While just about every phone you can get your hands on nowadays will be able to play some games, several key features distinguish a fine gaming phone from a great one. Powerful processing is one piece of the puzzle. Being able to sustain high performance levels is also a must – you don’t want to deal with a phone that can only run smoothly for a few minutes before it slows down and scorches your hands. Extra memory and storage are also clutch for gaming phones, providing a means for multitasking even while you have a game running and giving you plenty of space for games. Some gaming phones, like the RedMagic 10 Pro, even offer extra upgrades for gaming, like additional shoulder buttons and enhanced touch sampling rates. (Though you could also just pick up a dedicated phone controller.)

Of course, the display is also a big piece of the puzzle. If you can’t see your games, you’re going to have a hard time playing them. A bigger, brighter display helps, as does a boost in refresh rate for smooth motion. An added benefit of a bigger phone is that your thumbs won’t cover as much of the display when you’re using touch controls. I've been testing and reviewing gaming phones for years now, so with all these details in mind, here’s a look at the best smartphones that also excel when it comes to gaming anywhere, anytime.

TL;DR – These Are the Best Gaming Phones:

1. RedMagic 10 Pro

Best Gaming Phone

2. OnePlus 13

Best Everyday Phone for Gaming

3. iPhone 17 Pro Max

Best iPhone for Gaming

4. iPhone 16e

Best Budget iPhone for Gaming

5. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7

Best Foldable Gaming Phone

6. OnePlus 12R

Best Budget Android for Gaming

What We’re Looking Forward to:

The RedMagic 10 Pro is truly an excellent gaming phone. But with all the performance it pumps out of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip inside, it got me wondering just what the kind of performance could do if it were funneled into the same kind of games we all play on PC. When I’m not testing phones, I’m often testing laptops, and I’ve tested the MSI Claw 8 AI+ for Lifehacker. What’s been interesting to see is how the divide between the PC and phone hardware has been narrowing, both because the phone chips are speeding up considerably and because Windows has made a push toward ARM (the same architecture used by phone processors) alongside the introduction of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite SoCs for Windows systems.

With that narrowing divide, I’m constantly checking to see where there’s the closest overlap. For instance, the RedMagic 10 Pro actually performed quite close to the MSI Claw 8 AI+ in Geekbench 6’s single-core and multi-core test. It falls a bit further behind in raw GPU performance, though with just 78% of the performance in Steel Nomad Light. But bear in mind that the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is a powerful handheld that outstrips the Steam Deck considerably in 3DMark, by even more than it beats the RedMagic 10 Pro in Steel Nomad Light (one of the more demanding tests). All that is to say, the RedMagic 10 Pro could make a viable handheld when paired with a phone controller.

Now, there are certainly plenty of great games for Android, but there’s a whole world of PC games that it would be wonderful to throw all of the RedMagic 10 Pro’s horsepower at. But you can’t. And that’s where the upcoming RedMagic 10S Pro gets exciting. As reported by TechSpot, the RedMagic 10S Pro may support some form of Windows emulation to run PC games. While I’d expect there to be some performance penalty as a result, I don’t think even a 25% penalty would be enough to stop the phone from offering excellent performance in games like Hades or Dead Cells – the kind of indie titles that excel on gaming handhelds. And since the new RedMagic 10S Pro is packing a Snapdragon 8 Elite Leading Version chip, it should offer a slight bump in performance over its predecessor.

While this currently remains in the realm of conjecture, as I don’t have my hands on the new phone (yet) and can’t be certain it will even offer the sort of emulation suggested, it’s still an exciting prospect. Even better would be if someone (like Valve) would adapt Steam OS to support some of this mobile hardware. Heck, it might not be long before Windows can run natively on these phone SoCs.

What to Look for in a Gaming Phone

Once you're certain you're a prime candidate for a gaming phone, here's exactly what to consider when you're on the hunt for one. While the best smartphones on the market tend to have some of what it takes to be a decent gaming phone, proper gaming phones tend to have some considerable advantages. You’ll find unseen benefits under the hood, upgrades to the screen and battery, and even extra controls to help give you the edge while gaming.

• Processors: This is a key area for gaming phones as they effectively define how well a phone can run a game. Top-tier chips like those from the Snapdragon 8 family (e.g., Elite, Gen 1/2/3) tend to be strong performers in games, and the recent Snapdragon 8 Elite has shown itself an absolute beast when it comes to gaming. Apple’s iPhones also tend to have pretty high-performance chips, with any model within the last year or two often providing more than enough speed for the latest games.

• Cooling and heat management: While a fast processor is a good start, running games is demanding and generates heat. Gaming phones generally make a point of managing that. Paying attention to sustained performance is a key part of how we test phones’ gaming potential. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra may have great performance in a short benchmark, but it slows down considerably as it heats up. Meanwhile, a top-notch gaming phone like the RedMagic 10 can lag behind Samsung in some benchmarks, but proves itself capable of sustaining its performance for the long haul thanks to powerful heat management in the form of an active cooling phone — something most everyday phones won’t have.

• Power: Sometimes it’s not about hardware when it comes to smartly managing heat. You should be on the lookout for pass-through power when shopping for a gaming phone. This feature lets you plug in your phone and have the chipset draw power directly from the outlet, skipping the battery and avoiding the extra heat this would create while also letting you game nonstop without worrying about running out of charge. But again, this isn’t something you can count on every phone offering.

• Display: Most gaming phones will give you a solid display for gaming. This will include a high resolution and refresh rates ranging from 120Hz to 165Hz or above. Most often, these will be OLED displays, giving you rich contrast and limited motion blur. While many games have framerate caps at 60fps, not all do, and the extra frames can make a world of difference in the perceived smoothness of a game. Quite a few gaming phones also offer high touch sampling rates, ensuring your inputs are registered quickly, and with games often calling for split-second reaction times, this can make a difference.

• Gaming-specific features: Finally, good gaming phones often find ways to make themselves extra useful in games. This often comes in the form of extra software that’s not always pleasing or easy to use, or extra buttons on the phone that let you use more than just your thumbs as inputs. Even with just a pair of shoulder buttons on a gaming phone, you end up with double the input methods you’d have otherwise, and the ability to move, aim, jump and fire all with separate fingers in online FPS games, for instance, makes a big difference.

Gaming Handhelds vs. Gaming Phones

Deciding on a portable gaming device truly depends on your lifestyle, the type of games you want to play, and how you want to play them.

A gaming phone is ultra-portable and easily pocketed. However, it’s still a highly capable machine that does more than game, offering all your typical smartphone features, including quality cameras, navigation, and communication. Gaming phones also better support cloud streaming for Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox games. Many gaming phones even have cooling solutions to prevent thermal throttling and some handy triggers. If you’re not a fan of touch controls, you can always grab a phone controller and get an experience much closer to a gaming handheld.

Gaming handhelds, like the Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch, are substantially bulkier but still easy to toss in a bag and take on the go. Unlike gaming phones, they are pretty much used solely for gaming, so you get responsive joysticks, triggers, and buttons with these options.

As for actual games, there’s a considerable rift. Android and iOS get plenty of games, and it’s becoming increasingly common to find the same titles on mobile and PC, though the mobile versions are often scaled back in some ways. Gaming handhelds get access to pretty much all of the PC games out there because they are, in fact, gaming PCs (except the Nintendo Switch, of course). Some PC games won’t run well (or run at all) on the low-powered hardware of the gaming handheld, though.

Both gaming handhelds and gaming phones can tap into cloud gaming platforms like Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Game Pass. In these, the performance of the phone and handheld don’t matter nearly as much as the quality of their internet connection. In that sense, phones can get an advantage as they offer both Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity (though a very good 5G connection is all but essential to try game streaming).

Battery life can be a tossup. Gaming phones tend to have sizable batteries, run efficiently, and can easily last through the day even with a bit of gaming sprinkled in – otherwise, what use is it as a phone? Gaming handhelds tend to last just a few hours, with the Steam Deck offering pretty poor battery life as an example. And topping up the battery on the go will be easier for the phone, which won’t require a high-wattage charger.

Cost is a big question. The Steam Deck starts at $400 and the original Nintendo Switch is even less than that. Most gaming phones cost more. But some gaming handhelds are landing with prices closer to $1,000, and that far outpaces some of our favorite gaming phones. Plus, most of us need a phone whether we get a gaming handheld or not. The fact a gaming phone can pull double duty should weigh into its value.

The limited access to games may be the deciding factor, as even with cloud gaming as an option, some games simply won’t be available for gaming phones. If everything you want to play is available on mobile or cloud gaming, then it’s worth testing the waters of cloud gaming with your current phone and then, if you like the experience, considering a gaming phone as your next device. If you can’t play the games you want the way you want, then a handheld may fit the bill.

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.

If you've been waiting for one of the more affordable Blackwell cards to come back in stock at a reputable retailer, here's a shocker: the RTX 5070 graphics card has dropped to below launch pricing. Amazon is currently offering Amazon Prime members a chance to pick up the MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 12GB Graphics Card for just $499.99 with free shipping. Launch price was $550. The RTX 5070 is an excellent GPU for gaming at up to 1440p with high framerates, especially with DLSS 4 enabled. The Asus Prime uses a triple fan cooler, which is preferred over dual slot solutions for its better cooling potential and lower noise, as long as your PC case has the proper clearance.

MSI GeForce RTX 5070 12GB Graphics Card for $499.99

The holidays are once again right around the corner, and what better way to celebrate both the Winter break and Star Wars than with this new Keepsake ornament from Hallmark. Depicting the fun and iconic "let the Wookie win" scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope where Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO are in a tense game of Dejarik, or holo-chess. It's available to preorder now at Amazon for $99.99 and it releases on October 20. Most notably (and very questionably), it does not include the Keepsake power cord needed to power the lights and sounds, which is sold separately.

Star Wars Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Is out Next Week

Frankenstein will receive a limited release in theaters on October 17 followed by a Netflix release on November 7.

Stories about generational trauma are nothing new – chronicles of the pain that is handed down from parent to child and, in time, right on down the line to the next child, never breaking the cycle. It’s, as Mrs. Potts once said, a tale as old as time. From Kronos eating his own lil’ ones, only to suffer the eventual wrath of those children under the leadership of Zeus – who would pass down his own messed-up issues to his myriad children – all the way to Michael Corleone’s fall into the very underworld that his father hoped he would rise above, the pain is real.

It’s also a great avenue for telling compelling stories. Which brings us to Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.

Pretty much everyone knows the story of Frankenstein, and del Toro – who’s been trying to get a movie based on the iconic novel made for at least 20 years – doesn’t deviate from Mary Shelley’s work in any way that anyone but fans of the OG would notice. Some characters are missing, others are added, but the bones of the story remain intact: Man makes monster, man rejects monster, monster gets pissed off. But more than just intact, these bones are also seemingly pulled from (carved out of?) Dr. Frankenstein’s choicest picks, his finest specimens, because this iteration of Frankenstein is, like its Creature, a beautiful, haunting thing through which classic themes are made to feel fresh and new.

Not only is Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) a monster for much of the film’s runtime – cue everyone’s favorite “who’s the real monster?” line – but he’s a monster who was spawned by a monster, his stringent and abusive father Leopold (played by Charles Dance, who at this point in his career is destined to play the same miserable asshole over and over again). So of course that generational pain continues to rear its ugly head – or perhaps in this case not so ugly – when Victor brings life to his creature, played by a scarred yet still movie-star-handsome Jacob Elordi.

Elordi is a marvel here (and his Creature exhibits Marvel-esque superhuman powers, which is fun), belying his turns as bad guys or unsympathetic characters in titles like Euphoria, Priscilla, and Saltburn. No, while the Creature in GDT’s Frankenstein will mess you up if need be – and does in fact mess up man and beast alike in spectacular fashion – del Toro writes him and Elordi plays him in the finest Karloffian vein, a sympathetic, sad-sack SOB who just wants a friend. That the actor also seems to be channeling the body work of GDT regular and creature-player extraordinaire Doug Jones only accentuates how different Elordi’s Creature is from past incarnations. He pivots his body, twists his waist, leans in and back, and cocks his head in such a way as to always remind us that, after all, the Creature’s body is actually a series of bodies that are still getting used to each other.

Isaac as Victor, on the other hand, runs the risk of becoming too unlikable at times. When his Creature is born, there are genuine moments of affection between the two. But the newborn’s apparent inability to evolve and grow – in terms of speech, he can’t get any further than saying “Vict-or” over and over again – frustrates the genius, and frankly, dickish doctor. Just as his father did before him, Victor punishes his child rather than nurtures him. And so the cycle continues, with the Creature never even having a chance at normalcy, his appearance notwithstanding. But the result is that Isaac’s Victor very nearly becomes the film’s villain, which perhaps isn’t a new concept in the Frankenstein mythos, but occasionally works against the film in the character’s darkest moments. (Colin Clive, who played the mad doctor opposite Boris Karloff’s monster, was always sympathetic, mind you, even when he was operating at peak Looney Tunes.)

And then there’s Mia Goth, who brings to the Elizabeth Harlander character an otherworldliness that has sort of become a trademark for the MaXXXine and Suspiria actress. Named Elizabeth Lavenza in the book, the character is adopted into the Frankenstein household and eventually marries Victor, but in this version she’s engaged to Victor’s brother William (All Quiet on the Western Front’s Felix Kammerer). William usually doesn’t make it to adulthood when he’s present in a Frankenstein story, falling victim to the Creature in a savage act of revenge. But again, del Toro tweaks and twists these plot elements, with William in the way of Victor’s traditional love interest while also giving Elizabeth an uncle in the person of Christoph Waltz’s Heinrich Harlander. And while Waltz is typically a welcome addition to any film, his character – a benefactor who pays for Victor’s experiments – ultimately doesn’t add much at all here beyond helping to make the film slightly longer than it needs to be.

Frankenstein is full of blood and gore and dismembered limbs and ripped-off jaws and crunched skulls, but it’s not a horror movie. Like the director’s 2015 Gothic romance Crimson Peak, this is a film that feels big, engulfing the viewer in a world where a sad wife’s deep-red gown is set against the stark backdrop of a foreboding castle. It’s a place where the city streets run red with slaughterhouse blood, where a frozen battlefield is marked by a horse covered in ice, still in mid-gallop with its rider astride. And yet at the same time, the beauty of creation itself is infectious, as when Elordi’s Creature first experiences the sun. As Vict-or tells him, “Sun is life.”

Amazon's October Prime Day has ended, but the online retailer is already offering a new "Buy 2, Get 1 50% Off" sale this week. There's a little bit of everything for everyone in here, from classic family games to modern party games. If you've been hoping to add some more board games to your tabletop collection, right now is a great time to do so.

The sale itself is fairly straightforward: Amazon has a big list of items that are included in the promotion and all you need to do is add two in your cart and the 50% discount will be applied to whatever the cheaper one is. That means if you want to take full advantage of the savings, you'll want to buy two similarly priced items. I've gathered some of the best options in the sale here, which are based off of IGN's own board game reviews and recommendations.

Buy 1, Get 1 50% Off Board Games

The amount of options to choose from in this sale is truly staggering, and it's difficult to choose only a few recommendations to highlight. Are you looking for intriguing murder mystery games to play during a Halloween party? Do you need a fun family board game you can break out on weekends? Are you hoping to find a great strategy game that will take all night to play? There are tabletop options for all of those scenarios right here.

For those working with a smaller budget, I'd recommend checking out Flip 7. We reviewed it earlier this year and absolutely loved it. It's a fairly easy push-you-luck card game that can be played in under 20 minutes. At only $8, it's already cheap, and this promotion will end up dropping that price down to just $4 when you buy something else (that's at least $8) with it. All-in-all, it's an easy recommendation to make for anyone who just wants a fun game that has a shallow learning curve.

If you're looking for something a bit heartier that's still family friendly, Ticket to Ride – both the original U.S. and some of the European versions – is also included here. This game is a modern classic that does a great job of combining simple gameplay with stimulating turn-based strategy.

Once you find a game you like, the next step is picking out a good second option to take full advantage of the discount. I'd recommend browsing through some of the classic board games here that are essential for any collection, stuff like Clue, Catan, Sorry!, and multiple versions of Monopoly. If you don't already have those, now is a great time to pick one or more up for a substantial discount.

Is Now a Good Time to Buy Board Games?

Last week we saw some pretty great board game deals for October Prime Day, but with that sale over and Black Friday on the horizon, you may be wondering if you should be making a purchase right now. While it's true that Amazon will likely have better board game deals for Black Friday this year, this buy 1, get 1 50% off sale is still a great way to save money right now. If you are looking to grab some stocking stuffers or a family game to play before the holidays, then this sale makes it a good time to do so.

With that in mind, you'll still want to wait for better discounts if you're planning on making bigger purchases. Some of the bigger campaign board games that are $100 or more are not included in this sale and aren't likely to be discounted until November.

Fresh off the heels of October Prime Day, Lenovo has discounted the new lineup of Xbox Breaker Edition wireless controllers for the first time ever. All three controllers: Storm Breaker, Ice Breaker, and Heart Breaker are on sale right now for just $53.99 after you apply coupon code: "TEAMGREEN" in your shopping cart. All controllers ship free. At this price, they're even less expensive than the standard white and black controllers.

33% Off Xbox Breaker Edition Wireless Controllers

The 32" 4K OLED monitor is, in my opinion, the perfect trifecta: (1) a big screen size without being too big, (2) the maximum resolution for this size, and (3) a gorgeous OLED with unbeatable image quality. These monitors usually cost about $1,000, but Dell has recently released a model that's more affordable, and it happens to be on sale today. This is a great monitor for both gaming and producitivity, as long as you're fine with a maximum 120Hz refresh rate.

32" Dell S3225QC 4K QD OLED Monitor for $599.99

Not everyone is the DIY type. If you're in the market for a prebuilt gaming PC, Dell is one of the best brands we'd recommend. Alienware desktops and laptops feature solid build quality, top-of-the-line gaming performance, excellent cooling (further improved on the newer models), aggressive styling, and pricing that is very competitive with other pre-built options. Best of all, there are plenty of sales that happen throughout the year, so it's not difficult to grab one of these computers at considerably less than their retail price.

Dell and Alienware Coupons

Alienware Gaming PC Deals

Alienware Gaming Laptop Deal

Alienware Monitor Deals

You can quickly browse through all of the listed products on sale above. See below for our favorite picks.

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5080 Gaming PC

Alienware Aurora 16 and 16X Gaming Laptops

Alienware Area-51 Gaming Laptops

New for 2025, the Alienware Area-51 gaming laptop features an anodized aluminum shell for both the lid and bottom chassis with a gorgeous iridescent finish. The frame is made of a durable and lightweight magnesium alloy. Cooling has been upgraded with generous amounts of copper and a new thermal interface material to better transfer heat away from your hottest components as well as more fans and bigger cutouts for greater airflow. Dell claims that the laptop can handle a higher power ceiling of up to 240W TDP without raising acoustics.

Design-wise, the Area 51 has a sleeker, more contoured shape compared to previous models, with rounded edges and soft corners replacing the traditional squared off design. The hinges are internally positioned so that they're near invisible. There's a transparent window on the undercarriage to show off the internal components. As befits an Alienware laptop, there's plenty of RGB illunimation, although most of it can be turned off if you want your laptop to be a bit more subtle.

32" Alienware AW3225QF 4K OLED Monitor

Medics have found themselves fighting their own war in Battlefield 6 as desperate players take to using the repair tool to leave messages begging for revives.

EA and Battlefield Studios opened the floodgates when Battlefield 6 launched last week, October 10, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S. As more than 740,000 players gathered to play on Steam alone, a new discussion about in-game classes has bubbled to the top with one question: are medics doing their job?

Revive in Battlefield 6 (animation)#Battlefield #Battlefield6 @NeebsOfficial pic.twitter.com/RM5RHclAfX

— SiegeTales (@SiegeTales) October 10, 2025

The Support class no doubt plays an important role in any Battlefield 6 multiplayer match. While Assault, Engineer, and Recon classes, too, bring important tools and skills to a fight, it’s only the Support class that can get downed soldiers back on their feet at lightning speed.

Squad mates of any class are free to revive each other with or without the medic tools in Support, though they are locked only to reviving players in their squad and take much longer to pick them up. Support players do not have these squad limitations and can instantly revive a soldier with things like defibrillators.

With dozens of teammates in every Battlefield 6 match, there’s always plenty of players looking to be revived, and as buildings are often crumbling down around them, the chances of being picked up aren’t always too likely. Heightening the stress on both ends are measurements for downed players showing how far away the nearest group of medics is. When JohnBattlefield2000 opts not to revive you at just five meters away, things tend to get a bit heated.

Some have already begun using the repair tool, a gadget wielded by engineers to repair vehicles (and draw on walls) in Battlefield for years, to leave messages for Support medics who neglect their fallen comrades. One popular post from Reddit user dobrewski77 contains a not-so-nice plea, asking others to “remember to revive your teammates.” It’s fair to want to get back into the fight, but those who favor Support say it’s not that easy to pull off a successful save.

“Stop hitting redeploy and you’ll be revived,” one person replied in an X/Twitter post. “I wish people would ask where is the Medic instead of insta skipping the revive,” another Reddit comment added.

Reddit user beningham94 also posted their own repair tool message during the weekend. Instead of calling out medics in the Support class, they chose to show their team a different message instead.

Battlefield 6 launched just days ago and has already spawned different talking points across the community. These include an in-game pop-up window that tells players it's OK to uninstall the campaign, as well as a Portal mode creation that serves as a remake of Call of Duty's Shipment map.

For more, you can check out our Battlefield 6 multiplayer review in progress as well as our 5/10 campaign review. While Support players and downed teammates argue over who should do what on the battlefield, you can see some of the memes that everyone in the middle has come to love, below.

POV: you're trying to skip the revive on Battlefield 6 pic.twitter.com/QwBEwnY5Cf

— Xen HunterTV☄️ (@itsHunterTV) October 11, 2025

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

A compact power bank that is perfect for your Nintendo Switch 2, Steam Deck, or Apple iPhone 17 has dropped in price for a limited time. Amazon is currently offering the Iniu 10,000mAh 45W Power Bank for just $11.21 after you clip the 40% off coupon on the product page. This deal has popped up occasionally throughout this year and has always maxed out its redemptions within one or two days.

Iniu 10,000mAh 45W Power Bank for $11.21

If you're looking for an extremely compact mini PC at a way more affordable price than the Apple Mac Mini, then check out this October Prime Day deal that's still live for a little while longer. Amazon Prime members can get a Kamrui Essenx E1 Intel N150 Mini PC for just $131.82 after coupon code "UCD9QXYU" is applied. This is an excellent price for a complete PC that includes the CPU, RAM, storage, and even the OS. Kamrui is a popular brand on Amazon and, in fact, is the same company as AceMagic, which is even more well known in the United States.

Kamrui Essenx E1 Intel N150 Mini PC for $131.82

Streaming services love a rebrand, so here’s the latest one: Apple TV+ is dropping the plus sign and simply becoming Apple TV.

“Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity,” the tech giant told Variety. Apple TV is also the name of the brand’s smart television device, so there’s bound to be a few moments where things get a bit confusing between the hardware and the six-year-old streaming platform.

Apple joins HBO Max — which went from HBO to HBO Max to Max and then back to HBO Max — as the latest to play the rebrand game.

One Punch Man Season 3 is streaming weekly on Hulu in the U.S., Disney+ in Canda, Crunchyroll in the U.K., and Netflix and Crunchyroll in other territories.

Everyone’s favourite spectacle fighter gag anime is back! One Punch Man was a knockout when Saitama first landed on our screens in 2015, and whilst its cultural cache – and animation budget – perhaps lessened in the years since when production duties changed hands from Madhouse to J.C.Staff, it’s nice to see ONE and Yusuke Murata’s colorful world brought to life once again.

It’s been quite a wait for our hero to return – six-and-a-half years versus the three-and-a-half between Seasons 1 and 2. J.C.Staff continues as OPM’s production house, but the main staff credits have shifted; Shinpei Nagai takes over lead directing duties, Sakura Murakami is our new art director, and Yuki Hirose is now director of photography.

Season 3’s new opening theme gets the blood pumping – JAM Project (featuring Babymetal) offers an energising heavy metal sound against your standard flashy character poses – but if you're here for the fights, you might want to sit this premiere out. One Punch Man’s third season starter is all filler, no killer – or, to be more accurate, nearly 100% exposition. At least it’s all in service of a quintessentially OPM punchline.

Beginning in medias res (Volume 17, for the manga readers, midway through the Monster Association Arc), this episode, titled “Strategy Meeting,” opens with exactly that. The Hero Association is faced with a crisis. Hero hunter Garou is a threat that endangers them all, so a meeting has been called to discuss how to handle the situation. Many side characters have a seat at the table, and there are few recognisable faces for casual fans. It’s a great opportunity to show off the extended cast and their well-performed banter, but if this is your entry point you’re going to be lost.

The animation is limited in these scenes – unengaging pans across rooms with occasional character lipflaps – plus there are plot dumps galore and a lot of sitting around. For a season calling card, it’s more than a little disappointing. Character designs are as appealingly varied as ever, with strong, bold outlines rendering scenes cohesive, but the visual quality overall feels like a filler episode. Budget is injected every time we cut to Child Emperor, who does his stuff from an attractive (and enviable) multi-screen setup. His search for an enemy base amid a hostage situation becomes the most interesting narrative in the first half of the episode, nearly solely because the frame comes alive when he’s in it. Act one of “Strategy Meeting” feels a bit like preheating an oven. You know it’s going to cook, but it’s a slow wait for anything of note to actually happen.

Cowabunga dude, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are comming to Magic: The Gathering in March next year, and suprisingly preorders on Amazon are still live. Available right now is the play booster box, bundle, commander deck and Turtle Team-Up. Turtle team-up seems like a cool way to play Magic, it's a new co-op game mode for two to four players each with their own 60-card deck fighting "villanous adversaries". It's nice to see Hasbro trying new things in 2025, not to mention some of the best brand licencing i've seen for a while.

TL;DR: Deals for Today

Not into Magic? No problem, how about game preorders? Pokémon: Legends Z-A drops on Thursday at 12pm locally, and the Switch 2 console bundle with the game digitally packed in is still available at Best Buy alongside the game physically and digitally on Nintendo Switch 1 and 2. Speaking on Nintendo Switch preorders, fancy going back to a classic? Final Fantasy IX is available for physical preorder for $39.99 Addressing the elephant in the games industry room, I've found Games Pass Ultimate 3 months memberships that work out at $19.99 a month. So free to stack up. Let's get into it:

Mega Evolutions Gardevoir Elite Trainer Box

MTG: TMNT Preorders are Live

New game mode aside, MTGs latest Universes Beyond addition is another huge IP with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Play Boosters are available, so getting a box is a great idea before preorders sell out and it becomes harder to build a deck. The Commander Deck is ideal if you want a solid foundation for a game of Commander but want to modify it with single cards down the line. Of course, the TMNT bundle comes with a few goodies including 9 play boosters, foil alt art promo card, 30 land cards and some tidy accessories.

Pokémon Legends: L-A Preorders

It's nearly time trainers! Thursday see's the release of the most radiacally different mainline Pokémon game, Legends: Z-A. Set as a continuation of Pokémon X and Y and continuing the game mechanic changes seen in Legends: Arceus, Legends: Z-A is going full real-time combat over it's tried and tested turn-based battle style. It's going to be a landmark moment for the worlds most popular entertainment franchise, so make sure you have your preorder in.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (3 Months)

Final Fantasy IX (Nintendo Switch)

In celebration of IGN Fan Fest 2025: Fall Edition, Humble Bundle is releasing a special bundle that, for at least $25, will get you a collection of 8 games and DLC worth $293, including Train Sim World 6, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake, and TerraTech.

In addition, your purchase will go a long way in supporting Code for America, a civic tech nonprofit that partners with the U.S. government to build digital tools, change policies, and improve programs.

The IGN Fan Fest 2025: Fall Edition Humble Bundle is available right here and is available for purchase. This is just one of the many ways we are celebrating IGN Fan Fest 2025: Fall Edition, which streams live on October 15 at 9am PT/12pm ET and will feature dozens of exclusive game trailers, interviews with celebrities, and exclusive clips and reveals across games, TV, and more. This includes Predator: Badlands, Netflix's The Witcher, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, IT: Welcome to Derry, The Outer Worlds 2, and much more.

OK, back to the bundle. It can once again can be fully unlocked by donating at least $25 and it includes the following;

• Train Sim World 6 (Main game and DLC Unlocked at $25)
  • MBTA Commuter: Boston - Framingham/Worcester Line Route Add-On
  • MBTA Providence/Stoughton Line HSP46 Add-On
  • Sand Patch Grade Route Add-On
  • Maintalbahn: Aschaffenburg - Miltenberg Route Add-On
• Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Unlocked at $25)
• SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake (Unlocked at $15)
• Wandering Sword (Unlocked at $15)
• Koira (Unlocked at $15)
• Invincible Presents: Atom Eve (Unlocked at $10)
• Predator: Hunting Grounds (Unlocked at $10)
• TerraTech (Unlocked at $10)

As you can see in the list above, donating at least a certain amount will allow you to add these games to your gaming library, i.e. donating $10 will get you the bottom three games, $15 will get you the bottom six games, and $25 will get you everything.

Now, let's get into the games themselves.

Train Sim World 6 was actually just released on September 30 and allows you to navigate and manage different routes across the world. Included in this bundle is the base game and four DLC routes that will give you even more ways to immerse yourself in the fascinating world of trains.

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is the first classic RPG set in the 41st millennium and it casts you as a Rogue Trader, a "scion of an ancient dynasty of daring privateers that reign over their trade empire and explore the fringes of the Imperium’s frontier." Read our review here.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake was released in 2023 and is actually the prequel to the upcoming game, SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide. This first game follows a tale of what happens when a mysterious fortunre teller grants SpongeBob and Patrick their wishes, which causes portals to strange Wishworlds to pop up. Read our review here.

Wandering Sword is a martial arts RPG that features gorgeous 3D pixel art and stars a swordsman who is caught up in a feud that leads him to become a master at martial arts.

Koira had us sold by tasking us with protecting an adorable puppy, and it also features a musical adventure that's hand-drawn and sends you deep into a magical forest.

To get ready for Invincible VS, this bundle will allow you to jump into Invincible Presents: Atom Eve, where you will play as one of the most powerful superheroes in the Invincible universe and will need to unravel a mystery while also dealing with the challenges of everyday life.

TerraTech is an open-world sandbox adventure and vehicular combat game that puts its focus on design, crafting and discovery, making it perfect for those with a big imagination.

Last but certainly not least, Predator: Hunting Grounds rounds out the IGN Fan Fest 2025: Fall Edition bundle and lets you bring up to four friends with you to not only play as an elite military fireteam, but to also become the Predator yourself and hunt down those who dare oppose you. Oh, and it may just help you get hyped for Predator: Badlands! Read our review here.

Humble Bundle is part of IGN Entertainment, the division of Ziff Davis that includes GamesIndustry.biz, IGN, and MapGenie.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.

You'd think it would be enough for filmmaker James Wan to have two hugely successful horror franchises under his belt with Saw and Insidious (both co-created with writing partner Leigh Whannell). But then he also went and created The Conjuring, which, since its debut in 2013, has produced nine films in total and grossed over $2 billion at the box office.

Starting as a 1970s ghost series, based on the real life investigations of married paranormal snoops Lorraine and Ed Warren, The Conjuring Universe has sprawled into a franchise that not only keeps track of the Warrens' demon-busting adventures, but also delves further into the haunted backstories of these cases with prequel installments set decades before the Warrens show up. Now that the fourth and final Conjuring movie is in theaters (and on digital), you might want to revisit the full timeline of The Conjuring-verse.

So are you looking to watch these Conjuring films as they were released - or do you want to absorb all the spookiness via chronological binge, kicking things off in 1950s Romania with The Nun? Whatever the case, you'll find both lists below.

Jump to:

• How to watch in chronological order
• How to watch in release order

How Many The Conjuring Movies Are There?

There are 10 total movies set within The Conjuring universe — four Conjuring movies, three Annabelle movies, The Nun and The Nun 2, and The Curse of La Llorona. The fourth Conjuring movie, titled Last Rites, is now available in theaters. If you're planning on marathoning all of these movies, you can currently stream most of them on HBO Max.

The Conjuring Movies in Chronological Order

1. The Nun (2018)

Prequel frightfest The Nun takes place in 1952 Romania, and stars Demián Bichir and Taissa Farmiga (sister of franchise star Vera Farmiga) as a Roman Catholic priest and a nun uncovering an unholy secret involving Bonnie Aaron's evil Nun from The Conjuring 2.

Read our review of The Nun.

2. Annabelle: Creation (2017)

Taking place after The Nun, in 1955 California, Annabelle Creation was the fourth installment in the Conjuring Universe, but the second chronologically, depicting the origin of franchise breakout star -- Annabelle, the creep haunted dolll. It's the story of a story of a doll-maker who opens his home to six orphans and a nun, only to have an ancient evil released in his own house.

Read our review of Annabelle: Creation.

3. The Nun 2 (2023)

Although The Nun 2 takes place after the events of The Nun, it's actually the third movie in the timeline. The events of The Nun 2 take place in 1956, taking place four years after Sister Irene's first encounter with Valak and one year after the events of Annabelle: Creation.

Read our review of The Nun 2.

4. Annabelle (2014)

The second film made in the Conjuring Universe, even before The Conjuring 2, was prequel Annabelle, taking place in 1967 in Southern California, 12 years after the official origin of the doll. Annabelle tells the story of a young doctor and his wife who bring the doll into their home (to reside amongst other scary-looking dolls) only to have it make their life a living hell.

Read our review of Annabelle.

5. The Conjuring (2013)

The movie that started it all, The Conjuring, starred Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as real-life paranormal investigators/ghost hunters Lorraine and Ed Warren (whose exploits reportedly inspired The Amityville Horror), as they aid the besieged Perron family in 1971, on Rhode Island. Series creator James Wan directed this first outing, marking the third official blockbuster horror franchise he'd created.

Read our review of The Conjuring.

6. Annabelle Comes Home (2019)

Next up is Annabelle Comes Home. Taking place only one year later in the story, in 1972, the Warrens' young daughter, Judy (McKenna Grace), must contend with Annabelle and other demons who escape the Warrens’ artifact room while the couple is away. Conjuring Universe (and It: Chapter One and Two) writer Gary Dauberman makes his directorial debut here.

Read our review of Annabelle Comes Home.

7. The Curse of La Llorona (2019)

Based on the Latin American folklore of La Llorona, this Conjuring Universe spinoff follows a mother in 1973 Los Angeles who must save her children from a malevolent spirit trying to steal them. Starring Linda Cardellini and Raymond Cruz, The Curse of La Llorona is the most detached and removed tale from the franchise's ongoing story, only featuring Tony Amendola's Father Perez from Annabelle as a connecting character.

Read our review of The Curse of La Llorona.

8. The Conjuring 2 (2016)

Based on the events of the Enfield Poltergeist in England, The Conjuring 2 brings back Lorraine and Ed Warren, now notrious from the Amityville case, as they help a family being haunted by a malevolent spirit in 1977. Whereas the first Conjuring movie brought about the Annabelle films, this one originally introduced The Nun, who would go on to receive her own prequel. James Wan also returned to direct.

Read our review of The Conjuring 2.

9. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)

The actual eighth film made in the franchise is also the next film you should watch if you're doing a chronological binge. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do brings us into the '80s with a ghoulish tale based on the real life trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, who claimed "demonic possession" after murdering his landlord. Lorraine and Ed Warren are drawn into the case after they'd apparently exorcised a demon out of a young boy's body... accidentally causing it to flee into Arne.

Read our review of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

10. The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

The final film on the The Conjuring timeline is now in theaters and is off to a tremendous start at the box office. The Conjuring: Last Rites is the fourth mainline film in the series and is being billed as the final movie in the franchise. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return as Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators taking on their most dangerous case yet. Like other films in the series, Last Rites is based on the true story of the Smurl hauntings, a series of paranormal occurences at a Pennsylvania home in the 70s and 80s.

Read our review of The Conjuring: Last Rites and check out our The Conjuring: Last Rites ending and post-credits explained.

How to Watch The Conjuring Movies by Release Date

If you're looking to watch all the movies in theatrical release order, the correct list is below:

• The Conjuring (2013)
• Annabelle (2014)
• The Conjuring 2 (2016)
• Annabelle: Creation (2017)
• The Nun (2018)
• The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
• Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
• The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
• The Nun 2 (2023)
• The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

How to Watch The Annabelle Movies in Order

Within The Conjuring Universe exists two separate film trilogies: The Conjuring and Annabelle. The narrative chronology of the Annabelle movies differs from their theatrical release order, so we've created this quick viewing guide to help you out.

Chronologically

• Annabelle: Creation (1955)
• Annabelle (1967)
• Annabelle: Comes Home (1972)

By Release Date

• Annabelle (2014)
• Annabelle: Creation (2017)
• Annabelle: Comes Home (2019)

Future of The Conjuring Movies

The Conjuring: Last Rites officially has officially landed in theaters. For those who'd rather get spooked in the comfort of their own home, Last Rites is also now available on digital. The movie had the second biggest opening weekend for any horror movie at the global box office, behind only 2017's It, and already has a 4K steelbook up for preorder. Franchise veteran Michael Chaves returns as director for the finale, and IGN recently got the chance to speak with him about the end (and future) of The Conjuring franchise.

In 2023, a TV series set in The Conjuring universe was greenlit for HBO Max, though little has been revealed about who will be involved or how the series will fit into the franchise's timeline. We do know the series is moving forward, as it recently brought on supernatural writer Nancy Won as showrunner. Otherwise, a sequel to The Curse of La Llorona has supposedly entered production, a sign of how the franchise will grow from here.

Matt Fowler is a freelance entertainment writer/critic, covering TV news, reviews, interviews and features on IGN for 13+ years.

New York Comic-Con is always a gold mine for toy collectors hungry for new reveals, and this year's show was no exception. Hasbro brought an absolute mountain of new Marvel and Star Wars figures to the show. But surprisingly, they're also branching out to cover a less well-trodden Disney franchise, Tron.

Scroll down to see all the new Marvel and Star Wars figures Hasbro revealed at NYCC, along with a first look at their new HasLab crowdfunded set based on the original Tron movie.

Hasbro's Marvel Legends at NYCC

Hasbro brought quite a lineup of new Marvel figures to NYCC. The biggest of these (literally) is a new made-to-order Apocalypse figure based on the villain's appearance in X-Men: The Animated Series. The figure clocks in at 12 inches tall and includes a host of weapons and accessories.

Also a big focus at the show was the new Executioner Build-a-Figure wave, which features new figures of Enchantress, Phantom Rider, Warbow, Dark Avengers Spider-Man, Werewolf by Night, Iron Man Mark 72, and WWII Logan, each including pieces to build Enchantress' faithful bodyguard. Hasbro is also catering to Inhumans fans with a pair of two-pack sets featuring new figures of Black Bolt, Triton, Gorgon, and Medusa.

Hasbro's Star Wars Figures at NYCC

Compared to their Marvel Legends lineup, Hasbro's Star Wars slate was somewhat more restrained. That said, tehre were still some cool reveals to be had. The larger Black Series line will be receiving new figures of Boba Fett (based on The Book of Boba Fett) and Darth Vader (based on the iconic final duel from Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi). The smaller Vointage Collection line, meanwhile, will see new figures of Jedi Master Shaak Ti and Padme Amidala.

Tron: Heroes of the Grid Collector's Set

The biggest and most welcome surprise of Hasbro's New York Comic-Con lineup is that the company is kicking off a new line of Tron toys. Perhaps wisely, they're focusing on the 1982 original over the tepidly received Tron: Ares.

The Tron: Heroes of the Grid Collector's set is Hasbro's latest HasLab crowdfunded project and is priced at $259.99. Similar to the Vintage Collection line, these Tron figures are designed in a smaller 3.75-inch scale. The set includes a USB-powered light-up Grid display base, figures of Flynn, Yori, Sark, Program, and Tron, and two light cycles with removable light walls.

The HasLab campaign will run until 11:59PM ET on November 24, 2025. Assuming it's successfully funded, Hasbro expects the set to begin shipping to backers in Fall 2026.

You can learn more about these new figures and preorder them at the Hasbro Pulse website.

In other NYCC news, Batman: Knightfall is getting an animated movie adaptation, and DC is reviving an infamous canceled Swamp Thing comic.

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

The latest Steam Next Fest began this week, showcasing a wide range of upcoming titles. And as has become a trend, publishing platform indie.io has several titles featured. To celebrate, it has launched a campaign called Next Fest Party that will run from October 13–20 and includes free demos for 12 different games.

The games come from a variety of different developers in a variety of different genres, so we figured we’d give you a rundown of everything that’s available. Below you’ll find brief descriptions of each game, with each title linked to its free demos so you can try them for yourself.

Monsters and Me

This 2D top-down roguelite shooter is chaotic, silly, and a bit gross (well, as gross as a 2D game can be). Your city has been overrun with slime mutants who have one goal in mind: ripping your face off. The natural reaction should be to prevent that, so you’ll need to upgrade your weapons and special abilities to fend off the horde. The demo drops you into the game’s first level, and you just need to survive as long as you can. Simple, right?

Kriophobia

Kriophobia also challenges you to survive, but in a VERY different way. You play as Anna, a geophysicist who’s trapped in a frozen Soviet bunker … and something else is down there with you. This is classic psychological horror, perfect for spooky season and for players who don’t want their hands held. Combat is tense and difficult, to the point it’s sometimes best avoided altogether. The demo is a standalone section of the game’s second chapter, where you’ll have to contend with the cold, mysterious abominations, and Anna’s traumatic past.

Plagun

This pixel shooter is a bullet-hell roguelike set in a post-apocalyptic kingdom where an attempted cure for death resulted in an all-consuming plague instead. You were a doctor before this event, but now you must use cursed masks and plague-infused weapons to deal with escalating waves of enemies. The demo is a vertical slice that will give you a sense of the game’s fast pace and let you experiment with different cursed masks and power-ups.

Dwarf Delve

It’s time to pick up your Battlemallet, go delving into mines, and try to safely make it out with as many riches as you can in this first-person extraction roguelite. The mines are randomly generated, so no two trips are the same. You’ll need to craft items like support beams and ladders to traverse dangerous areas, as well as utilize lanterns and floodlights to see in the darkness. Once you’ve grabbed your loot, you’ll need to be wary of traps and other dangers on your way back to safety.

Heistfest

Do you like stealing stuff and then causing untold destruction throughout the city as you try to make your escape while an escalating police force chases you? Well, great news. That’s the premise of the aptly named Heistfest. You’ll speed your way through hand-drawn environments, and things will get more intense the longer you evade capture. And if you think that means just adding some more cop cars and maybe some guns, think again. You’ll have to deal with spike traps, helicopters, paratroopers, tanks, and full-on airstrikes. Chaos and fun are more important than realism anyway. The demo is a vertical slice that gives you a sense of the core gameplay loop: rob a bank, spark a police chase, and see how long you can survive as public enemy #1.

Locked in My Darkness 2: The Room

It’s Halloween time, so of course there can’t just be one scary game on this list. This one is a psychological horror walking sim focused on atmosphere, exploration, and puzzle solving. You play as Yuki Tachibana, a Japanese high school student who recently moved into a new apartment with her family. Something sinister awakens within the walls of their new home, warping reality and dredging up sins of the past. With flashlight in hand, you’ll uncover notes, solve environmental puzzles, and reveal the secrets of Yuki’s family.

Nullstar: Solus

You are Solus, a scavenger drone sent to salvage the nullstar from a dying world. But there’s only one goal that really matters in this game: be faster. You’ll need to master the flying mechanics, thrusters, and momentum to make it through levels as quickly as possible. Those levels are high-risk, high-reward, and you’ll need to stay on your toes to deal with everything they can throw at you.

Air Hares

You probably haven’t seen a bullet hell quite like this one. In Air Hares, your main goal isn’t shooting enemies out of the sky; it’s using your plane to seed and water crops to save the starving people of the barren Winrose Warren. But your feathered foes in the Gale Gang want to stop you, so you’ll need to dodge, jab, and ram them to send them packing and get back to your important work.

Binary Golf

Miniature golf gets a chaotic overhaul in Binary Golf, where you use your golf ball to eliminate targets until the final one becomes the hole you need to get your ball into. But this isn’t just any old mini golf course. You can jump over hazards, teleport across courses, and phase through objects to pull off trick shots. The demo includes the game’s first two episodes, which will teach you the ropes before pitting you against a boss to test what you’ve learned.

The Cascadier

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a roguelike deckbuilder collided with a magical coin-pusher machine, The Cascadier has your answer, and it’s gloriously chaotic.
Each run has you charging coins with elemental powers from your deck and dropping them into dazzling, pinball-like cabinets that erupt in chain reactions if you drop your coin just right. You’ll be guided by Fortuna, the trickster goddess of luck, and her envious brother Theodan as you chase divine rewards.

Each round starts with ten coins to drop and your deck of earned abilities. Like any good coin pusher, you’ll scoop up coins mid-round and play them back in to keep your score and ticket count climbing. Run out, and the round’s over, so make every toss count. Hit your score goal to move on, then choose new powersets to add to your growing deck and mix things up in the next run. You’ll spend your hard-earned tickets on upgrading Trinkets that grant new abilities and permanent boosts. The demo lets you try the first cabinet, a lush, nature-themed machine that hints at the elemental powers each new board will bring.

Elemental Brawl

A multiplayer party game, Elemental Brawl tasks you with beating up your friends with the power of the elements. Each round begins with everyone only being able to punch and kick, but as time goes on, random elemental orbs will drop. Collecting them grants you powers related to that element, and you can combine elements as the round continues. And the maps aren’t static, you can use your elements to burn them, freeze them, turn puddles into steam traps, and more. It’s all about coming up with creative ways to eliminate your opponents.

Chowdown Kitty

A puzzle game with simple yet addictive gameplay, Chowdown Kitty presents you with a board filled with cat treats. Connect matching treats in a string of three or more, and those treats get pulled out and put in a food bowl for a cat. The more treats you manage to string together, the higher your score gets and the happier the cat gets.