San, ni, ichi… Hajime! 🎌 Welcome to Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu! 🏃🍌🐶Whether you're a total newbie, or still recovering from shiba-related injuries from the OG Nippon Marathon - welcome to the weirdest marathon you'll ever run!Get ready for Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu, where fruit is deadly, physics are on vacation, and Shiba Inu are kawaii but absolutely relentless.🛎️ P.S. If you’re liking the sound of this so far, hit that Wishlist button—it’s a huge help for tiny teams like ours!Never Played the Original? Daijoubu! (That’s Japanese for “It’s OK!”)The original Nippon Marathon was our love letter to game show absurdity - drawing inspiration from Takeshi’s Castle (or MXC, for our American pals), Micro Machines, and slapstick Saturday morning TV.The idea was simple: 🦞 Race across Japan dodging ridiculous obstacles, 🍌 Hurl fruit at your rivals,🌀 And flail gloriously through ragdoll chaos…All while dressed as a lobster. And, it clicked: 💬 89% Very Positive on Steam 🎥 Millions of YouTube views 🇯🇵 Even got airtime on Japanese TV Fans were very excited when we announced Nippon Marathon 2, here's some of our fave reactions: What’s New in NM2? So for Nippon Marathon 2, we rebuilt everything from the ground up, building on what you love from the first game: 🍌 All-new obstacle courses with totally unexpected hazards 🧼 Ridiculous power-ups (old favourites + chaotic new ones) 🤼 The return of SoraTheTroll's iconic commentary 📺 Brand-new Create-a-Contestant mode 🕹️ And yes… online multiplayer is coming Who’s Behind the Madness? We’re Onion Soup Interactive - a married two-person indie team from the UK. We grew up glued to Takeshi’s Castle, Wacky Races, and many other completely unhinged TV show/cartoon from the 90s! Now as adults, it’s clearly hardwired into our DNA—because our mission is simple: To make unapologetically weird games that’ll have you questioning your life choices… and definitely ours. Since our debut with Nippon Marathon, we’ve been spreading joyful chaos to players around the world with our weird games.Our first Kickstarter for NM2 didn’t quite land, but we we weren’t ready anyway.So we trained in the indie dojo, unleashed the mini-game mayhem of SUPER 56, and now…We’re back. Stronger. Sillier. More Daijoubu than ever.Join the Community! We’re just two humans and a dream (and a lot of coffee), but it's our community that makes it all possible.Whether you’ve been with us since the first Nippon Marathon, discovered us through SUPER 56, or just stumbled in for Nippon Marathon 2 - we’re so glad you’re here 💛Got ideas? Fan art? Power-up suggestions? Come say hi: 💟 Discord 🐦 Twitter 📺 YouTube 🦋 BlueSky 🔗 LinkTree We post behind-the-scenes chaos, memes, dev updates, and occasionally, beta invites. Wishlist Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu! Hit that Wishlist button now to stay updated-and help us defeat the Steam algorithm overlords. It’s the easiest way to support the game and get notified about new updates and Shiba-fuelled madness.Thanks for joining us on this ridiculous journey.That’s Daijoubu!!!💛 Amy & Andy

Brooklinen is one of our favorite brands for quality bedding designed to last. Making it in our lists for pillows, duvets, and even robes, the best Brooklinen sheets are also staples in many of our editors’ bedrooms for this very reason. Founded in 2014 by a pair of millennials with a passion for high-end textiles on a tight budget , this retailer made a splash on the market by offering direct-to-consumer bedding that merged thoughtfully designed linens at affordable price points—complete with 200-plus thread counts for ultimate durability and Oeko-Tex-certified backing to ensure the fabrics are free of harsh chemicals. While they also became well-known for the ubiquity of their subway ads, they caught our eye at AD Shopping for delivering breathability and sturdy sheets in modern colorways that made a bedroom feel anything but stuffy.That being said: the brand’s catalog is big, so if you know you want Brooklinen sheets but don’t know where to start, we’ve assembled a list of our tried-and-true favorites. Available in sizes ranging from twin XL to California king, we note our go-to percale, sateen, and linen sets in this lineup.Brooklinen Luxe Sateen Core Sheet SetBrooklinen’s Luxe Core Sheet Set is beloved by multiple AD staffers—commerce director Rachel Fletcher says this sateen set is “super classic, smooth, and has a crisp feel,” and contributor Erika Owen loves “the deep design of the fitted sheet pocket” and how easy it is to get it over her mattress and mattress topper. Owen also says it has great temperature regulation. As a self-proclaimed hot sleeper, she says the fabric maintains an even sleep temperature, including during a New York City heat wave. This set of sheets also comes in 21 colorways to bring your inspo pics to life, but move fast, these sell out quickly. Machine wash these on cold, tumble dry low, and you’ll see no signs of fading or wear, but an increase in softness, according to Fletcher.Brooklinen Washed Linen Core Sheet SetAs for Brooklinen’s linen sheets, their original core set recently got an upgrade. Our team members have tested their first iteration for years, including contributor Madeleine Luckel. While she confessed in our best sheets roundup that they felt a “bit thin,” she said the bedding lived up to her expectations. Plus, she would recommend them to other shoppers, so long as you weren’t “picturing a superdense weave.” After debuting the washed European linen sheets this spring, our team got our hands on them and found them to be soft and lightweight. Ranking in our best-of-linen sheets story, the washed material European linen brings a softer but stronger fabric to the beloved set, meaning it wears less with wash and continues to get softer with routine care Perhaps the best part of this sheet set—aesthetically, anyway—is its many colorways: the recent collaboration with Brooklyn-based textile artist Caroline Z Hurley offers warm, neutral stripe options, a white-and-blue stripe lends itself to a nautical-inspired coastal bedding set, and chambray and moss give the linen a particularly welcoming wash, appearing earthy and grounded for year-round use. Contributor Yelena Moroz Alpert says, “There is natural texture because of slubs (teeny bumps) in the weave, but I think this adds to the softness.” “Think of your favorite linen shirt, but in the form of a sheet.” They’re extremely light, “If you hold it up, you can see through it,” Alpert adds. Our editors recommend machine washing these on cold without any other items on the first cycle to help prevent color bleeding. These should get softer and look a bit more worn with each wash, which gives linen its coveted slouchy, worn look.Brooklinen Classic Percale Core Sheet Set“The texture of these is unreal,” says contributor Yelena Alpert, who recently tested this. “It feels buttery soft like a sateen, but still crisp as percale cotton should be.” Brooklinen promises these classic percale sheets feel like sleeping in your worn-in button-down shirt—sans buttons, of course. And after thorough testing, we agree. Besides the silky-soft feel, Alpert loves these sheets for lingering at an accessible price point for high-quality cooling sheets. While this set includes a flat sheet, fitted sheet, and two pillowcases, the hard-core sheet bundle includes a duvet cover and two more pillowcases to completely flesh out your new bedding set. Percale only improves with wash, as a few turns in the washing machine help loosen its fibers to create a softer texture. Alpert adds that this percale is also durable and pilling-resistant, though you can expect a bit more of a wrinkle if you’re not on top of the dry cycle.Like the linen sheets noted above, the percale sets are available in designs by Caroline Z Hurley. Commerce writer Julia Harrison attests these are not only cooling, comfortable, and soft, but they are also “so damn cute.” In a gray-beige, blue, and coral floral print, they bring a welcome dose of whimsy to your bedding without becoming twee about it.Between their designs and fabrics, and with a focus on temperature regulation and non-toxic materials, Brooklinen hits the sweet spot for budget-friendly, sturdy sheets that’ll last for the long haul. Few AD staffers haven’t tried a pair of sheets from them and loved their new drops, colorways, and ever-improving textures. Brooklinen offers free shipping with no minimum, as well as a 365-day warranty in case you’d like to return the items. However, we stand behind them for some of the best sheets out there. “It’s sort of a no-brainer,” Harrison says. “They’re the first brand I recommend when people ask me where to start for bedding, because they’re luxurious, affordable, and come in every pattern and colorway a person could want.”

Lately I’ve been playing a new job sim game, Crime Scene Cleaner, while also watching BBC’s comedy series The Cleaner, both of which focus on the aftermath of gruesome murders – sometimes you just need some cosy viewing to take the edge off the day. In the TV show, Greg Davies plays Wicky, the acerbic employee of a government-endorsed clean-up company, while Crime Scene Cleaner’s lead character Kovalsky is a lowly janitor, mopping up blood and disposing of trash to cover up for a mob boss named Big Jim.The crime scenes in both are laughably over the top. Or are they? I’ve never actually seen a real-life murder scene, so perhaps copious blood sprayed over walls and ceilings and the masses of broken furniture is completely normal.Take the edge off … Greg Davies as Wicky in the BBC’s The Cleaner. Photograph: Tom Jackson/PAStepping into Kovalsky’s plastic overshoes, the aim is to leave each location exactly as it was prior to the … um … incident. Unlike Wicky, who has to constantly deal with annoying homeowners and neighbours, Kovalsky has no living humans for company; just the dead ones that he hauls over his shoulder before slinging them unceremoniously into the back of his pickup truck. Each scene plays out in silence, save for the occasional brief chat with Big Jim and Kovalsky’s own pithy self-talk. Both Kovalsky and Wicky are world-weary labourers, doing what is necessary to get through each blood-splattered scene. But there are differences between the two men: Kovalsky swipes cash and valuables to boost his bank balance (he’s saving up to pay his daughter’s medical bills) while Wicky just wants to get finished in time for curry night at the pub.Crime Scene Cleaner is a weird concept for a game, the unnatural offspring of PowerWash Simulator and Hitman. But despite the macabre premise, I’ve come to appreciate the quiet, contemplative and satisfying process of cleaning up, as Kovalsky stuffs fragments of glass, pizza slices and broken crockery into his bin bag before hurling it into his truck and getting started on all the blood spatter with a microfibre mop, pushing sofas and tables back and returning ornaments to their rightful spot on the shelves afterwards. It’s immensely satisfying, despite the game’s realistic yet tiresome insistence on continually wringing out your mops and sponges.No living humans for company … Crime Scene Cleaner video game. Photograph: President StudioExploring increasingly bizarre locations is also a common theme between the two: Crime Scene Cleaner has a pizzeria, a museum and a spooky smart house; The Cleaner takes in an ice-cream parlour, theatre and stately home. I love that the game gives me a chance to become a more sedate version of The Cleaner’s Wicky without the interference of coppers, maniacal novelists or even the killer themselves (as brilliantly portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter in the show). With his daughter ensconced in a medical clinic, Kovalsky’s only (living) companion is his playful German shepherd. Its name? Dexter. Of course.At the end of each clean-up, I find myself standing back and admiring the scene, content with a job well done. Crime Scene Cleaner and The Cleaner both tap into the very essence of black comedy, where horror becomes amusingly banall. In both, the crimes have already happened, the worst has been done and all that remains is… the remains.

The launch of a new console is always exciting, because new hardware means new software to play on it. For the Switch 2, Nintendo is changing tactics with the release cadence of new games, as the console will launch with just a single first-party exclusive instead of several all at once. The launch lineup will still be bolstered by third-party support, and the company has several more exclusives on the way, but these are arriving throughout the rest of 2025 and 2026.For this list, we're looking at the games you'll only find on the Switch 2 and the ones that offer new content exclusively for the system. We're skipping Switch games being upgraded for the Switch 2--like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom--or titles that'll be available on both Switch and Switch 2, like Pokemon Legends: Z-A and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.We're expecting a library of Switch 2 games that'll stand tall next to some of the best across multiple Nintendo eras, and we'll be listing every known and new release as they're revealed. Mario Kart WorldRelease date: June 5, 2025The marquee title for the Switch 2, Mario Kart World is the first mainline entry in the series since the release of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in 2017, which was a port of 2014's Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U. Mario Kart World looks like it has the potential to push the series to new heights, as it offers colorful visuals, a stacked roster, and courses set inside of a massive open-world environment that can be freely explored.Where to buyWalmartTargetBest Buy Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome TourRelease date: June 5, 2025The Nintendo Switch 2 will be loaded with several new features, and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour looks like a fine--and fun!--way to learn about them. The caveat here is that this tech demo has a $10 entrance fee, but if you don't mind paying for it, this will likely be a great way to explore the new features on this console. See on the Nintendo eShop Kirby Air RidersRelease date: 2025The Kirby Air Ride sequel that fans have been waiting years for, this new game is being directed by the pink blob's creator, Masahiro Sakurai. Kirby Air Ride on the GameCube was beloved for its fast-paced racing action in multiplayer sessions, and while we don't know too much about the new game yet, we're hoping to see some of that classic Kirby magic when the cute fella arrives on Switch 2. See on the Nintendo eShop Donkey Kong BananzaRelease date: July 17, 2025The next Donkey Kong adventure combines traditional platforming fun with destruction, as Nintendo's favorite ape will be able to smash his way through various environment. You'll be able to tear off chunks of terrain to hurl at enemies and punch your way into subterranean worlds to uncover secrets lurking beneath the surface.Where to buyWalmartTargetGameStop Fast FusionRelease date: June 5We haven't seen a brand-new F-Zero game in many years, but Fast Fusion might just be the next best thing. A very fast anti-gravity racing game that looks like it was also inspired by Wipeout, Fast Fusion is the fourth game in the Fast series and a sequel to 2017's Fast RMX. See on the Nintendo eShop Hyrule Warriors: Age of ImprisonmentRelease date: 2025This isn't the first time that Koei Tecmo and Nintendo have teamed up, and like its previous effort, you can expect this game to combine the world and characters of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom with the gameplay of Dynasty Warriors. Narratively, Age of Imprisonment serves as a prequel to Tears of the Kingdom as it focuses on the "Imprisoning War" that set the stage for that game. See on the Nintendo eShop Survival KidsRelease date: June 5, 2025The original Survival Kids game was released all the way back in 1999, and while it wasn't a smash-hit, critics at the time did praise it for its clever blend of ideas inspired by the likes of Pokemon and The Legend of Zelda. The sequel once again follows a group of kids stranded on an island and forced to fend for themselves, but this time, the focus is on co-op gameplay, puzzle-solving, and crafting. See on the Nintendo eShop Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD RemasterRelease date: June 5First released on the Nintendo 3DS, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster on Switch 2 will feature some nifty upgrades on that system. The remaster has improved graphics, but in terms of content, this version also offers a redesigned user interface, the ability to fast-forward through certain scenes, quality-of-life upgrades, and two types of mouse-controlled minigames.Where to buyWalmartBest BuyGameStopTarget Yakuza 0: Director's CutRelease date: June 5Considered to be the best game in the Yakuza series, Yakuza 0: Director's Cut is a two-fisted tour through Tokyo that tells a hard-hitting story. For its Switch 2 release, the game is being updated with new cutscenes designed to give deeper insight into key incidents and character backstories, an English dub has been added, and there's a new online mode called Red Light Raid. For now, it looks like Yakuza 0: Director's Cut has only been confirmed for Switch 2, but we wouldn't be surprised if it makes the leap to other platforms after a period of timed exclusivity.Where to buyAmazonWalmart Super Mario Party Jamboree + Jamboree TV: Switch 2 EditionRelease date: July 24While the game did launch for in October 2024, Super Mario Party Jamboree + Jamboree TV: Switch 2 Edition will offer more than just improved graphics and frame rates. This new edition is packed with new modes and minigames, making this the ultimate version of the party game.Where to buyWalmartTargetGameStop Release date: August 28In case you missed it when it first came out on Switch, Kirby and the Forgotten Land was a terrific adventure starring the adorable Nintendo icon. On Switch 2, the game is getting a graphical upgrade and exclusive adventure called Star-Crossed World and all-new Mouthful Modes to wield in battle.Where to buyWalmartTargetGameStop Drag x DriveRelease date: Summer 2025If there's going to be a showcase game for the Switch 2's new Joy-Con 2 mouse controls, it might just be Drag x Drive. Details on it are slim for now, but from what we've seen so far, Drag x Drive will let you put your hoop-shooting skills to the test while you race around the arena in a wheelchair. The catch here is that the game makes heavy use of the Switch 2's mouse controls to move around and score points. See on the Nintendo eShop The DuskbloodsRelease date: 2026With Elden Ring Nightreign proving to be an enjoyable showcase of souls-like multiplayer, we're excited to see what From Software has in store for Switch 2 players when The Duskbloods eventually hits the scene. The studio has shared more details on the game since it was first revealed, like how players can choose from a cast of "over a dozen" characters that can be customized, the setting for the game, and how progression works. Interestingly, The Duskbloods was originally pitched for the Switch, but plans changed after Nintendo spoke to developer From Software about the Switch 2 console. See on the Nintendo eShop

May 29, 20255 min readSpaceX’s Starbase Is Officially a City. Some Neighbors Aren’t ThrilledStarbase, SpaceX’s launch site turned company town in South Texas, faces local opposition from residents outside the city limitsBy Paola Rosa-Aquino edited by Lee BillingsSpaceX rockets stand near the end of a neighborhood street in the company’s Starbase launch complex in this photograph from October 2021. Starbase was officially incorporated as a city of Cameron County, Texas in May 2025. Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBefore SpaceX’s Starship lost control and exploded over the Indian Ocean during its ninth test flight, the 400-foot-tall megarocket blasted off from Texas’s newest city.Starbase, situated on 1.5 square miles of the Lone Star State’s southernmost tip in the Rio Grande Valley, is mostly made up of SpaceX employees living on company-owned property and abuts a habitat for endangered wildlife, as well as a public beach.Starbase serves as the main testing and launch location for Starship, SpaceX’s planned fully reusable spacecraft, which is meant to revolutionize human and uncrewed space travel with its gargantuan payload capacity and rapid-fire flight cadence. If Starship’s development proceeds as planned, the megarocket could soon be ferrying crew and cargo alike to multiple otherworldly destinations—such as the lunar surface, for NASA’s Artemis program, and Mars, in fulfillment of SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s long-stated dream. But nearby residents worry about less glamorous local effects, fearing that a town built around the space company could continue SpaceX’s alleged pattern of polluting the area and blocking access to the nearby beach and other open public spaces.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.“SpaceX has already proven itself to be an extremely bad neighbor,” says Christopher Basaldú, an anthropologist and environmentalist and co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, who lives in nearby Brownsville, Tex. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Long before it was Starbase, the area’s beaches, tidal flats and wetlands were of great significance to the Indigenous Carrizo/Comecrudo people (or Esto’k Gna in their own language). Many of them still live nearby as members of the modern-day Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. Today the area is largely Latino and among the poorest in the country. Musk’s space company began buying up property there in 2012; ever since company housing and rocket-related infrastructure have steadily sprouted.“We’ve grown quite a bit just in the last couple of years. It’s a couple hundred employees [and] their families, living amongst actual rockets,” said Daniel Huot, a SpaceX communications manager, during a company livestream before Tuesday’s Starship test flight.Huot added that the move to incorporate what was formerly Boca Chica Village as Starbase will help the company “scale more quickly [to] try to build out the best community possible for all the people that are building the future of humanity’s place in space.”Even before SpaceX began launching rockets at the site, neighbors complained about potential environmental woes stemming from the company’s operations. In a 2018 press conference, Musk dismissed such concerns, saying “We’ve got a lot of land with no one around, and so if [a rocket] blows up, it’s cool.”The first launch of the 40-story-tall Starship vehicle in April 2023 didn’t entirely proceed as planned—it blew up the concrete launch pad and left a literal crater behind. Particulate debris, as well as concrete and steel shrapnel from the botched launch, scattered far and wide across the surrounding landscape, igniting fires and slamming into protected habitats and public beaches. Ash, dust and sand grains hurled aloft by this first Starship flight test rained down as far out as Port Isabel, Tex., about five miles from the launch site.Local environmentalists have also sounded the alarm on how the company’s activities at Starbase could increase chemical and sonic pollution that puts migratory birds and other vulnerable endangered species in the area at greater risk.Despite these brewing tensions, Starbase was incorporated in early May, making it the first new city in Cameron County, Texas, in 30 years.Only people who live in the immediate area—almost all of them SpaceX employees—were eligible to vote for the new city. Residents voted 212 for and six against. The city’s mayor and commissioners—all current or former SpaceX employees—ran unopposed. “Now [SpaceX has] stolen away not only a neighborhood but the land around it, which had been basically environmentally untouched areas,” says Basaldú, who is a member of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe.Starbase’s boundaries snake along State Highway 4, which provides the only access to both Starbase and the open-to-the-public Boca Chica Beach. A bill pending in the Texas Legislature would shift control over weekday closures of the beach and nearby roadways from the county commissioners to Starbase city leaders now that Starbase is a municipality under law.“As a community, we were there first,” says Suquiery Santillana, a resident of nearby Brownsville, Tex., who has visited Boca Chica Beach since childhood. “I’m almost 50, and now my grandkids are going.” Her family’s trips to the isolated shoreline now include wide-eyed roadside spectators from all across the country who want to catch a glimpse of the SpaceX launch site. While Santillana is happy that SpaceX has brought jobs to the area, she would like the company to communicate more about upcoming closures and launch plans with locals.Members of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe also trace their creation story to this once-pristine beach. The intermittent access restrictions imposed by SpaceX’s launches, some tribe members say, limit them from freely participating in traditions such as fishing and tribal ceremonies that have been taking place on their ancestral land for thousands of years.Activity at the site could soon ramp up even more. On May 22 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it had granted approval for SpaceX to increase the annual number of Starbase launches from five to 25. Eventually, Starship flights from the site could far exceed that because the vehicle is designed for very fast turnaround times and an unprecedentedly high launch cadence. Starship’s sheer size, coupled with more frequent launches, could balloon Starbase’s overall environmental footprint while also essentially shutting down Highway 4 for much of the year. The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.For now, Starbase is poised to continue its rapid development and expansion, with plans in the works for more housing, offices and rocket launch facilities. Jim Chapman of the local environmental justice nonprofit Save RGV (Rio Grande Valley) worries that Starbase’s incorporation could allow SpaceX to skirt important regulatory hurdles. “[SpaceX has] fewer layers of bureaucracy that [it has] to go through and get approval from,” he says. “But on the other hand, I haven’t really seen the county denying [it] anything.”As SpaceX vies to fly ever more powerful rockets in pursuit of Musk’s interplanetary aspirations, local residents also fear that the company’s launch activity and its proximity to new natural gas projects could pose grave threats to Rio Grande Valley communities. One such project currently under construction is less than six miles from the launch site—too close for comfort, some critics say, given the possibility of volatile explosions sparked by showers of fiery rocket debris.If Musk’s latest projections are to be trusted (he often overpromises and underdelivers on meeting ambitious rocketry deadlines), additional Starship test flights will blast off from Starbase every few weeks for the rest of the summer. Time will tell if the company will be mindful of those who live next door.

OK, I know you just read that headline, but let me admit first off that I don’t actually think Elden Ring is that hard — not if you take it slow and steady, which the game’s design not only allows but encourages. At every step of the way in Elden Ring, you can decide exactly how you want to play it. It’s very customizable and it rewards patience. Elden Ring Nightreign is the complete opposite, and that’s why I don’t think it’s for me. And it might not be for most other FromSoftware game fans, either, which is pretty shocking.It wouldn’t be a FromSoftware game launch without at least a few debates about difficulty and certain players hurling “git gud” at each other like it was ever even remotely cool to say that and not just performatively tryhard at best and antisocial at worst. I try to exist instead in the sector of the FromSoftware fandom that is prosocial rather than antisocial — think Let Me Solo Her, for example, or even consider the real-life story that inspired longtime FromSoftware game director Hidetaka Miyazaki to design Demon’s Souls’ multiplayer elements with prosocial thinking in mind (via an old 2010 Eurogamer interview):“The origin of that idea is actually due to a personal experience where a car suddenly stopped on a hillside after some heavy snow and started to slip,” says Miyazaki. “The car following me also got stuck, and then the one behind it spontaneously bumped into it and started pushing it up the hill... That’s it! That’s how everyone can get home! Then it was my turn and everyone started pushing my car up the hill, and I managed to get home safely.”“But I couldn’t stop the car to say thanks to the people who gave me a shove. I’d have just got stuck again if I’d stopped. On the way back home I wondered whether the last person in the line had made it home, and thought that I would probably never meet the people who had helped me. I thought that maybe if we’d met in another place we’d become friends, or maybe we’d just fight...””You could probably call it a connection of mutual assistance between transient people. Oddly, that incident will probably linger in my heart for a long time.”The multiplayer experiences that I’ve had in Dark Souls and Elden Ring definitely do linger in my heart. I’ve also absolutely loved the moments in FromSoftware games in which I’ve personally conquered a difficult section all by myself. But I look back with equal appreciation on the times when I summoned a complete stranger to help me with something — “a connection of mutual assistance between transient people,” as Miyazaki put it. It is how these games are meant to be played, not as brutal solo journeys but as shared experiences.Here’s a screenshot I took of my Elden Ring character at the beginning of the game, before I knew I was going to spend 360 hours playing it Image: FromSoftware via PolygonThis brings us back to Elden Ring Nightreign, a game not directed by Miyazaki but by Junya Ishizaki. The difference in its multiplayer ethos is stark. This is a game designed with three-player squads in mind; it’s currently very punishing for solo players (although an upcoming patch aims to fix some of that), and the designers are still working on a duos mode. Because it’s three-player by default, I assumed that the game would be designed around teamwork and would actively reward prosocial behaviors, like base Elden Ring. I would argue that it’s not, and that’s why it’s very hard to have a good time in the game — especially if you’re playing with complete strangers.Problem number one: There’s no in-game communication system besides pinging certain locations on the map. Lack of chat options is a FromSoftware classic, and in most of these games, you don’t really need communication to understand what to do. Usually, you’re just summoned to help with a boss battle, and after it’s over, you’re done and you go back to your game. But in Nightreign, it’s three-player for the entire game, obviously, and it’s a match-based game, not a hundreds-of-hours RPG. Matches last 45 minutes and every second counts, which means you and your teammates need to be extremely organized throughout. The lack of communication hurts. But that’s not the only problem. Far from it.Problem number two: The ring of fire. This game is a combination of Elden Ring’s open world areas (which encourage slow, methodical exploration) and a Fortnite-esque ring of fire that closes in on you constantly (which means you absolutely shouldn’t be doing any slow, methodical exploration). There’s also a Diablo-esque loot system, but you better read those loot descriptions fast, because the fire is coming for you. There are randomized boss fights all over the map, but oops, you might not be able to complete them in time to collect runes from them, because that fire is closing in. There are also special upgrades that you can only get if you defeat these mid-game bosses all over the map, but you might barely even have time to read those descriptions of the special abilities and select one in time for… you guessed it… the fire rushing towards you.This second problem becomes even more stressful when you have two other people on your team alongside you. This game has not one but two different sprint buttons in it — a regular sprint, and a super-fast sprint that uses up stamina faster. That’s because, of course, you need to be running from that fire. But that means your teammates, and you, need to constantly be doing the equivalent of screaming “move, move, move” like a drill sergeant in an army movie. You will be unwittingly getting annoyed at your teammate who is spending too damn long looking at loot on the ground or at an upgrade tree. The fire is coming! Hurry the fuck up! Again, this is not a game design choice that rewards prosocial behaviors and instead makes you feel dragged down by the two teammates that you also desperately need to survive the bosses in this game. Even the “revive” process involves you inflicting damage on your teammate to bring them back to life (rather than a revive button or item), which is darkly hilarious, because you might also grow to desire hitting them due to how annoyed you might feel that they died during a super difficult fight. Which brings us to the third and final problem.Image: FromSoftwareThird problem: The randomization of the bosses and of the items. The thing about base Elden Ring is that you can figure out a boss and how it works (is it weak to fire? Holy damage? And so on) and then patiently build up a character who can deal with that problem. You can memorize that boss’ attack patterns. You can find a save point nearest to that boss and run it back over and over again until you get past it. These are all of the wonderful and rewarding parts of playing FromSoftware video games; these are also the moments when you might do all of those preparations and then think, “Actually, I want to also summon a complete stranger to help me with this boss because it’s still too freaking hard.” And then you can do that, too. None of that is the case in Nightreign, because everything is completely fucking random.The bosses, except for the very last boss in each area, are random. The loot is random. Do you have the right loot to fight the boss you’re facing right this second? You may very well not. Do your teammates have it? You might not even know; you don’t have a way to communicate with them, after all. Is the boss in this area way overleveled for you and your team? It won’t be obvious until you start hitting it, and once you do that, good luck escaping. And if your team does a complete wipe and everyone dies to that boss together, you don’t get to run back together from the nearest save point, having seen its attack patterns, ready to try again with teamwork in mind. Nope, instead you get to start all over again, except now with new randomized bosses and new randomized loot.In other games with randomized loot, like Diablo, or other roguelikes with random elements like Hades, the game is designed with down time in mind. When you’ve completed a fight in Diablo or Hades, you have infinite time to stand around and make decisions. There is no encroaching circle of fire forcing you to read item descriptions and ability trees quickly. There’s a reason for that; the decision-making is the most fun part of a game with randomized elements. Why would Nightreign take that away?All of these aspects of the game do feel less bad if you’re playing with two good friends on voice chat. But even in that scenario, the game is still really punishing, and again, not in a way that other FromSoftware games are punishing. It’s punishing because you need to spend the entire game running, looking at randomized loot as fast as you possibly can before making a snap (possibly bad) decision, running more, desperately encouraging your teammates to keep on running to keep up, warning your teammates about the encroaching flames about to kill them, and did I mention running? Is this a fun way to spend your weekly gamer night with two other adults who just worked a full-time job all day and maybe just wanted to have a nice time playing a video game together?Image: FromSoftware/Bandai NamcoI’ve had a review code for Nightreign for a while now, so I already was worried about these problems before the game launched, but now that it’s launched and I’m seeing early mixed reviews on Steam, I’m ready to commiserate and validate: Yes, this game really doesn’t feel like Elden Ring, and even after some of this stuff gets patched, it’s still fundamentally super different. And that’s not only because it’s multiplayer, but because the multiplayer just doesn’t feel like other multiplayer FromSoftware experiences. It feels like it’s designed not only for people who have two best friends with whom they play competitive games on a regular basis, but also specifically for people who live for thrills and speed — not the methodical, calculated experiences of other FromSoftware games.For all of those reasons, I’m really not sure how this is going to go for FromSoftware over time. Is this game going to eventually encourage some prosocial behaviors amongst players, against all odds? Will people slowly learn the best ways to get through different areas? Will there be a “meta” for working together that emerges over time?It seems possible, and since it’s only been one day, it’s way too early to tell. Various social norms will emerge in the player community, and hopefully they won’t be toxic ones. But I can tell from having already played the game that this is going to be an uphill climb for FromSoftware fans. It’s a very different game — and its specific form of difficulty is going to be a whole new variety for those fans to get used to. And like me, they might just decide they don’t really care for it.See More:

Hell Is Us – not a Ubisoft adventure (Nacon) GameCentral goes hands-on with an original sci-fi action adventure where the emphasis is on unguided exploration, with some throwback Zelda inspirations. You might already have heard the name Hell Is Us, as the game was first announced way back in April 2022. We previewed the sci-fi tinged adventure title, developed by Rogue Factor, for the first time last year but now it’s now on the home-straight, with a launch slated for September 4, and it’s shaping up to be a peculiar but intriguing mix of influences and ideas. Our original preview covered the opening portion of the game, so we’ll avoid recycling the same beats here. But for the general gist, you play as a United Nations peacekeeper named Rémi who absconds to the war-torn country of Hadea to track down his parents. A stroll through the tutorial woods later, however, and you realise this isn’t your average civil war.  If you’re a fan of Alex Garland’s Annihilation, the strange, faceless alien from the film’s conclusion seems to have been a major influence here. The Hollow Walkers, as they’re called, are very creepy, as they lurch towards you unpredictably, with morphing limbs which give way to vivid, crystallised attacks or, in some cases, attached entities you have to kill first. Their glossy white exteriors act as a stark contrast to the muted eastern European landscapes and dungeons you explore.  As a game, Hell Is Us is somewhere between Bloodborne and The Elder Scrolls. Combat wise, it’s pulling from the former, as you manage a stamina bar, study enemy patterns for the best moment to strike, and rely on aggressive play to replenish a magic gauge for special skills. You also have access to a drone which has various uses tied to cooldown meters, between distracting enemies for crowd control andmaking a charging lunge to dash across the field.  Rogue Factor has stressed Hell Is Us isn’t a Soulslike though. You’re not scrambling for bonfires or any equivalent, but exploring and chatting with characters to piece together where you need to go next, discovering new places of interest, and encountering side objectives which bleed into the overall experience of navigating each semi-open world area. The ethos behind Hell Is Us is discovery and the organic feeling of finding your feet through clues in the world, rather than using obvious quest markers.  This might bring to mind acclaimed games like Elden Ring and The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, in their attempt to declutter open world exploration, but the game’s director, Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, believes the roots of what Hell Is Us is aiming for goes much further back. A cosmic horror vibe (Nacon) ‘Honestly, something like Zelda: A Link To The Past is much closer to what we’re doing now than a Breath Of The Wild,’ said Jacques-Belletête. ‘Sometimes people are like: ‘I really can’t put my finger on what kind of game it is, what is it?’ It’s just a bloody adventure game man. Look, you’ve got a combat system, you’ve got enemies, you’ve got a world to explore, there’s a mystery, you’re not exactly sure of this and that, there’s some secrets, there’s some dungeons, we did a game like that. It’s called an adventure game,’ he laughs. ‘There were even side-quests in A Link To The Past that didn’t tell you they were side-quests.’ Hell Is Us might have roots in classic adventure games but Jacques-Belletête, is keen to highlight the fatigue around Ubisoft style open world bloat, where checklists and quest markers are traditionally used in abundance. With the success of Elden Ring, there’s a sense many players are craving a return to the hands-off approach, where you discover and navigate without guidance – something which Hell Is Us is hoping to capitalise on after being in development for five years.  ‘It’s so much of the same thing,’ he says, when talking about Ubisoft style open worlds. ‘It loses all meaning. Things within these open worlds lose a lot of their taste because too much is like not enough. Do you know what I mean? You have to fill up these spaces with stuff and they just become a bit bland. Like once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen all of them.  ‘It’s not Assassin’s Creed, it’s not that, it’s all these things. We’ve all played them. I’ve got hundreds of hours in Elder Scrolls, all the Elder Scrolls, and that’s not the point. It’s not that I don’t like them. It’s just trends do their time and then you have other ideas. It’s a pendulum as well. Games used to be a lot more hardcore that way, we’re trying to go back to that.’ The crux of my time in Hell Is Us is spent in the Acasa Marshes, the second semi-open area where the game lets you off the leash. The swampy lands are crawling with Hollow Walkers in various forms, from hulking monstrosities to mage-like foes that hurl projectiles from clifftops. A swirling black vortex is a key focal point but it’s surrounded by enemies, while a settlement of villagers sits on a hill in the distance.  According to the developer, this area is one of the largest areas in the game, ‘if not the biggest one’, and it seems pretty expansive. We found ourselves heading towards the village, whose militaristic leader points you towards your main objective with only a vague mention of going ‘north east’. You have to dig out your compass to get a grasp on your position, as you try and navigate towards, and identify, the next location based on this information.  The lack of quest markers makes the experience more involving, as you have to pay more attention to your surroundings and what characters say, but I wasn’t entirely sold on the story or writing. It’s something which will hopefully become more engrossing as you get a better grasp of what’s going on, but I wish I was drawn to interact with the characters based on something beyond the need to progress.  When you are exploring aimlessly though, Hell Is Us offers some captivating chaos – even if some areas did appear to be gated off. We fought our way to the aforementioned swirling black vortex, encountering enemies beyond our skill level, only to find it was inaccessible due to not having a specific item. We later found an underground tunnel filled with enemies, where an individual connected to a side0quest was trapped at the other end.  Surprises lurk in the marshes (Nacon) Along with these open areas, Hell Is Us also offers dungeons built around puzzles and combat encounters. Aside from the opening introduction, we were shown a later example in the Lymbic Forge, which offered a nice dose of visual variety, with flowery gardens surrounding the boggy marshes. We didn’t get a whole lot of time to explore, but it did highlight the breadth of the combat upgrades and customisation with late-game weapons.  Hell Is Us is a melting pot of influences, and while we’re not sold on everything it’s trying to accomplish, it’s certainly another AA game with big, exciting ambitions – a trend amplified this year by the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. For the game’s director, who has a long history in the AAA space working at Eidos Montreal, the jump to AA, with a smaller team and less financial pressure, means you have a better chance of striking gold.  More Trending ‘Look at what’s happened to the industry over the past few years,’ Jacques-Belletête said. ‘Everything is crumbling. The big ones are crumbling. It’s unsustainable. And the games are so bloody bland, man. Everything is starting to taste the same.  ‘I find there’s nothing worse than starting a game and right away, in the first two minutes, you know how everything’s going to work. You know how every single mechanic is going to work. They might have a little [extra] in how it’s going to feel, or this and that, the user interface will change a bit, but you’ve gone through the ropes a dozen times.  ‘A game has to occupy a space in your brain that your brain can’t really compute just yet. When you turn your console off and it stays there, that’s because something is going on. Your brain is processing. And I think that’s a lot easier to do in the AA space than the AAA.’ Formats: Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PCPrice: £49.99Publisher: NaconDeveloper: Rogue FactorRelease Date: 4th September 2025Age Rating: 16 The combat it(Nacon) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Billions of years from now, the Sun will swell into a red giant, swallowing Mercury, Venus, and Earth. But that’s not the only way our planet could meet its demise. A new simulation points to the menacing threat of a passing field star that could cause the planets in the solar system to collide or fling Earth far from the Sun. When attempting to model the evolution of the solar system, astronomers have often treated our host star and its orbiting planets as an isolated system. In reality, however, the Milky Way is teeming with stars that may get too close and threaten the stability of the solar system. A new study, published in the journal Icarus, suggests that stars passing close to the solar system will likely influence the orbits of the planets, causing another planet to smack into Earth or send our home planet flying. In most cases, passing stars are inconsequential, but one could trigger chaos in the solar system—mainly because of a single planet. The closest planet to the Sun, Mercury, is prone to instability as its orbit can become more elliptical. Astronomers believe that this increasing eccentricity could destabilize Mercury’s orbit, potentially leading it to collide with Venus or the Sun. If a star happens to be nearby, it would only make things worse. The researchers ran 2,000 simulations using NASA’s Horizons System, a tool from the Solar System Dynamics Group that precisely tracks the positions of objects in our solar system. They then inserted scenarios involving passing stars and found that stellar flybys over the next 5 billion years could make the solar system about 50% less stable. With passing stars, Pluto has a 3.9% chance of being ejected from the solar system, while Mercury and Mars are the two planets most often lost after a stellar flyby. Earth’s instability rate is lower, but it has a higher chance of its orbit becoming unstable if another planet crashes into it. “In addition, we find that the nature of stellar-driven instabilities is more violent than internally driven ones,” the researchers wrote in the paper. “The loss of multiple planets in stellar-driven instabilities is common and occurs about 50% of the time, whereas it appears quite rare for internally driven instabilities.” The probability of Earth’s orbit becoming unstable is hundreds of times larger than prior estimates, according to the study. Well, that just gives us one more thing to worry about.

Macworld At a GlanceExpert's Rating Pros Good speed, tools, and customization settings Stopped every piece of malware 30-day trial Cons Tricky installation Web Protection feature does nothing to warn or prevent access to problem websites A disk access error required reinstallation (twice!) Our Verdict When the application works, it’s impressive. There was almost no malware I could get past it, the level of customization is impressive, and while I wish its Web Protection feature added warnings for clear scams and phishing attempts, Trend Micro Antivirus meets the needs of the Consumer market it’s targeted towards quite well. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac Retailer Price Trend Micro 19,95 € View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket There’s a certain value in an application not trying to do everything under the sun, but honing in on a set of tasks and performing them well. And while Trend Micro Antivirus for the Mac hasn’t included a ton of revolutionary new features since the last time we reviewed it (in 2023), and while you’re less likely to hear about the program given the company’s focus on the business environment and lack of a marketing blitz towards consumer and home users, there’s something good to be had here. Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac requires macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) to download, currently retails for $29.95/£19.95 a year for one device for the first year (discounted from $39.99/£49.95 a year), and is also readily available as a 30-day trial with no credit or debit card needing to be sent along to Trend Micro. We have tested all the best Mac antivirus software options in our round-up of the Best antivirus software for Mac. Simply download the software, install it, and follow the prompts to add the iCore network extension, add the Safari and other web browser extensions, decide if you want to activate the Folder Shield feature, perform the initial virus definition updates, and allow the software to reboot. From there, Trend Micro will ask for permission to initiate full disk access to your Mac’s hard drive. The user interface is identical to its previous versions, with the home screen focusing on its Overview, Web, Scans, Folder Shield, and Logs modules. Trend Micro Antivirus continues to focus on its bread and butter with what is honestly excellent antiviral protection. Foundry Upon hurling the Objective See Mac Malware collection at it, there was almost nothing that got through, the application recognizing the malware and deleting it, save for a fake Adobe Flash Player extension that installed and was later removed by the macOS operating system. This, combined with a handy scheduling feature that allows for daily, weekly, or monthly setup and execution, allows for the application to run on its own without needing to be babysat.   There’s an interesting level of customization at work here, as Folder Shield offers boosted protection to assorted user folders (such as Documents, Music, Pictures, Movies, Dropbox, Mobile Documents, etc.), and you can create a Trusted Program list. It’s not crucial, but it’s fairly unique, and the application also scans inserted USB drives by default. Foundry The Web Protection module offers Privacy Scanner, Web Threat Protection, and Website Filter elements, which can block controversial content, such as pornography, etc., and users can also add trusted websites and blocked websites.  If there’s one thing that impressed me, it was the quick access to the logs, which cover scan results, unsafe websites found, websites filtered, updates received, folder shield, and dangerous notifications found. While this version of Trend Micro Antivirus isn’t designed for the sysadmin market, there’s nothing more useful than system logs to see what’s going on, and the fact that these logs are pre-sorted comes in handy.  For the final element of the Overview window, and as expected, the user interface hooks into ads for the company’s other wares from its home screen (“Privacy Tools” goes to Trend Micro VPN and “Utility Tools” hooks into its Cleaner One Pro, Unzip One, and AdBlock One utilities) which isn’t surprising, and is at least tucked out of the way as opposed to the application firing this into your eyeballs every two nanoseconds you use it.  Foundry Trend Micro has carved out something good here, even if there are a few wrinkles to iron out. The installation was a little trickier than expected, and you have to double-check the windows and options to make sure you’re enabling the right extensions, as opposed to an installer that does most of this for you. This gets a little bit tricky, but isn’t a deal breaker by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps the most infuriating element to consider was the fact that the Web Protection feature, although well-hyped, does just about nothing to warn or protect you from websites associated with your spam folder, and I’m still able to go to sites offering me a free $1,000 prepaid Visa card, supposed free Bitcoin payouts, online casino gambling, etc. Finally, and I’m not sure exactly what led to this, but Trend Micro Antivirus stated twice that full disk access hadn’t been granted during testing despite the settings being correct, and needed to be uninstalled and reinstalled twice. This may be a bug between Trend Micro Antivirus and macOS Sequoia 15.5, but it would behoove Apple and Trend Micro to swap notes, brew a few pots of coffee, and see exactly what’s happening that could lead to this.  Should you buy Trend Micro Antivirus? I’m not sure what led to the error and the need for reinstallation, but when the application works, it’s impressive. There was almost no malware I could get past it, the level of customization is impressive, and while I wish its Web Protection feature added warnings for clear scams and phishing attempts, Trend Micro Antivirus meets the needs of the consumer market it’s targeted towards quite well, there’s ready access to Trend Micro’s help and feedback boards from the Overview window, and the options for the company’s additional tools are present but not overwhelming in the sense that a marketing department had gone out of control.

Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo LifeI’m absolutely terrified of roller coasters. The lack of control you have, the speed, high heights, twists and turns - all this makes for something I’ve never been able to convince myself is worth the thrill. It was easy to get over my fear of flying in aeroplanes as there’s always something exciting and extraordinarily worthwhile waiting for me on the other side of the flight. Some things in life I would just never be able to do without flying far away in a plane. However, with roller coasters I couldn't say the same, until now. 'Mine Cart Madness' opened to the public at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka at the tail end of 2024, and is also now in the States at Universal Epic Universe in Orlando, Florida. I’ve visited the smaller version of Super Nintendo World located at Universal in Hollywood, CA, a few times, and managed to ride their Mario Kart ride, Bowser’s Challenge, as well. Lots of Kong, but still needs more Dixie The MK ride is essentially a light-gun game with a heavy Augmented Reality element which forces you to wear 'goggles' making it hard to appreciate the physical environment you're riding through. You can take the 'goggles' off, but you lose the entire point of the ride in doing so, and the animatronic set pieces and environmental elements aren't all that exciting on their own. The game can be confusing at first and, for being a ride themed around a video game that traditionally encourages you to race fast, it's quite slow, too. Images: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life However, almost none of this can be said about the new Donkey Kong Country ride. I’m a much bigger DK fan than I am Mario, and even though this new Mine Cart ride is pitched as a more traditional roller coaster that sometimes even claims to go off the rails, my curiosity and love for the series had me clamouring to see what it had to offer. I’m thrilled to say it didn’t disappoint, even though it proved to be quite a bumpy ride at times. The queue for Mine Cart Madness takes you through a temple that reminded me most of Millstone Mayhem and Temple Tempest from the original Super Nintendo game. Most of the line is indoors or at least covered and was kept quite cool thanks to air conditioning, also featuring some themed water fountains if you need a drink. Here you’ll also find a few touchpoints for the Power Band that will net you digital collectibles if you’re using the Universal mobile app. The line is fairly simple with not much to see, aside from a surprising appearance from Cranky Kong and Squawks the parrot. Both are completely animatronic and fully voiced and bicker back and forth at each other. Not only do they help pass the time in line, they help lay down the story and what you can expect to see on the ride. Even though I had no one waiting in front of me, I stood here for quite a while and just listened to them chat, like a couple of good pals catching up after a long time apart. Images: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life Once it came time for me to sit down in my mine cart, I could feel my heart sink into my stomach as I remembered seeing the ride from the ground floor of the park and it going much, much faster than all of the other Nintendo-themed rides created up to this point. I was honestly pretty scared, but my love for the Kongs apparently knows no bounds, and it helped that I had a few pals with me (thanks, Brian from IGN and Marcus from Game Informer for keeping me calm!). The ride itself only lasts a few minutes, so I’ll refrain from spoiling too much as I really think if you’re going to do this, you should go in knowing as little as possible. Things really do go off the rails in some surprising and shocking ways, though. So much so that at one specific point on the ride, I thought it truly was the end for us. If you’ve seen the blueprints or caught the video of Miyamoto taking a tour of the park in Japan, you’ll likely have heard about the ride's big hook. If you've played a mine cart level in DKC, you'll know that platforming is very much a thing even in the mine cart, and that’s replicated here. Mine Cart Madness, never goes upside down (thankfully), but it takes you up and down some steep slopes and twists and turns every now and again, mimicking the feeling of flying off the rails and landing safely back on them. The jumps themselves didn’t feel as pronounced as I was expecting, as it seems to work more as a trick of the eye than your cart being hurled in the air. Honestly, that’s probably a good thing. Also, if you want a more authentic and adventurous experience, sit in one of the front seats if you can. Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life You’ll also meet a few of your favourite DKC buddies, and this alone kept me coming back to Mine Cart Madness for multiple rides. These animatronic set pieces make this ride a lot more fun than the Mario Kart ride to revisit, as it's so exciting to see these chimpanzees in action. There are more than just chimps to see, though, so if you're only familiar with the more recent Country games, there will be more surprises in store. For me, the ride was made even better at night as yellow and blue neon lights add a comforting glow to the experience. You’ll rush through a few indoor sections which make it feel like a dark ride at times too. There’s so much to look at that not once did I feel like I saw everything; if you swing your head around at different points, you may catch a nice glimpse of the park, a dainty splash of a rushing waterfall, or even a few adventurous Pikmin that broken away from the pack. This may just be a kink to be worked out, but every now and then I felt the ride could get quite bumpy. After exiting my mine cart, I heard other riders talk about how unexpectedly bumpy it was for them, too. I can’t imagine barreling down a mine shaft in a rusty rock wagon would be the most comfortable thing in real life, so maybe it’s just all a part of the experience. Something worth noting, though, no doubt. Images: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life What might be a downside for some is the fact that there’s no game element to this ride whatsoever. For me though, this was a huge win. Seeing the detail and quality in these animatronics, even just for a few short moments, is something I'll remember for a long, long time. It sounds silly, but this made me feel closer to the world of Donkey Kong Country than ever before - the Mario Kart ride didn’t leave this big of an impression. It's a huge step up in overall production and an experience I hope every diehard DKC fan can have in their life. As a member of the press, I was pretty much obliged to try it, but I think I finally understand the thrill people are chasing when they willingly choose to ride a roller coaster. If Nintendo and Universal decide to make their next ride even more intense, I hope I’ll be ready for it. Even if it had a name like 'Funky’s Crash Course.' Travel costs for this trip and early access to the park were provided by Universal. Let's use the Lens of Truth Share:0 1 Zion's been crafting videos and photos with our team for over half a decade now. While you'll usually find Zion playing RPGs, platformers, and adventure games, anything with a good story is sure to be right up his alley. For an on brand example: MOTHER 3 may not be recognized much by the Western side of Nintendo, but he still found a way to play it anyways and hopes it makes it way to the West officially so others can enjoy it more easily. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment... 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