“A combo of personal and professional considerations led me to down this path,” Street wrote. “We experienced some devastating personal losses last year and I want to be closer to my surviving family.”
However, Street assured Riot fans that the MMO spinoff is still in production.
“The MMO is in good hands and it’s the right time to hand over the reigns for the next phase,” he wrote. “I plan to stay in game development and I have had a number of exciting opportunities presented to me already. And I will be with you all playing the Riot MMO when it comes out.”
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
Minecraft Steve is known for breaking things. He breaks blocks in Minecraft, he broke the internet when he was announced for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and now, the character is breaking the balance of Smash Ultimate’s competitive scene.
Steve (along with alternate costumes of Alex, Enderman, and Zombie) joined Smash Ultimate’s roster in October 2020 and was instantly recognized as one of the game’s most mechanically complex fighters. The Minecraft crew rapidly soared to the top of Ultimate’s tier list, with the competitive community generally considering the fighters to be among the best in the game.
Steve’s unique playstyle forced opponents to play Smash in basically an entirely new way, having to take his block-building mechanics into account while balancing the dozens of other mind games and considerations already on the table during a competitive Smash Bros. fight. Talks of banning the character have been bubbling up for a while due to his huge damage and dominating stage control, but the conversation has taken a turn due to a brand new discovery that makes Steve an even more fearsome foe.
Recently, Smash players discovered a new, potentially game-breaking technique within Steve’s kit that’s already caused dozens of competitive Smash events to ban the character. While the scene hasn’t agreed on a final, community-wide ruling either way regarding Steve’s future in competitive play, Steve mains that have invested countless hours in the character are worried about what comes next.
“It definitely is nerve-wracking and stressful hearing about the Steve ban,” said Kevin “RockMan” B., an Alex main from the SoCal region who’s been active in the Smash scene for the last five years. “A lot of people are worried about the time and effort that they put into their character now seemingly going to waste. And for people who do coaching or have a YouTube channel based around the character, [they might] need to change what they do, with many feeling they need to leave the game since they don’t have a character that will resonate with them as much as Steve did.”
‘Phantom MLG’: The New Technique that’s Changing Smash Bros.
So what is this game-breaking technique? The Smash community is calling it Phantom MLG, and it allows Steve players to instantly cancel the hitstun of many attacks, which can then lead to punishing combos on an opponent.
To put it simply, Steve can ignore one of Smash’s most basic concepts with this input. Usually when a Smash character is hit, they experience knockback, leaving them vulnerable and unable to defend against incoming enemy attacks. Phantom MLG allows Steve to completely prevent knockback, letting him instantly retaliate with a combo of his own. Currently, Phantom MLG is only possible with Steve, giving him and the rest of the Minecraft crew a huge advantage over the rest of Ultimate’s roster when this technique is used properly.
Since this move essentially punishes opponents for even attempting to hit Steve at low percentages, it’s a total game-changer. If you want to see what Phantom MLG looks like in action, check out the video below.
Have you seen the Steve hitstun canceling clips floating around? Did you hope they were fake?
An imbalanced character has devastating potential for a fighting game community, a concept the Smash scene is all too familiar with. Meta Knight in Super Smash Bros. Brawl was notoriously overpowered, leading to widespread bans of the character.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U had a big Bayonetta problem toward the end of its competitive life. Bayonetta was never banned from the game despite her evident advantage over the rest of the roster, leading to one tournament where fans left the audience in droves before the start of a Bayonetta vs Bayonetta Grand Finals. Banning a character is a situation the community doesn’t take lightly.
“Banning a character is always going to be unfair one way or another,” said Eric “ESAM” Lew, a highly-ranked Smash Ultimate Pikachu main. “I was part of the Universal Ruleset Committee in Brawl days back on Smashboards, I voted to ban Meta Knight knowing that a large part of the community played that character. You have to also realize that while banning a character sucks really bad for the people that play them, having a character that is obscenely broken be legal hurts all the other people that play, too. If everyone that mained Steve quit if he gets banned, I don’t know if that would be more than the people that quit because of Steve, if that makes sense.”
One tournament organizer who wished to remain anonymous said they believed a community-wide Steve ban is justified. But much of the community is still weighing all the options, as many Ultimate players are worried about history repeating itself with Steve.
Banning a character is always going to be unfair one way or another
“An imbalanced character creates a lot of frustration for other players, as it could feel like they’re being beaten unfairly,” said Sam “SBF” Brooks-Franklin, an Ultimate player who’s been competing since 2015. “In the context of this new Steve tech, players are abusing an exploit which no other character has access to… And as a result it is a very unhealthy mechanic. This is because Steve is widely regarded to be the best character in the game — with the character having already previously been in discussion to be banned — and now he’s been given an additional tool which makes the character even stronger and [more] polarizing than he already is.”
While some believe Steve should just be banned outright, some Steve mains are trying to salvage their character by suggesting only banning the Phantom MLG tech itself, rather than the entire character.
“The middle ground of ‘ban the glitch and not the character’ is one that comes with its own complications, as it is very difficult to monitor it,” RockMan said. “So despite what I may feel, it’s ultimately up to what the Smash Ultimate tournament organizers wish to do with Steve.”
Those complications include the impracticality of reviewing a lengthy match to verify if Steve used the tech, and players hesitating to report the move if there’s any uncertainty.
Honestly I think a Steve ban is the way forward. Whilst the current ‘verifying rule’ could be valid, TOs just don’t have time to review what could be up to a 7 minute game
And w/ how inconsistent multihits are anyway, feel like people might not report if they’re just unsure
The concept of only banning the tech, not the character, will be put into practice within the next week. Collision 2023 is the next major Smash event that’s scheduled for March 10-March 12. We spoke with the tournament organizer, FinallyRJ, about how next week’s event will handle Steve in light of this week’s discourse. He told us that Collision has banned the Phantom MLG tech, but has not banned Steve from the event.
“I believe that Steve is, undoubtedly, the best character in the game,” FinallyRJ said. “However, this being said, being the best doesn’t constitute being removed. I try to take approaches that are non-destructive first and I believe that removing a character from play is a destructive choice for those who’ve invested time into learning the ins and outs… There have been strong arguments that the [Phantom MLG] tech can be managed within an event setting. We believe we have enough staff to test out this theory.”
If an opponent believes a Steve player illegally used the Phantom MLG tech during a Collision match, the player must save a replay of the battle and bring it to the tournament moderators for review. If it works, this could be the way forward for larger events, but smaller events with fewer crew members could struggle to review individual matches in a timely manner.
Players remain unsure about a ban
Still, Ultimate is a better-balanced game than Smash for Wii U before it. Even though Steve has long been considered a top tier character, he’s not dominating tournaments as much as Bayonetta did back in the day. This has some players unsure of if a ban is necessary at this time.
“Right now, I think it’s hard to say if Steve should be banned because of this tech,” SBF said. “Whilst it’s potentially game breaking, Steve is not overly dominating the metagame and we have not had any big tournaments where Steve players have abused this mechanic to win… I’ll keep an open mind for now as I’m interested to see if these new rules at big tournaments do actually prevent the usage of the tech though.”
RockMan and a handful of other Steve mains are attempting to go straight to the source: Nintendo. Players are contacting the Smash publisher through the company’s support line in hopes to receive one final patch specifically for this glitch.
This is one of our most recent chat that one of our members have with Nintendo Support
If more people manage to send reports we can try that Nintendo do something
But given that Smash Ultimate received its last-ever combat balance update back in 2021, a fix for this issue seems like a longshot. However, Nintendo’s statement at the time of the final patch did state that, “This is the last update related to the balance adjustment of the game, except for dealing with problems,” so it all depends on if Nintendo views this issue with Steve as a problem worth solving. If the problem never gets solved, it seems Steve could break the hearts of those who have invested so much time competing with the character.
“I do hope that with more experimentation the glitch does not appear to be as impactful as it once was, or tournament organizers can find a way to monitor if this does occur in tournaments and provide a proper adjustment to it,” RockMan said. “But I and many others are fully prepared to either change the character we play, or drop out of the competitive scene entirely.”
Parts of these interviews have been edited for clarity.
With the launch of Destiny 2: Lightfall, players are diving into the game’s story and unearthing some hidden clues about where the story could go next. In a surprise detail hidden in one of Lightfall’s activities, one of Destiny 2’s more memorable supporting characters, the Awoken Warlock Asher Mir, makes a quick cameo — and most players have likely missed it.
Thanks to some Destiny 2 fans on social media and content creators on YouTube, the community has uncovered evidence of Asher Mir’s return in the game’s plot. Hidden in the Partition activity on Neomuna, which sees guardians explore a repurposed Vex network, Asher Mir’s digital self is located on a hidden platform, and he signals to the player to approach him. Though he does not speak, he gives the familiar glare he would give when players visited him on Io.
However, he has left a more direct message for players in a lore description on the Inside Line sparrow, which is available for players from the season pass rewards. When inspecting the lore for the Inside Line, there is a morse code message that says, “STILL ALIVE INSIDE NETWORK IDIOT KIDS.”
For those who played OG Destiny 2, Asher Mir was a prickly character who commonly made snide comments. In short, it’s classic Asher Mir.
Asher Mir’s origins
As one of the original characters from Destiny 2’s launch in 2017, the supporting vendor Asher Mir was on the planet Io, which was taken over by the Vex, Cabal, and Taken factions. As one of the planet’s primary characters, he would give players details about Io’s history and clues about the Vex Pryamidion — a Vex stronghold that stretched across time and space. In the earlier phases of Destiny 2, Asher Mir was the foremost expert on The Vex, and would conduct experiments into the Vex network and explore the Pyramidion and its many permeatations.
However, with Beyond Light’s launch in 2020, Bungie sunsetted a sizable portion of Destiny 2’s content, including several planets, activities, and characters. This mass vaulting, unfortunately, included NPCs like Asher Mir and Sloane from the planet Titan. Storywise, the Darkness had invaded the Sol System and swallowed up several planets, erasing them from existence. In 2023, with Destiny 2 in a vastly changed state from its debut, many players who jumped into the game recently have no idea who this character is. Nevertheless, for long-time fans of Destiny 2, this is the clearest confirmation that Asher Mir is still alive, which could lead to more from him in the future.
We’re still uncovering more details about Destiny 2: Lightfall, so be sure to check back with IGN for more updates, along with our finalized review.
From Software’s next game isn’t an Elden Ring or Dark Souls sequel. It’s a sequel to an older series that existed long before those action-RPGs took over the gaming landscape. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is the developer’s next game, and it’s slated to release sometime this year. It’s up for preorder now at all the usual retailers (see it at Amazon). Read on to see what comes with the game, plus what to expect from this blast from the past.
Armored Core is a series of mech shooters that dates back to the early days of From Software, with the first installment hitting the original PlayStation in 1997. The company put out a lot of games over the ensuing years, but it kept making Armored Core games every few years, with the most recent installment being 2013’s Armored Core: Verdict Day for PS3 and Xbox 360.
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is about a dangerously unstable new fuel source found on the planet Rubicon 3. Various corporations and resistance groups are vying for control of the substance. You play as a freelancing mercenary, and you create your very own mech that you can use to maneuver and blast through a series of missions.
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Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed or on Mastodon @chrislreed.
As you fight your way through the unforgiving hordes of Remnant 2’s procedurally generated soulslike levels, you’re going to need bullets – and a whole lot of them. And that’s where the Gunslinger archetype comes in. With a six-shooter at their hip and enough lead to bury an army of baddies, this western-themed outlaw makes ungodly levels of DPS their calling card. After going hands-on with the Gunslinger myself, I pulled out the spitoon and took a seat at the campfire with principal designer Ben Cureton to talk about the Gunslinger’s marauding ways.
“So the Gunslinger in Remnant 2 is all about weapons,” Ben told me. “They’re the master of weapon handling, fire rate, and ammo generation. And the fantasy for the gunslinger is they’re constantly switching between weapons. They’re rarely running out of ammo. It still can happen, but it’s much more rare than another class. And they shoot just much faster on average than every other class in the game. They’re just a rain of bullets everywhere.”
Replacing the Ex-Cultist from the previous game, The Gunslinger is a mid-range powerhouse designed to keep the bullets flying. Unlike the reformed cultist of yesteryear though, the Gunslinger mostly drops their role as a hybrid support class and goes all-in on dealing as much damage as possible. One of the main ways the Gunslinger accomplishes that is through its Prime Perk: Loaded, which instantly reloads all of your weapons once you’ve activated any of the archetype’s skills. If I was playing my cards right, I never had to spend valuable time reloading in combat by activating my skill right when I needed a fresh magazine for my weapons.
The skills the Gunslinger has at their disposal are incredibly deadly in their own right, like Quickdraw, the first of three abilities I unlocked during my playthrough. “Quick Draw is something you’ve probably seen in every western ever made, which is they pull out their six-shooter and they fire six shots,” Ben explained. “And there’s two versions of that. One will auto-target enemies in front of you and shoot up to six shots. The special mode is if you hold the button down, you can actually aim it and it will always shoot six shots, but it will shoot exactly at the reticle. So you can use that for something that has a very visible weak spot, something that’s not moving too fast, bosses – things like that. It’s quite strong. And it’s especially good because it’s on a lower cooldown, and it’s something that you can use with the Prime [Perk] to constantly keep reloading your weapons.”
“By playing aggressively and using every ounce of gunpowder available to me, I was mostly successful at burning down Remnant 2’s most dangerous adversaries”
There’s also Sidewinder, a skill that let me ADS faster and move more quickly while aiming, and Bulletstorm, which made all my weapons fully automatic and improved their fire rate and reload speed. On top of that, the returning Trait system allowed me to increase how much ammo I could carry beyond the maximum capacity of other archetypes. All of these abilities helped me drown the enemy in a hail of gunfire in an incredibly challenging game where dealing damage quickly can save your skin.
If you’ve ever played a shooter with me, then you’ll know I despise reloading, so the Gunslinger fit me like a glove. Of course, the downside to being such a relentless DPS machine is that I was quite squishy, lacking the second wind available to the close-quarters Challenger archetype, or any kind of support abilities available to other classes when playing in co-op. This meant that during combat I had to focus on taking down enemies quickly, preferably at a distance, and try to end combat before it had a chance to begin. This became especially important during boss fights, where one false move could mean an undesired respawn loading screen. By playing aggressively and using every ounce of gunpowder available to me, I was mostly successful at burning down Remnant 2’s most dangerous adversaries while spending as little time as possible dodging their onslaught of attacks.
In endgame builds, when the Gunslinger is combined with a secondary archetype like the close-quarters Challenger, they can use their nigh-bottomless ammo reserves with DPS-focused skills like Rampage to become a mob-slaying machine that’s sure to leave even bosses shaking in their wicked boots. As someone who gets a kick out of spending hours buildcrafting to squeeze every last drop of DPS out of my character, the Gunslinger had me positively salivating, and I can’t wait to play more.
We’ll have much more on Remnant 2 as our exclusive IGN First coverage continues all March long!
Niantic has announced that Peridot – its blend of Pokémon GO, Tamagotchi, and Nintendogs – will launch on May 9.
Pre-registration for the game is also available now, and users who sign up on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and play by May 23 will receive an exclusive party hat cosmetic. Peridot has been in development for around three and a half years and is Niantic’s latest attempt to recapture the magic of Pokémon GO’s launch period in the summer of 2016.
“Our team has been hard at work making Peridots real,” said Niantic. “They are immersive, amazing magical creatures that eat, sleep, play with toys, explore their environment, get bored, develop unique personalities, and are always in need of a loving adopter like you.”
Each Peridot also holds a combination of unique traits that change its colours and features, with Niantic promising an “infinite number” of different looks. While the aim of the game is to raise and have fun with a Peridot, players can also take on the role of Keepers to breed and discover as many types of Peridots as possible.
“When it comes to the day-to-day however, remember that it’s every Keeper’s job first and foremost to ensure their Dots are happy, healthy, and loved,” added Niantic.
“Feed your baby Dot, play with it and take it on adventures. With enough care and effort it will grow into a teenager and then an adult that can Hatch a new generation of Dots. It’s a circle of life in a way, except you can keep track of all your Dots and never have to say goodbye.”
Peridot was announced in April 2022, with Niantic seemingly using the ups and downs of Pokémon GO’s years on the market to create an improved experience from the get-go.
Former Riot Games executives have launched a new studio called Believer to create a next-generation open world game based on an original IP.
The Believer Company’s leadership team includes former Riot Games vice president Michael Chow as CEO and former executive producer of League of Legends and Riot co-founder Steven Snow as chief product officer.
Believer has secured $55 million in funding to build its development team and first project, which it promised to be a “next-generation open-world game, anchored by an original IP, [with] stories where player choices matter, and gameplay systems that bring players together rather than pushing them apart.”
The company’s motto, Credo In Lugos, means “I believe in games”, which Believer said shows its dedication to video game development as a lifelong passion and not just a business venture. It appears dedicated to bringing its new IP to life beyond games as well, however, as strategic partner Michael D. Eisner said Believer understands that “truly great content franchises are not built with a single media type.
“They need to resonate with their audience across games, film, television, collectibles, and real-world interactive experiences,” he said, adding that their vision will be “[brought] to life across every platform”.
Believer also promised to have a player-first approach to making games. “Players are the best audience to serve in the world,” said Chow. “They’re noble, smart, discerning, and infinitely inventive. We hold their investments of time, skill, and hard-earned money as sacred, and we will always put their needs first at every stage of Believer’s journey.”
He continued: “I couldn’t be more excited to begin this journey with Steven. He’s a loving, stalwart champion of players — at times viciously protective of their best interests. There’s no better flag-bearer for what we’re setting out to do.”
The pair are joined by CTO Landon McDowell (previously of Microsoft and Riot Games), CCO Jeremy Vanhoozer (of Bungie and EA), COO Tim Hsu (of Twitter and Riot Games), CMO Shankar Gupta-Harrison (of Riot Games), director of operations Grace Park (of League of Legends: Wild Rift), and VP of design Jeff Jew (of League of Legends and Legends of Runeterra).
Given the studio is only being announced now, and the development team is still being put together, it will likely be years before Believer launches its game, though teases of what’s to come may arrive sooner.
2023 might finally be the year where 2TB PS5 SSDs might actually be worth the upgrade. Last year, prices for 1TB PS5 SSDs averaged around $150, whereas 2TB SSDs hovered closer to $300. This year, we’re seeing 1TB SSDs trickle below the $100 price point and 2TB SSDs are under $200. The reason PS5 SSD upgrades are pricey is that you can’t use any old SSD and expect it to perform well on the PS5 console. You’ll want to pick up an PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid state drive with a rated 5,500MB/s read speed to match the PS5’s internal drive. That means, for better or for worse, picking a top-shelf SSD.
Note that Sony recommends a heatsink attached to your SSD. Not all SSDs listed here have pre-installed heatsinks. For the ones that do, we’ll be sure to mention it. For the ones that don’t, all you have to do is purchase your own heatsink (we recommend this one for $10) and install it yourself. It’s very easy.
Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PS5 SSD for PS5 for $131.99
Constantly going in and out of stock
Crucial’s newest M.2 SSD meets all the requirements for your PS5 SSD upgrade. It supports transfer speeds of up to 6,660MB/s which is well above the 5,500MB/s minimum threshold. Yes there are faster SSDs out there, but if your intention is to put this in your PS5, then that extra speed is worthless because you’re bottlenecked by the original PS5 SSD. If you’re worried about opening up your PS5 case, don’t worry it’s very easy. Crucial has an official YouTube PS5 SSD install guide to see you through the process.
WD 2TB PS5 SSD from $159.99
Amazon is offering a 2TB WD Black SN850X with preinstalled heatsink for only $179.99.The SN850X is the successor to the SN850 SSD. It has newer flash chips (BiCS5 vs BiCS4) and an updated firmware, which combined offer improved sequential and random read/write speeds. For PC gamers, there’s also an updated Game Mode 2.0 utility that’s designed to tune the SSD for better performance during gaming sessions.
Corsair MP600 PRO LPX 2TB “Optimized for PS5” SSD with Heatsink for Only $157.99
Corsair is a very well known brand for DIY PC builders. Corsair makes some of the best gaming products on the market, and that includes solid-state memory like RAM and SSDs. The MP600 Pro is the same super-fast M.2 NVMe PCIe x4 Gen4 SSD that’s marketed for enthusiast gaming PC builds. This one is “optimized for PS5” because it includes a rugged preinstalled heatsink that is slim enough to fit in the PS5 bay without any issues. Performance wise, the MP600 Pro matches the best SSDs out there with its 7,100MB/sec sequential read and 6,800MB/sec sequential write speeds.
Patriot Viper VP4300 2TB PS5 SSD for $144.99
Amazon is offering the Patriot Viper VP4300 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x 4 Internal Gaming Solid State Drive, which is compatible with the PS5 console, for only $149.99. This makes it definitely the lowest price we’ve seen for a brand name 2TB PS5 SSD, especially since this one even includes a slim aluminum heatshield. The VP4300 is an M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x4 solid state drive with rated transfer speeds of 7,400MB/s read and 6,800MB/s write. That makes it well above the PS5’s recommended 5,600MB/s speed requirement.
Samsung 2TB PS5 SSD with Heatsink for $179.99
Samsung SSDs need no introduction. They’ve made some of the most popular and reliable PS5 SSDs on the market. The 980 Pro has been out for a while now, but it’s still one of Samsung’s fastest M.2 PCIe SSD, with only the newly released 990 Pro being faster. It is fully PS5 compatible in terms of form factor and performance, with blistering speeds of up to 7,100MB/s. It goes toe to toe with other well-known options like the WD Black SN850 and the Seagate Firecuda 530.
More PS5 SSD Deals
There may be other SSD deals out there, but these are the PS5 SSDs we’ve tried ourselves and highly recommend. They also double up as outstanding boot drives for your gaming PC, in case you don’t need additional storage for your PS5 console.
How easy is it to install the SSD?
It’s extremely easy! Removing the case cover is completely toolless. In fact, the only screw you have to remove is the one that keeps the cover for the SSD bay in place. You don’t even put it back when you’re done. Sony has a quick and easy YouTube video guide.
What if the SSD I bought doesn’t have a heatsink?
Sony recommends you install an SSD that has an attached heatsink. If the SSD you purchase doesn’t include one, it’s simple enough to buy one for about $10 on Amazon and add it yourself. Most of these heatsinks are just attached using an adhesive like thermal tape.
For more deals, take a look at our daily deals for today.
You don’t need a big group of friends to have a great time with many of the best board games. There are loads of great board games for just two players. Below, you’ll find our picks for the best board games for 2 players — from couples on a date night to a parent spending quality time with their child, and everything in between.
In fact, there are so many games that are enjoyable with two that we couldn’t list them all. Instead, we’ve broken them down into three categories so you can find one to suit your mood: quick, cooperative, and competitive. Many of these games support more players, but play excellently when just two are at the table.
These are easy to set up and play in less than 30 minutes. Perfect for baby nap times or killing a little time with a friend or loved one without taking up all evening.
Radlands
Radlands came out of the wastelands to huge critical acclaim. Players get a random selection of three camp cards that they must defend with irradiated warrior and event cards from their hands while also attacking the enemy camp. Cards cost water, however, and resources are extremely tight, meaning you have to balance discarding cards to gain short-term bonuses against spending to play them into your battle lines. Taut, thematic and rich with tactics, Radlands is shaping up to be a classic board game.
Schotten Totten
In theory, Schotten Totten sees you lining up members of a Scottish clan, represented by superb cartoon art, for a factional showdown. In practice, it’s more like Poker as you try to collect triplets of colour or number which you assign to one of nine flags. The secret of Schotten Totten is that you’re forced to start making plays before you collect complete sets. That makes every card down and every card drawn an agony of anticipation where bluff and timing are everything. It’s a fine game but, better still, you can also use the cards to play a related 2-player game, Lost Cities (see it on Amazon).
Jaipur
Trading games tend to work best with multiple players, so you’ve got a bit of bargaining going on. Jaipur solves this problem with an elegant economic system. As an Indian merchant you want to collect goods like cloth, gold and tea to sell in bulk. But the market is one of diminishing returns. That creates constant tension between hoarding goods and selling early to get the best prices and deny them to your opponent. With other smart, interlocking mechanics, Jaipur is a slippery customer. Whenever you feel like you’ve mastered it, it reveals new tricks: so it rewards repeat play against the same person.
Paris: La Cité de la Lumière
A lovely theme, illuminating the beauty of turn of the century Paris with newfound electric lights, is thrown atop this clever two-player abstract. First, players have to build the board together out of a series of tiles, trying to put together shapes of their color, or shared purple, that they can use in the second phase. This seems them placing buildings, why they can skip a board tile to collect, as close to as many street lamps as possible to score points. It’s a simple concept, developed to a challenging and engaging perfection.
Co-operative Games
These co-op board games are challenging and only those who work together can hope to come out victorious. Plus they won’t have you going to bed angry at one another.
Arkham Horror: The Card Game
There are many H.P. Lovecraft based games on the market. And many are co-operative. After all, if you’re going to go mad in the face of eldritch extra-dimensional horrors, it’s best to do it with a friend. This is the best of them and, as a bonus, it’s fairly fast and simple, too. Each player makes a deck for their character from the cards provided. Then you find forgotten secrets and vanquish horrors in scenarios that link together into a narrative campaign. Numerous expansions add not just more card options to add to your deck, but new horrific scenarios to defeat… or go insane trying.
Fog of Love
In co-op games, you don’t fight each other. In Fog of Love, you don’t fight anything: you’re a couple, playing out a romantic relationship. Each player builds a character from a selection of trait, feature and occupation cards. These then inform what they want from, and how they behave in, the scenes of that make up each game. But there’s a catch: traits must remain hidden so, like in the real world, the partners can have competing goals. Each play flowers into a complex story which can lead to love or loss or anything between. Their subtlety and realism make up for the lack of well-defined win conditions.
Spirit Island
If you’ve ever sympathized with the underdog, Spirit Island is for you. As ancient spirits, it’s your job to help native islanders resist an invasion. But growing powerful enough to head off the colonists is slow going. Building up your spirit’s abilities is an addictive draw, but to reach your potential, you must deal with those pesky explorers. You’ll need to allocate precious energy and actions each turn to destroying their soldiers and cities. Take too long and their expansion will blight the landscape, causing you to lose. It’s a heavy game in both rules and depth but brilliantly blends unusual mechanics with its unusual theme.
Sleeping Gods
If you want a single title you can immerse yourselves in to enjoy weaving your own narrative together, look no further than Sleeping Gods. It’s a behemoth of a game in which you’ll guide the crew of a small boat, lost in a strange and exotic dimension, and trying to get back home. On the one hand, this is a game of survival in which you must marshal crew and resources through dangerous encounters, trying to keep everyone alive. On the other, it’s a game of narrative, with a branching story, clues and puzzles that keep feeding back cleverly into the mechanical strategy of survival. If you do manage to pilot through to the conclusion, additional plays will tell an entirely different tale.
Competitive Games
Competition where you go up as the other player goes down can feel mean and unfair. Fortunately lots of board game designs have found ways to let couples compete without the cruelty.
YINSH
No, no-one sneezed. YINSH is the best of a series of abstract games known (of course!) as the GIPF project. No, I don’t know, either. Ignore the names and get stuck into this fascinating challenge instead. Players go head-to-head on a hexagonal board, moving rings which leave markers behind. To win you need to make chains of your own colour, but moving rings alternate between black and white. So you need to plan patterns ahead to get those connections. With several rings in play, YINSH weaves worrying webs in your head, but when you complete a chain you lose a ring. This elegant twist makes strategy easier but winning harder and ensures timing is part of the tactics.
Race for the Galaxy
The icons in this game start out looking like an alien language, but Race for the Galaxy is fast and engaging. It’s all about building an intergalactic empire from the planets, aliens and technologies in your hand. The hook is that you aren’t always in control over what cards you can play, as the players select what game phases get executed each turn. This makes everything into a tricky balancing act, with a thousand things to do funneling down into your limited actions. Pick the right priorities and construct the right card combos and your reward isn’t just a win. It’s a real sense of a space-born society growing and flourishing.
Unmatched: Cobble and Fog
If you fancy a bit of no-holds-barred, head to head fighting action, you won’t do any better than the Unmatched series. Each box has a set of unique characters with their own special power and deck of cards with which to attack, defend and pull off special moves. Play is all about combining tactical movement on a cramped board with managing your hand to build up powerful chains of cards. Despite the variety, the core rules are simple and can be learned in minutes. Cobble and Fog is the best set so far, with four characters from gothic literature to enjoy, but all the boxes can be combined with each other for even more options. See our Unmatched: Cobble and Fog review for more info.
Watergate
There’s a whole genre of games in which card play replicates key real-life events in order to explore alternative histories. Most are long and complex, but Watergate puts their tension and detail into the reach of any gamer. One player represents Nixon, the other the Washington Post, as each plays cards trying to connect or block connections on a web of evidence and witnesses linking the President to the famous scandal. Multi-use cards and a see-saw of supporting mechanics ensure plenty of depth and replay value alongside the excitement of trying to weave the web together.
As shocking as it seems for the first time in a few years, Netflix has scheduled no new titles to premiere during the month of March.
That makes it a fine time to catch up on some of the recent additions and maybe a few older series you never got around to watching. Good thing this list offers a mixed selection of newer titles like February’s survival sci-fi from Yasuo Ohtagaki Make My Day or January’s psychological drama Monster.
Note: As this is a list of anime series to watch, no anime movies were considered for this feature. This list applies to U.S. Netflix subscribers. Some titles may not currently be available on international platforms (yet). This list will also be periodically amended to remove series no longer available on Netflix, as well as add anime shows now available for streaming on the service.
Vampire in the Garden
In Vampire in the Garden the fate of the world hangs in the balance when a vampire queen and human join forces in an effort to find Paradise. Paradise isn’t just a euphemism for a way to end the warring between the factions, but an action place where the two species lived harmoniously. The double entendre holds true for all of this beautifully drawn five episode fantasy anime series. Despite the story of young Momo and her fateful meeting with vampire queen Fine feeling occasionally rushed (the pitfalls of an extremely limited series) this story of a duo intent on finding a way for humans and vampires to live peacefully once again is a compelling little romance from Wit Studios.
High-Rise Invasion
High-Rise Invasion centers Yuri Honjo. A high schooler who finds herself in a twisted world of interconnected buildings known as “abnormal space.” Pulled into a wicked situation she chooses to fight back against her attackers. This is a blood-soaked dark story full of sadistic figures hellbent on mayhem. It’s got thrills, screams and a slaughterhouse of insanity.
Oni: Thunder God’s Tale
If you like the trend of incorporating new animation techniques, like say a 3D stop-motion hybrid, into anime visual effects, then Oni: Thunder God’s Tale may be just the thing for you. Based on Onari’s Lullaby by Emi Tsutsumi, Oni follows free-spirited Onari on her quest to become like the heroes from (Japanese) folklore. In her quest to unlock her inherent powers, Onari undergoes transformations – that offer lessons on empathy and connection with a light touch.
The pacing is slow, but with 45 minute episodes it covers a lot of ground with fun, action and plenty of emotion pay off to balance the occasional drag. So despite being a fantasy children’s story brought to such life and flair that even the crabbiest of diehards will find themselves rooting for Onair and laughing at the hijinx of the odd-ball gods and monsters she encounters along the way. A warm, family friendly story anchored by the consistently stunning animation is the perfect mini-series palette cleanser.
exception
exception takes a walk on the post-apocalyptic horror side with a story about a mission to terraform a planet that goes horribly awry. To escape AI control, humans have taken to space in search of a new home. The crew of humanoid entities created (from the DNA of living people) in a biological 3D printer called The Womb make up the advance party. Just as they arrive to start the work of making a new habitable planet, a misprint turns one crew member into a monster. Soon their ship becomes a hunting ground.
exception is a visual stunner with a unique way of bringing humor, mayhem and action. The story balances complicated questions about what makes someone human with an action-driven, unsettling sci-fi drama. Directed by Yuzo Sato, exception brings to life an original story by Hirotaka Adachi also known as Otsuichi (Goth: Love of Death) with non-traditional animation and character design that may not be everyone’s cup of tea but its original story and immersive pacing makes this a space horror a do not miss.
Tekken: Bloodline
A surprisingly straightforward adaptation of the Tekken 3 storyline, Tekken: Bloodline follows fifteen-year old Jin Kazama (Kaiji Tang) on his quest to avenge his mother. You don’t have to be a lover of the video game to find this six episode arc worthwhile. It showcases character design and story structure that’s reminiscent of the source’s gameplay but the real lure is in the slow burning reveal of Jin’s family history and his struggle to honor his mother and fight to control his destiny. There’s mystery, intrigue, and just enough fighting to keep things very interesting.
Kotaro Lives Alone
Kotaro Satо̄, a 4-year old boy living on his own, moves next door to Shin Karino, a manga artist. Based on the manga series written and illustrated by Mami Tsumura, Kotaro Lives Alone is the inverse odd couple you didn’t know you were missing in your life. It’s witty, self-aware, and relies on an animation style that only adds to the vibrancy of this adorably engaging ten episode slice of life series.
Little Witch Academia
Little Witch Academia is an underrated gem in the streamer’s library. This anime series directed by Yoh Yoshinari is a pastel drenched delight. Atsuko Kagari longs to be a world-class witch like her idol. There’s only one problem, she’s got a decidedly non-magical background. But the enthusiastic youth finesses her way into Luna Nova Magical Academy, her fav’s alma mater to train. What follows is a blend of lighthearted and hijinx as she attempts to navigate school. The animation is masterful and the characters joyfully entertaining. It’s a feel good watch with just enough depth to intrigue.
Spriggan
Based on the manga by Hiroshi Takashige and Ryōji Minagawa, Spriggan enters the list after only a six-episode debut jam-packed with action, slick character design, and a premise interesting to overcome an uneven start. Spriggan follows Yu Ominae, a 16-year-old super soldier tasked with finding and securing powerful artifacts.
With various military and private groups vying for control of what they see as potential weapons, Yu must defend against all comers if he hopes to comply with his employer’s mandate to safeguard the artifacts. Sticking close to the source, this anime series capitalizes on open-ended storytelling, charismatic characters, humor, necessary violence, and bombastic action sequences. This globetrotting adventure is all about world-building and setting up for adventures to come but still makes the most of its character arcs to be off to a fantastic start both newcomers and fans of the manga and previous movie.
Eden
The world feels like it’s a bit of a constant dumpster fire. So, it can’t hurt to have a bit of wholesomeness in your end-of-the-world adventure. It’s been a thousand years since humans have been on Earth. AI robots inhabit a city called Eden 3. Their overlords are long gone, but the robots continue to farm the land. Two maintenance robots accidentally wake up a human baby girl from stasis. Her appearance calls into question all their beliefs. The two robots decide to raise the little girl in a safe haven outside the city. Eden has engaging character design brought to life with great voice acting. The story’s simple and sweet. There isn’t much trope subversion but sometimes, sweet is exactly what the post-apocalyptic story needs.
Komi Can’t Communicate
Directed by Ayumu Wantanbe and based on the popular manga series written and illustrated by Tomohito Oda, Komi Can’t Communicate follows Shouko Komi, an extremely popular girl, and socially average Hitohito Tadano. Komi comes off as poised to others at school but in fact suffers from severe social anxiety that makes it difficult for her to interact with others. When Hitohito discover’s beautiful classmate’s secret, he vows to help her achieve her goal of making 100 friends at their prestigious prep school.
Komi Can’t Communicate is a stellar example of a slice-of-life anime. It explores touchy themes with a light-hearted, humorous edge. The characters’ personalities are engaging, the various situations they find themselves in at turns ridiculous, humorous or relatively serious but alway relatable. Brought to life with near flawless animation color scheme and impressive character design this series is a well balanced delight. If you’re into slice-of-life anime series, not necessarily into waiting. The full first season Komi Can’t Communicate is now in the anime library.
Death Note
Death Note follows Light Yagami, a teen who comes into possession of a magical notebook that allows him to kill anyone he wants just by writing their name inside. What comes after is a captivating cat-and-mouse game between him and the investigator intent on discovering who’s behind the deaths. This classic from director Tetsurō Araki is an engrossing exploration of morality, justice, loyalty, honor, and friendship. With illustrations and character design that never go out of style, Death Note is an absolute classic. The world seems intent on being a never-ending dumpster fire. So you can never go wrong with a classic anime series that isn’t afraid to dig into the dark side even as it reminds you that life’s direction is always a choice.
High Score Girl
High Score Girl follows Haruo Yaguchi, a sixth grader gamer, as he encounters a true challenger to his supremacy at the local arcades. Classmate Akira Oono who appears to be practically perfect on every level, best his favorite game, Street Fighter 2. From there this unlikely duo bond over vintage video games that allow them to decompress and avoid the anxieties of their everyday lives. Yaguchi slow learns that Oono’s life isn’t as idyllic as it seems and that he has a lot to learn about himself and life. High Score Girl’s full of funny misadventures, sly life lessons, and acts of ego. Sometimes, you need a coming-of-age story with a side of nostalgia and irony. If you’re a gamer, and have a chaotic internal monologue hyping you up, then High Score Girl may be just the ticket.
One Piece
One Piece is a long-running shonen anime about Monkey D. Luffy sails with his globetrotting crew of Straw Hat Pirates on their hunt for the treasure One Piece and quest to become the new king of the pirates. Based on Eiichiro Oda’s manga the anime adaptation is full of high action and laughs. With an ensemble made up of an eclectic group of male and female characters, there’s a camaraderie and sense of adventure that keeps the series engaging season after season.
The Orbital Children
Set in 2045 The Orbital Children, also known as Extra-terrestrial Boys and Girls, follows two children born on the moon and three from Earth. The story takes place in outer space (where internet and artificial intelligence are widespread) on a Japanese commercial space station. A massive accident leaves this group of kids stranded with little hope of rescue. They must rely on their wits, limited communications, and what’s available to try and avert further disaster…and possible death.
Written and directed by Mitsuo Iso (Ghost in the Shell, Rurouni Kenshin and Blade Runner: Black Lotus) this two part science fiction series not only takes anime to space, it stares directly into the distance and asks, are humans necessary? Iso takes direct aim at the ticking clock on Earth’s ability to adequately sustain human life. Then it ponders whether humans are capable of doing what’s necessary to save themselves. Although this philosophical schism should come as no surprise given it is Mitsuo Iso, The Orbital Children blends smooth animation, a striking color palette, relatable character design – that puts its excellent voice cast to great use – turning this into a coming of age story and full blown existential (and literal) crisis that shouldn’t be missed.
Record of Ragnarok
If you’re a fan of The Seven Deadly Sins, list mate JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure or the just idea of the gods giving humanity one last chance to prove itself tournament-style appeals, then get into the twelve episode first season of Record of Ragnarok. The pace is binge-perfect, the animation traditional, and the battles over the top (it’s a race to seven victories out of thirteen rounds). If we must contemplate our own humanity and face the end, let it be watching 13 champions fight their way through the pantheon of gods.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
After a demon attack leaves most of his family slaughtered and his sister turned, Tanjirou Kamado swears to save her and avenge his family. He joins a mysterious group calling themselves the Demon Slayer Corps intent on doing anything to exact revenge. If you’ve finished all the few remaining seasons of Attack on Titan the streamer has in its library but still want your fight scenes crisp then give Demon Slayer a go. You won’t be disappointed.
7 Seeds
You’re minding your business, living your life. Then between one thing and the next, the world ends; leaving you behind. What would you do? Those left behind are confronted with giant bugs and flooded cities being reclaimed by nature. What a time to realize you weren’t ready for the apocalypse.
Aggretsuko
December 2021 meant a fourth season for Aggretsuko fans. This slice of life anime is full of subtle lessons about not letting life’s challenges get the best of you. Turns out, ten more episodes following 25 year-old Retsukothe as she deals with the highs and lows of her crap job as a police accountant, lackluster dating life, and life’s frustrations with heavy metal (and her werewolf-esque transformations) as her main outlet surprisingly still isn’t too much of a good thing. The simple art style is a perfect foil for the wry, witty writing and fully-loaded soundtrack. This is one series possibly destined tolist staple as long as it remains in the Netflix library.
Super Crooks
Based on the four-issue comic series by Mark Millar and Leinil Francis Yu, Super Crooks debuted on the platform in December. This prequel to the comic series follows Johnny Bolt and his band of crooks as they attempt to pull off the ultimate heist. This world of super-powered people offers a slick opening, simple, yet action-packed story full of quips, quirks, interesting characters, and crisp (Studio Bones) visuals. Although it won’t be to everyone’s taste (if redemption arcs and character growth are your bag then you’ll be left wanting), this 13-episode was definitely a 2021 surprise.
B: The Beginning
The vigilante “Killer B”’s turning the island of Cremona into their personal hunting ground. To catch this escalating killer, the Royal Investigation Service calls its ace – if eccentric – detective Keith Flick back into active duty. But the kills aren’t what they seem and Flick will need to unravel dangerous secrets in order to solve these crimes. If you’re in the mood for a cat-and-mouse detective story – with more than a few science fiction twists – then look no further than B: The Beginning. This visually stunning story offers a blend of mystery and horror for fans who like their anime to take ambitious risks (even if it doesn’t always stick the landing).
Code Geass
Sent to Japan as a hostage, Lelouch, a prince of Britannia, escapes after an encounter leaves him with the power to control anyone. Lelouch becomes the masked rebel known as Zero and begins to mercilessly exact vengeance against Britannia. Code Geass is a genre blend with action, charisma, and just the right amount of bombasticness to carry the story from episode to episode. This alternate history full of mechs and magic is a wild ride.
Dorohedoro
Set in a grim world, Dorohedoro is a quixotic and disorderly series about a big crocodile man who loves gyoza. It’s almost equal parts comedy and carnage. It’s a bizarre, gory, sci-fi world full of surprisingly compelling characters. With bold color and a brisk pace, Dorohedoro makes the most of its strange world to confuse and entertain.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
Based on the wildly popular manga series, this multigenerational story follows the adventures of a Joestar family member – each with the same titular nickname and endowed with immense psychic strength – as they battle against rivals (and evil) down through the ages. With each new protagonist comes an independent story that expands the universe and keeps the narrative fresh and engaging. It’s sly wit and frequent hattips to popular Western trends add just the right amount of hilarity to this adventure-driven fantasy. With five quality seasons (Stone Ocean being the latest installment) now available on Netflix as of December 1st, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s addition to the best of list may just be a bit overdue.
Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop’s set in a world where a hyperspace gateway accident’s left Earth inhabitable. What remains of humanity colonized the rocky planets and moons in the solar system. Fifty years of rising crime prompts the Inter Solar System Police to legal bounty hunting and authorized hunters, known as Cowboys, to track and capture criminals across the system in order to bring them to justice. The series follows the crew of spacecraft Bebop as they hunt down criminals in 2071. This Japanese sci-fi noir and it’s now iconic soundtrack and vintage (but still solidly stylish) animation style offers up the space (mis)adventures of former syndicate member and hitman Spike, his former ISSP officer partner Jet Black along with a con artist with memory gaps, a wacky hacker and Ein a too-cute- for its own good genetically engineered Welsh Corgi with human-like intelligence.
The twenty-six episode series offers a genre-blending narrative, visually kinetic action, and audacious good fun for long-time fans and is a great place to start for those new to the anime space. Only time will tell if dropping the entire anime run just ahead of the live-action Cowboy Bebop November 19, 2021 premiere helped or hurt the movie franchise. Be sure to check out how IGN thinks film adaptation stacks up against the source material.
Beastars
If you prefer your shounen occasionally NSFW and built on a narrative designed to explore themes like prejudice, choice, introspection then Beastars may be the slice of life fantasy series for you. This drama-heavy mystery series digs into the lives of anthropomorphic animals; where carnivores and herbivores are trying to coexist peacefully. If Zootopia-eques that dig into slice-of-life stories and self-discovery are what grab and hold your interest then Beastars is definitely an anime series for you.
Violet Evergarden
Based on a light novel series this thirteen episode show brings to life a story of post-war reintegration into civilian life through the lens of fourteen-year-old Violet Evergarden. This fantasy coming-of-age story tells the tale of the young orphan’s attempt to find purpose beyond soldiering. It’s an introspective and touching narrative with a phenomenal score. This series is why phrases like “visually stunning” won’t soon go out of use. It is simply one of the most beautifully animated series around.
Now’s an excellent time to revisit this show then pick up with Violet Evergarden: The Movie added to the streamer on October 13, 2021.
Erased
Follow 29-year-old Satoru Fujinuma as he discovers an ability to time travel and ends up in the past trying to solve a murder mystery. This powerful ability he calls “Revival” permits him to jump back to the recent past (a few minutes) to change events and save lives. But after being accused of a murder himself, however, Satoru wakes up, as his younger self, eighteen years in the past. Soon realizing the crime he’s accused of is connected to an abduction and death of a classmate, Sartoru strikes out to unravel the mystery, prevent his classmate’s death, and ultimately clear his (future) name. Erased is a gripping adaptation of Kei Sanbe’s full manga run. The story is dynamic and brought to life through gritty and immersive animation. Set aside time, because it’s a binge-worthy series.
Hunter x Hunter
It’s pronounced Hunter, Hunter (the x really is silent). Young Gon sets out to find his missing father. Along the way, he makes new friends, enters a martial arts tournament, and comes face to face with creatures – on his quest to become a Hunter – that any horror prop master would kill to get their hands on. Gon’s enemies have zero chill so between the action sequences and well-crafted story Hunter x Hunter is some of the best shonen anime has to offer, ever. Come for the familiar premise, stay for the character depth, darker tone, and its engrossing and increasingly complex story arc.
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
All-powerful psychic Kusuo Saiki attempts to fly under the radar are continually thwarted and result in a high comedy. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. follows Saiki as he tries to navigate school drama free despite his magnetic ability to attract people. It’s quirky, full of lovable characters, and hijinks. Despite its lighter tone, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. offers a quality crowd-pleasing story.
Great Pretender
Makoto Edamura’s a con man on the run. But don’t think that’ll stop him from falling head-first into new schemes instead of laying low. The Great Pretender is colorful, quick-step, offering all the elements of a perfectly designed heist film. If you like your anime stylish and your character’s too-slick for words, then this Netflix exclusive is tailor-made for you.
New Anime Series on Netflix
As Netflix’s library of Japanese anime series will, sadly, not be growing this March. Let’s hope it’s not a sign the streamer intends to stop aggressively pursuing license agreements for new (to the platform series) or renewing fan-favorites.
How We Choose the Best Anime Series on Netflix
The goal is to have a list of great anime series that span many subgenres. We’ve included a mix of popular classics like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, along with relatively more obscure titles like The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. Whether you’re a complete anime newbie or a hardcore otaku, there’s something for everyone here.
Or follow these links for the best of other genres:
