Category: IGN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by Rich Polk/Variety via Getty Images.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A new offline mode for Ubisoft’s The Crew 2 is available now, which will allow owners to play the racing MMO offline if desired. The functionality – dubbed Hybrid Mode – has been explained in full on the publisher’s website.

According to Ubisoft, Hybrid Mode gives us the “freedom to choose” how we want to play The Crew 2. That is, online mode (which is “the original experience as it was designed from the start, complete with multiplayer features, leaderboards, summits, and community sharing”) or offline mode (which the publisher describes as “a new experience”).

“Whether you’re looking to preserve your progression for the future or simply enjoy the freedom of playing without a connection, Hybrid Mode ensures The Crew 2 remains accessible for years to come,” explains the publisher.

To transfer progression into offline mode, players can simply select “Export to Offline Save” after a session online. Doing so will create a copy of current progression in the game’s multiplayer world stored locally on a personal PC or console. Ubisoft notes online and offline saves are separate, however, so progress made offline will not carry back over into online saves. Players will be able to re-export online saves to update offline files at any time.

Custom liveries will not transfer to offline saves.

An offline mode for The Crew 2 was announced last year in the wake of the the shutdown of the original game in March 2024. Disappointed players of The Crew (which was not a free-to-play game, but became inaccessible for its owners to play after its shutdown – even solo) were justifiably concerned about The Crew 2 suffering the same fate.

“We heard your concerns about access to The Crew games,” Ubisoft said at the time. “Today, we want to express our commitment to the future of The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest. We can confirm an offline mode to ensure long term access to both titles.”

Ubisoft was subsequently sued after the shutdown, a lawsuit the publisher responded to by insisting that buying a game doesn’t give players “unfettered ownership rights” to it, but rather only a “limited license to access the game.”

Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.

The November 17 release date on Steam and Xbox PC for action RPG Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE is quickly approaching, and to celebrate, it will have a booth at TwitchCon in San Diego this week where players can try out a new demo and win special merch.

Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE lets you step into the world of the massively popular Solo Leveling franchise, centering on protagonist Sung Jinwoo. It’s been built for PC and console (it’s scheduled to release on consoles in 2026) and includes the original story along with new adventures that are exclusive to the game.

If you’re not familiar with the series, it takes place in a world where people with supernatural abilities known as Hunters must protect mankind from a never-ending onslaught of monsters. Usually, Hunters’ abilities and strength level are determined when their powers first manifest. But Jinwoo gets a unique ability: he can level up. So even though he starts off as a low-tier Hunter, he can grow more powerful the more foes he defeats. And now he’s on a personal quest to become the world’s strongest Hunter.

It should be pretty obvious why this premise lends itself to a game, it basically already has RPG progression systems baked in. Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE builds on that base with a skill tree that branches into eight different job advancements. Through the course of the webtoon, Jinwoo transforms into the Ultimate Monarch of Shadows, and now you can experience his evolution for yourself.

As you can see in the video above, Jinwoo can switch between weapons and combine basic attacks with flashy special abilities to build up combos. But you can’t just mindlessly attack, you need to keep an eye on enemies and respond to their strikes and AoE attacks. You can execute perfectly timed parries or dodges to cancel out damage and unleash powerful counterattacks to keep the fast pace flowing and combo meter climbing.

However you defeat enemies, they’ll drop loot that you can use to craft new weapons, including ones pulled directly from the original webtoon, like Kasaka’s Venom Fang and the Demon King’s Daggers. There are several weapon types available, and your combat style will be determined by your weapon and skill tree choices. That makes for a variety of styles, like in the original story, giving you the opportunity to try out different options and figure out what works best for you.

You’ll face off against a ton of enemies and bosses solo, but some are too strong for even a leveled-up Jinwoo to deal with. That’s where multiplayer comes in. You can team up in four-player co-op raids to take on commanders that series veterans will recognize, and you can play as Jinwoo or one of the other available Hunters with their own set of unique skills.

If you’re interested in seeing more, don’t miss TwitchCon, which starts Friday, October 17 and will be open until Sunday, October 19. The Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE booth is open to the public, so any in-person attendees can come by and try out the demo. And there will be some popular streamers playing the game at the booth (iiTzTimmy, RDCGaming, EsfandTV, Agent00, ExtraEmily, and more). The booth will also have activities available, and people who complete them can earn exclusive merch.

If you’re not able to attend in person, no worries. There will also be streamers dropping by the in-booth streaming room to play the demo and share gameplay with their channels. The game releases November 17 on Steam and Xbox PC, with a planned release on consoles next year.

It’s available for pre-order now, and the story, boss raids, and multiplayer content are included. If you want to stay up to date on the latest info, you can check out the official website or follow on Twitter, YouTube, or Discord.

If you’re looking for a Pokémon TCG card to invest in before it gets to over $1,000 raw*, Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat is a solid bet right now.

Originally announced in 2023 with Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, and later given out as a treasure hunt prize on exiting the exhibition, Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat is the infamous 85th promo card in the Pokémon TCG’s Scarlet and Violet series.

Hollow Knight: Silksong post-launch support continues again today with patch version 1.0.28954, now available via the game’s Steam public beta branch.

This update’s key feature is a “basic implementation” of a new Simplified Chinese translation, following an earlier backlash to the game’s initial Chinese language support included at launch that led to a spate of negative Steam reviews, and a subsequent pledge by Silksong developer Team Cherry to improve the feature.

After that blowback, it feels like Silksong developer Team Cherry is taking a cautious approach to the rollout of this fresh translation, with the studio now inviting further feedback from players using the Simplified Chinese translation to provide feedback on its clarity, style and spellings.

Otherwise, Silksong v1.0.28954 includes another list of game fixes — though Team Cherry has said that this list is still a work-in-progress, with more bugs likely set to be squashed before the patch rolls out more widely.

For now, the update is set to improve controller support on Steam, correct instances where Hornet’s plasmified state was being erroneously cleared, and ensure that Styx always hands over rosaries when given the Queen’s Egg.

Silksong remains one of the most-played games on Steam following its huge September 4 release. Here are some essential guides for your journey upwards: the Silksong Interactive Map, how to grind for Rosary Beads, our ever-expanding Walkthrough with boss videos and guides, how to get your first life bar upgrade (first four mask shards), and a great guide to the Simple Keys and the doors they open.

The full patch notes lie below.

Hollow Knight: Silksong update 1.0.28954 patch notes:

• Updated Simplified Chinese translation with a new script for public testing. This is a basic implementation only, to be refined and updated based on player feedback.
• Various localisation fixes implemented across all languages
• Switched to Unity’s Input System to improve overall controller support. This includes rumble features now working for various controllers, and additional controllers being recognised. Some issues may remain. For a full list of supported controllers and features, please visit: https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.inputsystem@1.14/manual/SupportedDevices.html
• Fixed Styx not giving rosaries when delivering the Queen’s Egg
• Fixed Druid’s Eyes sometimes not equipping correctly when first acquired
• Fixed some down attack colliders getting stuck on in rare instances
• Fixed several instances of Hornet’s plasmified state clearing when not intended (eg Bellway travel)
• Fixed issues entering the plasmified state when killing a Winged Lifeseed, rather than using the Plasmium Phial
• Reduced unintentionally long bind time when using Multibinder with the Shaman crest
• Updated Multibinder’s initial bind to clear maggots, per community comments
• Various smaller tweaks and fixes

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

Could Dead Space return now EA has new owners? That’s what Glen Schofield, the creator of the series, is hoping to make a reality. EA apparently isn’t interested in a new sequel, but the veteran game director is optimistic the sci-fi survival horror series isn’t permanently lost in space.

After he delivered the opening keynote address at this week’s Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show in Bangkok, IGN caught up with Schofield and asked him if he thought there was any future for the Dead Space series.

Schofield, who helped create the original Dead Space while working as the executive producer at EA Redwood Shores in 2008, didn’t play a part in the creation of Dead Space 2 in 2011 or Dead Space 3 in 2013, but he did go on to create a spiritual successor in the form of 2022’s The Callisto Protocol while working as the founder and CEO of Striking Distance Studios. It’s clear that he hasn’t completely given up hope that Dead Space will rise like a necromorph again, despite the fact it would appear that publisher Electronic Arts has.

Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human developer Quantic Dream has given fans a brief update on its long-gestating Star Wars Eclipse, as it reveals plans for a separate competitive multiplayer project.

In a blog post published today, Quantic Dream chief David Cage revealed that the company had now decided to operate with multiple internal teams, “after years as a single-project studio” dedicated to single-player narrative-focused games.

Discussing its plans, Cage said Quantic Dream was now creating “something very different, a competitive multiplayer experience” that “may surprise our fans as it is very different from what we have done so far.”

“Of course, development of Star Wars Eclipse continues,” Cage confirmed, “and we are eager to share more with you in the future.”

Announced in 2021 via a flashy cinematic trailer, Star Wars Eclipse has flown under the radar in the years since. Set within the franchise’s High Republic era, Eclipse is expected to integrate Quantic Dreams’ traditional story-based gameplay with an action-adventure game set in the Star Wars universe.

Beyond that, details on what to expect remain thin on the ground, and Quantic Dream has only commented on the project over the past few years to quash rumors of development trouble and delays, amid suggestions that the studio was struggling to hire staff following previous workplace allegations.

“Can I say it still exists? Because it exists,” Quantic Dream marketing boss Lisa Pendse told IGN in 2023, when asked for an update on Star Wars Eclipse. “It’s just not ready. It’s simmering.”

Still, eyebrows were raised in August 2024 when the game’s lead writer Adam Williams announced he’d left Quantic Dream after a decade at the studio. As of now, there’s no word on when Star Wars Eclipse will actually materialize.

“Star Wars Eclipse has not been delayed because Quantic Dream never announced or promised a launch window for the title,” the developer said in 2022. “Recruiting remains active as it works on Star Wars Eclipse, third-party publishing, and unannounced projects.”

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