With the chill of winter settling in, there’s no better excuse to bunker down and get stuck into some stellar titles at not-so-stellar prices. This latest round of discounts features genre greats, cult favourites, and a few under-the-radar gems, all primed for your backlog. Get scrolling to get saving!

This Day in Gaming 🎂

In retro news, I'm celebrating the 27th birthday of Gran Turismo, a game whose realistic handling and 150-car garage boggled my mind at launch. This was clearly no Ridge Racer. It basically taught pre-L-plater-me how to corner correctly with its 100-page instruction booklet. Nailing apexes, weight shifting, drifting—it filled my empty petrolhead up and made sure I'd learned by placing driving tests between me and its championships.

The impact the arrival of GT had on the evolution of racing games as we currently play them cannot be overstated. Polyphony's "real driving simulator" triggered a seismic shift in an entire genre and is one of the most influential games ever made. To this day, I can't enter my garage at home without hearing smooth jazz in my head.

Aussie bdays for notable games

- Gran Turismo (PS) 1998. Sequel

- Pac-Pix (DS) 2005. eBay

- Boom Blox (Wii) 2008. eBay

- Wii Fit (Wii) 2008. eBay

Contents

• Nintendo
• Xbox
• PlayStation
• PC
• PC Gear
• LEGO
• Headphones
• TVs

Nice Savings for Nintendo Switch

On Nintendo Switch, Life Is Strange: True Colors is down to just A$25, a steal for a title whose lead character, Alex Chen, was originally pitched as mute, until the team at Deck Nine reworked her into one of the series’ most expressive and resonant leads. Also worth snapping up is The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (A$23), which finally localised two previously Japan-only entries, complete with a character named Herlock Sholmes (!!).

• Civilization VII (-23%) - A$69
• Dragon Ball FighterZ (-44%) - A$50
• Life Is Strange: True Colors (-70%) - A$25
• The Sinking City (-90%) - A$7
• Little Nightmares Comp. Ed. (-75%) - A$13
• The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (-60%) - A$23

Expiring Recent Deals

• Minecraft Dungeons Ult. Ed. (-25%) - A$45
• Monster Hunter Generations Ult. (-80%) - A$15
• Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory (-44%) - A$49
• Tales of Vesperia: Def. Ed. (-80%) - A$15
• Star Wars: Dark Forces Rem. (-45%) - A$24
• Streets of Rogue (-75%) - A$7

Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card.

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Exciting Bargains for Xbox

• Seagate Expansion Card 1TB (-32%) - A$208
• The Witcher 3 Comp. (-54%) - A$36
• Suicide Squad: KTJL (-83%) - A$19
• NBA 2K25 (-68%) - A$38
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 - Del. Ed. (-60%) - A$33
• Overcooked! 2 (-75%) - A$8

Xbox One

• Spyro Reignited Trilogy (-65%) - A$24
• Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (-60%) - A$27
• Dying Light: The Following Enhanced (-70%) - A$14

Expiring Recent Deals

• Monster Hunter Wilds (-23%) - A$89
• Avatar: FoP Gold (-40%) - A$94
• TopSpin 2K25 (-77%) - A$23
• Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (-45%) - A$54
• PGA Tour 2K25 (-34%) - A$79
• Diablo III: Eternal Col. (-67%) - A$32
• Dark Souls: Rem. (-50%) - A$29
• Mafia: Def. Ed. (-85%) - A$10
• Mafia III: Def. Ed. (-80%) - A$9

Or just invest in an Xbox Card.

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Pure Scores for PlayStation

• Death Stranding 2 (-21%) - A$99
• Cyberpunk 2077: Ult. Ed. (-27%) - A$77
• Tales of Arise (-68%) - A$32
• Stranger of Paradise FF Origin (-58%) - A$41
• Civilization VII (-34%) - A$79
• Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Leg. Ed. (-47%) - A$94

PS4

• Digimon World: Next Order (-56%) - A$37
• Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (-69%) - A$30
• DayZ (-51%) - A$38

Expiring Recent Deals

• Sonic x Shadow Generations (-35%) - A$49
• TopSpin 2K25 (-77%) - A$23
• Ghost of Yōtei (-21%) - A$99
• Stellar Blade (-13%) - A$109
• Monster Hunter Wilds (-23%) - A$89
• GTA Trilogy Def. Ed. (-71%) - A$29
• Overcooked! All You Can Eat (-44%) - A$31
• EA Sports FC 25 (-36%) - A$69
• Ghost of Tsushima Dir. Cut (-58%) - A$46

PS+ Monthly Freebies
Yours to keep from Apr 1 with this subscription

• ARK: Survival Ascended | PS5
• Balatro | PS5, PS4
• Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun | PS5, PS4

Or purchase a PS Store Card.

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Purchase Cheap for PC

• Oblivion Rem. (-17%) - A$70
• Age of Empires II: Def. (-65%) - A$13
• EA FC 25 (-70%) - A$32
• Screencheat (-80%) - A$4
• Stellaris (-75%) - A$14

Expiring Recent Deals

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (-18%) - A$57
• V Rising (-62%) - A$19
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (-80%) - A$19
• Dead Space (-75%) - A$22
• Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Rem. (-85%) - A$11
• Mass Effect Leg. Ed. (-90%) - A$8

Or just get a Steam Wallet Card

Laptop Deals

• Apple 2024 MacBook Air 15-inch (-16%) – A$2,094
• Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 (-36%) - A$879
• Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen7 (-27%) - A$1,018

Desktop Deals

• HP OMEN 35L Gaming (-10%) – A$2,799
• Lenovo ThinkCentre neo Ultra (-25%) - A$2,249
• Lenovo ThinkCentre neo 50q (-35%) – A$629

Monitor Deals

• LG 24MR400-B, 24" (-30%) - A$97
• Z-Edge 27" 240Hz (-15%) - A$279
• Samsung 57" Odyssey Neo Curved (-22%) – A$2,499

Component Deals

• MSI PRO B650M-A WiFi Motherboard (-41%) – A$229
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D (-7%) – A$876
• Corsair Vengeance 32GB (-35%) – A$82
• Kingston FURY Beast 16GB (-30%) – A$48

Storage Deals

• Seagate One Touch Portable HDD (-24%) – A$228
• Kingston 1TB USB 3.2 SSD (-17%) – A$115
• SanDisk 128GB Extreme PRO (-63%) – A$29
• SanDisk 32GB Ultra SDHC (-53%) – A$9.90

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Legit LEGO Deals

• City Fire Station (-34%) - A$99
• City Express Passenger (-30%) - A$175
• Minecraft The Baby Pig House (-27%) - A$22
• Technic Kawasaki Ninja (-26%) - A$74

Expiring Recent Deals

• Animal Crossing Isabelle’s House (-43%) - A$40
• Grogu with Hover Pram (-35%) - A$97
• Star Wars Home One Starcruiser (-28%) - A$79
• Mandalorian Moff Gideon Battle (-27%) - A$44

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Hot Headphones Deals

Audiophilia for less

• Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro (-49%) – A$179
• Sony WH-CH520 Wireless (-27%) - A$73
• SoundPEATS Space (-25%) - A$56.99
• Technics Premium (-36%) - A$349

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Terrific TV Deals

Do right by your console, upgrade your telly

• Kogan 65" QLED 4K (-50%) – A$699
• Kogan 55" QLED 4K (-45%) – A$549
• LG 55" UT80 4K (-28%) – A$866

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USB Type-C might be the new standard, but what if your PC or laptop simply doesn't have enough of those ports? Here's a cheap and easy solution as long as you have older USB Type-A legacy ports. For a limited time, Amazon is offering a 4-pack of Elebase USB Type-A to USB Type-C Adapters for only $3.99 after you apply a $4 off coupon code "KLIMVVIG". That comes out to only $1 per adapter. The Elebase USB adapters collectively have nearly 55,000 reviews on Amazon with a 4.6/5 star rating and a respectable Fakespot "A" grade.

4-Pack USB Type-A to USB Type-C Adapters for $4

If you're in the market for a new controller that works across multiple devices, you're in luck! Amazon currently has the 8BitDo Pro 2 controller with an official travel case included for 25% off the regular price. This is an excellent controller that works well with retro games thanks to its SNES-inspired design, but also features full grips and thumbsticks that work great with modern games, too. Check out the deal below for more information.

8BitDo Pro 2 Controller + Travel Case Deal

Attention, Aussies! DOOM: The Dark Ages and Harley-Davidson have teamed up for a special collaboration and created a custom jacket and helmet (pictured above) inspired by the DOOM Slayer. That’s cool and all, but the even better news? They’re giving them away, and you have the chance to win them.

Entering the giveaway couldn’t be simpler. All you have to do is go down to the comments of this article and answer this question: What would be your ultimate weapon if you were in DOOM? Do that between now and 10 a.m. AEST on 19 May, and you’re entered. That’s it. We'll pick our favorite answer, and that one winner will get both the jacket and helmet.

Now, there are some rules, of course. To win, you need to be at least 18 years old and a legal resident of Australia. And just enter one time — if you try to submit multiple entries, you could be disqualified. We’ll reach out to the winner to get details and figure out where to send the merch, so make sure you respond promptly when we get in touch. If we don’t hear back from you, we’ll move on to another winner.

For the full terms and conditions, you can check them out here. Best of luck to you!

If you've been waiting for a great deal on a high-end OLED TV, here's one you should seriously consider. Amazon is offering the 65" Samsung S90D 4K OLED Smart TV for just $1,097.99 shipped. This is the lowest price ever for this particular size and model and beats last year's Black Friday price by $200. This is an excellent TV for your PS5 or Xbox Series X. According to RTINGS, the Samsung S90D is a brighter TV than the popular LG C4 OLED TV with a wider color gamut, better color volume, wider viewing angle, and better HDR gradient handling.

Note: Walt's TV is the Amazon marketplace seller. They are an authorized Samsung reseller.

65" Samsung S90D 4K OLED Smart TV for $1,097.99

The hardcover Batman: The Killing Joke Deluxe Edition is currently included in Amazon's limited time buy one, get one half off sale. Alan Moore's legendary graphic novel is one widely considered one of the greatest Joker stories in the Caped Crusader's history, and it's as accessible as ever at its current price of $10.71 (40% off) at Amazon.

Be sure to also check out more of our recommendations of books to get during this limited time sale as well.

Batman: The Killing Joke Deluxe Edition Is on Sale

Former Dragon Age series executive producer Mark Darrah says he doesn’t feel EA and BioWare efficiently supported his team during the early development of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

The ex-BioWare developer shed light on his time working on the legendary fantasy RPG franchise during a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel. His story recounts events that transpired throughout 2017 or, according to Darrah, “the most impactful 12 months in BioWare’s history.” He touches on not only decisions that affected the early development of last year’s Dragon Age game but how a change in attitude was tied to the final days of development on Mass Effect: Andromeda.

It starts in late 2016, when Darrah was moved over to the team that would handle the last stages of development on Andromeda. He says his “feeling at the time” was that the Dragon Age team felt “jerked around” and had “no support from BioWare or EA.” The hope was that Darrah could aid in getting Mass Effect out the door so the next Dragon Age could utilize more resources, though this ultimately didn’t quite pan out.

“This was the first time where we had this leadership discontinuity, where the person in charge of a project left that project to help someone else, some other project, while the project continued to run,” Darrah explained. “In the cast of Mass Effect: Andromeda, I don’t think the impact to Dragon Age was huge. It wasn’t very long, but it did set this precedent as this being a thing that we could do, and it’s not a good thing to do. It is incredibly dangerous to have a project run while it’s missing some of its core leadership.”

Mass Effect: Andromeda launched in March 2017 and, in Darrah’s own words, “it doesn’t go well.” Throughout this time, BioWare was still adjusting to a structural change that saw the team reporting to new leadership at EA that was “hyper interested” in its projects and plans. He calls the change dramatic, noting that the studio’s new bosses weren’t interested in continuing work on Mass Effect due to its recently troubled launch. However, Darrah didn’t feel like Dragon Age was getting the support it needed even after Andromeda was shipped.

The former BioWare lead says he approached current EA CEO Andrew Wilson and former EA executive Patrick Söderlund with his concerns and was reassured of Dragon Age’s importance to the company. While EA offered few resources in an attempt to maintain the studio’s work in the summer of 2017, Darrah along with the rest of the BioWare staff were told that studio veteran Casey Hudson would be returning. It was a major shakeup that staff was made aware of without notice.

“You have to remember: I am the second most senior person at BioWare,” Darrah said. “Casey was interviewed, and hired, and prepared to be brought back entirely without me being consulted in any way. Would me have being involved in the process have changed the decision? No, I don’t think it would have, but there is an immense amount of disrespect involved in making a hire of this impact, in making a decision of this import, without involving the second-most senior person at your studio in any way.”

Darrah then predicted that BioWare would shift its focus to Anthem. When his concerns were shared with EA, he was told that leadership was committed to giving Dragon Age the attention it deserved.

“As we all know, that’s not what happened at all,” he added.

EA’s interest in Anthem ballooned until its similarly troubled launch in 2019, all while Darrah felt his trust in the company was being “constantly hammered” and “constantly challenged.” Resources were continuously pulled away from what would eventually be known as Dragon Age: The Veilguard all the way through 2019, leading to what Darrah says were “fundamental” changes to the nature of the project.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard would go on to release in late 2024 as BioWare’s latest AAA fantasy RPG. Despite positive reviews from critics (we gave it a 9/10 in our review), EA painted its launch as a letdown, saying in February that it failed to “resonate with a broad enough audience.” These were comments former BioWare developers later pushed back on, with some suggesting the company should follow the lead set up by Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios.

Many Dragon Age developers were laid off in January of this year as the studio shifted its focus back to Mass Effect 5.

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).

When it’s time to unplug, shut off the TV and reduce screen time, board games always have your back when it comes to scratching that lingering escapist itch and drive to continue playing. Luckily, there exist countless board game tie-ins to some of the most popular video games around, and we’ve collected some of our favorites here. Whether you’re looking for a long-term campaign or a quick to setup party game, these board games will let you continue living in these worlds when you need a break from technology.

TL;DR – These Are the Best Video Game Board Games

• Fallout
• Slay the Spire
• Bloodborne
• Resident Evil 2
• Pac-Man
• Tetris
• Dark Souls the Board Game: Tomb of Giants
• Cuphead: Fast Rolling Dice Game
• The Oregon Trail
• Elden Ring: The Board Game
• Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game
• Divinity: Original Sin the Board Game

Fallout Board Game

After the release of Amazon’s Fallout series, now is the perfect time to explore the Wasteland right at your own kitchen table. To start, you’ll choose from various scenarios which will determine the map setup. Similar to the beloved open-world RPGs by Bethesda, tabletop players will uncover the map, build upon numerous skills, fight irradiated enemies, interact with different factions, and complete quests, all while battling for influence over the Wasteland. Very immersive and detail-oriented, this game is great for long-term sessions.

Slay the Spire: The Board Game

Probably the one video game on this list most deserving of a board game tie-in, Slay the Spire takes after its digital roots by having players take on the role of one of the provided heroes and go on a Roguelike deck-building climb through the Spire. Like the video game, players will choose from a number of different rooms each with their own characteristics that will affect their game; encounters, where you’ll fight regular enemies, elites, where you’ll fight even stronger ones, events, campfires, treasure, the merchant, and finally the boss. By the nature of Roguelikes, Slay the Spire is sure to give players hours of enjoyment as they try different characters, builds, and items each time.

You can read our Slay the Spire: The Board Game review for more about this game.

Bloodborne: The Board Game

The Bloodborne board game sees players take on the role of Hunter as they fight to vanquish the evil stirring within Yharnam. As a campaign board game, Bloodborne offers players endless replay value, as no two sessions should be too alike with its modular map tiles. Featuring hundreds of various cards, tokens, and game pieces, this macabre adventure will test players’ skill and decision making as they uncover the secret to the unyielding plague and fight to stop it. Immersion is at the forefront here, and the game’s highly detailed miniatures ensure that you truly feel in their shoes.

Resident Evil 2: The Board Game

The success of the Resident Evil 2 tabletop adaptation paved the way for Steamforged Games to create similar experiences covering both the original Resident Evil and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis’ stories. However, much like the video games, Resident Evil 2 is arguably its best entry. Faithful to the source material, the game has players work cooperatively as they take control of either Leon S. Kennedy or Claire Redfield as they fight their way through hordes of zombies to make their escape in multiple available scenarios. Collect weapons, healing items, and keys as you navigate the environment, evade the undead, and solve puzzles. You can even use the iconic ink ribbons and typewriters to affect your sessions!

Pac-Man: The Board Game

From Buffalo Games, the arcade classic makes its triumphant tabletop return. Enjoyed in both cooperative or competitive modes, the player in control of Pac-Man aims to navigate the maze, chow down on pellets, and collect fruit while the players controlling the ghosts do their best to avoid or catch Pac-Man. Played on four metal tiles that make up the game board, it requires some initial assembly and setup, but repeat games are quick and easy to get started. The electronic Pac-Man figure even makes his iconic “waka waka” sound!

Tetris Board Game

Also made by Buffalo Games, Tetris is a competitive head-to-head game where players maneuver, rotate, and drop their tetriminos to get the highest score. Just like the video game, the next up piece is on full display, represented by a card, so players can plan their strategy accordingly. You earn points by completing lines, matching pieces to symbols on their tower, and completing specific achievements. Quick setup and play time makes this a great pick for parties and younger players.

Dark Souls: The Board Game - Tomb of Giants

Originally envisioned as content for the original Dark Souls board game Kickstarter campaign, the Tomb of Giants core set is a standalone adventure that’s great for newer players, and got its namesake from the infamous location familiar to players of the video games. Each player starts the game by choosing a class and gear, then starts navigating the catacombs, taking on skeleton archers, or resting at the bonfire. Actions are limited, so choose wisely. This game is very faithful to its source material, with its punishing combat and RPG elements that shine from the level up system. Tomb of Giants also features new playable characters and over a hundred new cards, all compatible with existing Dark Souls board game products.

Cuphead: Fast-Rolling Dice Game

Much like its digital counterpart, Cuphead: Fast Rolling Dice Game is an extremely fast-paced cooperative game where the object is to take out all the bosses using dice-heavy mechanics to deal damage. Setup is a breeze, as the structure of the boss deck never changes. The game begins with each player picking one of the four available characters: Cuphead, Mugman, Ms. Chalice, or Elder Kettle, and is then played through multiple rounds consisting of five phases, where players will set up their attacks and take on the boss. Rounds are timed, so pick your dice rolls carefully! Cuphead sports high replay value in that you can reup to beat your score and upgrade your abilities that carry over to future runs. See our Cuphead: Fast Rolling Dice Game review for more info.

The Oregon Trail Card Game

Dying of dysentery has never been so fun. In this quick to setup and play card game, players work together to make it to Oregon without perishing. Sessions are relatively quick, as you will die hard and fast from the various Calamity cards waiting to spell your doom. Oddly challenging and very luck based, you win by making it to the end of the Trail by playing fifty trail cards. One downside is that if a player dies on the first turn (which is more common than you’d think), they have to sit out that entire session until the party either wins or all die. Regardless, it’s a great recreation of the source material and is sure to steal a few laughs.

Elden Ring: The Board Game

The Pointer Sisters’ Hot Together has seen a monumental increase in Spotify streams following its use in the new Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer, which premiered just yesterday.

Global Spotify streams for the 1986 tune shot up a staggering 182,000% in the two hours following the trailer’s premiere alone. Spotify numbers seem to have gone without an update since yesterday, as Hot Together still sits at just over 250,000 streams, though it sounds like that number will see a significant change in the near future.

“Grand Theft Auto cuts through popular culture like almost nothing else,” Spotify’s Global Head of Editorial Sulinna Ong said in a statement. “Music has been synonymous with the series since the very beginning, so it’s great to see fans both new and established connecting with an iconic track in this way.”

It’s now been 24 hours since Rockstar Games revealed its latest look at GTA 6, with the trailer itself already boasting an incredible 77.7 million views on YouTube at the time of this story’s publication. Hot Together’s newfound success is quite the sight to see, but it’s also far from a shock. When Rockstar’s latest saw its first trailer revealed in late 2023, the song it featured, Tom Petty’s Love Is A Long Road, saw a similarly massive boost in Spotify streams. Its popularity brought on such a moment for gamers that many began to spin theories about how it might connect to GTA 6’s story, though no such creativity has emerged for Hot Together – yet.

Rockstar is giving eager fans lots of good music to listen to while they wait for its (recently delayed) GTA 6 release date of May 26, 2026, to arrive. In the meantime, you can read up on some of the best Trailer 2 fan theories we’ve seen so far, as well as our list of 89 details Rockstar tucked into the video.

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).

Is GTA 6 Trailer 2 too good to be true? Some cast doubt on the small print shown at the end of the trailer that said it was captured on PS5, suggesting the footage came from either a PS5 Pro or a PC. Not so, according to Rockstar.

In a social media post, the developer said GTA 6 Trailer 2 was captured “entirely in-game” from a PS5, and not only that, but it contains “equal parts” gameplay and cutscenes.

Here's the statement in full from Rockstar:

Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 2 was captured entirely in-game from a PlayStation 5, comprised of equal parts gameplay and cutscenes.

With that in mind, it makes GTA 6 all the more impressive. The footage in Trailer 2 is astonishingly detailed, and, we now know beyond any doubt, running on a five year-old console. By the time of GTA 6’s May 26, 2026 release date, the PS5 will be five-and-a-half years old.

The developer wizards at Rockstar are working their magic once again, but their mention of gameplay in Trailer 2 also sparks questions about which moments it’s talking about here. The most obvious one, already picked up by the GTA 6 community, is what looks like a cutscene to gameplay transition moment when Jason enters his apartment.

What else? GTA 6 fans will be going through the trailer as we speak to try to sort the gameplay from cutscenes.

While we wait to find out, we’ve got plenty more on GTA 6, including all the details we’ve discovered so far, a roundup of 70 brand new screenshots, and all the GTA 6 fan theories emerging from Trailer 2 itself.

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.

As part of Amazon's ongoing buy one, get one half off sale, you can pick up the incredible hardcover Lord of the Rings Illustrated Edition for $47.49 (47% off). This version contains all three Lord of the Rings books in one with beautiful illustrations by J.R.R. Tolkien himself, with gorgeous red pages that help it standout among others on your shelf. This oversized edition also comes with a slipcover jacket, two removable fold-out maps created by J.R.R's son Christopher Tolkien, and pages from the Book of Mazarbul.

Since this deal is part of Amazon's current book sale of buy one, get one half off, you can also choose from a variety of other popular titles and box sets for additional savings. Though, this is the only LotR illustrated edition in the sale.

Get The Lord of the Rings Illustrated Edition For Half Off

There’s no shortage of great board games these days, especially those centered around animals and nature. Harmonies released into the wild in 2024 and immediately began turning heads with its satisfying gameplay and gorgeous artwork. It feels like the lovechild of Azul and Cascadia, blending Azul’s token drafting with Cascadia’s animal-centric theme and tile-laying mechanics. It fits comfortably in the cozy board game category and makes a great pick for couples and families alike; it's easy to teach, yet still offers enough strategy and meaningful decision-making to keep more experienced players engaged.

What's in the Box

Harmonies manages to pack quite a bit into a compact box, as you'll quickly realize when you lift the lid. Inside, you'll find three separate rulebooks in English, French, and German, along with QR codes that link to quick video overviews in English, French, German, and Italian.

Beneath the instruction booklets are four sturdy, double-sided player boards and a double-sided central board used for drafting tokens during gameplay. Each set of colorful wooden tokens comes packaged in its own plastic bag for organization during shipping, but you'll likely find it easier to store them all together in the included linen drawstring pouch. The tokens themselves are high-quality, surprisingly lightweight, and make a satisfyingly tactile sound as they rattle around in the bag.

The box includes a built-in organizer to keep components tidy before and after gameplay. One side of the organizer features a folding cardboard lid that holds a deck of Animal and Nature’s Spirit cards, along with a bag of small plastic orange and clear cubes that represent the animals. Like the box itself, the cards showcase vibrant, stunning artwork of various animals in their natural habitats.

Also included are four double-sided reference cards – one for each player – that summarize how each biome is scored and provide a quick count of how many wooden tokens exist in each color. A small, colorful scoring pad makes it easy to tally up points at the end of the game.

While the built-in organizer is a welcome touch, you’ll need to give the wooden tokens in the linen pouch a quick shake and settle to get everything to fit properly; otherwise, the lid won’t sit flush with the box. That said, setup and teardown are incredibly fast, as there aren’t too many components to manage overall. Once everything’s packed away neatly, the compact box can be stored either horizontally or vertically on a shelf without any worry of components shifting or spilling inside.

Rules and How It Plays

The goal in Harmonies is to create a series of interconnected habitats for your animals by drafting and placing tokens on your player board to earn the highest score. After a quick setup, the first player chooses a set of three randomized tokens from the central board and places all of them on their personal board in any arrangement they like. However, once a token is placed, it can't be moved for the remainder of the game.

What makes Harmonies stand out is the ability to stack certain tokens, introducing a sense of verticality to the board and offering additional scoring opportunities if specific conditions are met.

For example, brown tokens can serve as the base of a tree, but they don’t score on their own unless a green token is placed on top. Mountains, built using one to three grey tokens, only score if they're adjacent to at least one other mountain. Fields, represented by yellow tokens, score in pairs of two or more and can’t be stacked, while rivers (blue tokens) score progressively more points the longer you can connect them. Buildings are the most complex to grasp at first; they require a base token – either brown, gray, or red – topped with a red token, and they score a flat number of points if at least three uniquely colored tokens are adjacent.

While this alone would make for an interesting game, the real strategy emerges from drafting Animal cards. Each card features a specific configuration of tokens along the bottom that represents a unique habitat required by that animal. For instance, an alligator might need a swamp made up of a tree and a small river beside it, while meerkats prefer a rocky structure adjacent to a field.

On each player’s turn, they have the option to draft one of the five available Animal cards and add it to their tableau, along with a set number of animal cubes that indicate how many times the depicted habitat must be built. Each time you successfully create the habitat shown on the card, you remove the bottommost animal cube and place it onto your player board, matching the habitat as pictured. As you remove cubes, you’ll earn an increasing number of points.

There’s no penalty for failing to complete an Animal card, but since you’re limited to four cards in your tableau at a time, choosing strategically is important. While it may be tempting to grab a bunch of animal cards early, you may find it difficult to complete the required habitats and miss out on valuable points.

The real strategy in Harmonies lies in optimizing the layout of habitats on your player board – maximizing the number of Animal cards you can complete while also keeping the base scoring of each biome in mind. At its core, Harmonies is an elegant optimization puzzle that presents a fresh challenge each time you play. While each player is primarily focused on their own personal board, there’s still a fair amount of interactivity, as you can block opponents from drafting certain sets of tokens or Animal cards that would perfectly complement their habitats.

Harmonies is an elegant optimization puzzle that presents a fresh challenge each time you play.

At the end of each turn, players replenish the three tokens they took with a random draw from the pouch and reveal a new Animal card if they drafted one. This constant churn forces players to stay flexible – there’s rarely a chance to plan too far ahead, especially in higher player count games where more turns happen between your own. That unpredictability is exactly where Harmonies shines. Each turn carries a subtle urgency: you’re racing to complete as much as you can on your board before the game ends, all while juggling smart decisions and efficient token placement.

In the later rounds, it’s not uncommon to have a well-optimized player board that lets you draft Animal cards and score them immediately, without needing to build additional habitats. It’s a deeply satisfying payoff that rewards careful planning and can earn you some quick points as you push toward the end of the game.

The game ends when the pouch runs out of tokens or when any player has two or fewer unoccupied spaces left on their board, triggering the final round. After that, players tally up their points and declare a winner.

Once you're comfortable with the base game, there are a few optional elements you can add in to shake up the gameplay. The first is the inclusion of Nature’s Spirit cards. At the beginning of the game, each player drafts one of two cards, each of which tasks you with building and completing a specific habitat in order to unlock an alternate scoring method for a particular biome. For example, you might earn extra points for building larger clusters of a specific terrain type, or for reaching certain heights with mountains or trees. These cards introduce new scoring opportunities and encourage you to rethink your usual strategy.

There’s also a secondary side of the player board that changes how rivers score. Instead of creating one long, connected river, you’ll need to form islands by isolating sections of land with water tiles, adding another layer of spatial planning to the puzzle.

Harmonies also includes a dedicated solo mode that offers a light score-chasing challenge with some surprisingly crunchy decisions, all wrapped up in a quick 10–20 minute playtime. The goal in this single-player variant is to collect as many suns as possible – a total based on your final score, the board side you used, and whether or not you played with Nature’s Spirit cards.

Where to Buy Harmonies

• Amazon
• Walmart

More Family-Friendly Board Games We Recommend

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster is set to release exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2 on the upcoming console’s launch date, June 5. A souped-up version of the 2012 Nintendo 3DS original, this remaster brings the JRPG into the HD era, with sharp new graphics, a redesigned interface, the ability to fast forward through sections, and more. The game is available to preorder now (see it at Target). Read on for the details.

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster

Note: This is a Game-Key Card

Some Nintendo Switch 2 games come on cards that contain the full game data. Others are more like a key to the game data, including this one. Game-key cards are physical cards that look basically like Switch 2 cartridges, but they don’t actually contain the game on them. Instead, you’ll need to insert the card into your Switch 2 and download the 11GB game from the eShop.

You can, however, still lend the game (via the physical card) to a friend, or sell it. But in order to play it, you will need to insert the game-key card into your Switch 2.

What is Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster?

When it first came out on 3DS, Bravely Default was something of a throwback RPG in that it featured turn-based combat and revolved around a group of heroes on a quest to find four crystals. The main draw of the game is the unique combat system that lets you save up turns in order to take multiple actions all at once. It also has a deep job system that lets you assign new abilities to each of your party members.

All of that is still present in this HD remaster, plus a number of other features. Now, in addition to the ability to fast forward through battles, you can breeze through cut scenes as well. You can still manipulate the encounter rate settings so you encounter more or fewer enemies depending on how you want to spend your time. There’s an online mode, plus new minigames.

More Preorder Guides

Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.

In 2024, indie developer VEA Games released Nikoderiko: The Magical World, their love letter to classic platformers. Now, they’ve released a Director’s Cut that refines gameplay and adds new content, and they’ve offered it as a free upgrade.

If you missed out on Nikoderiko the first time around, it’s a family-friendly platformer with an art style inspired by Saturday morning cartoons. It stars mongooses Niko and Luna and can be played in single-player or couch co-op. You travel through the game’s varied worlds on a quest to retrieve an ancient relic stolen from you by the nefarious Baron Grimbold, and you can team up with animal mounts to defeat his Cobring army and save the local tribes.

Since the release of the base version of the game, the dev team has received extensive feedback from players and worked to improve on as much as possible with the Director’s Cut.

“We have a lot of emails; I personally read and answer every email,” said Dmitry Smirnov, founder of VEA Games and director of Nikoderiko. “We tried to implement all the necessary features you asked for. There are a lot of ideas for the game and how to improve the game. It really helps us to make a good game a great game.”

One of the biggest improvements to the Director’s Cut is the expansion of its difficulty options, which target a wider range of players and experience levels. For hardcore players, there’s a new Hard Mode with level modifiers.

“It will push players,” Smirnov said. “There are more challenges, more hard but honest mechanics. We would like to give you the experience of a soulslike game in a family platformer.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Easy Mode has been made easier, lowering the barrier to entry for younger players or those new to gaming or the platformer genre. It is a family game, after all.

“We decided to make it more accessible for kids and younger players,” Smirnov said. “While we were developing Nikoderiko, it was nice to know that my kids will be able to feel the same impressions like I did in my childhood.”

Keeping with the theme of making Nikoderiko accessible to as many people as possible, the Director’s Cut adds text and voiceover options for several languages, including German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese. It also adds Steam Deck compatibility for the first time.

There’s also a new secret eighth world for players to unlock, with its own hidden treasures and new boss. With the new world comes new music from veteran composer David Wise, who composed the soundtrack for the base game. Wise has worked in gaming for more than 30 years and is probably best known for his composing work in the Donkey Kong Country series.

“On my fourth birthday, I got a present and it was Donkey Kong Country,” Smirnov said. “I always loved to play with my brother, and it changed a lot of my direction in life, because I was very inspired by the graphics and the mystical and atmospheric music.”

In addition to all the new content in the Director’s Cut, it also refines what was already there. Graphics have been upgraded, animations have improved, and performance has been optimized across all platforms.

If you’ve already bought Nikoderiko, the Director’s Cut is available as a free update and is compatible with your previous saved games, so you don’t need to start over. For the achievement hunters, the update adds new trophies and achievements on the appropriate platforms.

If you haven’t picked it up before, the Director’s Cut has replaced the base game on all platforms, so buying it now will get you the expanded version. It’s available on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Amazon Luna, so it’s safe to say you probably have access to it. It's also offered on sale pretty regularly, so you can always wishlist it on your preferred platform and buy it when it's at a price you're comfortable with.

For the collectors among you, a physical release was recently announced and is scheduled to release on August 22. The base game will be available on its own, and there will also be a Collector's Edition that comes with the game, David Wise's soundtrack on CD, and an official artbook with around 100 pages.

For more information, check out the game’s official website or join the community on Twitter for updates.

Developer Sandfall Interactive has announced that the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 soundtrack has managed to top Billboard album charts in the weeks since its release.

As fans continue to flock to the mega-hit turn-based RPG, one element that seems to have almost everyone pleased is its music. It’s been a specific highlight for those discussing Sandfall’s debut title on social media, and now, that praise is being reflected across Billboard.

Head to the Billboard website and you’ll find that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 currently sits atop both the Classical Albums and Classical Crossover Albums charts. Sandfall also revealed that the soundtrack has managed to make a mark at 13 on the Official Soundtrack Album chart and 31 on the Official Album Download chart. It means players are gravitating to more than just the experience’s story and gameplay as its dreamlike tunes back the entire adventure.

The Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 soundtrack is comprised of more than 150 individual tracks, with many boasting hundreds of thousands of streams on Spotify. It’s the epic Lumière that has established itself as the most popular track, though, as it has nearly 1.9 million views on YouTube and a little more than 1.9 million streams on Spotify.

A video game resonating with music fans in such a way is no doubt a feat to be proud of, but it’s especially impressive considering the soundtrack was handled by composer Lorien Testard, who, as Sandfall stated in an interview with BBC, was discovered on SoundCloud.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launched for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S (as well as Game Pass) April 24, 2025, less than two weeks ago. In that time, it’s managed to blow past the 2 million copies sold milestone, securing Sandfall’s first game as quite the success story. It’s seen so much praise that French President Emmanuel Macron even chimed in to offer his congratulations.

For more on how Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s reception, you can read up on why Sandfall doesn’t believe the surprise launch of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered impacted its sales. You can also check out how the project is dredging up familiar arguments surrounding turn-based games.

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).

With so many great games coming down the pipeline, now's a great time to hop on the Xbox Game Pass bandwagon. If some titles joining the catalog this year have caught your eye and you're itching to join in on the fun, you can choose between one or three month Game Pass Ultimate membership options at Amazon. Unfortunately, there aren't any discount deals available at the moment, but we'll update this when a new one drops.

You can learn more about options for signing up, what's coming soon to Game Pass this month, and the big releases still to come below.

Navigate to:

• Best Xbox Game Pass Deals
• What's Coming Soon to Xbox Game Pass?
• What Games Are Leaving Xbox Game Pass?
• Biggest Games Releasing on Xbox Game Pass

Best Xbox Game Pass Deals

The road from page to small screen for Daredevil: Born Again was rife with tweaks and rewrites, but it turns out the series that made it to air ultimately had one episode left untouched: Episode 5, the one that, believe it or not, just so happens to be star Charlie Cox’s “least favorite” of the entire season.

“I dunno if this is of interest, but I will say this amongst all of this, there was one episode we didn’t change at all,” Cox explained in a recent interview with The Playlist.

“It’s the episode in the bank, and that was part of the original [shoot]. We shot that before the strike. That was part of the original [draft], and just for my money, I wasn’t into it.”

Cox revealed to the outlet that he “pushed back against it as much as I felt was possible.” The episode in question features Cox’s character Matt Murdock (also known as the titular Daredevil) getting caught in the throes of a bank robbery while attempting to land a loan for the law firm he shares with partners Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll).

“That feels like a 1970s game,” Cox told the outlet of what he thought of the episode. “Too much technology these days for that to work. And also, I didn’t think the actual device used for the theft was sophisticated enough.”

That said, the actor also acknowledged that despite his own preferences, fans seemed to really enjoy what the episode had to offer.

“I really pushed back on the episode, and yet I hear from so many people that they love that episode. So, it just goes to show you just don’t know. It’s so subjective,” Cox added. “Everyone’s taste is different. And I’ve heard that that episode is one of the highest-rated. Internally, when they do their ratings, it’s one of the highest-rated Disney shows that they’ve had.”

Indeed, we loved Episode 5. In our Daredevil: Born Again Episodes 5 and 6 Review, we said: "It’s all just so well done. I can’t remember the last time a Marvel show had me wearing such a big smile the entire episode and had me completely captivated from start to finish. This episode also achieves something very important given the lack of Daredevil thus far: it shows what makes Matt Murdock such a unique and amazing hero, even when he’s not in costume."

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

Following the euphoric reception to the return of Verdansk to Call of Duty battle royale Warzone, familiar complaints have begun to resurface, chief among them cheating.

Call of Duty has a reputation for cheating (it comes with the territory of being such a hugely popular shooter and having a free-to-download battle royale). Cheating is more prevalent on PC (Activision recently confirmed as much, to the point where it said if you believe you’ve died unfairly to a console player, it’s much more likely that they’ve used ‘intel advantage’ than cheats). So, some console players head straight into Call of Duty’s settings to turn off crossplay across the board, just to take the potential for PC cheaters ruining their day out of the equation. With the launch of Season 3, Activision even added new console-only crossplay options for regular multiplayer, although PC players who do not cheat said they were being unfairly punished.

Activision, as IGN has reported, has spent millions of dollars in the battle against Call of Duty cheat makers, cheat sellers, and cheat users, with a number of recent high-profile successes. In March, Phantom Overlay announced it was shutting down, with fans reacting in disbelief that such a prominent Call of Duty cheat provider could fall by the wayside. Also in March, IGN reported on four cheat providers that were shut down ahead of the hotly anticipated return of Verdansk to Warzone.

It had been hoped that Warzone's cheating problem would improve following Verdansk’s release, but the honeymoon period has well and truly come to an end, with players reporting that cheaters are back in force.

“Geegees Cheaters...it is your game now. Enjoy,” declared redditor Patient-Author-2960. “Big congrats to all the cheaters for finally conquering the game again and donkey punching Verdansk. You guys really stuck with it, grinding those walls and aimbots to perfection. It must feel amazing to dominate lobbies without any actual skill. Welcome back.”

Amid this fresh wave of negativity, Activision has published an anti-cheat update from its Ricochet team, recapping what’s gone on with Season 3. Activision failed to address this apparent rise in Warzone cheating, but did outline the work it has been doing to address the problem of cheating generally across Warzone and Black Ops 6.

“Our commitment is to keep cheaters out of the game and, for those who make it past our initial systems, identify and remove them as quickly as possible,” Activision said.

“The Ricochet Anti-Cheat team is hard at work taking on would-be cheaters throughout the game, including those looking to steal leaderboard glory.”

Activision said it had shut down five more cheat makers since its last progress report (this is on top of the 20+ it’s shut down since Black Ops 6 came out last year), and had “disrupted” over 150 cheat sellers in the same period.

It said it had protected over 10,000 accounts that had a potential suspicious account link in Season 03 (Activision recently forced players to verify they are in control of an account if someone attempts to link a new PC account to an Activision ID). It’s also added Replay Tech Preview, a new tech that helps examine replays for faster investigation, and added new elements to the Death Widget, making KillCams clearer for players.

“The Season 03 update has made a strong impact against cheat makers and resellers,” Activision insisted. “For example, as we announced recently, Ricochet Anti-Cheat quickly detected a cheat provider that came back online after weeks of downtime, resulting in a large-scale ban wave against its customer base, forcing it offline once again.

“We’ve continued to cause chaos in the cheat marketplace and have hit a milestone of disrupting over 150 cheat resellers – shutting them down or rendering their software ineffective. And we’re not slowing down.”

🛡️ #BlackOps6 #Warzone

A message from #TeamRICOCHET:

Earlier this week, we detected a cheat vendor that was offline was attempting to return. Today, we shut them down (again) by issuing a large-scale ban wave against their customers.

We've shut down over 20 cheat makers…

— Call of Duty Updates (@CODUpdates) April 25, 2025

Activision highlighted new account creation, which is a tactic cheaters use when they get booted from Warzone. This, Activision said, is “a reality” for all free-to-play games like Warzone, but it’s targeting new accounts and is now seeing “strong” results. On average from the period between Season 02 through Season 03, new accounts are banned within four matches when they cheat, Activision said.

New anti-cheat systems and upgrades are coming throughout Season 03 Reloaded – specifically with Ranked Play online in Call of Duty: Warzone – as well as upcoming seasons, Activision continued.

“Our team’s commitment remains the same. While threats continue to exist, we’re focused on strengthening the barriers to make cheating in Call of Duty a fool’s errand, eliminating as many cheaters as possible before they can impact a match, and hunting down and removing any cheating account that makes its way into the game as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile, Activision said it has issued cease and desist demands to several companies that create and sell third-party hardware used to cheat in Call of Duty games.

“We have already seen compliance from some of the companies we’ve contacted; however, we will continue to pursue other device makers in the market, globally, as well as people that create scripts to manipulate Call of Duty game code,” Activision warned.

“These devices and scripts used to cheat in our games are not welcome. Call of Duty does not endorse the use of these products. Any account that utilizes these devices on PC or console for the purpose of cheating will be permanently banned.”

“No anti-cheat system can eliminate all threats, but we continue to deliver updates to take the legs out from under cheat makers by banning their users, forcing them offline, and reducing the time to detection for accounts that make it into the game,” Activision concluded. “Today and into the future, the Ricochet Anti-Cheat roadmap continues, with new updates being developed and deployed on a regular basis.”

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.

If you've been waiting for one of the more affordable Blackwell cards to come back in stock at a reputable retailer, here's your chance to pick one up at list price. Amazon currently has the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5070 Windforce OC 12GB Graphics Card exclusively for Amazon Prime members for $609.99 with free shipping. This is an excellent GPU for gaming at up to 1440p with high framerates and supports the latest DLSS 4 technology.

Update: For a limited time, get a voucher for the upcoming Doom: The Dark Ages game with purchase.

Note that the suggested launch price of a GeForce RTX 5070 card is $549.99. There are a few models at that price point but they have been extremely hard to find in stock. This Windforce model is priced higher because it's an OC version. That said, this is currently the lowest price you'll find for a standalone 5070 GPU.

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5070 Windforce OC GPU for $609.99

The Nintendo Switch 2 launches in less than one month, so you should know that it may use some of its new features to record your audio and video chat sessions.

Nintendo clarified its intentions on the privacy policy section of its website (as spotted by NintendoSoup). It’s a recent change that might impact how players utilize devices such as the Switch 2 in their homes and on the go, as Nintendo says it “may” use your information to “provide a safe and secure environment for certain of our services.”

“Our services may allow you to create, upload or share content such as text, images, audio, video, your nickname and user icon, or other content that you create or is licensed to you,” the Your Content section of its privacy policy says.

“With your consent, and to enforce our terms, we may also monitor and record your video and audio interactions with other users. When you use any of our services that include these or other similar capabilities we may collect your content in accordance with our terms of use and this policy.”

It's worth noting Nintendo's line about needing the user's consent to monitor and record video and audio, which suggests there will be an opt-in button when setting up the Switch 2.

Still, it's an important update fans should be aware of as we inch toward the launch of the Switch 2, which is slated to arrive June 5. A new Nintendo console means new features, and this time around, one focus for the architects behind the hardware involved giving players more multiplayer communication options. Leading the charge on this initiative is a new C button, which allows users to instantly start chatting with friends across Nintendo’s online network.

Pressing the button allows players to speak with friends via a microphone built into the Switch 2 itself. Screen sharing is also available to those who wish to replicate the feeling of couch co-op with buddies outside of your play area, as is video streaming for those who purchase the new camera accessory. Video options, specifically, seem to be relatively low quality but still do the job of broadcasting your face – and potentially your environment – to your friends.

Outside of improved graphics and mouse-like control options, voice and video chat might be the Switch 2’s defining feature, so it’ll be important to keep Nintendo’s recent privacy policy changes in mind. For more on the upcoming tech launch, you can read up on why a popular Piranha Plant accessory is slightly cheaper than the standard camera. You can also check in on how the system’s pre-order launch was handled, as well as our interview with Nintendo’s Bill Trinen.

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).

For a limited time, Amazon is currently offering a buy one, get one half off sale on tons of different books. This sale includes anything ranging from cookbooks to young adult novels, biographies to fiction, and even some literary classics and self-help books. This sale is only limited to physical books, so this is a great way to catch up on stories or books you've missed over the years for cheap, as well as fill out your ever-crowding bookshelves. Here are some of the best books included in the sale!

While there are some great gift ideas in here, make sure to check out our guide to more Mother's Day sales for additional options.

Book Collections on sale

Included in the sale are collections of some of the best fiction around. You can pick up Sarah J. Maas' entire A Court of Thorns and Roses saga, Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games book trilogy with the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes included (her most recent novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, can be purchased separately but is still part of this sale), and deluxe pocket book-style printings of the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Biographies

You can also pick up a wide variety of autobiographies in this sale. A notable inclusion is My Next Breath: A Memoir by Jeremy Renner, where the actor details his harrowing near-death snowplow accident in 2023. He also breaks down his career, from playing Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to his iconic role in The Town. I'd also recommend Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction, which was adapted to film in 2018 and starred Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet.

Film and TV Source Material

If you're like me, you might enjoy diving into the source material of your favorite adapted shows and movies. Verity by Colleen Hoover is a fantastic thriller with some unpredictable twists with a film adaptation currently in production. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides fits this same bill. Then there's Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, author of the Martian and the much weaker Artemis that also has a film on the way starring Ryan Gosling. Finally, I highly recommend The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, as the Hulu adaptation is currently in its final season.

Literary Classics

English nerds, this sale is for you. You can pick up some timeless literary classics for super cheap. Many of these are interesting foils to current world events, so now is the best time to dive in and experience these stories. George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm are both available in their 75th anniversary printings. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is under $10 in paperback, and the Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (a personal favorite of mine) is a must-read.

Myles Obenza is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Bluesky @mylesobenza.bsky.social.

Hulu has been around for a while and, for our money, it's one of the absolute best streaming services available. From great movies like Anatomy of a Fall and Prey to excellent television series like the Golden Globe-winning Shogun, Abbott Elementary, and The Handmaid's Tale there is always something awesome to watch. We've also got the highly-anticipated Alien: Earth series on our radar this year, even though a release date is still to be announced.

Below, we've detailed all of the best Hulu deals and bundles so you can get started on your streaming adventures with its library right away. This includes the Hulu, Disney+, and Max streaming bundle, which starts at just $16.99/month and is currently the best value available for the streaming services following the Disney Plus and Hulu price hikes. To see even more streaming deals, make sure to check out our roundups of the best Disney Plus deals and the best Max deals.

How to Get The Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max Streaming Bundle

The Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle can be purchased on any of the three streaming services and starts at $16.99/month for the ad-supported tier or $29.99/month for ad-free access across all three platforms. If you're looking to cut down on streaming costs and currently own all three of these, this is an excellent bundle to invest in. It'll save you quite a bit compared to what you'd pay for the three of them separately per month - 43% on the ad-supported plan and 42% on the ad-free plan.

Hulu deal for students — Get Hulu (With Ads) for just $1.99/month

If you're a student enrolled in a university (a US Title IV accredited college or university, per Hulu's website), you can sign up for Hulu (With Ads) for $1.99 a month. That's an excellent deal if you're a student, saving you $8 on the usual monthly price.

Hulu subscription tiers

Hulu: Bundle to Best

If you want a more affordable option when it comes to a Hulu subscription, you can't go wrong with a bundle, and Hulu has several to choose from:

• Hulu + Live TV (With Ads) — Hulu + Live TV (With Ads) is $82.99/month and includes Disney+ and ESPN+. It also gives you access to more than 75 channels with live TV and unlimited DVR functionality. The Hulu + Live TV plan also has a three-day free trial to test out the service.
• Hulu + Live TV (Ad-Free) — The ad-free version of Hulu+Live TV is $95.99/month and comes with ad-free versions of Hulu and Disney Plus, although ESPN still shows ads.
• Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic — This is the most economic bundle. It will set you back $10.99/month and comes with subscriptions to Disney+ and Hulu. It lets you stream on multiple devices at once and comes with ad-supported versions of both Disney+ and Hulu.
• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Basic — This bundle adds ESPN+ into the mix alongside Disney+ and Hulu, bumping up the price to $16.99/month. You can also download and watch select content on ESPN+ at this level.
• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Premium — This bundle is $26.99/month and comes with ESPN+ (with ads) and ad-free versions of Disney+ and Hulu. You can also download select content across all three streaming services.

What can you watch on Hulu?

There is a bonkers amount of shows and movies you can watch on Hulu. Let's start at the top and simply talk about the verticals on offer with the base subscription, because if we also talk about what is available via Disney+, ESPN+, or live TV, we'll be here forever. (You can also sync up Hulu with Max to gain access to things like Succession and House of the Dragon.)

Here's what you get:

• Network and Hulu Original television shows (AMC, Adult Swim, ABC, A&E, FX, etc.)
• Movies (HBO, Hulu Originals, anime films, etc.)
• Sports (NHL, Soccer, MLB, Auto Racing, NFL, College Football, PGA, Tennis, etc.)
• News (ABC News Live, Good Morning America, World News Tonight, 20/20, The View, etc.)

Hulu television

Hulu has some amazing shows, both those that are finished and many which are ongoing. For comedy, there are plenty of options to choose from, including New Girl, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, What We Do In The Shadows, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Broad City, Abbott Elementary, and so much more.

There are also some big Hulu originals to watch, including The Bear, The Old Man, The Handmaid's Tale, and Only Murders In The Building.

As far as animated fare, there are modern adult classics like Rick and Morty and Bob's Burgers, as well as Futurama, Family Guy, and King of the Hill. Anime staples like Cowboy Bebop are also available. And if you want to bring more youth-friendly fun, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and Curious George are just a small sample of what Hulu has available.

The future of Hulu

Hulu isn't going anywhere. As a matter of fact, beyond it being awarded the best streaming service by us and receiving a 9/10 in our updated Hulu review, it was bought in full by Disney in November 2023 and the House of Mouse has created a one-app experience for those bundling Hulu and Disney+. With an FX partnership, Hulu is also home to those shows, including the drama miniseries, Shogun.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.

Original story from Brian Barnett.

For a limited time, Amazon is offering the popular INIU 10,000mAh USB Power Bank with 20W Power Delivery for just $9.35 after clipping a 50% off coupon on the product page. INIU power banks have solid reviews and are less expensive than equivalent Anker models. This particular product has 1,900 reviews on Amazon with a Fakespot "A" rating. Fakespot grades reviews based on how trustworthy they appear to be.

INIU 10,000mAh Power Bank for $9.35

Even decades after its original run, Dragon Ball Z remains one of the most popular anime series ever released. Who doesn't love watching colorful, muscular heroes battling it out with the fate of the entire world at stake?

Even as the franchise continues to grow thanks to Dragon Ball Super and the recently concluded Dragon Ball Daima, we feel now is a great time to celebrate classic DBZ and its most iconic heroes and villains. Let's count down the best characters from the show's long run, from Frieza to Vegeta to Goku.

Note: This list only covers Dragon Ball Z, not the original Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super, or Dragon Ball Daima!

13. Mr. Satan/Hercule

Dragon Ball Z has a number of designated comic relief characters, but it's hard to top Mr. Satan (or Hercule, if you prefer the Funimation dub). This bombastic, self-aggrandizing fighter is only too happy to keep taking credit for the Z crew's victories, which leads to him becoming the world's most beloved celebrity by the end of the series. But on some level, we can't really blame the guy. By human standards, he actually is pretty powerful, and it's not his fault he has to try to compete with Saiyans and Namekians. Besides, he got the chance to fight a resurrected Hitler in the Fusion Reborn movie, and that has to count for something.

12. Majin Buu

As the final main villain of the series, Majin Buu doesnt quite hold up to previous baddies like Frieza and Cell, but he's still pretty imposing in his own right. He's by far the most powerful of the many fighters Goku and friends square off against in the series. What really makes Buu stand out is the fact that he has so many forms, each with their own personality and motivations. Every time our heroes think they've achieved the power necessary to conquer this ancient evil, he transforms and resets the game board all over again.

11. Videl

She may be a relatively late addition to the series, but Video definitely ranks among the show's best female characters. It's a lot of fun watching her friendship/romance with Gohan develop in the early course of the Buu Saga, especially as Videl butts heads with the equally headstrong Chi-Chi. It also quickly becomes clear that Videl is the powerful, noble fighter her father wishes he could be. She's not able to contribute much as the Buu Saga wears on, but Videl remains one of the best later additions to the DBZ saga.

10. Bulma

Bulma isn't quite as central to the Dragon Ball Z saga as she is the original Dragon Ball, but she's still a character worth highlighting. The rare science dork amid a sea of musclebound fighters, Bulma is always happy to save the day with a handy gadget or three. Where would our heroes be without her trusty array of Capsule Corp. accessories? Bulma's unlikely romance with Vegeta also proves to be one of the series' more compelling subplots. She's come a long way since her very first team-up with Goku.

9. Android 18

While the line between good and evil is usually pretty well defined in the DBZ-verse, there are exceptions. Android 18 is certainly one such case. One of the world-conquering androids Future Trunks is sent to warn our heroes about, 18 quickly proves herself to be more than just a killing machine. Her independent streak and sarcastic sense of humor reveal a deep-seated humanity Dr. Gero couldn't quite snuff out. By the end of the series, 18 has given up her original programming in favor of starting a family with Krillin. It's a shame the series never shows us more of how that relationship developed, but 18 nonetheless ranks among the series' more intriguing and nuanced characters.

8. Cell

The ultimate creation of Dr. Gero, Cell is a creature who has near limitless growth potential. What is most interesting about him, though, is that he is willing to wait for characters to reach their full potential. He could simply kill everyone with his immense power, but often he is seen stalling and waiting, as he wants to battle the heroes of Earth when they are at their true potential.

If not quite the greatest villain in DBZ history, Cell is certainly responsible for some of the series' best moments. Who can forget the tragic death of Android 16, spurring Gohan to unleash his true power? And don't forget the dramatic final showdown, when the late Goku returns to help his son finally destroy this all-powerful threat to humanity.

7. Krillin

You really can’t make a list about Dragon Ball Z without including Krillin, Goku’s longtime friend and training partner. Although his power is quickly outpaced by Goku during the events of Dragon Ball Z, Krillin is always around and ready to fight, even if it often does mean he gets beat up. In fact, Krillin's poor fighting record has become a bit of a running joke at this point. The most memorable of his many deaths occurs at the hands of Frieza, something Krillin himself has never forgotten. However, it was not entirely in vain, as his death served to spark the initial Super Saiyan transformation in Goku. He may never be the strongest, or the most... alive, but Krillin is always there for his friends, and that’s what makes him number seven on our list.

6. Trunks

Trunks is unique among the DBZ fighters in that he appears in two completely different forms over the course of the series. We first meet Trunks early in the Cell Saga, as a battle-hardened teen warrior from the future with a dire message. Trunks makes quite the first impression, handily dispatching both Mecha-Frieza and King Cold with a few lightning-quick sword slashes, and he continues to gain new layers over the course of that storyline and the tie-in movie, The History of Trunks.

Later, fans meet the younger version of Trunks, a boy no longer burdened by growing up in a hellish world of evil androids. Along with his BFF Goten, Trunks is the source of endless comedic relief during the Buu Saga. Whichever version you prefer, he's a worthy addition to the series' cast.

5. Piccolo

Piccolo did quite the 180 over the course of DBZ. It's easy to forget he was the main villain in the final story arc in the original Dragon Ball. Piccolo slowly morphs from Goku's mortal enemy to reluctant ally to outright friend over the course of the series. Whatever differences the two warriors might once have had, Piccolo is redeemed after taking a strong interest in young Gohan, helping nurture his pupil's immense hidden power. Piccolo is also notable for being the one non-Saiyan character who can keep up with the likes of Goku and Vegeta, thanks mainly to his habit of fusing with fellow Namekians like Nail and his doppelganger Kami.

4. Gohan

Goku's older son Gohan could potentially be the strongest fighter in the series. Sadly, that potential is never fully realized, as he would rather live his life as a pacifist, only fighting in times of true need. Even with that mentality, though, Gohan has been involved in some of the largest and most memorable moments of the entire franchise. We are teased throughout the series that his inner potential is greater than anyone's, and we see an example of this when he becomes the first Super Saiyan 2 in order to defeat Cell. His potential is further unlocked during the Buu Saga, when he gains the ability to go into an Ultimate form, totally separate from his Saiyan forms. Perhaps he never truly eclipses his father in terms of power, but in many ways Gohan is the true heart and soul of DBZ.

3. Frieza

He may not be anywhere near the most powerful villain by the series' end, but Frieza's capacity for evil is unrivaled. Frieza and the rest of his family rule over a massive space empire, and they clearly prefer to do so with an iron fist. Even before meeting Goku, we learn that Frieza has destroyed countless worlds, killed millions of people and was responsible for the destruction of Planet Vegeta, the homeworld of the Saiyans. Once we do meet him in the series, his evil ways are further displayed as he kills and tortures the people of Namek to obtain their Dragon Balls. He kills Krillin, and in his last act, destroys the planet Namek in an attempt to kill Goku. Years after his original debut, there has still been no villain who can match Frieza’s ruthless, evil ways, and for this reason he makes it to number three on our list.

2. Goku

Goku is the main character of the Dragon Ball saga, and it only makes sense he'd rank very high on this list as one of the most recognizable anime characters. Time and again, Goku proves himself to be the hero his adoptive home planet needs. He always digs deep and finds a new reservoir of strength or a new level of Super Saiyan-hood to overcome the mightiest opponents the universe has to offer. No one, not Frieza, Broly or Buu, can truly defeat the ultimate Saiyan warrior.

Goku is also a fundamentally good guy. He wants nothing more than to train hard, prove his mettle and come home to a good meal. Maybe that makes him simpler and less complex than his archrival Vegeta, but you have to admire Goku's consistency over the years.

1. Vegeta

No character experiences a greater or better-defined arc over the course of Dragon Ball Z than Vegeta. When we first meet him, this prince of the lost Saiyan Empire is a planet-destroying bully come to conquer Earth. But over the course of the series, Vegeta evolves from foe to reluctant friend of the Z Fighters. He even settles down with Bulma and starts a family. But even when he turns over a new leaf, Vegeta has a habit of putting his rivalry with Goku ahead of the planet's best interests.

Vegeta is the series' greatest character because he's also the most fascinating. He's cursed to always be second best. No amount of high-gravity training or death-defying schemes will allow Vegeta to stay ahead of Goku for long. But that doesn't stop him from trying, and that's why we love him.

Do you agree with our picks? Does the #1 choice make you want to go Super Saiyan? Sound off in the comments below! You can also check our selection of Dragon Ball Z action figures to add them to your collection.

Note: this article was originally published on 9/16/2021 and updated on 5/7/2025.

One of the great things about Elden Ring has always been the diversity of playstyles it enables, and one of my favorite playstyles is loading up on Strength, grabbing the largest weapon I can find, and crushing foes with posture-breaking jumping attacks and charged-up heavy strikes. If that’s you too, then allow me to introduce you to the Raider in Nightreign (see the video below).

While the Guardian — the other big burly class with lots of health and an affinity for big weapons — is more focused on defense with a shield as a starter weapon and an ultimate ability that can mitigate damage for the entire party for an extended period of time, the Raider is designed as an absolute offensive powerhouse.

The most important ability of the Raider is Retaliate, which initially may not seem like a very strong skill on its own — it’s just two stomps that deal a bit of physical and poise damage. But the real magic is that thanks to the Raider’s passive, he cannot be knocked down while doing Retaliate. This means that the Raider basically has a free damage-soaking technique that will let you totally armor through pretty much any enemy or boss attack, with the added bonus of that weak second stomp getting replaced by an extremely powerful punch that will stagger even the largest enemies, if you manage to absorb an attack that would’ve done a substantial amount of damage.

Then there is the Raider’s ultimate, Totem Stela, which has him slamming the ground and causing a large totem to erupt, dealing big damage to anything around it. Like all of the other Ultimates in Nightreign, this is an incredibly powerful technique that can alter the tide of a fight. Not only does it deal big damage, but the totem is climbable, giving both you and your teammates either a safe place to lay low, or a vantage point to hit. In addition to that, it also gives everyone a damage buff as well, meaning it's one of the first ults you’ll want to coordinate using so that the rest of the team can benefit from it.

The Raider starts with the Raider’s Greavtaxe, which is a pretty solid starting weapon that deals some fire damage and has the “Endure” skill affixed to it, which basically gives you another way to absorb and power through enemy attacks in case Retaliate is on cooldown. Still, you’ll definitely want to find a better weapon as the nights get closer, and large strength-scaling weapons are definitely the Raider’s go-to style of weapon.

Of all the classes I’ve played in Nightreign, the Raider is definitely the one that I’ve had the most fun with. It’s the one that is most well-suited for one-on-one battles, which is appropriate because its Remembrances (we’ll talk about those later on in the month) have you fighting in one-on-one boss fights in a sort of gladiatorial arena, which is a nice change of pace.

That's all for our hands-on impressions of Nightreign's classes, but stay tuned all throughout the month in depth looks at the mechanics of Nightreign, along with interviews with the developers, and more as IGN First continues on.

Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You can find him on twitter @JurassicRabbit

Discover the secrets at the heart of a mysterious Monolith in Empyreal, a single-player third-person action RPG from UK indie developer Silent Games. In Empyreal, you play as a lone mercenary who has made their way to a distant planet with the aim of helping the Expedition delving inside the Monolith, defeating the enemies within and uncovering the secrets of the universe. With level-changing items, unique weapon archetypes and multiple questlines, how you explore the Monolith is up to you ⁠– here are five things to know to prepare you for Empyreal.

CARTOGRAMS

Within the Monolith are four Quadrants, each housing a variety of crafted levels for you to explore. While the level layout of the Quadrants remain the same, the enemies, loot, boss and number of lives change depending on the Cartogram you select. At their core, Cartograms are level-altering items that are looted from enemies or given to you by NPCs ⁠– the random attributes they apply affect each level and dictate the loot players will find throughout the level, the number of lives they have (known as Reset Charges), enemy types and the enemy boss, as well as the loot the boss can drop once they’re defeated.

The randomised nature of Cartograms means players will experience a new adventure every time they enter the Monolith ⁠– and be sure to explore every inch of the level to find all the loot it offers, as Cartograms can’t be re-entered after completion or after losing your Reset Charges. Don’t worry about failing any story-essential ones though, those Cartograms can be entered no matter how many times you fail.

WEAPON ARCHETYPES

Inside the Monolith are fearsome automatons that stand in your way - how will you dispatch them? Well, that depends on your weapon. Empyreal features three weapon archetypes, and each one has its own unique move set and offers a variety of different ways to play. The Glaive is a fast-paced, acrobatic weapon that relies on deflecting and dodging. The Mace and Shield is the slower, more defensive option where you can absorb damage and send it back to enemies. Last up is the Cannon, a ranged weapon with three ammunition types ⁠– performing perfect reloads to switch between ammo is a skill you’ll have to master to mitigate being vulnerable in close-combat.

Empyreal doesn’t lock players into a specific class, so as you explore the Monolith and pick up new weapons and equipment you’re free to switch it up and try out a new archetype ⁠when you’re preparing between Cartograms. So while you’ll likely find a weapon that fits your playstyle, sometimes a weapon loot drop might be so good you have to try it out.

ABILITIES

Beyond weapons, abilities are the next essential tool in your arsenal to overcome the challenges posed by the Monolith. Abilities are designed to be used often and in combination with each other in fun and inventive ways. The number of abilities on hand at any one time is limited to four, plus one ultimate, so it’s best to strategise about what works well together. For example, Drain Essence is an ability that greatly reduces enemy HP for a short time, while Pommel Strike inflicts stunning damage ⁠– use both together, followed up by a ‘coup de grace’ finishing move, to make short work of an enemy.

Making an effective build with abilities that reflect your playstyle is possible due to Empyreal’s lack of skill tree ⁠– players aren’t locked into rigid progression, so feel free to mix and match abilities and discover what works best for you.

QUESTLINES

Just because you’re a lone mercenary doesn’t mean you're alone. In between trips to the Monolith you’ll spend time in the Hub, a central area filled with members of the Expedition exploring the planet. ⁠Visit the merchants to pick up new items and upgrade gear and speak to NPCs to hear their stories and uncover more about the world of Empyreal. Each character has their own personal questline which you can follow and help with, with each of them having multiple endings depending on your actions ⁠– you can even fail them outright.

Help these members of the Expedition with their branching stories by speaking with them or bringing them gifts and not only will you uncover more about the origins of the Monolith, but you’ll be rewarded with passive abilities and gear sets which will help in combat.

ASYNCHRONOUS MULTIPLAYER

Empyreal is a single-player game, but the asynchronous multiplayer features mean you can feel like other players have got your back. After defeating an enemy boss, a tear in the aether will appear. Interacting with the tear will let players donate the highest-rarity piece of gear they’ve looted in the Cartogram, which is randomly gifted to another player once they complete their own Cartogram. It might leave you at a slight disadvantage, but the receiving player will see the gear’s stats massively increased and therefore be even more helpful to its recipient.

Players can also gift Reset Charges to defeated players, giving them another chance when they’re on the brink of death. You can also buy and sell Cartograms at the Trading Post in the Hub if you’re looking for particular loot drops, and help friends rather than strangers by directly sending items through the in-game mail.

Want to know more about Empyreal? There’s no better way than playing the game itself, which you can do when Empyreal launches on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on 8 May 2025.