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Best Xbox Deals Today (January 2025)

It’s a new year and that means plenty of new deals for Xbox fans. At the moment, there are quite a few game deals available that are worth checking out, including discounts on Star Wars Outlaws, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and Sonic X Shadow Generations, but these just scratch the surface of what’s out there. Here are the best Xbox deals available at the moment.

Best Xbox Game Deals

While the holidays and seasonal sale events may be behind us, you can still save on quite a few games to kick off the new year. At the moment, you can score some great deals on Star Wars Outlaws, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and Sonic X Shadow Generations, to name a few. You can find even more Xbox game deals below.

More Xbox Video Game Deals:

What’s Coming Soon to Xbox Game Pass

Game Pass has a nice rotation of new titles to play every month. If you’re curious about what’s in store for the rest of January, we’ve got you covered. The Xbox Game Pass January wave 2 lineup is:

New Xbox Consoles Available Now

Two new variants of Xbox Series X are now available alongside a new 1TB Series S. If you’re interested in picking one of these up, the fancy 2TB Galaxy Black Series X will set you back $599.99, the 1TB All-Digital Robot White Xbox Series X can be bought for $449.99, and the 1TB Robot White Xbox Series S goes for $349.99.

Best Xbox Accessory Deals

From headphones to controllers, there are quite a few Xbox accessory deals to check out right now as well. Some of our favorites include a limited time deal on the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3 headset, a 25% discount on the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, and a nice little 18% discount on the Sky Cipher Xbox wireless controller.

What is Xbox’s Recent Controversy?

The recent discomfored surrounding Xbox can be isolated to a recent round of brutal layoffs. Microsoft is closing a number of Bethesda studios, including Redfall maker Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks, and more in devastating cuts at Bethesda. Alpha Dog Games, maker of mobile game Mighty Doom, will also close. Roundhouse Studios will be absorbed by The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios. Microsoft, currently valued at over $3 trillion, did not say how many staff will lose their jobs, but significant layoffs are inevitable.

Microsoft’s announcement of the cuts at Bethesda come over three months after the company announced plans to cut 1,900 staff from its video game workforce, and amid a boom time for Bethesda’s Fallout series following the breakout hit Prime Video TV show.

When Should I Buy an Xbox?

In general, it is advisable to keep an eye out for sales and restocks throughout the year, as availability has improved since the initial launch of the console. Unlike the Nintendo Switch, there is no specific recommendation to wait for a sale regardless of the time of year. Instead, it’s a good idea to monitor various retailers and online platforms for restock announcements and promotional offers.

However, certain events like Black Friday or other holiday seasons may bring about unique bundles, discounts, or promotional deals specifically for the Xbox Series X. These bundles may include additional games, accessories, or exclusive limited editions. While quantities for such promotions might be limited, they can provide an opportunity to get more value for your purchase. See our guide to Xbox Series X prices for more info.

Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S?

Choosing between the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S ultimately depends on your gaming preferences, budget, and specific requirements. Let’s compare the two consoles to help you make an informed decision:

1. Performance: The Xbox Series X is the more powerful option, offering native 4K gaming, higher graphical fidelity, and faster loading times. It has more advanced hardware, including a larger storage capacity. On the other hand, the Xbox Series S targets a lower price point and offers a less powerful performance, targeting 1440p resolution gaming and upscaling to 4K.

2. Price: The Xbox Series S is more affordable compared to the Xbox Series X. If budget is a significant factor for you, the Xbox Series S provides a cost-effective option while still delivering a next-generation gaming experience. For example, the Series S can play Starfield at 1440p 30fps (vs 4K 30fps on Series X).

3. Storage: The Xbox Series X comes with a larger internal storage capacity, allowing you to store more games directly on the console. The Xbox Series S, however, has a smaller storage capacity, which means you may need to manage your game library more actively or rely on external storage solutions.

4. Disc Drive: The Xbox Series X includes a disc drive, enabling you to play physical game discs and enjoy a wider range of media options, including Blu-ray and DVD playback. The Xbox Series S, in contrast, is a digital-only console, meaning you can only play games downloaded from the digital store.

5. Graphics and Performance: While both consoles support ray tracing, the Xbox Series X provides a more immersive and visually impressive experience due to its superior hardware capabilities. If you prioritize cutting-edge graphics and want the best performance available, the Xbox Series X is the preferable choice.

Consider your gaming preferences, budget, and whether you prioritize top-of-the-line performance or cost-effectiveness. If you have a 4K TV, want the most powerful console, and are willing to invest more, the Xbox Series X is the recommended option. If you have a lower budget, a 1080p or 1440p TV, and don’t mind sacrificing some performance, the Xbox Series S offers excellent value for money.

With how expensive gaming is getting in 2024, we’re trying to save you as much money as possible on the games and other tech you actually want to buy. We’ve got great deal roundups available for all major platforms such as Switch and Xbox, and keep these updated daily with brand new offers. If you’re trying to keep costs down while maintaining your favorite hobby, stay tuned for more incredible discounts.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

Fresh Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Season 2 Details Confirmed Alongside New Trailer

Activision has released a new trailer for Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Season 2, which kicks off later this month.

Season 2 goes live on January 28 and adds five Multiplayer maps — Bounty, Dealership, Lifeline, Bullet (Mid-Season), Grind (Mid-Season) — and sees the return of the fan-favorite Gun Game mode, and adds new weapons and operators.

The trailer confirms the addition of swords and provides a look at some of the operator skins that will be made available with Season 2. Developer Treyarch had already teased the addition of an “iconic” SMG with Season 2, and it’s rumored to be the PPSH-41 from Call of Duty: Vanguard​​​​​​.

As for Zombies, the trailer shows a first look at gameplay of the new map, The Tomb, as well as an ice staff. Warzone does not appear to be represented in the video. Activision is expected to publish a Season 2 roadmap shortly.

Fans eagerly awaiting the launch of Season 2 not just for new content, but for promised improved anti-cheat tech.

Activision has confirmed it plans to let console Ranked players disable crossplay with PC players for the launch of Season 2, with more improvements coming in subsequent seasons after a backlash over cheating across Black Ops 6 Multiplayer and in the battle royale, Warzone.

Speaking of Warzone, Activision has said Season 2 will have less content than originally planned as it addresses some of the more severe issues currently afflicting the game. It will focus on gameplay tuning, bug fixes, and quality-of-life improvements with the coming season, pushing back new content originally planned for the launch of Season 2.

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.

PC and PS5 Action RPG Phantom Blade Zero Gets Slick Trailer But Still No Release Date

Highly anticipated action role-playing game Phantom Blade Zero, which doesn’t look to dissimilar to Black Myth: Wukong, has received a slick new trailer but still no release date.

The Year of the Snake Gameplay Trailer, below, shows Phantom Blade Zero’s protagonist in a boss battle against Chief Disciple’s Fallen Hope, a puppet-themed baddie who fights with a squad of marionettes before moving to strings itself.

Fans hoping for a concrete launch date for Phantom Blade Zero are out of luck, however, as Chinese developer S-Game still hasn’t revealed when players can get their hands on the game beyond a vague 2025 release window.

The studio told Eurogamer Phantom Blade Zero is a “polished title” though, evidenced by the demos shown last year. It’s currently in the process of pushing “the boundaries even further” using Unreal Engine 5, brought on by a “significant” increase in budget.

The Year of the Snake gameplay trailer closed by showing off some snake-themed weapons. Weapon Number 13 is called the Soft Snake Sword and has a flexible metallic blade which can rapidly cut through foes, while Weapon Number 27 is the White Serpent and Crimson Viper big sword and short sword combo.

Despite comparisons to Black Myth: Wukong, which arrived in 2024 to incredible success, Phantom Blade Zero leans more into the pure action game genre than a From Software-inspired Souslike.

It was announced in May 2023 but S-Game hasn’t said too much about it since. This will likely change as its 2025 release date on PC and PlayStation 5 approaches, though fans will just have to wait patiently for this to be announced.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

CD Projekt’s Decision to Go With Ciri as Protagonist for The Witcher 4 ‘A Really Interesting Move for All Kinds of Reasons,’ Geralt Actor Says

Doug Cockle, the voice actor behind The Witcher protagonist Geralt, has backed CD Projekt’s decision to focus on Ciri for The Witcher 4.

The Witcher 4, revealed at The Game Awards 2024 with a debut trailer, is the first in a new trilogy of Witcher games set after the events of The Witcher 3. But rather than star Geralt as protagonist, Ciri is the main character this time around.

Speaking exclusively to IGN ahead of the reveal, executive producer Małgorzata Mitręga said Ciri was “the very organic, logical choice.”

“It was always about her, starting from Saga when you read it in the books. She’s an amazing, layered character. And of course, as a protagonist we said goodbye to Geralt previously. So this is a continuation. I guess for all of us it’s like she was meant to be. That was always her.”

Game director Sebastian Kalemba added that because Ciri is younger than Geralt, players will have more freedom to define her character in a way they couldn’t with Geralt. This also affords the developers more space to explore her character.

While both Mitręga and Kalemba acknowledged a potential backlash from some corners of the internet at Ciri’s role as protagonist in The Witcher 4, they insisted Ciri was always going to be the game’s main character.

“There was an intention behind this choice,” Kalemba said. “It was far from roulette. It wasn’t random. I remember we had discussions nine years ago, we were talking about who’s next? The very, very instant answer was Ciri. There are many reasons behind that. We’ve already mentioned a few. But she really deserves a stage and we want players to really experience her story because she has so much to tell, so much to prove. The amount of challenges that are in front of her give us so much amazing energy and fuel to create an epic saga that we had no choice but to go with it. We all felt that this is the way. I believe this is the super right choice.”

Now, speaking to IGN as part of a wider interview on Netflix’s upcoming animated film, The Witcher: Sirens of The Deep, Cockle backed CD Projekt’s decision, even though it sees Geralt take a back seat.

“I’m really excited,” he said. “I think it’s a really good move. I mean, I always thought that continuing the Saga, but shifting to Ciri would be a really, really interesting move for all kinds of reasons, but mostly because of things that happen in the books, which I don’t want to give away because people, I want people to go read. So yeah, I think it’s really exciting. I can’t wait. I can’t wait to see what they’ve done.”

If you’ve watched The Witcher 4’s debut trailer, you’ll have heard a line of dialogue that sounded very much like it was coming from previous protagonist Geralt: “Time for a new saga. See you on the path.”

IGN has confirmed that Geralt is indeed in The Witcher 4, and that is indeed the voice of Cockle. CD Projekt told IGN: “Geralt will appear in the game, but we don’t want to spoil his role precisely. You’ll have to wait to learn more for now.”

So, how can Geralt appear in The Witcher 4 after The witcher 3 left the character in semi-retirement at his vineyard in Toussaint? In an interview with IGN ahead of the reveal of The Witcher 4, CD Projekt franchise and lore designers Cian Maher and Marcin Batylda explained how the already established timeline of events makes it make sense.

“I mean Geralt will probably be around for a long time to the extent that in Season of Storms, the prequel novel that takes place actually before Geralt attends that banquet we mentioned earlier on, there is an epilogue in that book,” Maher explained.

“It takes place in a place called Magpie Forest in 1373, 101 years after The Witcher 3. And in that epilogue there is a certain white-haired witcher hunting a monster who remains unnamed, but who behaves in a certain way and obviously he has white hair. So by which I mean I think we can expect Geralt to be around for a long time. The capacity in which he does is, we’ll see, but I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

Cockle, though, is keeping his cards close to his chest in terms of the extent of his role on The Witcher 4, even saying he’s still waiting to find out more himself.

“Well, we know that Witcher 4 is going to focus on Ciri, so whatever role Geralt has in the game, it won’t be a main protagonist kind of thing,” he said. “But beyond what we know from the trailer, I don’t know anything.”

Cockle’s been in the news recently for having his fun in interviews, saying last month that he “got slapped” by CD Projekt for previously confirming Geralt was set to appear in The Witcher 4 but not as the main character.

IGN asked Cockle if he’s now back in CD Projekt’s good books. It turns out, he never left.

“Yeah, I was never really out of their good books,” he said. “All developers are like this. They want to keep their surprises and I actually didn’t know anything, so I was just making guesses at things and stuff like that. And probably one of their requests was to just to stop guessing, Doug, you might be right. You might not be right. It doesn’t matter if you are talking me, Doug, who plays Geralt, whatever you say is going to be taken as something.

“So it was a very, very light slap on the wrist. It wasn’t really a big deal. But yeah, we’ve all seen the trailer now, so we know something of what’s coming.”

We’ve got plenty more exclusive content on The Witcher 4, including a trailer breakdown and an interview with CD Projekt where the developer explains why The Witcher 4 will avoid a Cyberpunk 2077-style launch disaster.

You can find Doug Cockle on Instagram (@dougcockle), Cameo (DougCockle), and X (DCockle).

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.

Sega Launches Account System With Benefits and Rewards, Opens With Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Sega has launched its own account system akin to the Nintendo Account or Ubisoft Connect that will “maximize” its online services and offer various benefits, kicking off with a free costume for Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.

The aptly named Sega Account was revealed on its new website and is described as “an online profile that gives you access to a host of benefits when playing Sega and Atlus titles and using their online services.

“By creating a Sega Account, you’ll receive the latest news about Sega and Atlus games, events, and promotions. Additionally, your Sega Account grants you access to exclusive bonuses and the ability to link accounts on various gaming platforms.”

The first of these benefits is the Kazuma Kiryu Special Outfit in Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, which lets protagonist Goro Majima dress up as his friend, rival, and longtime Yakuza series lead. This is the same outfit Sega is giving away for signing up to email notifications, but it’s unclear if that has now changed.

Those with a Sega Account between January 22 and March 7 will receive the outfit, distributed via a code between February 17 and March 7. Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii itself arrives on February 21, brought forward from its original February 28 date to avoid a clash with Monster Hunter Wilds.

Sega didn’t announce what future benefits fans could expect, but it will presumably include its other flagship franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Persona. It could also tie into a Game Pass style subscription service Sega is currently considering.

As reported by the BBC, the company is currently “evaluating some opportunities” in the subscription service space and, just like PlayStation launched its Game Pass rival on the back of its established PlayStation Plus service, Sega could be setting the foundations for a similar move in the future.

Fans are also speculating a connection with the impending Sega “Super Game,” expected to release by the end of March 2026. While practically nothing is known about this project, Sega described it as a “large scale global title” that many fans are expecting to be an accumulation of various games akin to what Call of Duty has done with its titles or what Ubisoft is working on with Assassin’s Creed Infinity: essentially a hub for myriad other games.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Mortal Kombat 1 Dev Chief Ed Boon Teases T-1000 Fatality and ‘Future DLC’

Mortal Kombat 1 development chief Ed Boon has taken to social media to reveal a glimpse at upcoming guest character T-1000 Terminator’s Fatality, and tease “future DLC.”

To mark the release of guest character Conan the Barbarian, Boon tweeted to say Mortal Kombat 1 has now sold over five million copies, up from the four million previously reported. Boon then tweeted a short clip showing one of the T-1000’s Fatalities, which Terminator 2 fans are sure to get a kick out of.

We see the T-1000 drive a smashed up truck straight into his hapless opponent, rekindling memories of the iconic chase scene in Terminator 2 where the T-1000 drives the same truck in pursuit of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator and Edward Furlong’s John Connor.

But it’s Boon’s comment accompanying the clip that set tongues wagging within the Mortal Kombat community: “With Conan getting into player’s hands, we are excited to keep trucking forward with future DLC!”

While the line “keep trucking forward with future DLC” may relate to the upcoming release of the T-1000, some are hoping it’s a tease that more DLC characters are set to hit the game once the current set is rounded out.

T-1000 Terminator is the final DLC character set to be added to the gory fighting game as part of the Khaos Reigns expansion, and follows playable fighters Cyrax, Sektor, Noob Saibot, Ghostface, and Conan the Barbarian. Fans have wondered for some time now whether developer NetherRealm plans a third set of DLC characters, or a Kombat Pack 3, amid questions about Mortal Kombat 1’s sales success.

Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has indicated, however, that it still believes in the Mortal Kombat franchise. In November, CEO David Zaslav said that on the games side of things, the company plans to double down on just four titles, one of which is Mortal Kombat.

In September, Boon said NetherRealm had decided on its next game three years prior, but promised to support Mortal Kombat 1 “for a long time to come.”

Most fans of the studio’s work expect it to release a third game in its DC fighting game franchise, Injustice, although neither NetherRealm nor Warner Bros. has yet to confirm that. The first game in the series, Injustice: Gods Among Us, launched in 2013, with its sequel, Injustice 2, coming out in 2017. NetherRealm released Mortal Kombat 11 in 2019 and for a time it seemed like the studio would alternate between Mortal Kombat and Injustice games, but it went on to release another Mortal Kombat, the soft reboot that is Mortal Kombat 1, in 2023 instead.

In an interview with IGN in June 2023, Boon spoke in vague terms about this decision. “There were a number of factors, some of which I can talk about, some of which I probably shouldn’t,” Boon said.

Two reasons Boon was willing to discuss were the unfortunate onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the team’s choice to switch to a newer version of the Unreal game engine (Mortal Kombat 11 runs on Unreal Engine 3, whereas Mortal Kombat 1 runs on Unreal Engine 4).

“But we did go to a new graphics engine, Unreal,” Boon said. “We really wanted to be careful with COVID and all that stuff and everybody staying safe. So there were a bunch of variables involved that eventually we realized, ‘Okay, let’s do another Mortal Kombat game and hopefully we’ll get back to the Injustice games.’ “

Just to be sure, we wanted to confirm with him directly that the door was not closed on the Injustice franchise.

“Not at all,” Boon answered.

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.

New York Game Awards 2025 Winners: The Full List

The New York Game Awards 2024 has arrived and, alongside honoring Remedy Entertainment creative director Sam Lake, the show saw Astro Bot become the big winner of the night as it took home Game of the Year, Best Music, and Best Kids Game.

While Astro Bot led the way with three wins, there were many other incredible games and people honored in the other 10 categories, including Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. The highly praised DLC for Elden Ring was the only other game to win multiple awards as it emerged victorious in the Best World and Best DLC categories.

Other highlights included Simone De Rochefort and Clayton Ashley winning the Knickerbocker Award for Best Games Journalism (The same one IGN’s Rebekah Valentine won in 2022!) for their work on The Great Game: The Making of Spycraft, Troy Baker winning Best Acting in a Game for his performance as Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and UFO 50 winning Best Indie Game.

You can check out the full list of the winners and nominees of the New York Game Awards 2025 below and see how they compare to IGN’s Awards in 2024! You can also read our chat with Sam Lake about the honor of winning the Andrew Yoon Legend Award!

New York Game Awards 2025 Winners

Big Apple Award for Best Game of the Year

  • Balatro
  • Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
  • Astro Bot – WINNER
  • UFO 50
  • 1000xResist
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  • Metaphor: ReFantazio
  • EA Sports College Football 25

Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game

  • Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
  • Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
  • Balatro
  • I Am Your Beast
  • UFO 50 – WINNER
  • 1000xResist
  • Thank Goodness You’re Here!
  • Neva

Herman Melville Award for Best Writing in a Game

  • Harold Halibut
  • Metaphor: ReFantazio – WINNER
  • 1000xResist
  • Life is Strange: Double Exposure
  • Phoenix Springs
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Statue of Liberty Award for Best World

  • Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree – WINNER
  • Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
  • Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
  • Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
  • Astro Bot
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 Heart of Chornobyl

Tin Pan Alley Award for Best Music in a Game

  • Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
  • Life is Strange: Double Exposure
  • Astro Bot – WINNER
  • Arco
  • Black Myth Wukong
  • 1000xResist

Great White Way Award for Best Acting in a Game

  • Abubakar Salim as Zau, Zuberi and Griot Echo in Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
  • John Eric Bentley as Barret in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
  • Hannah Telle as Max Caulfield in Life is Strange: Double Exposure
  • Melina Juergens as Senua in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
  • Troy Baker as Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – WINNER
  • Humberly González as Kay in Star Wars Outlaws

Coney Island Dreamland Award for Best AR/VR Game

  • Thrasher
  • Batman: Arkham Shadow – WINNER
  • Umurangi Generation VR
  • Skydance’s Behemoth
  • Silent Slayer: Vault of the Vampire
  • Shattered

Central Park Children’s Zoo Award for Best Kids Game

  • Astro Bot – WINNER
  • Super Mario Party Jamboree
  • Little Kitty, Big City
  • Sonic X Shadow Generations
  • The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

A-Train Award for Best Mobile Game

  • Rabbids: Legends of the Multiverse
  • Wuthering Waves
  • Zenless Zone Zero – WINNER
  • Ex Astris
  • Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket

Freedom Tower Award for Best Remake

  • Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered
  • Silent Hill 2 – WINNER
  • Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
  • Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
  • Age of Mythology: Retold
  • Persona 3: Reload

Chumley’s Speakeasy Award for Best Hidden Gem

  • Ultros
  • Vampire Therapist
  • Mouthwashing – WINNER
  • Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story
  • Mars After Midnight
  • Starstruck: Hands of Time

NYC GWB Award for Best DLC

  • Alan Wake II: Night Springs and The Lake House
  • Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – Mask of Darkness
  • Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree – WINNER
  • Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon
  • Splatoon 3: Side Order
  • Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred

Knickerbocker Award for Best Games Journalism

  • Duncan Fyfe
  • Alexis Ong
  • Grant Stoner
  • Mason Andrew Hamberlin
  • Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
  • Simone De Rochefort & Clayton Ashley – WINNER

Andrew Yoon Legend Award Recipient

  • Sam Lake – Winner

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.

Super Mario RPG Drops to $30 at Target

While supplies last, Target is offering the excellent Super Mario RPG remake for Nintendo Switch for only $30. You can get free shipping on orders $35 or more, which you’ll want to do to avoid the $5.99 shipping fee. This game is a physical copy so you can sell or trade it off when you’re done with it.

Super Mario RPG for $30

Super Mario RPG is a remake of the 1996 SNES classic. It was one of the best games to grace the console back then amidst a sea of other incredible titles, and Nintendo did a great job of staying faithful to the game’s charm and fun factor. A whole slew of improvements have been implemented to bring this game up to modern day standards, including updated visuals, music, gameplay mechanics, and several small yet welcome quality-of-life UI improvements.

In our Super Mario RPG review, Tom Marks wrote that “Super Mario RPG is considered a classic for a reason, and this wonderfully faithful remake makes it easy for anyone who missed it in the SNES era to see why. It’s unabashedly odd, reveling in the unexpected with writing that constantly had me bursting out laughing at jokes I’d heard a dozen times before. Its turn-based combat is fairly simple outside of its very clever boss fights, but it’s also ultra satisfying to keep your timing string going even when you’re plowing through pushovers. And while the updated graphics are equal parts pretty and sort of unambitious when it comes to interpreting the original’s style (with some unfortunate menu lag), the new takes on its excellent music are truly exceptional. Super Mario RPG already held up pretty well if you didn’t mind a bit of dust on its different systems, but now there’s no excuse not to see why Mario’s most unexpected adventure is still so beloved.”

Looking for more Mario games? Here’s a list of every Mario game for the Nintendo Switch.

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.

Hyper Light Breaker Early Access Review

Normally, when a sequel is announced that’s a wild departure from the original, I welcome it with open arms – look no further than my inexplicable but everlasting love of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts as evidence. But after more than a dozen hours with Hyper Light Breaker – a follow-up (though not a proper sequel) to one of my all-time favorite indie games, Hyper Light Drifter – I feel like Vito Corleone telling y’all to look at how they massacred my boy. There’s clearly the skeleton of a good action-RPG hidden somewhere in this incredibly challenging co-op roguelite, but it’s currently buried deeper than the sun can see under sloppy combat mechanics, shallow and frustrating exploration, and scant content that feels repetitive after just a couple hours. Of course, this is its early access launch, so there’s always hope an initially rough package will transform into something much better with enough time, but what’s here right now is largely a disappointment.

The goal of each run is to hunt around a randomized map for better gear and key items before taking on three highly deadly and supremely irritating bosses, then extract yourself back to base to regroup, buy some upgrades, and do it again. The procedurally generated worlds you and up to two friends will spend most of your time exploring at least look quite pretty, using a unique art style that channels the vibe of Hyper Light Drifter in 3D quite well. But these repetitive areas are extremely obnoxious to navigate, filled with awkward cliffs and crooked landscapes that feel like I’m not actually supposed to be climbing them but offer me no other choice. On the bright side, they at least give you a neat hoverboard to ride around on and do tricks, and although the controls are as sloppy as everything else, hoverboards are indeed still dope as hell and there are definitely some good times to be had there.

Hyper Light Breaker’s sloppy combat can get quite infuriating.

Sadly, the same can’t be said about the lackluster hack-and-slash combat. There isn’t anything interesting about the melee attacks you are given, the alternative third-person shooting option has very limited ammo, moving and dodging feel unresponsive and inconsistent, and the lock-on system constantly toggled itself off unexpectedly and got me and my crew killed many times – to the point where I just stopped using it altogether. Combine that with the fact that you’re constantly swarmed by mobs that are often more annoyingly omnipresent than interesting, and a Hyper Light Breaker can get quite infuriating. And you better hope you’ve got some friends willing to help you with your runs, because things feel even worse when you’re playing alone as there is seemingly no scaling of any kind to compensate for your reduced manpower.

These things are especially frustrating when Hyper Light Breaker has been balanced to be so immediately difficult – and I mean exceedingly difficult, and that’s coming from someone with all the achievements in Sekiro – but doesn’t bother to explain its rules and often punishes you with an onslaught of enemy attacks that feel cheap. It’s also quite funny that you start with no healing items whatsoever (and are only given them at great expense and extremely sparingly) when you’d think you would need them most at the beginning when you’re learning. Instead, you basically have to throw yourself at impossible odds until you can unlock the bare minimum you need to survive.

There are only two of a planned three bosses to be found in the current version of Hyper Light Breaker: a giant wolf with a sword named Dro, and a melee warrior who wields fiery magic named Exus. Both are incredibly sloppy fights where minions are summoned endlessly and the boss flops around erratically to do massive damage. Dealing with these beefy leaders on their own is straightforward enough, but when you’re constantly bombarded by the same highly lethal enemies you find in the open-world areas, already challenging encounters become downright annoying. It also means you’re almost required to fight them alongside a full crew of three players if you want to win, with at least one person just focusing on crowd control. If your teammates falter in the middle of the fight, you’ll quickly find yourself in a nearly hopeless situation and get swarmed to death. And to add insult to injury, you have to beat the more irritating of the two fights, Dro, twice to complete a run right now in lieu of the third unique boss that hasn’t been added yet. And even when you manage to do so, you’re told that the final boss, the Abyss King, isn’t available yet before your run ends and you get sent back to start a new one.

Unfortunately, Hyper Light Breaker doesn’t currently give you a lot of reasons to continue playing after that. Sure, you’ll unlock small perks that grow you a bit stronger and make runs more manageable, but there’s very little new to see or do once you head back out. Simply having an easier go of it in later runs feels quite backwards to the roguelite formula as well, one that usually has you turning on difficulty modifiers and whatnot so the challenge level keeps up with you in exchange for greater reward. None of that can be found in Hyper Light Breaker at present. Even the two alternate characters you can unlock only have a few stat changes and one unique perk to differentiate them – although playing as a surfing ninja raccoon is at least pretty dope aesthetically.

The lack of any unique or powerful loot also contributed to my waning interest, especially once I completed a run or two. You’ll find a few different types of melee and ranged weapons, from cumbersome greatswords and lightning-fast hand claws, to peashooter sidearms and powerful shotguns, but the common and very weak versions of these items feel incredibly similar to the rare and powerful versions you’ll unlock down the road, merely adding some additional damage over time, little perks like restoring health when you execute an enemy, or some other minor benefit. Completely missing from the pool of items are any crazy game-changing options that substantially increase your effectiveness in combat or alter how you approach a given run.

Finally, and least surprisingly, Hyper Light Breaker is pretty poorly optimized in its current early access state. Frame rate dips and screen tearing were nearly constant during many of my play sessions and crashes or disconnects are a regular occurrence, especially if you aren’t the host. But worst of all, respawning after each death takes minutes of loading screens and menus slowly crawling by before you can get back into the action, making the inevitable failed runs in a roguelite that demands failure feel like a severe punishment. It’s encouraging that improvements have already been rolled out to make some of these issues less severe, and I fully expect this will be an area of continued improvement in the coming weeks and months, but at least right now, it can be quite rocky.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Post-Launch Roadmap Sets Stage for 3 Expansions in 2025

Developer Warhorse Studios and publisher Plaion have announced the Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 post-launch roadmap, revealing the content players can look forward to after the game’s release date in a few weeks.

The plan for free and paid post-launch content was detailed in a video, below. Although there is little gameplay footage for some of the bigger content plans, fans still get an outline of how Warhose will support its medieval sequel throughout 2025.

In spring, expect free updates that range from a Barbers feature with additional customization options to Hardcore Mode and Horse Racing. Summer will then follow with what appears to be the first paid content drop, Brushes with Death, which Warhorse said follows protagonist Henry as he “aids an enigmatic artist with a shadowy past.”

The autumn season brings the Legacy of the Forge expansion, add-on content that looks into Henry’s past by exploring his adoptive father Martin’s history. Finally, as far as this Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 post-launch roadmap is concerned, winter sees the release of Mysteria Ecclesia, which sees Henry embark on a covert mission to “navigate the complex dynamics” of the Sedlec Monastery.

Warhorse promised to release more free quality-of-life updates as each seasonal expansion rolls out. Details regarding what these updates entail have yet to be revealed. It sounds like each expansion will be available for players to purchase individually, but you’ll also be able to acquire the full bundle as part of an Expansion Pass that also includes the Shields of Seasons Passing shield customization DLC.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 launches for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on February 4, 2025. If you’re interested in picking up a copy but don’t know what comes in each edition, you can see our breakdown here. Then, be sure to check out Warhorse’s response to claims that Saudi Arabia had recently moved to ban the game’s release.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP.

Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).