High on Life 2 is our IGN First “cover story” game for December, which means we’ve got exclusive coverage all month long. We’ve already posted plenty of new gameplay, and today we’re thrilled to announce one of High on Life 2’s brand-new weapons: Say hello to Travis, the SMG-style weapon voiced by Ken Marino, who you might know from The State as well as Wet Hot American Summer. Travis is one-half of a dual SMG pair with Jan – check out the half of a heart pendant around his, uh, neck, I guess? Anyway, they’re married, but it seems the relationship has gotten a bit toxic.

Take a look at some footage of Travis in action in the video below, and for more exclusive High on Life 2 coverage – including another weapon reveal coming up soon.

High on Life 2 will be released on February 13, 2026 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S – including launching on day one into Xbox Game Pass.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

My dear Watson, Prime Video just released first-look images for their upcoming series Young Sherlock, which will star Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Holmes himself.

The streamer released eight images that highlight Tiffin and other actors in "the origin story of Sherlock Holmes" which is set to be an "irreverent, action-laden mystery that follows the iconic detective’s early adventures." According to Prime, the show will follow "the origin story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved detective in an explosive re-imagining of this iconic character’s early days."

As for the full synopsis: "Sherlock Holmes is a disgraced young man – raw and unfiltered – when he finds himself wrapped up in a murder case that threatens his liberty. His first ever case unravels a globe-trotting conspiracy that changes his life forever. Unfolding in 1870s Oxford and adventuring abroad, the series will expose the early antics of the anarchic adolescent who is yet to evolve into Baker Street’s most renowned resident."

Alongside Tiffin, Dónal Finn, Zine Tseng, Joseph Fiennes, Natascha McElhone, Max Irons, and Colin Firth will star in the series, which Guy Ritchie directs and executive produces alongside series writer Matthew Parkhill, who will also serve as showrunner.

The press release for the project promises “all the wit and charm of Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes feature films,” and it’ll be interesting to see if this new series lives up to those beloved projects, which were just a ton of fun to watch.

The announcement also notes that the series will premiere exclusively on Prime Video "in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide next year," but other than that, we have no further news on a release date. It seems we’ll have to do some sleuthing over in the Prime offices for that info.

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

"What defines a Soulslike?" is a question I would not dare to try and answer on IGN given the myriad viewpoints on it out there, but one oft-discussed feature of FromSoftware's games at least is the "runback", or the... well, run back to a boss after you've died to it, especially when there's a significant distance or challenge involved. Not a lot of games have these. FromSoftware and Hollow Knight games have some heinous ones.

How heinous? Truly heinous, if the many internet threads and discussions complaining about some of them are any indication. But we wanted to know, which one is the worst?

We ran a poll on IGN last month where we asked readers to vote on the Soulslike boss with the worst runback. To populate our poll options, I consulted a number of sources. I asked our Soulslike experts here at IGN, I asked for suggestions on Bluesky, and I went back to several old Reddit threads in various Souls communities where fans lamented horrible runbacks to see what was complained about the most.

Interestingly enough, absolutely no one suggested anything that wasn't either a Hollow Knight game or a FromSoftware game, which perhaps says something about how both of those games approach save points in relation to bosses. I asked IGN staff to think really hard if there were any other bosses from any other games we should add, and we came up with Umi-Bozu from Nioh, just to add some variety.

We then posted the poll on multiple articles connected to Soulslike games, and shared it around on social media asking our readers to vote. We acknowledge this is a rather unscientific poll, given that it was included first in an article explicitly about Bilewater in Hollow Knight: Silksong. That said...

IGN readers voted for Groal from Silksong as the Soulslike boss with the worst runback, at 16.2% of the vote.

However, it wasn't an overwhelming victory. Coming in just behind it with 15.3% was "The entire Dark Souls 2 DLC" which we listed to include the Blue Smelter Demon, Lud and Zallen, and Sir Allone. Again, this is an admittedly unscientific poll - including three bosses in that one probably swung the vote a little bit, but when we asked around so many people mentioned either bosses from or the entirety of the Dark Souls 2 DLC it felt wrong not to group them together.

In third place with a marginally more scientific percent of the vote at 9.8% was Placidusax from Elden Ring and... yeah, that chunk of Crumbling Farum Azula you have to run through every time you fight him sucks! Close behind him was Bed of Chaos from the original Dark Souls, an already-frustrating fight compounded by a horrible runback regardless of whether you slog through lava or take the "short"-cut behind Queelag's sister.

Umi-Bozu got the least amount of votes, perhaps suggesting that runbacks outside of Hollow Knight and FromSoftware games really aren't that bad.

If you're playing Silksong and haven't gotten to Groal yet, great news: we have a walkthrough that will help you survive Bilewater in general, and if you're adverse to using guides, we have a quick tip here that will make your runback to Groal... slightly easier. It's still bad. In addition to our Bilewater guide, we have a detailed Wiki to help you through every step of your journey in Pharloom, so check it out before, during, and after Bilewater.

And if you've already beaten Groal and think our poll is wrong, please feel free to vote above. Percentages mention in this piece are accurate at the time of publication, but maybe there are some Nioh fans that really want to help Umi-Bozu out. Personally, after two straight nights of failing to climb a tower with nothing at the top of it, I'm regretting not having put Baby Steps in this poll somewhere.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

The Nintendo Switch 2 sure has been good for microSD Express. The standard has been around since 2019, but Nintendo making it required for its new handheld has made it go from nonexistent to robust and affordable virtually overnight. Samsung, which already makes one of the best Nintendo Switch 2 microSD Express cards, has tossed another card on the pile with the Samsung P9 microSD Express card – and it’s the fastest I’ve tested yet.

Samsung lent me the 256GB version of this card, which, at $54.99, is priced right between the PNY and Onn cards I’ve already reviewed – and is even $5 cheaper than the one it makes for Nintendo. It’s also measurably faster than both of those cards, beating both by a mile in write speeds and outdoing the Onn card in read speeds. And from where I’m sitting, it’s a better value than either of those options – and probably any similar cards from Lexar or SanDisk.

Throughput

Nintendo’s move to microSD Express gives its console internal SSD-like storage speed without all the hassle of opening your console to install an M.2 SSD like the PS5, or requiring gamers to buy an overpriced, bespoke card to plug into a special port like the Xbox Series X/S. How fast is Samsung’s microSD Express card, exactly? Well, really dang fast if we’re to believe the 800MB/s sequential read throughput that Samsung promotes on its site. But that’s misleading in this context; because of the way game files are structured, it’s closer to the around 90MB/s I saw in testing.

But don’t fret over that lower number. Something like a video file has its data neatly lined up, and when read, it’s read sequentially. But a video game is really a package full of smaller files, data that’s stored non-contiguously – that’s what the “random” read and write spec is referring to. And in this situation, the transfer process never has the runway it needs to get up to sequential throughput levels. The small-file makeup of video games is why, as you’ll see in my testing below, file transfer throughput can vary quite a bit from one game to the next. Some games have a smaller number of files but in larger blocks, while others might have thousands of tiny files that bog down the process.

The more important metric for random reads and writes is the number of input/output operations per second, or IOPS, a card can do – and the P9 can, by Samsung’s reckoning, reach up to 65,000 IOPS in random reads and 52,000 IOPS in random writes. That’s very fast compared to the theoretical (but rarely actualized) 4,000 IOPS capability of some standard microSD cards. Unfortunately, I don’t have a standalone microSD Express card reader, so I can’t actually confirm their IOPS numbers with PC testing software like CrystalDiskMark. Instead, I have to rely on like-for-like game transfers to get a sense of which card is better at what.

Performance: Load Times

Loading times for games is where most players’ microSD Express card choice actually affects them. To test this, I simply started up the same games several times and averaged how long it took to get from first opening a game to its start screen. Across nearly every game I tested, the 256GB Samsung P9 and the same-size PNY card I also reviewed did about the same. Donkey Kong Bananza loaded in just 21 seconds on average for either, while it took just over 9 seconds to get into The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

The one exception was Mario Kart World, which took about two seconds longer with Samsung’s card than PNY’s. Even the (Walmart house brand) Onn card loaded Mario Kart World about a half-second faster than the P9. Notably, each time you boot up MKW, the start screen loads a different region of the game’s open world, letting you seamlessly jump into driving around it by pressing the “+” button on your controller. It’s possible that the P9’s slower performance was just luck of the draw.

Otherwise, both cards outperformed the Onn, sometimes by just a fraction of a second, others by multiple seconds – it took about three seconds longer to load Fast Fusion from the Onn card than the others; and about five seconds longer for Donkey Kong Bananza. Going by game load times, Samsung’s card and PNY’s are neck and neck, and both tend to be a little slower than the Switch 2’s internal storage.

Performance: Throughput

I tested read and write throughput by timing game file transfers to and from the card, and the story was much the same here as with loading: Samsung and PNY were a cut above Onn. I started by moving games from the card to the console to check read throughput. Here, the Samsung P9 averaged just under 80MB/s for Mario Kart World(21.9GB), 87.25MB/s for Donkey Kong Bananza (8.9GB), and 96MB/s for Resident Evil 4 (12GB). Compare that to the PNY card’s transfer throughput of 81.7MB/s, 88.7MB/s, and 76.9MB/s, respectively. So about the same, apart from the P9’s outlier Resident Evil 4 result.

Write speeds are where the Samsung P9 shined. It consistently hung out between 71MB/s and 73MB/s across every transfer test, unlike both the PNY and Onn cards, which were slower, and varied heavily between tests. Each put up between 52 and 62MB/s in random write throughput. That meant it took me just four minutes to write my 17.2GB Super Smash Bros Ultimate copy to the Samsung P9. That took almost five minutes for the Onn card and close to six minutes on the PNY card. Writing Mario Kart to the Samsung P9 was about 2.5 minutes faster than to the other cards, although it’s worth noting here that a recent update shrank the game by almost 3GB after that test. Still, that was a 72MB/s transfer, compared to 54–56MB/s to the other cards.

The Best of the Budget Cards

Samsung P9 is measurably better than its Onn and PNY peers, and at $55, it’s a no-brainer, at least compared to the $61.99 PNY card. Whether it’s worth it compared to the $46.77 Onn card depends on how well you can afford the difference and how often you shuffle files between your internal storage and your microSD Express card. If that doesn’t happen often, this Samsung card might be worth it just to save your money or put it towards another game – that nine bucks you save will get you most of the way toward Fast Fusion, a lovely antigrav racer for the F-Zero-starved among us.

Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom's Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn't be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly.

Epic Games has announced the next era of LEGO Fortnite, via its huge Ninjago: Rise of the Ninja update which lands later this week.

Arriving ahead of Ninjago's 15th anniversary next year and in time for LEGO's second anniversary within Fortnite this month, Rise of the Ninja looks to be one of LEGO Fortnite Odyssey's largest ever updates — with a new world to explore, Ninjago weapons to master, and some very familiar faces.

Zane, Jay, Cole and Kai will all arrive in Fortnite, with the latter ninja part of the Ninjago LEGO Pass. All four characters will also get human-like (as in, not LEGO minifigure) versions for the first time, for use in Fortnite's non-LEGO modes.

Players will be able to master elemental abilities by travelling across the game's new Ninjago island and visiting Sanctums to earn ice, lightning and earth powers. It's the latest move away from traditional weapons seen in LEGO Fortnite, following the addition of class-based hero powers a few months ago.

Of course, that's not to say that ninja weapons won't also be included — the update will add nunchucks and shurikens too. And perhaps in good time, as well, since today's LEGO Fortnite trailer, above, also shows the arrival of a huge fire-breathing dragon boss.

Fortnite clearly has big plans for Ninjago, with a second major game update due in 2026 that is expected to also see the arrival of yet more characters, such as Nya, Master Wu, and Lloyd. Until then, this first drop of Ninjago arrives in-game in just a few days, on December 11.

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

If you're hoping to start 2026 off with some new movies to add to your physical media library, Tron: Ares is getting a 4K steelbook that's set to be released in the first full week of the year on January 6. If this movie shot to the top of your must-buy list for your collection after watching it in theaters, the steelbook is currently available to preorder alongside its 4K release and a Blu-ray at various retailers.

We've detailed where each of these versions can be purchased below, alongside information on its bonus features, of which there are quite a few. If you enjoyed the film, this looks like a worthy addition to a collection.

Preorder Tron: Ares 4K Steelbook

4K

• See at Amazon
• See at Walmart
• See at Target

Blu-ray

• See at Amazon
• See at Walmart
• See at Target

The steelbook for Tron: Ares is sure to be a vibrant standout on your shelves, as it features the film's neon red coloring all over the front, back, and inside cover, with splashes of neon blue on the front. This release also comes with a 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and digital copy of the film.

Tron: Ares 4K Steelbook Bonus Features

The 4K release of Tron: Ares comes with quite a few bonus features, including a variety of featurettes and deleted scenes. Have a look at the full breakdown of extras below:

• The Journey to Tron: Ares - Join cast and crew for an in-depth making-of look at Tron: Ares.
• Lightcycles On the Loose - Check out one of the most action-packed sequences in the film.
• The Artistry of Tron: Ares - Discover what drives the storytelling both in and out of the Grid.
• Cast Conversations - Sit with the cast as they reveal funny and memorable on-set experiences.
• The Legacy of Tron - Catch some easter eggs and cameos as Tron continues to leave its mark.
• Deleted Scenes

For fans of physical media, there's plenty more to look forward to alongside Tron: Ares as we enter into 2026. To get a better idea of what's to come over the next few months, check out our breakdown of upcoming 4K and Blu-ray release dates to plan ahead for future pick-ups.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is the full name of Ubisoft's piratical remake that's had more leaks than a sunken ship.

The game's new title is now visible on the PEGI European ratings board website, which is about as official as it gets. (The game is rated 18 for violence and bad language.)

Additionally, there's a mention here that Black Flag Resynced will include the ability to make in-game purchases. It's still unknown how Resynced will plug into the franchise's existing Animus Hub, which lets you buy optional cosmetic content. Alternatively, this could potentially signify the ability to buy DLC further down the line. Is the game's memorable Freedom Cry add-on in line for a remake, too?

Today's development comes just a couple of weeks after the game's release date was reportedly spilled online. During Ubisoft's latest financial results the French publisher laid out a slate of upcoming games set to arrive before the end of its current financial year, on March 31, 2026.

The name of one of these games was left as "unannounced", though a subsequent report by Insider Gaming stated that this not-so-mysterious project was the new version of Black Flag, which is scheduled to arrive during the week of March 23, 2026.

Despite years of internal leaks, fan speculation and even hints from the original game's lead actor, Ubisoft still has yet to officially confirm its Black Flag remake exists. IGN has contacted the company again today, in case it has anything it wants to tease. Or, perhaps we'll hear more at The Game Awards later this week?

Bethesda has released The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on pretty much every platform since it came out in 2011, but now it’s found another: the Nintendo Switch 2.

Bethesda announced and shadowdropped Skyrim Anniversary Edition today, December 9, on Switch 2 just in time for the holidays. Check out how Skyrim looks on Switch 2 in the video below.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition includes the base game and the three official Expansions: Dawnguard; Dragonborn; and Hearthfire. Players on Switch 2 get experience enhanced resolution, improved load times, performance optimisation, Joy-Con 2 mouse support, motion controls, Amiibo support, and more versus the OG Switch version, taking advantage of the more powerful hardware.

What’s more, this edition offers exclusive Nintendo content from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, including the Master Sword, Hylian Shield, and Champion’s Tunic. You’ll also get hundreds of unique Creations Club items, with quests, weapons, armor, spells, dungeons, and more.

Bethesda is selling Skyrim for Switch 2 standalone for $59.99, but there’s a free upgrade for Skyrim Anniversary Edition owners on Switch. Owners of the Skyrim (base edition) on Switch can buy the Anniversary Upgrade for $19.99 to play on Switch and Switch 2.

Skyrim’s release on Switch 2 is sure to resurface all those jokes about Bethesda milking the life out of the game by releasing it on all the platforms under the sun. Skyrim has been ported and remastered so many times that it’s become one of the internet’s most enduring memes.

Bethesda is of course busy working on The Elder Scrolls 6, although development chief Todd Howard has indicated it is still some time away. In a recent interview, he teased that Bethesda could shadowdrop The Elder Scrolls 6, as it did with this year’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and now Skyrim on Switch 2.

“I like to just announce stuff and release it,” Howard told GQ. “My perfect version — and I’m not saying this is going to happen — is that it's going to be a while and then, one day, the game will just appear.” The Oblivion Remastered shadowdrop was “a test run,” Howard teased. “It worked out well.”

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

LEGO has released one of the most highly anticipated sets of the year. It's called LEGO Icons: Star Trek U.S.S Enterprise, and it went live exclusively on the LEGO Store before quickly selling out. For over a week now, you couldn't order it; all you could do was request an email when it became available again.

Fellow builders, it's available again. Technically it's on backorder, which means you can buy it and it'll ship when more stock comes available. At the time of this writing, it will be available December 27 to anyone who orders it now, though that date may slip if a deluge of backorders come pouring in. The set costs a hefty $399.99, but it's gorgeous and well worth it for many LEGO and Star Trek: The Next Generation fans.

LEGO Star Trek: U.S.S. Enterprise

LEGO Star Trek Enterprise Minfigures

The set comes with nine minifigures from the show, and each one has a fitting accessory.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard
• Commander William Rier
• Lieutenant Worf
• Lieutenant Commander Data
• Dr. Beverly Crusher
• Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge
• Counsellor Deanna Troi
• Bartender Guinan
• Wesley Crusher

Gifts With Purchase

Buy it now, and you'll receive LEGO Winter Gazebo as a free Gift With Purchase. The set is valued at $22.99, but comes free with purchases of $150 or more, today only.

If you managed to get your order in when the set first launched, you would have gotten an exclusive freebie: a Type-15 Shuttlepod, which came with an Ensign Ro Laren minifigure. Unfortunately, that limited-edition set also sold out.

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

Genndy Tartakovsky, the mastermind behind beloved animated hits like Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Star Wars: Clone Wars (the first version!), is finally bringing back Primal, his amazing pre-prehistoric wonder about the Neanderthal Spear (Aaron LaPlante) and his faithful T-rex, Fang (Joel Valentine). While the Season 2 finale of the show back in 2022 saw the death of Spear (if a happy ending for Fang... eventually!), the show is now finally back for a third season. And incredibly, Spear is back as well.

But yes, he's still dead.

Tartakovsky was on hand at CCXP in São Paulo, Brazil, this past weekend to talk about what's next for Spear and the Primal universe. And along the way, he also filled in the crowd on the aborted ideas he had for the anthology series Season 3 was originally meant to morph into.

Primal Season 3: The Anthology Series That Could've Been

"For the third season, I thought, alright, well, we've got 20 episodes. We probably should be done," Tartakovsky told the CCXP crowd. "I hope everyone's seen it! We killed off Spear, and I wanted to make Primal an anthology show. Still, it says Primal, but then it would be 'Creation' or something, a different heading. So I started to draw, and the first idea was of this orange alien girl and a blue man. They were born, kind of like Adam and Eve, and they struggle and they fight different creatures. It kind of felt just not right."

Earlier in his presentation, Tartakovsky had explained that he believes in the "organic nature" of filmmaking, so when something feels right he just goes with it. "I've always kind of trusted my gut," he said.

"And so it wasn't working," he continued in reference to the orange girl and blue man. "And I'm like, 'Oh, maybe more alien, kind of insectoid things.' And that wasn't working. Then I had this idea about a cute creature who has to survive. I was like, 'That's kind of neat.' But then it felt very cute, and I don't know what makes this adult. So I had all these questions. And is it too far away from Primal, right? So you could see me developing it and I was kind of interested in it, and then it just didn't feel right. I didn't feel right about it."

The bottom line? The creator of Spear missed... Spear.

"And then I felt sad that Spear was gone," chuckled the animator. "And I was like, what did I do? I spent 20 episodes trying to get an audience and trying to have everybody love Spear and Fang. And then I ended it."

Until he didn't.

The Return of (Zombie) Spear

Tartakovsky pointed out that while we the audience may binge a show in a day, or even just watch it over the course of a few months, for him and his production team it's two years that's spent on each season. Ultimately it's a different experience for the creators, who spend so much time with these characters, and for the fans, for whom a season can come and go as quickly as a T-rex can snap an ape-man in half.

"So I realized, oh no, maybe I made a mistake. And I was like, what am I going to do?" said Tartakovsky. "And then it hit me. We're going to make Spear a zombie!"

The brainchild of Mike Pondsmith back in 1988 as a TTRPG, Cyberpunk as a property has exploded in the past decade, thanks in no small part to CD Projekt Red and 2020's release of their first-person RPG, Cyberpunk 2077. Now, five years and expansions, patches, and board games later, the world of Cyberpunk is trying its robotic hands in a brand new – and highly competitive – market with a fully fledged, and collectible, Cyberpunk: Trading Card Game.

IGN has had the opportunity to speak with the teams at WeirdCo and CD Projekt Red, who are working on the newly announced TCG, to get a better understanding of the designers at WeirdCo, how this partnership came to be, and even some goodies about the game itself. We've also got an exclusive first look at key card art from the Cyberpunk TCG (flip through the gallery below), featuring Cyberpunk 2077's Saburo and Yorinobu Arasaka, and their handy bodyguard, Goro Takemura.

WeirdCo, a new face in the world of TCGs, has been working in close partnership with CDPR themselves to devise this new card game, aiming to capture the tone and aesthetic of 2077 and the Edgerunners' Netflix anime, to deliver a game that doesn't just feel like another TCG just with a coat of Cyberpunk yellow overtop. One way the team is doing this is by working with high-profile artists, both internal to CDPR and the wider community, to deliver gorgeous card art featuring faces that will be familiar to anyone worth their wait in Chrome.

Speaking with Elliot Cook (WeirdCo President) and Luohan Wei (WeirdCo CEO), both co-founders of the business, I wanted to know how this new studio came about.

Elliot began, "WeirdCo was formed when Luohan and I met each other through our mutual mentor, Bill Mooney: a true legend in the digital gaming space. We immediately hit it off over our passion for building games that truly connect with their communities. Later, we formed WeirdCo to create games together — ones that authentically bring together and inspire people."

"CD Projekt Red has a similar goal, and when we saw this in each other we knew it would be a great partnership. What has been paramount, and the question we ask ourselves daily, is “how do we make a game that represents and celebrates every part of Cyberpunk — everywhere it has been and everywhere it is going?" That is the north star of our development."

With Cyberpunk being one of the biggest media properties right now, I was curious how a brand new group could tackle such a monster IP, but despite it being a new team, the group working on the Cyberpunk TCG has worked on other large IP card games you probably have heard of. "We at WeirdCo have direct experience working on some great card games" Elliot explains.

"Marvel Snap, Duel Masters, and Universus, to name a few. At our core we are disruptors, just like CD Projekt Red, and we both strive to inspire our players. We saw this in each other from the beginning, and I think CD Projekt Red saw our love for the Cyberpunk 2077 universe too. This is an IP that deserves to be explored in different and exciting ways, and we’re committed to doing this authentically with Cyberpunk TCG, side by side with the community."

On the topic of CD Projekt Red, they have been a constant ally during the game’s design and development. Elliot provides further details, "We have worked with CD Projekt Red very closely since the beginning of development. They have been the ideal partner; you may even see the same amazing artists who worked on Cyberpunk 2077, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and more as featured artists in Cyberpunk TCG! Every part of the TCG has the impeccable RED touch, ensuring this is a completely authentic Cyberpunk experience."

The Cyberpunk TCG won’t be CDPR’s first collaboration in the tabletop space, with other titles like Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City and Cyberpunk Edgerunners: Combat Zone Board Game, but I was curious what unique joys or challenges came from working on a TCG, so I asked Patrick Mills, CDPR’s Franchise Content Strategy Lead.

"Every collaboration is unique, and we’re lucky to work with many partners who are passionate and extremely dedicated to their crafts. While making a physical TCG is something completely new for us, we see the genuine excitement, enthusiasm, and talent in WeirdCo that act as the foundation of any successful collaboration."

"Their passion for the franchise has been evident at every stage, and they’re doing an incredible job developing an engaging TCG that ensures an authentic Cyberpunk experience. On the flip side, many of us at CD Projekt Red are huge TCG enthusiasts too — so we’re thrilled to be entering this space with WeirdCo"

One thing that is clear is that both teams at WeirdCo and CDPR are taking care to ensure that this is faithful to the Cyberpunk property that its creator, Mike Pondsmith, imagined back in 1988.

"We want Cyberpunk TCG to be authentic to the spirit and dynamic nature of the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, and wanted to create a TCG that is accessible to Cyberpunk fans who have never touched a card game.” Luohan says, “At the same time, as TCG players ourselves, we wanted our game to have the depth necessary to entertain for a long, long time. And I think we have struck that balance well."

Elliot continues, "The best part of this job is spending hundreds of hours with the Cyberpunk universe — whether that’s replaying Cyberpunk 2077, watching Edgerunners for the fifth time, or reading all the Dark Horse comics. Every one of us at WeirdCo loves the Cyberpunk universe, and we built the TCG bit by bit on this foundation. At each step we analyzed every little detail, constantly asking ourselves: "How do we make this more authentic to Cyberpunk?"

Many fan favorite characters will be making an appearance as well in this TCG and picking who would be included in this first set was a big decision. "For the initial release, our primary goal is to represent the core identity of Cyberpunk 2077 by featuring many of its most iconic and beloved characters,” explains Patrick. “We’ve collaborated closely with WeirdCo to ensure that the artwork and flavor of every card faithfully captures the essence of who they represent, providing a snapshot of their personalities and what they stand for, as well as including memorable moments players will instantly recognize. Given the complexity of our characters, we wanted to capture their many facets across multiple cards. So, players can look forward to collecting an array of unique variants of characters including V, Johnny, Panam, Judy, Adam Smasher, and more."

On the WeirdCo side, Elliot shares, "We worked very hard to figure out which Legends make the most sense for players, and which ones make the most sense for the overall theme of Set 1. While some of them, like V and Johnny, are obvious hits, we have a few surprises up our sleeves too."

Being a game composed of a ton of cards, artwork is pretty important in a TCG and WeirdCo is special care to make sure that what players can expect is nothing short of beautiful.

"We’ve been working for a long time with a team of over 20 talented artists for Set 1, and are excited to explore new ways of bringing the world of Cyberpunk to life through our card art. Working with artists like Ito, Vincenzo Riccardi, and Joshua Raphael, who each bring their own unique flair to the project, makes each card more exciting than the last," Elliot continues, "We’re not sharing gameplay details yet, so there’s not too much I can say. But Cyberpunk is known for its beautiful yet tragic atmosphere — this is a major focus of ours when it comes to the card art."

Details on how Cyberpunk TCG will work remain shrouded behind CDPR's and WeirdCo's firewalls, so we have a bit yet before we have an in-depth picture of how it plays. Cyberpunk's TCG will be launching its crowdfunding campaign in 2026, which is right around the corner. WeirdCo and CDPR will be revealing more of the game soon, along with a deep dive into how the game plays, more artwork, and card reveals, with some more special reveals found only here on IGN.

The TCG space is pretty crowded with new contenders entering the ring, it seems like every quarter or so, but few have the name recognition behind them like WeirdCo has with Cyberpunk. The fact that this project has so much support from CD Projekt Red behind it puts it in a different league from others, even before it's out.

The excitement from the designers is electric, with Luohan leaving players with this, “I can’t wait for players to see how we’ve adapted the themes of Cyberpunk, like taking on gigs or building a crew, to a trading card game format. I think it is both true to Cyberpunk itself while being innovative to the TCG market as a whole; it’s a perfect combination in this way.” As far as I know, no other TCG lets you play with Keanu Reeves, so that is already a big plus in its favor. Wake up, Samurai, there's a whole new way to burn the city coming.

If this sounds up your alley, follow the game and get yourself a special and exclusive Lucy "Nova Rare" card free by signing up over on the game's Launch Oracle page.

Scott White is a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with tabletop games and guide coverage. Follow him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.

This article features contributions from Robert Anderson, Senior Commerce Editor for IGN.

Dhurandhar is out in U.S. theaters nationwide now.

Exciting and repulsive, Aditya Dhar’s star-studded gangster epic Dhurandhar (“Stalwart”) is the latest in Bollywood’s recent wave of jingoistic action films skirting the line of Islamophobic propaganda. Yet it stands apart from its peers by being not just adequate, but at times brilliant – perhaps that’s what makes it dangerous – resulting in a three-and-a-half hour spy odyssey with enough blood, torture, and butchered limbs to put a Saw movie to shame. It’s ugly and enthralling in equal measure.

Touting itself as “inspired by incredible true events” (a claim that stretches credulity), Dhurandhar follows an Indian military operative who goes deep undercover in Pakistan in the mid-2000s, adopting the name Hamza Ali Mazari (a stoic, lion-maned Ranveer Singh). Working his way up from a juice stall through Karachi’s communal politics, he embeds himself within a local mafia network with ties to both national parties and international terrorism, transforming this espionage saga into one of vicious, bone-crunching action, and complicated emotional loyalties. On the flipside, this grand character opera leaves very little room for actual spycraft. Boo! Hiss!

As the years go by, Hamza grows more attached to his targets. However, it soon becomes clear – to the audience, if not to the conflicted anti-hero – that his cohorts are setting the stage for a real-world 2008 terror attack in Mumbai. Until now, these events have never been the subject of a remotely competent feature, whether it was Bollywood’s cartoonish The Attacks of 26/11 (2013), the French-Belgian snooze Taj Mahal (2015), or Hollywood’s sensationalistic Hotel Mumbai (2019). Dhurandhar might technically change that, though it invents some pretty tall tales of its own in the process.

However, its adjacency to reality also makes Dhurandhar a thorny prospect. Many of its characters are real people, like Akshaye Khanna’s intense Rehman Dakait, a Karachi gangster and family man who takes Hamza under his wing, and Sanjay Dutt’s Chaudhary Aslam, a revered Pakistani police officer taking on gangs and terror cells (portrayed here as a corrupt opportunist). Others are closely based on real people, like Arjun Rampal’s magnetic military operative Major Iqbal (based on real terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri) and R. Madhavan’s stern spymaster Ajay Sanyal, who sends Hamza on his way from India, and bears intentional resemblance to the country’s National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval. Hamza, however, has no known real-world equivalent; some connections have been rumored, but subsequently denied.

This makes the movie’s premise, and its invocation of archival footage and phone recordings from various terror attacks, dubious at best. There are times when it plays like an evil twin to The Voice of Hind Rajab, the recent Venice drama that uses real phone calls to dramatize the IDF killing of a Palestinian child. By repeatedly yanking reality into its fictitious purview, Dhurandhar attempts to stir up the volatile emotions currently engulfing India’s political milieu when it comes to tensions with Pakistan, and its continued antagonization of Indian Muslims. Early lines of dialogue position Sanyal’s negotiations with terrorist hijackers as a battle to maintain a Hindu-centric national unity under attack from Islamic invaders. Similarly, key emotional beats see Hamza not only chancing upon known terrorists mid-call to prayer, but later, recalling their proclamations of “Allahu Akbar” when he’s beaten down, their Muslim-ness fueling his hatred and bringing him back to his feet like an Islamophobic Rocky. You’re unlikely to see another December release with such hostile nihilism coursing through its veins. Even its lone hint of optimism is secretly cynical – Sanyal’s anticipation of a more stringent anti-corruption government, which is practically a campaign banner for India’s current strongman Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party, the BJP, who would come to power in the years following the film’s events.

Still, Dhar’s commitment to craft is as undeniable as his capitulating to Hindutva politics. Hamza, although a reactionary revenge fantasy, is an alluring centerpiece in what turns out to be a mile-a-minute thriller in which he ping-pongs between major political players in an effort to rise through the ranks. As Hamza navigates Lyari, a Karachi neighborhood beset by ethnic tensions, the otherwise highly-animated Singh shows uncharacteristic emotional restraint, but moves through scenes with muscular momentum. He observes and schemes (and smolders) in plain sight en route to ferocious explosions while developing a genuine camaraderie with his mobster marks, and eventually, a predatory romance with Yalina (Sara Arjun), the much younger daughter of a political rival.

Another distinction between Dhurandhar and other works of its ilk, like Dhar’s own Zero Dark Thirty-esque Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019), is that Hamza isn’t an unequivocal hero. He’s framed as a manipulative scumbag through and through, thanks in part to the way Dakait’s gang is humanized right down to the most minor henchmen, who are all pretty fun to be around. This ensures that Hamza’s eventual turn against them feels halfway between righteous vengeance and heinous betrayal. Khanna, a romantic lead from several decades ago, is especially charismatic as a father first and foremost, and an urban militant second; it’s a career-best role. The film is so dramatically fine-tuned that even when it ends on a cliffhanger, falling victim to the duology disease infecting both Indian and American blockbusters (Part 2 arrives March 19th), the result is less exasperation and more eager anticipation, with adrenaline that carries even through its mid-credits teaser.

Buoyed by contemporary Indian and Arabic hip-hop and upbeat remixes of Bollywood classics, Dhurandhar not only sees Dhar tap into his signature brutality, but allows him to imbue it with delirious exuberance born from repugnant moral impulses. If you can stomach the cognitive dissonance, it might be worth your while. People get stabbed, riddled with bullets, pressure-cooked, blown to bits, strung by meat-hooks, de-limbed, decapitated, dragged through the streets by motorcycle, have their skulls caved in, and meet pretty much every grisly outcome you can imagine, as cinematographer Vikash Nowlakha’s camera captures the mayhem at lightspeed, and editor Shivkumar V. Panicker cross-cuts between high melodrama and grounded barbarism as though they were sides to a rapidly spinning coin. The movie’s cool blue hues give it the appearance of perpetual twilight, as though the sun were constantly setting on Hamza, forcing him to shed his personal ethics in favor of a more abstract, nationalistic morality that permits any kind of violence or transgression if it translates into jaw-dropping, stylized action. It’s disturbingly good…in every sense of the phrase.

It’s kind of insane that I never realized how perfectly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would work as a VR game. VR action games famously feature loads of jumping and climbing, which our turt bros do a whole bunch of on Manhattan rooftops. Sneaking around to do melee combat, and having to learn how to parry and dodge incoming attacks is also something the reptilian heroes are known for that has been done well in many VR games. And because these heroes in a half-shell appear most commonly as cartoons, you don’t have to worry about shooting for photorealistic graphics and the technical VR bottlenecks that sometimes come with it. In other words, why in the heck did it take us so long to get this pizza-powered quartet into a VR game? No matter the reason, I’m glad it’s finally happening with TMNT: Empire City, and the 15-minute demo I played was enough to sell me on this tubular action-adventure.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City is exactly the kind of action game you’d expect from the titular masked heroes. I spent my time fighting members of the Foot Clan as each member of the TMNT crew (including their iconic weapons of choice, like Leonardo’s katanas and Donatello’s bo staff), running and jumping across city skylines in pursuit of justice, and hanging out back in my sewer base and eating pizza. Doing all of that in VR is exactly as fun as it sounds (meaning, it’s super fun!), and it’s especially amusing to look down at your turtle body and remember, “Oh, yeah. I’m an anthropomorphic mutated reptile.”

Unfortunately, the section I played was limited entirely to the tutorial, so I was mostly just learning the ropes, like how to hack into electronic devices as Donatello (since he does machines) or how to perform parries on those pesky Shredder-following Foot Clan. The fundamentals were definitely strong, as I was grinning ear-to-ear pretty much the whole time, but I’ll be curious to see if Empire City can build on that to keep it interesting across an entire campaign. For example, I only got to fight one boss at the very end of this introductory mission, and it lasted all of – I kid you not – five seconds as I dodged her opening attack and then whaled on her until she tapped out. Obviously this fight was also a part of the tutorial, so it’s hard to tell if things will get more challenging, but here’s hoping.

Building a Better Turtle

Something that would seem to indicate a deeper level of challenge is the fact that back at the base there’s a whole menu of upgrades to deal with. None of these were unlockable in the build I played from what I could tell, but it reminded me a bit of the upgrade system in Half-Life: Alyx, where you’re collecting parts throughout levels, then funnel it all into a machine to craft certain upgrades for your character. It’s also just great to see them using Donatello’s propensity for crafting gadgets brought to life via all the junk he stuffs in his pocket along the way, which his brothers made fun of him for doing, of course.

Which leads me to one of my favorite parts of the demo: how perfectly Ninja Turtles it was! The banter between the brothers and their recognizable idiosyncrasies left me smiling, whether it was Leonardo’s tendency to be way too serious all the time, Michelangelo’s wise cracks, or Raphael’s intensity and impatience. The unique weapon aside, I never forgot which of the brothers I was because Empire City did such a good job or reminding me with its banter that was completely on point with the surprisingly good writing for which the series is known. I could easily imagine a world where this thing felt like a reskinned ninja game that felt completely generic, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Huge relief.

They also do a really good job capturing the comic book/Saturday morning cartoon art style, with environments that look cel-shaded and goofy voice performances that are over-the-top and amusing. Sure, lots of the textures are fairly undetailed, but that works pretty perfectly with the straight-from-a-comicbook vibe that this game is clearly shooting for. I could easily see myself spending a lot of time just hanging out in this world, exploring and fighting alongside friends. Which reminds me: will there be skateboarding in this? Why haven’t they let me skateboard yet?!

(Multi-)Turtle Power?

One pretty huge thing I didn’t get to see in action is how this will all work in four-player co-op. I can only imagine how much of a blast it’s going to be to roll through with the full shell squad smacking enemies around, but the section of the demo I played felt pretty designed for a single player and it’s a bit difficult to imagine how this kind of gameplay might scale up for four-player bouts. Presumably there’d need to be many more enemies and fewer linear paths than the ones I crept through to make it work. Also, I can only imagine how silly it’ll look to have teammates running around as big ol’ green cartoon characters while swinging around nunchucks.

I’ll still need to see a fair bit more of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Empire City before I can speak definitively on it, but so far I’m pretty stoked by the potential here and am absolutely flabbergasted that it took us this long to get a first-person TMNT game.