Sony didnt discuss video games at CES 2025 but still had major announcements for its PlayStation franchises. These include an anime for Sucker Punchs Ghost of Tsushima, titled Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, coming to Crunchyroll in 2027. Its noted to bring traditional samurai aesthetics to life with cinematic storytelling and striking visuals.Takanobu Mizuno (Star Wars: Visions The Duel) is directing while NITRO PLUSs Gen Urobuchi is in charge of the story composition. The project is a collaboration between PlayStation Productions, Aniplex, Crunchyroll and Sony Music (the music and soundtrack partner).Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini said in a press release, This project is a testament to the creative synergy within the Sony family, uniting the expertise of PlayStation Studios and PlayStation Productions; the creative team of Sucker Punch Productions and Aniplex; Sony Musics iconic global artist roster; and Crunchyrolls fan-first global marketing and distribution footprint. The Ghost of Tsushima anime will offer fans an exciting new way to experience the game in an anime style that will be bold and groundbreaking.PlayStation Productions head Asad Qizilbash added, Having already proven the immense quality and versatility of our gaming properties across multiple successful film and television projects, we couldnt be more excited to announce our first-ever anime adaptation. Ghost of Tsushimas rich, immersive world and its fantastical Legends mode based on Japanese mythology provide the perfect canvas for this project, and Aniplex is the perfect partner to translate Sucker Punch Productions hit video game into a stunning new anime series.Its unknown whether the anime will focus on Jin Sakai in the story campaign, adapt the Ghost of Tsushima: Legends multiplayer story, or present an original tale. Nevertheless, it represents a continued media push for the franchise alongside the Ghost of Tsushima live-action film directed by Chad Stahelski of John Wick fame.Of course, theres also Ghost of Ytei, launching this year for PS5 and occurring over 300 years after the first game. It features a new protagonist, Atsu head here for more details.

US adds Tencent to list of firms allegedly connected to Chinese military"We will [...] work with the US Department of Defense to address any misunderstanding," says Tencent News by Sophie McEvoy Staff Writer Published on Jan. 7, 2025 The US Department of Defense has added Tencent to a list of companies it alleges are connected to the Chinese military.As reported by Bloomberg, Tencent has deemed its inclusion on the list as a "mistake"."We are not a military company or supplier," said Tencent spokesperson Danny Marti."Unlike sanctions or export controls, this listing has no impact on our business. We will nonetheless work with the Department of Defense to address any misunderstanding."The designation list originates from an executive order issued in 2020 by US president-elect Donald Trump, which prevents US companies from investing in firms allegedly linked to the Chinese military.As the world's largest games company, Tencent owns Riot Games, Inflexion Games, Funcom, and Sharkmob.It also has majority stakes in several developers including Epic Games, FromSoftware, Remedy, Larian Studios, and Bloober Team.

Court filings spotted by Game File have revealed that Activision Blizzard spent almost $1.8 billion developing three Call of Duty titles that went on to sell a combined 114 million units worldwide.Activision's current head of creative on the Call of Duty series, Patrick Kelly, disclosed the information to a court in California in December 2024 in response to a lawsuit filed against the company last May.The lawsuit alleges links between a school shooting that took place in Uvalde, Texas, and the Call of Duty franchise. It claims the perpetrator was influenced to commit violent acts after playing the action series, leading to the mass shooting that killed 19 students and two adults.Kelly shared the development costs for the three title the shooter allegedly played to provide context to the court as to how the franchise is produced and operates, allowing Activision's legal team to reference that information during proceedings.In doing so, he revealed that Call of Duty: Black Ops III cost $450 million to developacross its entire lifecycle. It went on to sell 43 million copies after debuting in 2015.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was developed over "several years" to the tune of $640 million and sold 41 million copies after launching in 2019.2020 release Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War incurred development costs of $700 million across its entire lifecycle and sold 30 million copies.It's important to reiterate those figures encompass lifetime development costs for each title, which often includes years of robust post-launch support. As noted by Game File, however, they don't include marketing costs, which can represent a notable outlay in their own right.The game industry continues to reckon with the burgeoning cost of triple-A development amid a wave of layoffs and studio closures that has impacted workers at major players like Microsoft, Sony, EA, Embracer, Take-Two, and more.Massive development costs can skew the definition of success, calling into question what the word 'sustainability' (which is so often thrown around by execs when announcing mass layoffs) actually means in the current, increasingly fraught, climate.Although triple-A budgets are generally kept under lock and key, we have gleaned some other notable figures in recent years. In 2023, CD Projekt Red told investors it spent $63 million developing Cyberpunk 2077 expansion Phantom Liberty. That's after it spent around $300 million producing the original title55 percent of which accounted for "direct development costs."Court documents submitted by Sony during the Microsoft v. FTC trial also proved illuminating. Those filings showed the six-year development of The Last of Us Part II cost $220 million. The platform holder also spent around $212 million developing Horizon Forbidden West over the span of five years.Last year, Game Developer spoke to a number of developers about why it's becoming so expensive to make video games in the United States (where titles like Call of Duty are made) and how studios in the region can perhaps course correct.

Its becoming a tradition for Razer to show off some pretty wild prototypes at CES, but the concept gaming chair with integrated heating and cooling it just unveiled actually sounds downright practical. Project Arielle is a mesh gaming chair that features a bladeless fan system thats designed to keep you at a comfortable temperature regardless of what environment youre in. We briefly tried it here at CES 2025 and its cool! Or warm, depending on the mode you set it to. When my colleague Sean Hollister tried it, he found it didnt just warm or cool his butt, but gently and quietly blew a substantial amount of climate-controlled air onto his upper back from small holes along the chairs top edge.A more comfortable way to freeze your butt off. Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The VergeBuilding on the $1,049 Razer Fujin Pro mesh gaming chair that you can currently buy, Project Arielle has three adjustable fan speeds that can reduce the perceived temperature by 2 to 5 degrees Celsius (around 3.6 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit) in dry environments, according to Razer. That sounds pretty useful if you live in a hot climate or if your gaming PC kicks out enough heat to turn your room into a sweatbox. Heres a rendering that shows how the hot or cool air is dispersed from the chair. Image: RazerFor chillier environments, the chair has a built-in PTC heating system (the same kind found in most vehicles and heated car seats) that can spit out warm air at 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). The fans and that temperatures are adjusted using touch panel controls located next to the seat pad. And given this is a Razer product, theres obviously RGB lighting throughout the chair. By default, its set to Razers trademark green when its off, and we saw the edge glow red when warm, blue when cool, and purple or orange when cooling or warming. Icons on the touch-controlled panel and the built-in RGB lighting indicate whether the chair is set to blast warm or cold air. Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The VergeOne downside: you cant spin 360 degrees in this chair without wrapping a cord around yourself, as it does need to be plugged in. But even the prototype already has a cable thatll safely disconnect if you accidentally give it a yank.The breakaway cable will disconnect if its pulled, kinda like the early Xbox controllers. Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The VergeGiven Project Arielle is only a concept chair, this unfortunately isnt something you can actually buy just yet. Razer has showcased a lot of quirky gaming gadget concepts at CES over the years, including chair cushions that shake your ass with haptic feedback. While some do eventually get released as fully realized products such as the Razer Edge gaming tablet born from Project Fiona and the Zephyr RGB face mask that got the company into trouble with the Federal Trade Commission over N95 compliance claims others, like the Project Sophia modular desk computer and Project Valerie triple-screen laptop, have never been rolled out.

Razer has announced some new handheld gaming goodies, including remote PC streaming capabilities for the Kishi Ultra mobile controller and a folding multiplatform RGB dock for the Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and more.Razer says its Handheld Dock Chroma is a 6-in-1 docking station that transforms phones, tablets, or handheld gaming devices into powerful gaming consoles with 100W power passthrough support for charging. Its priced at $79.99 and will be available on January 30th, with preorders starting on January 7th.The Handheld Dock Chroma is a similar concept to the official docking stations provided by Valve or Nintendo, allowing users to hook handheld devices up to external displays with expanded connections to complement big-screen gaming setups. The Handheld Dock Chroma uses a USB-C cable to connect supported devices, including Android phones and tablets, iPads and iPhones with USB-C ports, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and Razers own Edge Android gaming handheld. Here are the port options in the rear, plus the USB-C cable to connect to your device. Devices like the Nintendo Switch, with the port on the base, will have to go upside down. Image: RazerWhen folded closed, the Handheld Dock Chroma just looks like a funky streaming box. Image: RazerThe cable is located on the rear of the docking station, alongside a USB-C power port, an HDMI output to connect to a TV or gaming monitor, a gigabit ethernet port, and three USB-A ports to connect things like controllers or keyboards. Given the cable placement, certain handhelds like the Switch that have their ports on the underside will need to be positioned upside down in the dock.The dock itself is constructed from aluminum and folds down into a box shape to make it easier to transport without damaging it. And given this is a Razer product, theres naturally a Chroma-enabled RGB bar located at the front, which users can customize with various lighting effects.Theres plenty of ports to hook up things like mice, keyboards, and controllers providing they use a USB-A connection. Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The VergeRazer is also introducing a PC Remote Play feature for the Kishi Ultra mobile controller, among other controllers, allowing users to stream games directly from PCs to smartphones and tablets. The feature also makes use of the Kishi Ultras Sensa HD support, which converts audio output into haptic feedback on supported Android devices (but sadly isnt available for iOS). PC Remote Play allows games to be streamed at full resolution without compromising visual quality or game speed, according to Razer, and can be accessed via the Razer Nexus app on iOS or Android.Razers new PC Remote Play feature provides PC-to-Phone streaming capabilities similar to the Steam Link mobile app. Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The VergeRazer tells us the PC Remote Play feature is built on top of the popular Moonlight streaming client, and is particularly proud of how it can automatically run your game at your phones native resolution and refresh rate.

Gaming hardware manufacturer Razer is introducing what might be its most controversial project yet an AI gaming copilot designed to help you get better at video games. With your permission, it takes thousands of pictures of your screen, then tells you how to play a game, optimally in real time, as you continue to play. By analyzing millions of simulations within seconds, Ill always have an answer to your toughest gaming challenges, a Razer marketing video claims.For example, watching a prerecorded video of a punishing Black Myth: Wukong boss fight, Razers AI assistant had all sorts of tips: Get ready to dodge when his blade spins or glows with an orange tinge. Keep a close eye on his health. Once you shave off 10 to 20 percent get your dodge fingers ready. Hes going to vanish...If he grabs you, you will feel it!I felt weird about this almost immediately. While it could be more convenient than looking up a guide, it doesnt credit or compensate the creators of the guides that Razer ingests in order to train its AI. It would be pretty disruptive if Ava spent time telling me that Verge sister site PolygonAnd yet, Ava did sound pretty disruptive regardless, seemingly interrupting the games audio to tell the player what to do. I suppose you might only summon Ava when you need help, but it still feels like a bit of a weird fit for Razer, a company thats long associated itself with elite gamers. (Theres also a long conversation about how female AI can perpetuate harmful stereotypes, but at least Razer global marketing director David Ng tells us itll offer other voices in the future.)Next, we saw an actual live demo of Ava helping someone play League of Legends, acting as an AI chatbot that could help you figure out what to do and which spells and items to equip based on enhanced situational awareness of the game, API calls, guides, and even potentially historical data about the outcomes of matches played by esports teams. Ava knows where the enemys champions are because its taking pictures of the mini-map, and it knows what you might want to use to counter them though its answers were delayed by multiple seconds in the prototype we saw, which ran on a pair of local Nvidia RTX 4090 laptop GPUs using Metas Llama 3.2 LLM instead of in the cloud. Following the match, Ava attempts to continue to act as a coach, creating replays, pointers, and feedback for you about your performance. Its clear that theres a lot of work that would need to be done to make this useful, particularly if Razer wants to fulfill some of its other dreams. (It imagines Ava could help you auto-configure your computer, act as an autonomous gaming companion, and serve as a raid leader if no one wants to spend their time organizing the group.)But unlike many of Razers concepts, which it never guarantees to turn into products, it seems the company is already invested in Ava and is thinking about an Ava service as a new business opportunity. Its not waiting for feedback on the idea before it rolls out a beta, and Ng tells us its building out a whole team of AI developers to work on such ideas, with a planned bigger announcement at GDC in March. The company says its got a patent-pending algorithm on the way it figures out how to suggest gaming tips and is working on some sort of proprietary AI hardware to help it run. Its thinking about how it can beat the competition with the cloud service because yes, there is competition for AI gaming apps that coach you to play League of Legends. I just heard about another one yesterday.

Sega has released what it calls a pre-development concept video for Virtua Fighter 6, but made clear it does not reflect how the upcoming fighting game will look and play when it eventually comes out.The video, below, shown during Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huangs keynote speech at CES 2025, features incredibly realistic and fluid animations for a fighting game. We see an Akira mirror match with the kind of combat usually reserved for a martial arts movie.PlayIGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!IGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!To start:...try asking a question that can be answered with a "Yes" or "No".000/250Rekindling memories of Sonys infamous Killzone 2 reveal E3 2005 trailer, this Virtual Fighter video is a concept only, although it is in-engine. The animations on display are beyond what weve seen from fighting game gameplay in other titles, and the speed and fluidity of the movement is a step beyond normal fighting game gameplay.Sega, though, made clear that what were seeing here should not be considered Virtua Fighter 6 gameplay, stressing: Please note that this is a concept video created before development began. The actual gameplay and characters may differ from what is shown.Still, Virtua Fighter fans are excited by the return of the legendary series and the prospect that its visuals may approach the level were seeing in this concept video. If they somehow manage to get the animations to look even remotely close to this in the final game, that'd be insane, said one fan. Regardless, I'm excited.Virtua Fighter 6 is in development at Yakuza / Like a Dragon studio Ryo Ga Gotoku and is without a release window or target platforms. Virtua Fighter hasnt seen a mainline release in years, leaving mini-game appearances in Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios Yakuza games and the 2021 release of Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown to tide fans over.Virtua Fighter, which includes characters such as Akira Yuki, Pai Chan, and Wolf Hawkfield, is on the hardcore end of the fighting game spectrum, with slower-paced gameplay that challenges players to master its mechanics in order to enjoy success. Virtua Fighter 5, which first released in 2006, is considered one of the greatest fighting games of all time.Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Pokmon Trading Card Game Pocket kicks off a new Wonder Pick event today, January 7, but strangely hasn't announced it, added missions with rewards, or items to the shop.Dataminers have already uncovered everything coming to the digital TCG in the near future, however, so details on what's coming and when are already available.The Wonder Picking portion of the Charmander and Squirtle Wonder Pick Event is the only aspect currently available, but as reported by Pokmon Zone, datamining confirms the rest will arrive tomorrow, January 8. This is the first time developer Creatures Inc. has staggered an event's release.Everything else is relatively standard, however. The Wonder Pick event will let players access free bonus picks for a chance at picking up Wonder Hourglasses, Blastoise Event Shop Tickets, and Charmander and Squirtle cards including two new Promo versions.Every Alternate Art 'Secret' Card in Pokmon TCG Pocket: Mythical IslandIGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!IGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!To start:...try asking a question that can be answered with a "Yes" or "No".000/250Missions will encourage players to do all of the above, awarding players with Event Shop Tickets for Wonder Picking three, four, and five times and for collecting one Squirtle and one Charmander.Part 2 of the Wonder Pick Event will launch a week later on January 15, offering Event Shop Tickets for Wonder Picking one through six times, and for collecting five and 10 Fire cards and five and 10 Water cards.These Blastoise Event Shop Tickets can, unsurprisingly, be used to purchase Blastoise themed items in the shop. Part 1 of the event will see a cover featuring Blue and Blastoise released, a backdrop featuring Blue released, and a Tiny Temple backdrop released.Part 2 of the event will expand these offerings with a Blue and Blastoise card sleeves and playmat, a Blastoise coin, a Blastoise icon, and presumably ten lots of 50 Shinedust.The event coincides somewhat with the Blastoise Drop Event currently available in the single-player battles, with players able to take on a variety of Blastoise themed decks to win booster packs with new promo cards. The Mythical Island player versus player event is also currently underway.Pokmon TCG Pocket arrived October 30 and is a certified hit for Creatures Inc. and The Pokmon Company, having earned an estimated $200 million in its first month across more than 60 million downloads.This huge amount of money comes as Pokmon TCG Pocket follows the standard mobile and free to play game model, flooding players with rewards in the first few days before soon drying up, with spending real world money the only real way to re-experience that early thrill outside of the occasional set drop like Mythical Island.Completing Genetic Apex, the first set of cards which totals 226 officially but also contains 60 rare alternate art cards, will take players not spending money around two years according to one estimate, while those looking to make it rain can wrap up the collection after dropping around $1,500.Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

The astronomical development budgets of the Call of Duty games were revealed for the first time after a court document confirmed Activision pumped $700 million into Black Ops Cold War alone.First reported by Game File, a court filing submitted by publisher Activision as part of a lawsuit regarding the 2022 school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, included official word on the development budgets of 2015s Black Ops 3, 2019s Modern Warfare, and 2020s Black Ops Cold War.The court filing also includes updated sales figures for each game, showing the huge revenue Call of Duty brings in through sales alone and before its post-launch monetization.First, some caveats. The figures detailed below include pre and post-launch development. That is, the cost to develop each game for launch, then the subsequent post-launch development costs associated with feeding the ongoing live service, meaning the development lifecycle of the game.Call of Duty games offer a range of free content following release, including new maps, new weapons, and new cosmetics for use across Multiplayer and Zombies. Activision monetizes Call of Duty post-launch by selling battle passes, store bundles, and, most recently with Black Ops 6, premium event passes, released in the traditional live service seasonal model in the year each game has to itself before the next Call of Duty comes around.The development of this relentless conveyor belt of content, which often includes high-profile crossovers with popular intellectual property such as Warhammer 40,000 and Squid Game, does not come cheap.Now, onto the figures themselves:Black Ops 3 (2015): $450 million in development costs across the games lifecycle, 43 million copies soldModern Warfare (2019): $640 million in development costs across the games lifecycle, 41 million copies soldBlack Ops Cold War (2020): $700 million in development costs over the games life cycle, 30 million copies soldTo provide context, Naughty Dogs The Last of Us 2 cost around $220 million, Guerrillas Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million, and Insomniacs Spider-Man 2 cost $300 million to develop. However, these games are not live services, and so post-launch development costs are not necessarily related to the figures as they are with Call of Duty.As Game File noted, these development costs do not include marketing spend, which for Call of Duty will be significant. So the true cost of bringing Call of Duty to market and operating it as a live service will be even higher.While ever increasing triple-A development budgets are a hot topic within the industry, and have caused some experts to question the viability of these sorts of games, Call of Duty operates on a different level to most of its peers. Black Ops Cold Wars 30 million copies sold will in of itself have generated well over $1 billion in revenue for Activision, then theres the live service revenue generated by the game during the 12 months before 2021s Call of Duty: Vanguard launched. Even with $700 million spent on development and more on marketing, Black Ops Cold War will have been hugely profitable for Activision. You can see why Microsoft forked out $69 billion to buy the company.Every Video Game Franchise Xbox Owns After Acquiring Activision BlizzardIGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!IGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!To start:...try asking a question that can be answered with a "Yes" or "No".000/250Speaking of Microsoft, the math is now muddled by Call of Dutys day-one launch on Game Pass, which some analysts had predicted would impact sales of Black Ops 6 but boost subscription numbers. Microsoft itself sounds delighted with the performance of last years game, saying sales of Black Ops 6 on PlayStation and PC were 60% higher compared to the 2023 release of Modern Warfare 3.Microsoft has yet to say exactly how many new subscribers Black Ops 6 brought through the door, although CEO Satya Nadella has confirmed that Game Pass set a record for new subs on launch day.However, Microsofts gaming business has suffered devastating layoffs, and Activision has taken a significant hit as part of that. Microsoft has cut an eye-watering 2,550 staff from its gaming business since acquiring Activision Blizzard for $69 billion in 2023. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has indicated the cuts were related to the acquisition of the Call of Duty maker.Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

This review contains no spoilers for Severance season 2. Severance season 2 clocks in to work with the understanding that it must prove itself all over again.Part of that understanding is an acknowledgement that a lengthy hiatus between seasons may have built up some skepticism among audiences. The other aspect, however, is more elemental to the medium itself. When it comes to serialized science fiction on television, second seasons are what separate the contenders from the pretenders.Its one thing to enchant a viewers pattern-seeking brain with a freshman year full of compelling questions, its another thing entirely to craft a sophomore outing that offers up equally compelling answers. The graveyard of TV history is lined with the corpses of Lost clones that came out of the gates strong before their mystery box narratives opened up to reveal nothing.With its brilliant first season, Severance already made clear that it had mastered the mystery box question-posing format. The series features an intriguing sci-fi premise in which individuals undergo a severance procedure to separate their consciousness between their work lives and home lives. While initially pitched as an act of compartmentalizing self care from Lumon Industries, the creation of distinct Innie and Outtie egos within one body is anything but therapeutic. That literally interpersonal dynamic along with the mysterious nature of what the Innies are even working on effortlessly carried the first nine episodes of storytelling. By the time the season 1 finale concludes, the Innies in the Macrodata Refinement department have successfully contacted the outside world while learning some uncomfortable truths about their Outties and the other secrets that Lumon keeps from them.Severance season 2 has a lot of momentum built up and resolves not to waste it, even if it runs the risk of alienating an audience that might not have rewatched the show since it last wrapped in April 2022. For what its worth, Apple TV+ is well aware of the fact that you likely remember very little from season 1 as it sticks an unusually-detailed recap before the first episode. That previously-on still cant quite capture the full depth of the excellent, yet disorienting plot so far. Thankfully, the internet is sure to be saturated with more complete Severance Season 1 Recap breakdowns (including here at Den of Geek) prior to the January 17 release.Once the initial confusion is resolved through recap perusal or sheer force of recollective will, Severance season 2 absolutely flies by. This seasons 10 episodes (all of which were screened for the purposes of this review), easily meet the creative standard of season 1 and in many ways exceed it. Under creator and showrunner Dan Ericksons lead, the narrative understands the precise balance of mystery vs. resolution necessary to keep the viewer on the hook. The plot is as surgical as the severance procedure itself.Many times throughout Severance season 2 one gets the sense that all the twists, turns, and teases should be exhausting (particularly when viewed in a bingeing format rather than through the shows weekly release model) but somehow they never are. Like the aforementioned failed Lost knockoffs that dot the annals of TV history, Severance has no problem leaving its audience in the dark. Unlike those Lost knockoffs, however, Severance is able to maintain goodwill by presenting each new confusing morsel as a delight for the senses. Who is Kier Eagan? What is Lumons mission? Why is there a room full of baby goats? Well get around to all that, but first: heres special guest star Gwendoline Christie!It also certainly helps that the visual language of the show remains striking. Once again assisted by director Ben Stiller (who helms five of this seasons episodes), the uncanny sets, lighting, and colors of Severance give off the sensation of a haunted corporate training video come to life. That becomes particularly important in maintaining the work sucks, huh? allegory as the show evolves to incorporate more of the Outtie world and deep Lumon lore.Of course, none of it works without a compelling cast at the center of it all. Adam Scott continues to be one of Hollywoods more underrated performers as Mark Scout a.k.a. Mark S, whose character takes on an almost mythical level of importance this year. Britt Lower deals with the competing motivations of Helly R and Helena Eagan capably while Zach Cherrys Dylan G and John Turturros Irving B have moments of real heroism. Then theres Tramell Tillman who I steadfastly refuse to believe is an actual actor hired for this series and not merely Mr. Milchicks unaware Outtie so convincing is his performance as the ultimate upward-striving middle manager.Weve made it this far in the review without discussing any pertinent season 2 plot details and might as well continue to do so. Even discounting the specter of Apples thick list of Do Not Reveal embargoes hanging overhead, there is be little temptation to spoil the narrative. Rest assured, there is more to learn about Kier Eagan taming the four tempers, whats going on with Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman), and why Harmony Cobel a.k.a. Mrs. Selvig (Patricia Arquette) has a strange relationship to this whole charade.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!While much of the fun of Severance comes from the delight of discovery, its to the shows credit that not all of its value is tied to element of surprise. Season 2 is filled with truly remarkable character beats and thematic elements that will still play effectively upon additional viewings for years to come. The finale, in particular, is the best episode of the series thus far and features affecting scenes that only a well-written science fiction story can produce. In fact, the season 2 finale could play well as a series finale should the show choose to end it here. Hopefully the story continues and season 3 rolls along at an expedited pace. Truthfully though, Id wait as long as it took for more episodes of Severance. I even heard about this procedure that could cut down on the time I spend at work waiting for itSeverance season 2 premieres Friday, January 17 on Apple TV+. New episodes debut on Fridays, culminating with the finale on March 21.