Amazon has produced yet another brilliant Pokémon TCG deal ready for the weekend, and it’s once again on the latest Mega Evolution set, Phantasmal Flames.
While we’re looking forward to Ascended Heroes at the end of the month, it’s a mighty bit of fresh air to finally get some reasonable prices on boosters for the popular Mega Charizard sporting set from last year.
While stock lasts, at least, as this is such an excellent deal, and below market price, I fully expect these to fly off the digital shelves. Other Phantasmal Flames deals include that UPC for $145 at Amazon or TCGplayer, or you can pick up the Elite Trainer Box for just $79.94 at Amazon as well.
All around, these are pretty excellent deals, and hopefully a sign of things to come when Ascended Heroes and Perfect Order.
Best Phantasmal Flames Cards Chase Cards
According to marketplaces like TCGPlayer, certain Phantasmal Flames cards have already skyrocketed further in price, and, following up from our Mega Evolution round-up, we’ve ranked the ten most expensive cards so far just above. From aggressive Mega attackers to powerful evolution support, Phantasmal Flames brings a fiery mix of competitive threats and high-demand pulls.
Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN’s resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
Pokémon Go looks set to add another battle currency to the ever-popular mobile game, this time focused around raids for Mega Pokémon.
As Pokémon Go prepares to roll-out the first of Pokémon Legends Z-A’s new wave of Mega Evolutions next month as part of its upcoming Go Tour Kalos event, the game also appears to have a major rework of its Mega Raid system in the offing.
Datamined information published by The Pokémod Group have spilled details of Link Charges, a new in-game resource that the game’s files refer to as “enhanced currency.” An in-game description states that Link Charges “can be used to enter Mega Raid in place of Raid passes” and will now be “required to enter Mega Raids remotely.”
The addition of a new type PVE battle resource for Mega raids comes as something of a surprise, as Mega battles have existed in the game for years, accessible simply via regular raid passes.
While details remain unconfirmed and subject to change, Link Charges sound like something of a cross between existing raid passes and the Max Energy system introduced more recently specifically for use in Dynamax/Gigantamax battles. The introduction of Link Charges would certainly also delineate Mega raids from regular raid battles — similar to how the use of Max Energy sets Max battles apart.
Unreleased in-game text states that players will be able to “earn Link Charges from activities such as Weekly Challenges, Campfire Check-Ins, and opening Gifts,” all of which are free. That said, images showing the Link Charges themselves (which look like futuristic USB sticks) in various bundles suggest the resource will, of course, also be sold via the game’s in-game shop.
A new item called “enhanced currency” has been added, along with some variations featuring “RRP” (remote raid pass? idk). It looks like something that could be sold in the shop, but we’re not sure what it does yet.
As ever, Pokémon Go’s highly-engaged community have been reacting to the datamined details with their usual mix of excitement and healthy scepticism.
“Are we cooked?” wrote Kind_Cheesecake_8297 on top Pokémon Go reddit The Silph Road. “Asked the frog in the pot,” replied EquivalentReality988. “This is just another temperature increase, we’ve been boiling for years.”
But while the introduction of another PVE battle resource has naturally prompted questions over how plentiful it will be (and how much it will cost via the in-game shop), many others have agreed that the game’s Mega raids do need some form of shakeup.
Following their most recent rework years ago, Mega raids typically provide enough in-game resource to Mega Evolve a specific Pokémon within a few battles. After that, Mega Pokémon can be set as a Buddy Pokémon to generate Mega Energy for free. Beyond hunting for a Shiny or better stat version of a particular creature, there’s little need to then continue raiding — and as an active player, I have to say I don’t consider Mega creatures when deciding what to spend my daily raid pass on.
While this is fine for players who have all Mega Pokémon unlocked already, this leaves newer players without others to battle Mega raids alongside (and most Megas require multiple people to take down). Providing an additional resource to battle Mega raids means players can choose to take on the battles in addition to regular raids — just as the Max Particle system works for Dynamax and Gigantamax battles now.
“I don’t actually hate this (depending on how easy they are to get for free),” said TheWiseMountain. “I feel like Mega raids can get dead very easily because you can just walk Pokémon for more energy. If they’re free and give normal raid rewards though? Seems like a win for newer players who might need help with those raids.”
“Yeah as a F2P [free-to-play player] who can hardly remote anyways this sounds great,” Mushimishi agreed. “I haven’t done a Mega raid outside of new debuts and raid days in almost 2 years, since getting enough energy for everything.”
Pokémon Go has so far introduced all Mega Pokémon species released prior to last year’s Pokémon Legends Z-A other than the highly-anticipated Mega Mewtwo X and Y. The game has officially confirmed the introduction of both Mega Malamar and Mega Victreebell from Legends Z-A next month. As for Mega Mewtwo, while there’s no word on its arrival just yet, the same datamine includes an all-new Tier 7 difficulty Mega raid egg — suggesting that players may finally see it arrive in the future, once this Mega raid rework has been introduced.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Nintendo has just confirmed a release date for Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s expanded Switch 2 Edition, which will include a suite of new minigames and the ability to play as Rosalina, ahead of her big screen debut in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup In Bellabel Park, to give its full name, will arrive on March 26. As that extremely lengthy title suggests, the upgraded version of Nintendo’s 2023 platformer includes the additional Bellabel Park area to explore, which comes stuffed with extra activities.
The Switch 2 Edition will be available to purchase separately, or existing Switch owners of the game can alternatively purchase an upgrade pack.
#SuperMarioBrosWonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park arrives March 26!
Look forward to new boss courses with all 7 Koopalings, two new playable characters, Rosalina, and Co-Star Luma, and more!
Bellabel Park’s Local Multiplayer Plaza features 17 new co-op or versus minigames, with support for up to four local players (and yes, your pals can join even if they don’t have the game, via GameShare). Game Room Plaza, meanwhile, features six minigames for either local or online play — with the latter option supporting up to 12 players.
A third area, Camp Central, features the adorable Captain Toad and his Toad Brigade, who set challenges based on existing courses. Complete them all and you’ll become an elite Toad Brigade explorer yourself. Lastly, the Koopalings are also back — having stolen treasure from Bellabel Park, you’ll need to search through the game’s levels and defeat them.
Helpful additions to the game include Co-Star Luma, who offers a way for a second player to join in as an assist character, while Assist Mode lets you explore the game without fear of damage or falling down a pit. Handy!
Three new amiibo figurines will launch alongside the game on March 26: Elephant Mario, Poplin & Prince Florian, and Captain Toad & Talking Flower. Yes, Captain Toad has a dedicated amiibo figurine at last — and quite right too.
Speaking of Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s chatty/annoying Talking Flower, Nintendo is continuing its plans to launch a real-life Talking Flower desk accessory. Available on March 12, this thing will spout out random phrases “roughly twice every hour” or when prompted with a button press. Holding down its button will mute it “for a while.” I have no idea why this exists.
Pricing details for all of this are still to follow, as Nintendo’s pre-order links don’t yet seem to have gone live. We’ll keep an eye and update when we know more.
Brighten your day with Talking Flower, straight out of Super Mario Bros. Wonder!
This little character will spontaneously speak throughout the day sharing quips, words of encouragement, and more.
Riftbound, the new trading card game (TCG) from Riot Games, released on October 31, 2025, in the West, and has since seen incredible growth, both in terms of overall interest and card listings at online storefronts.
According to new data provided by TCGplayer.com, daily searches for the game have increased by over 300% since launch, compared to the preorder period (about 2 weeks prior to launch). Globally, the term “Riftbound” was searched over 6,300 times per hour, and that’s just by TCGplayer users.
TCGplayer CEO Rob Bigler also provided comment to IGN on the new TCG’s immense success so far: “Riftbound’s early success is a huge positive for the hobby and reinforces that fans are excited to engage with the worlds and characters they love in new ways. Trading card games are a compelling and social way to extend fan affinity when developed authentically and thoughtfully – and we see this via the demand on our marketplace.”
With a property as popular as League of Legends, supplementary media such as Netflix’s Arcane and the upcoming fighting game 2XKO have garnered significant mass appeal, with many fans staying true to their favorite characters from all mediums.
Per TCGplayer, the most popular Riftbound card searches between October 17 and December 7 included some of the most iconic League characters. Jinx, the star of Arcane, had over 65,000 searches, while other fan-favorite character Ahri had more than 54,900. Other popular searches included other League of Legends characters like Sett, Teemo, and Darious, each with over 43,000 searches on the site.
TCGplayer is the biggest online storefront for all things TCGs in the world, and the launch of Riftbound exploded exponentially with related card and sealed product listings.
It’s no secret that getting your hands on sealed Riftbound product was (and still is) a bit tough, but the marketplace saw a 750% increase in listings a month after launch; October 30 saw more than 68,600 listings, while October 31 saw that number almost double, with over 118,100 listings. As of November 30, the number of listings was sitting at more than 585,000.
Riftbound’s second set, titled Spiritforged, is scheduled to launch in the West on February 13 after launching in China on December 12. Preorders are now open for Spiritforged products.
While yesterday saw the end of Ubisoft’s plans to release a Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake (a project that the company had been working on for at least six years) and five other unnamed games, no mention was made of Beyond Good & Evil 2, whose record-breaking development now spans almost 20 years, off and on.
Indeed, Beyond Good & Evil was named by Ubisoft as an ongoing franchise that would now be overseen by its reorganized “Creative House 4” division, dedicated to narrative driven and fantasy games. Separately, Insider Gaming has reported that the project is indeed still alive today, as the dust settles.
On reddit, Beyond Good & Evil’s long-suffering fans have reacted to the sequel’s survival by calling it “miraculous“, “insane” and simply “too big to fail.”
“It’s insane this game is still in production and survived,” dan_in_his_own_way wrote. “Don’t get me wrong, I want to play it but the cancelation of the Price of Persia remake hit really hard. A project that would arguably cost them less and require less resources than Beyond Good & Evil.”
“Beyond Good and Evil 2 will survive World War 3,” quipped Travguard. “But it still won’t be out by the armistice,” added meathappening.
One fan, 33Sharpies, pointed to the likely financial implications of Beyond Good & Evil 2 ever being canceled, at which point Ubisoft would have to write down the cost of its gargantuan development. While the project is still alive, however, it can still be listed as an ongoing asset. (Insider Gaming has reported that the project has been valued internally as having now cost over $500 million, though that figure is unverified.)
Beyond Good & Evil 2 is believed to have originally begun early development in 2007, with series creator and Rayman mastermind Michel Ancel and his Ubisoft Montpellier team on board. Over the coming decade, development was mostly paused while Montpellier worked on other projects, but Ubisoft re-announced the game with fanfare in 2017 and showed off an in-engine concept featuring space flight and designs to feature multiple solar systems and planets.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 still lacks any word of a release date — and may well have been one of the titles Ubisoft delayed to receive further polish yesterday. As of now, however, it remains alive — however improbable that may seem.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Ubisoft has said that completing its now-canceled Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake would have “required more time and investment than we could responsibly commit,” after more than half a decade of development.
Yesterday, Ubisoft shocked fans by announcing it had scrapped the long-awaited remake completely as part of a major business reshuffle, nearly six years after the project was first announced, and five years to the day after it was initially set to launch — on January 21, 2021.
Ubisoft has never fully explained why the remake has had such a tortured development — first at the company’s Mumbai and Pune studios, then at Ubisoft Montreal since the project was rebooted in 2022. What has been happening behind the scenes since then, and why has the game been scrapped now, after so long trying to get it right?
A statement that’s now been shared via the official Prince of Persia social media account holds few answers. Here it is in full:
“To the Prince of Persia community, we wanted to share this with you directly,” reads a statement attributed to Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia team.
“We’ve made the difficult decision to stop development on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake. We know this is deeply disappointing. The game carries enormous meaning for fans and for the teams who worked on it.
“While the project had real potential, we weren’t able to reach the level of quality you deserve, and continuing would have required more time and investment than we could responsibly commit. And, we didn’t want to release something that fell short of what The Sands of Time represents.
“Prince of Persia as a universe and a legacy continues to matter deeply to us, and this decision does not mean we’re stepping away from the franchise.
“Thank you for your passion, patience and love for Prince of Persia.”
While many of the details around Ubisoft’s business reshuffle remain to be seen, the company did at least name the Prince of Persia franchise as part of its new fourth “Creative House” division yesterday, suggesting it was indeed still an ongoing concern.
For the fans waiting half a decade to play the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake, however, this is likely of little comfort.
“Pretty sad we’ll never get this,” wrote Ubisoft fan SynthPotato, “people were convinced its on the edge of releasing.” “Saw this coming a mile away unfortunately,” added another fan, 8biteric. “Please tell me you’re going to reverse time and take back this post and make an announcement that the game is done and will release later this year,” suggested TheChrisLambert, hopefully.
Five other games were canceled yesterday as part of Ubisoft’s reshuffle, while a further seven titles have been delayed — including the company’s similarly long-awaited Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag remake.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Nintendo has released an update for Pokémon Legends: Z-A, with some handy item adjustments and a list of bug fixes for the game’s Mega Dimension DLC.
The Switch and Switch 2 Pokémon adventure has today been patch to Version 2.0.1, which makes both berries and Mega Shards easier to buy and hold onto. With the update installed, you will now be able to purchase multiple berries at once from food vendors. Mega Dimension owners, meanwhile, will gain the ability to buy berries at Nouveau Café’s Truck.
Speaking of Mega Dimension, players with the DLC purchased will see a range of bugs fixed — including Shiny Pokémon not registering in your Pokédex, a side mission progression blocker, and an issue where the game’s weather was stuck being sunny (if only this was true in real life).
Launched last month, Mega Dimension adds a fresh story campaign to Pokémon Legends: Z-A, starring a donut chef and the Mythical Pokémon Hoopa. It’s set within an alternative Hyperspace version of Lumiose City, where the franchise’s typical level 100 cap can be surpassed. Most excitingly, it adds a swathe of all-new Mega Evolutions — though none as freaky as the fan-favorite Mega Starmie.
Looking ahead, the Pokémon series celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026, and fans are eagerly awaiting news on the next generation of mainline games. Many expect these to be announced on the franchise’s anniversary during its annual Pokémon Presents livestream, due on February 27. There’s also the promising-looking life simulation spin-off Pokémon Pokopia to look forward to.
For now, Pokémon Legends Z-A’s latest full patch notes lie below:
Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Ver. 2.0.1 (Released January 21, 2026)
Adjustments Applied for Obtaining Items:
When purchasing Berries from a food stall, you can now purchase multiple Berries at once.
After beginning the story of the Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Mega Dimension DLC, you will be able purchase Berries from the clerk at Nouveau Café’s Truck No. 3.
The maximum number of Mega Shards you can carry has been increased from 999 to 9,999.
Fixes Applied for the Following Confirmed Issues Related to Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Mega Dimension Content:
When using moves in certain pockets of hyperspace, Pokémon may sometimes have faced a different direction from the intended target.
There were cases in which the weather remained sunny and did not change.
Shiny Pokémon obtained prior to the release of Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Mega Dimension may not have been registered to the Mega Evolution Pokédex, even if their Mega Stones were obtained after becoming available in the DLC.
During missions, images from unrelated scenes may occasionally have been displayed.
Players may not have been able to complete side mission 188 “Start Special Scanning!” even after earning the maximum number of survey points. (Players who are already experiencing this issue should be able to progress after entering and exiting hyperspace.)
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Elden Ring: Nightreign’s DLC, The Forsaken Hollows, has been out for a month and a half now, which means players have had plenty of time to get used to its two new Nightfarers, two new end bosses, and numerous new night bosses. But one element of the new content that everyone is still really struggling with, even after weeks of practice: the new DLC map. It’s really difficult, really confusing, and seemingly no one likes it that much, leading to a rash of negative Steam reviews and a lot of failed runs.
The new map is technically not even a new map, though it may as well be. It’s a Shifting Earth event, meaning it may or may not be active at any given time when you’re playing a DLC boss, with other options being the default map or one of four other Shifting Earths available. However, unlike the other Shifting Earth events, which only transform one part of the map significantly, the Great Hollow shifting earth essentially is a totally different area. Nothing is the same. There’s no castle at the center, no ravine running down the middle, no lake in the south or cliffs up north.
Instead, the Great Hollow is centered around a giant crystal in the middle which seems to have crashlanded, splitting the land around it into broken up cliffs separated into multiple levels. Built into and scattered around the cliffs and canyons are various ruins full of enemies, alongside the more familiar structures such as churches, forts, and mines. The actual in-game map of the Great Hollow has multiple levels with different points of interest on each level, and it’s necessary to use the game’s spirit springs carefully to fall down to lower levels and shoot back up to higher ones so you can actually get around effectively.
Additionally, the Great Hollow’s center crystal contains a major buff for the party that can be seriously clutch for a round’s final boss fights. But in order to obtain it, you need to find and break several smaller, colored crystals scattered around the map, whose locations change on each attempt.
So why is this causing everyone so much pain? Well, for one, because of the multi-level map, it’s far more difficult to tell at a glance what route you should take on a given run. Normally, as you’re flying into a new game, you’ll pop the map open and give it a brief scan, mentally planning out a route that will ideally give your team a few extra flasks, a mine for a smithing stone, and a gradually more challenging line of boss encounters so you can collect runes and weapons and level up. In the Great Hollow, there are so many different vertical levels to account for, plus multiple map levels to swap between, that it’s even more difficult to route a run and make a plan that will actually see your team effectively get stronger over the course of two nights. And that’s only exacerbated by the need to account for breaking crystals as you go, without knowing where they’re going to end up until the second day.
But by far the worst thing about Great Hollow is the giant, gaping chasm running through the middle of it.
Unlike Elden Ring, Nightreign doesn’t have fall damage. This was a big point of difference in gameplay style when it first launched, as Nightreign encourages players to sprint across maps, leap off ledges, and even climb up the sides of cliffs. Elden Ring, by contrast, favors a somewhat slower, more cautious playstyle. So over the last year, a lot of Elden Ring players have slowly adjusted to Nightreign’s rhythm of running and jumping without a lot of hesitancy, and by and large, that’s worked out well for them, because there really aren’t many places where falling in Nightreign is dangerous. You can technically fall off the outside edge of the map, and the Crater Shifting Earth does have a big lava pit that’s not great to fall into, but both of those are fairly simple to avoid.
Great Hollow, by contrast, has a death pit running down parts of the middle of the map, and it’s annoyingly hard to see. Because of how the ledges are positioned, it’s easy to look over a ledge, think you’re good to jump down, and end up falling to your death. What’s worse, for some reason Nightreign doesn’t treat death falls the same way it treats deaths to enemies. If an enemy kills you, you just spawn back at the last Grace you tapped, and your leftover Runes are either dropped near where you died or picked up by a nearby enemy. But when you fall, Nightreign will seemingly randomly drop you somewhere along a ledge near your death point, which could be above, below, or across from where you jumped off. But then it leaves your Runes back on the ledge where you started. Which means it’s possible (and even likely) that you’ll spawn on a far ledge, with your Runes somewhere behind you across a death pit, and no easy route back.
Whew! All this is to say that the Great Hollow, while aesthetically beautiful and thematically cool, is kind of a pain in the neck, and Steam reviewers are trying to let FromSoftware know. While Elden Ring: Nightreign itself has mostly positive reviews, Forsaken Hollows is currently sitting at Mostly Negative reviews for the last 30 days, with only 30% of 1,347 reviews this past month being positive.
“The new map is poorly designed, overly difficult and boring,” reads one review from today. “Takes forever to traverse, interesting points of interest are often too deep into the edge of the map to get through completely, boss battle tower is a damage-sponge time-wasting chore. New dlc pois in new and old map are full of enemy encounters designed to cheese you like it’s darksouls. Spend hours learning and memorizing crystal locations from youtube videos just so you can try to not lose in a bad map. Underground ruins filled with a dozen rot kindred that homing one shot you.”
Another reads: “The characters and bosses are great but the new “map” is absolutely horrible and is ruining the experience of the game as a whole.”
And a third: “Love the bosses and new classes but the new map is just trash. There was Zero NEED to add gaps in the map to kill YOU. You might as well add fall damage to the game.
“That map is NOT FUN!!! It’s a freaking chore. I avoided it completely until I am forced to play it to compete certain story lines.
“I am now forced to spend hours memorising the bloody thing because you will literally end up locations you cannot get out because the only bridge is light years away.
“An otherwise great DLC ruined by this nonsense map. EITHER GET RID OF THE MAP, MAKE IT OPTIONAL OR COVER THE GIANT HOLES.”
I also spotted a recent positive review that simply read, “the new map is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrible but everything’s so good.”
Not everyone hates the map, and some FromSoftware fans are pointing out that this may be a bit of a skill issue. A recent Reddit thread about the Steam reviews states, “The more I play, the more I feel like it was fantastically designed.” And the replies themselves seem divided between acknowledging its flaws and celebrating what they love about it.
As someone who spent last night falling into chasms on this map, I can see both points here. Great Hollow really is beautiful and unique, requiring a very different gameplay flow and better team coordination so you don’t all end up separated and confused. But it’s pretty challenging to learn, and the only way to learn really is to fail at it a lot. After already putting over 100 hours into Nightreign, I’m not having the best time simultaneously trying to learn all the new bosses, two new characters, and the new map simultaneously – though, I guess you could argue, that’s just the FromSoftware experience.
Probably a fix for where the game places you after you fall, and maybe a little bit more clarity on the minimap would solve some of this. We’ll keep an eye out for a Nightreign patch to address it. But in the meantime, just keep practicing.
War. War never changes. What does change, however, are board games. Those suckers change all the time, with thousands of new ones coming out every year, sometimes in big boxes, others in little ones, and occasionally ones based on a popular property. That’s the case with Fallout: Power Play, a small-area control card game designed by Resurrectionist Games and published by Modiphius Games, currently up for pre-order. It’s a small game with some good bones to it, but its compact design is more of a hindrance than a benefit.
Fallout: Power Play puts two to four players in command of four possible factions, each with their own unique decks and special ability. These are the Brotherhood of Steel (good at completing missions to earn influence and hunkering down in a location), Super Mutants (lots of big and powerful unit cards to deploy at locations), the Enclave (excellent at disrupting other players’ turns), and Raiders (thieves, every last one of them).
On their turn, players deploy agents to locations, complete quests to earn rewards, and use their faction-specific ability, all in a bid to earn the most influence in the different places, netting you victory points. Whichever player has their agent holding a location at the end of the turn gains influence over the spot, with the top play considered to be “dominating” and earning a victory point. The first player to reach 10 points triggers the end game and scoring, with whoever has the most points winning at the end of that round.
Things get shaken up a bit thanks to the random Wasteland Encounter cards you draw at the start of each round, and unique Power Play cards that each player has in their deck. These events can range from spawning ghouls that attack everyone’s agents to even detonating an Atom Bomb Baby and destroying everything at the location(s) where players have the most influence. That one is a particularly fun card to see safely from the sidelines, as all of your friends’ units are blasted out of existence all at once in the region they were fighting so fiercely over.
If the encounter cards are the right hand of chaos in Power Play, then the titular Power Play cards in your deck are the left hand of chaos. These cards have the potential to be played not only on your turn, but also in response to other players’ actions. Think an Instant spell in Magic: The Gathering. This resulted in some tense back-and-forth, play-and-counterplay moments with my friends, and I often found myself holding my breath whenever I would put down one of my more powerful cards in hopes they wouldn’t get countered or worse.
While at first glace, Power Play may appear to be more of a simple “bigger number better” war game, the more I played, the more nuance and strategy I found in it. Each location only has spots for four agents, and in games with fewer players, this allows for you to allocate multiple agent resources to a location. But regardless of how much you are overpowering the other players in a spot, you will still only gain a single victory point at the end of the round. On the flip side, every round where you don’t have an agent at a location will result in your losing an influence at that location (to a minimum of 1), so it pays to spread out your forces.
This management almost makes Power Play into more of a worker placement game, and I often found myself opting to have one stronghold as my main “VP generator” and then spreading out and setting up at the other locations to pull off big influence gain turns by completing quest cards that would net me a boost in influence for a spot. Whenever I managed to pull off these well-laid plans, it tickled that good spot in my brain and never got old.
Resurrectionist Games, Power Play’s designer, has put together a card game with solid bones, and its focus on capturing and holding locations reminds me of the hot new TCG Riftbound. That said, issues surrounding the delivery and presentation of the game blemish and knock Power Play down some notches. The most disappointing of which is that the whole product feels less like a Fallout card game and more like something with the beloved property slapped on the side of it.
Despite the four factions and other nods to the Fallout universe, I never felt as though Power Play did much with the property. Instead of decks featuring notable characters from the games that fans would recognize, the designers opted for bland and generic fill-ins instead. Taking the Brotherhood of Steel deck, for instance, a group whose Power Armor is arguably just as synonymous with the series as the signature blue-and-yellow vault suits, your forces are composed of no-name cards like “Knight” or “Elder.” Instead of a generic Elder, why not have the lead agent be a character like Arthur Maxson or Sarah Lyons?
The home base locations of each of the factions feel rather soulless and are identical to one another from a gameplay standpoint. While “activate a location” is an option you can take on your turn, there are only two locations that have something to activate, with the others being the starting strongholds of each faction. They are “War Camp” or “Raider Fortress” instead of something memorable from the series, like Nuka-World or even a Vault. I would have appreciated these spots to be two-sided, with a generic, ability-less side and the other having an action associated with it and pulled from somewhere players would recognize if you were in the mood for a more advanced game mode. Alas, no such luck.
This more uninspired approach extends into the art and even the card descriptions. Keeping on the Brotherhood train, the Initiate and Field Scribe agent cards feature nearly identical character faces, and cards like their “Knight” read as “Each time Knight kills an Enemy…” which feels generic. Do these things impact how the game plays? No. But if you’re going to adapt a well-known property, you want it to feel meaningful, and considering the attention to detail I’ve come to expect from Modiphius, especially with Fallout, thanks to the Fallout TTRPG they also publish, Power Play just doesn’t get there.
My other main gripe with Power Play has to do with some of the quality control and decisions involved with how the game is packaged. Now, I’m all for a game being nice and compact; heck, one of the most prestigious awards I can give (in my mind anyway) is the Glovebox Award, given to games that are small and fun enough that I always want them with me wherever I go (Flip 7 is an example). It’s rare that I’ve found a game that feels too small – but Power Play does. Inside its box are spots for two decks of cards, with a small gap in between. Now, these two spots aren’t quite deep enough to contain all of the standard-sized cards included, causing some annoying shifting, and unfortunately, you can just forget sleeving your cards.
Fallout: Power Play also uses tokens to mark each faction’s influence in the regions and other little reminders. Unfortunately, these tokens are incredibly tiny. And while the faction tokens are at least color-coded, some of the reminder tokens, all of which are about 3/4 the size of a dime and contain text, are barely legible from anything more than maybe six inches from your face, let alone from across a table. Power Play may also be the first board game I have that uses tokens but doesn’t come with a small bag to keep them in. And to make matters more annoying, they easily slip into the small gap between the two decks. Thankfully, my cardboard hobby has granted me extra baggies that I was able to put them in, but beforehand, more than a couple of times, I spent more time than I care to admit trying to get some of these damn cardboard pieces out of the box.
Fallout: Power Play is a great example of how a bunch of little missed opportunities and annoyances can add up, and it’s a shame. This is one of those products that I can see potential and promise if Resurrectionist Games takes a bit more care into any future properties they adapt. The underlying game is fun, and I can imagine a day down the road where Power Play becomes the system, and you can buy additional sets, akin to, say, Smash Up!, and you can have the Brotherhood of Steel facing off against the forces of the Borg from Star Trek, or the demons of Hell from Doom pushing back Super Mutants. That’s a game I would love to play, and if they put a bit more care into those sets, you can count me in day one. It may even make it into the glovebox.
Disney Lorcana has seemingly gone from strength to strength since its debut, with Winterspell marking its eleventh set when it arrives in February.
Ravensburger has been pulling from just about everywhere in the Disney pantheon of heroes and villains, and this one will give us some Christmas-themed cards… a little too late for the event itself (but still cute, nonetheless).
While Ravensburger has confirmed some new products coming this year, the second half of 2026 still remains something of a mystery. Here’s all we know coming to Disney Lorcana in the coming months, and we’ll update this as we hear more.
Winterspell – February 20
Winterspell, as we mentioned, has the unenviable task of offering cards related to Christmas almost two months late (or ten months early, if you’re an optimist). The set launches on February 20, with a prerelease on February 13, and will introduce snowy variants of characters.
Alongside the sweet snowy designs on the covers, if you’re curious what comes with each of these items, here’s the breakdown: the booster pack sets you up with 12 cards, including six Common cards, three Uncommon cards, two cards of either Rare, Super Rare, or Legendary rarity, and one random foil card. Preorders are now live, with Amazon being the best place to buy right now.
If you’re hoping to have a bit more than just the booster pack on hand, the booster pack display comes with 24 packs. And for a little bit of everything, the Illumineer’s Trove comes with a card storage box, six card dividers, eight booster packs, six damage-counter dice, and a lore counter.
Expect Mickey Mouse, Snowboard Ace, to bump shoulders with Jiminy Cricket, Willie the Giant, and Lonely Resting Place pulling double duty as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Get ready for more card reveals in the coming weeks ahead of launch. TCGPlayer also has listings for individual cards, booster packs and boxes, and the new Illumineer’s Trove.
Scrooge McDuck Gift Box – March 13
While not tied to a fresh set, there are two new releases on March 13 which Collectors will want to be aware of. The first is the Scrooge McDuck Gift Box. It’s not up for preorder right now, but will include an exclusive Scrooge McDuck, S.H.U.S.H. Agent in Glimmer Foil, and five random booster packs.
The curious thing to note is that those packs are from prior sets, so you could get five from Winterspell, or you could end up with some classics. Up next, the Collection Starter Set has a portfolio adorned with Stitch, Rock Star, a Glimmer Foil variant of Stitch, Carefree Snowboarder, and four booster packs.
Wilds Unknown – May 15
With all due respect to Winterspell, this is the set that’s likely to take up a lot of the oxygen in Disney Lorcana’s 2026 release schedule. It’ll lean into cowboy fantasies, and who better to lead that charge than Woody himself, alongside Buzz Lightyear. Wild Unkowns marks a significant change for Lorcana releases, as the TCG leans more into Disney’s Pixar characters, starting with The Incredibles and Toy Story.
This will also add new Prelease Kits to the Lorcana product pool, each including a promo card, dice, six booster packs from the latest set, and a deck box. Honestly, Ravensburger, you had me at Toy Story, but I’m excited to see the game grow.
I’ve also long lauded Gateway as a great starter product for new Lorcana players, but in May we’ll get also new 2-Player Starter Set with preconstructed decks, lore trackers, tokens, and some playmats, also as part of Wilds Unknown. This one launches on May 15, as recently confirmed, with prerelease from May 8.
Attack of the Vine – Q3
Looking further ahead, we don’t know a great deal about what’s coming later, but a few details have already been confirmed by the Lorcana team. Attack of the Vine, featuring characters from Monsters Inc and Turning Red, will launch sometime in Q3 2026.
Coco and More – Q4
Then, towards then end of the year, Coco is set to make its first Lorcana appearance, but we know little more than that. Disney’s possibilities are seemingly endless, though, and while Star Wars and Marvel each have cardboard appearances in Unlimited and Magic: The Gathering to prepare for, don’t be surprised to see the House of Mouse and Ravensburger pull out some even more deep cuts in 2026, and beyond.
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.
