Valve have blocked card game Flick Solitaire from the Russian version of Steam, after federal censorship body Roskomnadzor contacted the platform holder to order its removal for “promoting non-traditional sexualities”.
In a letter, Valve have also reproached developers Flick Games for failing “to do your due diligence regarding where your game is allowed to be distributed, and to inform us of any territory where it cannot be”. Flick Solitaire is still available in Russia via the iOS and Android storefronts, however, despite Roskomnadzor sending similar notes to Apple and Google. As of writing, Valve appear to be the only platform who have caved to Russian state requests to censor the game.
The creator of Dragon Quest, Yuji Horii, believes Final Fantasy X was “ultimate perfection” when it released back in 2001.
In an interview with Game Informer, Horii talked about his experience developing Dragon Quest, which at the time was up against the Final Fantasy series as Square and Enix had yet to merge. While he didn’t really think of Final Fantasy as “competition” per se — while they’re both RPGs, their approaches to storytelling are quite different — he did acknowledge that he was “definitely paying attention to it.”
“Way back then, when Final Fantasy originally came out, I was definitely paying attention to it because it was something we needed to look out for,” Horii said, reflecting on how the games differ. “But there’s one key difference that I really saw back then: the protagonists in the Final Fantasy titles, they speak a lot. Whereas for Dragon Quest, the key objective for [the games], or the experience it offers for the player, is that the player becomes the protagonist themselves.
“In Final Fantasy, you kind of observe the protagonist, but you’re not necessarily becoming the protagonist in the games. So I thought that was a really interesting and stark difference between Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, but I didn’t necessarily see them as a rival back then.”
That may have changed when Final Fantasy X came along, however.
“Final Fantasy, again, [the protagonists] just talk a lot,” Horii added. “I do like Final Fantasy, though. When I first saw Final Fantasy X, I recall feeling this was the ultimate perfection of Final Fantasy.”
Don’t forget that Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake released at the end of October. We thought it was Amazing, awarding it 9/10, writing: “Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake beautifully concludes this trilogy, recapturing the retro magic of the originals while giving them a modern facelift.”
If you’re hunting for the best offers this week, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Black Friday deals on video games, tech, and more. You can find all our top picks and price drops in our full Black Friday hub, or check out our relevant pages for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox deals.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
If you’re looking for an excellent multiplayer shooter to play over the holidays, this is it, and it’s the best price we’re likely to get on it for a long while.
Snap it up ASAP, as I don’t see this deal lasting until the rest of Thanksgiving, let alone the Black Friday sales weekend. Sorry, Xbox fans, this is a PlayStation 5-only deal for now, as Battlefield 6 is still just under $60 for Xbox consoles. But, we’ll also keep an eye out for any changes.
Only releasing in October this year, Battlefield 6 has offered a true return to form for the long-running shooter franchise and has pretty much finally outdone Call of Duty at its own game, selling some almighty big numbers.
While we didn’t love the campaign, there’s no denying it’s a gorgeous-looking shooting gallery, but as with any Battlefield game, the real draw is multiplayer. Whether you’re looking for infantry combat, the opportunity to fly a jet or helicopter, or you just want to pile into a tank with your friends and bring down buildings, there’s something for everyone.
Reviewer Justin Koreis gave the multiplayer an 8 out of 10, saying, “Battlefield 6’s multiplayer action is expertly crafted, wrapped in a wonderful layer of destructibility that both looks great and materially affects the flow of combat. The gunplay is excellent, with weapons that are accurate enough to reward skilled shooting, but have just enough sway to promote a bit of careful thought while you take aim.”
Battlefield 6 is currently in the middle of its first season of post-launch content, including new maps and modes, while the RedSec Battle Royale mode is also available as a standalone free-to-play game. Given how successful the game has been for EA, you can likely expect new seasonal updates well into the future.
EA and Battlefield Studios have also recently launched the first Battlefield 6 free trial week, giving new players on PC, PS5 and Xbox the chance to try Season 1 multiplayer maps and modes from November 25, at 4 a.m. PT / 7 a.m. ET to December 2 at 4 a.m. PT / 7 a.m. ET.
Should You Wait for Black Friday on Nov. 28?
Not for deals like this. Black Friday might come with a few surprises of its own, but today, Battlefield 6 for just $35 is a Black Friday quality deal, and well worth snapping up before it goes out of stock.
Only Amazon has the deal right now, so if the deal gets nuked, then I’m afraid it’ll be Black Friday FOMO for you. Fingers crossed Walmart and Best Buy price match it soon. Apologies for the tough love, but if BF6 has been on your wishlist, this is the best possible deal we’re getting, and blows any other deals out of the water.
It’s such a good offer, it properly rivals my previous best PS5 game deal recommendation in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater for $30 at Amazon and Walmart. Just like BF6, that’s likely to sell out fast as well. Snag both as soon as you can, and have a great Thanksgiving.
Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN’s resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
World of Warcraft‘s Midnight expansion finally has a full release date. It’ll arrive on March 2nd, 2026, setting in stone the new player housing that’s debuting in early access this December and bringing forth the bunch of other changes planned alongside its main invasion storyline.
That list of changes includes the introduction of a new premium currency call Hearthsteel, which you’ll need top use to buy a “small fraction” of the house-related bits and bobs being added in with Midnight. Why? Reasons, Blizzard have said.
The long in development sequel launched in October and was met with a ‘mixed’ Steam user review response, with fans saying it failed to meet the expectations they had for the sequel to Troika’s 2004 cult classic Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. IGN’s Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 review returned a 7/10. We said: “Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 takes another flawed but unique and remarkable bite at the jugular, with plenty to love and loathe alike, but I certainly enjoyed my time as an elder vampire at the very least.”
Now, after 30 days on sale, Paradox has issued a note to financial markets signalling a write-down valued at 355 million SEK (approx. $37 million) of capitalized development costs for Bloodlines 2. This write-down, Paradox said, was based on an updated sales forecast now it has had a month to look at Bloodlines’ commercial performance.
Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive, said the blame for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2’s failure lay at the publisher’s door, not that of The Chinese Room, which had been drafted in to save the project after years of development hell.
“Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a strong vampire fantasy and we are pleased with the developers’ work on the game,” Wester said.
“We’ve had high expectations for a long time, since we saw that it was a good game with a strong IP in a genre with a broad appeal. A month after release we can sadly see that sales do not match our projections, which necessitates the write-down. The responsibility lies fully with us as the publisher. The game is outside of our core areas, in hindsight it is clear that this has made it difficult for us to gauge sales. Going forward, we focus our capital to our core segments and, at the same time, we’ll evaluate how we best develop World of Darkness’ strong brand catalogue in the future.”
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has two expansions planned as part of the game’s Premium Edition, and Paradox said it remains committed to delivering them. “Our post-release plan remains firm; we will deliver updates and the promised expansions to the game in the coming year,” Wester added.
Swedish game company Paradox’s main focus is on grand strategy games, which have proven enormously successful over the years. Games such as Stellaris, Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings, and Cities: Skylines have all enjoyed big sales, and, in total, Paradox games have six million players each month.
In a recent interview with the Goth Boss podcast, former creative director Dan Pinchbeck said the development team tried to work out how to get Paradox to not call the game Bloodlines 2.
“The tricky question around it was Bloodlines 1,” Pinchbeck said. “Are you making a sequel to Bloodlines 1? We used to sit there and have these planning sessions of how do we get them to not call it Bloodlines 2? That feels like the most important thing we do here, to come at this and say this isn’t Bloodlines 2. We can’t make Bloodlines 2; there’s not enough time, there’s not enough money.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Back in September, Minecraft announced a new drop officially titled ‘Mounts of Mayhem‘. The development team has now confirmed the Bedrock Edition of the game will receive this “final game drop” of the year on 9th December 2025.
In case you missed the initial reveal, this new drop will come loaded with a new weapon (the spear), the Zombie Horse, and the Nautilus (a new mob you can tame, ride and equip with armour). There’ll also be a Zombie Nautilus.
Capcom lifted the lid on Mega Man Star Force: Legacy Collection in September, mentioning at the time how it would be arriving on the Switch at some point in 2026.
In an update, this new collection featuring multiple titles has now been rated E10+ by the ESRB, with the rating mentioning “Fantasy Violence” and “Users Interact”. Here’s the official ESRB summary in full:
Amazon has almost every Ultra Pro Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy playmat on sale during its early Black Friday sale. A small number of popular mats, like fan-favorite Vivi, Stray Black Mage are sold out, but there are many other mats with incredible art to pick from at new discounted prices.
Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy Playmats On Sale
If you’re new to TCGs, people use playmats as a way to show off their favorite art or accomplishments, and also for practical reasons: have you tried picking up cards off of a kitchen table? I assure you, it gets annoying fast.
With the Final Fantasy crossover set that launched this past June, TCG accessory maker Ultra Pro released tons of playmats featuring some of the most iconic characters and moments from throughout the game series’ long history, including Y’shtola from Final Fantasy XIV and Lightning from XIII. Mats for Final Fantasy VII characters Cloud and Tifa feature the new art from their cards, and some mats, like those for Clive or Sephiroth, are double-sided to represent mechanics of the cards they’re based on.
Whichever Final Fantasy character speaks to you the most, odds are there’s a playmat for you to bring to your game night or local game store for some cardboard slinging. These also make great mousepads if you’re in the market to spruce up your home office or gaming setup.
If you’ve been on the lookout for MTG Final Fantasy cards, Amazon has the Revival Trance Commander deck featuring Terra on sale for 53% off, and Final Fantasy play booster boxes (30 packs) are at their lowest price ever for Black Friday, down to $162.57 (22% off).
More Magic: The Gathering Gifts
Be sure to check out our detailed Magic: The Gathering gift guide for inspiration while shopping for that special Planeswalker in your life. Everything from recommended deck boxes and dice packs, to card binders and even apparel, this guide covers everthing they’ll need to protect their collection and give it some flare.
Earlier this week, Nintendo detailed its free update for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. This update for the Zelda-themed Musou is now officially available on the Switch 2.
Nintendo has shared the official patch notes on its website, and it highlights all the new features (including new quests, weapons, new Sync Strikes, battles) and also details various “improved features” and “fixed issues”, which should make the overall experience more enjoyable.
Animal Crossing… in space! That is what Young Suns, the latest game from Goodbye Volcano High, Depanneur Nocturne, and GNOG developer KO_OP Mode, appears to be when put reductively. But let’s not put it reductively, because while this is one of those cozy life-sims, it does sound like it has something going on for it, particularly for the more revolutionary of you out there.
