In print, King Sorrow is a doorstopper of a novel. It’s a behemoth, ringing in at just shy of 900 pages. But those pages go fast. This is an easily digestible book that tells the story of a group of stoned college kids who make a deal with dark forces they don’t understand. It’s written by Joe Hill, his first novel in nine years. It’s an excellent read, and right now the Kindle edition is on sale for $1.99. If my math is correct, that’s roughly $0.002 per page. That’s a lot of bang for your two bucks.

King Sorrow (Kindle Edition) for $1.99

They say every day is a school day. Today I learned a new term; one I’ve never heard in 23 years of writing about racing games, and nearly 40 years of playing them.

The term? Vibe driving. The meaning? Well, for Playground it describes the actions of players who just hop in a car, plant their foot on the pedal, and cruise through the open world.

“We know from multiple games now that there are so many players who just vibe drive; they just go from place to place in their car experiencing the world,” explains design director Torben Ellert. “So making a world that was both authentic to what Japan feels like, but was also rewarding for players to drive around in, was something we really wanted to do this time.

“Part of that comes from the fact that telemetry tells us that we’ve got this huge cohort of players who just drive but, as you know, the campaigns in the previous games were quite hooked to specific things. And the players who were just driving, they didn’t have a lot of cars [and] they didn’t have a lot of credits, because they weren’t engaging with the game’s structured campaign of progression.”

Playground Games has previously discussed its tweaked approach to the core campaign of Forza Horizon 6, which discards the concept of arriving at the Horizon Festival as an established superstar. In Forza Horizon 6 you will find yourself in Japan as a tourist, with no initial association with the Horizon Festival. It’ll only be as you successfully complete the qualifying events that you’ll earn a wristband to enter the big show as an accredited festival racer.

What’s set to follow will be a much more curated racing experience, graduating through the Horizon Festival’s coloured wristband tiers through the car classes – which have been inspired by the very first Forza Horizon game. As a result, Forza Horizon 6’s highest car classes will be off-limits within the confines of the festival’s event structure until much later in the game. The idea here, it seems, is a more overt (and potentially more rewarding) sense of progression.

What appears to have made these changes to the campaign flow possible – without compromising the freedom the Forza Horizon series regards as a core pillar of its identity – are the ways in which Forza Horizon 6 will go about rewarding play elsewhere.

“While we do have a festival campaign that is a bit more structured than we’ve done in the past, we really wanted to just have things to do as you drove around in Japan,” says Ellert. “That brought us to this language of ‘Discover Japan’, that really serendipitously turns out to be the Japanese tourist agency’s tagline, ‘Japan: Endless Discovery.’ That was neat.”

Ellert recalls feedback from players in the wake of the release of Forza Horizon 4, confused about the lack of things to do on the map.

“Hearing back from players who people knew, like, ‘Oh, I started the game and I drove to Edinburgh, and there was nothing on the map,’” he says. “Uh-oh. Well, it’s because quite literally you didn’t do Tarn Hows. If you don’t do Tarn Hows the game doesn’t click over and give you the next thing.”

However, instead of twisting arms to get players to engage with a single method of proceeding, Ellert explains it felt better to design Forza Horizon 6 in a way “that would lift people” who chose to play it their way.

“On the one hand I think it comes down to this desire to have things that are just organically in the world as you drive around,” he says. “Those obviously can be vistas that you can see, or cool bits of road that you can encounter, but connecting them to gameplay systems was really important because that creates more engaging experiences.

“So I think one answer for it is from that point of view: make things that you discover that are playable, just in the world. You reduce the friction; you make it easier to do something together with other people.”

The “something” that I’m demonstrated today is Forza Horizon 6’s new time attack driving.

“Time attack is a brand new feature for Forza Horizon 6,” explains lead game designer Dave Orton. “It’s a shared-world feature where it’s all about getting the fastest lap time possible on these incredible grassroots circuits across our map.

“They’re quite varied. You might have an off-road one, you might have a track-focused one. And really, at its core, you are setting a lap time and then trying to beat that every time. And we have splits that show you getting faster or slower, and every time you do a lap you get credits and XP as well. That’s the solo experience, and there’s kind of a loop where you can just hot lap for as long as you want.”

However, time attack takes on a new dimension when playing with or around others.

“Really it’s a place where we’ve seen other players gather,” Orton continues. “It’s a place of activity. I go back to that shared-world energy that you get from real players. This is a hotspot where you’ll find other players who are also hot lapping.

“We also have these in-world leaderboards that track the best times across the community, and that is filtered to your PI class. These are actually grounded, in-world leaderboards. You’ll see the top three times across the community at your PI, and you’ll see your time – so you’ll always see your name; you’ll always see your car with your livery, and where you rank on that leaderboard.

“You can also see your rival as well, and the way that that rival system works is it will always prioritise your friends. So you might be driving past, and then you can see that one of your friends has actually topped your score. All within the world; you just see, ‘My friend’s there and they’re ahead of me,’ and you can go in and try and beat them. It’s a system that, when we put it in the game, we’ve just continually built upon it and got it to where it is now. The moment we put time attack in and had something tracking your lap time, we knew we were onto something. Then we started adding deltas of your lap time, then we started adding splits, then we started adding the combos. And we’ve developed this feature to be something that we’re really, really excited to play.”

Engaging with time attacks in Forza Horizon 6 is a completely seamless experience. You don’t need to drive to a marker in the world, activate it, and get loaded into a lobby. You just drive out to one of the map’s permanent race circuits, drive into the precinct itself, and then drive onto the track. At that point, you’re racing.

“We’ve also got a time attack circuit on Legend Island, and it’s incredible,” says Orton. “So as you work your way through the campaign and become a Horizon Legend, you have access to this brand new area, and there is a fantastic time attack circuit on there. So I’m really excited to see what people do on that.”

Finding organic ways to reward players for things they were already doing was a key driver behind the addition of time attack.

“Horizon is a game that means a lot to many people, and it means different things to different people,” says Ellert. “There are people to whom really clean, technical racing is everything. And you have people who just want to drive around. You have people who want to build, or people who want to take photos. There are many people and many different ways to play a Horizon game.

“In previous games we’ve moved to a broader kind of campaign that says, ‘Whatever you do will progress you.’ And for this game, we wanted to be able to lean into that in a way that was very much driven by where you drove. If you could find it, it was a thing, you could do it. If you can find a street race somewhere in Tokyo City, you can do that street race immediately. There’s no gating to it. And because we had that freedom – because you could just drive off and take some photos or drive off and do one of the Horizon Stories – that meant that we had a full progression system that afforded those players a way to play the game.

“It meant that we could then say, ‘Okay, what if Horizon Festival races actually were gated by progression? What if you had to use C-class cars and B-class cars and then A-class, before you could get a chance to use your S1s, your S2s or your Rs? You had to move up through the ranks. Because we had the ability to say, ‘Look, if all you want to do is vibe drive, the game will absolutely let you do that, and reward you for doing that, and give you progression for doing that. It meant that we could apply more structure to the festival's fantasy in the world.”

“Let’s say you're at the B-class wristband,” says Orton. “If you’ve got an S1, you can still take that round in the free-roam world. You can still take that to the shared-world experiences. You take it to your street races, time attack. But when you go into the Horizon Festival wristband campaign, that’s when the restrictions come in.”

“I think the really nice thing about it is that it speaks to something that players do anyway,” says Ellert. “Much like the drag meets feature, we know players love synchronised drag lights. They love to see whose car is fastest.

“And by finding ways to just lightly roll in systems that can make that a more rewarding thing to do, it feels like, instead of saying to players, ‘No, come little friend; we must go and do this now,’ it’s more like, hey, keep doing the things that you’re already doing, and there are these systems that come into place to make that a more rewarding experience. Horizon is better together, right?”

We’re not shown a demo of the Forza Horizon 6’s open-world drag racing in action, but the team reports it will function in the same way as the time attacks.

“Like time attack, it’s all in the shared world,” says Orton. “So you’re not loading out, you’re not matchmaking. We have three drag strips in our world, and all of them have a grid at the start and it’s got synchronised lights for every player across the community.”

“You can rock up to a grid, you can ready up, and say, ‘I want to drag race.’ That will put you in your grid, and then you just wait for the green light. So, at that point, you can hold the e-brake and get your throttle up. And then as soon as that light goes green, if you pull off, you get thrown into a drag meeting. It tracks your time. Similar to time attack, you’ll get credits and XP every time. You make your way back, and you go again.

“They also have the same in-world leaderboard tech as well. So you’ll see the best drag racers in the community, you’ll see your time, you’ll see your rivals. And the great thing about those in-world leaderboards for time attack and drag meets is they reset each week. So there’s a new routine that players can have where, every time the season changes, you can go and put your name up on the board again.”

With time attack and drag racing checked, the next logical step would be drifting, would it not?

“Yeah, we’re very excited about that as well,” grins Orton. “That’s all I’ll say.”

“For what it’s worth, now we’ve got events that can occur in free roam, it’s just changed the way we think about our experiences going forward in Horizon. There’s a neuron in all our brains going, ‘Right, we’ve got something here.’ So, yeah, watch this space.”

There’s another layer to the open-world experiences of Forza Horizon 6, and that’s the game’s new link skill system. Forza Horizon fans are no doubt very familiar with the skill point system, and how it’s tied into earning and unlocking car perks, multipliers, bonuses, and even exclusive cars. This time around, however, you’ll get a buff on skill points by earning the same skills as other nearby players at the same time.

“So our skill system touches everything you do,” explains Orton. “If you smash through a gate, you get a wreckage skill. It’s a really compelling loop as you just vibe drive and drive around in our game. And we wanted to create multiplayer experiences from our skill system.

“So with link skills, if you perform the same skill with someone else, you get rewarded with a link version of that. So if I’m tandem drifting with Torbin, we get a link drift. If we’re going down the freeway as fast as we can, we get a link speed. And it’s such a frictionless way to connect with other players. You’re just playing the game near someone else and, just by doing that, you’re getting rewarded for it.

“As you are around other players and just playing the game you’ll have these soft attractors that reward you for sticking together. And our link skill system is just that, all the way up to if you do a 12-player barrel roll, you’ll get a version of that. And I want to see people do that!”

“It’s fully systemic,” adds Ellert. “So, yes, there are places where it’s more likely to happen, which is why we looked at the time attack. You’re much more likely to see speed and drift there but, at a danger sign; you go off that danger sign together, you’re going to get link air.”

“And drag meets: link burnout skills,” says Orton. “It’s just a really nice way of just rewarding you for being around other people without you really thinking about it.”

Forza Horizon 6’s aftermarket cars are an adjacent concept sprinkled into the open world. They’re cars that you’ll come across, parked up and available for purchase from within the open world itself. As part of today’s demo, a customised Honda S2000 is sitting near the entry of one of the time attack circuits. As players, we’ll be able to roll up to these and purchase them – and either send them to our garages or hop behind the wheel immediately.

“Because that system always looks at the kinds of cars that you could afford, the state of your campaign, you are almost always going to see a car that is relevant to the thing you’re about to do, and it’s cheaper than buying it at the Auto Show,” says Ellert. “So it’s the optimal way to expand your car collection. And you get this benefit of, you see the thing in the world. It’s better than just a piece of UI.”

“Yeah, there’s something about seeing the car in the world,” agrees Orton. “There’s kind of an allure to it.”

For his part, Orton regards the addition of things like seamless time attack and drag racing in the open world, plus the link skill system, as an evolution on the shared-world Horizon Life feature of Forza Horizon 4.

“That completely changed the way you experience Horizon,” he says. “With real players and real people, you get this unexpected fun, and the slight randomness of real people that you can’t recreate anywhere else. That’s an energy that we wanted to just capture and continue to improve on. So, with things like time attack and our link skill system, it’s really creating systems that draw players together so that we have more of those fun encounters with other players.

“And we know that a load of players spend their time in this state, in this free roam space of other players. So we knew there are players there we can get features for. And really it was kind of a synergy of, we know there are players in the space, and we know we want to draw players together with more systems that encourage you for just driving around and exploring.

“And I guess a final point as well; the players who are in this space, we want to give them more ways for them to earn credits and XP. Previously, the best way to do that was to go into an event and load out and whatnot. But really now, if you just stay in that space and you’re hot lapping on time attack, or at drag meets, you’re earning credits and XP just from doing that. And that was another reason. Because then suddenly you have more credits. You can buy more cars, you can buy more aftermarket cars. So your garage gets bigger. And then you start to see the breadth of our driving experiences, all within the same space.”

IGN will have plenty more on Forza Horizon 6 throughout March, including a deep dive on its Japan-based map, a look at the game’s new customisation, and more.

Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.

IGN can exclusively reveal the new trailer and key art for the upcoming fourth season of the MGM+ mystery series From.

The trailer can be viewed via the player above or the embed below.

“In Season Four, the closer the residents of town get to the answers they seek, the more terrifying their search becomes. Who is the Man in Yellow, and what does he want?,” according to the official plot synopsis.

“Will Jade and Tabitha’s revelation be the key to finally going home? How much longer can Boyd hold the town together, even as his body and mind are falling apart? And what role will the town’s most recent arrival play in the events to come? Season Four will open doors that some in town will end up wishing had remained closed.”

Harold Perrineau leads the ensemble cast which includes Catalina Sandino Moreno, Eion Bailey, Hannah Cheramy, Simon Webster, Ricky He, Chloe Van Landschoot, Corteon Moore, Pegah Ghafoori, David Alpay, Elizabeth Saunders, Avery Konrad, Scott McCord, Nathan D. Simmons, Kaelen Ohm, Angela Moore, A.J. Simmons, Julia Doyle, Robert Joy and Samantha Brown.

From is created by John Griffin and executive produced by Griffin, showrunner Jeff Pinkner (Lost, Alias, Fringe) and director Jack Bender (Lost, Game of Thrones, The Institute).

From: Season 4 premieres on MGM+ on Sunday, April 19th.

The Herman Miller x Logitech Embody is the chair that supported me through lockdown in 2020, and almost six years later it still feels nearly brand-new. That's a rarity for the gaming chairs I've used in the past, which have all shown visible signs of wear – or even genuine functional misfortune – after similar timeframes. While the design has remained the same ever after, Herman Miller and partners Logitech have produced new colorways over the years, including an eye-catching navy/purple "Nova" combo plus the white/orange "Ignite" shade that recently arrived at my doorstep.

That makes it a great time to mull over exactly why the Embody has remained my go-to option, despite testing a half-dozen other great gaming chairs in as many years – many of which come with much longer feature lists, greater adjustability and more attractive price tags.

Design

The Embody Gaming Chair is a striking chair to look at, especially in some of the wilder colorways available. Each two-tone design highlights the almost skeletal structure at the back of the chair, with segmented soft and stretchy plastic supported by thin plastic ribs that gradually link up into larger assemblies and finally join onto the aluminum frame. Underneath the seat, a denser mesh of similar construction supports your weight.

Meanwhile, arms curve up from the base of the chair, again with a more organic shape compared to the default racing-style bucket seat used by most gaming chair manufacturers. This structure gives the Embody more flexibility than those other designs; as you change position naturally, the chair stretches, supports and realigns.

Epic Games has announced a major change to the prices and distribution of Fortnite's in-game V-Bucks currency, and blamed the cost increases on the need to "help pay the bills."

Fortnite's billion dollar-grossing battle royale mode launched back in 2017, and has frequently found itself as part of the cultural zeitgeist. But while recent years have seen ever-bigger collaborations with movies and pop stars, its player numbers have been dwarfed by third-party game platform Roblox.

Earlier this year, Fortnite began allowing its own third-party game creators to begin selling microtransaction items (while Epic Games took a cut), a move that Epic itself previously said it wouldn't entertain. The wider company has also been busy spending big on free games to attract users to its PC storefront, battling Apple and Google in the courtroom, and building an in-game mode backed by a $1.5 billion investment by Disney.

All of that said, however, you'll soon be paying more for V-Bucks. You'll also get fewer free V-Bucks from the game's battle pass, and fewer from the game's Fortnite Crew subscription.

At the same time, Epic Games has reduced the V-Bucks cost of the battle pass (and the OG, Music and LEGO Passes) slightly in a move that makes this seem a little more palatable. But in a world where all of the game's big collaborations land in the Fortnite shop, it's the rise in V-Bucks prices that will likely see fans ultimately forking over more money than before.

Another major change will see the Fortnite battle pass only include the exact number of V-Bucks necessary to buy the next one, rather than providing half its value again as a bonus.

Undertone is in theaters on March 13.

Sound is a criminally under-respected aspect of film production, and there’s a school of thought that most audiences are more likely to be taken out of the experience of watching a movie by bad sound than bad picture. With its “haunted podcast” hook, Undertone has no shortage of respect for the aural arts and does emphasize them consistently, using sound to ratchet up the intensity and sustain a threatening mood. But with little in the way of interesting visual ideas or compelling drama to support that mood, Undertone is far more muted than its interesting central conceit provides for.

Undertone follows podcaster Evy (Nina Kiri), who’s largely homebound taking care of her comatose, dying Mama (Michelle Duquet). The auditory experience of Undertone has been billed as critical to the film, and director Ian Tuason gets Undertone off to a good start by quickly establishing Evy’s difficult circumstances in a montage that establishes not just the look of the house they share, but the sound. Tuason captures the stillness of the home, Mama’s labored breathing, hints at the happier life Evy and her Mama shared before she fell ill; they’re all reminders of how sidelined Evy has become in her own life.

That all slides away when Evy sits at her table and puts her headphones on to record The Undertone Podcast, a show in which she skeptically debates her believer co-host Justin (Adam DiMarco) about paranormal phenomena and conspiracy theories. Undertone’s sound mix focuses on Evy and Justin’s voices at the expense of all other background noise during their recording sessions. It’s a great technical hook for the movie that succeeds at not just demonstrating how the podcast is Evy’s escape from her dire circumstances, but providing a clean sensory stage for the auditory horror. As a device for driving dread in horror, restricting a character’s senses and channeling that into the filmmaking is a savvy move to create a base level of tension, and it’s a stylistic choice that does help Undertone maintain momentum, even through a mystery that winds up feeling like a broken record.

Evy and Justin receive an anonymous email containing 10 audio recordings from an unknown sender which document the plight of Jessa and Mike, an expectant young couple who seem to have been plagued by a supernatural entity as they prepare to welcome their baby. From there, Undertone falls into a predictable rhythm: Evy and Justin listen to more of the recordings which reveal more of the Jessa and Mike thread, something causes the two to stop the podcast taping, and Evy experiences something spooky in the time before the next session, suggesting that maybe whatever’s happening on the tapes is starting up in her own home.

Opening email attachments from unknown senders is, of course, the “reading Sumerian out of a book bound in human flesh” of 21st century horror, and that’s emblematic of where Undertone fails to consistently deliver on its premise: it’s quite old-fashioned. Secret messages in lullabies played in reverse, creepy crying babies, passages that trigger events around the person listening, elements of speech hidden in the spectrogram of the files, long stretches of silence punctuated by spikes in volume for an easy jump scare… these are tricks we’ve specifically seen/heard before in audio-forward horror like Session 9 or Pontypool and, really, across countless other horror movies too. There’s nothing inherently wrong with reaching into a well-worn trick bag to put your own spin on the classics, but Undertone’s horror seldom takes advantage of the modern trappings of podcasting to any specific degree. The recording of the Undertone Podcast episode in question winds up just functioning as a structural home base for the plot, which feels like a missed opportunity for Undertone to create more of a unique identity for itself.

Undertone’s nondescript visual sensibility further hampers those identity issues. Tuason favors languid takes with the camera drifting around the naturalistically-lit recording space, creating a sense that something terrifying is lurking just out of view. Undertone’s narrative rhythm seldom allows for that dread to pay off during the sessions though, as it’s usually after those that Evy sees hints that the entity from the tapes may be encroaching on her. So, as the movie goes, the recording sessions actually start to feel like a safer space for Evy. As for when she’s checking to see what’s going bump in the night, Evy plays out a familiar pattern of slowly walking to the source of the noise, and either finding nothing or, at most, there may be something creepy that activates in soft focus just out of her field of view. Undertone’s visual and aural approaches to horror seldom feel like they’re working in concert, and neither is consistently effective enough to make up for the shortcomings of the other. The mix of the movie’s unsettling tone and the mystery of just what’s causing the chaos on the tapes (and how that chaos is bleeding into Evy’s life) are each compelling enough to keep Undertone afloat as it goes, but don’t expect it to echo with you too long after its 94 minutes are up.

As Evy, Nina Kiri’s got a hell of a job in selling the horror of what’s on those tapes all by herself onscreen. Dramatizing the act of active listening is a tall order, but Kiri does well with matching the pitch of Evy’s reactions to what’s going on in the recordings without ever selling anything too hard. That composure carries into moments where she’s struggling with her relationship to alcohol or investigating the increasingly strange occurrences around her house, like the appearances of strange tokens or her mom somehow appearing out of bed, despite being effectively brain dead. But in the moments where Evy speaks to her unresponsive “Mama”, Kiri adopts a childlike tone that feels incongruous to the more assertive Evy we see during the podcast tapings, even if she’s not “in character” in front of the mic. The choice to infantilize Evy in that way, especially as she considers having a child of her own, feels aimed at propping up Undertone’s motherhood theme which, with Mama’s failing health and Jessa’s harrowing circumstances at front of mind, seems like it should be a far more prominent part of Undertone’s full picture than it winds up being.

Evy’s at a fascinating point in her life, debating whether to go right from being a full-time caregiver to her mom to a full-time caregiver to a child of her own, so it’s increasingly aggravating for that idea to get more and more backgrounded to the surface-level supernatural spookies that are pulling her mind in different directions. Not helping any of this is Justin, Evy’s grating London-based co-host. As the true believer, Justin’s the one more concerned with the theater of the podcast, but even when he’s not amping up the showmanship when “in character,” DiMarco is less successful than Kiri at matching his emotional tenor to what’s going on in Evy’s house. Most of Justin’s dialogue is nakedly designed to keep the plot moving or to prompt Evy to reveal a little more about how she’s feeling, but as the only other real character in the movie, especially because he’s off-camera the whole time, Justin could’ve used a lot more fleshing out for as much airtime as his voice gets.

Featuring a character dressed like Link and a creature that looks like Pikachu, upcoming Steam game Pickmon isn't afraid to hide the games it's clearly, er, inspired by.

A initial trailer for Pickmon, below, begins with Link, or whoever the main character is supposed to be, leaping from a clifftop that's clearly a riff on Breath of the Wild's Great Plateau, while familiar-sounding piano notes tinkle away in the background.

Not-Link deploys his glider, and is shown to have a not-Pikachu clinging onto his shoulder. A dragon-like creature definitely not based on Rayquaza then also drifts past — and this is all in the trailer's first two seconds.

PickMon | Summer Game Fest 2026 Trailer | Pockegame
This is the official account of PickMon. #PickMon is a brand new multiplayer monster-collecting game with open-world survival elements! 🧭Open world survival crafting game for up to 32 players! 🔫Gather your weapons and go on… pic.twitter.com/IdR6byINRk

— PickMon /ピックモン (@PickMon_EN) March 6, 2026

The next few minutes of Pickmon footage offer much more of the same, with creatures familiar to both Pokémon and the gun-toting Pals of Palworld (the previous Pokémon-like game to land on Steam, which is also still the subject of a Pokémon Company lawsuit), as well as some rudimentary base-building and farming mechanics.

The trailer concludes with a prompt to go wishlist Pickmon on Steam now, and to look out for a future release that's rather ambitiously "planned for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation."

Let's be honest here, everything about this trailer looks set to spark obvious comparisons to Nintendo properties. Even the name of the game's developer, Pokegame, seems part of the bit. For an indie developer looking to launch its first game, it's a safe way to grab attention — and if Nintendo was to start legal action, well, that's even more publicity guaranteed. And already, a Pokémon player has claimed Pickman copied one of their designs for a Pokémon fan design, too.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether Nintendo will bother getting involved. While the comparisons between Pickmon and Pokémon are far from subtle, Nintendo currently seems to have gotten bogged down in its previous Palworld lawsuit, which has dragged on for over a year while Palworld itself remains on sale, albeit with a few minor gameplay tweaks.

Perhaps notably, Pickmon does not seem to include the same catch mechanic as Pokémon, which Palworld initially contained at launch, before tweaking. Instead of creatures being caught and unleashed from a ball, Pickmon seems to have them being summoned forth from magic cards.

"What if we take Palworld, and take its designs EVEN CLOSER to the original Pokémon designs were inspired and even dare promising a release on Switch?" wrote one fan after seeing Pickmon in action. "This is the smash bros 'everyone is here' trailer of plagerism [sic]," said another. "We have Pikachu at home ass trailer," said a third.

But despite the criticism, it's hard to imagine Pickmon's developer is upset about all the attention. Whether it will now also gain the attention of Nintendo, however, remains to be seen.

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

It’s Mario Day (MAR10), and LEGO is celebrating by announcing a new Mario Kart LEGO set. It’s Luigi & Mach 8, a set that ought to look great on a shelf sitting next to Mario & Standard Kart. This new Luigi set is available for preorder at the LEGO Store for $179.99, with a release date of April 1. No foolin’.

Luigi & Mach 8 LEGO Set

Boring filler quests, often of the "fetch" variety, used to be derided – but in extraction shooters nobody seems to mind that they're rampant. Go here, scan this terminal, collect ten wotsits, find five doodads, spin around three times and return to base.

Of course, extraction shooters don't stand on the strength of their quests, and these objectives are welcome excuses to explore the map. I don't mind trekking to reach a quest marker if I find something surprising on the way, or an enemy team to fight when I arrive. But these quests cannot get in the way of the looting and shooting.

In Marathon, sadly, they sometimes do.

Not only are Bungie's quests, called "contracts", boring and fiddly, but they're at the heart of the game. Completing contracts is your progress. You cannot mostly ignore them and do your own thing, as I have for my 250 hours in Arc Raiders – you need to finish them to unlock new skills and better gear.

Let me be a bit more specific about their failures.

First, some of these contracts have multiple fiddly steps. An early quest on Perimeter, the starting map, commands you to visit North Relay, South Relay, and Overflow, scanning objects in the first two and downloading an "agricultural report" – try not to explode with excitement – at the third. You could not pick three locations more spread out if you tried.

Remember, every player in a squad will have their own contracts, likely in entirely different areas. Before you know it you've got six target locations: even if you meet friendly players who want to help, that's an impossible task.

At least for that particular quest, you can finish it across multiple runs. Some contracts demand completion in one round. A single distraction – a boss fight, running into a squad of runners, a teammate leading your squad to a different location – can spoil the run. I've died before because I couldn't convince my teammates to accompany me to the final step of a contract that would've reset if I'd extracted.

Marathon's UI doesn't help. On the Perimeter quest I mentioned above, I wasted five minutes searching for two Sparkleaf Bioprinters in North Relay and by the time I found one, it was time to extract. I know now, of course, that you can open your map and hover over a contract objective for more detailed instructions, such as the specific building to search. But why make players menu dive? Why not just put the exact locations front and centre on your map, or simply flag it on your screen as you enter a point of interest?

The tip about hovering over an objective does, apparently, appear in early hints but it's clearly eluded many players by (I've had multiple teammates asking for help finding those damn bioprinters).

The UI issues extend into understanding Marathon's basic systems. For example, the message displayed when you attempt to leave a match early after dying is ambiguous. I, like others, interpreted its message as meaning that leaving while a teammate is alive would incur strict penalties – including losing any progress towards quests. However, as commenters on this very article have pointed out, you actually just lose the reputation rewards issued for your teammates completing their contracts. That's a decent enough system - but the confusion the UI initially inflicted highlights a lack of clarity in the in-game message.

I know this sounds like a big moan. Let me be clear: I'm still loving Marathon and its quirky heroes that set it apart from other extraction shooters. My annoyance with contracts isn't enough to put me off yet, and the fact Bungie plans to make objective markers clearer on your HUD in a future patch is promising.

But more invasive surgery is required. These contracts, which are the heart of Marathon, are the only thing that could stop me loading in for run after run after run.

If you’re just starting out on Tau Ceti IV, our Marathon Beginner’s Guide and Things to Do First should help you navigate your first few runs. Beyond that, we’ve got interactive maps and tips for Perimeter, Dire Marsh, and Outpost, plus expert early game builds for Destroyer, Recon, and Triage runner shells.

Editor's note: this article has been updated to correct an error regarding the way contracts are handled following quitting a match.

Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi has confirmed plans to launch a major story expansion for the game, following other additions planned over the coming months.

In a video message to fans posted on social media this morning, Nakanishi once again thanked players for Requiem's huge success so far, which has resulted in 5 million copies already sold as of last week and stock issues for physical copies.

But Capcom now has much more in store for the game, too — including that story expansion, the addition of a "mini game" in May, and the upcoming arrival of a photo mode.

A message from Koshi Nakanishi, director of Resident Evil Requiem. pic.twitter.com/54aKw80h8K

— Resident Evil (@RE_Games) March 10, 2026

"[We're] planning to add more add-on content," Nakanishi said in today's video. "First, the much-awaited photo mode. On top of that, there's another surprise coming around May. We're planning to add a mini game. We hope to continue providing support on Resident Evil Requiem to live up to its positive reception.

"Oh... one more thing," Nakanishi continued, sorting through a pile of (clearly humorous) Resident Evil Requiem add-on ideas, including what looked to be a Leon S. Kennedy romance game spin-off, and a version of the game starring Leon and Grace Kennedy as cats. "We are planning to make extra story content!" he eventually declared.

"In this story," he continued, referencing the upcoming expansion, "we will delve deeper into the world of Requiem. We're hard at work on it now. It will take some time, so we ask for your patience and hope you'll look forward to it. Thank you again for all your support!"

No further details were confirmed today about the expansion's focus, setting or playable character — though fans will certainly have some ideas. Could we see other characters linked to Leon make an appearance, such as Ada or Claire? Will we get the answer to who Leon is now romantically involved with, following intense fan speculation (and an apparent declaration by Nakanishi that he's now staying out of it)? And will Requiem's finale, which name-dropped another classic Resident Evil hero, ultimately serve to set up their return also?

Capcom gave no more information on Requiem's upcoming "mini game" set to arrive around May, either, though fans will no doubt expect this to be the series' latest incarnation of its popular Mercenaries mode, where players get to take on waves of enemies in familiar environments, while playing as wider members of each game's cast. Here's hoping we get to play as the chef.

Whether you're still on your first playthrough or hunting down challenges in your fifth, IGN's Resident Evil: Requiem guide will help you every step of the way through RE9. Take note of these key tips and tricks before you get started, and focus on finding these important items early. Plus, our comprehensive walkthrough will make sure you don't miss a single Bobblehead or file as you try to survive from the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center all the way to Raccoon City.

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

Disney is developing a live-action Peter Pan spin-off centered on tiny fairy Tinker Bell, to launch on Disney+.

Tink, as the project is titled, will feature an updated version of the classic fairy character, according to a new report published by Deadline. There's no word yet on when the project will be released.

If this project sounds familiar, it's because Disney has long been interested in the concept — and had an earlier version of the idea in development around 10 years ago, back when Reese Witherspoon was due to star as its title character.

This latest iteration of the idea is being spearheaded by Disney veteran Gary Marsh, who previously worked on the earlier Witherspoon-era version of the project, and written by Liz Heldens and Bridget Carpenter, who have credits on Friday Night Lights, Deception, Parenthood and Only Murders in the Building.

Disney previously featured a live-action Tinker Bell in Peter Pan & Wendy, its straight-to-streaming movie that landed on Disney+ in 2023 to mixed reviews. Indeed, a spate of poorly-performing Disney live-action remakes saw the company briefly pause its plan to produce more — until last year's Lilo & Stitch, which made over $1 billion at the box office.

Other upcoming live-action Disney remake projects in the works include the forthcoming Moana (set to arrive in theaters on July 10), as well as plans to remake Tangled, Hercules and Bambi. A live-action Lilo & Stitch sequel is also in development, as well as plans to make a Beauty and the Beast spin-off starring Gaston. Can Tinker Bell one conjure up the old Disney magic once again?

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

Pokémon Pokopia players are speaking out to save others a whole lot of time and bother — because no, you don't actually need to water every single square of the game's world.

When you first start playing Pokopia, your character wakes up in an arid wasteland that was once a lush Pokémon utopia. There are no humans anymore, the world is in ruins, and other Pokémon are few and far between.

On top of that, you've likely seen screenshots and trailers showing the possibilities in store when you do revive Pokopia's world — and so when you gain the ability to water the ground and bring back its green hues, many players' first instinct (including my own) is to do so everywhere. For hours. Every. Last. Square.

Well, it turns out you don't need to do that. As many players are now taking to social media to point out (and also, very mildly spoil) there will soon come a time when all of this is handled for you. And if you'd prefer not to read more about what happens next, well, take this as your cue to stop reading — but also stop watering, too.

Nobody ask me if Pokopia has a story, I’ve been watering grass for 4 hours before I let myself progress pic.twitter.com/WP6EKIql85

— RazorMiddle | Alec (@RazorMiddleYT) March 7, 2026

Thank you because that was starting to feel like such a huge task and I haven't been focusing on the main quests as much because the dry and withered look BOTHERS me 😭

— psyduck's headache (@__A21A__) March 6, 2026

HOW? Pokopia area is still run down, I spent these few days just watering the grass 💀 https://t.co/4HtKdn3Y8l

— Lucanis Morphy | CAT KNIGHT VTUBER 🇵🇭 🐈‍⬛️⚔️ (@MorphyVA) March 7, 2026

Yes, eventually your world will experience rain, something that will sort out all those areas of dry ground for you, and immediately make the game look a lot more like those screenshots and trailers. Until then, you really only need to water the plants and trees that you need to create habitats or farm resources such as fruit.

How do you kickstart Pokopia's rain, you may ask? It's as simple as crafting the Rain Dance Site item and then activating it using a Water-type Pokémon. This is something that you'll complete as part of the game's main storyline when rebuilding the Pokémon Center in Pokopia's starting area, so you can't miss it. And for a more detailed walkthrough on increasing your world's humidity, IGN has you covered.

For now, though, relax and put away your Water Gun. Rain's comin'.

IGN's Pokémon Pokopia review returned a 9/10 score, and dubbed the game as "an enjoyable building and town simulator that capitalizes on the charming personalities of its monsters in a way that appeals to both the creative and collector alike."

Wondering which Pokémon you'll be able to live alongside? Check out our list of all the Pokémon in Pokopia, and take a look at our Things to Do First in Pokopia guide to make the most of your first few days. To help you get started, we've also got a list of 17 things that Pokopia doesn't tell you, plus How to Raise the Environment Level and How to Raise Pokémon Comfort Level.

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

Re:Rangers X, previously known as Anime Rangers X, was released in February 2026. With its new launch comes new codes. So, if you're looking for an extra boost to get some Gems, Soul Fragments, and more, IGN has you covered! We've got the details below on the current and active codes for the experience, as well as the rewards you'll get for redeeming them.

Working Re:Rangers X Codes (March 2026)

• RAIDSAREBACK - 25x Trait Rerolls, 2,500x Gems (NEW!)
• JJKUPD! - 50x Trait Rerolls, 75x Cursed Scrolls, 10x Vega Punks
• CALAMITY - 12x Soul Fragments, 25x Trait Rerolls, 25x Cursed Scrolls (NEW!)

Expired Re:Rangers X Codes

Unfortunately, these codes have now expired:

• TYFORTHESUPPORT!? - 50 Trait Rerolls, 4 Soul Fragments, 10 Platinum Chests, 200 Borus Capsule, 1,000 Gems
• InstaGroupOnTop! - 50 Trait Rerolls, 4 Soul Fragments
• BerserkUpdate?! - 8 Soul Fragments
• SorryForLate! - 5 Platinum Chests
• NewDivineTrials! - 100 Trait Rerolls, 5,000 Gems, 5 Luck Potions
• DBZUpdate! - 100 Trait Rerolls, 50 Stats Keys
• NewPortals?! - Rewards. Unknown requirement
• GTBossEvent!! - Rewards. Unknown requirement
• SorryForDelayz! - Rewards. Unknown requirement
• EzSoulFrags - 45 Trait Rerolls, 2 Soul Fragments
• RiftMode! - 25 Perfect Stats Keys, 250 Rift Tokens, 75 Trait Rerolls, 25 Stats Keys
• SAOUpd! - 5 Blue Crystalite, 5 Black Crystalite, 5 Green Crystalite, 10 Cursed Finger, 50 Trait Rerolls, 5 Red Crystalite
• Dungeons! - 25 Trait Rerolls, 1 Silver Chest, 1 Gold Chest
• SECRETCODE! - 100 Trait Rerolls, 2 Soul Fragment
• MinorChanges! - 25 Perfect Stats Keys, 250 Rift Tokens, 75 Trait Rerolls, 25 Stats Keys
• CraftingFix! - 100 Trait Rerolls
• SmartRejoin - 2 Luck Potions, 2,000 Gems, 50 Trait Rerolls
• StatKeyHookup! - This key was announced but isn't currently functioning. 25 Perfect Stat Keys and 25 Stat Keys
• ChainsawUpd! - 80 Trait Rerolls, 3,500 Gems
• S3Battlepass! - 5 Dr. Megga Punks, 25 Trait Rerolls
• GraveyardRaid! - 5 Devil Hunter IDS, 30 Trait Rerolls
• StatBoosters! - 3 Stat Boosters and 25 Trait Rerolls
• SuperSuperSorry! - 10 Perfect Stats Keys, 25 Stats Keys
• 3xALLMODES!! - Unknown rewards and requirements to redeem.
• Srry4Shutdown - 150 Boss Rush Coins, 2 Dr. Megga Punk
• Sorry4Quest - 20 Trait Rerolls
• SorryRaids - 20 Trait Rerolls, 1 Luck Potion.
• JoJo Part 1 - 75 Trait Rerolls. Requires being at least level 25.
• NewLobby - 20 Trait Rerolls.
• Instant Trait - 15 Trait Rerolls.
• PortalsFix - 20 Trait Rerolls.
• THANKYOU4PATIENCE - 75 Trait Rerolls. Requires being at least level 25.
• RAIDS - 150 Blitz Tokens, 25 Trait Rerolls
• BizzareUpdate2! - 50 Trait Rerolls
• BOSSTAKEOVER - 20 Trait Rerolls, 2 Dr. Megga Punks
• 2xWeekEnd! - 50 Trait Rerolls, 2 Luck Potions
• SummerEvent! - 50 Trait Rerolls, 2,000 Beach Balls
• SorryDelay!!! - 50 Trait Rerolls, 5,000 Gems
• Sorry4EvoUnits - 50 Trait Rerolls, 5 Luck Potions, 30,000 Gold
• Sorry4AutoTraitRoll - 100 Trait Rerolls
• !BrandonTheBest - 75 Trait Rerolls, 2 Dr. Megga Punks, 25 Boss Rush Coins
• !RaitoLovesARX - 75 Trait Rerolls, 5,000 Gems, 1 Dr. Megga Punks
• !MattLovesARX2 - 25 Trait Rerolls, 5,000 Gems, 50 Boss Rush Coins
• !TYBW - 100 Trait Rerolls
• !FixBossRushShop - 25 Trait Rerolls, 2,000 Gems, 50 Boss Rush Coins
• SmallFixs - 20 Trait Rerolls
• ARXBLEACH! - 150 Boss Rush Coins
• QOL2! - 5,000 Gems, 5 Luck Potions
• TYBW2! - 40 Trait Rerolls, 5 Dr. Megga Punks
• BRANDONTHEBEST! - 75 Trait Rerolls, 25 Stats Keys
• YOUTUBEBACK!! - 75 Trait Rerolls, 2,000 Gems, 5 Luck Potions, 25 Stats Keys
• SneakCode! - 10 Trait Rerolls, 5 Perfect Stats Keys, 25 Stats Keys
• Weloveroblox!
• ragebait
• CODEISREAL
• Update 1.5
• GHOUL!
• UPDATE 1
• DAILY FIX
• SORRY4BUGS
• Easter Egg 2025!
• 100K CCU
• 125M Visits
• CongratsFor1M
• 10KFollowers
• LiveLike
• Im Back
• SorryForIssues
• Sorry For Easter Event!
• Sorry For Event Bug
• Real Last Shutdown
• 20K Favorite
• 99% Gift Fixed
• 55K CCU
• 50K CCU
• 40K Likes!
• 45K CCU
• 10K Favorites
• 40K Likes!
• 45K CCU
• 10K Favorites
• 15K Likes
• SRY FOR SHUTDOWN
• ROAD TO 1M VISIT!
• THX FOR 20K CCU
• ARX Release!!!
• Happy birthday to those born today ARX Release
• 1K Favorites

How to Redeem RE:Rangers X Code

1. Launch RE:Rangers X on Roblox
2. Before jumping into the game, go to the group's page and press Join Community
3. Play the game until you reach level 5 or higher
4. When you're in the game, look on the left side of the screen
5. The blue button with the ribbon says Code
6. Click this, copy the code from this article, and paste the code in
7. Hit Redeem and enjoy your goodies!

Why Isn't My RE:Rangers X Code Working?

When a code for a Roblox Experience isn't working, it's usually because the codes have been typed in incorrectly or they're expired. Lots of codes are case sensitive, so you'll need to make sure it's exactly how it appears in this article.

We test each code before uploading them, to make sure they're active, so be sure you're copying it straight from our article (without any sneaky extra spaces) to get the right one. If it's still not working, make sure you've joined the Community, and made it to Level 5.

Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.

UK-based collective rights management organisation PRS for Music has “commenced legal proceedings” against Valve over the use of music in PC games sold and distributed via Steam, reports GamesIndustry.biz.

PRS for Music claims that Valve has “never obtained a licence for its use of the rights managed by PRS on behalf of its members, comprising songwriters, composers, and music publishers” since Steam was established.

“The litigation will progress unless Valve Corporation engages positively with discussions and takes the necessary license to cover the use of PRS repertoire, both retrospectively and moving forwards,” said the organisation in a press statement that namechecked “high profile series” such as Forza Horizon, FIFA/EA FC, and Grand Theft Auto (none of which are published by Valve, but rather Microsoft, EA, and Rockstar, respectively).

In the UK, however, licensing music for video games (that is, what happens when a developer or publisher negotiates a deal to place a particular song in their game) is a separate element of the copyright to what occurs when the game is subsequently downloaded or streamed by a player. PRC website documentation indicates that storefronts like Xbox use the same “General Entertainment Online Licence” that covers non-broadcast streamers like Prime Video, Disney+, and Netflix, and notes previous deals with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for the use of copyrighted music within games and games-related content downloaded across Europe.

This is the latest in a string of legal hurdles for Valve. In January 2026, a UK tribunal gave the go-ahead to a £656 million ($901 million) collective action lawsuit targeting Valve over alleged anti-competitive practices on PC storefront Steam. On top of this, last month the attorney general of New York Letitia James announced she is suing Valve, alleging the platform illegally promotes gambling to children.

The PRS for Music made headlines back in 2009 for pouncing on a woman who played classical radio to her horses to keep them calm without paying for a public performance licence, and for threatening large fines against a shop assistant who it accused of singing to herself without a performance licence while she stacked shelves, which it subsequently apologised for.

Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.

All eight episodes of One Piece Season 2 premiere March 10 on Netflix.

Let's get something out of the way first: There is no need to worry about Tony Tony Chopper, because the beloved doctor of the Straw Hat Pirates is perfect. This was arguably the biggest challenge Netflix's live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda's manga masterpiece, One Piece, faced in its second season. The talking reindeer with medical skills is one of the main characters and featured prominently in the story, but a mutant talking reindeer that transforms into different human-hybrid forms is not just an expensive work of VFX, but one that walks too fine a line between cartoony and real. Thankfully, this is not a Sonic the Hedgehog situation; instead, Chopper is the standout of the season.

Not only does the VFX work look fantastic, but the way Chopper moves, acts, and interacts with the world and other characters around him is fantastic and makes him look and feel like he is a living, breathing part of the show's world. He’s just cartoony enough that you believe the looks of shock and wonder in Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) when he first encounters this strange creature, and as voiced by Mikaela Hoover, Chopper is just the most adorable character of 2026 so far and one that will rip your heart out and tear it apart.

Chopper is not the only impressive bit of VFX wizardry in Season 2 of One Piece, which improves upon the first season and fixes its biggest issues. We are far removed from the monstrosity that was Arlong in Season 1, and instead we get a cavalcade of visually stunning creatures, characters, and locales. We meet giants, a giant whale, dinosaurs, and even an otter riding a vulture into battle — and they all look like they’ve been brought straight out of the pages of Oda's manga. Meanwhile, the costume and hair design for the more human characters finds the right balance of realism and cartoon. The world of One Piece is an incredibly cartoonish one, and Season 2 continues to thrive in that tone, balancing absurd comedy and lightheartedness with serious (and often quite bloody) action and heartbreaking drama.

With most character introductions and flashbacks out of the way, Season 2 of One Piece is all about its world. We follow Luffy and the other Straw Hats as they finally enter the Grand Line and immediately get embroiled in a conflict with the vast and nefarious criminal syndicate, Baroque Works. This season, the different towns and islands we encounter feel more developed; an early standout is Loguetown, which is filled with little details about history and culture that makes the world of One Piece feel truly lived-in.

Without more flashbacks to flesh out the core characters, One Piece risked becoming a bit stagnant this season. Though the manga and anime develop the characters over time, it can take several years for a character to go through any significant development, which wouldn't really work on TV. The season fixes this by adding material that isn't strictly in the source material, but might as well be. For instance, Zoro (Mackenyu) spends a big chunk of the season struggling with almost being killed by Mihawk last season, having visions of the Warlord of the Sea and fighting to slowly regain his self-confidence. In fact, everyone in the crew gets a moment to shine this season, which helps make every character feel important and essential.

Arguably the biggest creative choice the live-action One Piece makes is to tell the story in a more linear fashion than the manga or anime. This means featuring characters and events that aren't revealed until much later in the manga in a more chronologically correct order here. For example, the season starts with a fateful meeting between Gold Roger (Michael Dorman) and Monkey D. Garp (Vincent Regan) right before the former King of the Pirates’ execution that we only learn about a couple hundred chapters later. This might anger some fans who consider this to be spoilers, as it does technically tell you things at the wrong time when compared to the source material.

And yet, it is these moments that make the One Piece live-action show shine as an adaptation. It serves a practical purpose, of course; it’s quite unlikely that Netflix will get to cover the entirety of Oda's manga, considering the gargantuan, decades-long endeavor that would require. So for longtime fans, the show is giving them the chance to see events or characters that they might otherwise never get to see in live action, like Bartolomeo being in Loguetown and seeing the Straw Hats for the first time. Most importantly, however, it fleshes out the world of One Piece, giving the audience hints of other characters and the lives and stories that are unfolding alongside our main pirate crew. They might intersect later, but for now, it’s just a small way of making the world of One Piece feel much, much bigger than just our small band of pirates going from island to island. It also makes the experience of watching this show unique and new no matter what your level of familiarity with the source material may be.

Who knows how long One Piece can realistically run? If Season 2 is proof of anything, it's that Oda's world can be captured in live action, and TV is better for it.

Since the earliest cave paintings, human beings have used art to recreate the world around us. But while the painter’s limit is imagination, the photographer can only capture what actually exists. They can use their tools to increase exposure, change framing, or apply filters, but they cannot create something entirely new; only preserve a moment in time. It’s telling that Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly is getting its moment now. A game about twin sisters haunted by the past with a camera as their only salvation, Crimson Butterfly Remake is similarly bound to its predecessor while also being charged with modernizing it. In many ways, it succeeds. I cannot deny that I enjoyed revisiting Minakami Village, but I also fear that constantly bending a knee to the modern and adding more complex mechanics has added an artificiality that is at odds with the captivating story it tells. By the time I reached the end of my 20-hour journey, I was deeply satisfied with and impressed by this remake, as well as incredibly conflicted about that feeling.

Before I continue, let me say this: I consider the original Crimson Butterfly – not Silent Hill 2, not Eternal Darkness, not pick-your-Resident-Evil, not any modern horror game – to be both the greatest and most terrifying horror game ever made. But any artist, no matter how skilled, risks tarnishing a great work by revisiting it. This is especially true in video games, where remakes seek to supplant and replace the original, trading increased visual fidelity and “modern” (read: Better. Always better. No one has ever used this term when speaking about a game and meant “worse”) design tropes for a piece of the original’s soul. We’ve seen this story countless times, from a Mass Effect remaster that dilutes the impact of Sovereign’s arrival on Eden Prime to a remake of Demon’s Souls that is visually remarkable but butchers the atmosphere of the original. I would like to tell you that Crimson Butterfly Remake does not fall prey to these traps, that it skirts them effortlessly. But I can’t – though that doesn’t mean what’s here isn’t an admirable attempt.

Crimson Butterfly Remake follows the same setup as the original. Twin sisters Mio and Mayu are visiting a stream where they used to play as children because the entire area will soon be flooded by the construction of a dam. As they reminisce, Mayu catches sight of a crimson butterfly that draws her deeper into the forest. Mio pursues, quickly gets lost, and the two eventually reunite on a hill overlooking a lost village said to have disappeared during a festival. The path they took is gone. There is no way back. With no other options, they descend into a village where the ghosts of the past still linger. Mio and Mayu’s only defense is a strange camera – the Camera Obscura – that seems to be able to exorcise them. Their goal is simple: escape. But that will mean learning Minakami Village’s secrets, and why they were called here to begin with.

I don’t want to say more because Crimson Butterfly’s story is remarkable, and developer Team Ninja has done an excellent job of expanding it. As you venture deeper into the village, you learn about the dark nature of the festival and the unique role twins, often twin girls, played in it. Crimson Butterfly is, to its credit, a quiet game. Cutscenes are fairly rare and Mio does not incessantly chatter about what’s happening to her or about the items she picks up. Instead, you’ll learn about the story through diaries, watching ghosts follow the paths they traveled in life, and by listening to their voices, preserved in the stones their spirits left behind. You’ll learn about the people who lived here, what happened during that festival, and the fates that befell those who, like Mio and Mayu, were called to Minakami Village. Most of the expansion comes in the form of new locations and side stories that trace the paths of supporting characters, and it’s all integrated seamlessly. If I didn’t know these things weren't in the original, I would not have guessed, and they add a great deal to Crimson Butterfly’s story.

Minakami Village itself is a marvel of design, dripping with atmosphere. It’s a small place with few roads and fewer houses. But it’s dense, and it changes. You’ll revisit these roads, these houses, and each time, the experience will be different. When I first entered Osaka House, I was afraid and wary; later, it was like seeing an old friend. I became intimately familiar with those rooms, but I could never let my guard down while walking them. Kurosawa House, on the other hand, was terrifying no matter how many times I walked its sprawling halls. Whenever I passed through its doors, I felt myself tense up.

What I admire most about Crimson Butterfly Remake is how little it holds your hand. While there are objective markers to guide you around the village between story beats and crimson butterflies sometimes light the way forward, once you enter a house, all bets are off. If you need to go to a room with an altar, for instance, it is up to you to find that room. If you’re following a specter, you must use the camera to trace their path. If you are completing a side story, it is up to you to read the diary left behind and figure out where to go next. Crimson Butterfly Remake will give you the clues you need, but you’ll still have to make the journey yourself.

The Fatal Frame series is terrifying, but its horror is subtle – less an exercise in jump scares, and more one in unrelenting tension. When you pick up an item, Mio will crouch and extend her hand slowly. Oftentimes, nothing will happen. But sometimes, a ghost will appear and grab you. Each time she slides open a door, an angry spirit might be on the other side. Walk down a road, and you might stumble across a ghost or run into a roving patrol searching for twins who escaped on the night of the ritual. Sometimes, the spirits will be there, visible. Sometimes, they will simply appear.

Combat in Crimson Butterfly Remake isn’t rare, per se, but it’s also not frequent. You’ll spend much of your time exploring the village, navigating houses, snapping photos of lingering spirits and twin dolls scattered throughout the village, and solving puzzles. But every time you open a door or reach for an item, you are vulnerable. You may pull your hand away or slam a door shut in time, but they will still be there, and it won’t ease how you feel the next time. Often, those spirits are specters, condemned to retrace the paths they walked in life, only visible long enough to snap a picture if you’re quick and ready. (Change film, and you might miss them.) But sometimes, they are hostile. In the village, you can often avoid ghosts by crouching, hiding, or simply running away, which is useful against groups or when you’re not looking for a fight. But when you’re locked in a house and the doors are sealed shut, you’ll have to defend yourself with the Camera Obscura.

Your camera can exorcise ghosts. The better the picture, the more damage the shot will do. A shot that is in focus and captures a spirit’s face will be far more effective than one that captures its back. But the most effective shots are Fatal Frames, which require you to wait until a spirit attacks and the light atop the Camera Obscure flashes red. Time it right, and you’ll stagger the wraith, deal heavy damage, and replenish Mio’s Willpower, a new addition that allows her to use Special Shots (some stun, some slow, and so on) and is lost when Mio runs or a ghost strikes her. Lose all of it and Mio will be knocked to the ground and vulnerable. If a ghost attacks you while you’re down, you’ll have to use the camera to get it off. Miss your shot, and you’ll take a large amount of damage. I’m mixed on Willpower as a concept – I didn’t use Special Shots often, instead saving Willpower for when I needed to sprint – but I did appreciate it as an additional obstacle to navigate during combat.

Then there are Shutter Chances, which occur when a wraith’s health is depleted past a certain point. Snap a picture during one, and a ghost will be left defenseless for a single, high damage shot. Time a Fatal Frame with a Shutter Chance, and you’ll enter Fatal Time, allowing you to take multiple shots at once. Better pictures also reward you with points that can be spent on items and charms at save points, so there’s an additional reason to aim well.

It’s a lot to remember, but when it clicks, Crimson Butterfly’s combat is compelling. Often, you’ll only fight one wraith at a time, but even that is challenging. Success is a matter of sidestepping attacks, managing your health and Willpower, and waiting for a ghost to attack so Mio can capture that elusive Fatal Frame. Choosing the right film matters, too. Will you stick with the infinite but weak and slow-to-reload Type-07 or upgrade to the slightly stronger but still slow and limited Type-14? The Type-61 is powerful, but reloading film still takes a while and you can’t carry much of it, while the rarer Type-90 is fast, powerful, and can be carried in bulk. And then there is the incredibly slow, but powerful, Type-00, which deals massive damage even to the most frightening wraiths. There just isn’t much of it. Crimson Butterfly Remake’s combat is about timing and choice, and unlike most horror games, requires you to leave yourself open and literally face your fears to succeed. You are always vulnerable; Mio always has reason to be afraid.

Each ghost presents its own challenges. You might be tempted to use Type-07 film for more standard spirits, but others will quickly push you into loading more precious film into your camera, and each time you miss a shot with a more valuable film, it hurts. You will never forget the first time you encounter the woman in the box, nor the first time you’re locked in a room fighting two ghosts at once. My favorite encounter was against a drowned woman on a bridge who moved through the air like she was floating in water, and who seemed to transport Mio underwater as the fight progressed. Even though you’ll fight most ghosts multiple times, they never get old. Even protecting Mayu from ghosts, something you’ll have to do off and on as the sisters are separated and reunited over the course of the story, is less frustrating and simply an additional challenge.

It’s here that I must talk about Crimson Butterfly Remake’s status as a remake. In many ways, it is an unqualified success. It is visually stunning while capturing and thoughtfully updating the character designs, environments, art, and sound of the 2003 original, and there are images here that will stay with me forever. The change from fixed camera angles to the over-the-shoulder view popularized by Resident Evil 4 is admittedly mixed; it dilutes some of the horror and unease, but it means Crimson Butterfly plays better and is more responsive than any other Fatal Frame. The additions Team Ninja made to the village and the new side stories are wonderful. Even smaller choices, like the ability to hold Mayu’s hand and guide her through the village, which restores both Willpower and both sisters’ health at the expense of slower movement, is a thoughtful change that emphasizes their bond through gameplay. I also appreciate that Crimson Butterfly Remake doesn’t force you to fight everything. Sometimes, sneaking past or running away is the best (or only) option.

What bothers me are the additions to the Camera Obscura. You can equip charms to boost your damage, reduce the health or Willpower you lose when a wraith hits you, and so on. That’s fine. Finding prayer beads in the village enables you to increase how quickly the camera focuses, to focus it or zoom in and out manually, and so on, which were not options before or were unlocked after completing the original game. These are good changes. I largely relied on the automatic focus so I could concentrate on keeping wraiths in frame as I moved around, but made liberal use of the zoom feature.

Where Crimson Butterfly Remake fails is in the addition of filters that you can switch between, each of which comes with its own Special Shot ability, many of which recall the original’s various lenses. The Standard filter is an all-arounder that recovers more willpower with each snap and a Special Shot that can stun; the Paraceptual Filter allows you to see ghosts through walls, has additional range, and it’s Special Shot blinds; the Exposure filter is great for dealing with aggravated wraiths, and the Radiant filter is short ranged but deals absolutely massive damage. Each has additional uses outside of combat: the Paraceptual filter allows you to track traces of spirits, the Exposure filter can reveal hidden areas and ghosts, and the Radiant filter can open doors and objects sealed by blood. In combat, however, they become one note.

Part of this is because of the aggravated wraiths. Each time you snap a picture of a wraith, you risk aggravating it. Basically, they turn red, recover health, take much less damage, attack more frequently, and hit harder. Initially, this is incredibly frustrating, especially if you’ve been using higher quality film or if you’re fighting multiple ghosts at once in a small room. The Exposure filter is great for dealing with aggravated wraiths, though you only get it after you’ve started seeing wraiths get real mad, and you’ll have to spend high quality film to return them to normal via a Shutter Chance (which also automatically triggers Fatal Time). The issue isn’t that there isn’t an answer, it’s that there’s only one answer, at least for a while: Exposure filter and good film. It becomes a grating game of Simon Says, and I often used better film against weaker ghosts to try to end their afterlife before they became aggravated, which works great until it doesn't.

This problem carries over to the other filters, with options like the Paraceptual filter becoming my go-to for all far away ghosts. But the Radiant filter is what really breaks Crimson Butterfly Remake, especially if you upgrade the charms that boost it. Yes, the shorter range means it’s harder to hit things, but if you upgrade it, you’ll do so much damage (especially if you’re using anything other than Type-07 film) that it trivializes everything, even aggravated wraiths and boss fights. By the end, I wasn’t locked in rooms with the ghosts of Minakami Village: They were locked in rooms with me. Well, me, my fully upgraded Radiant filter, and my fully upgraded Radiant filter charm. Combine that with any decent film and they had no chance.

Yes, blasting through ghosts that I previously feared was a thrill, even if I wasn’t taking Pulitzer-worthy shots to do it (though I was still rewarded for quality), and I was never truly unafraid because Mio was still vulnerable. But as I traipsed around the village gathering prayer beads, upgrading my camera, photographing twin dolls, and checking off side stories, I realized how “gamey” some of these new additions were. I was supposed to be figuring out how to escape a haunted village, and while I could argue that completing the side stories gave me a better understanding of what happened here, what I was hoping to accomplish, and what I was up against, the rest felt… artificial. Pick up this film so I always have enough. Photograph those dolls because they're there and doing so unlocks more things at the save point. Grab that prayer bead to get a step closer to another upgrade. Pieces of candy scattered along the ground, and I acquired them because this is a video game and that’s what you do, whether they are out of place or not. Does the removal of the fixed camera angles really help, or does it just ease a little friction? Is it a good design choice, or simply the modern one that will make me more comfortable? Removing film grain makes an image clearer, but it removes detail, too.

Once you start seeing these things, you can’t stop. Case in point: the filters. An inventor making a camera that exorcises ghosts is cool and makes sense in the context of Crimson Butterfly’s story. Filters that do more damage to ghosts, or let you see through walls, or open doors sealed by bloody handprints, on the other hand, only exist to solve gameplay problems. They feel less appropriate for Crimson Butterfly’s world and undermine its otherwise very effective horrors. I went from saying things like “man, I hope there’s not a ghost in that well” to “Get out here, lady. I dare you. I double-dog dare you. I have a Radiant filter and enough Type-90 film to make you wish you’d stayed down there.”

That’s fun as a video game power fantasy, as a way to make my dopamine-seeking lizard brain go brrrr. It’s stuff that would make a lot of sense in Resident Evil, but it goes against what Fatal Frame is. The strength of Crimson Butterfly is that Mio and Mayu are ordinary girls thrust into a terrifying, supernatural situation. As powerful as the Camera Obscura is, Mio is always vulnerable while using it. She always has to look the things that haunt her in the eye, to open herself to harm and not blink. It makes sense that she is afraid when she enters the Kurosawa House and her flashlight fails, or for her to hide from large numbers of ghosts, and Crimson Butterfly is most effective when you share her fear.

Mio’s not a grizzled combat veteran or a superhero masquerading as a civilian the way most video game characters are. She’s a young woman trapped in a haunted village; she’s trying to survive and protect her sister, and she’s scared out of her mind. Her weapon is a camera, not a gun. She cannot physically overpower what threatens her. These are things she can barely comprehend, much less fight. But she continues in spite of that. She keeps raising that camera, facing her fears, and that’s what makes her brave. In creating a more seamless version of Crimson Butterfly that offers plentiful combat options, and allows you to be more powerful as a result, Team Ninja has unintentionally diluted it thematically.

It’s one of my only significant complaints about a remake that otherwise both respects and enhances the art it’s attempting to recreate, a smudge on an otherwise immaculately restored photograph, and something that I have been grappling with the impact of as I’ve thought about this review. I don’t think that this disharmony between thematic intent and modern convenience ruins Crimson Butterfly Remake, or even deeply damages it, and I doubt most people will even care. But it does make Crimson Butterfly feel more like an action game that you can optimize much of the horror out of if you wish to, and I think that does diminish it somewhat as a result.

Here's a rare chance to pick up a massive, current generation, higher-end OLED TV at a bargain price. Amazon is currently offering the 2025 77" Panasonic Z85BA 4K OLED Smart TV with Amazon Fire TV for just $1,399.99 with free delivery. This is the lowest price I've seen for this particular model and ties the lowest price for any 77" OLED TV across all brands (the 77" LG B5 TV also dropped to this price in early 2025, but the Z85BA is a superior TV). The Amazon marketplace seller Beach Camera is an authorized Panasonic reseller with a physical retail storefront.

2025 77" Panasonic Z85BA 4K OLED Fire TV for $1399.99

Apple recently unveiled its newest budget smartphone - the Apple iPhone 17e - on March 2, with a release date set for March 11. Per the norm, the best way to score a deal on a preorder is through your preferred service provider. Total Wireless, a prepaid no-contract carrier owned by Verizon, has already listed the new iPhone 17e for preorder on its site. Better yet, there's a promotion going on right now that gets you this phone "on us" with no port-in or trade-in required.

Preorder the New Apple iPhone 17e On Us

No trade-in or port-in required

Preorder the Apple iPhone 17e smartphone through Total Wireless by Verizon and save the entire retail price of the phone ($599.99). You'll save $300 instantly and an extra $299.99 off in bill credits over 12 months when you sign up for a new line on the Total 5G+ Unlimited plan. Trade-in and port-in are not required and there are zero activation fees.

Total 5G+ Unlimited plan is Total Wireless' best plan. It costs $60 per month for a single line with AutoPay (plus taxes and fees). The plan gives you unlimited talk, text, and data including access to Verizon's highest tier 5G Ultra Wideband network. Other perks include Disney+ Premium (ad-free) subscription and unlimited mobile hotspot. International travelers can benefit from unlimited roaming to 30+ countries including Canada, Mexico, South Korea, China, Japan, and more.

This is a solid deal once you calculate all the fees

A standalone unlocked iPhone 17e costs $599 at the Apple Store. With this deal you're getting the iPhone 17e and one year of Total Wireless' best talk, text, and data plan for $720. In other words, you're only paying $120 ($10 per month) for one year of service, with Disney+ Premium thrown in for good measure. That's a great price no matter how you look at it.

Not only that, Total Wireless unlocks your smartphone after 12 months of active service, which means after this plan is up, the iPhone 17e is yours to keep and you can switch plans and even networks. As long as you are happy with Verizon's reception in your location (very important), you'll save money in the long run with this plan.

Apple iPhone 17e: Release Date on March 11

The iPhone 17e is Apple's newest budget iPhone improves upon its 16e predecessor with a more powerful A19 chip, a new C1X model that offers better cellular performance, MagSafe support (finally), and double the starting storage capacity (256GB vs 128GB). Other more incremental features include a more scratch resistant Ceramic Shield 2 display and improvements to the camera's Portrait mode. The 17e carries over the rest of the 16e specs like the 6.1" 2532x1170 (460ppi) Super Retina XDR OLED display with 60Hz refresh rate, 48MP main camera, and support for Apple Intelligence.

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.

If you're in the market for the biggest and baddest mobile desktop replacement at a not-so-otherworldy price, then check out this week's Best Buy deal. Right now you can pick up the Acer Predator Helios 18 gaming laptop equipped with an 18" display and RTX 5090 GPU for $3,499.99 with free shipping after a $1,000 instant discount.

There aren't very many 18" gaming laptops around, and even fewer that are equipped with the RTX 5090 mobile GPU. Of the ones that are available for purchase at the moment, this is currently the least expensive deal. In fact, this is the only model I've found with a price tag under $4,000. Take a look at its competition (and note some of these are sale prices):

• Alienware 18 Area-51 - $4,150
• Razer Blade 18 for $4,900
• Asus ROG Strix Scar for $4,500
• MSI Raider 18 HX for $4,400
• Lenovo Legion 9 for $6,050

Acer Predator Helios 18 RTX 5090 Gaming Laptop for $3,500

Today’s movie-focused Nintendo Direct has delivered the final trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie while revealing new members of its cast – including Donald Glover (Community, Solo, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Lion King) as Yoshi.

The trailer itself is relatively straightforward, putting the spotlight on Bowser Jr. as he begins his plot to save his papa from the Mario brothers. We see Princess Peach’s castle ripped from the Mushroom Kingdom as Bowser reclaims his spot as the ruler of the Koopa army before getting a first look at Super Mario Bros. 2 villain Wart, but the biggest surprises actually revolved around its cast.

Illumination’s Chris Meledandri made an appearance during the Nintendo Direct to put theories concerning Yoshi’s actor to rest by announcing that Glover (a.k.a. Childish Gambino) will play Mario’s green dinosaur companion in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. It’s a twist not many expected, even after the internet did its best to figure out the name behind the familiar voice featured in previous trailers.

Other new cast additions are Luis Guzmán as Wart, who gets just a few seconds of screentime in today’s trailer, as well as Issa Rae as Honey Hive Galaxy’s Honey Queen.

“Since September of last year, we’ve been taking various initiatives for the Super Mario Brothers 40th anniversary,” Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto said during the Nintendo Direct. “This movie will be the centerpiece of the anniversary. We hope you enjoy Mario and friends’ new adventure on the big screen.”

Today’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie trailer expands its already large cast with a classic Super Mario Bros. 2 boss ahead of its April 1, 2026, release date. Previous have unveiled first looks at returning characters like Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser, while also teasing appearances from newcomers, such as Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie), Rosalina (Brie Larson), and Yoshi. Now that Wart has entered orbit, there’s still no explanation for one mysterious figure that many believe could be Star Fox leader Fox McCloud.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie comes to theaters in just a few weeks. In the meantime, you can read about a leak that has fans expecting to see another one of the biggest names from the Super Mario Bros. universe. You can also check out another leak that suggests the movie may include a cameo from a classic NES icon.

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).

Full spoilers follow for Primal Season 3, Episode 9, “The Hollow Crown,” which is available on Adult Swim and HBO Max now.

As we enter the final stretch of Primal Season 3, the one thing that many fans have been hoping and praying for ever since the end of Season 2 seems to be maybe, just maybe, finally happening: Zombie Spear is now more or less resurrected as good old living Spear. When we got an episode literally called “The River of Life” last week, I guess I should’ve realized that Spear would in fact return to his human form. But of course, this being the world of Primal, the question still remains: Will Spear be allowed to have the happy ending that he so dearly deserves?

This week's episode, “The Hollow Crown,” continues to show what has become the almost mechanical combat that Spear has mastered in the volcanic pit. With each victory over some hulking, bizarre combatant, our hero is crowned once again by the increasingly disapproving elder who oversees the matches, and allowed to slurp down another cup of the mysterious fluid from the previously mentioned life-giving river. The thing is, zombie Spear was endowed with an immortality – or whatever you call a zombie that can't be hurt – that living Spear does not have (as made clear when he was injured during one of this episode's fights). If Spear is fully returned to life, can he really continue to keep defeating foe after foe if he is no longer just a hunk of dead flesh?

USB Type-C has become the standard for charging and data cables alike, so it's good to have extra on hand. Amazon is offering a two-pack of Lisen 6.6ft 240W USB Type-C cables for just $5.60 after you apply coupon code "LISEN240W". That averages out to $2.80 per cable. USB-C cables typically go for about $10 each at your local big box store. Use these to charge or sync any device with a USB-C port, including your Nintendo Switch 2, iPhone 16, or even a laptop.

2-Pack of Lisen 6.6ft 240W USB Type-C Cables for $5.60

With today's rising demand for memory chips in general, even universally used memory products like MicroSD Express cards are difficult to find at decent prices. Fortunately, Walmart has got you covered, at least for the time being. Currently, you can pick up a 512GB Samsung ImageMate Micro SDXC Card for a very reasonable price of $39.98 with free shipping. An SD card adapter is also included. Note that this can be used as a memory card for most gaming handhelds including the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and ROG Ally, but not the Switch 2.

Note: Availability is based on region. Some zip codes might have more in stock than others.

512GB SanDisk ImageMate Micro SDXC Card for $39.98

Woot, which is owned by Amazon, is offering a big discount on one of Anker's biggest and most powerful TSA-friendly travel-sized power banks. The Anker Prime A110A 26,250mAh 300W USB Power Bank is available for just $124.99 if you select the "bulk packaging" option (the retail packaging one is $139.99). Shipping costs an extra $5, but it's free for Amazon Prime members. This is for a brand new, not used item which normally retails for $230.

Anker Prime 26,250mAh 300W Power Bank for $125