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Shigeru Miyamoto Imagines What Nintendo Will Be Like After He’s Gone

For more than 45 years, Shigeru Miyamoto has worked at Nintendo in some capacity, so it’s hard to imagine the home of Mario without the veteran director and designer. However, Miyamoto thinks Nintendo will “probably be the same” even after he’s gone.

In an interview with NPR, Miyamoto spoke about his inspirations, Nintendo’s future, and how a shared vision at the company drives its familiar essence. When asked about a Nintendo without him, Miyamoto thinks the creators and executives still there will keep things mostly the same.

“You know, I really feel it’s not going to change, ” Miyamoto said. “It’s probably going to be the same. There’s, you know, people on the executive team, creators within the company, and also people who create Mario, they all have this sense of what it means to be Nintendo.”

Miyamoto chalks that outlook up to a shared understanding at Nintendo. Even as the company introduces new ideas, he described a Nintendo where everyone is mostly on the same page.

“There’s always the fact that it’s a new idea, but also the fact that, is it a new idea that really has the essence of Nintendo or not? And I think that’s something that, you know, we have this incredible shared vision, almost a little scary shared vision, about this. So I think there won’t — it’s not going to change,” he said.

On that same note, when NPR asked the director which Nintendo world he would like to live in when it’s time for the afterlife, Miyamoto offered a bittersweet sentiment. He loves his current environment, as he can “engage in so many different things.” He joked he’d like it to remain in a similar place, but maybe at his desk or bathtub instead.

The Nintendo of today seems to demonstrate Miyamoto’s vision. After his decades there, iteration after iteration on hardware still offered familiar faces like Mario, just in new ways. Most recently, Nintendo hosted a soft opening for its Super Nintendo World theme park at Universal Studios Hollywood. It’s the second location of its kind, and the park continues to expand with Nintendo staples like Pokemon.

In IGN’s recent interview with Miyamoto, the creator offered another look at the past and present of the company. While he may see things mostly staying the same, Nintendo’s delivered on surprises in the past. When speaking to IGN, he explained his skepticism over a theme park venture but was glad to see it finally take shape.

Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She’s worn several hats over her seven-year career in the games industry, with bylines over at Fanbyte, USA Today’s FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and RPG Site. Find her on Twitter (@Maajora) or the Materia Possessions podcast chatting about FFXIV, RPGs, and any series involving giant robots.

Parks Board Game Review

America is justly proud of its remaining areas of untamed wilderness, much of which is preserved through its national parks system. It’s been an inspiration to both artists and board game designers down the years, the latter giving us titles as diverse as hobby fare Cascadia to the much more mainstream National Parks-Opoly. But 2019’s PARKS aims to give you the best of both worlds with some accessible tactical play married to art from the 59 Parks print series.

What’s in the Box

The stylized waterfall art of the PARKS box cover is a lovely piece of work, but it doesn’t prepare you for the treasures inside. Beneath the rules booklet, there are two custom trays of wooden components, suns and droplets, mountains and trees, all dyed in appealing pastel tones. There are also a number of brown wildlife tokens, each and every one cut to resemble a different animal.

Underneath that there’s a plain tri-fold board and then at the bottom, there are several decks of cards, some large, some small. The largest cards are those for the national parks themselves. There’s no need for them to be so big except to showcase the glorious artwork from the 59 Parks print series that adorns each one. The smaller cards don’t have such impressive imagery but make up for it with little details like the fine layout and a lot of subtle gold shimmer to give them a luxurious feel.

You can see the same touches on the enamelled first player token, the wooden hiker pieces and all the counters you need to punch out, including board segments and a wonderful series of nature “photographs,” stylized in the same way as the park cards. Everything packs away neatly and securely in the sculpted tray that lines the bottom of the box. That tray showcases how much thought has gone into the physical design of PARKS and the results are delightful.

Rules and how it Plays

Your goal in PARKS is to steer a tag-team pair of hikers through as many of the biggest and most spectacular national parks as you can across four “seasons.” You do this by purchasing park cards from a face-up selection using the game’s four resources: the relatively common sun and water and the rarer forests and mountains. You can also get wildlife tokens which work as wild cards and can be spent in place of any resource.

A new board is constructed at random for each season out of the various board segments, making sure you have to vary your strategy a little every time. A season has an associated special effect, like gaining a bonus sun each time you get a forest, and a weather pattern which puts bonus resource markers on some of the segments. The first player to land on that segment gets the bonus alongside the special effects it provides to every visitor. These inbuilt effects mostly allow you to gain or swap resources.

So far, so ordinary. The tricksy thing about PARKS is that you’re allowed to move your hiker as far along the trail as you wish, but you can only go forward. So if there’s a space you particularly want, you’re caught in a conundrum between grabbing it now and skipping all the other useful spaces in between, or risking another player pipping you to the post. Of course, they’re all struggling with the same dilemma, too. You block a space you occupy although players can spend their campfire token to snuggle up to you if they want.

Campfire tokens are refreshed when your first hiker reaches the end of the trail, and this is your second problem. When you get there you can either use your resources to buy a park, spend sun tokens to buy gear which gives you future bonuses or discounts, or reserve a park card for your own future purchase and get the shiny first player token for the next round.

If you buy a card, which is the most common action, a new one gets added to the display. And this is both angsty and annoying at once. There’s a certain satisfaction in snatching a valuable card someone else has clearly been saving up for, and it adds to the strategies involved in pacing your hikers along the trail. But the fast turnover of cards and the random replacement tend to torpedo attempts at long-term strategy. PARKS is much more of a tactical affair.

You do get a choice of secret goal cards to work towards at the end of the game, like buying at least seven sun’s worth of gear, but these are so hard to achieve and give such paltry rewards that they rarely figure. Rather, strategy in this game is more about making sure you’ve got opportunities to get what you need. Mostly, these come from canteen cards. You start with one of the former and can gain more on certain spaces: they’re cards that cost one water to activate and get you either extra resources or the chance to exchange resources for other kinds.

Good play in PARKS is thus very much about knowing when to speed up and slow down on the trail to snaffle opportunities when they come your way. You’ll need to balance the time it takes to make use of your canteens and resource-swapping opportunities, with the flexibility it offers for the ever-changing makeup of cards on offer. You can also grab bonus points by taking photos in some spaces which cost two resources but then give you the camera. While you hold it, photos only cost one and you can take an extra snap at the end of each season. Knowing the right moment to steal the camera is yet another timing-based tactical decision you’ll need to add to your growing arsenal.

Despite the gorgeous presentation and the occasional thematic flourish, like the way the season card determines the weather, PARKS is an odd bird in terms of conveying its subject. There’s really nothing to link your open choice of destination or the constant turnover of park cards with the actual act of hiking. It’s really very abstract. Yet the game has such a wonderful visual evocation of the great outdoors that this actually feels vaguely confusing, as though there ought to be additional rules and game elements that simply aren’t there.

Where to Buy

Skull and Bones: Savage Storm Expands on the World of the Ubisoft Game

Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones may have been delayed yet again, but there is one way to get a taste of this long-awaited pirate-themed video game. Skull and Bones: Savage Storm is a spinoff from Dark Horse Comics, and IGN has an exclusive preview of the first issue.

Check out the slideshow gallery below to see several pages from Skull and Bones: Savage Storm #1:

Savage Storm is co-written by John Jackson Miller and James Mishler, with art by Christian Rosado, colors by Roshan Kurichiyanil and cover art by Pius Bak. Here’s Dark Horse’s official description for the first issue:

A merchant vessel on the high seas is besieged by a vicious crew of pirates, but the fighting is interrupted by a devastating typhoon. When the storm crashes in, it leaves predator and prey stranded on an island somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Discover the mysteries and danger that will betide them all. A gritty story set in the merciless world of Ubisoft’s upcoming pirate game.

Skull and Bones: Savage Storm #1 will be released on Wednesday, March 1. You can preorder the digital version on Amazon now. Dark Horse is also releasing a hardcover art book called The Art of Skull and Bones.

For more on Skull and Bones, check out every Ubisoft game in development that we know of, and the biggest games coming in 2023.

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

Pokémon Presents February 2023: Everything Announced During the Pokémon Day 2023 Celebration

Pokémon Day 2023 is in full swing and, as is tradition, The Pokémon Company hosted a special Pokémon Presents event on February 27 to unveil all the exciting developments coming in the world of Pokémon.

Featuring all manners of announcements from the Pokémon games, TCG, television series, and more, the headlining reveal was perhaps in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Hidden Treasure of Area Zero expansion.

IGN has you covered right here with every single bit of news, big and small, that was announced during the February Pokémon Presents event.

Pokémon World Championship Dates and Key Art Revealed

The Pokémon Company kicked off the special by announcing the dates for the Pokémon World Championship taking place in Yokohama, Japan, alongside the event’s key art.

From August 11 to 23, 2023, Pokémon players of the trading card game, Scarlet and Violet, Pokémon GO, and more will meet to compete for the title of Pokémon Master.

The key art, drawn in a traditional Japanese style, features Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s starter Pokémon alongside Pikachu, of course, and can be viewed below.

Pokémon Trading Card Game Classic Announced

A new version of the original Pokémon Trading Card Game’s Base Set was announced next in the form of the Pokémon Trading Card Game Classic.

Though its exact nature is still unclear, this appears to be a one-off purchase, almost like a board game, of classic Pokémon card decks with a game board and pieces included.

Described by The Pokémon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara as “a premium Pokémon TCG set that will last a lifetime,” the event asked we be patient and wait for more information.

Pokémon Concierge Is a Stop-Motion Animation Series For Netflix

Another surprise announcement followed in the form of Pokémon Concierge, a partnership between The Pokémon Company and Netflix.

The series will be created using stop-motion animation and features Haru, the concierge of the Pokémon Resort, and her trusty partner Pokémon Psyduck.

We don’t know much else about Pokémon Concierge, but it will be an original story and, from the looks of things, will be relatively light-hearted and bright.

Pokémon Unite Is Getting Sword’s Zacian

The legendary Pokémon Zacian from Pokémon Sword is officially coming to Pokémon Unite with its Sovereign Sword special attack.

Its addition to the game is also being celebrated with a special Zacian’s Weald event and players can also pick up a gold Zacian boost emblem using the Gift Code POKEMONDAY.

Details on the Pokémon Unite Asia Championship League was also shared, and The Pokémon Company promised that plenty more updates are on the way.

Pokémon Café ReMix Gets Scarlet and Violet DLC

Pokémon Café ReMix is getting DLC based on Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC as the three starter Pokémon, Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly, are coming to the game.

Available as part of the mini-games or as a new member of staff, the three new Pokémon are also joined by Victini, Mimikyu, Eevee, and Celebi who are returning as delivery candidates.

Finally, a special outfit for Greninja is being made available in celebration of Pokémon Day in the form of the Great Chef.

Pokémon Masters EX Gets Rally With Six Classic Trainers

Six new classic Pokémon trainers are appearing in a rally in Pokémon Masters EX.

Cynthia from Diamond and Pearl, Iris and Alder from Black and White, Diantha from X and Y, Steven from Ruby and Sapphire, Lance from Red and Blue will be available to partner up with.

A handful of other announcements were made from the game, including for DLC inspired by Pokémon Sword and Shield.

Pokémon Sleep Wakes Up, Launching This Summer

Pokémon Sleep was officially re-revealed during the event with a release window of summer 2023.

The app will track your sleeping patterns and will show you different sleep styles of the many different pocket monsters you can encounter in the game.

It aims to “turn sleeping into entertainment by having a player’s time spent sleeping, and the time they wake up, affect the gameplay,” letting players “wake up with Pokémon every morning.”

Pokémon GO Plus+ Announced for Pokémon Sleep and Pokémon GO

The Pokémon Company may already have released the Pokémon GO Plus, but it has now announced the Pokémon GO Plus+ (said as plus plus).

The new gadget is designed to work with Pokémon Sleep and, of course, Pokémon GO, and will be available on July 21 this year. A Pikachu inside the device will sing players lullabies and gets friendlier the more sleep the trainer gets.

As for its Pokémon GO functionality, the device will finally allow players to catch Pokémon and spin Poke-Stops automatically, a feature that’s otherwise only been available through third-party alternatives.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Expansions Announced

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are getting expansions akin to Pokémon Sword and Shields DLC, delivering two major story expansions to the games later this year.

The first will be available in fall 2023 and is called The Teal Mask, during which players will visit an area beyond the Paldea region called Kitakami. The second expansion is The Indigo Disk and will be released in winter 2023 and have players attend Blueberry Academy as an exchange student.

Pokémon Home connectivity was also announced for Scarlet and Violet, though only a vague “early 2023” date was revealed, while Pokémon GO connectivity is available as of today. Finally, the Walking Wake and Iron Leaves Tera Raid Battles are now available in Scarlet and Violet respectively.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition Announced for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC

The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition has officially been announced and will be bringing an improved version of the sci-fi RPG to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on March 7, 2023.

The Outer Worlds, which was developed by Fallout: New Vegas’ Obsidian Entertainment, was first released in 2019 and brought players to a colony at the edge of the galaxy that has been overrun by corporations. Much like a Fallout game, players make choices, get into epic gun combat, interact with factions, journey alongside companions, and much more.

The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition packages the base game and both DLCs – Murder on Eridanos and Peril of Gorgon – and comes with “higher resolution graphics, a dynamic weather system, overhauled lighting and environments, improved performance and load times, enhanced details on characters, an increased level cap, and much more.”

If players already own The Outer Worlds and its DLCs for Xbox One, PS4, or PC, they can upgrade to the Spacer’s Choice Edition on the same console of PC Store (if applicable) for $9.99. If you’d like to simply buy the game, it will cost $59.99.

In our review of The Outer Worlds, we said, “Obsidian has found its own path in the space between Bethesda and BioWare, and it’s a great one. And considering that new RPGs from either of those influential developers are still years away, this game couldn’t have been timed any better.

“It’s not as explorable as one big open world but it still packs in a large portion of flexible quests and conflicts within its series of smaller ones. And the combat, character, and companion systems have enough new spins on existing ideas to make it feel like an homage with its own personality rather than a copy.”

This could be a great time to jump into or return to The Outer Worlds as Obsidian announced at E3 2021 that The Outer Worlds 2 was on its way. Very little has been revealed about the sequel, but its hilarious and fourth-wall-breaking trailer showed the humor and style will be in tact.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The Last of Us Episode 7: TV Show vs Game Comparison

Warning: Full spoilers ahead for episode 7 of HBO’s The Last of Us.

HBO’s The Last of Us episode 7 has arrived and this time we see Ellie and Riley reunite for a surprise trip to the mall just like The Last of Us: Left Behind DLC. But how close does the show compare to the game?

To help answer this question, we’ve gathered images from episode 7 of HBO’s The Last of Us and put them next to stills from Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us game to see how faithful the adaptation is. Check out the slideshow, or watch the video above to see the scenes from both the show and the game in action.

In our The Last of Us episode 7 review, we said it “is a beautifully faithful adaptation of the beloved Left Behind chapter of Ellie’s story. A real showcase for Bella Ramsey’s ability as a performer, we’re treated to a story of young love that is equal parts heartwarming as it is heartbreaking. It’s also a necessary tale to be told; a flashback that gives us a deeper understanding of the person Ellie is today and what drives her motivations in the present.”

For more, be sure to check out our similar comparison for last week’s episode.

EA Is Seemingly Asking People If They Want a Dead Space 2 or 3 Remake

Following the launch of the Dead Space remake and its positive reception, EA is seemingly asking select fans if they’d like to see a Dead Space 2 or 3 remake next.

As reported by Eurogamer, the survey in question was shared on Twitter by Dillon Rogers, a developer on Gloomwood, and it simply asks, “how interested would you be in a similar remake of Dead Space 2 (2011)?” and “How interested would you be in a similar remake of Dead Space 3 (2013)?”

It’s a pretty standard question with the responses ranging from “not at all interested” to “extremely interested,” but it shows EA is at least entertaining the idea. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but it’s always nice to see these questions being asked.

Rogers’ tweet made its way to ResetERA, and fans began chiming in with their own opinions. Many are all for a Dead Space 2 remake, but there is a little more trepidation for one for Dead Space 3.

“[Dead Space] 3 needs to be reimagined entirely to remove the crafting mechanics and possibly redo some story beats to not have so much of that game’s story content locked behind co-op and which character you’re playing as,” ResetERA user Jersey_Tom wrote. “So much of that game was ruined because of EA’s meddling through micro-transactions and the mistaken idea that Dead Space fans were interested in an RE5-esque co-op experience.

“A full remake would be quite the undertaking to make that game standout. But definitely agree with others that a Dead Space 2 remake is a sure fire moneymaker.”

We gave Dead Space 2 a 9/10 back in 2011, and Dead Space 3 a 7.8/10 in 2013. While we said Dead Space 2’s launch meant “survival horror has a new gold standard,” we said Dead Space 3 was a “ferociously good time, in spite of itself.”

In our review of the Dead Space remake, we said it is “a superb remake and undoubtedly the definitive way to experience one of the best survival horror shooters that Capcom never made.”

It may be some time before we see any of these remakes, however, as Dead Space remake developer EA Motive recently announced it was working on an Iron Man game.

How would you feel about a Dead Space 2 or 3 remake? Let us know in the comments below!

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Sons of the Forest: Kelvin’s Weirdo Behavior Has Already Made Him Beloved by Fans

Sons of the Forest has officially arrived in Early Access and one of the biggest talking points for the game has been Kelvin, an AI companion already so beloved by the community whose mission is to help you on your journey, even though he sometimes makes bizarre and hilarious decisions.

For those unfamiliar, Kelvin is an elite soldier who survived the helicopter crash that stranded you on the island featured in Sons of the Forest. Unfortunately for him, he suffered brain damage and can no longer hear or speak, so players must communicate with him via a notepad. Despite his new injuries, he remains extremely helpful… well, mostly.

The developers of Sons of the Forest created Kelvin to help replicate the multiplayer experience for solo players, but he is also very useful for those who wish to play Sons of the Forest with friends.

“We found in our first game, The Forest, that building and collecting resources in single-player could be a real slog compared to multiplayer where you had multiple players helping,” Endnight Games told IGN. “We wanted to solve this and help bridge the gap between the two modes. At the same time, the new AI system we had created for enemies/animals made it extremely easy to apply to an AI character that was friendly.”

So, this all sounds wonderful, right? A companion who is always there to help chop down some trees, catch fish, and more? While Kelvin is undoubtedly helpful, he does act a bit odd from time to time. For example, you can tell him to chop down trees to collect wood, but some players have found that Kelvin doesn’t know the difference between a free-standing tree and those that are part of the treehouse that you built.

He also has a tendency to show up out of nowhere, and Reddit user /goodwill295 has jokingly called him the biggest jumpscare in the game.

Kelvin clearly plays by his own rules and, as IGN’s Mark Medina puts it, it fits perfectly into Sons of the Forest as, “there are no rules man, we’re lost!”

Sure, he may his moments, but Sons of the Forest’s community clealy wants to protect Kelvin with their lives.

Endnight Games has big plans for Kelvin, so this is really only the beginning for the early favorite for the best helper in a video game for 2023.

“Throughout Early Access, we plan to add a lot more tasks Kelvin can do as well as integrate him more into the main story and giving him his own epilogue/ending if you keep him alive,” Endnight Games said.

Endnight is also very happy to see the community take to Kelvin so quickly, and the team knew they had something special on their hands early on, as many would “make sure not to overwork him and others would feel guilty if they accidentally killed him.”

Kelvin is only but one part of Sons of the Forest, and you can check out our full preview of the game, in which we said, “Sons of the Forest appears to evolve and build on every aspect of its predecessor with a focused goal of realism and developing a flexible ecosystem, and it feels like the building blocks are there to create something truly special. But its killer feature is the addition of impressively sophisticated and smarter AI enemies and companions that could not only provide a huge leap forward for the series, but the survival game genre as a whole.”

For more, check out five tips from Endnight on how to survive your first night in Sons of the Forest, our beginner’s guide, and essential tips and tricks you need to know.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

How to Watch the Harry Potter Movies in Chronological Order

Although there are many folks out there who think the books were better than their film adaptations, the Harry Potter movies have become an essential part of the franchise. The film universe has even extended beyond the original series with 3 addtional Fantastic Beast prequels that introduced us to a new part of the wizarding world. Now that Hogwarts Legacy has arrived as well, it’s a good time to revisit the Potter timeline to see where everything fits.

Whether you’re new to the series or have just forgotten the proper order of the films, we’ve got you covered with our guides below. Take a look at how to watch the Harry Potter movies in chronological order or by release date.

Jump To:

How Many Harry Potter Movies are There?

Although there were only 7 books in the original series, there are a total of 11 movies in the Harry Potter franchise. This includes 8 films based on the books (2 parts for the Deathly Hallows) and 3 Fantastic Beasts prequels. Outside of the films there is a Broadway play called Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as well as quite a lot of Harry Potter games — including the newest one, Hogwarts Legacy.

Where Does Hogwarts Legacy Fit in the Harry Potter Timeline?

Hogwarts Legacy takes place before any of the mainline movies sometime around the 1890s. For context, the Fantastic Beasts movies begin in the 1920s and the Harry Potter films start in the 1990s. And although it takes place before the films, there are quite a few last names in Hogwarts Legacy you’ll recognize from the books and movies and Hogwarts Castle is pretty much exactly the same.

The Harry Potter Movies in Chronological Order

1. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Set all the way back in 1926, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was the first Harry Potter spin-off prequel to hit theaters. Considering it takes place around 70 years before Harry starts school at Hogwarts, it is the first film you’ll want to watch if you’re going by chronological order. The first Fantastic Beasts film focuses on Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as he navigates his way through New York and the magical underpinnings of the United States.

Read our review of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

2. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

Just a few months after the end of the first prequel, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald takes us back to England and features even more tie-ins to the original Harry Potter Movies. We get a look at a young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and even get introduced to a youthful Minderva McGonagall (Fiona Glascott). The film itself largely focuses on the villain revealed in the first movie, Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp).

Read our review of The Crimes of Grindelwald

3. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is the first film in the Fantastic Beasts series that sees a true time jump. Set 5 years after the events of The Crimes of Grindelwald, the third film in the Fantastic Beasts series largely focuses on Grindelwald himself once again — who is actually played by Mads Mikkelsen this time. There are a few time jumps due to a creature named Qilin, but most of the movie is set in the 1930s.

Read our review of The Secrets of Dumbledore.

4. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone is the first film in the original series. And while the majority of the film takes place in 1991, the true start of the film is technically 1980 — the year when Harry was born and Hagrid drops him of at the Dursley residence. Since this is the first Harry Potter movie released, it gives us our first look at Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) as well as our initial forray into wizarding world through a Muggle lens.

See more about The Sorcerer’s Stone.

5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second film released in the franchise and thus follows Harry’s second year at Hogwarts. This places the movie between 1992 and 1993 as Harry uncovers truths of the past from giant spiders and a young ghost-like Voldemort. It also gives us our first indroduction to Professor Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh) and Dobby the House Elf.

See more about The Chamber of Secrets.

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third film in the original series and coincides with Harry’s third year of classes at Hogwarts — taking place in 1993. This is the first film where we start to truly see the darker side of the wizarding world as we get introduced to the likes of Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) and Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall). We also get an introduction to werewolves from the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), and of course the creepy soul-sucking Dementors of Azkaban.

Read our review of The Prisoner of Azkaban.

7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth movie in the original series and coincides with Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts. Taking place in 1994, The Goblet of Fire breathes new life into Hogwarts with the addition of the Triwizard Tournament and the Yule Ball. We get introduced to new important characters like Mad Eye Moody (Brendand Gleeson) and Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson). We also get our first look at a professional Quidditch tournament as well as members and faculty from other wizarding schools. This also the first film Harry comes face to face with a fully alive Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).

Read our review of The Goblet of Fire.

8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth film in the original series and takes place in 1995. Harry starts his fifth year of Hogwarts with a newfound family of sorts and we get our first look at some of the other members of The Order of the Phoenix like the shapeshifting Nymphadora Tonks (Natalia Tena). We also get our first introduction to Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch), who plays an important role in the coming films. There is also a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor with a penchant for cruelty that everyone gets to hate, Delores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton).

Read our review of The Order of the Phoenix.

9. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009)

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is the sixth film to be released and takes place in 1996. As Harry enters his sixth year at Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardry, he is starting to truly grow up after being faced with even more death. In this film we get our first true look into the motives of Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) and Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton). We also get to see Voldemort and the Deatheaters fully on the loose as Dumbledore reveals more secrets about the prophecy Harry is a part of. Although this film starts to get pretty dark, it’s also where we see more of Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright) and expand her relationship with Harry.

Read our review of The Half Blood Prince.

10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010)

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 takes place in 1997 and coincides with the seventh and final book in the series. This is the first film that breaks up the story of a single book into two movies, and for good reason as there’s a lot of story to unpack. In what would have been Harry’s seventh year at Hogwarts, Harry, Hermione, and Ron instead set out into the real world to find and destroy Horcruxes. With quite a bit of action and deep character growth between Harry, Ron, and Hermione it’s clear the franchise is reaching it’s climax here. We also get a deeper look at the relationships between Voldemort and the rest of the Death Eaters.

Read our review of The Deathly Hallows – Part 1.

11. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is the final movie in the Harry Potter series chronologically. Set in 1998, this film is a continuation of part 1 starting right where the previous film left off. As Harry and his friends reveal more information about the prophecy Harry is part of, they eventually make their way back to Hogwarts for a final showdown against Voldemort and the Deatheaters. It’s an emotional battle that ends in the death of a some fan favorite Harry Potter characters, but we do get to see the true heroics of Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) and a rather definitive end to story.

Read our review of The Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

How to Watch Harry Potter Movies By Release Date

  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
  • Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009)
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010)
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011)
  • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
  • Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)
  • Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)

Looking for more movie timelines? Check out our guide on how to watch Lord of the Rings in order as well as our guide to Star Wars in order. And if you’re looking for merch, check out our collection of Harry Potter Merchandise from the IGN store.

Sons of the Forest Sells 2 Million Copies in 24 Hours After Entering Early Access

After only 24 hours in Early Access, Sons of the Forest has already sold over two million copies.

Sons of the Forest developer Endnight Games shared the news on Twitter alongside promising some exciting things to come in the near future.

“Thanks to those who have joined us in our Early Access journey into Sons of the Forest,” Endnight Games wrote. “We have sold over 2 million copies in the first 24 hours, and are very excited for what we have in store for players in the coming weeks.”

Sons of the Forest, which is an open-world survival horror game that sends players to a remote island filled with cannibals and other dangers to find a missing billionaire, also rose up the concurrent player charts on Steam, with over 350,100 users playing the game at once.

As of this writing, Sons of the Forest is at 255,134 concurrent players and sits only behind Dota 2’s 271,407 players and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s 563,954 players on Steam. For comparison, the original game – The Forest – had an all-time peak of 76,226.

We’ll have much more on Sons of the Forest in the future, but you can check out our preview of the game, where we said it, “appears to evolve and build on every aspect of its predecessor with a focused goal of realism and developing a flexible ecosystem, and it feels like the building blocks are there to create something truly special. But its killer feature is the addition of impressively sophisticated and smarter AI enemies and companions that could not only provide a huge leap forward for the series, but the survival game genre as a whole.”

For more, check out five developer tips for surviving your first night in Sons of the Forest, five things you need to know about the game, and our explainer of the story of The Forest to catch you up for this new adventure.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.