Some players have lost everything.
Last week, a new update was rolled out for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, bumping both games up to Version 1.2.0.
It added a number of new features, made some adjustments, and also included a lengthy list of bug fixes. Unfortunately, it seems to have introduced a major glitch. As highlighted by Kotaku, Scarlet and Violet players are now losing their saves.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
“Still in the early stages of development”.
If you’ve been wondering what’s next for the Dragon Ball fighting series now that FighterZ is winding down – here it is! At the recent ‘Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2023’ event, Bandai Namco teased a new Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi game.
In the trailer, you can see Goku is in his Super Saiyan Blue form, which means there could be a lot of content in there related to the Dragon Ball Super series. After the teaser was shown, a bit more information was provided by the host – revealing this new title was still in the “early stages of development”. No platforms have been announced at this point in time.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Alienware AW3423DWF ultrawide gaming monitor based around Samsung’s incredible 34-in QD-OLED panel, and now its American cousin is also discounted at the official Dell store. This model debuted at $1300, but a $100 price drop and a 10% off coupon code – SAVEMONITORS10 brings the AW3423DW to its lowest US price ever.
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.
And if you’re looking for more recommendations, check out our lists of the best board games for adults and the best board games for kids.
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 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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For more ideas, take a look at our roundup of all the best trivia board games, and the best roll and write board games.
It’s been almost five years since Sea of Thieves launched on March 20, 2018, and we’re planning on celebrating the momentous milestone in true style! Starting today, an amazing array of activities, bonuses and swag will be on offer for keen corsairs to collect as they set sail throughout the month of March.
All the details were announced on this evening’s stream, recorded at Rare’s on-site tavern – so if you’d like to catch up on the reveal as it happened, please head over to our YouTube channel for the full unveiling. However, for those of you who might appreciate a word-based whistle-stop tour through March’s seafaring schedule, we can help you out with all the key dates to mark in your calendar now.
Marauder’s Medley
Today saw the kickoff of the Marauder’s Medley Event, with Challenges that revisit updates and additions from Sea of Thieves’ last five years over the course of 10 days. Drop in regularly to complete Goals and unlock cosmetics, and enjoy being taken on a greatest hits tour of some of Sea of Thieves’ most memorable updates.
A Cornucopia of Cosmetics
Joining in with the festivities may be its own reward, but just in case you still need a little push, all players who sail the seas from March 17–22 (10am UTC) will also be awarded the celebratory Lustrous Legend Figurehead.
Players swinging by the Emporium to spend their Ancient Coins will find that their currency travels a little further too, as there’s a huge discount sale active from March 17–28 – including some classic ship sets, costumes, weapons and Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life items. Visitors to the Emporium can also pick up a Down the Hatch Emote for free during this sale!
Twitch Perfect
Anyone hoping to grab more free gear should head on over to their Sea of Thieves Twitch stream of choice from March 16–20. Just a few hours of viewing will help pad out your cosmetic chests nicely, with a suite of sought-after skins available throughout this period. Before you tune in to any participating streamer, just make sure you’ve got your Twitch account linked to guarantee your goodies making it to your pirate safely.
Sea of Thieves: Voyage of a Lifetime
On the anniversary itself, March 20, we’ll be premiering a feature-length documentary about the journey of Sea of Thieves from inception through to today. Featuring previously unseen footage and a candid look at the highs and lows of Sea of Thieves’ development and release, this honest and in-depth doc pulls back the curtain and shows the game’s evolution in the most detailed and raw way it’s ever been discussed.
Community Weekend
The heart of Sea of Thieves has always been its community, so we can’t let an anniversary pass by without a chance to celebrate our pirates during a Community Weekend from March 25–27! Double the length of regular Community events, this special weekend comes with the promise of big multipliers, exclusive login bonuses like the gold and black Community Day flag and Baker’s Barrel Disguise Emote, and a free Pirate Legend Voyage for all who log in while the event is active.
Not only that, but if our players successfully push us to Community Emissary Grade Five, Ancient Skeletons will appear more frequently within the game while the event is still live. These special skellies will have 50m Ancient Coins to hand out before their appearances start to slow once more – so be quick off the mark to ensure you can capitalize! There’ll be more on how this event will work closer to the time, so please keep your eyes peeled for the particulars.
Sea of Thieves Season Nine
While the first half of today’s stream focused on how we’re celebrating the journey so far, the second half focused on the future of Sea of Thieves – namely Season Nine, which will release on March 16. To close out the stream’s shenanigans, the Season Nine Content Update trailer premiered, giving players a full preview of what to expect from the next few months on the seas:
Season Nine’s headlines include a high-value loot item named the Chest of Fortune, which brings its own new Commendations and cosmetics. Players can also expect linked changes to Reaper’s Chests, new Voyages for Captains and Pirate Legends, World Events being better balanced based on crew size and much, much more – including 100 more levels of Seasonal progression for players to work through and earn rewards by raising Renown!
Community feedback has fuelled a lot of Season Nine’s changes and updates, with improvements coming to harpooning treasure, the introduction of a food radial menu and seagulls circling the loot from sunken player ships. Reapers will no longer be able to run into the Devil’s Shroud to make their treasures inaccessible, with loot from these out-of-bounds running ships now spawning to a safer spot nearby – a fairer outcome for chasing crews.
We’ll be revealing more about Season Nine in a Deep Dive video soon, with our developers spilling the beans on new features and their design intent, so make sure you’re subscribed to the Sea of Thieves YouTube channel to catch that when it lands! However, for now, we’re thrilled to be offering such an exciting month for sailors old and new – we’ll see you on the seas!
Find Out More
For more information on the latest Sea of Thieves update, including full release notes, visit the Sea of Thieves website. The update is available for free to all Sea of Thieves players who have bought the game on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10/11 PC or via Steam, or players who have access to it with Xbox Game Pass. Simply download and install the latest Sea of Thieves update to get access.
New to Sea of Thieves? Find out about the latest free content updates on our What’s New page, get familiar with Who’s Who or pick up some gameplay tips from our Pirate Academy, which provides invaluable information on topics ranging from sailing to swordplay as you prepare for your maiden voyage. Learn more about Sea of Thieves here, or join the ongoing adventure at www.seaofthieves.com where you can embark on an epic journey with one of gaming’s most welcoming communities!
Microsoft Studios
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About the game
Sea of Thieves offers the essential pirate experience, from sailing and fighting to exploring and looting – everything you need to live the pirate life and become a legend in your own right. With no set roles, you have complete freedom to approach the world, and other players, however you choose.
Whether you’re voyaging as a group or sailing solo, you’re bound to encounter other crews in this shared world adventure – but will they be friends or foes, and how will you respond?
A vast open world
Explore a vast open world filled with unspoiled islands, sunken ships and mysterious artefacts. Take on quests to hunt for lost treasure, seek out cursed Skeleton Captains or gather valuable cargo for the Trading Companies. Go hunting and fishing or choose from hundreds of optional goals and side-quests.
Unforgettable stories
Play through the Tall Tales to experience Sea of Thieves’ unique take on a story-driven campaign. With 11 tales to play through across two epic storylines, these immersive and cinematic quests provide around 30 hours of the ultimate pirate fantasy.
Become Legend
On your journey to become a Pirate Legend you’ll amass loot, build a reputation and define a unique personal style with your hard-earned rewards. Adventurer. Explorer. Conqueror. What will your legend be?
A game that’s always growing
With five major expansions and almost a year’s worth of monthly updates, Sea of Thieves is a service-based game that is continually growing and evolving. Check back each month to see what new content has been added.
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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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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 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.
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.
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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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’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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Double Fine Productions CEO Tim Schafer has touched the development of a lot of video games, so it’s natural that he’s hard-pressed to pick a favorite. But his answer is ultimately driven by one of Schafer’s most closely-held values: the importance of being present with other people.
I’m asking Schafer about his favorite projects at an opportunity ripe for reflecting on his industry impact: DICE Summit 2023 in Las Vegas. We spoke just hours before he was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame, in recognition of his over 30-year impact on the games industry. This honor puts him on a roster of past winners including Ed Boon, Connie Booth, Bonnie Ross, Todd Howard, Hideo Kojima, and many others.
Beginning with The Secret of Monkey Island at LucasArts up to his most recent work, Psychonauts 2, Schafer’s directly been involved in the development of over 25 games. Via Double Fine, he’s helped publish almost ten more, and within Double Fine itself has helped support the development of still more than that. And then there are all the games Double Fine has supported via Day of the Devs over the years, an annual festival of game demos that has helped spread the word about countless indies.
At first, to answer my question about his greatest career highlight, Schafer proceeds to name Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, and Psychonauts before admitting he’s just going to name every game he’s ever worked on.
So I nudge him a little more. Surely, in over 30 years, something sticks out? He arrives at probably two of the least-known games he’s ever worked on: Double Fine Happy Action Theater and its sequel, Kinect Party, both Kinect games for the Xbox 360.
“What I love about those, if you’ve ever seen them, is that there’s no barrier to entry, so your grandparents can walk in the room and just all of a sudden be playing this game,” Schafer says. “And it’s this augmented reality-type game where we put kids and fill their living room with lava, and they dance around…and I still put it on all throughout my daughter’s life. I know she had a birthday party, and kids still stand in front of it and scream and yell and jump around. I’ve never made anything that I can visibly see the joy on people’s faces when they play it, because adventure games usually play like this…”
Schafer makes a very serious, focused face, as if concentrating very hard on playing a game.
“Not very joyful. I mean people are enjoying it. But this Kinect game, watching them jump around and being happy, and people who normally would not think of this as gamers. It has just been something I’m really proud of, and I don’t think many people know about that game at all.”
The theme of accessing joy and creativity by physically being in community with others was one that ran both through his DICE Summit Fireside Chat keynote with Outerloop Games co-founder Chandana Ekanayake, as well as our interview. When I ask him about the biggest changes to how games are made he’s witnessed in his career, he lightly touches on voice-acting and 3D before thinking of how developers communicate with communities, and the ways in which that allows them to witness the joy people feel through the games they make…as well as all the other emotions.
“We used to have print magazines and just not talk to anyone except for our conferences. Maybe we’d meet someone who played our games once, or we’d wait a month for a review in Computer Gaming World, and now it’s just interface all the time. Before we launch a game, during, and after we launch a game, just talking to people about it. It’s so interactive, in a way, with our communities. Those are big changes, our relationship with our community. Especially because we’ve done crowdfunding, that changes your relationship with your community where they’re like your patrons in a way. They always were, but…it’s challenging.
“We’ve done it twice, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily a good fit for games, just because games take so long to make that people… it stresses them out to wait so long for their goods to be delivered, you know what I mean? But it was great to get past the gatekeepers a little bit and say, ‘We do want adventure games again. We do want platformers and stuff.’ So, it’ll continue to evolve, I think.”
One of the other biggest changes for Schafer personally was Double Fine’s acquisition by Xbox, a move that opened a number of new doors for the studio. As Schafer puts it, Double Fine historically tends to make “weird” games that tend to be difficult to find funding for. But with Xbox’s support, he’s not only had the funding, but he’s also had the boon of Xbox Game Pass to put those weird games in front of people who might not have ever tried them at full price.
“Game Pass lets us reach people who maybe would’ve been too nervous to drop 70 bucks for a physical copy of a thing,” he says. “But they see it and it looks really compelling and they’re like, ‘Oh, I’ll just download it and play it.’ That’s a great place for us to be, so that changes us, and I think it’ll lead to us being more like ourselves and more creative…It’s allowed me to move forward projects that I had on the back burner, thinking, ‘I would never be able to pitch this to a publisher. It’s just too strange-sounding.’ And now we can make those games, so they’re going to get weirder, that’s all.”
It’s worth pointing out that Schafer isn’t referring to Psychonauts 2 here – it was already in development when Double Fine was acquired. But he does add that Xbox’s support meant being effectively asked, “How would you finish Psychonauts if you had resources?” His answer was to put the boss fights back in and polish it far more than he’d been able to otherwise, and that’s what the team did.
Instead, Schafer’s “weirder games” remark is referring to Double Fine’s future output, which he’s not able to talk about just yet. He does confirm that the studio still does internal game jams, and he’s got a whole list of game ideas in his head that he wants to work on some day. I ask him if he’s thinking of revisiting some of his old games at any point, and while he’s not opposed to the idea entirely, that’s not what he’s up to right now.
“Starting with Broken Age, we were like, ‘Let’s make an adventure game again,’ which is kind of a nostalgic thing to do,” he says. “And then we started remastering all the old adventure games, Grim, and Day of the Tentacle, and Full Throttle. And then we made a sequel to Psychonauts, which is considered officially a retro game now. I saw someone was discussing CRT TVs and which are the best ones, and then Psychonauts was their demo. And I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s a retro game.’ We’ve been looking towards the past and taking care of our past, and archiving it and preserving it in these remasters. But now, we’re really excited about doing all new stuff. We’re doing new games in the studio, and everything is 100% new.”
Schafer is also still playing lots of games despite, he says, the temptation to stop playing as he gets older and busier raising kids. He’s been playing Cult of the Lamb a lot, and Stray, and he tells me he wants to get around to finishing some of the big blockbusters like Elden Ring…but keeps coming back to Vampire Survivors. He’s excited for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom too, and says that its predecessor Breath of the Wild is probably his favorite game of all time (that he didn’t make). It supplanted Super Mario 64, which influenced Schafer’s shift from making point-and-click adventures to 3D adventures, though he cautions that fans probably shouldn’t expect him to draw similar inspiration in the future and make anything as big and ambitious as Breath of the Wild.
Schafer briefly ponders doing something like Animal Crossing – a game about tending and caring for something – but Nintendo already nailed that, he says, so maybe not. Above all, whatever Schafer does next, his biggest concern is keeping his creativity alive.
“There’s types of games I would like to make, and it’s more like I think the biggest effort is, I’ve always been mindful of not losing that fire in your belly. How do you tend that, how do you stoke that? How do you not suffocate that, how do you let in enough air? All these metaphors for, ‘How do you make sure you still love what you do?’ And it always involves moving towards a project that excites me the most, because there’s a lot of pressure to get pulled into maybe business development or other areas of your job that are important, but will make you wake up one morning and that fire’s gone. So, I’ve always avoided that, so I would just maintain pursuing that, and just always chasing what inspires me and everyone at Double Fine.”
But Tim Schafer’s job isn’t just to noodle away in a room by himself and make games. Schafer is vocal about games being a team effort, and therefore the importance of building a healthy, sustainable environment for the human beings working on them. One major way he’s demonstrating this is through the release of a 32-part documentary on the making of Psychonauts 2 created by 2 Player Productions, who embedded in the studio throughout development to offer a very transparent look at how Double Fine works. It’s an unprecedented move in a normally very secretive industry, and a massive gamble to commit to before the game is even made. What if Psychonauts 2 had flopped?
Schafer says he was prepared for that when he signed off on the Kickstarter for the documentary.
“Look, this is the story of how games get made, and sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it goes off the rails,” he says. “And Psychonauts did kind of go off the rails, and then the team brought it back, and so I think it’s a great story of that. Maybe I’d feel differently if the game turned out bad, but I’m very happy with the game getting nominated for Game of the Year and stuff.”
One big reason this level of transparency was critical to Schafer came from his own experience as a child, writing into a magazine asking how he could get a job making video games. He recalls he never got an answer, and just assumed for years that games were made by “really advanced people, somehow super smart, different than me, serious scientists and stuff.” Making a documentary, he says, was his way of answering his 8th grade self…and all the other kids out there now who might have the same question.
“I’ve always been struck by how once you’re on the other side and you’re inside the world of games, there’s so many jobs that you don’t know exist when you’re a kid, like sound editor, or dialogue editor, or producer, and tools programmer. This is the thing, people are like, ‘Well I can’t program a character, so I can’t work in games.’ There are a lot of jobs in games that people don’t know about, they don’t know someone just maybe makes skeletons for not even the outside of the characters, just the inside of the characters, sometimes that’s just one person’s job…Showing all those in a documentary is part of that, pulling back the curtain and letting people see that they could probably get a job in games.”
What’s more, Schafer isn’t done. 2 Player Productions is still embedded in Double Fine, documenting whatever it is they’re working on next. It sounds like a scary process in an industry rife with toxic work culture, crunch, and other struggles that other studio owners might not be so keen to have on camera. But Schafer has put a lot of thought into creating an environment that he isn’t embarrassed to show, and he admits that years of experience and learning from mistakes certainly helped him avoid those pitfalls in his later career.
And, he emphasizes, that doesn’t mean problems never occur. But listening to the team when they speak up about issues and creating an environment where they feel comfortable doing so is critical.
“It’s hard, because people do want to work hard on something they love, when they care about the games so much, a lot of people want to throw themselves into it completely. And managing that balance between being really productive and making something you’re proud of, but while also watching sometimes just basic habits, like going home at 5:00 and seeing your loved ones, just getting enough sleep, some basic caring about yourself and your team or something. It got harder during quarantine, because we couldn’t really watch what people were doing. It’s easy in the office to be like, ‘Hey everyone, go home.’ Early in my career, if I needed to leave early, I’d kind of sneak out, no one saw me. And then later I was like, ‘I need to walk down the hallway and yell goodbye to everybody at 5:00, so everybody sees that I’m leaving, so they start to go like, “What am I doing here?”’ ”
Schafer adds that while it’s not hard to set limits on hours worked, there are different levels of crunch, and it never comes from just one source. He describes it like a machine with levers: one for budget, one for game quality, another for the schedule, and another for quality of life of employees. And a company might, he continues, treat the quality of life knob as flexible but the other knobs as fixed. But that shouldn’t be the case.
Which is another good reason, he says, to publish the documentary. Double Fine has done a lot of work to learn how to create a sustainable culture, and Schafer wants to share it with others. Especially, he says, because he’s actively interested in creating a more diverse industry – which means breaking down barriers that have historically blocked out more diverse individuals from being a part of it.
“I think it’s about transparency because a lot of these things have been exposed recently where there have been managers who don’t think they’re being abusive, they’re just being themselves. And they don’t realize being in a management role is having an amplifier, and all your little funny quirks are now having an effect on people and affecting their quality of life…I think it’s good that the industry is talking about that,” Schafer says. “I think hopefully it’ll lead to some idea of almost like a curriculum of management training for creative endeavors specifically in video games. Because it still feels like a young industry even though it’s been around for 50 years now, but I feel like it’s something that has been handled like the Wild West in a lot of ways still.”
In his DICE fireside chat, Schafer says that he isn’t interested in writing for film instead of games, because “games are fun.” I later ask him a similar question, but about other endeavors – he’s a writer, after all. Would he ever write a book? Maybe, Schafer says – it’d be amazing to be fully in control of his own creation. But he adds that it seems “kind of lonely also.”
“I’ve heard someone say this about opera, but I think it’s more true for games, which is that they bring all these art forms together,” Schafer replies. “If you’re making a game, you’re working in engineers and also painters, 3D modelers, singers, musicians, violinists, painters, and I said painters already. But you bring together all these actors, you bring together all these disciplines together and then you’re putting on the show together that’s super exciting.
Our conversation has circled back to this idea of collaboration, and how much Schafer just likes other human beings, working with them, and being creative with them. He’s not especially interested in any new technology lately, for instance, but he tells me he’s really interested in seeing how other developers make games and tell stories, and frequently derives inspiration from seeing what the incoming new industry talent is doing with what’s already there.
“Doing Day of the Devs exposes us to a lot of really inspiring indies,” he says. “I like that people are getting more serious about inclusivity and diversity in game development. Because I think that means there’s a whole bunch of stories and points of view and perspectives that are going to be new and bring a lot more life into games in the next few years, as people get serious about giving opportunities to people of color and women, and different groups that haven’t been represented in games before.”
So he’s making new games, he’s working to spread transparency around positive working cultures, and he’s deriving inspiration from other developers – where does that eventually take award-winning developer Tim Schafer? In ten years, what does Tim Schafer making video games look like?
“Um, I’m sitting in a hot tub, I got my feet up,” he says. “I’m having a blast now because I’m prototyping some ideas, just a couple people. And no one’s really looking at it, talking about deadlines or anything. I’m just messing around with what a game could be, and that’s really fun. Because they’re not like, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to run out of money in three months.’ I’ve got people working on new games, and I’m working on new ideas, and that’s a really fun place to be.
“I’m always trying to build up Double Fine so it could survive if I got hit by a bus, but I don’t plan on getting hit by a bus anytime soon. I think I’ve just been very dedicated to making sure it’s always fun for me still. I think by holding on to the parts of the job that I like, like writing, and not giving those up, which can cause trouble. But I still maneuver things to Double Fine so that I really enjoy my job, and I work with people I like, and that it enriches me more emotionally more than it drains me. So, I think that allows me to stick around.”
As we wrap up, I ask Schafer if there are any questions he wishes someone would ask him that he never gets asked.
“’Do you have any ideas how I should invest $45 million?’ That’s a question I want. I’d say, ‘Well, I’ve got a game pitch I’d like you to hear.’”
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
Cities: Skylines and Crusader Kings publisher Paradox Interactive held a showcase today, showing off updates on previously-announced games and some entirely brand new titles. From the newly-revealed Cities: Skylines II to a new expansion revealed for Crusader Kings III, read on to learn everything announced at today’s event.
Cities: Skylines II is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC later this year. The reveal promised the most realistic city simulation ever created, with transportation and economy systems, construction and customization options, and more modding capabilities. This sequel to the 2015 original will let players build any type of city they want, from a tiny village to a huge metropolis.
Crusader Kings III is getting a new PC expansion titled Tours & Tournaments. This expansion to Paradox’s strategy RPG will let players tour their monarch’s realm to check in on vassals, host or fight in grand tournaments, and plan royal weddings.
Paradox revealed a new turn-based strategy game from Harebrained Schemes, the studio behind the Shadowrun Trilogy. The game is called The Lamplighters League, and it’s a stylish pulp adventure set in an alternate 1933. In addition to strategy combat, players will also make choices that will directly determine the world’s fate.
Paradox revealed a new expansion for its strategy game Europa Universalis IV titled Domination. This expansion has new mission trees for the Ottoman Empire, Ming China, France, Russia, and more, which change the types of alternate histories available. There are also new military units for several nations, political Estates to manage, and dozens of added historical events.
Paradox revealed a new expansion for Iceflake Studios’ Surviving the Aftermath. Titled Rebirth, this expansion introduces terraforming for players to modify and revitalize the environment.
We got a look at Knights of Pen & Paper 3, the next entry in Paradox’s pop-culture infused turn-based RPG series. We also saw Mechabellum, a sci-fi auto-battler where players compete with armies of mechs, robots, and heavy weapons. Finally, Across the Obelisk: The Wolf Wars is the first expansion for last year’s deckbuilding RPG, which introduces a new zone and character.
Paradox revealed the release dates for its pair of Stellaris expansions. Stellaris: Overlord adds empire management features, and it’s coming to consoles on March 8. Stellaris: First Contact adds new civilizations and cloaking technology, and is coming to PC on March 14.
Paradox Tectonic was founded in 2019, and the studio is finally teasing its debut project. The full reveal will happen on Monday, March 20. The project is led by Rod Humble, who is best known for his work on The Sims and Second Life.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
Super Auto Pets used a strange and clever (and cheap!) source of artwork for its attacking animals: emojis, scaled up far larger than they appear in WhatsApp messages from your mum. The super auto-battler did eventually start making custom artwork for its later expansions, but much of the furious fauna was still emojis. That has now changed with today’s patch, going back to replace all the old emojis with new animal pictures. Goodbye, old friends.
