Category: IGN

As Silent Hill f fans pore over the slew of previews that went live recently (you can read ours right here), two questions are consistently popping up on social media and fan communities: is the latest mainline Silent Hill really a ‘Soulslike’ game? And if it is, what does the term ‘Soulslike’ even mean anyway?

As we described in IGN’s Silent Hill f hands-on preview, combat itself has a similar feel to Silent Hill 2 Remake’s close-range combat. You can dodge enemy attacks with the DualSense’s circle button and activate a light and heavy attack with R1 and R2, respectively. Your limited reach and lengthy attack motions give a realistic, weighty feel to combat. Heavy attacks, especially, feel slow and need to be timed well, “contributing to the feeling that Hinako is just a teenager with limited strength.”

On top of that, however, Silent Hill f’s combat also features timed dodges and counterattacks, with the latter particularly important in combat sequences. Enemies briefly show a sign when a counterattack can be utilized, but we suggested that “unless you have trained your reflex skills by playing games like of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you will likely have a hard time reacting.” That’s where the Focus mode comes in, which can be triggered by holding L2. It allows counterattacks to last longer, while also charging up a power attack that staggers an enemy.

While series producer Motoi Okamoto hasn’t specifically mentioned the Soulslike genre, and by our estimation, Silent Hill f is “by no means a Soulslike,” talk of parries and counterattacks come as quite the surprise to Silent Hill fans. The franchise has never been famous for its clunky combat — story and atmosphere have almost always come first — but Okatomo’s suggestion that f’s combat sequences had been ratcheted up because “challenging action games are gaining popularity among younger players nowadays” has pretty much split the fandom.

The legacy of FromSoftware’s Souls series isn’t just defined by the amazing games in its back-catalog, but also the subgenre that’s been given life thanks to its very existence: The Soulslike. While defining one is kinda tricky, there are core elements that tend to apply to Souls games, such as punishing consequences for death, Souls — or a similar currency — gained by defeating enemies that is integral to character progression and can be lost upon death, methodical combat, typically tied to a stamina meter, and checkpoints that reset the world.

For some, however, Soulslike can simply mean tough melee combat that involves learning to predict an enemy’s attack pattern.

In a thread entitled, “Silent Hill f is not ‘souls-like’ and no one here seems to know what that means,” a Redditor said: “Genuinely baffling. This is link [sic] second graders being told to name an object and call a toaster a blender. Like, I don’t think you even know what a Soulslike is.

“Having a dodge roll and hard bosses applies to like 90% of third-person games that exist lol. Like you people cannot be serious. Souls games have heavy and light attack, tight-nit dodge intensive combat. You have frame-perfect dodges […] huge emphasis on stamina management, with shields, break meters, and focus on killing enemies to get c[urrency].

“Silent hill f has like 1.5 of those. This blatant lie needs to stop. Anyone with eyes who isn’t full of sh*t can see this is nothing like a Soulslike.”

It’s the broader confusion between what and what is not indicative of a “Soulslike” game that’s frustrating players, though.

“To be fair, nobody knows what a Soulslike is,” admitted a respondent. “This is clearly demonstrated on the Soulslike sub by daily arguments about whether or not a game is a Soulslike.”

“I’ve sunk hundreds of hours into FromSoftware’s games and Soulslikes like Nioh,” said someone else. “Nothing about Silent Hill f looks like a Soulslike other than there’s a target lock-on system and a stamina meter. Which is in, you know: a million other games that are not goddamn Soulslikes.”

Confusingly, others who have also played Souls-inspired games don’t concur, however, leading to considerable disagreement to what does, and does not, make a Soulslike game. Is it the melee combat? The need to parry? Or does any game that requires players to learn an enemy’s attack pattern count?

“I’m still excited for the game, but the comparisons to Souls combat are really clear guys, like come on…” posited one. “Invincible dodge, lock on system, light and heavy attacks, multiple attempt boss fights testing your combat prowess… Even the combat UI is clearly inspired by action games.”

“People complain about the combat becoming melee-focused like they don’t remember Silent Hill 4. Breakable weapons are essential without the firearms if we still want the game to stay a survival horror,” explained another fan. “This whole situation feels like Silent Hill 2 Remake all over again with almost the same talking points.”

Okamoto said that tougher combat, with the visuals and music’s “juxtaposition between beauty and terror,” along with the “terrible beauty of the game’s monster design,” makes for a terrifying adventure. Even the puzzles are apparently “grounded in psychological anguish and suffering.” Quite how players react to all that when Silent Hill f finally releases next month, of course, remains to be seen.

Silent Hill f takes us to 1960s Japan, where we’ll follow Hinako Shimizu, a teenager struggling under the pressure of expectations from her friends, family, and society. As displayed at the beginning of the Japanese-language reveal trailer back in March, it is the first Silent Hill game to get an 18+ rating certification in Japan. It’s out for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series on September 25.

In case you’re wondering, no, Silent Hill f is not a sequel to any of the existing Silent Hill games, so you can play it even if you’ve never jumped into a Silent Hill game before. Instead, it will offer a standalone story “independent from the series.” That came from publisher Konami itself, which finally confirmed on X/Twitter that the latest instalment of the horror series — which is usually, if not always, set in a sleepy resort town on east-coast America — will be “a completely new title” that “people who have never played the Silent Hill series can enjoy.”

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.

If you’ve played FC 25 online, then chances are you will have encountered input delay, that fraction of a second between pressing the button and a pass or shot on screen being performed, which can often be the difference between a win and a loss.

Just like any twitch FPS or frame-perfect fighting game, EA’s football simulation relies on the actions being performed by its characters feeling as responsive as possible in order for the playing field to feel fair. The developer knows this, and so has put an extensive amount of research into solving this often-vocalised concern among the Ultimate Team community ahead of FC 26’s launch.

“We really needed to understand the root of the problem”, senior producer Sam Rivera told IGN. “We worked with pro players, we gathered data from players all around the world to try to understand the issues, but we didn’t want to only listen to the feedback. We wanted to experience input delay ourselves. So we also traveled to Europe to meet with pro players at their eSports studios. We actually met with content creators at their homes, and we learned a lot.”

Through this research, EA discovered that the issues were manyfold, both at the player and developer end of the pipeline. On the player side, there are things you can do to minimise the chances of input delay occurring. It may seem obvious to some, but connecting to the internet via Ethernet cable is much more stable than Wi-Fi.

“If you play on Wi-Fi, you can have jitter and packet loss, which can create a very delayed experience”, explained Rivera. “We know that more than 50% of FC players are playing on Wi-Fi, so we recommend that [connecting via ethernet] if possible. And then things like TV settings. If you’re playing outside of game mode on a normal TV, you can get anywhere between 20 to over 100 milliseconds delaying your experience, regardless of your connection, regardless of the game, just because of the TV. So there are a lot of things that go into the equation, but what are the causes of delay when you are playing in a high-quality or good connection, or when you’re playing offline?”

Yes, input delay is not strictly an internet-based issue. With players reporting the phenomenon in offline play too, it led Rivera and the team to look into the construction of the game itself to see what was causing the issue:

“First is limited animation coverage. Sometimes we request actions in the game that are very difficult to perform. So if there’s a very fast incoming ball and I want to go for a long pass backwards, that is very difficult, and sometimes there are no animations for that. So it is like in real life, very difficult to perform. It’s difficult for us to capture those animations. However, this year we’re adding many new animations as well to make sure we have more coverage in general.”

“The next one is the animation system box,” Rivera conitnued. “Our animation system is perhaps one of the most complicated systems in the game, and it has to solve every request, every shot, every pass, considering what animations are available, where the opponents are, how the ball is moving, and all of that.

“And sometimes there can be a bug. So, for example, you may want to take a shot immediately, but then the system may decide to delay the shot slightly, to prefer to use the strong foot instead of taking it earlier but with the weaker foot. So things like that happen often, not very often. But when you play 20 matches on your weekend, you will experience it a few times. So this year, we’re fixing dozens of those problems in the game.”

Improvements are on the way in FC 26, then, and from the short amount of time I spent playing it, it did feel noticeably smooth and responsive — with the new one-frame passes and shots being a real highlight. But will input delay ever be an issue that’s completely eradicated?

“Well, it depends”, Rivera responded. “There are many factors that go into input delay. There are factors that are sometimes internal, sometimes external. Then there’s not a simple fix other than providing more information to the community, trying to help with their setups as well, making sure everyone has the right setup. But at least we think that there’s a big opportunity. There’s a big opportunity there. We have done a very good step in FC 26 to create a more responsive game.”

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

Tim Sweeney, boss of Epic Games, has denied claims published by The Wall Street Journal of frustration within the company regarding its working relationship with Disney.

Yesterday, a WSJ report offered fresh detail on Fortnite’s mysterious upcoming Disney mode, developed following the latter’s $1.5bn investment in Epic Games. The offering won’t launch until “fall 2026 at the earliest,” the report stated, with some Epic executives complaining about “the slow pace of the decision-making at Disney, with signoffs needed from so many different divisions.”

It’s this claim that Sweeney has now refuted, via a post on social media that brands the suggestion as “BS.”

“The anonymous quote is BS,” Sweeney wrote. “The speed of Disney and Epic collaborations like Darth Vader has been awesome and is around 10x the ordinary speed of media company dealings in this business. We even provided a statement to the writer of this article saying so, but they chose not to print it.”

Epic Games’ big Disney collaboration was announced in February 2024, though details on it have remained largely under-wraps. Initial concept artwork for the project featured a virtual Disneyland-style environment, with hubs themed around Disney’s main brands. Exactly what players will do in it, however, remains to be seen.

WSJ’s report states that the project is being overseen within Disney by Josh D’Amaro, head of Disney parks and resorts, who has visited Sweeney and spent time hiking with the CEO. One alleged concern around the project has been its fan-created elements, with questions raised over who might legally own a dance that utilises Disney characters.

Epic Games and Disney have forged a deep collaboration in recent years, with Marvel and Star Wars themed seasons, and countless characters now available as Fortnite skins, now including a selection from Pixar films, and even Disney classic animation, too.

The companies recently used Fortnite to test an AI-powered Darth Vader, who could chat away with players using generative speech. Upon launch, the concept required an urgent fix after fans quickly got Darth Vader saying things he shouldn’t, though ultimately more than 10 million players spoke with the Sith Lord.

This week sees Fortnite shift into its next season, which sees its main battle royale Island infested with mutant bugs, and additional characters from Halo brought in to help. Meanwhile, in the game’s OG mode, the action moves into Fortnite’s well-loved Season 5, which should see the appearance of Kevin the Cube — though Epic Games is doing fun things with this re-run’s storyline, so perhaps not.

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

The Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set is done, at least insofar as the release calendar goes, with Edge of Eternities flying us across galaxies with some wild new cards, including some big-earners.

With cards that range from supernovas to spaceships, it’s peculiar that much of the community is most intrigued by a new lobster that can eat through artifacts to heal you and deal damage to rivals.

Let’s meet our new crustacean overlord, thanks to data from TCGPlayer.

Climbers: I’ll Have the Lobster

Kicking our climbers off with our Boros boss, Ragost, Deft Gastronaut is going for a couple of bucks in the showcase treatment.

He’s nowhere near the most valuable cards in Edge of Eternities, and dovetails nicely with Jumpstart’s Tempting Witch, a card that creates food tokens and also triggers damage. It’s ‘jumped’, but only to 13 cents, and might be worth a look for a Mardu deck.

As we noted recently, The Gaffer is a popular card, and we’re including it again as it’s hit new heights of over $12. For context, it was under $4 just a few weeks ago.

For additional synergies, why not chuck in the Nuka-Cola Vending Machine? It’s hardly a cheap card at around $18 for the non-foil, but it gives you more food tokens and turns them into Treasure tokens for ramp. You could build quite a powerful engine from these cards.

Finally, Academy Manufactor is an obvious pick for synergies here, since it gives you three (different) tokens for the price of one. It’s up to $6.

Bonus: The Most Valuable EoE Cards This Week

Edge of Eternities is packed with cool cards, and since it just launched last week, I thought I’d take a moment during this week’s article to look at the priciest cards in the set so you can keep an eye out when you’re cracking packs (or any you want to eye up as standalone purchases, saucy).

That includes one card, Sothera, the Supervoid (Singularity Foil), that’s already going for over $2000 on resale sites like TCGPlayer and eBay.

Some of other the highest-value cards in the set include Icetill Explorer (Showcase – Fracture Foil) at $382.16, followed by Exalted Sunborn at $320, and Starfield Vocalist at $287.55, both in the same Showcase – Fracture Foil treatment.

Anticausal Vestige is priced at $198.68, just ahead of The Endstone at $198.40 and an alternate version of Sothera, the Supervoid at $197.99, all in the Showcase – Fracture Foil style.

Devastating Onslaught comes in at $159.85, while The Dominion Bracelet is listed at $121.82. Rounding out the group is Uthros, Titanic Godcore (Borderless – Galaxy Foil), which currently sits at $92.52.

It’s worth noting that these prices are taken around launch weekend, so they’ll fluctuate considerably as more product floods the market. We’ll be keeping an eye on things in the weeks to come, but expect big swings either way.

Crashers: Songs and Spellcraft

If you’ve got a landfall deck, The Wandering Minstrel from the Final Fantasy set is under a dollar and means your tap-lands come in nice and untapped. It’s not a big drop, but it’s an easy recommendation because that utility is super helpful at a nice low cost in Simic colors.

If you want to get some Legendary Creatures on the board quickly, Serah Farron can help. This Final Fantasy card lowers the cost of Legendary Creatures, then transforms into an artifact that powers them up, all for under $1.

Baloth Woodcrasher could be a lot of fun in an upgraded version of the World Shaper Commander deck, getting extra power and trample with land drops. Considering how many lands are included, plus Szarel, Genesis Shepherd’s ability to play them from your graveyard, you can keep hitting opponents for big numbers each turn for 8 cents.

If you don’t mind mixing up your Final Fantasy titles, Noctis, Prince of Lucis could be a really neat addition to the Scions and Spellcraft Commander precon. He can pay life to get artifact spells from the graveyard, while Y’Shtola, Night’s Blessed can help you get some of that life back.

Bonus: 10 EoE Cards Everyone Wants Right Now

Edge of Eternities is making some serious waves right now, but if you’re wondering which cards from the new set are worth keeping an eye out for, we’ve got you covered.

From spaceships to planets, this new sci-fi universe is a stark departure even in a year that’s included Aetherdrift, Tarkir, and Final Fantasy, and early impressions seem to be positive.

To clarify, these are the best-selling Edge of Eternities cards so far, thanks to data from TCGPlayer, and it’s changed a fair amount from our initial coverage during pre-release.

Here are the best-selling Magic: The Gathering cards of Edge of Eternities so far.

Where to Buy MTG Edge of Eternities Sealed Boosters

Play Boosters are now the standard way to crack open Magic packs, having replaced both Set and Draft Boosters. But if you’re on the hunt for rare cards, Collector Boosters are the best option.

These packs are more expensive, but are much more likely to include various foil treatments, extended arts, and all sorts. There are usually 5 Commons, 4 Uncommons, 5 Rare or Mythic Rare cards, a Land and a Token, but the rub here is that 6 of the included cards have a ‘booster Fun frame’ and 12-13 of them are foil.

Surprisingly, stock is already running low on Amazon for most Edge of Eternities boosters. That said, sites like TCGPlayer still have a solid supply, and in some cases, better prices too.

Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.

We’ve already heard a lot about how Silent Hill f hopes to set itself apart from its predecessors, particularly by honing in on its Japanese roots. But it’s also hoping to stand out to avoid “clone” comparisons to Silent Hill 2, and appeal to younger players by racheting up the combat.

Silent Hill series producer Motoi Okamoto and Silent Hill f director Al Yang have been making the rounds just recently, and an interview has popped up at Game*Spark. Okamoto discussed that whilst his aims for the remake of Silent Hill 2 were to respect the source material, for f, he’s interested in “more entertaining and thrilling action.”

“Inserting more entertaining and thrilling action into Silent Hill f was an idea I had ever since the early phases of the development,” Okamoto said, as transcribed by Automaton.

“And, since NeoBards is a company that’s tremendously good at making action games, this is also one of the reasons why we decided to choose them as the developers.

“The Silent Hill series isn’t considered a game that has entertaining action per se, but as we’re opening our doors to new players, we began to wonder what it would be like if we added more of those elements into the game.” Okamoto added.

“Challenging action games are gaining popularity among younger players nowadays, so I believed that if we implemented such elements into the game, it would resonate well even with people who are new to the series.”

Yang added: “We didn’t want to end up recreating Silent Hill 2 over and over again, and we were aware that there was no reason to keep making clones of it. So, in order to avoid repeating what previous major titles did, we decided to make the action stand out more.”

Silent Hill f is not a sequel to any of the existing Silent Hill games. Instead, it will offer a standalone story “independent from the series.” That came from publisher Konami itself, which finally confirmed on X/Twitter that the latest instalment of the horror series — which is usually, if not always, based in a sleepy resort town on east-coast America — will be “a completely new title” that “people who have never played the Silent Hill series can enjoy.”

Okamoto said that tougher combat, with the visuals and music’s “juxtaposition between beauty and terror,” along with the “terrible beauty of the game’s monster design,” makes for a terrifying adventure. Even the puzzles are apparently “grounded in psychological anguish and suffering.”

Higurashi and When They Cry creator Ryukishi07 also recently opened up about writing Silent Hill f, likening the game’s supernatural and psychological elements to, uh, “salad dressing.” The writer explained that it would initially be difficult for players to distinguish between the game’s supernatural and psychological horror motifs, as they’ll often feel like one and the same. As the game progresses, however, players will understand more of what’s going on —and it’s here that the game “will be like a salad dressing”, he said.

Silent Hill f takes us to 1960s Japan, where we’ll follow Hinako Shimizu, a teenager struggling under the pressure of expectations from her friends, family, and society. As displayed at the beginning of the Japanese-language reveal trailer back in March, it is the first Silent Hill game to get an 18+ rating certification in Japan. It’s out for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series on September 25.

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.

The latest Magic: The Gathering set, Edge of Eternities, has finally arrived, but if you’re wondering which cards from the new set are worth keeping an eye out for, we’ve got you covered.

From spaceships to planets, this new sci-fi universe is a stark departure even in a year that’s included Aetherdrift, Tarkir, and Final Fantasy, and early impressions seem to be positive.

To clarify, these are the best-selling Edge of Eternities cards so far, thanks to data from TCGPlayer, and it’s changed a fair amount from our initial coverage during pre-release.

Here are the best-selling Magic: The Gathering cards of Edge of Eternities so far.

Breeding Pool

Quality assurance workers at Raven Software, one of the developers of Call of Duty, have officially ratified their first union contract with Microsoft three years after they first unionized.

In a press release, the union shared several highlights of the new contract, including a guaranteed 10% wage increase over two years plus additional raises through merit and promotions, significant restrictions on mandatory overtime, layoff protections, expanded disability accommodations, and more.

“After more than three years of organizing and bargaining, seeing it finally pay off feels incredible,” said bargaining committee member and QA tester Erin Hall in a statement. “From day one, we made it a priority to include every voice in the room, and the contract we came out with reflects what we need—better pay, real career paths, and protection from burnout. It’s a contract that actually values the work QA does. I’m proud of what we accomplished, and I hope it shows other game workers that organizing works—and it’s worth it.”

Raven Software’s QA union has had a long road to get here. The inciting incident for its unionization was a round of layoffs back in December of 2021 as a part of a studio restructure instituted by then-parent company Activision Blizzard. The following day, employees walked out to protest the cuts, garnering the support of employees at other Activision Blizzard companies. Raven Software continued to strike for weeks before the company finally responded in January, only to be acquired by Microsoft just over a week later. By the end of the month, Raven QA workers had announced the formation of Activision Blizzard’s very first union. While Activision Blizzard declined to recognize the union voluntarily, the group won its union election the following May anyway.

Since then, a number of other groups under Microsoft Xbox have unionized, both within Activision Blizzard and in other subsidiaries such as ZeniMax. This past May, QA workers at ZeniMax Media reached a contract agreement with the company, while many others are still at the bargaining table.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

One pro fighting game player’s reaction to losing at Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was so dramatic that it’s going viral on social media and already showing signs of becoming a meme.

If you’ve been looking at game-related sections of social media today, chances are you have stumbled across a picture or clip of Japanese player Kazuyuki ‘Kojikog’ Koji, mouth open in a scream and clutching his head, while fellow player Goichi “GO1” Kishida looks on with a mixture of concern and bemusement. A couple of stills were even shared by EVO2025’s official X account.

A story in two parts.#Evo2025 pic.twitter.com/eo2pkg2Psg

— Evo (@Evo) August 3, 2025

The player in question is KojiKOG, an esports pro from Japan who mainly specializes in fighting games like Street Fighter, the King of Fighters and Guilty Gear. This weekend, he took on fellow Japanese player GO1 (Goichi) in the Winners’ Semi Final for Fatal Fury: City of Wolves at the Evolution Championship Series 2025 (EVO2025).

Although GO1 won both rounds (and went on to win overall), the fights were very close. Upon being defeated, KojiKOG clutched his head with his mouth open in a continuous scream worthy of… well, Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream. This dramatic emotional outburst, plus GO1’s bemusement, resulted in a number of meme-worthy shots.

I swear to God I’m not making fun of this dude but NO ONE HAS EVER LOOKED LIKE THEY SUFFERED LIKE THIS IN HUMAN HISTORY pic.twitter.com/JekIbl1F0a

— kayos (@kayos_o) August 3, 2025

KojiKOG eventually snaps out of his losing pose and can be seen chatting to GO1 and tidying up. It is clear from this that he was acting. However, shorter clips on social media have caused some who are unfamiliar with KojiKOG’s antics to worry that he was having a real breakdown.

The End of EVOgelion #EVO2025 https://t.co/fZOHd1HmNF pic.twitter.com/Ht0vzmHXd3

— Keith Ace (@Keith_Ace_) August 3, 2025

KojiKOG is known for being a bit of a comedian, often doing his screaming pose and pulling funny faces in interviews (like at EWC2025). His dramatic reaction to losing this weekend was likely a reference to when he previously faced off against GO1 at EVO15. As seen in the video below, he did a similar screaming pose- puzzling the Japanese commentators as his antics weren’t well known back then.

10 years ago, GO1 went to EVO for the first time and won 4 side games—Melty Blood, Dengeki Bunko, UNI, and AQUAPAZZA, beating KojiKOG in the finals

Today, they meet again on the EVO main stage, recreating the ‘leg cutting incident’ meme https://t.co/p5whu1GNLB pic.twitter.com/rfPVn2HJXg

— HiFight(ハイファイト) (@HiFightTH) August 3, 2025

Commenting on this, legendary pro fighting game player Daigo Umehara mused that KojiKOG’s reaction was like a character in the SAW movies having their leg cut off. This is why many Japanese fans colloquially refer to KojiKOG’s dramatic pained reaction as the “leg cutting incident” and the like.

Although KojiKOG lost against GO1 at EVO2025, he came in joint fifth place overall, winning 80% of his matches in Fatal Fury: City of Wolves.

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.

Koei Tecmo is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Dynasty Warriors series with a number of announcements. Chief among them is confirmation of a “large-scale” DLC coming to Dynasty Warriors: Origins, and a mystery remaster of a “classic series title.”

That’s all we have for now. Koei Tecmo said further updates regarding upcoming games and special anniversary events will be gradually announced on the new website.

Dynasty Warriors is a tactical action series of games that spans over 20 years and has shipped over 21 million units worldwide. Traditionally, players take on the role of officers from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms while battling through hordes of soldiers in 1 vs. 1,000 gameplay.

The latest game is the aforementioned Dynasty Warriors: Origins, which saw developer Omega Force return to the series’ roots in what is considered one of the best entries in the franchise in years.

IGN’s Dynasty Warriors: Origins review returned a 9/10. We said: “Dynasty Warriors: Origins doesn’t just have the largest amount of enemies the series has thrown on screen at once, it also deepens its combat, improves its storytelling, and provides a healthy amount of replayability.”

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

TCGplayer is absolutely crushing it today. I’ve been watching prices across Amazon and the secondary market as usual, and it’s not even close. The latest Pokémon products like White Flare Binder box, while older set products like Destined Rivals Tripple Blister is $8 cheaper, especially the Elite Trainer Box running about $3 cheaper than Amazon’s lowest price last week.

Scarlet and Violet 151 is still shifting fast too. Charizard ex, Blastoise ex, and Venusaur ex are climbing, but the Illustration Rares of Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle have dipped, which makes this a solid time to grab those before prices settle again.

Over in Magic, the Fallout Commander Deck bundle is cheaper at TCGplayer by around $4, with the other commander decks saving around $10 per deck, which really adds up if you’re grabbing the full set.

TL;DR: My Best Deals For Today

Outside of trading cards, there’s some fun stuff dropping today. I’ve already preordered the Vault Boy Fallout Pop Vinyl, but I’m tempted to pick up the rest of the lineup now that they’re all available for $14.99. If you’re into mini PCs, there are a couple of solid builds going for under $175. They’re perfect for work-from-home setups, light gaming, or just keeping your desk tidy.

Pokémon TCG Price Check

Whilst there’s a couple of savings on Amazon today, TCGplayer is knocking big box retailers out of the water. The White Flare binder box is a couple of dollars cheaper on Amazon, but looking at older sets like Destined Rivals show a clear gap in market value and the notorious Amazon mark ups of 2025. Destined Rivals Elite Trainer Box is currently sat at $85 on TCGplayer, for example, which is cheaper than the Amazon sale price last week of £88.

Pokémon TCG Crashers and Climbers

Scarlet and Violet 151 card prices continue to shift, with Charizard ex, Blastoise ex, and Venusaur ex SIRs climbing steadily thanks to standout artwork, competitive playability, and high collector demand. Charizard has jumped to $210, Blastoise is up 28% to $84.99, and Venusaur is up 27% to $69.99. Zapdos ex and Alakazam ex are also on the rise, with Alakazam seeing the biggest gain of 35% to $44.98.

On the other hand, prices for Kanto starter Illustration Rares like Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle have dipped as more product floods the market. Charmander is down 14% to $44.44, Bulbasaur is down 18% to $32.20, and middle evolutions like Charmeleon and Wartortle are following the same trend. While the final evolutions remain the most sought-after, now is a good time to pick up the earlier stages at a more reasonable price.

Magic: The Gathering Deals

Once again it’s TCGplayer and the secondary market values saving MTG players and collectors a small fortune over Amazon. Even sale pricing of the Fallout Commander Deck – Science! is $4 cheaper, with my favorite deal in this lineup being for the four pack bundle of Fallout Commander Decks. Amazon works out at $47.07 per deck, with TCGplayer massively undercutting here at $41.56. That’s well over $10 saving per deck, with even more savings compared to Amazons single pricing overall.

Fallout Funko Pop Preorders

Dropping throughout December 2025, these Fallout Pop Vinyls focused on the Fallout TV series should drop around the same time as Season Two. There’s also chances to get a random rare variant, which is about as much Funko hype as I can handle. I’ve preordered Vault Boy already, but I might get the whole lineup before preorders run dry.

Mini PC Deals

Mini PCs are great for a work from home setup, a bit of light gaming or just saving some space. Both of these models have decent specs whilst being good enough to run Minecraft and your day-to-day productivity apps. Plus they’re dirt cheap, so there’s nothing to loose.

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.