Author: Game Infliction

The fear that Stranger Things might tank its reputation with a dodgy finale was a concern for the show’s cast, star Finn Wolfhard has admitted, after seeing Game of Thrones’ final season brutally “torn to shreds.”

Speaking to Time, Wolfhard mentioned the widespread reaction to Game of Thrones’ final episodes as an example of how a long-running big-budget TV series can build up enormous expectations for its hotly anticipated climax — then spark enormous backlash after failing to deliver.

Negative reaction to Game of Thrones’ final season still dominates discussion around the show, following widespread criticism of its plot, pacing and sudden character developments. Many fans blamed the uneven final season on the series’ creators running out of book material to adapt, while others have suggested the series simply tried to do too much in too few episodes. Regardless, it has become a model that other series, clearly, do not want to follow.

“I think everyone was pretty worried, honestly,” Wolfhard said. “The way that Game of Thrones got torn to shreds in that final season, we’re all walking into this going, ‘We hope to not have that kind of thing happen.'”

Not that Wolfhard is suggesting Stranger Things will wrap up its own run with a similarly polarizing finale — far from it.

“Then we read the scripts,” Wolfhard continued, saying that the show’s cast now felt reassured. “We knew that it was something special.”

Stranger Things’ fifth and final season will launch on Netflix with four episodes on November 26, before a further three episodes arrive on Christmas Day, December 25. The series’ feature-length finale will then release on New Year’s Eve, December 31, wrapping up the show’s supernatural saga after almost a decade. No pressure.

After all that, will this really be the end of Stranger Things? Of course not. Netflix already has plans for animated series and at least one spinoff.

This week, fans learned that Stranger Things’ final episodes will wrap up one long-standing mystery around the series — what the Upside Down actually is. So that’s something.

Photo by Rich Polk/Variety via Getty Images.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

A little over a year since Konami relaunched its long-dead Silent Hill horror series with the superb Silent Hill 2 Remake, the publisher has provided a sales update, confirming that it’s now up to 2.5 million worldwide.

That’s up from the 1 million copies Silent Hill remake sold in less than a week from launch.

The updated milestone now means the 26-year-old series itself has surpassed 10 million units shipped, despite lying dormant for over a decade.

As reported by Gematsu, the news came via a Konami News video report which primarily discussed its most recent release, Silent Hill f, which similarly debuted to a positive reception last month. At the beginning of the report, a text pop up says: “Silent Hill series has shipped over 10 million copies, and [Silent Hill f’s] predecessor, Silent Hill 2, has shipped over 2.5 million copies.”

Silent Hill 2 is a remake of the 2001 psychological horror game wherein you play as protagonist James Sunderland drawn to the terrifying titular town after receiving a mysterious letter from his late wife, Mary. IGN’s Silent Hill 2 Remake review returned an 8/10 score, and dubbed it “a welcome modernisation of a survival horror masterpiece.” Silent Hill f returned 7/10, where we called it “a fresh new setting to explore and a fascinatingly dark story to unravel,” but warned “its melee-focussed combat takes a big swing that doesn’t quite land.”

Don’t forget that Silent Hill 2 Remake is just one of the games coming to the PlayStation Plus Extra catalogue later this month. It drops on October 21 — just in time for Halloween — alongside the similarly spooky Until Dawn (the PS5 version), V Rising, Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1, As Dusk Falls, Wizard with a Gun, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Premium Plus subscribers will be able to play Tekken 3.

If you’ve played through Silent Hill f and are still scratching your head about its story, check out our handy guide that explains what happens and why in each of Silent Hill f’s numerous endings.

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.

With Pokémon Legends: Z-A releasing today for Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, excitement has been building among Pokémon fans on social media.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A is taking us back to a revamped Lumiose City. Of course, you can catch Pokémon, battle them and do quests, but there’s also time for relaxing. One aspect of the game that some Japanese fans have been getting excited about is simply chilling with your Pokémon outside an in-game cafe.

YouTuber and blogger Koiwa Hawawa posted on Twitter / X: “What I’m most looking forward to in Z-A is having tea with Pokémon. But could it be that your Pokémon is just staring at the desserts? Is there anything more cruel?”

ZAで一番楽しみにしているのがポケモンとお茶することなんだけど
もしかしてポケモンはただお菓子を眺めているだけ？🥺
そんな酷いことある？ pic.twitter.com/cHq5AplYtF

— 小岩井はわわ (@chandelure115) October 13, 2025

What Hawawa noticed is that while the trainer relaxes over a cuppa and cake, their Pokémon just sits on the other chair with nothing on the table in front of it. As evidence of possible Pokémon cruelty, Hawawa posted screenshots. The last image highlights Totodile, whose wide eyes and open mouth make him look like he is salivating at the thought of some sweet treats.

This post quickly attracted views (1.3 million at the time of this article’s publication) and comments from other users, with many questioning whether or not Pokémon can eat sweets meant for humans without getting some serious indigestion. However, as many pointed out, Pokémon have a history of eating all sorts of things, even curry and sandwiches (in Generations VIII and IX respectively). One user even posted an image of Meowth and Rocket Team members stuffing themselves with ramen.

ロケット団は一緒にラーメン食べてるのに！ https://t.co/iTV6ul0CCk pic.twitter.com/7xpbQFrvM3

— プルプルマン (@MfmmKPcPlp19684) October 14, 2025

One thing fans were in agreement with was that the Pokémon should also be snacking on something alongside their trainer. “Whether it’s a Poké Block, Poké Puff or Poffin, just give it something delicious,” one user implored. Another added: “The only food on the table is the protagonist’s, so for me that’s a bit of a negative.”

But maybe the Pokémon are content with just watching you eat? Discovered cafes in Legends: Z-A serve as fast travel points, and visiting them has several benefits. Firstly, sitting with a particular Pokémon strengthens your bond, which could be helpful for evolving them later on. Plus, buying drinks at a cafe restores your entire party’s health and removes status effects, so maybe your Totodile is sneaking a sip when you are not looking?

If you have already picked up Pokémon Legends Z-A and are wondering which initial Pokémon to pick, see our tips for choosing from the game’s three starters. If you’re jumping into Pokemon Legends Z-A, choose your Starter Pokemon, then check out our in-progress Pokemon Legends: Z-A Walkthrough, plus our Side Missions List to make sure you don’t miss anything. We’ve also got a Pokemon Legends: Z-A Pokedex, and most importantly, a guide to All Clothing Stores and Clothing in Pokemon Legends: Z-A so you can catch ’em all in style.

There’s also IGN’s Pokémon Legends: Z-A review-in-progress, which shares some early thoughts. Our full review comes out next week.

Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.

In an impassioned end to his keynote address on the opening day of Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show in Bangkok, Dead Space creator and industry veteran Glen Schofield has declared that the games industry is in dire need of fixing, and he believes he knows just how to go about it.

“We need to fix the gaming industry right now,” said Schofield to a room of games industry professionals. “It’s broken. It’s beaten, it’s battered, our developers are battered, they’ve been taking it on the chin for the last couple of years. We need to bring it back to what it was, right? Instead of all this negativity.”

The first and arguably most controversial step to take in Schofield’s opinion, is for the games industry to widely embrace the use of generative AI as a standard part of their development tool set.

“AI isn’t here to replace us,” continued Schofield. “It’s here to make us faster, better, and more efficient. And AI is for all of us, it really is. It’s not just for directors and artists, it’s for writers and marketing execs.

“So, I think [games industry] executives, owners, founders… Let’s start training our people on AI. Start it as soon as you can. Who cares if I’m EA or Activision or Namco or whatever, we should be working together at least in training and training our people up. That would be a huge help because I know we’re going to start hiring people back again.”

Next up, Schofield believes that investors need to loosen their purse strings and start spending more on games development, as well as putting the right people in charge of each studio.

“Come on, investors and execs, let’s stop this madness,” said Schofield. “You want to make a AAA game for like eight million dollars? You gotta get your guts back again. If we start putting money into the industry again, we know it’s going to make money.”

“To me, you picked the wrong people to run the teams, to run the games, right? In my opinion [you need] a big, creative person who’s running it. And then you put people around to help with this and that. That’s the way I work these days, right? I still run my studio in ways but I have people to help now so I can be 100% or 98% on that. That’s what these games need. I saw some of the people that were chosen and they were really good people, but there’s no way they were ready to direct a game.”

“So I said, let’s start putting money in, do due diligence a little better on that. We know we’re going to make money. But we have to make quality games, and you have to give them to the right people.”

Lastly, and perhaps most strangely given that he was presenting the opening keynote address at a rival games industry show, Schofield wished for the return of E3.

“Bring back E3,” said Schofield to soft applause. “I mean, come on. E3 is the granddaddy of them all. And I will tell you every single E3 that I went to made my games better. And I know there’s no formula to show a [return on investment] on that, [but] every game got better when you went there. You talked with your friends, you talked with colleagues, everybody’s thrilled to help you with the next technologies, or showing you mechanics. When the companies started going outside of E3 I knew this was the end, and I started boycotting those because [that] was not an industry that was working together, this is an industry that’s fragmented. And so now there’s no E3.”

Schofield concluded his address by reiterating that while he’s fully onboard with AI, the most important aspect of games development were the people making them, not the machines.

“Remember, ideas are the lifeblood of the industry,” said Schofield, speaking to the developers in attendance. “And those ideas? They come from you.”

How do you feel about Schofield’s plan to “fix” the games industry? Sound off in the comments below!

Tristan Ogilvie is a senior video editor at IGN’s Australian office, currently attending Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show.