Category: IGN

Dead by Daylight is just weeks away from celebrating its ninth anniversary, so developer Behaviour Interactive is rolling out the party favor fans have begged to see for years: Five Nights at Freddy’s. A Chapter based on Scott Cawthon’s legendary animatronic horror series will finally, officially arrive in Dead by Daylight June 17, marking the end of a long wait and the beginning of another year of more crossovers, quality-of-life fixes, and more. It’s a collaboration years in the making, and we got a first look at how it’s shaping up.

IGN sat down to interview Dead by Daylight Creative Director Dave Richard and Killer Designer Jason Guzzo ahead of the upcoming Chapter’s public test build (PTB), which launches today at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET, to learn more about how this latest collaboration stays true to the looks and lore of Five Nights at Freddy’s. Alongside learning more about how the new Killer, Springtrap, uses doors, cameras, and jump scares to terrorize Survivors, our chat revealed more details about some of the other horror icons Behaviour would love to add and exactly how much Markiplier they watched to prepare for the new update.

Eager Nintendo Switch 2 fans will also be happy to know that Behaviour confirmed with IGN separately that Dead by Daylight’s startup issues on the device will be resolved by the time the new console launches next week, June 5. Meanwhile, the team has an explanation behind why they opted out of including a new Survivor this time around, but if we’re lucky, Freddy Fazbear’s time in Dead by Daylight is just getting started.

IGN: Heading into the PTB, how are you feeling about how Springtrap looks and feels to play compared to other past Killers in previous PTBs.

Dave Richard: Jason will be able to answer that in more details, because, of course, he’s the main designer on this. I feel excited. I feel confident. We know that this is the top-requested franchise and Killer. It has been for many, many years, so a little bit stressed as well. There’s a lot of hype, there’s a lot of expectation, but the team did great to be authentic and to create a very, very cool Five Nights at Freddy’s experience within the Dead by Daylight metrics.

Jason Guzzo: I mean, I think Dave put it pretty well, I have not been at behavior for 23 years and on DBD since the beginning, so I think my stress is a little higher than his. For him, it’s like, ‘Oh, this is just part of the, part of the flow.’ But for me, this is, this is my third Killer. So yes, I did Chucky and Dracula previously, but being able to kind of be trusted with FNaF on DBD was so awesome. I’m really excited about it. It takes us almost a year to do a Killer, so it’s really cool to finally be able to say, like, ‘Oh, here’s what we’re doing,’ and everybody can see it and play with it and let us know… hopefully their view on it aligns with ours, and hopefully they love it as much as we did.

Just reading over some of the details I saw beforehand, this seems so authentic to Five Nights at Freddy’s and what the gameplay is in that series, which I didn’t expect. I didn’t expect to see doors, cameras, and even jump scares. Were there discussions about playing as other animatronics, or was it always Springtrap the team had their eyes on?

Richard: Obviously, it’s not something we can answer easily on, like, all the inner workings that we have with our different partners. There were many, many iterations of what this Chapter could be, and we ended up here, and it’s great, and that’s all I can share.

This is the first time players get to play a spring trap in a video game, which I’m sure for the Five Nights at Freddy’s community is huge. Can you talk about what it’s like creating original gameplay for this character with such a limited blueprint to base things off of?

Guzzo: That’s a great question. Really, like, as you implied, the gameplay from FNaF is very different from DBD – drastically different. So really, the goal was to say, ‘What’s the experience of FNaF? What the – my favorite word in the whole world – what’s the vibe? That’s the millennial word: ‘What’s the vibe?’ So, I mean, I watched, no joke, about 70 hours of content. I won’t name names, but the king of FNaF. Everybody knows who it is.

Richard: Shoutout to Markiplier. Yeah!

Guzzo: [Laughs] I mean, I love him now. I hadn’t really watched him before, and now I’ve watched so much of his FNaF stuff, and I’m subscribed. I watch all of his new videos and stuff. It won me over. But no, it was really cool to be able to kind of see, not only just the gameplay. I’m going to be honest: I don’t love jump scares as a player. I love horror movies. Horror games with jump scares… I’m a bit of a baby about it, but it was cool to not only just watch the gameplay, but watch, of course, the streamers’ reactions and the people playing it in the community.

When you watch people playing live, you see the community interacting. Also, just seeing what people react to… because you can make a game like FNaF, and you go, ‘Oh, it’s all going to be jump scares,’ and people just kind of ignore that, and they kind of focus on something else. So, being able to watch somebody play, and watch people play, and read all the lore – because Five Nights at Freddy’s lore is crazy – and just say like, ‘Well, what are people reacting to, and how can we kind of adapt that to into the context of DBD?’ There was a lot of back and forth.

There was a lot of cooks in this kitchen on this Chapter because everybody has ideas for FNaF. It’s the big one. Everybody wanted to make sure that it was as authentic as possible, and, of course, everything went through Mr. Scott Cawthon. So, yeah, it was really cool to do all that research and take a ton of notes and say, ‘What can we mess with and what can we do, and how can we enhance DBD with a flavor – or with the vibe – and the experience of FNaF.

Richard: I have to jump back to the very start of that question, when you talk about the announcement and how people reacted. I had the chance to reveal it was Springtrap at PAX, and in that room there was almost 1000 people, and they shouted so loud that the floor was shaking. It was just… it just amazing.

It’s super exciting and a big moment for everyone right now. I spoiled it a little bit, but can you guys give me more detail about what players can expect from Springtrap in the PTB, a little more specifically? How does your version of this Killer and that new map do the character justice?

Richard: Jason, that’s all for you. I just want to say real quick that, going back to your previous question, you know, the task that the team had was quite challenging. To distill that vibe and to have the mechanics of a single-player experience where you’re the Survivor transformed into that duality, that you can create that fear, or you can experience it in another kind of way, in a very different kind of game. Before we jump into the mechanics of it, absolutely, we wanted jump scares. That’s part of the vibe. Absolutely we wanted to create these moments of hunting corridors and of surveillance. Then the thing I’m really happy about, and Jason, you’ll be able to describe, but that whole door thing was not an afterthought, but it was a thing that you came up with afterwards, and it made it through, and it’s absolutely brilliant.

Guzzo: Wow. The creative director, calling me brilliant [laughs].

Richard: You can end the interview now.

Guzzo: [Laughs] So, he is primarily a projectile Killer. The power kind of comes in two flavors. There’s two halves of it. I’m gonna attempt to ramble and go on tangents a little bit, but I promise I’ll get to where I need to be in a second. One of the things that I wanted to do with this one was, as mentioned, FNaF is like a Survivor game, right? In the context of DBD, you’re playing from the Survivor’s point of view. You’re sitting in the security office, and you’re managing the battery, and you are trying not to get yourself killed. So, I wanted to kind of step back and say, ‘How can we enhance the Survivor side of the gameplay for this Chapter?’ Because that’s kind of what people know from FNaF.

Obviously, we couldn’t just say, ‘Oh yeah, all four people stand still and open and close doors and manage a battery’ – that’s not DBD. What we came upon was the idea of, ‘Well, the security doors, they’re pretty iconic, and obviously the security office is super iconic.’ Where we landed was that the security office is this transitional space for both Survivors and Killers. There are doors that are spawned around the map. Each has a camera and a number. So, you know kind of which camera is which or which door is which.

Survivors, when they interact with the door, they’re given the camera view with the battery, and they see the little map of the cameras in the corner. You can flip through them, see what’s on the other side of any door. If you find a door that you like, if it looks safe on the other side, or if you’re going to save somebody, or whatever it is, you can hit our input and you get a little canned animation, almost like a cinematic. It’s not pre-rendered or anything, but it’s very hands-off. I kind of equate it to a super short theme park ride, where you see, in first-person, your Survivor walks through the security office and looks around, and it’s spooky. Then the door opens on the other end of the room, and you leave, and then now you’re on, potentially, the other side of the map. It’s basically a teleport, but it’s very thematic.

The trick here is that even though it’s a safe space – or it feels like a safe space – it is not. The Killer doesn’t have access to the cameras but can enter the doors and can look around at any of the other doors he likes and teleport to it. He gets the same thing: He gets kind of a movement through the security office, but if his path happens to cross paths with a Survivor, they get a little jump scare, and he grabs them, and he walks out of the door, carrying them. It feels really thematic, and the animation is so good. It’s so good. The anim team killed it. The first thing I said was, ‘Can we do a grab Killer?’ We have melee and M1 Killers. We have range Killers. Can we just do a Killer that’s all based around grabs? Because grabs in DBD are inherently kind of jump scares. We wanted to lean into that a little bit. Obviously, it’s not the only thing you can do – that’d be kind of boring – but we did lean into those kinds of things.

With the other half of his power is his projectile. He has a big old fire axe that he can lob. It’s a very unique arc. It’s not like anything we’ve ever done with a projectile Killer before. It’s not built for sniping. It’s not designed around sniping. It’s not balanced around sniping. It’s really to do some really gnarly trick shots, and we’ve already had some people pulling off some crazy things internally. It’s been really fun to watch. We wanted to marry those two things with the door gameplay, and ‘How can we expand on that, and how can we expand on this idea of him being the grab Killer?’ One of the things that we did is, if you hit a Survivor with your projectile, you can chase them down, and you hit M1, and really, I mean, it’s a thematic thing. We’re basically just skipping a step. Normally, they would fall down, and you would pick them up, but we’re doing that all in one shot. You get in close, and you hit your basic attack, and Springtrap very violently grabs the axe, spins you around, you get a nice little jump scare animation, and then he’s carrying you.

The axe functions in a couple of different ways: He can disable cameras and doors and get a little bit of an AoE with stuff, but that’s all my tangents to describe the whole Power. We really did our best to be as authentic as possible when it came to both sides of the aisle, so to speak, when it comes to the Survivor experience of using these cameras and sneaking through these doors and seeing the security office and still being this menacing, lumbering beast. You can’t even call him a man or a robot. He’s a monster, right? We tried to be as authentic as possible in making him feel like he’s both pretty stompy and loud, but also can show up right behind you and – Boo! You know what I mean? [laughs].

It’s going to be really interesting to see Springtrap marry Five Nights at Freddy’s into Dead by Daylight itself. When you guys were coming up with ideas for Springtrap, was the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 movie something the team had to keep in consideration? Was Behaviour able to pull any elements from that film or the first film when creating its version of its character?

Richard: Great question, and the answer is no. Actually, it was all about, for us, the classic experience of the game, especially the first titles, that we wanted to recreate. We often go for that in Dead by Daylight, as you can see. We go for the classics. What creates a little bit of nostalgia as well, and then make it more modern, or whatever it requires to be in Dead by Daylight in today’s flavor. Of course, the movie was out, the first installment, and it is also based a lot on that aspect, with some changes, but we were really focused on the games.

So, at what point during conversations with Scott Cawthon, did you both say we’ve got to get Matthew Lillard in here for this?

Richard: It actually came directly from Scott. We had discussion about the different outfits that we could create for Springtrap. It’s a discussion we have with partners all the time, like, ‘What’s your comfort level? We want to respect that. Do you want us to create new outfits like the Blight, or do you want to keep to the specific? Do we have the rights to this and that,’ etc., and he actually suggested it. We were thinking, ‘We have to stick to the games,’ and he said, ‘Oh, we absolutely need the Yellow Rabbit from the movie. That would be awesome.’ Like, f**k yeah. Yeah, it would. Then having, on top of that, Matthew Lillard’s participation and being able to – I didn’t personally hang out with him – but part of the team did, and he’s just fantastic to work with. He’s done fantastic work on making this character alive in our game. It’s just awesome.

Guzzo: I mean, he’s an icon, right?

A horror icon in the game, portraying this massive character.

Richard: Yeah, I mean, if you if you squint… maybe you’re Shaggy [laughs].

Moving over to a different topic now, I’ve seen some express disappointment that this next Chapter doesn’t come with a Survivor. Can you talk about whether there were ever conversations about including a Survivor and why you ultimately chose not to include one this time around?

Richard: Yeah, absolutely. So, in early discussion in our planning, and how we wanted to tackle this Chapter and what we had access to when we started this, having a Survivor was, for many reasons, challenging and not a perfect fit that we wanted to make happen. So, yes, I understand the disappointment, like, 100%, but in our mind, we were in the first game, where, at that point in the story, security is anyone. It’s the player. It’s you, right?

We know that this evolves in the FNaF timeline to something else, but that’s kind of the vibe we’re going for. I’d like to say… maybe we’ll get the chance to do it eventually, or do something else. I definitely think that would be really cool, especially [knowing that] FNaF is vast. It’s a large franchise, and that’s something we’ve done before, with big licenses. We’ve done more content after the first release. So, maybe that would be a possibility. That’d be cool.

Dead by Daylight will let players freely run and hide around Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza restaurant. Without spoilers, can you talk about some of the details in the map that you’re proud of and excited to see players uncover in the PTB?

Richard: The map is truly amazing. It’s one of those buildings that we faithfully recreated, of course, in the metrics of Dead by Daylight. It’s comparable to [Raccoon City Police Station] as in it exists. It’s something that players already lived in some ways, without necessarily roaming around in that fashion. Being able to do so and to see that in the contemporary fashion and the DBD style is a lot of fun. We’ve packed it with surprise, and yeah, I’m not spoiling anything, but there’s a lot of you know hints about the lore of FNaF, about cool moments that happen. There are some extra jump scares in there. There’s a lot of a little surprises like this. You know, we aim to delight with this level of detail, and this one serves.

I saw Behaviour mention in another interview that it took some time to make the Five Nights at Freddy’s collaboration happen for so many different reasons. Part of what took so long involved a desire from both Cawthon and the Dead by Daylight team to establish what was important and how to please fans on both sides. Can you talk about what that process was like and which elements took the longest to nail down?

Richard: I can’t, I can’t answer this. I don’t have the knowledge of it. If [Game Director Mathieu Cote] was here, you would be able to say so. But usually, we don’t also talk about the process with partners.

This is the collaboration fans have wanted to see for so long. How do you feel about the reception so far, and what is it like for the team specifically to finally give this to players who have been asking for it?

Guzzo: What else can you say other than it’s amazing? Obviously, people are, I don’t want to say nervous, but there’s always a bit of trepidation when you work hard on something, and then you’re putting it out into the world. We all know people on the internet have opinions, but overall, we’re all really excited. We’ve been staring at this for, you know, 40-plus hours a week for almost a year, and we’ve played it to death. We’re just excited to, not necessarily even see how people feel about it, because, you know, you’re never going to make everybody happy, but more like, see how people explore it.

As a game designer, I like to approach my designs as like… I want to give you tools to play with and figure out and kind of make your own moment-to-moment. That’s a big thing that we talk about with DBD a lot – those moment-to-moment… moments. Those moments that you talk with your friends about. ‘Oh, do remember when that happened, and this happened,’ etc, etc. So, we really wanted to make sure that, like I said, with like the extra Survivor gameplay, we wanted to give players the tools to really have a lot of those super fun, cool moments and the jump scares and the laughs. That’s the best part; when we do a play test and I’m sitting and watching people play and they’re laughing and s**t-talking each other, that’s when I know I’ve succeeded, personally. As soon as people don’t talk about bugs or whatever, because, you know, bugs come up, and they’re just focused on having fun and laughing and calling each other names and everybody’s joking around… that’s when the magic happens.

It’s cool to see it internally, and then when we put it out there, go on Twitch or YouTube or whatever it is, and just watching people have those moments on kind of a much bigger scale. So yeah, the team is super excited, obviously. We’ve also been waiting to do this for 10 years, right? It’s not just the community that’s been waiting for it. We’ve been waiting to do it. So, it’s cool that we’re finally able to do it, and we can kind of bring that to the community.

Richard: I’ve been there a little bit longer, obviously, on the project, and I was talking with other colleagues yesterday, and they actually asked a similar question. They’re like, ‘Well, OK, so now you’ve done it. What’s next? Is this the top?’ Then, I was reflecting, I’m like, ‘Well, pretty much every Chapter we do in, the latest and greatest is the most important thing we’re working on.’ I understand that FNaF is huge, and it’s been highly requested, and after it, there’s going to be a new top request, and there’s still a lot of universes to explore. Either they’re original or they’re licenses, so this will happen again. We’re definitely not done.

When did Five Nights at Freddy’s first come up as a topic for you guys, where you said ‘We’d love to have this in Dead by Daylight.’

Richard: For me, I wouldn’t be able to target the year exactly, but I didn’t know Markiplier, and I was actually… this is a long story. I’m going to try and make it short. So, I wasn’t watching a lot of streamers, and a colleague just said, ‘Oh, you should look at the videos that Markiplier does. He’s really funny.’ Of course, I watched FNaF videos, and this is where I actually learned a lot about FNaF, that I was really interested in the franchise, that I learned about Markiplier. I had a lot of fun with it, and it triggered this idea, and this want. Then it really solidified when the community started asking for it.

So, it wasn’t even necessarily like everybody was clamoring for Five Nights at Freddy’s. It almost started just from organically seeing Markiplier.

Richard: I have to say that this is a very personal view on the matter. Of course, what I do on the project, I look around on anything horror to get inspired by it. So, I can’t say that when I saw Markiplier play, it was like, ‘Yes, this needs to be in DBD, and the power should be like that.’ Absolutely not because it was very early on, and DBD at that point was… what’s the word. We were less on the team, and of course, big things like FNaF were not necessarily as possible, but when it crystallized into something that we needed to do, it definitely was because the community was asking for it. Yes.

Is there a crossover that members of the Dead by Daylight team would love to see happen? NO restraints.

Richard: There’s a few that Mathieu Cote already said that we like to say because they’re kind of obvious. You know, Pennywise would be amazing. There are other kings of horror that would be amazing to have. You could guess any one of them, I’m thinking. Frankly, I just want to collect them all.

Guzzo: Dave treats DBD like Pokémon [laughs]. Just to be clear, this isn’t a hint about something that is being worked on. As far as I know, it’s not something that is being discussed above me, but my dream – and probably my favorite horror movie – is the obvious one: The Thing. I would love to get The Thing into DBD. I have been here for two and a half years, and I have been on a crusade to figure out how to get The Thing into DBD.

It has a lot of potential design problems. It’s an internal thing of trying to figure out how to make that character work, but yes, that would be my… I don’t want to say my dream Chapter because every Chapter has been a dream so far. I got to do Chucky and Dracula and Springtrap. I don’t know who on this team gets to talk about being on some of the biggest licenses on the planet, but The Thing is the one that I am on a crusade to get done at some point.

Richard: That’s really cool. Yeah, it’d be a nice one. The other ones that we always share, too… they could be mostly a joke, but I think there’s a way to make it work, especially now in the timeline: Cujo. Christine.

A popular theory floating around about an upcoming Chapter involves some faded letters on a recent roadmap you published. Have you seen this theory floating around, and is there any chance we could get you to comment on it?

Richard: I haven’t seen it. I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Is there anything else you’d like to add about the upcoming PTB, Five Nights at Freddy’s, or the future of Dead by Daylight?

Richard: So many things. Jason, I’ll let you start. It’s your baby.

Guzzo: We love this game. We love the franchise. If you love FNaF, we want you to feel welcome to coming into DBD and seeing what we have to offer. I’m going to be honest: It might not be the Chapter that you think it is. I think it being so requested and so loved by the community for so long that there have been… trust me, I did the research, there is a lot of really interesting and cool community concepts on how we could have done FNaF.

Richard: And we can only do one.

Guzzo: And we can only do one, and obviously I’m not just going to be like, ‘Oh, this guy, JoeSmith123 on Reddit has a really good idea, let’s just steal that.’ It might not be the Chapter you expected, but know that we went in not just to make something that, like, ‘Oh this is like the big one. We’re going to sell a million – a billion billion billion copies of this DLC,’ or whatever. We went in wanting to be as authentic as possible and, with Survivors having a little bit extra gameplay in this Chapter, we really wanted to make sure we were authentic to the franchise but also honor the community of that game, and make sure they understand that, when you come to DBD, you might recognize the faces, but you’re going to get a new experience.

I hope everybody likes it. I genuinely do. I don’t do this because it’s an easy job. I don’t do this because it’s glamorous – although I get to do an interview with IGN, I guess that’s pretty glamorous to be honest [laughs] in terms of being a game dev – but I do it because I love horror. I’ve been a horror fan my whole life. Working on a horror game is very literally a dream come true, even though, as mentioned before, I don’t really like playing scary games because I’m a big baby, but I love working on them and I love the genre. I try to watch new horror movies two or three times I week, and my wife has to also watch them, too bad for her [laughs]. Just understand that this is coming from a place of love and a place of respect as much as possible. I hope everybody loves it. I hope everybody loves playing it as much as I loved working on it. I think that’s the best way I can put it.

Richard: Good stuff.

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).

Anecdotally, it’s been said that in its native Japan, Dragon Quest is more popular than Final Fantasy, which is more popular abroad. This is most obvious for any fans of fantasy anime who will find Dragon Quest’s undeniable influence over the genre, from monster designs like Slimes to other fantasy tropes pioneered by the early Dragon Quest games.

As someone who grew up primarily in the United States, I’m in the camp of gamers more familiar with the Final Fantasy series, with only a passing familiarity with Dragon Quest. Plus, while newer entries like Dragon Quest 11 have been rapturously received by fans, it’s the older Dragon Quest games that hold that certain air of history and mystique for someone like me who’s more interested in the legacy of the series.

Which also means it’s been a pretty good couple of years for me as Square Enix is finally remaking these older, beloved, Dragon Quest games for modern systems – and with a fresh new look. Rather than a full, polygonal upgrade, Square Enix is utilizing the retro-modern fusion they call HD-2D from its Octopath series to revive games like Dragon Quest 3 for modern audiences. And that continues with its next remake, Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake, coming later this year.

Despite being released before Dragon Quest 3, Dragon Quest 1 and Dragon Quest 2 are actually sequels, so playing Dragon Quest 3, 1, and 2 in that order is chronologically correct within the game’s universe. I got a chance to play those next two recently on PlayStation 5, and I came away even more excited to finally discover these early Dragon Quest titles.

The Best Way to Play the Original Dragon Quest Games

The first three Dragon Quest games comprise the “Erdrick Trilogy” – named after the hero of Dragon Quest 3. It’s no spoiler to say that in Dragon Quest 3, Erdrick is successful in his mission to save the kingdom from evil. You will then play as Erdrick’s descendents in Dragon Quest 1 & 2. Thus, Square Enix is actually releasing these games in chronological order, which is nice of them.

Up until these remakes, these have only been released as ports on mobile and certain game consoles, but there’s no need to bother with those now, unless you want a truly classic experience.

How Square Enix is Modernizing Dragon Quest

Given the legendary status of these games, Square Enix has to walk a bit of a tightrope trying to maintain parts of them that fans already love while modernizing some of the more dated bits. These changes, aside from the art style, are typically related to gameplay and storytelling, I’m told. In Dragon Quest 1 for example, there was no party system in the series yet, so the whole campaign is played using a single character who fights one enemy at a time. This has been changed so that now the player, while still solo, faces multiple enemies at once.

The two games are also “shorter” compared to modern RPGs, with How Long to Beat clocking Dragon Quest 1 at around 10 hours, while Dragon Quest 2 dials it up to 16 hours of playtime. Square Enix says they’ve beefed up some of the content and cutscenes to try and push those numbers up a bit, but don’t expect to be suddenly playing a 100-hour RPG.

Even Better Looking Than Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D

The main draw of the remakes, certainly, is the visual style. Square Enix has championed this HD-2D art style – wherein pixelated 2D player character models exist in a vibrant, 3D world. Despite already playing games like Octopath Traveler 2 and Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D in this art style, it somehow looks even better in the upcoming collection.

The textures are even sharper, making the contrast between the 2D pixels and the 3D world starker, but more striking as a result. The 2D pixels have also received an upgrade, though you might not realize it at first. I compared some of the screenshots Square Enix sent over with my copy of Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D running on the Switch, and they’re quite different, with the pixelwork in Dragon 1 & 2 HD-2D looking much more detailed and sophisticated than the pixels in Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D.

The character models are a little larger, and much more detailed with their armor and weapons looking particularly sophisticated in the new remakes. I found the art style, combined with the gorgeous music, drawing me into the world of Dragon Quest quite completely. Square Enix put out some chips during my preview event and I found myself munching away while fully engrossed in the story of the hero’s party discovering the wreckage of a fallen kingdom.

In a way, Dragon Quest’s, let’s say “classic” storyline and trope-ish setting is easier to appreciate today than maybe a decade ago. Nowadays, with graphics as advanced as they are and storylines trying to compete with the biggest movies and TV shows, Dragon Quest is a reminder that some stories are timeless for a reason. I’m looking forward to playing both of these HD-2D remakes when they’re released on October 30, 2025 for all major systems – including the Nintendo Switch 2.

Matt Kim is IGN’s Senior Features Editor.

It’s amazing how quickly the Pokémon TCG collectors market changes. We’re seeing a ridiculous rise in value for three X and Y era promo cards, which is valid because they’ve always looked amazing. The thing is, Venusaur EX, Blastoise EX, and Charizard EX box promos have never been a highly-priced card. Looking at TCG Player, the market is flooded with lightly played and damaged condition cards, so perhaps the rarer near mint copies of these cards are worth the higher price tag?

In last week’s Crashers and Climbers, we saw signs of Prismatic Evolutions chase cards crashing hard, and for the most part, I was spot on. We’re seeing massive drops on Glaceon ex and Sylveon ex by 28% over the last few days, which is insane. Let’s get into it:

Pokémon Card Crashers

Eevee ex SIR has dropped by 36% since mid-April, which would also mark around the time Prismatic Evolutions reprints started rolling onto store shelves. This alongside the community refusing to pay astronomical prices on Scarlet and Violet chase cards seems to be driving down prices across the board.

Glaceon ex SIR has always been one of the cheaper eeveelutions in Prismatic Evolutions, but seeing a cool 28% drop from $338.69 to $240.98 feels like a half decent plateau, although I would personally put my money on this becoming a sub-$200 card before the year is out.

Sylveon ex SIR is in a more popular-yet similar boat, going down from 28% to just shy of $400 from $562.60. Sylveon isn’t one of my favorites, but the artwork on this card is incredibly detailed. Pair that with Sylveons dedcated fan base and you’re looking at a stable $400 card in my opinion.

Espeon ex SIR is suprisingly cheaper than Sylveon. In my mind, the top two eeveelutions is Espeon and Umbreon. Whilst the latter half of that statement is ridiculously true, it’s a good time to start looking at adding this card to your collection. It’s only dropped by 5%, but 5% off a card that’s pretty much floated around the $350 – $400 mark since launch (after the hype) is pretty good.

If you don’t think Ceruledge is a cool Pokémon, then we can’t be friends. That dark knight energy and purple flames is just epic, and the artwork on Ceruledge ex SIR reflects everything i’ve just said. A Pokémon that can still look this ruthless with a crown of jewels floating on it’s head is worth shelling out $151 for. Expecially once you consider the 27% price drop from $206.71 from the start of May.

Pokémon Card Climbers

Venusaur EX promo was a peak card for me in the X and Y era. My first ever starter was Bulbasaur in Pokémon Blue, and this is the best artwork I’ve seen for its final evolution. Apparantrly i’m not alone, seeing as this card has seen a massive climb of 263% in the space of a week. A near mint conditioned version of this card has climbed from $49.53 to $180 in a matter of days.
Blastoise EX promo is doing the same, although it’s quite a bit cheaper. It’s up 88% in the past week, that’s from $68.94 and currently has listings for $130. That’s currently the cheapest price for it.

In a rare occorance for Charizard collectors, Charizard EX Promo is cheaper than a Venusaur equivalent. It’s a wonderful time to be alive and a fan of grass-types. Zard is still flying high like the other Kanto starters though, a 183% climb in a week. That’s a jump to $129 from $45.58.

Another favorite deck inclusion for me in the X and Y days was Shaymin EX. I bloody love this card. Providing you had double colorless energies to hand, you could use it’s Set Up ability in tandem with it’s Sky Return attack to draw 6 cards from your deck, do 30 damage and heal it by returning Shaymin EX to your hand. Oh, and it’s also raised in value by 44% in a week.

Another card to rise by 41% is Togepi & Cleffa & Igglybuff GX from Pokémon TCG’s Sun and Moon era. The Team Up cards were such a good gimmick and would love to see it come back. It’s also had a crazy climb in the last week, springing from $127.61 to a lofty $180.

Pokémon TCG Stock Update

Long story short; things are looking bleak at retail for Pokémon TCG right now. Almost everything is way above MSRP and seems to becoming the new normal for big box retailers. I could write a whole article and why this is and what should be done to stop this practice, but here we are. If you have your heart set on opening booster packs, have at it, but you might want to check out the sections below to save money.

TCG Player Has The Same Products For Less

TCG Player and the Pokémon TCG secondary collectors market is significantly cheaper than big box retailers at the time of writing. This will likely be the case unless you can secure preorders on new sets such as Destined Rivals, Black Bolt and White Flare. Make no mistake products are still over MSRP, but If small businesses can undercut large retailers on TCG Player, there’s something fundamentally broken in the supplier-distributor-retail chain.

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.

I wanted Journey Together to hit big. After Surging Sparks and Prismatic Evolutions delivered some real heat, it felt like we were on a roll.

But instead of a clean three-hit combo, this set tripped over itself on the way out the gate. Prices were inflated from the start, and now that the market has had time to breathe, this correction is aggressive.

It’s still a solid set. Great art, fun pulls, some nostalgic hits. But a lot of the single prices were built on hype that couldn’t hold.

Collectors thought we’d get another round of rapid value climbs. That didn’t happen. If you’re buying now, you’re catching cards on the way down instead of riding them on the way up.

Just go in knowing what’s worth grabbing and what’s still floating on leftover launch-day fumes.

Illustration Rares

Articuno had a strong start. Prices hit $55 back in late March, which made sense at the time—it’s a fan-favorite Legendary with great artwork.

Since then, it’s taken a 36% dip and now floats around $35. Honestly, that’s still a bit high. I’ve seen near-mint listings at $18.69, and that feels more in line with where this card belongs.

I think it’s a solid pickup if you just want a great-looking bird without the early adopter tax.

Wailord was one of those early hype Illustration Rares that got pumped fast, mostly because it’s Wailord and people have a soft spot for absurdly large water types.

It hit $60 at the end of March, which didn’t last long. It’s now dropped 63.66% to a market value of around $22.49, and I’ve seen copies listed for as low as $14.55. Personally, I think this one’s due for a soft bounce back to $30, but only once the panic listings clear out and the Wailord fans circle back.

My favorite Illustration Rare is N’s Reshiram. The artwork is top-tier, and the character pairing actually adds something meaningful to the card. It started at $39.43, which honestly didn’t feel too far off given the demand at launch.

Now it’s sitting around $17.44. Even the Journey Together stamped variant, which you’d think would carry some extra value, is undercutting the regular one at about $14. That’s a 79.51% drop, and in my opinion, a steal. If you want a chase card without paying chase prices, this is the one.

Special Illustration Rare And Hyper Rares

Lillie’s Clefairy ex SIR was positioned as the face of the set, and for a moment it looked like it might stay there. Prices hit $400, which was wild, considering the only thing more expensive than that in Journey Together was probably regret.

Now it’s sitting around $180 and in my opinion, it’s still too high. It’s a gorgeous card, no doubt about that, but I think we’ll see it hit $150 soon. Not a crash but a correction to something a little more in line with what most people are willing to pay.

I thought Iono’s Bellibolt ex SIR was going to be the top card of the set. It had the rarity, it had the character, and it looked just chaotic enough to become a fan favorite. Instead, it’s hovering around $80, which is fine. Not great, not terrible.

The price feels stable, and I don’t think it’s going to tank like some of the other launch-day hype magnets. If you like it, grab it. If you’re hoping it doubles in value, maybe take a walk.

Salamence ex SIR is probably the best example of what went wrong with Journey Together’s early pricing. At launch, people were paying up to $250 for it like it was the last dragon card ever printed. Now it’s going for about $106, and I think it’ll settle closer to $100.

Still expensive, sure, but at least now it’s priced like a high-tier chase card and not a collector’s retirement plan. The art’s strong, and Salamence has always had staying power, so I think this one holds up better than most.

Full Arts

Iono’s Bellibolt ex is my favorite full art, mostly because I pulled it and immediately convinced myself I was sitting on gold. At launch, it was going for around $80. It’s now comfortably sitting in the $7–$8 range.

Honestly, if you paid anything above $15, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s a great-looking card, though, and I think it’ll stick around this price for a while now that the dust has settled. Just maybe don’t buy it thinking it’s the next Supporter-tier Iono. It’s a Bellibolt. Let’s be reasonable.

Lillie’s Clefairy ex had a bizarre start. Prices climbed past $110 before launch, which had me wondering if people thought it was a Special Illustration Rare by mistake.

It’s now found its lane at around $17–$19, which is where it probably should’ve been all along. I think it’s a great pickup at that price if you’re into Lillie, or Clefairy, or just want something that won’t lose half its value before it hits your mailbox.

N’s Zoroark ex started out a little more grounded at around $30, but even that wasn’t safe from the drop. It’s landed around $12 now, which honestly feels like a fair deal. The card still looks fantastic, and it’s got some collector appeal thanks to N.

But when I say Journey Together prices are crashing, this is exactly what I mean. Remember all those “can’t-miss deals” I was posting at launch? It wasn’t because the cards were underpriced — it’s because they were about to fall off a cliff.

Find out more top tips on where to find Pokémon cards with my extensive guide, and check out this weeks latest crashers and climbers article for more Pokémon cards market watch updates.

Here’s the Pokémon TCG full Release Schedule so far for this year, too, so you don’t miss anything. Buying singles is the cheapest way to collect right now, but don’t feel like you have to “Catch Em’ All!”.

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.