Category: IGN

With so many Spring Sales popping up, now is a great time to stock up on games at a much lower price than usual. If you’ve been looking to sink your teeth into a massive medieval action RPG, this is one deal you definitely don’t want to miss: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X) has received its first discount at Amazon and Walmart. It’s down to $59.99, $10 off its list price of $69.99. Head to the links below to pick it up for your collection while the deal is still live.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 for $59.99

It’s not often that I get to write about Pokémon TCG deals and smart light bulbs in the same guide, but here we are. Amazon’s finally offering decent prices on Journey Together sealed product, which is the closest thing we’ve had to a “normal” launch since Stellar Crown. Meanwhile, the IGN Store just opened preorders on a legitimately good-looking Kazuma Kiryu statue, Humble dropped a train simulator bundle for $15 that somehow has $283 worth of content, and Lepro’s doing their AI lighting thing again, except now it’s even cheaper. I didn’t expect to be tempted by half this stuff. Yet here I am.

Today’s Best Deals: Pokémon TCG, Like a Dragon Kiryu Statue, Lepro Smart Lights, and More

The best part? Most of this is first-party stock. These aren’t third-party resellers or warehouse dumps. The Pokémon deals come straight from Amazon, the statue is from the IGN Store, and Lepro’s discounts are backed by coupons and Prime shipping. Even the Humble bundle supports CALM, so you can simulate locomotives and feel slightly better about your backlog at the same time.

Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet — Journey Together Elite Trainer Box

Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet — Journey Together Booster Bundle

Like a Dragon – Kazuma Kiryu Statue

Pokémon TCG – Scarlet & Violet: Journey Together – Sleeved Booster

Train Sim world 5 Route Remix Bundle

Lepro O1 AI Floor Lamp

Lepro B2 AI Smart Light Bulbs

Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet – Surging Sparks

Pokémon TCG: Iono’s Bellibolt ex Premium Collection

Mass Effect Merchandise

Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet: Paldean Fates: Booster Bundle

Fellow Traveller Publisher Bundle

Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet Shrouded Fable Elite Trainer Box

Pokémon TCG: Terapagos ex Ultra-Premium Collection

Pokémon TCG: Shining Fates Collection Pikachu V Box

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the biggest RPGs out there. While there are many iconic items and locations in the game, perhaps none comes close to the Dragonborn Helmet worn by your character. For a limited time at IGN Store, you can pre-order this brand new Dragonborn Helmet Replica from Fanattik. If you’re a huge fan of Skyrim or just looking for a new item for your gaming collection, the Dragonborn Helmet is the perfect choice!

Pre-Order The Elder Scrolls V: Skryrim Dragonborn Helmet Today at IGN Store

Astro Bot fans have all heard the story of the creation of the sponge power-up, but did you know developer Team Asobi also prototyped even wackier powers, like a coffee grinder and a roulette wheel?

We didn’t, until IGN attended GDC 2025, where Team Asobi studio director Nicolas Doucet gave a talk simply titled, “The Making of ‘ASTRO BOT'”. In his talk, Doucet went in-depth on the process of creating the PlayStation mascot platformer, including showing off a number of early prototype images and cut content.

Doucet began his talk by talking about the initial pitch for Astro Bot, which was written in May 2021, just a few months after Team Asobi began prototyping it. According to him, there were 23 different revisions of the pitch before it was shown to top management. Their pitch was apparently initially given as an adorable comic strip showing off the main pillars and activities of the game. Clearly, it was a success.

After a small leak last week, EA has confirmed the title of its next Star Wars game, as well as who’s making it. It’s called Star Wars: Zero Company, and it’s being developed by Bit Reactor with support from Lucasfilm Games and Respawn.

The Nintendo Switch 2 versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are getting a few upgrades, and one of them looks to be a way to repair equipment.

As spotted in the recent Nintendo Treehouse Live stream by YouTuber Zeltik, the Zelda Notes app—a mobile companion app exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2 versions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom—has a Daily Bonus feature. When the user opens this up, they can roll for a number of in-game bonuses, including helpful meal effects, health and stamina recovery, and one labeled Equipment Repairs.

Both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom use durability meters, where weapons, shields, and other items will break after enough uses. It’s been a controversial mechanic, so having a workaround for keeping your favorite Flameblade intact certainly has its appeal.

For those worried about this completely changing the game though, there is at least one notable limitation: chance. The Daily Bonus uses a roulette wheel to randomly select which bonus the player gets, so it’s not guaranteed to always hand you an Equipment Repair. The bonus is also daily, with a built-in timer you’ll have to wait on until your next spin. While this may be extremely effective in a pinch, it’s unlikely to become a massive game-changer.

The Zelda Notes app looks to have many other interesting features alongside some free Equipment Repairs. Both Zelda games are also getting their own form of achievements through the mobile companion program, and special audio memories will add new lore and background to different parts of Hyrule.

These additional upgrades certainly seem like they’ll enhance the open-world Zelda experience, alongside the performance improvements, especially for people who really disliked breaking their favorite weapons.

For more, read up here on how the Nintendo Switch 2 is improving on certain Switch 1 games.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

What a year for Nintendo to finally release the Switch 2. While the hardware itself looks to be what anyone could have hoped for in a Switch successor — a more powerful version of the console millions of owners already love — the economic uncertainty gripping the world has made the Switch 2 a much more complicated prospect.

And that’s before we even consider the trade war the United States is currently engaged with China in. The $450 USD console price point and $80 USD sticker on Mario Kart World has made the Switch 2 something of a flashpoint amid the rising cost of games and gaming hardware, both here in the US and abroad.

To get a better idea of how the world is reacting to the Switch 2, I spoke with editors from IGN brands across the world to get a sense of the Switch 2’s impending release.

How the Rest of the World Feels About the Switch 2

After consulting with editors from IGN sites abroad, including those based in Europe, South America, and Asia, the reception to the Switch 2 has been, well, mixed. The hardware improvements like 120hz refresh rate, HDR, and 4K output are praised, but missing features like not having an OLED screen are seen as serious drawbacks.

“As far as reception goes, IGN Italia’s readers are predominantly dissatisfied with the Nintendo Switch 2,” says IGN Italy editor-in-chief, Alessandro Digioia. “Among hundreds of comments across news articles and social media, the main concerns revolve around the price point, the lack of an OLED screen, the absence of a trophy/achievement system, and a modest launch line-up. While some third-party announcements were welcomed, many readers expected more from Nintendo’s first-party titles.”

IGN Portugal’s Pedro Pestana shared similar sentiments from their readers – sentiments they agreed with: “Personally, I’m not that impressed with Switch 2, as it is basically a souped up Switch 1 – better in every sense, but without the novelty factor of the original. That being said, I reckon it’s gonna come down to the games, and Mario Kart World looked damn nice.”

Other regions are seemingly more receptive to the Switch 2’s hardware improvements. IGN Benelux’s Nick Nijiland says the site has been getting mostly positive feedback, despite the price of the console. “We have seen in our region that the console has been received very well. People complain about the price, but at the same time the console sold out within hours. We put up a post on our website stating that we would let our readers know through our Discord server when pre-orders went live and our Discord got so many new members that day, it was insane.”

IGN Turkey’s Ersin Kilic also shared positive views from the region’s readers. “When I look at the comments, it is seen as positive that Nintendo corrected the points criticized on [the first] Switch. Although the console is stylish and uses LCD, the fact that the screen is much better was received positively.” However, Kilic says “the most criticized point was that Hall Effect was not used in Joy-Con 2,” which some gamers hoped could minimize the risk of Joy-Con drift.

IGN China’s Kamui Ye gave both sides of reader reactions to the Switch 2. “The reveal event has been met with widespread disappointment due to its lackluster launch title lineup and perplexing regional pricing strategies,” they explained. Furthermore, Ye says the launch lineup that didn’t include a new Mario, Legend of Zelda, or Animal Crossing was another negative.

“However, optimism persists among core fans regarding Nintendo’s long-term plans,” Ye adds. Along with the belief of a better software lineup down the line, any of the horsepower and battery concerns for the Switch 2 “appear secondary to loyalists prioritizing backward compatibility, hardware refinements like magnetic Joy-Cons, and Nintendo’s legacy of iterative software support.”

“Ultimately, the brand’s entrenched fanbase seems willing to tolerate short-term missteps, betting on Nintendo’s historical ability to refine its platforms through compelling games over time,” Ye says.

Hardware Price and Tariff Fears

The Switch 2 is expected to launch at a $450 USD price point in the United States when it is made available to pre-order some time in the future. The reason pre-orders have yet to happen in the United States and Canada, despite the rest of the world already registering their purchases with retailers, is of course due to an ongoing tariff situation from President Trump. It’s a state of affairs that’s seemingly making Nintendo reconsider how to roll out the console properly in time for its June 5 release date.

Naturally, IGN editors from Europe aren’t particularly impacted by the tariffs in their regions, where pre-orders are already up and running.

“In Germany, nobody is really worrying about the tariff situation regarding the Switch 2,” says IGN Germany’s Antonia Dressler. However, the actual retail price of the Switch 2 is a separate matter.

“There are a lot of complaints about the pricing of the console… and [readers are making] direct comparisons with the pricing of the PS5 [which] is seen as the better console,” explains Dressler. Despite the complaints, though, pre-orders do seem to be coming in for the region.

The pricing of the Switch 2 firmly places it in direct competition with consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X in many regions, making the choice of which console to get even harder for global buyers. “At the moment, Nintendo’s official website is taking pre-orders and the price is R12,499,” says IGN Africa’s Zaid Kriel. “It is not crazy pricing, but it’s now in the same bracket as the PS5 and Xbox Series X. It’s no longer a cheaper alternative, and that could be a problem, especially with the increase in game prices Nintendo has introduced.”

I rarely need an excuse to grab more Pokémon cards, but every so often, something especially good comes along. Right now, a few premium boxes are actually worth it. Not because they’re stacked with guaranteed hits (they’re not), but because the sets inside are finally seeing a drop in single-card prices.

That opens two solid options: rip the packs and hope for something great, or skip the gamble and grab your chase cards while they’re cheaper. Either way, it’s one of those rare moments where buying in doesn’t feel like lighting your wallet on fire. With decent promos, good pack variety, and a few worthwhile extras, these boxes are the ones to watch.

Pokémon TCG: Iono’s Bellibolt ex Premium Collection

Yes, it’s one of the pricier premium collections out there. And yes, you get a Bellibolt ex promo, which is about as subtle as a battery-powered frog can get. But the real draw here is the 2 x Journey Together, Surging Sparks, Obsidian Flames, Twilight Masquerade and Paradox Rift packs.

Single prices from Journey Together are already coming down, which is great if you’ve been waiting to scoop up stuff like Perrin or Pecharunt ex without giving your credit card a stress headache. You also get an acrylic standee display and photo stickers, which is either a cute bonus or something you’ll shove in a drawer forever. I’m choosing to see it as décor. Don’t ruin this for me.

The Last of Us is back for a second season, and – naturally – this time we’re seeing an adaptation of the second game in the series. However, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have taken a different approach this time around. Where the first season was largely a one-to-one recreation of the game, with a huge chunk of the runtime dedicated to replicating the original cutscenes in live action, this second season appears to be making more changes to the game’s story. Events are restructured, reordered, and recontextualised with the addition of new characters and story ideas.

That’s not to say that the scenes we know and love have been scrapped, though – far from it. It’s just that they might not always be exactly how you remember them. And so we’ve taken the key moments from episode one that recreate the game and compared them against the 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.

Tommy’s Sniper School

Due to the show having been re-arranged to tell the story in a more linear fashion, the sequence in which Tommy teaches Ellie how to shoot across long distances is now one of the earliest scenes of The Last of Us season 2. In the game, this was told in flashback as part of the Finding Strings chapter, which occurs during day two of Ellie’s time in Seattle – many hours into the campaign.

That’s not the only change. As you can see from the thick blanket of snow, the time of year is completely different. While Ellie and Tommy trek through the sun-kissed Wyoming mountains in the game, they’re lying prone in a freezing winter landscape in the show. There is a connection, though; in the game, Tommy mentions that hordes of infected move through this region in the winter. Since it’s currently winter in the show, perhaps such a horde will turn up in the next few episodes?

Despite the changes to timeline and climate, the fundamentals remain the same. Show Ellie uses the same Springfield Armory M1A rifle as game Ellie does, while Tommy provides advice about how to snipe at shambling infected. He suggests she compensate her aim for distance, which is what you must do during this sequence in the game, as bullets drop over very long distances due to gravity.

Ellie and Dina’s Patrol

The midpoint of the season two premiere sees Ellie and Dina head out on a patrol. This is one of the earliest sequences from the game, and is replicated quite closely. In both the game and show, Ellie takes Shimmer from the stables, gears up to head out, and is scolded by Jesse for being late. The most significant change here is that, where in the game Jesse lists off all the things that must be achieved on a patrol, in the show Dina sarcastically explains their goals before Jesse can instruct them. This helps construct the show’s version of Dina, who is more brash than her game counterpart.

The conflict between Jesse and Dina helps set up the horseback conversation between the two women. This same chat, about Dina’s breakup with Jesse, also happens in the game, but Dina’s attitude to her former boyfriend is softer, discussing how Jesse’s parents will always feel like her family. In the show, the pair’s relationship is somewhat brushed off as more of an on/off thing.

Both the show and game’s patrol is interrupted by the discovery of the gory corpse of an animal – in the game it’s a moose, while in the show it’s a bear. This encourages Ellie and Dina to search out the infected who killed it. The key difference here is that in the show Ellie and Dina are just two of a larger patrol that doesn’t want to get into any unwarranted danger. In the game, Ellie and Dina are patrolling on their own.

Infected Attack

Ellie and Dina’s search for infected brings them to the same place in both the game and the show: the Greenpeace Market. In both versions they climb over the store’s truck to enter via the upstairs window and proceed to search inside. From here the events diverge – in the show, the pair take down a clicker and then Ellie falls through the floor alone. In the game, both Ellie and Dina fall through the collapsing floor, and Dina saves them both from a clicker by shooting it several times.

In the show, it’s not a clicker in the main store area but a stalker, a new, more intelligent infected type that doesn’t appear until much later in the game. Ellie must face this foe alone, and the resulting fight sees the stalker bite her stomach, something that doesn’t happen in the game. Dina arrives too late to help, but by that point Ellie has already shot her attacker. This somewhat echoes an earlier scene from the game, in which Dina arrives to help a runner that’s attacking Ellie outside of the supermarket – in that instance Dina shoots the infected to save her partner.

Barn Dance

One of the most famous scenes from The Last of Us Part 2 is recreated in almost perfect detail for the show, but once again it comes at a very different time thanks to the reordering of the story. The barn dance, during which Dina and Ellie kiss for the first time, was originally shown as a flashback and occurred just before the game’s final act, but in the show it’s the last major scene of the season two premiere.

Despite the shift to show this scene in chronological order, everything else about it remains largely the same, even down to the music, dance choreography, and camera direction. The dialogue between Ellie, Jesse, and Dina is almost word-for-word the same as the game’s original script, including Dina’s “I think they should be terrified of you.”

The pair’s dance is once again interrupted by Seth, but Joel’s reaction to his bigotry is much more violent. In the game, Joel only shoves Seth to indicate his anger, but the show’s version of events sees Seth thrown to the floor.

The Overlook

The episode’s final scene is a recreation of The Overlook section of the game’s first chapter. We see Abby and Owen climb up to an outcrop that overlooks the town of Jackson. In the game, Abby and Owen are talking, expressing relief of finding their goal and surprise at how large it is – “it’s a fucking city!” The show instead opts to keep the characters in total silence, building an ominous tension as they survey the town where their target lives.

For more from The Last of Us, check out our spoiler-free season two review and our spoiler-filled review of the season premiere. We’ve also asked the show’s creators whether Joel was right to save Ellie, and spoken to them about the terrifying stalkers who appear in this episode.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Features Editor.

I think we can all agree the Pokémon TCG is a wallet-endangering hobby, but that doesn’t mean we have to overpay for cardboard. Amazon clearly got the memo because a bunch of solid bundles just dropped , including Surging Sparks, Journey Together and Paldean Fates. If you’ve been telling yourself you’re just buying “a few packs for the kids,” this is your moment to stock up and pretend it’s not for you. I’m not judging. I’m doing the same thing.

Catch Surging Sparks, Journey Together and Paldean Fates

I also want to point out the Mass Effect statues in the IGN Store, because apparently my bookshelf wasn’t crowded enough with plastic space heroes. Commander Shepard and crew are up for pre-order, and yes, I already added Jack to my cart because I enjoy chaos. There’s also a Humble Bundle packed with narrative indies that scream “you have emotions, deal with them.” All in all, it’s a good day to make impulsive but justifiable purchases.

Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet – Surging Sparks

Pokémon TCG: Iono’s Bellibolt ex Premium Collection

Mass Effect Merchandise

Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet: Paldean Fates: Booster Bundle

Fellow Traveller Publisher Bundle

Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet Shrouded Fable Elite Trainer Box

Pokémon TCG: Terapagos ex Ultra-Premium Collection

Pokémon TCG: Shining Fates Collection Pikachu V Box