If there’s one thing beyond doubt after more than 35 hours with Dune: Awakening, it’s that Funcom has done its homework in crafting the most authentic take on the Dune-iverse imaginable. As a longtime fan of Frank Herbert’s iconic sci-fi setting, that’s an incredible thing to experience more often than not, and my time on Arrakis has been filled with moments of genuine shock. It’s very clever how the harsh environments and empty space are repeatedly used as progression checks, turning what seem like they should be weaknesses into strengths. Other times, that stubborn adherence to established lore results in annoying or just plain boring irritations, like how you’re all but forced to adopt a nomadic lifestyle in a genre where putting down roots and building up your base is one of the fundamentals. There have also been plenty of technical issues and bugs in the days immediately following launch, plus combat hasn’t landed with me much so far (though I’m admittedly still early in crafting my combat build), but on balance my friends and I are having an absolutely awesome time nerding out.

If you’ve ever played a survival game (and have seen a Dune movie) before, you’ll know most of what you need to feel at home among the giant sand worms: you gather materials from the world, build your own ugly-as-heck home, and upgrade your equipment to gain access to more dangerous areas with rarer materials. Like plenty of survival games, including Funcom’s own Conan Exiles or last year’s Once Human, all of this is happening on a server full of similarly sunburnt players in a perpetually online world, where cooperation and limited instances of PvP are both a distinct possibility, and which account for most of its best moments.

Where this game sets itself apart, though, is by just how much it adheres to its legendary setting, and that has a major impact on just about everything you do. For example, intelligent use is made of Arrakis’ harsh environment, which is weaponized against you quite literally every second you stay within its atmosphere. Standing directly in sunlight unprotected will bake you alive in a matter of seconds, sandstorms blow on a regular basis and will kill you if you aren’t able to get to shelter first, and most notably, there’s the issue of those pesky enormous man-eating worms which gobble you up if you dare tread upon their domain for too long. By leaning into the unforgiving world as much as it does, Awakening puts you in a constant battle against the planet itself. So instead of casually trotting around collecting resources at your leisure and settling your own little piece of the world, you’re frantically ducking behind rocks to avoid the sun’s harsh rays and drink what little water you have left, and playing a never-ending game of “the floor is lava” as you rush from one place to another with a shai-hulud hot on your heels.

All of these hazards give you obstacles to overcome. For example, early on you’re unable to leave the tutorial area thanks to a massive gap of empty space where sun exposure or, more likely, a massive worm would certainly kill you if you attempt to go on foot, so you have to craft your first vehicle in order to safely cross it. Later on, you start to encounter places that are too hot or irradiated to explore without proper equipment. There are plenty of examples just like this, where the unique nature of the setting is turned into an interesting mechanic. Similarly, you’re constantly starved for water, which is used both as a crafting material and a resource to keep yourself alive, and usually Awakening is a better, more interesting survival game for it.

But there are other times where this fanatical adherence to Dune conventions can be quite obnoxious, like how you’re encouraged (and in some cases required) to move your base of operations from place to place as you unlock access to higher-level regions. Pulling up stakes means you either have to abandon all you’ve built up to that point or tediously relocate as much of your equipment as you can, piece by piece. Then there’s stuff like the fact that guns are often useless, since many enemies make use of the all-important Holtzman shields that completely protect from ranged attacks. This creates a weird situation where you’re juggling back and forth between guns and melee weapons depending on which enemy is currently running towards you, oftentimes having to choose between addressing the swordsman barreling down on you or the guy a few feet behind him with a chaingun, which can create a really oppressive rhythm to combat. I honestly kinda respect how much Dune: Awakening sticks to its guns by making its guns ineffective to keep with Dune lore, even as it sometimes comes at the expense of me having a good time. Even when this stuff annoys the hell out of me, I can’t help but respect it.

That’s just part of the reason that, like almost every single one of its peers, Dune: Awakening has pretty awful combat. I knew going into a survival MMO that would be the case, but it’s still a particularly bitter pill that never gets any easier to swallow. I’m still quite early in unlocking all the options for battle and seeing some of the more interesting weapons and builds available, but so far gunplay is sloppy, melee combat is repetitive and janky as heck, and I’ve mostly just been trying to get through it as quickly as possible. It’s such a low point in a game I’m otherwise enjoying.

Thankfully, the combat miss is more than made up for by the absolutely stellar survival mechanics, which are some of the most thoughtful and polished I’ve seen in a while. There’s a constant stream of new technologies to research, equipment to craft, and material to hunt for with almost no filler or grind along the way. Every time I’ve collected the right materials to craft the latest shiny thing I want, I’ve immediately had another enticing item to chase, and with unique schematics dropping left and right, I’m always making interesting decisions on whether to spend my rarest materials on a cool item with a special effect versus taking the more conservative route and just crafting common items to save those resources for a rainy day. (It’s bound to rain on Arrakis one of these days.)

It’s especially impressive that they accomplished this loop so well in a desert world where there are no other locations aside from hot sand, and almost no plants or wildlife available to harvest. A major hallmark of survival games is punching trees, and there are no trees on Arrakis – instead you’re making tools to pull water from morning dew collecting in the world at night and by pulling it from the air, which is just really smart and a welcome change of pace that embraces the weird and barren setting, even if it is still essentially the same thing.

When I played the beta for Dune: Awakening, I ran into tons of bugs and hoped the delay of its launch would improve things a bit. That certainly seems to be the case, as I’ve had a significantly more stable experience so far, but even as improved as it is, it’s still fairly troubled in the technical department. I’ve had disconnects, seen entire mountains disappear and reappear before my eyes, and even had a few hours where all sand worms just up and deleted themselves from existence, making everyone on the server swarm to the resources normally protected by their constant threat. It’s not been the smoothest launch by any stretch – but also far from the worst.

After more than 35 hours I still feel like I’m fairly early into my Dune: Awakening adventure, and still have new zones to visit, haven’t gotten very far into the main story, and have only had a few encounters with PvP. There’s a ton for me to do, so look for an update sometime this week as I work my way through to the endgame.

While some longtime Magic: The Gathering players may grumble about Universes Beyond’s growing importance to the game’s release calendar, it’s hard not to feel like it’s getting more eyes on the brand.

The latest Final Fantasy set has sold better than any other through preorders alone, and it’s not even out until this weekend (June 13). There’s also the Secret Lair set to consider on June 9, but that’s a whole other beast.

Still, suppose you picked up a prerelease box at your local game store last weekend, or you’ve got some more boosters on the way this week, you may be wondering which cards are seeing demand, particularly if you’re looking to offload some or just get the sweet satisfaction of owning what’s hot.

Let’s take a deep dive into the best-selling Final Fantasy presold cards right now, all according to the trading card marketplace TCGPlayer.

10: Jumbo Cactuar

I often get excited when I get to preview an upcoming game. Who wouldn’t? Getting to check out a game pre-release, and then getting to share that experience is one of the joys of this job. But when a code for a new build of Ninja Gaiden Ragebound materialized in my inbox, I’m pretty sure I started drooling. It’s a Pavlovian response, really; see, us Ninja Gaiden sickos have been pining for the good old days for a while now, but this year has been like stumbling into an oasis in the desert, only the oasis has air conditioning, a made-to-order menu from your favorite local joint, and an open bar. Ninja Gaiden fans have been wandering these sands for a long time. But this year, it feels like we’re coming home.

I hadn’t played the demo we previewed last time, so Ragebound was a new experience for me. But it felt like slipping into a pair of old shoes. It took a second to get back into the swing of things — I haven’t played a 2D Ninja Gaiden in a hot second — but once I did, it felt like I’d never left. There’s so much to talk about here, but we’ve already done a more traditional preview that looks at the meat and potatoes experience of playing Ragebound, so this time, let’s dig into the nitty gritty. These are the 7 coolest things about Ninja Gaiden Ragebound.

#1: The Guillotine Boost Lets You Bounce on It (and “It” is Everything)

There are a ton of cool mechanics in Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, but I’m starting with the guillotine boost because everything else flows from it. Once you’re in the air, you can jump again when you’re about to make contact with an enemy to both attack them and bounce off of them for another jump. Cool, right?

But it’s not just enemies. You can do this to projectiles, too, and even some enemy attacks. Obviously, you can use the guillotine boost to get to places you wouldn’t otherwise be able to, but you can also use it to bounce between enemies and stay on the attack. I managed to bounce on Gurthka, the boss of the demo’s second level, for a solid few seconds while he was trying to attack me. And those weird samurai spirits with the spears? Just bounce off their attacks and keep going. Is the guillotine boost as cool as the Izuna Drop? No. Nothing is. But it’s pretty close.

#2: Hypercharges Are One-Hit Kills with Style

Okay, so the guillotine boost lets you get to hard-to-reach places, stay on the attack, and style on bosses. But what happens when you need to kill something in a single stroke? Well, that’s where the Hypercharge comes in. You can get Hypercharge by killing enemies with auras. Do so, and you’ll gain a Hypercharge for a few seconds. When you have it , your next attack will kill enemies instantly. To be fair, most enemies in Ragebound die in a single hit. But the ones that don’t? You don’t wanna go toe-to-toe with those cats. In a pinch, you can sacrifice some health to manually Hypercharge, but you’ll want to avoid that if you can. When you’re really cooking, you can chain these together to cut down enemies in rapid succession, or unleash them on a boss to stun them and lay on the hurt, and it feels great. Speaking of which, that brings me to my next point.

#3: Simon Says Is Cool Now

A lot of video games really like Simon Says combat design. You know what I mean; the enemy is a certain color, so you use a specific kind of attack (I’m looking at you, DmC: Devil May Cry), or they’re wielding a specific weapon, so you drop in a stance built to counter that (don’t think I didn’t notice, Ghost of Tsushima). Kinda boring, right?

Ninja Gaiden Ragebound flirts with Simon Says combat design, but it gets away with it because it does it in a cool way. You can still kill anything in the Ragebound demo I played any way you want. But some of those auras that give you Hypercharges? You gotta kill those enemies a certain way if you want that Hypercharge. A blue aura means you gotta slice ‘em up with Kenji’s katana, while a purple aura means you need to use a kunai. Once you get that Hypercharge, you can spend it however you want; but forcing you to match the aura to the right weapon on the fly adds a welcome element of challenge, especially when enemies are only on-screen for a few seconds and you have to react quickly.

#4: Rollin’ with Kumori Rocks

At some unspecified point in Ragebound’s story, our boy Kenji fuses with Kumori. Like any good member of the Hayabusa Clan, he’s pretty upset about cavorting around with a ninja of the Spider Clan, but he shouldn’t be. Palling around with Kumori has a lot of benefits. First, she gives Kenji access to a kunai to deal with enemies at range (and teleport to certain objects in the environment), but also a Spider Weapon. In my demo, that took the shape of a throwable sickle with an arc that reminds me an awful lot of the throwing axes from Castlevania. And she gives you access to the screen-clearing Ragebound Arts. When everything around you absolutely, positively has to die, accept no substitutes. So hey, more toys, right? But that’s not all Kumori brings to the table.

She can also commune with Demon Altars to navigate the otherworld. With her spirit separate from Kenji’s body and traipsing around the otherworld, she can go places he can’t, opening new paths. She also has access to her kunai, even without ki, something Kenji doesn’t have. The downside? She needs to constantly replenish a meter to stay in the otherworld. Otherwise, it’s back to Kenji, and you have to do it again. Sometimes, that means you’ll repeat a section a few times. It also breaks up the action and gives you a new way to play. Pretty cool. Also, Kumori says “Good grief” a lot. I love her.

#5: Exploring is Worth Your Time

One of the things I really appreciate about Ragebound is its purity. It’s not another roguelite in the endless sea of roguelites (thank God); it’s a side-scrolling action game, in the vein of the series’ original trilogy. But that doesn’t mean there’s not stuff worth going off the beaten path for. There are scarabs and crystal skulls to find, and while it was unclear what either of these do (the scarabs serve as currency for Muramasa’s shop, which was not available in my demo, so I can only guess at the goodies he’ll have on offer), it definitely gives you an excuse to explore. My favorite one of these “do an optional bit, get a cool thing” sections was one where I had to navigate a tricky, teleport-y platforming section as Kumori. It took me several tries to get it right (I kept messing up right at the end), but by the time I nailed it, I knew that thing like the back of my hand. And that feels good.

#6: It Rewards Mastery

Oh, and speaking of mastering something, Ninja Gaiden Ragebound wants you to play these levels over and over again as much as you want. Once you’ve beaten one, you can immediately access it again from the map. And each time you play, you’re scored on time, collectibles, number of enemies killed, and your best combo. And if that’s not enough, there are also optional challenges that range from completing levels without being hit to level-specific tasks like killing so many enemies with a lunge attack or beating Ryu Hayabusa himself in the tutorial. I… did not do that one. He Izuna Dropped my ass. It was rad as hell. I’ll get you one day, Ryu.

#7: It Hurts So Good

I wouldn’t call Ninja Gaiden Ragebound easy, per se, but it’s also not impossible on the regular difficulty, either. This series has something of a legacy to maintain when it comes to being hard, and you’ve gotta be kind of a masochist to see the deepest levels of depravity it has to show you. What can I say? I like pain.

Good news for me, then, because beating the demo unlocked a hard version of one of the levels I’d just played. And, uh… it’s a lot harder. There are new enemies! Everything’s on fire! Developer The Game Kitchen has put in something for the sickos, and I appreciate it.

I came out of my time with Ninja Gaiden Ragebound like a man who has just had a fine meal with portions that were far too small. Appreciative, but wanting more. What can I say? I love action games, and this series in particular holds a special place in my heart. I get the shakes when you’re not around, Ninja Gaiden. But it’s so damn good to have you back.