Little details can add a lot of character when it comes to the many monsters of Capcom’s Monster Hunter series. When it comes to one of Monster Hunter Wilds‘ biggest battles, eagle-eyed players have noticed one tiny detail that lends credence to a running theory. It’s all in the eyes.
Warning! Spoilers for the final boss and story of Monster Hunter Wilds’ low rank campaign follow.
After fighting through the roster of Monster Hunter Wilds’ fearsome foes, including the souped-up Guardians, you’ll eventually come face-to-face with Zoh Shia. This enemy is the final bout for low-rank Hunters to clear in Wilds, and it’s a doozy. It also might feel a little familiar, if you’ve played some past Monster Hunter games, and that seems pretty intentional.
Over on Reddit, severalusers have pointed out that Zoh Shia’s eyes bear a striking resemblance to Fatalis’. Fatalis is an infamous and powerful species of dragon in Monster Hunter’s universe, able to raze kingdoms and cause mass devastation.
It’s a neat, tiny detail you might have missed in all the chaos of battling Zoh Shia, but it’s also not the only signifier pointing towards a link to Fatalis. As one replier pointed out, many aspects of the Zoh Shia fight share similarities with Fatalis bouts. The monster has moves from Black, White, and Crimson Fatalis, and has other small cosmetic similarities like its horns.
While Zoh Shia also draws on other classic, terrifying monsters — find some more here, in this reply — Fatalis definitely seems like a core touchstone. What does it ultimately mean, though?
Well, keep in mind Zoh Shia is a created monster. And if Zoh Shia was made to combat something or counter a threat, what kind of threat would be countered by a Fatalis-like monster? It opens up a lot of fun theorycrafting for where Monster Hunter Wilds’ assumed expansion could go. Most importantly, this connection teases that there are even bigger, badder monsters to contend with further down the line.
It might be a while until Monster Hunter Wilds theory-crafters see their guesses pan out or not, though. The next big update will be in April, which will bring some more hunts to the title alongside other additions, like an endgame hunter hub. So for now, best to just get your rank up high and be prepared for whatever kind of monster awaits.
IGN’s Monster Hunter Wilds review returned an 8/10. We said: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is coming exclusively for PS5 on June 24 — but only if you buy one of the more expensive editions. The standard edition releases June 26. Developed by Kojima Productions, it’s a sequel to the 2019 original. It will be available in three editions: a standard edition available in physical or digital format, a digital deluxe edition, and a collector’s edition that comes with a statue along with other goodies. Read on for pricing, availability, and details about what comes in each edition.
If you can live without any of the digital and/or physical extras that come in the pricier versions of the game, or you want a physical copy of it, the standard edition is the way to go. It comes with the game itself, plus the digital preorder bonuses (see below for details on those).
If you haven’t played the original, or you want to brush up on it before playing the sequel, here’s some good news: it’s on sale. You can get the director’s cut version on Steam on sale for $16 at Green Man Gaming. The PlayStation version isn’t on sale anywhere in physical format, but the PS4 (non-Director’s Cut) version is included with PS Plus Extra.
What is Death Stranding 2: On the Beach?
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a direct sequel to the 2019 original. It takes place 11 months after the birth of the UCA, when the world has been connected, deliveries have been automated, and a new faction is rising up. I hesitate to describe what the game may or may not be, because it’s full of Kojima-level weirdness. You can watch the extensive trailer above to find out more about Death Stranding 2, which includes a Solid Snake-like character. Here’s the official description on the PlayStation Store:
“Embark on an inspiring mission of human connection beyond the UCA.
“Sam—with companions by his side—sets out on a new journey to save humanity from extinction.
“Join them as they traverse a world beset by otherworldly enemies, obstacles and a haunting question: should we have connected?
“Step by step, legendary game creator Hideo Kojima changes the world once again.”
Other Preorder Guides
Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.
Speculation that Starfield will soon be confirmed for release on PlayStation 5 ramped up over the weekend after fans spotted a PlayStation logo on Bethesda’s official Creations website.
The logo was attached to a work-in-progress ship decals Creation for Starfield, and although the Creation was removed, fans are speculating that Bethesda’s so-far PC and Xbox-only sci-fi game is soon set for PS5.
Thoughts inevitably turn to whether Bethesda plans a significant content update, possibly even a new expansion, to coincide with Starfield’s seemingly inevitable release on PS5. There’s been little to shout about when it comes to Starfield in recent months, following the launch of the poorly received Shattered Space expansion. Bethesda parent company Microsoft is expected to hold another summer showcase this year, as it has done in recent years, and that event may be the right time and place to learn more about all things Starfield.
Bethesda itself has said it has “exciting things” planned for Starfield this year, amid growing discontent from players about a lack of communication and updates. In June 2024, Bethesda insisted it remained committed to supporting Starfield, and confirmed at least one other story expansion would release following Shattered Space. In an interview with YouTube channel MrMattyPlays, Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard said the developer was aiming to release an annual story expansion for “hopefully a very long time.”
Starfield launched in September 2023 as Bethesda’s first brand new intellectual property in years, and its first mainline single-player game since Microsoft bought parent company ZeniMax Media in March 2021. IGN’s Starfield review returned a 7/10. We said: “Starfield has a lot of forces working against it, but eventually the allure of its expansive roleplaying quests and respectable combat make its gravitational pull difficult to resist.”
A number of Xbox games are currently available on PS5, including Rare’s Sea of Thieves, Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush, and Obsidian’s Grounded and Pentiment. Microsoft already publishes Minecraft games on PlayStation consoles, among many other platforms, and is set to publish Doom: The Dark Ages and Ninja Gaiden 4 on PS5 later this year. Playground’s Forza Horizon 5 is also confirmed as coming to PS5 soon. There are even reports that Microsoft is finally ready to release Halo on PlayStation after decades of Xbox exclusivity.
Spencer has said Xbox’s multiplatform push is in part about bringing in more money to Microsoft’s gaming business — with the pressure on to deliver following its eye-watering $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard.
“We run a business,” Spencer said in August last year. “It’s definitely true inside of Microsoft the bar is high for us in terms of the delivery we have to give back to the company. Because we get a level of support from the company that’s just amazing and what we’re able to go do.
“So I look at this, how can we make our games as strong as possible? Our platform continues to grow, on console, on PC, and on cloud. It’s just going to be a strategy that works for us.”
It’s a busy time for the 450-person Bethesda Game Studios, which currently operates five teams: Starfield; Elder Scrolls 6; Fallout 76; mobile; and external development partnerships.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Final Fantasy I-VI Collection Anniversary Edition has hit its lowest price yet, now available for $49.99 at Amazon—its best deal to date, even beating Black Friday, according to our records, and even price-tracking site CamelCamelCamel.
Originally released on October 8 for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 (fully compatible with PS5), this collection brings together the first six mainline Final Fantasy games in their carefully remastered form. Square Enix has opted for refinement rather than reinvention, keeping the original pixelated aesthetic intact but sharpening it for modern displays.
The result is a collection that looks fantastic, whether on a massive TV or in handheld mode. The soundtrack has also received an orchestral upgrade, with legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu overseeing the new arrangements. On top of that, the package introduces a handful of thoughtful quality-of-life improvements, including the ability to disable random encounters and boost experience and gil gains—useful for those who want to focus on the story without the grind.
As a small but nostalgic extra, this edition includes a sticker sheet featuring 12 classic character sprites, including the Black Mage, a Moogle, Terra, Kain, and a mid-cackle Kefka. It’s not the most extravagant of bonuses, but it’s a fun little touch for fans of the series.
At its original $74.99 price, the collection was a tougher sell, but at $49.99, it’s a much easier recommendation for anyone interested in the series’ origins. Whether you’re revisiting these classics or playing them for the first time, this is a well-executed remaster of six of the most influential RPGs ever made. And with physical copies being the only collectible edition available, it might be worth picking up before they become harder to find, especially at this time.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
EA’s Star Wars turn-based tactics game will be revealed at Star Wars Celebration 2025.
The untitled Star Wars strategy game was announced in early 2022 as in development at Bit Reactor, a studio composed of Firaxis Games veterans best-known for their work on the XCOM franchise. Bit Reactor has worked closely with Star Wars Jedi developer Respawn Entertainment on the new project, and is finally ready to show the game off.
The first look is set for April 19 via a live panel with the lead development team from Bit Reactor, along with Respawn Entertainment, and Lucasfilm Games, as revealed on the official Star Wars Celebration 2025 schedule.
We know next to nothing about this game, neither in which Star Wars era it’s set, nor the exact nature of its gameplay. But given it’s being made by former developers of XCOM, it seems reasonable to assume something along similar lines drenched in all things Star Wars.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Horizon actor Ashly Burch has addressed the AI Aloy video that leaked online last week, using it to call attention to the demands of striking voice actors.
In the now deleted video, Sony Interactive Entertainment director of software engineering, Sharwin Raghoebardajal, has a conversation with an AI-powered Aloy via voice prompts and AI-generated speech and facial animations. Raghoebardajal asks Aloy how she’s doing, to which she responds: “Hello, I’m managing alright. Just dealing with a sore throat. How have you been?”
The voice heard coming from Aloy’s mouth is clearly not that of Burch, rather a robotic voice similar to those heard from text-to-speech voice generators. AI Aloy’s facial movements are stiff and her eyes appear lifeless as she converses with Raghoebardajal.
Burch, who has voiced Aloy in all four Horizon video games released so far (Zero Dawn, Forbidden West, Call of the Mountain, and Lego Horizon Adventures) took to social media platform TikTok to confirm that she had seen the video, and that Horizon developer Guerrilla had got in touch to let her know that the tech demo did not reflect anything that was in active development, nor did it use any of Burch’s performance (facial or voice data). That presumably rules out AI Aloy for the upcoming Horizon multiplayer game, assuming the character is in the game, and the inevitable Horizon 3. However, as Burch pointed out, Guerrilla (and parent company Sony Interactive Entertainment) owns Aloy as a character.
With all this in mind, Burch said the AI Aloy video left her feeling “worried about game performance as an art form,” and used it as a jumping off point to discuss the ongoing video game voice actors strike that has claimed a number of high-profile casualties in recent weeks.
Last week, the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) issued an update to its members on the status of negotiations over video game actor AI protections, saying that while progress had been made, it was still “frustratingly far apart” with the industry bargaining group on key issues.
“Currently what we’re fighting for is, you have to get our consent before you make an AI version of us in any form, you have to compensate us fairly, and you have to tell us how you’re using this AI double,” Burch said.
“I feel worried not because the technology exists. Not even because game companies want to use it. Of course they do. They always want to use technological advancements. I just imagine a video like this coming out that does have someone’s performance attached to it, that does have someone’s voice or face or movement. And the possibility that if we lose this fight, that person would have no recourse. They wouldn’t have any protections, any way to fight back. And that possibility, it makes me so sad it hurts my heart. It scares me. I love this industry and this art form so much and I want there to be a new generation of actors. I want there to be so many more incredible game performances. I want to be able to continue to do this job. If we don’t win, that future is really compromised.
“I’m genuinely not trying to put any game company specifically on blast,” Burch continued. “Certainly not Guerrilla. The technology isn’t the problem. Game companies wanting to use the technology isn’t the problem. The problem is we’re currently on strike and the bargaining group will not agree to give us common sense protections.
“I support the strike. I’ve always supported the strike. I believe fighting is what we have to do to protect the future and the longevity of this career that we all love so much.”
Burch then pointed to the temporary union contracts that currently give all the protections the striking voice actors are asking for, that any video game company can sign right now. “There’s the interim, the tiered, and low budget agreement contracts available right now for any game company to sign,” Burch said. “I believe we deserve to be protected.”
Generative AI is one of the hottest topics within the video game and entertainment industries, which have both suffered massive layoffs in recent years. It has drawn criticism from players and creators due to a mix of ethical issues, rights issues, and AI’s struggles to produce content audiences actually enjoy. For instance, Keywords Studios attempted to create an experimental game internally using entirely AI. The game failed, with Keywords citing to investors that AI was “unable to replace talent.”
And the voice actor strike has begun to impact a number of video games. Players have reported that games such as Destiny 2 and World of Warcraft appear to have certain NPCs left unvoiced in otherwise voiced scenes, likely due to the strike. Late last year, SAG-AFTRA struck League of Legends after Riot allegedly tried to subvert the strike by canceling a game in response. And Activision confirmed Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 characters were recast after players expressed concern about new voices.
“For instance, non-player characters in games could interact with players based on their actions, making it feel more personal,” Qizilbash said. “This is important for the younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences, who are the first generations that grew up digitally and are looking for personalization across everything, as well as looking for experiences to have more meaning.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Who doesn’t love a pirate game, especially a pirate game that involves racing your ships around an archipelago of islands? And, extra-especially, a pirate game that’s currently on sale? Glory Islands, from Rio Grande Games, typically retails for $45, but Amazon has it on sale right now for the oddly-specific price of $32.17. To save you a calculation, that’s a 28% discount. Not bad.
Glory Islands for 28% Off
In Glory Islands, you’ll be dropping off your scurvy crew onto the spaces in the hope of winning treasure and scoring points via a fun mishmash of different mechanics that adds up to a shipshape whole. Ship movement is governed by playing numeric cards from your hand that also have special powers, such as the five allowing you to pause and drop a second pirate. But be careful, as using too many high-value cards will cost you points at game end. Occupying an island space wins you small bonuses but, once an island is full, it bags a bunch of points for the player with the most crew members there.
Glory Islands is a fast, fun, family-friendly board game that doesn’t have the depth to sustain itself over repeat plays or for hardcore hobbyists, but it’s plenty enjoyable if you pick it up at sale price. Getting the balance right between doing well in the race, while still hitting the spaces you need to score with your crew and not incurring a penalty for sailing too recklessly is surprisingly hard. And there’s real tension in watching where other players drop their sailors, as islands you think are in the bag can swing away from you with surprising speed.
The game also comes with neat wooden ships and sailor pieces, plus miniature barrels of rum you can stockpile to really feel like a miniature pirate king.
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Matt Thrower is a contributing freelance writer for IGN, specializing in tabletop games. You can reach him on BlueSky at @mattthr.bsky.social.
One of the most memorable moments in the entire Assassin’s Creed series happens near the start of Assassin’s Creed 3, when Haytham Kenway has finished rounding up his band of assassins in the New World. Or at least, the player is led to believe they’re assassins. Haytham, after all, uses a hidden blade, is just as charismatic as previous series protagonist Ezio Auditore, and has – up until this point in the campaign – played the part of a hero, busting Native Americans out of prison and beating up cocky British redcoats. Only when he utters the familiar phrase, “May the Father of Understanding guide us,” does it become clear we have actually been following our sworn enemies, the Templars.
To me, this surprising setup represents the fullest realization of Assassin’s Creed’s potential. The first game in the series introduced an intriguing concept – find, get to know, and kill your targets – but fell short in the story department, with both protagonist Altaïr and his victims being utterly bereft of personality. Assassin’s Creed 2 took a step in the right direction by replacing Altaïr with the more iconic Ezio, but failed to apply the same treatment to his adversaries, with the big bad of its spinoff Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Cesare Borgia, coming across as particularly underdeveloped. Only in Assassin’s Creed 3, set during the American Revolution, did the developers at Ubisoft devote as much time to fleshing out the hunted as they did the hunter. It lent the game an organic flow from set-up to payoff and, as a result, achieved a delicate balance between gameplay and narrative that as yet hasn’t been replicated since.
While the current RPG era of the series has largely been well received by players and critics, a wealth of articles, YouTube videos, and forum posts agree that Assassin’s Creed is in decline, and has been for some time. What exactly is responsible for this downfall, however, is subject to debate. Some point to the increasingly unrealistic premises of the modern games, which have you face off against gods like Anubis and Fenrir. Others take issue with Ubisoft’s implementation of a varied spectrum of romance options or, in the hotly-disputed case of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, replacing its hitherto fictional protagonists with a real-world historical figure, an African samurai called Yasuke. My personal nostalgia for the Xbox 360/PS3-era games notwithstanding, I’d argue it’s none of these. Instead, such decline is a result of the series’ gradual abandonment of character-driven storytelling, which has by now gotten buried deep inside its sprawling sandbox.
Over the years, Assassin’s Creed has padded its original action-adventure formula with a slew of RPG and live service-ish elements, from dialogue trees and XP-based levelling systems to loot boxes, microtransaction DLC, and gear customization. But the bigger the new installments have become, the emptier they have started to feel, and not just with regard to the countless climb-this-tower, find-that-object side-missions, but also their basic storytelling.
While a game like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey technically has more content than Assassin’s Creed 2, much of it feels wooden and underbaked.
Although allowing you to choose what your character says or does should theoretically make the overall experience more immersive, in practice I’ve found it often has the opposite effect: as scripts get longer and longer to account for multiple possible scenarios, they feel like they lack the same level of polish as a game with a more limited range of interaction. The focused, screenplay-like scripts of the series’ action-adventure era allowed for sharply defined characters that were not pulled thin by a game structure that demands its protagonist be compassionate or brutal on the whim of the player.
Thus, while a game like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey technically has more content than Assassin’s Creed 2, much of it feels wooden and underbaked. This unfortunately breaks the immersion; it’s too often very obvious that you are interacting with computer generated characters rather than complex historical figures. This is in stark contrast to the franchise’s Xbox 360/PS3 era, which in my humble opinion has produced some of the finest writing in all of gaming, from Ezio’s fiery “Do not follow me, or anyone else!” speech after besting Savonarola, to the tragicomic soliloquy Haytham delivers when he is at long last killed by his son, Connor:
“Don’t think I have any intention of caressing your cheek and saying I was wrong. I will not weep and wonder what might have been. I’m sure you understand. Still, I’m proud of you in a way. You have shown great conviction. Strength. Courage. All noble qualities. I should have killed you long ago.”
The writing has suffered in other ways over the years, too. Where the modern games tend to stick to the easily digestible dichotomy of Assassins = good and Templars = bad, the earlier games went to great lengths to show that the line between the two orders isn’t as clear-cut as it initially appears. In Assassin’s Creed 3, each defeated Templar uses their last breath to make Connor – and, by extension, the player – question their own beliefs. William Johnson, a negotiator, says the Templars could have stopped the Native American genocide. Thomas Hickey, a hedonist, calls the Assassins’ mission unrealistic and promises Connor that he’ll never feel fulfilled. Benjamin Church, who betrays Haytham, declares it’s “all a matter of perspective,” and that the British – from their point of view – see themselves as the victims, not the aggressors.
Haytham, for his part, tries to shake Connor’s faith in George Washington, claiming the country he’ll create will be no less despotic than the monarchy from which the Americans sought to liberate themselves – an assertion which rings all the more true when we discover that the command to burn down Connor’s village wasn’t given by Haytham’s henchman Charles Lee, as previously thought, but Washington. By the end of the game, the player has more questions than answers – and the story is stronger for it.
Looking back on the franchise’s long history, there is a reason why one track from the Jesper Kyd-composed Assassin’s Creed 2 score, “Ezio’s Family,” resonated with players to the point of becoming the series’ official theme. The PS3 games, particularly Assassin’s Creed 2 and Assassin’s Creed 3, were – at their core – character-driven experiences; the melancholic guitar strings of “Ezio’s Family” weren’t meant to evoke the game’s Renaissance setting so much as Ezio’s personal trauma of losing his family. As much as I admire the expansive worldbuilding and graphical fidelity of the current generation of Assassin’s Creed games, my hope is that this out-of-control franchise will someday scale itself down, and once again deliver the kind of focused, tailor-made stories that made me fall in love with it in the first place. Sadly, in a landscape dominated by sprawling sandboxes and single-player games with live service-style ambitions, I fear that’s just not “good business” anymore.
Tim Brinkhof is a freelance writer specializing in art and history. After studying journalism at NYU, he has gone on to write for Vox, Vulture, Slate, Polygon, GQ, Esquire and more.
V Boxes are an underrated way to get booster packs at retail prices. You get promo cards and an oversized collectible card too. Trying to track down Lost Origin, Astral Radiance, or Brilliant Stars booster packs without paying inflated prices is bloody impossible as Pokémania 2025 rolls on. Single packs from these sets can now cost £5 to £10 each, especially for the more popular expansions. That’s where Pokémon V Boxes come in.
Pokémon TCG: Hisuian Electrode V Box
The Hisuian Electrode V Box is available for £19.53 and includes two Lost Origin packs, one Astral Radiance pack, and one Brilliant Stars pack.
Pokémon TCG: Virizion V Box
The Virizion V Box is available for £19.99 and includes two Lost Origin packs, one Astral Radiance pack, and one Fusion Strike pack.
V Boxes are an underrated way to get booster packs at retail prices . As a bonus, you get promo cards and an oversized collectible card. Trying to track down Lost Origin, Astral Radiance, or Brilliant Stars booster packs without paying inflated prices is bloody impossible as Pokémania 2025 rolls on. Single packs from these sets can now cost £5 to £10 each, especially for the more popular expansions. That’s where Pokémon V Boxes come in.
These boxes contain four booster packs and cost under £20, meaning you’re paying under £5 per pack while also getting a couple of foil promo cards and an oversized card. If you’re still trying to complete your Sword and Shield-era collections, this is one of the best ways to do it at retail price.
Lost Origin boosters are my main target (Giratina V Alt-Art is my dream pull), Hisuian Electrode V Box is the best choice. It includes two Lost Origin packs along with Astral Radiance and Brilliant Stars, two sets loaded with Trainer Gallery hits. Considering individual packs can run you £6 or more on eBay, this is an easy win.
Want Lost Origin packs but don’t mind swapping out Brilliant Stars for Fusion Strike? Virizion V Box is another bargain. Fusion Strike has some strong chase cards, including Gengar VMAX and Espeon VMAX Alt-Art, so it’s well worth ripping open. Lost Origin’s Giratina V, Astral Radiance’s Origin Forme Dialga, or Brilliant Stars’ Charizard VSTAR are all solid reasons to grab these V boxes before they sell out or go out of print. Both aren’t far off.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
If you’re interested in unusual or innovative games, then Maps of Misterra should be on your radar, especially since it’s currently selling at a hefty sale discount. It normally runs in the $30 range, but Amazon currently has it on sale for $12.99, which is less than half price. That’s quite a deal on a game that’s worth a look.
Maps of Misterra on Sale for $12.99
In Maps of Misterra, players are cartographers, seeking to chart an unknown island. You’ll start with some end-game goals of what you think the island is supposed to look like, and initially you’ll place terrain tiles on a shared board trying to match that map. But exploration is a tricky business and you can be mistaken: other players can overwrite your placements with their own until someone takes an extra action to confirm that tile, fixing it in place. Terrain effects, such as being able to see further atop mountains, or travel further over steppe, lend extra weight to the strategy and flavor to the theme.
The result of this clever, two-step, discover and confirm mechanic is a fascinating dynamic and interactive puzzle where your goals push and pull against those of other players, and the island takes shape around them. This also provides a real sense of revelation, of venturing into the unknown as every version of the island is different.
If you enjoy getting into the theme of a game, you can also have a great time loudly proclaiming that your suggestions are the absolute truth against the nonsense other players are trying to foist on the map. It’s fun as a solo board game, too, against an automated opponent so you still get the sense of playing against an active player. The slightly messy interaction might put off some players, but at this price it’s worth a look for its sheer oddness.
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Matt Thrower is a contributing freelance writer for IGN, specializing in tabletop games. You can reach him on BlueSky at @mattthr.bsky.social.
