Austin Walkers newly released Realis is a high concept tabletop role-playing game about how the language we use influences our reality. The former Waypoint editor and host of Friends at the Table a long-running actual play that has influenced shows like The Adventure Zone designed this diceless RPG to use sentence construction to explore the Thousand Moons and turn archetypal protagonists into complex, flawed individuals. Since the games announcement early this week, the tabletop corners of the internet have exploded with excitement. But the catch is its not quite the full game yet. Its an ashcan version. But whats an ashcan?In tabletop games, an ashcan is an unfinished version of a game, complete with playable rules but without the polish youd normally find online or on the shelves of your friendly local gaming store. Its an amorphous umbrella word, representing everything from a quick 10-page rules description in a Google Doc to (like Walkers Realis ashcan) a 125-page behemoth with 20 playable classes, 40 NPC classes, factions, and original art. So how did it come to encompass such a wide range? The same as any century-old media term: through borrowing and evolution.The term ashcan comes from the comics industry. According to a 1994 edition of Wizard: The Guide to Comics Magazine, the term came about in the 1930s and 40s (the Golden Age of Comics). Ashcan copies were quick, incomplete versions of comics, often done without lettering or coloring or on occasion just a cover with blank pages. These were made for publishers to send to the U.S. Patent Office to claim copyright protections over titles and characters with an initial publication date. They were named ashcans because they were meant not for public distribution, but for the ashcan, a contemporary term for the trash.The term was largely out of use with the change in copyright laws in 1946 but returned to circulation when comic book collector and publisher Bob Burden used it in 1984 to describe black and white prototype editions of Flaming Carrot Comics sent to friends and collaborators. The term evolved into a pre-publication, mass market hype-builder in the 90s thanks to Rob Liefeld of Image Comics, who used the rarity of the Golden Age ashcans to promote Youngblood.The term has also been used in film for similar reasons, in the same vein as unaired television pilots or proofs of concept, or for legal licensing purposes. In tabletop RPGs, a largely creator-driven medium that shares some DNA with the comics industry, the term has taken on the more contemporary definition as a step between a public beta playtest and the final product. The rules are more or less solid, though tweaks can still happen based on feedback and public opinion.Walkers Realis is one of the more developed ashcans there are, mainly because hes been working on it for four years, with layout by Possible Worlds Games (the RPGs publisher), art by Sam Beck and Oddesque, design by Jack de Quidt, additional writing by Janine Hawkins, and character sheets by Takuma Okada and Brendan McLeod.With the ashcan currently available for $15 on Walkers itch page, it seems more than worth the value, even if something better yet is still to come.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers through episode 2 of Severance season 2. Read on only if youre fine with one of your severed selves knowing that.]Headed into season 2, Severance is on a hot streak. Picking up right where the season 1 finale left off give or take a few months of outie time; Mark (Adam Scott) is informed its been about five months since the finale Severance season 2 kicks into gear almost right away. That gear is the one were familiar with for the show: methodical and full of clues. Episode 1 of season 2, Hello, Ms. Cobel, doesnt betray much, but it certainly gets everyone back to work, which gets us closer to figuring out any answers to the many lingering questions. Episode 2 certainly provides some more answers (and a clearer sense of the timeline) on the outside of Lumon, and yet still questions remain. To that end, weve compiled a working doc of all the lingering questions Severance is teeing up. Well be updating it as the series goes along, and will include everything from evidence presented on the show to wild conjecture. In the spirit of Dylan (Zach Cherry), lets wonder aloud a little.To that end: What is Lumon working on? Lumon is a deeply mysterious organization. When Helly (Britt Lower) asks in season 1 how many departments there are, the guesses from the MDR team skew wildly probably 30, around five, no one is quite sure are the stated answers and the group doesnt even know what it is theyre working on. Other departments dont know what the others do, and seem to have strange superstitions about the very humanity of their ostensible co-workers.From our glimpses of the outside, its clear Lumon exerts a lot of influence in the wider world. And as Cobel (Patricia Arquette) puts it when someone asks about what Lumon does: Whatever humans can imagine, they can usually create. But season 2 seems to nod to at least one way they make their money: In episode 2, when Helena is making a video covering up addressing Hellys OTC outburst, she says that she mixed alcohol with a non-Lumon medication. So Lumon is in some way part of Big Pharma (and definitely not the sort of drugs that would make you have a public outburst about how innies are being tortured; no siree Bob.) Adding to the general weirdness, theres the weird corporate legacy theyre all indoctrinated to: owned by the Egan company and founded by Kier Egan, who still looms over the company like a cult leader. His Core Principles and employee handbook are dense. They have their hands in a lot of pots, given their subterranean (or possibly just windowless, liminal) office includes goats, optics and design, art preservation, MDR, and more.So what are they up to, and what does the severed procedure actually net them? The answer, on paper, is in its use: No longer do people have to be aware they work, or undergo painful experiences like giving birth. Its not hard to see how that could have applications for soldiers (or even something more nefarious). But the larger goal tbd. Are they doing some kind of Get Out thing where the severance procedure is just a way to transfer consciousness, prolong life, and maybe even bring Kier Egan back to life? Maybe! Why else keep a mans house perfectly preserved in the office? And why else would Helenas Egan CEO dad say she would sit with him at his revolving?But these questions do bring us toWhat is the Macrodata Refinement department working on?Technically we dont know this, either! (Though we are pretty clear that they do not, as the rumors have suggested, each have a larval offspring that will jump off and attack when we get too close.)To us it looks like numbers moving around the screen. But to Mark and his co-workers, its work some of which is numbers that elicit a strange fear response (or even visions like the one Mark gets of Ms. Casey/his wife at the end of the season 2 premiere). And to the heads of Lumon, it seems pretty imperative, given the way theyre willing to bend to Marks demands in the opening of season 2. Episode 2 of the second season seems to back this thought up: Whatever MDR is doing and Innie-Mark specifically is so important that Helena is told she needs to go back in because he asked for it. Theres a popular fan theory that MDR is sensitive and high-level bit work that has something to do with refining/perfecting the severance procedure (or even perfecting one consciousness taking over another), and the numbers represent memories and personality that are getting swept away. One thing that seems important to note: There is a technique to it. When you see us, we really are refining numbers, Adam Scott, who plays Mark, told The Verge. There is actually a way to do it.What are they doing with Marks wife?When were introduced to Outie-Mark, he lives a barren, severed life because he lost his wife a few years prior to the series. In the season 1 finale, Innie-Mark discovers (and screams) that shes alive. So where did she go? Episode 1 doesnt give a lot of details: We know she takes the elevator that Outie-Irv (John Turturro) keeps painting, and we dont know where that goes, or why she got taken.In an interview around the season 1 finale, creator Dan Erickson only vaguely alluded to what might be going on: Theres a lot of questions. Most of which we had answered in our minds when we wrote it, but some of which we didnt. Like, some of which weve been subsequently discussing. But yeah, like, is she severed? Does she know is she in on it? Is she a victim? Is she kidnapped? How did she go from being in this loving marriage with Mark to being Ms. Casey down from the seventh floor? And so thats a big, big question mark at this point. [] Weve seen that theres some sort of experiment or something happening with [Mark] and his wife, and sort of observing them. What did Harmony Cobel want with Mark?Theres a lot of weirdness on Severance, but among the strangest (or at least the coldest) of it is Harmony Cobel infiltrating Marks life both in and outside of work hours. For as much as Milchick (Tramell Tillman) might write this off as some bizarre psychosexual throuple, her game seemed to be much more thought out than that.Its possible that shes keeping tabs on a larger project around the severed employees (in her own way). Cobel was more concerned than the board about Peteys severed memories being permeable; later she asked Marks sister if he ever thought he saw his wife around. She seemed to take a bit of glee in introducing Ms. Casey to the MDR room to watch Helly R., and when she found out that Ms. Casey was getting too chummy with Mark she sent her back down to the testing floor.But it does seem a little more personal than just observing lab rats. When Helena Egan thanks her for her loyalty in reporting the OTC measure, Harmony says it cost her dearly. She says this with a weird air of wistfulness, even her own brand of chilling affection. It could just be Arquettes performance, but its all very odd. Especially since she turns down the new position in the Severance Advisory Council. All in all this question is now compounded with a more pressing one: Where did she go?Whats the testing floor? Oh, great question; no clue, really. But its scary and ominous poor Ms. Casey has to walk down a long, dark hallway that leads to an elevator with just an imposing red down arrow and for some reason Irvs outie has been having visions of it and painting it, as we see in the season finale. Petey alluded to some level of the Lumon building as a place you dont get to leave, which certainly seems like it could be the testing floor.Theres some theories that this has to do with the deeper nature of Lumon, and might involve cloning (hence the goats). At the very least, that Irv and Ms. Casey seem to have some link to the floor would suggest that maybe both of them have undergone the same sort of testing. Particularly since Innie-Irv keeps having weird visions of black shadowy ooze. Why is Ms. Huang a child? Is it a paid internship? Is Lumon flouting child labor laws? Is she also part of the testing floor/Ms. Casey weirdness? So far Ms. Huang not a friend, it must be noted has been clear: Its because of when she was born. Hope that helps!What is the connection with Lumon and water? Lumons logo is a water drop. Theres a water tower in the parking lot (and that gets to be its own character in the Claymation introductory video the innies get shown in the season 2 premiere). Theres lot of names that link back to some sort of body of water MDR files, housing developments the characters live in, even technically the names of the refiners. Ms. Casey tells Innie-Irv that his outie values water. Theres a painting of Egan standing over lakes that are shaped like the Great Lakes.What does it all mean? Not clear yet, though some think that it nods to the alternate universe of Severance existing in a time where there is a war for water, and its considered a more precious (or endangered) resource.Who was the guy in the hallway?In the opening of season 2, Innie-Mark is running through the hallways desperately trying to find Ms. Caseys office. When he turns up short, behind him theres a guy? Just peeking out behind him in the doorframe.The only clue we have is that this man is credited as Man in Hallway, and played by Adam Jepsen. Hes listed as having a recurring role on the show. Seriously, what is the deal with the goats?Among the stranger things we saw in season 1: a herd of goats just being kept? inside the halls of Lumon Industries. All Mark and Helly really know is the caretaker didnt consider them ready yet. Like so much of life at Lumon, the goats both dont immediately make sense and also are openly perplexing as to what their possible use could be. The good news? It seems like by the end of season 2 we will have some sort of answer.

Reddit communities dedicated to PC gaming, Nintendo, and Destiny have decided to blacklist links to X (formerly Twitter) due to owner Elon Musks recent Nazi-like saluting at an inauguration rally for President Donald Trump as part of a growing movement by users of the social media site to distance themselves from the controversial billionaire. All have millions of members and rank within the sites top 500 pages.Similar bans were also noticed by GameSpot on subreddits for the Steam Deck, Monster Hunter, and World of Warcraft.Speaking with Polygon, r/pcgaming mod Shock4ndAwe pointed to the slow degradation of X since Musk purchased the site as well as Musks own behavior as major factors in their teams decision to blacklist links to X.Weve all seen the hate and the toxicity rise, Shock4ndAwe said, speaking on behalf of the subreddits moderation team. The constant attacks and vilification of people who arent straight, white, and male. The usernames and profile statuses denigrating and belittling folks who simply want to exist. Good moderation practices being done away with. New rules requiring a user to login to view content which creates a bad experience for users that either dont have an X account or arent logged into one. Wed be lying if we didnt also include Elons actions. This is the billionaire owner that creates sock puppet accounts to defend himself in public. He suspends journalists who criticize him. He made a Nazi salute at a presidential inauguration.r/nintendo mod razorbeamz provided a similar, if more succinct, response: We felt it was the right thing to do after Elon Musk performed a Nazi salute on stage.Other gaming subreddits in the top 500 for Fortnite, The Legend of Zelda, Apex Legends, and Super Smash Bros. are currently having open discussions about banning X links as well. Opinions on blacklisting vary depending on the community, ranging from broad support to the asinine keep politics out of it refrain thats all too common in both gaming and other online communities. And while Reddit itself has promised not to interfere with subreddits that choose to ban X links, Shock4ndAwe believes the movement is important to improving Reddit as a whole.We want to be very clear in saying that Reddit isnt a perfect platform either, the r/pcgaming mod said. Reddit allows communities to exist on their platform that spread hate, sexism, racism, transphobia, and other forms of bigotry. This affects our community so much that weve had to take the extraordinary step of banning people from specific subreddits preemptively. So its even more important that when other subreddits decide that X needs to be banned that we join them. Because Reddit the company doesnt care.The response from the r/nintendo community has been overwhelmingly positive, razorbeamz explained, apart from a few outside agitators lodging complaints despite never posting on the subreddit. We heard the same from Shock4ndAwe, who said the r/pcgaming community is fine with the decision, while non-members have taken to participating in brigades organized attempts from outside entities to disrupt normal discussion on the forum and threatening the moderation team and their families. One of the offending messages provided to Polygon calls the mods raging f4gys, incorrectly states there are only two genders, and signs off with Epstein yrslf.This was reported to the Reddit admins who informed us that the threatening posts do not violate site rules and no action was taken on the offending account, Shock4ndAwe said. Polygon asked Reddit for comment on the situation but had yet to hear back at the time of publishing this story.What exactly Musk meant by striking his chest and extending his arm straight out continues to be a baffling debate among unserious people in mainstream media and conservatives who refuse to acknowledge the openly fascist goals of President Trumps inner circle for what they are. A group of elected Jewish officials from New York, however, was very blunt in a Jan. 22 statement on the matter, saying:On January 20th, we saw Elon Musk give what appeared to be two Nazi salutes otherwise known as a Sieg Heil or a Roman salute at an official presidential event, from a podium that bore the presidential seal. As Jewish elected officials committed to combating antisemitism in New York, we unequivocally condemn this action and the lack of apology. Given that Elon Musk has repeatedly pushed the antisemitic Great Replacement theory and endorsed the Nazi-supporting AfD party in Germany, it is not hard to imagine that he knew exactly what he was doing.Among many other sweeping executive actions taken on day one, President Trump pardoned hundreds of January 6th rioters, including one who notoriously wore a Camp Auschwitz shirt to the Capitol insurrection. Thousands of people will be materially harmed by the administrations sweeping actions on day one, and we stand in solidarity with those New Yorkers.It should not be hard to call any of this out. Any organization or leader that purports to combat hate against Jews and other minority groups must do so loudly and clearly. There is no room for ambiguity when it comes to Nazi symbology. The time is now to protect ourselves and our neighbors, not to normalize hate.With all that in mind, we had one more question for our Reddit mods: What needs to happen for X links to be reinstated in their communities? Both were less than hopeful of that ever being a possibility, but mentioned Musk divesting from the platform as being a good start.Realistically? Shock4ndAwe said. I dont think theres anything X can do that will make us comfortable linking to them in the future.

The Space-Time Smackdown cards are coming to Pokmon TCG Pocket before the end of January, adding more than 140 new cards across two booster packs.The Space-Time Smackdown expansion will focus on the Sinnoh region and will feature Dialga and Palkia as the figurehead Pokmon for the two new packs. The expansion also introduces Tool-type cards that will provide your Pokmon with even more support in battle.Below, weve created a table outlining all the new Space-Time Smackdown Expansion cards we know so far from the expansion trailer along with their typing, HP, and attack or ability.Every Space-Time Smackdown expansion card we know so farHeres every new Space-Time Smackdown card we know so far laid out in a handy table. Note that in some cases, certain stat lines werent visible. Well update this guide as more information becomes available.CardTypeHPAttack/AbilityTurtwigGrass80Bite (30)ChimcharFire60Scratch (20)PiplupWater60Nap — Heal 20 damage from this Pokémon.ShinxLightning——PachirisuLightning—Sparking Gadget (40+) — If this Pokémon has a Pokémon Tool attached, this attack does 40 more damage.HonchkrowDarkness100Skill Dive — ?GibleDragon60Gnaw (?)GarchompDragon——LucarioFighting100Submarine Blow (40)   Fighting Coach (Ability) — Attacks used by your fighting Pokémon do +20 damage to your opponent's active Pokémon.Togekiss———LeafeonGrass90Leafy Cyclone (90) — ?Dialga exMetal150Metallic Turbo (30) — Take 2 metal energy from your energy zone and attach to 1 of your benched Pokémon.   Heavy Impact (100)Palkia exWater150Slash (30) Dimensional Storm (150) Discard 3 water energy from this Pokémon. This attack does 20 damage to each of your opponent' benched Pokémon.CresseliaPsychic110Moonlight Gain (50) — Heal 20 damage from this Pokémon.CynthiaSupporter—During this turn, attacks used by your Garchomp and Togekiss do +50 damage to your opponent's active Pokémon.

Infinity Nikkis version 1.2 is out now, bringing a ton of new outfits with it. Quite a few of them can be obtained for free just from participating in events or logging in, so if youre trying to maximize your closet, youll want to make sure to claim them while you can.With so many new outfits, it can be hard to keep track of what they look like and how to unlock them, but fear not were here to help. Below we list all the new outfits in Infinity Nikki 1.2, show off their evolution colors, and explain how to unlock them.Fiery GlowYou can get the Fiery Glow outfit for free as you complete the Firework Islands quests. Youll need to unlock it from your Heart of Infinity skill tree.Endless LongingYou can get the Endless Longing outfit for free by participating in the Strings of Time event, which requires you to log in over the span of multiple days and complete various simple challenges.Radiant NightYou can claim the Radiant Night outfit for free from the shop on the third day of the Heartfelt Gifts outfit giveaway event.Sunlit GrasspomYou can claim the Sunlit Grasspom outfit for free from the shop on the second day of the Heartfelt Gifts outfit giveaway event.Pink BunnyYou can claim the Pink Bunny outfit for free from the shop on the first day of the Heartfelt Gifts outfit giveaway event.New Years DawnThe New Years Dawn outfit is listed in the shop for 920 Diamonds.New Bloom BlessingsThe New Bloom Blessings outfit technically only costs 1 Diamond, but you need to have the Monthly Gifts perk activated, which gives you 2,700 Diamonds over the span of 30 days for $4.99.Carefree MomentsThe Carefree Moments outfit costs 300 Stellarites in the shop.Snowy FragranceThe Snowy Fragrance outfit costs 60 Stellarites in the shop.Midnight VigilThe Midnight Vigil outfit is the four-star featured outfit on the Skyward Bouquets gacha banner. It does have an ability, Floof Rally: Whimsicality, which allows you to create a parade of puppies that follows you around.Stardust FlareThe Stardust Flare outfit is the five-star featured outfit on the Skyward Bouquets gacha banner. This outfit allows Nikki to use the Sparklers: Whimsicality ability, which creates small fireworks behind Nikki.Enduring BondThe Enduring Bond outfit is the four-star featured outfit on the Fireworks Prelude gacha banner. It gives Nikki the Disguise: Whimsicality ability, which makes her teleport around using smoke clouds in set places as cards fall around her. (Note that this is not an ability that allows you to teleport it just plays an animation of her teleporting for screenshots and whatnot.)Dance Till DawnThe Dance Till Dawn outfit is the five-star featured outfit on the Fireworks Prelude gacha banner. This outfit is a skin for Nikkis gliding ability.Breezy Melodies and Blossom SilhouettesThese two outfits (Breezy Melodies and Blossom Silhouettes) technically arent available yet (as of this writing), but they both will be obtainable from four-star gacha banners that launch later in the patch.

Starting Jan. 30, the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) will be opening its digital archives to the public. Still a work-in-progress, these archives will be one of the largest repositories dedicated to the study and preservation of video game history, and will feature over 1,500 issues of out-of-print game magazines, in addition to promotional material and other game development assets.An accessible digital archive has been a goal of the VGHF since its founding in 2017. While it would be one thing to simply scan everything in their library and drop in the Internet Archive, the VGHF was intent on making its digital archives a resource that adds value to the games that theyre preserving and is tailored to the aid in research of video game history. To that end, the digital archive will allow you to search for mentions of specific games, publishers, and authors in addition to the ability to search for oddly specific terms. Want to learn the first mention of Metroidvania? Youll be able to find it within the archive. Because uploading and cataloguing everything into the digital archive is an ongoing process, youll have the ability to sort through a collection of unprocessed material from the VGHF as well.While the physical archives of the VGHF maintains a vast library of playable titles, the current anti-circumvention rules of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibit remote access. Meaning that unless the US Copyright Office grants an exception to this rule allowing the VGHF to break the copy protection on these titles, the digital archive will remain limited to visual assets.As a reminder, the Video Game History Foundation is a non-profit organization, and is reliant on donations from the public. If youd like to support the important work of preserving gaming history, you can check out the VGHF website to find the best way for you to contribute.

The latest expansion for Star Wars: Unlimited, Jump to Lightspeed, doesnt enter Hyperspace until Mar. 14, but you can already pre-order the new set online. Jump to Lightspeed will launch with Booster and Prerelease Boxes just like the previous expansion, Twilight of the Republic, but introduces a couple of new ways to collect the Star Wars TCG in the form of Spotlight Decks and Carbonite Edition Boosters. Weve found some select online retailers where you can pre-order the new set, but you might want to consider checking with your local games store as well.As the name suggests, Jump to Lightspeed focuses on the ships, pilots, and fleet commanders of the Star Wars franchise; it introduces new Leader cards for characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn and Wedge Antilles along with iconic starships like the Millennium Flacon, Home One, and The Invisible Hand. Weve provided the various options available to pre-order the new expansion below.Spotlight DecksUnlike the two previous expansions, Jump to Lightspeed wont launch with a two-player starter box option, instead opting for a pair of premade decks built around Han Solo and Boba Fett. Jump to Lightspeed Spotlight Decks can only currently be pre-ordered as a pair from Miniature Market for $34.99. Both of the 50-card decks include tokens, a rulebook, and a single Jump to Lightspeed Booster Pack to jumpstart your collection.Both Spotlight Decks also include four exclusive cards unavailable in Booster Packs. The full roster of cards for either deck can be found below.Prerelease BoxThe best way to start collecting cards from the Jump to Lightspeed expansion if youve already been introduced to Star Wars Unlimited is with the Prerelease Box. Each Prerelease Box includes a deck box, two premium leader cards from the new expansion, tokens, a quick-start rulebook, and six Jump to Lightspeed Booster Packs. You can currently reserve a Prerelease Box from Miniature Market for $29.99.Booster BoxBooster Boxes for Jump to Lightspeed contain 24 sealed Booster Packs containing 16 cards from the new expansion. Booster boxes are currently available to pre-order from Miniature Market for $84.99. The spread of cards for Jump to Lightspeed Booster Packs remains the same as previous expansions, with each 16-card pack containing nine commons, three uncommons, one rare or legendary, one base or token card, a Leader card, and a single foil card of a random rarity.Carbonite Edition Booster PacksJump to Lightspeed is also introducing a new type of Booster Pack containing more rare variants of cards for dedicated collectors. While currently unavailable to pre-order, single Carbonite Edition Booster Packs will be available at launch for $24.99 each, with 12-pack display boxes retailing for $299.99. Markedly more expensive than standard Booster Packs, each 16-card pack contains a more impressive spread of cards with alternate art treatments including foil, Showcase, Hyperspace, and Hyperspace Foil cards. Only a single run of Carbonite Edition boosters will be produced, making them extremely valuable to collectors.Carbonite Edition boosters also introduce Prestige variants, ultra-rare versions of cards that feature unique art which can also potentially be a foil card or one of 250 serialized copies of that card.

If you want a power bank with enough capacity and speed to quickly charge practically any portable gadget you plug it into, your options can get costly. However, you can end your search with the Anker 737, which is easy to recommend in part because its just $69.99 at Woot while supplies last. With its ideal combo of a relatively high 24,000 mAh capacity, its speedy 140 W output, and multiple ports (two USB-C, one USB-A), it makes sense to own if you need to keep your phone, Steam Deck, or even a laptop charged throughout the day. While typically available for around $100, its priced has only dropped this low once before during Black Friday 2024.The 140 W charging speeds of the Anker 737 let it quickly charge anything from a handheld to a 16-inch MacBook Pro and some Windows gaming laptops. While Nintendo hasnt shared the charging speed of its Switch 2, this battery will likely be a great fit for that, too. However, even if your devices dont need a ton of power, its still a good value. The display shows how much battery is left in the charge, as well as how much power is being routed through each USB port. Also, the battery includes a 140 W-compatible USB-C to USB-C cable, a travel pouch, and is covered by an 18-month warranty through Anker.

Diablo 4s Season of Witchcraft is underway, and besides all the new dark powers you can wield, theres a completely reworked wardrobe for making your character as hot as possible which, as we all know, is the real endgame.While most of it works the same way as it did in previous seasons, the redesigned menus put a larger focus on actually watching your character change as you swap your gear and dye it various colors. Diablo 4 has always had an impressive amount of options for customizing your look, more than even Path of Exile 2, which locks its gender and body types to each of its classes and has no transmog feature at all. Blizzard has learned from years of making massively social RPGs that games about loot are just dress-up games with numbers.Its no Infinity Nikki: Sanctuary edition, but the new wardrobe is part of a larger shift Diablo 4 has been making since launch to become a little more silly, a little more sexy, and a lot less bleak. There was a time when the developers would deny requests for Diablo 3s pets to come back in Diablo 4 and now, two years later, everyone is running around with a tiger cub in Diablo 4. Last seasons battle pass rewarded a pirate outfit; you can ride a lion as a mount. Diablo 4 has finally loosened up on its faithful recreation of the gothic horror aesthetic of Diablo 2 to embrace a wider, more modern approach.Thats wonderful for players like me, who spend a lot of time in the wardrobe looking for the armor that best represents what kind of character Im playing each season. During the vampire-themed season, I drenched my necromancer in blood using one of the games surprisingly excellent tattoos. And on my sorceress, whose build build surrounded her with pulsing orbs of lightning, I made it so she looked like all that energy had consumed her. And now, in the witch season, Im trying to embody the occult in any way I can.Its a habit for me to end every session tweaking my outfit, which is even easier now that the wardrobe can be accessed straight from your inventory screen anywhere in the world. The new interface has a cleaner, muted look and puts a literal spotlight on your character. Now, when you click into a specific body part, the camera zooms in automatically, and you can see what dye you have applied to each one at all times.Instead of filling the side of the screen with a long grid of menu options, each section is broken out into its own tab. Technically, it takes more clicks to get around, but I find that I tend to swap between each section like a different mode. When Im cycling through different gloves, I want to see everything available, but when Im using dyes, I only want to focus on the overall look of my character. It also helps that everything has flipped to the opposite side, which just feels right to me. Other cosmetics, like mounts and town portals, are now within the same menu and give you a better preview of what theyll actually look like in action. Everything is more accessible and does a better job at encouraging you to experiment.But for all the improvements, theres still a disappointing lack of new transmog options that dont require buying skins in the real-money shop, and even those often feel ridiculously over-designed. I dont need my character to be on fire and I dont need to look like 20 different variations of Sauron. Players have yelled about this since day one, and even if I dont think the problem is as severe as some say, it would be nice to have more options, especially now that its even more convenient than ever to dress your character up in the finest gear.

Steamforged Games has made a name for itself in recent years by creating miniatures-heavy tabletop games out of popular action-based video games. Franchises like Dark Souls, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, and more have all been adapted with varying degrees of success into board games, card games, and even the odd role-playing game. But now the British publisher is looking a bit closer to home. Its next ambitious project will be adapting the Hearts of Iron series of grand strategy World War II games for the table, where it will compete with more established games like Twilight Imperium.Hearts of Irons latest iteration, Hearts of Iron 4, was released in 2016. It added new and dynamic ways to wage war, including intricate production queues and elastic armies. But none of its features have been more impactful than its take on alternate historical fiction, with novel new ways to fight old battles and lead classic factions to victory. Polygon sat down with the teams at Steamforged and Paradox earlier this week to discuss Hearts of Iron: The Board Game in detail, in advance of a Gamefound campaign launching today.Our interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.Polygon: I first met Johan Andersson, designer and producer on Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings, and Hearts of Iron among others, in 2013.Later, in a preview we ran about Hearts of Iron 4 in 2016, he mentioned how on his very last day of interviews there at what would become Paradox Interactive, they invited him to join a game of Axis and Allies the classic WWII board game by the legendary Larry Harris. He sat down with the other folks there, Im sure adjacent to Fredrik Westers garage at the time, and they played through the game for hours.Of course, Axis and Allies may have inspired Hearts of Iron, but theyre not the same game. Theyre very dramatically different experiences Hearts of Iron being much wider, much richer, much more strategic and tactical in depth than Axis and Allies no shade to Mr. Harris. Now, audience appetites for these kinds of 4x games have really expanded. Arcs: Conflict and Collapse in the Reach most recently, a very avant-garde kind of design with a three-act campaign, speaks to that appetite. The Stellaris board game is another attempt. Academy Games conceit was to make a grand strategy 4x game that actually plays in two hours. Twilight Imperium, on the other hand, shed the conceit of timeliness long ago. Those fans dont care how long it is, and they revel in its complexity. They revel in its length.What are your goals going into this project? How do you bring Hearts of Iron back around and even consider fitting it into a board game box?Steve Margetson, lead designer at Steamforged: The main design goal for us is taking the experience and feeling of Hearts of Iron and condensing it down into a board game that is manageable, that feels like Hearts of Iron. Youve got the complexity there that people obviously enjoy as part of that series, but also a big key part of it was we wanted to focus more on something that you can play in a night. Its going to be a longer night, to be sure! Youre looking at three-to-four hours. But we didnt want to do a campaign game that was going to take multiple sessions or even go to the really long lengths of say Twilight Imperium, because yeah, we wanted people to get together, be able to complete World War II in an evening.One of the key pillars is this idea of either playing historically rewriting history, or reliving it. So drawing heavily on the source material there, one of the most interesting things about Hearts of Iron is the fact that you can take the Soviet Union and play them communist, but also there is the question there of, oh, what does a Soviet Union look like if they are going in a down [a] different route, like a monarchy or a theocracy for example? So that was a big, key selling point.The other thing was a big focus on politics at the table. You are allying or going to war with various countries, and that is a thing that you have to declare. Its not something thats just innate in the game. [] Youve got to justify it to your country. Youve got to put in the legwork to manage your country to make it happen.Lets focus then on Soviet Russia for a moment. Out of the box, how do you communicate to the player, Okay, you can be communists, or you can be royalists?Margetson: The way that we do that is, its taking something from the video game that weve adapted called the Focus Tree, and weve broken that down. It is a big tree, and there is a lot of material to mine and create interesting gameplay situations. Weve taken that and broken it down into ideological pairs with countries.When you begin, you are choosing from the ideologies that are available to that nation. Not every nation has every ideology available to it. In the case of our Soviet Union, if youre picking communism you have multiple, different Focus Decks that will determine the way youre scoring points and the additional political options available to you. That choice will give them a suite of options to play within their game. [] With all of these Focus Decks, they are bespoke per country, so that a German monarchy looks very different than a Soviet Union theocracy. Ultimately, Hearts of Iron fans will care about that.The other thing that you bring up is really very interesting to me. I sit down to play Axis and Allies and I know who are the Axis and who are the Allies. Its right on the box! Were starting in 1942, 1944, and its baked into the experience. So how mechanically have you created this justification for war system?Margetson: This ties into those Focus Decks. They will give you ways that youre scoring points, and essentially your overall country goal will be based on your ideology. So, looking at something like a fascist German Reich, that combination will be rewarded for trying to control as much territory as possible, just as they tried to do in history. Whereas a German Reich under a different ideology has different objectives. Perhaps it is looking to ally with a lot more people, or protect certain areas on the map, or things like that. Its one of those where we are dictating these objectives largely by your Focus Deck choice and your ideology.Peter, I turn to you and I think about the long and storied history of this franchise. Why was Steamforged the right partner to help create this expression of it?Peter Nicholson, game director at Paradox Interactive: I think theyve already answered that question in a way, and thats by correctly identifying what makes Hearts of Iron 4 unique. Its not the combat. Its not the fact that its a tactical game. Its the fact that it has these other elements on top of that, things like Focus Trees.I think if you took the first Hearts of Iron through Hearts of Iron 3, maybe even Hearts of Iron 4 at release, and said make a board game youd end up with something that probably resembles Axis and Allies very closely. That game would be one of many tactical combat-based World War II board games.It was only fairly late in Hearts of Iron 4s development midway through, four or five years ago that it really exploded both in popularity, but also in a different sort of game design where we started experimenting with things like alternate histories, the sort of expansive Focus Trees that Steves already mentioned.Of course, all of the Paradox grand strategy games have evolved out of board games themselves. Its sort of the next logical step. If you had a human being that was capable of processing this many things at once and rolling that many dice at once, you would probably end up with board games that look very similar to Hearts of Iron or Europa Universalis. So its an odd task to ask somebody to do, to take something that has evolved from a board game and then turn it back into one, but also in the process of getting there its developed its own identity, its own sort of veneer. As a board game it would be a very stodgy board game, but its developed these unique narrative paths embodied by these Focus Decks and their ideologies.What are the incentives that youre going to be putting into this campaign for potential consumers? What are the things that youre really excited about?Margetsen: The big one, and this is kind of a first for Steamforged, is that were doing a special edition at $120 and a regular edition at $65. In the past we have only tended to offer games with miniatures in our crowdfunding campaigns. Were offering both versions here because we know not everyone is going to want all those hundreds of miniatures.But these miniatures will nonetheless be an exclusive on the campaign. If you want to see those cool historical pieces on the battlefield and be pushing them around like a general, thats one of the incentives there. Eventually, the regular edition will also arrive at retail.Peter, is there anything else about Hearts of Iron, anything about Paradox that you wanted to share with me while Ive got you on the line today?Nicholson: I think actually the way that this project is being built is very similar to the way we build projects at Paradox: Lots of player feedback. I think the early access path is super interesting for Kickstarting things and getting as much player feedback as possible. Thats often how we like to design games, as close to the community as possible. Were often out there and soliciting feedback both on pre-release and release content, for example. So I think its a project thats being built in a very familiar way and its fantastic to see what Steamforged are doing with it. Im looking forward to playing.

Avengers: Doomsday is still more than a year away, but its not too early to learn a few of the movies secrets. For instance, Doctor Strange wont be appearing in this next Avengers film, apparently. Strange actor Benedict Cumberbatch revealed this fact during an interview with Variety, which he immediately realized might be a spoiler, before quickly overcoming his fears with a succinct, fuck it.But dont worry, Benedict, its probably not really a spoiler. After all, who could possibly be surprised at the news that not every Avenger was going to appear in the next team-up movie? The universe has (conservatively) 20 semi-important characters at this point. To fit them all in the entire film would be a montage of introductions with one line each and it would still be over three hours.Another reason it isnt a spoiler is because of what else Cumberbatch revealed in the interview: Strange will be back. In fact, hell be back more than once. For one thing, Cumberbatch has reported that his MCU character is in a lot of Avengers: Secret War, so its not like this world is done with Strange yet, he just doesnt fit into the first films plot. More importantly, Doctor Strange is also getting a third standalone film, so his Avengers absence isnt a sign of his MCU future. But even if this isnt a spoiler, it does provide some interesting insight into the potential plot of Doomsday. For instance, we certainly know that Robert Downey Jr.s Doctor Doom wont be encountering the Avengers all at once. Instead, it seems like the movies will be meting out its immense cast over the first two films.

You may recognize Taki Udon from his retro gaming YouTube channel, but last year he started a company to manufacture gaming hardware, including a much-cheaper variant of the DE10 board behind the popular open-source MiSTer FPGA project you can read all about my beloved MiSTer here and he hasnt slowed down since.After a series of teases, Udons Retro Remake imprint has taken the wraps off of its FPGA-powered PlayStation clone, called the SuperStation One. The MiSTer-based console starts at just $149.99 for pre-orders, in what is being billed as a Founders Edition, with subsequent pricing having a hard cap of $225 (also visible in this image of the store page). If you want that SuperSpecial price, pre-orders open at the following times, on the Retro Remake store:Los Angeles: 6 p.m. PST on Saturday, January 25New York: 9 p.m. EST on Saturday, January 25London: 2 a.m. GMT on Sunday, January 26Hong Kong: 10 a.m. HKT on Sunday, January 26Sydney: 1 p.m. AEDT on Sunday, January 26More times here Mark your calendars.It would be uncharacteristic of me to not have this in transparent blue. Should we make it? Taki Udon (@takiudon.bsky.social) 2025-01-23T08:30:25.483ZThe SuperStation One is a custom MiSTer device, housed in a plastic shell that certainly evokes the vibes of the original PlayStation (or, perhaps, the PSOne would be more accurate). While the device will run any of the MiSTers myriad cores, its the projects PSX_MiSTer core that takes center stage here. Coupled with original PlayStation controller and Memory Card ports on the front of the device, and a bevy of other inputs and outputs befitting any MiSTer project, and the SuperStation One makes a compelling alternative to the MiSTers often confusing assembly of hubs and hats and SDRAM and SNAC adapters. With built-in analog output, USB, NFC, wifi, Bluetooth, and SNAC support, Udons console has de-dongled the MiSTer to a really impressive degree.Theres even a power button! (MiSTer users know. )Then theres the question of how you get games on the thing. Retro Remake has teased a separate attachment called the SuperDock, which houses a CD/DVD drive, four USB A ports, and a 2280 m.2 SSD bay, and which appears to fit neatly beneath the SuperStation One.While no pricing has been announced yet, pre-order deposits will be available for $5 alongside a SuperStation One purchase. The design for the SuperDock (D) is almost done. CD/DVD drive, four USB A ports, and a 2280 m.2 SSD bay. Taki Udon (@takiudon.bsky.social) 2025-01-22T00:17:20.685ZIf youd rather skip loading real discs, or would prefer to do what I did and embed small NFC stickers into your cases, the SuperStation One comes equipped with an NFC reader so you can use Zaparoo (ne TapTo) to load games, giving you that tactile console experience. Normally, how you get the ROMs that youll be tapping onto the device is a process best left unspoken, but Udon spoke to the excellent folks at Time Extension about the SuperDocks capabilities here.Thankfully, saving games is split from the media, and our SNAC ports give us the direct ability to load and save games without needing to use cartridge-based workarounds. That just leaves you with how to handle the CD itself. On a stock core with a stock system, it is possible to store your games on an internal SSD via a simple process. Whenever you use that CD in the future, the stock system will call the stored backup and load the game without you needing to do anything.This is a great solution for those of us with large PS1 disc collections, where you could rip your own ROMs, and load them upon disc insertion, or (presumably) NFC tap if youd prefer. While theres still a large open question for how these changes apply upstream to the MiSTer project, its certainly compelling from a user experience standpoint.If all of this reminds you of Analogues excellent clone consoles, well yeah, this is a direct competitor to what Analogue has been up to. While Analogues products are beautiful and simple compared to the complexities of a MiSTer build, they lack the flexibility and Tinker Factor that the MiSTer has. They also lack much to the frustration of many of its customers and fans of its name analog output for CRT support, which the SuperStation One will support. Analogue hasnt gotten around to a PlayStation core yet; its first CD-based system was 2023s excellent, but niche, Analogue Duo and up next is the Analogue 3D, a 4K Nintendo 64 clone which should be shipping this quarter. As much as Ive enjoyed all of Analogues projects, its exciting to see some more competition in this space.

Earlier this week, individuals within the tabletop ecosystem began noticing that the Ennies one of the most prestigious awards in the industry, which have been held at Gen Con for over two decades allowed potential nominees to indicate whether their submissions include content generated with artificial intelligence. With continued controversy surrounding the use of generative AI in tabletop games, due to the technologys environmental impacts, its basis in exploitative labor from workers in the global south, and its foundations built on content largely scraped from artists without their consent, the revelation prompted a swift backlash on social media against the awards ceremony, which had already faced an earlier round of criticism for a lack of professionals of color in its judging pool.The AI Content Certification option on the submission form states that the awards show accepts products that include AI generated content, provided that the potential nominee discloses which part of their project is AI-generated. However, any element of the work that includes AI-generated content wouldnt be able to receive an award in that category. The example provided in the disclaimer states that a project with a human-made cover but artificially generated interior art would theoretically be eligible to win Best Cover Art but not Best Interior Art.The statement then goes on to say that this disclosure is largely on the Honor System, as the judges or submissions coordinator will not feasibly be able to identify which submissions are AI-generated with 100% accuracy, just as [they] currently cant identify potential copyright violations, or re-use of art from other products. Submissions that are found to be using AI after the fact will be delisted, and any awards revoked, with the creators in question to be potentially prohibited from submitting future products.An Ennie Awards spokesperson told Polygon that the award committee was working on a full response to public concerns. They also noted that this is the second year the policy has been in effect, and that the committee had received no feedback from the 900+ submissions that were required to check the box last year. With more attention given to the subject of AI-generated content in the wake of its use by Hasbro, members of the industry are perhaps more aware of the technology now than in previous years. The spokesperson went on to state that only 0.05% of submissions disclosed using AI content, with the majority of those submissions being for Online Content/Digital Media.The Ennies representative said that the awards committee will not change its eligibility requirements mid-year (as the deadline for submissions is March 31), noting that judges will have full access to this information and can take it into consideration as they review products. However, they stated that as the Ennies are and always have been a community award, the ENNIE Staff is currently considering putting the choice to a vote on the eligibility of AI content as part of this years awards ballot. The Ennies are fan-curated and fan-selected by a panel of volunteers.

Bento Tokens are a limited currency in Destiny 2, and are part of the games Past is Prologue event. They expire on Feb. 4, but before they do, you can use these tokens to buy some extremely desirable weapons, currencies, and cosmetics. But you can only ever earn eight Bento Tokens, and there are tons of rewards to buy.In this Destiny 2 guide, well list out all the rewards for the Past is Prologue event and explain the best items to buy with Bento Tokens.All Bento Token rewards in Destiny 2To get Bento Tokens, youll need to complete the special Bento Box quests from the Drifter in the Tower which is also how you get the all-white Chatterwhite shader. Once youve got some tokens, you can take them to Eris on the Moon and exchange them for the items below.Each item only costs one Bento Token unless stated otherwise:2x Ascendant Alloy2x Ascendant ShardExotic Cipher25x Spoils of ConquestGambit MementoNightfall MementoIron Banner MementoLost MementoDawning MementoGames MementoSolstice MementoCataphract GL3 (Adept) Strand heavy grenade launcherIgneous Hammer (Adept) Solar hand cannonRiptide Stasis fusion rifleHorrors Least (Adept) Arc pulse rifle[2 Bento Tokens] Bone Artifice armor set helmet[2 Bento Tokens] Bone Artifice armor set gloves [2 Bento Tokens] Bone Artifice armor set chest[2 Bento Tokens] Bone Artifice armor set legs [2 Bento Tokens] Bone Artifice armor set class item[3 Bento Tokens] Cloudstrike Exotic sniper rifleWhich rewards should you purchase with your Bento Tokens in Destiny 2?Many of these items are very good and worth grinding Bento Tokens for. However, because you can only earn eight tokens during the event, were going to be picky. Heres a glance at our primary recommendations, followed by detailed explanations for said recommendations:Cloudstrike Exotic sniper rifleCataphract GL3 (Adept)Exotic Cipher25x Spoils of ConquestMementos that you like the look ofFirst lets start with something we recommend you stay away from: armor. The Artifice armor sounds tempting, as Artifice usually only drops from Master level dungeons and can give you a few bonus stats. However, these armor rolls arent too great, they cost two Bento Tokens which is very steep and you cant even buy the full set. More importantly, however, is that Bungie will be reworking armor in the games next expansion later this year, so its best to avoid investing too heavily into armor until we know exactly what that will look like.The only exception to the do not buy the armor rule is if you dont have an Artifice class item at all. Because class items dont have stats (yet), thats a worthwhile purchase, as itll just give you three bonus stats in any build until the next expansion.Next, lets talk about the weapon category, which includes some items everyone should buy. If youre a new player who doesnt have the Cloudstrike Exotic, that should probably be the first thing you purchase. Its a very good PvP sniper rifle, but its also been used to deal some massive damage to bosses in PvE under the right circumstances. Its 3 Bento Tokens, which is very expensive, but grinding for the weapon in Empire Hunts on Europa (the only other way to get it) is agony. Trust us, this is a much less painful way to get this Exotic.As for the Legendary weapons, Cataphract GL3 (Adept) is incredible and usually locked behind Trials of Osiris, the pinnacle PvP game mode. Its one of the best PvE grenade launchers in the game and could be extremely useful for all levels of players, offering the potent perk combo of Envious Assassin and Bait and Switch. The other weapons are fine if youre a collector or a PvP main, especially the Adept Horrors Least.Once youve gotten the above items, the rest of the conversation gets a little more complex. The resources can be really good for both new players and veterans, and wed recommend you pay specific attention to the Exotic Cipher, which is a notoriously obnoxious resource to grind for. The Spoils of Conquest are great if you never want to engage with raiding at all, but there are ways to get them in small parties or solo, so these are more convenient than anything.If youve purchased everything else above, or dont need any of it, then you should turn your attention to the mementos, which you can add to your enhanced or crafted guns for a cool, custom shader. These are all personal preference and you can check what shader youll get from them by searching through an eligible weapons potential shader list.

The beloved Chatterwhite shader an all-white shader has finally come to Destiny 2 after years of fan requests. The shader comes from the original Destiny, and was a reward for killing Atheon, the series first raid boss.In this Destiny 2 guide, well walk you through how to unlock the Chatterwhite shader during the Past is Prologue Bento Box event.Note: The Past is Prologue event only runs through Feb. 4, when the Heresy episode launches in-game. While the shader could come back in the future, make sure you move quickly if you want to pick it up before it expires.How to unlock the Chatterwhite shader in Destiny 2To unlock the Chatterwhite shader in Destiny 2, first you need to pick up the Packed Lunch quest from the Drifter in the Tower. To complete this quest, youll need to complete five Bento Boxes. However, there are only four Bento Box quests available as of this writing, so you cant get the Chatterwhite shader just yet.As for what Bento Boxes are, these are little quests Drifter offers which will give you special Bento Tokens. You can then take these tokens to Eris on the moon for some great rewards. The quest objectives range from killing some dungeon/raid bosses to just doing activities on the Moon.Here are the currently available Bento Boxes quests:The Stuff of Legends: Finish final encounters in any raid or dungeon. Raids provide additional progress (two dungeons or one raid required, 2x Bento Tokens rewarded).Martial Mementos: Get final blows with Malfeasance, Witherhoard, Touch of Malice, Whisper of the Worm, Xenophage, or Arbalest. (1x Bento Token rewarded).A Dubious Bento: Collect Dubious Celery from defeated targets in Gambit, and collect Century Eggs from defeated combatants on the Moon. (10 of each resource, 1x Bento Token rewarded).Nightmare Lunch: Complete activities on the Moon. Bonus progress for Nightmare Hunts. (60 activities completed, 1x Bento Token rewarded).When will the Chatterwhite shader be available in Destiny 2?More Bento Box quests will arrive in-game on Friday, Jan. 24, with Xur in the Tower. An in-game message also promised more Bento Box quests in the last week of the event, so expect another batch on Tuesday, Jan. 28.Youll be able to unlock the Chatterwhite shader by completing one of Xurs Bento Box quests on Friday assuming you complete The Stuff of Legends, Martial Mementos, A Dubious Bento, and Nightmare Lunch as well.

Critical Role has announced Vox Machina: Stories Untold, an upcoming anthology of short stories narrated by characters from the actual plays flagship first campaign. Over the last decade, the Dungeons & Dragons livestream has evolved from a single weekly game into a media empire that encompasses a proprietary streaming service, animated television shows on Amazon Prime, a series of novels and comics, and a tabletop game publishing company.While the main campaign along with the subsequent animated show and prequel comics focused on the core cast of Vox Machina, the anthology will look at the land of Exandria through the perspective of the storys supporting characters whose lives have intersected with the band of adventurers. Fair warning, there are spoilers ahead for those who havent seen the full campaign.One of the stories within the anthology, written by Critical Role guest star and actual play powerhouse Aabria Iyengar, centers on Shaun Gilmore, the magical merchant and flirtatious friend to the party, as he reflects on the life he has chosen. Another, by NYT bestselling author Rory Power, follows green dragon Raishan as she descends into madness while plotting the release of Thordak, the Cinder King. Also included in the collection is a story by young adult author Sarah Glen Marsh that follows the unofficial Vox Machina mascot, Trinket the Wonder Bear, as he accompanies the descendants of Vox Machina on their first adventure.Vox Machina: Stories Untold will also include seven other short tales about characters like Scanlan Shorthalts daughter Kaylie, Taryon Darringtons automaton Doty, and Grogs antagonistic goliath uncle Kevdak. With a forward by Critical Role cast member Liam OBrien, other contributors to the anthology include Jess Barber, Martin Cahill, Rebecca Coffindaffer, Sam Maggs, Nibedita Sen, Izzy Wasserstein, and Kendra Wells.The anthology will be available to the public on March 4 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the franchise. Vox Machina: Stories Untold is currently available for presale for $30 through Penguin Random House.

Hot on the heels of yesterdays news that Nosferatu director Robert Eggers will follow his vampire movie with a 13-century werewolf thriller called Werwulf, and todays news that Nosferatu is in the running for four Academy Awards, the Eggers news drops keeps landing: Deadline reports that Eggers has signed a deal to direct a sequel to Jim Hensons 1986 fantasy Labyrinth. To anyone who saw Nosferatu (or the earlier news that Eggers was in talks on a Labyrinth project), that maybe isnt the biggest possible surprise all the blood, perverse monster-sex, and full-frontal male nudity in Nosferatu aside, there are elements in the script that feel surprisingly Labyrinth-esque, like the revelation that Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) maybe summoned up her personal destructive monster Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgrd) out of unformed adolescent desire, and gave him power over her that she has to take back in order to survive. The conversation between Orlok and Ellen, where he insists that she summoned him, and theyre now fated for each other, so she needs to surrender to him, feels like a darker mirror of the conversation the Goblin King Jareth (David Bowie) and his teenage summoner/victim Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) have at the end of Labyrinth, where he demands her fear and love, and offers himself as her slave in return.A darker, more adult take on Labyrinth might be a natural fit for audiences that grew up with the movie.The film has a surprisingly strong strain of lust and psychosexual tension for a Jim Henson project. And a sequel, with Connelly reprising her role and facing Jareth in adulthood, could be an interesting thread to pull on. (Or not, given how Beetlejuice Beetlejuice tossed away its similarly intriguing reunion between a supernatural stalker and the adult woman he chased around when she was a teenager.)What exactly the sequel would entail is unclear. The Deadline report says theres no plot summary or cast information, though it lists Jim Hensons children Brian Henson (puppeteer coordinator and the voice of Hoggle in the original Labyrinth) and Lisa Henson (CEO of The Jim Henson Company) as producers, and says Eggers and his writing partner Sjn (The Northman) will co-write the script.The real problem with a direct sequel, though, is who could possibly replace David Bowie as Jareth? As much as the movie revolves around the Henson workshops puppets and Brian Frouds creature designs, Bowie was the movies breakout star. Fans memories of and conversations about the film (and their fan art, cosplay, and even annual masquerade ball) have centered on him for decades, and even the spin-off comic series Labyrinth: Coronation focused on his backstory. The 1986 Labyrinth is also built around Bowie performing original songs he wrote for the film.Its hard to imagine any modern rock star nailing the odd, slippery mixture of sexual menace, jovial humor, casual physicality, and sheer alien weirdness that Bowie brought to the role. Billy Porter might come closest in terms of persona and cultural positioning; Tilda Swinton might come closest in terms of otherworldly looks. But who has the star power to walk onto a set and replace David Bowie? If youve got any suggestions, spit them out while you can Eggers and the Hensons are probably having the same conversation right now.

The weekly GTA Online update for Jan. 23, 2025, is live with reward events, discounts, prizes, and the Lunar New Year.Our GTA Online weekly update guide will tell you everything happening in Los Santos this week.GTA Online special eventsThis week is the Lunar New Year and begins the Year of the Snake. To celebrate, there are a few themed events happening in GTA Online this week (and into next).The Featured Series in Legion Square has three new Lunar New Year Stunt Races (with lanterns and fireworks) to participate in. All three will be rewarding 2x GTA$ and RP all week.Competing in any of the races will score you the Lunar New Year livery for the Maibatsu Penumbra FF (which happens to be 30% off) through Feb. 12. Win two of the Stunt Races, and youll complete the Weekly Challenge for an extra GTA$ 100,000.There are also new Yuanbao Collectibles hidden around the island. Youll find 36 of them scattered all throughout Los Santos. Each one you pick up will earn you GTA$ 888 and 888 RP, plus an extra GTA$ 88,888 for grabbign the final one. Collecting all 36 rewards you with the Santo Capra Gold Snake Outfit.Meanwhile, just logging in anytime before Feb. 12 will earn you some Lunar New Year- and Year of the Snake-themed rewards like the Black Snake Yogarishima Outfit, Red Serpent Leather Jacket, Snake Soul Pendant, Snake King Pendant, Red Snake Soul Cap, and Gray Snake King Cap.What are the 2x GTA$ events in GTA Online this week?All Nightclub activities are paying out extra rewards this week. Youll get 2x GTA$ from your Nightclub Daily Income and collect 2X GTA$, RP, and Goods for completing Nightclub Goods Missions.If you havent picked up a Nightclub yet, theyre 30% off this week at Maze Bank.What vehicles are for sale in GTA Online this week?Whats in Premium Deluxe Motorsports Showroom this week?Head to Simeons Premium Deluxe Motorsports showroom for:Western DaemonHijak RustonDundreary Landstalker XLDewbauchee Rapid GTCanis BodhiWhats in the Luxury Autos Showroom in GTA Online this week?At Luxury Autos over in Rockford Hills, you can pick up the following:Invetero Coquette D1Grotti Turismo OmaggioWhats the Lucky Wheel prize car in GTA Online this week?At the Diamond Casino, spin the wheel for a chance to win the Grotti Stinger GT.What are the Salvage Yard Robbery targets in GTA Online this week?If youve set up a Salvage Yard to make money, youll be looking for:Truffade ThraxVapid CliqueVapid Dominator ASPWhich properties are discounted in GTA Online this week?All Nightclubs and their upgrades are on sale this week at 30% off. Pick one up from Maze Bank Foreclosures.What is the Gun Van selling in GTA Online this week?Track down the Gun Van this week to pick up:El Strickler (PS5 and Xbox only and 10% off, free with GTA+)Heavy rifle (50% off with GTA+)Tactical SMG (30% off)MusketUp-N-AtomizerKnifeGrenadesProximity minesPipe bombsAnd if youre playing the main game, dont miss our list of GTA 5 cheats.

Epic Games Store will soon charge through Apples efforts to mitigate the downloading of apps from third-party marketplaces to iOS and iPadOS namely, Apples Core Technology Fee. Epic will add 20 third-party titles to its mobile store in the European Union, the region impacted by the fee policy, and itll pay the fees in full for one year. The policy dictates that Apple charge a steep per-download fee 50 cents in Euros for every download of a game from a third-party store after 1 million downloads. Epic will also offer free games each month, as reported by The Verge.Epic launched its mobile store for Apple and Android in August 2024, with the Apple store only available in the EU due to the Digital Markets Act there, which prevents monopoly by enforcing market competition. Other publishers and marketplaces, like Steam and PlayStation, are able to list their apps on the Apple App Store because the apps dont include any downloading of games via their apps rather, some apps allow you to stream your games from the cloud and others function solely as a way to manage other assets from your account, like screenshots. Its not just Apple that seeks to lock down app sales Epic Games Store also doesnt meet the requirements for Googles Play Store in the U.S.The Verge also reported that Epics statements in a Thursday press briefing argued many mobile game developers arent on its store because Apple and Google discourage them with restrictions and fees.As for the 20 new third-party games, we still dont know what theyll be. A post on Epics X (formerly Twitter) account said its run into a few bugs that were working through now. Epics statements do, however, insinuate that the third-party games will be available to mobile app users in any region where the mobile app exists.Polygon has contacted Epic Games Store and Apple for comment and clarification and has not yet heard back. Well update the story when we learn more.

Generally speaking, the Archive feature in Fortnite is used to hide ugly items while picking out cosmetics for a character. However, since the inaugurationofDonald Trump on Monday, Fortnite players have been using the feature for a very specific reason: to remove the Tesla Cybertruck from the game. Its all in response to an event on Monday, where Tesla CEO Elon Musk performed a gesture that many said looked remarkably like a Nazi salute twice while live on stage. Since then, people have been protesting Musk in all kinds of ways and Fortnite players have been discussing ways to remove the Tesla Cybertruck cosmetic item added to the game last July.Question, is it possible to message Epic support to remove something from your locker forever? wrote one user in Reddit post upvoted more than 4,300 times. After recent events I dont even want this thing in my archives even. Looking for genuine help on the matter.Unfortunately for the Cybertruck-havers, the Archive feature in Fortnite doesnt permanently delete an item from an account. It just hides it from the main Locker menu. But you can at least Archive it and forget it. So if youre among the people who are now regretting having the Cybertruck, heres how to Archive it (and other items) from your Fortnite Locker.How to Archive items in Fortnite Launch Fortnite on your device. Look at the top left-hand corner of the screen and select the Locker option. From the Locker menu, navigate to the item that you would like to hide. Once your cursor is highlighting the correct item, pull up a submenu for it. You can do this in two ways depending on your platform. If youre using a console, press and hold the left stick on your controller. If youre using a PC, click the button that pops up when you hover your mouse over it. Once you pull up the sub menu, select Archive Item and the item will disappear from your Locker. Does Archiving delete items in Fortnite?Archiving an item in Fortnite does not permanently delete it from your account. It will just hide it from your main Locker menu screens. If you would like un-Archive an item, here is how to do that.Launch Fortnite on your device. Look at the top left-hand corner of the screen and select the Locker option.Within the Locker menu, navigate to the kind of cosmetic item you previously Arhived. For example, if you Archived a Guitar, go to the Guitar section within the Instruments menu.Select the Sort Filter button located near the top right-hand corner of the screen next to the search bar. This will pull up a menu to sort your cosmetic items. On there, scroll down to the Filter section and select Archived option. Once selected, click the Apply button. This will pull up the item(s) you previously Archived. Once your cursor is highlighting the correct item, you will need to pull up a submenu for it. You can do this in two ways depending on your platform. If youre using a console, press and hold the left stick on your controller. If youre using a PC, click the button that pops up when you hover your mouse over it.Then click Unarchive Item. It will show up in your Locker as usual after that. Some people online have wondered if the support team at Epic Games could remove a particular cosmetic item from their account. Polygon reached out to Epic Games to ask if this is a possible avenue for consumers to permanently delete items from their account, and well update the article as we hear back.

When youve filter through your collection in Pokmon Trading Card Game Pocket, you may notice an option to filter for Pokmon Tool cards. Theres nothing ever there, because Pokmon TCG Pocket doesnt currently have any Pokmon Tool cards. But that appears to be changing with the Space-Time Expansion announced Thursday.When the update is released on Jan. 30, its likely that the 140 new cards will include at least several Pokmon Tool cards, as evidenced by the description of one card shown during the teaser trailer. The Pachirisu ex card has a move called Sparkling Gadget, which mentions having a Pokmon Tool attached. Its the first mention of the card type beyond the filter system. Its still unclear how the Pokmon Tool cards will function in Pokmon TCG Pocket, but theyre likely to be similar to the physical trading card game. Pokmon Tool cards are basically like held items in the video games: if you attach a Float Stone to a Pokmon in the physical card game, retreat cost is decreased, for instance. There, you can attach berries, stones, shards all sorts of things that add a new variable to how the cards interact in the game.Trainer cards in the game, so far, are Items, Fossils, or Supporters. Pokmon Tool cards add another element to slide into your decks.A lot hinges on how Tool cards are implemented. Will the Pokmon Company increase the amount of cards you can hold in your deck due to the new card type? Will the cards be adjusted for Pokmon TCG Pocket? Theres still a lot that we dont know, but it could be an interesting variable that injects some freshness into the battling system, which can feel stale when the same decks get run over and over again. Without a deck size increase, the addition of tools means players will have to strategize over whether to prioritize Tool cards or other types theres likely to be more variety seen across decks as players decide what better suits their particular playstyle over purely whats in the meta.An increase of deck size would be a major change to Pokmon TCG Pocket, and it feels less likely that well see that. But theres really only one guarantee: Come next week, with the injection of 140 cards into the game, expect a meta shakeup and tons more cards to collect.

The famously obtuse colony management simulation Dwarf Fortress snagged itself a proper publisher in 2019 in part so that its creators could have medical insurance. But the relationship with Kitfox Games has done quite a lot to improve the gameplay experience for fans as well, including by adding things like graphics, mouse support, and now full-fledged video tutorials.Dwarf Fortress highly-anticipated Adventure Mode launches on Jan. 23. With it, players can create a party of fantasy characters and tramp around the procedurally generated game world in style. They can even explore their old fortresses, then reload their save files to see how the plucky adventurers have changed the history of their world. But how exactly youre supposed to do those things has been a bit of a mystery, even for long-time fans used to digging through wikis and obscure forum posts. The nearly 45-minute beginners guide, hosted by a veteran YouTuber who goes by BlindiRL, goes a long way to help get players up to speed.Kitfox now offers a total of five Dwarf Fortress tutorials on its YouTube channel.

OLED gaming monitors are becoming more affordable, but theyre still not what I, and presumably most other people, would consider cheap. As such, Im always watching out for deals that make buying one a more reasonable choice and I found one at eBay. Samsungs 34-inch ultrawide Odyssey OLED G8 gaming monitor is cheaper than ever right now. Thanks to a limited time coupon code that automatically applies at checkout (if it doesnt its SAVEBIG20), you can get it for $639.20 before tax through Jan. 27. This display is selling at Amazon for $1,199.99, and through Woot for $879.99, which was previously the lowest price wed seen before this. The closest a retailer comes to matching eBays deal is Samsung itself, which is selling it for $799.99.The Odyssey OLED G8 is a curved (1800R, so the curve is slight) QD-OLED gaming monitor that offers an ultrawide 3,440 x 1,440 resolution (this is 21:9 aspect ratio, which PCs support, but consoles dont), with a fast 175 Hz refresh rate, and a 0.03ms response time that matches the best out there. Its a beast of a monitor, and this a very good deal for this price. For context, most 27-inch flat 1440p OLED monitors usually cost about this much, if not more.There are numerous reasons why your next gaming monitor should be an OLED, instead of going with a less expensive screen. Its tough to call anything perfect, but OLED is as close to perfection as you can currently get in a screen. Thats because each pixel is self-lit as opposed to being backlit, so colors and brightness can achieve exactly the tone that your entertainment calls for. Also, the Odyssey OLED G8s fast refresh rate and response time make this an ideal monitor for casual gameplay as well as competitive matchups. Something I like about this monitor in particular is that it has a 3-year warranty that includes burn-in coverage.For some reason, Samsung opts to use Mini DisplayPort and Micro HDMI inputs on the rear of the Odyssey OLED G8, which means you need to use specialized cables to connect your PC and consoles to this display. However, at least it includes both cables in the box (if you need extras, you can buy adapters for your cables).Lastly, this eBay deal is being offered by BuyDig, a third-party seller. Typically, we dont recommend products sold by third-party sellers at Polygon, but Ive personally had good experiences purchasing products through it.

With so many games available at our fingertips or in our backlogs its sometimes hard to know what game is worth our time. Figuring out where to spend our precious free time can feel daunting, especially with more things vying for our attention. And if youre busy with jobs, families, or other obligations, that free time shrinks even more. But Polygon is here to help. Well, actually this week Im here to help. During our weekly open thread, everyone is welcome to comment to ask for tailored game recommendations. Want a long game to tuck into during the winter? Or some way to test out a new genre youre interested in exploring? Or a game perfect for chatting while playing on Discord? Ill do my best to make recommendations no matter what you throw at me and Im sure other commenters will too. How will this work? From 3:15 to 5:15 p.m. EST, Ill be in the comments responding to any questions looking for game recommendations. If youre looking for one, please share as much info about what youre looking for as you can, including about what platforms you own, or if you have a subscription service like Xbox Game Pass.And just so you get to know me better, my tastes span a lot. I tend to play a lot of single-player titles, mostly on PC or the Switch. I like both turn-based and action RPGs, some roguelikes, puzzle games, and a large smattering of genre-defining indies. I dabble in fighting games and deck-building (I finally uninstalled Marvel Snap so it would stop consuming all my free time). Ill definitely play some things online too with the right group; Marvel Rivals is reminding me that Overwatch used to be fun. Im also currently deep into my first playthrough of Death Stranding, and my most anticipated game for February is Monster Hunter Wilds. So, what would you like to play next? Leave a comment below and Ill do my best to find your next favorite game.

Pocketpair, the company behind smash hit Palworld, announced that its entering the publishing business with a new division called Pocketpair Publishing. This business will support game development through funding, development assistance and publishing for indie game developers and studios, Pocketpair said in a news release.First up, Pocketpair Publishing signed a project from Tales of Kenzara: Zau makers Surgent Studios. This game is unrelated to the Tales of Kenzera universe; its a standalone horror game. Surgent Studios CEO and House of Dragons actor Abubakar Ssalim said its still in earnest conversation about further projects set in the Tales of Kenzara universe.Both Surgent and Pocketpair are well-versed in taking risks, Salim said. We noticed a pattern in the entertainment industry, and Pocketpair has given us the opportunity to make a horror game about it. It will be short and weird, and we think players will be interested in what we have to say.The game, which is unnamed at this time, is expected out in 2025.This is the energy I want to see driving games in 2025developers lifting each other up, creating together, and pushing the industry forward.Massive love to the Pocketpair team! Its an incredible honor to be the first partnership announced with @PocketpairPBLSH Weve been https://t.co/DM8Z7Lp4oK Abubakar Salim (@Abzybabzy) January 23, 2025Its good news for Surgent Studios, which announced in October that it put the work of its games team on hold due to a lack of funding. Its at that time when the studio put the word out about a new prototype: a game thats darker, edgier, and more visceral than our first game, but it retains all Zaus high-octane combat and cultural depth. Surgent Studios wrote on X in October that it was looking for a partner on it; thats seemingly where Pocketpair stepped in. Alongside the announcement of the Pocketpair partnership, Salim noted that the pair up is what hed like to see in 2025: Developers lifting each other up, creating together, and pushing the industry forward.Video games cost more than ever to make while funding has seemingly all but dried up. Last year was particularly hard for smaller studios to stay afloat, and thousands of people across the industry were laid off. Even critical success couldnt help studios; Tales of Kenzara: Zau was lauded for its take on Metroidvanias, led by an actor in a Game of Thrones television show, and still couldnt capitalize on that success until another indie studio stepped up to help.With Palworld, a survival creature-catching game, Pocketpair generated more profit that it could handle at its size. In an interview with Bloomberg, Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe said Palworld cost less than 1 billion ($6.4 million) but brought in tens of billions in profit. Now, its seemingly using that success to push other indies forward, too.As the games industry continues to grow, more and more games find themselves struggling to get funded or greenlit, Pocketpair Publishing lead John Buckley said in a news release. We think this is a real shame, because there are so many incredible creators and ideas out there that just need a little help to become incredible games.On the Pocketpair Publishing website, the company states that it doesnt want to take control from a developer, nor does it want to change your dream or push you to make a certain type of game. It wants to give developers money to make their dream games. Its a message that sounds familiar; smash hit social deduction game Among Us developer Innersloth used its success to launch a similar initiative in 2024 Outersloth. Like Pocketpair, InnerSloths success was outsized to the studios origins. Among Us blew up in 2020 and has continued to see success.Being indie devs ourselves, we knew one of the hardest things to get was straight up funding, Innersloth communications director Victoria Tran told Polygon in 2024. Were very privileged to be in the position were in and have the eyes on us, so we hoped we could create something that hopefully inspires others to pay it forward, wherever they can and whatever that means to them. We only got here because of the help of our industry peers and players, so it felt right to help where we could.The video game industry is still looking for a way to ensure sustainability for its projects, and, most importantly, it workers; in 2025, at least, indies funding indies are the first to make that push.

Star Trek: Section 31 might be the weirdest Star Trek movie ever made.The film, which arrives to Paramount Plus on Jan. 24, was originally pitched as a television series showcasing Star Trek: Discoverys Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), former emperor of the (evil) Terran mirror universe, who became a space secret agent in the core Star Trek setting. But after the show was announced in 2019, production was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 writers and actors strikes, and even Yeohs own overdue meteoric rise and increasingly packed schedule after she earned the Best Actress Academy Award for Everything Everywhere All at Once.So the version of Section 31 hitting Paramount Plus is a movie, instead and its packed with a TV series worth of ideas. Some of them are chewy and fascinating in a classic Trek way, while others are wildly outside the franchises norm. And in both cases, its a pity, because all these ideas could have used more room or, perhaps, more space? to breathe.Star Trek: Discovery fans will remember Yeohs slippery Georgiou, the unrepentant conqueror-survivor of a much harsher universe, from the shows first three seasons. But even they might need help remembering where exactly in her timey-wimey story Section 31 fits: The movie takes place between seasons 1 and 2 of Discovery, which came out more than half a decade ago.Section 31 tells the story of how Georgiou came to work with the titular group, Starfleets own barely sanctioned, extra-black black ops division: A team from that division recruits the most dangerous woman in the galaxy to recover an even more dangerous device. Georgiou is joined by a whole cadre of weirdos who dont fit into Federation society in one way or another, but who work to safeguard its existence in secrecy, and with fewer regulations than most Starfleet officers.That hook feels like something out of Guardians of the Galaxy or The Suicide Squad, which is to say, its a very different setup than the plot of pretty much any Star Trek movie or show to date. Director Olatunde Osunsanmi and screenwriter Craig Sweeney try to make Section 31 different on purpose, and whether that works for a given Trek fan may depend on how well theyre able to take it as it is, not as what they expect from Trek.For example, theyll need to accept that Section 31 is making no excuses and providing no explanations for the fan-controversial basic concept of Section 31. The movie is just here so Trek characters can have a rollicking adventure while defending the galaxy. Section 31 provides these characters with that assignment, but Section 31 (the movie) offers little insight about its organization or hierarchy.In pursuit of this sense of further frontiers, Sweeney who produced and wrote for Elementary and penned the Star Trek: Discovery episode Context is for Kings populates the movie with a mix of Star Trek ideas old and new. The Deltan species (longtime Trek fans may remember the bald Deltan lady in the rather excoriated Star Trek: The Motion Picture) returns in the form of agent Melle (Humberly Gonzlez), while the teams Starfleet minder is none other than a younger version of Rachel Garrett (played by Kacey Rohl), first female captain of the USS Enterprise, who appeared in one 1990 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.On the other hand, theres Alok (Omari Hardwick), whose secret backstory is directly linked to an unjust systemic prejudice in the heart of Federation law, a rare black note in Treks utopia that recently formed the backbone of one of the best episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. And theres Sven Ruygrok as Fuzz, a strangely emotive Vulcan whos hiding a twist so wild, it feels like its from an entirely different genre of science fiction. In both cases, Section 31 only has time to glance off these characters secrets before the movie comes to a close.Aloks secret origin as a man who fights illicitly to protect a society he can never be accepted into is a story Id have loved to have seen explored in a full season. Fuzz, though Well, OK. Frankly, I think Fuzz is a bridge too far for Star Trek. But if he was on a series, Id at least stick around to see whether the writers could convince me otherwise. More time means more space to integrate him more naturally into Trek canon or to place more weight on Sweeney making such a strange narrative addition. At the very least, a series would give fans time for the shock to wear off.By trying to make Star Trek: Section 31 everything regular Star Trek isnt, Osunsanmi and Sweeney fulfill the shows promise to boldly go where no one has gone before. But its one-and-done story concludes without the plot itself ending up anywhere particularly unexpected. This is certainly due in part to how it sits in the middle of its leads story Georgiou has to be around to meet back up with Star Trek: Discoverys main crew in its second season and in part how the activity of Section 31 agents must remain secret to the wider galaxy. But the creators focus their ending on a pack of misfits coming together as a team, in an emotional payoff thats undercut by the incompleteness of their personal arcs.Its the weirdest Star Trek movie in tone, character lineup, and setting, and it doesnt exactly work as a standalone Star Trek story. But in part, thats due to how finite it is, and how limited it feels. As far as we know for the moment, theres no Section 31 sequel movie or series spin-off coming. But I would watch one just to see where the hell it could go from here.

I had big plans to finish Metaphor: ReFantazio over the holiday break. A little unstructured time between Christmas and New Years? Perfect for pushing a long game over the finish line. Unless, of course, you make the rookie mistake of going on Steam and seeing some random game youve never heard of before with a cute name and positive reviews. Thats how you go from (maybe) finishing an 80+ hour RPG to getting sucked into Rocket Rats, the perfect snack-sized game to get you going in 2025.Created by solo dev Gagonfe, Rocket Rats is the kind of game where what you expect is what you get. Its a Vampire Survivors-like, or bullet heaven if you prefer, in which you play as a rat in space on a tiny moon besieged by cheese-themed enemies. Compared to Vampire Survivors, the playable space is small, confined to a small moon instead of a larger map. As such, each escalating wave becomes an exercise in confinement, a pure measurement of power creep against the cheesy stars, moons, and planets that float in from the outskirts with the intent of, I guess, killing you?Listen, Ill admit it doesnt make a tremendous amount of sense, but it really doesnt have to. Whats presented in Rocket Rats is a distilled, snack-sized version of what makes these kinds of games pleasurable: creating a build so powerful that you dont even need to move to win. Which is exactly what happened when I got a good lightning run going.Every run is composed of 30 waves of enemies, and between each wave youre awarded a choice of upgrades. Like other games in this ilk, your attacks auto-fire. Here, upgrades can add things like poison, lightning strikes, or homing arrows to complement your basic projectile attacks. You can also pick up upgrades for things like attack reload speed, total ammo, and movement speed. Every upgrade has its own succession of tiers, with every tier of lightning, for example, adding things like area of effect, the possibility to deal critical damage, and making it so that the auto-aim targets the closest enemies. A good lightning build might also spec into shot speed, as the lightning has a chance of striking every time you fire a standard shot. If youre a synergy sicko, youll be well-pleased.Buildcrafting discussion out of the way, if you go with a lightning build, what this basically boils down to is a shit ton of lightning bolts blanketing the screen by wave 20. My best run, which involved a synergy with another powerup that I wont spoil, pushed me through wave 65 in the endless mode that triggers after wave 30. It looked like this:In case you cant tell, that vaguely rat-looking part at the center of the white-hot center of the lightning storm is, in fact, my rocket rat. The joy I felt seeing my little guy engulfed by cheese-moons while an apocalyptic weather event occurred all around him was astronomical. And, because the game is so condensed, it only takes about eight or nine minutes to get to this level of mayhem. (Also, whether I was playing on Steam Deck or my PC, the way the frame rate started to churn into the single digits when I reached this stage was funny every single time.)These are all, of course, the base pleasures of this genre, which leads me to admit that Rocket Rats has a short tail in terms of how long you can expect to play the game. It took me about six hours to see almost everything the game has to offer, content-wise, and only about four to unlock every skill tree upgrade for the six playable rats. Theres some amount of depth here in dreaming up gonzo builds that play to each rats strengths, and there are some secret synergies between the various upgrade types, but beyond that, youll find yourself hitting a wall of engagement probably around the same time I did.But you know what? After a year as jam-packed as 2024 with gigantic releases, Rocket Rats was just the snack I didnt know I was looking for. Maybe it isnt a full-course meal, but still: You wont regret a single bite.

Lets be candid: It can feel daunting to get into most of the long-running, popular actual play shows, like Critical Role, or Dimension 20s Fantasy High setting. A lot of that is about time.Compared to the other narrative things you can put on your TV, individual actual play sessions are long. Just like most peoples RPG sessions, they can run for two, three, even four hours. A campaign arc can last dozens of episodes, so a single actual play arc can rival the length of several seasons of television combined even the luxurious 20-episodes-plus seasons of TVs yesteryear.Even if you have that kind of time to invest in entertainment, it can still be intimidating to pick up a show that already has multiple wikis full of lore, and a huge fandom that has absorbed it all. Some of the most established actual play shows have years of interconnected fictional history to catch up on. Faced with that commitment of time and brainspace, it can feel much easier to cue up anything else during your finite TV-watching time.Time and mental load are certainly why it took me until 2023 to start watching Dropouts blockbuster actual play series Dimension 20, regularly (but not always) hosted by game master Brennan Lee Mulligan for a group of (usually) improv comedians using the rules of Dungeons & Dragons. Even as a fan of Dropouts comedy shows, and a huge fan of tabletop RPGs and actual play podcasts, I wasnt sure where to start. The time commitment is also the top barrier that my TTRPG-friendly, already-enjoying-Dropout buddies present when I tell them theres a D20 season theyd really dig: Two and a half hours? Thats my whole evening.But heres how Dimension 20 got me well and truly hooked: Mulligan and his crew fully commit to the anthology format. With D20, all you really have to do is pick a genre, and theres a self-contained season waiting to pull you in.I started Dimension 20 in the usual TV show way, by watching from the beginning. But after putting just a couple of early seasons under my belt, I followed the siren song of social media clips and skipped a full 12 seasons ahead to Neverafter, the 2022-2023 season, which was airing at the time. Since then, Ive taken the liberty to hop around to whichever season caught my fancy, from the combat-low magical Regency romance story of A Court of Fey & Flowers to the bloody medieval drama of A Crown of Candy. Sometimes I just leaped to seasons featuring the performers I most wanted to see more of.Dimension 20 mixes things up from season to season by changing the genre, performer lineup, and game system. The seasons also vary in run time, alternating full-length 20-ish-episode seasons with shorter seasons of four to 10 episodes. Dont have the stomach for a show thats already built up more than 50 hours of lore? Relax you can just watch a one-and-done 12-hour season thats essentially Inside Out, but silly film noir. Not really into the currently airing season? No worries; therell be another one along in a few months, and it will almost certainly be totally different.In a media landscape ruled by sequels and lore dumps, Dimension 20s anthology format allows it to settle into the magical middle ground between familiarity and variety. The show offers length as well as tidily capped brevity. Deep storytelling to dig into and the option to dabble.Curious about which season you personally should start with? Pick your genre and peruse this quick rundown of some of Polygons favorite self-contained Dimension 20 seasons:Season 15, A Court of Fey and Flowers: Regency-era romance, set in a flamboyant fairy court, using a combat-low tweak on D&D rules that includes regular rounds of scandalous-letter writing. For the kind of person who shrieks and hugs a pillow when the cravat-wearing male lead finally confesses his love or utterly ruins his chances via inevitable misunderstanding.Season 16, Neverafter: Fairy tale heroes like Little Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots become aware of their own fictional state in a world of creeping fear. For fans of folklore and existential horror.Season 17, The Ravening War: Sharing a setting with Dimension 20s Crown of Candy season, but fully self-contained, this short season is for people who wish House of the Dragon had more jokes, and also wish everyone was made of food.Season 18, Dungeons and Drag Queens: Classic Dungeons & Dragons fantasy, played by four stars of RuPauls Drag Race over a short and sweet four episodes. For anyone new to D&D itself, and especially for Drag Race fans.Season 19, Mentopolis: A film noir parody where every character is a different aspect of one harried scientists mind, trying to help him survive a very eventful day. For people who think too much about the implications of Inside Out.Season 22, Never Stop Blowing Up: Jumanji and Last Action Hero combine with a tweaked RPG system designed with a complete disregard for balance. For anyone who would enjoy watching an 80s action film turned up until the knob breaks off.Dimension 20 airs on Dropout.tv.

The galaxy of Warhammer 40,000 is vast and terrifying, full of extradimensional threats and hostile xenos. The Imperium of Man clings onto existence, slowly but inevitably decaying under the weight of 10,000 years of state-enforced ideology and paranoia. Its a pretty terrible place to live, unless youre the rare few who thrive there like the Rogue Traders, vanguards of the Imperium who command enormous amounts of political power. Speaking of Rogue Traders, you can step into their boots on the cheap thanks to a deal on Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader at GOG and Green Man Gaming that knocks 45% off, costing you just $27.49 (was $49.99). This title is an excellent CRPG that digs into all the unsavory choices and high-stakes adventures that come along with the profession. It has sold over 1 million copies since launch, and to celebrate, developer Owlcat Games is selling the game for its lowest price yet for the rest of the day.The games first premium DLC pack, Void Shadows, is also available for 20% off at GOG, costing $14.39. Void Shadows adds a large chunk of content to the middle of the game, pitting the Rogue Trader and their forces against the sneaky Genestealer Cults. A second DLC pack, Lex Imperialis, is currently in the works. We dont know much about the second expansion, except that itll be large scale and likely revolving around the Arbites, the Imperiums specialized law enforcement division.Its great to see other CRPGs flourishing in the wake of mega-hit Baldurs Gate 3. Another game set in the Warhammer 40K universe, Space Marine 2, has also enjoyed a great deal of post-launch success. It remains to be seen whats next for Rogue Trader after the Lex Imperialis expansion, but its a truly enormous title that is worth picking up, especially while on sale.

As soon as I saw Metaphor: ReFantazio was getting a manga adaptation, I figured this would be a good option for folks who dont have the time or patience to play an RPG that could easily take 80 hours to complete (or in my case, well over 100 hours, what with all the side quests I embarked upon). But based on the first issue, which you can read for free on Manga Plus, this adaptation is going to be a lot sillier.Its not just that the manga makes several changes to the story, but theres that too. The whole tone of the book is different. After the initial sense of whiplash, I decided I liked it, but it does require some mental adjustment. In the game, the main character often speaks with a strange sense of formality and emotional distance; hes one of the least developed characters in the game, which makes sense, as hes a cypher onto which the player can project themselves easily. Thats pretty classic for a video game.In the manga, I was shocked to see the main character saying shut up to his fairy friend Gallica right out of the gate. Harsh! He turns out to be more goofball than jerk, though, with tons of vibrant facial expressions and little quips that the protagonist of the game never had.The biggest change in the book is to Strohls character. In the game, hes almost as understated and withdrawn as the protagonist; hes a noble who has lost his lands and family, but still believes in the idea of nobility and living up to it. The manga turns that thinly sketched concept into comedic caricature, having Strohl constantly shout at people that his noble blood requires him to help commoners at all costs. He repeatedly flings himself into near-death situations, most of which are invented purely for the manga, in order to prove hes the noblest noble ever.The mangas first issue meanders through some plot points that never happen in the game at all and then suddenly ends with the kings funeral, an event that does happen in-game and is a major turning point in the storys first act. I was kind of surprised the manga got to it so quickly. (For comparisons sake, the funeral scene happens about two hours into this 20-hour cutscene compilation of the game.) But stranger still, the manga doesnt ever introduce Hulkenberg, instead giving her biggest early moments to Strohl; in the game, Hulkenberg is there from the very beginning, way before Strohl shows up. I dont mind the manga making these changes in the interest of streamlining a very complex RPG plot, and having fewer characters right out of the gate doubtless helps with that, but its still strange to see so many major events unfolding without Hulkenberg present.But its really the decision to make all the characters into emotive goofballs thats throwing me, and ultimately making me wonder if the game could have been improved with some of these elements. I dont need Strohl and the main character to be as exaggerated in their actions as they are in the manga, where the characterization is clearly done for the sake of quick narrative shorthand. But it actually would have been nice to see a bit more personality out of the two of them, especially in the slow early hours of the game before you accrue some of the more entertaining party members (such as Heismay). Its definitely entertaining to see an unexpectedly different spin on the story and Ill be curious how the rest of the issues adapt the forthcoming adventures.