Spirit Airlines jets at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Joe Cavaretta/Tribune News/Getty Images 2025-04-23T13:22:59Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Spirit Airlines is cutting some 12,000 flights through May and June compared to last year. Just four airports are losing service from Spirit, but others will see up to 84% fewer flights. The budget airline is continuing its turnaround, having emerged from bankruptcy last month. Finding a Spirit Airlines flight is looking a lot harder this summer.According to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics firm, the budget airline has scheduled 12,000 fewer flights through May and June compared to the same period last year — a decline of around 24%.Research from Deutsche Bank analysts places the June decline for Spirit's domestic flights as high as 27.5%.However, only four airports are no longer being served. Manchester, New Hampshire, the only one in the US, had just seven flights scheduled across the period last year. Two of the airports are in Haiti, where several airlines stopped flying after a Spirit plane was shot at last November.Still, some cities are facing huge drops in service since May and June 2024.Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Boise, Idaho, have seen their scheduled Spirit flights drop 84%, down to just 18 from 111 and 115, respectively.Flights from Portland, Oregon, have more than halved, falling from 357 to 124. Boston's service has plunged from 1,272 to 710.The only three airports to lose more than 1,000 flights — Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, and Orlando — have between 20.5% and 28% fewer Spirit flights than last year.The cuts come as Spirit continues its turnaround.It filed for Chapter 11 protection last November as it worked to restructure its debt and business model, before emerging from bankruptcy last month.Last Thursday, Spirit announced that Dave Davis, the former president and chief financial officer of Sun Country Airlines, would be its new CEO.Budget airlines have had a rough time since the pandemic, as higher costs and overcapacity forced them to rethink their business models.Spirit, Frontier, and Southwest all added premium seating options.They now also face a potential downturn in travel demand across the board due to economic uncertainty from Donald Trump's tariff plans.Travel is typically one of the first things people can cut when purse strings tighten, which has seen airline stocks become especially volatile over the past month. Recommended video

The B-21 Raider being unveiled during a ceremony in California, in December 2022. FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images 2025-04-23T13:06:55Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Northrop Grumman posted a drop in profits in the first quarter of 2025. It said higher manufacturing costs for the B-21 Raider stealth bomber were to blame. The plane is the first new stealth bomber designed for the US military in 30 years. Northrop Grumman posted a drop in first-quarter profits, blaming higher manufacturing costs for its B-21 Raider stealth bomber.Sales totalled $9.5 billion in the quarter, down 7% compared to last year, the company said. Reuters reported that the figure was below the analysts' average expectation of about $9.92 billion.The company said it recorded a pre-tax loss of $477 million on its B-21 programs, and that investments to boost future B-21 production and higher-than-expected material costs were to blame.In a conference call, Kathy Warden, Northrop Grumman's president, said the drop was "largely relating to higher manufacturing costs" for the B-21, per The War Zone.She said it was "primarily resulting from a process change we made to enable a higher production rate, as well as increases in the projected material cost."She said Northrop Grumman had "underestimated the amount of consumption of both materials as well as the price increase that we are seeing."The B-21 is the first new stealth bomber to be developed for the US Air Force in 30 years, and took its maiden flight in November 2023.Business Insider reported last year that the plane is expected to form the backbone of the US bomber fleet, and that its state-of-the-art stealth capabilities are designed to evade sophisticated air defense systems.A low rate initial production contract — a contract for the manufacture of a small batch of B-21s for testing — was signed in January 2024.Gen. Anthony J Cotton, head of US Strategic Command, said last month that he wanted to see the Air Force boost the number of B-21s it plans to deploy from 100 to around 145.He said the plane's initial low production rate was set "when the geopolitical environment was a little bit different than what we face today."The B-21 is expected to enter service by the end of the decade.In the conference call, Warden said that the company was taking a financial hit now in order to be in a position to ramp up production of the plane going forward. Recommended video

Consider the transistor, the basic unit of computer processors. Transistors can be tiny, down to single-digit nanometers in size. Billions can fit on a computer chip. Though they have no moving parts, they devour electricity as they store and modify bits of information. “Ones and zeros are encoded as these high and low voltages,” said Timothy Sherwood, a computer science professor at the University of California Santa Barbara. “When you do any computation, what’s happening inside the microprocessor is that there’s some one that transitions to a zero, or a zero that transitions to one. Every time that happens, a little bit of energy is used.”This story was first featured in the Future Perfect newsletter.Sign up here to explore the big, complicated problems the world faces and the most efficient ways to solve them. Sent twice a week.When you add that up — across the billions of transistors on chips and then the billions of these chips in computers and server farms — they form a significant and growing share of humanity’s energy appetite.According to the International Energy Agency, computing and storing data accounts for somewhere between 1 and 1.5 percent of global electricity demand at the moment.With the growth of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies that rely on industrial-scale data centers, that share is poised to grow. For instance, a typical Google search uses about 0.3 watt-hours while a ChatGPT query consumes 2.9 watt-hours. In 2024, the amount of data center capacity under construction in the US jumped 70 percent compared to 2023. Some of the tech companies leaning into AI have seen their greenhouse gas emissions surge and are finding it harder to meet their own environmental goals.How much more electricity will this computation need in the years ahead, and will it put our climate change goals out of reach?AI is injecting chaos into energy demand forecastsThe IEA estimates that data center energy demand will double by 2030. McKinsey estimates somewhere between a tripling and a quintupling. As a result, major tech players are desperately trying to shore up their power supplies. Over the past year, they’ve been some of the largest purchasers of energy sources that produce few greenhouse gas emissions. Amazon is the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world. Companies like Microsoft are even reviving old nuclear plants while also investing in the next generation of nuclear technology.But some of these companies aren’t picky about where their power is coming from. “What we need from you,” former Google CEO Eric Schmidt told the House Energy and Commerce committee earlier this month, is “energy in all forms, renewable, non-renewable, whatever. It needs to be there, and it needs to be there quickly.”Already, energy demand from data centers is extending a lifeline to old coal power plants and is creating a market for new natural gas plants. The IEA estimates that over the next five years, renewables will meet half of the additional electricity demand from data centers, followed by natural gas, coal, and nuclear power.However, a lot of these energy demand forecasts are projections based on current trends, and well, a lot of things are changing very quickly. “The first thing I’ll say is that there’s just a lot of uncertainty about how data center energy demand will grow,” said Jessika Trancik, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studying the tech sector and energy. Here is some context to keep in mind: Remember that data centers are less than 2 percent of overall electricity demand now and even doubling, tripling, or quintupling would still keep their share in the single digits. A larger portion of global electricity demand growth is poised to come from developing countries industrializing and climbing up the income ladder. Energy use is also linked to the economy; in a recession, for example, power demand tends to fall. Climate change could play a role as well. One of the biggest drivers of electricity demand last year was simply that it was so hot out, leading more people to switch on air conditioners. So while AI is an important, growing energy user, it’s not the only thing altering the future of energy demand. We’re also in the Cambrian explosion era of crypto and AI companies, meaning there are a lot of different firms trying out a variety of approaches. All of this experimentation is spiking energy use in the near term, but not all of these approaches are going to make it. As these sectors mature and their players consolidate, that could drive down energy demand too. How to do more with lessThe good news is that computers are getting more efficient. AI and crypto harness graphical processing units, chips optimized for the kinds of calculations behind these technologies. GPUs have made massive performance leaps, particularly when it comes to the ability of AI to take in new information and generate conclusions. “In the past 10 years, our platform has become 100,000 times more energy efficient for the exact same inference workload,” said Joshua Parker, who leads corporate sustainability efforts at Nvidia, one of the largest GPU producers in the world. “In the past two years — one generation of our product — we’ve become 25 times more energy efficient.”Nvidia has now established a commanding lead in the AI race, making it one of the most valuable companies in history. However, as computer processors get more efficient, they cost less to run, which can lead people to use them more, offsetting some of the energy savings. “It’s easier to make the business case to deploy AI, which means that the footprint is growing, so it’s a real paradox,” Parker said. “Ultimately, that kind of exponential growth only continues if you actually reach zero incremental costs. There’s still costs to the energy and there’s still cost to the computation. As much as we’re driving towards efficiency, there will be a balance in the end because it’s not free.”Another factor to consider is that AI tools can have their own environmental benefits. Using AI to perform simulations can avoid some of the need for expensive, slow, energy-intensive real-world testing when designing aircraft, for example. Grid operators are using AI to optimize electricity distribution to integrate renewables, increase reliability, and reduce waste. AI has already helped design better batteries and better solar cells. Amid all this uncertainty about the future, there are still paths that could keep AI’s expansion aligned with efforts to limit climate change. Tech companies need to continue pulling on the efficiency lever. These sectors also have big opportunities to reduce carbon emissions in the supply chains for these devices, and in the infrastructure for data centers. Deploying vastly more clean energy is essential. We’ve already seen a number of countries grow their economies while cutting greenhouse gases. While AI is slowing some of that progress right now, it doesn’t have to worsen climate change over the long term, and it could accelerate efforts to keep it in check. But it won’t happen by chance, and will require deliberate action to get on track. “It’s easy to write the headline that says AI is going to break the grid, it’s going to lead to more emissions,” Parker said. “I’m personally very optimistic — I think this is credible optimism — that AI over time will be the best tool for sustainability the world has ever seen.”You’ve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you — join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

On Tuesday, a pair of documentaries landed on Amazon Prime that put forth a rather bold claim: By simply making a few tweaks to how we farm, humanity can reverse climate change and all but eliminate a host of other problems stemming from our modern food system. The two films — Kiss the Ground, which first came out on Netflix in 2020, and its follow-up, Common Ground, which premiered on streaming this week — are the most high-profile documentaries advocating for a widespread shift to “regenerative agriculture.” This organic-adjacent approach to agriculture focuses on using a few farming methods to improve soil health, which has been degraded over the last century in large part due to the industrialization of agriculture, with its bevy of synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Deployed at scale, the films argue, regenerative agriculture would improve soil health so greatly that farmers around the globe could draw down massive amounts of climate-warming greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and store them in soil, largely solving the climate crisis.“By converting our farmland to regenerative agriculture, the soil could sequester all of the carbon dioxide that humanity emits each year,” actor Jason Momoa claims in Common Ground. “That would bring our carbon emissions to net zero. In other words, our planet’s soil could help stabilize our climate.” Regenerative agriculture, according to the films, could also boost biodiversity, enrich struggling farmers, clean up polluted waterways, and end the “human health crisis.” (It’s unclear which human health crisis they mean.)Common Ground director (left) poses with two of the documentary’s actor-narrators — Ian Somerhalder and Jason Momoa — at a Los Angeles screening in early 2024. Gregg DeGuire/Variety via Getty ImagesThis straightforward, all-encompassing plan to fix some of the world’s most wicked problems has been embraced by an eclectic set of US policymakers, A-list actors, celebrity doctors, and leading environmental organizations. (The films collectively also feature Rosario Dawson, Tom Brady, Laura Dern, and Donald Glover, among others.)When Kiss the Ground was released, its sweeping claims drew criticism as overly simplistic and scientifically dubious — a kind of “magical thinking,” as one environmental scientist put it in a review of Kiss the Ground in the journal Biogeochemistry. The films feature no critics or skeptics, only fervent supporters.Regenerative agriculture practices certainly have some environmental and social benefits. But the films engage in a kind of nostalgic utopianism, asserting that if it weren’t for greedy corporations and subservient lawmakers, we could go back to the old ways of farming, which would heal our broken relationship with nature and usher in a healthier future with a stable climate. In Kiss the Ground, actor-narrator Ian Somerhalder goes so far as to say that regenerative agriculture would “get the Earth back to the Garden of Eden that it once was.” Unfortunately, it’s not so simple. The benefits — and limits — of regenerative agricultureOur food and farming system is, no doubt, in need of significant reform. It’s America’s largest source of water pollution and animal suffering and accounts for more than 10 percent of our carbon footprint. Many farmers overapply synthetic fertilizer to their crops, and federal regulators have been captured by corporations that wield enormous power in politics. Many large farmers turn a handsome profit thanks to nonsensical subsidies while small and midsized operations struggle to stay afloat in US agriculture’s “get big or get out” model. Farmworkers are treated as invisible cogs in a machine that pumps out unhealthy food.The documentaries do a fine enough job cataloguing these problems, though at times they can be misleading and alarmist. For example, there’s no proof that the world has only 60 harvests remaining, as actor Woody Harrelson narrates in Kiss the Ground. Interview subjects, including supermodel Gisele Bündchen, repeatedly claim that healthier soils lead to healthier food, and thus healthier humans, though the science isn’t clear on how much soil health affects food’s nutrient content.So, what exactly is regenerative agriculture? There’s no universal definition, but it boils down to a few key practices and goals:Drastically reduce or eliminate synthetic chemicals: Modern farmers routinely douse crops in synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. Significantly reducing or eliminating these chemicals can improve soil health, boost biodiversity, and reduce water pollution.Eliminate tillage: Most farmers till, or disturb, their soil to get rid of weeds and make the soil more porous, among other things. But tillage can also release carbon dioxide stored in the soil and harm overall soil health, so regenerative farmers swear against it.Plant cover crops: Regenerative farmers plant “cover crops,” like clover and rye, around fall harvest time, which improves soil health in a number of ways.Rotational grazing: “When cattle are left to their own devices on pasture, they overgraze — trampling on and eroding the soil, and destroying vegetation,” as I wrote last year. “But regenerative ranchers use rotational grazing…which entails periodically moving cattle between plots of land. This can help prevent overgrazing because vegetation is given time to regrow, resulting in healthier soil that [regenerative] advocates say can sequester large amounts of carbon.”All of these practices have proven ecological benefits, and US regulators would be wise to incentivize more farmers to take them up. But agriculture, like other environmentally sensitive industries, is rife with tradeoffs, which Kiss the Ground and Common Ground entirely ignore.For example, while chemical-laden agriculture has many drawbacks, it typically produces more food per acre, which means it requires less land. The same goes for conventionally raised cattle: grass-finished, regeneratively raised cattle require between two and two-and-a-half times more land than those finished on feedlots.A nationwide shift to regenerative agriculture would massively increase demand for land — a critical downside to this style of farming. Agriculture is already extremely land-intensive, using up some 40 percent of US land, and each acre that can be spared from farming is an acre that can remain as habitat for wildlife.Then there is the claim that healthier soil can draw down enormous amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in farmland. Done on a large scale, the films say, regenerative agriculture could even draw down all the carbon dioxide humans emit each year. But this is highly improbable, as scientists don’t even have accurate and affordable tools to measure how much carbon regenerative farms can sequester. No-till farming likely doesn’t sequester much carbon, and if a farmer decides to eventually till that soil, a lot of the carbon they’d stored up would be released. The rate at which farmland can sequester carbon also diminishes over time. Ranchers at a regenerative cattle grazing training event in New Mexico. Mario Tama/Getty ImagesAnd while rotationally grazing cattle has the potential to sequester some of the enormous amounts of greenhouse gases emitted by cattle, it’s far from all of a beef cattle’s emissions, as one source in Kiss the Ground suggests. Beef, whether produced regeneratively or not, is still the world’s most carbon-intensive food.Meanwhile, the films fail to acknowledge the most effective approach to slashing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, which accounts for up to one-third of global emissions. According to a survey of more than 200 climate and agriculture experts, the best way to do that is to reduce meat and dairy production. (These same experts rated carbon sequestration as one of the least effective approaches.) Reducing meat and milk intake in rich countries like the US would also reduce land demand, water pollution, and animal suffering, and likely improve human health. Despite the undisputed benefits of regenerative agriculture, Kiss the Ground and Common Ground misleadingly promote it as one weird trick that farmers everywhere can deploy to heal the planet and humanity. It uses a cast of celebrities, advocate-experts, and farmers who employ simplistic arguments and visuals to avoid the nuanced and difficult tradeoffs of agricultural production. Yet the grandiose claims made in these films have managed to gain serious traction in environmental and agricultural policy circles, often crowding out more evidence-based solutions.You’ll find a decent analysis of what’s wrong with our food system, and plenty of hope on how to fix it, in these films. But when the solution to problems as complex as climate change, diet-related chronic disease, farmer debt, mass pollution, and biodiversity collapse is as simple as a few changes to how we farm, whoever’s promoting it is probably standing on shaky ground.You’ve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you — join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More: Future Perfect

When we meet Clair Obscur’s protagonist Gustave, he’s getting ready to say goodbye to his ex-girlfriend, Sophie. Once a year the Paintress, a giant god-like woman visible from across the sea, wakes, paints a number on a large monolith, and in the peaceful town of Lumière, everyone whose age corresponds with the number dies. This process, called the Gommage, has shortened people’s lives for 67 years, and now it’s Sophie’s turn. Immediately after this heart-wrenching goodbye, Gustave and his adopted sister Maelle get ready to set sail as part of Expedition 33, on a journey to defeat the Paintress and end her gruesome cycle.While stunningly beautiful, the continent you arrive at is no friendly place, and the path to the Paintress is filled with surreal monsters called Nevrons, which you fight in turn-based battles. Characters have a melee attack and a long-range attack, but most importantly, they have a large variety of unique skills including elemental magic attacks and strong attacks with multiple hits that have the chance to stun. Each member of your team has a special way of building up damage even further; Maelle for example uses a defensive, offensive or aggressive combat stance, inspired by fencing, while the magic that Lune wields builds up so-called stains that you can then spend to make other spells more powerful. Add to this long list of optional passive skills called Pictos, and soon you have a wide array of ways to enhance your characters. The interplay between building up action points to use skills, building up damage and defending is really interesting, and I enjoyed trying out different tactics, even as it meant that a lot of my time was spent in menus.An enigma wrapped in a mystery … Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Photograph: Sandfall InteractiveIt can feel overwhelming, but each new skill gets introduced gradually, and permanent tool tips in the battle menu helpfully list each skill’s effect and cost. Clair Obscur’s combat can be quite a challenge, however, since battles use a parry and dodge system. If you don’t dodge at least, battles will quickly be over. Successful parries, which have a narrower reaction window than dodging, let characters answer with powerful counters, which can be crucial to beating your foes. Even regular enemies kept me on my toes with their many attacks, but the absolute screen-shaking force of a successful counter felt deeply satisfying every time. I continuously got a kick out of parrying because I’m the right kind of bad at it – it might get boring if you don’t get that hit of dopamine from occasional success, or feel frustrating if you struggle constantly. Enemies also feint incredibly often, which is meant to increase the difficulty of parrying but also lengthens their attacks, sometimes overly so.Developer Sandfall Interactive has been very open about taking inspiration from Japanese role-playing games. While combat is certainly a prominent example, I saw the influences everywhere: the menu design is as much Persona-inspired as the combat is, the enemies are as surreal as Bloodborne’s gruesome creations. But when it comes to storytelling, Clair Obscur shares the tendency of many JRPGs to over-complicate things.The dialogue though is well written and acted. Your party goes through some incredibly bad times, but they talk about it candidly and try to support each other as best they can. Optional conversations help you to get to know everyone better – some of Clair Obscur’s best writing is here. It’s the main plot where things eventually get exhausting. For the most part, Clair Obscur is the adult fantasy that Final Fantasy XVI tried to be. But it’s also an enigma wrapped in a mystery, and for hours and hours, it adds new questions and characters until it’s all revealed in an absolute dump of late-game information. Conversations, locations and gameplay repeat themselves in the final third, making things feel artificially lengthened.Towards the end, Clair Obscur constantly finds more ways to be even sadder than it was mere minutes ago, so unwilling to let you go that it forces you through lengthy boss fights accompanied by a whole soundtrack’s worth of operatic metal. It also culminates in a very frustrating ending that made me question everything I spent hours doing. Everywhere else, from combat to enemy design to music, I appreciated Clair Obscur’s flair for the epic, but too much subterfuge, too many tears, too many fights ultimately made for a seriously fumbled ending.

It might be a samurai summer (Sony Interactive Entertainment) Sony has announced the release date for the sequel to Ghost Of Tsushima, and it could be in the firing line of GTA 6. We’ve heard nothing about Ghost Of Yōtei since its original reveal in September last year, but Sony has now dropped a release date out of the blue. The sequel to Ghost Of Tsushima, developed by Sucker Punch, is set to launch on October 2, 2025. It is one of only two confirmed PlayStation 5 exclusives for this year, with the other being Death Stranding 2: On The Beach by third party studio Kojima Productions. A new trailer has arrived alongside the announcement, which highlights the backstory behind new protagonist Atsu. She is on the hunt for the Yōtei Six (The Snake, The Oni, The Kitsune, The Spider, The Dragon, and Lord Saito), who killed her family and left her for dead 16 years prior. As noted in a PlayStation blog post, players will be able to choose which Yōtei member to pursue first, or chase down other dangerous targets to claim bounties and learn new skills. The Ghost Of Yōtei standard edition costs £69.99, and you’ll receive a unique in-game mask and seven PSN avatars if you pre-order. A deluxe edition, priced at £79.99, includes snake armour, digital deluxe armour dye, an in-game charm, gold sword kit, and an early unlock for Traveler’s Maps, which enable you to find statues to upgrade your skills. A massive collector’s edition will also be available in select regions through PlayStation Direct, although it’s yet to be priced. This edition comes with all of the above, along with a replicas of Atsu’s Ghost mask and sash, along with a replica of the Tsuba from Atsu’s katana. So it’s going to be £100+ Pre-orders are set to open on May 2, 2025. Although it almost certainly will end up on PC eventually, that’s not been announced yet and probably won’t arrive until next autumn at the earliest. While the October release date makes sense to avoid Death Stranding 2, it’s only just over a week after the launch of Bungie’s shooter Marathon on September 23 across PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S. More Trending The big question is whether this could put Ghost Of Yōtei in the blast radius of GTA 6, which is slated to come out in autumn 2025. We already know many developers are scrambling to avoid Rockstar’s juggernaut, so it’s strange that Sony is not. Whether that indicates foolhardiness or the fact that they know when it’s going to be released (and therefore it isn’t October) is impossible to say. It’s also unclear if Sony has any other games up its sleeve for 2025, but recent rumours suggested a new God Of War set in Greece could launch this year as well. Will it dodge GTA 6? (Sony Interactive Entertainment) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – a glorious mix of old and new (Kepler Interactive) One of the best Japanese role-players of recent years is actually French and it also has one of the most enjoyable battle systems the genre has ever seen. When it comes to the term Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) we’ve always been of the opinion that it describes a subgenre of games, rather than being an indication of where a title was made. Not everyone agrees but it’s undeniable that there are many games which, in terms of gameplay and structure, are functionally identical to Japanese-made titles, from obvious homages like Sea Of Stars to Ubisoft’s South Park games. In that sense, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is clearly a JRPG – in terms of the style of its exploration, its turn-based combat, and its general structure – except that it’s been made by French indie studio Sandfall Interactive. Although, even more so than this week’s Steel Seed, calling a game as ambitious and graphically resplendent as Clair Obscur an indie title does it a disservice. The team has openly acknowledged their love for Final Fantasy 7 in particular, but the game goes well beyond mere homage to create something that not only feels unique but is one of the most thoughtful and enjoyable JRPGs of the modern era. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s fantastic story The story of Clair Obscur (the name is French for the Italian term chiaroscuro, which refers to strong contrasts between light and dark in a painting) involves a god-like being called the Paintress, who every year draws a number on a giant monolith and everyone above that age instantly gets snapped away like she was Thanos – except with showers of flower petals instead of ash. Nobody knows her motivations, but the numbers are getting smaller each time and at the start of the game number 33 is about to be painted. Main player character, Gustave, is 33 but his former lover is 34. The plot may sound rather silly when you just read about it, but within the opening minutes the game’s serious tone immediately draws you into the story. It quickly becomes obvious that the set-up is a metaphor for the inevitability of loss in general and a meditation on the legacy we leave behind, in terms of both family and art. The survivors of the Paintress all live on an island that is a fractured version of Paris, complete with an unnaturally mangled Eiffel Tower and which, like Lies Of P before it, revels in its Belle Époque style architecture and fashion. The thrust of the story involves the titular expedition across the sea, onto the mainland; one that has been attempted many times before by other groups, in an effort to find a way to stop the Paintress, but which has always ended in failure. This introduces another of the game’s main themes, with the idea of building upon on the efforts and sacrifices of your predecessors. This works on a meta level too, as the exploration is where the similarities to late 90s Japanese role-players is most evident. Exploring a map of the wider world with a giant-sized avatar of your party leader is like something right out of a mid-era Final Fantasy game, as are the various mini-game distractions and some of the wackier enemy designs. Clair Obscur is purposefully whimsical at times but there’s real depth to the role-playing systems, in terms of the complex skill trees and items called Pictos, which can buff your stats, change status effects, and more. Although the menu for organising them is a bit of a mess, which can also be true of some of the other interface elements. How Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s combat system works The combat is turn-based but there’s a strong action element inspired by Paper Mario and others, where you not only have to augment attack and defence with button presses at the right moment but also dodge, counter, and parry. Clair Obscur goes well beyond any other game with a similar system, with the different enemies and their tells and faints requiring serious action skills to deal with. The combat system is clever and entertaining (Kepler Interactive) Dodging is relatively easy, no matter your skill level, but you don’t get any bonuses for that and so it’s best to try and counter if you can. However, more dangerous enemies have attacks that can’t be parried, which becomes reminiscent of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, of all things. It’s nowhere near that hard though and if you’re struggling there are multiple difficulty levels and settings to adjust. Each party member has very distinctive skills, from Gustave’s self-explanatory Overcharge ability and Lune’s elemental magic, to Maelle making use of different stances and one character that is basically a homage to Dante from Devil May Cry. Each party member can team-up with each other in interesting ways too, creating long chains of attacks, which becomes vital in the many excellent boss battles. These are the very opposite of bullet sponges, as each has to be taken down in a very specific way, requiring multiple different tactics at different times – highlighting what is one of the most enjoyably versatile battle systems seen for a long time. The bosses also look great, and while the technical aspects aren’t quite as good as the art design (the facial animation can look a bit odd at times) it’s a beautiful looking game that feels very French in terms of its influences and atmospheres, and therefore quite different to the role-playing norm. The soundtrack is excellent too, and while the amount of accordion music borders on parody at times that is something the game is clearly doing on purpose. From the infeasible number of berets to one of the main characters wearing a black and white stripped shirt with a cravat, the game revels in its French-ness. It has a clear sense of humour about it though and in world where big budget games usually have their cultural identity shaved off before they even start that’s very appealing. We’re not sure where Sandfall got the budget for all this, but the voice cast includes Charlie Cox (Marvel’s Daredevil), Andy Serkis, and the increasingly ubiquitous Ben Starr. The high production levels are reflected in the price, which is well above the norm for an indie game, but we really hope that doesn’t put anyone off. More Trending The game can seem pretentious and melodramatic at times, but then it’s always difficult to try and broach serious subject while also fighting monsters and trying to keep the mood at least relatively light. Given the slow-paced start to the game, we were worried it was going to be self-indulgent in terms of overlong cut scenes and endless exposition, but it’s not. The only real problems are the overly linear dungeons, that are still fun because of the combat but could have offered up some more interesting exploration. The dialogue is a bit awkward at times too, presumably because it’s been translated from the original French, and the story can seem a bit contrived at times, in the efforts it goes to in order to hide what’s going on, but these are minor issues. The game is a brisk 30 or 40 hours, around half of what you’d expect from most JRPGs, but that’s not because of a lack of content but a lack of filler, and the experience is all the better for it. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is easily one of the best JRPGs of the last decade, with a near perfect mix of old and new influences. It’s beautiful, it’s fun, and it has something to say. Plus, it’s a new IP from an indie developer that has never made anything else before – and you can’t ask for much more than that. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review summary In Short: An extraordinary debut release from a French indie studio that has managed to make the best JRPG of recent years, with some of the best combat the genre has ever seen. Pros: Fantastic combat system that blends multiple different influences to expert effect. Intriguing storytelling that explores real world subjects in a fantasy setting. Great art design and soundtrack. Cons: Dungeons can be a little tedious and overly linear. Some of the dialogue is a bit awkward and there’s a few minor menu issues. Score: 9/10 Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PCPrice: £44.99Publisher: Kepler InteractiveDeveloper: Sandfall InteractiveRelease Date: 24th April 2025Age Rating: 18 The character designs are a bit more grounded than most JRPGs (Kepler Interactive) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Noise-cancellation is a great addition on any premium pair of headphones or earbuds, but what it does is drive up the price way high. It’s not something that’s always needed. If you’re not frequently riding on airplanes or trying to drown out the sounds of a couple arguing in the apartment next door, you’ll probably be find just listening on the standard mode. So, you’d only be paying the standard price, not premium. Well, Soundcore has a solid pair of wireless earbuds that get the job done and are crazy affordable. Normally they go for $40 which is already pretty reasonable. But for a limited time, you can secure yourself a pair for 50% off. That’s right. At the time of writing this, the Soundcore by Anker P20i true wireless earbuds are just $20. See at Amazon Available in a variety of fun colors including black, white, blue, light blue, and pink, these wireless earbuds feature 10mm drivers with big bass sound. You can still get lost in your music without the fancy noise cancelation of expensive headphones. Personalized Listening Experience These Soundcore earbuds let you customize their sound to your preferences. Within the Soundcore app, you can choose between 22 EQ preset modes. The app also has its own “Find My Earbuds” feature the way Apple does for all its products.  They’ll even emit a sound on demand to help you locate them. That comes in handy when you don’t remember what bag you place them in and don’t know if you left that at home or in the office. You can listen to your favorite music and podcasts through the entire work day as these Soundcore earbuds can get up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge. That time is extended further with the charging case which can boost that up to 30 hours. Find yourself in a pinch where neither the buds nor case are charger? No worries. A quick 10-minute charge will bring you back up to two full hours of listening time. The charging case also comes with a nifty lanyard attached to make it easy to clip onto your keys or a bag. These earbuds can be used to take phone calls thanks to their two built-in mics. They use an algorithm to identify your voice over background noises to ensure folks on the other end never have to hear your shout. You’ll come through crystal clear. For a limited time, you can pick up a pair of Soundcore by Anker P20i true wireless earbuds for their all-time low price of just $20. See at Amazon

The Nintendo Switch 2 is now available to pre-order starting tonight with the official release date as June 5, 2025. Walmart is beginning pre-orders of the Switch 2 precisely at midnight Eastern Time on April 24, 2025 (which is 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time on the 23rd). Nintendo fans have two choices to choose from now: the Switch 2 console for $449.99 on its own, or the Mario Kart World bundle that includes the console and the eagerly awaited new Mario Kart game for $499.99. This is a great deal since Mario Kart World by itself can be bought for $79.99, so this is a great purchase for fans wanting to dive right into the new racing adventure from the start. Make sure you pre-order your Switch 2 asap as it can run out of stock pretty quickly. See Switch 2 at Walmart See Switch 2 + Mario Kart at Walmart Where Should You Pre-Order the Nintendo Switch 2? One of the most popular retailers to put your Nintendo Switch 2 preorder is Walmart: Walmart surpasses many other retailers by ensuring delivery by 9 a.m. local time on release date, June 5, for customers who preorder by June 4 at 8 a.m. ET (while supplies last). The guarantee of on-time delivery is a major advantage, especially with the expected high demand and short supply. Remember, Nintendo just postponed the pre-order phase in the U.S. by a few weeks, and the stock is still pretty short. So, why should you buy the latest Nintendo console? The Switch 2 hype is well-deserved given its stunning upgrade over the original Switch and the most impressive feature is a larger 7.9-inch LCD touchscreen with a 1080p full resolution in handheld mode (which is a gigantic improvement over the 6.2-inch 720p screen of the original). For those who like to play on the TV, the Switch 2 can output at 4K resolution for some games and offers beautifully rendered pictures the older system could not deliver. The refresh rate has also been doubled to 120Hz in handheld mode to allow for smoother gameplay especially for fast-paced genres like fighting and shooters. HDR support brings even more color vibrancy and lighting effects to the gaming experience. Other than simply the screen, the Switch 2 available for pre-order has a new and wider kickstand that spans almost the whole back of the console and offers multiple adjustable angles. The new Joy-Con controllers snap on and off magnetically and connect via pins which makes the setup easier and their durability better. Sound also got a boost with built-in speakers that support 3D audio while a new Chat button offers voice chat using a built-in noise-cancelling microphone. Storage has been also increased massively to 256GB from the original Switch’s 32GB and the console supports faster microSD Express cards. The gaming community is eager for the hardware but also for the launch games of the Switch 2. Mario Kart World promises expansive race courses with changing weather and improved water effects and other nostalgic franchises like Donkey Kong and Kirby are back with optimized-for-the-new-console games as well. Worth pointing out is the fact that Switch 2 remains compatible with the majority of today’s Switch titles. If you’re looking to pre-order the Switch 2, you must act quickly. Nintendo is trying to close down scalping and outrageous resale price markups but demand will greatly exceed supply. There will be stock shortages and with tariffs and import fees unpredictable, prices could skyrocket. Putting in a preorder today on the Nintendo console, especially with a good retailer like Walmart that guarantees on-launch delivery, is the best way to ensure that you’ll be able to get your hands on the new console asap. See Switch 2 at Walmart See Switch 2 + Mario Kart at Walmart

Architectures of Care: Healing Spaces Across CulturesPresented by:Save this picture!Meditation Gazebo / STUDIOARO. © Turtle ArtsAround the world, different cultures have developed unique ways of understanding and experiencing healing. Far from being merely a physical process, healing encompasses emotional, spiritual, social, and architectural dimensions. Healing spaces—whether physical, symbolic, or natural—reflect each culture's values, beliefs, and ways of life. Exploring these cultural approaches not only broadens our perspective on health but also encourages us to reconsider how we design environments that nurture care and well-being.The concept of “healing” varies significantly across cultures, shaped by distinct worldviews regarding the body, health, illness, and wellness. While Western biomedicine tends to prioritize pathology and technical intervention, many non-Western traditions understand healing as a holistic process that integrates spiritual, emotional, communal, and ecological aspects. These diverse perspectives influence not only therapeutic practices but also how healing spaces are imagined, constructed, and experienced. Save this picture!In this context, architecture becomes a material expression of cultural understandings of health. For example, in Indigenous traditions across the Americas, healing spaces are often organized around communion with nature and ritual circularity. In Japan, minimalist aesthetics and integration with the natural environment reflect a pursuit of inner balance and harmony. Despite cultural differences, contact with nature consistently emerges as a unifying element in healing practices. When incorporated into architectural design along with other elements explored throughout this text, this connection invites us to understand the environment not simply as a physical container but as an active participant in the healing process, responsive to the symbolic and emotional dimensions of human experience. Related Article Designing Care: The Importance of Humanization in Healthcare Spaces Ancient Healing Spaces: Latin AmericaAmong many Indigenous peoples of Latin America, healing is understood as a collective and spiritual journey centered on reconnection with nature, ancestors, and community. Illness is often perceived as a disruption in the balance between humans and the natural or spiritual world. In this context, healing becomes a return to the collective, to the sacred, and to the ecosystem of which the individual is a part. Healing spaces are typically circular, constructed from natural materials, and open to the elements, incorporating fire and water as therapeutic components. In Brazil, the malocas—Indigenous communal houses—also function as spaces of collective healing. Within these large wooden and thatched structures, healing takes place in a circle, through shared storytelling, the presence of elders, and attentive listening to both the body and the forest.Save this picture!Architecture and Nature: Japan and Shinrin-yoku In Japan, where Shinto and Buddhist philosophies shape cultural understandings, healing is seen as the restoration of spiritual and energetic balance, often linked to the concept of ki (vital energy). The body, mind, and spirit are viewed as inseparable. Healing, in this worldview, involves achieving serenity within the natural flow of existence. Accordingly, healing spaces are designed to promote contemplation, introspection, and respect for natural rhythms.Save this picture!The Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing,” exemplifies the central role of nature in supporting mental and physical restoration. Tranquil, minimalist environments in harmony with their surroundings—such as Zen gardens and tea houses—embody an aesthetic of healing grounded in simplicity and reflection. In these spaces, silence and openness become part of the remedy. Traditional Ryokans, or Japanese inns, often include open-air hot springs (onsen) nestled within carefully curated gardens. These environments are constructed using natural materials such as wood and stone, designed to foster a deep connection between the individual and the natural world. Zen gardens, while contemplative, also serve as meditative spaces of healing. The repetitive patterns in sand and the intentional placement of stones and plants support interior quietude. Traditional Japanese architecture values emptiness as a crucial spatial component—one that, in the context of healing, symbolizes openness, breathing space, and energetic flow.Save this picture!Healing and Community: West AfricaIn African cosmologies, particularly among the Yorùbá, Ashanti, and Dogon peoples, healing is inseparable from community, ancestry, and spirituality. Illness may signify not only physical suffering, but also ethical, spiritual, or social imbalance. Healing spaces are thus not clinical, but ritualistic, symbolic, and designed to gather and direct energy. Community-based rituals involving music, dance, and oral storytelling bring people together in support of an individual’s healing. In this framework, healing is a shared rather than solitary endeavor.. Architectural spaces are typically open, promoting the free flow of people and aligning with natural elements such as sunlight, wind, and seasonal cycles. Architecture, in this context, becomes a narrative form: every structure and ornament carries stories and meanings that actively contribute to the emotional and spiritual healing process.Save this picture!Sacred Architecture as Healing: IndiaIn Indian traditions, particularly within the frameworks of Ayurveda and Yoga, healing is understood as a process of harmonization between the elements of the body and universal forces. The human being is composed of doshas (vata, pitta, kapha), and health depends on the balance among them. Temples in India function not only as places of worship but also as centers of physical and spiritual healing. Ayurveda, the traditional system of medicine, has long regarded the environment as integral to the healing process. Ayurvedic hospitals—such as Arya Vaidya Sala in Kerala—are designed with inner gardens, water channels, and cross-ventilated rooms, all following the principles of Vastu Shastra, which emphasize natural light and cosmic orientation. Similarly, ashrams, or spiritual communities, are structured to encourage introspection, simplicity, and connection with nature. The architecture of these spaces emphasizes the use of local materials and the creation of environments that foster tranquility, restoration, and spiritual connection.Save this picture!Empathy and Humanization: Contemporary HospitalsIn the West, where biomedicine has historically dominated, healing was long equated with the elimination of disease. However, this perspective has gradually broadened over the past few decades. Healing is increasingly seen as a personal process of well-being, reconnection, and meaning-making. As a result, hospitals and clinics are being redesigned to incorporate nature, art, and a sense of hospitality. In this changing landscape, architects and healthcare professionals are drawing inspiration from cultural traditions. Spaces that offer natural light, integrated greenery, artwork, areas for spiritual practice, and opportunities for quiet reflection are now considered essential components of the healing process.Save this picture!One example is Maggie’s Centre in the United Kingdom, a network of cancer support centers designed by renowned architects such as Zaha Hadid and Norman Foster. Each center is conceived as a welcoming refuge, incorporating gardens, soft lighting, open layouts, and homelike atmospheres—a deliberate contrast to the sterility of conventional hospitals. In Brazil, institutions such as the Sarah Kubitschek Hospital in Brasília stand out for their spacious interiors, internal gardens, and corridors filled with natural light, illustrating how architectural design can impact patient recovery.Save this picture!These diverse perspectives on care and healing remind us that healing does not reside solely in medicine or technology. It is also found in the design of space, in the quality of human relationships, in attentive listening, and in honoring the stories and traditions that each culture carries. As these examples show, in many worldviews, healing is above all a process of reestablishing connections with nature, with others, with one’s inner self, and with the sacred. When attuned to these dimensions, the architecture of healing spaces becomes more than a physical structure—it becomes a symbolic terrain where care takes form and becomes tangible.This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Building Wellbeing: Designing Spaces for Healing, presented in collaboration with the Hushoffice. With its line of A-class pods Hushoffice helps create acoustically balanced workplaces that offer great environment for collaboration and focus, foster employee wellbeing, and accommodate the needs of neurodiverse staff, as well as employees with motor impairments. Every month we explore a topic in-depth through articles, interviews, news, and architecture projects. We invite you to learn more about our ArchDaily Topics. And, as always, at ArchDaily we welcome the contributions of our readers; if you want to submit an article or project, contact us. Image gallerySee allShow less About this authorCamilla GhisleniAuthor••• Cite: Ghisleni, Camilla. "Architectures of Care: Healing Spaces Across Cultures" [Arquiteturas do Cuidado: Os Espaços de Cura em Diferentes Culturas] 23 Apr 2025. ArchDaily. (Trans. Simões, Diogo) Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1029247/architectures-of-care-healing-spaces-across-cultures&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream