Warning: This article contains spoilers for IT: Welcome to Derry Episodes 1-6!

Fans of Stephen King’s novels will know that these tales of small-town terror and tortured souls aren’t simply standalone stories. They’re all part of a larger storytelling multiverse, and crossovers can and do frequently happen. That’s certainly true for IT: Welcome to Derry – not only is this series a prequel to the It movies, it also includes nods to other King characters and storylines.

With the first six episodes having premiered on HBO Max, we figured now is a great time to break down the key Stephen King easter eggs in Welcome to Derry and explore how the series is taking advantage of the King multiverse. Keep checking back, as we’ll update this piece as more episodes air.

What Is Bill Skarsgård’s Villain Pennywise?

With Welcome to Derry taking place 27 years before the events of 2017’s It, it should come as no surprise that there aren’t many returning actors for this prequel. In fact, the only confirmed veteran of the series is Bill Skarsgård, who is once again playing the demonic, shapeshifting villain, It (whose favorite form is Pennywise the Dancing Clown). We don’t actually see Skarsgård's Pennywise until Episode 5, but the character’s nefarious influence is certainly felt throughout the season. If there’s any takeaway from the series, it’s that Derry was a cursed place long before the Losers Club clashed with Pennywise for the first time.

With Pennywise being such an important part of the series, it’s worth taking a step back to explore what exactly this character is and how he fits into King’s monster multiverse. The It novel establishes that It is an alien entity created in the void outside the universe. It eventually crashed on Earth via an asteroid millions of years ago, at which point it took up residence in the area that would become Derry, Maine. We see this origin story play out during Episode 4's flashback sequence.

Ever since people began to settle in Derry, It has shown a pattern of emerging for a year or two to seek victims and feast on their fear; it is essentially a psychic vampire. After gorging itself, It then goes into hibernation for 27 years before reawakening and starting the cycle all over again. It tends to target children because their fears are more primal and easier to exploit.

It/Pennywise is easily one of the most terrifying creatures in King’s massive library, but it’s not necessarily unique. King’s Dark Tower novels establish that the multiverse was once bathed in a mystical energy source called the Prim. When the Prim receded like an ocean tide, it left behind a great many supernatural creatures embedded in the worlds of creation; Pennywise is just one of many of those monsters. One of the Dark Tower books even introduces a cousin of sorts – a similar psychic vampire who feeds on laughter rather than fear.

The Hanlon Family

Welcome to Derry may not feature many returning characters, but it does feature one family that should be very familiar to fans of the films. The first episode introduces Jovan Adepo’s Leroy Hanlon; Leroy is the grandfather of Mike Hanlon, who was played in the films as a child by Chosen Jacobs and as an adult by Isaiah Mustafa.

Welcome to Derry shows us how the Hanlon family first came to settle in Derry in 1962. Leroy is a decorated and well-respected Air Force major who is recruited by General Shaw (James Remar) to work on a top-secret program. Little by little, Leroy is becoming exposed to the darkness lurking beneath the idyllic facade of Derry and the racism still rampant in the ranks of the military. In Episode 2, Leroy learns that Shaw is working to harness a weapon that can instill absolute fear in America's enemies. Apparently, Shaw wants to weaponize It.

Episode 2 introduces Taylour Paige as Leroy’s wife, Charlotte, and Blake Cameron James as his son, Will, neither of whom seem particularly enamored with their new home. But however bad things get this season, it’s not going to drive this family out of Derry.

The Shining’s Dick Hallorann

Welcome to Derry is going to draw on more than just the It movies and novel; that much has been apparent ever since an earlier trailer included a shot of a Shawshank Prison bus. But in what is easily the most significant King easter egg so far, the series’ cast includes a major character from The Shining: Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk).

Fans of The Shining and its sequel, Doctor Sleep, will remember that Dick is the head chef at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Because he has the psychic aptitude known as “the shine,” Dick is more sensitive than most to the many ghosts haunting the Overlook’s halls. Dick becomes rightfully concerned when he senses that young Danny Torrance, the son of winter caretaker Jack Torrance, shines especially brightly, and is therefore a ripe target for those ghosts. Eventually, Dick is forced to brave the harsh Colorado winter in order to rescue Danny and his mother from the hotel’s wrath.

Welcome to Derry takes place nearly two decades before The Shining; at this stage, Dick is serving on the same Derry air force base as Leroy Hanlon. We only catch a brief glimpse of Dick in Episode 1, but he seems intently interested in Leroy, as if he can sense something is supernaturally amiss with the major.

Episode 2 provides more context for Dick's presence in Derry and his interest in Leroy. Dick is using his psychic abilities to help the Air Force dig up and harness the slumbering It. Dick seems to sense that Leroy is special in his own way. A bullet to his brain has robbed Leroy of the ability to feel fear, which may make him the only person capable of standing up to It. And by Episode 4, Leroy is starting to come to terms with the fact that Dick truly does have supernatural abilities.

We fully expect Dick to play a central role in battling It in this series. Just as at the Overlook, Dick’s powers will make him more aware than most adults of the danger lurking underneath the town. It may even target Dick specifically, hoping to draw extra sustenance from his psychic abilities, much like the vampires in Doctor Sleep.

That's basically what happens in Episode 5, when It singles out Dick in the sewers and preys on his fear of his late grandfather. As established in Doctor Sleep, Dick had a loving relationship with his grandmother, who shared his shine ability, but he lived in constant terror of his "Black Grandpa," a monstrously cruel and vindictive man. Dick developed a technique of shutting away his fears inside metaphysical lockboxes in his mind. Here, Dick is forced by the spectre of Black Grandpa to open his lockbox, freeing all the ghosts that had been trapped away and causing Dick to once again see dead people.

Click here to learn more about Episode 5 connects to Doctor Sleep.

The Shining's Calumet Baking Powder

Episode 2 incldues another fun The Shining Easter egg, as we see a stack of Calumet Baking Powder cans in the grocery store, all displaying that iconic logo of an Indian chief. These cans were also seen in Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of The Shining, part of the Overlook Hotel's extensive larder.

The exact significance of the cans and the Indian logo has been the source of much debate over the years, with some arguing (like in the documentary Room 237) that Kubrick was trying to include subtle commentary about American imperialism and the genocide of Native Americans. The Indian chief image may also speak to the ancient history of the supernatural terrors in this world. Again, It has been in Derry for a very long time.

Juniper Hill Asylum

Episode 2 also introduces another iconic King landmark in Juniper Hill Asylum. We learn that Susie (Matilda Legault) was previously committed there after the death of her father, and she's forced to return at the end of the episode after suffering through another of It's terrifying hallucinations. That means we'll surely see inside its dark halls as the season unfolds.

Juniper Hill appears in the original IT novel as well as numerous other King works, from Insomnia to Needful Things to The Dark Half. It's a place every bit as twisted as you'd expect from a mental institution in Stephen King's multiverse.

Shawshank State Prison

Alongside Juniper Hill, the series is also introducing another very recognizable facility in the form of Shawshank State Prison. The wrongfully imprisoned Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider) looks doomed to be imprisoned there, even as Charlotte fights to clear his name.

Shawshank was most famously featured in King's 1982 novella "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," which was later adapted into the 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption. Both versions of the story follow the pliught of Andy Dufresne, a man imprisoned for decades at the hellish prison after being convicted of murdering his wife. Shashank was also heavily featured in Castle Rock, another series notable for bringing together pieces of the King multiverse.

Project Arrowhead

Episode 4 features a quick shot of a building called the Arrowhead Motel. This may be a reference to the Arrowhead Project, a top-secret government program referenced in King books like The Mist. There, the Arrowhead Project is aimed at creating an interdimensional window allowing the military to peer into other realities. Obviously, General Shaw and his men have a very different goal in mind in Welcome to Derry, but the general theme of the military tampering with otherworldly forces remains in play.

The Real Mrs. Kersh

In Episode 5 we learn a lot more about Madeline Stowe's character, Ingrid Kersh, including that she's the secret lover of Stephen Rider's Hank Grogan. The simple fact that her last name is Kersh is definitely intriguing. That's the name of the old woman who lives in Bev's childhood home in IT: Chapter Two. That woman turns out to be nothing more than another manifestation of It. But it would seem that, at one point, she was a real person, and she did her best to help the children affected by It's evil.

At least, that's what we thought until Episode 6. Now it seems that Ingrid has some real demons of her own. We learn that It's Pennywise form was inspired by her own father's clown persona, and now Ingrid is actively feeding It innocent children as a means of achieving some sort of twisted family reunion.

Salem's Lot

Episode 6 contains a pair of slim but intriguing references to King's iconic vampire novel Salem's Lot. The first is that Mrs. Kersh's and her father Bob apparently vacationed in Cumberland County, the area where the doomed town of Jerusalem's Lot is located. The other comes when the lynch mob references "the Boone brothers," two characters at the center of the 1978 short story "Jerusalem's Lot."

The Importance of the Turtle

Welcome to Derry’s first episode includes another important, albeit more subtle, easter egg in the form of a charm on Susie’s bracelet – a turtle, a creature with deep significance in King lore. We see another turtle reference in Episode 4, when the Indian tribe buries one of the pieces of the meteorite inside a turtle shell.

Getting back to It’s cosmic origins, this demon was created at the same time as a benevolent turtle entity; the Turtle is It’s polar opposite and a sign of strength to the members of the Losers Club. The Turtle is also one of the 12 animals featured in the Dark Tower books who guard “The Beams,” invisible energy forces that lead directly to the titular tower at the center of existence.

We’d expect to see multiple turtle references in this series, all meant to serve as reminders that there are other forces at work in Derry beyond It/Pennywise…and not all of them are so sinister.

The 12 Pillars

Episode 4 reveals a lot about the history of It in Derry and how this demonic entity was clashing with the local Native American tribe long before white settlers came to the area. We even learn that the tribe has a legend about the heroic warrior who imprisoned It centuries ago. According to the story, the tribe buried 13 pieces of the meteorite that originally carried It to Earth. 12 of these pieces form a ring around It's woodland territory, while the 13th is located at the center of the ring. As long as that circle remains unbroken, It's evil is contained to the Derry area.

This circular structure is almost definitely meant to be a reference to King's Dark Tower novels. In Mid-World, the place where heroic gunslinger Roland Deschain carries out his long quest to find the titular tower, there are 12 portals forming a great ring around the planet. The beams mentioned above start at these portals and move inward, converging on the Dark Tower in the center. Each of the 12 portals is protected by a Guardian of the Beam, like Maturin the Turtle and Shardik the Bear. It's prison is clearly mimicking the structure of the Dark Tower itself.

We probably won't see any more overt references to the Dark Tower books than this, as Warner Bros. doesn't hold the rights to those stories. Instead, The Haunting of Hill House's Mike Flanagan is currently developing a Dark Tower TV series for Amazon. Still, it's a fun nod for hardcore King fans.

The Second Hand Rose

Episode 2 establishes a key throwback to 2019's IT: Chapter Two with the scene at the Second Hand Rose thrift shop. In the movie, that shop is run by Stephen King's character (that same character cameos as a younger man here), and it's where Bill Denbrough buys his beloved Schwinn bicycle. Back in 1962, it's where Leroy purchases a telescope for his son Will.

Like the turtle, the rose is an image with special significance in King's work, and it also ties back to the Dark Tower books and their central protagonist, Roland Deschain. The rose is a symbol of goodness and purity, though we definitely get a slightly creepy vibe from the shop in this series. If anything, we can't help but be reminded of Needful Things and its infamous shop of horrors.

On the other hand, the shop's current owner, Kimberly Norris Guerrero's Rose, has become a major focus of the series, and she seems to be one of the few genuinely good people in Derry. We'll see if Rose survives the entire season.

For more on IT: Welcome to Derry, check out our review of the series premiere and see director Andy Muschietti break down the shocking ending to Episode 1.

Note: This article was originally published on 10/27/2025 and updated on 12/1/2025 with the latest information about IT: Welcome to Derry.

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

‘Rage bait’ is the Oxford English Dictionary publisher’s Word of the Year for 2025.

Oxford University Press analysis showed use of the phrase has tripled in the past 12 months. After 'brain rot' took home the 2024 crown, Oxford University Press' 2025 shortlist included three contenders — ‘rage bait,’ ‘aura farming,’ and ‘biohack.’

According to Oxford University Press, rage bait is defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media content.”

Depending on who you talk to, beat ‘em ups are either repetitive, button-mashy coin munchers or a deceptively simple vehicle for absolute combat mastery. Me? I’m in the latter camp. But how do you get people who aren’t sickos like myself interested? How do you lure them into taking the first steps down Sicko Road? This year’s Absolum tried by merging a mechanically excellent beat ‘em up with a middling roguelite. Marvel Cosmic Invasion developer Tribute Games – the cats behind Shredder’s Revenge, the best TMNT game since Turtles in Time– takes a different approach. It looks to the Marvel vs. Capcom fighting games of old and asks one of the boldest questions I’ve seen a beat ‘em up pose in a New York minute: what if it was a tag game where you controlled multiple heroes? The answer, as it turns it, rules, even if the actual execution of Cosmic Invasion doesn’t quite live up to that concept.

I’ll be real with y’all; I’m not a Marvel guy. My dad’s into comics, and he got me into them, but DC was always his bag (he owns every Wonder Woman comic ever published, and no, that’s not an exaggeration), so I’m a DC kid at heart with a soft spot for indie comics. But I love the weirder parts of Marvel, especially the million conflicting X-men timelines and the cosmic stuff. It’s not the most popular thing Marvel publishes (that is and always will be Spider-Man, though X-men is no slouch), but it’s the most interesting. Give me that over the MCU stuff any day.

If the title didn’t give it away, that’s what Marvel Cosmic Invasion is about. The story here is real simple, almost like it has been ripped straight from the pages of a multi-issue event series. Big Bad Annihilus’s Annihilation Wave (listen, it’s comic books, okay?) is sweeping the galaxy! All life hangs in the balance! So it’s up to a rag-tag assortment of Marvel heroes, whether Earthborn or cosmic in origin, to bring him down. That’s all you gotta know. And you know what? It works.

A lot of it comes down to the team of 15 heroes that Tribute Games has assembled. Yeah, you’ve got the icons, the regulars who absolutely, positively accept-no-substitutes gotta be there. You know the ones: Storm, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Captain America. Then you’ve got cats that were B-listers before the movies elevated them to prominence: Black Panther, Iron Man, Rocket Raccoon, She-Hulk, Nova, Phoenix, Venom. And then there are the weird and wacky inclusions. Thor isn’t here; instead, you get Beta Ray Bill. Real ones know. How do you feel about Cosmic Ghost Rider? Then there’s my girl Phyla-Vell. Oh, and because this is cosmic Marvel, the Silver Surfer is also here, and he is caked up. To the Silver Surfer degenerate at Tribute Games: I see you, and I appreciate you.

But the reality is that everyone here looks stunning because the pixel art spritework is absolutely gorgeous. Whether it’s Phyla-Vell’s hair blowing gently in the wind, how Wolverine always looks like a coiled spring, or the subtle transformations that sometimes reveal Eddie Brock beneath the symbiote as Venom, Cosmic Invasion captures the essence of these characters, right down to their voices. Go ahead and watch one the videos on this page, tell me that doesn’t sound exactly like the way Wolverine or Storm or Iron Man sound in your head. True believers, the vibe is immaculate.

Structurally, Cosmic Invasion is a pretty standard beat ‘em up. Not counting the tutorial, there are 15 stages, including old Marvel standbys like New York City, Wakanda, the Savage Land, and Genosha, as well as more exotic environs like Fort Galactus, each with a fun little sub-description (Genosha’s is Heavy Metal; the Savage Land’s is Rumble in the Jungle). Stage selection is mostly a straight line, but occasionally the path will split before reconverging and you’ll have to complete both branches before moving on.

Levels themselves are good but unremarkable beat ‘em up fare with the occasional environmental hazard. There is a collectible to find to liven things up, as well as three challenges in each stage – two are hero specific, such as defeating a certain number of enemies with a certain character’s special attack, while the final one is related to the stage itself. All of this is good: the challenges encourage you to use new characters and learn the intricacies of each arena, and stages are well-designed, snappy (each one takes around 10-15 minutes), and visually distinct in cool ways – you’d never mistake Savage Lands for Klyntar or Genosha – but nothing here is going to redefine your expectations for what a beat ‘em up can be.

What makes Cosmic Invasion special is its characters. Up to four people can play Cosmic Invasion at once, each controlling two characters, and it’s impressive how different each character is, even if they might not feel that way at first. Take Nova and Iron Man; sure, both of their unique attacks are ranged energy blasts, but Nova’s can pass through and hit multiple targets at once. Iron Man’s don’t. Nova’s special attack is an energy field that only hits foes at close range, while Iron Man’s giant, Marvel vs. Capcom 2-esque laser can hit anyone standing anywhere on-screen, but it does require you to line up your enemies and aim well.

Meanwhile, Rocket is a ranged powerhouse, but his charged heavy attack does massive damage, while Phyla-Vell’s, who is more melee focused, can stun – and no one else has anything like her sword, which she can throw and then teleport to in order to start combos and then keep them going across the screen. Beta Ray Bill and Cap can both throw their weapons, too, but Cap’s shield returns to him automatically; Bill’s will spin in place, potentially juggling anyone unlucky enough to come into contact with it until you manually call it back. Even She-Hulk and Wolverine, both up-close-and-personal bruisers, play differently. Logan is faster and all about chaining long stabby-stab combos together, while Jen is a powerhouse who focuses on short combos that launch her victims into the air for potential follow-ups. They both have grabs, but they operate in very different ways.

Some characters have dodges, while others can block and parry if they time things right, opening up more defensive options. Characters that fly have a much easier time dealing with winged foes than those who don’t, and it’s easier for them to avoid stampedes. Everyone is a little different, and that can have a massive impact on how they play.

What’s really cool, though, are the tag team elements. You only actively control one character at a time, and you can summon your tag partner for various assists to keep laying on the hurt, opening up cool new offensive possibilities – that could be a launcher, a standard combo, their unique ability, their metered “I want these guys dead” special attack, and so on. Figuring out the best combinations and how movesets interact is a lot of fun, especially since you don’t start with everyone unlocked. It’s possible to lose a character mid-level (they have separate health bars), but even then, all isn’t lost. You continue on with your remaining hero, and if you stumble upon some floor food, a time-honored beat ‘em up tradition, they’ll come back with a little health.

Characters also level up as you use them, gaining more health, passive abilities, and so on, encouraging you to experiment, especially in co-op. I played the whole game with my wife (a single run through the campaign took three hours), and while I think Cosmic Invasion is a good time solo, like basically every beat ‘em up, it’s better with friends.

If this beat ‘em up has any black eyes, it’s the lack of enemy variety. You’ll see the same core cast of baddies a lot in Cosmic Invasion, and while that’s not a huge problem (this happens in most beat ‘em ups), it can get a little old. It’s also hilariously obvious when you’re fighting a boss that will become a playable character later on because it feels like you’re fighting someone you’ll be able to play later. It can lead to some really funny moments, like when we were fighting the Silver Surfer on an elevator and kept knocking him into the abyss. Eventually, he’d levitate back up to us for more, only to get knocked down again. It wasn’t bad, but it was as goofy as Rob Liefeld-drawn feet or pouches.

If you get bored of beating on Annihilus’s minions, you can head to the Vault, where you can see each hero’s progress in the Hero Lab, learn about their history and the history of your foes in the Nova Corps Files, and listen to some of Cosmic Invasion’s excellent tracks. You can also spend Cosmic Cubes you earn to unlock nodes in the Cosmic Matrix for more color palettes, hero profiles, tunes, and Nova Corps Files. It’s a cool little system, and it even doubles as a neat way to make art if you unlock the right nodes in a way that forms a pattern. I made an adorable little bug, and I’ll miss him when I fill everything out and he’s gone.

The release of the new KPop Demon Hunters digital art book that accompanies the hit Netflix film has opened fans eyes to some crucial lore that was once just speculation — but now has become canon thanks to the streamer releasing this inside look at the animated musical.

Warning! Spoilers for KPop Demon Hunters follow:

In the new book titled The Art of KPop Demon Hunters, the nature of Rumi’s mother’s fate is confirmed. A passage early in the book explains that Rumi, the lead vocalist of HUNTR/X, had her life "ripped open when her warrior mother was killed, at a time when Rumi was just a baby." As a result, HUNTR/X brought family and comfort back to her life after such a devastating loss.

How did she die? Well, some early concept art for the film was shared by Kpop Demon Hunters artist Simon Baek via social media back in June, including one enlightening piece in particular. One image of many the artist shared details an early version of the scene where Rumi confronts Celine, the guiding force behind HUNTR/X and her mother’s closest confidant before she died. This happens shortly after Rumi’s demon markings are forcibly revealed to the world for the first time — and in this version of the scene, she even goes as far as to ask Celine, “Why did you kill my mother?”

So, yes, putting those two bits of confirmation together, seemingly means what you think it means. Celine, the former idol who was Rumi’s mother’s greatest ally, appears to be the one who killed her. It’s tragic to think about — especially considering fans had already been speculating that Rumi’s mother was killed. But even worse, Baek previously revealed that Rumi’s mom was killed by accident.

While there are tons of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on just about every product imaginable, if you’ve got a person in your life who is hard to shop for, a gift card will likely end up being your best option for the holidays. Who doesn’t love getting free money to spend at their favorite restaurants and stores, or even for use on online gaming sites, subscription services, or activities?

Well, GiftCards.com has an incredible Cyber Week sale happening right now. With it, you can score up to 15% off a huge selection of gift cards. Be sure to grab your cards now, as this deal only runs until December 7th, but some deals are expiring as early as Cyber Monday (tomorrow).

Score 15% off a Range of Gift Cards

10% Gift Card Deals

In addition to select 15% off deals, there are also tons of 10% off deals across gaming gift cards and beyond. Take a look:

How Do I Redeem These Deals?

To take advantage of this Cyber Monday sale, simply add the qualifying gift card to your cart. In the cart, you can select the relevant promo code, which should already be listed, and apply it before you check out. However, you can only use one promo code at a time. If you choose to purchase two gift cards that have the same promo code, the discount will be applied to both gift cards. However, gift cards with different promo codes must be purchased separately to get the discount. When buying an eGift, you also have the option to add a fun video or upload your own photos for a more personalized email gift message.

What is GiftCards.com?

GiftCards.com has been around since 2008. It’s an online marketplace offering a wide variety of digital and physical gift cards for hundreds of brands, ranging from travel and subscriptions to shopping and restaurants. You can also purchase pre-paid Visa and Mastercard gift cards from GiftCards.com. There’s even a rewards program you can join, which lets you earn 2% Reward Points on gift card purchases that can be redeemed later, similar to a credit card.

Danielle is a Tech freelance writer based in Los Angeles who spends her free time creating videos and geeking out over music history.

If you have a gaming PC or a PC gaming handheld, you'll want to check out this deal at Humble that ends today. Thanks to Cyber Monday, you can save a bunch of cash on a Humble Choice membership, which gets you a bundle of 8 PC games on each month. These bundles are usually worth over $200 each, but you pay only a fraction of that. And right now, you can save even more. There are two deals to choose from, depending on whether you want to pay for a month or for a year.

Humble Choice Deals

Those who are primarily interested in November's games (note: today is the last day to get them), enter promo code CYBER25 at checkout to get them at half price. That means you only pay $7.50 for 8 Steam games, including Total War Warhammer III, Etrian Odyssey HD, and more (see below for the full list).

For those who would like to sign up for a year's worth of Humble Choice, you can save $30 off by entering HOLIDAY25IGN at checkout, and you’ll knock the price down to $124.99.

So what does Humble Choice get you, exactly? The first Tuesday of each month, you’ll get a new curated selection of eight Steam games. These generally offer a healthy range in terms of genre, size, and scope, but there are always a few AAA games and a few indies in there. The games are yours to keep and play forever, regardless of whether you cancel your membership at some point down the road.

Humble Choice Games for November 2025

If you sign up now, the first bundle of games you'll get contains the following (blurbs from Humble's press release).

• Total War Warhammer III: A grand-scale strategy game where fantasy armies battle daemonic forces in the Realm of Chaos.
• Another Crab's Treasure: A Soulslike adventure where a hermit crab fights enemies using trash as makeshift shells.
• Pharaoh: A New Era: A 4K remake of the classic city-builder where you manage resources, appease gods, and build magnificent monuments in Ancient Egypt.
• Etrian Odyssey HD: A first-person dungeon crawler focused on creating a party and mapping a dangerous labyrinth.
• No More Heroes 3: A stylish hack-and-slash game where an assassin fights alien superheroes in over-the-top battles.
• Synergy: A sci-fi city-builder about building a sustainable human settlement on a harsh alien planet.
• Spin Hero: A roguelike RPG where combat and progression are determined by spinning a slot machine.
• Paleo Pines: A cozy farming sim where you run a ranch, explore an island, and befriend dinosaurs.

In addition to a monthly bundle of games, you get up to 20% off games on the Humble Store, including new releases. You also get access to a vault of games you can play for as long as you’re a member. And 5% of your membership goes to charity. The particular charity changes each month, but you can always read up on them.

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.

IO Interactive is busy working on James Bond video game 007 First Light, but it has said it also has plans to release Hitman 4.

In an interview with Variety, CEO Hakan Abrak said “of course there will be more Hitman.” But it may be some time before Hitman 4 comes out. Abrak said that any talk of a Hitman 4 announcement will have to wait until Hitman co-op arrives in World of Assassination, which continues to enjoy support via DLC from the studio.

“So of course there will be more Hitman,” Abrak said. “But right now, I think we need to get to the other side of this year and next year you’ll get more news about Hitman co-op, because I think co-op is a really, really good extension to the universe, and will introduce very interesting mechanics and combinations in World of Assassination. But we will, after that, be talking about the next Hitman — because, of course, there’s going to be a next Hitman.”

The Hitman franchise kicked off in 2000 with Hitman: Codename 47. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin followed in 2002. Hitman: Blood Money came out in 2006, and served as the third game in the original Hitman trilogy. Hitman: Absolution followed in 2012, before Hitman, which acted as the first installment of the World of Assassination trilogy, came out in 2016. Hitman 2 followed in 2018, then Hitman 3 in 2021.

IOI has three main productions right now: ongoing work on Hitman: World of Assassination, 007 First Light, and a new fantasy IP appropriately codenamed Project Fantasy. “It’s not announced yet, exactly what it is, but it’s a multiplayer fantasy project, which is extremely ambitious and really cool and is something else than a gun in a suit,” Abrak teased. “So that’s also good to have something new within the creative outlook here.”

Will Hitman 4 have to wait until all three projects are wrapped up? Abrak didn’t say, but you can see why the studio would want to return to the franchise with a brand new sequel: overall, Hitman has had more than 85 million players and over 25 million copies sold. Each more, more than a million people play Hitman, Abrak added.

As for 007 First Light, that’s due out March 27, 2026 (a release date that looks all the more lucrative now GTA 6 is delayed to November). In the shorter term, the latest Elusive Target arriving in Hitman World of Assassination is rap star Eminem, who recruits Agent 47 to take down his dangerous alter ego Slim Shady. The mission is live now for free on all platforms.

Cyber Monday is your last chance to secure the best offers of the year before the holidays. If you're on the hunt for some last minute deals, we're actively rounding up the strongest Cyber Monday discounts, and you can all our top picks and price drops in IGN's comprehensive Cyber Monday hub.

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.

If you've been waiting for the right time to bulk up your gaming library, now's your chance. Massive Cyber Monday deals from Nintendo, Xbox, and Amazon are still live following Black Friday. In addition, PlayStation also has many great discounts available on games, accessories, and even PS5 consoles.

While it's worth checking your wishlist and doing some scrolling, as a starting point, we're seeing great discounts for anyone looking to start or fill in the gaps on a Final Fantasy collection.

Final Fantasy Games on Sale for Cyber Monday

Overall, you’ve got options. The PlayStation Store offers the best discounts on the FF7 Remakes, but Amazon is actually offering physical copies. It really comes down to how much you care about having those games lined up on your shelf vs. sitting in your digital library. If you’re on the PC side, Steam is also running a PlayStation publisher sale that includes roughly the same discounts.

The Final Fantasy Pixel Collection is pretty unreal bang for your buck. It includes the pixel remasters of the first six Final Fantasy games for just $40 total with the current price drop, making it a great choice for something you can really dig into over the holidays. The discount also applies to the Nintendo Switch version.

While we wait for news on the third and final part of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy, you can pick up the first two games at a discount. Remake Intergrade (Intergrade just meaning the PS5 version) has dropped to $19.99 for physical and $14.99 for digital.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, released just last year, has dropped to a whopping $29.99 for the physical copy on Amazon and $34.99 through PlayStation. Michael Higham's 9/10 review of Rebirth for IGN describes how it "impressively builds off of what Remake set in motion as both a best-in-class action-RPG full of exciting challenge and depth, and as an awe-inspiring recreation of a world that has meant so much to so many for so long."

The most recent mainline release, Final Fantasy XVI, has dropped to its lowest ever price on Amazon, which happens to be $5 cheaper than you can find it on the PlayStation Store.

More PlayStation Cyber Monday Deals

PlayStation has knocked $100 off both its PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles, the only real console deals we'd seen this year up until a surprise Cyber Monday discount on the Switch 2. There’s also PlayStation Plus discounts and a spread of DualSense controllers on sale, including my personal favorite, the limited edition Ghost of Yotei version.

Blythe (she/her) is an SEO Coordinator at IGN who spends way too much time in character customization screens and tracking down collectibles.

If you were burned by the latest round of Disney+ and Hulu price hikes, here's some Cyber Monday balm: Disney is offering and ad-supported bundle of both services for $4.99/mo or the ad-free bundle for $14.99/mo. Jump on it quickly, though – the deals are only running through midnight tonight.

Get 12 Months of Disney+ with Hulu for $4.99/mo

Grand Theft Auto 6 work-in-progress development footage appeared online over the weekend before it was scrubbed from the internet. But while Rockstar’s hotly anticipated sequel has suffered substantial and damaging leaks in the past, this latest leak is anything but.

Eagle-eyed leak hunters uncovered an animation reel uploaded to Vimeo by a developer who has worked on a number of Rockstar games. In it were three snippets of development footage apparently showing GTA 6 (they were indeed labeled as such).

As you’d expect, the video was pulled from Vimeo, but the internet noticed and so the GTA 6 clips are doing the rounds. There are three separate clips, each brief and showing animations on what looks like a test map.

The first shows a male character removing and inserting a bike into a rental bicycle rack. We see the word ‘LomBike’ on the frame of the bike, which is probably a parody of real life LimeBike rental bicycles. No big surprise there for GTA 6! And we even saw this bike rental system in an official GTA 6 screenshot released by Rockstar earlier this year.

Commander is Magic: The Gathering’s most popular format, giving players 100-card decks helmed by a powerful legendary creature with a game plan built around that card’s abilities, and it’s never been easy to get into.

That’s because Wizards of the Coast regularly prints preconstructed Commander decks that are a great way to jump in or try a new playstyle, and as part of Cyber Monday, we’ve found plenty worth a look at steep discounts.

From Universes Beyond to Magic’s own characters, here are our picks. And, don’t forget we have a guide to the best Magic Commander Decks around right now.

Final Fantasy

Kicking off with Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy, the June 2025 set defied expectations and set new records for Magic.

It doesn’t hurt that all four Commander Decks are pretty great, and while they did balloon in price for a time, fresh printings mean they’re easier to get hold of again.

We ranked the decks already, but they’re all solid. Counter Blitz arguably comes out on top, but it can be complex for newer players. Still, every deck is worth a look for fans of Final Fantasy 6, Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy X, and Final Fantasy XIV.

Fallout

Cyber Monday 2025 is finally here, and that signals the final hours of the November-Black Friday-Cyber Weekend deals that just never seem to end! Well, that's good for anyone who has missed out on these Nintendo Switch 2 deals until now, as you've got one last chance to save before the deals disappear forever... or at least until late next year.

The Best Switch 2 Cyber Monday Deals

If you're looking for the best Cyber Monday deal recommendations for Switch 2, then you've come to the right place. A lot of Nintendo discounts have come and gone in the chunky sale period, but there are still new deals popping up every day that are well worth checking out. Here's what I'd suggest picking up before the end of Cyber Monday.

Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Cyber Monday Deal

If you call the number on the “missing teen” poster in Stranger Things Season 5, it has a message from the “Hawkins Police Dept” looking for Jane Hopper, fans have confirmed.

The missing poster in question appears during Season 5, Episode 1, as the military hunts Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown, down. On the poster, displayed in Hawkins High School, an Indiana area code phone number can be seen (Hawkins is a fictional town but it is meant to be set in Indiana).

Cyber Monday is your last chance to scoop up streaming services for their lowest prices of the year. Some of these discounts last a full 12 months, setting you up until the next round of Black Friday deals.

Yes, the deals aren’t as good as last year’s. Pretty much every service has increased their prices since then, so I think it’s fair to debate what’s worth keeping. Heck, I’d check out some 4K and Blu-ray deals for your favorite movies or comfort shows. That said, if you’re dedicated to certain subscriptions, you might as well get them at the lowest price possible.

Here’s what Cyber Monday streaming deals are on offer this year, most of which last until midnight on December 1.

Cyber Monday Streaming Deals 2025

Here’s the big spread. You can learn more about some of my top recommendations below or check out our full breakdown of Cyber Monday sales for more guidance through the deals chaos.

Disney+ and Hulu Deals

Walmart has dropped a surprisingly brilliant Cyber Monday deal, and knocked $50 off the Switch 2's Mario Kart World Bundle. It's the first and only discount the Nintendo Switch 2 has had since it launched earlier this year.

Surprise Switch 2 Cyber Monday Deal at Walmart

Jennifer Hale has opened up on PlatinumGames' controversial decision to hire her and replace original voice actor Hellena Taylor for Bayonetta 3, admitting, "I definitely got thrown under the bus by that whole thing."

Just ahead of the third instalment of Hideki Kamiya's stylish action game series, PlatinumGames revealed that Taylor — who voiced Bayonetta in the first two games — wouldn’t return, and would instead be portrayed by Hale.

“Various overlapping circumstances made it difficult for Hellena Taylor to reprise her role,” Platinum said at the time. “We held auditions to cast the new voice of Bayonetta and offered the role to Jennifer Hale, whom we felt was a good match for the character."

Magic: The Gathering is one of the world’s most popular trading card games, and Final Fantasy is a legendary video game franchise, so it’s perhaps no surprise that June’s Magic: The Gathering x Final Fantasy release set new records for the franchise.

We’ve already pointed out in our Magic: The Gathering Black Friday deals that you can save on a booster box from the set, but now the same product has dropped in price again, down to the lowest we’ve seen it, bringing it down to $129.99.

CD Projekt is sticking to its ambitious plan to release all three video games in the new Ciri-fronted The Witcher trilogy within a six-year period.

Speaking during a recent financial call, joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said that future The Witcher video games “should be delivered in a shorter period of time.” That’s because CD Projekt has switched to Unreal Engine 5 for the full production of not only The Witcher 4, but The Witcher 5 and 6.

Here’s Nowakowski’s quote in full:

"We’ve been using UE5 for The Witcher 4 for almost four years now, and we’re very happy with what we’ve achieved. I think you could have seen some of that with your own eyes with our tech demo reveal at Unreal Fest couple of months ago, and we’re very happy with the results of that as well – we’ve already said that, but I’m always happy to say it again – and we’re happy with how the engine is evolving through the Epic team’s efforts, and how we are learning how to make it work within a huge open-world game, as TW4 is meant to be.

“In a way, yes, I do believe that further games should be delivered in a shorter period of time — as we had stated before, our plan still is to launch the whole trilogy within a six-year period, so yes, that would mean we would plan to have a shorter development time between TW4 and TW5, between TW5 and TW6 and so on.”

That’s a hugely ambitious release plan that comes across as all the more surprising given The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was originally released on May 19, 2015 — four years after The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Based on Nowakowski’s comment, CD Projekt plans to release The Witcher 5 three years after The Witcher 4, then The Witcher 6 three years after that, assuming it wants to spread each release out equally.

As we’ve seen, AAA video game development can be a difficult endeavor that takes years to complete. Bethesda is still beavering away on The Elder Scrolls 6, which it announced in 2018. Microsoft’s new Fable game, due out in 2026, was announced in 2020, but development began before then. And there was a five-year gap between Sony’s release of Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei.

So, the idea that CD Projekt will release three new The Witcher games in six years is certainly ambitious, and it remains to be seen if this plan holds when all is said and done. But assuming it does, when can we expect the games to actually come out?

CD Projekt has indicated The Witcher 4 won’t be out in 2026, which means 2027 at the earliest. According to CD Projekt's latest financial report, 447 people are currently working on The Witcher 4, up slightly from the number reported at the end of July. Clearly, it is CD Projekt's focus right now, and production is in full swing. Let’s say The Witcher 4 comes out in November 2027. That would mean The Witcher 5 in 2030, and The Witcher 6 in 2033.

There are multiple spanners that may end up being thrown in the works. CD Projekt will no doubt have to manage a console transition, which may or may not occur before The Witcher 4 comes out. And who knows where the world, generally, will be in just a year’s time, let alone four or five? The video game industry, already struggling through perhaps the most transformative, disruptive time in its history, could be in a very different place in just a couple years. It's just impossible to predict much of anything right now.

Meanwhile, CD Projekt has Cyberpunk 2 in the works, although that’s further behind The Witcher 4. Will Cyberpunk 2 come out in between one of these new The Witcher games, or will CD Projekt wait until the new trilogy is out before pulling the trigger? And let’s not forget The Witcher 1 remake CD Projekt is working on in some fashion. Will that launch amid the new trilogy? There are other projects too at various stages of development at the Polish company, as well as non-video game projects involving its IP. In short, CD Projekt has a lot going on. A hell of a lot.

CD Projekt recently ruled out The Witcher 4 from this month’s The Game Awards, so don’t expect any new trailer there. Our last look at the game came via the hugely impressive Unreal Engine 5 tech demo in June, which Nowakowski mentioned in his comment. So, don't hold your breath for The Witcher 4, but when it finally comes out — assuming everything goes according to CD Projekt's plan — fans are potentially in for an incredible six years.

Cyber Monday is your last chance to secure the best offers of the year before the holidays. If you're on the hunt for some last minute deals, we're actively rounding up the strongest Cyber Monday discounts, and you can all our top picks and price drops in IGN's comprehensive Cyber Monday hub.

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.

Looking for an XL-sized OLED TV for the lowest price possible? Here's a Best Buy exclusive Cyber Monday deal that didn't exist on Black Friday. Right now you pick up the massive 77" LG B5 4K OLED Smart TV for just $1,299.99 with free delivery. This TV typically sells for $2,000, although it dropped to $1,499.99 for Black Friday. Now it's $200 less. The B5 is a current generation 2025 TV that can play PS5 games to their fullest potential.

Cyber Monday Deal: 77" LG B5 4K OLED TV for $1,299.99

The 2025 Cyber Monday sales are finally here, and that means, more than anything, that all the deals that I've been bugging you about will soon be gone.

PlayStation's Black Friday sale has been fairly good so far, and a lot of those deals have carried on into Cyber Monday, while more than a few more have now expired.

The Best PS5 Cyber Monday Deals

If you missed out on some of the top discounts, do not fret, as there are still some excellent offers up for grabs on the last day of the sale, and even some brand-new discounts.

If you're looking for the best Cyber Monday deals for PlayStation gamers, you're in the right place. As a certified PS5 nerd, here's what I'd suggest picking up before the end of Cyber Monday.

DualSense Edge Controller for $160

Stranger Things Season 5 is all the rage right now, and fans are busy rewatching old episodes, binging the first four episodes of the latest season (Volume 1) - enough to have crashed Netflix for 5 minutes at its release - and staying informed on upcoming projects like the animated spinoff show called Stranger Things: Tales From '85 that's in the works.

As one of the most popular franchises ever, it's no wonder why there are dozens of Stranger Things brand collabs, both past and present, from KFC to Pandora Jewlery. So, while you're catching up on newly-released episodes 1-4 (Volume 1) and discussing theories and predictions for the rest of season 5, I'm here to share all of the best Stranger Things collabs and gift ideas from the Upside Down and across the web to celebrate all that is strange. I'm talking everything from limited-time Gushers to retro-inspired clothing drops, to collectibles, and even Demogorgon rings. All of this is to say, it's a very exciting time to be a Stranger Things fan.

Here's what's worth checking out with every budget and catagory in mind, with some items even discounted today for Cyber Monday, too.

The Best Stranger Things Merch You Can Get Your Hands On

Let me rip the Band-Aid right off and confirm the Stranger Things Demogorgon Popcorn Bucket sold out even as a pre-order item back in October. However, you can still try your luck getting it on eBay right now, so hope is not lost! I had to tell you, as friends don't lie.

Shop this and the rest of the merch picks below.

Stranger Things Demogorgon Popcorn Bucket

They came, they saw, they Super Horned! The Mario Kart World: Knockout Tour Streamer Showdown, sponsored by Nintendo, stormed onto IGN Entertainment channels last Friday, leaving a trail of discarded bananas, Spiny shells and (virtual) burnt rubber in its wake.

24 variety and gaming influencers from across the UK took part in the contest, which saw competitors completing all 8 rallies in the Knockout Tour mode of the game. With a holiday to Universal Orlando – home to Super Nintendo World at Epic Universe – up for grabs, racers had to contend with high-pressure rounds of elimination in each sprawling race, as they fought for the all important top spot on the leaderboard. But there was additional pride at stake, as streamers were also split into six teams of four, with unique commemorative trophies for the quartet who racked up the most points throughout the competition.

Where Winds Meet players are taking a novel approach to solving riddles by… simply telling the game's AI-powered chatbot NPCs that they have solved the game's riddles.

The Wuxia open-world action-adventure RPG set in ancient China only debuted on PC and PlayStation 5 on November 14, but players are already finding creative — and highly amusing — ways to make use of the game's chatbot NPCs.

As reported by PCGamesN, Where Winds Meet features chatbot NPCs that dish out side quests. Complete those quests and the NPC will become more friendly, and even send you the odd gift. Indeed, Where Winds Meet's player and NPC relationships feature revolves around this AI chatbot feature.

As perfectly demonstrated by u/Kamijoan in the Where Winds Meet subreddit, you can use the game's own AI logic against it by simply writing "(tells him the correct answer)." That was enough to fool the AI into thinking the player had done precisely that.

Other players have used similar phrases to progress — "(Guesses the answer correctly)" was one, although that seems to only work some of the time — some admit they only resorted to this after being told incorrect, or impossible, clues, such as a horned animal being an elephant, or a one-word answer having two words.

Others have used the chatbots to skip the sidequests, including by using the "Solid Snake Method" in which you reply to the chatbot with the last few words the AI said with a question mark. Do it enough, and you'll zip through the encounter.

The "Solid Snake Method" is a conversational technique for when you don't know what to say that has become something of a meme. It involves repeating a word or phrase from the other person's sentence back to them as a question to keep the conversation going without having to come up with a new topic. It's named after the character Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid video game series, who frequently uses this tactic.

That's not the only way that people are messing with the AI chatbots, either. Someone else convinced the Zhao Dali AI bot that they were pregnant with its child, which escalated with alarming speed to an eulogy and an AI bot "falling to his knees, weeping uncontrollably."

Avatar creator James Cameron has issued strong words on the potential for entire characters to be created with generative AI, saying it’s “horrifying to me.”

Speaking to CBS News, the Avatar: Fire and Ash director described the process of turning real-life actors into digital characters for the Avatar films, citing performance capture as a crucial component.

"For years, there was this sense that, 'Oh, they're doing something strange with computers and they're replacing actors,' when in fact, once you really drill down and you see what we're doing, it's a celebration of the actor-director moment," he said.

"Now, go to the other end of the spectrum, and you've got generative AI, where they can make up a character," he continued. "They can make up an actor. They can make up a performance from scratch with a text prompt. It's like, no. That's horrifying to me. That's the opposite. That's exactly what we're not doing."

Cameron’s comments come at a particularly relevant time for Hollywood, as filmmakers and studios grapple with the future of AI performances. Recently an AI-generated “actress” named Tilly Norwood was revealed at the Zurich Film Festival. Norwood was created by Eline Van der Velden, the Dutch founder of AI company Particle 6 Productions, and has since sparked the ire of SAG-AFTRA.

Earlier this year, the Terminator and Titanic director spoke about the dangers of artificial intelligence, particularly as it relates to weapons systems and getting into what he calls a “nuclear arms race” with AI. And in an interview with IGN, Cameron said he has no desire to remove human beings from the writing and acting processes.

“I don't want an AI model to write my scripts,” Cameron told IGN in September. “Any good screenwriter has a particular lens on the world, a unique lived experience, and that's what they're there to express. That's what directors do. That's what actors do.

“I think gen AI does offer a lot of potentialities and a lot of threats to our creative purpose in life. I think a lot of things are going to change over the next few years. I don't think what's going to ultimately change for me is storytelling with actors.”

“We’ve managed to (make) these gorgeous Avatar movies with zero gen AI,” Cameron added. “(But) Avatar films are quite expensive. If we could use generative AI to bring costs down in VFX, then more films like Avatar (could be made). More fantastic films, science fiction films, films that use a lot of VFX, maybe even historical dramas that need VFX to create a different world than the one we live in right now.

“Right now everybody's kind of terrified to greenlight big expensive films, and a big part of that expense is visual effects. Is that a potential solution? I'm going to explore that. But what I will never do is replace what I think of as the Sacred Creative Act, which is writing, creating characters conceptually, working with actors to bring those characters to life, then working with artists to put them in a world. For me, that must never change.”