Starfield does tend to feel like a marmite game; you either love it or hate it.

I, personally, love it, and have sunk hundreds of hours into the game even before the recent Free Lanes content update (which has been like a breath of fresh air for my new playthrough).

The Galaxies Showcase was filled with tons of games, seven world premieres, exclusive reveals, demo drops, and so much more, including Echoes of Aincrad, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, Northgard: Battlegrounds, Kitaria Fables 2, Phasmophobia x Alan Wake 2, and much more.

There were so many wonderful-looking games during the show, and this guide has gathered them all into one place to ensure you don't miss any of them. Be sure to let us know which games are your favorites!

Echoes of Aincrad

Step into the Sword Art Online universe with Echoes of Aincrad, and upcoming action RPG where players risk their lives with every battle. Players will also quest to conquer the floating castle of Aincrad, level up their skills and choose their own playstyle, and "rise and claim your destiny or fall to foes stronger than you imagined."

Echoes of Aincrad will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on July 10, 2026.

Construction Simulator: Evolution

Step into the world of Construction with Construction Simulator: Evolution, which features Volvo equipment and other licensed partners, two new maps, manual labor, and demolition works.

Construction Simulator: Evolution will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Kitaria Fables 2

Kitaria Fables 2 is an action RPG that stars new heroes Alice and Dusty, who must embark on an adventure across the mysterious Arkadera Peninsula while also farming and crafting along the way. Develop combat skills, forge powerful items, gather rare materials, and you can even do it all with a friend!

Kitaria Fables 2 will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, and PC.

Northgard Battlegrounds

Northgard Battlegrounds is an upcoming PC city-building auto-battler that's set in the Viking world of Northgard, where "every building you place shapes your clan's fate."

Stardream

Stardream is a story-driven investigation game where you play Darlene, an ordinary taxi driver who is "unwillingly drawn into an affair that gradually shakes the balance of an apparently perfect space society and paves the way for a possible revolution."

Stardream will be released on PC and a demo is available now.

Wall World Strategy

Wall World Strategy is an upcoming colony sim game set in the Wall World universe. Build a colony on a sheer vertical surface and make decisions that will be the difference from making the wall your home or your end. Manage resources and people, develop new tech to defend against zyrex attacks, and send robo-spiders to gather important resources.

Wall World Strategy will be released on PC and a playtest is now available on Steam.

Mojo Party

Mojo Party is a fast-paced multiplayer party game where "pop culture knowledge meets friendly competition." The game is built for 1-16 players, and it aims to turn conversations we already have into interactive challenges.

Mojo Party will be available on PC, but players will be able to use their mobile devices to play.

When Sirens Fall Silent - Act 2: The Station

Watch a new trailer for When Sirens Fall Silent - Act 2: The Station, the next chapter of the dark psychological thriller set in 1990s Italy. Players become Mila, a troubled policewoman who is drawn into a high-profile case of kidnappings and murders.

When Sirens Fall Silent - Act 2: The Station will be available on PC.

Yerba Buena

Dive into the surreal 1970s in Yerba Buena and save San Francisco from a sinister threat. You'll play as Barb, and use the Oscillator to capture and reapply the physical traits of objects to solve mind-bending environmental platforming puzzles.

Yerba Buena will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on May 26, 2026. A demo is out now.

Atomic Heart DLC Blood on Crystal

Atomic Heart's fourth and final DLC is called Blood on Crystal, and it's now available. In this DLC, P-3 and the Twin must travel to the Crystal Complex to face CHAR-les in an "all-out bloody showdown against new enemies - Polymorphs - and the most insane bosses of Facility 3826.

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is available now on PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Switch 2, and you can watch a brand-new trailer to learn more about this first-person shooter that features an animated style inspired by classic 1930s cartoon.

Directive 8020

From the creators of Until Dawn and The Quarry, Directive 8020 is a new tale about our Earth dying and humanity running out of time. We must travel 12 lightyears to Tau Ceti f to survive, but when the colony ship Cassiopeia crash lands on the planet, everyone quickly discovers they aren't alone and that "death takes many forms."

Directive 8020 will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on May 12, 2026.

Hell Let Loose Vietnam

Step into a brutal war in Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, where you will play a decisive role in 50v50 player battles. If you are to emerge victorious, you'll need teamwork, tactics, and destructive weaponry, and you'll be able to play i on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Wardrum

Lead a tribal warband and time your attacks to the beat of the titular Wardrum in this tactical turn-based roguelite. Band together to stop the dark sorcery from infecting the lands.

Wardrum will be available on PC on May 7, 2026.

Bus Bound

From the creators of Bus Simulator 21, Bus Bound lets players explore a vibrant city and drive officially licensed buses. You'll also need to work to transform this city into a "pedestrian-friendly parade - one stop at a time." Bus Bound will be released on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S on April 30, 2026.

ReVamp

ReVamp is a tower-defense strategy roguelike where players will need to fortify their defenses in their castle to keep mortals from taking your throne. Become Dracula and expand your home, get upgrades, and turn the "labyrinth into a weapon."

ReVamp is coming soon to PC.

SpaceCraft

The universe is yours in SpaceCraft, an online space exploration and building game where you'll need to explore, mine and craft resources, design and build ships, automate planetary bases and interplanetary logistics, and much more.

SpaceCraft will be released in Early Access on PC on May 20, 2026.

Farever

Embark on a journey in a forgotten realm in the online co-op action RPG called Farever. Carve your own path through an expansive fantasy world when Farever launches in Early Access on PC on May 6, 2026.

Frostrail

Enter a frozen, corrupted world in Frostrail alone or with friends, and operate and upgrade a steam-powered train where every choice is a life or death one. Check out the latest gameplay trailer to learn more and sign up for a playtest on Steam right now to try it for yourself.

Hotel Architect

Become a hotel owner in Hotel Architect, a game all about designing, building, and managing grand hotels around the world. The game is currently in Early Access, but it will launch with Version 1.0 on PC on May 14, 2026.

Task Time

Task Time is a gameshow-inspired competitive party game where eight players will be able to jump into six rounds of "unpredictable tasks and physics-fueled chaos to finish top of the leaderboard."

Task Time is now available in Early Access on PC, and it's free to play for 48 hours. Oh, and a collaboration with Peak allows you to unlock Bing Bong cosmetics in game.

Huntdown: Overtime

In Huntdown: Overtime, corporations turned crime-infested streets into profit margins for bounty hunters, and you'll become John Sawyer and "make a killing." Hunt, die, upgrade, and repeat in this explosive roguelite prequel where "every strategic upgrade strips away more flesh and builds a cybernetic fighter on chrome limb at a time."

Huntdown: Overtime will be released on Steam Early Access on May 7, 2026.

33 Immortals

33 Immortals, which is currently out in Early Access and is set to launch in Summer 2026, has received a new demo. We were also treated to a gameplay trailer that shows more of the co-op action-roguelike for 33 players that see players rebelling against God's final judgment.

Rivage

Rivage takes place in the 25th century and finds humanity in a place where it needs to expand beyond its own solar system. When we discover Vesta as a potential new home, we send the A.R.E.S space station into orbit to see if it will be a good fit. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes and players will need to find a way to make things right in this sci-fi puzzle adventure game.

Rivage will be released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, and a demo is available now on PC.

World of Tanks: HEAT

World of Tanks: HEAT is the first-ever hero-driven tank action game, meaning you'll need to choose an agent, customize a tank, and dominate the battlefield.

A beta for World of Tanks: HEAT is now available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Sovereign Tower

Become the Sovereign of a magical tower in the story-rich, Round Table management RPG known as Sovereign Tower. Recruit knights, assign quests, and balance egos while keeping your kingdom's destiny in mind. Don't worry, if things go wrong yo ucould always turn back time and try to rewrite fate again and again.

Sovereign Tower will be available on PC in August 2026, and a demo is available now.

Scramble Knights Royale

Scramble Knights Royale is a top-down co-op adventure battle royale where players will need to slay monsters, complete quests, and conquer dungeons while competing against up to 31 other players. Be the last knight standing when Scramble Knights Royale is released on PC and Xbox in 2026. A Beta is out now on Steam.

Second Stone: The Legend of the Hidden World

Second Stone: The Legend of the Hidden World is a story-driven adventure game that fuses platforming with fast-paced RPG combat. You'll need to jump between two world as Shiren, a young treasure hunter from Arimaya Village who is looking for the secret behind the dark hidden world.

Second Stone: The Legend of the Hidden World will be available on PC.

Casual Loop

Casual Loop is an upcoming game that blends mind-bending mechanics with a rich sci-fi story about time, consequence, and survival. Players will need to solve puzzles using the game's 'Echo' mechanic that lets them record, replay, and interact with up to three versions of your past self.

Casual Loop will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on April 23, 2026.

'83

'83 is a 40v40 squad based, objective focused online tactical first person shooter set in a Cold-War-Gone-Hot scenario, and it's going to be available via PC Early Access on April 23, 2026.

Forever Skies

Forever Skies is a first-person survival game set on a post-apocalyptic, ecologically ruined Earth, and you'll have to survive by yourself or with up to three friends to find a cure to save humanity. Build, upgrade, fly, scavenge, craft, and more in Forever, which will be on Xbox Series X/S in Summer 2026 alongside the Final Echoes Update.

Forever Skies is currently on PS5 and PC.

The Merlies

The Merlies follows a tiny bird community that's trying to find harmony in a world where the remains of an ancient civilization still looms large. Build your village amidst the ruins in this cute, post-apocalyptic adventure when The Merlies arrives on PC and Mac in 2026. A demo is out now on Steam.

Witchspire

Witchspire is a survival-crafting adventure game in a "world brimming with magic and peril." You'll need to befriend and battle creatures, conjure up a sanctuary alongside other witches in co-op or single-player, and much more.

Witchspire will be released on PC Early Access on June 10, 2026.

Akatori

Explore diverse realms across different eras in Akatori, a 2D metroidvania where you'll need to help Mako stop the Amber Storms that poison all living things. Akatori will be available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch.

Old School Runescape - Leagues VI: Demonic Pacts

Leagues VI: Demonic Pacts is a limited-time game mode for Old School Runescape and it's a faster-paced variant of the original where everyone has a brand-new character. There are also a new "demonic pacts" skill tree, boosted XP rates, new mechanics, unique drops, and more.

Old School Runescape is available on PC and mobile, and the Leagues VI: Demonic Pacts mode is available now.

Lysward

Lysward is a single-player survival adventure set in a vast and unforgiving desert on the planet of Umbra. To survive, you'll need to explore, craft, team up with a companion, and use Amri magic to survive the heat.

Lysward will be released on PC and you can play a demo right now.

The Caribou Trail

The Caribou Trail is a game about WWI that doesn't want you to kill, but simply survive. The story follows three soldiers who learn the harsh realities of war through reckless missions, digging trenches, collecting dog tags and ghostly whispers in the dark, and more.

The Caribou Trail will be released on PC and PS5 on May 14, 2026.

Swan Song

Swan Song is a cozy puzzle game that really wants you to slow down, listen, and reflect. The game is set inside a magical music box and you'll be tasked with placing notes on a musical scale. When you turn a key, the composition will play and that will activate platforms and paths that guide a small swan to safety.

Swan Song will be available on PC on June 4, 2026, and a demo is out now.

Glasshouse

Glasshouse is a feudalpunk CRPG with turn-based combat that is set in a lockdown apartment block at the dawn of a World War. As if that wasn't enough, you'll need to investigate a triple murder that took place next door, fight the Political Conspiracy, and even make terrible choices before your flatmates make them for you.

Glasshouse will be released on PC.

The Backworld

Jump between reality and explore a world where "danger awaits at every turn" in The Backworld. You'll need to collect strange items, unlock new abilities, and recruit companions when The Backworld launches later on PC. If you are curious, a demo is out now on Steam.

A Study in Blue

Become a private detective named Kenneth and a runaway searching for answers named Blue in A Study Blue, a game where you'll have to explore a semi-open world, solve cases, make moral choices, and much more. A Study Blue will be available on PC in the future and a demo is out now on Steam.

Delivery Must Complete

Delivery Must Complete is described as a high-speed acelike roguelike with ssstyle, and you can see why in the trailer above. Engage in thrilling dogfights in procedural locations and battle with aircraft, blimps, dragons, and mechs.

Delivery Must Complete will be available on PC.

Dawn of Defense

Build up your war economy in Dawn of Defense, an upcoming RTS-tower defense roguelite where you'll have to defend against endless waves of foes and lead counterattacks to gain ground, secure resources, and expand.

Dawn of Defense will be available on PC, and a demo is out now on Steam.

EchoBreaker

Echobreaker requires lightning-fast precision and high-level speedrunning skills, as it casts you as a pilot in an armored wig that can manipulate time itself.

Echobreaker will be released on PC in 2026.

Pecking Order

Pecking Order is a chaotic multiplayer game where "worms flee, birds hunt, and getting eaten flips you to the other side mid-match." The games are set up for up to 16 players, and you'll need to be smart to survive to the top of the food chain.

Pecking Order will be available on PC, and a Steam Playtest will run from May 1 to May 3.

Prime Monster

Prime Monster is a political roguelike card-battler where "you fight for votes in a government of literal monsters." There will be turn-based debates, card-driven encounters where you'll have to manage scandals and build influence, and much more.

Prime Monster will be released on PC on May 4, 2026.

Silent Road

Drive through Japan's most haunted forests in Silent Road, a game where you become a night-shift taxi driver. Pick up strange passengers, fulfill their unsettling requests, and see how dark this road can get.

Silent Road will be released on PC.

Name of the Will

In Name of the Will, players are trapped in HOPE, a masked cult where "pain is salvation." This hand-drawn daylight horror narrative adventure game from Zeitgeist studio will be available on PC, Mac, and Linux, and a demo is out now on Steam.

Sucker for Love: Crush Landing

Sucker for Love: Crush Landing aims to "put the 'love' in 'Lovecraftian horror!'" This horror-comedy visual novel follows what happens when a comet named Hheily crashed into your apartment and draws you into an interplanetary conflict between light and dark.

Sucker for Love: Crush Landing will be available on PC.

Phasmophobia x Alan Wake 2

Phasmophobia is crossing over with Alan Wake 2 and the free event will begin on May 12, 2026.

We're in the home stretch leading up the next expansion for the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, and as is tradition, director and producer Naoki Yoshida detailed everything in the next wave of content during a Live Letter from the Producer stream. FFXIV Patch 7.5, called Trail to the Heavens, goes live on April 28 and is the first part of a two-part story update series before the upcoming expansion. And as usual, it includes a new dungeon and trial boss fight for the main scenario quest, and a ton of updates to side content shown in a hard-hitting trailer for Patch 7.5 itself.

Here, I'll break down all the important details from the Live Letter to make sure you're ready for FFXIV Patch 7.5, where you're in it for the Beastmaster Job updates, the Crystalline Conflict PVP content, or the next Alliance Raid, or all of it!

FFXIV 7.5 New MSQ Details and Dungeon

While this is closing out the Dawntrail patch series, 7.5 seems to be deeply rooted in story threads from Endwalker. The next dungeon, called The Clyteum, takes us and the Scions back to the snowy ruins and abandoned factories of Garlemald, and the Garlean character Jullus seemingly plays an important role in this stretch. MSQ will also take us back to the moon, Mare Lamentorum, as the new baddie Halmarut and her stuffed toy with Calyx's soul drags the Scions there.

Yoshida mentioned that lore enthusiasts will have a lot to pick apart from The Clyteum as the dungeon is designed to show remnants of Garlemald before its destruction. The new trial boss, Enuo, and while its place in the story isn't clear, Yoshida said it's going to be more difficult and fast-paced, but with fewer environmental gimmicks compared to Patch 7.4's Doom Train fight. You can see moving AoE attacks and pathing mechanics in the fight, but more surprising is seeing Zero and Golbez involved as hinted in the trailer, calling back to Endwalker's patch series.

Although the story arc will close out with part two in Patch 7.55 in early September, Patch 7.5's MSQ will be the typical length as other patches in the past.

Echoes of Vana'diel Alliance Raid Preview – Windurst: The Third Walk

Closing out the 24-player Alliance Raid series for the Dawntrail patch series, Windurst: The Third Walk goes further in this Final Fantasy XI crossover. Yoshida jokingly likens this to an HD remastered version of FFXI as it pulls directly from the old MMORPG. This new instance has a few new gimmicks and mechanics as seen in the opening boss fight against Shantotto, who's a Tarutaru Black Mage from FFXI, but much bigger this time. Those who play Black Mage will notice Shantotto using the Job's abilities in raid form and manipulating the arena's platform.

This will close out the Echoes of Vana'dield raid series and conclude the story of guest characters Alxaal and Prishe. We also got a look at the new gear set you can earn for all Jobs from Windurst: The Third Walk.

New Crystalline Conflict PvP Map – Archeia Harmonias

PvP players can get ready for the new map for the payload-pushing mode Crystalline Conflict – Archeia Harmonias takes place in a library and Yoshida mentioned that the team has worked its map design, tinkering with lines of sight and spaces where fights tend to happen. It also has unique on-map mechanics, such as:

• Healing glyphs are in front of each spawn point and will reduce damage by 50% and heal over time when standing on it.
• Aetherometers are checkpoints at the halfway point between the map's center and teams' spawn points, and the payload will stop at the aetherometer. The team advancing the payload standing in its proximity will charge the aetherometer, and the payload will move again once it reaches 100%. This number will reset if the advancing team leaves the payload's proximity or if an opponent enters the proximity. After fully charged, it'll create a bridge and a jump glyph for players to advance. Yoshida showcased how the meter fills fast to keep up the match's pace.
• Jump glyphs act as shortcuts for teams that activate it and will be at teams' spawn points to help them get back into action. These will remain for the rest of the match.

Beastmaster (BST) Limited Job Coming to FFXIV 7.5

Let me preface this by saying that Beastmaster looks like a very complex Job. It's the next Special Job in the vein as Blue Mage. It can only be used in specific instances and has its own unique mechanics, progression, and quests. It's categorized as a Melee DPS starting at level 1 and with a level cap at 50. You need to have a normal Job at level 50 or higher, completed A Realm Reborn through 2.0, and Dawntrail registered on your account in order to access Beastmaster.

The core concept of the Beastmaster is to capture monsters in the open zones and summon them into battle; there will be a total of 50 capturable beasts, which will go into the Master's Bestiary. You can choose to summon one of three beasts during combat and use their abilities in fights, the types of beasts you have active will change your tactics and the Instinct system dictates what you can do alongside them.

Beastmasters can progress through what's called Crucible of the Unbroken, which is single-player content akin to Job quests, which hasn't been seen in FFXIV before. Some monsters are capturable in party-based content like Alliance Raids, but there will be ways to get all 50 as a solo player. Yoshida showcased the Job in action during the stream, so check out the FFXIV 7.5 Live Letter if you want to see Beastmaster gameplay.

How Beastmaster Works in FFXIV 7.5

You have specific actions for capturing beasts – Gauge to see if you can even capture it, Weaken to attack it and bring its HP down, and Catch to finish the process (you'll still need to defeat the enemy). It'll be added to the Master's Bestiary with lore details in the log.

You have three Battlehorns to assign beasts to from the bestiary and set on your hotbar. While you can only have one active at a time, you'll be able to swap between these three during battle. Once it executes its Finisher action, the beast will go on cooldown and allow you to summon another beast on your battlehorn.

Beasts have four different actions – Finisher to end the rotation with a powerful AoE attack and send it back on cooldown, Trick which is a unique utility skill depending on the beast, Tempered Release for another unique attack, and Nature's Gift to draw power from the beast for the player's own attack. All beasts' specific skills will be laid out in the bestiary.

Beastmasters will manage two different meters, one for the player themself and one for the beasts, and when they both reach 100 or higher, you can execute an Instinctual tandem attack. The more meter you accumulate past 100, the stronger the attack. Instinctual skills will set up Instinctual combos, which is what you'll build towards in a rotation – there are four elemental affinities you can attain from Instinctual attacks to create the combo. At higher levels, you will have more actions that will speed up the accumulation of affinities to trigger combos faster.

Additionally, combining two affinities will open Light or Dark effects, as seen on the Beastmaster's Job gauge, and you'll have a brief window to use them before the effect wears off. These are the basics of the Job and I'll be looking deeper into the mechanics as more information comes out.

Other Gameplay Updates in FFXIV Patch 7.5

Many of the system-level changes coming to Patch 7.5 are for convenience such as consolidating dyes and making glamour outfits easier, which were made simple for A Realm Reborn in 2013, but FFXIV outgrew a lot of those UI elements. Here are the notable changes:

• Duty Support system comes to The Dusk Vigil and Shisui of the Violent Tides dungeons.
• Lots of gear will now be storable in the Armoire.
• Dyes will be consolidated to color groups to save inventory space; current dyes will not be functional once Patch 7.5 goes live and can be exchanged for the new dyes.
• Updates to the Housing system include increased limits for indoor and outdoor furnishing, new interior fixture designs, and an option to adjust the number of character models rendered within housing.
• Sightseeing Log's log message will display the emote required to complete it and if specific time and weather conditions haven't been met, if required.
• Outfit Glamour update includes gear from FFXIV 3.0 onward being able to be stored as outfit glamour, and individual gear pieces can be removed from outfit glamour.
• Crafting is being made more convenient – players can now change Jobs, use food and potions, move items in their inventory, and join/leave parties and use linkshells while on standby with the crafting log open.
• Chocobo companions have new animations associated with companion rank and they will now react to the Pet and Poke emotes.

This story is developing.

Daredevil actor Charlie Cox has finally played Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, having previously admitted to feeling like a "total fraud" whenever fans brought up his appearance in the game.

For Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the Marvel star only provided the voice of Gustave rather than full performance capture for the character, which meant his time actually spent recording for the project was minimal, while motion capture was separately filmed by another actor.

In June last year, Cox said he felt like a "total fraud" anytime someone gushed to him about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and admitted he had recorded all of his lines in around four hours.

The following month, Cox was asked about Clair Obscur again and admitted he was still to play it, and needed to buy a new games console first. "I remember being in the studio and thinking, 'This is beautiful, the visuals are extraordinary,'" Cox said. "They've come a long way since Mario 64, which is probably the last computer game I played."

Then, in November, Cox said that any awards he might win for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 should really be given to his character's French motion capture artist instead. "Yes, I'm thrilled for this nomination," Cox acknowledged. "I've said this before and I think it's important to say: there's an amazing French actor, by the name of Maxence Cazorla, who did almost all of the motion capture for that role in that game.

"So any nomination or credit I get, I really have to give to him — I believe that the performance of that character is really down to him, and my voice was just part of that process." Cox had been nominated for Best Performance at The Game Awards 2025 for his role in Clair Obscur. The award went to fellow Clair Obscur co-star, Jennifer English.

Now, speaking to GamesRadar+, Cox has provided another update, saying he’s finally given Clair Obscur a try.

"I've since played a bit of it,” he said. “Not the whole thing, I haven't completed it." Then: "I've played the opening bit for a while and kind of walked around and met the people and garnered the information and all that kind of stuff. Not very well."

"I'm not very good, because obviously, it's a skill set, but I've played it,” he continued.

Last month, it emerged that Cox was working on a new video game project. Speaking to YouTube channel Agents of Fandom, Cox said his Clair Obscur role — his first in the realm of video games — had "opened a new avenue for my professional work" and inspired him to take on another video game project this year, one that he was "much more involved" in.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Finding a great deal on a PlayStation 5 has become significantly harder since Sony's brutal price hikes just a few weeks back. Yet, quite bizarrely, the price changes have also inadvertently turned a Ghost of Yotei PS5 bundle into a surprisingly strong offering for late adopters of the console.

In some ways, Samson reminds me a little of 2025’s MindsEye. That is, like MindsEye, it’s regularly gorgeous, has some neat vehicles, and is intentionally narrower and far less GTA-adjacent in scope than it may look like at first blush. However, also like MindsEye, Samson is pretty bad. With extremely janky combat, predictable car chases, and a small pool of constantly repeating missions, this open-world driving-brawler hybrid became a dull and annoying slog long before I reached the end of my 12-hour stint with it. Worse, even though I’ve cleared the mammoth $100,000 debt that drives Samson’s daily grind of crime, a game-breaking bug has left me soft-locked out of actually finishing the main missions and rolling credits. It’s as if this game doesn’t want me to finish it properly any more than I do.

Samson’s setup is simple: you are ex-con Samson McCray, who’s recently returned to his neighbourhood of Tyndalston. It’s the 1990s, but disappointingly the choice of time period has virtually no impact besides forcing McCray to use payphones. There’s certainly no ’90s music on the car radios. In fact, there’s no car radio at all, so there isn’t even anywhere players could potentially mod or dump their own.

McCray has a $100,000 debt being held over his head by an out-of-town crew using his sister as leverage, and must make daily payments to keep them both alive in the long-term. Parallel to this, there are 14 story missions involving some criminal rivals of McCray and his Tyndalston pals, of which Samson served me up seven before getting gummed up by some kind of bug that has prevented me from seeing the rest.

There’s a finite amount of jobs you can take on per day, and the sense of urgency and pressure this places on your actions is quite compelling for a brief time. Before I grew weary with the general sloppiness of the brawling, the bugs, and the overall repetitiveness of the missions themselves, chipping away at the huge sum was an admittedly compulsive loop.

Each day is broken up into three sections – afternoon, evening, and night – and you initially have six action points to devote to taking on missions that cost two or three apiece. You must complete jobs to scrape together enough cash to service your debt every single day, and if you come up short you’ll be greeted by hired goons paid to pound it out of you the next morning.

Damn, Son

Allow me to note that I’m well aware Samson is not exactly a big budget game and, on the Venn diagram of open-world action-driving games that operate on the fringe of Grand Theft Auto’s turf, there admittedly isn’t exactly a ton of crossover. At its core, Samson is really a straightforward open-world brawler with a basic driving component, and that’s it. However, its narrow scope isn’t its problem; the problem is how drastically unfinished and unrefined it all is.

Make no mistake: Samson is regularly very good-looking. From the way the midday sun pierces into McCray’s crumbling apartment, to the wafting steam emanating from manholes on the rain-slick streets, Samson’s visuals have truly been wonderfully realised. Tyndalston itself is also a genuinely fascinating place to inspect, thanks to its remarkable level of detail. The world is better described as more of a single neighbourhood rather than a city on account of its small size, with the main part of town just a few blocks wide and flanked by two waterside industrial zones – plus there’s a thin strip of freeway across a river accessible via several bridges. However, keeping it small has clearly allowed developer Liquid Swords to dress it with layers upon layers of credible urban grime. From the piles of garbage and stripped-down cars to the splashes of unique graffiti and hastily scrawled slogans, Tyndalston feels lived-in in a way that not all open-world games manage.

Unfortunately, Samson’s admirable aesthetics can’t counteract the shonkiness of its combat, the dullness of its driving, or the dreariness of having to do the same missions over and over for no measurable payoff.

Samson’s strictly hand-to-hand brawling is clunky and graceless – and there’s no firearm combat at all, which begs the question of whether this whole game might have been better off set in a different country altogether. Cops will occasionally fire on McCray, but they often forget they’re armed. At one point I killed a man surrounded by police in the forecourt of a precinct, and not one of them thought to pull a pistol. Enemies appear to have very little environmental awareness, struggling with tight spaces and doorways, and getting hung up on props and clipping through parts of the world. Sometimes they just ignore your presence altogether.

With no lock-on available, fights typically devolve into spamming McCray’s light attack button and swinging the camera around as you swipe at the air trying to connect with opponents. There’s also a slow and highly telegraphed heavy attack that lands with a pleasing-enough meaty crunch, but it’s not something you can use much when surrounded by enemies.

Combat isn’t particularly responsive, either. For instance, staggered opponents will have a prompt appear above them for a finishing move – but getting this to trigger feels inconsistent. I often found myself simply spamming the button with no result, before subsequently giving up and windmilling another salvo of punches out ahead of McCray until his fists find some face flesh by accident.

Extracting him from combat is even more frustrating. Mashing the dodge button is effective enough, but his ability to actually sprint away is seemingly blocked when being swarmed by thugs – that means trying to turn and slowly jog in the opposite direction will just get you punched in the back of the head a bunch.

Some fights can be avoided by staying in your car, but there’s a limit to what you can achieve behind the wheel. A bit of this is the result of Samson’s habit of having invisible enemies drag McCray out of his vehicle and toss him several storeys into the air – just far enough away that you’ll automatically fail the mission. This may well be a trade off for all the times enemies will go through the animation of yanking him out of his car without actually doing so, leaving you able to continue driving.

More annoying, however, is how enemies generally have a supernatural ability to simply skate out of the way of your speeding vehicle – like animals and pedestrians in licensed racing games that aren’t permitted to let you run down living beings. Unless the environment prevents it, your car will often just push enemies out of danger like identical poles of a magnet. This is not only annoying, but it looks awful and unfinished, particularly when trying to mow down large groups. For some reason, however, enemies are completely oblivious to reversing cars – so if you back towards baddies, they’ll simply run mindlessly toward your rear bumper until you smear them onto the asphalt.

Magnum Bogus

Unfortunately, the driving pillar of Samson’s action isn’t any sturdier. There are a smattering of driving-specific missions – including checkpoint races, deliveries, takedowns, and getaways – but none of them are especially enjoyable.

Getaways are probably the most disappointing, since the wanted system transparently cheats to get a fix on you. Even when you’ve broken line of sight, if you stop, police will continue to make all the correct turns to get you. Failing that, Samson will simply spawn in a new police cruiser out of nowhere directly behind you. Think you’re safe tucked away down an alley, far from the initial pursuit? So did I, until a police car blinked into existence metres away and slammed straight into me – seconds before the cooldown timer had finished.

Takedowns are disappointing, too. Despite Samson’s trailers hinting at the prospect of thrilling crashes as enemy cars wipe out and tumble alongside you, this doesn’t really happen much. What we typically get is rival vehicles bumbling around town on predefined routes. You’ll know when a T-bone is on the cards because, after a few takedown missions, you’ll know exactly where your targets are going to turn. Watching your rivals doing the same laps of the neighbourhood makes for very formulaic chases.

Occasionally they’ll get hung up for no apparent reason and refuse to proceed, giving you an easy target to smash into. However, sometimes that takes too long and the moment you wreck that car, the other vehicles are too far away and you’ll instantly fail. Other times your own car won’t survive long enough, meaning you’ll have to hoof it to the closest parked one – Samson bafflingly doesn’t let you carjack vehicles with drivers in them already. If you’re lucky, there’ll be one close by. If you’re not, you’ll be running for a while.

Takedown missions often end the millisecond you cause enough damage to your final target. At that point, the action will freeze to congratulate you on your success, but the moment play resumes the target car will disappear off the face of the planet. Sometimes all the cars in the area will disappear.

Much like the 2015 Mad Max game’s Magnum Opus, there’s an overt attempt in Samson to have players become attached to McCray’s personal vehicle. It’s perhaps not a coincidence considering there’s a good deal of talent at Liquid Swords who formerly worked at Mad Max developer Avalanche and, as a total car dork, it’s something I fundamentally understand.

In practice, however, it just doesn’t work. The cost of repairing McCray’s car is roughly as much as a typical mission will pay out, so the requirement to constantly do so in order to keep using it is too big a burden – and an unnecessary one at that. I quickly pivoted to using stolen cars to complete missions. Aside from mild variations, excluding McCray’s one-of-a-kind muscle car, I think there are only about four different traffic cars in Samson. That’s really very low for the genre, however (with the exception of a few checkpoint races with particularly unforgiving time limits that I quickly learned to avoid), I eventually found I could reliably complete missions in any one of them.

I took down the same street racer on several occasions in an old Ford Econoline-style van, and at one point I disabled a whole four-car convoy in a boxy old off-brand Chevy Caprice. The ’90s European and Crown Vic-inspired sedans don’t feel appreciably slower than McCray’s car, and I completed plenty of checkpoint races in them. I see what Liquid Swords was trying to do, but it pushed me away from McCray’s car rather than increasing my desire to nurture it.

Tyndals-done

There’s a whole XP system with perks and upgrades, but none of them feel meaningful. They largely just increase attributes like health and power and such, which means little when enemies get similarly stronger alongside you.

Reaching the end of my loan repayments only took me halfway through the XP levels, so I can’t really say if you’ll eventually outpace your enemies if you level up all the way. That said, there’s simply no good case to keep playing Samson after hitting that point. Clearing the debt got me a giddy phone call from McCray’s sister, Oonagh, and… that’s it. From that point on it’s noted McCray can keep what he earns, but there’s no purpose to have cash on hand other than to afford car repairs – and I have no desire to keep playing the same recycled missions I’ve already completed three or four times each.

If you want an open-world brawler with a little drama baked around it, play Sleeping Dogs, where the hand-to-hand combat drastically outclasses Samson in every way. If you want satisfying car chases in hefty American land yachts, play Driver: San Francisco. If you want an open-world action driving game designed to foster a relationship with a single vehicle (that simultaneously showcases the best of what a core part of the Liquid Swords team is capable of), play Mad Max. And if you want an open-world crime epic that actually feels like it's set in the ’90s, just dust off a copy of GTA: San Andreas.

Developer 3DClouds has announced it has partnered with the FIA Formula E World Championship for a fully licensed expansion for its 2025 racer Formula Legends.

The Formula E: Electric Evolution expansion will arrive on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms on April 30, 2026, with Nintendo platforms arriving at an unspecified later date. The expansion will feature all the manufacturers, drivers, and teams, plus six real-world tracks from the official Formula E series (Berlin, Tokyo, London, São Paulo, Miami, and Shanghai).

In sync with Formula Legends’ established approach to its representation of racing over multiple eras, it will also feature GEN1, GEN2, and GEN3 cars.

“To have a series as prestigious and entertaining as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in our racing game Formula Legends is truly extraordinary,” said 3DClouds CEO Francesco Bruschi in a statement provided alongside the announcement. “Formula E has been a fantastic partner for us and incorporating drivers, teams, tracks, cars, branding from this series and even its iconic theme has been a joy from start to finish. We hope players will enjoy our efforts bringing this unique motorsport series to life in our game.”

IGN’s review of Formula Legends called it an “earnest and consistently charming unlicensed homage to seven decades of F1 racing that’s one part Art of Rally and one part Micro Machines.”

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

Apparently the settlement that would become the city of San Francisco was once called Yerba Buena, which is where this quirky physics platformer got its name. Set in an alternate reality 1970’s version of the City by the Bay, my 90-minute demo had me rushing to rescue a friend, discovering the first seeds of a government conspiracy, and scratching my head over a lot of the writing decisions.

On the plus side, the art in Yerba Buena is quite charming. It reminds me a bit of some of Telltale's older games, like it was torn out of the pages of a graphic novel. The characters are richly designed with clothing and hairstyles that ground everything in the ‘70s. The colorful streets capture an almost mythological ideal of SF, a city I lived in for years and still feel very fondly about. And the jaunty soundtrack is fun, too. The writing doesn't exactly complete the illusion, though.

The main character is Barb, an out-of-work Midwest transplant who’s likeable enough. But nothing in Yerba Buena's plot seems to flow naturally from what came before it. There are simply fixed moments it wants to get to and it will make any excuse to jump from where we are to where it wants to be, even if it requires bizarre leaps of logic or characters coming to really weird conclusions. The whole tension of the first section hinges on the fact that the SFPD have decided the life of one of Barb's friends who was taken hostage by bikers isn't important, and they're going to storm the building to get the perp even if it means sacrificing a civilian.

Look, I've had my fair share of negative interactions with the police, but no hostage negotiation I've ever heard of amounted to, "Tough luck, he shouldn't have been taken hostage!" This leads Barb to have to mount a one-woman vigilante rescue mission involving time travel and physics puzzles. And that's where we get into the main gameplay mechanic: The Oscillator.

In essence, Yerba Buena seems like it kind of wants to be Portal. The Oscillator is a technomagical device that allows you, at first, to copy the movement of one object and apply it to another. There are some genuinely cool applications for this. You can copy a speeding car and then apply it to an entire apartment, causing it to fly across the street with you in it and let you access the rooftops the next block over. Later, it gains the ability to "copy" any vapor and then apply that property to a solid object to allow you or other objects to pass through it.

It's a neat idea, even if there are only two areas to mess around with The Oscillator in the demo aside from a brief training course: a San Francisco city block and a psychedelic amusement park that exists in some kind of pocket dimension? Again, the story is pretty difficult to parse. I found a mix of clever puzzles with a few that I'm not sure were super well thought-out. But the potential of these mechanics at least has me curious to see what else the full game might pull off. I suppose the writing does as well, but in more of an, “unable to look away from a train wreck” sort of way. There's a very, "I went to San Francisco for GDC a couple times and decided I wanted to set a game here" feeling to how German studio Mad About Pandas depicts everything. It's the ‘70s, but there's a major plot point about a tech mogul wanting to ruin a local park by building a giant TV antenna, which seems like it's struggling to take more recent problems and transport them back in time to the chosen era.It gets even weirder when you find out the fugitives who kidnapped your friend were apparently – and I'm not making any of this up – a special biker gang unit in the Vietnam War who were experimented on to give them superpowers like the Avengers or something. You reveal this by discovering a certificate of Court Martial – that looks like an award you would get in school and hang on the wall – with the name of the gang filled in on a blank line. The tone is kind of light-hearted, but this isn't played for laughs. It's not a comedy game. At least, I don't think it's supposed to be?In addition to this, the leader of the gang, Bear, seems to be able to reload a save any time he dies. Literally. You see a menu pop up over his dead body while he selects the option to reset time to an earlier point. Seemingly all of the characters are aware that this is happening, including the ones who aren't in the gang! But they handwave it away as a trivial oddity just like they do everything else, because no one in this universe follows logic resembling our Earth logic.

Its endearing visual style and relatable main character weren't quite enough to get me excited to play more Yerba Buena given the confusing plot and dismal quality of the writing. The puzzle possibilities of The Oscillator might, though. Especially if we haven't seen all of the tricks it can do yet. You'll be able to see it for yourself on May 26 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Leana Hafer is a contributing freelancer for IGN with a specialty in RPGs, strategy, horror, and survival games. She has been reviewing video games professionally since 2010 and is one of IGN's most prolific contributors, with more than 100 reviews published. You can also find her work on sites like PC Gamer and PCGamesN.

In March, Ubisoft released the first piece of concept art for Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, confirming the existence of the remake of the beloved pirate installment of the series, and today we have a release date, July 9. The date was reported by Insider Gaming but hasn't been confirmed by Ubisoft as yet.

In a (now deleted) March blog post from Ubisoft's Jean Guesdon, Head of Content did hint at the rumors of the remake. "Speculation around Assassin's Creed is not new, but it's worth repeating: "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted." Well, except in this case, some whispers have a little more wind in their sails. Keep your spyglass on the horizon. 🦜"

The project's official name, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, was seen in December, when it popped up via a European PEGI ratings board listing. That sighting followed a few hints from the original game's lead actor.

"Players can be excited about some remakes,” Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said in June 2024, “which will allow us to revisit some of the games we've created in the past and modernize them; there are worlds in some of our older Assassin's Creed games that are still extremely rich.”

Rachel Weber is the Head of Editorial Development at IGN and an elder millennial. She's been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, Red Dead Redemption 2, and her Love and Deepspace boyfriends.

If you are new to Disney Lorcana, are looking to learn more and build your collection, or simply want one of the coolest cards I've seen yet from the trading card game, I strongly recommend this Disney Lorcana TCG: Collection Starter Set - Stitch Edition after getting my hands on it earlier this month.

This Stitch-themed starter set is part of the larger Winterspell expansion that was recently released, and it comes complete with a Stitch - Rock Star card portfolio, four Winterspell booster packs, a very handy collector's guide, and a "Glimmer Foil" Stitch - Carefree Snowboarder Promo Card.

I want to start with the card because it is GORGEOUS. Not only does it feature some amazing art from Federico Maria Cugliari of Stitch having the time of his life snowboarding, but it is all gold and shimmers with the colors of the rainbow in the proper light.

It has become a new showpiece in my collection, and it really stands out from the other cards in a way that makes it feel special and rare. It's also just a great decision by the Lorcana team as Stitch is more popular than ever these days with his box-office smash hit live-action film and a sequel on the way.

The Stitch card also looks great in the Stitch - Rock Star card portfolio, which can hold up to 80 cards and keeps them safe and secure.

Speaking of the cards, the set comes with four Winterspell booster packs. I didn't have the greatest luck, but I did manage to snag a Legendary Tod - Knows All the Tricks from The Fox and the Hound and a Rare 'Do You Want to Build a Snowman?,' which we were able to exclusively reveal prior to the launch of Winterspell.

All in all, the four booster packs contained 48 cards, 25 of which were common (52.08%). 14 were Uncommon (29.16%), eight were Rare (16.66%), one was Legendary (2.08%), and four of them were Holo cards (8.33%).

In addition to everything else, this starter set includes a small Collector's Guide. Sure, you could find all this info online, but it's nice to have this small card-sized booklet that breaks down what you need to know about Disney Lorcana.

This guide helps you understand each part of a card, how to build your collection and keep it safe, what the rarity levels are, how you can see all your cards in a digital library, and more.

Overall, I highly recommend this Starter Set. At a $30 MSRP, it's roughly $5-$6 more than buying a booster pack on its own. That means, instead of one more pack, you can guarantee a really great Stitch card, a card portfolio to match, and a bit of info on how to become a better player/collector.

There is so much more planned for Lorcana this year, including the upcoming Wilds Unknown set that will introduce Pixar, Toy Story, and The Incredibles into the TCG for the first time ever.

For more, check out our impressions of Winterspell's Illuminier's Trove, the top chase cards for Winterspell and Fabled and what else to expect from Lorcana in 2026.

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.

Publisher Deep Silver and developer 4A Games have brought a light up to Metro 2039 as part of an Xbox First showcase, revealing a first look at gameplay and a winter 2026 release window.

Where 2019’s Metro Exodus saw protagonist Artyom leave his life underground behind, the next game in the first-person survival shooter series features a new lead called The Stranger as they dig deeper into the Moscow Metro. These details and more were revealed during the 15-minute presentation, as Microsoft teamed up with the studio to show players a new, story-driven single-player entry for the franchise in seven years.

During the Xbox First Look, the debut trailer for Metro 2039 was revealed, which features our new main character as they endure a psychological battle in a radioactive wasteland. As chains wrap around them and pull them into darkness, we see them encountering supernatural elements that include a nuclear explosion, creepy ghost children, and the return of the Dark Ones.

The Metro video game franchise is based on a series of books written by Dmitry Glukhovsky and encompasses Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light, Metro Exodus, a VR spinoff titled Metro Awakening, and, soon, Metro 2039. After more than 16 years in gamers’ hands, 4A is looking to keep the radioactive tunnels of its post-apocalyptic world looking grittier than ever thanks to the use of its 4A Engine.

“Metro 2039 takes you to the dark heart of the Moscow Metro, where the last survivors of the nuclear apocalypse struggle to exist in the tunnels and subways of the ruined city,” co-creative director and lead audio designer Pavel Ulmer said regarding the game’s story. “Hope is lost. The future looks bleak, if there is one.”

Creative director Andriy ‘mLs’ Shevchenko shared more about the plot: “The underground factions and station communities have all been united under one banner, the Novoreich, led by a new Führer, the legendary Spartan, Hunter. Führer promises a new life for the people, up on the surface. In reality, they are trapped down in the Metro, flooded with propaganda, misinformation, and fear. The people suffer under his authoritarian regime and the brutal belief if it’s hostile, you kill it.”

The story of Metro 2039 is said to feature a “much darker tone this time around,” with the Xbox First Look stream putting a spotlight on 4A and the conditions that have surrounded the development of the new game. Executive Producer Jon Bloch said that everything the team had planned for Metro changed in 2020 and again in 2022 with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Shevchenko added that the events of the last few years have shaped Metro 2039 into something new, resulting in a handcrafted story told from a Ukrainian perspective. Additionally, its narrative was crafted in collaboration with Glukhovsky, who is living in exile from Russia for criticizing the government and its invasion of Ukraine.

“We will push through no matter what,” Ulmer added. “Getting electricity from generators or batteries. Power outages or sheltering from rocket and drone attacks are interrupting, but not stopping us from making what we deeply believe, what we do best. Of course, taking care of the family is the biggest priority. Sometimes you just put your head down and focus on work, but it’s each other’s support that keeps you running.”

The First Look wrapped up with a sneak peek at a video featuring a mix of gameplay and cinematics. It’s footage that fans will find familiar, as we see The Stranger exploring tight spaces before coming into contact with one of the series’ many mutated creatures.

Metro 2039 launches this winter for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S. While we wait for more updates, you can read our 8.5/10 Metro Exodus review. At the time of its launch, we said that it “brings its survival horror to the surface without sacrificing any of the series’ signature tension.”

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).

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has now hit a hugely impressive 12 million players, with publisher Focus Entertainment celebrating its success.

“A couple years ago, we had great hopes for this project. Today, it has surpassed even our wildest dreams,” Focus said.

It’s worth noting this is not an announcement of 12 million sales. While Space Marine 2 has sold wonderfully well, its player count was boosted by its recent addition into video game subscription services. All told, the Saber Interactive-developed third-person action game has blown away all expectations, with Space Marine 3 in active development even as Space Marine 2 updates continue.

In a recent interview with IGN, Saber development chief Tim Willits denied the suggestion that the priority is now the development of Space Marine 3, promising more content to come.

“No, we actually just released a big update and it's still going strong,” Willits said, referring to the Techmarine update. “Were we at number four on the top sales? So it's still doing great for us. And we just released a big update. And like World War Z, we're still making content for that, while the team obviously works on Space Marine 3.”

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Developer 4A Games has announced Metro 2039, the next game in the popular post-apocalyptic first-person shooter series based on the Metro novels by Dmitry Glukhovsky. It promises a much darker tone than previous games, and will once again be focused on the single-player campaign. It's due out this Winter for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. Watch the six-minute reveal trailer above and don't miss our trailer breakdown as well.

You'll play as a voiced protagonist in Metro 2039 called The Stranger, described as a recluse plagued by his violent nightmares. You must return to the Moscow Metro – a place you swore you'd never go back to. There, the last survivors struggle to exist, and hope is nearly extinguished with a future that is bleak at best. You'll descend into the tunnels and sewers to fight a new foe, an authoritarian Fuhrer.

"We're not romanticizing the post-apocalypse, or making a theme park out of it," said 4A Games co-creative director Pavel Ulmer. In fact, Ukraine-based 4A Games says real-world tragedies have changed the studio's trajectory and inspired the direction of Metro 2039, citing the global pandemic of 2020 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. "The war has shaped us, and we have changed the story to be even more about choices, actions, consequences, and what you have to pay to have a future," said creative director Andriy Mls Shevchenko.

Metro 2039 is being built using 4A Games' proprietary 4A Engine and toolset, with bespoke, handcrafted sets in every scene that tell "frozen stories" and a technical emphasis on performance. Check out our review of 2019's Metro Exodus while you wait for additional updates and gameplay footage from Metro 2039.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

It looks like it’s going to be a cold winter. Deep Silver and 4A Games have announced Metro 2039, the fourth mainline game in the post-apocalyptic Metro series, with a gorgeously animated but tragically horrifying cinematic trailer. And while much of its nightmarish imagery may seem a little abstract, there’s actually plenty we can learn from its many images of neo-Nazi soldiers, chanting children, and fiery mushroom clouds. Expect horror in numerous forms, as well as the odd spoiler for the previous games, as we explore every frame of Metro 2039’s first teaser.

The Stranger

Let’s start with the protagonist of the trailer, who we can only call “The Stranger”, as their identity has yet to be revealed. With grey hair and what appears to be aged skin around his eyes, it seems like we won’t be playing as Metro’s long-term protagonist Artyom this time around – not only is Artyom more youthful than this guy, but he’s likely out of action for this story based on the two ways Metro Exodus could have ended.

While we may be in the shoes of a new protagonist, much of the equipment is recognisable. He wears a helmet featuring the ‘M’ logo of the Spartans, the rangers that hail from the Moscow metro. That helmet is fitted with the gas mask that’s mandatory for exploring the irradiated surface world, and we see he’s also wearing a new version of Metro’s multi-function watch, which provides a compass and Geiger counter, as well as a timer for the gas mask’s filter – which is amusingly set to 20:39 here for trailer purposes. In his hands is the Shambler, Metro’s iconic revolving shotgun, which is modified with what appears to be a muzzle break.

Despite all that good equipment, though, our Stranger is underprepared for the literal nightmare that awaits him. The cinematic sees him explore a collection of terrifying dream scenarios featuring children, psychic monsters, and neo-Nazis.

Führer Hunter and The Novoreich

Numerous soldiers can be seen throughout the trailer, all wearing grey uniforms and sporting a symbol that, while not really resembling the Nazi swastika, does follow a similar design. While it would be a good guess, they are not in fact the Fourth Reich we fought against in the first two games, but a brand new faction: The Novoreich. Throughout the trailer we hear their propaganda broadcasts, which promise a pure nation with clean air and a bright future.

Most importantly, those broadcasts reveal the Novoreich’s leader: Führer Hunter. Long-term fans will be shocked to hear this, as Hunter is a character from both the original Metro novel and the first Metro game – he’s a Spartan whose disappearance is the catalyst for Artyom’s journey in 2033. He’s been missing ever since, but it appears that six years later, he’s returned with evil intentions.

The Lost Children

Hunter's mission is unclear, but we see his troops rounding up children in the Stranger’s nightmare. In a playground, kids are chained together and forced onto a train (note the numbers 2039 on the carriage, hinting at the game’s name before it is officially revealed). Their shoes are left scattered on the platform in a clear reference to the Shoes on the Danube Bank Holocaust memorial. Later, we see the children in a classroom chanting, “The enemy must be destroyed.” Almost all of them wear Novoreich uniforms and have blank faces, suggesting they have been brainwashed by their fascist captors.

Only a single child is exempt from this pattern, wearing red pajamas and scribbling away with crayons, although her own blank expression suggests every one awaits the same fate of having their individuality erased by Hunter’s regime. It’s her drawing, though, that proves more significant to this story.

The Drawing

Throughout the Stranger’s nightmare we see numerous versions of this drawing, which features a group of children surrounding a toy wooden elephant in a playground. It first falls from a tree in a swamp, landing by some luminescent mushrooms any Metro 2033 player will be familiar with. Before the Stranger can truly study it, he’s dragged by chains into the next level of the nightmare, and by the time he’s able to find the drawing again, the image has changed: the playground is now ablaze. When he gets to the classroom, the image has become a drawing of dead children. As the Stranger views these images, he sees visions of their depictions happening for real.

The Dark Ones

So what’s going on? Well, it seems like it’s all the work of the Dark Ones. Hugely significant to the events of Metro 2033 and Last Light, the Dark Ones are the mutated descendants of humans; a new species that adapted to survive the radiation and harsh conditions of the post-apocalypse. Their psychic powers allow them to conjure visions and speak telepathically, and we see this in full effect towards the end of the cinematic, when we’re introduced to their new redesign, complete with creepy, almost biological gasmask-like faces.

The Dark Ones are present throughout the trailer - they become part of the drawing, we can see one lurking in the train tunnel behind the Novoreich troops, and they take control of a woman, forcing her to say “They hear everything, but you don’t let them speak”, a reference, perhaps, to the fact that humanity has always gunned down the Dark Ones they met out of fear, rather than listening to the creatures’ request for peace and unity. As the nightmare escalates, we see the Dark Ones control the Stranger’s mind. Wrestling free of their grasp, he turns and rapidly fires his shotgun… only to realise he’s killed all the children we’ve repeatedly seen through the trailer. The Stranger drops his shotgun in disbelief, cradling a dying child in his arms and screaming to the heavens. How could this have happened?

A Miserable Reality

Well, it didn’t. It’s not real. After all that anguish, the nightmare ends. Well, at least the nightmare in his head ends… he’s still living in the bombed-out remains of Moscow, after all. In his pocket is the original crayon drawing of the children in the playground, with not a lick of flame or drop of blood in sight. His breathing settles as he descends into the Moscow metro tunnels. Could the drawing perhaps belong to his own child who he’s searching for? Have they been taken by the Novoreich, as we saw in the nightmare? Or was everything he saw actually a flashback, a reminder of the horrors of the past? Or, perhaps even a vision of what’s to come?

The Playground

An interesting thing to note about the Stranger’s nightmare is the use of the playground. When the Dark Ones sent visions to Artyom in Metro 2033, he was also transported into a children’s playground – although the more violent nature of these new nightmares suggests the Dark Ones are not trying to communicate a message of peace this time. And who can blame them – the canonical ending to 2033 sees Artyom launch a genocidal missile barrage against the Dark Ones, which almost entirely eradicated them. Metro: Last Light revealed that a small nest had survived. Perhaps, like Hunter, these survivors have strayed from the light and become oppressive villains?

New and Returning Weapons

That covers the story being told in Metro 2039’s announcement trailer, but there are a few other fun and interesting details to note. The Metro games are, of course, first-person shooters, and so naturally this reveal nods to some of the weapons we’ll see. Alongside the Shambler shotgun are three other guns. The guards in the Metro can be seen holding Kalash assault rifles. One of the Novoreich soldiers in the playground wields an SMG that could either be a modified version of the classic Bastard, or a brand new weapon. And in the final moments of the cinematic we see the Stranger carrying a new rifle on his back, and even attempting to use it as he descends into the metro. We get a closer look at it in the key art, and the batteries in the stock and the electrical wiring along the bodywork point to something perhaps similar to the Hellbreath or Volt Driver from earlier games. Unfortunately, the Stranger’s lack of ammo means we never get to see it fully in action.

The Metro Mutants

The final moments of the trailer feature a couple of mutated creatures. In the skies above Red Square, we see four flying bat-like Demons, which have featured in all three of the main games. In the gameplay footage, we see some large mole-like mutants that may well be 2039’s redesign of the Nosalis, a common Metro enemy that typically has a prominent nose and massive teeth.

The final shot of the cinematic shows a destroyed Red Square, but earlier, we get to see the detonation that caused this damage. In the Stranger’s nightmare, he stands before Saint Basil's Cathedral as a nuclear explosion expands behind it. Look closely within the flames of the mushroom cloud and you can see what appears to be a winged, twin-headed demon or spirit – likely another horrific image conjured by the nightmare.

Developer Easter Eggs

Finally, a couple of much more subtle Easter eggs. Among the children’s drawings that fall from the tree are two that feature the logos of developer 4A Games and publisher Deep Silver – take a close look at the one right in the center of the base of the tree, and the one just to its right.

Later, the old woman who seems to be the Dark Ones’ mouthpiece has unusual eyes: One is blind, causing a blue hue, while the other is yellow. This is a nod to the blue and yellow striped flag of Ukraine, the home of 4A Games.

And that’s everything we spotted in the Metro 2039 reveal trailer. Did you find anything that we didn’t? Are there even more obscure details hidden in the shadows of each frame? Let us know what you’ve found, as well as your theories for what all these nightmarish images may mean for the next game in the Metro series.

Matt Purslow is IGN's Executive Editor of Features.

Street Fighter 6 added Alex to its fighter line-up last month. But what should have been the welcome return of an old character turned into controversy, as Alex’s complex family dynamics were revealed in the arcade mode ending and World Tour scenes, namely his marriage to younger step sister/distant cousin Patricia. However, the resulting April 15 patch has drawn criticism for making Alex’s convoluted family relations even vaguer.

American fighter Alex Winger debuted as the face of 1997's Street Fighter 3 New Generation, which also introduced his adoptive father and mentor figure, Tom. Alex’s relationship with Tom’s daughter Patricia was always portrayed as a sibling bond, as they grew up together. However, Street Fighter 6 turns this on its head by revealing that Alex and Patricia are now married, with a baby on the way.

This alone was icky enough for some fans, but the situation was further complicated by revelations in Street Fighter 6’s World Tour mode. Alex’s dialogue states that Tom is actually a cousin of Alex’s mother, making Alex and Patricia second cousins.

Patricia and Alex. Patricia is pregnant with a girl. Special artwork (right) was drawn by Keisuke Mizuno https://t.co/4GKHaKKFVD pic.twitter.com/JCQc04p7V3

— Women of Street Fighter (@WomenofSFseries) March 17, 2026

The situation prompted so much backlash that the game’s director apologized and announced adjustments to dialogues in a future patch. Fast forward to Street Fighter 6’s April 15 update, which adjusts some of Alex’s World Tour story text in certain localizations (including English).

So what did the patch change? Story-wise, very little. Instead of explicitly stating that Tom and his mom are cousins, Alex’s dialogue now says that Tom is “a distant relative of my mom or something, and was a sparring buddy of my dad.”

Alex’s line about Tom’s significance in his life also got made vaguer. The pre-patch English localization was, “He’s my trainer, my manager, my adoptive dad… No, he is my dad.” Now, Tom’s just, “basically the dad I needed.” This adjustment, however, does bring it a bit more in line with the original Japanese version, which uses the more ambiguous term ‘sodate no oya,’ which can simply mean a parent-like figure who played a role in raising someone (not necessarily a formal adoption).

Prior to the patch, Street Fighter 6 director Takayuki Nakayama posted an apology on X for the “confusion” that Alex’s backstory had caused among fans. He explained that, "While we have not changed the characters’ backstories, after internal review by the development team, we plan to revise certain text passages that may have been misleading." The post linked to ‘A Toast between Fathers,’ an official short story by Street Fighter 6’s scenario team that explains how Alex and Patricia’s once sibling-like relationship took a romantic turn.

Basically, Capcom’s approach to the marriage controversy so far has been to add backstory to justify how Alex and Patricia’s relationship changed over time, and to make their biological connection even vaguer.

Overall, the patch seems to have caused a mix of dissatisfaction and bemusement among fans, with many wondering why Capcom seems so determined to keep Alex and Patricia biologically related in some way. The change to Tom being a distant relative of Alex’s mother “or something” prompted many LOL reactions (“They're hoping that "Or something" does A LOT of heavy lifting,” opined one Redditor). If anything, the changes just make Alex sound unsure about, or even embarrassed by his complicated family.

Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.

If you’re a fan of seeing iconic fighting game franchises on the big screen, then 2026 is truly your year. Not only is Warner Bros. releasing the second film in its rebooted Mortal Kombat series, we’re also getting a brand new Street Fighter movie courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Legendary Entertainment. Hollywood has tried and failed to adapt this colorful franchise in the past, but will the third time be the charm? Well, it can’t be any worse than 2009’s Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.

We’ve finally gotten our first good look at Street Fighter thanks to a new trailer released during CinemaCon 2026. And if there’s any one takeaway from this footage, it’s that Street Fighter looks like a whole lot of fun. It even opens with the countdown timer sound effects from the games. Could we be looking at the best fighting game movie since 1995’s Mortal Kombat? For now, let’s break down all the characters we meet in the trailer and how they fit together in this epic tale of guys and gals beating the snot out of each other.

Noah Centineo’s Ken Masters

Street Fighter may feature an ensemble cast of fighters pulled from all over the globe, but the trailer makes it pretty clear that this story will revolve heavily around Noah Centineo’s Ken Masters and Andrew Koji’s Ryu. We’re not surprised, as this Dynamic Duo tends to be the focus in most incarnations of the Street Fighter franchise. Ken and Ryu have been there from the beginning. They were the only playable characters in the original Street Fighter game from 1987, and they’ve been series mainstays ever since.

In the games, Ken and Ryu are lifelong friends who both trained under the same master, Gouken. That’s why they wear different colored variations of the same martial arts uniform. But whereas Ryu is totally dedicated to perfecting his fighting craft, Ken is a bit more freewheeling and sociable.

We’ll focus more on Ryu in a bit, but for now, let’s dig in with Ken. The trailer reveals that the game is set in 1993, which seems to be an intentional nod to the original era of Street Fighter mania in the early ‘90s. We can see from this footage that Ken has become a bit of a celebrity, even hosting his own show on MTV. But that fame seems to have come at a heavy price. Ken is clearly a washed-up has-been who’d rather get drunk and belt out karaoke than hone his skills as one of the world’s best fighters.

If anything, we notice a lot of similarities between Centineo’s Ken and Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat II. Both are world-class fighters-turned-celebrities who are arguably past their prime, and both will have to prove they’ve still got it when they enter the fighting ring.

Ken features in a couple of cool Street Fighter Easter eggs in the trailer. We see him performing several iconic fighting moves from the games, including an obligatory Shoryuken punch, a rolling back throw, a Jinrai Kick from 2023’s Street Fighter 6, and axe-kicking a character we assume is El Fuerte. In another shot, we see him kicking and punching a car, a nod to those infamous bonus levels where players try to destroy a car with their expert fighting moves.

Andrew Koji’s Ryu

Now let’s turn our attention to Ken’s BFF Ryu. The two characters are clearly having a bit of a relationship crisis in the movie. Even as Ken has molded himself into a drunken cable TV star, Ryu has seemingly retreated from the world and become a modern-day martial arts hermit. Ryu seems happy enough to be reunited with his old buddy, but not Ken. His first instinct when he sees Ryu is to bust out a flying kick.

Ryu is the closest thing the Street Fighter franchise has to a main character. Again, he’s a top-tier fighter obsessed with perfecting his craft. But though he’s a good-natured warrior who’s always eager to meet new opponents and test his skills, Ryu also harbors a secret dark side. That may explain why he’s in hiding as the movie opens. Ryu may be afraid of unleashing the true power within.

We get a taste of that power at the end of the trailer when we see Ryu summon one of his iconic fireballs and shout the word “Hadouken!!!” Street Fighter may be built around hand-to-hand combat, but many of the fighters have superhuman abilities they can bring to the battlefield.

Callina Liang’s Chun-Li

What would a Street Fighter movie be without the mighty Chun-Li joining Ryu and Ken? This time around, this deadly Chinese fighter is played by Callina Liang.

Chun-Li was introduced in 1991’s Street Fighter II and has appeared in most of the games since then. She’s portrayed as a skilled warrior and Interpol agent who seeks revenge against M. Bison for the murder of her father. But, as we know from Raul Julia’s infamous rant in the original Street Fighter movie, he’s killed a great many fathers over the years.

Here, Chun-Li appears to be the catalyst that brings Ryu, Ken, and other fighters together to partake in a high-stakes martial arts tournament. Why she’s seeking out these elite world warriors isn’t entirely clear, but it may all be part of a plot to bring down M. Bison. What we do know is that she seems rather unimpressed with both Ryu and Ken. One is hiding from the world, the other is “a sideshow,” and neither is living up to his true potential. Chun-Li aims to fix that.

The trailer drops another amusing nod to the games when Chun-Li meets Mel Jarnson’s Cammy and the latter makes a comment about Chun-Li’s thighs. One of the hallmarks of Chun-Li’s character design from the games is her extremely muscular legs, and the movie is clearly having some fun with the fact that her reputation precedes her. We also see her put those legs to good use when she busts out a Hundred Lightning Legs move.

David Dastmalchian’s M. Bison

David Dastmalchian is playing M. Bison, the character we’re assuming is the main villain of the film. Bison is definitely one of the most important villains in the franchise, dating back to his role as the final boss of Street Fighter II.

Bison is a tyrant with aims of world domination. He runs a criminal organization known as Shadaloo, one that manipulates world governments. He’s also the architect of the World Warrior tournament (hence why it’s a bit odd that his nemesis Chun-Li seems to be recruiting for said tournament).

If the movie is anything like the games, we expect to see Bison try to recruit Ryu and possibly Ken to his cause. He sees the dark power residing within these warriors, a power that can rival his own “Psycho Power.”

Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i’s Akuma

Bison is probably the main villain of the new movie, but don’t count out Roman Reigns’ character, Akuma. Akuma is another major antagonist from the games with a deep connection to both Ryu and Ken. Akuma is the subject of much fascination for Street Fighter fans, in part because he was introduced as a secret playable character in 1994’s Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

Akuma’s name literally means “demon” or “devil” in Japanese, and he lives up to that name. He’s the younger brother of Ryu and Ken’s master Gouken, and he seeks to harness a dark power known as Satsui no Hado. Like Bison, he senses great and terrible potential in Ryu.

We only briefly see Reigns’ character in the trailer, but he’s shown battling Ryu and tapping into his own dark energy to charge up his Empyrean's End super move. We expect that face-off to be one of the major set pieces of the film. But will Akuma be a major player in this conflict, or is this more a taste of things to come in a possible sequel?

Cody Rhodes’ Guile

Street Fighter features another familiar WWE face in the form of Cody Rhodes, who plays the overconfident military man Guile. Guile was the central character in the first Street Fighter movie, but based on the trailer it looks like he serves in more of a supporting role this time around. Expect a lot of comic relief from this dude, and not just because of his ridiculous haircut.

Guile is another series mainstay introduced in 1991’s Street Fighter II, and like Chun-Li, he has a major grudge against M. Bison for the death of his partner, Charlie.

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson’s Balrog

One of the more intriguing casting choices in this movie is 50 Cent, who’s been tapped to play elite boxer Balrog. If the costume and makeup don’t make it obvious, Balrog is heavily modeled after real-world boxer Mike Tyson.

In the games, Balrog is a disgraced fighter who joins Bison’s Shadaloo organization. We see him battling Ken in the trailer, where it looks like he’ll be one of the first real challenges this washed-up martial artist faces on the road to victory.

Jason Momoa’s Blanka

Street Fighter gained some real star power with the casting of Jason Momoa as Blanka. Another iconic character introduced in 1991’s Street Fighter II, Blanka is also one of the most colorful and unusual characters in the games. As the story goes, he was once a guy named Jimmy who mutated after a plane crash and became an oversized, green-skinned monster with the power to generate electricity.

Eric André’s Don Sauvage

Any global martial arts tournament worth its salt needs a good announcer, and that’s the role being filled by Eric André’s Don Sauvage. Sauvage is a flamboyant announcer and promoter inspired by pro wrestling personality Jimmy Hart. It appears he’ll be providing play-by-play commentary for at least some of the matches in the film.

Orville Peck’s Vega

It seems only fitting that the Street Fighter character known for always wearing a mask would be played by an actor infamous for rarely showing his face in public. Orville Peck is playing Vega, a graceful but very deadly fighter who wields Wolverine-like claws. Vega is known as the “Spanish ninja,” as his fighting style combines elements of ninjutsu and bullfighting.

Olivier Richters’ Zangief

Street Fighter characters don’t get much bigger or more imposing than Zangief, who’s played here by Olivier Richters. In the games, Zangief is a professional wrestler from Russia who’s determined to prove his country’s superiority by piledriving all challengers into submission.

We see several larger-than-life feats of strength from Richters’ character in the trailer, including an Ultimate Atomic Crusher Ultra Technique from 2008’s Street Fighter IV, which makes it plain that the movie is opting for a more cartoonish style of violence.

Hirooki Goto’s E. Honda

We don’t see much of him in the trailer, but Hirooki Goto has been cast as master sumo wrestler E. Honda. Honda is another long-running Street Fighter character who dates back to 1991’s Street Fighter II.

Vidyut Jammwal’s Dhalsim

Rounding out the cast of Street Fighter II legends is Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim. This yogi and mystic is one of the more unusual fighters in the games, as he can stretch his limbs in impossible ways. He’s also a hardcore pacifist who only participates in the tournament to raise money for his impoverished village. We see Dhalism at several points in the trailer, both fighting in the ring and being recruited by Chun-Li.

Mel Jarnson’s Cammy

Cammy is arguably the most popular Street Fighter character to debut after that initial batch of World Warriors, so we’re not at all surprised to see her in the movie. Cammy has proven very important to the mythology of the series, as she’s been revealed to be one of M. Bison’s former assassins who loses her memory and becomes an MI6 agent. We don’t know how much the movie will get into that backstory, though, as we mainly see Cammy acting as a foil to Chun-Li.

Andrew Schulz’s Dan Hibiki

Finally, how could we forget about Dan Hibiki, probably the most divisive character in the Street Fighter franchise? Dan is played by Andrew Schulz in the movie. He, too, is a former student of Gouken, though unlike Ryu and Ken, he’s pretty much all bluster and no substance. Don’t expect him to make it very far in this tournament. Actually, it appears he may be Ken’s manager in the film, rather than an active fighter himself.

Those are the fighters you need to know before watching Street Fighter. What do you think of this upcoming video game movie? Does the trailer have you ready to bash cars with your bare fists, or is this another disaster in the making? Let us know what you think in the comments.

For more, check out every video game movie and series in development.

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

Dungeons & Dragons is launching an official "actual play" show, Dungeon Masters, featuring familiar voices from the Baldur's Gate 3 cast.

Neil Newbon, better known to Baldur's Gate 3's legion of fans as Astarion, will sit around the D&D table with Devora Wilde, who played Lae'zel. While they won't be revisiting their old roles (here, at least), the duo will help introduce viewers to new D&D material due for launch over the coming months.

The pair will be joined by DesiQuest's Jasmine Bhullar, Dispatch's Mayanna Berrin and 13 Reasons Why's Christian Navarro, as they play upcoming D&D additions, beginning with Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.

Dungeon Masters is the latest initative from D&D maker Wizards of the Coast that's designed to slot into its new seasonal model. Here, the first season of the show will reflect the brand's new Season of Horror, which features Ravenloft: The Horrors Within as its core release.

The show will further be tied into Ravenloft via the launch of digital Play-Along Packs, via D&D Beyond, with encounters that drop alongside each weekly Dungeon Masters episode for Ravenloft pre-order customers. This week's first drop is free, however, allowing you to encounter the Zombie Clot and Swarm of Zombie Limbs without charge — weeks before Ravenloft actually arrives.

If all of that sounds like fun — or you just want to close your eyes and hear more of Newbon, Wilde and the rest of the cast and imagine it's Baldur's Gate 4 — Dungeon Masters' first episode will debut online next Wednesday, April 22.

D&D will continue its releases this year with its Season of Magic, beginning in July, which will include the new Arcana Unleashed sourcebook. The Season of Champions will then begin in October — though its range of themed products is yet to be revealed. As for the adventures of Astarion and company, Wizards of the Coast owner Hasbro has suggested that another Baldur's Gate game will follow at some point, once a studio to make it has been found. Meanwhile, a Baldur's Gate TV series is in the works for HBO.

Image credit: Wizards of the Coast.

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

Secrets of Strixhaven is Magic’s next set, and it’s back to a beloved Plane from Magic’s past.

While the legendary wizarding school (no, not that one) is opening its doors again, it’s also introducing fresh Elder Dragon cards that represent each of Strixhaven’s founders. To clarify, these characters have appeared in the prior Strixhaven decks, but this time around they’re getting fresh looks and new card designs.

With the caveat that we’ve not gone hands-on with them yet or discovered some comically overpowered combos (except for one), here’s our ranking.

Which Elder Dragon Is Best?

One card has to be at the bottom of the list, and for me, it’s Lorehold, the Historian (despite it having some amazing artwork).

This Boros (Red/White) 5/5 has Flying and Haste, and gives Instant and Sorcery cards in your hand Miracle 2 so you can cast them for less when drawing them. You do get the option to discard a card and draw to manipulate your deck somewhat, but the payoff will depend on how many Instants you can pull from on opponents’ turns.

The Orzhov Elder Dragon, Silverquill, the Disputant, is a 4/4 with Flying and Vigilance - always a welcome combo. It also has the Casualty keyword, meaning you can sacrifice creatures with power 1 or greater to double up an Instant or Sorcery.

Put it in a token deck, and it’ll fly (pun intended), and I think there’s scope to sneak it into an Aristocrats-style deck to get some aerial firepower, but overall I think it deserves fourth spot here.

Quandrix, the Proof, is a 6/6 with Flying and Trample that, on another day, could slip into second on our list. For now, it’s a Simic (Green/Blue) powerhouse that dishes out Cascade to your Instant and Sorcery spells, while also having Cascade itself.

Sadly, the Instant and Sorceries for Cascade need to be played from your hand, otherwise you could Cascade Quandrix right into an Instant or Sorcery and so on.

Prismari, the Inspiration, takes second spot in our list. This 7/7 Flying creature has a Ward cost of 5 life, which should deter foes from targeting it in the late game, and gives Instant and Sorcery spells the Storm keyword.

That means you can double up spells, and given Prismari is in Izzet (Red and Blue), there’s an awful lot of cheap spells to use to tee up bigger ones. The sheer size of it as a 7/7 makes it the biggest Elder Dragon on this list, too.

Top of the pile is Witherbloom, the Balancer. This Elder Dragon is a Golgari (Green/Black) 5/5 with Flying and Deathtouch, which is pretty great on its own, but it’s the ‘Affinity for Creatures’ keyword that puts it in a league of its own.

Because it reduces the colorless mana cost of Instant and Sorcery spells, you can use it to create an infinite number of Saproling creature tokens with Sprout Swarm. Play Sprout Swarm, pay its Buyback cost (three mana, which can be reduced to zero with the Affinity ability of Witherbloom), create a 1/1 green Saproling, rinse and repeat.

Will the other Elder Dragons see similar combos pop up? We’ll wait and see, but for now, Witherbloom, the Balancer is the apex predator of this quintet.

For more on Commander, be sure to check out some of the most powerful precon decks in the format so far, as well as a look at some currently on sale.

Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He's a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's dismay.

Pixar is finally stepping into Disney Lorcana, and, unsurprisingly, the new set is already up for grabs. Preorders for the upcoming Wilds Unknown expansion have just gone live on Amazon, giving fans an early shot at what’s shaping up to be one of the game’s biggest releases yet.

It’s a pretty big moment for Ravensburger’s breakout TCG. Wilds Unknown brings in glimmers from Toy Story, The Incredibles, and Brave for the first time, which feels like a long-overdue crossover given how much of Disney’s modern identity is tied to Pixar.

Where to Preorder Disney Lorcana: Wilds Unknown

The set lands at local game stores on May 8, 2026, before rolling out more widely, including Amazon, between May 15 and May 18. If past Lorcana launches are anything to go by, stock won’t hang around for long, so if you’re even slightly interested, it’s worth locking in a preorder now.

If you’re deciding where to start, the Wilds Unknown Booster Pack Display (24 Packs) is the big one at $146.99, packing in 24 individual boosters. With 12 cards in each pack, it’s easily the best shot at pulling Enchanted, Epic, or even the new Iconic rarity cards if you’re chasing something special.

For something a bit more balanced, the Wilds Unknown Illumineer’s Trove sits at $49.99 and doubles as both a starter bundle and a storage solution, including eight booster packs alongside a storage box, dividers, dice, and a lore counter.

And if you’re coming in fresh or just want a ready-to-play option, the Wilds Unknown 2-Player Starter Deck (Amber-Emerald) is $29.99 and includes two 60-card decks with foil cards, plus all the tokens, trackers, and rules you need to jump straight in.

What to Expect in Wilds Unknown: Toys, Chaos, and New Rarity

To my surprise, Wilds Unknown is actually shaking up how Lorcana plays.

Led by the new Toy classification, according to Levi Dodd (Senior Game Designer at Ravensburger for Disney Lorcana) these cards are built to chain together in ways Lorcana hasn’t really leaned into before.

“Cards with the Toy classification get better the more toys you have out, and many of the toy cards have tricks to help you play themselves or even other cards for cheaper,” he explained.

In practice, that means swarming the board quickly, then snowballing value as everything starts feeding off each other. Pair them with low-cost glimmers and songs, and things can get out of hand fast.

For example, Sid Phillips shows up as a Ruby glimmer alongside his mutant creations, bringing a deliberately chaotic playstyle. His whole deal revolves around blowing up his own characters to gain lore, then “recycling” those destroyed toys back into your deck, which sounds equal parts risky and annoying to deal with if it gets going.

Collectors aren’t being left out either. Wilds Unknown is introducing a striking new Art Nouveau-inspired look for Enchanted cards, officially dubbed "Lore Nouveau," and, based on early reveals, they’re easily some of the best-looking cards Lorcana has put out so far.

On top of that, there are two ultra-rare Iconic cards expected to drive most of the chase: Merida - Formidable Archer (which can also be purchased as a playmat) and Buzz Lightyear - Jungle Ranger.

With Monsters, Inc., Coco, and Onward already confirmed for future sets later this year and into 2027, Pixar’s presence in Disney Lorcana is about to ramp up in a big way.

Robert Anderson is IGN's Senior Commerce Editor and resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Bluesky.

James Bond video game 007: First Light will feature a main title theme sung by Lana Del Rey, publisher IO Interactive has announced.

Bond fans have long suspected Del Rey is behind 007: First Light's title track — ever since she registered a fresh song titled "First Light" to the ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) database late last year. Del Rey had used her real name, Elizabeth Grant, for the registration — but internet sleuths quickly connected the dots.

Now, the track is live on Del Rey's YouTube channel — and it sounds a fitting Bond song, while also playfully referencing the fact First Light is a video game (and perhaps also Del Rey's own iconic tune, Video Games). Veteran Bond composer David Arnold (who scored five Bond films, from Tomorrow Never Dies to Quantum of Solace) is behind its score.

"Can't say I'm surprised to see you running toward the sun," Del Rey sings. "It's the first light of day... Ah, you're ready? All the fates just watch you, dying just to know whether you'll play your life like a game."

The track is a fitting addition to the franchise for Del Rey — who previously recorded her 2005 track "24" to feature in Daniel Craig movie Spectre, the franchise's 24th film, only for Sam Smith's "Writing's On the Wall" to ultimately be chosen in its place instead.

007: First Light has suffered a string of leaks over the past few months, and perhaps most notably this week, when the game's ending was accidentally made available publicly due to a major slip-up by the Indonesian ratings board. With just six weeks still to go until the game's launch, IO has been keen to keep much about the game under wraps to avoid spoiling narrative surprises.

The long-awaited next game from the developer of Hitman, 007: First Light features a starry cast and big ambitions to kickstart a fresh James Bond game trilogy. While its story remains largely secret, we know it'll feature a fresh-faced incarnation of Bond played by Dexter: Original Sin star Patrick Gibson, in a new origin story that features The Eternals' Gemma Chan, The Walking Dead's Lennie James, and The Hunger Games' Lenny Kravitz.

Following an earlier delay, 007: First Light is now set to launch on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on May 27. A Switch 2 version is also set to follow — though not until "later this summer."

Of course, Del Rey isn't the only music mogul involved with the project. Singer and actor Lenny Kravitz will star in the game as Bawma, a villain who at one point hangs poor Bond upside down and threatens to feed him to a pair of waiting crocodiles.

Image credit: Theo Wargo/Getty Images

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