I've posted plenty of power bank deals, but today's deal is easily one of the best I've seen all year. Amazon is offering the high-capacity, high-output Iniu 25,000mAh 100W power bank for just $27.49 after you apply coupon code "IP3GGX8A". This power bank is ideal for long flights or trips where you might not have an available outlet for extended periods of time. It's powerful enough to charge just about every phone or gaming handheld PC - including the Asus ROG Ally X and upcoming Lenovo Legion Go 2 - even while you're playing games, as well as most non-gaming laptops.

Iniu 25,000mAh 100W Power Bank for $27.49

Superman launches on HBO Max on September 19, Warner Bros. has announced. The DC Universe kickstarter arrives on the streamer just over two months after it hit theaters in July and with $615 million at the global box office under its belt.

Superman will debut on HBO linear on Saturday, September 20 at 8pm ET. A version of Superman with American Sign Language (ASL) will also stream exclusively on HBO Max, interpreted by Deaf ASL Interpreter Giovanni Maucere and directed by Leila Hanaumi (Barbie with ASL, The Last of Us with ASL).

Expect to see an in-app Superman takeover on HBO Max, which transforms the homepage and adds features you can interact with. These include a Daily Planet Homepage takeover with refreshed art, style, and specially designed content rails, and a The Fortress of Solitude page with themed curations. There are even hidden portals throughout the homepage that transport users to Lex Luthor’s Pocket Prison.

Superman hits HBO Max after what appears to have been a successful run in theaters. It made just over $615 million theatrically, making it the first and likely only superhero movie of 2025 to pass $600 million. Most of that money was made in North American theaters (Gunn has offered his thoughts on why Superman is doing better domestically than internationally).

Last month, DC Studios co-chief James Gunn made the surprise announcement that Superman would see its digital release on Friday, August 15 — just over a month after the film launched in theaters. Gunn blamed this relatively early home release on HBO Max TV series Peacemaker Season 2, which follows on directly from the events of Superman and serves as a prequel to Gunn’s Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow.

Last week, Gunn revealed the first details on Man of Tomorrow. In previous interviews, Gunn had teased his next writer / director movie wasn’t going to be a straight up Superman sequel. Man of Tomorrow will instead see Superman and Lex Luthor team up to face a greater threat, with Gunn revealing: “it’s as much a Lex movie as it is a Superman movie.”

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 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 R16 RTX 5070 Ti Gaming PC

Alienware Area-51 RTX 5090 Gaming PC

Dell has dropped the price of the new 2025 Alienware Aurora 16 gaming laptop equipped with an GeForce RTX 5060 mobile GPU to just $1,200 with free delivery. Compared to other Alienware laptops, the Aurora 16 is designed to look less like a gamer's laptop. It boasts a sleek, understated design with the absence of extraneous visual-only embellishments or unnecessary RGB lighting outside of the keyboard's white-only illumination. The RTX 5060 is about 15%-20% more powerful than the RTX 4060 that replaces, making it a perfectly capable GPU for most games at up to 1600p. It approaches the performance of the RTX 4070, especially in games that support DLSS 4.

You can pick up an Alienware 16X Aurora gaming laptop equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU and GeForce RTX 5070 mobile GPU for $1,599.99 after a $300 instant discount. This is the best Alienware laptop for gamers on a budget.

More than 75 game announcements, trailers, exclusive clips, and celebrity interviews will be featured when a brand-new special edition of IGN Fan Fest arrives October 15.

Streaming across all IGN platforms, IGN Fan Fest 2025: Fall Edition will see the likes of Keanu Reeves, Aziz Ansari, and other A-listers stop by to reveal exclusive looks at major upcoming movies and streaming series. We’ll also be announcing brand-new video games and showing off never-before-seen looks at some of the year’s biggest gaming titles.

IGN Fan Fest 2025: Fall Edition kicks off October 15 at 9am PDT / 12pm EDT / 5pm BST with a special one-hour pre-show filled with even more gameplay, trailers, and first looks.

Then, the main event streams on IGN.com, YouTube, Steam, Facebook, twitch, and X starting at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT / 6pm BST.

Days of Our Lives' current 61st season has included a shoutout for one of Nintendo's lesser-known franchises, much to the surprise of fans.

A recent episode of the long-running soap saw Salem University student Aaron flirting with classmate Arianna outside his dorm room. Looking for an excuse to invite her in, Aaron boldly suggests Arianna might like to wait inside, in order to "play Xenoblade on my Switch." I'd have gone for Mario Kart World, personally, but there we go.

To the surprise of Aaron — and, let's be honest, everyone at home watching — his offer is taken up by Arianna, who awkwardly laughs and steps inside, looking like she really did not have anything else better to do. Aaron, bless him, looks genuinely surprised his suggestion worked — as well he should.

In this scene from the long-running American soap opera Days of Our Lives (s61e008), Aaron uses playing Xenoblade as an excuse to invite Arianna into his dorm room. pic.twitter.com/LQ9kCVmuyC

— Nintendeal (@Nintendeal) September 15, 2025

The moment has since been turned into a clip and uploaded by Nintendeal to social media, where many Nintendo fans are celebrating someone remembering that Xenoblade exists. (To those who were hoping for a new game announcement in last week's Nintendo Direct, I hope you're doing okay.)

Developed by Monolith Soft, the Xenoblade Chronicles series began back in 2010 on Wii, with subsequent years featuring half a dozen sequels and re-releases. The most recent of those, a new version of Wii U side-story Xenoblade Chronicles X, launched for Switch back in March, at a time when most Nintendo fans were just waiting for Switch 2.

"This show has 61 seasons and I've never seen any bit of it until Xenoblade was mentioned," wrote Zhenghua Yang, founder of To the Moon developer Serenity Forge, after watching the clip. "Top tier marketing."

"I know nothing about this show but Aaron is already my favorite character and there is no question about it," wrote another fan, AmiibroN.

Originally launched in 1965, Days of Our Lives is (still) running — now on streaming service Peacock. For anyone who has watched the full episode, do let us know what happened next.

Image credit: NBC/Peacock.

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 looking for a new survival game to obsess over, Lost Skies officially goes from Early Access to full release on September 17. As the name suggests, you're doing a lot of grappling and gliding in the game, exploring floating islands to unlock technology and collect raw materials, but the core of the game is its detailed, physics-based ship-building system. There's co-op for 1-6 players too, so you don't have to fly alone. If you haven't checked it out yet now is the perfect time, and here are a few details to tempt you to take off.

PSA for sufferers of airsickness

Lost Skies is all about exploring ruins and biomes, collecting resources to craft and refine a skyship, so you're spending all your time at high altitude. You'll start out with a grappling hook for shorter distances, then craft a makeshift glider, and by combining the two you can chain movement that will let you get to the harder to reach areas. Once you have enough materials to start crafting your skyship it will become a home base and a weapon war.

You are not alone

The various regions of the Lost Skies world are home to strange creatures, like the Blue Manta that travels through the skies, but will attack if provoked, or the burrowing Spitter Motus Beetle that rudely shoots balls of acid at you. Those are the least of your worries though - there are also the Seraph, strange mechanical looking enemies that are powerful and use nano-technology to devastating effect. They're are not to be trifled with. You do have someone on your side though, an AI companion called ASA that can help explain the strange lands you find yourself in, and stop you turning into a weird sky loner.

Something really bad happened

Like most survival games, there's a terrible event that has left you trying to craft your own underpants or going toe to toe with an enraged boar. In Lost Skies it's not the old zombies or aliens stuff, but something called the Cataclysm. AI companion ASA helps you decode the clues you find scattered around ruins, and figure out how the monstrous mechanical Seraph are involved.

You can create your own Lost Skies islands

If you're the sort of person who doesn't just want to live in a world, but to shape and control it too, maybe check in with a therapist and then try the Lost Skies Island Creator. This free tool allows players to sculpt and populate an island, and use assets from the game to refine and populate it. There are already hundreds of player made islands.

It's made by the Surgeon Simulator folks

It might look whimsical, but Lost Skies is made by the studio that brought you cult hits like Surgeon Simulator. That was the cult where you had to perform complex medical procedures with tricky physics-based controls. Many virtual patients died, but hilariously. They also created the self-explanatory I Am Bread and I Am Fish. Lost Skies is definitely a vibe shift, but one that takes the bare bones physics-engine skills of Bossa and makes it real pretty.

Disclaimer: IGN Entertainment and publishing label Humble Games operate under separate divisions of the same parent company, Ziff Davis. Humble Games does not influence IGN Entertainment editorial policy.

Rachel Weber is the Senior Editorial Director of Games at IGN and an elder millennial. She's been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, and French Bulldogs. Those extra wrinkles on her face are thanks to going time blind and staying up too late finishing every sidequest in RPGs like Fallout and Witcher 3.

Calling all Friends fans, especially if you live in the Big Apple or are planning a trip there soon.

The beloved Central Perk coffeehouse from the iconic 90s sitcom is becoming a reality, with a permanent location coming to Manhattan this fall. The space will be located in the bustling neighborhood of Times Square on the corner of 47th Street and 7th Avenue, and it will be the second permanent location for the brand, which opened a coffeehouse in Boston back in 2023.

Central Perk has been a fixture on social media because of their much attended pop up coffeehouses that brought a taste of Friends to different cities in a limited engagement setting. But now the brand is debuting a “modern-day version” of the cafe in the city the show was set, but didn’t actually film in, interestingly enough.

This week only, our sister site Retailmenot is offering 30% cashback on all purchases at AliExpress up to $50 in maximum rewards. This is a rare amount for AliExpress, which is usually limited to 5% cashback on most days. All you have to do is head over to Retailmenot and click on the tile to activate it. Then proceed to shop at AliExpress and your cashback savings will automatically be applied. Retailmenot is reputable; your cashback earnings are deposited into your Retailmenot account, and then you can transfer that balance to PayPal or Venmo.

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The original Star Wars movie has been adapted as a Marvel Comics series, several video games, and a radio play, but did you know it also inspired a manga adaptation? Dark Horse Comics is celebrating Hisao Tamaki's award-winning manga with the release of a new art book called The Art of Star Wars: A New Hope - The Manga.

With the crowdfunding campaign for The Art of Star Wars: A New Hope - The Manga now live, IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of the book. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:

Star Wars: A New Hope - The Manga was originally published in 1997, timed to the 20th anniversary of the film. Tamaki ultimately won the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material. This volume painstakingly reproduces Tamaki's artwork using scans of the original art boards.

Dark Horse will release The Art of Star Wars: A New Hope - The Manga in stores in Summer 2026, but the Kickstarter campaign offers fans the chance to purchase the book early, with various exclusive bonus options. The standard Collector's Edition features a new English translation printed in the margins in order to preserve Tamaki's artwork and lettering. The book is available in several other versions, including signed and slipcase editions as well as a Masterpiece Edition that reproduces the art in its original 10.85” x 15.05” format. Backers can also purchase an additional Tamaki Art Print Set that features six full-size prints of select pages.

“This is Star Wars like you’ve never seen it,” said Dark Horse President, Founder and CEO Mike Richardson in a statement. “We’re sharing Hisao Tamaki’s legendary manga with fans in an edition that not only showcases the art, but also offers an unprecedented glimpse into the creative process behind it.”

The Art of Star Wars: A New Hope - The Manga is live on Kickstarter now.

In other Star Wars news, Marvel's Legacy of Vader series just filled in some big holes regarding the Knights of Ren, and Andor Season 2 won a key award at the Emmys.

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

Marvel's upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps Blu-ray will feature five deleted scenes, with at least one seemingly centered on Mole Man.

The movie's physical editions for 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD will arrive October 14, Entertainment Weekly has reported, following a digital release next week on September 23. Boxed copies will also contain other special features, such as three featurettes, a gag reel and an audio commentary featuring director Matt Shakman and production designer Kasra Farahani.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps' selection of deleted scenes will likely be of most interest to fans, however, following sizable cuts by Marvel to the movie's runtime shortly before launch — including the complete removal of John Malkovich's character Red Ghost.

Paul Walter Hauser's Mole Man and Natasha Lyone's character Rachel Rozman remained in the film, meanwhile, though both ended up feeling underutilised its final cut. Indeed, Mole Man's friendship with Sue Storm felt particularly unexplained — something actress Vanessa Kirby has said was established in a deleted scene that theater-going audiences never got to see.

Included in The Fantastic Four: First Steps' physical release will be:

• Thanksgiving Soup Kitchen
• Fantastic Four Day
• Subterranea
• Birthday Sweater
• Taking Turns

"Subterranea" almost certainly features more of Mole Man — and is potentially the scene featuring Hauser and Kirby. "Thanksgiving Soup Kitchen," meanwhile, sounds like a scene featuring Ebon Moss-Bachrach's The Thing, with potentially more from Lyone's character.

Discussing why so much was cut from the film, director Matt Shakman previously claimed that Marvel "intentionally wrote and shot a lot more than we ended up using, or needing to use". Some of this cut material, including the subplot featuring Malkovich's character, would have acted as a backstory showing how The Fantastic Four became established as superheroes. But other scenes were removed from later on in the movie's runtime, too.

"How long can we spend getting to know and love these characters in their environment? How much is too much? You never know until you start to put it together and feel it out for yourself," Shakman said. "There was a ton of stuff we shot that was really wonderful that we didn't use, couldn't use."

Shakman has also previously said that Malkovich's scenes will never be released publicly, as they were incomplete and required extensive CGI work. Still, here's hoping the five other moments listed above help provide Marvel fans a slightly more complete picture of how The Fantastic Four's first steps into the MCU might originally have looked.

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 caught The Long Walk in theaters and can't wait to grab a copy for your physical media library, Amazon's here to make your day. An Amazon Exclusive 4K steelbook of The Long Walk is officially up for preorder at the retailer, coming to $34.99 (see here at Amazon).

Of course, since it only just released in theaters, there's no official release date locked in for it yet, but it's well worth it to secure a copy for yourself now in case it sells out. That way, it can be delivered to you the day it's available.

Preorder The Long Walk Amazon Exclusive 4K Steelbook

This steelbook features Mark Hamill's character The Major front and center, with the contestant's dog tags on the back. There's also a sleeve that goes over the steelbook which fills in The Major's sunglasses with a reflection of the walkers, which is a cool touch. It comes with a 4K, Blu-ray, and digital copy of the film as well. Below, you can learn more about bonus features.

The Long Walk Amazon Exclusive 4K Steelbook Bonus Features

• Alternate Ending
• Stephen King: An Appreciation
• Cooper & David Scene Read
• "Ever Onward: Making The Long Walk" Multi-part Documentary
• Theatrical Trailers

Our 8/10 review of The Long Walk had quite a lot of praise for it. IGN's Tom Jorgensen wrote, "Anchored by strong performances from Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson, The Long Walk overcomes the repetitive nature of its story to deliver a timely and powerful condemnation of normalized violence… with some seriously brutal, R-rated violence."
For physical media collectors, there are plenty more movies and shows up for preorder at the moment alongside The Long Walk that are worth checking out. In our roundup of upcoming 4K UHD and Blu-rays, you can see a variety of releases coming out over the next few months so you can plan ahead on what to pick up next.

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

Big news for Batman fans: writer-director Matt Reeves has, in fact, delivered a new script for his sequel The Batman: Part II — but it wasn’t necessarily an easy road for the filmmaker to get to this point.

The Batman 2, which starts filming early next year, currently has a release date of October 1, 2027. If it does come out then, The Batman 2 will arrive five-and-a-half years after The Batman. Indeed, Reeves has said he set out to make a trilogy of Batman films, and as of last year that plan was still on.

“It’s been a journey that is taking longer than I would’ve wanted for a lot of reasons, a lot of personal reasons,” Reeves told The Hollywood Reporter on the Emmys red carpet this weekend. “But [the] most important reason is getting it to a place where I just felt like it was the best script we could possibly write.”

He also noted that the film is set to shoot next year now that the script is in. “We’re getting ready. We’re basically entering prep,” Reeves added. “We’ll be making the movie in the spring.”

Reeves also spoke about star Robert Pattinson’s response to the script — which, believe it or not, was mailed to him in a privacy pouch complete with coded entry (that Pattinson almost couldn’t open, mind you) to keep all of the exciting details completely under wraps.

“He’s Batman, and if he doesn’t like it, not good,” the Cloverfield director said of Pattinson’s feelings on the script. “I was super excited. I thought that he really would [like it] because the things that it does for his character, for Batman and for Bruce, have never been done before in this way. I had a feeling that he would respond in this way, but the fact that he did was incredibly encouraging.”

He added, “Obviously because of what the first movie was and what this movie is, which is so much a detective story, the idea of trying to protect the secrets of the movie is super important because it’s a mystery. It would be an extra level of heartbreak if that part of it started getting out.”

Reeves also spoke about where the HBO’s spinoff series The Penguin stands in terms of Season 2. “We’re in discussions. [Showrunner] Lauren [Lefranc] is thinking hard and we’re talking, so we’ll see,” he told Variety at the Emmys. “We love the show, and we think our cast is so incredible. The work that Lauren and the writers did was incredible. Our passion was in it, but never in our wildest dreams could we imagine it would have been received in the way that it was.”

The series took home a solid nine awards between the Primetime Emmys broadcast and the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony a week prior — including Best Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology series for Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone.

Meanwhile, James Gunn has his own plans for the DC Universe’s Batman, who he has insisted won’t be played by Robert Pattinson. While promoting the rebooted DCU kickstarter Superman earlier this year, Gunn admitted: "Batman's my biggest issue in all of DC right now."

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

Players were enamored by the BioShock series from the moment they escaped a crashed aircraft, entered a mysterious lighthouse, and embarked on their undersea voyage to the crumbling city of Rapture. Often referenced and paid tribute to, many consider Irrational Games’ immersive action-horror classic a masterpiece, and in the years following its debut, it blossomed into a long-running franchise.

But in classic BioShock fashion, its sequels were the furthest thing from traditional. As expected for a series that hinges on otherworldly scientific discoveries and reality-tearing experiments, BioShock's story frequently switches between alternate universes, leaving its games out of chronological order.

With news of a Bioshock movie on the way, you may be wanting to try our or revisit the series that started it all. So, for those looking for a linear way to play through BioShock’s full narrative, here’s a quick runthrough of the BioShock series in chronological order.

Jump to:

• How to play in chronological order
• How to play by release date

How Many BioShock Games Are There?

In total, there are four BioShock Games (three released on home console and PC and one released exclusively on PC via web browser) and three expansions.

This list won’t include remasters or ports, including the BioShock Collection, which bundled remasters of the full trilogy and its expansions. It also won’t contain challenge map packs, such as Clash in the Clouds or BioShock’s Challenge Rooms DLC, as these are purely gameplay-focused and thus considered non-canon.

Which BioShock Game Should You Play First?

It's best to begin where the franchise did with the original BioShock. The first game laid the foundation for the franchise from a gameplay and narrative perspective, exploring big socio-political ideas within a confined, thoughtfully crafted space. It's necessary to play through the original to fully understand and appreciate the must-play BioShock Infinite, especially its Burial at Sea DLC. And despite debuting 17 years ago, BioShock is perfectly playable today, thanks to a 2016 remaster and a stylized aesthetic that has aged considerably well.

Every BioShock Game in Chronological Order

These blurbs contain mild spoilers for each game, including characters, settings, and story beats.

1. BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution

Launching as a pre-order bonus for BioShock Infinite, BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution was a browser-based flash game that acted as a prequel to Infinite’s story. Casting players as a worker completing cog-based puzzles, Industrial Revolution allowed pre-ordering customers to unlock special items and upgrades that transferred to BioShock Infinite.

As players completed challenges, they learned more about the conflicts running through Infinite’s world, including the battle between the Vox Populi and the Founders. They could even choose which of the two groups to support, unlocking different rewards as a result.

Note: The game was shut down a decade ago and is no longer available to play online.

2. BioShock Infinite

The third mainline BioShock game, BioShock Infinite follows a Pinkerton detective named Booker Dewitt. Drowning in debt, Dewitt is tasked with a simple mission to wipe away what he owes: venture to the city of Columbia and locate a mysterious girl named Elizabeth.

However, when Dewitt arrives in Columbia, things are far from simple. Columbia is a city floating above the clouds and its citizens have branded Booker a “False Shepherd”, rallying together to execute him. Things get even stranger when Booker finally locates and rescues Elizabeth, who reveals she can open tears in reality, allowing her to reach into other universes.

Teaming with Elizabeth to escape Columbia, players are taken on an adventure through the flying metropolis, facing off against the locals, their towering mechanical security bots, and Elizabeth’s relentless bodyguard, Songbird. Along the way, they can open rifts to other dimensions using Elizabeth's unique powers, utilizing her gifts to scrounge up resources or venture into new realities altogether.

Read our review of Bioshock Infinite.

3. BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Part 1

Set in the same universe as BioShock and BioShock 2, BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Part 1 is the first of two expansions for BioShock Infinite. The DLC follows an alternate-universe Booker Dewitt who acts as a private detective in the city of Rapture. Set before Rapture’s downfall, the game begins with Dewitt meeting Elizabeth, who tasks him with assisting her in rescuing a missing girl named Sally.

Burial at Sea’s first part allows players to explore a fully operational Rapture set before the events of the first game. Alongside getting to see the city as it once was, the DLC includes several returning faces from previous Rapture adventures, including Sander Cohen and Yi Suchong.

Read our review of Burial at Sea Episode 1.

4. BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Part 2

Taking place directly after the events of Burial at Sea - Part 1, Burial at Sea - Part 2 switches control from Booker to Elizabeth. Waking up after the dramatic conclusion of the previous expansion, Elizabeth meets Atlas, who strikes a deal with her: He’ll let her and Sally live if she can help him escape Fontaine's Department Store and return to Rapture.

Taking on a new stealth-focused playstyle to fit Elizabeth's skill set, players explore Fontaine's Department Store, attempting to figure out how to return to Rapture and save Sally. Burial at Sea - Part 2 was Irrational Games’ and BioShock creator Ken Levine’s final take on the BioShock universe. It attempts to wrap up some of the franchise’s biggest mysteries while directly setting up the events of the original game.

Read our review of Burial at Sea Episode 2.

5. BioShock

The franchise's debut entry, BioShock follows Jack, the sole survivor of a devastating plane crash. Escaping the wreckage of the accident, he finds refuge in a mysterious lighthouse, where he discovers a submarine that transports him to the underwater city of Rapture. Although the city looks like a technological marvel from afar, Jack quickly realizes it’s hardly the oceanic utopia it appears to be.

Envisioned as a neon-lit metropolis where society’s greatest minds are allowed ethical and creative freedom with no governmental intervention, Rapture is a fallen wasteland by the time Jack arrives. The blood-drenched streets are patrolled by monstrous citizens slaughtering each other in search of a genetic-splicing drug known as Adam, while the city’s shadowy founder, Andrew Ryan, controls the ruins with an iron fist.

Teaming with a fellow survivor named Atlas, players are tasked with venturing through the city, attempting to escape Rapture and return to the surface. Along the way, they gain access to plasmids, powerful injections that unlock elemental powers. In the years following its release, BioShock has become a classic, with many regarding it as one of the best games of all time.

Read our review of Bioshock.

6. BioShock 2

A sequel to BioShock, BioShock 2 was developed by 2K Marin rather than Irrational. Strapping players into the hulking suit of a Big Daddy, BioShock 2 has players return to the submerged dystopia of Rapture eight years after the events of BioShock.

Taking control of a Big Daddy codenamed Subject Delta, the story follows the towering protagonist searching through the ruins of Rapture for a Little Sister he used to protect. Along the way, he’s pursued by Sofia Lamb, a scientist who’s filled the power vacuum left by the deaths of Frank Fontaine and Andrew Ryan.

BioShock 2 was largely a continuation of the gameplay and themes of the first game, albeit with a hefty arsenal of brutal Big Daddy weaponry and a new mechanic where players defend Little Sisters while they scavenge Adam.

Read our review of Bioshock 2.

7. BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den

An expansion for BioShock 2 that occurs alongside the events of the main campaign, Minerva’s Den follows a second Big Daddy codenamed Subject Sigma. Tasked with tracking down and accessing The Thinker – Rapture’s computer mainframe – Sigma works alongside the creator of the system, Charles Milton Porter, to retrieve it.

Minerva’s Den offered a short campaign that fills in some crucial Rapture lore and offers new gear, including the Ion Laser and Gravity Well Plasmid. Minerva’s Den currently marks the end of the BioShock timeline.

Read our review of Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den.

How to Play the BioShock Series by Release Date

• BioShock (2007)
• BioShock: Challenge Rooms (2008)*
• BioShock 2 (2010)
• BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den (2010)
• BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution (2013)
• BioShock Infinite (2013)
• BioShock Infinite: Clash in the Clouds (2013)*
• BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Part 1 (2013)
• BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Part 2 (2014)

*Non-canon

What’s Next for BioShock?

Plans are theoretically underway for a new Bioshock game, but its been a rocky road. 2K officially announced the series was getting another entry back in 2019, which we are tentatively labeling Bioshock 4. Following the closure of Irrational Games, the game was passed over to developer Cloud Chamber, and then development went pretty quiet. This past summer, 2K confirmed that lay-offs at Cloud Chamber had impacted the game's development (the bad news), but that they are still pushing forward, now with Rod Fergusson (best known for the Gears of War series) on their team.

A sequel isn't the only long-awaited BioShock product currently in production. Back in 2022, Netflix revealed it had greenlit a movie adaptation of the original BioShock. Netflix later confirmed the film will be directed by I Am Legend and Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes director Francis Lawrence. Producer Roy Lee recently confirmed that the movie is still in active production and is specifically adapting the first Bioshock game.

BioShock creator Ken Levine’s next project, Judas, is also deep in development. From the early glimpse we saw at The Game Awards in 2022, it seems akin to BioShock, from the dual-wielding combat to the high-concept sci-fi setting. If all goes to plan, it seems BioShock fans will be feasting on a banquet of twisted sci-fi goodness over the next few years.

Callum Williams is a freelance media writer with years of experience as a game critic, news reporter, guides writer and features writer.

The latest PS5 system update will finally allow your DualSense controller to pair across multiple devices without having to de- and re-pair every time you switch.

Sony said that as many of us use our PS5 controllers across numerous devices, such as PCs, Macs, tablets, and more, it "believes enabling compatibility of our peripherals across multiple platforms creates a more flexible and seamless gaming experience." This means that when you change from, say, playing on your PS5 to jumping on Steam, you won't have to keep un- and re-pairing your device.

It'll work by assigning each device to a different "slot" on your device that you can set by pressing a combination of the PS button and one of the action buttons (triangle/circle/cross/square). You'll then be able to save four devices simultaneously and cycle between them using the PS button and the corresponding action button.

You'll see between one to four indicator lights depending upon which slot and device you're connected to. Here's how Sony breaks it down:

The feature initially rolled out for testing earlier in the summer, but it'll shortly be available for all. To ensure you're using the latest update, head to Settings > System > System Software > System Software Update and Settings.

Additionally, the update also enables players to enable a Power Saver option via Settings > System > Power Saving > Use Power Saver. "Future updates for games such as Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Demon’s Souls, and Ghost of Yōtei will include support for the Power Saver option, with more titles to follow," Sony added.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

The Funko Pop! series is still going strong after all these years, and we've got an exclusive first look at the many DC exclusives Funko will be bringing to New York Comic-Con next month. The company is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its long-running DC line by resurrecting the earliest figures.

Check out the slideshow gallery below to see every figure included in the Funko NYCC DC 15th Anniversary Pops series:

These DC Pops are divided into two different series. First up is POP Heroes: DC Mystery POP! 15th Anniversary, which offers recreations of early DC Pops like Batman, Joker, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The catch is that these are blind boxes, so you won't know which figure you get until you buy it. The series includes:

• Batman (2000 units)
• Joker (1000 units)
• Robin (1000 units)
• Wonder Woman (500 units)
• Superman (400 units)
• The Flash (100 units)

The other series features recreations of the original Batman, Joker, and Batgirl Pop! figures originally sold at SDCC 2010. Fittingly, each is limited to 2010 units worldwide. The figures are sold inside special clamshell packaging rather than the typical Funko Pop! box.

Each Funko Pop! figure is priced at $39.99 and will be sold at the Funko booth (#4505) at NYCC. NYCC will run from October 9-12, 2025.

Other recent Funko Pop! reveals include a new Magic: The Gathering series and a line inspired by Alien: Earth.

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

Netflix’s forthcoming animated series Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch draws from the lore established by Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell games and their canonical ancillary material to tell a new story about an older Sam Fisher (voiced by Liev Schreiber). As revealed in the exclusive new trailer below, this elder version of Sam is living as a recluse in rural Eastern Europe when he’s pulled back into the black-ops trade.

Netflix hired Derek Kolstad, the creator of John Wick and Nobody, to serve as the series’ showrunner. Although he admits that he played the games and “sucked,” Kolstad is a huge fan of the character of Sam Fisher and of the books by the late author Tom Clancy, who, although he didn’t write any of them, endorsed a series of Splinter Cell tie-in novels.

I recently chatted with Derek Kolstad about what convinced him to do the Netflix series. “They let me do Old Man Sam and to actually use everything in the video games and all the ancillaries as his past resume as canon. That one to me was fun,” Kolstad said. This allowed him to craft an original story that nevertheless “respects the games that I loved and the character I just adored.”

So is Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, which is set decades after the events of the original games, itself to be considered canon? Kolstad isn’t entirely certain but told IGN, “I hope so. … [Ubisoft’s] got a stranglehold on their IP for good measure because they’ve got some of the best titles. But there were some things that along the way [they] were like, ‘Don't do that.’ And I'm like, ‘Why?’ And they're like, ‘Hey, we got other plans.’ Again, I only get to peer behind part of the curtain for what they're thinking [of for the] long run. But for what I want to do with the anime and talking in the future of any other spinoff they want to do, it's going like, ‘This fits the mold.’”

Watch the exclusive new trailer for Splinter Cell: Deathwatch below:

An older, once-notorious badass now living a quiet life is a concept Kolstad is quite familiar with, having used it to great effect in his scripts for the original John Wick and 2021’s Nobody. Kolstad acknowledged the parallel to those works but added that he “had the flexibility to go where I wanted to go with (Sam). And it's been done before in Old Mad Logan, but in many respects, this is my Unforgiven. This is the ‘one last job’ from the old '70s thrillers, and it was a joy, man.”

Some Splinter Cell fans may be disappointed that Michael Ironside, who voiced Sam Fisher in the games, isn’t reprising the role for Deathwatch, especially since Sam is meant to be older in the show. “I loved him, but ultimately it was like, ‘If we're going to be doing this for a while, they just wanted a new sound.’ And when they were going through the various voices, any number of people were up for the role,” Kolstad said.

The showrunner is particularly fond of Liev Schreiber’s performance in the 2002 spy thriller The Sum of All Fears, which is what made him “perfect” to succeed Ironside in the role of Sam Fisher: “Say what you will about that movie, but Liev Schreiber as John Clark was perfect. And so when his name came up, it was looking through that lens of John Clark. It's again, they’re both Clancy characters, they're attached to the hip, same creator, same universe, and it just seemed perfect.”

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch revisits some of the events depicted in the 2005 game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, with flashbacks recounting the close friendship and later tragic falling-out between Sam and his former comrade-in-arms, Douglas Shetland.

“Even though we have elements of that game referenced there, it's hopefully small enough and the changes therein minute enough [that fans won’t be upset],” Kolstad said.

“But the other thing you have to look at with an adaptation, especially when it's the first time in this medium, you have to rip the spine out of the source material,” he continued. “Keep the brain and the heart, entertain the soul, and do your best to actually build it into something that works.”

Check out this exclusive new poster for Splinter Cell: Deathwatch.

In the show’s present day storyline, Shetland’s children – half-siblings Diana and Charlie – now control their late father’s infamous company, Displace International. Diana has retooled Displace into a green energy firm with global ties; Charlie is a ne’er-do-well who yearns for a larger role and to emerge from out of Diana’s shadow.

What Displace and the Shetland offspring are really up to drives the larger plot of Splinter Cell: Deathwatch. It’s why Sam gets reactivated as an operative for the clandestine unit Fourth Echelon, coming to the aid of a younger agent, Zinnia McKenna, who has been wounded while on a mission. Along with his old tech support colleague Anna Grimsdottir and her fellow Fourth Echelon members Jo and Thunder, Sam and Zinnia uncover a larger conspiracy involving Displace that threatens Europe.

With Sam now ostensibly a retiree, Kolstad’s approach to the character is reflective of his understanding of the psychology of real-life veterans. “You talk to Special Forces and first responders and anyone in this kind of game, you get into your late 30s, you're the old man,” Kolstad explained. “So when you talk about what is the thing with a well-trained soldier, it's tears in training, it's laughing in the field. Because you think in the field you're going to die, it's better than what they did back in training. And I think when (Sam) is actually used as the scalpel he was forged to be, [it pleases him because] we all like feeling useful, man.”

Similarly, the Fourth Echelon of Deathwatch is also grappling with being “analog in a digital world,” as Kolstad put it. “I think it's there in the same place that Sam is, where it's like they're about to be mothballed. Or in a digital era, why do we need boots on the ground?” Kolstad said.

“Do I have a place in this world? And ultimately they do, because they are the point of the spear. You still need that guy to push the button, and they're the ones to push the button.”

You can push the button – the play button, that is – to see Sam Fisher return to his stealthy ways when Splinter Cell: Deathwatch launches on Netflix on October 14.

Beginning its life as a Shin Megami Tensei spin-off, the Persona series has quickly launched into something entirely of its own and become one of the biggest names in modern RPGs. From multiple major sequels and remakes to anime adaptations and even stage plays, Persona is a multimedia sensation, and its popularity doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

With the official announcement of Persona 4 Revival, new players are probably wondering where’s the best place to start. Below, we’ll give you a full rundown of every game and spin-off, including the best entry point for newcomers and both the chronological and release order of the series.

Jump to:

• How to play in order
• How to play by release date
• Upcoming releases

How Many Persona Games Are There?

In total, there are currently twenty Persona games. Several of these are expanded versions of the mainline entries in the series, whether that’s in the form of re-releases featuring new story content or remakes. While we won’t include direct ports or remasters, we’ll make sure to note every alternate version of each game when listing them below.

Which Persona Game Should You Play First?

If you're looking for the perfect place to start, you can’t really go wrong jumping into Persona 3 Reload, Persona 4 Golden or Persona 5 Royal. They’re the latest versions of the third, fourth and fifth mainline entries in the series, and, aside from Persona 3 Reload missing Nintendo Switch, they’re all available on PC and every major console.

For those concerned about skipping the story by jumping into later entries in the series, you won’t miss anything by going straight to Persona 3, 4, or 5. Each game tells an entirely new story with original characters that’s largely disconnected from its predecessors, so they’re great launching points for those coming in fresh. To narrow your choices down, I'd recommend taking a look at some gameplay videos and some of the social links across each of the games to see what "stands out" to you.

Every Persona Game and Spin-Off in Chronological Order

These blurbs contain mild spoilers for each game, including characters, settings, and story beats.

1. Revelations: Persona (1996)

The first game in the series, Revelations: Persona was Atlus’ reaction to the positive reception of Shin Megami Tensei: If…, which was another Shin Megami Tensei spin-off centered around high-schoolers battling demons. Capitalizing on how much players enjoyed the central concept, Revelations: Persona offered a full dungeon-crawling RPG centered around a group of high schoolers battling a supernatural uprising throughout the town of Mikage-cho.

Along the way, they use the powers of their awakened Personas to take down shadows and explore dungeons filled with random encounters, leveling up their party and growing stronger over the course of the game. Revelations: Persona was the foundation of the franchise as we know it today, introducing elements like wielding Personas in combat, the Velvet Room and a teenage cast of heroes.

2. Persona 2: Innocent Sin (1999)

The second entry in the Persona series, Persona 2: Innocent Sin launched in 1999. The game follows a new set of high-school students led by protagonist Tatsuya Suou, who set out on a mission to take down a mysterious villain known as Joker and the cult of the Masked Circle.

Centring around an evil plot where malicious rumors spreading around the town of Sumaru come to life, Persona 2 once again focuses on exploring dungeons, wielding Personas, fighting shadows and leveling up your party. Unlike other entries in the series, it received a direct sequel just a year later, with Persona 2: Eternal Punishment acting as a continuation of the game's story.

Read our review of Persona 2: Innocent Sin.

3. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (2000)

Following up the events of Innocent Sin, Eternal Punishment promoted side character, Maya Amano, to the protagonist role. Sent to write an article about a new rumor regarding a phenomenon known as the Joker Curse, the game quickly sees Maya and her allies rally against a returning foe.

Acting as a direct continuation of Innocent Sin's story, it centers on the same style of turn-based, dungeon-crawling gameplay, as players build their party and wield their Personas to battle shadows.

Read our review of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.

4. Persona 3 (2006) / Persona 3 FES (2007) / Persona 3 Portable (2009) / Persona 3 Reload (2024)

The third mainline entry in the franchise, Persona 3 was a major evolution of the Persona formula. Opting to focus on its high-school premise, Persona 3 introduced a daily calendar, with one half of the game tasking players with attending school, developing friendships and studying, while the other sent them to fight shadows in the supernatural realm of Tartarus.

The story focuses on high school student Makoto Yuki, who finds he's able to experience a mysterious space of time known as the Dark Hour, where regular people are trapped in coffins and a demonic tower sprouts from his school. Teaming with his classmates, he explores the tower, uncovering a sinister plot that threatens the entire world. Persona 3 is considered a landmark entry for the series, introducing social links, day-to-day activities and many other mechanics that have since become synonymous with the franchise.

Read our review of Persona 3 Reload.

5. Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight (2018)

A rhythm-based dancing spin-off of Persona 3 that takes place during the main campaign, Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight sees Elizabeth challenge the S.E.E.S team to a dance-off in the Velvet Room. The events of the game are set during a dream but are completely canon to the story, and follow the team performing various dance routines to iconic Persona 3 tracks.

6. Persona 4 (2008) / Persona 4 Golden (2012)

The fourth mainline entry in the Persona series, Persona 4 takes place in the rural town of Inaba. Players assume the role of Yu Narukami: a high schooler from the city who moves to the country to live with his uncle and cousin for a year. After arriving, a string of violent murders begin to take place in the town, as Yu and his friends quickly discover they’re somehow linked to a mysterious otherworldly realm they can access by stepping through TV monitors.

Delving into this mysterious new world, Yu and his friends face supernatural forces as they learn more about the murders, using their powers to try and stop them. Building off the mechanics of Persona 3, Persona 4 once again utilizes the calendar system, as players build social links and attend school while also exploring vast dungeons and defeating enemies with their Personas.

Read our review of Persona 4 Golden.

7. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (2014)

Technically taking place during the Persona 3 and Persona 4 storylines simultaneously, Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is a crossover between both games. During the typhoon segment of Persona 3 and the Culture Festival segment of Persona 4, the S.E.E.S team and the Investigation Squad are trapped inside a warped version of Yasogami High School.

The time-bending event sees both teams come together to investigate the strange occurrence and escape back to their respective spots on the timeline. Along the way, players explore a labyrinth filled with new enemies and uncover an original story, with the spin-off acting as a callback to the series’ more traditional dungeon-crawler roots.

Read our review of Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth.

8. Persona 4 Arena (2012)

A continuation of both Persona 3 and 4’s narratives and the franchise’s first major spin-off, Persona 4 Arena sees Yu Narukami return to Inaba and stumble into a new adventure, as he returns to the TV world for a mysterious fighting tournament. Forced to battle against his allies and a group known as the Shadow Operatives, which is comprised of Persona 3's Mitsuru, Akihiko and Aigis, Arena offers a full fighting game boasting a roster of iconic Persona characters.

Read our review of Persona 4 Arena.

9. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (2013)

A year following the release of Persona 4 Arena, the spin-off received a sequel titled Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. Taking place directly after the events of the first game, the Persona 4 squad teams up with the Shadow Operatives to return to the TV World and battle against the mysterious forces running the fighting tournament. Ultimax was ultimately an upgrade for the first game, bringing in an expanded roster including returning characters like Yukari, Junpei, Ken and Koromaru.

Read our review of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.

10. Persona 4: Dancing All Night (2015)

The fourth and arguably most unexpected spin-off of Persona 4, Persona 4: Dancing All Night is a rhythm-based dancing game where the Investigation Squad performs routines to iconic Persona tracks. It offers a completely canon continuation of the storyline, following Yu and the team as they’re sucked into an alternate dimension known as the Midnight Stage.

Read our review of Persona 4: Dancing All Night.

11. Persona 5 (2016) / Persona 5 Royal (2019)

The fifth mainline entry in the series, Persona 5 hit shelves in Japan in 2016 before launching worldwide in 2017. Taking players to Tokyo, it casts them as a new protagonist known as Joker, who finds himself on probation after being framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Attending the local high school, Joker and his friends discover a supernatural alternate dimension, which allows them to infiltrate mystical palaces and change the hearts of evil-doers around the city.

Before long, the group becomes notorious on the streets of Tokyo, going under the alias of the Phantom Thieves. The game builds heavily off the formula established by Persona 3 and 4, including massive story-focused levels that unfold over a month, the return of the negotiation system and a new dungeon system known as Mementos. Persona 5 launched the franchise into the stratosphere, quickly becoming Atlus' best-selling game of all time and cultivating a huge fan base.

Read our review of Persona 5 Royal.

12. Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (2018)

A sequel to Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, New Cinema Labyrinth once again depicts a crossover between various Persona characters. After the Phantom Thieves find themselves trapped in a movie theater, they ally with Persona 3's S.E.E.S team and Persona 4's Investigation Squad to find an escape, traveling into the movies on the screen in an attempt to fix their endings.

Much like the original game, Persona Q2 simultaneously takes place during the Persona 3, 4 and 5 storylines, with the adventure pulling each group out of their respective timeline. There, they explore dungeons from a first-person perspective and fight turn-based battles against various enemies.

13. Persona 5 Tactica (2023)

Taking place during the events of Persona 5, Persona 5 Tactica is a strategy-focused spin-off that’s similar in style to the XCOM franchise. The story follows the Phantom Thieves mysteriously traveling to an alternate realm known as the Kingdoms. Unable to escape, Joker and Morgana are forced to abandon the rest of the Phantom Thieves after they're brainwashed by the realm's monstrous ruler, Tyrant Marie, forcing the pair to begin an adventure to save their allies and return home.

Along the way, they team up with the local resistance, helping them fight against Tyrant Marie's forces. The game revolves around a tactical grid-based combat system, as players direct three units across the battlefield and take out enemies.

Read our review of Persona 5 Tactica.

14. Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (2018)

Atlus’ third rhythm-based dancing spin-off, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight sees Caroline and Justine bring the Phantom Thieves to the Velvet Room and challenge them to a dance off. There, the group perform dance routines to several of Persona 5's catchiest tracks.

15. Persona 5 Strikers (2020)

A spin-off set four months after the events of Persona 5, Strikers sees the Phantom Thieves reunite for a summer vacation. However, the team find themselves sucked into the Metaverse after using an app known as EMMA. Escaping with the help of a new ally, the team don their Phantom Thieves gear once more and set out to discover the truth behind EMMA, the Metaverse, and what it means for the people of Tokyo.

Persona 5 Strikers is a crossover with the long-running Dynasty Warriors franchise, introducing real-time combat to the series. Battles center around the Phantom Thieves taking on large hordes of enemies, which they can deal with through combos or by calling on Personas.

Read our review of Persona 5 Strikers.

Every Persona Game and Spin-Off in Release Order

1. Revelations: Persona (1996)
2. Persona 2: Innocent Sin (1999)
3. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (2000)
4. Persona 3 (2006)
5. Persona 3 FES (2007)
6. Persona 4 (2008)
7. Persona 3 Portable (2009)
8. Persona 4 Arena (2012)
9. Persona 4 Golden (2012)
10. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (2013)
11. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (2014)
12. Persona 4: Dancing All Night (2015)
13. Persona 5 (2016)
14. Persona 3: Dancing in the Moonlight (2018)
15. Persona 5: Dancing in the Starlight (2018)
16. Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (2018)
17. Persona 5 Royal (2019)
18. Persona 5 Strikers (2020)
19. Persona 5 Tactica (2023)
20. Persona 3 Reload (2024)
21. Persona 5: The Phantom X (2025)

What's Next for Persona?

After the massive success of Metaphor (it picked up quite a few awards), Sega announced their desire to keep investing in Atlus, and the Persona IP in particular, in a developers' Q&A session.

Persona 4 Revival was announced at a recent Xbox Showcase, a new remake of the game that originally released on PS2 in 2008 before being remastered as Persona 4 Golden in 2012. The new teaser doesn't reveal much, but does show off some detailed environments and Yu Narukami himself. As confirmed in the most recent Nintendo Direct, Persona 3 Reload is making its way to Switch 2 on October 23.

Otherwise, Persona 6 is (theorized to be) the anticipated next release in the RPG series, though Atlus has yet to officially confirm the game is in development. In the meantime, the Phantom Thieves from P5R continue to pop up in pretty much every franchising opportunity they can, most recently as skins in Overwatch 2.

Callum Williams is a freelance media writer with years of experience as a game critic, news reporter, guides writer and features writer.

Alex Hernandez, the actor who provided the performance and likeness of MindsEye's main character, has shared his thoughts on the game's negative reception — and said he initially thought he would "never work in a game again" after starring on its front cover.

Speaking on the FRVR podcast, Hernandez said being featured so prominently on MindsEye's box art as player character Jacob Diaz was ultimately "the flip side of the blessing that it is" to be a video game's cover star. Indeed, Hernandez has experience of this before, having previously portrayed Lincoln Clay, the main character of Mafia 3 — another game which arrived to mixed reviews.

"I'm not a superstitious man, but I can’t help but have some kind of Spidey Sense, like, 'Is it just me?'" Hernandez said. "Do I have like the opposite of the golden touch, like the s***-brown touch, everything I touch turns to poop?"

MindsEye launched in June to negative reviews from critics and gamers alike — though mostly for reasons separate to Hernandez's involvement. Instead, MindsEye was criticised for featuring gameplay that felt broken and unfinished, numerous technical issues, a lifeless open world and an anti-climactic story. (IGN's MindsEye review returned a 4/10, and bemoaned the game's "serious lack of substance and major performance problems.")

Developer Build a Rocket Boy has since apologised for the state of the game and begun to address some of these issues with post-launch patches, at the same time as it has begun telling staff they are at risk of being made redundant.

"Just the response," Hernandez continued, "I was like, 'I might never work in a game again' Because one of the caveats of being the face on the box is that people, rightly or wrongly, will associate all of their opinions and, more importantly their emotions, about this game with my face. After about two days of allowing myself to wallow, and my wife being very supportive... you move on. Because for me to sit in that wallowing, it doesn't allow me to learn."

The Megalodon is coming to Jurassic World Evolution 3.

Having roamed prehistoric oceans around 20 million years ago, the Megalodon is one of the largest shark species ever discovered, measuring as long as 15 meters, weighing up to 50 tonnes, and boasting — gulp — over 270 teeth.

Of course, you may better know the Megalodon as The Meg, the enormous shark Jason Statham goes toe-to-toe with during the 2018 action flick.

"Guests are certain to be drawn to lagoons where Megalodon lurks, with a large body of water needed to have its impressive silhouette," Frontier teased.

"Placing a shark feeder allows park managers to provide ample food for this powerful prehistoric giant, while creating unforgettable moments for onlookers as it surges from the water to take a bite."

Jurassic World Evolution 3 launches on October 21, 2025, and will be available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series, with both a standard and Deluxe edition available at $59.99 / €59.99 / £49.99 and $74.99 / €74.99 / £64.99, respectively. It's the third iteration of Frontier's fan-favorite management sim, in which you manage your very own park full of dinosaurs and fight to keep both the people and the exhibits happy and healthy.

We're also told that The Meg can occasionally develop a taste for its own offspring, too, so something to take into account as you're designing your park, perhaps?!

Jurassic World Evolution 3 official reveal trailer debuted over the summer, but the premiere was overshadowed by a backlash from fans who had identified the use of generative AI. Since then, Frontier has committed to not using any AI assets.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

While Resident Evil may have started as some of the best zombie games, Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich helped bring the series to the big screen with a film series that spanned seven movies. The films feature characters and villains from the games, but they tell their own separate stories and star Jovovich as a newcomer to Resident Evil lore. It's one of the best zombie movie franchises out there.

With a new Resident Evil movie reboot in the works, you might want to check out where the video game adaptations started off. If you want to watch all the Resident Evil movies in chronological order from the beginning, we have some very good news for you. All the films serve as sequels to their previous entries, meaning there is no difference between watching them in release order vs. chronological order.

With all that being said, here's a (mostly) spoiler-free look at how you can watch the Resident Evil movies in chronological order.

Jump to:

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

How Many Resident Evil Movies Are There?

There are a total of seven live-action Resident Evil movies, but only the first six are part of the original timeline. There are also four feature-length animated films —Resident Evil: Degeneration, Damnation, Vendetta, and Death Island — though we have not included those in the list below. Over the last two years, Netflix has taken a stab at Resident Evil as both a live-action and animated TV series. The live-action Resident Evil show was canceled after one season, while the animated series, Infinite Darkness, failed to make a splash.

How Long to Watch all of the Resident Evil Movies?

If you're looking to watch all 6 of the original Resident Evil movies, it will take over 9 and a half hour to finish the series. If you include Welcome to Raccoon City, that ads a an additional 107 minutes to your movie marathon.

The Resident Evil Movies in Chronological Order

1. Resident Evil (2002)

2002’s Resident Evil introduced the world to Alice (Jovovich), an original character created for the films who awakens with amnesia before remembering she is a private security operative for the Umbrella Corporation. This first film shows how the genetically engineered T-virus, which causes dead people to return as zombies, was released in a lab called The Hive. It also reveals how the lab’s AI security system, the Red Queen, killed every living thing inside the lab to try to contain the virus.

The plan didn’t work and the zombies escaped the lab. Alice and her team have to try to contain the outbreak by finding an anti-virus that is thought to still be in the Hive.

This first film included several references to the first two Resident Evil games, not the least of which was the first tease of the iconic Resident Evil 3 villain, the terrifying, rocket-wielding Nemesis.

Read our review of Resident Evil.

2. Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

Resident Evil: Apocalypse is a direct sequel to the original film and brings back Jovovich’s Alice to once again take the fight to the undead. Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson did not return to direct this new film due to other commitments, but he did stay on as a producer while Alexander Witt took the helm. Apocalypse sees Alice attempting to escape Raccoon City before it is attacked by a nuclear missile that is attempting to stop the spreading T-virus plague.

Nemesis is also a big part of this second film and he’s seen terrorizing the survivors throughout it, but that is hardly the only nod to the games. There are many influences pulled into Apocalypse, including characters Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) and Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) and certain shots that were recreated for live-action, including a shootout at police department in the beginning that is reminiscent of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and a scene in a cemetery that very much harkens back to Resident Evil CODE: Veronica.

Read our review of Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

3. Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

2007’s Resident Evil: Extinction reveals that the T-virus has spread across the world. In addition to the return of Alice, the storyline also follows several attempts by the Umbrella Corporation to clone her, in hopes of replicating her powers. As the story progresses, the primary Alice and other survivors are working their way toward Alaska in an attempt to outrun the ever-expanding zombie apocalypse.

Extinction continues to bring in more aspects and characters of the games, including Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) and Albert Wesker (Jason O’Mara).

Read our review of Resident Evil: Extinction.

4. Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)

Resident Evil: Afterlife is the first film after the original to see Anderson back in the director’s chair, where he stays for the rest of the series. Set one year after the events of Extinction, Alice and her clones work together to assault Umbrella Headquarters HQ and Albert Wesker. Unfortunately, all doesn’t go as planned and Alice finds herself without the powers that have assisted her so well in this zombie apocalypse.

Afterlife continues the streak of bringing in characters from the games, and this time it's Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller) that gets the invitation.

Read our review of Resident Evil: Afterlife.

5. Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

2011’s Resident Evil: Retribution picks up after the events of Afterlife. Alongside introducing such game characters as Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb), Ada Wong (Bingbing Li), and Barry Burton (Kevin Durand), Retribution also sees Alice teaming up with Wesker in an attempt to stop the reactivated Red Queen AI from the first film, who now controls Umbrella and wants to eliminate all life on earth.

Read our review of Resident Evil: Retribution.

6. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017)

The aptly named Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is the last feature film in the series to involve husband-and-wife team Anderson and Jovovich. It follows Alice as she returns to Raccoon City and the Hive in order to stop the Red Queen and Albert Wesker, but also reveals more of the origin of the T-virus and who is really behind all the chaos that has been building since the first film.

Read our review of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

Bonus: Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

Directed by Johannes Roberts, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is a reboot of the franchise and requires no prior knowledge of the movies. Along with the new director comes a new cast and a story that more closely follows the events of the first two Resident Evil games. Several familiar characters from the games and earlier movies return, including Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario), Chris Redfield (Robbie Amell), Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper), Leon Kennedy (Avan Jogia), Ada Wong (Lily Gao), and more. The film’s story is set in Raccoon City and tells the early days of a zombie outbreak.

Read our review of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.

Resident Evil Movies in Release Order

• Resident Evil (2002)
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
• Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
• Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
• Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
• Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
• Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)
• Resident Evil: Death Island (2023)

The Future of Resident Evil Movies

Although Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City wasn't received particularly well by audiences, rumors have been swirling for years about another movie. Those rumors were finally confirmed in January, with Barbarian director Zach Cregger set to direct the newest instalment. Instead of carrying on the existing movie timeline, the currently untitled movie will reboot the Resident Evil movie franchise.

Coming out of the success of his most recent horror flick, Weapons, Cregger has talked more about his approach to the zombie franchise reboot. He's revealed he hasn't even watched the Resident Evil movies listed above, instead opting to make a film wholly inspired by the games. In terms of plot details, he says "it follows one central protagonist from point A to point B, as they descend deeper into hell." Deadline reports that Sony has also set a release date for the film: September 18, 2026.

Otherwise, the next big thing for Resident Evil is Requiem, a new mainline game set to release in February 2026. Next year's shaping up to be a good one.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

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, 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. 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.

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

Hollow Knight: Silksong's second post-release patch is on the way.

While the first patch prioritized "critical issues," this one focuses on other lingering problems, as well as "cleaning up some bugs around specific tools." (We can only presume that's a reference to video game bugs rather than the ones found in The Citadel!)

Before it rolls out to all, however, Team Cherry is testing the new version via the public-beta branch on Steam. This means anyone can select and download it, albeit on the proviso that while it includes fixes, it may also be unstable — so something to bear in mind. You can find out more about the public beta on the game's Steam discussion page.

Based on the patch notes, below, Update 2 doesn't include any earth-shattering balance changes, after Update 1 made the early game easier. However, it's worth noting Team Cherry told fans to "expect a few more additions and tweaks" before full release, so perhaps the developer has some surprises up its sleeve.

Hollow Knight: Silksong Update 2 Patch Notes:

• Added Dithering effect option in Advanced video settings. Reduces colour banding but can slightly soften the appearance of foreground assets. Defaults to 'Off'.
• Updated Herald's Wish achievement description to clarify that players must both complete the wish and finish the game.
• Fixed Savage Beastfly in Far Fields sometimes remaining below the lava.
• Fixed rare cases of Shrine Guardian Seth getting out of bounds during battle.
• Added catch to prevent Lugoli sometimes flying off screen and not returning during battle.
• Further reduced chance of Silk Snippers getting stuck out of bounds in Chapel of the Reaper battle.
• Fixed various instances of dying to bosses while killing them causing death sequences to play messily or out of sync.
• Fixed Shaman Binding into a bottom transition causing a softlock.
• Cocoon positions in some locations updated to prevent it spawning in inaccessible areas.
• Fixed Liquid Lacquer courier delivery not being accessible in Steel Soul mode.
• Fixed some NPCs not correctly playing cursed hint dialogues in certain instances.
• Fixed Pondcatcher Reed not being able to fly away after singing.
• Fixed Verdania memory orbs sometimes replaying layered screen-edge burst effects.
• Fixed the break counter not working for certain multihitter tools eg Conchcutter.
• Fixed Volt Filament damage multiplier not applying for certain Silk Skills.
• Fixed Cogflies and Wisps inappropriately targeting Skullwings.
• Fixed Cogflies incorrectly resetting their HP to full on scene change.
• Fixed Curveclaw always breaking on the first hit after being deflected.
• Fixed Plasmium Phial and Flea Brew sometimes not restoring as intended at benches.
• Various other smaller tweaks and fixes.

We thought Hollow Knight: Silksong was 'Amazing', awarding it 9/10 and writing: "Silksong is packed full of sharp platforming, enticing exploration, and nail-biting combat that's all unapologetically challenging in just the right way. However, Hell is Us creative director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête called Team Cherry's last-minute release "a little callous."

Playing Silksong? Here are some essential guides for your journey upwards: the Silksong Interactive Map, how to grind for Rosary Beads, our ever-expanding Walkthrough with boss videos and guides, how to get your first life bar upgrade (first four mask shards), and a great guide to the Simple Keys and the doors they open.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Dispatch, the upcoming workplace superhero comedy adventure game with a strategy layer from a group of ex-Telltale developers, is coming to PC and PS5 on October 22. It will be released episodically over the course of four weeks, with two episodes dropping each week starting on October 22. It's priced at $30 for the full season, or $40 for deluxe version of the full season that includes a digital artbook and four digital comics. Watch the new release date trailer/PS5 announcement trailer above.

Dispatch's cast is headlined by Aaron Paul, Jeffrey Wright, and Laura Bailey and is a narrative adventure game where you'll not just make dialogue choices, but also manage which superhero is deployed to which crisis as the calls come in your character, Robert Robertson (voiced by Paul). It's up to you to manage the relationships with each superhero and get the most out of your team. Dispatch is developed by AdHoc, a new studio comprised of a number of former Telltale developers.

“We think the release format is an underrated part of the player experience,” AdHoc co-founder and Dispath creative director Nick Herman said. “Episodic is a format that makes the story easy to slip into, easy to keep up with, and easy to share with friends. We want the launch of Dispatch to be ‘appointment gaming’ but with the weekly cadence of a TV show, as opposed to asking people to wait months between each release.”

Wishlist it and/or check out the playable demo right now on Steam. I did recently and had a blast with it. It plays like a game Telltale would've made if it had survived and evolved (and left behind its poorly-aging Telltale Engine).

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.

One of the charms of the Warring States Soulslike series Nioh is its plethora of playstyles. So far in the series, we've seen weapons including swords that ooze Samurai Style, ninja-like sickle and chains, and even unusual choices like tonfa. Each weapon also has high, medium and low stances that players switch between in order to best face an enemy, all working together to create the sort of action that the series is known for. Add a variety of skills on top and you get a wide range of RPG builds that act as one of the draws for the series.

Nioh 3, the long-awaited return to the series, features a more advanced combat system composed of Samurai Style, whose combat is similar to what we expect from a Nioh game, as well as Ninja Style, which lets players fight with swift movements. Players can switch between the two with a single button, and doing so causes your weapons, armor and even usable skills to change, giving you the feeling of using two builds at the same time. It quite literally doubles the game's charm as both an action title and an RPG.

Ninja Style even changes how your character looks as you ninja run and more. During character creation, you create looks for both Samurai and Ninja Styles.

While we've fought as a samurai until now in the Nioh series, it has been possible to use a ninja-like combat style. So why fully split gameplay into these two styles in the newest title? When we ask Nioh 3 General Producer Fumihiko Yasuda about why they added Ninja Style, he explains, "We wanted to create a new kind of action that would act as a major centerpiece, making players feel that the game has taken a step forward."

He continues, "Team Ninja also has the experience of creating the Ninja Gaiden series. In other words, we have just about as much experience and knowhow when it comes to creating ninja action as we do with Nioh's samurai action. Ninja are very popular overseas, and we thought that this would excite those players as well. Nioh's Japanese world and setting is also something we value, which made ninja seem like the best possible answer. That's why we've added this style."

As a kind of new action meant to feel like a step forward, Ninja Style really does play and look quite different from Samurai Style. Samurai Style consists of the kind of steady, block-focused combat we've come to expect from the Nioh series. When in it, you can change between weapon stances as you always have, and you can use Ki Pulse after attacking, a stamina recovery technique the series is known for.

Pressing a button after attacking while in Ninja Style will allow you to use Mist, creating a clone as you move.

On the other hand, Ninja Style involves quick, evasion-focused combat. Weapon stances don't exist in this style, but ninjutsu are available to use in their place. Ki Pulse also becomes replaced with a new action, Mist.

Mist creates a clone after attacking as you move quickly, allowing you to get behind an enemy (where your attacks deal more damage). Though this Mist action does allow for a swift and stylish form of combat, some people do seem disappointed that it takes away their ability to use Ki Pulse as they always could. Using it becomes second nature to an experienced Nioh player, likely in part because it also links to dispelling special zones created by enemies known as yokai realms.

Why make it so that Ki Pulse is only available in Samurai Style? According to producer Kohei Shibata, this was done to clearly distinguish between the feeling of being a samurai versus a ninja through these styles. Ki Pulse is known as Zanshin in Japanese, a term related to kendo and swordsmanship that refers to a state of mind that prevents one from being open to an attack after striking. Shibata says that the way this manifests in-game, where you carefully manage your ki as you fight, is its way of incorporating a samurai's style of fighting that draws on both stillness and motion.

A black aura will sometimes appear on the ground while fighting an enemy. This is a yokai realm, an area that will reduce your Ki recovery speed.

"Giving Ninja Style Ki Pulse as well resulted in an issue where the tempo of its combat resembled Samurai Style,” says Shibata. “For ninja, we wanted players to use Mist, an action that makes use of the style's mobility, when they would normally use Ki Pulse. The stance system also comes from sword kata, or forms, and it seemed wrong to apply that to ninja. That's why the same button activates both Mist and Ki Pulse. We wanted to create distinct styles of movement and combat, and that's why we made the decision to not give ninja Ki Pulse."

Shibata adds, "There is a skill that allows you to dispel yokai realms by using Mist in Ninja Style." So while players won't be able to dispel them at first with Ninja Style, it will become possible as you progress.

We also ask Yasuda why the decision was made to limit Ki Pulse to Samurai Style. He replies, "Though Ki Pulse is a trademark mechanic in the Nioh series, we couldn't simply reuse it. We needed something ninja-like that would stand out. Part of why Ninja Style has the Mist action is because Samurai Style has Ki Pulse. The style didn't have Mist at first, but it was created in order to give it a play style just as distinctive as Ki Pulse."

While the original name for Ki Pulse comes from a kendo term, Mist, or Kasumi in Japanese, is meant to bring to mind the speed and cloning abilities of a ninja. "I promise we didn't take it from Dead or Alive's Kasumi," Yasuda said with a laugh, referring to the name of a ninja character from the series.

But while Dead or Alive references would be a bit too much to expect in Nioh 3, Ninja Gaiden 4 is in development. Could we see some elements from that series in the game? We ask Yasuda if we'll be able to use Ninja Gaiden-like techniques such as Izuna Drop. He responds promisingly, saying that "We'll look into creating the sort of action that fans of both series will enjoy." That said, it could be possible that such techniques or abilities are different from what we've seen in Ninja Gaiden.

"There have already been Ninja Gaiden references in the Nioh series, such as in DLC,” says Yasuda. “This time we've gone so far as to add Ninja Style, and I think that players will be excited to see some of its elements given that Ninja Gaiden 4 is on the horizon.”

We expect these to be more like Easter eggs, so there's no telling if we'll be getting any major news announcements in the future about Ninja Gaiden elements in the game. They may even be put into the final game as surprises, so we're looking forward to checking the final game with a fine-tooth comb.

Look out for more exclusive Nioh 3 coverage during this month's IGN First, including our exclusive boss battle featuring the Tiger of Kai, Takeda Shingen!

Yuichi Shigeta is a freelance writer for IGN Japan. This article was translated by Ko Ransom.