Author: Game Infliction

Cat God Ranch: Deck-Building Meets Animal Ranch Management

Cat God Ranch: Deck-Building Meets Animal Ranch Management

  • Tudou, Lead Developer, CrazyPotato Studio

Cat God Ranch key art

Summary

  • Out now on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC with Xbox Play Anywhere.
  • Unique blend of deckbuilding and ranch management with over 100 animals, including prehistoric creatures.
  • Our favorite genre combining animals, terrains, and props to create powerful synergies.

Hello everyone, we’re CrazyPotato Studio, and we’re thrilled to introduce our passion project — Cat God Ranch — to the Xbox community. Launching on November 20, 2025, for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC (with Xbox Play Anywhere support), this game is a fresh take on the roguelite genre, combining strategic deckbuilding with the charm of animal ranch management.

Cat God Ranch titled art

Standing on the Shoulders of Great Roguelite Games

When we formed our studio, we knew we wanted to create a roguelike game. Not only is the genre more manageable for a small team, but it’s also one we deeply love. We’ve spent countless hours playing roguelikes like Brotato, Balatro, and Slay the Spire.

Cat God Ranch screenshot

Cat God Ranch draws significant inspiration from Luck be a Landlord, and while the core mechanics share similarities, we’ve added our own twists and improvements

For example, we allow players to freely choose three families to bring into the game, primarily to prevent the card pool from expanding excessively and to facilitate future updates. We currently have eight families, and even if we increase this to ten families in the future, it won’t affect the spawn probability of individual animals. Furthermore, placing all animals into one large pool would limit both playability and creative freedom. We want you to be able to mix and match families according to your own ideas, further enhancing the game’s replayability.

Highlight Moments of Extinct Animals and Powerful Builds

For every type of extinct animal, we designed highlight moments for them to heighten the game’s excitement to deliver a uniquely thrilling experience. Take the Phorusrhacos, for instance. Its design aims to instil a sense of dread, so we made it capable of removing all other small animals upon entering the field and absorbing their contributions. This mechanic transforms it into a pivotal moment that drives the game’s pace and amplifies the emotional intensity.

Another example is Smilodon. It’s like an upgraded version of a tiger, but it leaves leftover meat after eating. While it looks less formidable than Phorusrhacos, when paired with mice, it can ignore distance and devour every animal on the field—a true highlight moment.

Besides the highlight moments, there are many more different builds to explore. For example, you can get an army of expensive Peacocks to get rich, allow Chimpunks to breed unchecked, or even discover more fun with prehistoric creatures in the latest DLC.

A Heartfelt Thanks to Our Players

Our goal was simple: create a fun roguelike game filled with adorable animals. Since launching on PC, more than 100,000 players have supported us—and we can’t thank you enough. Now, we’re thrilled to bring Cat God Ranch to Xbox players. Thank you all for joining us on this wild, animal-filled adventure!


Cat God Ranch
Xbox Play Anywhere

Cat God Ranch

E-Home Entertainment Development Company Ltd

☆☆☆☆☆
1
★★★★★


$12.99

$10.39
Get it now

Cat God Ranch is an animal-themed casual strategy roguelite game. Manage hundreds of animals to pay tribute to the Cat God! 8 animal families, 100+ animals, 10+ Cat Gods, 100+ items, and various animal combinations waiting for you to explore!

New Content – Age of Dinosaurs
New Content is included in this version! New rainforest scenario, 20+ dinosaurs, 20+ items, 2 cat gods, 10+ achievements, and more.

Manage Your Ranch
Take on the role of ranch manager and grow your fledgling herd of animals into one worthy of pleasing the Cat God! There are many different paths to choose from, but only one hurdle to overcome at the end of each week. Pay tribute to the Cat God or face his wrath and have your ranch shut down.

100+ Animals with Unique Abilities of 8 Families
Whether it’s alpacas, crocodiles, hyenas, larks, or a combination of all, you choose the kind of ranch you want to build. Feed your barnyard buddies to the carnivores, or watch an army of penguins and pandas propagate across your ranch.

Utilize Different Terrains and Watch Your Animals Thrive
Combine grasslands, caves, puddles, and other tile cards to create endless possibilities and combos.

Tango with 100+ Prop Cards to Make Tribute in Time!
As you improve on your ranch, the Cat God will bestow you with prop cards. Add these modifiers to your daily earnings and watch them grow!

With 10+ cat gods, 100+ animals, 100+ props, 20+ toys, and 10+ tiles, it’s time to build your own unique deck and appease the Cat God!

The post Cat God Ranch: Deck-Building Meets Animal Ranch Management appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Tile-Placing Board Game Azul Gets a 33% Discount During Amazon’s Black Friday Sale

As the darkness of winter descends and people are driven to gather indoors for the holidays, it suddenly becomes a lot more important to have good board games on hand. If your board game shelf is looking a little barren, worry not; Amazon’s Black Friday sale has the excellent Azul for just $21.49 – a 33% drop from its usual price.

For the uninitiated, Azul is a strategic tile placement game in which two to four players are tasked with creating mosaics to win. It’s on IGN’s best beginner board games list – so at over $10 off, if you’ve never tried it, now is a good time.

Black Friday Deal: Azul Down to $21.49 at Amazon

Azul made our list of best board game classics for good reason. In our review, writer Matt Thrower said that, “Between its beautiful presentation, simplicity and depth there’s little doubt that Azul has earned its place as a modern classic.” And at this price? It’s certainly worth picking up for your board game collection.

If you’re looking for more board game deals, there’s plenty to explore from non-Amazon Black Friday sales. At the moment, Target has a ‘Buy 1 Get 1 50% off Board Games and Puzzles’ offer going on as part of its Black Friday sale, and other deals will surely pop up as the week continues. For more, check out our full breakdown of Black Friday 2025.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.

Save Over 50% on Catan With Amazon’s Black Friday Board Game Deals

Black Friday is one of the best times of year to pick up board games, full of great discounts to peruse. Among them is the 6th Edition of Catan, available from Amazon and Target for $24.99, a more than 50% discount.

Black Friday Deal: Save on Catan at Amazon and Target

Catan is meant to be played with three-to-four players aged 10 and up, perfect for holiday game nights with family or friends. As you play, you’ll trade resources and construct roads and settlements in a race to 10 points. We rank it among the best classic board games to play overall, and it’s still one of the best strategy board games in 2025.

There’s more where that came from. Amazon’s Black Friday sale features quite a few other board games, while Target has a ‘Buy 1 Get 1 50% off Board Games and Puzzles’ offer going on as part of its own sale. For a look at other retailers’ current and upcoming holiday deals, check out our full breakdown of this year’s Black Friday sales.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.

Far Cry Getting TV Adaption From Rob Mac and Alien Earth Creator Noah Hawley

Far Cry is taking its special brand of mayhem to FX and streaming service Hulu with a new series based on the games. Alien Earth’s Noah Hawley is producing with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob Mac starring and producing.

“What I love about the Far Cry game franchise is it’s an anthology. Each game is a variation of a theme, the same way each season of Fargo is a variation on a theme,” said Hawley.

“To create a big action show that can change from year to year, while always exploring the nature of humanity through this complex and chaotic lens is a dream come true. I’m excited to partner with Rob and bring our shared irreverent, ambitious sensibility to the screen.”

The plan is for each season of the show to take on a new setting, similar to the games with Mac in the starring role. Details on the release date or content are still under wraps, but the games have given us everything from Montana, USA to the Himalayas and cults, insane dictators and pirates, so there’s plenty to work with.

“Getting to work alongside Noah Hawley is a dream realized,” added Mac, who also worked with Ubisoft on Apple’s Mythic Quest, where he played a game developer.

“Ubisoft has been remarkably generous, entrusting us with one of the most iconic video-game worlds ever created. And through it all, my FX family continues to lift me up with their constant belief and support.”

Rachel Weber is the Senior Editorial Director of Games at IGN and an elder millennial. She’s been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, and French Bulldogs. Those extra wrinkles on her face are thanks to going time blind and staying up too late finishing every sidequest in RPGs like Fallout and Witcher 3.

Tower of Fantasy is quitting the gacha life as it, sort of, transitions into a regular MMO

Remember Tower of Fantasy? It was one of those Genshin Impact-ish gacha games, with its particular twist, so to speak, being that it’s sort of an MMO. I say sort of, because it’s described as a shared open world, meaning you can see other players, and there are some MMO elements, but its monetisations are much more gacha like. Or, well, they are until tomorrow, November 25th, as in quite a big move developer Hotta Studio is stripping Tower of Fantasy of all of its gacha elements.

Read more

Climb a dark fantasy tower and find the sweepstakes code in the Pocketpair published looter-shooter Vision Quench

Look, I have my fair share of problems with Palworld, but to give credit where credit is due, after announcing their foray into publishing earlier this year, they’ve lined up a suite of games. Dead Take, a psychological horror complete with Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Neil Newbon and Final Fantasy 16’s Ben Starr, launched earlier this year, Truckful just looks like a delight, and now there’s Vision Quench, a game for freaks like me who like it when fantasy gets a bit techy.

Read more

Level Up Your Look: Xbox and Crocs Launch Exclusive Gaming-Inspired Classic Clogs

Level Up Your Look: Xbox and Crocs Launch Exclusive Gaming-Inspired Classic Clogs

  • Marcos WaltenbergGM, Xbox Global Partnerships

Xbox Crocs

Game-mode: enabled. Xbox and Crocs have teamed up to release an exclusive collection. 

Ready up with this controller-meets-clog design that reimagines the iconic Xbox controller with fixed buttons and joysticks into the perfect shoe for couch co-op and kicking back – complete with cushioned footbeds adorned with Player Left and Player Right, which give expert-level comfort to support your next session. 

Available on the Crocs website starting tomorrow, the limited-edition Xbox collection includes a 5-pack of Xbox + Jibbitz charms featuring fan-favorite characters and icons from Halo, Fallout, DOOM, World of Warcraft, and Sea of Thieves. 

No matter how you choose to play, or where your holiday plans take you – the iconic Xbox controller-inspired clog will be with you along every step of the fun. 

The post Level Up Your Look: Xbox and Crocs Launch Exclusive Gaming-Inspired Classic Clogs appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone Season 1 goes live Dec 4, full details revealed

Be ready to defeat all adversaries in the biggest Season 01 ever, bringing a massive variety of maps, modes, loadout content, and more, including the new Astra Malorum Zombies map and the new Haven’s Hollow Resurgence map in Call of Duty: Warzone. Unlock an arsenal of rewards including new Weapons, Attachments, Camos and Equipment across multiple in-game challenges, events, and a stacked Battle Pass.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone Season 1 goes live Dec 4, full details revealed

Season 01 is live in Black Ops 7 and Call of Duty: Warzone on December 4.

Season overview

  • General Dorne is out for revenge in Season 01 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. The Guild was just the beginning for Dorne —and Season 01 will be only the beginning for fans, ushering in the biggest seasonal content plan in the history of Call of Duty.
  • Grab your squad and load up for more ways to play than ever before, including updates to the post Co-Op Campaign epilogue, Endgame.
  • The Multiplayer mayhem continues, bringing new maps & modes along with fan-favorites returning for chaotic non-stop fun.
  • The Zombies story progresses on Astra Malorum, an 1800s viewing tower transported to a skull-shaped asteroid.
  • With plenty of new content across all game modes plus more to come in-season, Season 01 of Black Ops 7 has arrived, with endless content for everyone.

Multiplayer Overview

New Maps

Fate (Launch): Revisit a Cradle-twisted version of Raul Menendez’s Nicaraguan compound where giant machetes slice up the sky.

Utopia (Launch): Utopia was once a refuge for the rich, but this futuristic city now lies abandoned, setting the stage for fast-paced combat.

Odysseus (Launch): This floating carrier boasts intense close quarters combat and non-stop action.

Standoff (Launch): Standoff has been Remastered for Black Ops 7. Revisit your favorite spots and shoot your best shots on this Black Ops 2 classic.

Multiplayer Modes

Prop Hunt (Launch): Prop Hunt returns with fresh updates, ready for a whole new era of Black Ops.

Sharpshooter (Launch): Players compete in a free-for-all match where everyone is given the same randomly selected weapon.

One In The Chamber (Launch): With the spirit of high stakes competition comes the return of a Call of Duty classic, One in the Chamber.

Zombies overview

New Map: Astra Malorum (Launch)

The Dark Aether story continues in Astra Malorum, where the crew has been transported to an observatory set on a skull-shaped asteroid in outer space. Follow the footsteps of a forgotten death cult and hunt down the threat.

New Survival Map: Exit 115 (Launch)

Take a break from the open road and test your mettle against the zombies that await you on Exit 115.

Call of Duty: Warzone Overview

Haven’s Hollow

Take a stateside detour to investigate the mysterious Haven’s Hollow in the latest addition to Resurgence. Nature has sequestered this Appalachian town from the rest of the world, making it feel like a living relic of old school American charm. Discover the secrets of Haven’s Lab, see what’s been left behind at the Mansion, or take a moment to win big on the floating casino on the tourist favorite Riverboat— there’s no shortage of play space here. Haven’s Hollow awaits.

Verdansk POI Updates:

Signal Station

Let no enemy escape your sights thanks to the new Signal Station. Located south of the Military Base, any squad skilled enough to activate satellite systems will be rewarded with the Tactical Heat Map that identifies player densities in locales all around Verdansk.

Factory

Grab your timecard and clock in just like the old days — well, almost. Factory is back, freshly renovated and redesigned specifically for Black Ops 7.

CODMAS (In-Season)

Be sure to be on your best behavior – CODMAS is right around the corner, and you definitely don’t want to be on the naughty list this year.

Which gift are you opening first? There’s the MP map Sleighjacked, in which everyone’s favorite sea-faring vessel has been transformed into a holiday sleigh. Plus, there will be CODMAS inspired LTMs and an Event spanning across all modes to celebrate the season.

The Battle Pass

Purchase the Battle Pass to immediately unlock rewards including a seasonal 10% Battle Pass XP Boost, the new “Dorne” Operator, and more, providing access to over 110 pieces of unlockable content. And get even more with BlackCell.

New Weapons: In the S01 Battle Pass, unlock the Maddox RFB Assault Rifle and the Kogot-7 SMG. Plus, be on the lookout to unlock even more new weapons via in-game events and weekly challenges.

Black Ops 7 is available now on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.

Every Sonic the Hedgehog Game on Sale for Black Friday 2025

We’ve officially entered the week of Black Friday. Pretty much every retailer under the sun has already unleashed a whole bunch of deals, so there’s no reason to wait to do your holiday shopping. If you or someone on your list is into Sonic the Hedgehog video games, you’re in luck: a bunch of them are on sale across the Switch, Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox. Here’s a rundown of every Sonic game that’s already on sale for Black Friday 2025.

Sonic Games – Black Friday Deals

There’s no shortage of Sonic game deals for Black Friday. Here’s the full list.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

The newest game on the list is Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (Amazon), a kart racer with enough speed and new ideas that many think is actually better than Mario Kart World. In her review, Jada Griffin wrote, “Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds fires on all cylinders with a fantastic roster of 24 of my favorite hedgehogs, foxes, echidnas, and more. The lineup of 24 main tracks and 15 Crossworld tracks is the best designed selection we’ve ever gotten in any Sonic racing game, and there is a generationally great soundtrack to accompany them. The racing itself feels fast, fantastic, and intuitive, with lots of options to tweak your stats to your preferred playstyle.”

Sonic Superstars

If price is your main consideration, you can’t beat Sonic Superstars, a throwback side-scrolling platformer you can pick up for less than $10 at Amazon. That’s a killer deal on a game about which the very same Jada Griffin, in her review, said, “Most Sonic games put the pedal to the metal, having you travel at blindingly fast speeds while avoiding hazards on your way to the goal. Unlike its predecessors, however, Sonic Superstars trades that traditional breakneck pace for new abilities, more exploration, multiple mini-games, and slightly more challenging bosses. Most of that stylistic shift works well for the majority of Superstars’ roughly 15-hour multi-campaign story.”

Sonic X Shadow Generations

In addition to those, you can pick up the excellent 2024 game Sonic X Shadow Generations for the new all-time low price of $24.99 at Amazon. That’s for all consoles, including Switch 2. This game is comprised of two parts. One is a remake of the 2011 game Sonic Generations, and the other is a brand-new Shadow-centered addition. It adds up to a killer package we gave 9/10 in our review.

Sonic is far from the only game series getting Black Friday discounts. Tons of other PS5, Xbox, and Switch games, consoles, and accessories have gotten discounts. Or you can check out the Black Friday sales at Amazon, Best Buy, or Target. And remember, this is only the beginning of the Black Friday season. More deals will go live on the day itself, November 28, and even more on Cyber Monday, which lands on December 1.

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.