There are plenty of great deals to grab today, especially if you’ve been on the hunt for a new gaming monitor. A bunch of LG and Samsung displays have received a significant price drop. It’s not just monitors on sale, as I’ve found a particularly great deal on a JBL portable Bluetooth speaker for easy listening from anywhere. Maybe you want something fun to fill those long nights? Well, the discounted Saga of the Swamp Thing Box Set has six volumes for you to cozy up with, or you’ll find a few great games on sale. Check out all the best deals today below:

TL;DR: Best Deals Today

Flashforge Adventurer 5M CoreXY 3D Printer for Under $200

Save $60 on the JBL Flip 6 Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Big Savings on LG, Samsung, AOC Monitors

Anyone in the market for a new gaming monitor will want to hop on these unbelievable gaming monitor deals. BuyDig on eBay is an authorized reseller of top gaming monitor brands, and with over 99.3% positive feedback on 2.5 million items sold, it’s a reliable place to buy. Currently, BuyDig has an awesome coupon code for an extra 20% off select displays. Just enter FAVEFINDS20 at checkout to enjoy additional savings on LG and Samsung monitors. Whether you’re after a massive curved OLED display or an excellent budget gaming monitor, there’s a deal for you.

Best Buy also dropped the price of a couple of monitors. The Samsung 37" Odyssey G75F 4K is one particularly great deal to check out, as $300 has been knocked off the price tag. For something a little more budget-friendly, our favorite affordable option, the AOC 27" Q27G40XMN Mini-LED QHD, is also discounted for Best Buy’s Winter Sale.

Saga of the Swamp Thing Box Set Is Nearly Half Off

Save $11 on Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition for Switch 2

256GB Lexar Play Pro is $10 Off

Jones Soda Co. Fallout Vault-Tec Supply 12 Pack on Sale

Fallout Season 2 has new episodes dropping each week, and one way to really kick up the viewing experience is with a nice bottle of Vault-Tech-approved refreshments. This 12-pack from Jones Soda features three iconic flavors: Sunset Sarsaparilla, Nuka-Cola Quantum, and Nuka-Cola Grape. Plus, you get a bottle opener. Select Costco locations currently have it for just $20.59, compared to Amazon's current price of $74. After you’ve gotten your drink on, be sure to check out all my favorite Fallout gear and collectibles. However, you won’t be able to use your bottle caps as currency.

The Anker Nano Charger 100W is 33% Off

Save 40% on Raidou: Remastered - The Mystery of the Soulless Army Launch Edition

Hisense 65" Class U6 Series MiniLED QLED UHD 4K Smart Fire TV (2025) Hits Lowest Price Ever

20% Off Coupon Deal for The Lord of The Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake for PS5 Is Nearly Half Off

Turtle Beach Rematch Wired Gaming Controller for Switch 2 Is Lowest Price Ever

tomtoc Slim Carrying Case for Nintendo Switch 2 Is Down to Lowest Price

3 for $33 4K UHD Movies

Best Buy Video Game Winter Sale

The New Year's Sale may be over, and now we’re on to the Best Buy Winter Sale. Luckily, the savings are similar, bringing solid discounts on tons of popular titles. From Borderlands 4 for Xbox Series X getting 40% knocked off its price tag, to NINJA GAIDEN 4 for PlayStation 5 seeing a $30 price drop, there are some pretty awesome deals worth checking out.

Due to increased demand for hardware from AI data centers, 2026 was already going to suck for anyone looking to upgrade or build a gaming PC. Now it looks like things are getting even worse, as the RTX 5070 Ti is apparently dead, according to a report from Hardware Unboxed.

According to Hardware Unboxed's Tim Schiesser, a source at Asus claimed at CES 2026 that the RTX 5070 Ti has essentially reached end of life, with Asus unable to get supply to continue shipping the graphics card. This is reportedly due to the 16GB of VRAM on the card, which is likely driving up the costs of production. And with the more-expensive RTX 5080 also sporting this VRAM allocation, it wouldn't be surprising for Nvidia to prioritize its production.

Rather than making the 5070 Ti impossible to get, this is instead making the graphics card much more expensive. Already, on Newegg, prices have ballooned since Hardware Unboxed's video premiered. As of this writing, there are still a handful of listings available below $1,000, but most sellers have already bumped prices up to $1,100 or more – and remember, this is a GPU that's supposed to retail for $749. These are similar to prices that we saw when the graphics card first came out, and it's unlikely that it's going to stop here.

At the moment, it seems like only Nvidia's highest-end cards are affected. The RTX 5060, RTX 5050, and RTX 5070 are still within range of their starting prices. Though, according to this report, the RTX 5060 Ti, which also has 16GB of VRAM, could be next on the chopping block.

Schiesser also claims the same sources within Nvidia board partners said that the RTX 5080 Super – along with the rest of Nvidia's mid-generation refresh – have been put on hold or canceled due to RAM supply issues. So, if you've been on the fence about upgrading your graphics card, you might want to either jump on it before prices go up further, or wait for the RTX 60-series launch sometime next year.

I reached out to Nvidia and Asus for comment, and Nvidia told me, "Demand for GeForce RTX GPUs is strong, and memory supply is constrained. We continue to ship all GeForce SKUs and are working closely with our suppliers to maximize memory availability." Even so, Asus abandoning the RTX 5070 Ti suggests costs have gone up enough to severely limit the supply of the graphics card either way. I'll update this article if I hear back from Asus.

Topsy Turvy

A big reason behind these supply issues is the state of the memory market. Ever since November, RAM prices have been exploding, with memory kits costing nearly four times as much as they did in October 2025. This is due to large AI models and data centers needing vast quantities of memory, which is driving up demand for RAM. We even reached the point where Crucial, Micron's consumer RAM brand, has shut its doors.

Just yesterday I reached out to Anshel Sag, Principal Analyst for Moor Insight and Strategy, and he told me that this memory crisis we've entered is likely to last into 2027 or even 2028. He said that while past memory shortages were typically cyclical, this one might be different because "with AI we might see a structural change to how memory is consumed." Until now, the crisis has seemed limited to the actual memory modules, but if the RTX 5070 Ti is effectively discontinued like Hardware Unboxed suggests, the problem has spilled over into mid- to high-end graphics cards.

The most powerful graphics cards were already affected by this shortage, judging by RTX 5090 prices. That graphics card launched for $1,999, but right now will set you back at least $4,500, if you can even buy it at all.

Prebuilt gaming PCs haven't been hit by these component price jumps yet, as the manufacturers buy product in bulk. But if the market keeps going the way it's going, it's a matter of time until the only gaming PC you can reasonably buy is packing an 8GB RTX 5060 or Radeon RX 9060 and 16GB of RAM. So much for Nvidia and AMD pushing 4K gaming as the new normal.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

The short-term outlook doesn't bode well for the GPU market. Hardware Unboxed recently announced that the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti graphics card may have just hit end-of-life status, since major board partners like Asus are officially marking them unavailable... indefinitely. Back in December, PCMag and other outlets reported that Nvidia could cut back production on its mid-range graphics cards - including the RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5060 Ti (16GB), and RTX 5070 - by up to 40% due to the DRAM shortage and Nvidia's AI data center focus. The popular take is that Nvidia deems that these GPUs have too much VRAM for their price point and they'd rather improve their profit margins elsewhere.

Fortunately, all is not lost. For the time being, you can actually get an Asus branded GeForce RTX 5070 12GB graphics card for below MSRP. If you're looking to upgrade your graphics card now, then your window may be closing to get one at a reasonable price. Even if the RTX 5070 continues production, I don't expect the price to stay this "low" forever.

Asus GeForce RTX 5070 Graphics Card for $539.99

The Magic Puzzle Company is one of my favorite jigsaw puzzle brands on the market right now. Each puzzle is made up of 1,000 unique pieces and filled with fun little easter eggs throughout. Best of all, when you finally complete the puzzle you are treated to a secret ending that is different for each one. I personally love these puzzles because every image has some serious 'Where's Waldo' vibes and utilizes different artwork from popular artists I would have otherwise never known about.

If you aren't already familiar with the earlier Magic Puzzle Company Puzzles, I'd recommend checking out Series One to get started. However, if you're a seasoned veteran you'll be happy to know that Amazon has just released two new Series Five puzzles for 2026 and they look quite delightful.

New Series Five Magic Puzzle Company Puzzles

George R.R. Martin has said that if he never completes Game of Thrones sequel Winds of Winter (or the book after that), there's no plan for anyone else to step in. Instead, his Song of Ice and Fire series simply "won't be finished."

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about his lack of progress on his next novel, Martin said he would "hate" to give up on the series — though admitted he was still around 1,100 pages in.

This figure — 1,110 pages — is one that he's quoted since at least December 2022, when he mentioned the same number during an appearence on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. (Yes, it really has been that long. And if it makes you feel even older, A Song of Ice and Fire's most recent entry Dance with Dragons came out in 2011, during Obama's first term.)

"It would feel like a total failure to me," Martin said when asked if he should just accept he will never finish A Song of Ice and Fire. "I want to finish."

And yet, the 77-year-old author has seemingly been kept distracted over recent years, with work as a producer on Game of Thrones' various TV spinoffs and AMC series Dark Winds, as well as his continued publishing of various A Song of Ice and Fire companion novels. (During the interview, Martin revealed he had begun two new Dunk and Egg adventures in 2025, set in Winterfell and in the Riverlands, though it didn't sound like he had yet finished either.)

If he did die before completing A Song of Ice and Fire, the series simply "won't be finished," Martin insisted. "It'll be like The Mystery of Edwin Drood," he continued, mentioning the novel that Victorian author Charles Dickens left incomplete at the time of his death. (Numerous other authors have offered their own endings to Edwin Drood over the years, and it has been adapted several times with these attached.)

Universal Fan Fest Nights is back again at Universal Studios Hollywood beginning on April 23, and this year it will feature Scooby-Doo Meets Universal Monsters, One Piece, Dungeons & Dragons, Harry Potter, and Super Nintendo World experiences exclusive to this after-hours event.

Tickets are now on sale for the second-ever Universal Fan Fest Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood, and it will run for 12 nights only: April 23-25; May 1-3, May 7-9, and May 14-16.

Universal Fan Fest Nights is a separately ticketed event and, alongside the experiences you can read about below, it will feature character interactions, cosplay and photo opportunities, and curated food, beverages, and merchandise. As for those exclusive experiences, they are as follows, directly from Universal:

• Scooby-Doo Meets The Universal Monsters: Mystery on the Backlot: This all-new, immersive walk through adventure is designed to give guests the sensation of stepping into a live-action mystery with the Scooby-Doo gang and the Universal Monsters. Guests will travel to the destination via Studio Tour tram where they have a chance to walk along a movie studio backlot with Scooby-Doo himself and his pals Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy. The exciting escapade will challenge them to solve a mystery involving the most legendary Universal Monsters in cinematic history, including Frankenstein, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein and Wolf Man, as they navigate portions of Universal’s world-famous outdoor film sets, from the cobblestone streets of Little Europe to the iconic Court of Miracles, the original filming locations for historic Universal horror films Frankenstein (1931) and The Wolf Man (1941).
• ONE PIECE: Grand Pirate Show: ONE PIECE returns to Universal Fan Fest Nights, but this time as a live show extravaganza at the WaterWorld show venue. Inspired by the success of the Universal Studios Japan production, ONE PIECE: Grand Pirate Show will invite guests to a whirlwind performance featuring a cast of ONE PIECE fan- favorite characters. With action, comedy and chaos taking center stage, guests will be transported to the very heart of the world of ONE PIECE – enveloped in friendship, freedom and mayhem.
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: This new, unique, walk-through experience will take guests into the depths of the Forbidden Forest in search of a lost Hippogriff. With guidance from a Hogwarts Professor, they will encounter magical creatures and familiar beasts as they face a series of obstacles which will require the guests to summon their bravery and spell-casting skills to help a Hippogriff in need.
• SUPER NINTENDO WORLD – Colorful Yoshi Celebration: This year’s Universal Fan Fest Nights introduces a vibrant, multi-colored Yoshi celebration in SUPER NINTENDO WORLD. This all-new adventure will welcome guests to explore the land, where they will have a chance to meet new, colorful Yoshis who can be found throughout the Mushroom Kingdom.
• DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: Secrets of Waterdeep: This fan-favorite immersive experience returns due to popular demand, along with some enhancements. Inspired by the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game™, Dungeons & Dragons, this epic walk-through experience will welcome guests and fans to partake in a one-of-a- kind adventure and explore the fantastic world of D&D. Guests will join the Harpers—a heroic spy network—to foil a plot by the legendary beholder Xanathar and save the city of Waterdeep. This engaging experience features the legendary beholder Xanathar, uniquely created by the masterful puppeteer, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. For over 40 years, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop has been a world-renowned innovator in puppetry, animatronics and digital animation.

There are a lot of ticket options for Universal Fan Fest Nights, including some that get you into the park during the day before the event. These include General Admission, Universal Express, Universal Express Unlimited, After 2PM Day/Night, After 2PM Day/Night, 2-Night General Admission, Ultimate Fandom Pass, Early Access Ticket, Universal Fan Fest Nights VIP Tour, and Pass Member Special Pricing. Once again, you can check out the full details and purchase the tickets right here.

In addition to all the fun planned for Universal Fan Fest Nights, guests will also be able to enjoy select attractions throughout the event, including Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Flight of the Hippogriff, Jurassic World—The Ride, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, TRANSFORMERS: The Ride—3D, Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride and The Simpsons Ride.

For more, check out our interview from IGN Fan Fest 2025 with Stephen Siercks, the Senior Director of Entertainment at Universal Studios Hollywood, all about bringing this event to life for the first time.

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

It's no secret that AliExpress consistently has the lowest prices on popular and well-reviewed 3D printers. Some of the most popular 3D printer brands, including Creality, Anycubic, and Flashforge, have official storefronts on AliExpress, and the prices there are usually much lower than on Amazon. Because they're sold by the manufacturers themselves, you get a genuine product with the full warranty, as well as AliExpress' own protections including a 90 day free! return policy.

The AliExpress marketplace itself has recently evolved as well. Most of these brands now stock their printers in warehouses based in the United States. That means they ship locally, with most printers being delivered within a week. They aren't affected by tariffs, import fees, or egregiously long shipping times.

Below, I've picked out the best deals on popular and well-reviewed 3D printers; the entry-level models start at under $200 and are a great choice for anyone just starting out and not ready to invest a ton of money, and the higher-end models have all the features a seasoned professional could ask for, but without the exorbitant price tag.

Note: Sometimes the AliExpress site is a bit wonky. Make sure you are logged in to your account to see the full discounts. If a printer comes up as undeliverable to your address, copy and paste the link again.

3D Printer Deals at AliExpress

Flashforge Adventurer 5M CoreXY 3D Printer

Deadhaus Sonata, the indie-developed action-RPG from Legacy of Kain, Eternal Darkness, and Too Human creator Denis Dyack that IGN first revealed in 2018, has "reawakened" with a new trailer and a targeted Early Access release window of early 2026 for PC, with console versions to follow. Watch the trailer above and check out new screenshots in the gallery below.

Now powered by Unreal Engine 5, Deadhaus Sonata promises multiple player classes in the final version, with the first being the Vampire. It also touts a living world, with "enemies, events, and opportunities [changing] as the world progresses, making the realm feel alive and reactive." It's also co-op enabled. "Explore a land shattered by divine war and corruption," the team at Apocalypse Studios says. "Malorum is filled with haunted fortresses, forgotten kingdoms, and ruins shaped by ancient history. Every discovery reveals new layers of lore where nothing is ever as it first appears."

Progression features a tarot card-based skill system that let you customize your build, whether you prefer a tank or a caster. The team also says, "Loot in Deadhaus Sonata is earned through feats that track your actions, history, and performance, not random drops. Every item is shaped by what you do. Gear, artifacts, legendary items, and tarot cards all tie into Malorum’s supernatural and political history. Playing is crafting, and your past becomes a resource that influences your future."

Dyack has had quite a career in gaming, and not without his controversies. He discussed his career in a 2019 appearance on our IGN Unfiltered interview show. And if you're interested in Deadhaus Sonata, you can wishlist it on Steam.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our old 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.

Elden Ring: Nightreign just got a big balance patch, and even if you're not someone who's great at parsing patch notes, you might want to tune into this one, because basically every character that's been widely regarded as terrible for months now got a big buff.

Patch 1.03.2 is simply billed as "Balance Adjustments and Feature Updates" but includes a very, very long list of Nightfarer, Relic, Equipment, Sorcery, Incantations, and other adjustments that should prove a major boon especially to a few Nightfarers that desperately needed some love: Raider, Guardian, Executor, and Revenant.

We've shared the patch notes below, but here's a quick summary for each of these four characters. Guardian, whose role is generally to "tank" bosses, guard hits, and keep enemy attention so their teammates can wail on them, got a buff to damage negation and to his Guard Boost ability. Raider, a big slow heavy attacker, has historically been a little too slow in attacking to be really viable, so he got a big boost to attack speed. Revenant, historically just weak all around if very fun to play, got a big attack power boost to her summoned spirits. And Executor, a speedy melee attacker who plays a bit like Wolf in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, got buffs to seemingly everything: damage, stamina, damage negation, and more.

The community, especially those who like to main those four Nightfarers, are especially thrilled. Several of these guys, especially Raider and Revenant, have been struggling for a while now, and their weaknesses were becoming even more evident next to the two newly-added Nightfarers in the Forsaken Hollows DLC.

Those aren't the only changes, just the biggest character-related ones. There have been a ton of tweaks and bug fixes to everything from how many of certain items can be bought in shops to how much FP certain spells cost to cast. There were also, quietly, 30 new weapon ID slots added to the game, as someone has pointed out, though it's unclear what those are for or even if they'll ever be used.

Nightreign players are still going strong almost a year after the game first came out, with a new DLC having dropped in December adding a new map, two new Nightfarers, new bosses, and more. There's also a challenge mode called Deep of Night that some players are still delving into to push their skills as far as possible.

Elden ring Nightreign update 1.03.2 patch notes:

Balance Adjustments and Feature Updates

Nightfarers Adjustments

Duchess

• Adjusted the visibility of the phantom when Duchess's skill "Restage" is triggered.

Guardian

• Increased damage negation for physical and various elemental attacks.
• Increased Guard Boost when guarding.

Raider

• Increased the speed of various attacks, except dual-wield and jump attacks, and adjusted the movement distance of some attacks when using weapons of the Greataxes, Great Hammers, or Colossal Weapons categories.
• Added an effect to the passive ability "Fighter's Resolve" that increases attack power for a certain period when HP is significantly reduced.
• Expanded the attack range when activating the Ultimate Art "Totem Stela".

Revenant

• Increased the attack power of the special attacks performed by summoned spirits when the Revenant's Ultimate Art "Immortal March" is triggered with active summoned spirits.
• Increased the attack power and damage negation of spirits summoned through the skill "Summon Spirit" in the Deep of Night mode, scaling with the depth level of Expeditions.

Executor

• Increased the attack power of critical hits while the “Cursed Sword” Character Skill is active.
• Increased the Guard Boost while the “Cursed Sword” Character Skill is active.
• Increased the stagger damage upon successful deflection while the “Cursed Sword” Character Skill is active.
• Reduced the stamina reduction upon successful deflection while the “Cursed Sword” Character Skill is active.
• Running out of stamina after a successful deflection no longer result in a guard break while the “Cursed Sword” Character Skill is active.
• Changed the specifications to apply the effects of "Improved Skill Attack Power" and "Improved Melee Attack Power" to weapon arts while the “Cursed Sword” Character Skill is active.
• Increased the power of attacks - except for "Roar" - while the Ultimate Art: “Aspects of the Crucible: Beast” is active.
• Increased damage negation when performing the L2(PS5) /LT (Xbox) / Q (Steam) skill attack while the Ultimate Art: "Aspects of the Crucible” transformation is active, and added a short window where it is not possible to become critically wounded even if your HP reaches zero. If your HP reaches zero during the skill's activation, you will end the transformation with 1 HP remaining.
• Increased the power scaling of attacks - except for "Roar" - in accordance to the depth level - while the Ultimate Art: “Aspects of the Crucible: Beast” is active and in the Deep of Night mode.

Scholar

• Adjusted the distance criteria that affect the progress rate against large enemies in the skill "Analyse".

Undertaker

• Adjusted the movement distance of some attacks against stationary targets when using weapons of the Hammer category.

Relic Adjustments

• The burn damage caused by the "[Wylder] Art activation spreads fire in area" Relic Effect now increases the art gauge.
• Increased the effect of the "HP Recovery From Successful Guarding" Relic Effect.
• Increased the effect of the "Draw enemy attention while guarding" Relic Effect.
• Increased the power of the shockwaves generated by the "[Guardian] Successful guards send out shockwaves while ability is active" Relic Effect.
• Increased the effect of the "Defeating enemies near Totem Stela restores HP" Relic Effect.
• Increased the effect of the "Improved Poise Near Totem Stela" Relic Effect.
• Increased the effect of the "[Executor] While Character Skill is active, unlocking use of cursed sword restores HP" Relic Effect.
• Renamed and modified the “[Executor] "Character Skill Boosts Attack but Attacking Drains HP" Relic Effect to "[Executor] Character Skill Boosts Attack but Lowers Damage Negation While Attacking" and increased the effect amount of the attack power boost.
• Increased the healing effect duration of the "[Executor] Slowly Restore HP upon Ability Activation" Relic Effect.
• Increased the effect of the "[Undertaker] Attack power increased by landing the final blow of a chain attack" Relic Effect.
• Increased the effect of the "[Undertaker] Physical attacks boosted while assist effect from incantation is active for self" Relic Effect.
• Decreased the effect of the "Successive Attacks Boost Attack Power" Relic Effect.
• Decreased the effect of the "Improved Bow Attack Power" and "Improved Attack Power with 3+ Bows Equipped" Relic Effects.

*This addresses an intended bug where the increased effect of the "Improved ●● Attack Power" and "Improved Attack Power with 3+ ●● Equipped" Relic Effects in Patch 1.03 were mistakenly applied to the bow weapon category.

Adjustments to Equipment, Sorceries, and Incantations

• Distance-related drop-off is now applied to status ailment accumulation, Ultimate Art gauge charging and near-death gauge depletion when attacking downed allies for attacks that take in account damage drop-offs, such as Ranged Weapons.
• Changed the primary sorcery of the "Rotten Crystal Staff" from "Shattering Crystal" to "Crystal Release."
• Increased the FP consumption of the "Shattering Crystal” sorcery.
• Increased the FP consumption of the "Beast Claw" incantation.
• Adjusted the visibility of the effects of some sorceries and incantations.
• Reduced the "Reduced Maximum HP" effect of the "Primal Glintstone Blade" talisman.
• Reduced the "Impaired Damage Negation" effect of the "Crucible Feather Talisman".

Field Adjustments

• "Fire Pots" and "Throwing Knives" now have a maximum amount that can be bought in shops.
• Increased the number of Night Invaders that appear when the "Marsh" Key location experiences cataclysms.
• Adjusted the number of some enemies appearing in the "Blacksmith Village" Key location.
• Decreased the attack power of some enemies appearing in the "Blacksmith Village" Key location in "The Deep of Night."
• Increased the amount of runes obtained by defeating some enemies in the "Marsh" and "Blacksmith Village" Key locations.
• Increased the probability of rare weapons and items appearing in some treasure chests in the "Marsh" and "Blacksmith Village" Key locations.
• Adjusted the spawn rate of special shops in "The Great Hollow" Shifting Earth.
• Increased the effect of the "Beast's Hunt" special ability obtained in the "Tricephalos" Raid event to fully restore stamina for surrounding allies during continuous attacks.
• Decreased the continuous damage received by player characters during the "Tricephalos" Raid event.
• Adjusted the visibility during the "Tricephalos" Raid event.
• Adjusted the visibility during the "Fissure in the Fog" Raid event.
• Decreased the falling hail damage during the "Fissure in the Fog" Raid event in the Deep of Night mode.
• Adjusted the number of enemies entering the Charm state at some points during the “Balancers” Raid event.
• Decreased the amount of attack power boost for enemies in the Charm state during the “Balancers” Raid event.

Other adjustments

• Adjusted the appearance rates of the target bosses, key locations, and Shifting Earth added in the DLC "The Forsaken Hollows" in "The Deep of Night”.

*This adjustment applies to Expeditions when matched only with players who also own the DLC.

Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Added an icon display and the description of Special Effects in the status menu for the "Improved Attack Power at Full HP" and "Improved Damage Negation at Full HP" passive effects while they are active.
• Added an icon display and the description of Special Effects in the status menu for the "Switching Weapons Boosts Attack Power" Relic Effect while it is active.
• Fixed an issue where some costumes for Scholar and Undertaker, as well as unique relics that can only be obtained once in the DLC, would disappear and made it possible to re-acquire them at the Roundtable Hold.
• Fixed a bug where it was possible to obtain multiple copies of the relic "The Will of the Balancers" under certain conditions.
• Additionally, if multiple copies of the relic "The Will of the Balancers" are equipped, only one of these relics will become activate.
• Fixed a bug where, when the relic with the "[Raider] Hit With Character Skill to Reduce Enemy Attack Power" effect was equipped, the Raider's Character Skill: "Retaliate" would sometimes not stagger enemies even when hitting them while in an enhanced state.
• Fixed an issue where spirits summoned by Revenant’s skill could be staggered by enemy attacks within the defensive area summoned by Guardian's Ultimate Art: Wings of Salvation.
• Improved the partial appearance of some movements when Raider performs a critical hit.
• Fixed a bug where, under certain conditions, Executor’s "Aspects of the Crucible: Beast" Ultimate Art would cause unintended damage related to Status Ailments when triggered.
• Fixed a bug where the effect of reducing the near-death gauge using the level 3 “Warming Stone” item from Scholar's Passive Ability “Bagcraft” did not apply to the player who used the item.
• Fixed a bug where activating Executor’s "Aspects of the Crucible: Beast" Ultimate Art while linked with Scholar's Ultimate Art “Communion” would cause unintended large damage to the linked enemies.
• Fixed a bug where the attack hitbox of the "Beast Claw" Incantation could disappear during use.
• Fixed a bug in the Whip weapon category where the first part of a normal attack did not apply the Passive Effects “Improved Melee Attack Power”.
• Fixed bugs in some attack hitboxes of the following Weapon Arts where the effects of “Improved Skill Attack Power” and “Improved Melee Attack Power” from Relics or Passive Effects were not applied.
  • Waves of Darkness
  • Eruption
  • Lightning Slash
  • Golden Land
  • Ice Lightning Sword
  • Sorcery of the Crozier
  • Sacred Phalanx
  • Flame Dance
• Fixed a bug where of “Improved Skill Attack Power” effect from Relics or Passive Effects did not apply to the “Torch Attack” Skill.
• Fixed a bug where the gravitational wave generated by the “Power of the Starscourge” of the Colossal Sword “Collapsing Stars Greatsword” Passive Effect did not apply the effect of “Improved Melee Attack Power” from Relics or Passive Effects.
• Fixed bugs where effects triggered by continuous attacks from Relics or Passive Effects did not activate in some attack hitboxes of the following Weapon Arts.
  • “Kick”
  • “Charge Forth”
  • “Giant Hunting”
  • “Carian Greatsword”
  • “Carian Grandeur”
  • “Carian Greatsword”
  • “Miquella's Ring of Light”
  • “Spinning Wheel”
  • “Giant Hunting”
• Fixed a bug where the shockwave generated by the "Attacks Generate Golden Shockwave" Passive Effect did not leave an elemental mark when hitting enemies.
• Fixed a bug where the attribute added to the weapon held in the opposite hand would disappear when the "Switching Weapons Adds an Affinity Attack" Relic Effect was active and the weapon was switched.
• Fixed a bug where the attack power of the “Glintstone Scrap” and “Large Glintstone Scrap” Items did not increase with the "Improved Glintstone and Gravity Stone Damage" Relic Effect.
• Fixed a bug where the following Relic Effects would not apply even when their activation conditions were met while the player character was in a near-death state.
  • “Max FP increased for each Sorcerer's Rise unlocked”
  • “Runes and Item Discovery increased for each great enemy defeated at a Fort”
  • “Attack power increased for each evergaol prisoner defeated”
  • “Attack power increased for each Night Invader defeated”
• Fixed a bug under certain conditions where player characters would not enter a near-death state or would die without entering the near-death state when HP reached zero due to an enemy's grab attack.
• Fixed a bug where executing a critical hit from behind some enemies would cause damage to an adjacent allied player character.
• Fixed a bug where the ice mist effect from the "Fissure in the Fog" Raid event would activate upon using Executor’s "Aspects of the Crucible: Beast" Ultimate Art under certain conditions.
• Fixed a bug where the Untold Power would not appear even after reducing the HP of the "Albinauric Archers" powerful foes to zero in ruins.
• Fixed a bug where the "Night's Cavalry" boss would not flinch significantly from certain arts and attacks while mounted.
• Fixed a bug where the HP gauge of the "Royal Cavalryman" would not display when beginning combat with the bosses "Tree Sentinel, Royal Cavalryman" and "Draconic Tree Sentinel, Royal Cavalryman" when other field bosses' HP gauges are displayed.
• Fixed a bug where the playback timing of some BGM in the battle against the boss "Divine Beast Dancing Lion" was not as playing as intended.
• Fixed a bug where temporary Special Effects granted to the player character during the battle against the boss "Knight Artorias" would persist even after the battle ended.
• Fixed a bug where some enemy skills would activate in unintended positions during the battle against the "Balancers" boss under certain conditions.
• Fixed a bug where the volume of some sound effects would be lower than intended depending on the distance from the enemy during the battle against the "Balancers" boss.
• Fixed a bug where the battle against the "Balancers" boss would not progress under certain conditions.
• Fixed a bug where the effects of some attacks would not render when the distance from the enemy was too far during the battle against the Salvation’s Standard-Bearers "Balancers" boss.
• Reduced the rendering load for some enemy attacks during the battle against the Salvation’s Standard-Bearers "Balancers" boss.
• Reduced the unstable rendering of allied player characters' movements during the battle against the Salvation’s Standard-Bearers "Balancers" boss.
• Fixed a bug where some parts of the combat would be skipped during the battle against the "Dreglord" boss under certain conditions.
• Fixed a bug where the Weapon Art of the weapon "Nox Flowing Hammer" sold in shops was different than intended.
• Fixed a bug where the objects required to solve the gimmicks in Sorcerer's Rise would be buried in the ground under certain conditions.
• Fixed a bug in the "Tricephalos" Raid event where rewards could not be obtained if the event's completion and achievement occurred simultaneously.
• Fixed a bug in the "Balancers" Raid event where the HP of the "Balancers" could be reduced from the start during multiplayer.
• Fixed a bug in the "Balancers" Raid event where events might not occur in the "Great Church" Key location.
• Fixed a bug where player characters could not move properly when the "Balancers" Raid event occurred under certain conditions.
• Fixed a bug where obtaining the "Favor of the Great Hollow" Special Effect in The Great Hollow Shifting Earth did not increase the "Encounters with shifting earth" in the Visual Codex Menu's Battle Record.
• Fixed a bug where multiple instances of the "Cold Mirage" Special Effects might be displayed in the Result menu.
• Fixed a bug where the game could not progress if the session host left immediately after embarking on an Expedition.
• Fixed a bug in the fight against the Salvation’s Standard-Bearers "Balancers" boss where some enemy actions would not occur if other players left at specific timings.
• Fixed a bug in the fight against the "Dreglord" boss where some parts of the "Decayed Favor of the Rotted Woods" Special Effect would not become inactive after a session leave and rejoin at a specific timing.
• Fixed a bug in the fight against the "Dreglord" boss where some field-wide effects would not be applied after a session leave and rejoin at a specific timing.
• Corrected some text.
• Fixed rendering bugs in some graphics and effects.
• Fixed behavioral bugs with certain enemies.
• Fixed several minor bugs and improved performance.
• Fixed a bug in the Steam version where connection issues could occur immediately after matchmaking was completed.

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

To celebrate Bloodborne's 10th anniversary, Laced Records is gearing up to drop a Vol. I & II vinyl set that includes the incredible soundtrack featured in both the base game and The Old Hunters DLC. It's currently available for fans to preorder for $123.99 with a release date of May 15 this year (see it here at Amazon). I, for one, am already counting down the days until I can get my hands on it.

Keep in mind that preorders like these can sell out fast, so be quick to get your order in before it's gone. Below, we've also detailed the full track list, for those interested in seeing what comes on each disc.

Preorder Bloodborne 10th Anniversary Vol. I & II Vinyl

The box set has a very sleek black design with gold lining on the lettering and on the back. The covers for each of the volumes have great designs as well, with the first volume featuring a Hunter in blue and volume two featuring Lady Maria in red. Alongside the black LPs, it even comes with an exclusive Caryll Runes slipmat, which you can check out below.

Bloodborne 10th Anniversary Vol. I & II Track List

Disc One:

• Omen
• The Night Unfurls
• Hunter's Dream
• The Hunter
• Cleric Beast
• Blood-Starved Beast
• Watchers
• Hail the Nightmare
• Darkbeast
• The Witch of Hemwick
• Rom, the Vacuous Spider

Disc Two:

• Moonlit Melody
• The One Reborn
• Micolash, Nightmare Host
• Queen of the Vilebloods
• Soothing Hymn
• Celestial Emissary
• Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos
• The First Hunter
• Moon Presence
• Bloodborne

Disc Three:

• Terror
• Amygdala
• Of the Pthumerian Line
• Lullaby for Mergo
• Ludwig, the Holy Blade
• Laurence, the First Vicar
• Living Failures
• Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower
• Orphan of Kos

Looking for even more vinyls to add to your collection? The IGN Store has quite a few worth checking out at the moment. Clair Obscur Expedition 33's soundtrack on vinyl is currently available to preorder, as is Kingdom Come Deliverance 2's soundtrack on vinyl. To see even more, check out the IGN Store's vinyl collection page.

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

From portable gaming handhelds to smartphones, our lives rely on portable, untethered electronics, and it can't hurt to always have a charger on hand. Fortunately, they don't have to be expensive. Case in point, Amazon is currently offering a Baseus Picogo 67W USB Type-C wall charger for just $16.99 after you apply coupon code "T9TLS56H". This diminutive adapter has plenty of ports and enough power output to fast charge most portable electronics.

Baseus Picogo 67W USB-C Wall Charger for $16.99

Industry airs Sunday nights on HBO and streams on HBO Max.

Those of us who got in on the ground floor with Industry have been saying this from the beginning: You gotta watch Industry. As its audience has grown from its early days being criminally underwatched, so too has the HBO series. The drama, created by former bankers Mickey Downs and Konrad Kay, has matured into a surefooted, full-throttled, and wincingly sex- and drug-fuelled account of power brokering that has seeped out from the trading floors of financial firms to fintech startup-land, the media, and government. Even though the scope of Season 4 is wider, the storytelling is at its most incisive and bloat-free, and the score is reliably as ‘80s synth-poppy as ever. Really, if you aren’t watching Industry by now, I’m imploring you: You gotta watch Industry.

After three seasons of following a freshman class at the investment banking firm Pierpoint and their often antagonistic seniors, Season 4 finds most everyone has moved on, relegating the company that was sold off to an Egyptian sovereign fund at the end of Season 3 to a footnote. Further unburdening itself from the Pierpoint walls works especially well as Industry’s characters find themselves in new stages of their lives and careers that could only have happened had they left. In this hard reset, they’ve graduated into new positions of power but must deal with the fallout from the choices they had made while they worked there. With Robert Spearing escaping to find a new life courting money for a medicinal mushroom startup in Silicon Valley (which sadly means no Harry Lawtley this season), Harper Stern (Myha’la) and Yasmin Hanani (Marisa Abela) now take center stage.

At the season’s outset, Harper finally gets to run a fund. She’s gone from a scrappy floor analyst with bold ideas that others largely balk at (until they end up raking in cash) to someone who’s now known for making daring gambles with her signature shorts. She’s dressing for the part with devastatingly well-tailored power suits and bespoke silver earring stacks. And yet after being tapped by the old moneyed benefactor Otto Mostyn (Roger Barclay), she still has friction between wanting to execute her bold vision and Mostyn’s racist intentions to flaunt her as the progressive face of the firm while changing nothing. It’s not long until she finds common ground with her old boss, Eric Tao (the fantastic Ken Leung), who’s been living aimlessly in a semi-forced retirement, his family life in shambles. Yasmin has married Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harington) to pull her out of the looming embezzlement and assault charges left behind by her dead father. She’s protected from that shame publicly within the arms of British tabloid loyalty and doing her utmost hosting and managing seating charts of elite networking events. But her marriage is flailing, putting in an astronomical amount of emotional work gassing up an unappreciative Henry to pull him out of another hole of depression.

Monster Hunter Wilds fans are asking Capcom for answers after one player seemed to discover that PC performance is dictated by the number of DLCs a user has.

de_Tylmarande puts their theory plainly: “More DLC = more FPS.” The tech-savvy Reddit user uncovered what they believe is a “bug in the code they need to fix” and shared their findings with the Monster Hunter subreddit yesterday. If their theory is accurate, it would mean an undisclosed number of Monster Hunter Wilds PC players have experienced sluggish performance — potentially since its February 2025 launch — simply due to their lack of DLC ownership.

The Reddit user says they first began digging into Monser Hunter Wilds after they, and many others, noticed “constant FPS drops where they should not exist at all.” They claim to have previously discovered optimization issues with 2024’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 and believed they may be able to help smooth performance for another Capcom game, but what they think they’ve discovered is strange, to say the least.

As de_Tylmarande explains in their post, what began to lead them on the correct trail was noticing how performance fluctuated when playing through a friend's Steam account vs. their own. Playing on the former presented little issue, while playing through the latter resulted in performance "on the floor.”

“I relog back into my friend account — and everything is fine,” de_Tylmarande explains. “Nonsense. Shock. I refused to believe what I was seeing.”

They checked to see if the problem lay in differences in texture quality, settings, character look, name, weapon, and more on the two accounts but still found that, on one device, Monster Hunter Wilds performed very differently between the two profiles. Then it hit them: their friend owned all DLC, and they owned nothing.

The conclusion? The more DLC a player owns, the better Monster Hunter Wilds runs.

“Why? Because Capcom focused so hard on microtransactions that they implemented an insanely crooked and aggressive DLC ownership check function,” de_Tylmarande adds. “And no, it is not about protection or anticheat or whatever - it is just a DLC presence check.”

The idea behind their investigation is that Monster Hunter Wilds is rigorously checking to see if a user owns DLC. The more DLC in their possession, the less checking that needs to be done, resulting in increased framerates for those who shelled out extra cash for things like cosmetics, gestures, and decorations. de_Tylmarande doesn’t believe Capcom is intentionally attacking players on the backend for not having DLC, saying they’ve already reached out to Capcom support in hopes they’ll implement a fix sooner rather than later.

IGN has reached out to Capcom for comment.

In the meantime, they’ve created a personal mod to essentially bypass the DLC check. It doesn’t unlock any add-on content, but does make Monster Hunter Wilds believe that they own it. With any settings and in balance mode, the result, they say, is “performance went through the roof.”

“Anticipating some concerns, I also want to publicly state this upfront: if Capcom don't fix this mess, I'll finish the ‘mod’ — but it will be released strictly as open source (!!!), and it won't be distributed in a closed (binary), let alone encrypted form,” de_Tylmarande adds. “And again, that's only a last-resort option if Capcom end up ignoring the issue.”

The game's community is already looking for answers, with recent posts from the publisher filled with replies from users hoping a fix soon arrives. de_Tylmarande, meanwhile, has uploaded a video showcasing the difference between the two different versions of the experience.

care to address this? https://t.co/1C85a0oJZJ

— Ramez @ Monster Hunter Wilds #MHWilds (@Ramez05) January 15, 2026

Capcom has yet to comment on how DLC could impact Monster Hunter Wilds FPS drops on PC. The Mega Man and Resident Evil publisher does have two patches set to arrive through the next few weeks. However, these are pre-scheduled updates and may not combat what de_Tylmarande calls “very poor optimization.”

The first update, which has a January 27 release date, is patch Ver.1.040.03.01, and is at least promised to come with “optimization improvements for Steam-specific processes and options to reduce processing load.”

“To further improve stability and performance across all platforms, additional improvements will be implemented in the Ver. 1.041 update in February 18,” a statement from Capcom says. “We would like to thank everyone who has reported issues and shared feedback. We appreciate your continued support for Monster Hunter Wilds.”

Monster Hunter Wilds launched for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S February 28, 2025. Its most recent update, Title Update 4, released December 16, addressing other PC- and console-related issues. A roadmap published earlier that month outlined Capcom’s plans to keep the game running smoothly through to spring.

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

Amazon has announced a Fallout spinoff TV show called Fallout Shelter.

Fallout Shelter is the name for Bethesda’s strategy spinoff in which you manage a vault and its dwellers while under pressure from the wasteland. Fallout Shelter the Prime Video series is a reality competition show along similar lines to Beast Games.

Good morning, prospective Vault Dwellers! In order to best serve you in What Comes Next, we need volunteers for a very real, very scientific opportunity to beta test a better society. Visit this website if you’d like to join Fallout Shelter, a new series full of escalating… pic.twitter.com/hCr0TxmNOn

— FALLOUT⚡️ (@falloutonprime) January 15, 2026

Here's the official blurb on the 10-episode series:

Set inside Vault-Tec’s bomb-proof vaults, Fallout Shelter drops a diverse group of contestants into an immersive, high-stakes world inspired by the games’ signature dark humor, retro-futurism, and post-apocalyptic survival storytelling. Across a series of escalating challenges, strategic dilemmas, and moral crossroads, contestants must prove their ingenuity, teamwork, and resilience as they compete for safety, power, and ultimately a huge cash prize.

Here's the Fallout Shelter program description, from the now open casting call:

Fallout Shelter (working title) is a new reality competition series based on the hit Amazon drama and computer game of the same name. The dwellers (contestants) live together in a top-secret vault, where they will compete in a series of games that tests the seven core attributes from the Fallout world. Strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility and luck (S.P.E.C.I.A.L).

The series will not only test dwellers’ core attributes, but also their loyalty and alliances. It’s a game of power dynamics, popularity and social strategy which will ultimately result in a huge cash prize, but do you have what it takes to be the most S.P.E.C.I.A.L?.

It’s produced by Studio Lambert, the company that’s also behind The Traitors and Squid Game: The Challenge. Amazon MGM Studios and Bethesda Game Studios are also involved. Todd Howard is down as executive producer.

The announcement of Fallout Shelter comes with Fallout Season 2 in full swing. This week’s episode is considered the season’s best yet, and has sparked much debate within the Fallout community.

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.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is once again sweeping award nominations, this time at the Game Developers Choice Awards, where it's been nominated for all but one award.

The organization announced its nominees for the GDC Awards today, with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 garnering the most by far: eight award nominations out of nine possible awards, including Game of the Year. The only award it did not receive a nomination for was the Social Impact award.

In fact, a few games were present in quite a few categories this year. Ghost of Yōtei received five nominations and an honorable mention, and Blue Prince and Donkey Kong Bananza came away with four nominations apiece.

The Game Developers Choice Awards will take place on Thursday, March 12 at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Unlike previous years, the Independent Game Festival awards, which usually take place on the same day prior to the GDC Awards ceremony, will now take place the day before on Wednesday, March 11.

Though there's been some public debate about whether or not Clair Obscur qualifies as an "indie" game or not, it did not receive any nominations in the IGFs - possibly either due to not being eligible, or simply not being submitted by its studio for consideration in the first place. Baby Steps was the most-nominated game in the IGFs this year with five nominations, including for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

Best Audio

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Rift of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games, Tic Toc Games / Klei Publishing)
• South of Midnight (Compulsion Games / Xbox Game Studios)

Honorable Mentions:

ARC Raiders (Embark Studios), Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Doom: The Dark Ages (id Software / Bethesda Softworks), Lumines Arise (Enhance / Monstars Inc.), To a T (uvula LLC / Annapurna Interactive)

Best Debut

• BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Dispatch (Adhoc Studio)

Honorable Mentions:

ARC Raiders (Embark Studios), Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia), Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry), The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy (Too Kyo Games, Media. Vision Inc. / Aniplex), The Roottrees are Dead (Evil Trout Inc.)

Best Design

• BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Honorable Mentions:

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (Warhorse Studios / Deep Silver), The Alters (11 Bit Studios)

Innovation Award

• BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
• Baby Steps (Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy / Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions:

CloverPit (Panik Arcade / Future Friends Games), Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia), REPO (Semiwork Studios), Sunderfolk (Secret Door / Dreamhaven), To a T (uvula LLC / Annapurna Interactive)

Best Narrative

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastián Valbuena / Panic)
• Dispatch (AdHoc Studio)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Honorable Mentions:

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (DON'T NOD Montréal, DON’T NOD), South of Midnight (Compulsion Games / Xbox Game Studios), The Outer Worlds 2 (Obsidian Entertainment / Xbox Game Studios), The Séance of Blake Manor (Spooky Doorway / Raw Fury)

Best Technology

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Honorable Mentions:

ARC Raiders (Embark Studios), Battlefield 6 (Battlefield Studios / Electronic Arts), Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry), Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (Warhorse Studios / Deep Silver), PEAK (Team PEAK / Aggro Crab, Landfall)

Best Visual Art

• Absolum (Guard Crush Games, Dotemu, Supamonks / Dotemu)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Hades II (Supergiant Games)
• Keeper (Double Fine Productions / Xbox Game Studios)

Honorable Mentions:

Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry), South of Midnight (Compulsion Games / Xbox Game Studios), Sword of the Sea (Giant Squid), The Midnight Walk (MoonHood / Fast Travel Games)

Social Impact

• And Roger (TearyHand Studio / Kodansha)
• Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia)
• Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastián Valbuena / Panic)
• Dispatch (AdHoc Studio)

Honorable Mentions:

Herdling (Okomotive / Panic), Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (DON'T NOD Montréal, DON’T NOD ), PEAK (Team PEAK / Aggro Crab, Landfall), To a T (uvula LLC / Annapurna Interactive)

Game of the Year

• Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Honorable Mentions:

Absolum (Guard Crush Games, Dotemu, Supamonks / Dotemu), BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital), Hades II (Supergiant Games)

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

As much as I adore the hand-painted Warhammer 40K guys I have sitting just off to the right side of my desk right now, there's always been one thing they can't do that an RTS like Dawn of War can: moving and fighting and kicking the crap out of each other realistically. I mean, sure, I can smash them together and make cool sound effects. But that can ruin the paint job, and it wouldn't really cut it for a new Dawn of War game. It is, after all, a series known for its brutal kill animations and intense battlefield atmosphere. We got a chance to chat with Thomas Derksen, animation director on Dawn of War 4, about how King Art Games is taking the animations for the characters in this universe that we love to the next level.

Like myself, Derksen recalls the original Dawn of War being a gateway into the larger 40K universe. Watch the video below or read on for what Derksen had to say.

"So the first memory that I have from the game was ... So I didn't know anything about this," Derksen recalled. "I have no idea what Dawn of War is, who Games Workshop was, anything. I just got my hands on the Dawn of War 1 game. The first thing that I saw and that they did different than most other RTS was, I had a squad of guys there. And I could equip them with a range of weapons. I could upgrade them. I could add a sergeant and everything, right? It just felt like I cared so much more about these guys on the battlefield. They're fighting it out. I didn't want to have them killed or get them killed. And I think this is what really taught me on the whole idea.

"And the other thing that I remember from the game was seeing the dreadnought getting hold of one of the ork and then crushing him in his hand, and this is just nothing I ever saw in any game before. And I think it was spectacular to see all of this, the stuff that you ... Back then that you only ever imagined in your head, really play out in real time during a game in a spectacular way. This was just awesome."

Synced kill animations have been around since the beginning of the series. But with Dawn of War 4, King Art wanted to take things even a step further. Any time two units engage in melee, animations can be created procedurally based on their relative heights, weights, and strengths. So it's not just the fatal finishers, but every tense exchange of blows.

"So I think this is one of the main things that kept us busy around here was what we call the combat director," Derksen explained. "The combat director does something very unique. Most people know the sync kill system from all the way back from Dawn of War 1, but what we did is we tried to expand on that and instead have synced combat really. So every action that you see in the game really has a counterpart. So you always see guys fighting it out between themselves. I don't think really any RTS has done anything like this in the past."

And that's no simple feat when 40K features everything from tiny, goblin-like gretchens up to towering astartes dreadnoughts. But King Art is aiming for a system that can even generate synced brawls between some very mismatched opponents.

"Regarding the size differences, we call it power levels really. There is a lot of overlap between certain power levels, but not all of them. So a gretchen will never be able to fight the dreadnought for example, the same way that another dreadnought does. So you have to find actions that fit both sizes. I think we have four power levels in total. So really there's a lot of overlap between certain units, but not all of them. So there's a range of actions that only dreadnoughts versus other dreadnoughts or in some cases versus terminators. So there's a range of actions that only a terminator can use against other terminators, for example.

"But some of them will be able to combine with say a dreadnought or a deff dread or something, right? But gretchens then have their own unique action sets where they would then match up against all the smaller ones like Imperial Guardsmen or sometimes the occasional ork, but most of the time they stick to themselves and are more or less only thrown around by the big guys."

Dreadnoughts and tanks are one thing. But with the storied Dark Angels chapter arriving to reinforce the beleaguered Blood Ravens, we'll be seeing another RTS first in Dawn of War 4 with the appearance of an actual space marine primarch on the battlefield. Lion El'Jonson, recently awakened from an epic power nap, will make an appearance in the campaign mode. And animating such a living legend is a task King Art is taking seriously.

"Already Space Marines are hard to get right from the perspective of an RTS," Derksen admitted. "If you don't think about it, they don't look much bigger than humans, so you have to convey a whole lot more than you would for normal humans. And now the primarch is on a whole different level again, and also he has his own certain characteristics. He has a very wild fighting style in addition to everything that we have seen so far on the space marine. So I think getting that right, this was just a whole lot of challenges all at the same time really."

And it's not just the scale of the units that are creating new challenges this time around. The battles in Dawn of War 4 can get bigger than anything we've seen in the series previously. And for the battlefield to stay readable, the animation system needs to adapt.

"We are a bit more zoomed out in our game," Derksen elaborated. "We want to show more units on the battlefield at the same time. So what we had to do that was a little bit different to what Dawn of War 1 did is we had to introduce a bit more movement throughout all these actions. These combatants, they were dragging one another along and to fight it out on the ground sometimes. As a player, you require a better read on the silhouette to really understand what's going on from the corner of your eye kind of."

Despite what you may have heard, though, in the grim darkness of the far future, there is a bit more than just war. I mean, you also need to build stuff that enables you to do more war. And even in constructing an outpost, Dawn of War 4 includes a lot of faction-specific personality. The orks, for example, actually drop most of their buildings from space in the form of a big pile of junk that somehow organizes itself into something functional.

"What we really did, we knew that we wanted to have this look like a bunch of junk really, like junk being dropped from orbit," Derksen described. "And I think we just went ahead with the physicality behind, okay, how would it look if we dropped a rock from orbit? Like what's the speed? What's the weight that we want to convey? And then we just let it go and see where we ended up, tweaked it a little bit here and there. And I was like, yeah, I think this looks scrappy enough now, so let's use it.

"I think starting with orks set us up to explore certain areas that we didn't fully or couldn't fully commit to with the orks. So for example, for the orks, it needed to feel scrappier. And so weight was kind of a different concern than for space marines, for example. So the ork stuff, it just dropped from the sky. But the space marine stuff, it was dropped there with intention and like with bad intentions. And so we could expand a bit on that idea, right? And for other factions, it was more for the AdMech, for example, wanted to click everything into place a little bit more neatly, for example. The exact opposite from what orks do. So I think orks pretty much provided us with a good enough baseline to expand into certain other areas that interested us."

Needless to say, bringing the 40K universe to life in an RTS is always going to be a monumental task. But for these devs, seeing intricate and interesting moments emerge through this new animation system has given them something to get excited about.

"So we had an immense task ahead of us back then," Derksen recalled. "I don't think anyone really realized in the team how much effort all of this would take. We were all knowing that we were biting off more than we could chew back then, but it was on a whole different level. What I find spectacular and it only hit me recently was I was just watching a scene of Bladeguards fighting it out with a bunch of orks. And you saw the Bladeguard apparently noticing someone approaching from behind and killing them. Other orks are taken from the sides, killing them too. These guys on the battlefield, they start to be aware of their surroundings and you start to see intelligence play out. I hope that players can find these little moments and appreciate them as much as we do here."

The next Life is Strange game will launch this year and be fully revealed next week, publisher Square Enix has confirmed.

An official announcement of the project, widely expected to be titled Life is Strange: Reunion and feature the return of fan-favorite character Chloe, will take place next Tuesday, January 20 at 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern, or 6pm UK time.

A YouTube stream link is already available for the announcement, which is accompanied by the description: "Separate the real from the rumor... Join us for the exclusive reveal of the next Life is Strange game."

Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin has discussed his broken relationship with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal, which the author has candidly described as "worse than rocky" and "abysmal."

While Martin's displeasure with House of the Dragon's ongoing story development is nothing new, a profile piece published today by The Hollywood Reporter includes eye-opening new detail from Martin on the breakdown of his relationship with Condal — and the extent to which HBO executives had to manage the pair behind the scenes of the show's production.

Martin's unhappiness with Condal appears to have reached its zenith during a contentious Zoom call where the showrunner laid out his vision for House of the Dragon's third season. Martin said he responded to Condal's plan with numerous objections, and ultimately stated: "This is not my story any longer."

"I hired Ryan," Martin said, reflecting on happier times. "I thought Ryan and I were partners. And we were all through the first season. I would read early drafts of the scripts. I would give notes. He would change some things. It was working really well — I thought."

The profile piece notes an initial display of support by Martin for Condal towards the end of season one, when the latter had a falling out with his fellow co-showrunner on the series, Miguel Sapochnik. Martin says Condal asked for his support, which he gave, and Sapochnik departed the show shortly afterward.

"Then we got into season two, and he basically stopped listening to me," Martin continued, discussing how his relationship with Condal began to deterioate. "I would give notes, and nothing would happen. Sometimes he would explain why he wasn't doing it. Other times, he would tell me, 'Oh, OK, yeah, I'll think about that.'

"It got worse and worse, and I began to get more and more annoyed. Finally, it got to a point where I was told by HBO that I should submit all my notes to them and they would give Ryan our combined notes."

Even after the holidays and the many sale events leading up to them, January has had some surprises up its sleeve when it comes to video game deals, particularly over at Best Buy during its Winter Sale. The retailer has quite a few discounts worth checking out right now, including a particularly solid deal on Ninja Gaiden 4.

As part of Best Buy’s Winter Sale, Ninja Gaiden 4 has dropped to $39.99 for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Compared to its retail price of $69.99, this saves you $30 overall. Keep in mind that this sale only runs until January 19. Be quick to grab it before the discount disappears.

Ninja Gaiden 4 for $39.99

If you're seeking the absolute best of the best in PC gaming performance, look no further than Alienware's flagship Area-51 prebuilts. Following CES 2026, Dell has discounted an Alienware Area-51 AMD Ryzen X3D Edition RTX 5090 gaming PC to below $5,000 for the first time ever after an $800 discount. The Ryzen X3D Edition is essentially the second generation version of the Area-51 with a more powerful CPU replacement from AMD instead of Intel.

Alienware Area-51 Ryzen Edition RTX 5090 Gaming PC

The Alienware Area-51 is Dell's flagship gaming PC. Unveiled during last year's CES, the Area-51 is a super-sized upgrade to the mainstream Aurora R16 system. The significantly larger chassis features more premium build quality and a redesigned cooling system with greater net airflow. In fact, this is the only model that Dell feels comfortable enough to equip with the hot and power hungry GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card. The first wave of Area-51 systems featured Intel CPUs exclusively, with AMD X3D options only available since late November.

This particular configuration is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card, 32GB or DDR5-6400MHz RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Additional system details include a 360mm all-in-one liquid cooling system for the CPU and a massive 1,500W 80Plus Platinum power supply that allows plenty of headroom for future upgrades.

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the best gaming CPU for most people

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is considered to be the best gaming processor currently on the market and outperforms any Intel or AMD non-X3D chip in games thanks to AMD's 3D-V-Cache technology.

Although the 9800X3D is an absolute speed demon for gaming, it only has eight cores. If you regularly use your PC for non-gaming applications that benefit from as many cores as possible, then you can upgrade to an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 16-core processor, which doubles the core count while offering similar gaming performance, for an additional $300.

The RTX 5090 is the most powerful graphics card ever

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 has emerged as the most powerful consumer GPU on the market. Although with this generation Nvidia has prioritized software updates, AI features, and DLSS 4 technology to improve gameplay performance, the 5090 still boasts an impressive 25%-30% uplift over the RTX 4090 in hardware-based raster performance. If you want the absolute best performance for your gaming PC, there is literally no other option from any other brand.

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

HBO is in "very early development" on a Game of Thrones spinoff starring Arya Stark, following the collapse of a previous sequel idea that would have featured Jon Snow.

The Hollywood Reporter broke word of the project today in a detailed profile of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, who declined to comment on the unannounced project in detail.

Still, the report makes clear that this idea is being developed by HBO with a writer already on board (Quoc Dang Tran, who previously worked on Apple TV series Drops of God). No actors are cast, however — including Maisie Williams, who played Arya previously.

The report suggests the project is something of a replacement for the network's previous hope at mounting another Game of Thrones sequel series, this time starring Kit Harington's character Jon Snow. Details of that show's on-and-off development have sporadically come to light over the years, though today's report includes some significant new details.

Firstly, it's reported that Harington personally pushed for a dark take on the series which saw Snow living alone "as a broken man with PTSD." After discarding his sword Longclaw and chasing off his direwolf Ghost, Snow would have spent time building cabins only to burn them down.

Most surprising of all was Harington's idea that he didn't want to play a hero, and wanted Jon Snow to ulimately die. Today's report states that it was HBO who ultimately baulked on continuing the project, considering Harington's take as too downbeat.

The years since have seen Harington say the project didn't happen as no story good enough could ever be agreed. Last month, the actor then suggested he was done with Jon Snow altogether, replying the following when asked if he'd reprise the role for an audiobook: "No, god no. I don't wanna go anywhere near it. I spent 10 years doing that. Thanks, I'm alright."

Still, Snow's character would have provided an easy route into the Game of Thrones world for new viewers — geographically separate, and alone from the rest of Thrones' surviving cast. Now, HBO reportedly hopes to pull off a similar trick with Arya — last seen by herself, setting sail for adventure — with a tale based in the continent of Essos.

How far this project develops still remains to be seen, but with a Marvel-style roadmap of upcoming seasons announced for House of the Dragon and new spinoff Knight of the Seven Kingdoms until 2028, it's clear HBO sees Game of Thrones as a major franchise for years to come.

Image credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO.

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

The sequel to Todd Phillips’ smash hit Joker, the movie musical known as Joker: Folie a Deux, was far from the hit the original was, but some people liked it, namely Warner Bros. heads of film Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca, who stand by the 2024 box office flop despite its reception.

“I really liked the movie. I still do,” Abdy told TheWrap in a recent interview alongside De Luca, who added: “It was really revisionist. It may be that it was too revisionist for a global mainstream audience, but I thought that Todd and his screenwriting partner Scott (Silver) did the thing that most people making sequels don’t do, which is they decided to not repeat themselves. I do give them immense props for not repeating themselves, but it just turned out to not connect with the audience.”

The negative critical reception and financial failure of the film, which featured returning star Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, led to rumors that the two WB execs were potentially going to be ousted from their high profile positions at the time.

The shift in tone from gritty crime drama to introspective courtroom drama jukebox musical didn’t resonate with audiences, according to the box office. It amassed $207 million worldwide, which is a far cry from the original film’s enormous $1 billion box office. Plus, the film had a reported budget of about $200 million, so the gross alone is an easy financial failure before you even take the first film’s returns into account.

Reviews were wholly negative for the project — IGN said the film “[wasted] its potential” at the time of release — and it failed to receive any major awards nominations, unlike its predecessor, which was recognized for two Academy Awards out of a solid nine nominations.

However, according to these execs, these incidents come with the territory of their jobs. “You get a veteran’s thick skin,” De Luca said. “I’ve certainly had flops in my history. I have been lucky enough to have hits in my history. But I try to remember something someone told me once: Everyone has flops, but not everyone has hits. You just try not to torture the ones that don’t work.”

In January last year, Lady Gaga opened up about the negative reception to Joker: Folie à Deux after a period of silence following its release. “People just sometimes don’t like some things,” Gaga said. “It’s that simple. And I think to be an artist, you have to be willing for people to sometimes not like it. And you keep going even if something didn’t connect in the way that you intended.”

“When that makes its way into your life, that can be hard to get control of,” Gaga said of the fear of failure. “It’s part of the mayhem.”

For more on Joker 2, you can see why Quentin Tarantino says he loved the sequel, and why Hideo Kojima believes the movie’s reception will change over time.

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

Elaborate movie tie-in popcorn buckets are all the rage these days at movie theaters. These buckets are pricy — clearly a cash grab in the era of dwindling ticket sales — but they’re often cleverly designed, and they act as collectibles for fans of the franchises they represent. It seems that the people at Amazon have noticed this trend and wondered: what if we made an expensive popcorn bucket for a TV show? The result is a Fallout-themed popcorn bucket (see it at Amazon) for fans of the popular Prime Video show.

Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Super Smash Bros., has revealed the reason why the series' food various items each heal your character by a specific amount.

Writing this week on Twitter/X, Sakurai simply dropped the detail out of nowhere — 25 years on from when food was first introduced to Nintendo's hit fighting series, back in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

In short, the more calories a piece of food is likely to have, the more it has been programmed to heal. So, while a bunch of healthy grapes might heal your character by 4% in Smash Bros. Ultimate, a pizza or stack of pancakes will heal by 7%.

While some had guessed the logic previously, this is fans' first official confirmation why Smash Bros.' foodstuffs act this way. And, peering at the Smash Bros. Wiki page on food, the theory generally stands up to reality.

Super Smash Bros. Melee introduced 28 food types, a total that increased to 36 in Smash Bros. Ultimate — though the actual range has varied over the course of the franchise.

Looking just at Ultimate, then, low healing items include cherries (1% damage healed), kiwis, lemons and tea (all 2%), a lollipop (3%) and cola (3% — guess it's diet).

Mid-tier healing items include squash soup (4%), cheese, chocolate and dumplings (all 5%), plus a hot dog, corn dog, cherry pie and popcorn (all 6%). Curiously, a salad heals by 5% — though its image shows it is covered in some kind of dressing.

Undo your top button and we're onto the top-tier foodstuffs by damage healed, such as the hamburger, pancakes and pizza (all 7%), spaghetti (8%), strawberry shortcake (10%), steak (11%) and turkey (12%). Curiously, bread is also in this category (at 10%) — though it is the whole loaf.

So, next time you're playing Super Smash Bros. and food items spawn on-screen, head for the tastiest-looking, highest calorie option. Wombo combo? Popcorn combo, more like.

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