Silent Hill f made an appearance at Gamescom Opening Night Live this evening with a brand new trailer, and our first listen at the English actor portraying main character Hinako, Suzie Yeung.
The new trailer opens with Hinako waking up in a dark room, seemingly confused. As she wanders, it seems she’s in some kind of shrine, and ends up following a figure with a blue lamp deeper in. She’s then attacked by those freaky dolls we’ve seen in past trailers, and we see shots of a number of other unsettling rooms in the shrine.
The trailer cuts to another scene at an old house on a rainy day, which Hinako seems to recognize as her own. We see her with her clothes torn and bloody, and a creepy woman’s voice giving instructions to kill everyone, and then Hinako confronting one of her classmates. All-in-all, not nearly as gory as the last trailer, but still plenty unnerving.
Silent Hill f will be out shortly, on September 25 of this year, on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. We played it for five hours earlier this month, and you can read our preview right here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
gamescom Opening Night Live 2025 marks the start of the gaming convention in Cologne, and is always packed full of announcements, trailers and gameplay reveals. It’s a lot to keep track of, so we’re rounding up all the announcements from gamescom ONL as they happen.
We’re expecting to see Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Resident Evil Requiem, and a sneek peak at the second season of the Fallout TV show alongside some surprises, and the whole shebang will be presented by the omnipresent Geoff Keighley.
Speaking of Keighley, earlier this week he confirmed seven of the games that will be shown during ONL, including The Outer Worlds 2, Ninja Gaiden 4, and World of Warcraft: Midnight. Sony is showing up with the upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive Ghost of Yotei, Konami has Silent Hill f, and there’s a Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 music performance.
While it’s not on Keighley’s list, Game Science has confirmed its blockbuster action game Black Myth: Wukong will be at ONL. Whether that’s to show an Xbox release trailer (it hits Xbox Series X and S on August 20) or to finally reveal DLC is unknown at this point, but fans sure hope it’s the latter. And we also know Lords of the Fallen 2 will be revealed at ONL, via a developer tweet.
Games confirmed for gamescom Opening Night Live 2025 so far:
If you’re still on the hunt for a Switch 2 console, here’s a rare opportunity to get one at a discounted price. In fact, this may very well be the only Switch 2 deal we’ll see for 2025. AliExpress is offering a genuine Nintendo Switch 2 console for just $428.99 after you apply a $100 off coupon code “AEUS100” or “USAFF100” during checkout. Alternatively you can bundle it with the Mario Kart World game for just $452.11 after the same coupon. Both consoles ship free locally from the United States and arrives within 1 to 2 weeks, however you will still have to pay local sales tax.
The catch? Although these are genuine Switch consoles, they are Hong Kong imports. Like all Switch consoles, they are region unlocked, meaning you can play them in the US without any problems. You’ll also be able to select English as your default language just like any console you buy here. They’ll come with a Hong Kong style plug, but a US adapter is included. Imported consoles do not get a US-based Nintendo warranty. AliExpress does include a 90-day free returns window for the Switch 2 console and a 15-day free returns window for the Mario Kart bundle.
Nintendo Switch 2 Is on Sale at AliExpress
Brand new, genuine, imported, region unlocked units
The Switch 2 console was released on June 5. It is backwards compatible with nearly all Switch 2 games as well as the original Joy-Cons and Switch Pro controller, although the new Switch 2 controllers offer more functionality. In his Nintendo Switch 2 review, Tom Marks sums up the Switch 2 as “a vital but unexciting upgrade to a console I already love.”
Two major Switch 2 video games have been released: Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza. Logan Plant reviewed Mario Kart World and wrote that “Mario Kart World may not make the most convincing case that going open-world was the boost the series needed, but excellent multiplayer racing, incredible polish, and the thrilling new Knockout Tour mode still more than live up to its legacy.” Mario Kart World currently sells for $79 if purchased separately, so it makes a lot of sense to buy it as a combo with the console for only about $23 more ($57 in savings), even if it means going through the workaround process mentioned above.
Donkey Kong Bananza is the Only 10/10 Masterpiece of 2025
Not only did we rate Donkey Kong a 10/10, it’s the only game we’ve given a Masterpiece rating so far this year. In his Donkey Kong Bananza review, Logan Plant writes that “The leader of the bunch is finally back to kick some tail in Donkey Kong Bananza, a brilliant successor to Super Mario Odyssey and a smashing return for a classic Nintendo character. Granted there isn’t too much competition in the way of Switch exclusive games for 2025, this has been a fantastic year so far for console gaming in general. We’ve seen some of the best games released in recent history, including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Death Stranding 2, and Doom: The Dark Ages, all of which got close to a Masterpiece rating but didn’t quite hit the mark. That’s not to say that Donkey Kong Bananza is necessarily better than those other games since, after all, different people have reviewed each of these games, but it’s a testament to just how outstanding Donkey Kong Bananza is on its own merits to have achieved that score.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
How do you pronounce Rayquaza, the legendary dragon Pokémon? No, you’re wrong.
Between competitor clashes at this weekend’s Pokémon World Championships 2025, spectators were treated to a handy big screen pronounciation guide for the Sky High Pokémon. Brace yourselves, Trainers.
According to The Pokémon Company itself, Rayquaza is apparently pronounced Ray-KWAY-zuh, and not the far more common pronounciation of Ray-KWAH-zuh. The fan response to this revelation, however, has been decidedly mixed, with responses on social media such as “False,” “Noooo,” and “That’s Kway Kway.”
“This is surely AI,” wrote one fan, unable to accept what they were seeing. “It’s Ray Kwah Zuh.”
“I don’t care,” added another fan. “Ray-KWAH-zuh supremacy.”
“It doesn’t matter how many times The Pokémon Company tries to correct us, this is the real way to pronounce it and I ain’t taking no for an answer!”
Despite these complaints, the pronounciation does make sense. Like many Pokémon names, Rayquaza is a mix of other words — in this case being ray, referring to its celestial nature, and quasar.
“It’s named after quasar so it’s correct,” wrote Arcashine, attempting to inform others, “but man I don’t think I’ll ever be able to not call it Raykwahzuh lol.” Yeah.
Why is The Pokémon Company informing fans now? It seems likely that Rayquaza and its Mega Evolved version will pop up in the Mega Evolution-focused Pokémon Legends: Z-A, set to launch on October 16. Now, to try and remember Rayquaza’s correct pronounciation when the time comes.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Nexon has acknowledged “irregularities” in a series of TikTok advertisements for The First Descendant after fans accused the company of producing the “low effort” marketing materials via AI.
It follows breaking news over the weekend in which Reddit user iHardlyTriHard collated four unusual advertisements after scrolling their For You Page for just 15 minutes. With all four exhibiting mismatched lip syncing, strange head movements, unnatural dialogue, and at least one that appears to use the likeness of content creator DanieltheDemon — although whether this was with or without permission, we don’t yet know — fans immediately began speculating that they’d been produced via AI.
It’s truly crazy to see the game the First Descendent not only steal content from a known content creator and used AI to promote their game. But they did ANOTHER ad using AI again to promote their game.
Nexon was quick to respond, although the developer’s statement spawns as many questions as it answers.
It said the ads came from a TikTok Creative Challenge for creators, “which allows creators to voluntarily submit their content to be used as advertising materials.” And while “all submitted videos are verified through TikTok’s system to check copyright violations before they are approved as advertising content,” it has since identified “cases where the circumstances surrounding the production of certain submitted videos appear inappropriate” and launched an investigation.
Interestingly, the statement doesn’t apologize — the only time an apology appears, it’s due to the “delay in providing this notice” about the investigation, as it’s “taking longer than expected.” Nexon said that once “verification is complete,” it will share an update “through an official notice.”
Here’s the statement in full:
We would like to inform you of certain irregularities identified in the operation of our TikTok Creative Challenge for creators.
As a part of our marketing campaign for Season 3: Breakthrough, we recently ran a Creative Challenge program for TikTok creators, which allows creators to voluntarily submit their content to be used as advertising materials.
All submitted videos are verified through TikTok’s system to check copyright violations before they are approved as advertising content.
However, we have become aware of cases where the circumstances surrounding the production of certain submitted videos appear inappropriate. Thus, we are conducting a thorough joint investigation with TikTok to determine the facts.
We sincerely apologize for the delay in providing this notice as the review is taking longer than expected. Once the verification is complete, we will promptly share an update through an official notice.Thank you for your patience and understanding.
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.
I have good news for Battlefield 6 players concerned about the modest sizes of the open beta maps — a new leak suggests at least two more of the as-yet unreleased maps will be bigger than any we’ve played so far.
Based on recent datamines, Battlefield Wire shared an image, below, showing the purported size of two maps — Eastwood and Mirak Valley — in relation to the beta map Siege of Cairo. And you don’t have to get out a measuring tape and ruler to see that they’re considerably bigger (albeit still a little on the snug side for some).
Here are the borders of two of the larger maps coming to Battlefield 6 👀
MP1st has also shared renderings that an anonymous poster has uploaded to Imgur. They give us a closer look at Mirak Valley — a map located in Tajikistan with mountains and a river slicing through the middle — and Californian map Eastwood, which is supposedly coming post-launch, but likely sometime in Season 1. Expect to see a golf course, villas, and bonus vehicles like a boat and a golf cart. You can check out all the renderings for Eastwood here, and Mirak here.
This should be excellent news for players unimpressed by Battlefield 6’s beta map offerings thus far, and whilst we can only take datamined rumors as precisely that — rumors — it bolsters DICE’s claim that “large maps exist, and the tempo scales accordingly, you’ll be able to see soon enough!”
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.
After weeks of being upwards of $70 each (with the exception of Final Fantasy 6’s Revival Trance, which has always hovered close to MSRP), you can now buy a bundle of all four decks for $200 (or $199.99, to be precise).
That’s less than $50 a deck, despite three out of four costing more than that when bought separately. In fact, Final Fantasy 7’s Limit Break is STILL $72.50 at Amazon.
Amazon reckons it’s 29% off of the MSRP of the bundle, but given the price some of these decks have been going for (rightly or wrongly), we’d call that a more conservative estimate.
As a reminder, here’s our ranking of the four decks.
4 – Revival Trance (Final Fantasy 6)
Not just focused on Final Fantasy 6, but specifically the back half of the game, Revival Trance is helmed by Celes, tasked with rebuilding a party after the world goes to ruin.
That’d be a great theme for a revival deck, but there aren’t that many cards that, well, revive fallen comrades from your graveyard or anyone else’s.
There are also no big reprints of note here, which is a shame.
3 – Scions and Spellcraft (Final Fantasy 14)
Final Fantasy 14’s Commander deck is somewhat of a rare beast insofar as it’s a spellslinger-style deck in Esper colors (White, Black, Blue).
As a result, its focus is on non-creature spells and dishing out damage with Y’Shtola, one of the two Commanders. It’s just a little slow to get going, needing you to pull out as much mana as possible in early turns to be able to start slinging those big spells.
Propaganda and Snuff Out are decent reprints, but there’s little else of big financial value.
2 – Limit Break (Final Fantasy 7)
Final Fantasy 7’s deck is absolutely fantastic, and actually dovetails nicely with Fallout’s Scrappy Survivors precon from last year (as long as you’re happy with yet another bold RPG crossover).
It’s all about getting your creatures to 7 power to trigger additional effects from Cloud or Tifa, while minimizing equip costs to allow you to switch gear and keep opponents guessing.
Reprint value is decent, too. Not only do you get Darksteel Plate, Sword of the Animist, and Fire-Lit Thicket, but Clever Concealment has some amazing new art of Cloud’s disguise.
It’s all about counters, meaning you can buff your creatures, deal damage, and proliferate. It really could get out of hand quickly, and you can even get creative with the Summons in the deck, too.
Reprint-wise, you can get Walking Ballista, Damning Verdict, and Bane of Progress, all with new artwork.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
The 2025 Pokémon World Championships just concluded, and as is tradition, the closing ceremonies featured new announcements fun for Pokémon fans of all kinds, presented by Tzunekazu Ishihara, President and CEO of The Pokémon Company. Here’s a round-up of all the important Pokémon announcements revealed at the World Championships you don’t want to miss, including the introduction of a new fan event called PokémonXP, and much more.
Pokémon Champions Coming to the 2026 Pokémon World Championships
Empoleon, Dhelmise, and Vaporeon Joining the Pokémon Unite Roster
Empoleon will be coming to Pokémon Unite as a playable character on September 19, while Dhelmise and Vaporeon are “coming soon.” No word on what roles the three new Pokémon will be.
Starting on September 4, Groudon will be taking over for Rayquaza at the Theia Sky Ruins in the final two-minute stretch of the game. Defeating Groudon will give you a “massive Attack boost and goal-scoring speed increase.” But if the opposing team knocks you out, they’ll steal the buff from you!
Mega Evolution Coming to Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket
A new season is coming to Pokémon TCG Pocket this fall, and with it, the debut of Mega Pokémon, including Mega Altaria, Mega Gyarados, Mega Blaziken and more Mega Evolution Pokémon ex.
Legendary Pokémon Eternatus Makes its Global Pokémon GO Debut
Eternamax Eternatus began appearing in the Anaheim, CA right after the Pokémon World Championships concluded, but that won’t be the only chance for GO players to get their hands on this rare Pokémon. The Pokémon GO: Dark Skies event will take place from Monday, August 18 to Saturday, August 23, with the Max Finale taking place between Saturday, August 23 and Sunday, August 25. During the unticketed event, which can be joined from anywhere in the world with the free GO Pass: Max Finale, players will be able to catch every Dynamax and Gigantamax Pokémon that has appeared so far, plus Eternatus.
Mega Charizard X and More Returning to Pokémon TCG
We got a sneak peek of some new cards featuring Mega Evolution Pokémon and cool full-art cards during the closing ceremonies, including for Mega Charizard X ex, Mega Gardevoir ex, and Mega Lucario ex. Though not a “mega” itself, Oricorio ex was also revealed, which has a unique Ability called Excited Turb: As often as you like during your turn, if you have any Fire-type Mega Evolution Pokémon ex in play, you may use this Ability. Attach a Basic Fire-type Energy card from your hand to one of your benched Fire-type Pokémon.”
We also got a look at a new, adorable Mega Dragonite ex card, but not the full-art version just yet! Its Ability Sky Transport will allow you to switch your Active Pokémon with one of your Benched Pokémon.
4-Player Ranked Battles Coming to Pokémon Legends: Z-A
The latest trailer shown durin the Pokémon World Championship closing ceremonies featured a breakdown of Z-A Battle Club’s four-player Ranked Battles. We saw in the trailer four trainers battling at once, being able to take down multiple Pokémon at once with powerful, well-timed AOE attacks–like Draco Meteor. The goal is to get the most knockouts you can before the three-minute timer is up, and don’t worry, you can rejoin after one of your Pokémon faints! These real-time Link Battles! can be played locally or online against other players.
PokémonXP, a New Pokémon Fan Experience, Coming to San Francisco
We already knew the 2026 Pokémon World Championships were coming to San Francisco, but so is PokémonXP, a new “event that celebrates all things Pokémon” with “a range of Pokémon-centric festivities.” It will take place August 28 to August 30, 2026, overlapping with the 2026 Pokémon World Championships, at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. Passes will go on sale September 17, 2025 and start at $120 USD for a multi-day pass, which includes two Pokémon Trading Card Game booster packs, a PokémonXP collectible pin, and a lanyard.
There are two different multi-day passes. The regular one, and multi-day + arena pass, which includes normal access to the PokémonXP event, plus access to the arena on Championship Sunday.
2026 Championship Sunday Taking Place at Chase Center in San Francisco
This year, The Pokémon World Championships hosted Championship Sunday in an arena, and in 2026, they’re upscaling it even more, bringing Championship Sunday to the massive Chase Center, which has a seating capacity of 18,064 (at least, for basketball games.) Compare that to the Anaheim Convention Center Arena, with a capacity of 7,500. Which, I heard, was filled to capacity this year!
Casey DeFreitas is a deputy editor on the guides team at IGN and this year is the second time she’s covered the Pokémon World Championships in Anaheim, CA. Catch her on socials @ShinyCaseyD.
In a Pokémon World Championship Series first, the 2026 and future formats will be using yet-to-be-released Pokémon Champions as the game for VGC competitors instead of a “mainline” game. To switch up the format even more next year, Pokémon Champions will include the Mega Evolution mechanic in the official format.
Usually, players compete in fierce Pokémon battles throughout the year for a spot at the Pokémon World Championships using the most recent “core,” or “mainline” Pokémon game, like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, or Pokémon Sword and Shield before that.
Pokémon Champions isn’t a self-contained narrative game, but rather a new, multiplayer battle-focused Pokémon game coming to both mobile andNintendo Switch. It features a simplified training system, which should make competitive battling more accessible than ever. It will also have compatibility with Pokémon Home, allowing trainers to transfer legacy Pokémon from other games. We’re unsure which Pokémon from what games will be legal to use in next year’s format.
Pokémon Champions features “core-style battles” with gimmicks from all eras of Pokémon, including Mega Evolution, originally from Pokémon X and Y, and Terastalization, from the recent Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. So far, we know that Mega Evolution will return in Ranked Battles in this year’s official format. Mega Dragonite, recently revealed in a Pokémon Legends: Z-A Trailer, will also be coming to Pokémon Champions.
Pokémon Champions is set to be released in 2026 and is being developed by Game Freak in collaboration with The Pokémon Works. Players usually begin competing for Championship Points soon after the previous year’s World Championships, so we’ve yet to see how the release date will affect tournaments for this year’s format.
Casey DeFreitas is a deputy editor on the guides team at IGN and this year is the second time she’s covered the Pokémon World Championships in Anaheim, CA. Catch her on socials @ShinyCaseyD.
Pokémon World Championships competitor Kevin Han just won the 2025 Video Game Seniors World Champion title in Anaheim, CA, making him the first to win the VGC Pokémon World Championships in both the Junior and Senior age divisions. To make this achievement even more impressive, Han took these titles back-to-back, and this year, with a completely undefeated record.
“I have no words to describe it. It’s an unreal feeling, I still can’t believe it,” Han said after being asked about his unprecedented achievement.
Han, a 12-year-old from Pennsylvania, US, faced Sian Lee from South Korea in the Senior division finals. Last year, Han was defeated only twice during his climb to the Junior Championship title, and one of those defeats was at the hands of Lee, making this finals match-up especially nerve-racking.
Before the match, Han’s brother, Chris Han, was asked about how Kevin Han was feeling. “I can tell you one thing, he’s super nervous… but Kevin’s got this,” Chris Han said. “I don’t have any words of advice, just trust your gut Kevin–you know exactly what to do.”
Chris Han’s faith in his brother rang true, as Kevin Han won 2-0.
“I think after turn one of each game, where I got my positioning up, I think I felt a lot better,” Kevin Han said. “Sometimes if you’re too nervous it can hurt you, but, in my opinion, having at least a little bit of nerves can help you a lot.”
Kevin Han secured his victory in the second match with a Double K.O. with his Ice Rider Calyrex’s Glacial Lance, super effective on Lee’s Rillaboom and just powerful enough to finish off the previously-damaged Zamazenta.
Ray Rizzo is the only previous Pokémon competitor to have won the VGC Championship in two divisions: the Senior division in 2010, then the Master division in 2011. This makes Kevin Han the first-ever contender with the ability to take the World Championship title in all three divisions: Juniors, Seniors, and Masters. We’ll have to wait three years before he ages into the Masters division, where he just might make history yet again.
Kevin Han’s win isn’t the only historical first at this year’s Pokémon World Championships. This is also the first ever time Championship Sunday was held in a dedicated arena rather than on the stage on the convention center floor.
Casey DeFreitas is a deputy editor on the guides team at IGN and this year is the second time she’s covered the Pokémon World Championships in Anaheim, CA. Catch her on socials @ShinyCaseyD.
