Persona is quickly becoming one of the biggest RPG series out there, with fan demand and support only growing with each passing year. The series is best known for its deep narratives, excellent turn-based combat, and beloved characters. However, it’s hard not to argue that the Persona franchise has grown as much as it has thanks to its music.
When it comes to purchasing video game soundtracks, what better way to enjoy them than on vinyl? Many of the Persona soundtracks were quite hard to obtain on vinyl previously, whether due to high prices or limited availability. Now, however, iam8bit and Atlus have teamed up once more to create brand-new, moderately priced releases that you can now pre-order at IGN Store.
Check Out The Persona Vinyl Collection at IGN Store!
First up, you can pre-order the entire Persona 3 Reload soundtrack on Vinyl with the 4xLP release, featuring Holographic Broken Glass Vinyl. Additionally, the entire Persona Q – Shadow of the Labyrinth soundtrack can be pre-ordered as a 4xLP as well.
Next, three brand-new vinyl releases are available to pre-order. iam8bit unveiled Megamix versions of Persona 3 Reload, Persona 4, and Persona 5. These new releases pack in the very best tracks from each of these games into one 1xLP vinyl for only $29.99.
Finally, you can pre-order the 3xLP release for Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. As the fighting game spin-off of Persona 4, you can expect a much heavier and fun spin on iconic tracks like Reach Out To The Truth.
Each of these Persona vinyl are quickly selling at IGN Store, so be sure to secure your treasure while you still can!
Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.
Nintendo is requesting a subpoena from a California court that, if granted, would force Discord to give it information about the identity of the person behind last year’s massive Pokemon leak, known as the “FreakLeak” or the “TeraLeak”.
According to court documents seen and reported on by Polygon, Nintendo is requesting the courts order Discord to proide the name, address, phone number, and email address of a Discord user known as “GameFreakOUT”. Last October, GameFreakOUT is alleged to have posted content including copyright-protected artwork, characters, source code, and other materials related to pokemon to a Discord server called “FreakLeak,” after which they were distributed widely across the internet.
Though not confirmed, the materials were likely obtained in a data breach back in August that Game Freak disclosed the following October. Per Game Freak, the data breach included 2,606 cases of current, former, and contract employee names being accessed. Oddly, leaked files began appearing online on October 12, and Game Freak’s statement appeared online the following day, but was backdated to October 10 and does not mention confidential company materials beyond employee information.
The leaked materials included numerous unannounced projects, as well as cut content and other background information and early builds of other Pokemon games. Notably, the leak unveiled Pokemon Champions, an upcoming battle-focused Pokemon game, prior to the game’s official announcement in February. It also contained information about the upcoming Pokemon Legends: Z-A that has since been proven correct, alongside yet-to-be-proven information on the next generation of Pokemon, source code for various DS pokemon titles, meeting summaries, and cut lore from Pokemon Legends: Arceus and other games.
Nintendo has not yet filed suit against a hacker or leaker in response, but given the subpoena it seems likely Nintendo is trying to find the identity of the person responsible in hopes of doing so. Nintendo historically has been highly litigious about everything from piracy to patent infringement, so if the subpoena is granted, it is perhaps only a matter of time.
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.
Hasbro revealed quite an impressive lineup of new toys and collectibles at Star Wars Celebration 2025, including new The Mandalorian figures and a long-overdue Dash Rendar figure. They also had many of these upcoming releases on display at the show.
IGN was able to snap some photos of Hasbro’s Star Wars Celebration display and speak to designer Chris Reiff and Hasbro Marketing’s Jing Houle about the thrill of designing toys based on these iconic characters. Check out the slideshow gallery below for a closer look at these new toys, and then read on to find out what Reiff and Houle had to say, including why there’s still room to improve with some of the biggest heroes of the Star Wars franchise.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor fans were no doubt pleased to see new figures included in this new crop of Star Wars toys. Nightsister Merrin is getting a new figure, while series star Cal Kestis is featured in a three-pack set alongside Turgle and Skoova Stev. And best of all, Cal comes with multiple swap-out heads, including one with handlebar mustache. According to Houle, that particular look was a big priority for this release.
“Honestly, we just wanted to have fun with it,” Houle tells IGN. “This is one of my favorite packs that we revealed in the panel. We actually started with the handlebar mustache and the mullet and then added in the clean cut. Then the short beard later. So for us, the primary look is almost the handlebar and it’s just so much fun.”
As for Merrin, it was a given that Cal be joined by his crewmate, given how important Merrin is to the larger Fallen Order/Survivor saga. The challenge was properly depicting her unique Force abilities.
“It’s tough to have Cal without Merrin,” Reiff says. “So we’re glad we finally got to Merrin, but doing that Force effect, the green blast coming there, all the great detail of that new costume and the face tattoos with the inkjet. Just some beautiful subtlety going on there. She’s a really cool character I know we know fans are invested in and really being able to build out that world.”
This year’s toy lineup includes two characters who are certainly no strangers to Hasbro by now – Han Solo and Chewbacca. But despite how many Han and Chewie figures we’ve seen over the years, Houle is adamant that there’s room for improvement.
“I mean, we haven’t done them in a long time,” Houle says. “They needed an update, so we gave them fully new tools so they’re brand new with the latest articulation so that fans can really celebrate and enjoy… classic characters out again in the latest technology and articulation that we have. And they’ve made quite a few updates on top of the articulation just in general. We learned a lot from the Wookiees that we’ve done where they have really long hair.”
Houle continues, “And so, despite the long hair, having softer plastics so he can still pivot and move his head in a seamless way, that was really important to us. And we added articulation into Han too, but we didn’t give him the thigh break because we didn’t want to separate the red bars on his right side of the outside of the thigh. So we thought it was important to keep that clean. So we added articulation to the top of the boot instead.”
No figure in this lineup is more striking than The Ronin, based on the anime anthology series Star Wars: Visions. True to the series, The Ronin is a black-and-white figure whose only color comes from his red katana lightsaber. Because The Ronin is a Celebration-exclusive release, it was important to both Houle and Reiff that they get the small details right.
“I love that we kept to it,” Houle says. “And then taking from learnings from what we know about Japanese culture and stuff, the way the box is built, how premium it looks, the magnets that let it open, how clean it looks, the watercoloring, the accessories that’s hidden on the top of the box so you don’t just see it. Everything. There was so much attention from packaging to design to engineering.”
Reiff adds, “And even the Japanese language for this exclusive packaging, we don’t do that normally, but for here, because we’re here in Japan, we wanted to really embrace all that and do a special package that was just Japanese language for that too.”
Finally, Hasbro also had something for fans of the 1:1 scale Black Series helmet line, revealing a stunningly detailed Death Trooper helmet during their Celebration panel.
“[It’s] a great fully new tooled helmet for the Black series Premium roleplay line,” Reiff says. “It looks like it’s straight out of the movie with the weathering, the lighting detail, and you poke a button on the side and you control the chin lights and the spectre sensor lights over on the side. So, just a great addition to our line. And working with Lucasfilm in partnership to work from original files so that we could really nail all the details of this helmet and then add our own stuff to the inside because the real ones never had an inside, but this one does. All our other helmets, it has the full detailed interior.”
June feels so far away, at least for Magic fans eagerly awaiting the upcoming Final Fantasy set. But to tide everyone over, today Wizards of the Coast just offered a first look at over a dozen never-before-seen new cards from the set, including Sephiroth, Yuffie, Cecil, Garland, Chaos, and more.
This new look includes a number of new cards and a handful of art variations, alongside the four commander cards we’ve already gotten a look at: Tidus, Cloud, Y’shtola, and Terra. In addition to various powerful legendaries like Sephiroth and Cecil, we also get a look at a new Food token art, and art variations on cards such as Stilzkin, Moogle Merchant; Sin, Spira’s Punishment; and Summon: Shiva. You can see the full gallery below:
Today’s reveal also shows off some special features of the set, including Summons, a part of Magic’s first-ever Saga creatures that players can call upon for aid in battle (see Summon: Shiva in the gallery). Additionally, double-faced cards make a return, as seen with Cecil’s two sides: Dark Knight and Redeemed Paladin.
In total, the Final Fantasy set will feature over 100 legendary creature cards, including 55 legendary borderless cards, some of which are drawn by fan-favorite artists from across Final Fantasy history.
Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy set will be a fully draftable, Standard-legal set that will release alongside four preconstructed Commander decks, one themed after each of four Final Fantasy games: 6, 7, 10, and 14. Each deck consists of 100 cards, a mix of both new Final Fantasy cards, as well as existing cards with new Final Fantasy art. The set launches on June 13.
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.
IGN’s RuneScape: Dragonwilds map is here! Our interactive map tracks essential locations across Ashenfall, including Primary and Secondary Quests (Side Quests), recipes for Masterwork equipment such as the Staff of Light, and resources such as Anima-Infused Bark and Blightwood Root.
Collectibles, including Lore Scraps and Recipes for Masterwork equipment such as the Crystal Bow.
Items, such as Chests, so you know exactly where to go to find loot.
Quests, including Primary Quests and side quests, such as Restless Ghosts.
Resources, such as locations for Anima-Infused Bark, Gold Ore Nodes, and Swamp Weed for all your crafting needs.
Other notable map markers, including NPC locations, Crumbled Walls, and Thorny Vines.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds Guides
There’s a lot to do in RuneScape: Dragonwilds, whether that’s tracking down materials like Ram Horns or crafting rare weapons like the Abyssal Whip. IGN’s Game Help is here to help with informative guides. Our coverage includes:
Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides team, with a focus on trends. When she’s not working, you can find her playing an RPG or spending time with her corgi.
Destruction has been a hallmark of Battlefield over the years, and for the next Battlefield game, DICE looks to be amping up the rubble-producing chaos even more.
The developer recently dropped a video and Battlefield Labs Community Update, to spotlight what’s in store for the next entry in the Battlefield series. In the pre-alpha footage, we can see some of the destruction designed by DICE, as an explosive takes down the side of a building, opening up a new pathway through the structure.
We’re back with another Battlefield Labs Community Update focused on destruction! Check out an early pre-alpha example of destruction that showcases the ability to destroy a wall to quickly traverse through the building. Read the full article now! #Battlefieldpic.twitter.com/bgDcPgZRbg
Destruction can lead to creative solutions for players, and in the Community Update, DICE said it is working to add more gameplay depth by letting players reshape the environment around them. Whether you bring down a wall to launch an ambush or open a new path towards a critical point, sometimes getting those pesky buildings out of your way can help.
“We’re designing destruction around easily identifiable visual and audio language that lets you understand what can be destroyed, altered, or transformed through gameplay,” DICE said. “We aim to make destruction an integral part of your Battlefield experience to create an intuitive, fun, and rewarding environment where you feel empowered to shape the world around you.”
Different impacts will affect structures like walls; while explosions obviously work, bullets will also chip away, so players can shoot through them. Audio VFX cues will let players know that their efforts are working.
The aftermath of all this destruction also leaves tangible effects on the battlefield. Rubble created by destroying a piece of a building, for example, will remain on the field, and could be used as cover. The next Battlefield certainly seems to have destruction on the mind.
With a lot of effort behind this next entry, this new Battlefield seems to be pulling out all the stops. Getting all the level destruction right certainly feels like a step in the right direction.
Delta Force made its return with a launch on PC last year, reigniting interest in the legendary tactical shooter franchise. Now, it is bringing its definitive free-to-play, modern, team-based tactical action to a whole new audience on mobile. Anticipation for the mobile release has been huge, with over 20 million players pre-registering across Android and iOS platforms ahead of launch on April 21st.
We spoke to Leo Yao, Head of Studio and Shadow Guo, Game Director at Team Jade about the development of Delta Force Mobile, the game’s content , graphics and optimization along with technical ambitions, and its play-to-win, not pay-to-win, philosophy.
Capturing epic battles on the small screen
Delta Force features realistic battlegrounds, class-based Operators, a deep weapons arsenal and multiple game modes; all designed to blend nostalgia from the original series with modern gameplay elements. Game modes cater to both solo-player and team-up experiences, including the world’s first 24v24 battlefield with vehicles and an extraction-based PvPvE mode. Parity of experience was a central part of the design ethos for this title.
“Our goal was to build a truly uncompromised AAA shooter experience for mobile players which feels just as thrilling and immersive as its PC counterpart,” said Guo. “We wanted to provide players with the opportunity to experience an array of modes and maps which they haven’t ever experienced before, promising tons of action and fun. That’s why we’re especially proud of introducing groundbreaking features like our world-first 24v24 large-scale battlefield, which pushes the boundaries of what mobile shooters can achieve.”
Keep the fight going, wherever you are
Delta Force Mobile was designed to both introduce the game to new, mobile-first audiences, while also giving PC players a way to bring the game anywhere. Integral to this is Delta Force’s cross progression with PC which includes support of Google Play Games on PC, allowing players to progress and play across both platforms. Synced content between PC and mobile currently includes 7 maps for Warfare, 4 maps for Operations, 10 Operators, 12 vehicles and 55 weapons sets, with more to come. Player’s individual progression, including their inventory will also be synced.
“We wanted to make sure that Delta Force provided players with exciting cross-platform experiences”, said Yao. “Whether players are jumping into a quick match on their phones during a commute or settling in for a longer session with friends on PC, we wanted to ensure the game is both accessible and fun for everyone. That’s why we focused on offering a wide range of engaging content across all platforms for the mobile launch.”
“No One Gets Left Behind”
The Delta Force motto rings true in their approach to device optimisation as well. The developers worked hard to make sure that its launch on mobile is optimal for players across the world with system requirements that are accessible.
“We wanted to make sure players wouldn’t have to worry about whether their phones could handle game play, so we have made sure system requirements are as accessible as possible. For example, an iPhone 7, which is around 10 years old, will be sufficient for players to experience everything Delta Force has to offer,” said Yao.
Delta Force brings its high-resolution visuals to mobile, complete with global illumination systems, so players feel truly immersed in the world that has been created. Central to its design are lifelike operators, detailed weapon cosmetics, vast and detailed maps, and distinctive in-game effects.
Fans of shooters demand high frames per second (FPS) for a great experience, which is why it was vital for the developers to ensure 120 native FPS through cutting edge technology like Vulkan and Metal when building the mobile version. The team has achieved around 50% higher efficiency than most industry leading mobile shooters, making Delta Force an industry leader in terms of performance. Coupled with low input-latency, the game has been built from the ground up to be one of the smoothest mobile shooters on the market.
Play To Win
Delta Force’s progression is based on a play-to-win system which allows new and ongoing players to earn exclusive rewards. On launch, mobile players are eligible for several different rewards by signing in and playing the game. There will be $500 worth of rewards to obtain across PC & mobile, including 148 weapon appearances, 21 vehicle appearances and 270+ other rewards.
“We are truly committed to a no-pay-to-win system, with the development of our game driven by our passionate players. We value giving back, and that’s why we provide in-game rewards. We want our players to enjoy progressing and getting rewarded for doing so. Delta Force will always be a community first game.”
The OG SNK fighting game series, and the one that went toe-to-toe with Street Fighter 2 back in the 90s, Fatal Fury has been dormant for more than 25 years. SNK has been quite active in that time with the King of Fighters series and even a Samurai Shodown revival, but those offer two very different styles of fighting game, leaving Street Fighter without its most comparable SNK competition for far too long. And that’s what Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves brings to the table: A more direct alternative to Street Fighter 6 — one that is similar in its gameplay structure, but without neutral skipping system mechanics, Drive Impacts, and throw loops. It’s missing a few modern-day fighting game features that should be standard at this point and its UI is lacking to say the least, but in all of the areas that matter most, City of the Wolves hits like a Buster Wolf to the face.
Like its 90s predecessors, City of the Wolves is a four-button fighter that gives you a light punch, heavy punch, light kick, and heavy kick. There’s also a close and far version of each of these buttons, with the close versions typically leading to bigger damage and better situations, while the far versions are used more for pokes and whiff punishes. One big thing that separates City of the Wolves from Street Fighter 6 and several other modern fighting games is that there are no universal ways to easily get in on an opponent. There are no shared high speed dash-ups that let you keep your turn even if they’re blocked, no universal vanishing teleports, and no projectile-invulnerable quick steps. Characters still have plenty of options to approach, but none that are shared among the whole cast, and all of which carry significant risk.
There are no shared high speed dash-ups that let you keep your turn even if they’re blocked.
While I personally don’t mind a good neutral skip, I still greatly enjoy that larger focus on the mental chess game of each of us trying to get a feel for how the other will try and approach, and reacting accordingly. It also makes the characters that do have the ability to cover ground very quickly and safely feel a lot more unique among the rest of the cast.
New to City of the Wolves is the Rev Meter, which works very similarly to how the Drive Meter functions in Street Fighter 6, only you’re actually building this meter up instead of depleting it. You begin every round at 0%, and you’ll increase that percentage by blocking enemy attacks or using special Rev techniques – those include EX special moves, a Rev Guard that adds substantial pushback to your guard and avoids chip damage, and armored attacks called Rev Blows. Once you hit 100%, you’ll overheat and the meter will slowly start to deplete, but until it gets back to zero (which takes a really long time) you can’t use any Rev techniques, and your guard gauge will deplete every time you block an attack. Once that’s gone, your guard will be broken and you’ll be open to a free combo from your foe.
It’s a great system that has me making very important meter management decisions on the fly. Since you can chain EX Special moves into each other in order to squeeze out more damage from a combo, that gauge can rise very high very quickly over the course of just a single combo. That pushed me to ask myself whether it was worth fully cashing out on a big combo and risk either overheating or being close to overheating, or whether I should end the combo early and save some of the gauge for the rest of the round.
Rev Blows are the only part of the equation I’m not fully on board with.
Rev Blows are the only part of the equation that I’m not fully on board with. These armored attacks may initially bring to mind Drive Impacts from Street Fighter 6, but there are some very important distinctions. Like Drive Impacts, they can be used to power through an enemy flurry to deliver a big attack of your own, but unlike Drive Impacts, they only result in a full combo if they hit as a counter, not just if they absorb an attack. Still, even without countering, they do a sizable chunk of damage, are safe on block, and only cost 17% of your Rev Meter, meaning they can be used pretty liberally without much consequence – that’s especially true if the other player doesn’t know how to deal with them, which would be understandable as City of the Wolves doesn’t tell you that in any of the in-game tutorials.
Of course, these hits are not unbeatable. Like Drive Impacts, the best way to counter them is with a Rev Blow of your own, which will turn the tide and give you a free combo opportunity. Unlike Drive Impacts, though, Rev Blows can only be used during SPG (Selective Potential Gear), which is a special buff that is only active while in your choice of either the start, middle, or end portion of your health bar.
You decide where you want your SPG buff to kick in before each fight, and there are advantages to each position – but if someone starts a match with their SPG at the beginning of their health bar, and I have it set anywhere else, I just straight up don’t have my best defense against this technique until I lose either half or the majority of my life. There are other defenses, like throws, supers, and dodge attacks, but none that really match the ease and reward of the attacker just throwing a Rev Blow out there. At higher levels, you’ll see people canceling their dodge attack with a feint and getting full combos off that, but the timing window for this is very tight, and it feels like there’s no good answer for this move at low-to-mid level play.
Outside of that one relatively small issue, however, the actual fighting in City of the Wolves is excellent. There’s a great flexibility in the combo design that lets you go for either reliable and easy damage just by stringing a couple of EX special moves together, with the option to end with a super, or a more execution heavy combo that incorporates techniques like special move braking and feints, both of which require fast fingers and much greater precision. That lets you weigh the potential of an increased reward against a much higher chance of dropping the combo however you want.
There’s a great balance of both offensive and defensive options.
There’s a great balance of both offensive and defensive options as well that make it hard to just fall into a rhythm of doing the same things over and over again. On wake up you can roll forward and backwards, there are a couple of frames of throw invulnerability to prevent throw loops, and well-timed just defenses or hyper defenses are rewarded with an opportunity to guard cancel and punish attacks that aren’t normally heavily punishable. It all just feels really good.
Between a Rock and a Bogard Place
The City of the Wolves roster is a respectable 17 strong at launch, and it is a mechanically diverse cast that covers most of the original Mark of the Wolves roster along with four newcomers. Two of those newcomers, Preecha and Vox Reaper, are excellent without any caveats. Preecha is an easy to pick-up-and-play Muay Thai scientist with flashy and satisfying combos and a well-rounded skill set; while Vox Reaper is just rushdown personified. He’s one of the few characters on the roster without a projectile, but he more than makes up for it with lightning fast speed, tricky divekicks, and by being one of the few characters with one of those aforementioned plus-on-block neutral skipping dashing attacks.
I have been spending the most time with Terry and Hokutomaru. Terry because of the familiarity I have with him from other games, and Hokutomaru for the sheer variety of approach options he has. He can double jump, teleport while in the air, and use Akuma-like air projectiles to both threaten from afar and alter his jump arc to bait out anti-airs.
Then there are the guest characters: Real-world soccer pro Cristiano Ronaldo and real-world DJ Salvatore Ganacci. To get the good out of the way first, they are at least cool characters mechanically. Ronaldo’s main gimmick is that all of his normal attacks are soccer techniques that can not only damage the opponent on their own, but also be used to hit a soccer ball that can be summoned with one of his special moves. This can lead to some truly wild set ups that force you to block the ball and then guess or predict where Ronaldo is going to hit you from.
Ronaldo and Ganacci are at least cool characters mechanically.
Salvatore on the other hand is largely a gag character, with moves taken directly from his music videos and performances as a DJ, but at least they’re very entertaining to look at. I still find myself chuckling when he looks dead into the camera as he pounds an enemy’s face to the beat, and while many of his moves are slow and awkward, he surprisingly hits extremely hard even without having to spend a ton of meter.
But here’s the thing: Very little was done to make these characters feel like they belong in Fatal Fury, especially Ronaldo. Salvatore at least has his own story in the Arcade and Episodes of South Town single-player modes, but Ronaldo is completely absent from both. Not to mention, their visual designs are boring and too ordinary to match the flash and flair of someone like B. Jenet or Kain. It’s hard not to feel like these characters would have been better suited as optional DLC like most guest characters tend to be, which would’ve freed up more spots for characters that actually belong in South Town.
Greetings From South Town
As far as the rest of the package goes, the single-player options in City of the Wolves are pretty fun, even if they are pretty basic. The first is the classic Arcade mode that works as you’d expect: Each character has an intro establishing who they are and what their goal is, a rival battle, and an ending. As far as Arcade modes go, it’s actually pretty solid, even if it is very ordinary. I’ve only beaten a handful of them, but each one has had some really nice character building moments and long awaited pay offs for anyone who’s been following Fatal Fury lore for a while.
The marquee single-player option is Episodes of South Town, which is an RPG-inspired mode that lets you play through a more substantial version of a character’s story by selecting battles on a map screen. You’ll gain experience with each battle that then lets you level up and become stronger, increasing your stats and giving you access to new skills and abilities as you progress. It’s a solid diversion that adds some very welcome light progression and RPG elements while giving each character’s story a more satisfying beginning, middle, and end than what Arcade mode offers.
Some of the battles in this mode have unique conditions too, such as having to fight multiple enemies in a gauntlet, enemies always being in SPG mode, or (in one of the more frustrating conditions) your opponent being immune to every attack with the exception of a 1/66 chance that you’ll land a one-hit kill. Outside of that last one, which is a miserable time, the additional conditions do a pretty good job of adding some variety to each match without overcomplicating them or taking away from what’s fun about the combat in the first place.
One area City of the Wolves could have used some extra attention is in its teaching tools. There is a passable tutorial that covers all of the mechanics, but it doesn’t do a great job of explaining the context or usage of many of its more advanced techniques. Defending against the aforementioned Rev Blow is one example, but it also doesn’t do a great job of explaining the uses of things like Feints or Brakes. In fact, the tutorial section for Brakes basically just tells you how to do them, explains that they can be used in combos, then says that it’s a lesson for another time – but it doesn’t actually have another lesson for it!
On the online side of things, the most important question to ask when it comes to a modern fighting game is “does it have rollback netcode?” The second most important question is then “is it good rollback netcode.” For City of the Wolves the answer to those two questions are “yes!” and “ehhhh.” For the most part, during my experience with both the betas and a handful of matches on the full game’s pre-launch servers, online felt pretty good. That said, the best netcodes are able to make a bad connection still feel playable, and that definitely wasn’t the case during the worst of what I saw. I had one match with eight frames of delay that felt like I was moving through sludge, and another where my button inputs just occasionally wouldn’t go through.
For the most part, online play felt pretty good.
Most of the usual suite of options are otherwise here and accounted for. There are ranked matches, casual matches, room matches, and a replay theater to watch both your own replays and public ones (though there’s no way to filter or search for replays featuring a specific character). Unfortunately, the UI to navigate through these menus is some of the worst I’ve seen in a fighting game, with the biggest offender being the room match menu that for some reason needs to be controlled with a slow moving mouse cursor and has the look of an excel document or powerpoint presentation. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a huge deal, and the lobby itself is functional in all of the ways I’d expect – but still, it’s surprising to see in a game that otherwise drips with style once you’re in a match.
The following article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 2.
If the first episode of The Last of Us season 2 was the scene setter, then episode 2 is the catalyst for everything that comes next. It features – SPOILERS! – the death of Joel Miller, and it takes place in pretty much the exact same way as it did in the game. The devil is in the details, though, and not everything about that scene is a 1:1 recreation. That’s where our TV show vs game comparison comes in.
We’ve taken the major scenes of episode 2 that are taken from the game and compared them against the original source material, analysing what’s changed and what’s stayed the same. You can see both versions in the video above, or read on below for our written explanations.
Joel’s Death
As the instigating incident of the game and the big main event of the season’s second episode, Joel’s death was naturally going to be a meticulously recreated sequence. Both the broad strokes and many of the small details are all here; Abby blasts his leg with a shotgun and then proceeds to lay into him with a golf club. Kaityn Dever delivers the “You don’t get to rush this” line exactly as her game counterpart did. When Ellie arrives on the scene, the direction largely follows in the footsteps of the original cutscene, using the same floor-level camera angles and high-pitched sound break as Abby deals the final blow.
Lurking between the many game-accurate details are several changes, though. First and foremost is that Joel is with Dina for this scene, not Tommy. Furthermore, Dina is drugged for the whole event, which means Ellie is the only Jackson resident to witness Joel’s murder. Abby’s behaviour is also slightly different; in the show she reveals to Joel who she is and why she’s about to kill him. In the game there’s no such scene, and we’re left to believe that Joel died without truly knowing why Abby hated him so much.
Oh, and then there’s the matter of Abby’s hole in… well, not quite one. The game depicts the blow that finally kills Joel as a horrible bit of blunt force trauma to the skull, using the actual head of the golf club. In the show, the club is broken in Abby’s assault, and so all that’s left is the sharp broken end. Abby uses this as a shiv, stabbing it into Joel’s neck.
Abby’s Flashback
Episode two features a sequence in which a young Abby searches the Fireflies’ hospital for her dad. It’s a recreation of the end of Tracking Lessons, the chapter of the game where the perspective shifts from Ellie to Abby. While the setting of this scene remains the same – the hospital corridor bathed in red emergency lighting – the actual events are rather different.
In the show, older Abby confronts her younger self, cementing that this is a dream sequence rather than a flashback. Abby tells herself not to look inside the operating room, as she’ll have to see her dead father. Younger Abby does go into the operating room, but the camera does not follow, and so we’re left with just the older Abby’s restrained tears to relay the horror found inside. In the game, since you are in control of Abby, you get to see the inside of the room and Abby’s reaction to finding her father.
This reframing of the scene is likely due to its shifted position; in the game, this is the moment you learn that Abby’s father was killed in Joel’s attack on the Fireflies, and so the raw emotion of seeing Abby cry on the operating room flaw is necessary to humanise a character who has been portrayed as a villain for the prior 10 or so hours. The show reveals Abby’s motive from the very start and moves this sequence to much earlier in the story, and so it serves a different purpose.
Ellie’s Awkward Morning
The most faithful scene recreation of episode two arrives when Jesse comes knocking at Ellie’s door to go out on patrol. What follows is an awkward exchange regarding Ellie and Dina’s kiss the previous night at the barn dance – Dina, of course, had only recently split up with Jesse. The dialogue here is a 95% match to the game’s script, and the camera work also does its best to recreate the conversation in exact detail.
The main difference here is context. In the game, the barn dance isn’t shown until right near the end of the campaign, and so when playing this sequence you’re using the information provided by the characters to piece together an event you’ve not witnessed. In the show, you know exactly what Jesse and Ellie are talking about, as you watched it happen in the previous episode.
Bigot Sandwiches
Similar to Ellie’s conversation with Jesse, her encounter with Seth the morning after the dance is largely a 1:1 replication of the same scene in the game. Seth has once again prepared steak sandwiches as an apology, and much of the dialogue around this awkward exchange is taken straight from the game’s script. The main difference here is that Jesse is now part of the scene, and he thanks Seth for the sandwiches rather than Maria. Additionally, the building itself is visually very different to that in the game, looking more like a canteen than a timber-constructed bar.
Eugene’s Weed Farm
The show sees Jesse and Ellie head out on a patrol that recreates the middle section of the game’s first chapter. Fans of the game will instantly notice a key difference, as Ellie’s discovery of Eugene’s weed farm actually takes place during the same patrol depicted in episode one where Ellie and Dina explore the supermarket. These events have been split up and changed, as it’s now Jesse, not Dina who accompanies Ellie. That means the show removes the sequence in which Ellie and Dina smoke weed and are implied to have sex.
Despite this, there are still several key elements of the sequence that are kept intact. Ellie still discovers Eugene’s Firefly pendant, as well as his once-impressive marijuana operation (which is far less well hidden in the show.) Among the belongings scattered about, Ellie finds Eugene’s bong gas mask, which can also be found in the game. Jesse, however, is much less impressed with Eugene’s ingenuity than Dina was.
Abby’s Escape
Abby’s fateful encounter with the infected horde plays out much like it does in the game’s first chapter. A chase sequence results in Abby becoming trapped behind a chainlink fence that begins to collapse under the weight of the clawing runners. If anything, this sequence is even nastier than it was in the game thanks to a shot of a hand being pushed through the fence, the wire cutting through the flesh. Aside from that, the broad direction of this scene is very close to the framing of the game, right up to the way Joel’s revolver appears from the side of the shot to blast the infected that pins Abby to the ground.
For more from The Last of Us, check out our spoiler-free season two review and our spoiler-filled review of the second episode. We’ve also asked the show’s creators about how canon can change, and what that means for the show’s biggest plot points.
The weekend is officially here, and we’ve rounded up the best deals you can find! Discover the best deals for April 20 below:
Save 55% Off The 4K Middle-Earth 6-Film Collection
The Lord of the Rings trilogy is simply one of the greatest experiences you will ever have. I try my best to watch through the extended editions once each year, but the fun doesn’t stop there. There’s also The Hobbit trilogy, which is another incredible set of films. This weekend at Amazon, you can score all six films in beautiful 4K for only $94.68. Previously, both trilogies were priced just below this separately, so this is a great deal.
Razer Huntsman V2 TKL for $74.99
Best Buy has the Razer Huntsman V2 TKL Mechanical Keyboard for just $74.99 today. This keyboard features clicky optical switches that feel much lighter than most other mechanical switches out there, as you can get up to true 8000Hz polling rate for lower input latency. The Huntsman V2 TKL features doubleshot PBT caps, which are more durable and sturdy to ensure longer life. Another key offering of this keyboard is the detachable USB-C cable, so you won’t need to worry about wrapping your cable around when moving.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 for $30
You can score Capcom’s massive RPG for just $30 this weekend at Amazon. We gave the game an 8/10 in our review, stating, “It is a retelling and reimplementation of all of those wonderful ideas from the 2012 cult-classic, including an awesome dynamic world and some of the best combat in the genre that integrates a subtle but amazingly complex physics system.”
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii for $49.99
The latest Like a Dragon game stars everyone’s favorite ex-yakuza, Goro Majima, on an adventure to sail the seas as a pirate. When Majima wakes up unable to remember anything about himself, he embarks on a quest to regain his memories, and of course, in true Like a Dragon fashion, things get crazy. This is the lowest we’ve seen this game so far, so be sure to pick up a copy while you can.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin for $19.99
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is arguably one of the most unique entries in the entire Final Fantasy series. Developed by the team behind Nioh, this action RPG is one you won’t forget anytime soon. There are references to numerous Final Fantasy games, with a significant link to a certain character. Oh, and expect plenty of Chaos.
Garmin Instinct 2S Watch for $179.99
You can score this Garmin Instinct 2S Watch for just $179.99 this weekend. The Instinct 2S is packed with features for any condition, such as water-rated for up to 100 meters and thermal/shock resistant with a fiber-reinforced case. One of the best features of any Garmin watch is the battery life, and the Instinct 2S is no exception, as it offers up to 21 days in smartwatch mode. You can even pair the 2S with your phone to track features like heart rate, Pulse Ox, respiration, and more.
Super Mario Party Jamboree for $44.99
With the recent reveal of Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games, it’s no question that you are going to want to save anywhere you can. The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Super Mario Party Jamboree is set to cost $79.99, but you can upgrade from a Nintendo Switch copy for presumably $20. This weekend, save your cash and pick up a copy of Super Mario Party Jamboree from Woot for only $44.99.
Paradise Killer for $25
This weekend, you can save $15 off a physical PS4 copy of Paradise Killer. In our 9/10 review, we wrote, “Paradise Killer marries a beautifully repulsive world with a gratifyingly open-ended approach to detective work, but its real achievement is in how it ties everything you’ve learned together.”
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble for $19.99
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is the return to form many Monkey Ball fans have waited years for. You’ve got over 200 courses, tons of guest characters, and all sorts of modes—what’s not to love? In our 8/10 review, we wrote, “Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is a brilliant return to form. Monkey Ball has finally found its way home again with a set of 200 fantastic courses that range from delightfully charming to devilishly challenging, backed up by tight mechanics and predictable physics that put me in total control of my monkey’s fate.”
Score This Pokémon Movie Collection for $13.99
Amazon has the first three Pokémon movies available on sale for $13.99 total. This Blu-ray collection packs in Pokémon: The First Movie, Pokémon 2000: The Movie, and Pokémon 3: The Movie. If you’re a fan of the Pokémon anime or looking to enter the world of Pokémon for the first time, this collection is an excellent choice!
Save on LEGO Flowers
Finally, you can save on select LEGO Flowers this weekend ahead of Easter! If you’re on the hunt for a last-minute gift, these are a perfect choice for any family member, friend, or significant other.
