It’s fall, and that means you and your family will likely be traipsing leaves and dirt all over the house. A robot vacuum can make cleanup ridiculously easy. All you’ll likely need to do is press a button on the device or use your phone to send the vacuum out to pick up the mess for you. With Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days Sale happening until the end of the day today, many top robot vacuums are deeply discounted, so you can snag one cheaply and enjoy hands-off cleaning.

TL;DR - The Top 5 Robot Vacuum Deals

I’ve tested my fair share of robot vacuums, and the deals I’ve selected above are from brands I know and love. Many of these devices also do more than vacuum, offering mopping functionality and even a base station for better self-sufficiency. The only catch is that you need to be an Amazon Prime member to score these awesome discounts. If you’re not, you can sign up here.

Dreame D20 Air Plus Back at Lowest Price

Get $700 Off the Ecovacs Deebot X12 Omnicyclone

Bissell FlexClean FurForce Is $200 Off

$133 eufy 11S MAX

Save 45% on the roborock Qrevo S Pro

Amazon's October Prime Day Sale is ending tonight and you do not want to miss your chance to grab the AirPods Pro 3 - Apple's best earbuds - at the lowest price it has been in months. While supplies last, you can pick up a brand new, retail boxed unit for just $179 with free shipping. It currently sells for $249 new at the Apple Store. If you miss it, well to be honest that's quite alright, because Black Friday is just around the corner and chances are we'll see it on sale again.

AirPods Pro 3 Noise Canceling Earbuds for $179 (Normally $249)

IGN Fan Fest 2026: Fall Edition is nearly here, and we're so excited to share over 90 exclusive reveals across games, movies, TV, comics, and collectibles, including from VisionQuest, Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Whalefall, and many more.

There are so many great surprises in store for this latest edition of IGN Fan Fest, and this article will ensure you don't miss a thing, as we'll let you know how and when you can watch the stream with us and what you can expect.

How to Watch IGN Fan Fest: Fall Edition 2026

IGN Fan Fest: Fall Edition's livestream will take place on Wednesday, October 14, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST, but the fun actually begins on Monday, October 12.

Leading up to the main event on IGN.com, we'll be unveiling even more announcements, deep dives, and game reveals on October 12 and 13.

As for the livestream, however, this is where you'll be able to watch it with us:

• IGN.com
• IGN's YouTube
• Facebook
• Twitter / X
• Twitch
• IGN mobile apps
• Eurogamer
• VG247
• Rock Paper Shotgun

What to Expect From IGN Fan Fest: Fall Edition 2026

While we aren't ready to reveal all the secrets and biggest moments we have planned for IGN Fan Fest 2026, we can once again say there will be over 90 exclusive reveals across games, movies, TV, comics, and collectibles.

Included in this number will be more than 10 brand-new games, first looks, news, and giveaways from the biggest titles and games in entertainment. Fans can also look forward to brand-new reveals from Whalefall, Ebenezer, VisionQuest, Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, Where Winds Meet, Warhammer 40,000, and more.

There will also be some awesome celebrity appearances from the likes of Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Paul Bettany, Liam McIntyre, James Spader, and more.

Lastly, we wanted to share a bit more of the exciting lineup we have planned for IGN Fan Fest 2026: Fall Edition, and you can find that out below:

IGN Fan Fest 2026: Fall Edition Lineup

Games

• 4 Penny Coffins
• 9 Yin Sutra: Immortal
• Acornia: Mirror Worlds
• Acts of Blood
• Anno 117: Pax Romana
• Arizona Sunshine
• Checkmate Protocol
• Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3
• For The Stars
• Golden Retriever Simple Life
• Hela: of Mice & Magic
• Over the Hill
• Silk & Sorrow
• Sker: The Bleeding Veil
• Splizards
• The Expanse: Osiris Reborn
• The Forge: Steel Frontier
• The Lich Wars
• There are No Ghosts at the Grand
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
• UvsU: You vs You
• Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2
• Where Winds Meet

Movies

• Christmas at the Kringles
• Crawlers
• Ebenezer
• Mr. Irrelevant
• The Cycle
• Whalefall
• Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

TV, Comics, and More

• Bass X Machina
• Blue Eye Samurai Season 2
• Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2
• Golden Axe
• IDW Publishing feat. GODZILLA & SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
• Mayfair Witches
• The Boulet Brothers' Dragula
• The Walking Dead Daryl Dixon
• VisionQuest
• And many more!

While you wait, check out the biggest moments from IGN Fan Fest 2025: Fall Edition, which included first-looks at movies like Predator: Badlands, Frankenstein, and Good Fortune, shows including The Witcher, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and The Mighty Nein, and games like Dispatch, Terminator 2D: No Fate, and The Outer Worlds 2.

Wildwood:

From LAIKA, the studio behind Coraline, comes Wildwood, a handcrafted epic fantasy arriving only in theaters October 23, tickets on sale now. Based on the acclaimed novel by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, the film follows Prue and Curtis as they venture into a mysterious forest beyond Portland to rescue Prue’s baby brother — and find themselves drawn into an extraordinary battle for the fate of Wildwood.

As part of IGN FanFest, director Travis Knight joins IGN to discuss bringing the world of Wildwood to life through stop-motion, adapting the beloved illustrated novel for the screen, and the extraordinary craft and scale behind LAIKA’s most ambitious adventure yet.

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.

The developers of Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse are wearing their love of fighting games on their sleeves, as eagle-eyed fans have spotted some unmistakable references to classic fighting game characters in its demo.

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse released a free demo on October 1, 2026, giving players a brief taste of what the game’s combat will look like. In this game, we take control of Rose Belmont, who navigates the ruined streets of 1500s Paris with a sword and her mother’s magical tarot cards.

If the demo is anything to go by, this game will be a treat for hardcore Metroidvania fans, as it includes a wealth of secret areas to uncover. One of these areas can be accessed in the demo, which gives you a pair of brass knuckle-style MMA gloves called Cestus. The weapon stacks on damage to enemies the more you hit them, encouraging players to go on the offensive.

After Rose finishes an attack using Cestus, she will strike a pose for a few seconds. These poses cycle seemingly at random, but they’re clearly intentional, and each boasts a unique animation. It didn’t take long for players to notice some striking similarities between these poses and the fighting stances of classic fighting game characters, of which there are a good handful.

Twitter/X user and Castlevania fan StockeTepes compiled these poses in a video, showing Rose settling into the idle poses for Ryu, Chun-Li, Oro, and Sagat, as well as Mai Shiranui and Akuma / Oni. Even Spider-Man’s iconic pose from Marvel vs Capcom 2 was included. Other fans pointed out that Rose’s air-to-air combo using Cestus mimics that of Akuma’s in-air fireball attack, Zanku Hadouken (or, in my opinion, M. Bison's Hell Attack).

Castlevania is a franchise known for tipping its hat to fighting games; if you’ve played Symphony of the Night, you’ll know that the inputs for Alucard’s purchasable spells read exactly like the motions for special moves in a fighting game, and the gauntlet-style weapon Fist of Tulkas basically let you throw out a Hadouken. And in Portrait of Ruin, players can unlock Martial Arts moves that give you special abilities, which require special fighting game-style inputs to pull off. Konami even released a Castlevania fighting game in 2008 called Castlevania Judgment (though whether or not it's remembered fondly is a matter of personal opinion).

I told you, Castlevania LOVES fighting games 🔥 And the tradition of calling back to them continues with Belmont's Curse! So I made a lil edit showcasing how the Demo's secret weapon, Cestus, homages idle poses for many of it's iconic characters.

MUCH more coming stay tuned 😈 https://t.co/7UVd7OFSTQ

— 🖤 Stocke ❤️ (@StockeTepes) October 6, 2026

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse officially releases on October 15. In the meantime, there’s no shortage of Castlevania games for you to play as you wait for the latest entry in the series to launch. (My personal favorites are Symphony of the Night, Super Castlevania IV, and the OG Castlevania game — but there’s literally more than 30 to choose from!)

That’s not all; the iconic soundtrack of the Castlevania franchise is getting its own live power rock-symphony in March 2026, with showings in London, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. It’s a great time to be a Castlevania fan — but a terrible night to have a curse.

Steam launched its Autumn Sale last week, and the PC-inclined know these seasonal sales are pretty much the best time of year to buy games. Sometimes, though, the gaming giant isn't offering the best possible price.

On Steam, Bungie’s latest live action release, Marathon, has dropped to $23.99. However, digital game stores like Fanatical and GMG are also running fall sales, and it just so happens that the former has Marathon Steam codes for even cheaper, at $19.99.

According to price trackers, that’s a lower price than the game has ever been on the U.S. side of Steam. Regardless of your feelings about the hardcore extraction shooter, it’s hard to argue with that being a good deal.

Marathon on PC Drops Under $20 at Fanatical

Fanatical is a UK-based e-commerce platform under the Fandom umbrella. It’s one of our go-to storefronts for digital game deals, so you can rest assured you’re paying for something legit. And yes, it’s a Steam code, not some wacky third-party launcher situation.

Amazon Prime Day is the perfect opportunity to furnish your home gym, and every gym should at the very least carry some free weights. A pair of dumbbells gives you access to a wide range of exercises that can target just about every muscle in your upper and lower body. Combine that with cardio exercises and you're ready to go.

For today only, Amazon is offering $150 off a pair of Bowflex's newest Results Series SelectTech 552 adjustable dumbbells. They retail for $479, but you can pick them up for just $328.99. The free shipping cannot be overstated, because the package is going to weigh over 100 pounds. There are a lot of adjustable dumbbell models on the market at various price points, but Bowflex is still the most recognizable brand that all others are compared to.

Save $150 Off the Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells for Prime Day

The Dungeon Crawler Carl books have been blowing up, in part because the LitRPG series is excellent in pretty much every format. The books are great, the audiobooks are wonderful, and now there's even a really cool graphic novel adaptation.

If you're looking to collect the first two volumes that have been released so far, Target has generously included them in its buy 2, get 1 free sale. The sale runs from now until Saturday October 10, and it also includes all of the Dungeon Crawler Carl books. It's a great time to add some DCC to your collection.

Target's sale includes both Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the graphic novel, while Amazon's competing sale only has the first one. That makes Target the overall better place to buy Dungeon Crawler Carl right now. You do need to add one more eligible book to take advantage of the full discount, but there's a lot to choose from within the sale.

Is The Dungeon Crawler Carl Graphic Novel Worth Reading?

As someone who has experienced Dungeon Crawler Carl in pretty much all of its forms, I can honestly say that the graphic novel is worth a read. I reviewed the first volume last month, and had nothing but positive things to say about it. Here's a quick summary of why I gave it an 8 out of 10:

"The first Dungeon Crawler Carl Graphic Novel turns Matt Dinniman's popular LitRPG into a chaotic flurry of action and achievements that just works. It's a great introduction to the story for those who don't want to read the books and feels additive for those who already have."

When is Volume 3 Releasing?

The Dungeon Crawler Carl graphic novels are actually just collected physical editions of the popular Webtoon series, so new pages are getting added pretty frequently. If you're only interested in the graphic novel editions of the comic, the good news is there's still more coming: Volume 3 of the adaptation is currently set to release on March 9, 2027.

With the Dungeon Crawler Carl TV series in the works and the popularity of the books continuing to grow, it seems likely that the graphic novel will continue until the story comes to an end.

We got the chance to sit down with the one and only Guillermo del Toro as part of our IGN30 Icons Series, where he let us in on his favorite games, how he made his iconic movies, and his experience working with some of the biggest stars in filmmaking.

He also chatted about Pan’s Labyrinth, which is turning 20 years old this year. To celebrate, it’s coming back to theaters this weekend — but if you’d like some extra context before you sit down to see it again, check out our conversation with del Toro, who told us about the inspiration behind the Pale Man and how he stretched the movie’s budget to create some of its massive set pieces.

We’ve transcribed the interview in full below, where del Toro explained what it was like working with Wesley Snipes on Blade 2 and how he almost made a BioShock movie.

Brian Altano (IGN): From Kronos to The Shape of Water to Frankenstein, it is an honor to be talking to the maestro of movie monsters, Mr. Guillermo Del Toro. It's very nice to meet you. Thank you for coming. This is the 20th anniversary of Pan's Labyrinth, which makes me feel old. I don't know how you feel about it.

Guillermo del Toro: Older.

Brian Altano (IGN): So, you have been making crazy monsters in beautiful worlds for the longest time. You started off inspired by things like Universal’s monsters, [like the] Creature from the Black Lagoon. What is it about that era that spoke to you then, and continues to resonate with you now?

Guillermo del Toro: I think I was a monster kid, which means that the creatures are important in the storytelling of these fairytales, because I think they're fables or parables or fairytales. And it has to be creature-centric for me to be attracted to it. Everybody says, "Oh, don't show the creature." I think, show it, please. I'm seven years old. I want to see it. I want to love it. I want to see how well designed it is. I want to discover the whole world that comes in with the creature design. Creature design ushers a different reality. So those are important. When Milicent Patrick — who designed the Gill-man for Creature from the Black Lagoon — designed the Metaluna Mutant on Island Earth, when they gave her an opportunity, it came from outer space. She designed the creature. She has a signature, and I can see what her design signature is. And as a kid, it's like meeting a movie star. You say, "Oh, this was Jack Pierce designing this creature. This was Dick Smith. This was the Wesmers. This was all the makeup heroes of mine."

Brian Altano (IGN): So when you saw the sort of less tangible horror, which it's like a fog or a mist or something like that, you're like, "That's cool, but I want a monster.”

Guillermo del Toro: Well, that's what I want to make. That doesn't define what I want to watch. I want to watch everything that is good. But as a filmmaker, up until Frankenstein, I'm very creature-centric. I think that has changed now. I don't know what I am or where I'm going. I have sort of a new horizon, but Frankenstein was a culmination of my creature-centric period, which is, by the way, where is it rooted at? Little Red Ridinghood. You need the wolf. The wolf is the creature in that. And you need something that embodies a concept. Good, evil, purity, tragedy. The Creature in Frankenstein is a tragic humanity. Pan is a trickster. The Pale Man is a blind veracity. It's not just that they are cool-looking. It's that they embody the conceptual part of the tale. They actually mean something tangible. Godzilla is absolutely a first large-scale God, the power of nature, the tragedy of atomic energy. It's a concept made flesh.

Brian Altano (IGN): It's not just this wrecking ball that comes in. There's a pain behind it.

Guillermo del Toro: There is the tragic undertones of the design of Godzilla, the fact that they wanted the skin of Godzilla to look like the after effect of a nuclear blast victim. I mean, there is thought on that — the fact that he was this sort of grayish-brown in the original. There is a lot of thought. Jack Pierce designing the Grizzly on Frankenstein — he wanted to sort of retrofit the history of the autopsic work that put it together. The scars, the opening of the skull in a sort of weird, can-of-tomatoes way.

Brian Altano (IGN): You like to get your hands dirty. You like to build stuff. You make model kits. Your Cabinet of Curiosity is a very tangible thing. It feels like a lot of filmmakers are sort of moving around

or away from that, but that is something that feels so core to your philosophy of filmmaking.

Guillermo del Toro: Yeah. Each filmmaker is like, I see Chris Nolan completely going to battle for negative and he's entrenched there. I see Jim Cameron exploring beyond capture. He's actually melding actors’ performances with how it translates into digital. Each filmmaker is on a quest, I think. And my quest is handmade by humans for humans.

Brian Altano (IGN): I love that. Christopher Nolan mentioned that you were a big inspiration for a lot of his practical effects in the Odyssey, specifically the Cyclops.

Guillermo del Toro: Cyclops, yeah.

Brian Altano (IGN): Did you see it?

Guillermo del Toro: Yeah, yeah. No, I saw it with him.

Brian Altano (IGN): Oh my God, that's awesome.

Guillermo del Toro: He said, "I want to show you the movie." And we saw it in IMAX. We talked after, we talked before. I mean, I think he's just — there is such a signature and such a vision. I mean, the word visionary is thrown around a little too much, but I think Chris has always been. I've known him now fortunately for about 15 years or more. And he's always been absolutely laser-focused.

Brian Altano (IGN): Did you like what he did with the cyclops?

Guillermo del Toro: Yeah, I loved it.

Brian Altano (IGN): Me too.

Guillermo del Toro: Loved it. I mean, I love everything. I asked him, “So when Matt Damon is in the tempestuous waters, how did you do it?” He's like, "We put him in the water on a tempestuous day." It was so fantastic to hear him answer that. And I remember when I talked to him about his philosophy of sound mixing, because I asked him that back in the days of Interstellar, and he said, "To me, dialogue is part of the score. It's not so much what they say, but the rhythm of how they say it and the intention." And I thought that was… Now and then, when I mix, now and then I go, "It's a rhythmic thing."

Brian Altano (IGN): You worked on Mimic, which, for me, that was sort of like a Creature from the Black Lagoon for me. It's funny to say, right? Because when I was a kid and I did the same thing, I was going —

Guillermo del Toro: It's a monster movie.

Brian Altano (IGN): I was like, "I want to watch a monster movie." And I saw that one and the setting. I had grown up going to the Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Guillermo del Toro: Yeah. Well, that's where we went!

Brian Altano (IGN): And it actually changed that museum for me for a while, because I would go there and I'd be like, "Are we good?" All the rooms were a little dark.

Guillermo del Toro: Yeah, of course. The Natural History Museum in New York, to me, is Disneyland. It's a portal to imagination. And the exhibits are so exquisitely crafted. They are one of the places that have inspired me the most.

Brian Altano (IGN): I could spend hours looking up at that whale up there. The way that movie came together was sort of out of your hands. There were a lot of people kind of hacking it apart. Was there any time during that where you're like, "I don't want to do this anymore. This process is so..."

Guillermo del Toro: To a point. It's too early to quit when you're 33. That's true. You don't want to quit, but I wanted to quit that way of making movies. I was very careful to try to regain independence with Devil's Wagon supported by Pedro Almodovar. I was lucky enough that he liked what I did. And I made it a point. I was being pushed to do Blade 2 first. I said, "I'm doing Devil's Wagon first. I'm not going to go back to an industrial movie making environment until I cleanse my soul." And I made it a point. Many times people say, "Oh, I would never sell out." Well, you don't know until someone's buying. And I can tell you 100% sure of the many defects I have. I've never sold out.

Brian Altano (IGN): I believe it. I believe it. Do you think that you had to go through what you did with Mimic before you did Blade 2 and Hellboy?

Guillermo del Toro: Yes, because it makes a difference. I said, “Okay, so when I do Blade 2, I'm not going to try to fashion an auteurial [film].” I'm going to just go and say, “Okay, can I give you a six pack pizza, vox, balls-to-the-wall, fun, almost like a musical, and have it ooze atmosphere and coolness. And then you don't have to worry about anything else. Still, there's streaks of Frankenstein on it.

Brian Altano (IGN): Again, you've mentioned before the thing about sort of filmmakers making one movie. Can you explain that philosophy a bit?

Guillermo del Toro: It's actually, ‘One life fuels a movie.’ I would argue that the range would be between Devil's Wagon and Pacific Rim. That's the range of the modulation of the thing. But at the end of the day, you have a style, you have a signature. And I find it amazing with, for example, Alfonso Cuarón. You can do Gravity or you can do Roma. You would say it's not the same movie, but it is. Because I know what Alfonso's looking for, which is the connection with reality of the earth, almost like a transcendental approach. Gravity. I remember I was in the middle of the post-production, the studio didn't believe in the movie, and they wanted Alfonso to put helicopters coming to the rescue of Sandra Bullock at the end. I said, "No." He said, "Well, what about the sound of helicopters?" "No.” "What about the radio saying, ‘We're coming for you?’” I said, "No.” He said, "The only thing that she's recuperating is her footing on earth. That's what the movie's about.” Because it grounds it. It's an auteurial movie. So you have a voice and you use it for different songs, but it's the same voice.

Brian Altano (IGN): When you made Blade 2, you can just tell you had a ton of fun making that movie.

Guillermo del Toro: Actually, it's probably that and Pacific Rim are the two most fun movies I've ever shot. I really had fun. It may have been held by the fact that Red Bull had just come out and I didn't know how to use it. So I was drinking, and I'm not joking, about 40 Red Bulls a day.

Brian Altano (IGN): Man,that is amazing.

Guillermo del Toro: I was like in a cocaine movie. I was like, come on, let's go. And I would order cases and cases of Red Bull and throw them to the extras.

Brian Altano (IGN): I want to change the IGN review scale now. Instead of one to 10, I want to be like, “This is a 40 Red Bull movie.”

Guillermo del Toro: When I went back to America, Red Bull started traveling from Europe to there. And my doctor said, "You cannot consume more than four." I was drinking 40. The arterial damage, man.

Brian Altano (IGN): They announced a Blade reboot at Comic-Con years ago and they were never able to make it. And why do you think it's so difficult to get a movie like that done?

Guillermo del Toro: I'm telling you, and I mean it because I know it, 50% of the bladeness of Blade is Wesley Snipes.

Brian Altano (IGN): Wesley Snipes?

Guillermo del Toro: 100%. He is not the most linear actor to deal with, right?

Brian Altano (IGN): Right.

Guillermo del Toro: But every time he stood in front of the lens, I said, “That’s a movie star. That’s Blade.” Completely. For example, I showed him a gun we designed — beautiful, [Dieter] Reinhardt, Ron Pearlman ends up using it, with a blade on the front — and he looked at it. “Not for Blade. Cold gun, but not for Blade.” I said, “Why?” He said, “Because Blade is the weapon.” He said, “I don't want the toys. I want the man. The man is a dangerous guy. You give me too many toys, and that’s the Batmobile and the Bat belt. That's not Blade.” And I went, “Ah, this guy knows it.” And Every time [Snipes] landed, every time he turned, he’s a Neil Adams comic book [character]. And he has the natural sort of comic book [look]. I think Blade 1, Steve’s movie, changed the history of comic book movies for me, period. Because before that, you had either the cleanliness, the beauty, and sort of wholesomeness of Richard Donner's Superman, or you had the quirkiness of Tim Burton’s Batman. But this is what ushered the ‘tude, the edge. Without Steve Norrington's Blade, I don't think there is The Matrix. I don't think there is X-Men. I think what they did is monumental. And then I inherited and was completely, irresponsibly happy to do that.”

Brian Altano (IGN): So 50% of Blade is Wesley Snipes.

Guillermo del Toro: 100%. 100% is 50%.

Brian Altano (IGN): And the other 50% is Red Bull.

Guillermo del Toro: The other 50% is the filmmaker articulating. I mean, I had four or five moving boxes worth of dailies from [Stephen Norrington's] movie. And I studied all those VHS tapes. I understood exactly how he shot it. He did some formations that were really, extraordinarily weird. For example, he had a low camera with a longer lens in front of a high camera with a wide lens facing each other. His assistant called it — very impolitely and politically [incorrect] — they called it the Polish firing squad position. I didn't make that joke. I just repeated it. And then I started his formations and I said, “Okay, I'm going to go at it differently.” But there is one setup on Blade 2, which is 13 cameras working at the same time like a ballet. This camera is moving this way and then it crosses this one right on time for my cut. So I would cut before we shoot. So what they did is extraordinary. I know it.

Brian Altano (IGN): In your Blade 2 movie commentary, there's a sequence where you say, "This is my Dr. Manhattan shot." I love that so much. Obviously as a Watchman fan, a lot of directors sort of hide their influences.

Guillermo del Toro: I talk about them.

Brian Altano (IGN): Explain that, because obviously some people, I think they're sort of a little ashamed of jumping off of an idea that they may have seen before, that they might have inherited. But you've always been —

Guillermo del Toro: Because you're not rephrasing. When you take something and change it, it's a permutation. I mean, for example, the classical compositions are only so many. When you're doing a format, for example, you're doing a tango. It has to be a tango. It's on a certain tempo. When you're doing a waltz, there is a tempo. So you're taking a form and you're completely remixing it. Every chef in every restaurant, in every part of the world, whether it's a fast food service or… the hot cuisine of Michelin star restaurants, they're using the same ingredients. And you're not ashamed of pepper. You're not ashamed of a carrot, or what they call the mother sauce in France in the cooking — You have celery, carrot, onion. Ingredients are ingredients. And when I say, “This is my Dr. Manhattan shot,” well, I'm saying it's my Jack Kirby shot. Because that shot is very Jack Kirby. And then Jack Kirby, you have to talk to him to [see] where it comes from, but you are probably influenced by Milton Caniff. It's a lineage of storytellers. There is not such a thing as an ingredient you should not mention, because as we were discussing, I think for chefs coming up, it's important to disclose how you cook, how you bleach, how you blanch the potatoes. It's good to say this is what I did and it's very different.

Brian Altano (IGN): I appreciate that because I think that the making of stuff, the behind the scenes stuff, it is exactly the kind of thing that inspires new filmmakers.

Guillermo del Toro: Yes, 100%.

Brian Altano (IGN): And you made The Making of Frankenstein, which I watched immediately after Frankenstein. And it was fascinating to me, because I think coming from an era where you grew up looking at magazines of like, this is how they're making movies or watching the DVD actuals and Blu-rays and stuff like that, that's the stuff that people see and they go, "This isn't impossible anymore. This is something that I can start doing myself."

Guillermo del Toro: Yeah. I mean, as of lately, the last few releases on Blu-ray, I paid for the totality, or most of the behind the scenes content, because I wanted it to be in the disc. And I don't want it to be in the disc to sing our praises — I want it, because if you live in a part of the world or in an economic condition where you cannot afford film school, but your local library has the discs, you can learn how to make movies. If you come at it sincerely, it's not from the beginning. You want to talk about how hard it was and how you were thinking [about] this thing, but you went that way. So, I think they're very useful sort of substitutes for film school.

Brian Altano (IGN): Is there sort of like a scene in the movies you've made where every artist knows how difficult it is to translate the idea that's in your head to something that exists finally in real life, whether that's a drawing or a painting. It always filters and changes in some way. Is there a specific scene or collection of scenes that has come the closest from being like, "This is the idea in my mind. This is the scene in the film."

Guillermo del Toro: The Pale Man.

Brian Altano (IGN): Yeah?

Guillermo del Toro: The Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth. It changed a lot, but once the creature was set, once I found the creature in pre-production, I looked at a photo of a manta ray face up. And I saw the poster of Phantasm where the woman is screaming and you can see her eyes. And through many permutations, it ended up being that creature. But the moment I saw that creature, the scene was exactly what it is. And Pacific Rim, I knew exactly what I wanted to do to give the scale to the robots. I knew I wanted them in the rain. I knew I wanted them in what I call Goth-tech. And finally, I would say Frankenstein. But Frankenstein changed a lot when Jacob Elordi came in. So I mean, to some degree, those would be very close.

Brian Altano (IGN): Because at a certain point it is out of your hands, especially when it becomes part of an actor's experience.

Guillermo del Toro: It's never quite that simple. People think filmmaking is chess. It isn't. It's a contact sport. Or you're playing tennis. They serve, you return. Directing is knowing how to serve, but you also know how to return. If you think it's all about control, then this is a problem. People think that filmmaking is like multitask prompting, like AI. “Oh, I want this.” No, you're really building. It's a very, very dirty, non-linear business. And that's why one of the many reasons I'm against generative AI, is because it'll get you to mediocrity really quick. It'll get you to the middle really quick. And that may be an image. It's not film. It's not cinema.

Brian Altano (IGN): I think it's a very cynical approach to creating stuff where you only want the results and not the process. And the process is the fun part.

Guillermo del Toro: Let me put it this way: I can tell you, “Look, I'm faster than Usain Bolt.” I said, "Really?" I go, "Yeah, in my car." "Okay, well then, you're not a runner. You're in a car. It's not a f**king sport. That's not art. You're in a car."

Brian Altano (IGN): I think that's my favorite thing anyone has ever said about AI.

Guillermo del Toro: And you're in a f**king Volvo.

Brian Altano (IGN): Thank you so much for that. I'm very much against generative AI, and that is the best way it could possibly be put.

Guillermo del Toro: Look, the risk is this. Every single bad idea in the history of totalitarianism comes involved in a concept that sounds reasonably beneficial. The mother, the motherland — sounds really nice. Democratization of the arts. It's not that. They want your money. They want you to buy their app. They don't care about that. The discourse between the soul of mankind and the arts is a very sacred discourse. It's very intimate. It's molecularly important to stay human. Please, please. Don't give me an app. Please.

Brian Altano (IGN): I will not. Your unmade filmography is legendary.

Guillermo del Toro: Yes.

Brian Altano (IGN): Somewhere it exists in your brain. How do those sort of stories, those movies, live on? Do you ever go back through your sketchbooks? Can you watch them in your mind?

Guillermo del Toro: No. They're in the sketchbooks, and sometimes I repurpose ideas. For example, the wings of the Angel of Death came from a project that I was writing in ‘98. Partially, the Pale Man came from a sketch I did in ‘99. So you repurpose. Your diaries with drawings become a sort of catalog and you go through them and go, "Oh, I've never done that. Let me do it now." There's a sketch for a thing that I designed for Pan’s Labyrinth that is coming out in a stop motion movie I'm doing now.

Brian Altano (IGN): That’s awesome. I love that. So, you find a way to reincorporate these old ideas even if —

Guillermo del Toro: Well, it's a dialogue with yourself.

Brian Altano (IGN): Yeah.

Guillermo del Toro: You're talking to the time when you were a very different person. So you reactivate yourself.

Brian Altano (IGN): We talked about Pan's Labyrinth turning 20 this year. This was definitely the first movie that kind of broke over the crust of the usual people that were coming to your movies. All of a sudden, you had film critics and stuff like that [who] were really paying attention to you. Did that change you, having these new sets of eyes on you?

Guillermo del Toro: Well, Chronos and Devil's Backbone had that, but they had it in a very, very arthouse niche. What Pan's Labyrinth did is, the first movie that I willed to do my way with a slightly larger scale — The Shape of Water. And Pan’s Labyrinth cost exactly the same, $19.3 million, both movies. And [I looked] at the scale. And I said, "I'm going to will..." Alejandro González Iñárritu one day said to me, because I said, "How the hell did you do Birdman for that money?" And he said, "A budget is a state of mind." And you know what? It is. If you can find a way to scale the movie, you need a few things. For example, I was watching Pan’s Labyrinth when we were re-timing the color and I saw the huge locomotive, the rail locomotive, which is a real set. Now it took an inordinate amount of money to build that out of a budget that was very small to build that locomotive. But I said, "We need it. We need it for people to..." There are two or three or four gestures in Pan’s Labyrinth where people go, "Oh, it's a big movie." It's almost like you want to impress somebody and you pick up the check a couple of times. Not every time. Same with the movie. You have to pick up the check every so many minutes.

Brian Altano (IGN): I mean, I think the audience sees it and they connect with it. I think that people get that. I do believe that when audiences have this feeling that something is real, it washes over them, and they invest.

Guillermo del Toro: They absolutely do. I mean, look, I'm not going to go back to AI gratuitously. I will go for a point. Everything I've seen, the eyes are dead. It's like watching a flowerpot in the shape of a human. There's nothing inside. There's just air. How do you substitute a treasure as precious as an actor's eyes? You can't. With craftsmanship, if you see a set and you know it's made by humans, there's a nobility and there's a lineage and there's an elated feeling you get. “Oh, I didn't know that was possible.” It's so beautiful.

Brian Altano (IGN): You are a huge fan of video games, which I've always loved about you. I think that's so cool. And you sort of famously tried to get a couple of games going.

Guillermo del Toro: I'm the albatross of video games.

Brian Altano (IGN): You worked on P.T., you were working with Hideo Kojima.

Guillermo del Toro: It was a great game.

Brian Altano (IGN): Our audience, everyone and all my friends, we were ecstatic when we found out that you were working on a horror game with Kojima.

Guillermo del Toro: And that was Kojima. I mean, I'm glad to get on the ride for free, but everything that ended up being P.T., it was him.

Brian Altano (IGN): But around 11 years ago, I think at Comic-Con actually, you said you never wanted to work on a video game again.

Guillermo del Toro: No, never.

Brian Altano (IGN): Has that changed at all?

Guillermo del Toro: No, not at all.

Brian Altano (IGN): Wow.

Guillermo del Toro: It's simply too – we developed Insane, and then that went down. A lot of the ideas later, I saw stuff that was done in other video games that was similar. And I went, "Well, somebody did it. That's great." But we were aiming really high.

Brian Altano (IGN): Were you ever able to sort of, in the same way [with] your unmade movies, cherry pick some of those video game ideas and put them into your movies?

Guillermo del Toro: No, not on that. I mean, with Kojima, I had an idea that he didn't use that I hope to use in a different media someday. But with Hideo, the great thing is to go to karaoke and Shabu-shabu. If the game happens or not, it's immaterial. He knows very good restaurants.

Brian Altano (IGN): Dinner and karaoke is number one.

Guillermo del Toro: I love that man. He's one of those guys you meet that you go, you might as well be in the Renaissance. You are in front of a pure artist, and he cares about one thing: stories. That's it.

Brian Altano (IGN): I love that.

Guillermo del Toro: Jim Cameron, same thing. But with two guns and a belt of bullets. Jim is like, I've never met nor will I ever meet, nor mankind will ever have, somebody with a will like he has and the intelligence.

Brian Altano (IGN): You've created tons of original stories, but you've also played in other people's sandboxes sort of with adaptations, classic stuff like Pinocchio and Frankenstein. You don't want to make a video game ever. We'll close that door for good, but would you ever adapt a video game story into a movie?

Guillermo del Toro: You know, I tried. We had a very contentious call about a couple of games. I find that the dynamics of a video game are very different than a movie. They may be cinematically similar in terms of the camera moving and this and that, but the storytelling is very different, because you're not solving puzzles. You're not assembling. When we made the structure for Insane, we created what I call a mandala. You have to give the illusion of an infinite sandbox and you lead audiences to the right or to the left through their ‘own decisions,’ but you sort of have to corner them. So it's a very different thing. So adapting it, BioShock, we had a couple of calls. They are probably one of the most disastrous calls I've ever had. So no, f**k no.

Brian Altano (IGN): I want to talk to you a bit about creating your own world versus adapting someone else. Do you go into those things with the same philosophy, when you make an original story?

Guillermo del Toro: I have to.

Brian Altano (IGN): You have to.

Guillermo del Toro: You have to. I mean, my Pinocchio is not, and it is, Pinocchio. My Frankenstein is as referential, but as different as it needs to be to the text. You want the text by the book. You do the movie. Read it and make your own movie. That's easy. It's on the shelf. You're not altering it. You're not going and saying every book now has to reflect my movie. No. And the book exists, and it's so intimate. So what you do is a very interesting process. For example, what I do is I take the entire book and I drop it on final draft. Then I accumulate research material and I drop it on final draft. The Crimean War and Atomy Lessons, all of that. Then I lay all my books pertinent to that on a table. Then I do notes. And then finally, I ended up with Frankenstein, and it was like a 700-and-something-page working document, originally. And then you go line by line and you say, "I am out. I don't need it. I don't need this. I need this." You write on the side of a piece of paper. And little by little, you sort of get into the DNA of the story, and you wear it and you zip it up and then you take a walk. You say, "Okay, now I exist in this world. Where do I want to go today?" And then the rule is, “Am I interested or am I bored?” If you are bored when you're writing it, the audiences will be bored when they're watching it. But if you are intrigued, and then you say, "What are the fundamental questions the audience has about this material? What are the fundamental set pieces?" Pinocchio or Frankenstein both have to have a creation scene. You want to see them being put together. So you must. Pinocchio must join a carnival. He must declare what it is to be human. If it's the original thing, he has to become a boy. If it's in my story, he just has to be himself and sacrifice himself, and so on and so forth. And then you are wearing the world. When my kids were young, we would go and I would say, "Look, we're not going to have an agenda. When we're in Paris, we're not going to say 10 to 10:15, Eiffel Tower. 10:30 to 10:45, the Arc de Triomphe. No, because that's being a tourist.

Brian Altano (IGN): That's a terrible way to vacation.

Guillermo del Toro: I said, "We're travelers. Wherever we are, at any given time in the day, we're in Paris. That's it. So relax, breathe in, breathe out.” Same with this. Wherever we are, if we are wearing the world, you are in Frankenstein. You are in Pinocchio. People may have an issue. Why wouldn't I have done it like that? Good. Take 20 years of your life and show me your version."

Brian Altano (IGN): And you know what? I would rather see something like that and feel something than see an adaptation. And there's been so many, even recently of Pinocchio where you feel nothing.

Guillermo del Toro: It's about, does it evoke the latent potency of the myth? I mean, when I saw the Odyssey, did it make me feel that it was oomph filmmaking? Was I watching something that was monumental, epic, completely intended? Yes. Was it exactly what? I don't care. I'm there to see what he did. If you go and if you listen to the Sex Pistols singing my way, you don't talk about Frank Sinatra. You would be absolutely remiss to say, "Well, Sinatra did it different.” Of course he did it different, moron, it’s Sinatra. These are the fucking Sex Pistols. Listen to them. Don't listen to a thing that is not playing on the fucking radio.

Brian Altano (IGN): I love that. Yeah. I think that's the way it should be, right?

Guillermo del Toro: That's the way it is.

Brian Altano (IGN): It is the way it is. I think my beef with a lot of stuff now is that people want a literal one-to-one adaptation of a thing that they already experienced.

Guillermo del Toro: Well, I don't think it's even that. I mean, I think that we — There was a joke. It used to be about the French, the joke. Two Frenchmen are arguing on the street and a third one comes in and says, "I don't know what you're talking about, but I disagree." That's the internet. Two people arguing on something, and somebody has to come in and put both of them in their place.

Brian Altano (IGN): Yes.

Guillermo del Toro: There's no need. The universe is not binary. The universe is diverse. There are so many answers that suit so many people, that the fact that we want to enthrone black-and-white existence instead of a delightful myriad of great possibilities, which are suited to your moment, to your soul, it's dictatorial. I think that the level of human discourse after COVID got noticeably low. And I think now we came out of it a little crazier, a little meaner, and we cannot — there's the Zoolander Center for people that can't read good. That's where we are. We exist in the Zoolander Center for people that can't read good.

Brian Altano (IGN): I think, obviously, there's a little bit of hope I guess, on the optimistic side, is that this year there's been a really interesting resurgence or surgence, of younger filmmakers making original horror movies.

Guillermo del Toro: And a younger audience going to it. I mean, look, it is the horrible duty of the young to prove every f**king moron that came before them wrong. That's historically the duty of the young. That's why it's so hard to be young. I'm 62, I take anticoagulants. I'm past that. But it is the duty of the young to say, "We won't stand. This aggression will not stand, dude." They have to. And I think every now and then — I'm old enough that I was there when Blair Witch rephrased a certain way — I mean, I was there as a kid when George [Lucas] or Steven [Spielberg] came in with Jaws or Star Wars, and we've never seen anything like it. I was there when. So every now and then, things have to get rephrased. But storytelling is what makes us what we are humans. So it needs to be rephrased. You cannot hold the academia of it all only. There are two functions that are very different: The academic tradition exists not as a gatekeeper, but as a gate opener. Now, come on in and rearrange the room. That's the way I see or work. That's why I like the extras on the Blu-rays. It's not, “Look at how it's done.” No, it's like, “These are the tools. What are you going to do with them?”

Brian Altano (IGN): You can make it, too. So you're optimistic for the future?

Guillermo del Toro: I'm optimistic about the possibilities, yeah. Very much so. When you talk about the medieval [period], when people say, “The Middle Ages were very dark.” Well, in Europe, not in Mesoamerica, not in the North of Africa. There were cultures where they were flourishing. When I talk about movies and cinema, I don't just talk about American large-scale cinema. There are so many interesting movies in Europe, in Asia, and there's really interesting movies in Latin America. There's always great stories being told somewhere, so look for them. And the other day, the daughter of a friend of mine, she's listening to Karen Carpenter and her favorite song, We've Only Just Begun. I go, "What kind of maze do you have to go to be 12, 13, and like Karen Carpenter?" Well, the world and the library of the world is there to be rediscovered. Peter Bogdanovich used to say, "There are not old movies, just movies you have not seen." So when I discovered The Maltese Falcon for the first time, when I discovered Ikiru, the Kurosawa movie for the first time, it didn't matter when it was made. It was fresh for me.

Brian Altano (IGN): I think that's the perfect place to end. Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Del Toro. I hope you get to keep making cool monsters forever.

Guillermo del Toro: I hope I take a vacation. That's really what I want.

Brian Altano (IGN): Can we do a quick lightning round? And then I'll let you out of here.

Guillermo del Toro: Yeah, man.

Brian Altano (IGN): Okay, here we go. I'm going to have to keep you as quick as possible here.

Guillermo del Toro: Let’s do this.

Brian Altano (IGN): What is the first thing that ever scared you?

Guillermo del Toro: The Outer Limits, an episode called The Mutant. In terms of audiovisual scares. The first thing that scared me was my dad.

Brian Altano (IGN): What's the most recent thing that scared you?

Guillermo del Toro: Oh, the news.

Brian Altano (IGN): Same. What's the scariest movie ever made?

Guillermo del Toro: Well, it's personal. I mean, I think it really is. I would say for me, if I'm experiencing it in the theater, Alien and The Shining and Jaws. Those three had me on the edge of my seat.

Brian Altano (IGN): What's your favorite movie monster of all time?

Guillermo del Toro: That's hard, but the creature of Frankenstein or the Creature from the Black Lagoon, it's a toss up.

Brian Altano (IGN): What's the best video game ever made?

Guillermo del Toro: They're so different. I mean, I love Left 4 Dead. Death Stranding made me cry. Shadow of the Colossus made me introspective about so many intangible things. There's not only one. BioShock! It's a world I could get lost in for ages.

Brian Altano (IGN): What's the most recent great video game that you've played?

Guillermo del Toro: I'm more into, not necessarily console games. Dead Cells was really interesting to me. I just hate respawning because you get all the way there, you go all the way to 35 levels, and then you start again, and you get faster! But please, please do a version without respawning. For the older, elderly players, please give us a way to come back.

Brian Altano (IGN): Life is short. I don't want to keep responding.

Guillermo del Toro: I'm available. Contact me and send it to me, please. I beg you. I like the world. Great design.

Brian Altano (IGN): I think you'd like Castlevania. That's kind of -

Guillermo del Toro: Yeah, I've never played Castlevania.

Brian Altano (IGN): That's what you're looking for. It's Dead Cells, but you don’t have to start from the beginning every time.

Guillermo del Toro: Really? Well, there's a lot of games I have not played. So if you can recommend, yeah.

Brian Altano (IGN): I'll get you a list.

Guillermo del Toro: Journey.

Brian Altano (IGN): Journey's amazing.

Guillermo del Toro: Amazing. Oh my God, what a bite. Monument Valley.

Brian Altano (IGN): Yes.

Guillermo del Toro: These are worlds that I love. And then every day of my life, every moment I have free, I'm still playing Angry Birds.

Brian Altano (IGN): Angry Birds?

Guillermo del Toro: I'm really good at it. I'm really good at it.

Brian Altano (IGN): Guillermo, you could have given me a thousand guesses, and I would not have pinned you as an Angry Birds guy.

Guillermo del Toro: It's not exactly a connoisseur choice, but every day, every day is ridiculous. It's like I just go, let me hit this. I want all the stars, a perfect game on every level they ever put out.

Brian Altano (IGN): I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for your time today. This is a blast. My

Guillermo del Toro: My pleasure. Thank you. Best of luck.

Time’s running out on Amazon Big Deal Days. It ends at midnight Pacific Time, so we’re nearing last call to save on LEGO sets, among other things. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you may want to pick up LEGO Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Battle Droid with STAP, on sale for a whopping 40% off at Amazon, bringing the price down to $83.99 (from the normal $140). That’s a great deal for fans of George Lucas’s prequel trilogy.

LEGO Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Battle Droid with STAP Is 40% Off

Save Up to 40% on More LEGO Star Wars Sets

Whenever I write about LEGO, someone in the comments always complains about the price. Which — fair enough. LEGO sets aren’t cheap to begin with, thanks in part to the precision required to shape each small piece so it perfectly interlocks with every other piece. Add to that licensing in many cases, plus tariffs and rising fuel costs lately, and you’re looking at high prices, with no two ways about it.

That’s why a sale like this is so appealing. While we normally see sales dropping LEGO prices around 20%, the sales running now are offering much steeper discounts on a number of sets. But if you’re thinking of buying it, do it soon. We’re heading toward the end of Amazon’s sale today, so it’s time to grab the items you want before it’s all over.

The 10 Best Prime Day Deals So Far

• LEGO Icons Project Hail Mary for $69.99 (was $100)
• Apple AirPods Pro 3 for $179 (was $249)
• 4 Months of Audible for $0.99/mo Plus $20 in Audible Credit
• Pragmata for Switch 2 for $39.99 (was $60)
• LEGO Super Mario World: Mario and Yoshi for $89.99 (was $130)
• Amazon 3-for-$33 4K UHD Blu-ray Movie Sale
• 2026 Apple MacBook Air with M5 Chip for $1,099 (was $1,299)
• Splendor Board Game for $23.99 (was $40)
• SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless Gaming Headset for $237 (was $350)
• 65" Roku 4K OLED TV for $799.99 (was $1,200)

Star Wars is a universe ripe for adventure, intrigue, memorable characters, and… merchandise. George Lucas’ decades-spanning franchise has given us millions of toys, clothes, and just about anything else you can think of, and there are also a whole host of tabletop experiences for your next game night.

We’ve dug through this October’s Prime Day deals to find some excellent options to play with friends and family - here are our picks.

Save On Star Wars Card Games and More This Prime Day

A prominent Call of Duty esports commentator has opted to resign from his role after pursuing a romantic relationship with his co-commentator's ex-wife.

In what is one of the most unique stories of the week, Call of Duty League commentator Clint "Maven" Evans has announced that he's stepping away from the CDL for the "foreseeable future." He noted that this decision came after he chose to pursue a romantic relationship with the wife of his co-commentator, Joseph "MerK" DeLuca. Evans noted that he recognized that the situation is "taboo" and "unconventional" in a statement.

"As some of you know, I was very close to my casting partner Joe and his family," Evans wrote. "Maurisa was one of my best friends. We remained friends, after they divorced, and along the way it became more than that and we started dating. I understand how unconventional/taboo it is. It’s truly not something I ever foresaw happening."

He went on to note that he hopes to return to the CDL in the future, but has acknowledged that it may not happen.

"I hope that one day I’ll be back working on the CDL," he continued. "If not, it was a hell of a ride, and I appreciate the love over the years. Please continue to show support to Joe, the CDL, and its talent!"

Naturally, the Call of Duty e-sports community has had some very intense reactions to the news. Many feel that Evans betrayed his friend, whom he has known for well over a decade. DeLuca hasn't commented on the situation and hasn't posted on his X page since October 4. The start date for the upcoming CDL season has yet to be formally announced, but historically, it begins in December, shortly after the latest Call of Duty is released.

We're in the final hours of Amazon’s October version of Prime Day, but the retailer still has some hefty discounts on tons of classic board games. One of the best deals brings the latest version of Catan back to its lowest-ever price, but you'll find plenty more discounts from big publishers like Asmodee and Hasbro. In other words, now's a great time to bulk up your tabletop collection and plan some fall game nights.

We're Tracking the Best Board Game Deals at Amazon This Week

Starting at the top, the latest version of Settlers of Catan, one of the most iconic strategy games of all time, has dropped to its lowest price of the year with a 40% discount. This resource management game is pretty accessible to any experience level, making it an easy choice for casual game nights. Other classic board games like Ticket to Ride have dropped to their lowest price since the previous Prime Day.

For more veteran tabletop players, we’d recommend something like Pandemic, which features longer co-op campaigns. If you’re just looking for something quick and cheap, you can get classic Candy Land, Jenga, or the quick-playing Monopoly Deal card game for under $15.

Themed Editions Also on Sale

Amazon is also dropping deals on specific themed editions of board games. These are typically based on more casual and family-friendly versions of classic games, like the Bluey version of Monopoly Jr, offering the incentive of a franchise tie-in to bring your family to the game night table. I'm personally a sucker for anything Pokemon-themed.

Some of these themes also offer a little something extra for the adults, like the Duel for Middle-Earth board game we consider one of the best Lord of the Rings games money can buy. Though according to our reviewer, Matt Thrower, it’s only really worth it if you don’t already own the original 7 Wonders Duel game.

Should You Wait for Lower Prices?

Board games that are already on sale are unlikely to see lower prices, even during Black Friday. However, I do think we’ll see new discounts on heavy-hitters like Wingspan that are currently missing from this list. We’ve also yet to see solid deals on trading card games and tabletop franchises like Warhammer.

Amazon’s October Prime sale has reached its final day, and there’s been a surprising amount of treats for Nintendo fans.

Unfortunately, what we haven't seen any discounts on is Nintendo’s officially licensed Joy Con and Pro controller. However, if you’re trying to get your hands on a new Switch 2 controller sooner rather than later, we’re seeing solid deals on some of our favorite third-party options. Besides being more colorful, these controllers come in various shapes and sizes, potentially offering an even better fit for your hands than Nintendo's own peripherals.

Switch 2 Controllers on Sale for October Prime Day

A strange theme across the sale is unique editions hitting lower prices than base models. Those editions add up to a solid spread of options that have dropped under $30.

Turtle Beach released its first wireless controller for Switch 2 back in and has been unloading its franchise tie-ins on the market ever since. While there’s a slight discount on the original black model, the best possible deals are on the more colorful Mario editions. Of course, if you’re looking for some RGB, look no further than the PDP Afterglow.

We’re seeing a similar trend with another one of our top picks, PowerA's Advantage controller. Right now, the Pokemon Mega Evolutions colorway is almost $10 cheaper than the standard black wireless model.

If you are into the sleeker black style, you’re looking at some more expensive but also more premium options. The main one is 8BitDo’s Ultimate 2 controller. Amazon’s deal is on the upgraded second generation edition, but we got the chance to review the original launch model, saying its “grip feels almost identical to that on modern Xbox controllers. The bumpers and the analog triggers also feel much better than the Pro 2's, which felt a bit mushy and cheap.”

For the closest match to Nintendo’s own Pro controller, I’d recommend NYXI’s Hyperion 3. This is a fully dedicated Switch 2 controller, meaning it takes advantage of new features like the upgraded Rumble effect with things like adjustable vibration and dual back buttons.

Last but not least, leaning a little bit further into the third-party of it all, we’re seeing a $10 price cut on Kuitmor’s Sanrio controller. Yes, I included this because it's Hello Kitty and adorable, but it also has some solid reviews.

Prime Big Deals Day End Tonight

Today is the last chance for Prime members to grab deals in Amazon’s October sale. While we haven’t seen any fresh discounts on the full Switch 2 console, there are plenty more Nintendo deals in the mix, including Switch 2 games.

Gears of War: E-Day launched this week, and while it is excellent, the game was pulled away from a PS5 launch earlier this year. In a recent interview, The Coalition Studio Head Mike Crump claims that this was all part of the plan.

In an interview with the BBC, Crump defended the choice to be an Xbox exclusive, despite a likely ludicrous budget saying, "Gears has been an exclusive franchise to Xbox for 20 years now. It's sort of entwined deeply with the brand."

However, Gears of War: Reloaded did launch on PS5 last year, so the franchise as a whole isn't exactly Xbox-exclusive anymore. It's also likely that if E-Day did launch on PlayStation, it'd see higher sales numbers.

Crump claims that the metrics for success go further than that, though. He told the BBC that the series is meant to, at least in part, carry the banner for the Xbox platform and give people a "reason to be in the Xbox ecosystem." Queue Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's decision to pull the game from the PS5 release slate.

Regardless, the game will now likely have lower sales than it otherwise would have. When the BBC asked Crump about that, he insisted that the studio is taking a broader view than just looking at sales figures and retention numbers.

"We measure things like, are we showcasing the platform? Are we pushing the hardware to it limits? Are we showcasing what the Xbox is capable of? ...Our goal basically is to be the best-looking game on the Xbox and really show the industry what's possible with our hardware," he answered.

If the goal is to be a tech demo about what the Xbox consoles are capable of, I'd argue that it's a straight-up success. The game looks incredible on both the Xbox Series X and Series S, so much so that The Coalition had to rely on trickery with the Page File to get the game running smoothly on the less-powerful console. The game is also incredible, and our reviewer Ryan McCaffrey gave it a 9, saying:

"By going back to the beginning, Gears of War: E-Day returns to the heart of this series: Marcus Fenix, Dom Santiago, and a Locust horde that’s as terrifying as it is dangerous. E-Day pulls off the tightrope act of giving us a heartfelt prequel with strong characters even when we know how it ends. On a more mechanical level, it also evolves the enemies, weapons, and combat you’d expect to deliver a Gears of War campaign that stands toe-to-toe with any of the others. It wraps up with 10 years still left to go before Marcus gets tossed in prison ahead of the events of the first Gears of War, so here’s hoping the next one stays in the past for a while longer – and that we don’t have to wait another seven years for it to arrive."

But even if the game is a critical hit and a technical marvel, sales numbers will inevitably play a role in the game's success, especially as Microsoft is currently in the middle of a months-long restructuring campaign. Right after launch, developers at The Coalition told Eurogamer they were expecting layoffs. However, Crump has since addressed those concerns, saying, "For us that's about shipping a great game that people are going to love and I feel like, as a team, we've done that."

Let's just hope that a pretty game and high review scores really are enough to keep the Xbox layoff machine at bay.

When a troll blocking a bridge wants a photo of three goats, you get him a photo of three goats. Not only must you find goats to photograph, but you must perfectly position these goats – on three different ledges – to get all three in the photograph. TOEM 2 is full of these sorts of environmental puzzles that cleverly use a photo mode mechanic through the lens of your own in-game camera to define its gameplay. It is a hidden object game insomuch as you're searching for hidden objects, but it's no June's Journey, where you're searching through static images to pick out items. TOEM 2's world, like the original, is dynamic, surprising, and an absolute delight.

As the title would suggest, TOEM 2 is the follow-up to TOEM: A Photo Adventure from developer Something We Made, which was released in 2021. TOEM 2 is exceptionally similar to TOEM; the foundation remains exactly the same. You control a young lad who heads out from their quaint home to see an awe-inspiring seasonal event called the toem. Playing as that little guy, you travel from your home through three distinct towns in monochrome isometry. Bus tickets are necessary to keep moving from town to town, and those are earned through helping townsfolk. And to help these townsfolk is to take photos.

You'll take photos of all sorts of things: Hidden garden gnomes, stinky cheese, and cute little critters. Each town in TOEM 2 is a series of connected, isometric dioramas rendered in a soft, 3D style and only in shades of black and white. The townsfolk retain the flatter, more hand-drawn aesthetic from the first game, letting them stand out among the environment. Creatures skitter about, clouds linger in the sky. Along the way, an invisible man on one forest block of the town may need a potion to become visible again (he’s only visible through the camera lens). A potion maker resides several blocks away; once you stumble upon him, he’ll ask for toadstools, send you out once again. Only then you’ll be able to make your way back to the invisible man and hand over the potion. Most of TOEM 2’s objectives typically play out like this and work as a way to encourage further exploration of the world. A lot of the time, you’ll find something surprising, or silly – a cat hiding in a flower pot, perhaps – and snap a photo. It’s so curious that it probably means something, but you’ve just not figured that out yet.

Beyond taking photos, each of these towns has a little gimmick tied to the camera. In the quaint farmland town Cropten, vines are spreading, blocking entrances and pathways. One of the first townspeople you’ll meet will attach a pair of scissors to your camera. That first townsperson, in Cropten, is a little worm who's very concerned about the vines. Instead of point-and-shoot, it’s also now point-and-snip. Vines pop up every now and then, the little worm would panic, and I'd gladly take care of it for them. The two other towns, Taletorp and Deltburg, have their own respective tools and enjoyable little, ongoing storyline around using them. And you can't miss the charming townsfolk you're introduced to immediately at the start of each level; they serve to tutorialize your new tools, and become a friend to wander about with.

TOEM 2 is about four or five hours long, so its simple premise never feels like a chore. Each of the worlds are so individually delightful that I didn't want to rush through any one location. It's one of the very rare games in which I was eager to seek out everything there was to discover. There are many more puzzles to solve than there are bus tickets required to progress, and once you've collected those bus tickets, the only incentive for continuing is the sheer joy of seeking what happens. There is a scarecrow, for instance, that wants to see the world and you can snap him in-and-out of different locations: at much too high heights, near a cozy fireplace, or back with some pesky birds. It's the three hidden gnomes that I've got in the back of my mind throughout it, checking nooks and crannies to see if I can spot them. Joy, throughout TOEM 2, is hopping off objects and onto rooftops, navigating curving platforms to reach the farthest peaks just to gain a new perspective on the world.

Oddly, TOEM 2's biggest limitation is that the original TOEM is fantastic. Using a camera to engage with the world through a neat photo mode in its particular way felt exceptionally novel; TOEM 2's camera upgrades and tools don't necessarily elevate it beyond that level of uniqueness. TOEM's art is hand-drawn, in a way that feels more intimate and raw; While TOEM 2's characters retain that style, the world and its items are computer-modeled. It's still lovely and well-crafted, but it doesn't feel like an improvement or expansion on the first game.

Most prominently, though, TOEM's puzzles were a bit more engaging. TOEM 2 is very gentle, and effortlessly guides you through its photographic treasure hunt. It was breezy to play, and although that's not necessarily a bad thing, the touch of friction in the first game encouraged a deeper degree of curiosity. For instance, TOEM 2 has a quality-of-life sort of update to its camera – being able to lock the camera onto an object makes it much easier to capture photos of fast-moving objects, like a paper plane gliding in the air. It's a seemingly insignificant change that removes that stroke of friction that I wish TOEM 2 had. It wasn't exactly difficult to take photos without the focus lock, but it meant putting in some work for your perfect picture.

When answering the question of 'What does this all lead to?,' the end of TOEM 2 may seem disappointing. The toem phenomenon that the game is centered around isn't all too different from that of the first game. But TOEM 2 isn't disappointing on the whole, because it was never at all about reaching the end. Forgive me, but it really is what you've seen and discovered along the way.

One of the best super big screen TVs drops to its lowest price ever for Prime Day. Amazon is currently offering the massive 98" TCL QM8L 4K TV for $2,998.99 with free shipping. If you're an Amazon Prime cardmember, then you also get an extra 10% cashback instead of the typical 5%. This TV normally costs $6,000. If you're looking for a TV that's near 100" in size, then I would recommend this TV over any other brand or model. Yes, even over OLED.

Save 50% ($3,000) Off the New 2026 98" TCL QM8L SQD 4K TV

Extra 10% cashback for Amazon Prime members

Update: This deal is now expired.

If you're looking for a power bank that can handle the demands of the most power hungry gaming handhelds at a great price, check out this last minute Prime Day deal. Amazon is offering the Baseus 20,000mAh Power Bank with 140W of Power Delivery for just $29.99. Baseus makes great power banks and a less expensive alternative to Anker.

Prime Day Deal: Baseus 20,000mAh 140W Power Bank for $29.99

The recently announced The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Switch 2 Pro controller looks amazing, but it's $100. Instead, why not pick up the the original The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Switch Pro controller for just $69.99 at Woot. Most importantly, the original Switch Pro controller is compatible with the newer Switch 2 console.

Update: This deal sold out very quickly, however it's back in stock for the final hours of Prime Day!

The Legend of Zelda Nintendo Switch Pro Controller for $69.99

The continued success of DC's Absolute Universe proves how much hunger there is for accessible, standalone superhero universes that don't play by the old rules. Which is why we're still a little perplexed that Marvel opted to sunset the equally popular Ultimate Universe after just a few short years. But the good news is that Marvel has a brand-new line in store called the Midnight Universe, one that reimagines iconic properties like Spider-Man and the X-Men through a horror lens.

Marvel is putting plenty of weight behind the Midnight line, even going so far as to ensure that Midnight X-Men #1, Midnight Spider-Man #1, and Midnight Fantastic Four #1 are their only new comics hitting stores this week. As such, we figured the time was ripe for a review of all three first issues. Read on to see our full thoughts on these three comics and find out which of the three Midnight Universe comics is most worth your money. Because there is a clear winner here.

Midnight X-Men #1 Review

Creative Team: Jonathan Hickman & Matteo Della Fonte

This is easily the most immediately appealing of the various Midnight Universe books. Who wouldn't like to see House of X/Powers of X writer Jonathan Hickman take another crack at the X-Men franchise? The vampire-heavy Midnight X-Men doesn't immediately sink its teeth into you the way House of X did (pun intended), but the first issue stands as a respectable start.

For better or worse, Midnight X-Men #1 plays out like a fairly straightforward alternate universe story. In this world, Storm has become the vanguard of a new breed of mutant/vampire hybrid known as Empyres. Traditional vampires are at war with these Empyres, leaving humanity and mutantkind alike caught in the middle. It's all a decent enough premise, but there's just not quite the same sense of excitement or grandiosity that fueled House of X #1. This could just as easily be the start of a self-contained miniseries as the multiyear epic Hickman apparently has planned.

Still, the story works well enough. It's fun seeing familiar X-Men heroes and villains thrust into sometimes drastically different roles. Who would have ever expected to see Nightcrawler and Reverend Stryker fighting for the same cause? And it must be said that Hickman gets what makes Cyclops cool as a character more than any other writer at Marvel. The first issue's biggest success is in subverting what we expect from the traditional X-Men character dynamics.

Matteo Della Fonte's art complements the script well. It's cinematic, atmospheric, and just detailed enough to capture the horror vibe of this universe, all qualities that suit a dark and somber take on the X-Men franchise. Della Fonte's pencils and inks pair nicely with Arthur Hesli's moody colors. The one complaint to be leveled against the book visually is that there isn't a great deal of variety in the facial expressions. Characters don't emote as well as they should.

Again, Midnight X-Men #1 a fun read, just not one that meets the admittedly high expectations surrounding the series. Not yet, anyway. But there's plenty of room to grow here.

Score - 7

Midnight Spider-Man #1 Review

Creative Team: Phillip Kennedy Johnson & ScieTronc

Without burying the lede, Midnight Spider-Man #1 is far and away the biggest success story out of this initial lineup. That comes down to both the talented creative team and the fact that the book feels like the most thematically rich and coherent of the trio.

If the classic Spider-Man is defined by his mantra "With great power must also come great responsibility," this new version lives instead by a different creed - "Power makes monsters." Those words permeate the book on every level. This isn't just about giving Peter Parker's origin story a more body horror-flavored makover, though that's certainly part of the equation. Midnight Spider-Man is also an exploration of unchecked capitalism and the futility of one man trying to stand up to a monolithic corporation. It's very much a book for the current age.

Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and artist ScieTronc deliver a very satisfying and ambitious overhaul of a familiar origin story here. The central Peter/Uncle Ben dynamic gives the series all the emotional meat it requires, and recasting Peter as a social media-savvy scientist crusader is a fun touch. The best I can say for Midnight Spider-Man is that this would be a captivating reboot even without the horror elements in play.

ScieTronc quirky art style also greatly benefits the book in this first issue. It's impossible to overstate how much the Absolute Universe's manga influences have helped fuel its success, and if Marvel hopes to replicate that success here, it seems only fitting they also lean into a more Eastern brand of visual storytelling. There's a real kinetic energy to the characters and their world. There's also a palpable darkness that comes through whenever ScieTronc prioritizes the body horror, which is pretty often. It all makes for a winning combination that should appeal to fans of Peach Momoko's Ultimate X-Men in particular.

There is one bizarre panel worth calling out, though. At one point, ScieTronc opts to frame an interaction between Peter and Felicia Hardy (who herself has been given quite the intriguing overhaul) from the vantage point of Felicia's breasts. That panel is kind of interesting from a purely technical standpoint, but it's also just a plain weird storytelling choice.

That small quirk aside, this is a terrific start for the new series. Midnight Spider-Man is very much the proverbial "if you can only afford one Midnight Universe comic..."

Score - 9

Midnight Fantastic Four #1 Review

Creative Team: Benjamin Percy & Kev Walker

Midnight Fantastic Four is kind of the odd man out in the initial Midnight Universe lineup. It's obvious why Marvel would prioritize reboots of the X-Men and Spider-Man, but why make the FF the third pillar of this new line? After reading the first issue, I'm still not quite sure. It's a series with a great visual style but, but one that feels fairly hollow beneath that.

Artist Kev Walker is the main draw here. Walker has the sort of detailed but slightly distorted style that makes him a natural fit for a horror universe like this one. Midnight Fantastic Four is all about infusing Marvel's First Family with a healthy dose of Lovecraftian cosmic horror, and Walker clearly understands the assignment. His Reed Richards is suitably unhinged in appearance and demanor, and the hints we get at the horrors lurking within the Negative Zone are thrilling.

Unfortunately, apart from Reed himself, the characterization in issue #1 falls a bit flat. Benjamin Percy reinterprets Reed himself as a reckless uber-genius blind to the dangers his research poses. That in itself works pretty well, but the rest of the book's ensemble cast feels thin and underdeveloped. There's no familial bond uniting these characters, and supporting players like Victor von Doom are ushered in and out of the spotlight abruptly. It's tough to really connect with anyone apart from Reed, and that's not great for a Fantastic Four comic.

Compared to Midnight Spider-Man's masterful handling of Peter Parker and his supporting cast, Midnight Fantastic Four can't compare in the characterization department. And plot-wise, the first issue settles for teeing up the same sort of origin story we've seen many times, just with more cosmic horror in the recipe. For now, this series feels like the one with the most untapped potential.

Score - 6

For more recent IGN Comics reviews, check out our roundup of the Archie Comics reboot titles and our review of the X-Men/Fantastic Four crossover DNX #1.

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

As sure as death and taxes, Amazon’s Prime Day deal for Audible has returned in October, but it’s a little different this time.

Amazon’s audiobook service has traditionally offered a trio of book choices and three months for free, but it’s mixing things up.

The retailer is offering three months of Audible for $0.99 per month, as well as a $20 credit to let you pick some books for your collection - and that’s not all.