is a good-looking keyboard – you’ll find that you’re much more limited in what looks good alongside the particular shade of gunmetal grey of the chassis as many other colors just seem to clash with it.

Other features, like its gameplay capture are neat, but aren’t the kind of thing that makes this keyboard a must-buy, especially when commonly used programs like OBS or your video card’s software exist – it’s a little more complicated, but it’s also a lot more capable and free to use.

When you consider how lightweight it feels, especially when picked up and held, it doesn't really feel like it should cost $100 let alone $300. Despite the things it does well, its build quality really shatters any perceptions of value it might offer.

Microsoft has announced a new generative AI model designed for gameplay ideation.

The company detailed what it calls the first World and Human Action Model (WHAM). The WHAM, Katja Hofmann, Senior Principal Research Manager and lead of the Microsoft Research Game Intelligence team, said in a blog post, is a generative AI model of a video game that can generate game visuals, controller actions, or both.

Microsoft calls this generative AI model Muse, which was developed by the Microsoft Research Game Intelligence and Teachable AI Experiences (Tai X) teams in collaboration with Hellblade developer Ninja Theory. It’s open sourcing the weights and sample data and making the executable available for the WHAM Demonstrator — a concept prototype that provides a visual interface for interacting with WHAM models and multiple ways of prompting the models.

The company provided a number of gameplay clips showing what Muse is capable of. Currently, the model can generate “complex gameplay sequences that are consistent over several minutes” just by prompting the model with 10 initial frames (one second) of human gameplay and the controller actions of the whole play sequence.

The game used to train Muse was Ninja Theory’s 2020 multiplayer game Bleeding Edge. “We worked closely with our colleagues at Ninja Theory and with Microsoft compliance teams to ensure that the data was collected ethically and used responsibly for research purposes,” Hofmann insisted.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has ended its 10-episode first season on Disney+. The series started out on an ambitious note, making some often profound changes to Spider-Man’s traditional mythology. That doesn’t change now, with the finale dropping some major bombshells and setting up a very interesting Season 2.

How does Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: Season 1 end? How does it set up a fascinating new conflict for Hudson Thames’ Peter Parker in Season 2? And will there actually be a Season 2? Here’s everything you need to know.

Warning: full spoilers ahead for the Season 1 finale of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!

Spider-Man’s Time Loop Paradox

The series opened by presenting a decidedly different take on Spider-Man’s origin story. In Episode 1, Peter doesn’t go through the usual motions of attending a laboratory demonstration and being bitten by a radioactive spider. Instead, he’s caught in the middle of a fight between Doctor Strange (Robin Atkin Downes) and a monster that looks a little like Venom (and for good reason, as we’ll get into later). The monster sheds a lone spider which lands on Peter and bites him, sparking his transformation into Spider-Man.

At the time, it seemed as though the series was trying to establish a more mystical or supernatural element to Spidey’s powers, hence the Doctor Strange connection. But now we know the situation is even weirder than it seemed.

Season 1 culminates with Colman Domingo’s Norman Osborn attempting to show off the fruits of his labors with the Oscorp intern team. Osborn harnesses the inventions and research of Peter himself, along with Amadeus Cho (Aleks Le), Jeanne Foucalt (Anjali Kunapaneni), and Asha (Erica Luttrell). Together, their work allows for the creation of a device that can open a gateway to literally anywhere in the universe. Needless to say, Peter isn’t thrilled about being used as a pawn in the creation of a potentially very dangerous piece of equipment.

It almost immediately becomes apparent just how dangerous the device is when Osborn peers into a supposedly empty corner of the universe and accidentally invites a ravenous monster into Oscorp headquarters. And not just any monster, but the same one we saw fighting Doctor Strange in the premiere. And when Strange himself shows up to put a stop to Osborn’s interdimensional meddling, it becomes clear something very fishy is afoot.

During the course of their battle, Strange and the monster are thrust back in time to the very day Midtown High was destroyed and Peter became Spider-Man. It’s here where we learn the true origin of the spider the Venom-like monster shed. The spider isn’t a part of that monster, but was merely a stowaway from Oscorp’s lab. It was created by Osborn’s scientists as part of his research into replicating Spider-Man’s powers. The spider was empowered by Peter’s own radioactive blood. That leads to a real chicken and egg scenario. The spider gave Peter his powers, but it only had those powers to give because it was injected with Peter’s blood. So who came first - the spider or the Spider-Man? That’s time travel for you.

In any case, Spidey and Strange finally succeed in sending the monster back home and sealing off the portal before more Venom-y creatures can pass through. By this point, Peter is thoroughly disillusioned with Osborn, suggesting their mentor/mentee relationship won’t be continuing in Season 2. But he does get a nice pep talk from Strange, who by now is convinced Spider-Man has what it takes to be New York City’s greatest defender.

Will There Be a Season 2?

We’ll delve deeper into how Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man sets up a second season in a minute. But first, it’s worth establishing whether there actually will be a Season 2. Loki aside, Marvel Studios doesn’t have a great track record with revisiting its various Disney+ shows. And when even big-budget Star Wars shows can be canceled due to low ratings, there’s never a guarantee of more.

Fortunately, all signs point to Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man returning for a second and even a third season. Marvel renewed the series for Seasons 2 and 3 before Season 1 even premiered in January 2025.

Work is already well underway on Season 2 at this point, with executive producer Brad Widnerbaum revealing that the animators are halfway through the animatic stage. Winderbaum also revealed that he’ll soon be meeting with showrunner Jeff Trammell to hear Trammell’s pitches for Season 3.

"I've fallen so head over heels in love with these characters and I've now read all of the scripts for Season 2; we're halfway through the animatics," Winderbaum told The Movie Podcast. "What [Trammell] is building brick by brick in this show starts to pay off.”

As for when fans will actually see Season 2, that’s harder to say. Based on X-Men ‘97’s release cadence, it could be a while. X-Men ‘97: Season 1 debuted in March 2024, at which point the second season was already well into production. But X-Men ‘97: Season 2 isn’t on Marvel’s 2025 release calendar. At this point, fans will have to wait two years or more between seasons, and the same may end up holding true for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Venom and Spider-Man’s Symbiote Costume

From the beginning, we suspected that the monster Strange fought in Episode 1 was connected to Venom, and that theory is proven correct in the finale. Osborn’s machine opens a portal to what appears to be Klyntar, the alien world that serves as home to Venom and his fellow symbiotes. More of those symbiotes attempt to pass through the portal before Strange and Spidey manage to finally shut it down.

That said, the series seems to be directly setting up Spider-Man’s black costume and the eventual rise of Venom. A piece of one of the symbiotes gets left behind when the portal shuts off. It’s surely only a matter of time before it tracks Peter down and bonds with him. And from there, it’s inevitable that Peter will reject his new symbiote companion and someone close to him becomes Venom.

But who will be the Venom of the Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man universe? Will the series borrow a page from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon and Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2, making Zeno Robinson’s Harry Osborn Venom? Will Eddie Brock be introduced in Season 2? All we know is that it can't be a good thing that Norman is the one to discover the symbiote.

We’ll also have to see if Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man becomes the first Spider-Man animated series to feature the symbiote god Knull. Knull rules over his symbiotes from the center of Klyntar, and this brief encounter with Earth’s heroes may be all the motivation he needs to leave home and wage a campaign of destructive conquest.

The Scientists of W.E.B.

As mentioned, Peter and Norman’s relationship isn’t in the best state by the end of Season 1. As much as Norman has been a father figure and a much-needed source of moral and technological support for Peter, he ultimately showed his true colors by perverting the work of Peter and his fellow interns.

Most versions of the Spider-Man mythos have Norman eventually succumbing to his inner darkness and becoming the Green Goblin. We assume the same will hold true for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, but the series seems to be taking a more methodical approach and slowly transforming Norman from friend to outright foe to Spidey.

For now, we know that Peter will pivot from being an Oscorp intern to helping Harry spearhead the W.E.B. initiative in Season 2. W.E.B. is designed to bring together the brightest young minds in the Marvel Universe and allow them to pursue their work without interference. We see a shot of a whiteboard full of potential W.E.B. candidates, including all of Peter’s fellow Oscorp interns (though Amadeus makes it pretty clear he’s not interested).

Naturally, that list of names includes quite a few intriguing characters from Marvel lore. Among those name-dropped are future Electro Max Dillon, future Hobgoblin Ned Leeds, mutant runaway Kiden Nixon, and noted super-geniuses Priya Aggarwal, Tiberius Stone, and Tai Miranda.

The Rise of Tombstone and Doctor Octopus

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man sets up a lot of potential villains for future seasons. In addition to the aforementioned Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, it stands to reason that Paul F. Tompkins’ Bentley Whitman will eventually become the techno-villain known as The Wizard, and that Zehra Fazal’s Carla Connors will eventually become The Lizard. But two budding villains in particular seem destined to have major roles in Season 2.

That’s definitely the case for Eugene Byrd’s Lonnie Lincoln, who has all but completed his evolution from All-American football star to supervillain crime boss. Earlier in Season 1, we saw Lonnie exposed to a toxic gas that gave him superhuman strength, allowing him to team up with Spidey and take down the Scorpion (Jonathan Medina). Sadly, Lonnie is now firmly committed to leading the 110th Street gang in his new persona Tombstone. When last we see Lonnie in the finale, it’s clear his body is suffering the lingering effects of the toxic gas, as his skin slowly turns ivory white to match the distinctive appearance of the comic book Tombstone.

It’s also clear Spidey will have plenty to fear from Hugh Dancy’s Doctor Octopus in Season 2. Otto Octavius plays a recurring role in Season 1, where he serves as a weapons master of sorts to various budding villains before venturing out onto his own. He may be in prison currently, but Otto clearly has big plans in mind. We suspect both Peter and Norman alike will be dealing with the rise of Doctor Octopus in Season 2.

Nico Minoru’s Magical Reunion

One of the more notable changes to the traditional Spider-man mythos in this series is the fact that Peter’s best friend isn’t Harry or Ned or Mary Jane Watson, but Grace Song’s Nico Minoru. Season 1 establishes Nico as a counterculture rebel who slowly comes around on Peter’s friendship with Harry and, eventually, discovers his secret identity. But as the finale shows us, Nico has a big secret of her own.

At several points, the series teases the idea that Nico may have some form of protective magic. In the final moments we see just how deep her magical talents lie, as she performs a ritual apparently designed to help her communicate with her birth mother.

All of this ties back to Nico’s rich history in Marvel’s various Runaways comics. There, Nico is one of several teens who runs away from home after discovering their parents are members of a supervillain cabal known as The Pride. As the magical heroine Sister Grimm, Nico wields an artifact known as the Staff of One. It allows her to cast any spell she can imagine, but with the caveat that she can only cast each spell exactly once.

It’s clear the series is giving us a fairly loose adaptation of Nico, and one who seemingly has no ties to the various other Runaways characters. Still, we’d expect Season 2 to delve much deeper into her magical background and the circumstances that caused her to become separated from her birth parents. Does this Marvel Universe have its own version of The Pride?

The Game-Changing Parker Family Secret

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man saves its biggest plot twist for last. We see Kari Wahlgren’s Aunt May leave the apartment to run a seemingly innocuous errand, only for May to travel to a prison to meet with an inmate. That inmate turns out to be none other than Peter’s father, Richard Parker.

One of the few constants with Spider-Man is the fact that he’s an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. His parents are always killed when he’s a young boy. The comics once toyed with the idea of Richard and Mary Parker still being alive, but that was revealed to be a ruse. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man flips the script by revealing that his father is not only alive, but imprisoned for a mysterious crime.

This raises all sorts of questions for the future of the series. Why is Richard in prison? Is Mary Parker still alive, too? Did Richard have something to do with his wife’s death? And why is May skulking about and hiding the fact that she’s visiting Richard? We assume Peter knows his father is alive (that’s too big a secret to just keep from a child), but does Peter have any sort of relationship with him?

We imagine Season 2 will address those questions and explore exactly what it means for this version of Spider-Man to be a teen with a living, breathing father. Richard clearly has an interest in what Peter has been up to, but does he have Peter’s best interests at heart? And how does he feel about a man like Norman Osborn becoming a father figure to Peter? There’s plenty of juicy drama to mine in Season 2, especially if Richard winds up becoming an antagonistic force in Peter’s life. Heck, for all we know, he’s the one that becomes Venom or Green Goblin.

What do you think about the major changes introduced in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: Season 1? Which iconic Spider-Man villain do you most hope to see in Season 2? Vote in our poll and let us know what you think in the comments below:

For more on Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, check out IGN’s full review of Season 1 and learn why one Spider-Man moment is key to the series’ success.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

Presidents' Day video game deals may have come and gone, but that doesn't mean there aren't still some worthy discounts to check out. If you've had Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake on your radar to add to your collection of physical games, we've got good news: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake for Xbox, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch is on sale right now at Amazon.

Each copy has varying discounts, though. The Xbox Series X version is currently 23% off, dropping its price to $45.99, the Nintendo Switch version is 16% off, dropping its price to $50.40, and the PlayStation 5 version is 9% off with a price tag of $54.50. Regardless of the price, though, we consider this game a "shining example of how to remake a classic RPG" in our review, so pick it up at a discount for your collection today.

Save up to 23% on Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

Team Jade’s Delta Force: Hawk Ops revival was always planned to be an ambitious attempt at the modern military shooter in three distinct flavors: large scale tactical team-vs.-team multiplayer; Escape from Tarkov-inspired extraction shooter; and a focused, high-energy single-player campaign. The Warfare and Operations modes launched last year to mostly positive reception, but the single-player campaign – a remake of the original Black Hawk Down game inspired by the 1999 book that inspired the 2001 movie – was still in the oven cooking up a lot of intrigue. I finally got some hands-on time with a small selection of missions ahead of its launch, and while I can confidently say that it does genuinely capture the spirit of an old-school, turn-of-the-century shooter campaign, there are still enough unanswered questions that being guardedly optimistic is the only answer I could come up with after my time with it.

It’s going to be pretty tough for people who didn’t play the original game 20 years ago to compare it to Team Jade’s modern interpretation directly, since it’s not currently available digitally and physical copies of the old PC, PS2, and Xbox versions are becoming more and more scarce every year. But I was one of those people who was wading in the waves of the military shooter revolution at the time – the first Call of Duty launched the same year as Black Hawk Down, and Battlefield 1942 dropped the year prior. But I distinctly remember Black Hawk Down having some standout gameplay features that really raised the bar for the genre as a whole. It featured big, sprawling level maps that offer multiple ways to approach objectives. Some mission sequences would change dramatically depending on the current task, taking you from the back of a humvee to an on-foot stand-off with ambushers to a hurried escape via helicopter, all in the same chapter. And bullet physics and gun handling, specifically the more realistic projectile speeds, bullet drops, lethality, and recoil, made skirmishes less arcadey and more dangerous. Mixed with absolutely arid checkpointing, NovaLogic’s Black Hawk Down was one of the toughest games in the genre.

Team Jade’s Black Hawk Down certainly comes from a place of reverence for the old game, obvious in the way it tries to capture this old style of shooting in its missions, and also in the effusive praise game director Shadow and designer Novak laid on the other old work. “When we played the original in cafes so many years ago, it was mind-blowing,” said Joe Meng, PR Manager of Team Jade, translating on Shadow’s behalf.

Playing the initial mission, where we infiltrated the city in search of the enemy stronghold via a rooftop from a building nearby, the tense exchanges of fire between my squad of four (all played by other humans in co-op) and the enemies proved that keeping bullets dangerous was a top priority in their translation. It didn’t take much to drop us to dangerously low health, and that health did not restore itself after being out of combat for a bit. Only specific health restoratives could get us back to ship shape, and only medics – one of the four classes available to choose from – could provide them.

Once we got out to the street, progress became slightly less linear. This isn’t an open-world map, and there was a clear target that we had to infiltrate, but the path there felt open-ended. My squad, split into pairs, tiptoed down both sides of the street, following some NPC teammates in clearing buildings we passed on our way to the objective, in this case a hotel under control of rebels who were holding hostages somewhere in the building. We entered the building through the front, where the heaviest fire was being exchanged from the lobby plaza to our entrenched spot in the entrance. We could have found a side door and attempted to flank the lobby shooters as well, I found out later, and though you don’t have Hitman-levels of freedom, it is refreshing to know that if this Black Hawk Down has difficult chokepoints, the answer may lie in just finding a safer route. Shadow mentioned that the feeling of relief and reward for overcoming stacked odds was a driving sensation in the design, and this was a great example of it.

This mission was a little more linear than the next one we tried, which saw us sprinting through a claustrophobic shanty town attempting to get to the crashed Black Hawk helicopters. The mission’s pace and setting was very reminiscent of the original’s Valiant Heroes mission, which features a maze of buildings players had to navigate while freeing stranded friendly soldiers from incoming militia. Both used the labyrinth as an advantage for the enemies, who could pop out from around corners without warning, but where the original made you differentiate between hostile militia members and disgruntled civilians (penalizing you for harming the latter), this updated mission treated everyone in the branching alleyways or dusty markets that wasn’t you as an enemy.

Team Jade’s take does add snipers who can shoot at players from long distances from the relative safety of a clock tower several blocks away, uses modern environment design trends to make the city dense with small, open shacks and streets to navigate, and checkpoints that bottleneck the sprawling neighborhoods into points of entrenched resistance where more direct assault is required to continue. This was where the difficulty was its most intense, as enemies appeared from all directions, constantly moving while obscured by buildings and searching diligently for angles to take us by surprise.

I did miss the detail of having to show some semblance of trigger discipline under these conditions, though. It was certainly engaging and fun, but even in the face of the obvious danger, it felt like a step backwards from the kind of provocative design of the original. And in our limited test, we only tried out two of the seven total missions in the campaign, but neither gave the sense of dynamic scenario switching like the original’s River Raid, which starts as an on foot trek across the desert, turns into a frantic car chase through a minefield, then transforms into a Metal Gear Solid 3-esque tiptoe through the a Somalian river full of crocodiles, and then finally finishes with a multi-stage raid on a village. Of course this, or something equally as energetic, could be in the full three- to four-hour campaign, and I won’t discount the remake’s dedication to the original’s boldness of mission design before deploying myself when it launches on February 21st.

Palworld has seen more than 32 million players across all platforms since its early access launch in January 2024.

Developer Pocketpair said its crafting and survival game, which was dubbed “Pokémon with guns” before its record-breaking release, hit the milestone across PC via Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation 5.

“Thank you so much!” Pocketpair said in a tweet. “As always, your support means the world to us!”

“We will continue to work hard to make Palworld year 2 even better!” added Pocketpair Communications Director and Publishing Manager John 'Bucky' Buckley.

Palworld launched on Steam priced $30 and straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC a year ago, breaking sales and concurrent player number records in the process. Pocketpair boss Takuro Mizobe has said Palworld's launch was so big that the developer couldn’t handle the massive profits the game generated. Still, Pocketpair acted swiftly to capitalize on Palworld’s breakout success, signing a deal with Sony to form a new business called Palworld Entertainment that’s tasked with expanding the IP, and launching the game on PS5.

As Pocketpair continues to work on updating Palworld, its high-profile patent lawsuit with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company looms over the horizon.

After Palworld’s huge launch, comparisons were made between Palworld’s Pals and Pokémon, with some accusing Pocketpair of "ripping off" Pokémon designs. But rather than file a copyright infringement lawsuit, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company went down the patent route. They want 5 million yen (approx $32,846) each plus late payment damages, as well as an injunction against Palworld that would block its release.

In November, Pocketpair confirmed the three Japan-based patents, which revolve around catching Pokémon in a virtual field, it is being sued over. Palworld does include a mechanic that involves throwing a ball-like object (called a Pal Sphere) at monsters out in a field to capture them, similar to the mechanic seen in the 2022 Nintendo Switch exclusive Pokémon Legends: Arceus. However, without explanation, Pocketpair recently tweaked how players summon Pals, with observers speculating the change had to do with the patent infringement lawsuit.

Patent experts have said Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s lawsuit against Pocketpair is evidence of the threat posed by Palworld. Now, all eyes are on the lawsuit to see who will emerge victorious, if it isn't settled first. Pocketpair has vowed to take on Nintendo and The Pokémon Company in court, however, saying: “We will continue to assert our position in this case through future legal proceedings.”

Through it all, Pocketpair has continued to release major updates for Palworld and even moved forward with crossovers with other huge video games, including aTerraria collaboration.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

For the last 20 years Capcom's Monster Hunter series has captured fans' hearts with its exhilarating mix of careful strategy and heart-pounding monster battles. From its humble beginnings on the PlayStation 2 in 2004 to topping the charts in 2018 with Monster Hunter World, the series has evolved a lot in the last two decades.

While every Monster Hunter game is unique in its own way, we’ve ranked the entire list of games plus the biggest DLCs, to determine which is the very best. One note to consider – given that Capcom has released multiple versions of some of the games, our ranking only takes into consideration the Ultimate versions of each of these. So with that cleared up, let’s kick things off…

10. Monster Hunter

The original Monster Hunter laid the foundation for everything to come in the 20 years that followed. Its obtuse directions and control scheme might make it harder to revisit than most of the other games on this list, but the core pillars of what makes Monster Hunter great are still present. Taking on larger-than-life beasts with nothing but a weapon and a knack for survival helped set it apart in 2004, even if its steep learning curve made it a somewhat frustrating experience for players at the time.

Developed as part of an initiative at Capcom to focus on online games for the PlayStation 2, Monster Hunter's primary focus is through its online event missions. While it's a bummer that official servers are no longer online outside of Japan, the single-player still lets players experience the hunts that kicked off a new genre.

9. Monster Hunter Freedom

Monster Hunter Freedom released on the PlayStation Portable in Japan in 2005, and followed everywhere else a year later. It was the first handheld game in the series and is an expanded and re-tuned version of Monster Hunter G.

Although Freedom includes everything from Monster Hunter G and adds in a number of quality of life improvements, the biggest jump was giving Monster Hunter a new home on a portable device. It was the catalyst that pushed Monster Hunter to a whole new audience, putting co-op front and center and bringing together millions of players as they teamed up to hunt, no matter where they were.

Despite its clunky controls and wonky camera – which really demonstrate how far the games have evolved – Freedom is still a lot of fun to play. True, it's not the best Monster Hunter game but it’s certainly one of the most important, and became the blueprint for the future of the series’ handheld games.

8. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is an expanded version of Monster Hunter Freedom 2, which itself is an expanded version of Monster Hunter 2, which was only released in Japan. It was easily the largest game in the series when it was released and introduced new monsters that have gone on to become high points for the series, including black panther-cross-lizard wyvern, Nargacuga. It was also the first time the much-loved Felyne companions joined you on the battlefield, and while they might not have helped overcome some of Freedom Unite’s tougher challenges, they made the journey a lot more enjoyable.

7. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate was built off of the bones of 2010's Monster Hunter Tri, but with a restructured story and difficulty curve to create a more streamlined experience that included new monsters and quests to keep things fresh. Furthermore, Ultimate 3 brought back the Hunting Horn, Bow, Gunlance, and Dual Blades – which were missing from Tri – to give a more rounded roster of weapons for players to wield.

It’s therefore no surprise that Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is the definitive Monster Hunter 3 experience. New encounters like underwater fighting added a lot of variety to keep everything feeling fresh, even if you had to wrestle with the camera to make it work properly. And while online multiplayer on the Wii U was not as advanced as it was on other consoles, co-op is so integral to the Monster Hunter experience that its inclusion was a must.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is the natural evolution of everything that came before it and is a strong contender for one of the better monster hunting experiences. It’s showing its age now though, leaving room for other games…

6. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate marked an important turning point for the series. While local co-op was always Monster Hunter’s bread and butter on handheld consoles, dedicated online multiplayer finally arrived in 4 Ultimate, delivering a true leap forward for the series. Now it didn’t matter where your friends were – as long as everyone had access to wifi you could party up and take on a hunt from anywhere in the world.

Additionally, Capcom debuted Apex Monsters to give skilled players true endgame challenges to test their mettle against, and these are easily some of the toughest fights in the series to date. Other improvements included a huge roster of monsters to hunt and the addition of vertical movement, which transformed how the game played and almost doubled the size of the map. Monster Hunter 4 really was a leap forward for the series, but it’s still not the best the series has to offer.

5. Monster Hunter Rise

2021's Monster Hunter Rise brought the series back home to handhelds after jumping to consoles and PC with Monster Hunter World in 2018. Originally exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, Rise took what Capcom learned from making bigger-scale Monster Hunter games on consoles and refined them for handhelds, delivering a faster-paced game with more streamlined features for a smoother overall experience.

Monster Hunter Rise introduced Palamutes, the rideable dog companions that allowed for easier and speedier movement around Rise's maps. It was a welcomed addition that Capcom seems to be repeating, by bringing back Seikrets in Monster Hunter Wilds. Combined with the new Wirebug mechanic, which unlocked new weapon attacks and let you grapple high up into the air like your favorite anime protagonist, Rise brought a sense of scale previously only found on the console versions of Monster Hunter games.

Whether it was decimating monsters with acrobatic stunts or soaking up the serene vibe of Kamura Village, Monster Hunter Rise proves that, after scaling up for Monster Hunter World, all those big design ideas could be scaled down to create one of the best handheld Monster Hunter experiences in the entire series.

4. Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak

The follow up to Monster Hunter Rise was a massive expansion called Sunbreak, which added an all new location, ferocious new monsters, and a revised weapons system that added freshness to the fights. While Sunbreak doesn't reinvent the wheel, it makes Rise’s already amazing experience even better.

Perhaps the most memorable thing about Sunbreak is how Capcom delivered full-fledged gothic horror vibes thanks to the new Citadel castle location and fascinating monster designs inspired by vampires and werewolves. It also addressed the series’ previous lack of endgame content by adding super tough hunts designed to challenge even the most experienced players.

Sunbreak’s gothic setting might be one of the most beautiful locales ever introduced in the series but the true brilliance of this monster-sized expansion remains the final fight against the vampiric flagship monster, Malzeno, and the horrors of its life-stealing abilities.

3. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

In many ways, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is Capcom’s swansong to the last decade of Monster Hunter games. Alongside a hugely satisfying customization suite for hunters, Generations Ultimate also features the largest roster of monsters across the entire series. With 93 large monsters, Generations Ultimate is like a greatest hits from your favorite band.

Unlike most other Monster Hunter games, Generations Ultimate features Hunter Styles, which can radically change the way you play. In addition to the usual weapon types, Hunting Styles gave every weapon four unique movesets to choose from, dramatically increasing the fighting styles on offer. Veteran players could stick with the standard Guild style they’re familiar with, or experiment with new styles like Striker, which let players chain together Hunting Arts, turning them into special moves to learn and master.

This deep level of customization was hugely experimental and tremendously fun. Combined with endless hours of hunts, Generations Ultimate is a victory lap for the series, a triumphant showpiece of the iconic monster designs and the joys of playing with friends and family.

2. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

Capcom followed up the hugely successful Monster Hunter World with the large-scale expansion, Iceborne, and to this day it remains our second-favorite Monster Hunter experience in the entire series. Iceborne’s massive new campaign and long list of hunts makes it feel like a proper sequel to World rather than just an expansion.

The Guiding Lands – a hodgepodge of previous zones mashed together – created an entirely seamless experience that felt like a highlight reel of all the best parts of Monster Hunter World in one area. It also added countless quality-of-life improvements to what was already one of the best games in the series.

But it was Iceborne’s new monsters that really stuck with fans, and Savage Deviljho, Velkhana, and Fatalis are considered by many to be some of the best monsters in any game in the series. Indeed, Iceborne could’ve made it to the top spot in this list if it wasn’t for the original game that came before it…

1. Monster Hunter: World

2018's Monster Hunter: World kicked off a global frenzy for Monster Hunter like no other game in the series. After years of primarily being a handheld game and labeled with the caveat “Big in Japan”, World brought the series back to its console roots on PlayStation and Xbox, and rocketed it to an entirely new audience.

Monster Hunter: World's foundation was rock solid because it offered players some of the largest open zones in the series and emphasized the pure excitement hunters have while tracking and hunting enormous monsters. Indeed, it’s Monster Hunter: World’s sense of scale that sets head and shoulders above its peers. Whether it’s seeing a Rathalos swooping down and flying away with a weakened Anjanath, or witnessing a Diablos burst in on your hunt, Monster Hunter: World didn’t just create a breathtaking setting to play around in, it made you feel like you were in the middle of a sophisticated ecosystem of apex predators all fighting for supremacy.

From the dense jungle to the high cliffs of the Coral Highlands, exploring World’s diverse environments felt like traveling the globe, bolstered by unique monsters designed to perfectly compliment its surroundings. There is a sense of place for everything, including the endemic life that makes Monster Hunter: World almost like a nature documentary, except, y’know, fun. What’s more, Monster Hunter: World’s story was given a much needed facelift thanks to high quality cutscenes made possible by running on more powerful home consoles, which only added to the brilliant sandbox world.

So World is not only a must-have for both fans of Monster Hunter and newcomers alike, but it’s an all-time great video game period.

That's our ranking of the 10 best Monster Hunter games of all time. Which ones have you played, and which do you think are the best? Tell us your ranking in the Tier List above. Will you be preparing to hunt again with the release of Monster Hunter Wilds? Let us know in the comments.

Jesse Vitelli is a freelance writer and published author. A former associate editor at Prima Games, he also has bylines at Kotaku, Inverse, Game Informer, and more.

Microsoft has announced the Xbox Game Pass February 2025 Wave 2 lineup, which kicked off with Obsidian entertainment’s single-player fantasy role-playing game Avowed on February 18.

On February 20, EA Sports F1 24 (Cloud, Console, and PC) hits Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on EA Play. IGN’s F1 24 review returned a 7/10. We said: “In isolation, F1 24 remains a slick, deep, and marvellous motorsports experience, but it’s hard to argue it’s essential for returning players.”

Also on February 20, the well-received Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) enters Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. “Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is an isometric RPG by Owlcat Games, set in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium,” reads the official blurb. “As a powerful Rogue Trader, you command a starship, assemble a crew, and explore the Imperium, making fateful decisions in tactical, turn-based combat.” IGN’s Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader review returned an 8/10.

Here’s a big one: on February 25, Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs: Legion (Cloud, Console, and PC) hits Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. “Explore a massive urban open world featuring London’s many iconic landmarks and fun side activities where you can recruit (and play as) anyone. Everyone you see has a unique backstory, personality, and skill set for unique situations. Team up with your friends to complete new four-player co-op missions and PvP matches online.” IGN’s Watch Dogs: Legion review returned an 8/10.

Xbox Game Pass February 2025 Wave 2 lineup

• EA Sports F1 24 (Cloud, Console, and PC) EA Play – February 20
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – February 20
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
• Watch Dogs: Legion (Cloud, Console, and PC) – February 25
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard

As usual, a number of games leave Game Pass this month as new games enter the subscription. You can use your membership discount to save up to 20% on your purchase to keep a game in your library.

Leaving Xbox Game Pass on February 28

• F1 22 (Console and PC) EA Play
• Gris (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Maneater (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• PAW Patrol World (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Space Engineers (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Wo Long Fallen Dynasty (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Yakuza 3 Remastered (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Yakuza 4 Remastered (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The handheld PC gaming market is more competitive than it’s even been, which means any new entrant needs to do something special to stand out. The upcoming Ayaneo 3 is out to do just that with a top-spec that includes a 144Hz OLED screen, an RDNA 3.5 GPU for top-tier gaming performance, and a unique modular design. It starts at $699 for the base version and jumps to $1,299 for the best performance and higher specs. My early impressions are positive – it’s shaping up to be not just one of the best Steam Deck alternatives, but one of the best handhelds on the market – but you’d better start saving now.

The More Things Change

Ayaneo was one of the first companies making modern handheld gaming PCs, and though competition is much fiercer than it was then, I still think it makes some of the most comfortable handhelds available. It has had more time to hone its craft, which has allowed it to nail things like its grips and the position and feel of its controls.

Holding the Ayaneo 3 in my hands, it’s quite similar to the Ayaneo 2. That’s a wholesale positive in my book, because the Ayaneo 2 was easily one of the most comfortable handhelds I’ve used, easily besting the Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion Go. I’d even put it a smidge higher than the Asus ROG Ally X, though that handheld is also excellent. The grips have a fine-tuned chunk to them that nestles just perfectly in my palm and the weight is well balanced for gaming in a lap or resting your hands on a table.

I consider myself pretty average, and for my medium-sized hands, the controls fall right under my thumbs. Everything feels very natural and well considered. Though, if you’d rather swap out for Steam Deck like touchpads or an eight-way D-pad, that’s also an option thanks to its new modular controls.

The keyboard and mouse controls have also been fine-tuned. Ayaneo has always offered mouse pointer emulation and shortcut keys, but it now features three different modes that can be swapped between using a button on the bottom. Mouse control is the best it’s ever been and controlling the pointer with a joystick now feels very natural. It’s another example of the refinement that’s possible from having produced multiple generations of handhelds.

Swap It Up

In a first for handheld gaming PCs, the Ayaneo 3 allows you to swap the control scheme with interchangeable modules – Magic Modules, Ayaneo calls them. It’s a cool feature, not unlike that offered by some premium console controllers, like the Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot.

By default, it comes with the usual offset sticks, cross-style D-pad, and ABXY face buttons. These modules can be ejected using an option in AyaSpace 3, the latest version of the handheld line’s configuration software, or by holding the control button on the bottom of the system. Once they’re out, they can be replaced with any combination of four other modules and two different styles of sticks.

Right now, the options include two modules that replace the joysticks with clickable touchpads for each side, another that changes the D-pad to the circular eight-way, and a final module that seems tailor-made for fighting games with two columns of three buttons.

There are also two pairs of swappable sticks that friction fit onto the module’s stems. The stock sticks are the same wide-top concave versions used last generation. The Magic Module kit (available separately) provides a pair of convex sticks, as well as a second, smaller set of concaves.

It’s a neat concept, but the early kit I was sent didn’t provide any option for symmetrical sticks, which seems like an odd omission for a modular system like this. I was also surprised that all of the joysticks are the same height instead of offering taller and shorter versions like you find on premium controllers like the Xbox Elite Controller Series 2.

Still, it’s a cool idea and, as we’ve come to expect from Ayaneo, is designed to push the boundaries. Instead of having a physical push-button eject, it uses mechanical actuators that pop the modules out of their sockets.

Ayaneo warned me that this portion of the system was still being finalized and my prototype didn’t have the final version actual customers can expect. I happened to be holding the system out in front of me when I tried it and it literally launched the module at me. This shouldn’t be the case on any version you can actually buy, but it was certainly good for an unexpected laugh.

Long-term, not having a physical release could be a problem, but only time will tell.

Premium Hardware, Premium Performance

In its top configuration, the Ayaneo 3 comes with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU, 64GB of memory, and a whopping 4TB of storage. Once you hit the HX 370 tier, you can choose between LCD and OLED, but believe me, OLED is the version you want with its midnight blacks, gorgeous colors, and 800-nit peak brightness.

This particular version will set you back $1,800 and includes the Magic Module kit. But, let’s be real, for gaming you absolutely do not need 64GB of memory and 4TB of storage is overkill (especially since you can add a microSD card).

Instead, I recommend the 32GB, 1TB version, a.k.a., the first version with the HX 370, at $1,299. It’s still very expensive, but it’s comparable to a laptop with similar specs and has dedicated gaming hardware. Connect it to a docking station, and you could easily use it as a portable desktop or laptop replacement at school or work.

For gaming, it’s been phenomenal so far. Ayaneo has finally delivered what fans have been asking for: high refresh rate displays with VRR support. The OLED version I’ve been testing has been a treat for the eyes: silky-smooth, color rich, wide dynamic range, and overall great performance.

I’m nowhere near done with my testing – I’ll be spending a lot of time with it before I repeat my testing with the retail version in a month or two – but so far, it has been my favorite handheld PC gaming experience, bar none.

The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 uses AMD’s Radeon 890M graphics, which is built on RDNA 3.5. The Ryzen 7 8840U, and most other PC handhelds right now, use RDNA 3, which is why I recommend saving up for the HX 370 version if you’re considering this handheld. We already know that the improvements to gaming performance are incremental, but when you’re playing on a small screen like this, 5-10% uplift is noticeable.

So far, I’ve tested Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, Spider Man 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, World of Warcraft, and a handful of indies. Each of those AAA games was able to maintain at least 45 FPS between 800p and 1080p at medium to high settings. Easier to run indie games are trivial. Just as importantly, they look amazing and feel just as good on the new OLED display.

Taking the time to tune the graphics settings and taking advantage of AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF), FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), and Radeon Super Resolution (RSR), pushes that even further. As always, it’s a matter of adjusting settings to find the sweet spot between performance.

World of Warcraft, for example, makes for a perfect example of how powerful tweaking can be and just how meaningful the right CPU is to the performance of a handheld. It’s an old game but a dynamic one with lots of variation in frame rate depending on what you’re doing. Without FSR or AFMF, the Ayaneo 3 ran around 45 to 55 FPS in dungeons on ultra settings. With both enabled, that bumped to 95 to 105, even with masses of particle effects, players, and enemies crowding the screen.

Outside of gaming, I plan to bring the system into work to replace my employer-provided laptop for productivity. Truth be told, the HX 370’s CPU cores are far more capable than its GPU cores, and it’s more than up to any productivity task you’ll encounter in the average day of work or school. You could easily use it for editing photos and videos, graphic arts, and even streaming.

Final Thoughts

All of this is true of most gaming handhelds these days, but the combination of display, performance, ergonomics, and the kinesthetic joy of engaging with it make the Ayaneo 3 feel like something special in these early days. We’ll see if that wanes or changes as I spend more time with it.

I secretly hope that they release a lower cost version without swappable modules but keeping the HX 370 and OLED screen. $1,299 is super expensive for a handheld if you don’t plan to replace another system with it. It’s a neat idea, but if you’re happy with the layout, it would be nice to see a version with the best screen and processor without paying for features you don’t need.

Christopher Coke has been a regular contributor to IGN since 2019 and has been covering games and technology since 2013. He has covered tech ranging from gaming controllers to graphics cards, gaming chairs and gaming monitors, headphones, IEMs, and more for sites such as MMORPG.com, Tom’s Hardware, Popular Science, USA Today’s Reviewed, and Popular Mechanics. Find Chris on Twitter @gamebynight.

Season 3 of Reacher premieres Thursday, February 20 on Prime with the first three episodes. The remaining episodes will arrive each subsequent Thursday until March 27, 2025.

Lee Child’s 2003 novel Persuader forms the foundation of season 3 of Prime’s face-pounding, shotgun pumping Reacher series, and that’s largely good news for fans of Alan Ritchson’s man mountain. Not only is it a great story with an explosive prologue and several unexpected twists, but it’s also one of the rare Reacher cases that see him pitted against a bigger mountain. In this instance, that’s a towering henchman played by 7-foot, 2-inch Dutch bodybuilder Olivier Richters, whose presence in this season provides Reacher with an opponent quite unlike those he’s faced in the show so far. In any case, Reacher season 3 is another thoroughly entertaining chapter in the saga of its titular vigilante vagrant, although there are more major divergences from the book this time around than previous seasons – and they don’t always feel for the better.

Season 3 finds Reacher in Maine, where his efforts to track down an unforgivable foe from his past see him tangled up in a DEA operation, hunting for a missing undercover informant. “Never forgive, never forget” is the pitch of the book, and that’s Reacher’s core motivation here. Episode 1’s rollicking opening 20 minutes should be particularly arresting viewing for those unfamiliar with the source material, but as a reader of the novels I was equally engaged with how closely the sequence marries up with the book. It’s very well done and an extremely strong start for the season.

The sleepier surroundings of Maine are a nice pivot from the major metropolis of New York from season 2. It’s too early to tell if the small town, big city, and back again cadence that the Prime series has obeyed so far is deliberate or an accident but, either way, it’s a smart play to avoid things becoming too samey.

Ritchson continues to completely own his role as Reacher, whose standard operating procedure remains flexing his brain and his biceps, and racking up an impressively large bad guy bodycount. Ritchson keeps Reacher stubborn and methodical, and entertainingly dispassionate about killing anyone who has it coming. He now also appears to be obliged to remove his shirt at least once per episode for some reason, a development which has elicited zero complaints from my wife.

There are occasions, however, where he feels a bit overwritten, and where Reacher uses 10 words when five would do. I can’t quite tell if this is a side effect of the writers keeping him slavishly devoted to his mantra, “In an investigation, details matter,” or a matter of the show assuming the audience has probably forgotten a few things along the way (or doesn’t know what’s just happened). It’s not a constant bugbear, but it’s a touch awkward when it happens. In the books, Reacher regularly (and quite famously, amongst fans) says… nothing. That ought to happen a little more in the show.

Of course, the show’s in an admittedly tricky spot when it comes to exposition, because it needs to happen somewhere – and it can’t just flow out onto a page directly from Reacher’s brain like it can in a book. You need characters speaking to one another. The previous season was able to negotiate this by adapting a novel that overtly placed Reacher in a team of his former peers from the military police, but season 3 does it by considerably ramping up the amount of instances where Reacher finds himself working (and fighting) alongside his new partners. I do feel there are times this messes with the aura of Reacher as a primarily one-man wrecking machine, particularly during the resolution of the new season – which plays out considerably differently from the novel, and kicks off with an unneeded showdown that puts a slightly sour note on everything that follows.

I can, however, see the appeal of putting Reacher beside DEA agent Susan Duffy (Sonya Cassidy) as regularly as possible, because she’s fantastic. The British actress absolutely disappears behind a thick, Boston accent as the no-nonsense DEA agent (a new character for season 3) and she shines with some of the season’s toughest (and often funniest) lines. On top of that, Cassidy’s onscreen brawling is excellent. “Don’t look at me,” quips Reacher to a dumbstruck flunkey Duffy’s about to beat to hell. “I’m scared of her too.”

On the other hand, I’m more lukewarm on the key villains this time around, particularly Anthony Michael Hall’s Beck. I don’t know that it’s necessarily Hall’s performance itself. It’s probably the trajectory the script takes him on that does him the biggest disservice. There’s additional context around Beck as a bad guy that I can’t discuss here but, broadly speaking, there are moments later in the season that tend to drag due to their confusingly sympathetic focus on Beck. I really don’t care about him, and I doubt you will either after one particularly unconscionable act. Brian Tee is better as hated Reacher nemesis Quinn (because he’s simply disgusting and evil, and that makes him a perfect target for Reacher’s wrath) but the story drags its heels a bit making full use of him.

The action this season is strong overall, and it features a steady supply of sudden but satisfying kills – many of which are the best in the series so far. If season 3 is anything, it’s Reacher at his most ruthless. I can get behind that. I sure as hell ain’t getting in front of it.

Former Sony Interactive Entertainment executive Shuhei Yoshida has commented on Naughty Dog’s canceled The Last of Us Online, saying that he played it and thought it was “great.”

Naughty Dog stopped development on The Last of Us Online in December 2023, saying it would have needed to put all its resources into post-launch content for years to come — an approach that would have severely impacted its ability to develop future single-player games.

“We realize many of you have been anticipating news around the project that we’ve been calling The Last of Us Online,” Naughty Dog said at the time. “There’s no easy way to say this: we’ve made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on that game.

“The multiplayer team has been in pre-production with this game since we were working on The Last of Us Part II — crafting an experience we felt was unique and had tremendous potential.

“As the multiplayer team iterated on their concept for The Last of Us Online during this time, their vision crystalized, the gameplay got more refined and satisfying, and we were enthusiastic about the direction in which we were headed.

“In ramping up to full production, the massive scope of our ambition became clear. To release and support The Last of Us Online we’d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games. So, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage.”

Naughty Dog went on to announce single-player adventure Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet at The Game Awards 2024, its first new franchise in over a decade.

Now, speaking to Sacred Symbols+ (via Push Square), Shuhei Yoshida touched on the internal decision-making that led to The Last of Us Online’s cancelation, saying feedback from Destiny developer Bungie, which Sony had acquired, helped to convince Naughty Dog to scrap the game.

“The idea for The Last of Us Online came from Naughty Dog and they really wanted to make it,” Yoshida said. “But Bungie explained [to them] what it takes to make live service games, and Naughty Dog realised, ‘Oops, we can’t do that! If we do it, we can’t make Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.’ So that was a lack of foresight.”

This tallies with prior reports that indicated Naughty Dog had scaled back development of The Last of Us Online due to an internal review from Bungie. In October 2023, Naughty Dog reportedly suffered a round of layoffs and that the multiplayer project was “put on ice.”

The cancelation of The Last of Us Online came as part of a sweeping pull back from live service at Sony Interactive Entertainment following a huge internal push to make more of these types of games.

While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 was a breakout hit, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, Sony’s other live service games were either canceled or suffered disastrous launches.

Sony’s live service hero shooter Concord is one of the biggest video game disasters in PlayStation history, lasting just a couple of weeks before it was brought offline amid eye-wateringly low player numbers. Sony later decided to kill the game entirely and shut its developer.

Concord's initial development deal was around $200 million according to a report by Kotaku. It said the $200 million was not enough to fund Concord's entire development, nor did it include the purchase of the Concord IP rights or Firewalk Studios itself.

And just last month, Sony canceled two unannounced live service games, one a God of War title in development at Bluepoint, the other in the works at Days Gone developer Bend.

In a prior interview, Yoshida, who was President of SIE Worldwide Studios for Sony Interactive Entertainment from 2008 to 2019, said he would have tried to resist Sony’s controversial live service video game push and that Sony always knew its investment in live service games was risky.

Now, speaking to Sacred Symbols+, Yoshida said that as far as he was aware, no first-party PlayStation Studio was forced to make a live service game. Rather they saw an opportunity to successfully pitch a live service game given Sony’s video game strategy.

“From my experience, when studios see the company has a big initiative, [they realise] riding on that gives them a better chance of getting a project approved and supported,” Yoshida said.

“It’s not like [current PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst] is telling teams they need to make live service games, it’s likely mutual.”

The upshot of Sony’s live service push and pull is hundreds of millions of dollars wasted, widespread layoffs, studio closures, and years of work that will never see the light of day. Developers face enormous gaps in their CVs with nothing to show for it, and PlayStation 5 looks set for a light period for first-party games.

Still, there are a number of PlayStation Studios live service games Sony has yet to cancel, including Guerrilla’s multiplayer Horizon project, Bungie’s extraction shooter Marathon, and the multiplayer heist game Fairgames.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Nintendo is discontinuing its Switch eShop Gold Points scheme ahead of the launch of the Switch 2.

From the end of next month, March 25, 2025, players will no longer earn Gold Points — Nintendo's points-based loyalty scheme that can be exchanged for discounts — on their purchases.

Nintendo did not expand on why it was removing the scheme, but said in a statement that players will continue to earn points on products purchased before March 24 — including physical Game Cards — and could be used up to 12 months from the date they were earned. Any game released after the deadline will not be eligible. (You can check original release date of a game on Nintendo eShop).

As spotted by Eurogamer, Nintendo has also confirmed Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers will not be redeemable against Switch 2 exclusive games in the future, either.

These changes come ahead of the launch of the Switch 2 itself, currently speculated for some point between June and September, and the Switch 2-focused Direct in April. Nintendo has already confirmed that Nintendo Switch Online accounts will carry forward to the next-gen console.

Earlier this month, we reported there was something goofy going on over on the PlayStation Store and the Nintendo eShop. Over the last few months, the two storefronts have been slowly filling up with what some users are referring to as “eslop," with more and more games tricking users into buying cheap, low-quality games that aren’t what they claim to be.

Buying games from the Japanese eShop as a foreigner without a Japanese bank account recently got a lot harder. Nintendo announced it would no longer accept “credit cards issued overseas” and “PayPal accounts opened overseas” from January 25, 2025 in a bid to curb “fraudulent use."

Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Call of Duty's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover looks set to cost up to $90's worth of COD Points in order to obtain all the items — and the community is now saying Activision should just make Black Ops 6 free-to-play at this point.

Activision unveiled the Black Ops 6 Season 02 Reloaded content coming to the shooter on February 20, and detailed the mid-season Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover in the process.

Each of the four turtles (Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael) has their own premium bundle. Based on previous collaborations, these bundles are expected to cost 2,400 COD Points, or $19.99, each. So, if you want all four turtles you face the prospect of handing over $80’s worth of COD Points.

Surprise! Valve's just released a massive update to the Source SDK, adding "all" the Team Fortress 2 client and server game code.

Valve said the update lets players build entirely new games from its source code, and unlike Steam Workshop or local content mods, it gives modders access to change, extend, and even rewrite Team Fortress in pretty much any way imaginable.

You won't be able to sell anything you make with it — which means any mods or spin-off content will have to be released for free on a non-commercial basis — but creations can be published on the Steam Store, "appearing as new games in the Steam game list."

"Players have a lot of investment in their TF2 inventories, and Steam Workshop contributors have created a lot of that content," Valve explained via a blog post. "The majority of items in the game now are thanks to the hard work of the TF2 community.

"To respect that, we're asking TF2 mod makers continue to respect that connection, and to not make mods that have the purpose of trying to profit off Workshop contributors' efforts. We're hoping that many mods will continue to allow players access their TF2 inventory, if this makes sense for the mod."

Valve also added that it was making "a big update" to all its multiplayer back-catalog Source engine titles, too, adding 64-bit binary support, scalable HUD/UI, prediction fixes, and "a lot of other improvements" to not only TF2, but also DoD:S, HL2:DM, CS:S, and HLDM:S.

Back in December, after seven long years, The Team Fortress 2 comic released its seventh and final update. The comics have not only been a great place for fans to uncover new information about their favorite characters and stories, but they're also a testament to Valve's own continuing interest in one of its oldest series.

Image credit: Valve.

Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

The Elder Scrolls 6 fans are, a bit like Grand Theft Auto 6 fans, starved of information. And so perhaps it comes as no surprise to see the community go into release date speculation mode with only an official create a character competition to go on.

This week, Bethesda announced its next Make-A-Wish project: you can bid on a chance to work with Bethesda Game Studios to create a character to appear as an NPC in The Elder Scrolls 6.

“For the last several years, we have been lucky enough to work with Make-A-Wish to grant wishes, support some of their local events, and provide items and experiences, all to benefit children who are fighting life-threatening illnesses,” Bethesda said.

“This year, for their Silent Auction we are giving one winner the opportunity to work with Bethesda Game Studios to create a character to appear as an NPC in The Elder Scrolls 6. All of the money made from the auction goes directly to Make-A-Wish.”

It’s a wonderful cause and a great initiative from Bethesda, but for The Elder Scrolls 6 fans it could mean a whole lot more. And that’s because the community is comparing this Make-A-Wish project to the one Bethesda ran for Starfield, and have determined the point in development The Elder Scrolls 6 may be in currently, and thus its potential release date.

I know, the community has gone off the deep end here. But let’s run with it… for science.

The appropriately named redditor ‘FartingSlowly’ pointed out that Bethesda’s equivalent 'chance to make a Starfield character' post was published two-and-a-half years before Starfield came out in September 2023. Ergo, The Elder Scrolls 6’s release date is set for September 2027. More specifically, September 27, 2027.

“This is not a good indicator or metric for release by any standards,” FartingSlowly admitted. “Do not take this too seriously. But. It is finally something. It isn't just a piece of junk speculation based on nothing, it's based on something from Bethesda themselves. Yeah, it's not something to actually care about but it is a refreshing change in the world of speculation.”

As you’d expect, many within the community have cast similar doubt on the release date suggested by FartingSlowly. Some have pointed out that Starfield’s Make-A-Wish competition was announced when the game was due out November 11, 2022. Does that mean Bethesda is looking at releasing The Elder Scrolls 6 in November 2026?

It’s been a long, long time since Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls 6. In January, The Elder Scrolls 6’s June 10, 2018 announcement became as old as predecessor Skyrim was when The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced.

The studio confirmed The Elder Scrolls 6 had entered "early development" in August 2023, and "early builds" were available in March 2024. The six year anniversary of the announcement arrived in June last year and even Bethesda development chief Todd Howard paused to say, "oh wow, that has been a while."

The Elder Scrolls 6 was thought to be set for 2028 at the earliest, presumably on the next-generation of consoles as well as PC. If it does launch then, it’ll do so an incredible 17 years after Skyrim. While we wait to find out, check out Everything we know about The Elder Scrolls 6.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Pokémon Go developer Niantic is reportedly in talks to sell its video game division to Saudi-owned Scopely for $3.5 billion.

As first reported by Bloomberg, the sale would likely include Pokémon Go, the hit augmented-reality mobile game that sends players out into the real world to collect Pokémon.

A source talking to Bloomberg under the promise of anonymity said that while the deal was by no means complete, if approved, it could be confirmed in a matter of weeks.

Neither Niantic, Scopely, nor its owner Savvy Games Group were prepared to comment publicly on the reported acquisition.

Savvy Games Group acquired Scopely back in April 2023 in a deal worth $4.9 billion that came after the Saudi Arabia government said it wanted to buy "a leading games publisher." Scopely publishes a range of hit mobile titles, most notably The Walking Dead: Road to Survival, Stumble Guys, Marvel Strike Force, and Monopoly Go.

Savvy Gaming Group also purchased two of the world's biggest esports companies, ESL and FACEIT, for a total of $1.5 billion in 2022.

“Savvy Games Group is one part of our ambitious strategy aiming to make Saudi Arabia the ultimate global hub for the games and esports sector by 2030,” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz said at the time.

“We are harnessing the untapped potential across the esports and games sector to diversify our economy, drive innovation in the sector, and further scale the entertainment and esports competition offerings across the Kingdom.”

Vikki Blake. Reporter. Critic. Columnist. Consultant. Guardian. Spartan. Silent Hillian. Legend. High Chaos.